Alright, that wasn’t so hard… and this one was way longer than last week’s. There seems to be a rather positive response to the new format of this news letter, so I guess we’ll keep it. Loads of rad stuff this week and some early arrivals of stuff for next week too….
…..picks of the week…..
Kawabata Makoto’s Mainliner: Revelation Space (Riot Season) LP
One of the most celebrated Japanese underground bands have returned. It may have taken over 12 years, but Kawabata Makoto, guitar guru and head honcho in Acid Mothers Temple, has finally decided to get his celebrated “psychedelic solid free attack group” back together. Joining original Mainliner members Kawabata Makoto (motorpsycho guitar) and Koji Shimura (drums) is new recruitKawabe Taigen (bass/vocals) and the trio still kick up one hell of a sonic racket. Confusion surrounds the exact details of the recording, but they seem to date from December 2011, and from Kawabata’s mountain-top temple studio-cum-home. The man himself, as always, is shying away from sharing too many of the magick details about the Mainliner rebirth. And the stark, minimal black-with-gold sleeve keeps the mystery intact, apart from the grainy band photo on the rear. All said, Revelation Space is a comeback statement of intent. And it’s firmly in the same in-the-red/raw camp as the original trio’s classic Mellow Out. From the initial speaker-shaking feedback burst of opener “Revelation Space,” right through to the closing 20-minute epic “New Sun” (which showcases Taigen’s otherworldly howl perfectly) there is no let-up in the brutal delivery. This will no doubt delight those Mainliner diehards who never thought they’d see the day again, and all those with a love of guitar howls and punishing feedback levels, but always underpinned by some righteous grooves. Sample it here!
*Jerusalem In My Heart: Mo7it Al-Mo7it (Constellation) LP
“Jerusalem in My Heart (JIMH) has been a live audio-visual happening since 2005, with Montréal-based producer and musician Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at its core. Moumneh is a Lebanese national who has spent a large part of his adult life in Canada and has been a fixture of the Montréal independent music community from his early days as guitarist in various notable ’90s hardcore bands to his tireless activity as a sound engineer and producer over the last decade. With performances occurring one to three times per year, no two JIMH events have ever been the same, with Moumneh’s vocals and purposefully blown-out sonic sensibility as the single constant. JIMH has always been an immersive sonic and visual live experience; on the musical side, an evolving effort to forge a modern experimental Arabic music that weds melismatic singing in classical Arabic modes to electronic compositions with a punk-rock production sensibility. Mo7it Al-Mo7it, a unique and profoundly emotive album of contemporary Arabic music, captures and conveys all of this.” Sample it here!
…..new arrivals…..
Alessandro Alessandroni: I Cantori Moderni (Penny) 2LP
“Commercially available for the first time, this 1970 library album by Alessandro Alessandroni is the only existing full-length recording of his extraordinary vocal group, I Cantori Moderni, an eight-to-sixteen person choir featuring Edda Dell’Orso, Giulia De Mutiis (Alessandroni’s first wife), Gianna Spagnuolo, Augusto Giardino, and Franco Cosacchi, and highlighting, through twelve original themes by Alessandroni, the complex vocal harmonies of the legendary group that lent their voices to the amazing soundtracks of Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani and many of the most important Italian composers of the ’60s and ’70s.” Sample it here!
Ariel Pink: Thrash & Burn (Human Ear) 2CD
An absorbing look at Ariel Rosenberg’s early musique concrète epic. Thrash and Burn dates from a time when Ariel Rosenberg, then a few years from turning “Pink,” first proclaimed himself a “20th Century Composer” without a trace of irony in his voice. Appropriately, this early work takes the form of a musique concrète epic forged from Rosenberg’s late-’90s faux-primitif, garage-punk, and tape-loop experiments. At 94 minutes and 36 tracks, Thrash and Burn displays the symphonic ambitions of his genre-devouring pop saga, Haunted Graffiti, but with little in the way of fastidious album-oriented constructions. Rather, Thrash and Burn is a free-form tape ramble that uses gauzy atmospherics to strike up a wicked dialogue with the likes of Rosenberg’s non-pop influences, like Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Schaeffer, and Luc Ferrari. Thrash and Burn was discovered in 2005, in an ankle-deep pile of cracked cassettes and scratched CD-R’s in Rosenberg’s Beverly Hills flat. Grier and Rosenberg then made an initial reconstruction attempt, and Thrash and Burn became a 4-cassette box set for the inaugural release of Human Ear Music, in 2006. The Wikipedia page for Thrash and Burn places its origin sometime in 1998. Sample it here!
Bardo Pond: Ticket Crystals (Fire) 2LP
“The sixth studio album from Philadelphia’s foremost purveyors of psychedelic space rock. Appearing for the first time on double heavy weight vinyl and with brand new artwork by Joy Feasley, Bardo Pond’s 2006 album Ticket Crystals exemplifies the quintet’s signature doom tempo, multi-layered drones while introducing a lighter pastoral feel.” Sample it here!
Debashish Bhattacharya & Friends: Beyond the Ragasphere (Riverboat) LP
Late Record Store Day arrival! Guitar legends John McLaughlin and Jerry Douglas collaborate with Indian slide guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya to explore Beyond The Ragasphere, accompanied by a galaxy of friends including tabla giants Pandit Bickram Ghosh and Tanmoy Bose and introducing the stunning vocals of Anandi Bhattacharya. Sample it here!
Bibio: Silver Wilkinson (Warp) LP
“First new music since 2011 from one of Warp’s most highly respected young artists. Bibio strives for what could be called a panoramic filmic sound. A combination of what he’d already learned from the past and what he still wanted to achieve. From this mixture of years of experience and exploration of new sounds results a meditative and mature album.” Sample it here!
Nicholas Bullen: Component Fixations (Type) LP
To this day, Nicholas Bullen is best-known as a founding member of arguably grindcore’s most important act: Napalm Death. Although he decided to call it a day before the band slipped into the mainstream circuit, his sonic fingerprints were all over their influential debut Scum, and he’s been breaking boundaries ever since. A key figure in Birmingham’s experimental scene, Bullen was also a founding member of Scorn and has been involved in a variety of projects since. Over 30 years later we arrive to Component Fixations, an album that Bullen has been contemplating, working, and reworking for some time. It is, after all, his solo debut proper, and as such is a work that absolutely represents him as an artist both visually and aurally. Taking influence from the early electronic artists of the 1960s, Bullen has fused this passion with his own musically explorative past, resulting in an album of beguiling tape-manipulations, drones and noise. Component Fixations is far more than a simple exercise in academic sound, and Bullen has injected his long-form pieces with a rare mortal sense of corruption and failure. Every single sound on the album was taken from field recordings captured in the confines of Bullen’s house and garden, and this only serves to confirm the unshakable humanity of the record. Component Fixations might be a long way from Scum, but dig deep and you’ll find the same curious mind, desperate to pull apart sounds and give them a brand-new meaning. Extreme doesn’t have to mean loud, after all. Sample it here!
Caretaker:
An Empty BlissBeyond This World
Patience (After Siebald)
Persistent Repetition of Phrases (History Always Favours The Winners) LPs
Limited (read: already sold out at the source) represses of all three of these highly sought after albums by Leyland Kirby as The Caretaker! Kirby’s work as The Caretaker has always dealt with the suggestion of haunted memory and the obscuring of temporal motion, and this album makes that more explicit than ever, with titles that reference amnesia, Alzheimer’s, past life regression and other such memory misfires and short circuits. Musically, this album might be compared to Philip Jeck’s manipulated vinyl tracts, featuring similarly oceanic swells of crackle and dust, with faded pianos or big band sounds wafting wraith-like across the mix. After conjuring the sinister atmospherics of The Shining with his debut album Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom, The Caretaker has been chasing this idea of sound leaving its indelible mark on a space and time, so consequently these creepy, semi-dissolved musical passages sound no more tangible than shadows, and the album for the most part comes across as some sort of séance held via wax cylinder. Sample it here! And here!
Co La: Moody Coup (Software) LP
“Co La is the primary project of musician and producer Matt Papich, whose explorations of sample-based electronic music have culminated in Moody Coup. The emotional palette of Moody Coup, Papich’s second album and first for Software Recording Co., is more complex than its exuberant predecessor Daydream Repeater. Where that record’s relentlessly bucolic tone drew from the saccharine core of reggae, exotica, and ’60s girl groups, the bedrock of Moody Coup is elusive and abstract. The various genre coinages that have been tagged to Co La’s music before – new exotica, avant-luxury, furniture music, etc. – fail to accommodate the brainier obsessions behind Moody Coup’s genesis. A new brand of alchemy occurs in the album, where cryptic sources are enhanced and embellished to a point of transcendence. This departure is the brilliant process of Co La’s unpredictable electronic music.” Sample it here!
Daft Punk: Random Access Memories (Columbia) LP/CD
In tomorrow? The highly anticipated fourth album from the critically acclaimed techno outfit DAFT PUNK is almost here!! The album features collaborations with artists including Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, Giorgio Moroder, Pharrell Williams, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales, Panda Bear and Julian Casablancas. Sample it here!
*Dalhous: An Ambassador For Laing (Blackest Ever Black) LP
Debut album from the Edinburgh-based duo of Marc Dall and Alex Ander, who work with intricately-stacked percussion, dub-wise bass and a rich harmonic tapestry of processed voices, keys, harp, vibraphone, guitar, woodwind, strings and synthesizer — every sound re-sampled to the nth degree then subjected to subtle automation and rigorously fine-tuned over a period of many months. From the mesmerizing, pastoral drift of “Anger Sees Red” and “Dwelling by the Meadow” to agitated arabesques like “The Physical Body” and the self-titled “Dalhous,” the resulting pieces explore dream-like but treacherous terrain. Eleven questions in a world of blue. Sample it here!
*JD Emmanuel: Time Traveller (Aguirre) 2LP
Kudos to Lieven Martens of Dolphins Into The Future for bringing J.D. Emmanuel back into the spotlight. In 2007, Lieven dug up the masterpiece album Wizards and re-issued it on his own label. A few years later, in 2011, J.D. was asked to tour through Europe where he was accompanied by Dolphins Into The Future and Paul LaBrecque. Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, and Holland welcomed J.D. and the people attending the concerts knew they were in for an electronic blast from the past. This 2LP set covers the tour with a great deal of unreleased live tracks. The live recordings show J.D.’s phenomenal skill to create a universe of swirling and constantly turning sounds. He’s up there in the big league of early electronic and new age pioneers with the likes of Iasos, Laurie Spiegel, and Trans-Millenia Consort. Some words from the man himself: “After my European tour, I decided to use the name Time Traveler to describe my music because it can put the listener into a state where time seems to disappear. This is my goal with my music, to create an altered state for expanding consciousness.” Sample it here!
*Grim Tower: Anarchic Breezes (Outer Battery) LP 
“Grim Tower is the collaborative project of Stephen McBean (vocals/guitar/synths) and Imaad Wasif (vocals/guitar). The album, called Anarchic Breezes, was written around the central idea of a new acoustic death folk, yet could be heard as equal parts Harry Smith and Harry Pussy. Both songwriters, Canadians now based in Los Angeles, come together on Anarchic Breezes to explore a mutual interest in the darker traditions of song and detuning found in the American primitive archives. The album features the ancillary rhythm section of Rob Barbato (bass) and Dan Allaire (drums), also L.A. musicians with roots deep in the modern psych movement. Anarchic Breezes was recorded by S. McBean at his home studio, with additional recording by Rob Campanella at the Jonestown Studios. It contains nine originals and one cover, the obscure ‘Leaving My Old Life Behind’ by Jonathan Halper as featured in Kenneth Anger’sPuce Moment. It was mixed by Mark Nevers (Will Oldham, Silver Jews, Calexico, Vic Chesnutt) at Beech House Studios in Nashville. The two voices on this album serve as mediums to a yet unheard music. Let the free ride the breeze.” Sample it here!
Jim Guthrie: Takes Time (Static Clang) LP
Nearly ten years removed from his last proper full-length, Jim Guthrie is finally back in the game, not that he hasn’t been around. From scoring films and video games to performing with about a zillion other bands (Royal City, Islands, Human Highway, etc.), Guthrie has been something of a hot commodity in the Canadian scene. And it’s easy to see why. With Takes Time, the Toronto-based, Guelph-bred multi-instrumentalist has created a masterwork of stately, intelligent pop, at once gleefully anachronistic and deeply satisfying. Over the span of 11 tracks, Guthrie traverses a variety of musical terrain. Sometimes these things take time. Stream it here!
*Otis G Johnson: Everything (Numero) LP 
“For outsider gospel visionary and Detroit native Otis G. Johnson, the Holy Ghost was in the machine… in this case a rhythm-equipped Hammond organ. Everything – God Is Love 78, a singular 1978 mid-fi document, features android percussion against chords of Otis’s own invention, possessed by minor tonality and frequent bum notes. Lifting it further are extemporaneous vocal homilies to the rapture, love, and everything, plus occasional ‘other’ voicings that scratch at the periphery of the mix. Homespun gospel rarely entered this dirge-like, intuitive space, nor did it commonly achieve such a spectral and captivating hymn to its darkest conventions.” Sample it here!
*Kink Gong: Voices (Descrepant) LP
Laurent Jeanneau’s, aka Kink Gong’s, electronic project continues on Discrepant. Since the end of the ’90s, Laurent Jeanneau, also an integral Sublime Frequencies contributor, has been recording the music of mostly endangered minorities of South East Asia. Alongside his relentless pursuit of remote, exotic, and unpublished musical traditions, he also started creating electronic versions by combining raw recordings with natural sounds, archive material and electronically-treated sounds. For Voices, Laurent based his alternate re-versions around the extensive voice recordings he made on location in the southern regions of Yunnan and Guizhou in China as well as in Sapa, North Vietnam, and Phongsaly, Northern Laos. The compositions contain unedited acoustic recordings, computer modified parts, sound collages and acoustic recordings of people and instruments. All tracks were recorded on location and re-arranged by Laurent Jeanneau in Dali, China. Special vinyl one-time pressing of 300 copies. Sample it here!
Major Lazer: Free the Universe (Secretly Canadian) LP
“After releasing their landmark LP Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do in 2009, the heroic production duo of Diplo and Switch found themselves boldly marching forwards toward the end of the aughts, conquering major milestones. Now, as the sole executive producer of Major Lazer, Diplo continues to spearhead the current dancehall revival movement with the upcoming release Free The Universe. The recording includes exciting collaborations with Bruno Mars, Tyga, Flux Pavillion, Wynter Gordon, Shaggy, Wyclef, Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend, Dev and more.” Sample it here!
Lubomyr Melnyk: Corollaries (Erased Tapes) CD
Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk — the pioneer of Continuous Piano Music — presents his first release on UK label Erased Tapes. Melnyk is a true innovator, exploring new directions in contemporary music. Classically-trained and greatly affected by the minimalist movement in the early 1970s, the Ukrainian pianist developed his own unique language for the piano, named after the principle of maintaining a continuous, unbroken stream of sound. Melnyk has shown a remarkable devotion to the instrument, always striving to discover new ways of composing music in the continuous mode. His focus is on the actual sound of the piano as much as the harmonies and melodies of the music. Playing rapid and complex note patterns made Lubomyr one of the world’s fastest concert pianists. His virtuoso piano technique forms overtones that blend, collide or even create new melodies in rare moments, and thereby shape the composition beyond its original form. Sample it here!
Melvins: Everybody Loves Sausages (Ipecac) CD
“An album of covers of songs the band says have had a big influence on them. The tracks covered range from glam rock (Queen’s ‘Best Friend’) to mod rock (The Jam’s ‘Art School’), with plenty of hard rock and even Divine’s “Female Trouble” thrown in for good measure. Everybody Loves Sausage also features several guest musicians like Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Neurosis’ Scott Kelly, as well as some tracks recorded by the ‘Melvins Lite’ lineup of Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, and Trevor Dunn.” – Eric Thurm // “This record will give people a peak into the kind of things that influence us musically,” explains Buzz Osborne. “We REALLY like all of these songs along with the bands who actually wrote this stuff because first and foremost we are HUGE music fans.” Sample it here!
The National: Trouble Will Find Me (4AD) CD
LP in hopefully tomorrow… This is the sixth studio offering for the Brooklyn band, and follows 2010’s critical and commercial success “High Violet”. The new album is the most self-assured collection of songs produced by The National in it’s 14-year career. In an interview with UK’s UNCUT Magazine, front man Matt Berninger described the songs as more “immediate and visceral” than their previous work. “Trouble Will Find Me” possesses a directness, a coherency and an approachability that suggests The National are at their most confident. Sample it here!
Not Waving: Umwelt (Ecstatic) LP
“I want to give a sound to places I don’t know.” throbbing/ /textural/ /noise/ /processed/ /casualties/ /mistakes/ /accidents/ /anxiety/ /claustrophobia/ /abandon/ /absention/ /escapism. Inspired by ’80s weird Italian electronica, Manuel Göttsching, Peter Baumann, This Heat, Ike Yard. “Remote Viewing” is a powerful, paranormal technique developed in the 1970s at Stanford Research Institute and used by the U.S. government. analog pedals/ /synths/ /drum machine/ /guitar/ /violin//voice. Written, produced and recorded between September and December 2012 in London. Limited edition transparent vinyl of 300 copies only. Mastered by Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) at New Atlantis Studios. Sample it here!
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou: Volume 3 – The Skeletal Essences of Afro-Funk 1969-1980 (Analog Africa) CD
Sale priced in our listening post! Analog Africa presents a new compilation of 14 funky tracks by the legendary Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou from Benin. Starting in 2005, Samy Ben Redjeb, Analog Africa’s founder and compiler, made several trips to Benin, where he dug up most of the orchestra’s output recorded between 1969 and 1983: hundreds of vinyl records and a few master tapes, in a total of 500 songs. With all that material in hands and the astonishing richness of the group’s material, choosing the songs proved to be a tough task. The 14 tracks presented here have never been issued outside of Africa and most of them follow the spirit and sound of the first volume, The Vodoun Effect, which was a selection of songs released by small and obscure labels from this tiny country which was once known as Dahomey. One thing that immediately catches the attention listening to this compilation is the band’s steamroller-like grooves employed by Gustave Bentho, the mythical bass master, and Leopold Yehouessi, the fantastic drummer — for many, Africa’s funkiest rhythm sections. The soul of the music he created has permanently engraved itself in the soil of Benin. Sample it here!
*Mike Patton: The Place Beyond the Pines OST (Milan) LP 
The Place Beyond the Pines is Derek Cianfrance upcoming crime drama film. The film reunites Cianfance and Ryan Gosling with whom he worked on 2010’s “Blue Valentine.” The daring movie is a sweeping emotional drama powerfully exploring the unbreakable bond between fathers and sons. Mike Patton, American singer- songwriter and multi instrumentalist best known as the lead singer of the rock band Faith No More delivers a sweeping and brooding score. Like a red thread, his music guides the audience through this multi-generational story often linking characters and locations. Sample it here!
Iggy & The Stooges: Ready to Die (Fat Possum) LP
Better 40 years later than never: The follow-up to the first record ever to bear the Iggy and the Stooges logo–the immortal proto-punk masterpiece Raw Power. Ready To Die finds Iggy Pop,guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott “Rock Action” Asheton reunited for a full album of all-new material for the first time since the legendary Raw Power sessions, with Mike Watt filling in for the late Ron Asheton on bass. The results are the closest thing to a time capsule to 1973–or at least to Iggy’s subsequent efforts with Williamson, including 1977’s Kill City and 1979’s New Values–that rock ‘n’ roll is likely to proffer in this millennium. Sample it here!
Pure X: Crawling Up The Stairs (Acephale) LP 
The title of this record is the perfect metaphor for Austin, TX band Pure X’s evolving sound. On their great, though somewhat elusive, debut, Nate Grace’s crooning vocals were buried under layers of ambient guitars. Here, they’re slowly climbing out of the murk to take centre stage without abandoning the group’s penchant for Galaxie 500-esque, floating vibes. The change is the product of a group finding their footing and playing to their strengths. Grace’s voice fluctuates between a Jarvis Cocker speak-sing and soulful falsetto, creating tiny ambient pop masterpieces like the sublime “Someone Else” and the chiming “Thousand Year Old Child.” Pure X were always a band with a distinct sonic template, but the haze was as much a mask as calling card. With Crawling Up the Stairs, the masks are off for the world to hear. Sample it here!
Saltland: I Thought It Was Us, But It Was All Of Us (Constellation) LP
Saltland is the new project led by Montreal-based cellist Rebecca Foon (Esmerine, ex-Silver Mt. Zion), joined by Jamie Thompson (Unicorns, Esmerine) on miniature percussion, programming and signal processing. I Thought It Was Us But It Was All Of Us is a beautifully restrained debut album that telescopes the directness and delicacy of Foon’s compositional and vocal styles into lush, twilight atmospheres aglow with luminescent tendrils and flickering particles. Foon sings of childhood innocence lost, of serene utopic reveries and downcast dystopic horizons, and the search for soft, stoic strength in a darkening world, in most cases propelled by Thompson’s handmade percussion and understated programming/processing. The album’s ambience also owes much to the work of Mark Lawson, the award-winning producer (Arcade Fire) who collaborated closely with Foon to record and mix these songs. With contributions from Laurel Sprengelmeyer and Jess Robertson (Little Scream), Mishka Stein (Patrick Watson), Colin Stetson (Bon Iver), Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) among others, Saltland offers up an unassumingly immersive debut album of searching songs that blend several core influences into a distinctively naturalistic sound. Saltland stakes out a unique space where minimalism, shoegaze, dream-pop, coldwave, chamber music, drone and ambient/electronic coexist and coalesce. Sample it here!
Manfred Schoof Orchestra: European Echoes (Cien Fuegos) LP 
Cien Fuegos presents a 1969 album from the Manfred Schoof Orchestra — headed up by popular European avant-garde jazz figure, Manfred Schoof. Originally issued on FMP, the label’s first release. Features appearances from musicians such as Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Paul Rutherford, Evan Parker. Born 1936 in Magdeburg, Manfred Schoof is one of the most popular jazz avant-gardists in Europe. He played in projects like Globe Unity Orchestra, Manfred Schoof Quintet, New Jazz Trio, and many more. Since 1990, he has taught music at the University Of Cologne and works for television and radio. He composed the music for “The Program With The Mouse.” Enrico Rava (trumpet); Manfred Schoof (trumpet); Hugh Steinmetz (trumpet); Peter Brötzmann (tenor saxophone); Gerd Dudek (tenor saxophone); Evan Parker (soprano saxophone); Paul Rutherford (trombone); Derek Bailey (guitar); Fred Van Hove (piano); Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano); Irène Schweizer (piano); Arjen Gorter (double bass); Peter Kowald (double bass); Buschi Niebergall (double bass); Han Bennink (drums); Pierre Favre (drums). Recorded by an unknown engineer in June 1969, in Bremen. Produced by Jost Gebers. Cover design: Wolf Walt. Photograph by Johannes Muth.
Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun (Fat Cat) LP
Late Record Store Day reissue of their classic second album! Need I say more. Sample it here!
Songs: Ohia: Hecla & Griper (Secretly Canadian) LP
Songwriter Jason Molina tragically passed away last month, fans will be able to revisit one of his classic works with Songs: Ohia via a 15th anniversary edition of the 1997 EP Hecla & Griper. The reissue will mark the first time the collection has ever been available on vinyl. Even better, the original eight-song EP comes beefed up with four bonus tracks; two of these are previously unreleased (“Debts” and “Pilot & Friend”) while the other two were later redone for 1998’s Impala (“Hearts Newly Arrived” and “One of Those Uncertain Hands”). Sample it here!
*Twink: Think Pink (Sunbeam) LP
Recorded in London in July 1969, and featuring members of Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Deviants, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, the legendary Think Pink is one of the hallowed relics of British underground rock. Masterminded by John “Twink” Alder, who fully participated in this comprehensive reissue, it is presented here with detailed background notes, eight bonus tracks and rare pictures, making it truly essential for all fans of true psychedelia. Sample it here!
*Ugly Things #35 Magazine 
“This special landmark 30th anniversary issue features cover stories on The Seeds, The Nazz, and The Radiators from Space. Inside there are a bunch more stupendously cool and intriguing stories including Ty Wagner (‘I’m A No Count’), The Sons of Fred, The Paragons (‘Abba’), The Focal Point, Thunder & Roses, The Suzannes, and a profusely illustrated history of Ann Arbor, Michigan’s fabled teen club, the Fifth Dimension (The Who, the Yardbirds, the MC5, and the Stooges were among the many bands to have played there in the late ’60s). Cyril Jordan’s ’60s memoir continues with his rundown of the year 1965, while Greg Prevost takes a look at New York Dolls collectibles with a running commentary from Johnny Thunders himself. We’ll also take a look back over 30 years of publishing Ugly Things. All this and our extensive review sections covering all the latest reissues, rock’n’roll books and DVDs.”
Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City (XL) LP/CD
Vampire Weekend recently announced that their much anticipated follow-up to 2010’s #1 Gold Certified “Contra”, “Modern Vampires of the City”, will be available May 7th. For this album, band members Rostam Batmanglij and Ezra Koenig traveled to LA to collaborate with Rostam’s longtime friend, and fellow producer, Ariel Rechtshaid. They brought with them writing and recording sessions from New York and Martha’s Vineyard and began to stride towards realizing the finished album and were later joined by drummer Chris Tomson and bassist Chris Baio. The album is a bustling world of voices and visions – from the death of Henry Hudson to the Orthodox girl falling in love at an uptown falafel shop, from Hannah Hunt tearing up the New York Times on a distant beach to the lethal chandelier of “Everlasting Arms”, from the ardent yearning of “Don’t Lie” to the harmonized voice of hope in “Young Lion”. Sample it here!
Velvet Underground: At The End of Cole Ave. – Second Night (Keyhole) 2CD 
The Velvet Underground were arguably at their live peak in late 1969. Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker, and Doug Yule (who’d replaced John Cale a full year previously) had developed into a sensationally tight and adventurous quartet, and this show — the second of two recorded on consecutive nights before a tiny audience in Dallas, Texas — is considered by many of their fans to be the finest surviving document of them in performance. Remastered sound. Background notes included. Sample it here!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Mosquito (Keyhole) 2CD
‘We would love for this music to make our fans feeeeel something, for it to stir some sh*t up inside of them, whatever that may be,’ says singer Karen O. ‘SO much feeling went into this record, it was the rope ladder thrown down into the ditch for us to climb up and dust ourselves off. I hope others can climb up it too; we’re excited to share the good vibes.’ Who is responsible for that cover!!! Sample it here!
Various: A Fistful of Fuzz (Particles) CD 
Originally issued in a tiny edition in 1998, this legendary compilation assembles some of the most fuzz-drenched obscurities to have emerged from late ’60s America. From Arizona to New York, Rhode Island to Texas, there’s enough attitude here to fuel teenage angst for centuries to come. This mindblowing set comes complete with background notes and rare photos, making it truly essential for garage psych addicts. Remastered sound. Artists include: John Doe & The Acetates, The Sound Apparatus, The Ruins, The Prodigal, The Journey Back, Sounds Synonymous, Pretty, The Aliens, The Ritual,The In-Keepers, Loos Foos & The Fiberglass Cornflake, Flying Circus, The Denims, Don Malena & The Dry Ice, Thackeray Rocke,Tapestry Garden, The Green Slime, and Peabody Company.
*Various: Good God! Apocryphal Hymns (Numero) LP/CD
“The third installment in Numero’s series of otherworldly gospel, robed funk, and spiritual soul, Apocryphal Hymns is a slim new gospel songbook, penned powerfully by the genre’s lesser-known disciples. Here, heavenly harmonies, psychedelic guitars, damaged sacred steel, a bleeding French horn, off-kilter choirs, and consumer-side electronic percussion decorate the Word, with performance modes that stray far from the flock, but hew always to the message. In homage to the stock jacket record industry of the 1970s, select one of these four alternate covers: woodland twilight, seashore morning, mountain waterfall, and sunbeam canyon.”
*Various: Kenya Special (Soundways) 3LP/2CD 
Soundway Records present Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & ’80s — a treasure-trove of rare and unusual recordings from East Africa. Spread out over two CDs, Kenya Special is accompanied by detailed liner notes, original artwork and photographs. It follows on from Soundway’s much-acclaimed African “Special” series that to date has focused on the highlife and Afrobeat output from 1970s Nigeria and Ghana. Kenya Special is a collection of 32 recordings that stand out as being different or unique as well as some classic genre standards. Many of the tracks featured here are peppered with innovation and experimentation, highlighting how diverse the music scene in Kenya was at the time. Painstakingly compiled, assembled and researched over two years by a team of five people from five countries (Kenya included), Kenya Special is a collection that looks beyond the mainstream and brings new life and recognition to some little-known gems and forgotten classics of Kenya’s past. Sample it here!
…..restocks…..
bahamas: barchords (universal) LP
beatles: white album (apple) 2LP
beatles: yellow submarine (apple) LP
black keys: attack & release (nonesuch) LP
black keys: big come up (alive) LP
black keys: brotheres (nonesuch) LP
captain beefheart: safe as milk (reprise) LP
city & colour: little hell (dine alone) LP
crystal castles: III (last gang) LP
dead kennedys: fruit fruit for rotting vegetables (manifesto) LP
dead kennedys: gimme convenience… (manifesto) LP
*el-g: mil plutton (alter) LP
*bill fay: s/t (4 men with beards/esoteric) LP/CD
flaming lips: hear it is (plain) LP
fleet foxes: s/t (sub pop) LP
florence & the machine: ceremonials (island) LP
flying lotus: los angeles (warp) LP
flying lotus: until the quiet comes (warp) LP
fuzz: sleigh ride (in the red) 7″
*gruppo di improvvisazione nuovo consonanza: musica su schemi (superior viaduct) LP
*bo hansson: sagan om ringen (lord of the rings) (silence) CD
*harvester: hemat (silence) LP
*tim hecker: dropped pianos (kranky) LP
*d.r. hooker: the truth (hear music) LP
joy division: ymca 1979 (acme) LP
love: forever changes (rhino) LP
the lumineers: s/t (dual tone) LP
metallica: and justice for all (elektra) LP
metallica: st. anger (elektra) LP
nirvana: in utero (geffen) LP
nirvana: live at reading (geffen) LP
nirvana: nevermind (geffen) LP
pink floyd: dark side of the moon (emi) LP
joel plaskett: la de da (maple) LP
portishead: third (island) LP
radiohead: king of limbs (tbd) LP
red hot chili peppers: blood sugar sex magic (warner) LP
refused: shape of punk to come (epitaph) 2LP
*arthur russell: calling out of context (audika) CD
sigur ros: med suo i eyrum… (xl) LP
*sleep: dopesmoker (southern lord) hash and sticky green coloured LP
elliot smith: either/or (kill rock stars) LP
joe strummer: art rock & the x-ray style (anti) LP
t2: 1971-72 (acme) LP
tame impala: lonerism (modular) LP
*television: marquee moon (rhino) LP
tomahawk: oddfellows (ipecac) LP
ween: quebec (schnitzel) LP
rene wilson: sugar glider (mint) LP
xx: xx (xl) LP
xx: coexist (young turks) LP
neil young: after the gold rush (reprise) LP
neil young: harvest (reprise) LP
*various: music for dancefloors KPM (strut) LP
…..incoming…..
!!!: thiiiler (warp) LP/CD
*william basinski: nocturnes (temporary residence)
boards of canada: tomorrow’s harvest (warp) LP/CD
camera obscura: desire lines (4ad) LP/CD
*circle: six day run OST (svart) LP
*circle: panic (svart) LP
city & colour: the hurry & the harm (dine alone) LP
daft punk: random access memory (columbia) LP/CD
*derdiyoklar ikilisi: coban mamos (pharaway sounds) LP/CD
*drive OST (mondo) LP
*the focus group: elektrik karousel (ghost box) LP/CD
gold panda: half of where you live (ghostly) LP
king tuff: was dead (burger) LP
mark lanegan & duke garwood: black pudding (ipecac) LP
laura marling: i once was an eagle (ribbon) LP
*tucker martine: brokenhearted dragonflies: insect electronica from southeast asia (sublime frequencies) LP
*the national: trouble will find me (4ad) LP/CD
*oblivion OST (mondo) LP
*public image ltd: first edition (light in the attic) LP/CD
queens of the stone age: …like clockwork (matador) LP/DLX LP/CD
nicholas sean savage: other life (arbutus) LP
sigur ros: hvarf/heim (xl) 2LP
sigur ros: kveikur (xl) LP/DLX LP/CD
*joakim skogsberg: jola rota (subliminal sounds) LP
*source family OST (drag city) LP
*irma thomas: in between tears (alive) LP
wild nothing: empty estate (captured tracks) LP
v/a: arts & crafts x (arts & crafts) LP
*v/a: ecstasy of gold: 23 killer bullets from the spaghetti west 1 (semi-automatic) LP
*v/a: ecstasy of gold: 22 killer bullets from the spaghetti west 2 (semi-automatic) LP
*v/a: molam: thai country groove from isan vol. 2 (sublime frequencies) LP