Yow! Video game soundtrack motherload coming in tomorrow. And the some soothing sounds from Godspeed for these dreary rainy days….
…..pick of the week…..
Ennio Morricone: Space 1999 (Death Waltz) LP
In tomorrow… Death Waltz Recording Company is ready to whisk you far into the future to the end of the 20th century with the truly out of this world Ennio Morricone score to SPAZIO: 1999, starring the late, great Martin Landau. Produced by the legendary Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the feature was constructed out of three episodes of the revered SPACE: 1999 television show to introduce Italian audiences to Commander Koenig and his crew, and thrilled audiences with nuclear explosions, parallel universes, and space opera thrills, all coming out of Moonbase Alpha. While the Italian show still featured the brassy sound of Barry Gray, legendary maestro Morricone was employed to bring a decidedly different feel to the theatrical film. From the opening the score launches into wild space jazz with piano and trumpet interspersed with all kinds of noise before it descends into a creepier vibe. Morricone uses unsettling violins and atonal music together with electronics to simulate the void of space and the danger faced by the intrepid heroes, and what emerges is a mix of sci-fi and horror that will not only thrill you, but also scare the living daylights out of you. Human decision required. – Charlie Brigden (Creator, The Sound Of Fear Podcast)
File Under: OST, SciFi, Jazz, Electronic
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…..new arrivals…..
Acetone: 1992 – 2001 (Light in the Attic) LP
In tomorrow… This fall, the independent literary press All Night Menu will publish Sam Sweet’s Hadley Lee Lightcap, a nonfiction novel that traces the backstories of the three members in Acetone, a band that played in Los Angeles for nine years. Though few heard them, their recordings are time capsules of who they were, how they lived, and where they came from. Light In the Attic has partnered with All Night Menu to present Acetone 1992-2001, the first anthology of the trio’s music. The book and the album will be released concurrently on September 22. Counting their early years in the scuzz-rock band Spinout, whose sole self-titled release came out in 1991 on Delicious Vinyl, guitarist Mark Lightcap, bassist Richie Lee, and drummer Steve Hadley played together for a total of 15 years. They disbanded in July 2001, when Lee committed suicide in the garage next to the house where the trio practiced. Afterwards, Rolling Stone ran a short obituary saying Acetone’s albums were “well received” but “failed to make any waves.” It was the first and only time they were featured in the national music press. Between 1993 and 2001 the trio released two LPs and an EP on Vernon Yard—a Virgin subsidiary—and two LPs on Vapor, the L.A.-based label founded by Neil Young and manager Elliott Roberts. In that span, they were selected to tour with Oasis, Mazzy Star, The Verve, and Spiritualized. Against a rising tide of post-Nirvana grunge and slipshod indie rock, Acetone tapped into a timeless Southern California groove by fusing elements of psychedelia, surf, and country. They rehearsed endlessly in an empty bedroom in northeast Los Angeles, recording hours of music onto cassettes that were subsequently stuffed into shoeboxes and left in a shed behind the drummer’s house. Those tapes are being released for the first time in this anthology, which also includes highlights from Acetone’s official releases. Taken together, the songs form a companion soundtrack to Sam Sweet’s book, which maps the character of Los Angeles as a place through the lens of these three unique characters bonded by music. “I think our music is all about moods and feeling but hopefully it will get as weird as it possibly can,” said Richie Lee in 1997. “We want things to get weird in the way that you could hear an Acetone song and know that no one else in the world could make that kind of music but us.”
File Under: Indie Rock
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Behind The Shadow Drops: Harmonic (Temporary Residence) LP
Behind the Shadow Drops is the new solo endeavor from Takaakira ‘Taka’ Goto, founding guitarist and composer of iconic Japanese experimental rock group, MONO. Established in 2016, Behind the Shadow Drops combines Goto’s disparate but commensurate interests in many different forms of music, most notably ambient, trip-hop, industrial minimalism, and modern classical. Recorded at Goto’s home studio and mixed with esteemed producer and percussionist, John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Yo La Tengo), H a r m o n i c merges Goto’s dynamic, moody compositions with McEntire’s renowned drum programming and percussive sensibilities. What begins as a passing resemblance to the more melancholy work of Goto’s ensemble, MONO, slowly mutates into something otherworldly, submerging in a symphony of synths, drum machines, noise loops, and mournful strings (courtesy of Los Angeles experimental cellist, Helen Money). Resembling something like waves rippling in the ocean under a cloudy moonlit sky, H a r m o n i c is as eerie as it is beautiful – a vast abyss punctuated by seemingly endless glimmers of light.
File Under: Ambient, Classical, Mono
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Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps (Dead Oceans) LP
Don’t let the somber tone of her music fool you: the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has a sunny disposition. Stranger in the Alps opens with the one-two punch of “Smoke Signals” and “Motion Sickness,” a pair of songs that highlight Bridgers’ abilities. The former, a gorgeous, ethereal tune guided by sparse electric guitar and sweeping strings, toes the line between weary and wistful, using specific anecdotes from its singer to tell its tale. The style highlights the strengths of Bridgers’ unique lyric writing perspective: there are overt references to lost idols, canonical pop songs and actual incidents, but her stories unfold through specific, evocative imagery sung in her subtle, confessional style. The latter is perhaps the most upbeat moment on the album and was written on her baritone guitar and discusses a problematic relationship from her past. “Scott Street” is a song inspired by East Los Angeles where Bridgers now lives. “Killer” is a song originally appearing on her Adams-produced single but is re-recorded here by the album’s producer, Tony Berg, with John Doe singing alongside Bridgers. That song in particular inspired her to be more honest in her approach. Elsewhere, Conor Oberst joins her for the duet “Would You Rather,” a singer chosen for his unmistakable voice. A Mark Kozelek cover, “You Missed My Heart,” ends the album. As with any singer’s debut, the songs here comprise a wide swath of Bridgers’ life, dating from the oldest, “Georgia,” which she calls the most different-sounding on the LP, to the opening pair, which were written after the recording process had already begun. Berg and co-producer Ethan Gruska worked with Bridgers to record in on-and-off stretches in between tours over 2016 at Berg’s studio in Brentwood. Phoebe went into the studio with the majority of the material written, however “Smoke Signals” and “Motion Sickness” were written in a cabin in Idaho, while Bridgers was waiting for a tour to begin. The pair were the last songs written for the LP.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Armancio D’Silva: Integration (Pheon) LP
In tomorrow… The third Pheon Records LP release is the 1969 debut by Indian jazz guitar legend Amancio D’Silva. A perfect storm of amazing, accessible British jazz and incredible scarcity, an original would cost you well in excess of £1000 today. This album represents a high point in 1960s British jazz, a time of experimentation, integration and joy. This is effortless, unique and very beautiful jazz, exotically tinged with elements from Indian musical tradition. Criminally overlooked when it first came out (hence its rarity today), hopefully this FIRST EVER repress will allow more collectors to appreciate just how harmonious and beautiful music made by supreme, international but impoverished jazz artists can be.
File Under: Jazz
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Rino De Filippi: Arte Marziale (Cometa) LP
In tomorrow… Unreleased amazing funk/beat library LP with tones of jazz-funk and psychedelic beats. Keeping the listener on their toes, the music oscillates between psych-funk, jazz and esoteric movie themes then back again.
File Under: Library, Jazz, Funk, Psych
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Fink: Resurgam (Rcoupd) LP
Resurgam – meaning “I shall rise again” – is the hotly-anticipated sixth studio album from Fink: UK-born, Berlin-based founding singer-songwriter musician Fin Greenall, alongside long-time bandmates Tim Thornton (drums, guitar) and Guy Whittaker (bass). It continues an acclaimed and distinctly adventurous catalogue, from the sample-splicing debut Fresh Produce (2000), through to the beautifully heady expressions of their last album, Hard Believer (2014). Fink have never been afraid to experiment and on Resurgam, they arguably sound more fearless than ever. Resurgam derives its title from a Latin inscription in a 900-year-old church in Greenall’s native Cornwall. Its vital, insistent spirit pulses through the entire album, which was recorded with ground-breaking producer Flood (PJ Harvey, U2, Foals, Warpaint, The Killers) at his Assault & Battery studios in North London. Its ten new tracks were created over two months, a relatively luxurious stretch of time compared to previous Fink albums, resulting in a collection that is both assertive and richly immersive. “Flood, present and engaged from the first demo, guided me through the process of doing things differently, from writing, to singing, to even thinking about the music I make,” says Greenall. “His combination of ‘deadlines are a good thing’ versus ‘fuck the deadline’, and his mantra of ‘making records to be bought, not sold’ gave us all, in our own individual corner of the studio, the fire and the focus to pull together our firmest, strongest, and most coherent record to date.” On the opening title number, “Resurgam’s” lyrics are deliberately stripped-back, but they also pack a powerful punch, along with a deliciously persuasive deep funk flow. There is revelation and redemption; Fink’s positive conviction pervades even the darkest sentiments here. “Day 22” deals with sobriety and temptation, spiked with Greenall’s characteristic observant wit (“the blood, sweat, tears taste so good”). The lead single, “Cracks Appear” delivers a headrush of melody, with warmth and candor. On the exquisitely bittersweet “Word To The Wise,” Greenall lingers over the final notes of a love affair, tenderly accompanied on the piano by Douglas Dare. “Not Everything Was Better In The Past” feels like a personal awakening, merging sharp reflections and poignant moods. A heavy, resonant bass underpins the production throughout, and a range of new elements are also added to the Fink mix, from Flood’s own vintage analogue synths, to sax (played by guest musician Martin Slattery) layered into the vivid atmospheres and skittering beats of “This Isn’t A Mistake.” The rhythm guitar hook of “Godhead” brings out a West African influence, and lends a mesmerizing backdrop to Greenall’s rousing vocals.
File Under: Rock, Folk, Blues
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Beverly Glenn-Copeland: …keyboard fantasies… (Séance Center) LP
In tomorrow… Beverly Glenn-Copeland is already known amongst collectors and music heads for two sought-after albums of folky jazz in the key of Joni. But it was this album, originally self-released on cassette in 1986 that really caught our attention. The album, entirely recorded on DX-7 and TR-707, lies somewhere between digital new-age and (accidentally) early Detroit techno experiments. The inimitable style of BGC here is both peaceful and meditative while simultaneously rhythmic and bass heavy. The album was recorded in the northern Canadian town of Huntsville where BGC was living at the time and is a beautiful fusion of personal vision, technology and place.
File Under: New Age, Ambient
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Godspeed You Black Emperor: Luciferian Towers (Constellation) LP
This long-playing record, a thing we made in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. Eyes up and filled with dreadful joy – we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. We recorded it all in a burning motorboat. 1. UNDOING A LUCIFERIAN TOWERS – Look at that fucking skyline! Big lazy money writ in dull marble obelisks! Imagine all those buildings much later on, hollowed out and stripped bare of wires and glass, listen – the wind is whistling through all 3,000 of its burning window-holes! 2. BOSSES HANG – Labor, alienated from the wealth it creates, so that holy cow, most of us live precariously! Kicking at it, but barely hanging on! also – the proud illuminations of our shortened lives! Also – more of us than them! Also – what we need now is shovels, wells, and barricades! 3. FAM / FAMINE – How they kill us = absentee landlord, burning high-rise. The loud panics of child-policemen and their exploding trigger-hands. With the dull edge of an arbitrary meritocracy. Neglect, cancer maps, drone strike, famine. The forest is burning and soon they’ll hunt us like wolves. 4. ANTHEM FOR NO STATE – Canada, emptied of its minerals and dirty oil. Emptied of its trees and water. A crippled thing, drowning in a puddle, covered in ants. The ocean doesn’t give a shit because it knows it’s dying too. 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket with printed inner plus 24″ x 24″ art print poster and download.
File Under: Indie Rock, Post Rock
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Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton: Choir of the Mind (Last Gang) LP
Choir of the Mind is the first release from Metric singer Emily Haines’ Soft Skeleton solo project in a decade. Haines’ vocals are definitely the focal point of Choir of the Mind. She used her voice to create spellbinding orchestrations for an effect that is subtle and ghostly on “Wounded,” lush on “Fatal Gift” and deeply powerful on “Legend of the Wild Horse,” which she calls her “soft anthem.” Haines’ voice is the only audible instrument on “Strangle All Romance,” and she creates mesmerizing layers that drift and swirl through the title track, which includes a spokenword part adapted from a poem by the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. Haines recorded Choir of the Mind over several weeks in September and October of 2016, more or less alone in Metric’s Toronto studio with a borrowed 18-foot grand piano built in 1850. Her longtime musical partner/Metric bandmate, James Shaw, helped flesh out the sonics with various instruments and rhythmic elements. Shaw also mixed the album. Sparklehorse drummer Scott Minor, a member of the Soft Skeleton’s first incarnation, returned to perform on “Legend of the Wild Horse.” Haines says, “The writing and recording process was heightened and intensive, the two became one thing.”
File Under: Indie Rock, Metric
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La Donna Invisibile: Giallo Oscuro 1 & 2 (Bongo Joe) LP
In tomorrow… When the stars begin to fall, darkness rises upon everything and absorbs these little golden teardrops, these mysterious gems shining bright in the obscurity. In dark ages like this one, we have to find out those rare jewels to fight against the mediocrity and mass-absorption generated by things such as the superficiality of the communication and the domination of the all-similar merchandise. One way to find out some enlightenment is to dig deep down and excavate those treasures with a gold shit-digging shovel. On the surface, Giallo Oscuro is a pop-oriented project about 60’s Italian love songs. Giallo Oscuro is the missing link between romance, lightness, recklessness and fear, terror, murder and psychosexual dementia. These strange connexions are created in a dream-like form able to reach out the darkness in a compendium of tension and grace. This is part of the “magic” modus operandi of this project. It’s an homage to the music of those “maestri” who have changed forever as much pop sound as the movie soundtracks genre at that time: Bruno Nicolai, Egisto Macchi, Alessandro Alessandroni, Gruppo di improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Ennio Morricone- just to name a few. The sounds that emerges from this golden-age are the combination between splendor, grace, lascivious, eroticism, joy, sadness and pre-psychedelia era. And even more than an homage or a rereading of this beautiful music, Giallo Oscuro is mostly about love, loss, distance, time, heartbreak, falling, “pop star’s” fall and decadence. This project is about death, about the dead: our creations, lives and art are ruled by the dead.
File Under: Library, OST, Giallo
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Marc 4: Debito Coniugale (Four Flies) LP
In tomorrow… Holy Grail Alert! This is absolutely the rarest, and probably the best MARC 4 album ever, pressed as a library on Ricordi label in 1970 with the title I MARC 4 PER VOI, but composed for the original soundtrack of DEBITO CONIUGALE; a brilliant comedy directed by Franco Prosperi, and starring Barbara Bouchet and Lando Buzzanca. A truly amazing album, ranging from jazz to bossa nova, from funk to rhythm ‘n’ blues and psychedelic – all touched with the unique and distinctive sound of I MARC 4, the premier backing band of soloists in the panorama of Italian soundtracks and library music, here accompanied by the vocal work of Edda Dell’Orso as well as the choir, I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni. An essential record that resonates with that distinctive Italian sound from beginning to end, and which pays tribute to the incredible work of our finest session musicians and creators, rather than of simple executors of a rustproof groove that is not affected by the passage of time. Go South Italy! Armando Trovajoli. An absolute must-have for any serious soundtrack collector, and reissued here on vinyl for the very first time!
File Under: Library, Jazz, Funk, Bossa
Thelonious Monk: Criss Cross (Pure Pleasure) LP
In tomorrow… Criss-Cross — Thelonious Monk’s second album for Columbia Records –features some of the finest work that Monk ever did in the studio with his ‘60s trio and quartet. Whether revisiting pop standards or reinventing Monk’s own classic compositions, Monk and Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), John Ore (bass), and Frankie Dunlop (drums) exchange powerful musical ideas, as well as provide potent solos throughout the disc. Fittingly, “Hackensack” — a frenetic original composition — opens the disc by demonstrating the bandleader’s strength in a quartet environment. The solid rhythmic support of the trio unfetters Monk into unleashing endless cascades of percussive inflections and intoxicating chord progressions. The title cut also reflects the ability of the four musicians to maintain melodic intricacies that are at times so exigent it seems cruel that Monk would have expected a musician of any caliber to pull them off. “Tea for Two” showcases Monk’s appreciation for the great stride or “walking” piano style of James P. Johnson and Willie “The Lion” Smith. The arrangement here is lighter, and features a trio (minus Rouse) to accent rather than banter with Monk’s splashes of magnificence throughout. Likewise, Monk’s solo on “Don’t Blame Me” is excellent. The extended runs up and down the keyboard can’t help but reiterate the tremendous debt of gratitude owed to the original stride pianists of the early 20th century. This is prime Monk for any degree of listener.
File Under: Jazz
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Omni: Multitask (Trouble In Mind) LP
Atlanta, GA trio Omni charges out of the gate in 2016, stunning everyone within earshot with their debut longplayer, “Deluxe”; a dizzyingly refreshing amalgam of wiry post-punk jitters & a dash of zen cool. “Multi-task” is their latest offering & all signs point to the coveted goal of “next level” Guitarist Frankie Broyles (ex-Balkans/Deerhunter) & bassist/vocalist Philip Frobos (Carnivores) crafted “Deluxe”s eleven tracks in their practice space with friend & engineer Nathaniel Higgins “Nathaniel truly knows us, what we like and what we should sound like” says Frobos. They returned to Higgins for “Multi-task”, recording basic drum tracks at Higgins’ home studio & overdubbing bass, guitar, vocals & more during two separate trips to a remote cabin in the woods near Vienna, Georgia. “It gave a true peace/piece of mind away from the city” Frobos says, “We could work with no distractions or limitations at our own pace.” “Multi-task” is a more musically adventurous step forward for the band, keeping the frantic, fleet-fingered fingerpicking of Broyles’ guitar work & Frobos’ dead-cool delivery while expanding their musical palette & to include whispers of post-Roxy glam & Postcard Records pop. “Multi-task” balances the band’s trademark off-kilter & unconventional jams (Southbound Station”, “Supermoon”) with an elegance not found in many of their contemporaries, songs like “Tuxedo Blues” & “Type”, with their underlying seductive sophistication create an aura of romance that many post-punk bands dare not tread. Omni pulls it off with grace & style, still whirring on their minimalist funk-fused agit-pop while creating an album that is awash in the excitement of new love, or fleeting attraction – a journey from that dizzying buzz of first date pheromones found twirling on the dance floor to the cab ride cool-down to home (or wherever.)
File Under: Post Punk
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OST: Altered Beast (Data Discs) LP
In tomorrow… Originally released in the arcades in 1988, but quickly ported over to SEGA’s new Mega Drive console, where it entered countless homes as a pack-in game, Altered Beast remains memorable for many things over its gameplay, not least its soundtrack. Composed by Tohru “Master” Nakabayashi, the music of Altered Beast moves between intense battle themes and cavernous dirges; the perfect backdrop to traversing the netherworld, punching pigs and powering up. Sourced from original hardware and carefully mastered for vinyl, Altered Beast is presented as a 45RPM cut LP in a 400g matte varnished sleeve and printed inner sleeve, both of which feature hand-painted artwork from the SEGA archives. Also included is a foldout poster of the original painting used for the game’s box art.
File Under: OST
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OST: Atomic Blonde (Mondo) LP
In tomorrow… A cool film needs a cool soundtrack, right? And none come cooler than ATOMIC BLONDE. A double LP filled to the brim with needle drops of some of the ’80s best known cuts, as well as some under the radar gems, and a smattering of brand new tracks recorded especially for the movie. David Bowie, George Michael, The Clash, Nena, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and A Flock Of Seagulls of course need no introduction, and they all contribute absolutely killer songs here. Rubbing shoulders with these A-listers are lesser known acts such as Re-Flex, whose track ‘The Politics of Dancing’ was a minor hit in the UK and is a pure ’80s synth-pop banger from start to finish. After The Fire went from playing uninspired prog rock to recording the should-have-been classic ‘Der Kommissar,’ full of funky guitar licks and a chorus so hook-laden it should be illegal. ‘Voices Carry’ by American new wave band ’Til Tuesday features Aimee Mann on vocals and is an all-timer everyone needs on vinyl. The record is rounded out by a series of covers of classic ‘80s tracks. Industrial noise pop band HEALTH offering a fresh take on New Order’s ’Blue Monday’ which turns the cold original into a sublime slice of melodic mayhem that breaks down into into electro shoegaze before going full dance floor to finish. LEX recording artists Kaleida supply a moody ethereal version of Nena’s ‘99 Luftballons’. And finally composer Tyler Bates teams up with Marilyn Manson for a cover of Ministry’s ‘Stigmata,’ which sounds like Manson going back to his Spooky Kids roots, and is urgent as all hell. Four sides of killer music wrapped in a beautiful package for one of the best action films this year. It’s a no brainer, really. Buy this, or be prepared to meet Charlize in stairwell and explain why you aren’t adding it to you collection……
File Under: OST
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OST: Contra (Mondo) LP
In tomorrow… Mondo is proud to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the run-and-gun franchise with the premiere Vinyl release of the classic shooter that started it all: Contra.
File Under: OST, Video Games
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OST: Hero of Time (Music From Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (iam8bit) LP
In tomorrow… Just in time for The Legend of Zelda’s 30th Anniversary Celebration! iam8bit & Materia Collective are ecstatic to present Hero of Time, an officially licensed, one-hour arrangement album based on Koji Kondo’s dynamic, epic and absolutely gorgeous score to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Freshly – and exclusively – recorded by the 64-player Slovak National Symphony Orchestra for this very album, Hero of Time breaths new life into classic Ocarina of Time score, previously only available from its Nintendo 64 sound chip origins. The album is arranged & composed by Eric Buchholz, a maestro of video game concert tours across the globe, including The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony (plus the bonus CD that shipped with Skyward Sword!!), The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, and many more. The stunning album artwork was created by Ryan Brinkerhoff, full of subtle visual detail and interactive pieces, including a die-cut Ocarina window on the jacket’s front, a majestic gatefold featuring both Light or Dark sides, and, of course – the finishing crescendo of a shimmering, gold foil-stamped triforce on the back. This album will be recorded LIVE in January 2017 at Studio 1 in Bratislava by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, immediately thereafter mastered and prepared for vinyl.
File Under: OST, Video Games
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OST: Master of None (Mondo) LP
In tomorrow… Mondo in partnership with Lakeshore Records, are proud to present the soundtrack to Aziz Ansari’s critically acclaimed Netflix Original Series: Master Of None – Season Two. Aziz Ansari’s Netflix Original Series Master Of None has been critically acclaimed for various reasons, including its incredible use of music. The music of season one (which Pitchfork called “prolific and distinctive”) set the tone of Aziz’s character Dev, and his initial misadventures in New York. But season two’s narrative launch in Italy takes the soundtrack into equally distinct, if not more diverse musical directions.
File Under: OST
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OST: Rewind This! (Death Waltz) LP
In tomorrow… REWIND THIS! is a must-see documentary about the home video boom of the 1980s and the tape collectors obsessing, preserving and cataloging the format today. Josh Freda’s incredible synth score perfectly captures all aspects of ‘80s videotape culture; an album full of music recalling cheesy action synth riffs, moody horror stings and neon drenched nighttime radios. This isn’t some hollow retro futuristic re-tread of the ’80s, though, as Freda manages to inject so much personality and playfulness into his music that even through the barrage of synths in play it sounds ultra contemporary and very human indeed. Includes the lo-fi punk gem ‘Head Cleaner’ by Joey Division as a bonus track, and the artwork is by the kickass Hollis Brown Thornton that we have been wanting to work with for an age.
File Under: OST
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OST: Streets of Rage 2 (Data Discs) LP
In tomorrow… Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential game soundtracks of all time, STREETS OF RAGE 2 remains a towering achievement of the 16bit era. Data Discs is extremely proud to be releasing this masterpiece of FM synthesis, composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima in 1992 and sounding more relevant today than ever. The audio has been carefully remastered using multiple sources, including the original NEC PC-88 files supplied by Koshiro himself, and packaged in original artwork sourced from the SEGA archives in Japan.
File Under: OST, Video Games
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OST: Super Castlevania IV (Mondo) LP
In tomorrow… Mondo is proud to present the premiere vinyl soundtrack to Simon Belmont’s first 16-Bit adventure, the 1991 SNES classic Super Castlevania IV. Super Castlevania IV, technically a remake of the first Castlevania game, puts you back into boots of vampire hunter Simon Belmont. But if the first Castlevania soundtrack was like a band’s debut garage album, Super Castlevania IV is where they finally got into a major recording studio and fully fleshed out their sonic ambitions. The Super Nintendo’s sound chip brought the franchise into the world of synth for the first time. It allowed Konami’s composers to use audio samples to achieve an instrumentation previously unattainable on earlier systems. From the moment Super Castlevania IV begins you can hear the difference, with synthesized samples of organs and chiming bells, that set a more cinematic tone for Simon’s quest to fell the devil’s castle. But it’s not all graveyards and fog; by the time you arrive at the fourth track on the album, “Simon Belmont’s Theme,” you reach the new gold standard for the music of Castlevania. And when you get to Track 8, “Mechanical Trick Castle,” you are hearing Konami Kukeiha Club at its absolute finest, producing epic, bombastic score with prog rock elements that would remain the backbone of the franchise for years to come.
File Under: OST, Video Games
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OST: Twin Peaks 2017 (Rhino) LP
This is the music from the show, the score shipped today and will be in early next week… The eagerly awaited revival of Mark Frost and David Lynch’s revolutionary television series Twin Peaks is finally here. The music that appears in the new Showtime series will be part of two upcoming soundtracks to be released by Rhino in September 2017. Twin Peaks: Music From The Limited Event Series and Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Original Soundtrack will be issued as 2LP-sets and full track listings will be revealed as the season progresses. Music has always played a central role in Lynch’s work and it helped establish the haunting, dreamlike nature of the original Twin Peaks. The same is true for the new series. Much like the plot of the show, the songs that appear on the new soundtracks will be revealed gradually over the course of the season’s 18 episodes. The first track as heard on the debut episode is “Twin Peaks Main Theme” by Grammy-winning composer Angelo Badalamenti, whose music is inextricably linked to the original series and film. The second track is “Shadow” by Chromatics, an electronic band based in Los Angeles, and will be on their new album Dear Tommy. Directed entirely by David Lynch, the new Showtime 18-part limited event series Twin Peaks picks up 25 years after the inhabitants of a quaint northwestern town were stunned when their homecoming queen Laura Palmer was shockingly murdered. Golden Globe-winning and Emmy Award-nominated Kyle MacLachlan stars as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. Twin Peaks is written and executive produced by series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost, and is executive produced by Sabrina S. Sutherland.
File Under: OST
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Popol Vuh: For You And Me (One Way Static) LP
In tomorrow… Born as Florian Fricke’s brainchild, Popol Vuh needs little introduction, the band stayed active between the late 1960s & late 1990s (until Florian’s passing in 2001). Regarded as pioneers in avant-garde German electronic music, their early works practically laid down the foundations for ‘Kosmische Muzik’ (Space Music) with the then new sounds of the Moog synthesizer joined with ethnic percussions. Later the group evolved to include all kinds of instruments (both electric and acoustic alike) shrouding their music in a spiritual & introspective mystical aura. Popol Vuh influenced many other European bands with their uniquely soft but elaborate instrumentation, which took inspiration from the music of Tibet, Africa and pre-Columbian America. With music sometimes described as “ethereal”, they created soundscapes through psychedelic walls of sound, and are regarded as precursors of contemporary ‘world music’, as well as of ‘new age’ and ‘ambient’. Popol Vuh regularly contributed soundtracks to the films of Werner Herzog that include classics like ‘Aguirre’, ‘Nosferatu’, ‘Heart Of Glass’ & ‘Cobra Verde’. ‘For You And Me’ was their 17th album & now 28 years it holds up more than ever. While decidedly new age and world music in sound (with musical elements from the Himalayas, Ireland, Greece and Africa), this album has style and grace, and the updated sonic quality makes it a pleasure to listen to. The light pieces combined with their timeless dramatic signature sound, the majestic piano chords, the profound lyrics and the crescendos of emotions set this album apart from the banal new age mainstream. The authentic Popul Vuh spirituality permeates on every track here, prepare for goose bumps and a divine moment, in For You And Me, they created a more modern day classic, easily their best album of the 90’s. Out of print since 1991 and never released on vinyl outside of Europe, now back available as a gorgeously packaged deluxe vinyl edition. Strictly limited to 700 copies (black vinyl) with spot-varnished details on the jacket. Next to the black vinyl pressing, a color vinyl variant (#300 copies black & clear swirl vinyl) is also available exclusively from Light In The Attic & Mondo in North America and from Transmission Records in Europe.
File Under: Ambient, Krautrock
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Red River Dave: Authentic Hillbilly Ballads & Topical Songs (Iron Mountain) LP
In tomorrow… Notorious for his 1970 song ‘California Hippie Murders!’ – a ghoulish, harrowing, yodelling retelling of the infamous (Charles Manson masterminded) Tate-La-Bianca slayings – Red River Dave was a genuine cowboy singing star turned tabloid balladeer. While ‘California Hippie Murders!’ might seem chilling and bizarre, within the body of ‘Red River Dave’ McEnery epic saga songs (collected here for the very first time), it makes perfect sense. The Moon landings, the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst, the Vietnam conflict, the assassination of JFK, the murder of young Emmett Till, Korean War ‘Manchurian Candidate’ brainwashing, patriotic tirades and Cold War dirges – all grist for the great Red River Dave Hillbilly song-mill. Often cut within hours or days of the event and pressed as minuscule edition private 45s: the tall, flamboyant, ’Buffalo Bill’ bearded McEnery cut a dashing figure in his gold-sprayed cowboy boots and cracking lariat – as he hawked these handcrafted cuts from the boot of his steer-horned Cadillac. Some sides presented here are so rare as to be near-mythical – you’ll hear Red River Dave wax about the death of Marilyn Monroe and the Bay of Pigs – in an eccentric and forgotten chronicle of the 20th century experience.
File Under: Country
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Steve Reich: Drumming (Pure Pleasure) LP
In tomorrow… Simply put, Drumming is, along with some of Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach, one of the most fascinating pieces of first-generation minimalism. The version recorded for Elektra/Nonesuch in 1987 ranks among Reich’s masterpieces. The 60-minute continuous work features one basic rhythm pattern. Throughout four segued movements it is multiplied, played in canon on various percussion instruments. “Part I” is for four pairs of tuned bongo drums; “Part II” for three marimbas (played by nine players) and two singers mimicking the sound of marimbas; “Part III” for three glockenspiels, piccolo, and whistling (played by Reich himself); “Part IV” for all previous instruments, including voices. Transitions between movements are gradual, the whole piece being built on accumulation and reduction. When it is time to go to the next movement, players are slowly removed, quarter-notes replaced by rests, in order to make room for the new instruments. The piece almost comes to a complete halt at the end of “Part III,” keeping only the most basic pulse before the whole process starts over, building up to the finale. There is a sense of happiness and lightness irradiating from Drumming. It is a perfect example of the paradox of the simple and the complex, the easy and the challenging underlying minimalist music. Both cerebral and vitally tribal or ritualistic, this album is a must-have.
File Under: Avant Garde, Minimalism
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Moses Sumney: Aromanticism (Jagjaguwar) LP
Since emerging onto the scene in 2014, Moses Sumney has ridden a wave of word-of-mouth praise, hushed recordings, and dynamic live performances. It’s an organic, patient ascent all too rare in today’s musical climate. In a voice both mellifluous and haunting, Sumney makes future music that transmogrifies classic tropes, like moon-colony choir reinterpretations of old jazz gems. His vocals narrate a personal journey through universal loneliness atop otherworldly compositional backdrops. Following the self-release of his debut cassette EP, Mid-City Island, and 2015’s 7″, Seeds/Pleas, Sumney has performed around the world alongside forebears like David Byrne, Karen O, Sufjan Stevens, Solange, James Blake and more. With his 2016 Lamentations EP, The California and Ghana-raised troubadour widened the spectrum of his heretofore “bedroom” music, incorporating songs that feature more elaborate production and evocative songwriting. Now his inspired ascent continues. His proper debut album, Aromanticism is a concept album about lovelessness as a sonic dreamscape. It seeks to interrogate the social constructions around romance. The debut will include the devastating, billowing synths of “Doomed,” which in a way serves as the album’s thesis statement, as well as new versions of standouts “Lonely World” and “Plastic.” It’s a deliberate, jaw-dropping statement that can leave you both enlightened and empty.
File Under: Funk, Soul
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Souljazz Orchestra: Under Burning Skies (Strut) LP
Canada’s fastest moving and hardest working collective are back with one of their finest albums to date, a brand new journey into tropical, soul and jazz styles. Turbulent times call for strong voices and The Souljazz Orchestra’s new set packs a suitably heavy lyrical punch, with wry observations and an urge for progressive change. Musically, the band continue to push the limits, dusting off ‘80s vintage synthesizers and early drum machines for the first time, bringing lo fi disco, boogie and electro touches to their trademark horn arrangements and earthy analogue sound. The fruits are a-plenty and the group sound at their confident and versatile best from start to finish. Opener “Dog Eat Dog” powers in with Mabinuori Idowu and Philippe Lafrenière lambasting the powerful and the corrupt over an infectious Afro-disco groove; “Lufunki” takes the group right back to their B-Boy roots, bringing the Afro vibes to Beat Street and “Is Yeelyel” delivers a killer rework of an obscure original by Somalian super-group Dur-Dur Band. The band go on exploring their passion for French Caribbean styles on the beautiful, lilting “Oublier Pour Un Jour” and “Tambour À Deux Peaux” and they take time for reflection on the potent instrumental title track and poignant closer “Aduna Jarul Naawo,” featuring the vocals of Élage Mbaye.
File Under: Funk, Afrobeat
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Esther Suarez: La Bolognesina (Litle Axe) LP
In tomorrow… Esther Suarez, also known as La Ocrasina De Oro, is a popular Peruvian Huayno singer. La Bolognesina is one of her earlier albums, featuring reverbed vocals over Andean harps supplemented with light percussion and handclaps. The album was recorded in 1981, with the title referring to her roots near the snow-capped Andean mountains of the Bolognesi province in the Ancash region of Peru. Peru experienced waves of mass rural-to-urban migration in the latter half of the twentieth century due to poverty and political instability, but with it also came an explosion in the popularity of the folkloric Huayno tradition. An urban and modernized studio version of ancient indigenous Quechua folk traditions, Huayno became the soundtrack to the migrant’s experience of both hardship and homesickness. Esther Suarez’s clear and yearning vocals soar over galloping huayno rhythms, evoking the highlands of her youth with heartbreak, regret and melancholy, while simultaneously looking to a place where there is always a will to live and an invitation to dance. Truly some of the most beautiful music ever.
File Under: Folk, World, Peru
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Chad VanGaalen: Infiniheart (Flemish Eye) LP
Cultivating a singularly unique voice in the world of songwriting and composition is a difficult prospect for all but the most naturally gifted of artists, and Calgary-based songwriter Chad VanGaalen certainly belongs in that category. 2005’s Infiniheart, an epic tapestry of crunchy guitars, ethereal textures and expressive hooks, exists as a selection of the hundreds upon hundreds of intricate, visionary pop songs VanGaalen has crafted and self-recorded in his bedroom studio since 1994 with a Tascam 4-track, an Akai hard disc recorder and an assortment of analog gadgets. VanGaalen, a skilled animator and illustrator, began his journey busking Canadian streets and art events with a simple setup of drums and guitar before critical acclaim of his recorded material gave way to subsequent opening slots with Stars and the Pixies. As prolific as he is curious about the nature of sound and the mysteries of the heart, VanGaalen’s mystical, highly sympathetic characters thematically explore loss, passion and longing through sonic constructions rich in simplicity and peppered with glitchy beats, plaintive, vulnerable vocals and homemade saxophones and violins whittled by VanGaalen himself. Deeply moving and endlessly surprising, Infiniheart was VanGaalen’s first for Sub Pop.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Chelsea Wolfe: Hiss Spun (Sargent House) LP
In tomorrow… While past albums operated on the intimacy of stripped-down folk music (The Grime and the Glow, Unknown Rooms), or the throbbing pulse of supplemental electronics (Pain Is Beauty, Abyss), Chelsea Wolfe’s sixth official album Hiss Spun wrings its exquisiteness out of a palette of groaning bass, pounding drums, and crunching distortion. Recorded by Kurt Ballou (Converge), the album was conceived as an emotional purge, a means of coming to terms with the tumult of the outside world by exploring the complexities of one’s inner unrest. “I’m at odds with myself,” she explains. “I got tired of trying to disappear. The record became very personal in that way. I wanted to open up more, but also create my own reality.” Hiss Spun features contributions by Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, SUMAC) and Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Failure).
File Under: Indie Rock, Goth
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Hiroshi Yoshimura: Pier & Loft (17853) LP
In tomorrow… The late Hiroshi Yoshimura, a pioneer of Japanese ambient music. Yoshimura was involved in a wide range of fields, such as sound design for public installations, graphic design, visual poetry, free improvised performance (using his own body) and inventing his own instruments, right up until he passed away in 2003. The seven songs on this album were created for a fashion exhibition held at a warehouse in the Tokyo bay area. He released it on cassette tape on Japanese label ‘Fukusei Gijutsu Kohboh” ran by Yoshio Ojima who produced the album. Referring to the Loft: “As the time goes by, the Loft that was swept away ( forgotten) from the City but it somewhat has a look of a ” City of Ruins” that reminds you of something you have forgotten. Something nostalgic. Sounds from the City and the vast landscape gave me a great opportunity to take a fresh look at Tokyo.” says Yoshimura. Referring To the Pier: His look towards Tokyo bay takes on the shape of sonic particles….tickling down gently while tinged with change. A landscape of Seven Sounds. This is the first-ever vinyl release, 34 years after it’s recording. The sleeve image is the same as on the original cassette release.
File Under: Electronic, Experimental, Ambient
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Luigi Zito & Vittorio Nadlin: Dinamica Ossessiva (Cometa) LP
In tomorrow… Unreleased amazing funk/beat library LP with tones of jazz-funk and psychedelic beats. Keeping the listener on their toes, the music oscillates between psych-funk, jazz and esoteric movie themes then back again. Songs like “Inseguimento Sul Bosforo”, “Piazza”, “Theme For Two” and “Aggressione”, are timeless and show why Cometa albums are so highly regarded within the library community. This gem has finally be released on HQ 180gr. vinyl, to the delight of audiophiles.
File Under: Library
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Various: Hillbillies In Hell Volume 4 (Iron Mountain) LP
In tomorrow… Be tempted deeper into the depths…a reverberant brimstone labyrinth of tortured souls and redemptive pleas. More Country Gospel diatribes and Hellfired Hillbilly laments originally waxed on microscopic labels and distributed in minuscule amounts. These troubled but largely forgotten Hayseed troubadours sing of damnation and infernal choices, tormented sinners, Devil trains, Luciferian trysts, evil dope schemes and fallow final dreams. Years in the making – ‘Hillbillies In Hell’ (Volume Four) presents a further 16 timeless testaments of sin, tribulation, cold graves and warm temptations. An unholy stash of subterranean 45s, some of these sides are impossibly rare and are reissued here for the very first time. All for your prurient listening pleasure.
File Under: Country
Various: Musica Per L’Immagine (Fly By Night) LP
In tomorrow… With Fly By Night Music now celebrating their fifth year of operation, Lorenzo has marked the occasion by assembling his biggest project to date – an impeccably curated collection of obscure Italian production music circa 1974 – 1985. The project, has been very close to Lorenzo’s heart – beginning unexpectedly in the record fairs of Buenos Aires and leading him on several trips to Rome and Milan, tracking down the original musicians and licensors.
File Under: Library
Various: Outro Tempo (Music From Memory) LP
In tomorrow… FINALLY GOT SOME OF THIS DAMNED RECORD! For their first multi-artist compilation, Music From Memory take us on a trip to the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Outro Tempo: Electronic and Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1978-1992 is a double LP that explores the outer reaches of Brazilian music, where indigenous rhythms mix with synthesizers and where MPB mingles with drum computers. As Brazil faced the last years of its military dictatorship and transition to democracy, a generation of forward-thinking musicians developed an alternative vision of Brazilian music and culture. They embraced traditionally shunned electronic production methods and infused their music with elements of ambient, jazz-fusion, and minimalism. At the same time they referenced the musical forms and spirituality of indigenous tribes from the Amazon. The music they produced was a complex and mesmerising tapestry that vividly evoked Brazilian landscapes and simultaneously reached out to the world beyond its borders. The product of extensive research, this compilation is a unique introduction to this visionary music and features many fresh discoveries in a country well trodden by record diggers. It gathers tracks from obscure albums that have for too long been neglected by even the most avid collectors of Brazilian music. It includes now highly sought after music by Andréa Daltro, Maria Rita, and Fernando Falcão, as well as unknown gems like those of Cinema, Carlinhos Santos, and Anno Luz. This is an essential release that reveals a broader spectrum of Brazilian music, striking a unique sonic signature that is full of innovation, experimentation, and beauty.
File Under: Electronic, Latin, Jazz, Ambient
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…..Restocks…..
Roky Erickson: The Evil One (Light in the Attic) LP
Gaussian Curve: Clouds (Music From Memory) LP
Francoise Hardy: L’Amite (Future Days) LP
Francoise Hardy: La Premier Bonheur Du Jour (Future Days) LP
Shin Joong Hyun: Beautiful Rivers & Mountains (Light in the Attic) LP
Os Mutantes: Everything is Possible (LuakaBop) LP
Rodriguez: Cold Fact (Light in the Attic) LP
Link Wray: Be What You Want To Be (Tidal Wave) LP
Link Wray: Mordicai Jones (Tidal Wave) LP
Link Wray: s/t (Future Days) LP