Woof! What a week! Loads of new stuff in and not small potatoes either, some massive new releases and reissues. Firstly, we’re all really stoked about Calgary’s Jairus Sharif’s LP on Telephone Explosion, a really killer cosmic jazz, drone, spiritual slab. We finally managed to get some copies of the killer last album by Tomaga which kept selling out at the source before ever making it into our shop. Dry Cleaning‘s second album is out and delves further into prog, psych and krautrock territories. Then there’s the new Arctic Monkeys, Alvvays, Gilla Band,Lambchop, Say She She, Archers of Loaf, Tegan & Sara, Municipal Waste, Firestarter OST and obviously a couple new Blue Note reissues… AND reissues of the first Queens of the Stone Age (finally!), Blonde Redhead, Damien Jurado, Death Grips, and a bunch of Japanese AOR/City pop, psych, and jazz! Oh, and there’s the MASSIVE archival Lou Reed collection on Light in the Attic. Like I said, LOADS of stuff! Come down for a dig.
OH… and we’re doing something we rarely do… WE ARE HIRING! At least one, maybe two part time positions. Weekend availability is a must! Drop a resume off at the store along with your top ten albums of all time and this year.
Current operations…..
– in-store shopping/pick ups – 11 – 6 pm Monday – Friday, 11 am – 5 pm Saturday
(if you don’t want to come into the store for a pick up, call and/or use the back door)
– We will be wearing masks, if you want to, great! If not, that’s also fine, but please be respectful of other people’s space and decisions.
– Sanitize your hands (we’ll have some)
…..picks of the week…..
Jairus Sharif: Water & Tools (Telephone Explosion) LP
The passionate and unclassifiable work of Calgary-based improviser Jairus Sharif embraces each of these definitions of freedom and others, albeit strictly on its own personal and idiosyncratic terms. Since early 2020, the 34-year-old autodidact has been generating a steady stream of homespun solo recordings that forge unprecedented connections between hip-hop abstraction, cosmic skronk, outsider jazz, and staunch post-punk DIY ethos. Water & Tools is a dense, contradictory statement with a blustery surface that shelters a soulful heart. It’s generous music, exuding profound vulnerability—grappling with the loss of one his mothers, Lisa—all the while brimming with electric wide-eyed wonder. Almost every one of the nine pieces seems to carry some semblance of a groove, while remaining completely untethered from pulse. At points, there’s a timelessness that’s conveyed through the music’s processional, ritualistic tenor, and yet there’s an endless amount of wild, futuristic detail waiting to unspool at any given moment.
File Under: Jazz, Drone, Ambient, Experimental, Kris’s Picks, Piyush’s Picks, Ian’s Picks
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Dry Cleaning: Stumpwork (4AD) LP
Less than 18 months after the release of their debut album New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning return with their sophomore album entitled Stumpwork. 2021 established the band as one of the biggest breakthrough indie acts of recent years. This is reflected in the ambition of their new record. For their follow-up, the London four-piece returned to the iconic Rockfield Studios to work once again with producer John Parish. Furious indie-pop anthems combine across the record with psych and prog influences, demonstrating the wealth of influences the band feed off and their deep musicality. Surrealist lyrics are as ever at the forefront, but the new album gives greater opportunity to explore bugged out guitar jams, and immersive journeys touching on krautrock territory.
File Under: Indie Rock, Psych, Piyush’s Picks, Ian’s Picks
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Tomaga: Intimate Immediacy (Hands in the Dark) LP
The last, outstanding release of the London based experimental duo (Tom Relleen and Valentina Magaletti), accomplished just before Tom’s passing in August 2020, is the distillate of two years of new creative enhancement. Mostly recorded at Tom’s “Bunker” – as he called his house in London – during the days off from live performances and challenging collaborations throughout the world, Intimate Immensity collects ten intense tracks that outline a breath-taking epiphanic journey revisiting the multifaceted worlds explored by the band in seven years of non-stop and mostly live activity. The wonderful blue artwork especially created by the acclaimed artists Icinori is a perfect match with the gist of Tomaga’s aesthetics of intimacy that is well expressed by a few lines in the gatefold: “I just found an interesting book by Gaston Bachelard called The Poetics of Space, with chapters on ‘house as universe’, nests, shells, ‘intimate immensity’, ‘the phenomenology of roundness’… I think it ties in with our feelings about bunkers and the urge to partition the universe to create our own spaces, vs cleansing or colonising the everyday to make it empty of anyone else’s taste. I think Tomaga tracks with their individual micro worlds are a bit like that…” – in this way Relleen introduces us into Tomaga’s pulsing universe where space and meaning, articulated by sound, acquire breath and character as an expressive place where you can feel at home. It is a quite similar aesthetics that could be perceived through Derek Jarman’s quotation from Blue (1993) used in the video of Intimate Immensity realised by Noriko Okaku together with some of Tom’s favourite stones collected from different places throughout his life.
Blue protects white from innocence
Blue drags black with it
Blue is darkness made visible
Blue protects white from innocence
Blue drags black with it
Blue is darkness made visible.
The dialogical richness of musical influences, that has always been a peculiarity of all Tomaga’s performances, finds its peak here. The sonic spectrum is really wide, ranging from modern composers such as Laurie Spiegel and Pauline Anna Strom who has recently passed away, to the British refined dance aesthetics of Muslimgauze and Ossia. The somewhat deceitful approachability of the ten tracks, their crystal clear and elegant surface, is in fact the outcome of the deep process of transformation that has personally and musically involved the duo during the last two years.
File Under: Electronic, Jazz, Experimental, Kris’s Picks
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…..new arrivals…..
A Place to Bury Strangers: Exploding Head (Mute) LP
Following their eponymous debut in 2007, Exploding Head is A Place To Bury Strangers’ most notable record, garnering the New York noise rock outfit critical praise and a cult fanbase. Lead by Oliver Ackermann, the band had a simple goal for ‘their first proper studio album’; “to create the craziest, most fucked-up recording ever.” Recorded at their Death By Audio studios in New York and released on Mute Records, the album was critically praised for it’s explorative sound, taking inspiration from shoegaze icons such as Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. Pitchfork described the album as “frustrated aggression, lacerating feedback… saturated with slender indie-pop melody.” The album has now been digitally remastered by Oliver Ackermann and is presented here on colored vinyl LP with exclusive sleeve notes by music journalist Tris McCall.
File Under: Punk, Shoegaze
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Action Bronson: Cocodrillo Turbo (Loma Vista) LP
Action Bronson isn’t anyone’s idea of an underdog with a slew of critical acclaim, a New York Times best seller, successful TV shows, and a decade plus long career where he’s proved time and time again why he is one of the best MCs of our time. And yet, on his brilliant new album, Cocodrillo Turbo, he sets out to prove that his lingual versatility is stronger than it’s ever been. “I don’t feel like I’m given the fucking respect that I deserve,” Bronson explains. Cocodrillo Turbo is Bronson demanding that respect. It’s a record that hits immediately, but rewards deep listening and close readings. The album includes features from Conway The Machine, Roc Marciano, Hologram, and Meyhem Lauren, with production from The Alchemist, Daringer, Roc Marciano, and Bronson himself.
File Under: Hip Hop
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Laura Allan with Paul Horn: Reflections (Everland) LP
After a long break, we’re happy to present another masterpiece in The Fact Of Being collection. A long-awaited reissue of the legendary ambient/new-age album “Reflections” by Laura Allan with Paul Horn. The album was recorded in 1980 and marked by the participation of twice Grammy Awarded jazz legend flutist Paul Horn. The meeting of Laura and Paul was a true miracle that brought amazing fruit. Since 80th “Reflections” captivate the minds of spiritual ambient music fans all over the world. Magical sounds of flute, endless melodies of zither, Laura’s heavenly voice lighted by meditative bells and synthesizers. A simple recipe but with great talents and unique results. Laura’s reflections lead a listener to deep meditation, harmony, and to the eternal palace of inner peace. We hope you’ll share with us the pleasure of listening to the record and the world become a bit more peaceful place for everyone. This is the first reissue on the vinyl since 1984 when the album was repressed the last time. After 38 years the record became collectors’ dream and now it’s available again as it should be. Moreover, as always, we love CDs and it’s available as a limited DigiCD version. The record was mastered by Grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson which guarantees extra ordinal sound experience. Yes, a lot of Grammy here… Laura passed away on May 19, 2008, after a half-year battle with cancer. She was just 56. Enjoy Laura’s art that makes her alive. “Highly recommended for fans of Lauraaji, Alice Coltrane, David Casper, and Light In The Attic’s “I Am the Center” compilation.”” – Phil Cho
File Under: New Age
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Alvvays: Blue Rev (Self Release) LP
Alvvays never intended to take five years to finish their third album, the nervy joyride that is the compulsively lovable Blue Rev. In fact, the band began writing and cutting its first bits soon after releasing 2017’s Antisocialites, that stunning sophomore record that confirmed the Toronto quintet’s status atop a new generation of winning and whip-smart indie rock. Global lockdowns notwithstanding, circumstances both ordinary and entirely unpredictable stunted those sessions. Alvvays toured more than expected, a surefire interruption for a band that doesn’t write on the road. A watchful thief then broke into singer Molly Rankin’s apartment and swiped a recorder full of demos, one day before a basement flood nearly ruined all the band’s gear. They subsequently lost a rhythm section and, due to border closures, couldn’t rehearse for months with their masterful new one, drummer Sheridan Riley and bassist Abbey Blackwell. At least the 5-year wait was worthwhile: Blue Rev doesn’t simply reassert what’s always been great about Alvvays but instead reimagines it. They have, in part and sum, never been better. There are 14 songs on Blue Rev, making it not only the longest Alvvays album but also the most harmonically rich and lyrically provocative. There are newly aggressive moments here – the gleeful and snarling guitar solo at the heart of opener “Pharmacist,” or the explosive cacophony near the middle of “Many Mirrors.” And there are some purely beautiful spans, too – the church- organ fantasia of “Fourth Figure,” or the blue-skies bridge of “Belinda Says.” But the power and magic of Blue Rev stems from Alvvays’ ability to bridge ostensible binaries, to fuse elements that seem antithetical in single songs – cynicism and empathy, anger and play, clatter and melody, the soft and the steely. The luminous poser kiss-off of “Velveteen,” the lovelorn confusion of “Tile by Tile,” the panicked but somehow reassuring rush of “After the Earthquake”. The songs of Blue Rev thrive on immediacy and intricacy, so good on first listen that the subsequent spins where you hear all the details are an inevitability.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Archers of Loaf: Reason in Decline (Merge) LP
Reason in Decline, Archers of Loaf’s first studio album since the 1998 release of White Trash Heroes, is no nostalgic, low-impact reboot. When they emerged from North Carolina’s ’90s indie-punk incubator, the Archers’ hurtling, sly, gloriously dissonant roar was a mythologized touchstone of slacker-era refusal. But this new LP is an entirely different noise. In fact, it’s a startling revelation. Guitarists Eric Bachmann and Eric Johnson, once headstrong smartasses inciting a series of artful pileups on the band’s four studio albums and EP, are now a fluidly complementary, sonically advanced unit. Notably, Johnson’s signature trebly lines peal clearly above the din instead of struggling to be heard. Today, singer-songwriter Bachmann’s lyrics balance righteous wrath with a complex tangle of adult perspective. He still spits bile, but it’s less likely to concern scene politics, music trends, or shady record labels thwarting the dreams of a young rock band. Bachmann puts it bluntly: “What I really think about going back to the Archers and doing a new record is that the three other members of this band are awesome. It’s not about responding to the past or whatever our bullshit legacy is. I just wanted to work with these guys because I knew the chemistry we had and that we still have. I knew that was rare.”
File Under: Indie Rock
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Arctic Monkeys: The Car (Domino) LP
Coloured wax, and free totes (while supplies last)! Arctic Monkeys’ cinematic seventh studio album, The Car features ten new songs written by Alex Turner, produced by James Ford and recorded at Butley Priory, Suffolk, RAK Studios, London and La Frette, Paris. Following 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, The Car finds Arctic Monkeys running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape and contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Turner’s career. Turner told the Big Issue: “On this record [The Car], sci-fi is off the table. We are back to earth. I think we’ve got closer to a better version of a more dynamic overall sound with this record. The strings on this record come in and out of focus and that was a deliberate move and hopefully everything has its own space. There’s time the band comes to the front and then the strings come to the front.”
File Under: Rock
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Joe Baatan: Gypsy Woman (Craft) LP
This recording is the King of Latin Soul’s 1967 debut album featuring his classic swinging and vibrant sounds, led by the musical direction of Fania Records co-founder Johnny Pacheco. The title track is a nod to the 1961 The Impressions’ hit of the same name. Other highlights include the boogaloo jam “So Fine” and Joe Bataan’s signature soulful tune “Ordinary Guy.” This reissue features all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl by Memphis Record Pressing (MRP).
File Under: Latin, Jazz, Soul
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Beak>>: Kosmic Musik (Invada) 10″
Two years in the making Kosmik Musik is a collaboration between artist Joe Currie, writer Ben Wheatley and musical group Beak>, who worked closely with the artists to provide a musical accompaniment for the graphic novel. Kosmik Musik is melting pot of 2000ad, Metal Hurlant, Kirby tech, psychedelic 60s art, Doctor Who, Douglas Adams, Kraut Rock, Star Trek and Star Wars. A UK 70s English childhood basically. The project comes with a sonic accompaniment by Beak> who have live dates on the horizon including Primavera Sound in LA. ABOUT KOSMIK MUSIK THE GRAPHIC NOVEL – The galaxy is a big place–but not big enough for Mick and Eve as they are chased across it by cops, inter-dimensional plunderers, rogue artificial intelligences, middle-aged assassins and a third-tier superhero team. Come with us on a rip roaring, planet hopping adventure. Punches will be thrown, tears will be shed and music will be played on vinyl on vintage record players as Mick and Eve try to solve every sentient creature’s fundamental questions like why and what… and eh? Yes, dear reader, Kosmik Musik will unlock some of the more pressing mysteries of the universe. True Fact.
File Under: Psych, Kosmische, Piyush’s Picks
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Birdlegs and Pauline: s/t (Numero) LP
Tucked deep into the wilds of Wisconsin, Cuca Records was the custom recording and pressing outfit for the Badger state. From its opening in 1959 until its closing in 1973, Jim Kirchstein recorded nearly 2,000 sides – ranging from polka and gospel to country and R&B – and issued over 1,000 45s on his Cuca, Sara, Age of Aquarius, Night Owl, Citation, Psalms, Top Gun, and Jolly Dutchman imprints. Though the studio was located in rural Sauk City, Cuca quickly became a go-to destination for black artists looking to cut on the cheap. “Black musicians, especially the young R&B bands, loved to come to this little town, since there were treated as royalty,” Kirchstein said. “Often I would hear, ‘Hey, there ain’t no black people here!’ My folks’ grocery store next door was always opened for bread and bologna before the late seasons started, with a quick trip downtown for wine. One could buy carry-out liquor up to midnight in those days. It really was a lot of fun then – not work, even, though the sessions were long.” Sidney “Birdlegs” Banks and his wife Pauline made the trek from nearby Rockford, Illinois, in early ’63. Backed by brothers Mack and Floyd Murphy as The Versatility Birds, the couple cut the bluesy shuffler “Spring” b/w “So Many Ways” issued on Cuca that February and eventually climbing to No. 18 on the R&B chart and later reissued by a near-bankruptcy Vee Jay. “Pauline was one of the finest vocalists I’ve ever heard,” Kirchstein said. “Could have been a lot of money if [Vee Jay] had stayed in business. We did an album on them shortly after.” That album came and went with the season, and by the end of the decade the Bankses had split. Former Mrs. Banks Pauline Shivers cut a handful of records under her maiden name for Chicago’s Expo and Opex concerns. Birdlegs never recorded again, a rare one and done hit artist.
File Under: Soul, R&B
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Blonde Redhead: s/t (Numero) LP
Forming in 1994, Blonde Redhead were thrown together following a chance meeting in New York between Japanese siren Kazu Makino and Milanese twin brothers, Amedeo and Simone Pace. Taking their name from a song by fellow New York no wave artists DNA, location was to prove key to the band’s initial experimentations. Forging a sound reflective of New York’s rich musical legacy, the early years of Blonde Redhead were very much haunted by the squalling underground scene that has forever pulsed throughout the city. While indebted to their geography, the release of their self-titled debut in 1995, swiftly followed by the self-produced La Mia Vita Violenta on Steve Shelley’s Smells Like label, showed signs that Blonde Redhead were soon to escape the shadow of New York. Teeming with the energy and grit of pre-Giuliani Manhattan, Blonde Redhead’s long out-of-print early recordings have finally crawled their way out of the ’90s basement.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Blues Creation: Demon & Eleven Children (Nippon Columbia) LP
Demon & Eleven Children, a masterpiece of blues creation from the dawn of the new rock era, is finally reissued! The cover and the cover of this album are truly one of the classics of Japanese hard rock music. The solid sound of fuzz and blues rock influenced by British hard rock has been highly acclaimed by foreign psychedelic fanatics as well. The title track is over 9 minutes long, and the guitar riffs of “Atomic Bomb Drop” and “Just I Was Born” are impressive. The band consists of four members: Kazuo Takeda (g, vo), Hiromi Osawa (vo), Masashi Saeki (b), and Masayuki Higuchi (ds).
File Under: Psych, Japan
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Kenny Burrell: s/t (Blue Note) LP
The first thing that strikes you about Kenny Burrell’s second Blue Note album, simply titled Kenny Burrell (BLP 1543) and released as part of Blue Note’s fabled 1500 series, is the cover, which features an illustration by Andy Warhol, the first of three Blue Note covers the soon-to-be famed artist collaborated on with designer Reid Miles. The second is the striking music, which is drawn from four different sessions recorded in 1956 with the great guitarist featured in a variety of different configurations. The opener, a brisk romp through Harold Arlen’s “Get Happy,” features Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums, and Candido on congas. That leads into a stunning solo guitar rendition of the Gershwin tune “But Not For Me,” which is followed by the live track “Mexico City,” a piece by Kenny Dorham and recorded with the trumpeter’s sextet at the Café Bohemia. Burrell and Flanagan are joined by bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Shadow Wilson on the Basie band number “Moten Swing” and Burrell’s “Cheeta,” and tenor saxophonist Frank Foster makes it a quintet for remainder of Side 2 on Pettiford’s “Now See How You Are,” Burrell’s “Phinupi,” and the Burton Lane standard “How About You.”
File Under: Jazz
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John Carpenter/ Cody Carpenter/ Daniel Davies: Firestarter (Sacred Bones) LP
The horror master John Carpenter is back with his Halloween franchise collaborators Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter for their infectious new soundtrack to the 2022 adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter. This marks the first official soundtrack that the team has composed together outside of the Halloween franchise and their inspiration and evolution as a creative team is on full display. The film is a new take on the thriller examining a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers and her fight to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her. The film stars Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Ryan Kiera, is directed by Keith Thomas (The Vigil) and created by the producers of The Invisible Man. The story has become a classic and the intense nature of the film creates a canvas for a dynamic soundtrack. The Firestarter soundtrack utilizes some of the best elements of Carpenter’s famous musical repertoire and charts exciting new territory. The tracks range from fist pumping sci-fi anthems to slow reverb drenched piano ballads and each utilizes a variety of sonic applications. Skulking beats, skittering synths, crushing guitars and an ever-lurking echo come together to create an album that is atmospheric and also deeply melodic, cohesive and eclectic. These three musicians are all working in the peak of their individual and collaborative creativity and this soundtrack further solidifies them as masters of the craft.
File Under: OST
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Cerberus Shoal: …And Farewell to Hightide (Temporary Residence) LP
The long out-of-print sophomore album by the pioneering, creatively restless troupe, Cerberus Shoal, highlights the earliest phase of their transition from experimental hardcore band to transcendent exploratory collective. Originally released in 1996, …And Farewell To Hightide combined the group’s unique command of patient anticipation with a significantly expanded musical palette and a refined musicianship. Shedding virtually all obvious references to the frenetic post-hardcore of their eponymous debut album, Hightide saw Cerberus Shoal incorporating elements of Talk Talk, Tortoise, and the early Windham Hill catalog into a sound that was incomparable at the time. Now, more than 20 years later, it’s proven astonishingly prescient and truly timeless. Beautifully remastered and finally made available digitally for the first time ever, this expanded deluxe edition includes the Lighthouse In Athens EP recorded during the same era as …And Farewell To Hightide.
File Under: Post Rock
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The Damned: Damned Damned Damned (BMG) LP
Yellow vinyl! Every Damned record is different and every one takes the band’s signature sound in a new direction. It all started with their debut Damned Damned Damned which was released in February 1977 and set the tone for the UK’s summer of hate. Reflecting the aggressiveness of the era, the Nick Lowe-produced affair surges with raw, vehement energy and humorous lyrics. Notably, the album yielded the first U.K. punk single, “New Rose,” and is undeniably one of punk rock’s signature debuts. 45th anniversary colored vinyl LP reissue.
File Under: Punk
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Death Grips: No Love Deep Web (Harvest) LP
Limited coke bottle clear wax and alternate cover version. Death Grips are officially releasing their excellent 2012 album ‘No Love Deep Web’ in physical formats. (They were dropped from Epic last year before it ever came out, having leaked the album online themselves). These 13 tracks thrive on paranoia and aggression, feelings threaded together by the sense that everything could be ending right now. With his voice squeezed above a heavy thud and electro chirp, MC Ride rolls the dice again, as he did on the balcony’s ledge: “My life on a limb about to break.” Across these 46 minutes, Ride creates a series of memento mori scenarios (and even goes so far as to invoke that phrase) and dares them to destroy him. As he puts it, “Fuck this world / Fuck this body.”
File Under: Hip Hop
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Dungen: En Är För Mycket och Tusen Aldrig Nog (Mexican Summer) LP
Dungen, torch bearers of Sweden’s rich and fabled history of pastoral psychedelia, return with En är för mycket och tusen aldrig nog, the band’s first full-length album since 2015’s Allas Sak. Creating their own critical and fervent, fan-based lane for guitar-powered, melodic and magisterial rock ‘n’ roll with their 2004 break out album Ta Det Lugnt, Dungen have since left a staggering array of albums and a prodigious live presence in the embers of their burning wake. En är för mycket och tusen aldrig nog (English translation: “One is too much and a thousand is not enough”) finds Dungen’s core four members Gustav Ejstes, Reine Fiske, Mattias Gustavsson, and Johan Holmegard in pure form, their now decades deep collaboration in total focus and elevated to new heights unobstructed by the spirits that once haunted and shaped the band’s music.
File Under: Psych
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Gilla Band: Most Normal (Rough Trade) LP
For their first album as Gilla Band, (formerly Girl Band) the foursome has redrawn their own paradigm. Most Normal is like little you’ve heard before, a kaleidoscopic spectrum of noise put in service of broken pop songs, FX-strafed Avant-punk rollercoaster rides and passages of futurist dancefloor nihilism. Covid lockdown robbed Gilla Band of any opportunity to try the new material out live, but the pandemic also incinerated any idea of a deadline for the new album. They were free to tinker at leisure, to rewrite and restructure and reinvent tracks they’d cut – to, as drummer Adam Faulkner puts it, “pull things apart and be like, ‘Let’s try this. We could try out every wild idea.” The group also fell under the spell of modern hip-hop, “where there’s really heavy-handed production and they’re messing with the track the whole time,” says Fox. “That felt like a fun route to go down, it was a definite influence.” Most Normal opens with an absolute industrial-noise banger that sounds like a manic house-party throbbing through the walls of the next room as a downed jetliner brings death from above. What follows is unpredictable, leading the listener through a sonic house of mirrors, where the unexpected awaits around every corner. The common thread holding Most Normal’s ambitious avant-pop shapes together is frontman Dara Kiely. Throughout, he’s an antic, antagonistic presence, barking wild, hilarious, unsettling spiels, babbling about smearing fish with lubricant or dressing up in bin-liners or having to wear hand-me-down boot-cut jeans (“It was a big, shameful thing, growing up, not being able to afford the look I wanted and having to wear all my brother’s old clothes”, says Kiely). Most Normal, then, is a triumph, the bold work of a group who’ve taken the time to evolve their ideas, to deconstruct and reconstruct their music and rebuild it into something new, something challenging and infinitely rewarding. It’s a headphone masterpiece. It’s a majestic exploration of the infinite possibilities of noise. It’s a bold riposte to your parochial beliefs on whatever a pop song can or should be. It’s the best work these musicians have put to (mangled) tape.
File Under: Indie Rock, Punk
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Goblin: Phenomena (Death Waltz) LP
Death Waltz Recording Company & Mondo are proud to present the complete original score to Dario Argento’s 1985 formidable fright film, Phenomena (a.k.a. Creepers). This Suspiria-esque offering features music by Claudio Simonetti, Goblin, Simon Boswell, and Andi Sex Gang, and includes all the original cues and two never-before-released bonus tracks! Immediately upon arrival at an exclusive girls boarding school in Switzerland, fourteen-year-old Jennifer (played by Jennifer Connelly in her first starring role) learns that a mysterious killer is on the loose and is targeting her demographic. Waking up from a midnight sleepwalk, she befriends a local entomologist (Donald Pleasance) and, with his help, realizes that she has the psychic ability to telepathically communicate with insects. Will this trait help catch the maniacal menace? The illusory orchestrations on this album comprise of an array of musical styles and incorporate a bevy of traditional and electronic instruments and effects – multi-layered reverberating synths, Simmons drums, bass, electric guitar and the inventive use of an operatic aria – the sonic results are a buzzing hive of sound. 2XLP featuring three previously unreleased recordings.
File Under: OST
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Grant Green: Feelin’ the Spirit (Blue Note) LP
Grant Green was Feelin’ The Spirit on this deeply soulful 1962 date that is a sibling of sorts to the great guitarist’s sanctified 1961 album Sunday Mornin’. Feelin’ The Spirit, which was the 13th album the remarkably prolific artist recorded during his first two years on the label, found Green interpreting a set of five African American spirituals – “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” “Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho,” “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Go Down Moses,” “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child,” and “Deep River.” Joining him was a state-of-the-art modern jazz line-up featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, with Garvin Masseaux on tambourine. In the original liner notes, writer Joe Goldberg notes that Green approaches these songs “with affection, but as music to be played in his style. The result is a fascinating combination: the techniques of modern jazz, blues, and gospel, all applied to the spiritual.”
File Under: Jazz
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Akira Ifukube: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2 (Death Waltz) LP
The Big G is back! But so is the Big Metal G in the 1993 Toho classic GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA II. An exploration team in the Bering Sea finds an unhatched egg before being caught in a smackdown between Godzilla and the giant Pteranodon Rodan. The egg hatches to reveal a Baby Godzilla, but unfortunately, its presence draws Godzilla to its location. However, this allows the emergency service of G-Force to test out their newest anti-Godzilla weapon: the gigantic mecha Mechagodzilla, loaded with missiles and secret weapons to bring down the giant monster. Once again, GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA II was scored by the legendary Akira Ifukube, whose incredibly thrilling music is a highlight of one of Toho’s best kaiju epics. Of course, the traditional Godzilla theme is front and center and as rousing as ever, but Ifukube also returns to his wonderful original 1956 music for Rodan. Mechagodzilla is given a huge, lumbering theme with low brass that conveys its tremendous power. Still, the sweet and quirky material provided to Baby Godzilla is perhaps the highlight of the score, with a solo woodwind motif and beautiful soaring strings befitting the regality of the son of the Big G. Another Ifukube masterpiece!
File Under: OST
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Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media: Woodstock Generation (Cinedelic) LP
Reissue, originally released in 1970. Finally, this ghost gem left by Jiro Inagaki’s Soul Media has been reissued on vinyl for the first time thanks to Cinedelic Records. Woodstock Generation is a masterpiece of Japanese jazz/rock funk/soul that for some it even considered better than the acclaimed Head Rock (1970) in terms of perfection; surely there are many points in common between the two albums having been made a few months later, in 1970. Behind the Soul Media name hides saxophonist Jiro Inagaki, an iconic figure of the Japanese jazz rock scene during the late sixties to the early seventies. Jiro is supported by his legendary quintet Soul Media under its first incarnation featuring Ryo Kawasaki (guitar), Yasuo Arakawa (bass), Masaru Imada (organ), Sadakazu Tabata (drums) with Tetsuo Fushimi and Shunzo Ohno on trumpet in addition. Woodstock Generation is a tribute album to the Woodstock Festival including cover of songs performed on the stage by Sly & Family Stone (“I Want To Take You Higher”), The Who (“Summertime Blues”), or Ten Years After (“Spoonful”) but also “Woodstock” (written by Joni Mitchell in honor of the festival) and “Mamma Told Me (Not To Come)” written by Randy Newman for Eric Burdon and The Animals. Titles include also variations on the Head Rock theme, “The Ground For Peace”, and original composition by Masahiko Sato, “Knick Knack”. All tracks arranged by Jiro Inagaki. Artwork by Eric Adrian Lee.
File Under: Jazz, Japan
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Damien Jurado: Waters Ave S (Sub Pop) LP
Sub Pop Records reissues Damien Jurado’s debut full-length, 1997’s Waters Ave S. The work of a young artist driven by complex inner visions, the LP offers a fresh chance to examine how far Jurado has come in the 25 years since its release – but also demonstrates how much of his point of view and vivid scenecraft was firmly in place from the very start. A veteran of the DIY punk and hardcore scenes, Jurado had begun taking steps into the world of lo-fi home recording. But with renowned indie rock producer Steve Fisk acting as producer, Waters Ave S introduced Jurado to the independent music world, presenting a set of 13 songs that encompass odes to remote desert outposts, late-night conversations with Elvis, a purple anteater, and the great beyond. Though new to the studio, Jurado’s storytelling lens is well honed; these compositions are filled with characters wandering the psychic wilderness, flawed but nonetheless certain of themselves, or at least certain enough. Those only familiar with Jurado’s ambient-tinged folk or AM gold psychedelia will find the album more punky than expected, replete with post-punk basslines, electric guitars, and a youthful tenor to Jurado’s voice. But what’s most striking about the record is how fully-formed his world is, especially on songs like the lilting, drum-looped “Angel of May,” the sci-fi “Space Age Mom,” and mournful simplicity of the title track. Jurado was just getting started, but the path he’d follow seems laid out by Waters Ave S. 25 years later, it’s clear that the creative spirit that fuels this idiosyncratic and exuberant record is one that still propels Jurado to this day.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Lambchop: The Bible (Merge) LP
The music on The Bible is more unpredictable than it’s ever been on a Lambchop record. Jazz careening into country, into disco, into funk, and back to country. Bandleader Kurt Wagner trusts his own voice – that he can tie all those sounds and styles together with his own words and phrasing, whether the lyrics are observing the dire headlines of racial strife from that summer in Minneapolis when he recorded The Bible, or just the graffiti outside the former paint factory where it was recorded, or the bumper stickers out on the highway, or his own feelings about his father confronting his mortality back home, or about him doing the same on his own wherever he may be in the world. This is Lambchop’s new album – born in a new place but out of a process that he first discovered back home at Nashville’s Springwater Supper Club, the one that helped him find his own voice in the first place. Amen. This is The Bible.
File Under: Indie Rock
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Danny Scott Lane: Wave to Mikey (Glossy Mistakes) LP
Wave to Mikey, the fourth album from the Los Angeles-based actor, musician, and photographer Danny Lane is a nocturnal, neon-lit ode to the friendships that shape us. “I made this album for my friend Mikey from back home,” Danny explains. “We were pretty much inseparable for a large part of our lives, and our musical and social minds were always in sync in a special way. Then with age, we drifted apart, especially since I moved to Los Angeles. This album is just a little wave hello to an old friend and a kindred spirit.” Equal parts avant-garde composition, instrumental city-pop, ambient, Kankyō Ongaku (environmental music), and fourth world music, Wave to Mikey is an impressionistic and reflective cycle of eleven richly detailed memory portraits. Throughout the album, the influence of Jon Hassell, Arthur Russell, Hiroshi Yoshimura, and Yellow Magic Orchestra hangs in the air like late-night mist, adding character but never overshadowing the rhythmic ambience of Danny’s musical visions. Wave To Mikey began as a series of sketches on analog synthesizers, guitar, sample and found percussion sketches, initially recorded in Danny’s home studio. Once he’d located the vibe, Danny called on his friends E Talley II, Solange collaborator John Carroll Kirby, and Destroyer session musician Joseph Shabason, who respectively added flute, spiritual synth textures and saxophone to the record. For Glossy Mistakes founder Mario G.R., who originally discovered Danny through his photography, Wave To Mikey captures a vivid feeling of melancholy and peace. Wave To Mikey marks Glossy Mistakes’ second contemporary album release, following on from Evenings by Japanese composer Metoronori. Mastered by Damian Schwartz.
File Under: Ambient, New Age
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The Lord & Petra Haden: Devotional (Southern Lord) LP
Devotional is a new collaborative album with vocalist and violinist Petra Haden, who first worked with Anderson during his time in Goatsnake, as well as on the second SUNN O))) studio album, ØØ Void. Devotional is a rapturous and heady offering of wordless vocalizations, droning guitars, and heaviness explored in unexpected and intoxicating ways. Inspirations came from deep listening to Indian classical music, as well as a fascinating look at the chaotic and unbelievable life of Ma Anand Sheela and the Rajneesh community. Through a haze of incense, flowing robes, and secret mantras, Haden’s voice rings out over constant drones in ecstatic chants throughout this musical investigation into the myriad of ways in which worship can lure and intoxicate. This is a journey that Haden and Anderson go on together, the guitar and vocals combined like the call and response of a guru and their congregation. Greg Anderson comments on the album, “I’m extremely happy with the recordings we made together. Petra’s vocals bring a whole new dimension to the heaviness.” Petra Haden comments, “It was so much fun getting to play and sing on SUNN O)))’s album ØØ Void. 20 years later, I’m on stage with them at The Mayan Theater in Los Angeles singing and playing on the encore. I was in heaven! After the show, Greg and I talked about working on more music together. When I heard his ideas, I already had melodies in my head. I recorded some ideas at home and it developed from there. Greg is a really deep listener and he’s so much fun to work with. Getting to collaborate with Greg reminds me why I love to sing and improvise. I feel free and happy. That’s what music is all about.” Seductive and hypnotic, Devotional is an intriguing new chapter in The Lord’s exploration of heavy music.
File Under: Metal, Drone
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Carmen Maki & Blues Creation: s/t (Nippon Columbia) LP
Folk singer-turned-rock singer Carmen Maki collaborated with Blues Creation on this album (’71). Immediately after the release of her masterpiece “The Devil and the Eleven Children”, Carmen Maki’s youthful voice, which was influenced by Janis Joplin, fused with a sturdy sound reminiscent of Bruce Creation’s LED ZEPPELIN, and it was a miracle of the early days of Japanese rock music. Later on, Kazuo Takeda’s Blues Creation was active as Creation, and Carmen Maki formed OZ. This is a monumental album that can be said to be a milestone for both artists to dominate the Japanese rock scene.
File Under: Psych, Jazz
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Makoto Matsushita: First Light (Warner Japan) LP
Double LP version with bonus track! A long-awaited LP vinyl reissue that is very popular as a Japanese AOR masterpiece. Makoto Matsushita is a well-known guitarist who participated in the fusion funk group AB’s with Tomaru Yoshino. The album is full of AOR taste, originally released in 1981. The original version is recreated and the photo jacket by Kaoru Ijima is faithfully reproduced.
File Under: Pop, AOR, Japan
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Municipal Waste: Electrified Brain (Nuclear Blast) LP
Electrified Brain marks Municipal Waste’s first album in five years, following the release of their critically exalted 2017 record Slime and Punishment. And don’t think they’ve slowed down in the years since. “We’re not writing any love ballads to sell records,” affirms vocalist Tony Foresta. “We’re just doing what we’ve always done since the band started – and that’s try to write loud, fast, and ripping hardcorepunkmetal. We hope you walk away with some bloody ears, blown speakers, pissed off parents, black eyes, and a healthy distrust of authority.” Recorded in Philadelphia with producer Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Code Orange), Electrified Brain is a high-voltage non-stop masterclass of neck-snapping thrash that’d be the ideal soundtrack for high-speed car chases and backyard steel cage matches as witnessed on the new track “Grave Dive.” “It’s in the vein of songs like ‘Headbanger Face Rip’ and ‘Wave of Death’,” Tony notes. “It’s an inspirational song for our fans to cause bodily harm to themselves, but in a loud and healthy way, of course.”
File Under: Metal
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Yumi Murata: Uterus Uterus (Universal Japan) LP
A reprint of the 5th album released in 1985, which is the first transfer to Toshiba EMI by a female singer who is also known for participating in Maria. A masterpiece of 80’S JAPANESE GROOVE produced / arranged by Masanori Sasaji
File Under: Jazz, Funk, Pop, Japan
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Issei Okamoto: Moonlight Mystery (Universal Japan) LP
The popular Japanese AOR / City Pop is the first reissue following the 1st album! Two years after the debut work “MOONLIGHT SINGING” in which Tatsuro Yamashita and Hiroshi Sato participated, the 2nd album, which further developed the AOR line, is an analog reprint. From the cool and solid city pop “MIDNIGHT STATION HOTEL” to the more funky SIDE-A such as the urban groove “Jamaican Night”, and the sentimental jazzy AOR “a little more”, SIDE-B’s mellow down. , It is a two-part work. Of course, the artwork that fascinates the vivid blue is by Hiroshi Nagai. This is the first analog reissue that reproduces the specifications of the time as much as possible.
File Under: AOR/City Pop, Japan
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Queens of the Stone Age: s/t (Matador) LP
Orange wax! Hatched in the deserts of Palm Springs, CA, the origins of Queens of the Stone Age can be traced to their hard and dusty teenage band Kyuss who gained a rep for slaying crowds with their hypnotic buzz rocking anthems. Homme flirted with joining Screaming Trees for a while before creating his ideal project, basing the sound on a fusion of Krautrock, and metal and futuristic country music. The project’s self-titled 1991 debut featured Homme, Nick Oliveri and guitarist Dave Catching, with brief membership behind the drums falling to Alfredo Hernandez. The landmark debut from Queens of the Stone Age is back in print for the first time in 10 years, restored to its original sequence with the original, long out-of-print artwork by Frank Kozik. The reissue also includes an obi-strip designed by longtime collaborator Boneface.
File Under: Rock, Metal
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Lou Reed: Words & Music, May 1965 (Light in the Attic) LP
“To hear a tape containing their earliest demos, recorded on May 11, 1965, and locked away until now, is to hear traces of things rarely associated with The Velvet Underground: blues and folk, earthy and traditional, uncertain and hesitant… yet bristling with that rusty, caustic, Lou Reed spirit. It is a revelation.” – Will Hodgkinson, MOJO
Light in the Attic Records, in cooperation with Laurie Anderson, proudly announces the inaugural title in their ongoing Lou Reed Archive Series: Words & Music, May 1965. Released in tandem with the late artist’s 80th birthday celebrations, the album offers an extraordinary, unvarnished, and plainly poignant insight into one of America’s true poet-songwriters. Capturing Reed in his formative years, this previously unreleased collection of songs—penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a “poor man’s copyright”—remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years. Its contents embody some of the most vital, groundbreaking contributions to American popular music committed to tape in the 20th century. Through examination of these songs rooted firmly in the folk tradition, we see clearly Lou’s lasting influence on the development of modern American music – from punk to art-rock and everything in between. A true time capsule, these recordings not only memorialize the nascent sparks of what would become the seeds of the incredibly influential Velvet Underground; they also cement Reed as a true observer with an innate talent for synthesizing and distilling the world around him into pure sonic poetry.
Featuring contributions from Reed’s future bandmate, John Cale, Words & Music, May 1965 presents in their entirety the earliest-known recordings of such historic songs as “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Pale Blue Eyes”—all of which Reed would eventually record and make indelibly influential with the Velvet Underground. Also included are several more previously-unreleased compositions that offer additional insight into Reed’s creative process and early influences. Produced by Laurie Anderson, Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner, and Matt Sullivan, the album features newly-remastered audio from the original tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin. Rounding out the package are new liner notes from acclaimed journalist and author, Greil Marcus, plus in-depth archival notes from Don Fleming and Jason Stern, who oversee the Lou Reed Archive.
File Under: Rock, Velvet Underground
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Say She She: Prism (Karma Chief) LP
The highly anticipated debut LP from Say She She (named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers, C’est chi-chi!: It’s Chic!), the all female discodelic soul band, will transport you with their dreamy harmonies, catchy hooks and up tempo grooves! The ladies of Say She She deliver a mesmerizing vocal performance, weaving their voices together in an elegant, haunting style that incorporates earworm melodies, lush harmonies, playful adlibs, and climactic hindi riffs accented with operatic cries that will reel you in and lift you into their otherworldly ether. The band’s sound is a hat tip to late 70’s girl groups with the three strong female lead voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown at the epicenter of a roaring roster of musicians including former members of the Dap-Kings, The Extraordinaires, the house band at Ronnie Scotts and members of underground cult-funk band Orgone. Pulling sounds from every corner of their record collections, Say She She is a multi-dimensional, multicultural, multi-instrumental, collaborative melting pot. Think Donna Summer meets The Rotary Connection with a sprinkling of Asha Puthli backed by members of the Meters. During the pandemic, the band found themselves making their debut LP – polishing off songs made on old tape machines in the basement studios of friends. The largely self-produced debut album Prism features contributions from Dap Kings Joey Crispiano & Victor Axelrod, Max Shrager (The Shacks), Bardo Martinez (Chicano Batman), Nikhil Yearwadekar (former Antibalas), Andy Bauer (Twin Shadow), and Matty McDermot (NYPMH), and is already one of the most anticipated records of the year.
File Under: Soul
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Surprise Chef: Education & Recreation (Big Crown) LP
Surprise Chef’s music is based on evoking mood; their vivid arrangements utilize time and space to build soundscapes that invite the listener into their world. The quintet’s distinct sound pulls from 70s film scores, the funkier side of jazz, and the samples that form the foundation of hip hop. They push the boundaries of instrumental soul and funk with their own approach honed by countless hours in the studio, studying the masters, and perhaps most importantly, the “tyranny of distance” that dictates a unique perspective to their music. Hailing from just outside of Melbourne, Australia their first two albums, All News Is Good News and Daylight Savings amassed a die-hard fanbase and brought their sound from their home studio to every corner of the globe. The band is now signed to Big Crown Records, joining a lineage of contemporary and classic sounds that have influenced Surprise Chef’s music since their formation in 2017. Surprise Chef is Lachlan Stuckey on guitar, Jethro Curtin on keys, Carl Lindeberg on bass, Andrew Congues on drums, and Hudson Whitlock – the latest member who does it all from percussion to composing to producing. Their self proclaimed “moody shades of instrumental jazz-funk” have a bit of everything: punchy drums, infectious keys, rhythm guitar you might hear on a Studio One record, and flute lines that could be from a Blue Note session. But when you step back and take in the entirety of their sound and approach, you’ll hear and see a group greater than the sum of its parts. Turn on the record and enjoy the ride, wherever it may take you.
FIle Under: Funk, Library, Jazz
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Tegan & Sara: Crybaby (Mom + Pop) LP
Innovative, multi-platinum Canadian duo Tegan and Sara deliver their tenth studio album, Crybaby which was co-produced with John Congleton (Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten) and recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle and Sargent Recorders in Los Angeles. “This was the first time where, while we were still drafting our demos, we were thinking about how the songs were going to work together,” says Tegan. “It wasn’t even just that Sara was making lyric changes or reorganizing the parts to my songs, it was that she was also saying to me, ‘This song is going to be faster,’ or it’s going to be in a different key.’ But Sara effectively improves everything of mine that she works on.” Sara adds, “Maybe I am the renovator. I’m the house-flipper of the Tegan and Sara band.” Introduced by the sweet, anthemic “Yellow,” Crybaby is a return to form, while also being something entirely new.
File Under: Pop
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Tomaga: Extended Play 1 & 2 (Hands in the Dark) LP
We are very happy to present ‘Extended Play 1 & 2’, a double vinyl compilation of the two latest, masterful EPs from Londoners TOMAGA. The first was released on vinyl in 2019 in a limited edition, and today is almost impossible to find. The second, released digitally the following year, now has its first vinyl release on this pressing. The duo, formed by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen, are considered one of the most exciting and innovative experimental groups of the 2010’s. These extremely special productions afford us the opportunity to come to know the full extent of Relleen’s talent after losing him suddenly a few months before the release of the album ‘Intimate Immensity’ in summer 2020. The intuitive musical dialogue held between the English bassist and electronics engineer and Italian drummer/percussionist Magaletti is based on dark, subtle jazz, with psychedelic and minimal nuances, and enriched, as with each new offering, with exotic idioms hitherto unused. These two EPs represent essential links in the creative evolution of TOMAGA’s substantial, prolific discography.
File Under: Jazz, Electronic, Experimental
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Tropical Fuck Storm + King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Satanic Slumber Party (Joyful Noise) LP
Somewhere along a frayed thread of time, a King Gizz and a Tropical Fuck Storm convened under the cloak of night for a slumber party of the satanic persuasion…Pumped full of booze and adrenaline, two of psych-rock’s most powerful joined forces for a 20-minute “Hatjam” chockfull of sax skronks, brick-heavy distortion, and punchy riffs. Satanic Slumber Party arrives just in time for your possessed pleasure.
File Under: Psych, Rock
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Venom: Black Metal (Sanctuary) LP
Silver & Black swirl vinyl! “Black Metal” is the second album by English heavy metal pioneers Venom. Released hot upon the heels of their first assault came Venom’s nearly as crucial second album, 1982’s Black Metal, whose title alone still lends itself to the most uncompromising strain of heavy metal in existence today. The nature of Venom’s high-pitch guitars, harsh vocals, use of pseudonyms, and unrelenting emphasis on Satanic lyrics and imagery is considered the template for the subgenre’s later successes, and arguably for the broader extreme metal movement in general.
File Under: Metal
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…..restocks…..
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (R&S) LP
Behemoth: Opvs Contra Natvram (Nuclear Blast) LP
Black Angels: Wilderness of Mirrors (Partisan) LP
black midi: Hellfire (Rough Trade) LP
black midi: Schlagenheim (Rough Trade) LP
Broken Bells: Into the Blue (AWAL) LP
Comet Is Coming: Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (Impulse) LP
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River (Craft) LP
Charlie Crockett: Music City USA (Thirty Tigers) LP
Daft Punk: Random Access Memories (Columbia) LP
Richard Dawson & Circle: Henki (Domino) LP
Descendents: Somery (SST) LP
Digable Planets: Blowout Comb (Modern Classics) LP
Dinosaur Jr: Sweep It Into Space (Jagjaguwar) LP
Ella Fitzgerald: Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (Verve) LP
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Ella and Louis Again (Verve) LP
Goat: World Music (Rocket) LP
Goblin: Susperia (Death Waltz) LP
High Vis: Blending (Dais) LP
Joe Hisaishi: Castle in the Sky: Soundtrack (Studio Ghibli) LP
Joe Hisaishi: My Neighbor Totoro: Soundtrack (Studio Ghibli) LP
Idles: Crawler (Partisan) LP
Idles: Joy As An Act of Resistance (Partisan) LP
Ikebe Shakedown: The Way Home (Colemine) LP
Kaytranada: 99.9% (Sony) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: K.G. (ATO) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Sketches of Brunswick East (ATO) LP
Mica Levi: Under the Skin (Lakeshore) LP
London Experimental Jazz Quartet: Invisible Roots (Roundtable) LP
Madlib & Freddie Gibbs: Pinata (MMS) LP
Madvillian: Madvilliany (Stones Throw) LP
Mythic Sunship: Light/Flux (Tee Pee) LP
Angel Olsen: Big Time (Jagjaguwar) LP
Outkast: Aquemini (Le Face) LP
Outkast: ATLiens (LeFace) LP
Outkast: Stankonia (LeFace) LP
Paysage D’Hiver: Die Festung (Kunsthall) LP
Pearl Jam: Ten (Epic) LP
Pink Floyd: Animals (Pink Floyd) LP
Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother (Pink Floyd) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies to Paralyze (Interscope) LP
Seaside Lovers: Memories in Beach House (Great Tracks) LP
Shellac: 1000 Hurts (Touch & Go) LP
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood: Nancy & Lee (Light in the Attic) LP
Nala Sinephro: Space 1.8 (Warp) LP
Soul Media: Funky Stuff (Nippon Columbia) LP
Spoon: Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador) LP
Spoon: They Want My Soul (Republic) LP
Stevia aka Susumu Yokota: Fruits of the Room (Glossy Mistakes) LP
Harry Styles: s/t (Columbia) LP
Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (Craft) LP
Sure Fire Soul Ensemble: Out On The Coast (Colemine) LP
Hiromasa Suzuki: High Flying (Nippon Columbia) LP
Taylor Swift: Evermore (Republic) LP
Tame Impala: Currents (Modular) LP
Thee Sacred Souls: s/t (Daptone) LP
McCoy Tyner: The Real McCoy (Blue Note) LP
Violent Femmes: Add It Up (1981-1993) LP
Jack White: Blunderbuss (Third Man) LP
Jack White: Entering Heaven Alive (Third Man) LP
Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (Matador) LP
Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (Matador) LP
Various: Basement Beehive: The Girl Group Underground (Numero) LP