Well Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely holiday break. Things are starting to calm down around here and return to normal. Thankfully there hasn’t been much in this week so, it’s been easier to find my bearings again. There was a few things that came in right before the break, or during that hasn’t been properly highlighted in our lists, so this week we bring you some of those. Next week we’ll see a good stack of big new releases to get your blood pumping, until then…..
…..Pick of the Week…..
Various: (The Microcosm): Visionary Music of Continental Europe, 1970-1986
(Light in the Attic) 3LP Box
“The follow-up to Light In The Attic’s game-changing I Am The Center box set is finally here. Three years in the making, The Microcosm: Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 is the first major overview of key works from cosmically-taped in artists needing little introduction — Vangelis, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh — and unknown masterpieces by criminally overlooked heroes like Bernard Xolotl, Robert Julian Horky and Enno Velthuys. Whereas I Am The Center called for a reconsideration of an entire maligned genre, The Microcosm requests nothing more than an open mind to consider this ambient, new age, neuzeit, prog, krautrock, cosmic, holistic stuff, whatever one calls it — as a pulsating movement unto itself, a mirror refracting the American new age scene in unexpected, electrifying ways, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the universality of the timeless quest to express ‘the Ineffable’ through music. Drawing from major label budgets and homemade cassette distributed circumstances alike, The Microcosm demonstrates a depth of peace profound to behold, and clearly expands the boundaries. Lovingly conceived and lavishly presented by producer Douglas Mcgowan (Yoga Records) and liner notes contributor Jason Patrick Woodbury (Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard), The Microcosm features stunning cover paintings by astronomer/entomologist Étienne Trouvelot, and labels by Finnish savant Aleksanda Ionowa. Remastered audio, including a previously unreleased track and several others previously cassette only.”
File Under: Electronic, Ambient, Kosmische
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…..new arrivals…..
A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here… (Epic) LP
A Tribe Called Quest – Q-Tip, Phife Dawg (who passed away on March 22, 2016), Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White – the groundbreaking ’90s group that forever transformed the urban music landscape, detonates new shock waves on their first – and last – new studio album together in 18 years, We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service. The landmark release represents the first new music from A Tribe Called Quest since they disbanded in 1998, after recording The Love Movement, their final album together. Renowned painter/photographer Richard Prince was commissioned to create the album’s show-stopping cover art. “The extraordinary times in which we now find ourselves desperately call out for a new message from A Tribe Called Quest, and We Got It From Here… is that message,” said LA Reid, Chairman and CEO, Epic Records. “For nearly two decades, it has been my deepest personal wish to add one more chapter to their incredible legacy. I am deeply honored that Tribe entrusted us with this historic and final album.” Queens, New York natives Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of Brooklyn, formed A Tribe Called Quest in 1985. The group is one of hip-hop’s most legendary, beloved and revered groups of all time. Easily recognized for their unique approach to rap music by employing jazz infused soundscapes to Afro centric rhymes, ATCQ was largely responsible for the popularity of a new genre that dominated the East Coast sound of the early-90s. Sonically, ATCQ was a decisive and welcomed tangent of jazz, bass-heavy rhythmic vibes and eclectic sampling when compared to the mundane recycling of soul loops, breaks and vocals of their contemporaries. Lyrically, emcees Q-Tip and Phife Dawg addressed social issues relevant to young blacks such as use of the n word and its relevance, date rape and other interpersonal relationships, industry politics and consumerism with infectious energy and fun and having a good time while still promoting positivity. ATCQ composed a number of successful singles and albums with their creative approach to rap music. In 1990, the group released Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Their sophomore effort, 1991’sThe Low End Theory, considered one of the greatest albums in hip-hop history, solidified them as legends. In recent years, the anticipation for another ATCQ album has been building. Today, the power of the Abstract Poetic, Five Foot Assassin, and Mr. Muhammad is still evident in their dynamic stage shows and in the reception of their adoring fans. We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service finds the group paying respect to both their legacy and their fans and it’s a cathartic moment for all.
File Under: Hip Hop
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Rashad Becker: Traditional Music of Notaional Species Vol. II (Pan) LP
Rashad Becker’s new full length album, Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. II, is a newly developed continuation and exploration of work since his highly-acclaimed first volume. Incorporating more instrumental-sounding components, the record moves through both fluid and dissonant sounds, which take on different structural and sculptural challenges through carefully-layered compositions. Following Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. I, Vol. II expands in various elements, distorted and warped, focusing in on the tension and energy of synthesized sounds that appear to exist, hauntingly physically. Known for his unrivaled attention to sonic detail across his work, Becker’s unique techniques and expressive manipulations of sound are laid bare in an exhilarating new form, stylistically distinctive and uncompromising. The album is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering. Artwork by Bill Kouligas.
File Under: Electronic, Experimental
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Futuro Antico: Isole Del Suono (Black Sweat) LP
Black Sweat Records present Isole Del Suono, unreleased high quality recordings of the Italian experimental trio, Futuro Antico. The sound experience it’s a mysterious synergy between the elements of nature, a magical encounter between different souls but with elective affinity. Maioli’s ancient and ethnic wind instruments are the breath of the air, Sinigaglia’s electronic spirit produces liquid sequences of the water, while Dabiré’s African percussions materialize the voice and rhythms of the earth. The result is a total creative fire, a foamed core of perceptions and multiple sensory universes of distant memory. The dialogue between archaic and futuristic already investigated in 1990’s historic Dai Primitivi All’ Elettronica sees another bright episode in this unreleased live music, recorded on tapes directly by the mixing console – a product of the memorable performance held in Bologna at the festival Isole Del Suono on July, 17th 1980. The secret harmony between sounds is complete but at the same time brings out the expressive specificity of the three individual personality: the subtlety of reiterate sonic textures, waterfalls of minimalist piano, Sufi atmospheres supported by sequence of organs that reinterpret the frequencies of harmoniums lost, the solemn gait of an African balafon absorbed in electronic vortices endless. These are some of the coordinates of a musical and cultural poetics that continue a search for the source of formal purity and multiplicity of stimuli.
File Under: Electronic, Ambient
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Gaetano Liguori Collective Orchestra: s/t (Black Sweat) LP
Black Sweat Records present a reissue of Gaetano Liguori Collective Orchestra’s self-titled album, originally released in 1976. The Collective Orchestra was a visionary, short-living creative music collective led by Gaetano Liguori, a main protagonist of Italian free jazz since the early ’70s. It was an important attempt to put together young musicians from the two main towns in Italy, and its respective leading figures, Milan and Rome. Previous attempts to set up anything similar were, in fact, either frustrated by rivalries between the various personalities or were destined to be one-off events. Liguori’s vision is simply wonderful here – even bolder and more expressive than on his previous works for PDU – and the energy which he summons and transmits throughout is extraordinary. The near-telepathic interplay of the core set of Gaetano Liguori on piano, Roberto Bellatalla on double bass, Filippo Monico on drums, Guido Mazzon on trumpet, and young musicians Edoardo Ricci, Giancarlo Maurino and Massimo Urbani on soprano and alto saxophones, is given a richly expanded sound palette by the addition of Danilo Terenzi on trombone, Roberto Del Piano on Fender bass and Sandro Cesaroni on flute. There’s something really magical about the reciprocity that occurs when he plays these exceptional improvisers and the album still possesses a “sense of the new” feel that is as gripping as anything recorded by Italian ensembles around the same time. The sound is strong and freely exploratory, at a level that’s completely fresh and very striking, and is handled here with a wonderful balance between playful arrangements and fierce improvisations. Filled with power and imagination and originally released in 1976 on PDU.
File Under: Free Jazz
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Ennio Morricone: Eat It (Cinedelic) LP
Cinedelic Records present a reissue of Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for the 1968 film Eat It (Mangiala). Even if you find the film Eat It, a film bit too weak-willed of social satire and advertising, the first and last of director Francesco Casaretti, you cannot miss out on the soundtrack from the two-time Academy Award winner Ennio Morricone, composed during his most prolific and experimental period, available for the first time from original master tapes. Morricone wrote a score that is, as always, brilliant, conducted by Bruno Nicolai with the choir I Cantori Moderni di Alessandro Alessandroni. The tracks range between danceable, a known nursery rhyme, classical motifs, romantic, a touch of bossa nova, all of which embrace all the psychological and environmental nuances of alienation and paradox that marks the plot of the film. There are also disturbing and abstract experimentalisms that make this soundtrack unique. Particularly in “Quinta Variazione / Africami” with the fuzzy guitar by Alessandroni, and “Settima Variazione” with its three dreamy amazing underwater variants and ending with “Eat It”, in the same version as the highly collected 45rpm that came out at the time and is, until now, the only existing track on vinyl from this score – a legendary cult object and sought out for the killer heavy drum by Vincenzo Restuccia and distorted psychedelic Fender Stratocaster of Alessandro Alessandroni. Highly rigid hand-glued Cinedelic cover, with a folder insert of four facades with photos from the movie.
File Under: OST, Maestro
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Frank Ocean: Endless (Fanclub) LP
Endless is a video album by American singer Frank Ocean. It was released exclusively through Apple Music on August 19, 2016. It was his last release with his record label Def Jam Recordings to fulfill his recording contract. It was followed by the August 20 release of Ocean’s second studio album, Blonde.
File Under: Hip Hop, Soul
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Frank Ocean: Blonde (Fanclub) LP
Back in stock! Blonde is the second studio album by American singer Frank Ocean. It was released on August 20, 2016, as a timed exclusive on the iTunes Store and Apple Music, and followed the August 19 release of Ocean’s visual album Endless. Initially known as Boys Don’t Cry and teased for a July 2015 release, the album suffered several delays and was the subject of widespread media anticipation. The album features guest vocals from Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Yung Lean, André 3000, Sebastian, James Blake, and Kim Burrell among others, and production from Frank Ocean himself, as well as Pharrell Williams, Tyler, The Creator, Jamie xx, Rostam Batmanglij, Om’Mas Keith, and many more. The album was supported by the single “Nikes”. It received widespread acclaim from critics, and charted at number one on the Billboard 200.
File Under: Hip Hop, Soul
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OST: Stranger Things Vol 2 (Lakeshore) LP
THIS IS ALL DIFFERENT MUSIC THAN VOL 1 AND YOU NEED THIS TOO!!! A love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation, Stranger Things is set in 1983 Indiana, where a young boy vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl. Lakeshore Records has partnered with UK’s Invada Records founded by Geoff Barrow to press and release Stranger Things Vol. 2 Soundtrack (composed by S U R V I V E’s Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein) on double vinyl (available as limited edition colored and standard 2LP editions) with gatefold packaging. Vol. 2 features completely different music from Vol. 1, and is the second half of the whole Stranger Things soundtrack. Vol. 2 continues to wander through the 80’s world of Stranger Things, floating between the sweeter moments which temporarily blossom amidst the danger and decay as the series comes to an end. Michael Stein explained to Noisey: “We discussed having a classic tone and feel to the music for the show but being reserved enough that it wasn’t ’80s cheese, while offering a refreshing quality so that felt modern as well – which is one of the qualities that drew them to our music in the first place. Having a familiarity with classic synths works but with an overall modern and forward thinking approach.”
File Under: OST, Electronic, Synth, Ambient
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People Skills: Gunshots at Crestridge (Blackest Ever Black) LP
Gunshots At Crestridge is the second full-length album from Philadelphia’s Jesse Dewlow, recording under the moniker People Skills. The follow-up to 2014’s Siltbreeze set, Tricephalic Head. Ten sunken songs, derisively adorned with rhythm and rudimentary dub effects. Bedroom elegies for the lost and irretrievable, last-ditch spells for transformation and renewal. Thurston Moore and Byron Coley likened the previous record to “South Island New Zealand pop played inside of an armored car,” and that description holds here: underneath the hoods of these wracked and weather-beaten recordings are melodies of disarming beauty and optimism, bordering on the (willfully) mawkish, bubblegum ground underfoot. Whether speaking through stately keyboard pastorals (“Mint Julep”), rat-arsed rock ‘n roll slur (“89¢ Public Render”) or sulphurous aggro-electronics (the two-part title track), Gunshots At Crestridge exposes, then seeks to redeem, all of our tiny acts of self-sabotage, all of our sins against time.
File Under: Lo-Fi, Post Punk, Industrial
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Pit Piccinelli, Fred Gales, Walter Maioli: Amazonia 6891
(Black Sweat) LP
Double LP version. Black Sweat Records present a reissue of Amazonia 6891: Sounds From Jungle, Natural Objects, Echo And Electronic Waves, originally released on cassette in 1986. The idea to evoke a deep journey in the Amazon rainforest has affected various musicians in the history of popular and experimental music, but compared to other works, this rare Amazonia 6891, released only on cassette in 1986, appears as totally original and extreme in his conception. Here, the interest in ethnomusicology of the expert Walter Maioli (part of Aktuala and Futuro Antico) is linked to a precise and comprehensive ecological, botanical, ethological and ethnographic perspective. In fact, starting from the sound recording of the ethnographer Pit Piccinelli’s collection of natural objects, the collected material for this work is re-elaborate in different times by the anthropologist and electronic pioneer Fred Gales and by Maioli himself. The result of this multi-disciplinary approach is a long, concrete poem of plant organisms, field recordings of verses and calls of tropical animals, futuristically mixed with electronic sounds, similar to the great experimental trials of Futuro Antico and Ariel Kalma’s 1978 album, Osmose. Listening to this imaginative collage is like looking into a precious cabinet of antiquities and curiosity, whose wonders of multi-colored cellular fragments are shaped in the synthesis of a single universal sound matter. The merger between the wild jungle, the mysterious voices of the aboriginals and the oscillation of the electronic waves, creates a spasmodic tension between amazing and heavenly moments, leaking obscure paths and alien sequences. Amazonia 6891 is a magic trip into the unknown wild, into abyss of creation of kaleidoscopic floras and faunas, simply a proposal for a synesthetic experience and multi-sensory.
File Under: Field Recordings, Electronic, Ambient
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Wayne Siegel: Autumn Resonance/Domino Figures (Black Sweat) LP
Black Sweat Records present a reissue of Wayne Siegel’s Autumn Resonance/Domino Figures, originally released in 1983. A little-known, but extremely beautiful, post-minimalism album composed by Wayne Siegel when he was mid-twenties. Having moved to Denmark between 1979 and 1980, Siegel began to investigate the possibilities of a very personal language, contributing to the kaleidoscope of post-minimalism. These works are constructed around a relentless musical process that consists of delaying and repeating every element in a certain measure, without intentional alteration. Siegel called this process “Canon Technique”, letting it become over time his obsession. Black Sweat Records proposes the awaited reissue of Siegel’s LP. Compared to the original 1983’s release by Danish label Paula, this release includes authentic pictures from the performance of “Domino Figures”, as to present the visual results of Siegel’s works as part of his contribution to contemporary arts. Also included are liner notes that echo the current value of Siegel’s experimental approach to sound. “Autumn Resonance” is a fast canon in which musical figures move quickly around the concert hall; measuring distances, Siegel emphasizes the interrelation of the individual piano, the acoustic of the concert hall and his mood as parts of an organic work. “Domino Figures”, for 10-100 guitars, is a sound work that embodies the shape of a semicircle. The performers sit in a semicircle, performing a kind of slow chain reaction, where a choral texture is produced and evolves slowly. Widely renowned in its large number of declinations, it is presented here in a 42 guitars version, dedicated to the Danish guitarist Erling Møldrup.
File Under: Electronic, Classical
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Silver Apples: The Garden (Chickencoop) LP
Dubs of Silver Apple’s third album, which had been mysteriously unaccounted for, were found in a cardboard box in drummer Danny Taylor’s attic. The remarkable reunion of the original duo of Simeon Coxe and Taylor hadn’t been planned. After 27 years apart, they were reunited when a disc jockey at New Jersey’s legendary WFMU radio station received a phone call from Taylor for the station’s pledge drive. Taylor had been out of the music business for years, and his call put the pieces in place for Simeon to forge a renewed excitement for the Silver Apples’s earliest recordings. The recordings included seven complete songs from 1969 and seven drum instrumentals by Taylor in 1968. Taylor’s 1968 drumming demos were blended with Coxe’s 1998 “Noodle” efforts.
File Under: Electronic, Psych
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I.P. Son Group: s/t (Black Sweat) LP
Black Sweat Records present a reissue of I.P. Son Group’s self-titled album, originally released in 1975. Released in 1975, during the mature stage of the Italian underground scene, this only album from the Milanese band led by guitarist Marco Rossi comes off as an experiment rather atypical of that period; The typical jazz sound of that period being exemplified by formations such as Perigeo, Napoli Centrale, Agora, or Arti e Mestieri. I.P. Son Group provide improvisations on suggestions of extra-European ethnic flavor, enhanced by the masterful rhythmic section (without drums) curated by the African percussionists Nick Eyok and Mohammed El Targhi. The result is a complex work, full of nuances, in which the spirit of the free-jam excels on the synthesis of influences and visions. Refined guitar riffs revealing strong blues roots blend with the elements and moods of the most markedly spiritual and exotic free-jazz (Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane or Archie Shepp). Winds are perfumed of the Middle East flow as distant echoes with ideas of tribal rhythms that draw both from the rhythms of the northern Sahara as well as more Afro-beat rituals of Yoruba ancestry. In the background, the poetic persistence of intercultural exchange that approaches the I.P. Son Group is paralleled by projects such as Aktuala, Arica or John Berberian. This reissued edition is enriched with an amazing photo booklet by Aldo Bonasia.
File Under: Jazz, Psych
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Giuliano Sorgini: Under Pompelmo (Cinedelic) LP
Cinedelic Records present a reissue of Giuliano Sorgini’s Under Pompelmo, originally released in 1973. The legendary killer psych funk album Under Pompelmo is the most “cult” album by Giuliano Sorgini. It sees Sorgini mix beat, prog, funk and psychedelia. It is one of the most sought Italian rare groove delights in the world. Sorgini also produced Zoo Folle (1974) and The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue (1974). The wonderful cover art by Sandro Symeony has been faithfully reproduced from the original.
File Under: Funk, Beat, Psych
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Various: More Early Pakistani Dance Music (Ovular) LP
“Dance Music from Original 7″ Vinyl 1965-1978 – The music on this compilation is quite different from the filmy music that was featured on the Karachi airwaves at the time. Bands like The Bugs, The Thunders, The Fore Thoughts, The Panthers, The Drifters, Incrowd, The Talisman, etc. played at parties, local hotels, dancehalls or wherever they were invited. They made the hip crowds take the dancefloor and move to the groove. Those were exciting days like we may never see them again.” Features: The Blue Birds, Nisar Bazmi, The Fore Thoughts, Jozi Anjum, The Panthers, Sohail Rana & The Five Caps, Khalil Ahmed, Mohd. Yousuf & S.M. Ayub, Nisar Bazmi, The Silhouettes, M. Ashraf, Sohail Rana and Tafo Brothers.
File Under: Pakistan, Dance, Groove
…..Restocks…..
Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls (ATO) LP
Alabama Shakes: Sound & Color (ATO) LP
Olafur Arnaldsd: Island Songs (Mercury) LP
Autechre: Tri Repetae (Warp) LP
Badbadnotgood: III (Arts & Crafts) LP
Beastie Boys: Check Your Head (EMI) LP
Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty (EMI) LP
Beastie Boys: Ill Communication (EMI) LP
Beatles: Abby Road (Apple) LP
Beatles: Let It Be (Apple) LP
Beck: Morning Phase (Universal) LP
Beck: Odelay (Universal) LP
Bing & Ruth: City Lake (RVNG Intl) LP
Bing & Ruth: Tomorrow Was the Golden Age (RVNG Intl) LP
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Rhino) LP
Art Blakey: Moanin’ (Blue Note) LP
Boards of Canada: Trans Canada Highway (Warp) LP
Body/Head: No Waves (Matador) LP
Bohren & Der Club of Gore: Black City (PIAS) LP
Danny Brown: Atrocity Exhibition (Warp) LP
Can: Ege Bamyasi (Mute) LP
Can: Future Days (Mute) LP
Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Denial (Matador) LP
Clash: s/t (Epic) LP
Clash: Combat Rock (Epic) LP
CCR: Cosmos Factory (Fantasy) LP
CCR: Green River (Fantasy) LP
Daft Punk: Discovery (EMI) LP
Darkthrone: Plaguewielder (Peaceville) LP
Darkthrone: Sardonic Wrath (Peaceville) LP
Miles Davis: Cookin’ (Waxtime) LP
Dr. Dre: The Cronic (Death Row) LP
Dr. Dre: The Cronic 2001 (Death Row) LP
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left (Universal) LP
Nick Drake: Pink Moon (Universal) LP
Duke Ellington: At Newport (Mofi) LP
Brian Eno: The Ship (Warp) LP
Bill Evans: Interplay (OJC) LP
Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Waxtime) LP
Bill Evans: Waltz for Debby (Waxtime) LP
Faith No More: Album of the Year (Slash) LP
Faith No More: Angel Dust (Slash) LP
Faith No More: King for a Day… (Slash) LP
Faith No More: Real Thing (Slash) LP
Flying Lotus: Los Angeles (Warp) LP
Flying Lotus: You’re Dead! (Warp) LP
Gas: Box (Kompakt) 10LP+4CD
Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (EMI) LP
Herbie Hancock: Headhunters (Legacy) LP
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage (Blue Note) LP
Arve Henriksen: Cartography (ECM) LP
Lauren Hill: Miseducation of (Universal) LP
LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver (DFA) LP
Led Zeppelin: I (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: II (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: III (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: Iv (Warner) LP
Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy (Warner) LP
Lemon Twigs: Do Hollywood (4AD) LP
Madlib: Shades of Blue (Blue Note) LP
Massive Attack: Protection (EMI) LP
Moggi: Tensione (Black Sweat) LP
Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine (Universal) LP
Nirvana: Unplugged (Geffen) LP
Parliament: Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (Universal) LP
Parliament: Mothership Connection (Universal) LP
Portishead: Third (Island) LP
Psychic TV: Force the Hand of Chance (Angry Love) LP
Royal Headache: s/t (What’s Your Rupture) LP
Royal Headache: High (What’s Your Rupture) LP
Sleep: Dopesmoker (Southern Lord) LP
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith: Ears (Western Vinyl) LP
Smiths: Hatful of Hallow (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Queen is Dead (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Strangways Here We Come (Rhino) LP
Susso: Keira (Soundways) LP
Tool: 10,000 Days (Fanclub) LP
Tool: Salvial (Fanclub) LP
Piero Umiliani: Genti e Paesi del Mondo (Black Sweat) LP
Verckys et L’Orchestre Veve: Congolese Funk, Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba (Analog Africa) LP
M. Zalla: Mondo (Black Sweat) LP
Various: New Orleans Funk (Soul Jazz) LP
Various: New Orleans Funk 3 (Soul Jazz) LP
Various: New Orleans Funk 4 (Soul Jazz) LP
Various: New Orleans Soul (Soul Jazz) LP
Various: Space Echo (Analog Africa) LP