What a week of wonderful wax! Some major reissues in this week along with a load of other great releases as well. So much so, that this is coming out rather late, so read on!
Oh, also, next Thursday the 24th we will be hosting a Listening Party for the new DEAD WEATHER album! We’ve got swag to give away and prizes to be won. Party starts at 7pm come on down and hang out!
…..picks of the week…..
Keith Mlevhu: The Bad Will Die (Strawberry Rain) LP
Anthology of arguably Zambia’s most prolific artist. Infamous in Zamrock circles, Keith’s name is often mentioned alongside Paul Ngozi and Witch as one of the Zamrock Era greats. A solo artist to a fault, outside of allowing Cosmos Zani to play keyboard occasionally, Keith played all the instruments on his albums, including using a megaphone to manipulate his voice on some songs. He also went against the grain and created his own Mac Bullet imprint as opposed to going with any of the more significant Zambian labels. Winning the Zambian polls for Best Solo Artist in 1977, he finished second to the Ngozi Family’s “Heavy Metal” album for Album Of The Year in 1978, and was also runner up for Best Guitarist, Best Bassist and Best Vocalist in the same polls. This is the first time his finest moments have been collected as a set, and the first release he’s had outside of Zambia since the WEA/France reissue of his second album ‘Love & Freedom’ in 1978. It also includes music never released on LP before, a song from a private press 45 which is by far his rarest offering outside of his unreleased ‘One Man Band’ and ‘Aqualung’ albums. Fans of Zambian Rock (Witch, Amanaz, Salty Dog, The Peace, Harry Mwale & Ricky Illilonga) will love this one!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
File Under: Zamrock, Psych, Rad
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Various: Library of Sound Grooves: Obscure Psychedelic Manuscripts from the Italian Cinema 1967-1975 (Semi-Automatic) LP
From the people who brought us the excellent ‘Ecstacy of Gold’ series… A magnificent concoction of freak beat, baroque pop, heavy rock, LSD exotica, and other mind-melting oddities from the Italian soundtrack/library scene of the 1960s/1970s. Featuring legendary composers such as Bruno Nicolai, Luis Bacalov, Piero Piccioni, The Sparrows, The Pawnshop, Gianni Marchetti, Roberto Righini, Riz Ortolani, Romano Rizzati, Lallo Gori, Carlo Pes, Alessandro Alessandroni, Berto Pisano, Jacques Chaumont, Giorgio Gaslini, Guido & Maurizio de Angelis, Florenza Mormile, Franco Micalizzi, Gian Piero & Gian Franco Reverberi, The T and 8, Sandro Brugnolini, Peppino de Luca, Dream Bags, Albert Verrecchia, Mario Migliardi, and Gianni Mazza. Gatefold double LP; edition of 750.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
File Under: Library, Italian, Psych
Stars of the Lid: Tired Sounds of… (Kranky) 3LP
Long overdue new release from nocturnal lullabye giants Stars of the Lid finds Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie expanding their sound palette to include strings, horns and piano in addition to guitars and field recordings. “The Tired Sounds of…” shows a continued trend toward more overt melodic structures seen on their previous Avec Laudenum album. Six suites stretch across two CDs and six sides of vinyl combining atmosphere, texture and melody. Neo-psychedelia, contemporary classical, ambient, minimalist, maximalist, drug enhancer, drug substitute. Stars of the Lid are all these things. Stars of the Lid are none of these things. Stars of the Lid are not about outer space, they are about inner space.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
File Under: Ambient, Drone, Essential Grooves
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…..new arrivals…..
Against Me!: 23 Live Sex Acts (Total Treble) LP
Total Treble and INgrooves Music Group are proud to announce the brand new live album from celebrated rock band Against Me! titled 23 Live Sex Acts. Recorded over the band’s year-long, 2014 world tour and helmed by Marc Jacob Hudson (Taking Back Sunday, Saves The Day, Worriers), 23 Live Sex Acts is an immersive 3LP collection of songs that span the band’s entire catalog and provides the most comprehensive look into the powerful Against Me! live experience. 2014 was a pivotal year for the four members of Against Me!, a year that included world touring and the release of its widely acclaimed sixth full-length album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, that landed on countless year-end lists. It was also an especially successful year for frontwoman Laura Jane Grace who starred in her own AOL Originals series titled True Trans With Laura Jane Grace, a 10-episode docu-series that was nominated for “Outstanding Documentary” at the 2015 GLAAD Media Awards. While continuing to work on her highly-anticipated memoir and performing solo shows around the country that included storytelling and spoken word, the cultural icon also served as Music Director for MTV’s Rebel Music, a series of documentary films about youth, music and global social change, focused on youth protest movements in the most challenging and turbulent parts of the world. Grace is also currently a contributing writer to Noisey where she writes a bi-weekly advice column titled Mandatory Happiness and, alongside the legendary Joan Jett, recently loaned her support for Miley Cyrus’ “Happy Hippie Foundation,” a non-profit whose mission is to rally young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBT youth and other vulnerable populations.
File Under: Punk
Agitation Free: Shibuya Nights (Made in Germany) LP
“In 2007 three concerts were recorded in Shibuya O’West/Tokyo, finally mixed into this outstanding album. A more than 70-minutes time travel back to the 70’s, filigree and majestic. A matchless mixture of spacy-psychedelic ‘Krautrock’ and Ethno-Music. Agitation Free proves again on this album that they are one of the most important representatives of the so-called ‘Berlin School. Special limited to 1000 copies double-vinyl edition in red/black colored vinyl, numbered consecutively, in complex gatefold!”
File Under: Psych, Prog
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Blanck Mass: The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (Death Waltz Originals) LP
Death Waltz Originals are proud to present a spectacular new record curated by Blanck Mass & commissioned exclusively by the East End Film Festival, an alternative score to the 2013 film The Strange Colour Of Your Body’s Tears, directed by Bruno Foranzi and Helene Cattet. A full-on homage to the Italian giallo films from Mario Bava and Dario Argento, the original release of the film had no original score and instead used music from existing giallo films. Edinburgh musician Ben Power (Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons) devised to use this as a stage for experimentation and collaboration with several artists from across the globe. Each artist was given a scene to work with and was given complete free reign to score the scene how they wanted to, without any knowledge of what was planned for the film by the other musicians. Contributions came from Stockholm’s Roll The Dice, London’s Helm, Moon Gangs, and Phil Julian, Glasgow’s Konx-Om-Pax, and New York’s C. Spencer Yeh, as well as Blanck Mass. The end result is a fascinating score that enthrals, seduces, and terrifies in equal measure. Due to be performed live later in 2015, The Strange Colour Of Your Body’s Tears re-score is a testament to the quality of alternative artists working today, as well as evidence of the ongoing inspiration that Italian horror continues to supply to contemporary art.
File Under: OST, Electronic
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Circle – s/t (Krunk) LP
Circe is made up of two-thirds of Sigur Rós, bass player Georg Holm and drummer Orri Páll Dýrason, along with Icelandic composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Sigur Rós touring guitarist, and Georg’s brother, Kjartan Holm. They have teamed up to create an uninterrupted 72-minute instrumental album inspired by 100 years of archive footage of vaudeville, circuses and carnivals. A pulsating work throughout, the 14 track album, which was made to accompany the BBC documentary film The Show of Shows, was written and recorded at Sigur Ros’ studio space in Reykjavik, and features contributions from the celebrated South Iceland Chamber Choir (who were John Tavener’s favorite). This album is absolutely stunning!
File Under: Ambient, Electronic, OST
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Alice Cohen: Into The Grey (Olde English Spelling Bee) LP
“Into The Grey Salons is the 5th solo release from singer/musician Alice Cohen. The album features cosmic R&B-tinged dance tunes and soulful gospel-flavored ballads, with experimental synth interludes interspersed throughout the LP. Into The Grey Salons was inspired by a historic department store from Cohen’s youth during the glitter rock heyday when David Bowie was recording Young Americans at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. The ‘Sigma Kids’ – young fans sporting Bowie haircuts – would line up to buy concert tickets at the grand ornate building, while the gothic pipe organ played inside. Out on the streets, the iconic ‘Sound of Philadelphia’ was everywhere. The ‘haunted department store’ is a symbolic space – where desire and commerce intersect, and identities are performed in the reflections of dressing room mirrors. Recorded at home in Brooklyn over the course of two years – all instruments were played by Alice Cohen, with additional drumming by Bryan Ujueta of Mr. Twin Sister, and additional vocals by Autre Ne Veut. Alice Cohen has been active since the late 70s, when her song ‘Save the Best for Last’ was released on Chrysalis Records.”
File Under: Ambient, Ethereal
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Coil: Selvaggina, Go Back into the Woods (Threshold) LP
Selvaggina, Go Back into the Woods was originally released in CD-R format by Coil in a limited edition of 230 copies. The release is a live performance in Jesi, Italy on 11 June 2004. Selvaggina was released in a sleeve identical to that of Coil Presents Time Machines, Megalithomania!, and the original version of Black Antlers. Tracks 1-3 and 5-7 were released as studio versions with slightly augmented titles on Black Antlers. “Bang Bang” has not been given a studio release by Coil. “Tattooed Man” was later remade and released on The Ape of Naples. The live version of “Amethyst Deceivers” on Selvaggina is most similar to the versions released on The Ape of Naples and Live Two. For this performance, Coil were John Balance, Peter Christopherson and Thighpaulsandra.
File Under: Electronic, Ambient, Industrial
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Dam-Funk: Invite the Light (Stones Throw) LP
Deluxe vinyl package includes the album on 3xLP white vinyl, download card and a gorgeous, reflective silver triple gatefold jacket. Damon “Dam-Funk” Riddick is the epitome of funk. Ever since debuting with Stones Throw in 2008, Dam-Funk has become one of the genres most passionate proselytizers. In 2013, he released his celebrated partnership with hip-hop’s Snoop Dogg titled 7 Days Of Funk. Fresh for ’15, Dam returns with a solo project nearly six years in the making: Invite the Light. Dam’s partnership with Stones Throw includes everything from his 2009 LP Toeachizown, to an anthology of early productions, Adolescent Funk (2010), to 2013’s 7 Days of Funk. As always, Dam flexes his multi-instrumentalist talents by handling all the production but still makes time for guests including rapper Q-Tip, the father-son duo of Leon Sylvers III & IV, and funk giant Junie Morrison of the Ohio Players, who opens and closes the album with dire warnings of what could happen in a world without funk. Rest assured, Dam is here to make sure that never comes to pass. As he puts it, “funk is the underdog, the black sheep of black music,” and if that’s true, Dam-Funk is its shepherd.
File Under: Funk, Soul
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Dead Moon: Nervous Sooner Changes (Mississippi) LP
Another all time Dead Moon classic. The band really hit their stride on this one! The best rock band of the 90’s and 2000’s kicks out some of their finest rockers and ballads. Features all time greats like Diamonds in the Rough, Say it isn’t so, Running Out of Time, Somewhere Far Away and Windows Of Time. A must have for any fan of the band and rock music in general.
File Under: Punk
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Destruction Unit: Negative Feedback Resistor (Sacred Bones) LP
For two years now, the psychedelic Destruction Unit has been keeping the world waiting for a new album. And it’s not because they’ve grown up or gotten soft, rather because they’ve been in the streets and in your backyards, pushing the freek agenda and imminentizing the alien-eschaton. They’ve been up and down and all around this globe, battling the greedy club owners, show promoters and control pigs to bring the new American heavy underground through your back door. Now here we are, with the psychedelic Unit’s second album for Sacred Bones, Negative Feedback Resistor. In the spirit of solidarity with the other revolutionary communities of our sisters and brothers, the psychedelic Unit urges you to use this album’s energy, energy your speakers can hardly contain, for its intended purpose: to break the chains which you, at the dawn of your understanding, have fastened around your hands and feet. And to see to it that the thrones of every despot erected within you are destroyed. This is crazed-psychedelic-freek-noise guerrilla warfare and these are our streets. The pigs of the law can use their system to manipulate and censor our messages. The control creeps can keep their airwaves safe and comfortable. But none of them have been able to make us turn our voices or our guitar amps down. Destruction Unit sacrificed their ears to make this album as loud of a statement as possible. Will you lend them yours? Negative Feedback Resistor was produced by The Ascetic House and Joe Cardamon in 2015, with the help of Adult Swim and Sacred Bones Records. It was recorded by Cardamon and Greg Gordon at Valley Recording Company, mixed by Ben Greenberg at The Bunker and mastered by Alex DeTurk at Strange Weather. Destruction Unit is R. Rousseau, J.S. Aurelius, N. Nappa, R. Rousseau, A. Flores with additional accompaniments by A.Z. Hungtai, D. Bolles, L. Rahbek and J. Sanes.
File Under: Punk, Noise Rock
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Brian Ellis Group: Escondido Sessions (El Paraiso) LP
There’s something brewing in Southern California — besides the world’s finest pale ale and crystal-clear surf rolling up the shore along Interstate 5. There’s been an outpouring of mind-blowing prog-, psych- and free-rock in impeccable form from San Diego County, seamlessly merging jazz tendencies and extraordinary jam-abilities with crushing heaviness, electronics, and a general out-there-ness. Bands such as Psicomagia, Earthless, and Joy have earned SoCal its own unique spot on the worldwide map of psychedelia. At the heart of all this is one young Escondido native, Brian Ellis. A guitar virtuoso in Astra, saxophonist in Psicomagia, and keys- and synth-wiz as well, he’s long been cutting his teeth as a grade-A session player in such heavyweight funk outfits as Egyptian Lover, in addition to working as a studio owner and an esteemed recording engineer. It was only a matter of time before Ellis got his own group of local offbeat heroes in the same room to crank out a spectacular piece of prismatic, electric free-form jazz. And here it is. Along with members from Radio Moscow, Corima, and Psicomagia, Ellis has cooked up two vinyl sides of seriously vital jazz-rock, taking up where Miles Davis, Tony Williams, and Donald Byrd left off in the ’70s. This music is a far cry from the self-absorbed European free jazz or academic noodling one is likely to meet at any given jazz festival; this music is earthy, like, say, Hendrix at Woodstock, or Davis’s Live-Evil (1971) — a pinnacle challenge of the past that has never met any really satisfying response from contemporary music. There’s that unique sense of percussive drift that characterized Can’s records in the first half of the ’70s — somehow extravagant, yet also subtle at the same time. The warmth of Ellis’s sun-dried Rhodes and cosmic Moog-lines intertwine with Patrick Shiroishi’s Coltrane-inspired soprano arabesques. Trevor Mast’s thick basslines and a multitude of tribalistic percussion keep it together along with a naturalistic, crisp-sounding recording. It all adds up to a soulful tour de force of everything that’s great about the San Diego scene. To be played loudly. File next to: Miles Davis, Tortoise, Marion Brown, Joe Henderson, Can, Donald Byrd. Brian Ellis: Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond L-122 organ, Wurlitzer electric Piano, Minimoog, Moog Subphatty; David Hurley: congas and percussion; Michael Hams: drums and percussion; Patrick Shiroishi: alto and soprano saxophones; Paul Marrone: drums, percussion, guitar; Trevor Mast: bass.
File Under: Jazz Rock, Psych
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F ingers: Hide Before Dinner (Blackest Ever Black) LP
Hide Before Dinner is an extraordinary LP from a group comprising Carla dal Forno (Tarcar), Samuel Karmel, and Tarquin Manek (Tarcar, LST). Deeply drugged, synth-daubed death-folk and DIY electronics of the highest order; acutely psychedelic, inscrutable but emotional, sunken but prone to soaring, with flashes of horror too. Beautifully conjures the mirth and murk of childhood summers… a relatable surburban gothic… grazed knees, hide-and-seek, nettle-stings. Trampled flowerbeds and failing light. Ghouls in your neighbor’s garden. Think Nico meets Dome or Alison Statton wandering The Pickle Factory after dark. If you dream you die, you die. Cover art by dal Forno and Manek. Layout assistance by Oliver Smith. Cut by Noel Summerville and pressed at Optimal. Housed in full-color gloss sleeve with printed inner sleeve and download code.
File Under: Electronic, New Wave
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Masayoshi Fujita: Apologues (Erased Tapes) LP
Berlin-based Japanese vibraphonist and composer Masayoshi Fujita, after releasing more ambient-based electronic recordings of the vibraphone under his el fog alias, became more interested in the sound of the vibraphone itself. He started to compose acoustic pieces and released his first solo album under his real name, titled Stories, in early 2013. Apologues sees Fujita use an array of instruments besides his lead instrument for the first time, such as the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, French horn, accordion, piano, and snare drum — played by friends, but arranged by Fujita himself. “My idea was to let those instruments express their own images or atmospheres that each instruments have by nature, or have been given in their history, and not treating them just as accompaniments of the vibraphone. Also, it was new for me to compose a song as a whole. As I wrote the vibraphone part first, I tried to hear other sounds in my head and tried to leave enough room for them and sometimes play only fundamental parts on the vibes.” In addition to the mallets, Fujita often plays the vibraphone with a violin or cello bow, like on “Tears of Unicorn” and “Knight and Spirit of Lake.” He also places bead strings on the vibraphone bars to create an ambient shimmer that can be heard on songs like “Moonlight” and “Swallow Flies High in the May Sky.” The latter was composed to let the clarinet express its characteristics and tell its story, while the vibraphone takes a supporting role. “The clarinet sounds very warm and soft and very ‘spring’ to me,” says Fujita. Inspired by “the silence and deepness of the fog, the mountains and the gravity within,” his music has a unique, evocative atmosphere. He connects the song “Requiem,” which he composed for French horn, to “images of mountains, fields and the far away.” “Tears of Unicorn” was inspired by a painting that features in Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli animation Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), drawn by a woman that lives in the forest. “With this album the main idea was to evoke images, atmospheres, sceneries and stories in the listener, the images that have accumulated in myself. At the same time it was an exploration of the unexplored beauty of the vibraphone, and also a pursuit of the charm of the instrumentation and the music itself.” –Fujita
File Under: Electronic, Ambient, Classical
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Homeshake: Midnight Snack (Omnian) LP
Homeshake is the pseudonym and solo project of Edmonton-born, Montreal-based musician Peter Sagar. Sophomore offering Midnight Snack follows up his 2014 debut In The Shower and was recorded this past winter with Jackson MacIntosh at the Drones club in Montreal. Musically this time around Sagar trades in his guitar for synthesizers and a drum machine, developing vocal arrangements from loops he created for his solo set. He pulled influence from house pioneers like Chip E and Mr. Fingers as well as Japanese pop starlets like Chiemi Manabe, slowing down the tempo with his own homemade drowsiness. The resulting collection is an eclectic tangle of personal anecdotes steeped in an everlasting reverence of D’Angelo and R Kelly. Much of the record was written following Sagar’s dizzying time on the road as touring guitarist with Mac Demarco, reflecting on the loneliness that plagued him towards the end of his run and the longing for life back home in Montreal. Sagar left the band to focus on his own music and to rebuild the infrastructure of his life. While many of the new tracks meander through anxiety and melancholy, it is also a witness to a return to safety. There is a reoccurring theme for Sagar of pulling inward throughout the record. He casts a wide net and fills it with a multitude of musical influences from international tour dates then slows it down a few tempos and builds something humble around it. Throughout the record he peppers in a deep appreciation for the meals prepared by his girlfriend Salina and the simple pleasure of a Midnight Snack before curling up in bed next to the person you love.
File Under: Indie Rock, CanCon
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The Kitchen Cinq: When The Rainbow Disappears (Light in the Attic) LP
Lee Hazlewood’s LHI flagship group, The Kitchen Cinq, had everything but one elusive factor: success. Formed as The Illusions (and briefly The Y’alls) in Amarillo, Texas, the group blended garage punk with killer harmonies and a slight sense of the absurd. Picking up steam locally in the mid-‘60s, the members started to think about cracking it on a bigger scale, and, in 1966, moved to LA. “Almost immediately upon arrival, we auditioned for Lee,” says guitarist/vocalist Mark Creamer. “He said, ‘Deal.’” Another of Hazlewood’s coterie, Suzi Jane Hokom, was charged with producing the group, making her a de facto female pioneer in the industry. By 1968, The Kitchen Cinq issued a total of five impressive singles and one album, Everything But. They recorded a surprisingly vast amount of material, all of which is collected here. Their version of The Beau Brummels’ “Still In Love With You Baby” was a regional hit in many cities, but they were still chasing a big hit, and the LA dream was wearing thin. In the end, the industry burned them out: the endless gigging, the radio spots, the long journeys–including an ill-fated East Coast tour that required them to drive from LA to Florida in three days. “I think LA ate the Texas boys; I really feel that way,” says guitarist/vocalist Jim Parker. The group split in ’68, and the members spread off into bands including Them, rock outfit Armageddon and, eventually, careers in studios. One–temporary member J.D. Souther–has a recurring role on the popular soap opera Nashville. The Kitchen Cinq was just a springboard for each of them, but listening to these overlooked works of beat-pop brilliance, you can’t help but wonder why it didn’t work out for the Texans at the time. Their songs–all of them–live on in this anthology.
File Under: Psych, Garage
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Master Musicians of Bukkake: Further West Quad Cult (Important) LP
Prefigured by the inclusion of a secret extra pocket in the original packaging of Far West, this painstakingly crafted complimentary LP is intended for synced playback with that release. With two turntables or other playback devices, the listener can experience fully unique quad playback. Further West Quad Cult LP offers deeper journeys into the cave where the self dissolves. It also stands alone as an inverted Far West universe, and the listener is invited to enjoy it by itself as well. Liquid synth journeys into the void. All tracks dubbed and manipulated from Far West source material. All music by Master Musicians of Bukkake. Additional sound design and synths by Randall Dunn and Timm Mason. Produced, recorded, and mixed by Randall Dunn at Avast!, Seattle, WA. Includes fold-out poster by photographer Alison Scarpulla.
File Under: Synth, Psych, Quad
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Miaux: Above the High Rays (Feeding Tube) LP
“Miaux is the operating handle of Belgium’s Mia Prce. Most of her prior recordings have been issued by Dennis Tyfus’ Ultra Eczema label, but after catching her set at 2014’s Bruismelk festival, Feeding Tube had to ‘have’ her new record. Unlike other known works, whereon Miaux is a mistress of elaborate keyboard shenanigans that border on the gothic, Above the High Rays brims with music of a very soundtrack-y nature. It mixes Neo-Eastern percussion symbiography with floating swathes of parachute color, all of it presumably birthed from Mia’s hands and keys. It’s easy to imagine a Jodorowksy carnival scene, shot like the opening of Welles’ Touch of Evil, while this album spins. It is soaked with a haunted, lonely quality that touches the edges of mystery like a torch. Cover art and one side of etchings by Mr. Tyfus, himself. The tears you shed will be your own.” –Byron Coley, 2015
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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Muslimgauze: Uzbkistani Bizzare and Souk (Staalplaat) LP
Sonically, Bryn Jones’s work as Muslimgauze often pulled in two directions at the same time. The one, towards what fans of Can might call an “ethnographic” kind of practice, especially with his use of vocal samples and percussion instruments from the Middle East and other regions of the world Jones was so interested in (obsessed by?). The other is toward, for lack of more polite phrasing, harshly fucked-up digital noise and beats. Many interesting Muslimgauze releases tend more toward that ethnographic side or find a middle ground between the two impulses, but few of his records slide so much towards the other end of the spectrum as does 1996’s Uzbekistani Bizzare and Souk. Aside from the vocal loop/Amen break duet of “Rouge Amin Fraction,” the songs here found Jones focusing much more on the electronic music elements always present in his work as Muslimgauze, ranging from the watery, dubby tones that show up on “The Iranian Who Found Allah” and parts of the suite-like “Paper Gulag” through the harsh trebles of “Cafkir Ma Higra” (which bring to mind Aphex Twin’s “Ventolin”) to the dense digital-sleet-storm of closer “Leboneeze.” Elsewhere, tracks like “Cafkir Wa Hig” and “Harijana” serve as master classes in Jones’s expertise at twisting his beats and patterns until they practically shred (both themselves and, if you’re not careful, the speakers). Uzbekistani Bizzare and Souk was originally issued by Staalplaat on DAT in 1996, and was reissued on CD by Important Records in 2002; this is its first vinyl release. A tough, rigorous set of some of Jones’s most beat-focused work as Muslimgauze. Limited edition of 500.
File Under: Electronic, Experimental
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Neurosis: Through Silver in Blood (Relapse) LP
Severely shorted, more soon. With their fifth album, Through Silver In Blood, Oakland, CA’s seminal hardcore auteurs Neurosis brought forth the ultimate endtime vision, conjuring up contemplative textures and dire, prophetic warnings. Relapse Records is pleased to offer super deluxe vinyl reissues of Neurosis’ Through Silver In Blood (originally released in 1996, first time on vinyl in 10 years), Times Of Grace (originally released in 1999, first time on vinyl in 15+ years) and the Times Of Grace companion piece, Tribes of Neurot’s Grace (originally released in 1999, never before on vinyl). All three records are pressed on 180 gram vinyl and are housed in heavy duty ‘tip-on’ jackets.
File Under: Metal
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Neurosis: Times of Grace (Relapse) LP
Times Of Grace is yet another ferocious war cry from Oakland, CA seminal hardcore auteurs Neurosis. Their sixth full-length offering overall is brutally honest, original, and categorically defiant, a bold work which lures with its vivid rhythms, strikes with a siege of emotion, and consumes with abysmal force! Relapse Records is pleased to offer super deluxe vinyl reissues of Neurosis’ Through Silver In Blood (originally released in 1996, first time on vinyl in 10 years), Times Of Grace (originally released in 1999, first time on vinyl in 15+ years) and the Times Of Grace companion piece, Tribes of Neurot’s Grace (originally released in 1999, never before on vinyl). All three records are pressed on 180 gram vinyl and are housed in heavy duty ‘tip-on’ jackets.
File Under: Metal
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OST: Aliens (Mondo) LP
The Academy Award-nominated score for Aliens is an appropriate musical companion to this wildly successful sequel. Much like the film, the soundtrack is a departure from the original, but equally beloved. Composer James Horner took the reigns from Jerry Goldsmith and made something his own: blending the suspense and horror that the franchise is known for, with an element of fun that is unique to this entry.This deluxe edition soundtrack features over a dozen cues that have never before been released on vinyl, including 5 bonus tracks. Commenting on the design, artist Killian Eng said, “I wanted the alien to play a big role but at the same time incorporate its shape into the materials of the space station, almost like it becomes the station itself, keeping the marines in a steady merciless grip.”
File Under: OST, Mondo, SciFi
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OST: I Sell the Dead (Deep Focus) LP
Jeff Grace’s string-¬laden orchestral score to I Sell The Dead perfectly complements the film’s horror-¬comedy tonal duality. The music goes from a playful arrangement to terrifying string dissonance in a matter of seconds. I Sell The Dead stars Dominic Monaghan (The Hobbit, Lost), Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons Of Anarchy), Larry Fessenden (You’re Next, We Are Still Here) and Angus Scrimm (Phantasm). I Sell The Dead marked the sixth collaboration between Jeff Grace and Glass Eye Pix. Grace is best known for his musical contributions to the directorial works of Ti West, including House Of The Devil, The Innkeepers, The Roost, and the forthcoming In a Valley of Violence, starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta.
File Under: OST, Horror
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OST: Nightbreed (Wax Works) LP
Waxwork Records and Morgan Creek are proud to present the deluxe LP re-issue of Danny Elfman’s score to Clive Barker’s Nightbreed. Long out of print and prohibitively expensive, the original soundtrack release of Nightbreed has become a sought after collectable LP for horror fans and vinyl soundtrack enthusiasts alike. Waxwork Records and Morgan Creek have partnered to release the Nightbreed soundtrack as a deluxe re-issue vinyl LP package featuring re-mastered audio, incredible full package artwork by Rich Kelly, 180 gram colored vinyl, and high quality packaging. Fans of Clive Barker, horror, soundtracks, and vinyl can now look no further for an overpriced, out of print version of this remarkable, classic score by the legendary Danny Elfman. This is the attainable, super high standard real deal straight from the depths of Midian.
File Under: OST, Horror
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OST: Zombi Holocaust (Death Waltz) LP
The definitive version of this Italian splatter classic spread over 2 LPs and including 13 previously unheard cues. At Death Waltz Recording Company we’re proud to feature the music of some of the weirdest and most insane movies around, and few come crazier than Marino Girolami’s Zombi Holocaust. Melding both Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 and Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust (hence the title), Girolami’s film pits an army of flesh-eating cannibals against members of the undead, with a group of nosey Americans caught in-between, to be feasted and experimented upon. Scoring this truly depraved opus is famed Italian composer Nico Fidenco, who finds the perfect balance between jazz-funk, oppressive electronics and soft-core vocals to give Holocaust the soundtrack it needs. Fidenco goes everywhere and anywhere for this score, with thumping bass that wouldn’t sound out of place at a rave and the best jazz-flute this side of Jethro Tull.
File Under: OST, Horror
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Pig Destroyer: Prowler In The Yard (Relapse) LP
No true Relapse celebration would be complete without a contribution from Pig Destroyer, the VA-based grindcore monarchs that have been hailed as revolutionaries by publications the world over. The band’s landmark 2001 Relapse debut Prowler in the Yard, which led MetalSucks to call Pig Destroyer “the best grindcore act on the planet” and which Pitchfork deemed “a quantum leap for the whole goddamn genre,” will get the super-deluxe reissue treatment in September 2015 as another portion of Relapse’s 25th anniversary festivities. Fully remixed and remastered by guitarist/engineer Scott Hull, the limited edition vinyl reissue will also include a never-before-heard bonus track from the original Prowler in the Yard sessions, expanded artwork, exclusive photos and new liner notes including the complete Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame piece on the album. Frontman JR Hayes commented on the reissue: “Attention all weirdos, dirtbags, creeps and related scum, I’m excited to bring you the 15th Anniversary edition of our second album Prowler in the Yard. Remixed and remastered in SUPER-MEGA-HATE-SOUND by Mr. Hull himself. Relapse has expanded the packaging with liner notes and a ton of old photos from when I used to dye my hair black and wear button-up shirts…Hail to all PD fans worldwide.”
File Under: Metal
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Jonas Reinhardt: Palace Savant (Further) LP
On his sixth album, Palace Savant, Brooklyn producer Jonas Reinhardt (aka Jesse Reiner) undergoes a profound solo odyssey. The record may be the most spectacular realization of Jonas Reinhardt’s outward-bound sonic aspirations. These eight tracks draw on 14th-century architect Peter Parler’s breathtaking St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. “St. Vitus is a statement to the future by the rulers at the time,” Reiner says. “It’s surreal, grandiose, psychedelic — and the sheer scale of human ambition involved is almost beyond comprehension.” Parler reportedly deviated from the cathedral’s initial blueprint and elevated the Gothic style to heretofore-unimagined, bizarre levels. With Palace Savant, Reiner projected Parler’s handiwork into Thomas Edison’s era of electricity. “I envisioned [Parler] retrofitting his cathedral with excesses of incandescent light, preparing for a coming age of electronics. Palace Savant is what a contemporary electronic performance in that space might sound like.” Recorded on tour and in New York over the course of a year and mixed at Transmitter Park Studio in Greenpoint, Palace Savant begins with the instant attention-grabber/pulse-accelerator “Old Kaizen.” At once claustrophobic and spacious, it possesses an urgent, chase-scene synth throb that would make John Carpenter or Bernard Fevre jealous. The turbulent “Shattered Remains of Orr” sounds like Edgar Froese’s kosmische-ambient masterpiece Aqua (1974) tossed into shark-infested waters. On “Androma,” Reiner’s expertly-modulated arpeggios contrast low and high frequencies, revealing his ability to create suspense with a chiaroscuro of whirs and pulsations. Palace Savant achieves two towering peaks. The first is “Go Sceptre Go,” a swiftly-moving, heavenly droner that veers off on a tangent into a much darker, more chaotic direction. The second is “Noctornum,” a burbling and soaring piece that’s at once aquatic and astral, before an emphatic rhythm forms, pushing things into menacing Szajner-esque territory. The album closes with the mid-tempo arpeggios and muted, wailing siren-tones of “Omat Principle Decay,” a moving finale to a record that’s taken you so far and tingled your senses so intensely. A high point in Jonas Reinhardt’s large canon, the dramatic and majestic Palace Savant does exquisite justice to St. Vitus Cathedral’s grandeur. Album artwork by Andy Gilmore. Mastered by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering.
File Under: Electronic
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Shindig #48 Mag
Grateful Dead: The fallout of The Summer Of Love and the birth of a national treasure. The Dead keep on truckin’ through the early ’70s. Jorge Ben: The Brazilian samba-funk alchemists’s most mythical and creative years. Art: Pre-Spooky Tooth psych-rockers’ Supernatural Fairy Tale. Squire: Late ’70s powerpop avatars who became mod figureheads. Mary Wilson: The Supremes sassy lynchpin on 10 Deep Cuts you may have missed. Amon Düül II: Krautrock forefathers or psychedelic warriors? How about both? Joe Boyd: 20 Questions with the blues evangelist, counter-culture business head and record producer supreme. Serpent Power: Ian Skelly (The Coral) and Paul Molly (The Zutons) shake their psychedelic stick. Hidden Charms: London youngsters making their own righteous noise. Rising garage-soul star Curtis Harding talks, US psych enigma Bow Street Runners exposed, Fairport Convention‘s Liege & Lief artwork dissected, rhythm ’n’ beat troubadour Paul Orwell on soundtracking Shindig!‘s
File Under: Magazines, Psych
Shindig #49 Mag
Fleetwood Mac: Exclusive Mick Fleetwood interview explores the overlooked early ’70s era. Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Ex-Black Crowes leader and band tap the California Source. Plus: Church, Dragons, Isleys, Terry Reid, Dudley Moore, news, reviews, and, as always, lots, lots more!Grateful Dead, Jorge Ben, Art, Squire, Mary Wilson, Amon Düül II and Joe Boyd figure among typically eclectic content. recent campaign, and loads more!
File Under: Magazine, Psych
Idrissa Soumaoro: Ampsa (Mississippi) LP
“A classic and seldom heard LP from Bamako! Not just your average Malian LP, Ampsa features has to be heard to be believed organ, hypnotic guitar and amazing sweet vocals. A truly great LP and must have for fans of Malian music. A faithful reproduction of the original with the addition of liner notes by Florent Mazzoleni. A co release with Singasongfighter.”
File Under: Mali, World, Folk
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Stars of the Lid: And Their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky) 3LP
The long awaited new album from Stars of the Lid is finally ready for your sonic immersion. Painstakingly recorded, processed and assembled over the last five years, SOTL once again deliver a massive work filling two compact discs and three vinyl albums, clocking in at over two hours. While most albums of this length would be considered tedious at best, SOTL are arguably the only contemporary composers who can seemingly alter the time-space continuum simply through the playback of their organized sound. They take time itself and stretch, compress and turn it inside out, altering what would otherwise be an arduous test of nerves into an interlude of half awake dreams that ends too soon. In this album, SOTL picks up where The Tired Sounds Of… left off with an emphasis on melodic development, moving their epic soundscapes beyond mere drone and subsequently frustrating all the typical ambient cliches associated with their music. Perhaps the best references for this current work would be found in the score to the film Le Mepris by Georges Delerue, the orchestral works of Zbigniew Preisner, or the 1958 CSO/ Fritz Reiner recording of Hovhaness’ Mysterious Mountain, specifically the third movement. But in the final analysis, such comparisons are superfluous at best, as Stars of the Lid have created a musical universe in which they are the sole inhabitant. Simply put, this album is a masterpiece.
File Under: Ambient, Drone, Essential Grooves
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Tanya Tagaq: Animism (Six Shooter) LP
Tanya Tagaq (born Tanya Tagaq Gillis and sometimes credited as Tagaq) is an Inuk throat singer from Cambridge Bay (Ikaluktuutiak), Nunavut, Canada, on the south coast of Victoria Island.[1] After attending school in Cambridge Bay, at age 15, she went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to attend high school where she first began to practice throat singing. She later studied visual arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and while there developed her own solo form of Inuit throat singing, which is normally done by two women.
File Under: Experimental, CanCon, Polaris
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Tamaryn: Cranekiss (Mexican Summer) LP
Time and changes distance Tamaryn’s Cranekiss from her earlier efforts, and for that matter, from everyone else’s. Time, by way of the long period spent crafting this material, both on her own and with Weekend’s Shaun Durkan, who with producer Jorge Elbrecht (Violens, Lansing-Dreiden), make up the creative team behind Cranekiss. Changes, by relocating across the country from San Francisco to New York City, by expanding the approach taken on her two previous albums (2010’s The Waves and 2012’s Tender New Signs), by making music that pulls you closer to it despite the enormity of the sounds within. Tamaryn’s first two full-lengths stood out in a crowd of shoegaze/ethereal revivalists as much for what they were (careful, gorgeous, thrilling tapestries of guitar-based textures) as what they weren’t (simplistic, trendy, disposable signposts made to be broken). With Cranekiss, Tamaryn emerges from her past in a way that’s inviting, warm-blooded, and shockingly direct. She’s made a big record, loaded with samples, synth triggers and processing that was missing from her previous efforts, the result of long nights grinding it out at the Brooklyn studio Gary’s Electric, where the record was born. The Waves and Tender New Signs focused on the sounds Tamaryn and her group could coax out of guitars, but with Cranekiss her sonic palette has exploded with maniacal abandon, pressed into service of a post-adolescent love letter to all the music that she and her collaborators hold dear, drawing influences from the feelings that fell out of her. Anyone familiar enough with those times should be able to draw their own comparisons, recognizing the modes of musical respect and adoration flashing past as the record spins. From there, though, Tamaryn has modeled these elements into simulacra, where despite the nods and glances to the past, play as a totally new sound. Lyrically, this is Tamaryn’s most personal collection of songs to date, and Elbrecht has placed her voice front and center across the entire record, elevating her presence like never before. Cranekiss explores dark rock, dance pop, and glistening melancholy with a uniformly commanding presence across it all, in stormy, unsettled brushstrokes that apply pressure behind Tamaryn’s words. Cranekiss represents a long journey, and a new phase in Tamaryn’s music unfolding before you, a blood-red kaleidoscope of desire and late night abandon, a bold step forward.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Thighpaulsandra: The Golden Communion (Editions Mego) 3LP
Thighpaulsandra presents his seventh full-length album and his first since 2006’s The Lepore Extrusion. Well over a decade in the making, The Golden Communion is his debut for Editions Mego. It comprises ten songs and runs well over two hours, with individual pieces clocking in between four and 28 minutes. Featured musicians on the album include regular collaborators Martin Schellard and Siôn Orgon, plus the odd guest/ghost from bands with which Thighpaulsandra has worked in the past. Listeners who have heard any of Thighpaulsandra’s previous albums will know that it’s best to approach this work with no fixed set of expectations; once again, Thighpaulsandra changes genres and defies easy classification, sometimes more than once within one song. Drawing on his long-time background as a key member in such diverse groups as Coil, Spiritualized, and Julian Cope’s band (in each case arguably at the height of the group’s creative prowess) and his work as producer and sound engineer for an even larger variety of customers, he offers classical passages next to hard rock riffing; krauty experimental work-outs turning into super-catchy, almost radio-friendly songs; and more. Many adjectives have been used to describe Thighpaulsandra’s work — “epic,” “challenging,” “timeless,” “idiosyncratic” — but certainly never “predictable” or “boring.” Possibly his most rewarding album yet and a welcome and unusual entry in the Mego catalog, The Golden Communion will entertain and astonish listeners who are fond of having their minds severely altered by sound.
File Under: Electronic, Jazz, Experimental, Coil
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Jane Weaver: Neotantrik Globes (No Label) LP
This recording of Jane Weaver re-scored by Neotantrik (Suzanne Ciani, Andy Votel, and Sean Canty) has been described by Andy Votel as the “incidental music” counterpart to the conceptual soundtrack of The Silver Globe. Invoking and refracting Weaver’s hugely acclaimed The Silver Globe in one engrossing session recorded in Bergen, Norway, as part of an installation at the end of 2014, Neotantrik Globes contains Weaver’s original material dissected, atomized, and diffused into a side of mercurial, open-ended electronics and mechanical process. Weaver’s sylvan melodies, harmonies, and vibes are scrambled, extruded, and smeared so that one hears their morphing aspects in a swirling lightshow strafing from windswept ambience thru nebulous synth-space, garroting string-tension, and siren-like drone-pop to a screw-twisting denouement. The album is also notable for Ciani’s use of some specially commissioned Buchla modules — some of the first pieces produced by Don Buchla in years — plus a Nagoya Harp played through a fuzz pedal and dulcimer fed through a space-echo. It’s totally absorbing and is perhaps one of thee strongest recordings from the trio’s one-of-a-kind setup, given an added dimension by Weaver’s hugely evocative voice. Single-sided LP. Artwork by Andy Votel. Edition of 500.
File Under: Electronic, Experimental
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Whitehouse: Halogen (Dirter Promotions) LP
First vinyl release of the classic Whitehouse album Halogen, originally released as a CD on the Susan Lawly label in 1994. Tracks are: “Vulgar” (William Bennett), “Lightning Struck My Dick” (William Bennett/Jim Goodall/Peter Sotos), “Movement 1994” (William Bennett), “Dictator” (William Bennett), “Halogen” (William Bennett/Peter Sotos), and “The Way It Will Be” (William Bennett). Recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago by Steve Albini and William Bennett, December 1993; remastered and cut by Noel Summerville. Artwork by Trevor Brown. Audiophile 180-gram vinyl in stunning gloss-laminated sleeve. “[Part of] Whitehouse’s most idiosyncratic, and therefore most compelling phase in their 26-plus years of activity… with probably their most musical and understated (in relative terms, of course) works… Once again Bennett is assisted by Peter Sotos lyrically, resulting in some of the more complex vocal themes up to that point, while the synths are just awash in a sort of gauzy reverb that smooths out the cleaner sound, likely due to the Steve Albini production. It is still by no means peaceful, but has a more introspective feel compared to their other work. The almost pleasant synth sounds from Never Forget Death are but gone, replaced by unique analog textures that would reappear splendidly on Quality Time.” –Brainwashed
File Under: Noise, Power Electronics
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Various: Library of Sound Grooves: Jazz Expressions from the Italian Cinema 1963-1975 (Semi-Automatic) LP
From the same folks that brought us the brilliant “Ecstasy of Gold” series… Jazz from the 1960s/1970s Italian cinema and library scene. Encompassing a wide scope of styles from hard bop, big band, and vocal choruses to smaller combo experimental and free jazz. Includes tracks by such legendary composers as Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, Piero Umiliani, Riz Ortolani, Mario Nascimbene, Nora Orlandi, Giorgio Gaslini, Armando Trovajoli, Gianni Ferrio, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Benedetto Ghiglia, Sandro Brugnolini, Vittorio Paltrinieri, Robby Poitevin, Luigi Malatesta, Franco Bixio, Gianni Boncompagni, Franco de Gemini, Stefano Torossi, Romano Rizzati, and Francesco de Masi. Gatefold double LP; edition of 750.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
File Under: Italian, Library, Jazz, Psych
…..Restocks…..
Alexisonfire: s/t (Dine Alone) LP
Alexisonfire: Watch Out! (Dine Alone) LP
Aqua Nebula Oscillator: s/t (Rewolfed Gloom) LP
Captain Beefheart: Safe as Milk (Simply Vinyl) LP
City & Colour: Bring Me Your Love (Dine Alone) LP
City & Colour: Little Hell (Dine Alone) LP
Congos: Heart of the Congos (VP) LP
Alessandro Cortini: Forse 1 (Important) LP
Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards (Third Man) LP
Dinosaur Jr.: Where You Been (Rhino) LP
Nick Drake: Pink Moon (Island) LP
Emptyset: s/t (Subtext) LP
Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking (Simply Vinyl) LP
Flying Lotus: You’re Dead (Warp) LP
Foals: What Went Down (Warner) LP
Tobias Jesso Jr: Goon (Arts & Crafts) LP
Karin Krog: Don’t Just Sing (Light in the Attic) LP
Fela Kuti: Expensive Shit (Knitting Factory) LP
Lumineers: s/t (Dual Tone) LP
Method Man: Meth Lab (Tommy Boy) LP
MF Doom: Operation Doomsday (Metal Fingers) LP
Night Beats: s/t (Trouble In Mind) LP
Oasis: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (Big Brother) LP
Joel Plaskett: Scrappy Happiness (Universal) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies To Paralyze (Music on Vinyl) LP
Replacements: Twin/Tone Years (Rhino) LP
Sleep: Dopesmoker (Southern Lord) LP
Timber Timbre: Hot Dreams (Arts & Crafts) LP
Venom: Black Metal (BMG) LP
Weeknd: Echoes of Silence (CP) LP
Weeknd: House of Balloons (CP) LP
Weeknd: Thursday (CP) LP
Amy Winehouse: Back in Black (Universal) LP
Witch: Lazy Bones (Now Again) LP
Michael Yonkers: Grimwood (Nero’s Neptune) LP
Various: Native North America Vol 1 (Light in the Attic) 3LP