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What a crazy week! August temperatures in May and a devastating forest fire! We hope everyone out there in record land and their friends and families are safe and well. There are a bunch of cool fundraising shows going on in near future with some great bands and silent auctions with all kinds of great donations from lots of great local businesses, so please try make it to these shows or spread the word.

https://www.facebook.com/events/479898722215893/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1023178451090490/

…..pick of the week…..

John Angaiak: I’m Lost in the City (Future Days) LP
I’m Lost in the City (1971) is the sole vinyl LP offering from Yup’ik singer-songwriter, John Angaiak. Born in Nightmute, Alaska, in 1941, Angaiak began playing guitar at a young age, quickly learning the basics before serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Stationed in Vietnam and far away from home, Angaiak forged an astute outlook on his region, his country, and the world itself. Upon his return, Angaiak enrolled in the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where he became active in the preservation of his native language as part of the school’s Eskimo Language Workshop. Inspired by the program’s work and a friendship with music student Stephen Halbern, Angaiak recorded I’m Lost in the City, a project that helped to document and promote the previously oral Yup’ik language into a written one through a series of songs. Each side of the album, which showcases John’s intimate vocal and guitar style, shares a part of Angaiak’s culture and history: Side One is sung in Yup’ik, while the material on Side Two is delivered in English. Both are equally emotional, deeply personal and extremely affecting. Over 13 songs, Angaiak speaks to his community and also to the world. “Ak’a Tamaani,” for one, became a regional hit in Alaska and reached as far as Greenland where Angaiak later performed in concert. Though I’m Lost in the City garnered a small mention in industry bible Billboard, regardless of the album’s cultural value, it sold poorly outside of Alaska and other northern communities, never finding a broader audience. In addition to his work as a painter and author, Angaiak is a proud family man and a source of great knowledge of his people and the changes they have faced over the years, shifting from a subsistence hunting, fishing, and sharing lifestyle to an increasingly urban influenced cash-based existence. An important statement on indigenous life and the human condition, I’m Lost in the City showcases Angaiak’s first hand perspective on this challenging transition, something that we can all learn a great deal from.

File Under: Folk, Native North America
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…..new arrivals…..

Anohni: Hopelessness (Secretly Canadian) LP
ANOHNI has collaborated with Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke on the artist’s latest work, Hopelessness. Late last year, ANOHNI, the lead singer from Antony and the Johnsons, released “4 Degrees,” a bombastic dance track celebrating global boiling and collapsing biodiversity. Rather than taking refuge in good intentions, ANOHNI gives voice to the attitude sublimated within her behavior as she continues to consume in a fossil fuel-based economy. The song emerged earlier last year in live performances. As discussed by ANOHNI: “I have grown tired of grieving for humanity, and I also thought I was not being entirely honest by pretending that I am not a part of the problem. ‘4 Degrees’ is kind of a brutal attempt to hold myself accountable, not just valorize my intentions, but also reflect on the true impact of my behaviors.” The album, Hopelessness, to be released worldwide by Secretly Canadian in May 2016, is a dance record with soulful vocals and lyrics addressing surveillance, drone warfare, and ecocide. A radical departure from the singer’s symphonic collaborations, the album seeks to disrupt assumptions about popular music through the collision of electronic sound and highly politicized lyrics.

File Under: Electronic, Indie Rock
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Julianna Barwick: Will (Dead Oceans) LP
Julianna Barwick’s revelatory third full-length, Will, is the Brooklyn experimental artist’s most surprising left turn to date. Conceived and self-produced over the past year in a variety of locations, the compelling Will departs from the weighty lightness of 2013’s Nepenthe. If Nepenthe conjured images of gentle fog rolling over desolate mountains, then Will is a late afternoon thunderstorm, a cathartic collision of sharp and soft textures that sounds ominous and restorative all at once. Will comes off of Barwick’s busiest period in her career to date following Nepenthe – a spate of activity that included playing piano for Yoko Ono, performing at the 25th annual Tibet House Benefit Concert alongside such kindred spirits as the Flaming Lips and Philip Glass, releasing the Rosabi EP, and delivering a reimagining of Bach’s “Adagio” from Concerto In D Minor. Her life over the past several years has largely been lived in transit, and as such the genesis of Will was not beholden to location; Barwick reflects on this cycle of constant motion. “You’re constantly adjusting, assimilating, and finding yourself in life-changing situations. That sense of forward propulsion is largely owed to Will’s synth-heavy textures, an ingredient she was inspired to add to her vocal loop-heavy formula after demoing a new prototype analog sequencer for Moog. Another new wrinkle Will introduces in Barwick’s sound: Mas Ysa’s Thomas Arsenault, who lends his richly complex vocals to “Same” and “Someway.” The beguiling, beautifully complicated Will is the latest proof yet of Barwick’s irresistibly engaging talent as a composer and vocalist.

File Under: Experimental, Ambient
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Blood Ceremony: Lord of Misrule (Rise Above) LP
In tomorrow… In a tradition that dates back to Late Antiquity, the Lord Of Misrule or “Abbot Of Unreason” was the doomed figure elected to preside over the Feast Of Fools, an annual Saturnalian bacchanalia in which masters became servants and servants masters, while drunken revelry and strange entertainments pervaded Britain and parts of mainland Europe for 30 days. At the end of the month’s festivities, the Lord Of Misrule’s throat was cut in sacrifice to Saturn. Taking its title from this fascinating slice of religious history, Blood Ceremony’s fourth album evokes pagan rites and the bizarre mystical underbelly of rural Britain. Embracing the psychedelic and progressive in their indelible songcraft, guitarist Sean Kennedy, bassist Lucas Gadke, drummer Michael Carrillo and triple threat vocalist/flautist/organist Alia O’Brien have created what Kennedy calls “a very English album,” despite the band’s very Canadian heritage. Recorded to analogue tape with producer Liam Watson at Toe Rag Studios in London, Lord Of Misrule possesses a timeless quality within the rock epoch: It could stand alongside a Shocking Blue or Deep Purple record as easily as it will take its place among 2016’s finest albums. Lord Of Misrule conjures a lush atmosphere in which the pastoral horror of The Wicker Man and the Scottish ballad of Tam Lin – as viewed through the lens flare of Ava Gardner’s witchy turn in 1970’s The Devil’s Widow – are alchemized into songs of seduction and mortality. “There’s no defining concept running through the album, unless one can imagine a lord of misrule offering each song as a different entertainment,” Kennedy says. “The lyrics tend to deal, in different measure, with obsession, love and death.” Case in point: “Flower Phantoms,” which takes its title from a 1926 novel by Ronald Fraser. “This song is a bit of an anomaly for us,” Kennedy offers. “Alia wrote a dark, ’60s-inspired pop song, and I contributed the lyrics – which are quite dark. The book is about a young woman who escapes her dull life and develops an erotic attachment to various hothouse flowers in Kew Gardens. The lyrics emphasize the idea that his type of escape often leads toward death, with each path shrouded – figuratively – in hemlock leaves.” Meanwhile, the origins of the deliriously catchy “The Weird Of Finistere” date back to Blood Ceremony’s 2008 debut. “I had written it around the time of our first album, but I never had any lyrics,” Kennedy explains. “I tried to write something that would sound a bit M.R. James, and Liam Watson added a bit of psychedelic reverse reverb to give it a more haunting feel.” Album closer “Things Present, Things Past” marks a distinct change in approach for Blood Ceremony. “Our previous albums all end with longer, heavier tracks, so we finished this one with a relatively low-key, acoustic song,” our man offers. “The lyrics deal with the notion that so much of life is a performance, which is intensified and given meaning by the inevitability of death.”

File Under: Metal
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Clientele: Strange Geometry (Merge) LP
Originally released in 2005, The Clientele recorded their second full-length album Strange Geometry with producer Brian O’Shaughnessy at Bark Studios, Walthamstow (UK). The album features twelve dreamy folk-pop songs with shimmering psych guitars and string arrangements by Louis Philippe. In May 2016, Strange Geometry will be re-pressed on vinyl and include a download of the entire record plus six previously unreleased bonus tracks. Strange Geometry was the first Clientele album to be recorded in a fully equipped, professional studio with an established engineer/producer, and the results are stunning. It’s a robust yet subtle recording. Songs are allowed room to breathe, yet never stray into indulgence. When not concerned with the chore of production – the twisting of knobs and the repair of faulty equipment – the band was free to focus completely on the music, achieving and expanding upon the sonic blueprint they had envisioned from the start. O’Shaughnessy’s experience and expertise helped the band deliver their most accomplished record to date, full of rich textures and enchanting melodies. The contributions of the enigmatic and incredibly talented Philippe also cannot be overstated. His string arrangements are delicate yet powerful additions. Of the 6 bonus tracks, Alasdair MacClean wrote: “These tracks are outtakes from the July 2005 Strange Geometry sessions at Bark Studios in London. “Breathe In Now” is one of my favourite Clientele songs. I wanted it to have a baroque string arrangement but there was no time to put one together, so it was dropped. “Spanish Night” was written in Valencia. “Since We Last Spoke” was abandoned halfway through for reasons now unclear, though I still like the lyrical image of Nero appearing in a crowd. Apparently, Emperor Nero mixed among crowds in disguise, listening to other people’s conversations. “One Hundred Leaves” was a fan favourite and used to be a staple of our live shows, but we couldn’t quite get the live feel down on tape at Bark. “When I Came Through” is a fragment, forgotten until now, a dream of walking home from the railway station to the garden.”

File Under: Indie Rock
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Death From Above 1979: Live at Third Man (Third Man) LP
For over 10 years, these international men of mystery, Jesse Keeler and Sebastien Grainger, have dipped their toes into whatever waters they pleased (MSTRKRFT, Deserts/Bad Tits, Femme Fatale, The Mountains, Black Cat No.13), and created songs that’ll get you off your ass and make you feel things. A decade after a sudden break up, following the release of their rich and gritty first record You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine, tours with Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age, and one foot in the door of the mainstream, Death From Above 1979 reunited and released their second LP The Physical World last fall. The duo picked right up where they left off and hit the road last summer. Amidst their resurgence, DFA 1979 decided to dip their toes in the water of Third Man Record’s Blue Room. The room which is home to the 1953 Scully Lathe that previously cut James Brown singles at King Records, and where they decided to record the epic live performance to master and be reproduced for generations to enjoy. United Record Pressing has completed the pressing of these records and they are officially ready for release. “We’ve always been wary of live recording experiences because they can end up so sterile and flat sounding and they hardly ever translate the feeling of the actual show. The feeling of the moment,” DFA 1979 said of the experience. “When we were asked to record Live At Third Man Records we agreed without hesitation. If there is one person who knows about feeling the moment, it’s Jack White. He’s the patron saint of vibes. We cut two twenty minute long sets straight to acetate. No second chances. Terrifying but alive. Third Man were such phenomenal hosts and the audience went bananas with us. It was such an honour to be a part of. The whole thing was such a rush, it almost feels like a dream.” “Oh yeah, Mick Jagger was there,” they add. “Did we mention that we went out to dinner with Jack and Mick after and then went bowling until 3am? It’s also worth noting that Jack got the highest score followed by Sebastien. Mick and Jesse tied.”

File Under: Rock
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Destroyer: My Mystery (Merge) 12″
“We recorded a song called “My Mystery” a year and a half ago. Kind of a light number, vaguely danceable. Wistful, looking back not unfondly on time spent and dull misadventures had within the dead-as-a-doornail music industry. And the feeling of where it leaves you, like a rat in the middle of the ocean, though not as harsh as that; as if rats could swim an ocean’s length. Anyway, the song was not in keeping with the shadow spirit of Poison Season, and so it got shelved. Then one day DJjohnedwardcollins@gmail.com called me up and said, “You got any shit for me?” – Destroyer

 File Under: Indie Rock
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Brian Eno: The Ship (Warp) LP
In tomorrow… The Ship is Brian Eno’s first solo record since 2012’s Grammy-nominated LUX. Originally conceived from experiments with three dimensional recording techniques and formed in two, interconnected parts, The Ship is almost as much musical novel as traditional album. Eno brings together beautiful songs, minimalist ambience, physical electronics, omniscient narratives and technical innovation into a single, cinematic suite. The result is the very best of Eno, a record without parallel in his catalogue. The album opens with the 21-minute eponymously titled “The Ship” on which Eno’s cyclically sung sea-chant builds in ominous drama, followed by “Fickle Sun,” a song in three movements. The first continues where “The Ship” left but with Eno’s voice sounding more upfront, determined, even despairing. The album’s finale is a Lou Reed penned cover of The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Set Free,” a band who were famously credited by Eno as the inspiration behind his early music explorations as an art student. “Humankind seems to teeter between hubris and paranoia: the hubris of our ever-growing power contrasts with the paranoia that we’re permanently and increasingly under threat. At the zenith we realize we have to come down again…we know that we have more than we deserve or can defend, so we become nervous. Somebody, something is going to take it all from us: that is the dread of the wealthy. Paranoia leads to defensiveness, and we all end up in the trenches facing each other across the mud.” – Brian Eno

File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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Family of Apostolic: s/t (Future Days) LP
Apostolic was many things: a label, a collective, a state of mind even. But before all of that, it was a recording studio set up by New Yorker John Townley. As a member of the Magicians, (you recognize that name from the Nuggets albums), Townley worked in some of the finest studios in the USA, but he felt he was on a conveyor belt. “You had to do the creation ahead of time, which is not my idea of a good time,” he says now. “You had all this stuff to play with, and you weren’t allowed to play with it.” When Townley came into an $85,000 inheritance he immediately invested in a loft building on 10th Street, New York, against the advice of, well, “everybody”. But there were fellow believers. Friends Matt Hoffman and Michael and Danny Weiss, heirs to the Weiss jewelry fortune, helped assemble the studio, which was built to bleeding-edge specifications and even had a 12-track recorder. Soon, it was attracting likeminded souls such as Frank Zappa, whose Mothers Of Invention recorded several landmark LPs at Apostolic. But the greatest example of the output of this artistic community is the sprawling double LP The Family of Apostolic. A utopian album inspired by global cultures ranging from Pakistani folk songs to Scottish traditional music and Chinese opera, it was made by a cast of 19, bonded by a desire to create “primitive performance art” from surrealist happenings. “The idea of Apostolic was that the whole operation was a family,” says Townley. “Anybody could do anything if they participated.” Despite the possibilities opened up by the studio and the chance to treat the desk as an instrument, The Family Of Apostolic is nonetheless a folk record at heart, and sounds downright spare in places. The experimentation was there in subtle ways, per Townley’s desire for each song to be “like just a natural happening. We were trying to get a very close, upfront, live feeling.” Released under a deal with Vanguard, the rambling album proved too difficult to market. Singles were released under different artist names, serving only to confuse the public more. Soon the studio was heading down the tubes, thanks in part to Jimi Hendrix’s multi-track studio Electric Lady opening two blocks away. And before long, the Apostolic dream was over. The album remains a curate’s egg, but one filled with delights. Opening track Redeemer asks, “O say, are you a true believer?” By the time you’ve listened to our deluxe reissue, you will be.

File Under: Psych, Folk
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Firefay: Anointed Queen (Golden Pavilion) LP
UK dark folk band FIREFAY team up with ex-MELLOW CANDLE co-founder Alison O’Donnell to create an intriguing ethereal album of baroque, folk-rock and prog sounds. Alison’s crystalline voice spirals through the songs making it contemporary and with a European echo. Here is an album that shines a light on a wide variety of themes, many of which still profoundly affect society. It is as rewarding musically as it is lyrically. Limited to only 199 hand-numbered copies on vinyl with printed lyrics. Cover and back-cover paintings by Richard Moult.

File Under: Folk, Prog
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Homeshake: In The Shower (Sinderlyn) LP
HOMESHAKE is the latest pseudonym and solo project of Edmonton-born, Montreal-based Peter Sagar. Having previously recorded with Mac DeMarco and Sheer Agony’s Jackson MacIntosh, Homeshake returns with In the Shower, his debut release on Sinderlyn. Having won a Junior Jazz Artist of the Year award for his drumming in high school, Peter often pulls influences of R&B/soul into his own work. Peter’s debut album, The Homeshake Tapes, featured an eclectic mix of homemade tracks with blunt guitar licks and Dragon Ball Z samples, all with a Northeastern-grunge meets lo-fi soul feel. Musically, Peter also has long been influenced by the icy landscapes of his home in Canada. Smooth, cool and relaxed, In the Shower soothes the listener with its smooth bass lines and groovy, jazz undertones. The album was recorded in the Winter of 2014 at the Drones Club in Montreal with the help from friend and confidant Mike Wright.

File Under: Indie Rock
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Sven Libaek: To Ride a White Horse (Votary) LP
Continuing its focus on the film music of Sven Libaek, Votary Records are pleased to announce a special Record Store Day only re-release of the soundtrack to the 1968 Bob Evans surf documentary To Ride A White Horse. Originally released by Festival Records, To Ride A White Horse is one of the rarest surf movie soundtracks and a landmark jazz recording. Shifting away from the rock or psychedelic sounds that characterized many Australian surf films of the period, To Ride A White Horse is superb mix of cinematic modal jazz, playful waltzes, and impressionistic underwater mood music. An incredible set of modernist music from one of the masters of documentary film jazz.

File Under: Library, Jazz
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Mystery Plane: Still Life (Color Tapes) LP
Mystery Plane formed in 1980 from the ashes of 70’s new wave band 3D5 who’s line-up also featured future Cure member Porl Thompson. This record was originally a demo cassette made in 1981 that was hawked around record labels with a view for release. Later Color Tapes released a 100 copies edition. To support their demo at the time the band played such gigs at the Marquee, Rock Garden and The Bridgehouse supporting bands such as Fad Gadget, Modern English and Henry Padovani (Ex-Police) in London. This sublime minimal basement krauty synth LP was inspired by bands such as Neu, Amon Duul ll, and “Vienna” period Ultravox. The album features guitar work of Gerald O’ Connell who was a big fan of Ash Ra Tempel’s guitarist Manuel Gottsching. A year later he went on to form Lives Of Angels who made the classic cold wave album “Elevator To Eden” which was originally released on Color Tapes in 1983. Mystery Plane have been featured on the sold out Cold Waves Of Color compilation series.

File Under: Minimal Wave, Kosmische

OST: Back to the Future (Mondo) LP
Regarded as one of the greatest Science Fiction films of all time (ed. note… I’M SORRY WHAT?!), it also has a masterful score composed by Alan Silvestri that is triumphant, whimsical and adventurous. Never before released on Vinyl, Silvestri’s score is incredibly iconic, and essential for soundtrack collectors. Available for the first time on Vinyl, pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl featuring original artwork by Matt Taylor.

File Under: OST, Mondo
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OST: Back to the Future II (Mondo) LP
Continuing the tradition set by the original, the score for Back To The Future Part II is equally as exciting, and pulse-pounding as the sprawling timelines bring Silvestri’s music to the future, past and everywhere in-between… And timely, released just in time for the “Future Date” where Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to at the beginning of the film. Featuring 20 minutes of previously unreleased material, pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl featuring original artwork by Matt Taylor.

File Under: OST
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OST: Back to the Future III (Mondo) LP
Back To The Future Part III is the sleeper of the trilogy soundtracks. Containing some of the best compositions of all of the three scores, the West inspired music brings to life some flourishes previously missing from the Trilogy: romantic, and truly cinematic, the Train sequence is Silvestri at his best. Featuring 20 minutes of previously unreleased material, pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl featuring original artwork by Matt Taylor.

File Under: OST
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OST: High Rise (Silva Screen) LP
Golden Globe and Grammy nominated composer Clint Mansell’s brooding, edgy and beautifully unsettled orchestral score to Ben Wheatley’s acclaimed film adaptation of J.G Ballard’s High-Rise is released on CD/Download on the 18th of March with the vinyl format following on the 15th of April. Described by Hollywood Reporter as “a lustrous retro-classical score bursting with ironic good cheer”, Clint Mansell’s music has a meaty, steadfast presence throughout the visual spectacular of the savage societal breakdown. Former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman turned soundtrack composer, Clint Mansell is best known for his work with long-time collaborator Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Fountain, Noah). He also scored Duncan Jones’ Directorial debut Moon, and has lent his talent to films as diverse as Filth, Faster, and Last Night. Starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, High-Rise is a visionary tale of human society slipping into extreme violence. The once-peaceful residents of a desirable apartment block quickly spiral into a world ruled by primal urges in which elevators become vicious battlegrounds and cocktail parties degenerate into brutal raids on “enemy” floors. The film received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015, its European premiere at the 63rd San Sebastián Film Festival and is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on 18 March 2016 through Studio Canal.

File Under: OST
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OST: Mud (Mondo) LP
Mondo is pleased to present the premiere vinyl soundtrack release to Jeff Nichol’s 2013 film Mud. Set in rural Arkansas, it tells the story of two boys who develop a friendship with the titular fugitive (played by Matthew McConaughey) who needs their help to reconnect with his lost love Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) The relationship formed between Mud and the two boys is simultaneously formative and destructive but ultimately essential to their growth, in this masterful exploration of the corruption of romantic ideals. Mud is engaging from beginning to end and when listened to on its own, its soundtrack is almost a sonic dream of that narrative, highlighting the various emotions and changes each character goes through. Mud is certainly not without its unsettling and pulse-pounding moments, which the music strategically amplifies in tracks like “Hotel” and “Clinic,” but overall the soundtrack plays like one you would listen to while spending a lazy day on a porch swing.

File Under: OST
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OST: Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals (One Way Static) LP
One Way Static Records is excited to bring you their latest release: Stelvio Cipriani’s iconic motion picture soundtrack for Joe D’Amato’s 1978 PAPAYA, LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS (Papaya dei Caraibi) Once again OWS will be heading deep into cannibal territory with this amazing release for the first time on vinyl & cassette. The late Joe D’Amato who directed the film sure was quite the character in horror cinema. Directing over 200 films including Spaghetti westerns, war movies and countless (s)exploitation flicks, D’Amato was a force to be reckoned with. His credits include genre classics such as ‘Anthropophagous’,‘Buio Omega AKA Beyond The Darkness’, the ‘Emanuelle’ series, ‘Absurd’, ‘Troll 2&3’…and many, many more. Next to directing, Joe also took to the producer & screenplay writing chair for films like Stage Fright, La Casa 3,4 & 5, Pieces, Ghosthouse, Zombie 5… just to list a few. Stelvio Cipriani (born 1937) is an Italian composer that actually needs little introduction. His first soundtrack was the spaghetti western ‘The Bounty Killer’ in 1966, followed by the well known 1967 score for ‘The Stranger Returns’ (also known as A Man, a Horse, a Gun and Shoot First, Laugh Last). Cipriani later composed other spaghetti western scores together with many popular police/crime movie soundtracks. He became prolific in the Italian film world and was awarded a ‘Nastro d’Argento’ for Best Score for ‘The Anonymous Venetian’ in 1970. One of Cipriani’s most famous scores is for the 1973 film ‘La polizia sta a guardare’ (The Great Kidnapping) and let’s not forget his brilliant score for Ruggero Deodato’s ‘Concorde Affaire 79’. Horror fans will know Stelvio from his scores for genre favorites like PIECES, Mario Bavo’s ‘A Bay Of Blood AKA Twitch Of The Death Nerve’ & ‘Baron Blood’, Umberto Lenzi’s ‘Nightmare City’ & ‘Voices From Beyond’, Sergio Martino’s ‘The Great Alligator’ and James Cameron’s ‘Pirhana II : The Spawning’. We can’t even begin to list his many exploitation scores like ‘Sister Emanuelle’, ‘Deported Women Of The SS’ … and many more. In 2007 Cipriani was brought to the public’s attention again when Quentin Tarantino used his 1977 main theme for ‘Tentacolli’ in ‘Death Proof’. In a 2007 interview, Cipriani said that he had composed music for Pope John Paul II and was currently working with Pope Benedict XVI.

File Under: OST
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OST: Robinson Crusoe on Mars (Mondo) LP
Mondo is pleased to present the soundtrack to the science fiction cult classic Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), for the first time ever on vinyl. Over 50 years before Matt Damon was labeled ‘The Martian,’ there was the story of lone astronaut Christopher “Kit” Draper and his struggle to survive on the red planet after being marooned by his ship’s near miss with a meteor. For a significant portion of the film – as Kit explores the terrain with no other life to communicate with (except for his monkey, Mona) – Nathan Van Cleave’s music takes center stage. Van Cleave’s themes are simultaneously foreboding and triumphant. Only a few short years before Planet of the Apes took science fiction to its inevitable dystopian ends, the soundtrack to Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a pure patriotic time capsule; the sounds of a retro-future when science fiction films were still produced with true optimistic sincerity.

File Under: OST
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OST: Taxi Driver (Waxwork) LP
Waxwork Records is honored to announce the 40th Anniversary soundtrack release of director Martin Scorsese’s 1976 cinematic masterpiece, TAXI DRIVER. Featuring an all star cast including Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepard, Albert Brooks, and Harvey Keitel, TAXI DRIVER is regularly cited by audiences, critics, and film directors alike as one of the greatest films of all time. The music by legendary composer Bernard Herrmann was his final score before his death on December 24th, 1975. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the film was considered “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. Waxwork Records is pleased to present TAXI DRIVER as a deluxe double LP featuring the complete film score by Bernard Herrmann on vinyl for the very first time, ever. Also included is the complete and remastered original 1976 soundtrack release. Waxwork Records had the massive pleasure of working with legendary director Martin Scorsese on this 40th Anniversary release to which the director provided new, in depth, and exclusive liner notes. The new album artwork by Rich Kelly is also graciously approved by director Martin Scorsese.

File Under: OST
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Placebo: Meds (Universal) LP
In tomorrow… Placebo’s dark and melodic trademark sound featuring singer Brian Molko’s instantly recognizable vocals has become one of the strongest brands in rock over the past two decades. 2016 marks 20 years since the internationally acclaimed English alternative-rock act released their seminal first album. To mark the anniversary the band are embarking on a two year period of celebratory retrospective activity. Over the next 12 months Placebo will re-release their milestone albums remastered for the first time on high quality vinyl via Universal Music. The fifth album in the 20th anniversary reissue series is 2006’s Meds. Helmed by French producer Dimitri Tikovoi, Meds served as a back-to-basics project with the elemental feeling of Placebo’s eponymous first album. Featuring guest appearances by Alison Mosshart (The Kills, Dead Weather) on “Meds” and Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) on “Broken Promise” plus further less experimental but no less evocative fare like “Because I Want You,” “Song to Say Goodbye,” and “Infra-Red.”

File Under: Rock
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This Heat: Deceit (Modern Classics) LP
BACK IN STOCK! YOU NEED THIS. With their debut album and follow-up maxi single Health & Efficiency, This Heat sowed the seeds of post-punk, avant rock, noise rock and post-rock, placing the trio – Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward (drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Williams (keyboard, guitar, bass, vocals, tapes) – at the forefront of experimental music. However, 1981’s Deceit is the one that truly deserves its reputation as a classic of the post-punk era, tying up the myriad threads of their work so far and adding accessibility and melody to the still furiously forward-thinking sound. “At the beginning of the ’80s, global events were taking a bad path with the USA defense policy Star Wars against Russia’s Evil Empire and the aptly named Mutually Assured Destruction,” remembers Hayward in the liner notes accompanying this long-overdue remaster. “We made a shift towards song.” Recorded in a variety of studios including the band’s own Cold Storage and the Zipper Mobile unit hired from an ad in British paper Melody Maker, the 11 tracks put that sense of social anxiety and global paranoia to the fore. Some lyrics were “harvested” from TV commercials (“Sleep”), others described the curtain-twitching of surveillance society (“Triumph”), and some were screamed with raw, ragged abandon, like on “Makeshift Swahili”. “Makeshift was a big learning situation for me,” says Hayward. “I learned to let go with my voice, to release the energy that each song required, no matter where that might lead. The song, about the collapse of language, was central to the Deceit idea.” Musical innovations abound too – drum tracks were recycled from other recordings, albeit in manipulated and mutated form, and “Independence” reverses the melody of earlier track “Fall Of Saigon”. It’s an album whose themes and sounds unfurl before the listener, the mood of edgy, pre-apocalyptic tension growing throughout. Says Hayward: “I still think of this record as a dream within a dream.” This Heat split a year after the release, with Bullen and Hayward completing the final tour without Williams. Hayward went on to form Camberwell Now and Bullen recorded as Lifetones. A tentative 2001 reunion came, tragically, too late – Williams died of cancer within a month of them meeting to rehearse. Celebrating This Heat’s 40th anniversary in 2016, Modern Classics Recordings will re-issue the band’s catalog – 1979’s This Heat, 1980’s Health and Efficiency, and 1981’s Deceit – with full co-operation of surviving members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward. Four decades on, the tireless efforts of This Heat’s process can once again be a revelation for new audiences.

File Under: Post Punk, Experimental, Essential
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White Lung: Paradise (Domino) LP
After the critically acclaimed release Deep Fantasy (2014), White Lung return with their fourth album Paradise. Vocalist Mish Barber-Way, guitarist Kenneth William and drummer Anne-Marie Vassiliou, reconnected in Los Angeles, CA to work with engineer and producer Lars Stalfors (HEALTH, Cold War Kids, Alice Glass). In October of 2015, White Lung spent a month in the studio, working closely with Stalfors to challenge what could be done with their songs. “I wanted it to sound new. I wanted a record that sounded like it was made in 2016,” says William of his mindset. Bringing all the energy, unique guitar work and lyrical prowess Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NME have praised them for in the past few years, White Lung curated their songs with a new pop sensibility. Mixed by Stalfors and later mastered by Joe LaPorta, Paradise is their smartest, brightest songwriting yet. “There’s this stupid attitude that only punks have where it’s uncool to become a better song writer,” says Barber-Way, “In no other musical genre are your fans going to drop you when you start progressing. That would be like parents being disappointed in their child for graduating from kindergarten to the first grade. Paradise is the best song writing we have ever done, and I expect the next record to be the same. I have no interest in staying in kindergarten.”

File Under: Indie Rock
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Various: Cold Waves of Color III (Lion) LP
Latest collection of rare cold wave from the Color Tapes archives also includes a full colour poster plus a rare reprint of issue 2 of Color Tapes’ own Purple Twilight fanzine from 1985, featuring articles on bands such as Bushido and Mystery Plane, plus The Subway Organization cassette catalogue from 1985. An essential document from the 80’s UK cassette underground scene. Praise for the series: “Must have collection of English post-punk synth rarities, sourced from the legendary Color Tapes label, remastered by Denis Blackham, all presented on vinyl for the first time! It’s highly likely that these tracks have been barely heard beyond their original 100 edition tape pressings in the early 80’s, and thusly this is a bit of a treasure trove, especially when considering the quality of the masters. This is the realest deal for people into minimal wave, Dark Entries and OG wave music. Don’t sleep!” – Boomkat review. The majority of these tracks from these UK garage cold wave bands used mostly synthesizer, drum machines and sequencers such as EMS VCS3, Minimoog, Korg MS-20, Roland Juno 6, SH-09, TR-808 – so you know how they could sound. These machines today are part of the history of the development of electronic music in the UK.

File Under: Minimal Wave, Electronic

…..Restocks…..

A Tribe Called Quest: Low End Theory (Jive) LP
Air: Moon Safari (EMI) LP
Alabama Shakes: Sound & Color (ATO) LP
Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty (EMI) LP
Bibio: Mineral Love (Warp) LP
Boards of Canada: Music Has The Right to Children (Warp) LP
Boards of Canada: Tomorrow’s Harvest (Warp) LP
Bjork: Medulla (One Little Indian) LP
Bombino: Azel (Nonesuch) LP
Broadcast: Work & Nonwork (Warp) LP
Broadcast: Noise Made By People (Warp) LP
Coeur de Pirate: Blonde (Dare to Care) LP
Coeur de Pirate: Roses (Dare to Care) LP
D’Angelo: Voodoo (Modern Classics) LP
Daft Punk: Discovery (EMI) LP
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (Legacy) LP
Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Interscope) LP
Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence (Interscope) LP
Drive Like Jehu: s/t (Hedhunter) LP
Dexter Gordon: Our Man In Paris (Blue Note) LP
Lauryn Hill: Miseducation of (Music on Vinyl) LP
Shin Joong Hyun: Beautiful Rivers & Mountains (Light in the Attic) LP
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Rhino) LP
The Knife: Silent Shout (Mute) LP
Mastodon: Leviathan (Relapse) LP
Kim Jung Mi: Now (Lion) LP
Modest Mouse: Good News… (Epic) LP
Neu!: 2 (Gronland) LP
Neu!: 75 (Gronland) LP
OST: Searching for Sugarman (Light in the Attic) LP
Prince: For You (Warner) LP
Rodriguez: Cold Fact (Light in the Attic) LP
Rodriguez: Coming From Reality (Light in the Attic) LP
Shovels & Rope: O Be Joyful (Dualtone) LP
Nina Simone: Live At Carnegie Hall (DOL) LP
Nina Simone: Sings the Blues (4 Men With Beards) LP
The Smiths: Queen is Dead (Rhino) LP
Talking Heads: Remain in Light (Rhino) LP
Tame Impala: Currents (Modular) LP
Television: Marquee Moon (Rhino) LP
Twenty One Pilots: Blurry Face (Fueled By Ramen) LP
Violent Femmes: s/t (Rhino) LP
Tom Waits: Mule Variations (Anti) LP
Scott Walker: 4 (Mercury) LP
Scott Walker: Tilt (Drag City) LP
White Zombie: Astro-Creep 2000 (Music on Vinyl) LP