Oh boy! Big shipments from around the globe this week, Japan, Finland, and more! Needless to say there’s a lot of rad stuff in this week. Obviously records, and SHIRTS! Get on down here and have a boo…
…..picks of the week…..
Assorted T-shirts!
It’s been a few years since we had a good supplier of rad shirts, and we’ve found probably the best one yet! These guys not only have a great selection of cool band shirts, but just cool, trippy, psychedelic, and movie related designs as well. We’ve got roughly 60 different designs in right now, but they offer over 300 which we will make available for special order as well. drop in and check these out! Velvet Underground, Love, Can, Faust, Sigur Ros, New Order, Sun Ra, Talking Heads, Bruce Haack, This Heat, Boards of Canada, Television, and so on!
*Circle: Six Day Run OST (Full Contact) LP
CIRCLE’s Six Day Run is a soundtrack album containing all the tracks recorded for Mika Taanila’s short film of the same name. In one of the most extreme individual endurance sports, the competitors run with minimal sleep, all the while trying to accumulate as many miles as possible on a one-mile paved loop in a park. The annual event has a colorful tradition from betting scandals to deep meditation, dating back to the 1870s. The film was shot during The Self-Transcendence Six Day Race in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, Queens, New York City between April 22-28, 2012. Formed in 1991, CIRCLE is the most visible and prolific name in the Finnish avant-rock underground. Having survived innumerable lineup changes, the band and its founder, bassist/vocalist/guitarist Jussi Lehtisalo, have constantly reinvented themselves, weaving hypnotic mantras out of exacting Krautrock beats, heavy riffs, spacious noise, and dark psychedelia. Hard, chilly repetition has served as the lone unifying theme throughout 15 years of experiments. Sample it here! And here!
…..new arrivals…..
Blind Blake: & The Victoria Royal Hotel Calypsos (Moi J’Connais ) LP
Blind Blake was from the 30s to the 60s the singer and leader of the house band at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas. His music was a strange mix of old island classics, more recent calypso compositions and American ballads. Alphonso Blake Higgs, commonly known as ‘Blind Blake’, was born at Matthew Town, Inagua, Bahamas, in 1915. He was adept at string instruments – ukulele, banjo, tenor banjo, six-string guitar – and also played the piano. He lost his eyesight at the age of sixteen and kept pursuing the goal of a career in music and a unique style, a blend of folksong, calypso and early jazz. His recognition grew from 1935 when he recorded for Philco Radio some of his own songs on the political and social life of The Bahamas. Blind Blake wrote about sixty Goombay songs starting in the 30s including ‘Run Come See Jerusalem’, based on the effects of the 1929 Hurricane, ‘Jones (Oh Jones)’ and ‘J. P. Morgan’. And one of the oldest Bahamian song is the tragi-comic ballad ‘John B. Sail’ (later adapted and performed by many artists, notoriously The Beach Boys as ‘Sloop John B.’ on their ‘Pet Sounds’ album). The ‘John B.’ was an old sponger boat whose crew were in the habit of getting merry whenever they reached port. Sample it here!
James Blake: Overgrown (Repulse) LP
The second full-length album from the British singer, songwriter and producer. Musically broad and emotionally deep, Overgrown as big as an advance on James’s eponymous 2011 debut. The growth is similar to the evolution that album evinced from the mercurial Dubstep of his early EPs. It also reflects how much the 24-year-old Londoner’s life has changed in the past two years. His debut sold over 400,000 copies – quite a feat for a record so uncompromisingly introspective and experimental. It also picked up Mercury, BRIT and Ivor Novello nominations, sent him around the world on tour, and brought him into contact with a wide array of fans and collaborators that includes not only Mitchell but Jay-Z, Kanye West, Bon Iver, Bjork, Drake, Brian Eno, and The RZA. Sample it here!
Boris: Praparat (Daymare) LP
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Boris: The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked (Daymare) 4CD
The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked – until now has been a very limited quantity foreign label vinyl only release of 3 separate pieces, and because these rare recordings have sold out instantly there are surely many people who haven’t heard them. Parts 1-3 have been remastered for the first time on CD, and a new 4th disc “extra” has been added for this updated edition “Chronicle” release. This 4 disc album comes with a special jacket and an attractive box. Extremely limited production.
*Caravan: American Antarai (Strawberry Rain) LP
In May 1976, an incident involving the American container SS Mayaguez prompted the US forces, including 1,000 Marine Corps to use the U-Tapao airbase in Thailand as a base for a rescue mission against the Cambodian Government’s (Khemer Rouge) forces. This was done without the permission of the Thai Government which said the act was a violation of Thai Soveignty and sparked fierce protests outside the US Embassy. The US president only issued a very short ‘apology’ which acted as the catalyst for Caravan to join the public protest. Caravan wrote political songs against the US and used them in a mass protest in March 1976. The band members all came back to work together amid the heated political atmosphere and protests to drive out the American Army base, during which there were many bombings, shootings, fatalities and much blood-shed. The Antarai American album was ready for release before the mass public protest to demand that the Kukrit Pramoj Government’s promise of calling for the withdrawal of all US forces from Thailand by 20th March 1976. Sample it here!
*Circle: Panic (Full Contact) LP
A new re-release from Circle, once again. This time these experimental veterans study the both ends of the previously unheard static / hyper-active scale. Soundwise they have clearly proceeded to the 21st century, jumping from limpid synthesizer soundscapes to wall-smashing “speed-kraut” bursts. The triptych construction of the album along with the cover art that portrays war and street riots raise various associations on the history and the current state of Western civilization. Black vinyl! Sample it here!
*Circle: Tower (Full Contact) LP
Tower is a very good title for an album as detached from reality as this one. A tower is indeed what Circle and Mika Rintala of Verde have done here — they’ve built this huge tower looming on the horizon, a tower that reaches so high above the clouds and into the quiet infinity beyond, that it’s peak can never truly be seen by man. Only imagined. Or talked about in the pub. It is up there, on the topmost balcony of this huge construction of uncounted tons of steel and marshmallows, that Circle and Verde sit around a table, quietly playing cards and sipping tea, while the world so far below them drives itself into confusion. The only sound that these quiet men can hear is the rustling of the cards, the occasional clinks of their warm teacups and the almost inaudible screams of distress echoing from beneath the clouds, where people trapped by genres and unwritten laws of musical expression are trying to claw their way up the impossibly steep walls of pure genious. Tower could possibly be called a regressive version of Circle’s Miljard, the double album that was released last year. The heavy metal guitars of Circle’s Tulikoira or Earthworm are nowhere to be heard. There are no high pitched hard rock vocals. No monotonous krautrock basslines. Only 40 minutes worth of swirling keyboards and wandering drums. Be brave, and get your spiked wristbands, suspenders and leather jackets out of the closet anyway. Dive headlong into the Tower. You might like it there. This is the sound of the New Wave of the NWOFHM! Sample it here!
*Deceh/Total Life: Split (Important) LP
In tomorrow… “Split release between Total Life and Deceh. Pressed in an edition of 500 copies and housed in screen printed, hand numbered jackets. Kevin Doria’s work as Total Life precedes his work as half of Growing but continues to evolve. ‘Fader’ is no exception. Deceh’s contribution is an extended harmonic magnification of a shruti box, Hammond organ, upright double bass and modular synthesizer.” Sample it here!
Del The Funky Homosapien: No Need For Alarm (Traffic) 2LP
In tomorrow… 2005 release. “After breaking out of the Bay Area underground scene in the early ’90s Del the Funkee Homosapien made a radical turn with his sophomore release, 1993’s No Need for Alarm. Casting aside the familiar G-funk vibe of his debut, perhaps as No Need was produced without the involvement of his cousin Ice Cube, he moved into a jazzier — some would say more East Coast — direction on this project. The verbal content on No Need shifted as well, moving away from comic interludes and towards a focus on battle raps. No Need for Alarm was produced with his Oakland based Hieroglyphics Crew with Domino, A-Plus, and Casual all contributing beats making the record one of the three ‘Hiero Golden Age’ releases (along with Souls of Mischief’s ’93 til Infinity and Casual’s Fear Itself).” Sample it here!
Digable Planets: Blowout Comb (Modern Classics) 2LP
The 1994 second album by cult, Brooklyn-based hip hop trio Digable Planets. The album is named for the combs used to maintain an Afro hairstyle, and that’s significant. The group’s Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler said it summed up what they wanted to do with it: “It means the utilization of the natural, a natural style,” he has said. Like with 1993’s debut Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), ‘utilizing the natural’ meant creating hip hop that blended jazz with the formidable rap skills of the aforementioned Butterfly, Craig ‘Doodlebug’ Irving and Mary Ann ‘Ladybug Mecca’ Vieira. Unlike that debut, it meant broadening to include guests such as Gang Starr’s Guru, Jeru the Damaja, and Jazzy Joyce. Following the gold-selling commercial success of their debut, they here set out to prove their artistic prowess. This is intelligent, alternative hip hop that sounded like party music. Its lyrics are dense with wit, social commentary and politics – and its original inner sleeve was modeled on the newspaper of the Black Panther movement. Its instrumentation includes sax, vibraphone and flute. Its samples – gathered from global cratedigging trips while touring the first album around the world – included Grant Green, Eddie Harris, Shuggie Otis and jazz-funk pioneer Roy Ayers (whose “We Live in Brooklyn, Baby” became “Borough Check” here). And yet at the same time its beats are infectious and its spirit undeniable. This is an album firmly rooted in Brooklyn. “Growing up hearing and cherishing this album, it created a textured soundscape of a mythical world of rhymes, jazz, breakbeats, culture, art and urban ambiance,” says DJ and fan Mick Boogie in the liner notes. “When I moved to Brooklyn years later, I found that the world I imagined while listening to this classic LP actually really existed…” Though Digable Planets have reunited on occasion since – and though their influence endures in every top-shelf rap act with a jazzy sensibility – the trio parted ways after Blowout Comb, citing that old favorite “creative differences”. Sometimes, the most volatile combinations create the best art. Sample it here!
Eluvium: Nightmare Ending (Temporary Residence) 2CD
Nightmare Ending is the first proper Eluvium album released since 2010’s Similes, the unexpectedly vocal-heavy ambient-pop record that simultaneously delighted and confounded longtime fans. But the Nightmare Ending story actually began years earlier, as it was intended to be the follow-up to the watershed album, Copia. Conceived as a way of helping loosen his self-imposed ideals of perfection, Cooper labeled each Nightmare Ending track as either a “dream,” or an “imperfection” – a way of differentiating the philosophical concept of “dream vs. reality,” couched in the more tangible technical distinctions of “flawless vs. flawed.” With each progressive listen those differences naturally challenged themselves, and without relying on the standardized perfection protocol, Cooper became increasingly reluctant to release any of it. He shelved it, and pursued Similes instead. But Nightmare Ending wouldn’t go away; it lingered in the back of his mind, the abandoned fruits of a truly worthwhile and noble journey towards a less creatively constraining mindset. Cooper returned to it with renewed vigor, writing and recording in a blur of time that spanned several years. The result is a body of work that encompasses everything remarkable about past Eluvium albums, executed more powerfully and poignant than ever before. Sample it here!
Ex Cops: True Hallucinations (Other) LP
Other Music Recording Co.’s first release of 2013 comes from the label’s very first signing, EX COPS, whose debut single launched the imprint last April. Formed by BRIAN HARDING (formerly of HYMNS) and AMALIE BRUUN (formerly of MINKS), the Brooklyn band was born in 2011, issuing a short-run, homespun CDEP of hazy, lo-fi recordings featuring Harding’s opaque bedroom-pop songwriting juxtaposed with the duo’s sun-kissed harmonies. Two of the tracks, “You Are a Lion, I Am a Lamb” b/w “The Millionaire,” were soon released to the world on vinyl as OM-001, and the pair continued to write new songs while simultaneously playing more live shows, now working as a proper five-piece rock band, with the addition of good friends KAI KENNEDY on lead guitar, LEIF YOUNG HUCKMAN on bass, and SAM BAIR on the drums. True Hallucinations is a mind-altering pop pill that maintains the intimate mood of the original group’s sound, but now presented in widescreen Technicolor. Harding’s songs are effortlessly catchy, built from a timeless blend of gentle, somnambulant harmonies, chiming guitars, and loose swinging rhythms. Coming in at just over 30 minutes, the album never overstays its welcome, but living up to its name, True Hallucinations will linger in your head, making for a pop trip that you’ll return to again and again. Sample it here!
Flashback #2 Magazine
In tomorrow… Issue #2 of Flashback. Edited by Richard Morton Jack (co-founder of Sunbeam Records and editor of the Galactic Ramble and Endless Trip books), it features writing from some of the world’s leading music authorities, including Richie Unterberger,David Wells, Patrick Lundborg, and Aaron Milenski. A4 in size (with a gloss cover), 212 pages long, and full-color throughout, it’s packed with extensive new research, exclusive interviews and rare photos. Contents include: Tomorrow – Richard Morton Jack on Britain’s great lost psychedelic band, with all new interviews (including Steve Howe) and previously-unseen images. Morgen – at long last, the full story of everyone’s favorite hard psych album. 13th Floor Elevators – guitarist Stacy Sutherland’s last interview. “Early Hard Rock” -Flashback nominates 100 of the best albums in the genre. “Yesterday’s Papers” – a study of how vintage pop publications are preserved, and a guide to the best music mags of the ’60s and ’70s. Hullabaloo – an interview with Gerry Rothberg, editor of the legendary ’60s pop mag. Ray Russell – the legendary guitarist talks us through his early albums in depth. Judy Dyble – a detailed interview with the Fairport/Trader Horne singer. Dragonfly – the full story behind the legendary heavy psych band. Reviews – in-depth coverage of the latest CDs, LPs, and books.
Flashback #3 Magazine
In tomorrow… Issue #3 of Flashback magazine. Edited by Richard Morton Jack (co-founder of Sunbeam Records and editor of the Galactic Ramble and Endless Tripbooks), it features writing from some of the world’s leading music authorities, including Richie Unterberger, Patrick Lundborg, and Aaron Milenski. A4 in size (with a gloss cover), 212 pages long, and full color throughout, it’s packed with new research, exclusive interviews and rare photos. Contents include Mighty Baby – Richard Morton Jack tells the remarkable tale of how Britain’s sharpest mods went psychedelic before embracing Islam, making two classic albums in the process. Includes extensive interviews and many rare and previously-unseen images. Syd Barrett – and the making ofThe Madcap Laughs. Tripsichord Music Box – at last, the tale is told of this mysterious SF psych band — includes a rare interview with manager Matthew Katz. The Common People – the full story of this enigmatic Californian quintet, responsible for one of the late-’60s best-loved cult LPs. “Singer-songwriters” – Flashback nominates 50 of the best-neglected albums in this crowded genre. Top Pops & Music Now – the intriguing history of Britain’s most obscure music weekly. Sandy Roberton – the famed folk-rock producer talks us through many of his productions. “Rock Memoirs” – Richie Unterberger investigates the rock memoir boom, and wonders how it might affect lesser-known artists. “MONO vs. STEREO” – Patrick Lundborg offers a fresh perspective on the debate that has divided audiophiles since the dawn of hi-fi. Reviews – in-depth coverage of the latest CDs, LPs, and books.
Marvin Gaye: Soulful Moods Of (Rumble) LP
In tomorrow… “The very first album by one the greatest and most influential singers in the fields of soul and R&B came out in 1961 on the Motown label and sees Marvin singing, playing drums, and piano on an album of mainly rearranged jazz and pop standards, inspired by his passion for Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Though this is not Gaye with a fully developed style, and it is hardly the innovative legend of Let’s Get It On or What’s Going On this is still top notch jazzy-soul that reveals traces of what would soon become a legend. The studio musicians come up with nice arrangements of the material, sometimes even with hints of the punch they would bring to his later, chart-topping material. Though a little before Marvin got his ‘groove on,’ this is still the first of four albums of jazz covers he recorded and an important look at the early days of the Motown-sound.”
*Arve Henriksen: Cartography (ECM) LP
Finally available on vinyl! While Arve Henriksen has been one of the foremost stars on the Rune Grammofon roster, his work for ECM has always been as a supporting player, making especially notable contributions to recordings by Christian Wallumrod, Trygve Seim and Frode Haltli (whose 2007 album Passing Images might reasonably be regarded as a largely overlooked masterpiece). Cartography marks a departure for Henriksen, not only from his home on Rune Grammofon, but from the manner in which his previous solo albums have been recorded. Cartography features a more pronounced electronic presence, thanks to the contributions of sample hound and producer Jan Bang, who replaces Deathprod as the main collaborator on the record, weaving grainy, textured orchestral excerpts into the stirringly beautiful ‘The Unremarkable Child’ and electronically organising the vocal contribution of the Trio Mediaeval on ‘Recording Angel’. One thing Henriksen retains from his previous full-lengths is a richness of sonic backdrop over which he casts his unique “singing trumpet” lines. There’s an underlying bedrock of melancholy, ambient details and fleeting incidental sounds, but whereas the likes of Chiaroscuro and Strjon where rather delicate affairs – teetering on new age territory during certain passages – Cartography feels like a much more rigorous, deliberately forward-thinking piece of work. Henriksen even applies some of the improvisational discipline he’s accumulated from his pursuits as part of Supersilent, laying down two live tracks: ‘Poverty And Its Opposite’ and ‘Famine’s Ghost’. Sample it here!
Doug Hoyer: To Be A River (Old Ugly) LP
Doug Hoyer has become the river!!! His dance rudiments have skipped easily onto higher plateaus of creation.Blending liberally the grime and grease of 80s new wave with his kaleido-pop senses, Hoy-boy has refracted new kinds of light with this one. The creative energy of his Bike Month records seems fully realized in his time honoured song-writing specialties. Listen for a multitude of well laid production choices and off camera winks. These jams are glorious! Release show is June 15th at Haven Social Club with Cantoo. Step to this! Sample it here!
Damien Jurado: Where Shall You Take Me (Secretly Canadian) LP
Damien Jurado is the sort of songwriter who straddles rock’s past and future, and with each record contributes a new chapter to an ever-fruitful body of work. Before we move onto the next chapter, we look back at his first album with Secretly Canadian. An instant classic when released in 2003, Where Shall You Take Me? was his fifth full-length, and is a beautiful collection of ten Raymond Carver-esque vignettes terror and bliss in Middle America. Arriving two decades after Springsteen’s Nebraska, Jurado put the darker, more complicated side of the heartland back on the map with his tales of young love (some requited; some not), innocent fun and bloodshed. Mostly acoustic with very sparse band arrangements – with the notable exception being the old live favorite “Texas to Ohio,” which sounds like a Scarecrow-era Mellencamp hit – Jurado displayed the songwriting talent that turns back the hands of time to a place in which his tunes sound like they’ve been floating around, passed down from generation to generation. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of this fine release comes a deluxe 2xLP vinyl reissue, incorporating unreleased basement reel demos, and the Just In Time For Something EP (never before released on vinyl). Sample it here!
Scott Key: This Forest & The Sea (Lion) LP
Excellent 1976 private press acoustic album, self-recorded at various places in Colorado, and filled with beautiful finger style acoustic guitar, plus some atonal bottleneck slide, string scrapes and drones (at times, very Ry Cooder / “Paris, Texas” about six years before that soundtrack existed). Although almost completely instrumental, what lyrics there are tend towards the dark and the satiric. The obvious points of comparison are John Fahey and Leo Kottke, although Scott Key certainly has his own presence and style, differences in tone and color and attack, which he attributes to his background in rock bands. Overall, there is a brooding, loner folk/psych feel, most evident on the phenomenal, effects-heavy, almost 11-minute long title track, ‘This Forest and the Sea.’ “I was coming to terms with what it mean to exist… and saw the world in pure black and white—there was no room for grey,” Key said. “I saw an American Culture devoid of any understanding of its place in the universe, how we learn nothing save what we see on television, how our existence is tainted by intellectual laziness, and how our gift of life is defiled by the taking of it.” This deluxe 180-gram vinyl LP edition of “This Forest and the Sea” comes with an insert which sports engaging, funny, and insightful notes by Key, photos, plus the text to poem that inspired the title track; as a nod to the forest. A very rare album that seems to have flown under almost everyone’s radar—although thankfully not Doug McGowan’s (Yoga Records), who sent this our way. One record collector said to us, and we now say to you: “Have a listen because this rates up there with classics by Bob Desper, Perry Leopold, Robbie Basho, and Phil Yost, with dark moods similar to John Fahey and Nick Drake.”
*Erkki Kurenniemi: Rules (Full Contact) 2LP
Ektro Records proudly presents the pioneer of Finnish electronic and experimental music – Mr. Erkki Kurenniemi. The tracks released here – produced during 1963-1975 – include Kurenniemi’s focal works and previously unreleased raw material composed as solo works – as well as works in collaboration with Kari Hakala, Jukka Ruohomäki, Otto Donner and Eino Ruutsalo. Kurenniemi’s impulsive attitude towards his art – including electronic music, films, media art, instrument design – is perfectly captured in his composition rules presented as a guide line of the release: #1 The work has to be completed in a single day #2 Consecutive sounds must be chosen so that they are totally inconsistent or surprising and have no rational relationship with each other #3 ..? Carefully chosen masterpieces are newly digitized from the original master tapes with highest possible sample rate and resolution (192 kHz, 24 bit) to preserve a pristine listening experience. Kurenniemi’s works are now heard first time as genuine as possible for no artificial restoration applied in the remastering process. Sample it here!
*Erkki Kurenniemi & Circle: Rakkaus Tulessa (Full Contact) LP
Ektro Records (Pori, Finland) celebrates the 70th birthday of electronic arts pioneer Erkki Kurenniemi (b. July 10, 1941) by releasing the LP Erkki Kurenniemi & Circle: Rakkaus tulessa (”Love On Fire”). The album is an odd ”blind-date” concept, where two home cassette recordings from different eras are married together on editing table, creating a random sonic double-exposure. The backing tracks of this time tunnel are by Circle, taped in May 1999, and the romantic lead-vocals crooned by Kurenniemi himself, dating back to his cassette diary in January 11, 1972. Mash-up by Jussi Lehtisalo and Tuomas Laurila, produced by Lehtisalo and film-maker Mika Taanila. Available on vinyl only on Ektro’s Full Contact imprint.
*Jussi Lehtisalo: Interludes For Prepared Beast (Full Contact) LP
Musician. Artist. Philosopher. Obsessive. Enthusiast. Innovator. Bullshitter. Joker. Gentleman. Beast. These are only a few of the paradoxical faces of the underground cottage industry known as Jussi Lehtisalo. In 1991, this proud native of Pori, Finland, swaggered into the public eye via a self-released 7-inch by a hypnotic little project called Circle. Since then he’s served as the group’s sole constant, shepherding ever-changing personnel and filtering deliberately repetitive riffs through dozens of rock and non-rock idioms. Add in a bevy of insanely varied, albeit somehow congruent satellite bands—Ektroverde, Eturivi, Kirvasto, Pharaoh Overlord, Lusiferiinin Armosta, Slussenanalys, Split Cranium, and scores more—and his cottage industry becomes an empire. Pile on the independent record labels he operates—Ektro, Full Contact, Super Metsä, and Ruton—and that empire expands into a cosmos. Despite his ceaseless activity, Lehtisalo’s first proper solo LP, the subdued, introspective Rotta, didn’t appear until 2010. Shying away from ego and excess, the album evokes a dimly lit stroll down snowdrift-clotted city streets where an unabated wind carries the familiar but vaguely sinister chatter of eccentrics, drunks, animals, and ghosts. The schizophrenic follow-up, Interludes for Prepared Beast, takes yet another abrupt left turn. With a title that references (and perhaps parodies) John Cage’s piano molestations, Lehtisalo’s latest effort scans like a transcription of his own central nervous system. Each side of vinyl comprises an unpredictable 17-minute suite that fidgets and sprawls in a neon procession of stabbing fuzz guitars and clacking, rattlesnake percussion. Noise, prog, metal, punk, ambient, and electronic fragments stutter, shift, and melt beneath an abstract sun. During key moments, a benevolent ogre chants random absurdities before glassine synths and psychedelic sound effects drag him out to sea. Aggression yields to serenity, restlessness cedes to calm, and destruction gives birth to bliss. Hallelujah. Of course, it’s impossible to tell if this organic blurring of styles, moods, and emotions arose from revelatory thoughts and painstaking labor, or if Lehtisalo merely got lucky one evening while devouring pizza and guzzling beer in the studio. But that, my friend, is simply the nature of the beast. Sample it here!
*Jussi Lehtisalo: Rossi (Full Contact) LP
The international heavy metal bass superstar and aspiring singer-songwriter Jussi Lehtisalo has taken a break from his duties in the hard rock group Circle and gone solo to seek direct means of expression for his inner moods. The resulting album Rotta is a touching collection tunes, which lead the listener through the sidewalks, back alleys and small corner pubs of Lehtisalo’s hometown Pori.
Laura Marling: I Once Was An Eagle (Ribbon) LP
Laura Marling’s new album, Once I Was An Eagle, was recorded in the English country studio of long-time producer and instrumentalist Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams) and features Marling’s lifelong friend Ruth de Turberville on cello. Not only was the process complete in just ten days, but Marling’s vocals and acoustic guitars were recorded live in one take – in one day. To that acoustic skeleton, Marling and Johns then added textured layers of percussion and instrumentation. It’s a hugely ambitious record that echoes the themes of previous album A Creature I Don’t Know. This is Marling’s fourth album and the precocious and preternaturally talented British singer-songwriter has attained what sounds undeniably like vocal, emotional, and artistic maturity. It’s a record for the ages. Sample it here!
Stephen O’Malley & Atsuo: Uroborus Circuit (Inoxia) LP
Uroborus was the result of a 2 day tracking session by Atsuo/Boris and Stephen O’Malley in Southern Studios, London September 2006. While the pair was meeting to do press for the “Altar” album they took the chance to work on 2 main pieces of music centering around the use and manipulation on acoustic feedback purely. No instruments were used on this recording. The LP was mixed by You Ishihara (ex. White Heaven, The Stars) and mastered by Soichiro Nakamura at Peace Music resulting in sounds akin to deep birdcall or flocking/swarming, and a psychological meditation on the pleasure and capability of visualization through music.
OST: Oblivion (Mondo) 2LP
In tomorrow… “The Oblivion Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features new music by Anthony Gonzalez of M83 and Joseph Trapanese (TRON: Uprising, The Raid: Redemption). The score features a hybrid of the traditional M83 electronic sound combined with sweeping orchestral elements. It has 16 score cues, along with a brand new song by M83 featuring Norwegian singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfor used as the end title for the film.” Comes on 180 gram vinyl in a deluxe gatefold sleeve. Sample it here!
*Pharaoh Overlord: 3 (Full Contact) LP
Pharaoh Overlord’s third full-length album was originally released with two additional tracks by the UK-based record label Riot Season in 2005. The stunning album blasts off with Grand Funk Railroad type of unrestrained groove, merging Dire Straits-like guitar picking, petrified hard rock, otherworldly manic exorcism and dizzyingly minimalistic kraut-psychedelia of Ash Ra Tempel. This motorik oddity is now reissued for the first time in vinyl by Full Contact, Ektro Records’ sublabel specialising in vinyl releases. Sample it here!
*Pharaoh Overlord: Out of Darkness (Full Contact) LP
Finnish independent recording artists Pharaoh Overlord, who have been working on the dark side of post rock for a decade, have taken a sharp, unexpected turn into the heart of true heavy metal, making the Ektro slogan New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal come to life in a way that no other Ektro artist has ever pulled off. A blazing journey through guitar shredding face ripping true blue heavy metal as shards of steel blast from your speakers. Features guest vocals from US hard rock outfits Night Horse and Angus Khan. Sample it here!
Connie Plank: Who’s That Man (Groenland) LP
In tomorrow… “Tribute to the legendary German producer, Conny Plank. Included is a selection of Plank’s most iconic work, along with a series of productions that exemplify his unique sound design.” Artists include: Eno/Moebius/Roedelius, Phew, Eurythmics, D.A.F., Moebius/Plank/Thompson, Michael Rother, Ibliss, La Dusseldorf and Crash/Gorl/Plank. On 180 gram vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve. Sample it here!
*Salty Dog: s/t (Strawberry Rain) LP+7”
Having formed during the height of the Zamrock period, Salty Dog was a three man band modled after the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Having wanted to base the band around the concept of the force of life, Salty Dog was chosen as a result of being slang for ‘sperm’. The 8th release on the Zambezi imprint, Salty Dog is one of the most obscure Zambian titles from the era having failed to achieve the success of some of their peers like WITCH. The self titled release is a combination of psychedelic rock, blues and folk, with all english songs. Really good from start to end, essential for collectors of African rock and insanely rare as an original. As a bonus for this release we’ve also managed to press up the non-lp single that was released before the album titled ‘Sunday Morning Sunshine’. Sample it here!
Shampoo Boy: Licht (Blackest Ever Black) LP
In tomorrow… Licht is the debut album by Shampoo Boy, a new guitar, bass and electronics trio from Vienna, comprising members Christian Schachinger, Christina Nemec, and Peter Rehberg. Schachinger and Rehberg have played together in various projects over the last 25 years, most notably Peterlicker — see Last Slave (2010) and Nicht(2011), both released on Editions Mego. Schachinger was also involved in Der Scheitel, their album In einem Haus das Liebe heißt being a classic of German “Schlagermusik.” Rehberg currently operates the Editions Mego family of labels and is a member of KTL, R/S, and Fenn O’Berg as well as working on theater productions with Gisele Vienne, and with choreographer Margret Gudjonsdottir. Nemec’s background is in avant-rock and industrial outfits such as Bray and her own performance group SV Damenkraft. She remains highly active as a solo artist, both as Chra and under her own name, and she has performed on several occasions with Lydia Lunch. Licht is made up of four improvisations recorded and mixed at Twisted, Wien between April 2012 and January 2013. Mastered by Noel Summerville at 3345, London. Artwork by Stephen O’Malley. Sample it here!
*Joakim Skogsberg: Jola Rota (Subliminal Sounds) LP
In tomorrow… The first official vinyl reissue of one of Sweden’s greatest unknown psychedelic treasures from the 1970s. From the original master tapes and with the original artwork, including previously-unpublished archival pictures and liner notes. The album contains a mysterious, shamanistic and highly psychedelic “folk music” infused with incredible soundscapes of derailed, fuzzed-out violins, soaring guitars, rattling hand percussion, droning vocals and pulsating bass rhythms. Originally released in 1972, the album sold 300-400 copies and was then withdrawn and the remaining copies discarded, making Jola Rota a much-rumored and sought-after Swedish droned-out and mesmerizing psychedelic artifact. One-time-only limited pressing of 500 copies. Sample it here!
Wild Nothing: Empty Estate (Captured Tracks) 12”
The 7-song EP was recorded in Brooklyn at Gary’s Electric by Al Carlson in January and finds Jack Tatum exploring new sounds, new instruments and a new voice for Wild Nothing. Artist Eric Shaw was commissioned for original works which complete the new universe of sound. The limited edition LP includes an obi strip, illustrated insert, red vinyl, poster, hand numbered envelope, 2x sticker pages, button and slap bracelet. Sample it here!
Jozef Van Wissem: Nihil Obstat (Important) LP
In tomorrow… “Gorgeous full length from Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem. Wissem’s long form, graceful melodic lute layers, preceded by suspenseful deep bass movements, create a transcendental and pastoral. Wissem’s is a world where hypnotic minimalist figures are repeated to slow the act of listening.Nihil Obstat (‘Nothing Hinders’) is performed on Wissem’s custom black lute built by Michael Schreiner.” Sample it here!
*Various: Enjoy The Experience (Now Again) LP
In tomorrow… Gatefold double LP with a 20-page booklet of extensive liner notes. “Selections from the Sinecure Books publication Enjoy the Experience: psych, funk, folk, jazz, lounge, boogie and straight-up-weirdness from American private press albums. Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 is the inaugural offering from Sinecure Books. (The hardcover book version: SI 105BK) is the most comprehensive overview of the American ‘private press’ movement from the latter half of the 20th Century that could possibly be assembled. Now-Again Records is pleased to distribute a 2LP anthology of psych, funk, folk, jazz, lounge, disco, boogie and just-plain-weirdness culled from the the book’s selections. Take note: this is not a novelty freak show. Contained in this anthology are examples of some of the most highly regarded rock, soul, jazz, funk and singer/ songwriter albums from the ’60s through the early ’80s. From the awkward-yet- talented to the genius-yet-bizarre, one thing unites all musicians presented here: they sincerely hoped to become stars, they committed themselves to record, and they left themselves vulnerable to an industry not understanding of nuance, not appreciative of character. While Enjoy The Experience the book details a forceful American cultural experience that stands in juxtaposition to the mainstream even as its creators attempted to infiltrate it, Enjoy the Experience the album shows the breadth of American creativity in a compelling, start-to-finish listen. Not all of it is easy to digest, but this music is essential to the 20th century American experience.” Artists: Circuit Rider, Gary Wilson, Jade, Heitkotter, The Invaders, The Muzzy Band, Carol-Leigh & Hank Mindlin, Gary Schneider, Joe E., Medico Doktor Vibes, Ray Harlowe & Gyp Fox, Arcesia, Boa, Michael Farneti, 33 1/3, Silk & Silver, Russ Saul, Dennis The Fox, Bob Harrison and Vinny Roma. Sample it here!
Various: Hypnotic Cajun & Obscure Zydeco (Moi J’Connais) LP
Very special selection of the most catchy and hypnotic Cajun songs from 1930s to 1970s. Crazy and haunting music from south-west Louisiana’s despised people. Other side for other atmosphere. Bluesy and minimalist accordion early zydeco style. Between very unknown musicians and rare Clifton Chenier track. Silk-screened cover and limited.
Various: Pietre Proziose e Oro Fino – Old Music & Folksongs from South Italia (Moi J’Connais) LP
Terrific selection of South Italia countryside music. Recorded between 60s and 80s. Raw & crazy, hypnotic & scary, dirty & absolutely wonderful. Infectious rhythms and melodies, led by voices coming from another time. Moi J’Connais Records are proud to dig out this forgotten music for the pleasure of world and rock’n’roll music lovers. Put the record on your pick up and it will be spring time forever in your living room. Silk-screened cover. Limited.
Various: Turn Me Loose (Tompkins Square) LP
In tomorrow. “Frank Fairfield curates another reissue of 78 rpm records – this time with the help of a few of his collector friends. The collection focuses on some of the most seldom acknowledged varieties of Anglo-American vernacular music. You’ll hear unusual performers, uncommon instrumentation and great fiddlers from California to Ohio, New Mexico to West Virginia. Forget Americana, this collection shows Anglo-American down-home music as it actually was and in many cases (although largely unrecognized) still is. With painstaking audio restoration by the great Michael Kieffer.” Sample it here!
…..restocks…..
beach boys: smile sessions (capitol) LP
*jane birkin/serge gainsbourg: s/t (light in the attic) LP
*black mountain: s/t (jagjaguwar) LP
*black mountain: in the future (jagjaguwar) LP
bon iver: for emma, forever ago (jagjaguwar) LP
captain beefheart: safe as milk (reprise) LP
captain beefheart: trout mask replica (reprise) LP
*nick cave: push the sky away (bad seeds) LP
leonard cohen: various positions (4 men with beards) LP
daft punk: human after all (emi) LP
karen dalton: in my own time (light in the attic) LP/CD
*el-g: mil plutton (alter) LP
*goat: world music (rocket) LP
haxan cloak: excavation (tri-angle) LP
*d.r. hooker: the truth (hear music) LP
*bobby hutcherson: oblique (heavenly sweetness) LP
*jerusalem in my heart: mo7it al-mo7it (constellation) LP
*kink gong: voices (descrepant) LP
nas: illmatic (get on down) LP
the national: trouble will find me (4ad) LP/CD
the national: the virginian ep (beggars) LP
nine inch nails: pretty hate machine (interscope) LP
nirvana: nevermind (geffen) LP
*OST: drive (invada) LP
*OST: let the right one in (death waltz) LP
pixies: bossa nova (4ad) LP
pixies: doolittle (4ad) LP
pixies: come on pilgram (4ad) LP
pixies: surfer rosa (4ad) LP
pixies: trompe la monde (4ad) LP
portishead: dummy (island) LP
propagandhi: failed states (epitaph) LP
*wendy rene: after laughter comes tears (light in the attic) LP
rodriguez: searching for sugar man OST (light in the attic) LP
joe strummer: streetcore (epitaph) LP
*marcos valle: garra (light in the attic) LP/CD
*marcos valle: previsao do tempo (light in the attic) LP/CD
kurt vile: childish prodigy (matador) LP
*various: country funk (light in the attic) CD
*various: tomorrow’s achievements (public information) LP
…..incoming…..
!!!: thiiiler (warp) LP/CD
boards of canada: tomorrow’s harvest (warp) LP/CD
camera obscura: desire lines (4ad) LP/CD
city & colour: the hurry & the harm (dine alone) LP
*derdiyoklar ikilisi: coban mamos (pharaway sounds) LP/CD
gold panda: half of where you live (ghostly) LP
king tuff: was dead (burger) LP
*public image ltd: first edition (light in the attic) LP/CD
queens of the stone age: …like clockwork (matador) LP/DLX LP/CD
sigur ros: hvarf/heim (xl) 2LP
sigur ros: kveikur (xl) LP/DLX LP/CD
*irma thomas: in between tears (alive) 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