As usual, loads last week, so not so much this week, but some killer jamz anyway. Besides, it lets you catch up on all the stuff you still didn’t buy from last week anyway. And oh so much killer wax last week!!!
Thanks to all who came out for the Wyrd Distro launch on Saturday. Good times were hopefully had by all. I know we had a blast.
…..pick of the week…..
Sunn o))) & Ulver: Terrestrials (Southern Lord) LP/CD
Now in on vinyl! “The recent news that Sunn O))) and Ulver, the, respectively, US and Norwegian pioneers of experimental metal, had collaborated on a new album has augured extremely well for the beginning of 2014. Terrestrials is the result of a nocturnal recording session, following Sunn O)))’s set at the 2008 Øya festival, at Ulver’s Crystal Canyon studio. The bands recorded three “live in improvisation” pieces, which were then worked on by Ulver, with the occasional help of Sunn O))) man Stephen O’Malley, who says: “I remember the vibe in the room back then was more raga than it was rock. And despite the fact that the walls were literally shaking from volume, it was actually quite a blissed out, psychedelic session. I wanted to preserve that vibe in the final mix.” Daniel O’Sullivan, prolific collaborator, one half of Grumbling Fur and current Ulver member, adds: “You know that opening sequence of Koyaanisqatsi, where the desolate desert landscapes, waves and cloud formations roll over the screen accompanied by deep male chanting and organ ostinatos. That’s where we were.””
File Under: Doom, Metal, Drone
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…..new arrivals…..
John Carpenter: Halloween OST (Mondo) LP
Back in stock! In celebration of its 35th anniversary, Mondo Records is pleased to present the soundtrack to John Carpenter’s Halloween, one of the most influential and beloved film soundtracks of all time. This release features the most comprehensive version of the soundtrack, never before released on vinyl, cut at 45RPM for the best possible sound quality. Limited edition 180g 2LP-sethoused in deluxe gatefold jacket with artwork by Phantom City Creative. “I had composed and performed the musical scores for my first two features, Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13, as well as many student films. I was the fastest and cheapest I could get. My major influences as a composer were Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone (who I had the opportunity to work with on The Thing). Hermann’s ability to create an imposing, powerful score with limited orchestra means, using the basic sound of a particular instrument, high strings or low bass, was impressive. His score for Psycho, the film that inspired Halloween, was primarily all string instruments. “With Herrmann and Morricone in mind, the scoring for Halloween began in late June at Sound Arts Studios, then a small brick building in an alley in central Los Angeles. Dan Wyman was my creative consultant. I had worked with him in 1976 on the music for Assault. He programmed the synthesizers, oversaw the recording of my frequently imperfect performances, and often joined me to perform a difficult line or speed-up the seemingly never ending process of overdubbing one instrument at a time. I have to credit Dan as Halloween’s musical co-producer. His fine taste and musicianship polished up the edges of an already minimalistic, rhythm-inspired score. We were working in what I call the “double-blind” mode in 1978, which simply means that the music was composed and performed in the studio, on the spot, without reference or synchronization to the actual picture. recently, my association with Alan Howarth has led me to a synchronized video-tape system, a sort of “play it to the TV” approach. There is a point in making a movie when you experience the final result. For me, it’s always when I see an interlock screening of the picture with the music. All of a sudden a new voice is added to the raw, naked-without-effects-or-music footage. The movie takes on it’s final style, and it is on this that the emotional total should be judged. Someone once told me that music, or the lack of it, can make you see better. I believe it.” – John Carpenter
File Under: OST, Horror, Mondo
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Bobby Charles: s/t (Light in the Attic) LP
Bobby Charles pioneered the musical genre known as “swamp rock” – he wrote the early rock n roll classic “See You Later, Alligator” (popularized by Bill Haley & the Comets). But the main reason that musicians far and wide sing his praises (and cover his songs) is for Bobby’s 1972 self-titled album released on Bearsville. Despite numerous CD reissues through the years, this is the first time in decades that the seminal album has appeared in its original vinyl LP format. A virtual who’s who of classic “roots” rock, the album features 10 Bobby Charles classics supported by the likes of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel of The Band, long time Neil Young sidekick Ben Keith, Bob Dylan’s former running mate Bob Neuwirth, session maverick Amos Garrett, the esteemed Dr. John, Geoff Muldaur and several others. But this is far from an all-star jam session – this is an ensemble record in the truest sense of the word – with each musician simply supporting the Louisiana vibe that flows thru the 10 song collection of country, blues, R&B, and folk that all have that distinctive Bobby Charles signature sound. Album also includes the slow burner “Street People” as featured on Country Funk 1969-1975, Volume 1. Perhaps Dr. John said it best “I think all of Bobby’s songs have something to offer at all times, for all people.”
File Under: Swamp Rock, Roots Rock
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Darkside: s/t ep (Wordsandsound) 10”
Super limited golden picture disc version with handstickered slightly oversized matte labels and 25×25 cm poster inlay of the CS008 original EP. Super rare one time reprint of the deleted CS008 from 2011/2012 which was Darkside´s first ever release from the same year. An extremely rare piece with 3 songs NOT on the album that we found now. The EP begins innocently enough. But as you progress into the tracks, entitled “A1,” “A2,” and “A3,” it feels like searching for pleasure where you know you shouldn’t. The beat in this clandestine affair has just enough restraint. By the time Darkside concludes, you know the catharsis is worth the sin.
File Under: Electronic, Nicolas Jaar
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Dead Moon: In The Graveyard (M’Lady) CD
Available worldwide for the first time ever on compact disc, M’lady’s Records is extremely excited to announce the reissue of Dead Moon’s debut album classic, In the Graveyard. Highly sought by rock ‘n’ roll maniacs around the globe for its breathtaking songwriting and attitude, it’s also the first release in M’lady’s 2014 reissue series documenting many different timeless albums issued by Fred & Toody Cole (also of the Rats and Pierced Arrows). This record will NOT let you go once it’s made its way into your mind: every song is a classic, almost intimidating in its poise and strength. For the uninitiated, Dead Moon come on almost like a hybrid of the most exciting elements of Love, AC/DC, the Weeds, and the Elevators. No joke. The group are also famous for operating extremely DIY, down to the recording and mastering of their albums (famously cut on the very same lathe that cut “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen!). Highly recommended for everyone with a beating heart and two ears.
File Under: Punk, Rats, Pierced Arrows
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Dead Moon: Unknown Passage (M’Lady) CD
This is the album that’s got “Dead Moon Night”, “54//40 or Fight”, and another half-dozen classics beloved by Dead Moon enthusiasts. Unknown Passage was reissued on LP by our comrades at the estimable Mississippi Records in 2011, and M’Lady’s teamed up with them to get this compact disc edition out to you, the bedroom rebel, the night time revolutionary, the romantic with a wake of destruction in your path.
File Under: Punk, Rats, Pierced Arrows
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Dead Moon: Defiance (M’Lady) CD
This is the album that’s got “Johnny’s Got a Gun”, “Dagger Moon”, “Walking On My Grave”, “Dagger Moon”, and another half-dozen classics beloved by Dead Moon enthusiasts. Defiance was reissued on LP by our comrades at the estimable Mississippi Records in 2011, and M’Lady’s teamed up with them to get this compact disc edition out to you, the bedroom rebel,the night time revolutionary, the romantic with a wake of destruction in your path. Also highly recommended for everyone with a beating heart and two ears.
File Under: Punk, Rats, Pierced Arrows
Iron Claw: s/t (Lion) LP
“Sixteen pulverizingly heavy early masterpieces of dirty doom metal, this is a can’t miss package for all fans of heavy psych, proto-metal and the early days of doom rock. The whole album is just breathtaking.” – The Ripple Effect. Official heavy duty double album of early 70s Scottish underground heavy rock from Iron Claw, a band who were stomping around the UK with the likes of Black Sabbath, Hackensack, Pink Fairies, Juicy Lucy and others, but who never released a proper album. Iron Claw started their career in 1970 as (more or less) the world’s first Black Sabbath tribute band: they incorporated the entire first Black Sabbath LP and single into their live set! And as it happens, it was Iron Claw bassist Alex Wilson who unearthed the oldest known concert recording of Black Sabbath, a 1969 gig recorded by Wilson in Dumfries, Scotland! As time progressed, Iron Claw’s live sets started to include many originals, as well as the customary Sabbath covers. This collection of sixteen original studio tracks documents Iron Claw’s existence from 1970 thru 1974 and includes extensive liner notes, lyrics and photos. For fans of Tear Gas, Leaf Hound, Jerusalem, Ancient Grease, Toad, Incredible Hog, Elias Hulk!
File Under: Metal, Heavy Psych, Doom
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Johan Johannsson: McCannick (Milan) LP
McCanick is a 2013 American crime-drama mystery film directed by Josh C. Waller. It stars David Morse, Mike Vogel, Trevor Morgan, Ciarán Hinds, and Cory Monteith. This was Cory Monteith’s last role before his sudden death in July 2013. The film tells the story of Eugene “Mack” McCanick (David Morse), a detective who, along with his partner Floyd Intrator (Mike Vogel), hunts down a young criminal named Simon Weeks (Cory Monteith) who was just released from prison. The beautiful, dark and evocative score was written by acclaimed composer and artist Jóhann Jóhannsson. The music enhances the suspense and tension present throughout this exciting thriller. McCanick marks the first collaboration between Milan Records and Jóhann Jóhannsson.
File Under: OST, Ambient, Drone
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Mad Men on the Rocks OST (Music on Vinyl) LP
Mad Men, based around the trials and tribulations of a New York ad agency in the ’60s, is considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time. The drama series stands as a colossus of contemporary television with two BAFTAS, three Golden Globes and no less than fifteen Emmys to its name. David Carbonara’s winning mix of contemporary score and period jazz delivers a distinctive sound that has become a part of the series as much as the timeless visuals and characters. Mad Men On The Rocks is anchored by “A Beautiful Mine,” RJD2’s original theme to go along with 22 further musical moments from the acclaimed series. Limited edition gatefold 180g vinyl with poster. First pressing comes on red colored vinyl and is limited to 1500 copies.
File Under: OST
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Angel Olsen: Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar) LP
Many of the superlatives describing Angel Olsen refer to how seemingly little it takes for her to leave an audience speechless, even spellbound. But Olsen has never been as timid as those descriptors imply, and the noisy, fiery hints in her earlier work find a fuller expression on her newest LP, Burn Your Fire for No Witness. Here, Olsen sings with full-throated exultation, admonition, and bold, expressive melody. Also, with the help of producer John Congleton, her music now crackles with a churning, rumbling low end and a brighter energy. Angel Olsen began singing as a young girl in St. Louis, where she explored the remarkable range of her voice and the places it could take her songwriting. This act of meaning-making recurs as a theme throughout the album, as the sublimating response to the power of negativity. In the song, “Stars,” for example, Olsen wishes to “have the voice of everything” and in a moment of hatefulness and hurt realizes that the strength of fury results in the power she had been seeking all along. Thankfully for us, Olsen has decided to channel a lot of this newfound power into the ethereal, hypnotic performances of her new and revealing songs, sharing with us the full grace and beauty of her transformative moments.
File Under: Rock, Folk, Indie
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Puscifer: What is? (Puscifer) LP
Puscifer answers the enduring question of what exactly Puscifer is with a new DVD release titled “What Is…”, which is set for release via Puscifer Entertainment. This is the accompanying LP soundtrack. The two-hour sketch comedy show-meets-concert film builds upon and punctuates the multimedia format of the band’s live performances with skits from the stable of Puscifer characters such as Billy D, Hildy and Major Douche woven into the performance footage of the Maynard James Keenan led quintet. “Being surrounded by so many talented and creative people is an endless source of inspiration. This film only scratches the surface of how deep our proverbial rabbit hole goes. ‘What Is…’ Puscifer is meant to conjure as many questions as it answers,” explained Maynard James Keenan. Puscifer’s concerts have been praised for their out-of-the-box take on what a live performance can be, with the Orange County Register saying “the production matters as much as the music” and describing the event as “a thought-provoking, senses-jabbing statement on a variety of topics.” The Dallas Morning News called the evening “an idiosyncratic experience” while the Austin Chronicle referred to the concert as a “multimedia prop dramed”.
File Under: Rock, Industrial, Tool, Live
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Selda: s/t (Pharaway Sounds) LP/CD
Imagine if Julia Child had marched against Vietnam, stood on the steps of the Pentagon, and placed a flower in a gun barrel. Selda Bağcan’s later records have that same cross of easygoing motherly warmth and righteous anger. This 1979 album (technically her fourth, although six of these songs were also released on her third), was recorded when Turkey was at its most politically polarized. Selda was sentenced to a total of over 500 years in prison right about the time it came out. A pile of acoustic guitars and bağlamas all going off at once under a blanket of reverb, with lyrics about blood, wood, mountains, families, and desperate troubles, so it’s a thick squirt for a folk album. Selda’s voice can either be sultry or really surge with emotion, and when she does belt one, it’s oddly high and completely unique. Her reward was the love of Turkey’s people, but also nine trials and three prison terms from the right wing military government of the ’80s. Remastered sound, insert/booklet with liner notes.
File Under: Psych, Turkish, Anatolian
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Selda: Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi (Pharaway Sounds) LP/CD
There were female Turkish folk singers before Selda Bağcan, but none whose hot-blooded voice carried such righteously angry words and none who also accompanied themselves on guitar. She began her career singing at her brothers’ Beethoven nightclub in Ankara while she went to school for physics during the day. Her first album had help from the cream of the crazy Istanbul pop scene, and cuts from the same sessions were also released on this second one in 1976. While the direction is folky overall, there’s fuzz, zooming synthesizers, and heavy flute to be found. When Selda performed the title-track in 1977 in a coastal town not far from Istanbul, her protest lyrics, though taken from an old poem, got her heckled by audience members who screamed that she should go back to Moscow. Find out why this brawny mama couldn’t be stopped by a military government that put her on trial nine times, and could call herself the bitter voice of the Turkish people. Remastered sound, insert/booklet with liner notes.
File Under: Psych, Turkish, Anatolian
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D. Charles Speer & The Helix: Double Exposure (Thrill Jockey) LP
Dave Charles Shuford (aka D. Charles Speer) grew up in Georgia, absorbing the culture and history of the American South before moving to New York in the early 90s. He quickly fell in with the experimental rock underground that has long been an undercurrent of that city’s defining spirit, most notably as a member of the long-running No Neck Blues Band. The loose and free country rock boogie of Speer’s work with the Helix derives power from the tension between these two aspects of his personality, the traditional and the exploratory. With Speer joined once again by Hans Chew (keys), Marc Orleans (pedal steel), Ted Robinson (bass), and Steve McGuirl (drums), Doubled Exposure, is their most stylistically varied yet consistent work to date, offering a full mélange of what Speer and his band have to offer. Doubled Exposure touches on many aspects of Speer’s musical menagerie, enhancing his ramblin’ tunes with the blistering psych he has explored with Rhyton to the traditional Greek melodies he delved into on Arghiledes. In the propulsive “Cretan Lords,” Speer enhances a sweeping modal blues with the bouzouki and baglamas, lending a distinctively Mediterranean flavor to rich, tremoloed stew. The ten-minute epic “Mandorla at Dawn,” achieves an incredibly dense psychedelic swirl using a stereo amp rig and live looping, a first for Speer’s studio work. The album culminates with the exuberant “Tough Soup,” with chants echoing along to the rough and tumble boogie. Speer augments the expert, eclectic musicianship of his band with a remarkable lyrical prowess, which he delivers in his trademark deadpan drawl. His rich imagistic tales take three forms throughout the album: heart songs, which are based on personal experience and emotion; visionary songs, which incorporate surrealist language and beat poetics; and research songs, which see Shuford reimagining and incorporating historical events. Doubled Exposure was immaculately recorded by Jason Meagher at the increasingly legendary Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York. D. Charles Speer and the Helix will tour throughout 2014.
File Under: Alt. Country, Country Rock, Rock
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Survival: Simmer Down (Strawberry Rain) LP
While bands like Ofege and BLO have slowly becomes household names for collectors, there are still many Nigerian bands and albums that have remained unknown in most circles. Survival’s lone effort Simmer Down is one of those albums. Primarily an Afro Rock album, it contains psychedelic, soul, afrobeat, funky and progressive moments, all done in a raw nature with unpolished mixes and an underlying consistency that doesn’t lose the listener. Songs are filled with fuzz guitar solos, flute solos, and organ solos. Recorded by a group of talented High School students at the legendary ARC studio owned by ex-CREAM drummer Ginger Baker, this album seems to have remained under the radar until now. Filled with complete notes by the band with photos and history, including a story detailing a battle against OFEGE at the infamous “Space Funk” competition. A true gem from Nigeria, and one you won’t find an original of anytime soon.
File Under: Psych, AfroRock, Soul
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Laurence Vanay: Evening Colours (Lion) LP
Laurence Vanay is the pseudonym for Jacqueline Thibault, wife of music producer and musician Laurent Thibault of Magma. This marks the first ever reissue of her second album, originally released twice in 1975 – first as a version on Galloway credited to fictitious English band Gateway, and once as a CAM label library LP – and incredibly rare in both incarnations. Evening Colors is a singular and nearly peerless record – completely out of time, and completely unlike anything else to this day. The record is largely all instrumental, with gorgeous keyboards of many types (Hammond, Fender Rhodes, etc.), acoustic and electric guitar, even a little Zeuhl bass. Shimmering, dewy, mysterious, deeply emotional examples of melancholic musical beguilement; anyone with an affinity for golden age 4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins or Dead Can Dance will find much to love here. A devastating high-fashion follow-up to the legendary Galaxies.
File Under: Prog, Magma
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…..restocks…..
Andrew Bird: I Want To See Pulaski At Night (Grimsey) LP
Blue Phantom: Distortions (AMS) LP
Deafheaven: Sunbather (Deathwish) LP
Fruit Bats: Mouthfuls (Jealous Butcher) LP
Peter Gutteridge: Pure (540) LP
Haxan Cloak: s/t (Aurora Borealis) LP
Thee Headcoats: Headcoatitude (Gear Fab) LP
Nicolas Jaar: Space is Only Noise (Circus Company) LP
Mark Lanegan: Has God Seen My Shadow? (Light in the Attic) Box
Cliff Martinez: Only God Forgives (Milan) LP
Wim Mertens: Maximizing the Audience (Music on Vinyl) LP
Moon Duo: Circles (Sacred Bones) LP
Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City (XL) LP
Vangelis: Blade Runner OST (Audio Fidelity) LP
Kurt Vile: Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze (Matador) LP
Various: Cosmic Machine (Because) LP
Various: Eccentric Soul: Twinight’s Lunar Rotation (Numero) LP