Alright! Record Store Day stock is starting to pile up around here! Still lots of stuff needs to ship, but hopefully everything turns up in time, and in reasonable quantities! We’ll fill you in on all the details next week. We have all sorts of goodies arranged. And since it was such a huge hit last year, we’ve decided to do it again this year… we’ll be giving one lucky customer a FREE REGA RP1 turntable! So stay tuned and we’ll see you on RSD.
…..pick of the week…..
Popol Vuh: Kailash (Soul Jazz) LP/CD
In tomorrow… Super-deluxe collectors very limited edition Popol Vuh box set vinyl + DVD and 2CD + DVD! Kailash is a new collection of work from Florian Fricke, leader of Popol Vuh, seminal group in the German rock scene of the 1970s (Can, Faust, Amon Duul, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream) and creators of classic soundtracks to the films of Werner Herzog (Aguirre the Wrath of God, Nosferatu, Fitzcaraldo and others). Popol Vuh took their name from an epic mythological text from the 16th century Quiché Maya people of Guatemala, the name translates as ‘meeting place, together or common house’ Kailash brings together essential and unreleased piano recordings, together with Fricke’s travelogue film Kailash, about his spiritual voyage to Tibet’s 22,000 ft. Kailash mountain, ‘Throne of the Gods’, and the accompanying soundtrack album to this film. This collection is released as a deluxe 2CD + DVD set and as a one off 1000 copies worldwide collectors bespoke box set 2LP + DVD with bonus cards/inserts. Essential Piano Recordings: For the first time, this compilation on Soul Jazz Records unites a careful selection of Florian Fricke’s most favourite piano tracks and compositions, both released and previously unreleased. Aside from his groundbreaking work with Popol Vuh, Fricke’s background is that of a classical composer and it was one of his late wishes to release ‘piano only’ recordings. These essential piano recordings by Florian Fricke should be considered as something like the core, or the heart, of many Popol Vuh compositions. They contain tracks from 1972-1989 that Florian Fricke would have liked on a piano only album, enriched with further song improvisations that have been found posthumously, after he passed away in 2001. Some of these are studies for key tracks of Popol Vuh (for example ‘Hosianna Mantra’, 1972). Others are reoccurring patterns and sequences, with Florian often working with recurring motives frequently further developed with the group. This record is devoted to his inspiration and creativity as a contributor to an ongoing spiritual journey for others. Kailash – Pilgrimage to The Throne of the Gods: The holiest mountain in Asia, in a far away corner of west Tibet, amidst wild and ragged landscape, nearly entirely cut off from the rest of the world, is called Kailash. For the pilgrims of four religions this 6675m high mountain is the ‘throne of gods’, or ‘navel of the world’ – a place where the divine takes an earthly shape. For thousands of years pilgrims have travelled to this place to worship the mystery of the mountain circumnavigating it on foot. The path around Kailash is an archaic ‘path of initiation’. Florian Fricke and filmmaker Frank Fiedler (also an original founding Popol Vuh member) made their own spiritual trek along this path and documented the journey. Accompanying epic landscape scenes in the film is the music of Florian Fricke and Popol Vuh, spiritual music inspired by this unique journey. This posthumous project has been put together with the full cooperation and assistance of Florian Fricke’s family.
File Under: Kosmische, Ambient, Krautrock
Listen Here
…..new arrivals…..
Biosphere/Deathprod: Stator (Touch) CD
stator (ˈsteɪtə) n
1. (Electrical Engineering) the stationary part of a rotary machine or device, esp of a motor or generator
2. (Aeronautics) a system of nonrotating radially arranged parts within a rotating assembly, esp the fixed blades of an axial flow compressor in a gas turbine [C20: from Latin: one who stands (by), from stāre to stand] Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalog of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his “ambient techno” and “arctic ambient” styles and his use of loops and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata is generally seen as one of the all-time classic ambient albums. Deathprod is a pseudonym used by Norwegian artist Helge Sten. Sten began creating music under this name in 1991, and in 2004 a self-titled retrospective box set collecting most of his recorded work was released. Sten uses homemade electronics, old tape echo machines, ring modulators, filters, theremins, samplers, and other devices to craft his sound. Jenssen and Sten previously collaborated on Nordheim Transformed (RCD 2005CD), a 1998 collection of reworked Arne Nordheim compositions. Stator is a split release, with three tracks by Jenssen and four by Sten. Mastered by Sten at Audio Virus Lab, Oslo. Commissioned by Tape to Zero. Vinyl soon….
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
Listen Here
Blackout: s/t (Riding Easy) LP
With food, beer, and America at the forefront, it only makes sense guitar player Christian Gordy and drummer Taryn Waldman would meet at Gordy’s 2011 July 4th cookout in Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. With no direction and zero discussion the two instinctually began banging out some massive caveman jams that could party as much as they could crush. In the following months, the two recruited fellow rager Justin Sherrll for bass, and things got loud and heavy. BLACKOUT-referring to blackout drunk, power failure, or a mobster hit on an entire family, was a no brainer for a name. For fans of Acid King, Weedeater, Trouble, and Black Sabbath.
File Under: Metal, Stoner
Listen Here
James Blackshaw: Summoning Suns (Important) LP/CD
Summoning Suns is James Blackshaw’s tenth studio album and the first recording to feature his voice and lyrics. Drawing inspiration from ’60s and ’70s singer-songwriters, baroque and orchestral pop, and folk music, while still sounding contemporary, Summoning Suns is Blackshaw’s foray into more traditional forms of songcraft. Blackshaw sings in a gentle but assured voice while his words combine his personal experiences, neuroses, and fantasies through many layers of abstraction, poeticism, and dark humor. While the deft acoustic guitar fingerpicking of Blackshaw’s previous recordings is still a prominent part of the sound, the songs are lushly and intricately arranged for drums, bass, piano, violin, flute, and pedal steel guitar and feature contributions from Simon Scott (Slowdive), Annie Nilsson, and Japanese musicians Mori Wa Ikiteiru and Kaoru Noda (with whom Blackshaw duets in Japanese on one song). LP pressed in a first edition of 500 copies.
File Under: Folk, Guitar
Listen Here
Busta Rhymes: When Disaster Strikes (Get on Down) LP
“By the time Busta Rhymes hit with his second solo album, When Disaster Strikes, he was already cemented as one of the most powerful voices in the rap game. With a lead single that countered that statement ‘Put Your Hands Where MY Eyes Can See’ he proved he is more than just a one act man. The single was an immediate smash and was followed by an equally amazing album. The albums second single ‘Dangerous’ continued to push Busta creatively and was accompanied with a stellar video gained him major air play on BET and MTV. Critics and fans alike applauded this release for its depth and well-crafted songs which made it platinum at the time of its release. Songs like ‘Turn UP,’ the Flipmode-assisted ‘We Could Take It Outside,’ and ‘Rhymes Galore’ showcase Busta at his best; rapidfire delivery over hard pounding beats. Other standout cuts include ‘So Hardcore’ and ‘One,’ which is a great collaboration with Erykah Badu. On the production side Busta brings along his trusted team; Rashad Smith, Dilla, Rockwilder, and DJ Scratch to serve him just what he needed for When Disaster Strikes to be full on dope!”
File Under: Hip Hop, Rap
Listen Here
Danava: s/t (Riding Easy) 2LP
Speedy and sinuous, Danava out rocks, out progs, out psychs and out retro-proto-metals all comers. Led by singer/guitarist/songwriter Greg Meleney, the quartet creates utterly unique astro-rock that is a thing of spectral beauty. Described as “a journey into a parallel sonic universe,” Danava’s sidelong songs are sprinkled with spacey synth-y FX that push the band’s sound into outer space. This is progressive riff rock; barn-burning scorchers full of unison and tongue-twisting melodic runs that melt listener’s brains. Danava’s relentless fret-board wizardry – cast in the spirit of Iommi and Schenker – produces extended elliptical structures that live in a proto-magic era somewhere between Lemmy in Hawkwind and Lemmy in Motörhead, leaving sufficient room for wailing, noodling solos and a vocal croon that is halfway between Ian Gillan or Geddy Lee’s high-pitched, semi-operatic prowess and Ozzy Osbourne’s insidious howl. The band’s songs list from side to side like a vessel cast adrift on an ocean of battering soundwaves. Available for the first time on double LP courtesy of Riding Easy Records, when Danava’s self-titled debut first came out on Kemado Records in 2006, Pitchfork hailed the group as true leaders, calling them “the sole working owners of this sound, an almost glam-rock, Hawkwind thing” and Guitar World lauded the band for their “chaotic psych-metal brew.” This is rock ‘n’ roll to the core and definitely not your parents kind of party. For fans of Earthless, Ted Nugent, Yes, Kyuss, Red Fang, Nebula and Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats.
File Under: Metal, Stoner, Spacerock
Listen Here
Yannick Dauby: Penghu Experimental Sound Studio Volume 1 (Discrepant) LP
Yannick Dauby is a sound artist based in Taiwan since 2007. He relentlessly explores the soundscapes of his adopted island through field recording, audio documentaries, and community projects. He has created soundtracks and sound environments for contemporary dance, public art, and films, and has been involved in various ecological and local traditional activities. Dauby stayed in Penghu, an archipelago located in the Taiwan Strait, during several months in the first half of 2013. His daily activities included beachcombing, study and documentation of the reef animals, field recording, some teaching, and composing musique concrète in a temporary studio, an old building from which he could hear the seashore and announcements of the itinerant sellers as well as the rituals from a temple nearby. Immersed in this environment, Yannick composed the two sides of this record, using the sounds of the underwater fauna, the omnipresent waves, soundscapes of harbors, music played during funerals, shortwave radio broadcasts, in-site or indoor improvisations using old artefacts, and various sessions using analog electronic instruments.
File Under: Field Recordings, Experimental
Listen Here
Death Grips: Powers That B (Harvest) LP
Experimental rap-noise duo Death Grips, consisting of Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett and Zach Hill formed during late 2010 in Sacramento, California. The band soon dropped the highly acclaimed mix tape Exmilitary featuring the standout track “Guillotine,” Time Out NY’s #1 single of 2011. From inception, the band has received unparalleled critical praise from tastemakers across the board while also being featured on countless “best of” lists. In 2012, Death Grips followed up Exmilitary with their full length debut, The Money Store. The album built on Exmilitary’s unique punk rap sound and explores new territory with standout tracks “Get Got,” “Blackjack” and “I’ve Seen Footage.” The album quickly solidified the band’s position as one of the most intense and visceral bands around. Death Grips was named the most legally downloaded band on the internet for the first half of 2012, racking up an impressive 34 million downloads on BitTorrent. Delivering on the promise of putting out two albums in 2012, Death Grips dropped No Love Deep Web in October for free online. The album was streamed over 100,000 times in the 24 hours following its release. The sonically intense music, coupled with provocative album art was received with unprecedented critical and commercial attention. Death Grips followed that up with the release of their fourth album Government Plates as a free digital download in November 2013. In 2014 the group announced their dissolution with the following farewell message: “We are now at our best and so Death Grips is over. We have officially stopped. All currently scheduled live dates are canceled. Our upcoming double album The Powers That B will still be delivered worldwide later this year via Harvest/Third Worlds Records. Death Grips was and always has been a conceptual art exhibition anchored by sound and vision. Above and beyond a ‘band.’ To our truest fans, please stay legend.” Death Grips’ fifth and possibly final record, the double album The Powers That B, will be issued in March 2015 on Harvest Records and consists of two separate albums – Niggas on the Moon and Jenny Death. The first album, Niggas on the Moon features chopped vocals from Bjork and was previously released as a free digital download in June of 2014 on the Death Grips website.
File Under: Hip Hop, Rap, Experimental, Noise
Listen Here
Doldrums: Air Conditioned Nightmare (Sub Pop) LP
The title was spawned by Henry Miller upon his return to the US after ten years as an expatriate. Keen to rediscover the country he left behind, Miller found it a stifling place of big business, pollution, credit, misinformation and prejudice. In short: a spiritual, moral, cultural and aesthetic vacuum. “Nowhere else in the world,” he wrote in his 1945 collection of essays “is the divorce between man and nature so complete”. The Air Conditioned Nightmare. Seventy years on and the book lends itself to the title of the anticipated second album by Doldrums, the band lead by 25 year old musician Airick Woodhead. They apply a punk rock ethos to electronic music, creating songs using samplers and DJ gear in place of guitars. Bold, anxious, dream-like, uplifting, glacial, hypnotic, constricting, expansive, alien – this is an album that is ever-changin.
File Under: Indie Rock
File Under
Exploring Jezebel: On A Business Trip To London (Blackest Ever Black) LP
On a Business Trip to London is an album of curious electronics and sissy dance conceived under the shadow of Big Ben by Vivid Extreme. Initial research carried out at Ibis City Hotel, London; purple nail polish applied in Berlin and New York City. The result is the perfect and perhaps overdue meeting of emasculated P.E., limp-wristed ornamental industrial, sickly minimal synth, and cheap suntanned trollop techno. What’s more, its tinny rhythmic ringtone cycles of humiliation and debasement evince an unlikely humanity: there is yearning behind the red ballgag and loud make-up cake; Duck’s piggy eyes betray an implacable melancholy. Indeed, despite the sexually explicit nature of its content, On a Business Trip to London is a highly accessible and often disarmingly pretty work that will appeal to the belissima ballerina in all working men. Required listening for all who admire those qualities most fascinating in a woman: allure, magnetism, power, and dominance. This release is for ADULTS ONLY. It contains uncensored sexually explicit material unsuitable for minors. You must be at least 18 to purchase this item. Access and/or ownership may be prohibited in certain states/countries.
File Under: Electronic, Industrial, Ambient, Techno
Listen Here
The Fabulous Three: Best of (Truth & Soul) LP
“A ‘Best of’ collection by the very mysterious, very enigmatic, and always psychedelic, six piece funk ensemble that goes by the name… The Fabulous Three. The Fabulous Three was discovered by legendary Soul Fire/Desco label head Phillip Lehman. In the early 2000s, he recorded a series of 45s that showcased their psychedelic, spiritual-jazz sound. In these recordings they seamlessly jump from reggae to spiritual jazz, afro-funk to soul ballads without it sounding the least bit contrived. Lehman released one 45 by the Fabulous Three on the Psycho subsidiary of Soul Fire before he closed shop and moved to the Dominican Republic. Since then, their music has been comped on Soul Fire: The Majestic Collection and Fallin Off The Reel but never has their entire catalog been compiled on one LP.”
File Under: Funk, Soul
Listen Here
King Khan & BBQ Show: Bad News Boys (In The Red) LP/CD
After a five-year hiatus, rock ’n’ roll’s renegade-angel savior the King Khan & BBQ Show returns with a brand new album of high-energy, low-brow rockers! Known as the hottest duo from Montreal to come out of Berlin, the King Khan & BBQ Show is dirty, funny, irreverent and always a good time. Their raw, stripped-down mix of doo-wop, early rock ’n’ roll, soul and punk is drenched in pure energy. Known to their mothers as King Khan and Mark Sultan, these guys make this stuff sound simple, but make no mistake – it takes serious talent as well as balls to pull this off. Bad News Boys takes its title from the original moniker the duo gave themselves when they first started over ten years ago. They recently threatened to revert to this name before deciding that it might make things too confusing. Bad News Boys serves up twelve sizzling slabs – from the beautifully soulful “Buy Bye Bhai” to the juvenile and obnoxious “D.F.O.” (which stands for “Diarrhea Fuck Off”) – with all the rocking lunacy that their legion of fans has come to expect.In their storied, sordid career, these guys have endured a roller-coaster of successes, trials and tribulations that would’ve buried lesser men. They’ve played with some of the coolest names in rock. Their relentless touring schedule has included countries where few bands venture. They’ve been kicked off tours. They’ve headlined and sold out some of the most prestigious venues in the world. They’ve played some of the worst dumps imaginable. They’ve been busted and jailed for shrooms mid-tour. They were hand-picked by Lou Reed to play the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. They were ejected from the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. They’ve suffered mental and physical exhaustion. They’ve enjoyed dizzying highs and suffered crushing lows. They’ve broken up. They’ve gotten back together. Through it all, they continually make incredible and real rock ’n’ roll music like no one else, always with smiles on their faces, always with middle fingers held high.
File Under: Garage, Soul, Punk
Listen Here
Rudiger Lorenz: Southland (Bureau B) LP
Just when you thought you had heard everything that German electronic music of the 1980s had to offer, up pops an artist who has resolutely stayed off the radar all these years, in spite of having a discography which lists no less than 18 albums. (Hobby) musician Rüdiger Lorenz, a pharmacist by trade, completed an album almost every year beginning in the early 1980s, first as limited runs of two to three hundred on cassette, then switching to vinyl in 1983, and CD in 1990. His last album was released in 1998. Two years later Lorenz died — unexpectedly and far too soon. In his youth, Lorenz became familiar with bands like Kraftwerk, NEU!, Can, and Cluster. These bands had a lasting influence on his relationship with music, guiding him toward electronica. Electronic music carried a huge practical advantage for Lorenz in pursuing his craft: he was by nature more of a loner, rather than someone who fed off the group dynamic of playing in a band. Soon after purchasing his first synthesizer set-up he quit his band and installed a studio of sorts in his living room. In 1981 he released his first cassette album. Initially intended merely as something to be handed out to friends, the music was surprisingly well received, encouraging Lorenz to persevere. Year in, year out. After work and on weekends. Most copies were sold in the USA. His synthesizer collection grew larger, containing kit pieces, home-made elements, and newly purchased units. One of his own creations, the Loran Modular synthesizer, even found its way into various synthesizer lexica. Lorenz, however, was by no means a classic electronics tinkerer. His technical skills were limited to soldering, as he admitted in a radio interview for HR3, the only interview he ever gave. Southland was created in 1984 and perfectly encapsulates the two facets that dominated German electronic music at that time: on the one hand, poppy, at times absurd tracks, informed by such pre-NDW (German new wave) musicians as Pyrolator; on the other hand more plangent, spherical music echoing Tangerine Dream and the like. His son Tim, thirteen then (now a member of Andreas Dorau’s live ensemble), can be heard speaking a few lines into a vocoder on “Strange Feelings,” and later, as a graphic design student, Tim prepared artwork for his father’s releases.
File Under: Krautrock, Kosmische, Electronic
Listen Here
OST: Birdman (Milan) LP
Birdman is the Academy Award winning film by visionary Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Amores Perros, Babel, Biutiful). Part comedy, part tragedy, part fantasy, Birdman tells the story of a washed-up actor (Michael Keaton) who once played an iconic superhero. He must now overcome his ego and family troubles as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory. Rounding out the wonderful cast is Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone and Amy Ryan. It was lensed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuael Lubezki (Gravity) in a way that gives the appearance that the entire film is one continuous shot. Music plays an important role in Birdman. The non conventional, drum-only score was composed by acclaimed drummer Antonio Sanchez – one of the players behind Pat Metheny in his new Pat Metheny Unity Group. It is the first time a score to a film features drums as the sole instrument. Sanchez’s music brings rhythm and movement to this unique visual experience. Alongside Sanchez’s evocative score is a selection of classical music pieces by composers such as Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Mahler and Tchaikovsky. Remastered and pressed on limited edition 180 gram black vinyl of 3,000 units. Also includes a 12 x 12 insert an accompanying digital download card.
File Under: OST
Listen Here
OST: Ghost in the Shell (KO) LP
“Famously known for his numerous compositions for movies soundtrack, Japanese anime, video games or television programs, the tokyoïte composer Kenji Kawai signs with the soundtrack of the cult manga Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow, one of his greatest hits. Originally published on paper in October 1991 by the Japanese journal weekly devoted to manga, Young Magazine, it was in November 1995 that Ghost In The Shell was suitable for the first time on screen by Mamoru Oshii. And it’s Kenji Kawai who was chosen to recreate the futuristic cyber-punk atmosphere that emanates from this manga, into music. Assisted by the percussionist Yuhki Sugawara, Kenji Kawai reached the summit of his art by delivering captivating music, halfway between ambient electronics, traditional Japanese music and Buddhist ritual singings. The synthetic and ethereal soundscapes, almost disturbing, blend perfectly with gongs, bells or female choirs filled with echoes. The listener is plunged into a dreamlike fable sound with a striking and evocative poetry that is reminiscent of the soundtrack of a certain Akira. Reissued for the first time on vinyl, this rare edition is limited to 500 copies and comes with an A3 poster format.”
File Under: OST, Anime, Ambient
Listen Here
OST: Interstellar (Music on Vinyl) LP
2014’s Interstellar, from Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, paired the creative forces of highly decorated composer Hans Zimmer and esteemed director Christopher Nolan, who collaborated previously on The Dark Knight film trilogy and Inception. “Chris wanted us to push the limits,” offers Zimmer. “Every conversation was about pushing boundaries and exploring new territories. This movie virtually dictates that you put everything on the line and keep the laboratory doors wide open and experiment to the very end. It tested our limits: the limits of what musicians are capable of, the limits of what could be recorded, the limits of everyone’s stamina, commitment and invention, and I think we got it.” “I believe that Hans’ score for Interstellar has the tightest bond between music and image that we’ve yet achieved,” Nolan reflected. “And we’re excited for people to be able to revisit the soundtrack once they’ve had the chance to experience the music in the film itself.” Interstellar stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow and Michael Caine. With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.
File Under: OST, Sci Fi
Listen Here
Benoit Pioulard: Sonnet (Kranky) LP
“‘The basis of the album was a series of field recordings of tones and unintentional harmonies that I made in the summer & fall of 2013 — whistling industrial air conditioners, bird songs, locust drones, washing machines — that I mimicked or interpreted on the guitar, making loops that developed into fuller compositions. Several of the pieces are recreations of harmony loops that I heard in a series of extraordinarily vivid dreams, and then woke up and recorded. A few pieces had lyrics and vocal parts that I ultimately removed; at a certain point the album became an exercise in restraint, so I strove to leave only what I felt absolutely essential. Unlike most of my previous recordings, there are no digital/software after-effects on the album; all sounds are from analog tape and/or my few guitar pedals’ –Thomas Meluch (Benoit Pioulard). The sound of the fifth Benoit Pioulard full-length is lush and verdant, a temperate rainforest of ear ecstasy that reflects the environment surrounding the artist. A mostly instrumental work, it is an adept melding of song and sound, melody and texture, the intangible and the palpable, that in an abstract sense recalls the more fractured and loose end of the ’70s krautrock movement.”
File Under: Field Recording, Ambient
Listen Here
Red Red Meat: There’s a Star Above the Manger Tonight (Jealous Butcher) LP
With its final album, Chicago-based quartet Red Red Meat completed a journey started in the early ‘90s, concluding a study in evolution, moving from its shambolic blues rock roots into an experimental combo capable of synthesizing “a field recording with a Can aesthetic.” Yet, There’s a Star Above the Manger Tonight is the sound of a band blooming even as it folds in—finding Tim Rutili (Califone), Brian Deck, Ben Massarella (CalifoneE/Orso), and Tim Hurley incorporating samplers, loops, and computers, marrying disparate threads of hip-hop, Krautrock, and dub to folk forms, stomps and blues. Originally released in 1996 on Sub Pop. Artwork re-envisioned by John Herndon (Tortoise). Vinyl only release includes a download with five extra tracks from the original sessions.
File Under: Indie Rock, Califone
Listen Here
Rick Saucedo: Heaven Was Blue (Guerssen) LP
First ever legit vinyl reissue of Rick Saucedo’s mind-expanding, one-man, multi-tracked private press miracle in sound from 1978. Master tape sound; original artwork; includes insert with interview with Saucedo and detailed liner notes by Jeremy Cargill (Got Kinda Lost/Ugly Things). Heaven Was Blue drifts in the same sonic milieu as fellow travelers in ’60s square peg joy Darius, Marcus, D.R. Hooker (without the lounge allusions), or late period psych adventurers Michael Angelo and Bobb Trimble — and his concentration and vision equals or exceeds these international underground heroes. Rick Saucedo is an internationally-known Elvis tribute artist, actor, and singer-songwriter from Chicago. In 1978, after some years of doing his Elvis show, he decided he wanted to have his own identity, and recorded an album with his own songs, influenced by The Beatles and Pink Floyd. All instruments on the album were played by Rick with help from a couple of friends. Songs like “Reality,” which was written in a graveyard just after the passing of Mr. Presley, or “In My Mind,” which dates back to 1967, written just after Sgt. Pepper had come out, are prime examples of dreamy acid psych with Lennon-esque vocals, lysergic guitars, and studio effects. There’s also a couple of fuzz rockers with a strong ’50s vibe, and then there’s the album centerpiece: the impressive 18-minute “Heaven Was Blue” suite, which Rick envisioned as an “acid trip dream.” In words of Patrick Lundborg, “Saucedo pulls it off. Somehow like how you turn the wheels on a kaleidoscope, new melodies, guitar figures and arrangements emerge out of the old ones every three minutes, each sequence more swirling and enchanting that the last, with a sense of progression throughout.” This expanded reissue offers a full extra album of bonus tracks: “Oh My God” was the conclusion to “Reality” and “In My Mind,” recorded in 1978 but omitted from the original album at the last moment. Previously unreleased on vinyl until now. “Baby in the Sand” and “It Burns Again Today” were written during the Heaven Was Blue sessions but went unrecorded until 1991; they’re terrific sitar-drenched melodic psych in the same vein as the original album. Previously unreleased on vinyl until now. And there’s also both sides of the post-album single Reality/History Makin’ – Country Shakin’, which featured different mixes and an alternate mix of “Reality.” These tracks were originally released as promo 45s in very limited quantities.
File Under: Psych, Private Press
Listen Here
Squadra Omega: Il Serpente Nel Cielo (Holidays) LP
Il serpente nel cielo is the first of three Squadra Omega titles to be released in less than six months in 2015. This two-piece jam was recorded live at Outside Inside Studio, with the always-evolving group reduced to three core elements: OmegaFrank (drums, xylophone), OmegaG8 (synth, bass), and OmegaMatt (sax, acoustic and electroacoustic percussion). The trio hauls its instruments through a free-form improv-ambient session frequently peaking with moments of free jazz, sustained by a skeleton of intense droning electronics, and wonderfully rendered by an exquisite cut made at SST in Frankfurt. Cover artwork by Re delle Aringhe.
File Under: Free Jazz, Free Improv
Listen Here
Various: Groovallegiance (Soul Patrol) LP
Since 1993, Soul Patrol have established themselves as an indisputable reference when it comes to funky soul music. Soul Patrol made its name with compilations of obscure tracks originally released on 7″, paying tribute to some artists who couldn’t make the living they deserved with their music. Here, Soul Patrol strikes stronger than strong with Groovallegiance. Like its previous compilations, there are some gems to discover, some surprises, and some ear-openers, such as Spitting Image’s “JB’s Latin” or the ultra-efficient “Foxy” by Sam Jacobs, as well as “And I Love You” by The Darling Dears & Funky Heavy Prod…. Music from a time when soul music reflected political violence and misery, with dignity and freedom of the utmost importance. This record is a true gem, for the most curious listeners. Also includes tracks by T. J. and the Group, The Originals Orchestra, Monica, New Directions, The Concepts, Funk Machine, and Cool Creations of St. Maarten. Edition of 500
File Under: Funk, Soul
…..Restocks…..
A Tribe Called Red: Nation II Nation (Sony) LP
Alabama Shakes: Brothers & Sisters (ATO) LP
Amon Duul II: Yeti (Cleopatra) LP
Black Keys: Turn Blue (Nonesuch) LP
Boards of Canada: Trans-Canadian Highway (Warp) LP
Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady (Music on Vinyl) LP
Can: Ege Bamyasi (Mute) LP
Don Cherry: Organic Music Society (Caprice) LP
Cure: Disintegration (Elektra) LP
Daft Punk: Homework (EMI) LP
Dead Kennedys: Gimme Convenience (Manifesto) LP
Dead Kennedys: Plastic Surgery Disasters (Manifesto) LP
Death From Above 1979: Physical World (Last Gang) LP
Faith No More: Angel Dust (Music on Vinyl) LP
Robert Fripp/Brian Eno: Equatorial Stars (Panegyric) LP
Futuro Antico: Dai Primitiva (Black Sweat) LP
Dexter Gordon: Go (Blue Note) LP
Kraftwerk: Autobahn (EMI) LP
Kraftwerk: Trans-Europe Express (EMI) LP
Kyuss: And the Circus Leaves Town (Elektra) LP
Kyuss: Blues For The Red Sun (Elektra) LP
Kyuss: Welcome to Sky Valley (Elektra) LP
Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: II (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: III (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (Warner) DLX LP
Mutamassik: Symbols (Discrepant) LP
Nine Inch Nails: Hesitation Marks (Null) LP
Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine (Null) LP
Charlemagne Palestine/Rhys Chatham: Yooouuu (Sub Rosa) LP
Portishead: PNYC (Go Beat) LP
Portishead: Dummy (Go Beat) LP
Django Reinhardt: Djangology (Not Now) 2LP
Django Reinhardt: Three Fingered Lightning (Doxy) LP
Django Reinhardt: Plays Gershwin & Ellington (Doxy) LP
Rush: 2112 (Anthem) LP
Smiths: Hatful of Hallow (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Meat is Murder (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Queen is Dead (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Strangeways Here We Come (Rhino) LP
Andy Stott: Passed Me By (Modern Love) LP
Trader Horne: Morning (Flashback) LP
TV On The Radio: Seeds (Harvest) LP
Unwound: Kid is Gone (Numero) Box
Unwound: No Energy (Numero) Box
U-Roy: I Am The… (Kingston) LP
White Birch: The Weight of Spring (Glitterhouse) LP
Various: Ska From the Vaults of Wirl (Kingston) LP