Lots of killer wax in this week! Some amazing reissues from Spain with the newest Rapoon reissue and Les Halles. The vinyl issue of last year’s amazing tape by The Drin. The first of the Daft Punk reissues is finally out, good news for those who were patient, bad news if you actually paid internet prices recently. The long delayed Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage is finally in (Out to Lunch is coming next week!) oh and so is the super late new Ty Segall too.
Also this week, they’ve announced the Record Store Day exclusives list. You can find the list HERE or the Canadian list HERE , but it’s also worth noting, that we deal with tons of suppliers so we also can sometimes get some of the UK & European releases. Needless to say we’ll be ordering all the stuff we would stock if it was just a regular release, but if there’s something on the list you hope to find in our shop on that day, be sure to let us know ASAP so we can be sure to order it for you. Don’t worry, we’ll order a ton of Viktor Vaughn, Art Pepper, Karen Dalton, Voivoid. As usual, unfortunately, just because we order 20 doesn’t mean we’ll get 20. So keep an eye out closer to the date to see what we’ll actually have in. Oh and it’s important to note as well, no more Remote RSD, this year, in store only.. good thing we’ve all been practicing standing in line for the last 2 years.
As previously mentioned, in line with current health restrictions we are operating as below..
– in-store shopping/pick ups – 11 – 6 pm Monday – Friday, 11 am – 4 pm Saturday
(if you don’t want to come into the store for a pick up, call and/or use the back door)
– Max 4 people in the store at a time
– Wear a mask(if you don’t have one, we’ll have some)
– Sanitize your hands(we’ll have some)
…..picks of the week…..
Rapoon: Fallen Gods (Abtrakce) LP
‘Fallen Gods’ is the third studio album by Rapoon aka Robin Storey, formerly of :zoviet*france:. Originally released in 1994, ‘Fallen Gods’ emerged amid a prolific early period for the Rapoon project, following in the wake of debut album ‘Dream Circle’ – originally released in 1992 – and second outing ‘Raising Earthly Spirits’, released a year later. Building on the haunting industrial ethers of ‘Dream Circle’ and the esoteric, rhythmic drone of ‘Raising Earthly Spirits’, ‘Fallen Gods’ consolidates many of the sounds and disciplines that had shaped Storey’s work up to this point, while indicating a newfound, concerted focus on classical Indian instrumentation. The results represent a synthesis of myriad ideas, rooted in the duality between modernity and mysticism. Throughout ‘Fallen Gods’ the reverberant pulse of Tabla-led percussion and the remote tones of what sounds like the Bulbul tarang (aka Indian banjo) resound and repeat in locked instrumental cycles, as vast, atmospheric shadows and echoes are unfurled. On ‘Sanctum’ Storey creates a mesmeric form of ceremonial indigenous music and with ‘Iron Path’ combines ramshackle, automotive percussion and distant zither-like emanations. Intensities are heightened with the title track, as Storey delivers a sidereal melee of barrelling drum sequences, gleaming ambient vapours, and stuttering glossolalia. In these opening exchanges, as with much of ‘Fallen Gods’, archaic modes of musical performance are uniquely reconstructed, as organic elements are subjected to inventive technological processes; primitivism made mechanical. Presenting a pure vista of celestial drone on ‘Breathing Gold’, the album resumes a hypnotic, scrupulous exploration of perpetual drum cadences, deep modulations of traditional instrumentation and prodigious ripples of spectral, otherworldly resonances on ‘Sataranum’ and ‘Sacrement’. Works of infinite circular rhythms. From here the unadorned ancient tones of ‘Khomat’ and the chasmal nomadic roots music of ‘Dusk Red Walls’ present a shift in momentum, a sense of pause and suspended reflection, before the ascendant finale of ‘Valley’, a coda of undulating keys, expansive FX, and condensed surges of sampled percussion. Altogether these compositions form a deeply arresting body of work that is arguably considered one of Storey’s finest works, a record that still sounds both completely original and remarkably timeless. An enigmatic landmark in Storey’s early solo output, ‘Fallen Gods’ sees the sound world of the Rapoon project reiterated, expanded and memorably enriched. Across nine tracks Storey weaves together indeterminate, sonorous currents of ambient and experimental electronics with magnetic, sprawling passages of acoustic instrumentation, creating a profound work of entrancing, ritualistic minimalism. Comparisons could be drawn with the panoramic soundscapes of Lustmord, the fourth world ambitions of Jon Hassell, the heavy outernational psychedelia of Psychick Warriors ov Gaia but really ‘Fallen Gods’ illustrates an artist establishing their own trajectory, a distinct indication that Storey had moved way beyond :zoviet*france:. into the flourishing territories and intricate sound environments of the Rapoon project. Limited edition of 500 copies. Remastered by Colin Potter (Nurse With Wound).
File Under: Fourth World, Minimal, Tribal, Kris’s Picks, Ian’s Picks
Buy Here
The Drin: Engines Sing for the Pale Moon (Drunken Sailor) LP
“It begins with a rustle of noise, equally reminiscent of distorted factory noise and a cassette recording of cathedral bells unspooling, before a near-robotic beat and stuttering bassline enter the fray. Initially, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled across the lost tapes of Joy Division’s early Warsaw incarnation, but the atonal blast of strafing guitars fading in and out soon make you realise this is a very different proposition. This is The Drin, and ‘Engines Sing for the Pale Moon’ is their debut album. It’s also one of the best things you’ll hear all year. Helmed by Dylan McCartney, drummer of the rock band Vacation, The Drin originally released this album as a hyper-limited cassette via Future Shock. It’s as much of a departure from McCartney’s usual output as it is for Drunken Sailor Records; songs don’t so much explode out of the gate as drift towards you like a creeping fog that turns your skin inside-out and leaves you sloshing organs all across the carpet. Second track ‘Guillotine Blade’ shows the pieces all coming together, a dubbed-out riot of claustrophobic noise that feels like Pere Ubu trapped in a cupboard one minute, and ‘Warm Jets’-era Eno trying on Bauhaus’ trenchcoats the next. Meanwhile, ‘Down Her Cheek A Party Tear’ unfolds across jittering, skittering rustles of drums and an undulating bassline, making you wonder why post-millennial post-punk so often settles for dickheads shouting non-sequiturs over landfill indie, when it could be entering these dark, unsettling territories instead. The Drin like to get weird. The Drin like to get wild. The Drin rarely cut loose, but that’s because the trip is already intense and haunting enough without things getting raucous in here as well. Hey kids, turn off those [shite band name redacted] records and get into this; you deserve so much better, and better’s right here. Fall into it, immerse yourself and step forward into a brave new world. I love this record.” Will Fitzpatrick
File Under: Lo-Fi, Post Punk, Ian’s Picks, Piyush’s Picks
Buy Here
Les Halles: Invisible Cities (Oryx) LP
The 2014 debut solo collection by French wind-walker Baptiste Martin aka Les Halles remains a masterpiece of soft light and subdued yearning, woven from grainy panpipe samples, tape hiss, and spectral delay. Recorded late at night in a tiny room in Montpellier, Invisible Cities quivers like a candle by the sea, its fragile illumination flickering against an expanse of sky, silence, and sorrow. The pieces feel both ancient and immediate, glimpsing currents behind the veil, at the threshold of presence and absence. The track titles evoke similarly transient states of echo, memory, and negative mirrors. This is music of solitude and devotion, of empty streets and unremembered dreams, fleetingly captured via the eternal alchemy of FX pedals and a 4-track. (Britt Brown) All tracks recorded by Baptiste Martin, in Montpellier (France), in late 2013. This collection of tracks is named after Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.
File Under: Ambient, New Age, Kris’s Picks
Buy Here
…..new arrivals…..
Alt-J: The Dream (Infectious) LP
The Dream is an album of intrigue, beauty and humanity – a coalescence of everything that has made alt-J a global band with true staying power. True-crime inspired stories and tales of Hollywood and the Chateau Marmont rub shoulders with some of the band’s most personal moments to-date. The album was created after a period of rest for the band following their seismic world tour in support of previous record Relaxer. It is a record that is the sound of a band growing as songwriters and storytellers.
File Under: Indie Rock
Buy Here
Batang Frisco: s/t (B.F.E.) LP
Founded by Bill DiMichele, the lifespan of San Francisco based project Batang Frisco (‘San Francisco Kids’ in the Filipino dialect Tagalog) is inimitably distilled on this solitary self-titled record, an outlandish private press pearl of homespun minimal synth music. Recorded over the course of 1985/6 and self-released in 1986, the one and only Batang Frisco LP was the product of an inconspicuous DIY existence spent in the margins of the Bay Area scene in the 1980s. Consequently, the duo’s defining debut remained an enigmatic article at the time, overlooked by many but admired by the lucky few. A miraculous curio of haywire electronics, crude drum machines, raucous 80s riffage, glistening soundscapes, irreverent, surrealistic lyricism and doctored samples, ‘Batang Frisco’ has since gained well-merited cult recognition. Although Batang Frisco may partly evoke the lurid, mutated preset punk of mid-period Chrome / early Damon Edge, as well as perhaps the playful, infectious Dadaism of Zru Vogue – something must have been in the water in San Francisco at the time – they remain an original proposition with a legacy that has only been belatedly acknowledged in recent years. ‘Power’ was featured on the Dark Entries retrospective compilation ‘Bay Area Retrograde Volume 1’, and ‘Sewing Machine’ has become a familiar favourite in the DJ sets of Nosedrip (Stroom) and Interstellar Funk, who featured the track on the Artificial Dance compilation ‘Interstellar Funk Presents: Artificial Dancers – Waves of Synth’.
File Under: Punk, Minimal Synth, Electronic
Buy Here
Matt Berry: Gather Up (Acid Jazz) BOX
Following the huge acclaim (see below) earlier this year for Matt Berry’s eighth studio album The Blue Elephant, on 26th November Acid Jazz Records will release Gather Up, a box set encompassing the singular musical adventures this extraordinary musician has taken over the past decade, offering a revelatory and fascinating insight into the working process of a genuine musical maverick and sonic explorer. Over 10 years with Acid Jazz Records Berry has released nine incredibly diverse albums (including one live album). From the tangled-folk rock thickets of Witchazel and Kill The Wolf (which features the song from which this box gets its name), to the out-there explorations of Music For Insomniacs or TV Themes’ retro-kitsch delights, through the soul power in Matt Berry & The Maypoles Live or the twilight grooves of The Small Hours to the classic pedal-steel songwriting of Phantom Birds and the smorgasbord of psychedelic sounds on The Blue Elephant, Berry’s journey has produced a feast for the ears that twists and turns down more unexpected avenues than most artists could manage over several careers. The Gather Up box set is the perfect summation of the past decade, and far more interesting and intriguing than a standard albums collection. Discs one and two, Gather Up Part 1 and Part 2, pulls together an excellent 21-track career spanning collection expertly compiled by Berry (also available as a separate, standalone release on 2LP or single CD), including non-album tracks such as ‘Snuff Box Theme’. No easy achievement considering the sheer breadth, diversity and volume of his exceptional musical output.
File Under: Rock. Pop
Buy Here
Biohazard: Urban Discipline (Run Out Groove) LP
With their unique mixture of hardcore, metal and groove/rap, Biohazard crested the Mount Olympus of the international hardcore and metal scene at the beginning of the ’90s. What started out with Biohazard (1990) found its worthy continuation in Urban Discipline (1992) and State Of The World Address (1994). On the strength of hit single “Punishment” which became the most played video in the history of MTV’s Headbangers Ball at the time, Urban Discipline moved a million copies and led to opening slots on the road for the likes of House of Pain, Sick Of It All, Fishbone, and Kyuss. This vinyl 2LP reissue of Urban Discipline from Run Out Groove marks the album’s first U.S. release on the format and sees it expanded with bonus tracks and deluxe packaging including an exclusive poster.
File Under: Metal
Buy Here
Daft Punk: Discovery (Daft Life) LP
In their nearly 30-year history together Grammy-winning robot helmet adorned French house duo Daft Punk redefined electronic music, pioneered the live dance concert experience and shaped pop culture. Widely regarded as an innovative synthesis of techno, house, acid house and disco, their 1997 debut Homework stands among the most influential dance music recordings of all time. By 1999 the duo were well into the recording sessions for their second album, embarking down converging paths of analog and digital music by incorporating samples from the late ’70s and early ’80s to flesh out a distinctly more pop-oriented sound. 2001’s multi-platinum Discovery was conceived as an attempt to reconnect with a playful, open-minded attitude associated with the discovery phase of childhood. It reached No. 2 in the UK, and its single “One More Time” was a major club hit, adding a new generation to their obsessive ranks of fans internationally. Additional singles – “Digital Love” as well as the Kanye West sampled “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” – were also hugely successful. “This album has a lot to do with our childhood and the memories of the state we were in at that stage of our lives,” said Thomas Bangalter. “It’s about our personal relationship to that time. It’s less of a tribute to the music from 1975 to 1985 as an era, and more about focusing on the time when we were zero to ten years old. When you’re a child you don’t judge or analyze music. You just like it because you like it. You’re not concerned with whether it’s cool or not. Sometimes you might relate to just one thing in a song, such as the guitar sound. This album takes a playful, fun, and colorful look at music. It’s about the idea of looking at something with an open mind and not asking too many questions. It’s about the true, simple, and honest relationship you have with music when you’re open to your own feelings.”
File Under: Electronic
Buy Here
Deerhoof: Actually, You Can (Joyful Noise) LP
Actually, You Can is a genre-abundant record that uses technicolor vibrancy and arpeggiated muscularity to offer a vital shock from capitalism’s purgatorial hold. Opener “Be Unbarred, O Ye Gates of Hell” literally storms the barricades, interpolating a Handel aria, a Maya Angelou essay, and a Catholic homily in which Christ descends into inferno to release its captive souls. “These days, to be a moral person is to be a criminal,” clarifies Greg Saunier of the album’s countercultural embrace of liberation. “That’s the spirit we were trying to express: an angelic, glamorous prison bust.” That glamour comes replete with thrashing twin guitar assaults from Ed Rodriguez and John Dieterich, and Saunier’s tuned-up, hyperpop-via-nu metal snare bombast. “Scarcity is Manufactured,” Actually, You Can’s thesis, flips “La Bamba” into uncharted time signatures; Rodriguez and Dieterich shred in and out of unison at a high speed scrub while Saunier’s heavier-than-ever kit bashes in sync with Satomi Matsuzaki’s fuzzed-out bass. She sings with a candy in her mouth, “I thought it was night, but it’s day! It’s every day at once! Behold my house of light! Bankruptor of the rainbow!” It’s a condemnation of America’s mundanity, replacing the narrative of inevitable violence with the real joy that’s not being talked about. For new listeners and decades-long devotees, Deerhoof’s electrifying, generous approach to collaborative worldbuilding on Actually, You Can is an emboldening call to support our communities with renewed strength, infinite love, and the resilience to keep exploring.
File Under: Indie Rock
Buy Here
Martin Franklin & Richard Clare: Invocation (Oryx) LP
A trip to Ambient paradise on exotic percussion, spacey keyboards, dreamy flutes, following a roadmap guided only by the vibes. Originally recorded in the late ’80’s, with contributions from Mykl O’Dempsey, Ramesh Singh and Phil Escott these songs were the first approaches of Martin Franklin and Richard Clare before embarking on the TUU project. The TUU trio went on to define a strand of global ambient sound throughout the 90’s with releases on SDV Tontrager, Amplexus, Beyond Records, Waveform and Hearts Of Space offshoot, Fathom Records. Originally released as a hand-made cassette edition on the band’s own label, Soundimage in February 1990. This is a remastered vinyl reissue, limited to 300 copies, with new artwork done by Martin Franklin.
File Under: Ambient, New Age
Buy Here
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage (Blue Note) LP
Blue Note Records is pleased to present the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Reissue Series, a continuation of their acclaimed Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series which was launched in celebration of the label’s 80th anniversary in 2019. The Classic Series will once again feature all-analog 180g vinyl pressings in standard packaging that are mastered by Kevin Gray directly from the original master tapes and manufactured at Optimal in Germany. The first 16 titles of the Classic Series will focus on the enduring classics of the Blue Note catalog. The Classic Series will be on-going, running alongside the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series which is produced by Joe Harley. Even by the high-water marks set by Herbie Hancock’s tremendous 1960s Blue Note output, 1965’s Maiden Voyage remains one of the pinnacle artistic achievements of the great pianist’s career. Hancock is joined here by his Miles Davis Quintet bandmates Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums, along with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and George Coleman on tenor saxophone. The quintet embarks on an oceanic exploration of five original Hancock compositions, several of which have since become enduring standards of the jazz lexicon including the title track, “Eye of the Hurricane,” and “Dolphin Dance.”
File Under: Jazz, Essential Grooves
Buy Here
Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album (Omnivore) LP
“He had ideas as deep as the sea. I mean I never heard anybody, even today, play like that.” – Odean Pope – tenor saxophonist
In 1964, drummer/composer Max Roach convinced Atlantic Records to record him with producer Nusuhi Ertegun at the helm. Sessions were held in December of 1964 and the resulting album, The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan was released three months later. Atlantic invited Ali to record again in August and September of 1965, but before mixing sessions could turn the recorded material into a releasable album, Ali had become incarcerated on a narcotics possession. Atlantic shelved the album. Thirteen years later that tape went up in flames in an Atlantic Records warehouse in Long Branch, New Jersey. For years a rumor circulated, that a copy of the sessions had been made, but attempts to locate it never turned up a source… until now. Restored and mastered by Grammy® Award-winning engineer, Michael Graves from a tape copy of long-lost reference acetates of the sessions and with notes from producer Alan Sukoenig and author/pianist/teacher, Lewis Porter, Omnivore Recordings is proud to present this long-thought lost piece of jazz history. The project, co-produced by Alan Sukoenig and Grammy® Award-nominated producer, Patrick Milligan, and Grammy® Award-winning producer, Cheryl Pawelski, features the seven surviving tracks from the album sessions along with three surviving alternate takes. Packaging includes photos from December of 1964 by notable photographer Larry Fink, who refers to Ali as, “the Prokofiev of jazz.” Personnel on the August 23 and September 7, 1965 sessions that took place at Atlantic Studios in New York City were Hasaan Ibn Ali, piano; Odean Pope, tenor sax; Art Davis, bass and Kalil Madi, drums and all are profiled in the liner notes.
File Under: Jazz
Buy Here
Lucero: s/t (Liberty & Lament) LP
Like the great river that flows through Memphis, the music of Lucero keeps rolling on, twisting and turning through the years, the same dark and brooding steadiness always at work. Since forming in late the ‘90s, this group of Memphis road-dogs has mixed heartfelt lyrics with the sounds of early rock and roll, classic punk, country-folk, and deep-fried Southern soul. It’s a sound that stands on the pillars of American music, born more of feeling than technique, delivered night after night to legions of fans in dive bars and theaters, and on stages as august as Red Rocks Amphitheater and the Ryman. In short, it’s music that is built to last, impervious to trends. Lucero’s eponymous 2001 debut album pressed for the first time ever on vinyl, in honor of the 20th anniversary of its release. Gatefold 180g 2LP-set with original CD artwork reformatted for vinyl.
File Under: Folk, Punk, Country
Buy Here
Mars Volta: Amputechture (Clouds Hill) LP
The band’s third album, would prove The Mars Volta’s most diverse set yet, drawing into the group’s tornado of influences moments of fiery jazz spirituality and esoteric folk introspection, finding space for passages of devastating subtlety and also their most fierce and full-on moments to date. Amputechture, then, is the sound of The Mars Volta in imperial mode: fearless, insatiable, unstoppable.
File Under: Rock
Buy Here
Bruno Mars: XXIVk Magic (Atlantic) LP
Multi-Grammy-winning megastar Bruno Mars returns with his highly-anticipated third studio album, 24K Magic, his first piece of solo music in nearly four years. Written and produced by Shampoo Press & Curl, lead single “24K Magic” sees Bruno bringing back his signature bounce with the singer proclaiming, “You can call it my first single, but I call it the invitation to the party.” The critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer, and musician scored his first five “Hot 100” No. 1’s faster than any male since Elvis Presley. Mars most recently dominated the charts with hit single “Uptown Funk.” The worldwide smash is the longest-leading Billboard Hot 100 single of the 2010s, and is only the tenth single in the Hot 100’s 57-year history to spend at least 14 weeks at No. 1. “Uptown Funk” took home 3 Grammy Awards this past year, including the coveted Record of the Year award.
File Under: Funk, Soul, Pop, Hip Hop
Buy Here
Kendra Morris: Nine Lives (Karma Chief) LP
Kendra Morris’s Nine Lives marks not only the culmination of the decade since the release of her first LP Banshee, but also a turning point in Kendra’s life. Nine Lives heralds the beginning of a new chapter; label, and an evolution to the next level of adulthood. This collection of her original songs encapsulates moments from what could be nine lifetimes. Kendra, while very much a New Yorker and veteran of almost two decades on the NYC scene, hails from Florida and aesthetically embodies the broader sense of American culture, bringing to her contemporary sound influences found in music and cinema dating back to the mid 20th century. Her music conjures imagery evocative of road trips to weird and wonderful places. Concurrently a visual artist, filmmaker and animator, Kendra harnesses the feline nine lives metaphor repeatedly. In the context of the chapters of her musical trajectory alone, we see at least 9 lives. From discovering multi-tracking on a karaoke machine as a child, to playing in bands in Florida, moving to NYC and creating music alone on an 8-track, releasing her first two LPs on Wax Poetics, releasing her 2016 EP Babble and collaborating with DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, MF Doom, Czarface, Ghostface Killah, Dennis Coffey, and David Sitek, to name a few. The life of this multi-disciplinarian artist contains units of time and story lines through which we can all relate to universal themes of love, loss and overcoming one’s fears. Kendra, never ceasing to heed her spiritual calling to continue creating music and art, no matter what, has no plans of slowing down but a belief in only evolving, eager to begin experiencing her next nine lives.
File Under: Funk, Soul
Buy Here
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills: Notes with Attachments (Impulse) LP
Notes With Attachments is an album-length instrumental collaboration between bassist Pino Palladino and guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/producer Blake Mills. Recorded in stages over two and a half years and initially conceived as a solo project for Palladino, it brings together a shared cohort of musicians from jazz, R&B, pop, and beyond including drummer Chris Dave, keyboardist Larry Goldings, and saxophonists Sam Gendel, Marcus Strickland, and Jacques Scwartz-Bart.
File Under: Jazz
Buy Here
Ty Segall: Harmonizer (Drag City) LP
Rolling out of the mist and dust and silence of time, Ty Segall is behind the wheel of a sleek new ride, a confetti of pages torn from his ongoing saga blizzarding into the air behind him. With Harmonizer, his first album in two years, Ty glides smoothly into unexpected territory, right where he likes to find himself! Responding to the challenge his new songs gave him: a synthtastic production redesign, Ty kicks back with bottom-heavy creativity, dialing up a wealth of guitar and keyboard settings to do the deed. Harmonizer is a glossy, barely-precedented sound for him, and truth, it enraptures the ear—but in Ty’s hands, the sound is also a tool that allows him to cut through dense undergrowth, making for some of his cleanest songs and starkest ideas to date. Harmonizer’s production model couches tightly-controlled beats in thick keyboard textures, with direct-input guitar signal whining and buzzing purposefully from left to right. The Freedom Band appear all over the record, but often one at a time, their contributions leaving a distinctive footprint on the proceedings wherever they appear. Operating in this airtight environment with an eye towards precision, feel, and explosive mass, Ty’s crafted a formidable listening encounter—and once you get between the lines, the need to know more grows more compelling with every song.
File Under: Punk, Psych
Buy Here
Unwound: Leaves Turn Inside You (Numero) LP
The Unwound album that ended all Unwound albums. Recorded in a moldering farmhouse basement at the crest of the new century, Leaves Turn Inside You is the no-wave response to Spector’s wall of noise call. Infinite layers of choppy guitar stabs and bridge scrapes, guttural bass thronk, thrift store synths, and monotone chanting wash over suffocating rhythms to deliver the world’s only choral grunge LP. Remastered from the original analog tapes and pressed on heavyweight colored vinyl 2LP for the discerning noise-nik.
File Under: Punk, Indie Rock, Essential Grooves
Buy Here
White Stripes: s/t (Third Man) LP
Here is where it all begins. Spare, minimal, and economical, the White Stripes’ 1999 debut set the tone for the legendary releases that would follow. Featuring booming sounds made with just voice, guitar, and drums, the self-titled record relishes pounding drums, jagged guitar riffs, howling vocals, and bashed-out rhythms fueled on fuzzed-out effects and primal passion. A pair of well-chosen covers, Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee,” and Blind Willie Johnson’s “John the Revelator,” make this a must-have. The White Stripes were never again as raw as they are here. In the way it blends punk, blues and garage rock, guitarist/vocalist Jack White described the album as “really angry…the most raw, the most powerful, and the most Detroit sounding record we’ve made.” As for the sonics, now better than ever, remastered from the original analog source? The White Stripes’ use of analog and low-fidelity equipment in the recording process partnered with a DIY approach created a simplicity of composition, arrangement and performance that sets them apart from their contemporaries. This music was meant to be experienced in analog. Get your copy today!
File Under: Rock
Buy Here
White Stripes: De Stijl (Third Man) LP
Originally released in 2000, The White Stripes second album De Stijl was recorded on 8-track analog tape in vocalist/guitarist Jack White’s living room and is now a cult classic. Named after an early 20th century minimalist art movement (no doubt a tip of the cap to the group’s own sound), the record finds the band expanding on its 1999 self-titled debut, bettering the songwriting, weaving in additional melodies, and increasing the variety. In addition to the pair’s trademark garage-blues punch, country flavors, vaudeville pop accents, and acoustic currents run wild, the invigorating effort ricocheting with equal parts raw noise and sing-a-long tunefulness. Jack White continues to sharpen his impressive guitar skills with myriad riffs, and Meg White’s fill-free drumming provides the perfect subtle support. DeStijl is simultaneously brooding and ebullient, primal and sort-of-produced. A key cog in the band’s discography. As for the sonics, now better than ever, remastered from the original analog source? The White Stripes’ use of analog and low-fidelity equipment in the recording process partnered with a DIY approach created a simplicity of composition, arrangement, and performance that sets them apart from their contemporaries. This music was meant to be experienced in analog. Get your copy today!
File Under: Rock
Buy Here
Charlotte Day Wilson: Alpha (Stone Woman) LP
Charlotte Day Wilson is a 28-year-old vocalist, producer and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Toronto, Canada. With roots ranging from R&B to folk, her soulful, singular voice and timeless sound garnered global attention with the 2016 release of her debut EP CDW, along with her work with collaborators BADBADNOTGOOD, Daniel Caesar and River Tiber. She returned in 2018 with her poignant EP Stone Woman, a crystalline statement of intent with stirring demonstration of power and poise. With heavy anticipation from her audience and Charlotte herself, her debut full-length album Alpha is an undoubtedly raw and graceful display of her dedication, artistry, and growth.
File Under: Funk, Soul
Buy Here
…..restocks…..
Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique (Capitol) LP
Juan Belda: s/t (Abstrakce) LP
Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD) LP
Czarface & Ghostface: Czarface Meets Ghostface (Silver Age) LP
Czarface & MF Doom: Czarface Meets Metal Face (Silver Age) LP
Czarface: A Fistful of Peril (Silver Age) LP
Czarface: The Odd Czar Against Us (Silver Age) LP
Bill Fay: Still Some Light Vol. 1 (Dead Oceans) LP
Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On (Universal) LP
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: F#A# (Constellation) LP
Holy Hive: s/t (Big Crown) LP
Ikebe Shakedown: Kings Left Behind (Colemine) LP
King Crimson: Thrak (Panegyric) LP
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio: Live at KEXP (Colemine) LP
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio: I Told You So (Colemine) LP
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio: Cold as Weiss (Colemine) LP
Chris Stapleton: Traveller (Universal) LP
Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy: Superwolves (Drag City) LP
Taylor Swift: Folklore (Republic) LP
Various: Brighter Days Ahead (Colemine) LP
