Well, finally a bit of a slower week to catch up on some of the new stuff that’s been flooding the bins! But we also have been plowing through the back room and pricing up loads of used goodies as well, so be sure to make time to come down for a dig!
…..pick of the week…..
Kikagaku Moyo: House in the Tall Grass (Guguguru Brain) LP
Kikagaku Moyo call their sound “psychedelic” because it encompasses a broad spectrum of influence: classical Indian music, Krautrock, traditional folks, and ’70s rock. House In The Tall Grass features a more refined Kikagaku Moyo—soft vocals, warm Sitar, and the masterful balance between loud and soft and chaos and order, taking the listener on an unexpected psychedelic journey, where their traveling songs blend the interplay of the guitars, sitars, and voices suspended beyond belief.
File Under: Japanese, Psych, Folk
Listen Here
…..new arrivals…..
David Bazan: Blanco (Barsuk) LP
David Bazan has never had the answers. His first two solo records, 2009’s Curse Your Branches and 2011’s Strange Negotiations lived inside questions. Questions of politics, of relationships, of addiction, and of God. For anyone looking to art to remove doubt, Bazan is not that refuge. With a catalogue that orbits the darkest corners of the human experience, his songs are the tiny pinprick of light, the first breath coming up for air, the rest stop on a trip with no destination. Having spent half of the last decade on tour, away from home, Bazan’s new album reflects the wandering life of a traveling troubadour. And while there is joy in that life, Blanco is born of its challenges. It’s what, and whom, he leaves at home that you hear on Blanco. Made up of tracks that were previously available in a very limited edition 7″ vinyl series called Bazan Monthly, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Bazan turned to northwest indie-rock veteran Yuuki Matthews, who both co-produced ‘Strange Negotiations’ and co-founded celebrated indie band Crystal Skulls, to help craft the endeavor. “I walked in thinking that we would have to scrap all the ideas I had as garbage once he heard them” says Bazan. “Instead he said these are great, let’s get started.” Over the next twelve months the pair would record over a dozen songs together, ten of which comprise Blanco.
File Under: Indie Rock
Listen Here
Bjork: Debut (One Little Indian) LP
Her first album following the breakup of the Sugarcubes, Debut is Icelandic trickster Björk’s statement of purpose: bringing curious experimentalism to the dance floor and putting her startling, expressive voice front and center. Her perspective is a little alien–it’s no accident that the first song talks about “getting close to a human”–but her leveling of genre distinctions has some wonderful results, especially the eroticized easy-listening reggae sway of “Venus As a Boy.” Paired with producer Nellee Hooper (of Soul II Soul), she comes up with a series of invitingly artificial settings for her pipes, built from late-night beats and peculiar timbres, and sings like she’s overwhelmed with joy from all her senses.
File Under: Pop
Listen Here
Bjork: Drawing Restraint (One Little Indian) LP
11 track 12-inch vinyl soundtrack album. heavyweight 180g vinyl. composed by björk with minimal vocals for celebrated contemporary visual artist matthew barney’s film drawing restraint.
File Under: Pop
Listen Here
Bjork: Homogenic (One Little Indian) LP
Headline-grabbing personal upheavals turn into introspective surges on Homogenic, the third album by Icelandic singer Björk. Driven inward after a bizarre year accented by a much publicized mail bomb, airport cat fight and brawl between ex-lovers Tricky and Goldie, Björk gets lost in a wash of strings and minimalist techno patterns on her latest outing. The eccentricity and stylistic schizophrenia of Debut and Post have been cast away in favor of darker, more sublime edginess. Filled with songs about paranoia, heartbreak, and lost faith, Homogenic not only showcases more mature themes, but a more uniform mood. Notch that up to Björk’s decision to produce the album herself. Aside from a few nominal collaborations with Mark Bell of obscure techno outfit LFO and the Icelandic String Octet, this is the purest representation of the artist’s vision. Little did we know that such a quirky personality would have such a bleak world view. Homogenic is almost too heavy to take in sitting, and songs, like the grating “Pluto,” are downright unlistenable. But there are moments of inspiration that burn through the dark clouds, particularly on the contemplative “Joga” and the uplifting “Bachelorette.”
File Under: Pop
Listen Here
Bjork: Medulla (One Little Indian) LP
Björk changed gears once again on the trailblazing Medulla which was built entirely around the human voice and a cappella arrangements with limited instrumentation. In addition to Icelandic and British choirs the Grammy-nominated effort features vocal acrobatics from Faith No More’s Mike Patton, Soft Machine’s Robert Wyatt and Canadian throat singer Tagaq; beatboxing from Rahzel (formerly of The Roots) and Japanese artist Dokaka; and contributions from programmer Mark Bell and mixer Mark “Spike” Stent. Includes the riveting numbers “Oceania,” “Pleasure Is All Mine” and “Where Is The Line.” “The album is about voices. I want to get away from instruments and electronics, which was the world of my last album, Vespertine. I want to see what can be done with the entire emotional range of the human voice – a single voice, a chorus, trained voices, pop voices, folk voices, strange voices. Not just melodies but everything else, every noise that a throat makes.” – Björk
File Under: Pop
Listen Here
Bjork: Post (One Little Indian) LP
For her second solo outing following the break-up of the Sugarcubes Björk enlisted a handful of top producers including Nellee Hooper, Graham Massey, Tricky, Howie B and Marius de Vries and ambitiously expands on her electronic dance-pop sound with trip-hop and orchestral flourishes. Featuring the singles “Army Of Me,” “Hyperballad,” “It’s Oh So Quiet,” “Isobel” and “Possibly Maybe.” “Whereas Debut was like the greatest hits of ten years, Post was like the last two years. For me, all the songs on the album are like saying, ‘listen, this is how I’m doing,’ and that’s why I called the record Post, because I always address my songs back in my head to Iceland in a letter. Because it was such a big jump for me to move away from all my relatives, all my friends, everything I know.” – Björk
File Under: Pop
Listen Here
Bjork: Vespertine (One Little Indian) LP
Björk’s intimate and celestial fourth official full-length outing features largely whispered vocals, micro-beats and lush strings which envelop and seduce the listener. As delicate as it is beautiful, Vespertine stands as one of Björk’s crowning achievements. Includes the hypnotic singles “Hidden Place,” “Cocoon” and “Pagan Poetry.” “A word that helped me a lot making this record was “hibernation.” Being internal is a form of hibernation, and I related it to winter, the sound of crystals in wintertime. That’s what I wanted this album to sound like.” – Björk
File Under: Pop
Listen Here
Peter Broderick: Music for Falling From Trees (Western Vinyl) LP
“In late 2008, Adrienne Hart contacted me about scoring her new work, Falling From Trees. In Adrienne’s words, “The piece is set in a psychiatric hospital and centered around one man’s struggle to retain his identity in the most extreme of circumstances.” There are four dancers in the piece. One male playing the patient, and three female hospital workers. “I had been making music for a variety of film projects, but the thought of scoring a dance was very exciting to me. I was on tour at the time, so I wasn’t able to start writing the music until I had a break in early January. The dance premiered on January 21st, so I had about three weeks to create the score. I camped out up in the top of my father’s barn with some minimal recording equipment, my violin and viola, and an old broken piano. “Given the time constraints, I approached the music in a very open way. Rather than sit down and try to compose something, I just set up a microphone and started playing. After coming up with a couple of themes on the piano, I started recording, using those small themes and improvising around them. Most of the sections have a small core that is composed, and then the rest is improvised. Luckily for me this method seemed to work. I would work all day and then send a sketch over to Adrienne, and every time her response was positive. So in this way we worked very well together. I give my hugest thanks to Adrienne for trusting me to create the music for her wonderful work. “Adrienne told me from the beginning she was looking for a score of piano and strings. So I decided to take this literally and make a rule not to use any other instruments. In the script it called for the sound of a ticking clock. I made this sound by tapping on the body of the violin with my fingernails. The sound of an electric shock given to the patient is depicted by a quick, distorted piano chord. And all other droning and bass tones were made by extending and processing violin and/or piano tones, etc. Thank you very much for listening.” – Peter Broderick
File Under: Ambient, Classical
Listen Here
Ilian: Love Me Crazy (Anthology) LP
The songs of Love Me Crazy LP were recorded at different times in different studios. They hang together so well because Illian moved fast and with his virtuosic guitar-playing guiding the way. His music sounds fresh and timeless today because the songs were captured quickly before the magic of inspiration faded. Not one dicey or stale move allowed, no horses beaten to death in pursuit of pop perfection. He moves fast and if it doesn’t happen, he moves on to the next one. Brings ’em back alive. Ilian backed Chuck Berry, Dottie West, recorded with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, worked with Keith of “98.6” fame, and much more. All the while he was recording his own songs and firing them off to record labels. Not one dicey or stale move allowed, no horses beaten to death in pursuit of pop perfection. He moves fast and if it doesn’t happen, he moves on to the next one. Brings ’em back alive. Ilian backed greats such as Zephyr, Chuck Berry, Dottie West, recorded with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, worked with Keith of “98.6” fame, and much more. All the while he was recording his own songs and firing them off to record labels. Rather than self-consciously attempting to write a “hit,” Ilian put down his feelings direct from his dome. The songs come from his real life. He’s thinking about how cool his sister is and we get the delightful “Hey Denise.” He’s musing about the human condition and the amazing psychedelic song “See What You Can See” emerges. He calls it “pop rock with a groove,” perhaps because these rock gems literally “popped” out of his mind.
File Under: Prog, Psych
Listen Here
Jakob Skott: All The Colours of the Dust (El Paraiso) LP
Causa Sui drummer Jakob Skøtt is back with the third installment in his “drums versus synthesizers” explorations. Fully indulging in this strange form of layered solo jams, these tracks are alive in a very real sense — there’s an organic vibe present in which monophonic synthesizers and polyphonic rhythms merge in a way you’ve never heard before. Any reference to other music and genres gets warped and turned on its head, quicker than you can catch onto it, as everything is weaved together in a fuzzed-out massive blanket of sound. Yet despite the roar and volume, there’s a repetitive and meditative quality to these tracks — not unlike that of free jazz, or, say, the hypnotic beat-driven music Miles created when he got into Stockhausen in the 1970s. There’s even an earthy vibe ringing through the heavily modulated synths — at times sounding more like soaring guitars or saxophones, or perhaps some unearthly rhythm-device that amalgamates rhythm and melody into one substance. This album is a result of a multicolored vision that has soaked up a wide range of styles and merged them into something fresh and radiant, and, frankly, quite groovy. Jakob Skøtt is the drummer in revered Danish experimental psych act Causa Sui and has previously collaborated with artists from Tortoise and Sunburned Hand of the Man. In a number of different outfits he has also released on such esteemed labels as Morr Music, Ghostly International, and Darla Records. Skøtt has also done exclusive live visuals and artwork for Amon Düül II, Earthless, Manual, cult actress Asia Argento, the Roadburn Festival, and El Paraiso Records.
File Under: Electronic, Jazz
Listen Here
Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary DELUXE (Sub Pop) 3LP
Sub Pop presents Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary (Deluxe Edition), a reissue of the group’s acclaimed first album, worldwide on triple vinyl. The reissue features the original album, now as a much-better-sounding 2LP-set, along with the band’s pre-Sub Pop, self-titled EPs (released in 2003 and 2004), both of which are making their vinyl debut. The package also includes the previously unreleased track “Snakes on the Ladder” from the Apologies sessions. The album was remastered for this release by the band’s longtime associate Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering. This reissue comes on the heels of Wolf Parade’s recently-announced reunion. The band will be touring in the summer of 2016. Wolf Parade was founded in 2003 in Montreal, Quebec. After the aforementioned self-titled EPs, the group released Apologies to the Queen Mary to much fanfare in September 2005. The album was recorded by Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and engineer Chris Chandler at Audible Alchemy in Portland, OR. The album was an entirely collaborative effort, barreling headfirst and breathlessly through songs written during Wolf Parade’s early years together as a band. Pitchfork gave Apologies to the Queen Mary a 9.2 rating, saying, “Wolf Parade’s true talent is transforming the everyday into the unprecedented.” And The Guardian raved, “Magnificent, all told.” The album has sold over 100,000 in the U.S. alone to date.
File Under: Indie Rock
Listen Here
Various: Last of the Garage Punk Unknowns 5 (Crypt) LP
15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness in gatefold sleeved luxury plus inner sleeve with liner notes, band photos, label scans. (NOTE: This is an entirely new series and none of these tracks were on the old series “Garage Punk Unknowns”). 1. The Thunderbirds “Hey Little Girl” 2. The Kinetics “You’re Gonna Miss Me” 3. The Edges of Wisdom “The Past” 4. The French Church “Slapneck 1943” 5. The Symbols “Give Me Time” 6. The Scurvy Knaves “It’s Not Like That” 7. Purple Virus “The Law Of The Jungle” 8. The Sonsets “Oh! Look What You’ve Done” 9. The Liv’in End “She’s A Teaser” 10. Caesar & His Romans “Black Lantern” 11. The Ebb Tides “Little Women” 12. The Dagenites “I’m Gone Slide” 13. The New Corvets “Goin’ Away” 14. The Four Keys “One Way Street” 15. The Fatigues “Rooftops”
File Under: Garage, Punk
Various: Last of the Garage Punk Unknowns 6 (Crypt) LP
15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness focusing on the super-crude side of things in gatefold sleeved luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans. (NOTE: This is an entirely new series and none of these tracks were on the old series “Garage Punk Unknowns”). 1. The Plague “Point Blank” 2. Caedman And The Nobles “More Than a Kiss” 3. The Starfyres “Captain Dueseldorph” 4. The Uniteds “Lucky End” 5. The Grey Stokes “The Ballad of Tarzan” 6. The Fuzztones “We’re in Love” 7. The Torments “I Love You More Each Day” 8. Sir Kenneth And The Yorkshire Coachmen “Set You FreeE” 9. The Druids “Too Shy” 10. The Night Crawlers “Let’s Move” 11. The Riots “You’re My Baby” 12. The Sires “Come To Me Baby” 13. The Esquires “You Got Another Thing Comin'” 14. Wet Paint “If I Don’t See Her Tonight” 15. Jonathan with Orchestra “The Mummy”
File Under: Garage, Punk
…..Restocks…..
A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Maurader (Jive) LP
Baroness: Purple (Abraxan Hymns) LP
Les Baxter: Goliath & The Barbarians (Out-Side) LP
Beach House: Bloom (Sub Pop) LP
Beach House: Teen Dream (Sub Pop) LP
Beach House: Desperation Cherry (Sub Pop) LP
Beastie Boys: Check Your Head (EMI) LP
Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty (EMI) LP
Beastie Boys: Ill Communication (EMI) LP
Besnard Lakes: A Coliseum Complex… (Jagjaguwar) LP
Black Mountain: IV (Jagjaguwar) LP
Black Mountain: In The Future (Jagjaguwar) LP
Black Mountain: s/t (Jagjaguwar) LP
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar) LP
Bon Iver: s/t (Jagjaguwar) LP
John Cale: Fear (Music on Vinyl) LP
John Carpenter: Lost Themes II (Sacred Bones) LP
Congos: Heart of the Congos (VP) LP
Daft Punk: Random Access Memories (Columbia) LP
Mac Demarco: Another One (Captured Tracks) LP
Mac Demarco: Rock & Roll Night Club (Captured Tracks) LP
Mac Demarco: Salad Days (Captured Tracks) LP
Drive Like Jehu: Yank Crime (Hedhunter) LP
Brian Eno: Ship (Warp) LP
Bill Fay: Time of the Last Persecution (4 Men With Beards) LP
Andrew Hill: Point of Departure (Blue Note) LP
James Hunter Six: Hold On! (Daptone) LP
Kacy & Clayton: Strange Country (Big White Cloud) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Nonagon Infinity (ATO) LP
Kraftwerk: Autobahn (EMI) LP
Magnetic Fields: The Charm of the Highway Strip (Merge) LP
Magnetic Fields: Get Lost (Merge) LP
Metric: Live It Out (Last Gang) LP
Mogwai: The Hawk Is Howling (Rock Action) LP
Night Beats: s/t (Trouble in Mind) LP
OST: Beyond The Black Rainbow (Jagjaguwar) LP
Portishead: Dummy (Go Beat) LP
Pretty Things: S.F. Sorrow (Snapper) LP
Quasimoto: The Unseen (Stones Throw) LP
Replacements: Twin/Tone Years (Rhino) 4LP
Sturgill Simpsons: Metamodern Sounds… (Thirty Tigers) LP
Slayer: Reign In Blood (Universal) LP
Sunn o))): Kannon (Southern Lord) LP
Suuns: Hold/Still (Secret City) LP
Suuns: Images Du Futur (Secret City) LP
Tame Impala: Currents (Modular) LP
Tame Impala: Innerspeaker (Modular) LP
Television: s/t (4 Men With Beards) LP
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch) LP
Chelsea Wolfe: Abyss (Sargent House) LP
Chelsea Wolfe: Pain is Beauty (Sargent House) LP
Zoom: Sweet Desperation (Ugly Pop) LP