howdy all,
shockingly, with all this weather this week, not a single delivery has been late. i hope this continues all winter. ha. lots of awesome stuff in this week. it was hard to pick just one pick of the week, but if i added more, then i’d probably add 5 more, and that’s just silly…
…..pick of the week…..
*pye corner audio – sleep games – ghost box – lp
– sweeeet! a proper new album following the vinyl collection of the black mill tapes released earlier this year on type! “pye corner audio is the latest addition to the ghost box roster. it’s the work of kent based, former studio engineer martin jenkins, a regular live guest at ghost box’s belbury youth club events. it’s possible to detect echoes of john carpenter, italohorror soundtracks and a kind of post rave meltdown in jenkins’ submerged disco and spectral electronics. in one sense something of a departure for ghost box but at the same time a perfect fit for the label’s aesthetic, expanding its imaginary parallel past into an alternative future of concrete and ghosts. the usual lavish sleeve art by julian house puts flesh on pye corner’s electric bones. the visual ideas were worked up by house based on concepts developed by author and journalist mark fisher in conjunction with jenkins himself and the label’s boss jim jupp. the whole package adds beautifully to the on going, half-glimpsed narrative of the ghost box world and opens up new avenues for the label. “sleep games explores the non-places of belbury and invites you to join in a new kind of game that you will not want to stop playing.” the head technician
…..new arrivals…..
oren ambarchi & robin fox – connected – kranky – lp
– two of the most extraordinary artist/musicians working in australia today. both are renowned internationally for their individual practices, and here they join forces to produce powerful music that fuses ambarchi’s legendary guitar sound with fox’s mathematically rigorous tones and textures. this fusion results in sound works that stretch in scope from the sublime and spacious to the intensely dense and foreboding. treading a precarious line between music and abstract sound, between organic and inorganic tones, this collaboration is a must listen for anyone interested in contemporary soundworks.
*animal collective – spirit they’ve gone, spirit they’ve vanished – fat cat – lp
– friends and musical partners since 1992, core members avey tare and panda bear came together in 2000 with the intention of moving pop music in a new direction that would emphasize sonic experience. spirit they’re gone… was the world’s first exposure to a band who would soon become so ubiquitous in the indie lexicon that in 2012 it feels impossible to find corners of that musical landscape that have not been touched by their influence. finally available for the first time in north america on vinyl!
babies – our house on the hill – woodsist – lp
– their second album is their woodsist debut and the first with new bassist brian schleyer. hushed dirges, melancholic traveling odes and squealing rave-ups, all made cohesive by captivating songwriting and lyrical themes. organ, piano, saxophone and even strings enhance the aural atmosphere, which finds the band finally realizing a sound that can be called their own. simple yet thoughtful; familiar yet haunting. sweet but somber.
barbaras – 2006-2008 – goner – lp
– a handful of early-20s music heads colliding in the midtown bar scene and making a racket that captured vom and del shannon in a blender. one thing they didn’t do? record an album. although they tried. jay reatard recorded them in fits and starts between touring, but after taking two barbaras for his road band and touring constantly over the next few years, the group flamed out. the magic kids formed in their wake. when hayes and pope eventually left reatard’s band and joined wavves, he told them that he erased all of the barbaras recordings. in 2011, goner was excited to find the sessions safe and sound right where reatard had left them, on his digital recorder. there’s a barbaras album after all—and it’s a doozy.
black moth super rainbow – cobra juicy – rad cult – lp
– the roller rink is cracked. summer is seeping in. the lacquered floor boards are all warped, but the disco ball spins. ladies and gentlemen, bmsr has left the woods, and the man called tobacco lords over a gang of demon skaters from the dj booth of some greased up auditorium in a lost corner of pittsburgh. the band’s fifth lp declares death to hippies, excising all things flower power and tightening up what sprawl there was into a nastily bright pile of fuzzed guitar, live bass, hot synths and stubby rhythms: eleven pieces of hard candy licked, dipped in dirt, and wrapped up for you.
born gold – little sleepwalker – audraglint – lp
– the experimental pop project of cecil frena.. aka gobble gobble! a hermetic but rewarding journey through club and pop music signifiers carefully repurposed as something more insubordinate. grounded by an omnivorous beatscape spanning techno, juke, commercial pop, garage, shoegaze, club rap, and house, the record is a surreal and compellingly odd universe to itself that demands revisitation.
*circle – forest – full contact – lp
– available for the first time (?) on vinyl! “perhaps the most mellow (and greatest?) circle album ever! new wave of finnish psychedelic folk!” i agree wholeheartedly with that statement! limited 500 copies, black vinyl.
*circle – taantumus – full contact – lp
– years of waiting come to an end – circle’s taantumus on vinyl! taantumus just turned ten years old. originally released by the finnish label legend bad vugum, the album was born into a tumultuous world. bad vugum soon fell under, and after the small cd pressing sold out, taantumus became an instant cult rarity. lately a remastered cd version has materialized, and also the hunger for wax will be sated, finally, on november 30th, when ektro & svart bring out taantumus on double vinyl. the album features not only a beautiful gatefold jacket but also three bonus tracks in addition to the original album, which itself has been remastered for vinyl. compared to other titles in circle’s oeuvre taantumus is a bit closer to traditional rock music in terms of song structure and length. the album is an astonishingly varied package, full of explosive rock’n’roll moments, minimal caveman-style ambience and metallic epic rumble. a transitional masterpiece and a cornerstone of the band’s long career.
*circle – zopalki – full contact – lp
– re-released and remastered, the legendary second album from 1996 captures circle roaming the deep waters of monotonic ritual and manic psychedelia. the album marked the end of an era culminating their epic occult rock and roll. zopalki offers a penetrating glimpse into a time forever lost, but whose presence can still be perceived. the vinyl edition is a joint venture between ektro’s vinyl imprint full contact and svart records, and comes wrapped in a gatefold jacket and features an exclusive bonus track “contact”.
jonny greenwood – the master ost – nonesuch – lp
– nonesuch presents composer jonny greenwood’s soundtrack to oscar-nominated writer/director paul thomas anderson’s new film the master. the soundtrack comprises 11 compositions by greenwood along with four recordings from the movie’s era.
*steve hauschildt – sequitir – kranky – lp/cd
– “from steve hauschildt: ‘this new album was recorded in both vancouver and cleveland. i used almost 20 different instruments, from every decade from the 60’s to the present, most of them synthesizers, drum machines and effects. this gives the album a much wider palette than my last, and it also gives it a more classic/new sound, yet it is still a logical follow up to that lp.’ exactly one year on from his last album, steve hauschildt returns with his most commanding work to date. dense and lush arrangements conjure a retro-futuristic soundscape for a time that never was, or one that may yet arrive.”
ital – dream on – planet mu – lp
– his second release for planet mu this year, dream on is a proper full-length outing and a much more substantial record than the popular and critically acclaimed hive mind. on dream on, martin-mccormick takes his house and techno experiments even further, deconstructing sunny chords, laid-back drum shuffle and rhythmic vocal loops and threading them with a rich psychodrama of delirious textures, tidal chords and uneasy roughness and dissonance.
king dude – burning daylight – dais – lp
– last year’s release of king dude’s debut full-length masterpiece, love, saw a beautiful vision of what was in store for the future…and that future is now. coal dust spirituals mined from the haunting backwoods landscape of the pacific northwest. stories of the constant struggle of man’s turbulent affair with his lord and the devil. burning daylight produces a maturity and direction that in unparalleled…showing us the word, the way and the light.
*bruce langhorne – the hired hand ost – scissor tail – lp
– bruce langhorne’s film score to peter fonda’s 1971 cult classic “the hired hand” was bruce’s first solo album and peter fonda’s directoral debut and it’s just now seeing it’s first and limited appearance on vinyl and fittingly scissor tail editions inaugural vinyl release. langhorne is most known for his session work with artists in and around the greenwich village folk scene during the 1960’s. he would watch the film and play along to it as his girlfriend at the time would record him and play it back, allowing him to overdub farfisa organ, piano, banjo, fiddle, harmonica, recorder, and appalachian dulcimer onto his revox reel to reel. the results were a uniquely wide and lonesome soundscape. the closest comparison might be sandy bull or possibly john fahey, but nothing of its kind or even of it’s time poses a close resemblance to langhorne’s minimal masterpiece displayed here on vinyl for the first time.
the legs – aaaa, the new memphis – goner – lp
– blood and beer-encrusted recordings from the epochal year 2000: once mammoth texas guitar noisemaker james arthur moved from los angeles to memphis and began hanging out with local roustabout eric “oblivian” friedl, the legs were inevitable. the legs were a short-lived, yet highly entertaining memphis club favorite, playing alongside reatards, jeffrey evans and other memphis talents of the time.
melody’s echo chamber – s/t – fat possum – lp/cd
– tecently recorded and mixed with tame impala’s kevin parker in perth and at her grandparents’ beach house in cavalière, france, one-woman parisian outfit melody’s echo chamber’s debut full-length is a kaleidoscopic fusion of psych rock and warm hypnotic pop.
*neurosis – honor found – neurot – cd
– new album from this essential doom outfit! the music on honor found in decay is both torturous and transcendent. it is the ongoing exposition of a vast internal dialogue that seems to carry the weight of eons.
*pelt – effigy – mie – lp
– recorded live in 2011 in wisconsin (at an old yoga studio and at a decommissioned synagogue), effigy melts layer upon layer of droning strings over never-ending harmoniums while peals of gongs ring out to mesmerizing effect-a testament to the ancient animal-shaped effigy mounds which dot the landscape in and around madison, wisconsin. edition of 500.
sonic youth – smart bar chicago 1985 – goofin – lp/cd
– in the fall of 1985, sonic youth were touring the states following the release of their bad moon rising lp. this show at chicago’s smart bar was recorded on 4-track cassette and consists of live versions of most of the songs from that album, early performances of “secret girl” and “expressway to yr skull” (later to be released on evol) and a rare, never-before-released live rendition of “kat ‘n’ hat.”
*ghedalia tazartes – coda lunga – von – lp+dvd
– a fantastic journey beyong India, through countries of the imagination. another trans-genre and cross-cultural experience by the french master. a double journey into kerala in india, ghedalia tazartes immerses himself into the sea of indian traditions in kerala, from katakhali dance and music to field recordings, one of his most daring and extravagant releases.
tyvek – on triple beams – in the red – lp/cd
– tyvek’s third album, on triple beams, picks up where the blistering proto-hardcore of the nothing fits record leaves off, but doesn’t tarry long in familiar zones. the melodies open up into a much more spacious musical headspace, channeling unexpected positivity. searing punk rock is still the order of the day, and the tunes are just bangin’. and in case there’s any doubt: these are tunes in a major way-the songwriting chops are on this album are completely out of place in the 2012 bumper crop of plastic platters.
u.s. girls – gem – fat cat – lp
– even as she’s inevitably been lumped in with other diy solo artists such as inca ore and sally strobelight, her influence has unwaveringly been declared to lie with oldies radio and the distinctly american songcraft of writers like tom petty and bruce springsteen (whom she covered to startling effect on introducing). “for every melodic nugget, there’s a hallucinatory loop, a cloudy drone, or what sounds like the remnants of an exploded pop song– half of a chorus, shards of a hook– echoing in the distance.” – Pitchfork
uv race – racism – in the red – lp
– the third album by australia’s most genius avant-tards the uv race, dragging melodious pop songs through a devolved, malodorous glam-punk aesthetic. it continues the stylistic jump from their self-titled debut to sophomore full-length homo, further exploring the possibilities of the first wave of punk, incorporating orchestral arrangements and gutter-glitter psych stomp, like if vom tried to write their own forever changes; like if the electric eels backed up bolan or if the fall put out a record on crass records. *gareth williams & marie currie – flaming tunes – blackest ever black – lp
– back in stock! massively essential! likely our last copies… don’t sleep. “this remarkable album was recorded after williams had left this heat and returned from the first of several trips to india. it was officially released on cassette in 1985, before being bootlegged on cd more than a decade later. the album marked a conscious attempt to create a music with a different mood and texture to that of this heat, one which would allow the full expression of his eclectic and distinctive tastes.”
*woo – it’s cosy inside – drag city – lp
– what is woo? woo are the two brothers mark and clive ives, who in the 1980s made a pair of addictively appealing yet largely unknown records. their second, it’s cosy inside, released in 1989, qualifies as some of the most electronic organic music ever made. “only mark and clive ives, as woo, seem to be able to effortlessly combine elements of english folk music, jazz, electronic experimentalism, bits of playful easy listening, and now in this latest release, an occasional electronic reggae shuffle. their music is fun, serious, adventurous, smoky, eerie, pretty, uplifting, a beehive of activity, joyful, and loving. it’s cosy inside takes you there all in one snug package.”
…..restocks…..
*sir richard bishop – freak of araby – drag city – lp
chromatics – night drive – italians do it better – lp
city & colour – little hell – dine alone – lp
the clash – give em enough rope – drastic plastic – lp
*dead c – clyma est mort – ba da bing – lp
*dead c – dr503 + sunstabbed – ba da bing – lp
eagle twin – feather tipped… – southern lord – lp
*harmonia – musik von harmonia – lilith – lp
p.j. harvey – let england shake – island – lp
*tim hecker – in an imaginary country – kranky – lp
lcd soundsystem – s/t – dfa – lp
lcd soundsystem – sound of silver – dfa – lp
lcd soundsystem – this is happening – dfa – lp
m83 – hurry up we’re dreaming – mute – lp
*natural snow buildings – night coercion… – ba da bing – 3cd
nirvana – in utero – geffen – lp
*six organs of admittance – school of the flower – drag city – lp
swans – my father will guide me… – young god – lp
*swans – seer – young god – 3lp
*symmetry – themes for an imaginary soundtrack – italians do it better – 3lp
*wire – 154 – 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
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edmonton, ab
t5n 1r7
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