listen records

Welcome back to winter! Not a ton in this week, but I’ve been busy buying some cool used stuff and we’re workin’ away trying to get it out as quickly as possible. Good time for a dig.

…..pick of the week…..

Husker Du: Savage Young Du (Numero) 4LP Box
Experience the punishing sonic origins of a punk icon. Collected here for the first time, and skillfully remastered from original board tapes, demos, and session masters, this collection is an authoritative chronicling of the wellspring and maturation of Grant Hart, Greg Norton and Bob Mould—three St. Paul teenagers who’d go on to become the most heralded trio of the American punk underground. Follow the Hüskers to their earliest gigs in 1979, through extensive road dog touring, and to the start of their partnership with West Coast tastemaker SST in 1983 via a 108-page hardbound book crammed full of photos, flyers, and a sprawling essay with participation from the band. Spread across four LPs, 47 of the 69 songs compiled here are previously unissued, and includes In A Free Land, Everything Falls Apart , and an alternate Land Speed Record.

File Under: Punk
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…..new arrivals…..

Belbury Circle: Outward Journeys (Ghost Box) LP
The first full length LP for this collaborative project between Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle) and Jim Jupp (Belbury Poly). John Foxx features on vocals and synth on two tracks, Trees and Forgotten Towns, reprising his appearance on The Belbury Circle’s debut EP, Empty Avenues in 2013. Brooks and Jupp go back to their musical roots with this release, but there’s no weird children’s TV or haunted soundtracks here. It’s a joyfully re-imagined soundworld that draws heavily on late 70s and early 80s synth pop and library music. An exciting transitional era that first saw the pair taking up synths as kids. With interlocking analogue sequencers, driving rhythms, soaring lead lines, primitive sampling, and its themes of travel and return, the album evokes the eve of the digital era, when “Tomorrow’s World” was still an exciting possibility.

File Under: Electronic, Pseudo Library
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Tashi Dorji & Tyler Damon: Leave No Trace (Family Vineyard) LP
As live albums go, Tashi Dorji and Tyler Damon nail it down. No matter the crowd – head thrashers, Instagram zombies, shaken jazzniks – the shadow lines of feedback and bombastic percussive bombs are always at peak intensity. Through telepathic engagement the Bhutanese-born guitarist Dorji and Midwestern drummer Damon act with one-mind destruction as Leave No Trace: Live In St. Louis perfectly captures. It’s a pure sound for these disruptive, politically tumultuous times. Or Marc Master’s describes it as, a power lurching at you “in ways that feel dangerously uncontrolled, like someone playing with a plugged-in toaster over a filled-up bathtub.” Leave No Trace – a companion release to their hyper-acclaimed debut Both Will Escape – was recorded at Gaslight in St. Louis.

File Under: Jazz, Improv, Experimental

James Hunter Six: Whatever It Takes (Daptone) LP
A permanent fixture in the world of rhythm and soul, James Hunter follows up five critically acclaimed albums with his latest recording, Whatever It Takes, for New York City’s renowned label, Daptone Records. At the height of his famed recording career, Hunter and Daptone co-founder and producer Bosco Mann recorded an elegantly crafted collection of 10 originals that are evermore poignant and compelling than the singer’s previous works. The James Hunter Six and Mann recorded Whatever It Takes straight to tape at Daptone’s Penrose Studios in Riverside, CA. The needle drops on “I Don’t Wanna Be Without You” with saxophones grabbing your collar, pulling you close and moving you over the undulating curves of a rhumba. The mood and tempo then climb up into the swaggering backbeat of the title track. Drums then tear into the bottom of the groove with the full-throated rapture of “I Got Eyes.” Hunter is egged on by complicit background singers here and there. They ease in and out of Whatever It Takes, serving harmonies like tuxedoed waiters in an expensive restaurant, offering perfect pairings for each melodic course. “Mm-Hmm,” suddenly a tender mood hits. Verses of regret cascade in delicate shapes over dancing rhythms. A word-less chorus paints a painfully detailed picture of misfortune with an eloquently barren hum. Then, a bang. “Blisters,” an instrumental cigarette before you have to get up and turn the record over. Hunter’s guitar work is fearless like a buck knife carving initials into the knobby bark of a Freddy King shuffle. “I Should’ve Spoke Up” comes pitter-patting down a rain-soaked sidewalk, lost in sweet, soft, sentimental regret. Then come the talkings-to. “Show Her,” with ostinato bass, drums and organ scrawling “actions speak louder” dutifully on the chalkboard behind Hunter’s lessons. The frenetic tutorial of “Don’t Let Pride Take You for a Ride” practically tears itself apart in its final cautionary refrains. “How Long” is a yarn spun out on a porch with its gospel harmonies and foot stomping. And stepping out just as he stepped in, “It Was Gonna Be You,” an affectionate simplicity and sincerity that defies the quirkiness of the tim-tom clockwork over which it’s delivered.

File Under: Funk, Soul, RnB
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Laraaji: Vision Songs (Numero) LP
Vision Songs Vol. 1 is the Laraaji album like no other, located at the intersection of new age and gospel, his outlier and magnum opus, the feel-good DIY tape of the century. Casio synth jams recorded at spiritual retreat guest rooms and a tiny bedroom on the Upper West Side in 1984, lysergically-spectacular anthems for a continually arriving new moment. “Channeled from the sky,” humbly offered on vinyl for the first time, this is where this is going on, this is where this is taking place, this is how this is going on. Is this very clear?

 File Under: New Age, Ambient
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Efrim Manuel Menuck: Pissing Stars (Constellation) LP
Efrim Manuel Menuck returns with his second album Pissing Stars, the brilliantly intense follow-up to his 2011 solo debut Plays High Gospel and the first new material with Menuck as central songwriter and vocalist since 2014’s acclaimed Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything from his chamber-punk-rock band Thee Silver Mt. Zion. The legendary Montréal-based musician has much-deserved cult status among fans of political punk, post-rock and avant-noise songcraft alike. Menuck celebrates 25 years of unflinching and uncompromising sonic output with Pissing Stars, wherein he launches acerbic darts, impassioned salvos and fragile flowers into gusts of noise-battered song built around pulsing maximalist electronics and drone, shot through with alternately plaintive, chilling, often processed vocals. Pissing Stars is Menuck at his most vulnerable and his most adventurous – with a timely narrative framework that only he could conjure. Pissing Stars comes in a deluxe 180-gram vinyl edition with artworked inner dust sleeve and a killer 12″ x 18″ art poster designed by Menuck, all printed on uncoated papers and boards.

File Under: Indie Rock
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Rhye: Blood (Last Gang) LP
Blood is the much anticipated sophomore album from romantic soul-pop group Rhye following 2013’s acclaimed Woman. Themed around the aftermath of love, Blood alluringly pairs the band’s sultry, subtle, funky brand of soul music with the warm, powerful, and totally unique vocals and lyrics of frontman Mike Milosh. “We’ve spent the last few years on the road translating the ‘Woman’ album from a bedroom project into a full live experience. With ‘Blood’, it’s been the opposite process; the music and sounds were really born out of the live environment and are built for performance,” commented Milosh. “It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable in front of an audience night after night. I use the same courage on every song on this record.”

File Under: Funk, Soul
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Akira Sakata/Chikamorachi: Proton Pump (Family Vineyard) LP
Proton Pump is a milestone achievement in the winding career of alto saxophonist, gibberish shrieker and jazz legend Akira Sakata. It’s a lightning-fast, real-time cut-up of melody and bare-knuckle action that swings between the avant garde and hardcore be-bop. Sakata is backed by his famed rhythm crew Chikamorachi — drummer Chris Corsano and acoustic bassist Darin Gray — and joined by composer and pianist Masahiko Satoh. Sakata and Satoh emerged out of the late-1960s Tokyo jazz scene — Satoh already releasing albums and Sakata soon joining the famed The Yamashita Trio — and while they’ve since become uncompromising pillars of free music and vision this marks their first proper album together. On Proton Pump’s four pieces, Sakata is absolutely on top form on alto saxophone and clarinet — blowing bold melodies with unstoppable momentum and also injecting deep textural fields with his startling vocalizations. Satoh’s piano is hyperbolic throughout as he splatters counterpoints and brilliant tones at dizzying speed. Recorded before a jaw-dropped audience at Pit Inn, Tokyo in October 2015. LP limited to 500 copies worldwide, includes a full-color inner sleeve and download coupon.

File Under: Jazz

Ty Segall: Freedom’s Goblin (Drag City) LP
Freedom’s Goblin is the new Ty Segall album: 19 tracks strong, filling four sides of vinyl nonstop, with an unrestricted sense of coming together to make an album. It wants you to get your head straight—but first, the process will make your head spin! Back in the Twins days, we talked about the schizophrenia of Ty’s outlook; today, it’s super-dual, with loads of realities all folding back on each other. On any given side, we’re tracking five or six full-blown personalities, unconcerned with convention or continuity. So drop the needle—who can say what it’ll sound like where it lands? This is Freedom’s Goblin—one track engendering, the next one oppressing, violence up in the mix—a look at everything around that Ty used to make the songs. The songs came in the flow of the year: days of vomit and days of ecstasy and escape too, and days between. The rulebook may have been tossed, but Freedom’s Goblin is thick with deep songwriting resources, be it stomper, weeper, ballad, screamer, banger or funker-upper, all diverted into new Tydentities—each one marking a different impasse, like a flag whirling into a knot, exploding and burning on contact, in the name of love and loathing. Freedom’s Goblin wears a twisted production coat: tracks were cut all around, from L.A. to Chicago to Memphis, whether chilling at home or touring with the Freedom Band. Five studios were required to get all the sounds down, engineered by Steve Albini, F. Bermudez, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell and of course, Ty himself. The goal was getting free, embracing any approach necessary to communicate new heights and depths, new places for the fuzz to land among octaving harmonies, dancefloor grooves, synths, saxes and horns, jams, post-Nicky-Hopkins r’n’b electric piano vibes, children-of-the-corn psycho-rebellions, old country waltzes and down-by-the-river shuffles. Basically, the free-est pop songs Ty’s ever put on tape. And one about his dog, too!

File Under: Rock, Punk, Garage, Psych
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Sheepdogs: Changing Colours (Warner) LP
Two years on from delivering Future Nostalgia LP, the Sheepdogs have lifted the curtain on a follow-up full-length. Titled Changing Colours, the band’s sixth studio effort will arrive February 2 through Warner. The record runs 17 tracks in length, with the band sharing first single “I’ve Got a Hole Where My Heart Should Be” alongside the announcement. It also marks the first album to feature guitarist Jim Bowskill, who joined the group in 2015. “This album has a much wider range of sounds on it: trombone, clarinet, Latin percussion, pedal steel, fiddle and banjo all make an appearance,” the band said in a statement. “The title Changing Colours really lends itself to these different sounds on the record… We were also lucky to work with newcomer Jim Bowskill whose guitar wizardry is almost outshone by his fine mandolin playing and singing.”

File Under: Rock
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Soft Moon: Criminal (Sacred Bones) LP
Criminal, The Soft Moon’s fourth studio album, is a confessional work. Through the stark lens of shame and guilt that has followed Luis Vasquez since a violent childhood growing up within the humming ambient sprawl of ’80s Mojave Desert, here he documents the gut-wrenching sound of going to war with himself. Battling with his own sanity, self-hatred, insecurity, self-entitlement and grappling with the risk of these things transforming him into a person he despises, Vasquez has laid his feelings bare with this: his confession and most self-reflective work to date. “Guilt is my biggest demon and has been following me since childhood. Everything I do strengthens the narrative that I am guilty,” Vasquez reflects. “The concept of Criminal is a desperate attempt to find relief by both confessing to my wrongdoings and by blaming others for their wrongdoings that have affected me.” Criminal marks a striking and important chapter in his self-exploration, both artistically and emotionally. As a young musician living in Oakland, Vasquez began to try and process the narrative of his difficult upbringing veiled through musical exploration. Working with producer Maurizio Baggio at La Distilleria in Bassano Del Grappa, Italy, Criminal sees Vasquez putting his lyrics at the forefront and letting his raw emotions flow. The album begins with a confrontation with his true self through the torrid bass lines and searing vocals of “Burn,” a song evoking a loss of control akin to demonic possession, stating: “Eyes, reflecting the person that I am, and it burns”. In this track, Vasquez’s guilt bores deeper and deeper into a condemnation that ultimately is: “Fire, hell is where I’ll go to live, so I burn. The album is Vasquez’s way of holding himself accountable and seeking redemption for the abuse he inflicts on himself, and acknowledges roots in the abuse which, inflicted upon him as a child, broke him.

File Under: Post-Punk, Industrial
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Mika Vainio/Ryoji Ikeda/Alva Noto: Live 2002 (Noton) LP
LIVE 2002 captures an inspired performance at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle by three revered, influential and like-minded pioneers; Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto, and the late, great Mika Vainio. This recording marks the only ever concert by the trio and its release serves as a tribute to the much-loved Vainio. “Mika was not only a friend and collaborator, but also an inspiration for my work as an artist. This is a celebration of his contribution to our work”, says Carsten Nicolai, AKA Alva Noto. Minimal but highly effective, the performance builds throughout with deep sub bass, sleek, spacious sound design and high voltage, inorganic ambience. The inherent noise floor in studio equipment is pushed-up to take center stage. This is sound of electricity, the hum of the engine room and of technology operating almost independently, only gently coerced with artistic finesse by expert human hands. At points static is used decoratively with an ornate, delicate intricacy. At points it becomes rhythmic, like the innate repetition found in machinery. The sonic spectrum later opens up, evoking a rush with laser-like beams of audio light and a barrage of colossal, synthesized waves.

File Under: Electronic
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…..Restocks…..

Jorge Ben: Samba Esquema Novo (Dol) LP
Big Black: Atomizer (Touch & Go) LP
Cluster: Zuckerzeit (Lilith) LP
El Michels Affair: Enter the 37th Chamber (Fatbeats) LP
Fever Ray: s/t (Mute) LP
Robert Fripp/Brian Eno: No Pussyfooting (Pangyric) LP
Funkadelic: Cosmic Slop (Westbound) LP
Laurel Halo: Dust (Hyperdub) LP
Henry Cow: In Praise of Learning (Recommended) LP
Hot Snakes: Audit in Progress (Sub Pop) LP/CS
Hot Snakes: Automatic Midnight (Sub Pop) LP/CS
Hot Snakes: Suicide Invoice (Sub Pop) LP/CS
Johan Johannsson: Arrival OST (Deutsche Grammofon) LP
The Knife: Silent Shout (Mute) LP
Medusa: First Step Beyond (Numero) LP
Os Mutantes: s/t (Lilith) LP
Porches: The House (Domino) LP
Protomartyr: Agent Intellect (Hardly Art) LP
Tom Rogerson/Brian Eno: Finding Shore (Dead Oceans) LP
Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell (Asthmatic Kitty) LP
Syrinx: Tumblers from the Vault (ReRVNG) LP
Unwound: New Plastic Ideas (Numero) LP
Various: Buttons: Starter Kit (Numero) LP
Various: Buttons: From Champaign to Chicago (Numero) LP
Various: Dancehall – The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture (Soul Jazz) LP
Various: WTNG 89.9FM – Solid Bronze (Numero) LP

YEEEEESSSSSSSS! Some killer slabs this week, including the much anticipated High Rise reissue, and an out of nowhere Dean McPhee. Some other great reissues and new stuff as well. And already delays on other stuff… Either way, wonderful things to stick in your ear.

RIP Mark E. Smith.

…..picks of the week…..

Dean McPhee: Four Stones (Hood Faire) LP
Four Stones is solo electric guitarist Dean McPhee’s third full-length album, a collection of free-flowing instrumentals which combines fluid fingerpicked melodies with atmospheric drones and trance-inducing loops. Four Stones brings together remastered versions of three tracks that were only previously available on a limited edition tape compilations on the Folklore Tapes label (2016) along with two new pieces, “Danse Macabre” and the epic 14-minute “Four Stones” which find Dean using a new kick drum pedal to add a percussive undercurrent to his music. The Folklore Tapes tracks “The Blood Of St. John” — from Calendar Customs Vol IV: Crown of Light (2016) –, “Rule Of Threes” — from Lancashire Folklore Tapes Vol 1: Pendle, 1612 (2012) –, and “The Devil’s Knell” — from Folklore Tapes Calendar Customs Vol III: Midwinter Rites and Revelries (2015). Four Stones was mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. The album cover features a photo by Robin Zahler of The Great Stone of Four Stones in North Yorkshire. The album was recorded live with no overdubs. 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500.

File Under: Ambient, Guitar Soli
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High Rise: II (Black Editions) LP
Black Editions present a reissue of High Rise’s II, originally released in 1986. High Rise exploded onto Tokyo’s underground music scene with the roar and reckless abandon of a motorcycle accelerating headlong into a dead man’s curve. Born from the explosive chemistry of bassist/vocalist Asahito Nanjo and frenetic guitarist Munehiro Narita, the band blazed a wild new stream of psychedelic guitar music. Their second album is a defining document of the band and unquestionably one of the greatest albums to emerge from 20th century underground Japan and beyond. With Nanjo’s distorted thunder bass and Narita’s wildly narrative lead guitar playing, II is a non-stop tour de force of improvised rock music. Combining elements of garage rock, punk, and no wave, the band pushed all levels fully in-the-red and transcended the limits of rock and psychedelia to create a raw, unique expansion of the music. Black Editions present High Rise’s II, newly mixed and mastered by Asahito Nanjo in what the band states is the definitive version of their most quintessential recording. This new edition restores the original vinyl version’s textured black and silver artwork. Housed in heavy Stoughton tip-on jacket. Pressed onto high quality vinyl by RTI.

File Under: Psych, Japanese, Freakout
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…..new arrivals…..

The Body & Thou: Released from Love/You, Whom I Have Always Hated (Thrill Jockey) LP
Both collaborative albums from The Body and Thou are finally available together on vinyl for the first time! Featuring brand new and expanded artwork Released From Love and You, Whom I Have Always Hated are presented in a gatefold jacket with flooded black pockets, black paper inner sleeves and a deluxe 12 page 11″ x 11″ booklet and download card of all tracks. The Body and Thou are bands with Southern roots that have been pushing the boundaries of heavy metal for over a decade. Both have maintained relentless touring schedules, a dedication to DIY ethics and aesthetics, and a commitment to push their respective brands of extreme music into previously unexplored territories. On their two collaborative releases they showcase their unique ability to create music that is emotionally effecting and unrelenting. On You, Whom I Have Always Hated, each band’s distinctive elements shine through and combine to create something more visceral than the sum of their parts. While the groups have different approaches to live performance and stylistic nuances, they share general creative ideas and have a history subsumed in themes of alienation, melancholy, and despair. They describe this collaboration as “a twilight dungeon crawl exploring the winding, ruined halls of Mad King Duro’s Castle, best friends at your side, enemies crushed beneath your heels, mysteries solved, and treasures found.” In keeping with Thou’s tradition of 90s worship and The Body’s knack for ingenuity, the release includes versions of “Terrible Lie” by Nine inch Nails and “Coward” by Vic Chesnutt. The remainder was written collaboratively in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and then further refined on their 2014 tour together.

File Under: Metal
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Cadence Weapon: s/t (eOne) LP
In tomorrow… An emotive rapper and a particularly thoughtful lyricist, Cadence Weapon is truly fired up on this dynamically produced artistic rebirth. Switching flows up within the same songs, he marries his youthful, wild exuberance with a nuanced maturity, asserting himself by exhibiting complete control over his domain. The Edmonton poet-laureate has said he truly found himself while living in Montreal; the nightlife there inspired and demolished him. He met Kaytranada at a DJ night they shared when Kaytra was still on the come-up, and he was also exposed to all sorts of groundbreaking electronic music. But a night like that could also lead to debauchery. Speaking with peers, he realized there was an insidious racist and sexist undercurrent within the power dynamic of their partying community and that loss of innocence shifted things within Cadence Weapon. Now in Toronto, Montreal still looms large for him, as a formative personal and creative force. Working off cool, contemporary beats from the likes of Kaytranada, FrancisGotHeat, Jacques Green and Harrison, and vocals and production from Deradoorian, Blue Hawaii, Brendan Phillip and Casey MQ, Cadence Weapon dives deep into his psyche here. It’s reflective of the five years since the downcast Hope in Dirt City, and his mind, which has changed for the better. Via his witty rhymes, Cadence Weapon captures his desire for success, a penchant for proving himself as a rapper (he does), and an eagle-eyed perspective on the revolt that is fuelling our call-out cultural moment. It’s also his most provocative and well-executed album and a high water mark for hip-hop on this continent.

File Under: Hip Hop
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Calexico: The Thread that Keeps Us (Anti) LP
Over the past two decades, a strong sense of place has shaped the music of Calexico, infusing their albums with a stylistic unpredictability and richness of texture. While 2015’s Edge of the Sun brought the Tucson-bred band to the Mexico City borough of Coyoacán, their new full-length The Thread That Keeps Us mostly came to life in a house studio near the Northern California coast nicknamed “The Phantom Ship” by Calexico vocalist/guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino. Like “End of the World with You,” much of The Thread That Keeps Us captures the anxieties and unease of living in tumultuous times. While the album draws a kinetic energy from all that uncertainty, its lyrics unfold with a literary nuance and sense of setting and character. “Instead of writing straight-up protest songs, I want to tell stories,” Burns says. Largely inspired by his wanderings around Northern California during the album’s production, the narratives embedded in The Thread That Keeps Us reflect on displacement, transitory existence, and—in Burns’s words—“returning to your home after being gone for some time and seeing how things have changed, and maybe not in the best way.”

File Under: Alt-Country, Tex-Mex
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Holly Cook: Vessel of Love (Merge) LP
Limited edition, indie-only deluxe on translucent pink vinyl w/ download. Hollie Cook combines her unique vocal talent and charisma to craft a dynamic strand of lovers rock with enduring tropical vibes, weaving a path from her West London roots to an arena of diverse collaborations, critically acclaimed records, and iconic live appearances around the world. Cook’s ability to surprise, delight, and progress solidifies her position as one of the most exciting voices in reggae, and this is clear on her third full-length and Merge debut, Vessel of Love. Cook’s music career commenced at age 19, when family friend and punk trailblazer Ari Up asked Cook to join the raucous ’70s post-punk outfit The Slits for their reformation in 2006. Thrown into the deep end she thrived, and quickly cut her teeth with four years of back-to-back shows around the globe. Acclaimed legendary producer Martin “Youth” Glover (Killing Joke) lends his venerable production expertise to Vessel of Love. Hollie Cook sits in good company on Glover’s impressive production list, joining Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, The Verve, Primal Scream, Pink Floyd, and Depeche Mode. Glover describes Cook’s songs as “sharp lyrical observations and clever word play combined with an exquisite and informed pop sensibility.” Hollie Cook’s vibrant, spirited take on lovers rock radiates positivity, and with Vessel of Love, expect to see her on top of the tropical throne of pop in 2018!

 File Under: Rock, Reggae
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Edmondo Giuliani: Il Mare: Musica Con Strumenti Elettronici (Sonor Music) LP
In tomorrow… Sonor Music Editions present a reissue of Edmondo Giuliani’s Il Mare: Musica Con Strumenti Elettronici, originally released in 1972 on the micro-label Dischi Egede. A mega-rare italian electronic underwater music library production recorded for an obscure documentary on sea from the early ’70s. Infectious and trippy abstract experimental music that plumbs in the sea depths with abyssal echoes, sound iridescences, and marine electronic themes. Addictive record out for Sonor Music Editions’ underwater library triptych, released alongside Mare Romantico and Bruno Zambrini’s Racconti Di Mare. Another great vinyl obscurity is filed and published on our label with amazing renewed artwork. 180 gram vinyl; Edition of 500

File Under: Library, OST, Italian
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Guided By Voices: Mag Earwhig (Matador) LP
1997’s Mag Earwhig! served as the first Guided By Voices album released after the dissolution of their classic line-up and finds Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout backed by Cobra Verde. It’s a conceptual rock opera inspired by the Who’s Tommy, the Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow, Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and the Edgar Broughton Band’s Wasa Wasa. Pollard is the main character in this sprawling narrative, an insectile cartoon figure named the Magnificent Earwhig, who interacts with a wild cast of characters in songs evoking nostalgiac memories of an Ohio boyhood, starting one’s first band, and inhaling American roadside pop culture. Despite the progressive conceptual 70’s mindset, the record is still a collection of beautifully twisted pop songs and can be listened to as either an opera or just a series of rock arias.

File Under: Indie Rock
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Heldon: 1976-1979 (Souffle Continu) 3LP+7″ Box
In tomorrow… 1976-1979: four years of intensive creativity for Heldon, following on from them leaving the home-studio on the Île Saint-Louis for Davout also in Paris, where a Moog 3, purchased from the Beatles, was ready in a space reserved for the leader of the group, Richard Pinhas. From here on, a trilogy was created which compares favorably with King Crimson of the period from Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (1973) to Red (1974), the French band breaking new ground with the electronics used in their music, and the numerous influences they quote, including Fripp and Eno, Philip K. Dick, and Gilles Deleuze. A totally vertiginous experience, the ensemble consisting of Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale (1976), Interface (1977), and Stand By (1979) can be seen as the sonic climax to Heldon’s oeuvre, even its climax, the violence coming from the machines. This Everest of electronic music is completed by a rare single released on RCA at the same period, making this a must-have box set for any self-respecting collector. High quality mastering from Richard Pinhas’s original masters. Each LP comes in exclusive vinyl color for the boxset: Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale comes on clear yellow vinyl; Heldon . 6 . Interface comes on coke bottle green vinyl; and Stand By comes on electric blue vinyl. Limited box set comes with the rare Richard Dunn 7″, originally released in 1978. Includes 20-page booklet with rare photos and an essay by Philippe Robert. Edition of 300.

File Under: Prog, Psych, Electronic
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Heldon: Heldon .6. Interface (Souffle Continu) LP
In tomorrow… Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Heldon’s Heldon . 6 . Interface, originally released in 1977. The idea in the mind of Richard Pinhas, the driving force behind Heldon, was to produce music “as cold as a huge block of ice” a vertiginous experience, of course influenced by the King Crimson trilogy, from Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (1973) to Red (1974), except that Heldon represents an electrified version, leading to a perfect rapport between thought and emotion, perhaps going even further. It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (1975), the appropriately-named third album, is in its own way — already — a turning point in Heldon’s oeuvre, witness the acid and corrosive “Zind Destruction (Bouillie Blues)”. Once the next one was released (Agneta Nilsson, 1976), just after Disjuncta, the first French independent label, had been sold to Urus by Richard Pinhas in order to buy the aforementioned Moog 3 from the Beatles, the music became even more uncompromising. The group delved, like King Crimson, into a kind of trilogy, the middle of which was Interface in 1977, a year after Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale which was, thus, the first part. At this period the group’s music, as Gérard N’Guyen wrote in the fanzine Atem, was like “a guided tour through the ruins of a civilisation.” In the middle of the punk wave, the universe of Heldon indeed became more threatening and heavy, echoing the novel by Norman Spinrad from which the group took their name, The Iron Dream (1972). This was also the point at which Heldon became a genuine group, centered around Patrick Gauthier (synthesizers), Didier Batard (bass), and François Auger (drums), which allowed Richard Pinhas to focus on the real motivation behind this audacious undertaking. Like its predecessor Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, and then 1979’s Stand By which followed, Interface, the second album of the “trilogy” recorded at studios Davout, represents a sonic culmination, even a climax, its violence coming from the machines and delving into notions of repetition and scansion, prefiguring a lot of the music that was to follow, whether it be electro and industrial or post-rock and noise. It goes without saying: seminal and always innovative! High quality mastering from Richard Pinhas’s original masters; Licensed from Richard Pinhas. Obi strip; matte printing. Swamp green vinyl; Edition of 700.

File Under: Prog, Psych, Electronic
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Heldon: Un Reve Sans Consequence Speciale (Souffle Continu) LP
In tomorrow… Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Heldon’s Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, originally released on Cobra in 1976. In Heldon, nobody particularly likes liner notes. However, although the group’s albums have none, they abound, from the very beginning, with clues and often cryptic references. The name of the group, obviously, comes from a science fiction novel by Norman Spinrad, but perhaps it is less well known that the title of the album Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale is taken from a pirate recording of King Crimson made in 1974, an elegant way to state the possible lineage between guitarist (and synthesizer player) Richard Pinhas and Robert Fripp, his peer in the British band. Likewise, Richard Pinhas values the philosophers Lyotard, Nietzsche, and Deleuze, and the cover of Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale quotes theology specialist Pierre Klossowski, according to whom all creators owe it themselves to provoke a “state of insecurity straying from the oppressive regime of mediocrity”. Having been a precursor of the home studio, Richard Pinhas came to the Davout studios to record the fifth Heldon album Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale. He had a special space reserved for him, where there was a Moog 3 which had belonged to Paul McCartney. Intense, violent, bitter, abrasive, uncompromising: the first on-site recording is in keeping with the four predecessors, prefiguring both industrial- and post-rock, showing once again that the early references to “guerrilla electronics” (and to William S. Burroughs) were not in vain. The newcomers to this universe, bassist Didier Batard (Coeur Magique, Triptyque), on one track, and drummer François Auger (heard on the fifth album by Gérard Manset) finally transform Heldon into a fiery power trio for the inspired “MVC II”. Without forgetting that the faithful Patrick Gauthier is also on board, as is Jannick Top (Magma), each on one track. Listening to the result it is easy to understand why Merzbow, Wolf Eyes, and Oren Ambarchi, in the 2000s wanted to record with Richard Pinhas. It must also be noted that the often-made comparison between Heldon/Richard Pinhas and King Crimson/Robert Fripp, while still pertinent, if insufficient, as Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale breaks much new ground beyond those horizons. High quality mastering from Richard Pinhas’s original masters; Licensed from Richard Pinhas. Obi strip; matte printing. Clear purple vinyl; Edition of 700.

File Under: Psych, Prog, Electronic
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Heldon: Stand By (Souffle Continu) LP
In tomorrow… Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Heldon’s Stand By, originally released in 1979. Richard Pinhas began by absorbing Jimi Hendrix as an adolescent, leaving that behind at the beginning of the 1970s, after having heard what Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock were doing with synthesizers, and then discovering the seminal duo Fripp and Eno. It was one year on from this epiphany that the first album by Heldon was released (1974). The main idea was to rock and roll on electronic machines. Richard Pinhas was of course playing electric guitar, but was also interested in the A.R.P. and VCS 3, to the point of purchasing the Moog 3 owned by the Beatles. In order to do so, he had to sell of the Disjuncta label — the first totally independent French label — he had created in order to release Schizo (1972), Alain Renaud and Heldon. This was the beginning of the 1970s. Heldon had already released four key albums and left their home studio for Davout, beginning a trilogy starting with the sound of 1976’s Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, continuing with 1977’s Interface (FFL 035LP), and concluding with Stand By. When Stand By was released, the press had already labeled Heldon as the first electric punk group. There is nothing silly in that, Heldon having quickly moved away from the spacey German influences which were not to Richard Pinhas’s taste. This can be heard on Stand By, the lynchpin of which is the twenty minutes of sound and fury of “Boléro”, something of a high-point from the group which owes much to the sequencers of the “technician” Didier Badez. As on the two previous releases, the ever-faithful Patrick Gauthier, François Auger, and Didier Batard were present. For one track, Klaus Blasquiz sings and highlights the underlying links between Heldon, Magma, and Weidorje, but also a shared past experience in Blues Convention with Richard Pinhas. After two solo albums, East West (1980) and L’Éthique (1982), Richard Pinhas dropped everything, through fear of repeating himself, even selling off some of his equipment, before coming back to center-stage with DWW (1992), following a sabbatical decade centered on philosophy, skiing, and paragliding. Thus, Stand By can be seen as the end of an era for Heldon. High quality mastering from Richard Pinhas’s original masters; Licensed from Richard Pinhas. Obi strip; matte printing. Sea blue vinyl; Edition of 700.

File Under: Psych, Prog, Electronic
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Khruanghin: Con Todo El Mundo (Dead Oceans) LP
Formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums; globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin present their second album Con Todo El Mundo. Whereas their 2015 debut The Universe Smiles Upon You was influenced by ’60s and ’70s Thai cassettes and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk, Con Todo El Mundo hops east over India to take inspiration in similarly under discovered funk and soul sounds of the Middle-East, particularly from Iran. Laura Lee explains the album’s title: “My grandpa would always ask me ‘Como me quieres?’ (‘how much do you love me’?), and he’d only ever accept one response. ‘Con todo el mundo’ (With all the world).” Throughout Con Todo El Mundo, Laura Lee’s melodic low-end theory, Mark’s lyrical, free-role guitar lines, and DJ’s ever-steady, ever-ready backbeat form something greater than their parts. A vibe-synchronous soul-unit travelling the planet, honing their craft, absorbing the sights, sounds and feels from cultures across the globe, processing them through the Khruangbin filter and gifting the result…with all the world.

File Under: Funk, Soul, Middle-East
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Ami Shavit: Neural Oscillations & Alpha Rhythms (Dead-Cert) LP
In tomorrow… Dead-Cert dip their dusty digits back in Ami Shavit’s precious archive for another hemispheric harmonization of biofeedback techniques and hypnotic synth sonics following Finders Keepers ‘ reissue of 1977’s In Alpha Mood back in 2015. With an enviable private collection of synthesizers first started in 1972 during his travels to the US and shipped home to Tel Aviv, as an established kinetic artist, as well as a professor of both philosophy an art, Ami’s main focus was art that involved technology; in particular being able to give something mechanical an emotive angle. As such he sought to combine his love of electronic music acts such as Tangerine Dream and Philip Glass and this new synthesizer technology with his interest in the relatively new technique of biofeedback — a process in which technology is used to relay information about the body’s functions enabling a change of physiological activity in order to manipulate them. Combined with his understanding of alpha brainwave, Ami embarked on an experiment with what he called “Alpha Mood” — a state in which the brain is working in relaxation and in which he used music as a means of helping induce his own meditative state. With practically no formal musical training and working in complete isolation of the Tel Aviv music scene — with the exception of allowing cult prog nearly men Zingale and a handful of close friends to use his private studio — over the course of two years he recorded hours of experimental improvised music, or “sounds” as he prefers to call it. The fruit of that experimentation came in the form of a single privately pressed LP aptly titled In Alpha Mood. Part outsider electronic album; part physiological experiment; part work of art, it was limited to only 500 copies and distributed exclusively by a longtime friend, agent, and owner of a small local record shop in Tel Aviv. Five 1/4-inch tapes (including the In Alpha Mood master tape) represent the only remaining artifacts of Ami’s experiments — the rest having been either lost, given to friends, or simply thrown away. Undated and unannotated, these raw studio recordings provide a rare glimpse of Ami at work in his attempts to perfect his technique and reach the plane of “Alpha Mood”. RIYL: Tangerine Dream, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Cluster. Artwork by Andy Votel. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering. Edition of 500.

File Under: Electronic, Ambient, Kosmische
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Tune-Yards: I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life (4AD) LP
I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life is the new magnum opus and fourth full-length overall from Tune-Yards. Thematically, the twelve new songs tackle race, politics, intersectional feminism and environmental prophecies head on. But in the billows of intense subject matter, the album arrives as Tune-Yards’ most immediate and upbeat music yet – this is music to dance to. On I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, Tune-Yards is officially a duo as Merrill Garbus is joined by longtime collaborator Nate Brenner who produced and wrote the album together with lyrics by Garbus. Much of the album was recorded at John Vanderslice’s new studio, Tiny Telephone Oakland, in Oakland, CA and mastered in Harlem, NY by Dave Kutch (Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper). Mikaelin “Blue” Bluespruce (Solange, Skepta, Kendrick Lamar) handled the mix. Garbus on lead trakck “Look at Your Hands”: “Yes, the world is a mess, but I’ve been attempting to look more and more inward: how do all of these “isms” that we live in manifest in me, in my daily activities, interactions? Some of the ’80s throwback production came from wanting the vocals to sound robotic, maybe to counter the sincerity of the lyrics. I started sampling my vocals in an MPC which I’ve wanted to do for years, and there was something that felt really right about my voice being trapped in a machine.”

File Under: Indie Rock
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Jack White: Connected By Love (Third Man) 7″
Jack White’s first new music since 2014’s Lazaretto is pressed now and available immediately for fulfillment and retail sale. Both sides of the 7″, “Connected By Love” and “Respect Commander”, are tracks featured on forthcoming Jack White full-length album Boarding House Reach, with more details to come. “Connected by Love” was produced by White and recorded at Sear Sound in New York City, Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, and Third Man Studio in Nashville – marking the first time that White has recorded an album in NYC and LA. The track features White on vocals, synthesizer, and acoustic guitar, backed by a remarkable new lineup of musicians that includes drummer Louis Cato (Beyoncé, Q-Tip, John Legend), bassist Charlotte Kemp Muhl (The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger), synthesizer player DJ Harrison, keyboardist Neal Evans (Soulive, Talib Kweli, John Scofield), percussionist Bobby Allende (David Byrne), and backing vocalists Ann & Regina McCrary of Nashville’s beloved gospel trio, The McCrary Sisters.

File Under: Rock
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Bruno Zambrini: Racconti Di Mare (Sonor Music) LP
In tomorrow… Sonor Music Editions present a reissue of Bruno Zambrini’s Racconti Di Mare, originally released in 1970. Maestro Bruno Zambrini’s soundtrack masterpiece originally recorded for the TV series Racconti Di Mare in 1970, directed by Nestore Ungaro. Mental vintage underwater score — one of the best from library/soundtrack music production. The music is a total trip with insane psychedelic and underground beats to die for, killer drum breaks, aquatic lounge and bossa themes, and huge underwater drama moods. The lounge atmospheres are reminiscent of nostalgic sea trips with the flowing sweet scat vocals broken by the spaced-out underwater marine vibes. Unmissable Italian OST! Hard cardboard quality sleeve replica. 180 gram vinyl. Includes CD with the complete stereo recording session, plus the full unreleased Mono RCA version. Edition of 500.

File Under: Italian, Library, OST
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Zazou/Bikaye/CY1: Noir et Blanc (Crammed) LP
Vinyl reissue of one of the biggest cult albums in the history of Crammed Discs, Noir et Blanc was a studio encounter between Congolese singer Bony Bikaye, Algerian-born French composer Hector Zazou and mad scientists CY1, it’s traditional Central African vocals and uncompromising analog electronics was unanticipated at the time and remains sonically relevant to this day. This 1983 LP is constantly being (re)discovered by generations of fans, musicians and DJs, who hail it as an unsurpassed Afro/electronic milestone. Remastered from original analogue tapes, with 5 previously unreleased original demos available on DL card and new liner notes by Andy Beta. “One of the most innovative LPs of the year… in the same class as Byrne and Eno’s “Bush Of Ghosts”… resembles the startling outcome of an imaginary collaboration between DAF and Fela Kuti” (Melody Maker, UK, ’83)

File Under: Post Punk, Afrobeat, Funk, Electronic
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Various: Mare Romantico (Sonor Music) LP
In tomorrow… Sonor Music Editions present a reissue of Mare Romantico, originally released in 1974. Amazing Italian library electronic and underwater gem originally released in 1974, which has remained totally obscure and absolutely impossible to find. A bewitching underwater music trip made through analog synthesizers and sophisticated electronic lounge mood music recorded for TV sea documentaries. Delicate marine themes alternate with hypnotic and abyssal vibes with droning effects, elegance reflected in crystal clear waves. A little jewel for fans of early electronic music and library junkies; one of the finest examples of Italian underwater library music. Features Montedoro, Tommasi, Atmo, Jarrell, Piccioni, and Santucci. Renewed artwork by painter Stefania Casagrande. Back sleeve liner notes by music journalist Marco Ferretti. 180 gram vinyl; Edition of 500.

File Under: Italian, Library, OST

Various: Pantsula! (Rush Hour) LP
In tomorrow… Late ’80s South African dancefloor winners only! Selected by DJ Okapi and Antal, the Pantsula! compilation holds tracks by Jivaro, The Hard Workers, Ayobayo Band, S.Y.B., and many more. The 12 tracks selected for Pantsula! come from a very unique, very different time and place. They represent the birth of electronic dance music in South Africa, through the songs of one particular independent label from the time: Music Team. The sound represents the culmination of the bubblegum era, when South Africa’s disco artists outgrew their American influences and forged an increasingly electronic and “local” pop sound. Evolving over time since long before the ’80s, the distinctly South African subculture of pantsula is more closely associated with an attitude, a style, and a signature dance, rather than any specific sound. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, Pantsula was also the name given to a new type of dance music taking over the streets of South Africa, influenced by earlier bubblegum and the rise of shangaan disco, but with a far broader appeal and a harder, purely electronic sound. This is the sharp electronic music that fueled the local Pantsula dances during the ’80s and ’90s. A must have for fans of bubblegum and kwaito music. Also features The Equals, Jivaro, Scotch Band, Kakappa, Spirro, Rush, Linda Ziqubu, Chaka, and La Viva.

File Under: Africa, Dance, Disco, Shangaan
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…..Restocks…..

13th Floor Elevators: Psychedelic Sounds of (Snapper) LP
13th Floor Elevators: Bull of the Woods (Snapper) LP
Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society: Simultonality (Eremite)LP
Cannonball Adderley: Something Else (Blue Note) LP
Arcade Fire: Put Your Money on Me (Sony) LP
Baby Huey: Living Legend (Curtom) LP
Badbadnotgood: III (Arts & Crafts) LP
Badbadnotgood: IV (Arts & Crafts) LP
Badbadnotgood: Late Night Tales (Late Night Tales) LP
Derek Bailey: Solo Guitar Volume 1 (Honest Jons) LP
Derek Bailey/Anthony Braxton: Royal (Honest Jons) LP
Derek Bailey/Han Bennink: s/t (Honest Jons) LP
Julien Baker: Sprained Ankle (6131) LP
Caterina Barbieri: Patterns of Consciousness (Important) LP
Beck: Colors (Universal) LP
Beck: Morning Phase (Universal) LP
Art Blakey: Moanin’ (Blue Note) LP
Buena Vista Social Club: s/t (World Circuit) LP
Bill Callahan: Apocalypse (Drag City) LP
Childish Gambino: Awaken My Love (Glassnote) LP
Alice Coltrane: World Spirituality Classics (Luaka Bop) LP
John Coltrane: Blue Train (Blue Note) LP
Cluster: Sowiesoso (Bureau B) LP
Cluster & Eno: s/t (Bureau B) LP
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (Manifesto) LP
Depeche Mode: Violator (Rhino) LP
Eric Dolphy & Booker Ervin: Far Cry (Original Jazz Classics) LP
El Michels Affair: Return to the 37th Chamber (Big Crown) LP
Robert Fripp/Brian Eno: No Pussyfooting (Pangyric) LP
Robert Fripp/Brian Eno: Evening Star (Pangyric) LP
Dexter Gordon: GO (Blue Note) LP
Dexter Gordon: Our Man in Paris (Blue Note) LP
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (Westbound) LP
Tim Hecker: Mirage (Kranky) LP
Here Lies Man: s/t (Riding Easy) LP
Jlin: Black Origami (Planet Mu) LP
Sharon Jones: Soul of a Woman (Daptone) LP
Fela Kuti: Vinyl Box 4 (Knitting Factory) BOX
Melvins: Houdini (Third Man) LP
Maria Monti: Il Bestiario (Holidays) LP
Nine Inch Nails: Downward Spiral (Nothing) LP
OST: Blade Runner (Rhino) LP
Pallbearer: Heartless (Profound Lore) LP
Rural Alberta Advantage: Wild (Paper Bag) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Villains (Matador) LP
Slowdive: s/t (Dead Oceans) LP
Stars of the Lid: Tired Sounds of (Kranky) LP
Midori Takada: Through the Looking Glass (WRWTFWW) LP
Telaio Magnetico: Live 75 (Black Sweat) LP
White Zombie: La Sexorcisto (Music on Vinyl) LP
Various: Tokyo Flashback (Black Editions) LP