Another week of killer new slabs. It would seem people are refreshing the site by the minute! There’s a bunch of new arrivals that we won’t even be listing in this update as we sold out of them before we even got to list em on here! More soon though, so fear not!
Also! Like the Other Music Documentary, we are again teaming up with Oscilloscope Labs for the distribution/viewing of the new documentary TRUTH TO POWER, about System of a Down’s frontman Serj Tankian. Click the link to rent the film and we’ll get a cut of the proceeds. Rent it HERE
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…..picks of the week…..
Ian William Craig & Daniel Lentz: In A Word (RVNG Intl) LP
In a Word, the sixteenth installment of the intergenerational collaboration series FRKWYS, brings together composer Daniel Lentz and vocalist and sound artist Ian William Craig for an album that embraces erosion and the potential of its loam left behind. A major figure in American composition, Daniel Lentz has worked at the middle and margins of postminimalism for more than four decades. A pioneer of “live multitrack recording” with the Daniel Lentz Group, he frequently writes for ensembles of similar instruments, from choirs to string orchestras to glass harmonicas. Like his west coast colleagues Harold Budd and Ingram Marshall, Lentz composes music of slow changes, built on fundamental harmonies and rhythms that evoke vast spaces and deep, ancient stone. Canadian artist Ian William Craig combines his classically trained voice with precarious technologies: homemade analog synths, altered reel-to-reel machines, and faulty tape decks. His solo albums, including the acclaimed Centres (2016) and, more recently, Red Sun Through Smoke (2020), document a haunted nostalgia. In contrast to Lentz’s (sometimes) radical expansiveness, Craig’s music is fragile and self-consciously created alone, using his customized machination to create warped nocturnes of melody and dissonance. The sessions for In a Word took place in the Santa Barbara home studio of engineer Dick Dunlap. For both musicians the experience was an exploration toward each other. Craig with his rickety tape decks, Lentz sat at a grand piano. Lentz was immediately enchanted by Craig’s voice and equipment: “With the first note he sang, I was hooked. The beauty of his voice and his unique analog looping setup, all compacted into a small suitcase, were both remarkable and always surprising in what they could do. The music emerged spontaneously from simple, even cautious beginnings. For Craig, who rarely works with other musicians, the sessions encouraged him to shed self-consciousness and attune himself to his co-creator. Previously, he had regarded his tape decks and synths as bandmates, providing the creative energy he could get from other people. Recording with Lentz pushed him to find a new, more collaborative perspective. “I tried my best to control what was going on at first, and failed spectacularly. Once I let this aspect go and began to listen to Daniel, to my surroundings, and to the engineers, something finally clicked.” In a Word documents a coming together of two distinct musical personalities, and also a transformation. Lentz’s toiling, echoing piano, recalling his work on 1984’s Point Conception or the 1992 collaboration Music for 3 Pianos with Budd and Ruben Garcia, are churned into lush earth by Craig’s faltering machines. Craig’s folk-like tenor is realigned with Lentz’s crisp, minimalist repetitions; the combination is warm yet deeply layered, like the Californian sunset that would acknowledge the two composers at the end of each session day. Together, Craig and Lentz unearth deep forms of sonic expression from a common ground and newly seeded camaraderie. Lentz’s unmistakable piano sound is clearly relished by Craig’s tape decks, which add ghostly counterpoints of distortion and disintegration to its acoustic resonances. To this hall of haunted mirrors, Craig’s voice adds a yearning, human quality that is sometimes caught up in the same machinery, and is sometimes allowed to spirit above it.
File Under: Ambient, Classical
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Hiroshi Yoshimura: Music for Nine Postcards (Empire of Signs) LP
Available again on clear vinyl! Despite his status as a key figure in the history of Japanese ambient music, Hiroshi Yoshimura remains tragically under-known outside of his home country. Empire of Signs – a new imprint co-helmed by Maxwell August Croy, Spencer Doran and distributed by Light In The Attic – is proud to reissue Yoshimura’s debut Music for Nine Post Cards for the first time outside Japan in collaboration with Hiroshi’s widow Yoko Yoshimura, with more reissues of Hiroshi’s works to follow in the future. Working initially as a conceptual artist, the musical side of Yoshimura’s artistic practice came to prominence in the post-Fluxus scene of late 1970s Tokyo alongside Akio Suzuki and Takehisa Kosugi, taking many subsequent turns within Japan’s bubble economy afterward. His sound works took on many forms – commissioned fashion runway scores, soundtracking perfume, soundscapes for pre-fab houses, train station sound design – all existing not as side work but as logical extensions of his philosophy of sound. His work strived for serenity as an ideal, and this approach can be felt strongly on Music for Nine Post Cards. Home recorded on a minimal setup of keyboard and Fender Rhodes, Music for Nine Post Cards was Yoshimura’s first concrete collection of music, initially a demo recording given to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art to be played within the building’s architecture. This was not background music in the prior Japanese “BGM” sense of the word, but “environmental music”, the literal translation of the Japanese term kankyō ongaku [環境音楽] given to Brian Eno’s “ambient” music when it arrived in late 70’s Japan. Yoshimura, along with his musical co-traveler Satoshi Ashikawa, searched for a new dialog between sound and space: music not as an external absolute, but as something that interlocks with a physical environment and shifts the listener’s experience within it. Erik Satie’s furniture music, R. Murray Schafer’s concept of the soundscape and Eno’s ambience all greatly informed their work, but the specific form of tranquil stasis presented on releases like Nine Post Cards is still difficult to place within a specific tradition, remaining elusive and idiosyncratic despite the economy of its construction. This record offers the perfect introduction to Hiroshi’s unique and beautiful worldview: it’s one that can be listened to – and lived in – endlessly.
File Under: Ambient, Japan
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Various: Native North America Vol. 1 (Light in the Attic) BOX
Finally available again!!! Largely unheard, criminally undocumented, but at their core, utterly revolutionary, the recordings of the diverse North American Aboriginal community will finally take their rightful place in our collective history in the form of Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985. An anthology of music that was once near-extinct and off-the-grid is now available for all to hear, in what is, without a doubt, Light In The Attic’s most ambitious and historically significant project in the label’s 12-year journey. Native North America (Vol. 1) features music from the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the northern United States, recorded in the turbulent decades between 1966 to 1985. It represents the fusion of shifting global popular culture and a reawakening of Aboriginal spirituality and expression. The majority of this material has been widely unavailable for decades, hindered by lack of distribution or industry support and by limited mass media coverage, until now. You’ll hear Arctic garage rock from the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, melancholy Yup’ik folk from Alaska, and hushed country blues from the Wagmatcook First Nation reserve in Nova Scotia. You’ll hear echoes of Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, and more among the songs, but injected with Native consciousness, storytelling, poetry, history, and ceremony. The stories behind the music presented on Native North America (Vol. 1) range from standard rock-and-roll dreams to transcendental epiphanies. They have been collected with love and respect by Vancouver-based record archaeologist and curator Kevin “Sipreano” Howes in a 15-year quest to unearth the history that falls between the notes of this unique music. Tirelessly, Howes scoured obscure, remote areas for the original vinyl recordings and the artists who made them, going so far as to send messages in Inuktitut over community radio airwaves in hopes that these lost cultural heroes would resurface. With cooperation and guidance from the artists, producers, family members, and behind the scenes players, Native North America (Vol. 1) sheds real light on the painful struggles and deep traditions of the greater Indigenous community and the significance of its music. The songs speak of joy and spirituality, but also tell of real tragedy and strife, like that of Algonquin/Mohawk artist Willy Mitchell, whose music career was sparked by a bullet to the head from the gun of a trigger-happy police officer, or those of Inuk singer-songwriter Willie Thrasher, who was robbed of his family and traditional Inuit culture by the residential school system. Considering the financially motivated destruction of our environment, the conservative political landscape, and corporate bottom-line dominance, it’s bittersweet to report that the revolutionary songs featured on Native North America hold as much meaning today as when they were originally recorded. Dedicated to legendary Mi’kmaq singer-songwriter and poet Willie Dunn, featured on the anthology but who sadly passed away during its making, Native North America (Vol. 1) is only the beginning. A companion set featuring a crucial selection of folk, rock, and country from the United States’ Lower 48 and Mexico is currently in production.
File Under: Folk, Country
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…..new arrivals…..
Andre & Josi: Amandla (Tidal Wave) LP
Having shown talent for playing guitar at a young age, Josi Ndlovu (Zimbabwe) started his first rock band “The Movers” (who were very popular within the local scene) in 1968. By the early 70s, Josi was already an acclaimed guitarist and a member of the revolutionary rock bands “Wells Fargo” and “Eye of Liberty” who were critical opponents of the racist Rhodesian government. Prosecuted and harassed by the police for being a supporter of the independence movement, Josi Ndlovu had to move to Lusaka (Zambia) in 1975…it was here that he met his musical soulmate (Osibisa collaborator and bassist extraordinaire) André Abrahamse from South Africa. They started playing together in several local acts together with drummer Peter Lungu (from “Born Free” and later in the legendary Zamrock band “Witch”). In 1977, Josi & André decided to go to Lagos (Nigeria) where they found many fellow Zimbabwean and South African students in exile. It was a total culture shock and really rough on the both of them…but they got lucky and were able to stay with some friends they had worked with in London (Themba Matebese and Uwandile Piliso of T-Fire fame). It was also here that they were approached by the Nigerian label “Boom Records” who booked them to record at the Decca Studios in Lagos (home to many other renowned recording artists such as Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango and Ofege). The result of these recording sessions was “Amandla” (the Ndebele word for ‘Power’). The now legendary “Amandla” studio project is one of the most interesting collaborations between dissident, exiled musicians during the apartheid era…a very engaging album which talks about the liberation movement in Zimbabwe (which was under British colonial rule), ‘people-power’ as a concept and the walk towards freedom by any means necessary. Banned from radio and distribution (because of its political content) in their native countries, the record however did very well in Nigeria. With the ‘Amandla’ album under their belts, André & Josi continued their traveling adventures to Botswana, Cape Town, and many other cities/countries…touring, recording and playing with influential artists from the likes of Rikki Ililonga, Tony Allen and Anna Mwale. André to this day keeps on composing and producing music for TV, film and various other audio projects. Josi Ndlovu passed away on September 7th, 2000…he will forever be in our hearts. On “Amandla” the listener will find many genres blended together very successfully…a lot of smooth chordal Afro-soul, Blues soloing, Afro-disco-reggae with a dominant funk feeling surrounding it and a LOT of rock influences! Their groovy tunes went down smoothly on the dance floor and one can clearly hear the Fela Kuti-influenced beats pouring out of (Lagos scene regular) Buttley Moore’s fantastic drum work. Other influences are also very diverse…from acts and styles that include Zamrock, Earth Wind and Fire, Isaac Hayes, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, local folk music, etc. All of this makes the album a total must-have for any collector and fan of the afro-beat-funk genre. Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the FIRST ever vinyl reissue of this fantastic Afrobeat album (originally released in 1979 on Boom Records Nigeria). This rare record (original copies tend to go for large amounts on the secondary market) is now finally back available as a limited 180g vinyl edition (limited to 500 copies) complete with the original artwork.
File Under: Afro Beat, Disco, Africa
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Arrested Development: Don’t Fight Your Demons (Mosta) LP
Mosta Records is proud to present the Grammy-winning Hip Hop Legends Arrested Development new album, Don’t Fight Your Demons on vinyl. Arrested Development, the 2x Grammy Award Winning, groundbreaking iconic music group, and Hip Hop pioneers continue their forward march of curating conscious, revolutionary music formulated to bring societal issues to the forefront and ignite change. Their new album, ‘Don’t Fight Your Demons’ is no exception. The 16-track album features a selection of eclectic musicians including Kuf Knotz, Skyy High, Christine Elise, O’hene Savant, Rambo, Let The Dirt Say Amen, Fro Magnum Man, MRK SX, and is executively produced by Speech for Vagabond Productions and Configa for Configaration Records. The group assures fans and listeners this is no hit or miss album. Each track is distinct in style, flow, and vibe, with influential wordplay and infectious soundscapes. They breakdown and take apart worldly injustices, the current state of racism, grueling masks of politics, and on the flip side offer empowering gems on how to overcome and rise through. The production throughout the entire album channels a continuous kaleidoscope of invigorating bass, soul, funk, worldly tones, and even innovative cadences ear-pleasing to a younger generation of music connoisseurs. ‘Don’t Fight Your Demons’ ideally serves as a “how-to” handbook brimming with incomparable lyricism, storytelling, and cognizant awareness delivered in a fashion only Arrested Development can carry through.
File Under: Hip Hop
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The Band: Stage Fright (Capitol) LP
Capitol/UMe celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Band’s classic third album, Stage Fright, with a suite of newly remixed, remastered and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition packages. All of the Anniversary Edition releases were overseen by principal songwriter Robbie Robertson and boast a new stereo mix by Bob Clearmountain from the original multi-track masters. As with the acclaimed 50th anniversary collections for Music From Big Pink and the self-titled record, Clearmountain and Robertson’s approach to remixing the beloved album was done with the utmost care and respect for the music and what The Band represents. “Glyn Johns and Todd [Rundgren] did a terrific job on the original mixes in England while The Band was on the Festival Express train tour across Canada with Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead,” Robertson notes. “We had always been part of the mixing process before, which left something on this album feeling a little unfinished. Clearmountain has taken this music and given it the sonic lift it deserves. The album has become a whole new listening experience with the original song order and the depth of these mixes.” The result is a new mix that allows listeners to hear these timeless songs clearer than ever before. “There may be some purists that prefer ‘the way it was,’ and of course that’s always readily available,” adds Robertson. “I’m enjoying this new version, this story, this musical journey. It feels like a fulfillment and I know my brothers in The Band would definitely agree.” Released on August 17, 1970, Stage Fright features two of The Band’s best-known songs, “The Shape I’m In” and the title track, both of which showcased inspired lead vocal performances by Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, respectively and became staples in the group’s live shows. Recorded over 12 days on the stage of the Woodstock Playhouse, the album was self-produced by The Band for the first time and engineered and mixed by Todd Rundgren with additional mixing by Glyn Johns. Coming off the heels of the band’s monumental debut and sophomore records, Stage Fright cemented The Band as one of the most exciting and important musical acts of the ‘60s and ‘70s. As noted music critic Robert Hilburn wrote in his glowing review for the Los Angeles Times, “Like the first two albums, the new one features a staggering display of musical prowess – superb instrumentation, precise vocals and rich, timeless lyrics,” adding, “At least five of the songs, including ‘The Rumor,’ ‘Daniel and the Sacred Harp, ‘The Shape I’m In’ and ‘Time to Kill’ rank comfortably alongside ‘The Weight,’ The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ and a few others as the best things the group has ever done.” Stage Fright peaked at No. 5 on Billboard, surpassing The Band’s first two albums, and went gold. For the 50th Anniversary collection, the sequence has been changed to present Stage Fright with the originally planned song order. “On the album, we used a different sequence to feature and encourage Richard and Levon’s songwriting participation,” Robertson reveals. “Over time, I pined for our first song order, because it pulls you right into the Stage Fright scenario.” Fifty years on, lifelong fans and those just discovering The Band can experience the album in a whole new way, sounding better than ever, or for the first time!
File Under: Rock
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Creedence Clearwater Revival: Mardi Gras (Craft) LP
Craft Recordings continues their salute to the enduring musical legacy of Creedence Clearwater Revival with the release of half-speed mastered editions of the band’s two final albums: Pendulum, which was released 50 years ago in December 1970, and their closing studio album, 1972’s Mardi Gras. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl, both records were mastered by the award-winning engineer Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. These audiophile-quality LPs come housed in beautifully crafted jackets (tip-on gatefold for Pendulum and embossed for Mardi Gras), replicating the albums’ original packaging. CCR’s seventh and final studio album, 1972’s Mardi Gras, followed the departure of founding member/rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty. The album, however, found the remaining trio of musicians taking a more collaborative approach to songwriting. Prior to Mardi Gras, frontman John Fogerty was the band’s creative leader – writing, arranging, and producing the majority of every album. For Mardi Gras, bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford not only penned many of the tracks (including Cook’s hard-driving “Door to Door,” and Clifford’s rollicking “Tearin’ Up the Country”) but also sang on them. Other highlights include a cover of the rockabilly classic “Hello Mary Lou,” as well as the Fogerty-penned rocker “Sweet Hitch-Hiker” – a Top Ten hit in the US, Australia, Canada, and across Europe. The poignant “Someday Never Comes,” meanwhile, marked the group’s final single. Roughly half a century later, CCR fans can enjoy a new vibrancy when they revisit Pendulum and Mardi Gras, thanks to the exacting process of half-speed mastering. Using high-res transfers from the original analog tapes, the process involves playing back the audio at half its recorded speed while the cutting lathe is also turned to half the desired playback speed. The technique allows more time to cut a micro-precise groove, resulting in more accuracy with frequency extremes and dynamic contrasts. The result on the turntables is an exceptional level of sonic clarity and punch. Both of these special pressings were previously released only as part of Creedence’s collectible, seven-LP Studio Albums Collection box set, and follow standalone, audiophile-quality reissues of the band’s first five albums.
File Under: Rock
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Armancia D’Silva: Konkan Dance (Roundtable) LP
Following in the footsteps of the landmark 1966 double-quartet recording by Joe Harriott and John Mayer, Indian born musician Amancio D’Silva produced some of the most adventurous and sophisticated recordings within the canon of ‘indo-jazz’, a term used to define a pioneering east meets west synthesis that reflected the shifting musical and cultural landscape of post-war Britain. An experiment that reached a pinnacle in 1972 with D’Silva’s seminal recording Dream Sequence by Cosmic Eye (The Roundtable TRZY001), an adventurous fusion of modal jazz and Indian classical music viewed through the psychedelic lens of swinging London. Exotic third-stream jazz conceived by a visionary composer whose virtuosic technique and deeply emotive guitar playing defined his two earlier and now legendary 1969 UK jazz albums Integration and Hum Dono with Joe Harriott, both recorded for the much-celebrated Lansdowne label. Also recorded in 1972 although not released at the time was Konkan Dance, an unofficial sequel to Dream Sequence that further explored the uncharted possibilities of an Indian music-jazz fusion. Featuring many of the same personnel, this session also included support from Don Rendell and Alan Branscombe, two giants of the UK jazz scene who add serious credentials to D’Silva’s singular and intimate compositions. For reasons unknown, the album was canceled by Lansdowne at the time and never saw the light of day until being resurrected again in the 2000s. The Roundtable is pleased to once again showcase this important artist and present a new addition to this incredible and almost forgotten piece of the Amancio D’Silva story. Pressed on 180g vinyl and packaged in a custom 1960s-style flip-back sleeve.
File Under: Jazz, Guitar, Psych
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Wojciech Golczewski: We Are Still Here (Death Waltz) LP
A potently multithreaded horror film: What seems like the contemplation of grief becomes a tale of unspeakable and enigmatic terror. Complementing this twisted tale is the haunting score by Polish composer Wojciech Golczewski (MOHAWK, BEYOND THE GATES) and three otherworldly rock numbers by Slow Moses and Kleen Kut. Golczewski’s deft compositions embrace the story’s rich dynamic but never try to overstep it. As we experience the trials of the Sacchetti couple, who’ve moved into an old farmhouse in an inhospitable New England town, Golczewski treats us to a host of equally delicate and indelicate passages. Dry, creaky strings, an ominous electronic hum, and the searing burn of the synths all leave an indelible mark with each suspended breath of foreboding and every histrionic blaze. Phoenix-based Slow Moses’ dreamy “Gas Station” and hallucinogenic “Teenage Sun” are bruised-and-battered songs that add a whimsical counterpoint to the beautifully terrifying tapestries that Golczewski weaves. New York-based Kleen Kut’s rare “Running Out of Time” is a dark, disembodied rocker with phantasmal melodies unfurling from ancient truths. It carries propulsive, raw energy that codifies the sentiments of the film into a guitar-driven, minor-key strut of otherworldly enchantment. Even after the last note fades, we are still here for another spin.
File Under: Ambient, Electronic, OST
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Melvins: Gluey Porch Treatments (Ipecac) LP
Lime vinyl! In correlation with the release of their new album Working With God, Melvins offer up colored vinyl LP reissues of 1987’s Gluey Porch Treatments and 2002’s Hostile Ambient Takeover, the latter of which appears on the format for the first time. “It’s hard to categorise the Melvins, which is probably why they have been at turns both hugely influential yet also overlooked. From Seattle and formed in 1983, they have constantly shifted and shuffled through line-up changes and musical musings. Inspired by punk, hardcore, metal, avant-garde, cartoon and grand guignol, they have released a succession of infuriatingly incandescent albums, beginning with 1987’s debut Gluey Porch Treatments…In one respect, this album is all over the place, reaching from sludge to thrash, via a Green River cover called ‘Leeech’. It was stark, stinking bonkers. But somehow works. Because the band were constantly on the move, and yet kept a cohesion, almost against their better judgement” (Loudersound).
File Under: Metal
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Melvins: Hostile Ambient Takeover (Ipecac) LP
In correlation with the release of their new album Working With God, the legendary Melvins offer up colored vinyl LP reissues of 1987’s Gluey Porch Treatments and 2002’s Hostile Ambient Takeover, the latter of which appears on the format for the first time. “Hostile Ambient Takeover features the Melvins once again at their most prolific, with their sonic fuckery tackling disjointed rock, cow punk, metal, ambient experimentation, twisted pop, their trademarked metallic dirge, noisy psychedelic jams and unrestrained avant soundscapes all filtered through the Melvins’ criminally insane musical mindset” (Exclaim).
File Under: Metal
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Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um Redux (Get on Down) LP
“Double LP housed in a gatefold jacket. Mingus Ah Um, the artist’s 1959 debut for Columbia is one of the most consequential albums in jazz or any other genre. The release is part of the Library of Congress National Recording Registry and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’, ‘Boogie Stomp Shuffle’, ‘Open Letter To The Duke’… the release is packed with classics and is a best-selling release to this day. Get On Down presents Ah Um Redux, the full Ah Um record as you know and love it with a second LP featuring alternate takes from the session previously unreleased on vinyl.”
File Under: Jazz
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Ngozi Family: 45,000 Volts (Now Again) LP
“Hold on! Ngozi Family! We are a Zambian band, with a heavy sound! Archival reissue of Paul Ngozi’s hard-edged, proto-punk, mid-1970s Zamrock masterwork. Featuring Chrissy Zebby Tembo. First official reissue.”
File Under: Psych, Zamrock, Africa
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Nurse With Wound: Lumb’s Sister (Nor Nordung) LP
“Newly remastered from the original analogue tapes by Denis Blackham. “This music was originally conceived as raw material for the film project ‘Lumb’s Sister’ by Chris Wallis. During the long evolution of his movie, Chris decided to use alternative source sounds and subsequently none of these pieces ever made it onto the completed film.” “Back in 1990, Nurse With Wound, Current 93, and Sol Invictus issued a 3lp set of their works, all of which was suitably occult and suitably dark. By the middle of the decade, both C93 and Sol Invictus had reissued their own material on individual discs, but Steven Stapleton / Nurse With Wound never did until some 25 years later. As such, that boxset became quite a prize possession for NWW aficionados; and it was originally composed to be the soundtrack to a film by Chris Wallis, an occasional contributor to Nurse With Wound and Current 93 in the late ’80s. The film itself had been notoriously unfinished for decades, with cans of film getting lost over the years; and when Wallis finally got around to completing a cut of the film, the original soundtrack was unused, instead Wallis picked over various bits from the Nurse With Wound catalog as the score. So, Lumb’s Sister the Nurse With Wound album has nothing anymore to do with Lumb’s Sister the film by Chris Wallis. Stapleton’s response? “Aw, shucks.” A quintessentially obscurant recording of quintessential Nurse With Wound strategies, Lumb’s Sister laces eerie vocalizations that are often sped up conversations on tape machines amongst distended drones from various bowed metals, elongated vocal utterances, and stringed instruments that all amass into a bellowing darkly illumined thrum. Its closest companion in the Nurse With Wound catalogue would be the elegant piece of minimalism found on Soliloquy For Lilith and the Tibet / Stapleton drone-chant epic The Sadness Of Things. This cd version contains much more material than the original lp, also including Nurse With Wound’s subtle variation of Coil’s “How To Destroy Angels.” As with anything that Stapleton touches, this is a work of genius.” [Aquarius Records]
File Under: Industrial, Ambient, Experimental
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OST: Demons (Rustblade) LP
“30th Anniversary Edition and definitive release of the iconic horror film soundtrack composed by Claudio Simonetti for Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava’s 1980 gore classic Demons. This soundtrack perfectly captures the growing tension created by the film as the main characters are transformed into demons, leading the way with the electro metal of Killing, the percussively cruel Demon, and the now classic cult hit Demon. 30 years later the music still shines with timeless quality thanks to the eclectic talent of composer Claudio Simonetti. Limited picture disc + OBI 180; gram high quality sound.”
File Under: OST, Argento
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John Paesano: Spider-Man – Miles Morales (Mondo) LP
Mondo, in collaboration with Hollywood Records, is proud to present the soundtrack to the all-new hit game Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, featuring an incredible score by John Paesano as well as original songs by Lecrae and Jaden. Picking up where the previous game left off, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales puts you in the web-slinging hands of the titular character, taking on a mysterious group of rebels known as The Underground, who are going toe-to-toe with a mysterious energy company who seemingly nefarious aims for Harlem, our hero’s hometown. John Paesano is no stranger to Marvel’s most famous New York heroes, having composed the score for the previous game Marvel’s Spider-Man (not to mention the late, great television series Marvel’s Daredevil and Marvel’s The Defenders), and his work on this chapter is nothing short of spectacular. Taking elements of his previous score and plussing them, incorporating elements of trap beats and drum machine to give the symphonic score a hip-hop rhythm section.
File Under: OST
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Parquet Courts: Light Up Gold (What’s Your Rupture) LP
Glow in the dark vinyl! Little was said about Parquet Courts’ debut effort, American Specialties. Released exclusively on cassette tape in 2011, the quasi-album was an odd collection of 4 track recordings that left those who were paying attention wanting more. A year of woodshedding live sets passed before the Courts committed another song to tape. The band’s first proper LP, 2012’s Light Up Gold, is a dynamic and diverse foray into the back alleys of the American DIY underground. Bright guitars swirl serpentine over looping, groovy post-punk bass lines and drums that border on robotic precision. While the initial rawness of the band’s early output remains, the songwriting has gracefully evolved. Primary wordsmiths A. Savage and Austin Brown combine for a dynamic lyrical experience, one part an erudite overflow of ideas, the other an exercise in laid-back observation. Lyrically dense, the poetry is in how it flows along with the melody, often times as locked-in as the rhythm section. “This record is for the over-socialized victims of the 1990’s ‘you can be anything you want’, Nickelodeon-induced lethargy that ran away from home not out of any wide-eyed big city daydream, but just out of a subconscious return to America’s scandalous origin,” writes Savage in the album’s scratched-out liner notes. Recorded over a few days in a ice-box practice space, Light Up Gold is equally indebted to Krautrock, The Fall, and a slew of contemporaries like Tyvek and Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Though made up of Texan transplants, Parquet Courts is a New York band. Throw out the countless shallow Brooklyn bands of the blasé 2000’s: Light Up Gold is a conscious effort to draw from the rich culture of the city – the bands like Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan, and the Velvet Underground that are not from New York, but of it. A panoramic landscape of dilapidated corner-stores and crowded apartments is superimposed over bare-bones Americana, leaving little room for romance or sentiment. It’s punk, it’s American, it’s New York… it’s the color of something you were looking for.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Parquet Courts: Sunbathing Animal (What’s Your Rupture) LP
Glow in the dark vinyl! The year and change following the release of Parquet Courts monumental 2012 album Light Up Gold is reflected in ways expected and not with Sunbathing Animal, its sharper, harder 2014 follow up. Following their quietly released 2011 debut American Specialties, Light Up Gold caught the ears of everyone paying even a little bit of attention, garnering glowing reviews across the board for its weird colors and raw energy, saturated punk songs that offered crystal clear lyrical snapshots of city life. It was immediately memorable, a vivid portrait of ragged days, listlessness, aimlessness and urgency, broadcast with the intimacy of hearing a stranger’s thoughts as you passed them on the street. As it goes with these things, the band went on tour for a short eternity, spending most of 2013 on the road, their sound growing more direct in the process and their observations expanding beyond life at home. As more people tuned into the buzz surrounding Light Up Gold, the band encountered a common misconception that their aim was to somehow recapitulate the spirit of familiar ’90s indie rock darlings. Coming from a background of not-quite-legal DIY show spaces and lawless basement gigs, being branded as an update to 90s slacker rock was confusing for the group, who were far more invested in creating lyrically complex statements and new ideas than being a continuation or resurgence of anything. In part, Sunbathing Animal serves as a brick wall deflection to any previous misinterpretations of the band. More than a reactionary sprint in any particular musical direction, Parquet Courts sounds more like themselves than ever, but a more deliberate, aware and pinpoint accurate reading of the same American punk expansion they all but defined on Light Up Gold. Constant touring was broken up by three recording sessions that would make up the album, and the time spent in transit comes through in repeated lyrical themes of displacement, doubt and situational captivity. To be sure, Sunbathing Animal isn’t a record about hopelessness, as any sort of incarceration implies an understanding of freedom and peace of mind. leeting moments of bliss are also captured in its grooves, and extended at length as if to preserve them. The songwriting process began with lyrics, the band building the songs around the words, and the blaring isolation and dynamic emotions are mirrored in both. Pointed articulations of these ideas are heard as schizoid blues rants, shrill guitar leads, purposefully lengthy repetition and controlled explosions, reaching their peak on the blistering title track. A propulsive projection of how people might play the blues 300 years from now, the song is a roller coaster you can’t get off, moving far too fast and looping into eternity. Much as Light Up Gold and the subsequent EP Tally All The Things That You Broke offered a uniquely tattered perspective on everyday city life, Sunbathing Animal applies the same layered thoughts and sprawling noise to more cerebral, inward-looking themes. While heightened in its heaviness and mania, the album also represents a huge leap forward in terms of songwriting and vision. Still rooted firmly in the unshackled exploration and bombastic playing of their earlier work, everything here is amplified in its lucidity and intent. The songs wander through threads of blurry brilliance, exhaustion and fury at the hilt of every note.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Wayne Shorter: Etc. (Tone Poet) (Blue Note) LP
Available again! This is how vinyl is supposed to sound. Produced and hand-picked for release by Music Matters co-founder Joe Harley, mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket, Wayne Shorter’s fine quartet album from 1965, Etcetera, receives nonpareil audiophile treatment on this must-own all-analog reissue. We’re talking unimpeded dynamics. Hyper-realistic highs. Superb balance. Stellar linearity. Luscious tones. Deep, taut bass. Grooves that seemingly grab you by the hand. The sensation of actually being present at the sessions. Dead-quiet LP surfaces. A gatefold jacket that will mesmerize your visual senses. Musically, one listen will tell you why the Blue Note record remains one of the saxophonist’s greatest releases. Etcetera features all Shorter compositions, with the exception of Gil Evans’ passionate “Barracudas.” Shorter’s “Indian Song” takes its place as one of modern jazz’s most intensely hypnotizing compositions. If you’re familiar with Music Matters’ now-iconic Blue Note reissues or the infallible work of producer Joe Harley, you’ll know you cannot pass this up. And if you’re coming to them for the first time, prepare yourself for sheer sonic and musical bliss!
File Under: Jazz
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Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin’ 1965-1976 (Light in the Attic) LP
Coloured vinyl sold out, more in a few months. Light In The Attic Records is proud to present Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin’ 1965–1976. The definitive new collection surveys Sinatra’s most prolific period over 1965–1976, including her revered collaborations with Lee Hazlewood, over 23 tracks. Remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®–nominated engineer John Baldwin, the collection is complemented by liner notes penned by Amanda Petrusich (author and music critic at The New Yorker), featuring insightful new interviews with Sinatra, as well as a Q&A with archivist and GRAMMY®–nominated reissue co-producer, Hunter Lea. The CD edition comes housed in a 7”x7” hardcover book (featuring 64–pages) and the two-disc vinyl set is presented in a gatefold jacket (featuring a 24–page booklet). Nancy’s performance of the Lee Hazlewood–penned song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” was a huge hit in 1966 and became her signature tune. The pair began a three year run of successful albums, duets, and singles including “Sugar Town,” “Some Velvet Morning,” “Summer Wine,” “Sand,” “Jackson,” and the title track to the 1967 James Bond film “You Only Live Twice.” Start Walkin’ explores Nancy’s recordings with Lee, her inspired collaborations with songwriter Mac Davis (“Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham”), producer Lenny Waronker (“Hook and Ladder”), and the “should’ve been hit” song with arranger/producer Billy Strange (“How Are Things In California.”) Over the years, she has been cited as an influence by countless artists, including Sonic Youth, Morrissey, Calexico, U2, and Lana Del Rey. Her haunting song “Bang, Bang” gained a new legion of fans when it appeared in the opening credits of Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 film, Kill Bill Volume 1.
File Under: Country, Pop
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Stereolab: Electrically Possessed: Switched on Vol. 4 (Duophonic) LP
The fourth in the Switched On series that compiles Stereolab’s non-album tracks and sought after deep cuts. Following on from the first volume released in 1992, 1995’s Refried Ectoplasm, and 1998’s Aluminum Tunes, the long-awaited fourth installment spans 1999-2008 in the Stereolab story and collates three LPs worth of material, all remastered from the original tapes and overseen by the band. It features all the tracks from out-of-print and sought after mini-album The First Of The Microbe Hunters, one-off and impossible to find tour 7″s, compilation tracks, art installation work and a couple of unreleased outtakes from the Mars Audiac Quintet and Dots and Loops recording sessions.
File Under: Indie Rock, Electronic, Pop
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Venom: Calm Before the Storm (Back on Black) LP
Transitional 1987 effort Calm Before the Storm saw guitarist Jeffrey “Mantas” Dunn replaced by the double attack of Jimi Clare and Mike Hickey. This was a period when the whole thrash movement was at its height, and the genre was starting to fragment. Some bands were becoming more sophisticated, while others were delving into altogether more extreme areas of music. It was an easy time for Venom, because they were unique and ground breakers, so a controversial new direction was perfect to keep the fans guessing as to what the band would do next. Determined to stick firmly to their own path, they certainly opened up their sound somewhat with Calm Before the Storm, enough to attract a new audience. While the sound of the album still had a brutal edge, nonetheless the dark imagery of the past had given way to a more nuanced approach.
File Under: Metal
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John Williams & John Powell: Solo (Mondo) LP
Mondo, in collaboration with Walt Disney Records, is proud to present the premiere vinyl release of John Powell’s brilliant score to SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. The origin story of science fiction’s greatest rogue is a Star Wars story through and through: a rollicking adventure, full of humor and suspense – and in the grand tradition of the franchise, features an epic sweeping score worthy of the biggest screen (or, in this case, speakers) imaginable. John Williams’ new “The Adventures of Han Theme” kicks things off in a spectacular fashion, setting the tone for John Powell’s fantastic original score to enter the Star Wars canon (only the third composer to ever tackle the film series in its 40+ year legacy)
File Under: OST, Mondo
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Yellow Magic Orchestra: BGM (Great Tracks) LP
Japanese pressing! Originally released in March 1981, BGM marked a turn from the previous release with an overall darker and more serious tone that some considered to be a betrayal against their original fans. Years have been kind to BGM, however, and Hosono, Sakamoto, and Takahashi’s fourth studio release is now considered one of their masterworks. With an ahead-of-its-time mix of techno pop, electro, dub, and ambient, BGM was recorded using the latest recording technologies available at the time, including one of the earliest uses of the Roland MC-4 sequencer and the TR-808 drum machine on record.
File Under: Pop, Japan
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Yellow Magic Orchestra: Technodelic (Great Tracks) LP
Japanese pressing! Some of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s most forward-thinking music can be heard on Technodelic, released in 1981 only a few months after their masterwork BGM. Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi utilized the custom-made LMD-649 PCM digital sampler to create what is considered one of the first true sampler-based albums in history. Incorporating minimal and ethno elements to their signature mix of techno pop, electro and dub, Technodelic stands alongside BGM as their most fully realized album in their discography.
File Under: Pop, Japan
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Neil Young: The Times (Reprise) LP
Featuring music originally broadcast as a part of the “Porch Episode” of Neil Young’s livestreamed Fireside Sessions, The Times EP is a politically-charged collection of classics spanning Young’s catalog, including iconic protest songs like “Ohio,” “Alabama,” “Southern Man,” and “Campaigner.” The EP also features “Lookin’ For A Leader 2020;” originally released on the 2006 masterpiece Living with War, this lyrically revised and impassioned update is squarely aimed at the problems we currently face. The EP also features Young’s Homegrown original – “Little Wing” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin.'”
File Under: Rock
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Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Way Down in the Rust Bucket (Reprise) BOX
Recorded on November 13, 1990 in Santa Cruz, the concert documented on the 4LP Way Down in the Rust Bucket represents one of the most significant and storied shows of Neil Young’s fabled career. Staged just after the release of Ragged Glory – the striking album that preceded and influenced the impending explosion of similarly energetic, distortion-addled rock that became known as grunge and changed the face of popular music – the set finds Young pairing with his longtime cohorts in Crazy Horse and turning in a marathon performance for the ages. Intended as a loose rehearsal for an arena tour at the Catalyst Club, a venue whose intimate confines only seems to stoke the band’s energy, passion, and enthusiasm (not to mention its connection with the audience), it is the stuff of legend. For decades, the results have lingered on trading sites as a sought-after bootleg. No longer. Way Down in the Rust Bucket presents the three-set, three-hour-plus affair in unmatched fidelity while providing context of the occasion’s momentousness. In addition to harboring the public debut of Ragged Glory material like “Love to Burn” and “Mansion on the Hill,” the gig marks the first time such classics as “Danger Bird ” and “Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze” were heard live by fans. Not to mention the spirited versions of “Cinnamon Girl,” “Sedan Delivery,” and “Like a Hurricane” found here hold their own with any other commercially available renditions (including those on Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rust). Available as a 4LP set (this version) or deluxe edition containing four LPs, two CDs, and a DVD of the entire concert directed by Bernard Shakey (and containing one extremely memorable and exclusive cut, a 13-minute “Cowgirl in the Sand” not on LP or CD), Way Down in the Rust Bucket is the Neil Young Performance Series volume fans have been awaiting for years. Go ahead, spook the horse, and grab this must-have vinyl set now.
File Under: Rock
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Carl Zittrer: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things! OST
(Terror Vision) LP
First ever vinyl pressing of this cult zombie horror classic composed by Carl Zittrer (Black Christmas, Prom Night etc)!
File Under: OST
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Various: Age of Worry (Iron Mountain) LP
From the people who brought you Hillbillies In Hell… Smooth countrypolitan sides of Doom, Apocalyptic Shag-Cowpokes, anti-Vietnam War Freak-Folkies, small-town Hayseed-Vignettes, ambulance-chasing Bluegrass, red-baiting exploitation-jangle-Folk-Pop and wigged-out Nashville space-age Instrumentals – you’ll hear all that and much more on this extraordinary LP… Charting the tumultuous decade of 1960-1970, ‘Age Of Worry’ presents 18 somewhat nervous and seldom-heard oddities, obscurities and treasures from the depths of the Monument Records vault. Sometimes outrageous, sometimes sublime – listen to Vern Stovall lament the maudlin fate of ‘Code Alarm 7’, Rusty Draper on tortured suburban ennui and Captain Ty Herrington on emasculated masculinity. A spellbinding disc of Country Pop, Bluegrass, Folk and Novelty sides all touched in one way or another by Cold War tension and the changing tides of 1960s society. Many of these 45 cuts are extremely rare and are reissued here for the very first time. Somehow, somewhere…something for everyone…
File Under: Country, Folk
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Various: J Jazz Vol. 3 – Deep Modern Jazz from Japan (BBE) LP
BBE Music presents J Jazz Volume 3, the latest in its definitive compilation series exploring the finest modern jazz from Japan. Since the first volume in February 2018, the J Jazz compilation series has showcased some of the most creative, inspired and sought-after jazz recorded in Japan during a golden period spanning the 1960s to the 1980s. Illustrating the richness and versatility of the composers and musicians on this collection, the music spans a wide yet coherent range of styles: samba, funk fusion, modal, spiritual, post-bop and bossa all combine to present an aural portrait of a jazz scene that was constantly moving and shifting its multiple musical centres of gravity. Mastered at the Grammy-nominated Carvery studio in London, many of the tracks featured are reissued for the first time, including mega-rare private press cuts from the Yasuhiro Kohno Trio, Masaru Imada Trio, and Hideyasu Terakawa Quartet. There’s heavy post modal bop by J Jazz legends Kohsuke Mine and Koichi Matsukaze; samba heat from Tatsuya Nakamura, Hideo Shiraki and Seiichi Nakamura; and funky dance floor energy by Hiroshi Murakami, Ryojiro Furusawa Quartet and Shigeharu Mukai. Released as a deluxe, heavyweight triple vinyl set in a gatefold sleeve with obi strip and insert, the collection comes with extensive artist biographies and track information. J Jazz is conceived, compiled and annotated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.
File Under: Jazz, Japan
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…..Restocks….
Agitation Free: 2nd (Made in Germany) LP
Agitation Free: Malesch (Made in Germany) LP
Julien Baker: Little Oblivions (gold) (Matador) LP
Besnard Lakes: Are the Last of the Great… (Flemish Eye) LP
Blanck Mass: In Ferneaux (Magenta) (Sacred Bones) LP
Brainstory: Buck (Big Crown) LP
Patricia Brennan: Maquishti (Valley of Search) LP
Gene Clark: No Other (4AD) LP
Decemberists: Live Home Library Vol 1 (Youth & Beauty Brigade) LP
Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (Superior Viaduct) LP
Far Out: Nihonjin (Everland) LP
Norman Feels: Where or When (Tidal Waves) LP
Grateful Dead: Two From the Vault (Future Days) 4LP
Hosono/Suzuki/Yamashita: Pacific (Sony Japan) LP
Khruangbin: Late Night Tales (Late Night Tales) LP
Khruangbin: The Universe Smiles Upon You (Late Night Tales) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: K.G. (KG) LP
Mac Miller: Circles (Warner) LP
Takeo Moriyama: Smile (Nippon Columbia) LP
David Nance Group: Peaced & Slightly Pulverized (Trouble in Mind) LP
John Prine: Sweet Revenge (Rhino) LP
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: Soul (Disney) LP
Secret Pyramid: Embers (Geographic North) LP
Pauline Anna Strom: Trans-Millenia Music (RVNG) LP
Marcos Valle: Garra (Elemental) LP
Arthur Verocai: s/t (Mr. Bongo) LP
Viagra Boys: Welfare Jazz (Year0001) LP
Hiro Yanagida: s/t (HMV) LP
Yas-Kaz: Jomon-sho (Glossy Mistakes) LP
Various: Kankyo Ongaku (Light in the Attic) BOX
Various: Pacific Breeze 2 (Light in the Attic) LP