If you haven’t noticed, we are open again. So come on down and get your fix of wax. Of course with holidays last week and the long weekend and all that, there’s almost nothing new in this week, almost. But there are a few noteworthy things and I promise, next week will have a lot more new arrivals, at least twice as much I bet.
…..pick of the week…..
Only God Forgives OST (Milan) 2LP
Back in stock and just so damned good! Only God Forgives is the highly anticipated theatrical reunion of director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Place Beyond The Pines). The highly stylistic thriller tells the story of Julian (Gosling), a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok’s criminal underworld, whose life gets complicated when his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother’s recent death. Only God Forgives is a continuation of the cinematic language started in Drive. The film features an amazing, dark and high energy score by Cliff Martinez – who also composed the music for ‘Drive’. The film is mostly carried by images and music. In addition to the CD and digital release, the soundtrack to Only God Forgives will be released on a beautiful 180g, colored LP including a download card.
File Under: OST, Ryan Gosling, Drive, Cliff Martinez
…..new arrivals…..
Cult of Dom Keller: s/t (Mannequin) LP
We are very pleased to be releasing the long awaited debut LP by Nottingham’s finest purveyors of psychedelic noise, Cult Of Dom Keller. Partially compiled from re-mastered and reworked versions of tracks previously included in the band’s self-released series of EPs, this new incarnation of Cult Of Dom Keller’s sounds also features three unreleased recordings. This is the absolute first time that these recordings become available on vinyl, a format that perfectly complements the band’s meticulously textured and carnal sound. A collection of fuzzily enrapturing and lysergically tinged compositions with an electronically infused backbone, the band’s debut might appear as a slight deviation from Mannequin’s traditional aesthetics. We have no doubt though that our connoisseur audience will appreciate the novelty and will instantly fall for these stupefying songs. *Limited edition of 500 copies. Strongly recommended to fans of Spectrum, Spacemen 3, Faust, Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, Psychic Ills, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and 13th Floor Elevators.
File Under: Psych, Fuzz
Gold Panda: Half of Where You Live (Ghostly) LP
Nearly three years after the release of his debut album Lucky Shiner, Gold Panda returns with his second album Half Of Where You Live, to be released on Ghostly International and his own NOTOWN label (UK). The album is the product of a period spent touring the world multiple times around, absorbing influences and probing potential new avenues of creative exploration. Half Of Where You Live represents a stylistic and thematic advancement from Gold Panda’s previous work, expanding on the ideas he presented on 2012’s Mountain/Financial District 7″ and this March’s Trust EP. It reflects its creator’s nomadic existence – you can see the influence of his travels in track titles like ‘Brazil’ and “Enoshima,” in the oriental textures of “My Father In Hong Kong 1961” and “We Work Nights,” and in the sounds of “Junk City II,” conceived as a hypothetical soundtrack to ’90s anime and the films of controversial director Takashi Miike.
File Under: Electronic, Ghostly
Ikonika: Aerotropolis (Hyperdub) LP
Ikonika has always been a maverick talent and her music has always been fun – aside from a reputation for being one of the best DJs in the business, the prescient electronics of her 2010 debut ‘Contact, Want, Love, Have’ were something of a prequel to what people started to call post-dubstep. Her citric synths, brash tone clashes and cluttered video game-inspired genre mangles came to her naturally, before legions of young producers got in on the act. According to Ikonika “The word ‘Aerotropolis’ comes from being a DJ living in one. I’m haunted and infatuated by it. Watching ‘Gattaca’ for the first time, I found myself relating to Vincent Freeman’s ambition of reaching space and travelling somewhere better, getting high. I’m constantly watching planes take off and twitching that I didn’t get a booking this weekend, needing to play out.’ The ‘80s is still a big touchstone for this album, but the angle is very different,” Ikonika says “This new album plays on an inspiration I wished I had focused on more growing up. I started fantasising about making freestyle house and early pop wishing I was a little older at that time so I could actually have made this music.” This time around the feeling is a confident brashness that takes on older genres, brushes them off, and gives them a colourful shakedown. “I thought about how video games consoles were being championed at the time when a lot more music machines were being made. That connection led me to use sounds from older drum machines and synths, balancing old school and modern techniques.” These songs positively glisten and sparkle. This is an album with a big heart and a lot of confidence, creativity and joyful direction.
File Under: Electronic, Dancepop, Hyperdub
Salman Shukur: Oud (Klimt) LP
Oud virtuoso and composer Salman Shukur was the Head of the Music Department and Professor of Oud (the Arab lute) at the Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts for over 30 years. However, despite his long and illustrious career, Shukur made only one LP, recorded in London in 1976 at Rosslyn Hill Chapel. Shukur’s compositions, while based on the Arab classical musical tradition, attempt to bridge the gap between eastern and western music, and may be described as tone-poems, embodying both free and formal variation and improvisation. Despite his being almost unknown in the western world, Shukur was to the oud as Paganini was to the violin!
File Under: Oud, World, Arab Classical, Avant Garde
Tame Impala: EP (Modular) LP
This EP is 5 tracks of untamed enthusiasm and unexpected delight. Beginning with Desire Be, Desire Go’s endlessly looping, loose groove verses, to Slide Through My Fingers rollicking desert trip of a journey, Half Full Glass Of Wine’s half-speed double-awesome riffing, 41 Mosquitoes Flying In Formation’s unstoppable shake and Skeleton Tiger’s marching band drums and haunting lead guitar, the Tame Impala EP is a beautiful snapshot into what lies within this beast.
File Under: RSD Reissue, Psych, Rock
Walton: Beyond (Hyperdub) LP
Sam Walton is a 22 year old producer from Manchester who came to Hyperdub after feeding us demo tracks, and started off in 2011 with the ‘Walton EP’, the first of three EPs for the label. Since then he’s honed and developed his music into ‘Beyond’, finding a really fresh and subtle intersection between music that doesn’t seem to naturally fit together, old eski grime, funky and Detroit house and techno but with smudged edges and a colourful industrial sound palette that gives a real richness to his productions. Walton’s music is never sombre or angry, but is about subtle combinations; there is an appealing, soulful sensuality to his beautifully crafted and joyous music. He says of the album “I just wanted there to be a contrast between bright and dark, I didn’t want to stick to a specific genre either. Just a vibe.” Walton’s young enough to hear older elements of dance music with fresh ears – a recent Hacienda reunion was an ear opener, hearing the stripped back power of acid house for the first time influenced some of the music on ‘Beyond’, in the way that a handful of contrasting elements can be placed together to create an exciting whole. Alternately recalling familiar dance music but created with freshness and enthusiasm, Walton’s vision is a welcome and highly enjoyable mutation.
File Under: Electronic, Garage, Hyperdub
…..restocks……
Arcade Fire: Funeral (Merge) LP
Isis: Celestial (Robotic Empire) LP
Major Lazer: Free the Universe (Secretly Canadian) LP
Mount Kimbie: Cold Spring Fault Less Youth (Warp) LP/CD
Peace: The World is Too Much With Us (Suicide Squeeze) LP
Refused: Shape of Punk to Come (Epitaph) LP
Rural Alberta Advantage: Departing (Paper Bag) LP
Various: C’est Chic! (Ace) LP
Various: Tres Chic! (Ace) LP