After last week’s massive list, I think we all needed some time to catch up, and thankfully this week has provided some respite. Some nice stuff in this week, but hardly anything compared with last week. As usual, we keep pricing up lots of killer used stuff as well. So, come on down for a dig!
…..pick of the week…..
William Onyeabor: Boxset 1 & 2 (Luaka Bop) LP
A final restock on these boxsets! If you haven’t picked them up yet, you better do it now! The first of set features five, while the second features four of the albums the elusive Nigerian synth-funk pioneer self-released between 1977 and 1985 – remastered and officially available for the first time. His music represents the epitome of the golden era of Nigerian funk, before he gave up a life in music to become a devout Christian. Luaka Bop released the critically acclaimed compilation Who is William Onyeabor? in October of 2013, and has since seen the release of the documentary Fantastic Man, which was fabricated around the myth of the musician and attempts to unearth the man behind the music. It is also now a full blown live show touring the world, paying tribute to the music of Onyeabor featuring a supergroup of Damon Albarn, David Byrne, Kele Okereke from Bloc Party, Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, the Lijadu Sisters, Money Mark, Pat Mahoney and Sinkane. To this day, William Onyeabor has not spoken about his music in one single interview. Onyeabor passed away on January 16th.
File Under: Afrobeat, Funk, Electro, Goodtimes
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…..new arrivals…..
A Winged Victory for the Sullen: Iris (Erased Tapes) LP
Finally in stock! A Winged Victory For The Sullen, the otherworldly collaboration between Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran, commence the New Year with their third full-length titled Iris. Adam and Dustin first met the director Jalil Lespert after he had discovered A Winged Victory For The Sullen on a music search online. After listening to their music, he immediately knew: “it was the sound of my new film.” With an excellent cast of France’s finest actors Romain Duris, Charlotte Le Bon, and the director himself, plus a script filled with tension, sexuality and darkness, they knew there was a lot of musical territory to mine. It was agreed that they wanted to explore more analogue electronique experiments as well as working with a large string ensemble, to create something that felt very modern and still cinematic. “Despite A Winged Victory For The Sullen being associated with film score type music, trying to survive the process of creating the modern film score is not for people with fragile egos. It requires those who are the most responsive to change. The director and the film presented a new set of challenges, so we decided to stop thinking about cinema as an object, and moved closer to using the film’s images as triggers for experiences. The more we were able to let go, and see the music as something that happens, like a process – not a quality, the more we were able to reach a place that sounded like us. It was as if we were making our first record all over again, except being filtered through another language littered with dead metaphors”, the duo elaborate. The recording sessions began with their long time sound collaborator Francesco Donadello in the form of some modular synth sessions in Berlin. Dustin and Adam began working from the script in their own studios, and after filming commenced they continued to create music that could be used for first edits of the film – each day getting new scenes that triggered ideas that would become the base of the film score. Over the course of the next few months the two slowly crafted the music with weekly discussion from their studio to the editing room. The final sessions to what is now the score of Iris was recorded with a 40-piece string orchestra at Magyar Radio in Budapest.
File Under: Ambient, OST, Stars of the Lid
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David Bowie: Legacy (Legacy) LP
David Bowie Legacy collects together some of the late great music legend’s finest singles from his first hit, 1969’s “Space Oddity” through to final single “Lazarus” plus a previously unreleased version of the classic 1971 single “Life On Mars?’ mixed by its original producer Ken Scott. In over 50 years from his very first recordings right through to his last album Blackstar, David Bowie was at the vanguard of contemporary culture as a musician, artist, icon and a constant influence on generations of writers, artists and designers. He was, and remains to be, a unique presence in contemporary culture. David Bowie left a legacy of inspiration in every discipline from art to fashion to acting and beyond but it is for the groundbreaking music that he will mostly be remembered. Legacy is an introduction to a whole world of music that is just waiting to be rediscovered by a whole new generation.
File Under: Pop, Rock
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Chemical Brothers: Dig Your Own Hole (Astralwerks) LP
In tomorrow… Undisputed masters of brain-altering, transcendent electronica, The Chemical Brothers (comprised of the duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons), have been producing some of the world’s greatest dance music for the better part of two decades. Their star hasn’t stopped rising since their groundbreaking debut Exit Planet Dust changed the game in 1995. Released in 1997, the Chemical Brothers’ second effort, Dig Your Own Hole, truly propelled them to superstardom. Singles “Block Rockin Beats,” and “Setting Sun” shot to the top of the British charts and forecasted the success of the album as a whole which became the group’s first U.K. No. 1. Dig Your Own Hole features guest vocals from Noel Gallagher and Beth Orton. Both Rolling Stone and Spin included it on their list of the 100 Best Albums of the Nineties. The Chemical Brothers’ first seven studio albums will again be available in the U.S. Each comes repackaged in the original sleeve artwork from the first pressings. Audio has been cut from the original lacquers directly from the studio of the original engineer, Mike Marsh, and is fully approved by The Chemical Brothers’ Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands.
File Under: Electronic
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Chemical Brothers: Exit Planet Dust (Astralwerks) LP
Exit Planet Dust is the larger-than-life 1995 debut from the undisputed masters of brain-altering, transcendent electronica The Chemical Brothers comprised of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. The album’s title is in reference to the duo’s former Dust Brothers moniker which they had to relinquish due to impending legalities with the U.S. production duo of the same name. The trailblazing release is regarded as one of the first of its kind to break into the mainstream and is credited with literally inventing the big-beat style that would go on to dominate the British dance scene in its wake. Equally ahead of its time and timeless, the eleven-song stunner runs the gamut of what has become modern dance music’s touchstones with hip-hop rhythms, distorted rock guitars, bombastic basslines, unrelenting sound samples, and throws in vocal contributions from the likes of Beth Orton and the Charlatans’ Tim Burgess for good measure. The Chemical Brothers’ first seven studio albums will again be available in the U.S. Each comes repackaged in the original sleeve artwork from the first pressings. Audio has been cut from the original lacquers directly from the studio of the original engineer, Mike Marsh, and is fully approved by The Chemical Brothers’ Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands.
File Under: Electronic
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Bob Dylan: Bootleg Series 1-3 (Columbia) 5 LP Box
Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 forever changed the face of archival reissues upon release in 1991. It also kickstarted Dylan’s re-entrance into the public conversation about music and triggered an artistic rebirth that continues to this day. In this cornucopia of previously unissued material comprised of rare and unreleased recordings covering the period from 1961 through to its release in 1991 are stashed home recordings, demo recordings, outtakes, alternative takes, coffeehouse recordings, concert recordings, and more. Much of it teaches us a good deal about the way in which Dylan developed as a songwriter and performer. These are performances of staggering power, subtlety, seemingly infinite variety. The main focus in this collection is on Dylan as the songwriter: 38 songs that had never been released on an official album, as well as demo and rehearsal versions of well-known songs. Untold delights make this volume consistently revelatory. And for exhaustive and insatiable collectors are bunches of previously unsuspected tracks that never made it to the underground trading circuit. Whatever reputation Dylan enjoyed as a writer and performer in his recording career began to be reviewed in the light of this historic collection. This legendary first installment in the now long running Bob Dylan Bootleg Series is now reissued on vinyl for the first time in 25 years. Hear it anew in warm, detailed analog.
File Under: Folk
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Mike Patton: Mondo Cane (Ipecac) LP
Mike Patton is many things to many people, but regardless of whether he’s singing, scatting, acting, growling or swearing, he’s a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the word. From his teens spent with genre-defying alternatives acts like Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, his various collaborations with avant-garde musicians, the deconstructed-pop music he created with Peeping Tom and currently cultivating a career as a film composer as well as roles in popular video games, there seems to be no limit to what Patton can, will or might do. 2010 saw the release of his self titled Mondo Cane project. Mondo Cane is a collection of old Italian standards recorded with a full orchestra and sung in Italian. While Patton is known for a employing a wide variety of incarnations, Mondo Cane is unlike any of his previous projects. First, and most obviously, Mondo Cane is an Italian language release. Secondly it finds the singer paying homage to other songwriters, a first for the frontman. Discussing the 11-song album, Patton explained “My purpose in revisiting these pieces is not to relive the past, not for nostalgia, but more to illustrate through modern and adventurous interpretation exactly how vital and important this music still is.” The evocative collection includes works by The Blackmen (“Urlo Negro”), a late 60’s song about the Civil Rights struggle, Gino Paoli’s “Senza Fine,” made famous by Connie Francis, and Patton’s beloved Ennio Morricone who penned “Deep Down” for the film Danger: Diabolik in 1968.
File Under: Classical, Pop, Italian, Faith No More
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Pye Corner Audio: Stasis (Ghost Box) LP
Available again! At least one leap year cycle since his last album with the GB’s, Sleep Games, right now this one feels like a stygian trudge into bleakest futures, operating at such a stoned pace that it moves slower than actual time, and by submitting to its temporal warp we’re allowed to regress back into a pre-digital epoch of paranoid cold, or even civil war atmospheres and paranoia. It could almost be the soundtrack to a Ben Wheatley flick (low budget, not the over-glossy high rise) about British time travellers, forgoing Dr. Who queso for a more hard-boiled, furtive vibe about anachronistic assassins sent back to kill Nigel Farage at birth, only to uncover that he’s part of an exceedingly dangerous non-human race with ties to Johnson, Cameron and all the other pebble-people, so they round them all up and lock them in a hostel in Middlesbrough with a broken kettle and packet of poisoned monster munch between the lot. Of course, that fantasy is all set to a soundtrack of wistful electronic mists and pulsating arpeggios that could be right out of some late ‘70s / early ‘80s synth library, and ultimately shows that whilst technology has advanced in the meantime, that ostensibly archaic music still reflects an underlying eldritch darkness contemporary and relevant to both eras, then and now.
File Under: Electronic, Nostalgia
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Sleater-Kinney: Live in Paris (Sub Pop) LP
Live in Paris is the first official record of Sleater-Kinney’s famously blistering stage performance. The thirteen track album, which features Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker, Janet Weiss, and touring member Katie Harkin, was captured on March 20th, 2015 at the Paris’s historic La Cigale venue, during the band’s sold-out, international tour in support of their acclaimed eighth album, 2015’s No Cities to Love. Live in Paris includes songs from nearly every Sleater-Kinney album, including No Cities to Love, The Woods, One Beat, The Hot Rock, Dig Me Out, and Call the Doctor. The recording was mixed by John Goodmanson at Avast and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.
File Under: Indie Rock, Grunge
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Taake: Noregs Vaapen (Karisma) LP
In recent years, Taake has been more active than ever with tours around the world and a steady live line-up. The fifth studio album, 2011’s Noregs Vaapen, sees the band refine their True Norwegian Black Metal sound, but also take a step further and include some new elements. The album is filled with Hoest’s trademark riffs, melodies and vocals, but also includes more unpredictable parts more black ‘n’ roll grooves, ice cold mellotrons, and white trash banjo. This time around, Hoest also invited his live line-up, consisting of Thurzur, V’gandr, Aindiachai and Gjermund to contribute on some songs, plus guest appearances from people like Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone), Attila Csihar (Mayhem), Demonaz (Immortal), Bjørnar Nilsen (Vulture Industries) and Skagg (Gaahlskagg, Deathcult). Hoest himself is behind all music, lyrics, instruments and vocals as usual. With its intense, unique, Norwegian and otherworldly sound, Taake delivered their most diverse and unique album to date!
File Under: Black Metal
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XX: I See You (Young Turks) DLX Boxset
The xx’s I See You is marked by a tonal shift to something close to pure, crisp pop structure, adorned by unusual crescendos that echo a dextrous DJ inching their dancer toward climax without ever quite lifting the house lights. Its lyric sheet moves from the danger and hopelessness of love to its deliciousness and rapture; a move into a more outward looking proposition. I See You is recognizably still The xx but is now powered by the voluble ambition of its three perfect counterweights to one another starting to not just realize but harness their full potential. You might even want to think of the decisive move from Joy Division to New Order here, too. When they take their plum festival slots in 2017, armed with the ten most robust songs of their career, The xx should prick the skin and touch gently the shoulder of an audience reaching to the back of the field. Also available as a limited edition 180g 2LP + 2CD box set with bonus tracks, enhanced video content and three art prints.
File Under: Indie Rock, Pop
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Various: Studio One Rocksteady 2 (Soul Jazz) LP
Soul Jazz Records’ new journey into the mighty vaults of Clement Dodd’s Studio One steps once more into the fertile musical environment of Jamaican music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, from the sweet harmony vocals of seminal 1960s Rocksteady right up to the nascent birth of Reggae and Roots music at the start of the 1970s. Sleevenotes to this album are by Steve Barrow, author of Rough Guide to Reggae as well as Soul Jazz Records’ own Reggae Soundsystem Cover Art books. While Ska at the start of the 1960s had taken American Rhythm and Blues as its main influence, Rocksteady focused on the emergence of American Soul music – with Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, John Holt & The Paragons, Carlton & The Shoes showing a particular fascination with the close harmonies of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and other US Soul acts. Here The Heptones even feature with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’. The influence of Soul music on Jamaican Rocksteady and Reggae is almost palpable, so much so that one wonders how much more successful singers like Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Slim Smith and John Holt would have been had they been born in Chicago, Detroit or Memphis. Artists such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson and Owen Gray defined the era – a slowed down beat as Jamaican political and social heat slowly increased when the 1960s progressed into the start of the 1970s – and the music evolved further from Rocksteady into Roots Reggae.
File Under: Reggae
…..Restocks…..
Adele: 25 (XL) LP
Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls (ATO) LP
Olafur Arnalds: Island Songs (Mercury) LP
William Basinski: A Shadow in Time (Temporary Residence) LP
Beastie Boys: Ill Communication (EMI) LP
Beatles: Abbey Road (Apple) LP
Beatles: White Album (Apple) LP
Beirut: No No No (4AD) LP
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Rhino) LP
Art Blakey: Moanin’ (Blue Note) LP
Boards Of Canada: Music has the Right to Children (Warp) LP
Leonard Cohen: You Want It Darker (Columbia) LP
Constantines: Kensington Heights (Arts & Craft) LP
Daft Punk: Homework (EMI) LP
Daft Punk: Tron: Legacy (EMI) LP
Darkthrone: Plaguewielder (Peaceville) LP
Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma (Warp) LP
Funkadelic: Standing on the Verge of Getting it on (Westbound) LP
Funkadelic: s/t (Westbound) LP
Billie Holiday: Jazz at the Philharmonic (Waxtime) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Nonagon Infinity (ATO) LP
Kraftwerk: Autobahn (EMI) LP
Kraftwerk: Man-Machine (EMI) LP
Kraftwerk: Radio-Activity (EMI) LP
Kraftwerk: Tour De France Soundtracks (EMI) LP
Kraftwerk: Trans-Europe Express (EMI) LP
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (Aftermath) LP
Led Zeppelin: III (Warner) LP
Lumineers: Cleopatra (Dine Alone) LP
Mare: s/t (Hydra Head) LP
Hank Mobley: No Room For Squares (Blue Note) LP
Nine Inch Nails: Downward Spiral (Universal) LP
Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine (Universal) LP
Anderson .Paak: Malibu (ERE) LP
Anderson .Paak: Venice (ERE) LP
Iggy Pop: Pop Post Depression (Loma Vista) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Rated R (Interscope) LP
Radiohead: Amnesiac (XL) LP
Radiohead: In Rainbows (XL) LP
Radiohead: Kid A (XL) LP
Radiohead: The Bends (XL) LP
Royal Headache: High (What’s Your Rupture) LP
Run The Jewels: 1 (Mass Appeal) LP
Smiths: Louder Than Bombs (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Meat is Murder (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Queen is Dead (Rhino) LP
Smiths: Strangeways Here We Come (Rhino) LP
Sonic Youth: Dirty (Geffen) LP
The Swans: The Seer (Young God) LP
White Stripes: Icky Thump (Third Man) LP