Well, I certainly hope you all made use of those winds yesterday and got some kite flying in! Still a little light on the new releases this week, but we’re rebuilding the back stock on all the staples as you’ll see with the mondo restock list below and more on the way, as well as some long awaited reissues and new stuff in early next week too.
We are also pleased to be involved in the Wyrd Distro launch event, taking place on Feb 15th. Wyrd Distro is the mail order/distribution arm of Weird Canada. We will be hosting a launch party/Q&A/live show on the 15th. More info to follow.
…..pick of the week…..
Ignatz & Harris Newman: Bring You Buzzard Meat (Okraina) 2×10”
Recorded in December 2008 in Ghent, Belgium. Equal parts science experiment and Geechie Wiley tribute. Mutual admirers, Newman and Ignatz met in Belgium to play a duo concert for the Etoiles Polaires festival, and have since done a smattering of shows together in Canada. This double 10″ features reimaginings of a few of Ignatz’s best loved hits, as well as original compositions for electric guitar, lapsteel, acoustic guitar, and Gakken synthesizer. Five songs, 39 minutes.
File Under: Cosmic Blues, Folk, Psych, Cancon
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…..new arrivals…..
Blind Owl: s/t (Strawberry Rain) LP
One of the rarest Canadian private press records ever made at 100 copies, Blind Owl’s sole LP was recorded at home in Etobicoke, Ontario. This three-man formation used a reel to reel to create this album meant for friends and people who attended the few shows they performed. Recorded in their home, this folk rock album has good song writing and a nice, intimate charm, reminiscent of the delicate psych-folk output of Linda Perhacs, Jacksons Frank and Browne, or even the more tender moments of Neil Young’s solo work. All original material with Canuck-flavored subject matter like “Nova Scotia Morning”. This is a special album you won’t find an original of anytime soon, if ever.
File Under: Folk, CanCon, Private Press
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Peter Gutteridge: Pure (540) 2LP
Peter Gutteridge is the man who launched a thousand Flying Nun bands. Founding member of The Clean, the Chills, the Great Unwashed, Snapper and the Puddle, Gutteridge released one solo album, Pure, on Xpressway Records in 1989 which was recorded between 1986-1987. “1989 – Xpressway, one of the finest labels ever to exist release Pure. A collection of fragments and completed songs recorded on a Fostex 4 track. They were all written to tape, ideas going down as I made them up. I’ve always loved a dirty drone. Notes corrupted and split apart by the miracle of the sympathetic note – i.e. bagpipe, chanters, organs, pianos, ad infinitum. Throw a few clear notes in and you achieve creation on yr own terms. The stars were in the right position to deliver a dose of cosmic junk to the hungry ears of N.Z. (The guys two doors along View St, Morley, Merritt and visiting co-conspirators thought the same, getting onto and forming their own opinions and units of corruption – i.e. Dead C and other miscellaneous units. Pure = you betta B! Good Luck and Enjoy.” – Peter Gutteridge
File Under: New Zealand, LoFi, The Clean
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Damien Jurado: Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun (Secretly Canadian) 2LP
Brothers And Sisters of the Eternal Sun is the new Secretly Canadian release from Seattle, Washington musician Damien Jurado, regarded as “Seattle’s Folk-Boom Godfather.” The follow-up to 2012’s Maraqopa was produced by Richard Swift and recorded at National Freedom Studios in Cottage Grove, Oregon. The 10-track album will be available on standard vinyl and as a limited edition gatefold 2LP-set which also includes a bonus disc of acoustic material performed with an all-female choir. “Damien Jurado is every character in every Damien Jurado song. He is the gun, the purple anteater, the paper wings, the avalanche, the air show disaster, Ohio, the ghost of his best friend’s wife. It is a universe unto its own, with its own symbolism, creation myth, and liturgy. You might go as far as to call it a religion, and your religion is a character in his religion. Consider this: What if the only way to understand a religion is to create your own? Who is this Silver community? Where the hell are they in the Bible? Is this heresy? Agnostic reference? Isn’t this sun business a little, I don’t know, animistic? Pagan? Go ahead and answer that question for yourself. I’ll give you a second. Do you understand the music any better? Damien Jurado made up his own Jesus because a Damien Jurado album needs a beautiful Jesus. Some freaky space Jesus that I don’t recognize. The name is the same, a lot of the imagery is the same, but he’s reborn. Born again, I mean. Yeah, as if Jesus got born again. That’s what this album sounds like. Jesus is out of his goddamn mind, and I want to live in Damien’s America. Sign me up.” – Father John Misty
File Under: Indie, Folk
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Mark Lanegan: Has God Seen My Shadow? (Light In The Attic) 3LP Box/2CD
As one of America’s great modern day vocalists and songwriters, Mark Lanegan has much in common with the timeless work of such legends as Fred Neil, Tim Hardin and Karen Dalton. The former frontman of Screaming Trees, collaborator with Kurt Cobain and Queens Of The Stone Age, half of a modern day Nancy & Lee with Isobel Campbell and, most commonly, solo artist, Lanegan is a man whose career has been defined by an unwillingness to sit still. Light In The Attic are set to shine a spotlight on this great American performer and songwriter with the release of Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989-2011. Collecting Lanegan’s solo material for Sub Pop, Beggars and more plus 12 unreleased tracks, this is the archive treatment Mark has long deserved. It is released in two sumptuous formats: a Double CD edition with a gatefold, tip-on jacket and a 44-page booklet comprising hand-written lyrics and rare archive photos by Charles Peterson and Steve Gullick, and a Triple-LP box set, each LP in single pocket jackets within a heavy, tip-on slip case, with a 20-page book featuring the same attention to detail and extras as the CD release. On sold out limited edition (150 copies) yellow vinyl!
File Under: Rock, Indie, Sub Pop, Screaming Trees, QotSA
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Leong Lau: Dragon Man (Strawberry Rain) LP
Leong Lau has remained somewhat of an anomaly in the record collecting scene. A fantastic LP loaded with wah guitar, fuzz solos, flute solos, and wild vocals. A really impressive offering – it’s amazing an album of this quality still remains unknown to many collectors and dealers. Extremely rare as an original, and hardly ever offered (even in Australia where it was made), we are proud to finally bring this one to the reissue world with Leong’s full approval. Remastered with great sound, this limited edition release of 1000 copies comes in an old style paste on jacket with full color replication of the poster insert.
File Under: Funk, Fuzz, Psych
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Mogwai: Rave Tapes (Sub Pop) LP/CD
Rave Tapes is the eighth studio album by Mogwai and their second for Sub Pop. Since their formation in 1995, the Scottish quintet has established itself internationally through a prolific recorded output and a commitment to touring that few of their peers can match. With Rave Tapes, Mogwai’s mastery of sound and space is firmly at its apex. The album is a lustrous collection mined from the same quarry as its predecessors, wreathed in painterly textures underpinned by increasingly electronic beats. The haunted strains of “Deesh” channel the slow-burning ecstasy of their 2006 song “Auto Rock” (a key presence in the denouement of Michael Mann’s film of Miami Vice that year), while the guitars on which Mogwai built their reputation remain, if less overtly belligerent this time round, as evidenced by the somnambulant opener “Heard About You Last Night” and the sonic scowl of “Hexon Bogon.” Rave Tapes was recorded with Paul Savage, who also worked with the band on their 2011 Sub Pop album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. The release of Rave Tapes will signal the beginning of a frantic year of live activity, including the group’s maiden foray into Africa. Fasten your seatbelts.
File Under: Post Rock, Indie, Electronic
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Laurence Vanay: Galaxies (Lion) LP
Laurence Vanay is the pseudonym for Jacqueline Thibault, wife of producer and musician Laurent Thibault of Magma. Her debut album Galaxies (1974) is pure genius: almost all instrumental, with gorgeous keyboards of many types, acoustic/electric guitar, even a little Zeuhl bass. There are wordless vocals on many of the tracks, although she occasionally sings in a soft, seductive manner. Incredible, spacey “avant-garde progressive chanson,” and a Holy Grail for most collectors of 70’s underground French music, rivaled only by the early work of Brigitte Fontaine for pure inventiveness. Sublime compositions – unique, melancholic and very powerful.
File Under: Prog, French, Magma
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Various: Killed By Deathrock Vol. 1 (Sacred Bones) LP
In 2007, Sacred Bones Records founder Caleb Braaten started unearthing rare and little-heard post-punk, deathrock and dark punk tracks for an eventual compilation. Seven years later, riffing on the tradition of the internationally known punk collector series, Killed By Death, those tracks are finally being released on vinyl as Killed By Deathrock Vol. 1. Bands from all over the world are represented on the comp, from the relatively well-known Scots in Twisted Nerve to the “completely un-Googleable” Move from Italy. Also featured are the French band known simply as Bunker on their first demo tape who later became Bunker Strasse, though still remained largely obscure. Kitchen and the Plastic Spoons formed as a sort of goof band in Sweden in 1980 and only released a couple of 7-inches before disbanding a year later in 1981. The rest of the comp represents a vast spectrum of geography with the U.S. being represented by Your Funeral, Glorious Din, The Naked and the Dead and Afterimage. Screaming For Emily (U.K.), Baroque Bordello (France) and Taste of Decay (Germany) round out the collection. What all the bands have in common, apart from their dark, icy atmosphere, is that they’re quintessential pieces of the deathrock story whose music hasn’t been heard by nearly enough people – until now.
File Under: Punk, Post-Punk, Deathrock
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Various: The Ballad of Beautiful Eyes (Okraina) 2×10”
Live recordings by Daniel Ducamp of concerts in the cellar (wild Caveau) or old horse barn (Stables) of the Farm Biéreau in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) at the occasion of the musician’s residencies of Larkin Grimm, Paul Metzger and Cam Deas. The title of the compilation Refers to the etymology of the name Biéreau: Beautiful look (in French) from Bia rwârt (in walloon): Beautiful sight. Features: Larkin Grimm, Paul Metzger, Micah Blue Smaldone, Cam Deas, Jack Allett
File Under: Folk, Acoustic
…..restocks…..
Baroness: Yellow & Green (Relapse) LP
Baroness: First & Second (Hyperrealist) LP
Beach Boys: Smile Sessions (Capitol) LP
Bon Iver: s/t (Jagjaguwar) LP
Budos Band: s/t (Daptone) LP
Cabaret Voltaire: Covenant Sword.. (Mute) LP
Cabaret Voltaire: Crackdown (Mute) LP
Cabaret Voltaire: Micro-Phonies (Mute) LP
Nick Cave: Live From KCRW (Bad Seeds) LP/CD
Nick Cave: Push the Sky Away (Bad Seeds) LP
City & Colour: Sometimes (Dine Alone) LP
The Clash: Combat Rock (Legacy) LP
The Clash: London Calling (Legacy) LP
Daedelus: Drown Out (Anticon) LP
Deltron 3030: Event II (Bulk) LP
Dinosaur Jr.: You’re Living All Over Me (Jagjaguwar) LP
Nick Drake: Pink Moon (Island) LP
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (Mofi) 3LP
Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home (Sundazed) LP
Bob Dylan: Freewheelin’ (Sundazed) LP
Bob Dylan: Times They Are A Changin’ (Sundazed) LP
Earth: 2 (Sub Pop) LP
Feist: The Reminder (Arts & Crafts) LP
Gorillaz: s/t (EMI) LP
Julia Holter: Loud City Song (Domino) LP
Sharon Jones: I Learned The Hard Way (Daptone) LP
Sharon Jones: Soul Time (Daptone) LP
Metallica: Garage Inc. (Elektra) 3LP
Metallica: Kill ‘Em All (Elektra) LP
Metallica: Ride the Lightning (Elektra) LP
Ministry: Psalm 69 (Rhino) LP
Janelle Monae: Electric Lady (Bad Boy) LP
The National: Alligator (Beggars) LP
The National: Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (Brassland) LP
Oneohtrix Point Never: R Plus Seven (Warp) LP
William Onyeabor: Who Is William Onyeabor? (Luaka Bop) 3LP
Pearl Jam: Lightning Bolt (Monkey Wrench) LP
Lou Reed: Transformer (Sony) LP
Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (Abkco) LP
Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed (Abkco) LP
Rush: Garden (Anthem) 10″ Pic Disc
Shovels & Rope: s/t (Dualtone) LP
Smiths: Louder Than Bombs (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Meat is Murder (Rhino) LP
Stooges: s/t (Rhino) LP
Tragically Hip: Up To Here (Music on Vinyl) LP
Ween: Chocolate & Cheese (Plain) LP
Ween: The Mollusk (Plain) LP
Ween: 12 Golden Country Greats (Plain) LP
Weezer: Pinkerton (Mofi) LP
Weezer: Green Album (Mofi) LP
Jack White: Blunderbuss (Thirdman) LP
Wooden Shjips: Back To Land (Thrill Jockey) LP
Various: I Am The Center (Light in the Attic) 3LP Box/2CD
Various: Sun Records Story (Snapper) 6LP Box