And spring is back!…… But that doesn’t change that Black Friday RSD is coming! And that can only mean one other thing…. DEALS! And one other thing… we’re gonna give away a Rega RP1! Mark it in your calendars folks…Nov 23-25th you need to get down here and get a jump start on your Xmas shopping and have a chance to win a turntable. And celebrate our 17th anniversary! But don’t wait until then to come for a dig… we’ve been buying and pricing up loads of great used stuff that is flying out the door. And there’s all these great new arrivals in this week too…………
Oh ya… and if you follow us on Instagram, you know we bought some amazing used stuff in the last few weeks. I bought 4 more crates from the same guy today. That should be hitting the shelves soon. If you don’t follow us on Instagram, WHY NOT?! And now you know.
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…..picks of the week…..
Brian Eno: Ambient 4: On Land (Astralwerks) LP/2LP
In tomorrow… Available both as a regular 33rpm LP or as an audiophile double 45rpm (see below). On 1982’s Ambient 4 (On Land) – the final edition in Brian Eno’s ambient series – his palate shifted from electro-mechanical and acoustic instruments towards “non-instruments” like pieces of chain, sticks and stones. “One of the big freedoms of music had been that it didn’t have to relate to anything – nobody listened to a piece of music and said, ‘What’s that supposed to be, then?’, the way they would if they were looking at an abstract painting; music was accepted as abstract. I wanted to try and make music which attempted to be figurative, for example by using lots of real noises,” he recalled to Mojo. In a pioneering early incarnation of what later became widely-known as remixing, Eno explained, “I included not only recordings of rooks, frogs and insects, but also the complete body of my own earlier work making ‘On Land’, which involved feeding unheard tape into the mix, constant feeding and remixing, subtracting and composting.” Conventional instruments do occasionally feature however, including Jon Hassell’s trumpet and Bill Laswell’s bass. The album also features contributions from Michael Brook and Daniel Lanois.
This record was cut using a specialist technique known as half-speed mastering. This artisan process results in cuts that have superior high frequency response (treble) and solid and stable stereo images. In addition, it is presented as a double 45RPM half-speed mastered edition. This is the ultimate for high quality reproduction as the faster the replay speed of the record, the higher the potential quality. Also, the shorter side times allow the level recorded to the master lacquer discs to be increased thereby improving the signal to the noise ratio.
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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Brian Eno: Discreet Music (Astralwerks) LP/2LP
In tomorrow… Available both as a regular 33rpm LP or as an audiophile double 45rpm (see below). While his earlier work with Robert Fripp on No Pussyfooting and several selections from his own Another Green World feature similar ideas, Discreet Music marked a clear step toward the ambient aesthetic Brian Eno would later codify with 1978’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. The inspiration for this 1975 album began when Eno was hospitalized after an accident. Whilst bed-ridden and listening to a record of 18th-century harp music, the volume was too low and he couldn’t reach to turn it up. It was raining outside, and Eno recounts he began listening to the rain and to “these odd notes of the harp, that were just loud enough to be heard above the rain.” “This presented what was for me a new way of hearing music – as part of the ambience of the environment, just as the colour of the light and the sound of the rain were parts of that ambience,” he observed. The A-side of the album is a 30-minute piece titled “Discreet Music,” which Pitchfork called “one of the greatest single ambient pieces that Eno has produced.” It was made using two overlapped tape loops of melodic synthesizer phrases of different lengths. This technique became known as ‘Frippertronics’; one of Eno’s early forays into algorithmic, generative composition – exploring multiple ways to create music with limited planning or intervention. The second half of the album, titled “Three Variations on the Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel” features the Cockpit Ensemble, playing brief excerpts from the score, which were repeated several times, with the tempo and other elements gradually altered – the end result of which “forced the listener to switch fundamental modes of hearing,” Pitchfork proclaimed.
This record was cut using a specialist technique known as half-speed mastering. This artisan process results in cuts that have superior high frequency response (treble) and solid and stable stereo images. In addition, it is presented as a double 45RPM half-speed mastered edition. This is the ultimate for high quality reproduction as the faster the replay speed of the record, the higher the potential quality. Also, the shorter side times allow the level recorded to the master lacquer discs to be increased thereby improving the signal to the noise ratio.
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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Brian Eno: Music For Films (Astralwerks) LP/2LP
In tomorrow… Available both as a regular 33rpm LP or as an audiophile double 45rpm (see below). “Arguably the most quietly influential of all his works,” according to the BBC, this conceptual 1976 Brian Eno record was intended as a soundtrack for imaginary films, with excerpts later featuring in movies by directors including John Woo and Derek Jarman. The album is a loose compilation of material, composed of short tracks ranging from one-and-a-half minutes to just over four, making it the antithesis of the long, ambient pieces he later became known for. The compositional styles and equipment used also carried over onto Eno’s work on David Bowie’s 1977 classic Low. Unlike Eno’s later ambient works, Music for Films utilizes a broader sonic palette, with his studio exercises being supplemented by instrumentation from Rhett Davies, John Cale, Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, Fred Frith, Percy Jones, Bill MacCormick, Dave Mattacks, Paul Rudolph and Rod Melvin.
This record was cut using a specialist technique known as half-speed mastering. This artisan process results in cuts that have superior high frequency response (treble) and solid and stable stereo images. In addition, it is presented as a double 45RPM half-speed mastered edition. This is the ultimate for high quality reproduction as the faster the replay speed of the record, the higher the potential quality. Also, the shorter side times allow the level recorded to the master lacquer discs to be increased thereby improving the signal to the noise ratio.
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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Fleet Foxes: First Collection (Sub Pop) Box
Fleet Foxes and Sub Pop present a limited-edition collection in honor of the 10th anniversary of the band’s debut LP. First Collection 2006-2009 spans the early days of Fleet Foxes’ career, including their self-titled debut, plus the Sun Giant EP, The First EP (formerly a self-titled, very limited-edition, self-released EP), and B-sides & Rarities. The vinyl version is packaged in a lavish box, with a 12″ LP of the debut album and separate 10″ records for each of the added titles. In addition to its musical offerings, the collection features a 32-page booklet including show flyers, lyrics and artwork from band’s early history. Fleet Foxes’ debut made a tremendous impact on the international musical scene, topping numerous “best of” lists, including Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the 2000’s and Pitchfork’s 50 Best Albums of 2008, and earned the band Uncut’s inaugural Music Award Prize. Fleet Foxes is certified Gold in North America and Platinum in both the UK and Australia.
File Under: Indie Rock
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Willoughby’s Beach (Flightless/ATO) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are the most exciting head-spinning, third-eye opening, double-drumming goddamn rock ‘n’ roll band on the planet. The unexpected is just about the only thing we have come to expect from the Melbourne band. Via a series of carefully considered yet wildly divergent concepts The Gizz’s collective body of work offers visceral thrills a-plenty without ever once resorting to indulgence. Their music works on so many levels, providing a transcendental, hair-swinging soundtrack for some, a transportive journey to the center of one’s id for others, while in their more reflective moments also tenderly offering succour and guidance for the lost and spiritually malnourished. ATO is partnering with Flightless Records to bring you five King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard reissues in November 2018! The first five titles from the band’s incredible back catalogue – 12 Bar Bruise, Eyes Like The Sky, Float Along – Fill Your Lungs, Oddments, and the Willoughby’s Beach EP – will be reissued on 12″ vinyl for the first time with re-imagined artwork, packaging, liner notes and fresh colors. Willoughby’s Beach is King Gizzard’s second EP, originally self-released in 2011 and limited to 350 hand numbered copies. Featuring the the manic, grunged up standouts “Danger $$$” and “Dead-Beat, the reissue features new artwork re-imagined by Ican Harem and comes on colored vinyl.
File Under: Indie Rock, Psych
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Mkwaju Ensemble: Mkwaju (WRWTFWW) LP
WRWTFWW Records announces the highly anticipated official reissue of holy grail album MKWAJU by acclaimed Japanese percussionist Midori Takada’s MKWAJU Ensemble, sourced from the original masters and available in two versions: a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of Deutsche Grammophon) and a digipack CD. Originally recorded in February and March 1981 and released by fabled Japanese avant-garde label Better Days (home of Ryuichi Sakamato’s debut album, Yasuaki Shimizu’s Kakashi (1982), Colored Music’s self-titled LP and many more) MKWAJU is the fruit of the collaboration between Takada’s crew and world-famous composer/musical director Joe Hisaishi, the man behind most of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli anime soundtracks and over 100 other films scores, including Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine (1993), Hana-Bi(1997), and Kikujiro (1999). The ensemble’s transcendental wonder is, in fact, the first-ever Midori Takada album and the first-ever Joe Hisaishi-produced album: historic. Led by Midori Takada on marimba, gong, vibraphone, and tom tom, MKWAJU is an inventive and riveting take on Eastern and Western minimalist traditions, African rhythms, and early electronica. Drawing from its jazz-rooted polyrhythmic improvisations in the most inventive ways, the album covers a wide spectrum of sounds, from colorful dance floor-ready percussion pieces that stand somewhere between proto-techno and experimental synth-pop, to cinematic ambient landscapes and ethereal drone delicacies. The feverishly sought-after full-length is a stepping-stone in Midori Takada’s career and an all-around pioneering album. Alongside Takada and Hisaishi (who not only produced the album but also played synthesizers), personnel on MKWAJU includes famed Japanese musicians Yoji Sadanari and Hideki Matsutake of KI-Motion fame, Junko Arase (heard on Satoshi Ashikawa’s legendary Still Way – Wave Notation 2(1982)), and Pecker (whose stacked resume boasts collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Jun Fukamachi).
File Under: Japan, Percussion, Minimalism
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Tanya Tagaq: Split Tooth (Six Shooter) LP
Six Shooter Records presents a vinyl edition of readings from Polaris Music Prize winner and Member of the Order of Canada Tanya Tagaq’s debut novel, Split Tooth. From the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer who has dazzled and enthralled the world with music it had never heard before, Split Tooth is a fierce, tender and heartbreaking story. Read by Tagaq, poems include improvised vocals. The vinyl edition also features drawings by Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets).
File Under: Experimental, Audio Books
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…..Restocks…..
Parquet Courts: Wide Awake (Rough Trade) LP
Joe Strummer: 001 (Ignition) Box
Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden (Virgin) LP
Kurt Vile: B’lieve I’m Goin’ Down (Matador) LP