In classic fashion, one week more new stock than ever followed by next to nothing the following week. Our long awaited box from our pal Frank in Germany finally arrived with the Vanity Records sets though, so that’s something.
Still closed. It seems our customers are pretty happy with this decision. We seem to be getting busier and busier with new customers ordering through the website every day. If you haven’t yet ordered through the site, you should check it out! Loads of new and used stuff going up every day.
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…..pick of the week…..
Various: Vanity Music (Vinyl on Demand) 2LP BOX
A minimal electronics masterpiece and pinnacle of the Japanese underground music scene of the late-70’s, perhaps the rarest and hardest to find find of all of the LP’s released on the legendary Japanese experimental label Vanity Records. Once again VOD continues to educate and enlighten! The Vanity Records box sets present a comprehensive anthology of releases by legendary Japanese DIY label Vanity, active in the late 70s and early 80s. It was conceived by Studio Warp, in collaboration with Agi Yuzuru and the whole roster of artists involved with Vanity. Music (or Musik) was a compilation originally released in 1981 as a double vinyl box. It is a selection of thirteen artists’ tracks that were chosen from over 100 cassette tape demos sent to Rock Magazine from all over Japan. It is also a monumental piece of work that documents early, experimental home recording music from Japan that emerged out of the advent of affordable synthesizers and multi-track recorders in the mid-1980s, stimulating the underground music scene of the era. With the exception Adode/Cathode (who released music from Daigoretsu and Pinakotheka), Tokyo led by Munehiro Narita (High Rise), Plazama Music (predecessor of B.C. Lemons), Arbeit (a group by designer Achim Duchow who created front cover artwork for Rock Magazine), Kiiro Radical and Invivo who separately released cassettes on Vanity, and Yuzuru Agi’s solo alias New York (that featured his field recordings from a visit in New York), all other artists are anonymous and their information is shrouded in mystery. Riddled with tape hiss noise and exceedingly low-fi sound quality, it is an accumulation of various ideas and DIY style from early ‘80s Japanese underground. It’s impossible to sum up the wealth of sounds inside – ranging from ritualist future-primal meditations to haunting dronescapes and prototypical Industrial sound sculptures, always allowing each unique sound to grow and travel uncluttered through time and space. It’s an aesthetic which can be clearly traced through myriad strains of DIY Industrial, post-punk, minimal wave, techno and electronica to come and can be considered a pivotal moment for music whose influence still resonates now. Another crucial document of forgotten sounds from Vinyl on Demand, please don’t miss this one!
File Under: Experimental, Electronic
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…..new arrivals…..
July Talk: Pray for It (Sleepless) LP
Resolute in their vision and unafraid to escape the cage, July Talk’s path has never been through fitting in. Their music, viscerally, blisteringly hot, sliced right through the alternative and rock charts for multiple number one singles. Their churning and fiercely physical performances make spaces hiss and hum, spit and seethe in glorious, artful abandon. July Talk stormed the airwaves with the flinty radio-ready rock of their debut and the volatile siren songs of Touch, with its saw-toothed pop and convulsing tension. For album three, the band cracks their equilibrium open to find a thrilling new balance in asymmetry. With their signature snarl, July Talk is back to reaffirm the cathartic power of self- determination, in sound and spirit. Black and white and vividly complex, Pray For It is about breaking patterns of action and reaction. Pray For It was produced by Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, The Drones, Julia Jacklin), Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck, Metz), David Plowman (Brendan Canning, Young Clancy, Michael Rault) and Milan Sarkadi (Mute Choir, Said The Whale). It was mixed by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Cat Power, Andy Shauf).
File Under: Indie Rock
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Margo Price: That’s How Rumors Get Started
(Loma Vista) LP
That’s How Rumors Get Started sees 2019 Best New Artist Grammy nominee Margo Price commit her genre-bending rock-and-roll show to record for the first time, stretching out her emotive twang over sky-high soft-rock, burning psychedelic rock ballads, stomping road songs, and sprinkles of pop. Produced by longtime friend Sturgill Simpson (co-produced by Margo and David Ferguson), whether she’s singing of motherhood or the mythologies of stardom, Nashville gentrification or the national healthcare crisis, relationships or growing pains, Margo crafted a collection of music that invites people to listen closer than ever before. While Price continued to collaborate on most of the songwriting with her husband Jeremy Ivey, she recorded with an historic band assembled by Sturgill, including guitarist Matt Sweeney (Adele, Iggy Pop), bassist Pino Palladino (D’Angelo, John Mayer), drummer James Gadson (Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye), and keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers). Background vocals were added by Simpson on “Letting Me Down,” and the Nashville Friends Gospel Choir, who raise the arrangements of “Hey Child” and “What Happened To Our Love?” to some of the album’s most soaring heights. Inspired by a candid, backstage conversation with Marty Stuart about the tough truths of touring, new single “Twinkle Twinkle,” is a stinging indictment of nostalgia and the illusory nature of success. It follows “Stone Me,” which was released to rave reviews with NPR calling it “a lighters-up ode to giving the middle finger to haters.” That’s How Rumors Get Started follows Margo’s 2017 album All American Made, which was named the No. 1 Country/Americana album of the year by Rolling Stone, and one of the top albums of the decade by Esquire, Pitchfork and Billboard, among others.
File Under: Folk, Country
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Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street (Abbey Road Half Speed Master) (Interscope) LP
Due to a confluence of chemistry, personnel, circumstances, and songs, there is no other album in history that sounds quite like The Rolling Stone’s definite 1972 effort Exile on Main St. Weaving varying musical genres, instruments, and artists into a compelling masterpiece, the 18-track double-LP was famously recorded in various stages at multiple locations, including Olympic Studios in London, Keith Richards’ mansion Nellcote in France, and in Los Angeles, where the literal ‘Main Street’ influenced the album’s title. Atypical circumstances surrounding the recording process greatly affected the album’s outcome, itself highly reflective and influenced by the socio-political turbulence that marked the late 60s and early 70s. As detected throughout Exile and signature numbers like “Tumbling Dice,” “Sweet Black Angel,” “Happy” and “All Down The Line,” the Stones nixed the flower-child era’s influences and directed their creative process with an edgier, excessive, “more is more” approach. Consequently, Exile reveals a sprawling mix of genres peppered with blues, country, R&B, and gospel, all mixed with lyrics that fervently demand release and liberation. The album also called on an electric array of talent, including Dr. John, Billy Preston, and pianist Nicky Hopkins. Guitarist Mick Taylor, who replaced Brian Jones in the band shortly before the latter died in 1969, brings his fervent intensity and bluesy elegance to the table to go along with Richards’ landmark riffs. Remastered and cut at revelatory Half-Speed at Abbey Road Studios from vinyl specific original tape transfers designed to get the very best possible sound from the format. Pressed on heavyweight 180g 2LP with gatefold packaging.
File Under: Rock
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Rolling Stones: Some Girls (Abbey Road Half Speed Master) (Interscope) LP
1978’s Some Girls is the Rolling Stones’ most direct and diverse collection of material from Mick Jagger’s irresistible falsetto on the four-on-the-floor filler “Miss You,” to the country-flavored “Far Away Eyes” via the Chuck Berry meets punk snarl of “Respectable.” And let’s not forget the sensuous, “Beast of Burden,” one of Keith Richards’ finest tunes, the garage rocker “Shattered,” and the soulful swagger of the group’s version of The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” another timeless offering in their canon of classic Stones Motown covers. Some Girls showcases distinctive and definitive riffing from Richards throughout, with its abundance of unstoppable licks and majestic power chords driving the band into brand new musical directions. The album also cemented the position of Ronnie Wood, who had joined in 1975, and added his trademark slide and pedal steel playing to several of the record’s most memorable tracks, including “When the Whip Comes Down” and “Shattered.” Some Girls marked a move to the Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris for the Glimmer Twins production team of Jagger and Richards. These factors helped what is arguably the group’s most focused and dynamic album, driven by the sans pareil rhythm section of drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman. Remastered and cut at revelatory Half-Speed at Abbey Road Studios from vinyl specific original tape transfers designed to get the very best possible sound from the format. Pressed on heavyweight 180g LP.
File Under: Rock
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Slapp Happy/Henry Cow: Desperate Straights (RER) LP
ReR Vinyl present a reissue of Slapp Happy and Henry Cow’s Desperate Straights, originally released in 1975. Another great chapter in the Henry Cow vinyl reissue series! Desperate Straights was the first result of the historical meeting between Slapp Happy, the German/English avant-pop band, and the apparently incompatible Henry Cow. Recorded at Virgin Record’s Manor Studios in 1974 and properly remastered by Bob Drake, Desperate Straights stands as a real piece of art from another time. A full set of great songs, including gems like “Bad Alchemy” and “Apes in Capes”, arranged and performed by an amazing collective featuring Dagmar Krause’s unique voice, Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore’s eccentric pop genius and the core quartet of Cow: Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson, John Greaves, and Chris Cutler, plus a bunch of very special guests, among them Nick Evans and Mongezi Feza (Brotherhood of Breath), Mont Campbell (Egg), and Pierre Moerlen (Gong). Desperate Straights can be recognized as one of the definitive avant-pop albums of the seventies. Housed in a beautiful reproduction of the original jacket designed by Peter Blegvad.
File Under: Jazz, Rock, Prog
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Maria Zerfall: Anthology 1983 -1993 (Vinyl on Demand) 8LP BOX
After the recent retrospective dedicated to the Come Organisation label, Vinyl On Demand returns with an unbeatable summary of lost recordings (as well as a complete retrospective of her recorded material dating back to the 1983-1993 decade) from the mysterious and cultishly desired Maria Zerfall, aka Christine Weyrether from Düsseldorf, a legendary figure of the German Industrial scene of the ’80s. Going deep into their under-the-counter channels, Vinyl On Demand have again outdone themselves with this release, salvaging Maria Zerfall from obscurity to reveal an innovator working at the full extent of avant-imagination in a sort of cybernetic symbiosis with her studio-as-an-instrument. Due to the unique sound and the often extremely limited editions, today Maria Zerfall’s early tape recordings are highly sought after, and have reached a cult status among fans and collectors. Completely remastered, they are now presented on vinyl for the first time – yet again opening another experimental post-punk wormhole we never knew existed. This 8LP box-set frames the sound of a real explorer carving her own niche way beyond the DIY post-punk attitude, instinctively taking the influence of Throbbing Gristle, SPK, Conrad Schnitzler and early Kraftwerk, oscillating between ritualistic drones, hammering percussions and mind-expanding noise, traversing the interzone of electro and acoustic, synthetic and human, with layers of fractured melodies, distorted synthesizers, hollowed-out rhythms and claustrophobic vocals. It is also a compelling investigation of the voice’s role in experimental Industrial music, dismantling its unique properties through electronic treatments to reveal a spectrum of alien dissonance manifested via musique concrète structures and dynamic, esoteric arrangements. It has taken ages to make Anthology 1983-1993 happen – but finally it is here in all its remastered glory. As a testament to its enduring magic, we’re still bewildered and vividly transported, listening again and again for the umpteenth time as it was the first, lost to its roil of tangled timbres and etheric dynamism, keeling to the metallic lushness of the strings and mind blown by the synchronised sweeps of modular synths and simulated environments. Essential for fans of Coil, Organum, Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle, and the tradition of outsider musique concrète. This box-set contains the following items:
– LP1 “1983-1987”
– LP2 “Nazi Jazz”
– LP3 “Säuretod 1985-1988”
– LP4 “Maria Zerfall in Phase Pervers”
– LP5 “Wäre Das Blut Nicht Rot”
– LP6 “Totenstille, Der Rest Ist Fluch”
– LP7 “Tote Zone”
– LP8 Zerose “Liebe, Sex & Zärtlichkeit”
– Bonus 7″ EP “Das Geschenk”
– Hand-numbered certificate
– 32-page Booklet, 30x30cm
– T-shirt
File Under: Experimental, Noise, Industrial
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Various: Field Works: Ultrasonic (Temporary Residence) LP
Stuart Hyatt returns with another sonic wonder in the Field Works series, bringing the listener into truly uncharted acoustic territory. Ultrasonic is perhaps the first-ever album to use the echolocations of bats as compositional source material. For this special album, Hyatt has assembled an extraordinary group of contributors: Eluvium, Christina Vantzou, Sarah Davachi, Ben Lukas Boysen, Machinefabriek, Mary Lattimore, Felicia Atkinson, Noveller, Chihei Hatakeyama, John Also Bennett, Kelly Moran, Taylor Deupree, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Julien Marchal, and Player Piano. Ultrasonic is part of a broader storytelling project about the federally endangered Indiana Bat. Generously funded by the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute and the National Geographic Society, each album contains an official printed booklet of The Endangered Species Act of 1973.
File Under: Ambient
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Various: Vanity Records Tape Box
(Vinyl on Demand) 6LP BOX
Similar to the compilation Music, Vanity also released a limited edition, 6-cassette tape box set entitled Limited Edition Vanity Records Box Set in 1981, compiling the music of six artists whose works were rigorously selected from many demo tapes that were sent to Vanity from all across Japan. Similar to the compilation Musik, Vanity also released a limited edition, 6-cassette tape box set entitled Limited Edition Vanity Records Box Set in 1981. It compiled the music of six artists whose works were rigorously selected from many demo tapes that were sent to Vanity from all across Japan. Each album was also released separately but now Limited Edition Vanity Records Box Set is reissued on LP for the first time as Vanity Tapes Box Set, a 6-LP box set. Included in the original box set was a supplement postcard of Jean Cocteau’s poem, “Mon oreille est un coquillage Qui aime le bruit de la mer” (“My ear is a sea shell that loves the sound of the sea”). The box set was said to be released as a limited edition of 70 sets but in reality, only 30 copies were ever pressed.
File Under: Experimental, Electronic
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…..Restocks….
Ariel Pink: The Doldrums (Mexican Summer) LP
Big Star: Radio City (Craft) LP
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Rhino) LP
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Rhino) LP
Blanck Mass: s/t (Sacred Bones) LP
Blonde Redhead: Fake Can Be Just As Good (Touch & Go) LP
Blonde Redhead: In An Expression of the Inexpressible (Touch & Go) LP
Bon Iver: Blood Bank EP (Jagjaguwar) LP
David Bowie: Station to Station (Parlophone) LP
Clock DVA: Horology 2 (Vinyl on Demand) BOX
Cluster: II (Lilith) LP
El Michels Affair: Return to the 37th Chamber (Big Crown) LP
El Michels Affair: Sounding Out the City (Big Crown) LP
Bill Evans Trio: How My Heart Sings (OJC) LP
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges: Texas Sun (Dead Oceans) LP
Khruangbin: Mordechai (Dead Oceans) LP
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio: Live at KEXP! (Colemine) LP
Corb Lund: Agricultural Tragic (Warner) LP
Jeff Parker: Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Villains (Matador) LP
Rodriguez: Coming From Reality (Universal) LP
Various: Crown Jewels 1 (Big Crown) LP
Various: Louis Wayne Moody High (Numero) LP
Various: Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmare (Numero) LP
Various: YIA Talent Contest Winners (Big Crown) LP