howdy all,
yikes, this is a lot later than i’d hoped. but there’s a lot to write about this week, and piles of records everywhere. some of you have made it in and rifled through the cbc stuff i grabbed last week, but there is still lots here and some really great stuff. see below for some more highlights that are still here. loads of new stuff to today and more tomorrow. and i bought more used stuff, but that will have to wait for a bit as there’s just too much right now. anyway, some great stuff for your listening pleasure, i’m super stoked to have a reissue of ‘joy of a toy’ in, definitely one of my favorite records.
…..pick of the week…..
*kevin ayers – joy of a toy – vinilisssimo – lp
– yes! finally a vinyl reissue of this amazing album. i dare say this album is perfect. “in 1968, after a u.s. tour with the jimi hendrix experience, the soft machine’s founding member kevin ayers decided to leave the band. unsure about their artistic direction, worn out by an exhausting schedule and reluctant to become another part of the music business, he sold his bass to noel redding and moved to ibiza. however, soon after he started writing the songs that would make up his first solo lp, joy of a toy. his departure from the soft machine had been amicable and robert wyatt, mike ratledge and hugh hopper all took part in the recordings at abbey road in july 1969. the resulting album meanders in and out of its own affecting mood, taking wonderful pop, folk, psych and prog turns during its course. It starts with the joyful, circus-like title track and veers from the gentle beauty of “girl on a swing” and pastoral gems like “eleanor’s cake (which ate her)” to ominous, experimental moments like “oleh oleh bandu bandong,” based on a malaysian traditional song, and the driving jam of “stop this train.” it also features “the lady rachel,” a beautifully-arranged track with a haunting atmosphere and one of ayers’ most representative tracks. on 180 gram vinyl; housed in a gatefold sleeve.”
…..new arrivals……
julianna barwick – sanguine – m’lady – lp
– in tomorrow. “beautiful, angelic vocal music from new york-based musician julianna barwick. layered, looped and treated vocals create deceptively simple songs which seep into your soul! soothing, sad, deep music that sounds a bit like a post rock take on early modern choral music. a delicate, perfect album of tranquil and absorbing vocal music!” first time on vinyl.
clark – iradelphic – warp – lp/cd
– “a producer known for his dark, heavy techno derived sounds on the warp roster, iradelphic sees a transcendence to clark’s most accessible album to date. clark stood up from the drum machine, computer and keyboard to learn piano and guitar, which highlights many of the tracks including the epic three-part suite ‘the pining.’ iradelphic promises to fulfill clark followers and capture the ears of a brand new audience.”
*dead moon – dead ahead – tombstone – lp
– in tomorrow. lost to the midst of time stock copies of the final lp by dead moon! a sometimes sweet sometimes hard rockin’ blown out lo-fi as hell classic by our favorite rock band of all time. this is not a repress but rather o.g. tombstone stock!
*drywater – backbone of the nation – time-lag – lp+7″
– first ever reissue of this massively cool & hideously rare 1973 rural pennsylvania private press jewel, originally released on the legendary rpc custom label in an edition of only 25 copies. this one might slip right by you on first listen, but there is a subtle brilliance buried in these grooves that’s captured the hearts of the lucky few who’ve had the chance to spend some time with the album… and once you’ve connected, there’s no turning back… one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
*thonghuad faited – diew sor isan – em – lp
– the north east thai violin of thonghuad faited. em records returns to thailand, this time back to 1970s isan. for em records’ latest foray into unchartered musical territory, we are concentrating on the sor from thailand, the traditional two-stringed violin that is a mainstay of Isan musical culture. thonghuad faited comes from the “molam” tradition, the dominant rural music that hails from isan, the northeast thai province that borders with laos and cambodia.
feedtime – the aberrant years – sub pop – 4cd
– austrailian avant-garde pub rock pummlers! every original release by feedtime’s classic ’82-’89 line up. includes all four long out-of-print albums, plus rare single and compilation tracks.
*alkibar gignor – la paix – mississippi – lp
– in tomorrow. “rock n’ roll lp from mali! first ever us release of music from one of malis’ most beloved underground garage rock bands. lo-fi crunchy rock riff workouts sit side by side with beautiful acoustic performances. a truly unique lp — some elements of american classic rock, some african soul music & even a somewhat punk vibe all fuse to create a sound not often heard in the western hemisphere.”
glow kit – s/t – fdh – lp
– in tomorrow. based in denmark, glow kit blasts thru a mix of power pop and garage punk with a touch of psych guitars that will have fans of lover!, the manikins, and carbones fans strip off their protective gear and dance in spasms in a lethal mushroom cloud. this lp will find its way into the new testament of the garagepunk-bible”
host – s/t – planet mu – lp
– in tomorrow. producer barry lynn’s new alias-works in a spacey interzone, using vintage gear to create dramatic panoramas for the headphoned mind. his unique suite of modern impressionistic sonics tumble and waft in and out of the mix, grounded with strong melodies that take inspiration from net-age genres while never recalling them directly. throughout this self-titled debut album, vintage synths, drum machines and reverbs are exploited to their fullest potential.
lotus plaza – spooky action at a distance – kranky – lp/cd
– in tomorrow. “this is the second album from lotus plaza, the solo nom de plume of lockett pundt, better known as the guitarist in deerhunter. he has the uncanny ability to build soaring, melodic gems from simple musical phrases.”
dan melchior – excerpts (& half-speeds) – kye – lp
– in tomorrow. throughout his fifteen years of service as foot-soldier of garage rock, dan melchior has willingly tested the flexibility of an otherwise stagnant genre. here he glues together fractured sketches, riffs, and run-throughs; what emerges is something akin to another green world for the fuck off generation. edition of 450.
mount caramel – real women – siltbreeze – lp
– in tomorrow. for those swayed by the magisterial authenticity of mount carmel on their eponymous 2010 debut album: its follow-up real women finds the band honed and sharper, thus delivering what might be the best sophomore album released by an american blues-based power-trio since zz top’s rio grande mud. searing leads, smokey vocals, thundering rhythms, cascading drums, hyperbolic hyperbole… it’s all here.
lou ragland – i travel alone – numero – 3cd
– in tomorrow. “o’jays road manager, don king prison chauffeur, window washer, house painter, ink spot, domino, producer, engineer, label owner, guitorgan technician, and one-time steward of a coveted jet magazine delivery route, lou ragland is cleveland’s eastside success story. between 1967-1977 lou ragland produced the most thoughtful, hopeful, and downright soulful work to come out of the forest city.
regional garland – mixed sugar: the complete works – 1970-01987 – now again – lp
– “although flint, michigan’s regional garland toiled in regional obscurity for years, he managed to pen, sing and produce a series of 1970s soul songs that have been appreciated for decades in various musical circles around the world. garland’s songs have inspired a second generation of fans, many of whom weren’t even born when garland originally recorded them. as such, this is a varied album, which encompasses symphonic soul, heavy funk, pleading ballads, proto-disco and boogie.”
rocket juice & the moon – s/t – honest jons – lp/cd
– the debut album from super-group rocket juice & the moon. comprised of damon albarn (blur), flea (red hot chili peppers) and tony allen (fela kuti) with erykah badu, fatoumata diawara, cheick tidiane seck, m.anifest and hypnotic brass ensemble. a triumphant exploration and proliferation of kinetic afro-funk rhythms: organic, exuberant, communal music-making. from the inaugural bars, the liquid pulse of fela kuti’s classic recordings drives the action through a suite of 18 shape-shifting compositions.
*jean rollin – the b-music of jean rollin – b-music – cd
– performed by various artists, 1968-1979. “rising out of the smoky parisian mai 68 shrapnel and claiming his stake as the first french vampire movie director, the inimitable father of european horrortica, jean rollin (1938-2010) has smudged the painted face of surrealist cinema for over five decades. a detailed and comprehensive music cabinet of some of the finest musical moments from his initial directorial decade (1968-1979) featuring early recordings from mod rockers unity, free jazz legends barney wilen, françois tusque and jean-françois jenny-clark and musical co-conspirators to walerian borowczyk and fernando arrabal.”
the shins – port of morrow – columbia – lp/cd
– i don’t have to explain the new shins album, do i?
spoek mathambo – father creeper – sub pop – lp/cd
– father creeper, makes the afro-futurists look old school. live drumming and rock guitars intertwine with cyborg drum machine beats, video game bleeps, soulful singing and rap choruses. lyrically, father creeper embraces a deep sensitivity for a traumatized society where the turmoil is real, the optimism stubborn and the booty ripe. father creeper shows us a musician hitting his stride with the confidence and vision to craft songs as robust and challenging and attractive as life in our electrified, apocalyptic 2012.
strings of consciousness – from beyond love – staubgold – lp
– strings of consciousness have united acoustic music and digital technology. their sound is meant and dreamt to be adventurous and creative. even if they sculpt and craft their music with a lot of focus on detail and days and days of editing, the most important is to convey emotions and feelings. many musicians and singers take part in the collective, though the music is composed by herve vincenti and philippe petit from marseille.
teenanger – frights – telephone explosion – lp
– in tomorrow. “check out this monstrosity of an album cover. we just received all the artwork for teenanger’s new lp frights and our minds have been blown. once again, toronto artists jeremy jansen and niall mcclelland teamed up to bring us a piece that takes inspiration from the “give me pink” artwork (which they also created) and ferries it into a technicolor land of vomit and slime.”
theesatisfaction – awe naturale – sub pop – lp/cd
– theesatisfaction are stasia irons & catherine harris-white. the pair live/laugh/love/dance and create in seattle, wa. they write, produce and perform their own material: funk-psychedelic feminista sci-fi epics with the warmth & depth of black jazz and sunday morning soul, frosted with icy raps that evoke equal parts elaine brown, ursula rucker & q-tip. like their comrades shabazz palaces, theesatisfaction came upon the scene with lovingly handmade cds of their self-released albums… in preparation for the album they’ve envisioned for years, their debut full-length on sub pop, awe naturale.
trembling bells & bonnie ‘prince’ billy – the marble downs – honest jons – lp
– just four years after their debut album carbeth, trembling bells are amassing a formidable body of work at a startling velocity. the glasgow quartet return to share the billing with a similarly restless creative spirit. when the young leeds-raised neilson found himself playing drums on alasdair roberts’ no earthly man, with oldham producing. in time, a friendship between mentor and student became one between two kindred musicians.
white fence – family perfume – woodsist – lp
– “fuck nostalgia. live the truth. truth is feeling, truth is sound, truth is motion. i am believing. i am seeing. i am moving. truth is forever. meet the tim presley / white fence truth serum. imagine, if you will, that your uncle frank, aunt jane and cousin ricky all made out with george harrison at the same time and felt good about it. that’s what the family perfume smells like. like the real shit. and this is just volume one.” – ty segall
various – the cool-aid benefit album: deluxe edition – regenerator – lp
– “at the end of the 1960s, there was a house in vancouver that was a home solely for hippies and homeless youth; it was known to locals as ‘the cool aid house.’ when the canadian government withdrew funding in 1970, the house was in danger of closing. all of the top bands in the vancouver area offered to record songs for a benefit album — and since the local music scene produced some of the best bands in canada, the album that resulted was stunning; it has long been a much sought-after collector’s item.”
various – hells angels on wheels: ost – reel time – lp
– this 1967 cult classic starred jack nicholson as a gas station attendant with attitude who falls in with a violent gang and falls foul of its leader, and is widely considered to be the best biker movie of the decade. its soundtrack is also one of the very best in the genre, with plentiful fuzz guitar, sitar, vibes and more, and makes its long-overdue 180 gram vinyl reissue here.
various – mondo hollywood: ost – reel time – lp
– released in the summer of 1967, this oddball documentary focused on the more unconventional inhabitants of hollywood, such as multi-millionaire lewis beech marvin III (founder of the mysterious moonfire cult), celebrity hairdresser jay sebring (later murdered by the manson gang) and psychedelic pioneer richard alpert (an associate of timothy leary at harvard).
*various – time to go: the southern psychedelic moment: 1981-86 – flying nun – 2lp
– in tomorrow. “[in the early ’80s] flying nun, just quietly, had a bit of an unexpected problem: success. in fact for a while there, as long as you kept turning over rocks, you’d find more and more great bands making unusual sounds. these were sounds which sometimes seemed to deliberately give the lyrical fingers (always two) to the straight world—or which other times seemed to be designed to totally derange your senses and fuck you up.”
*various – time will make a change – mississippi – lp+7″
– in tomorrow. “heavy compilation of hard to find gospel 7″s. a meditation on mortality & the meaning of life. side a features some fairly lo-fi but intense & emotional performances. side b gets even more lo-fi, but also a bit more rocking. mostly guitar based ensembles & solo performers with the occasional sparse organ & drums. artists include mira jean clark, rev. r henderson, the whirlwinds, ike gordon, bishop mcdaniels & many more. comes with a bonus 7″ featuring the amazing ethel proffit on guitar & vocals performing ‘death is not the end’ & ‘life is a battle’! one of our best compilations ever & not for the faint of heart. old school ‘tip on’ cover.”
*various – what remains of eden – mississippi – lp
– in tomorrow. subtitled: anatolian & levantine music 1928-1952. “compilation of anatolian & levantine 78’s recorded between 1928 & 1952. from the regions now known as turkey, syria, lebanon & egypt. beautiful classical solo improvisations, folk songs & ensemble rockers — all never reissued before on lp. compiled by ian nagoski. extensive liner notes featuring a meditation on the supposed site of the garden of eden, details on the artists & photos.”
…..7″ singles…..
grown ups – – mammoth cave – 7″
ishraqiyun/forms – saptarshi/radar – web of mimicry – 7″
nasal boys – hot love – sing sing – 7″
the nothing – scream n cry – sing sing – 7″
rottweiler – i’m down – sing sing – 7″
traditionalists – la chanson de jacky/western exile – web of mimicry – 7″
various – bloodstains across the prairies – mammoth cave – 7″
…..used goodies…..
cannonball adderly quintet – country preacher – capitol – lp
david bowie – young americans – rca – lp
david bowie – changes one – rca – lp
david bowie – changes two – rca – lp
david bowie – scary monsters – rca – lp
david bowie – starting point – london – lp
james brown – hot – columbia – lp
buffalo springfield – retrospective – atco – lp
byrds – preflyte – columbia – lp
elvis costello – get happy – columbia – lp
elvis costello – armed forces – columbia – lp
country joe & the fish – life and times of – vanguard – 2lp
sandy denny – north star grassman & the ravens – a&m – lp
sandy denny – like an old fashioned waltz – island – lp
julie driscoll, brian auger & the trinity – open – marmalade – lp
al green – truth ‘n time – hi – lp
herbie hancock – thrust – columbia – lp
herbie hancock – monster – columbia – lp
issac hayes – hot buttered soul – enterprise – lp
issac hayes – new horizon – polydor – lp
issac hayes – juicy fruit (disco freak) – abc – lp
issac hayes – don’t let go – polydor – lp
billy holiday – i’ll be seeing you – commodore – lp
kool & the gang – open sesame – enterprise – lp
yusef lateef – suite 16 – atlantic – lp
bob marley – chances are – warner – lp
bob marley & the wailers – uprising – island – lp
wilson pickett – join me and let’s be free – rca – lp
wilson pickett – miz lena’s boy – rca – lp
pink floyd – wish you were here – columbia – lp
prince & the revolution – parade – warner – lp
prince – controversy – warner – lp
shirley scott – queen of the organ – impulse – lp
stiff little fingers – go for it – chrysalis – lp
sugar cubes – here today, tomorrow next week – elektra – lp
talking heads – true stories – sire – lp
talking heads – little creatures – warner – lp
the wailers – burnin’ – island – 2lp
the wailers – reggae greats – island – lp
stevie wonder – ‘fulfillingness’ first finale – motown – lp
stevie wonder – music of my mind – motown – lp
link wray – live at the paradiso – passport – lp
various – golden rain: balinese gamelan music – nonesuch – lp
various – gamelan semar pegulingan: gamelan of the love god – nonesuch – lp
ost – apocalypse now – elektra – lp
ost – rock ‘n roll high school – sire – lp
…..restocks…..
*axxess – novels for the moon – medical – lp
*masaki batoh – brain pulse music – drag city – lp
beirut – gulag orkestar – ba da bing – lp
beirut – rip tide – pompeii – lp
*captain beefheart – clear spot – reprise – lp
consumers – all my friends are dead – in the red – lp
*karen dalton – it’s so hard to know who’s going to love you the best – light in the attic – lp
flying lotus – 1984 – plug research – lp
guided by voices – let’s go eat the factory – gbv – lp
*hot snakes – automatic midnight – swami – lp
*hot snakes – suicide invoice – swami – lp
*ted lucas – s/t – sebastian speaks – lp
*fred mcdowell – alan lomax recordings – mississippi – lp
*kim jung mi – now – lion – lp/cd
*mulatu & his orchestra – ethiopia – worthy – lp
joanna newsom – have one on me – drag city – 3lp
joanna newsom – ys – drag city – lp
oh no – dr. no’s ethiopium – disruption – lp
*om – god is good – drag city – lp
peaking lights – 936 – not not fun – lp
*pharaoh overlord – lunar – sige – lp
frankie rose – interstellar – slumberland – lp
*six organs of admittance – school of the flower – drag city – lp
t rex – the slider – fat possum – lp
tycho – dive – light in the attic – lp
*scott walker – scott 4 – 4 men with beards – lp
*wire – chairs missing – 4 men with beards – lp
*wire – pink flag – 4 men with beards – lp
thanks for listening…..
listen records
10443a – 124 street
edmonton, ab
t5n 1r7
780-732-1132