New Stock 18/02/14 Record Of The Week - Marissa Nadler – July – Bella Union (LP + CD. This is a stunning work. What a voice. Released on Sacred Bones in the U.S and Bella Union here. This is Marissa’s 6th album; it feels bad that we’ve only just discovered her. I think this could be an album to really fall in love with. Recorded at Seattle’s Avast Studio, the album pairs Nadler with producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Wolves In The Throne Room). Dunn matches Nadler’s darkness by creating a multi-coloured sonic palette that infuses new dimensions into her songs. Featuring Steve Moore on synths, its a dreamy spectral record, mixing folk and David Lynch soundtracks with shoegaze drone and touches of Goth pop. Its beautiful and thoroughly miserable. I bet Lana Del Ray is well gutted by this record.) Glenn Branca – Lesson No.1 – Superior Viaduct (After cutting his teeth in the late 70s No Wave scene with bands THEORETICAL GIRLS and THE STATIC, GLENN BRANCA made his first solo statement, Lesson No. 1, in 1980. The inaugural release on legendary post-punk / dance label 99 Records, Lesson No. 1 unveils BRANCAs visionary guitar concepts with two monstrous, side-long compositions that helped forge NYCs downtown art-punk sound and acted as a massive influence on countless young groups, including SONIC YOUTH and SWANS. The title track is easily BRANCAs most-accessible moment; its driving beat and interlocking patterns resemble German pioneers NEU! playing Phillip Glass. Never before (or since) has minimalism sounded so euphoric. Dissonance is the A-sides polar opposite. Dark, skittish and unhinged, BRANCA leads his band (guitar, keyboard, bass, drums and sledgehammer) through block after block of industrial terror, leaving listeners drained in the process. Soon after the release of Lesson No. 1, BRANCA began to work on ambitious, long-form symphonies. Bad Smells, included here as a single-sided bonus 12-inch, was commissioned in 1982 as a dance piece featuring SONIC YOUTH guitarists Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, Bad Smells is a thrilling multi-section guitar assault that foretells much of BRANCA, Ranaldo and Moores work for the next decade.) Brigitte Fontaine – Brigitte Fontaine Est… Folle – Superior Viaduct (French poet and chameleonic vocalist Brigitte Fontaine’s career spans over four decades. Only a few years before her 1968 debut, Brigitte Fontaine Est…Folle, she moved to Paris to become an actress and took her prodigiously mature voice into the studio. Rich in the drama she brought to theatre, Fontaine synthesized chanson (French pop song) and world music, which eventually won her international acclaim as a performer and collaborator with a variety of artists from around the world (Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sonic Youth and Stereolab, to name just a few). Brigitte Fontaine – Comme A La Radio – Superior Viaduct (Featuring Areski Belkacem and Art Ensemble of Chicago, Comme à la Radio is the sophomore album in Brigitte Fontaine’s prolific career. While her debut, Brigitte Fontaine Est...Folle, is a unique take on French chanson, here the Art Ensemble provides the perfect setting for Fontaine’s exploration of free-verse poetry. Often arrhythmic and spoken, her vocals command the same spontaneity and grace that her collaborators applied to their instruments. The album’s eight-minute title track sets the tone: a sparse bass line keeps time as Fontaine dances around stabs of flute and trumpet.) David Crosby – Croz – ADA (Double 200gram vinyl, Croz is David Crosby’s first studio album in over 20 years, a collection of 11 new tracks from one of America’s most notable singer-songwriters and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.) Cripple Bastards – Nero In Metastasi – Relapse Records (Limited Grey vinyl, Italian Hardcore/Grind.) Cryptic Slaughter – Convicted – Relapse Records (A seminal act in the 80s crossover movement, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER effortlessly fused politically charged, punk aggression with lightning-fast thrash metal. Born in the summer of 1984 and fused in crossover music that bears its dominance through a collection of punk and prescient metal riffs, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER (along with D.R.I., C.O.C. and the contributions of punkers like Discharge and The Exploited) built up the genre of thrash music from haphazard crossover to a science of more terrifying, instantaneous music.) JJ Doom – Bookhead EP Picture Disc – Lex (Nine track limited edition picture disc including DOOM collaborations with Clams Casino, BBNG, Del The Funky Homosapien, Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood & Beck with artwork by NY typeographer and graf legend ESPO.) Small Faces – Greatest Hits 1967-1969 – Sanctuary (Limited to 200 copies on blue vinyl, For the first time ever in the band’s history, all the correct single versions are collected, newly remastered from recently discovered original mono master tapes. Over 55 minutes of classic sixties pop: A-sides, rare B-sides, EP tracks, classic hit singles such as ‘Itchycoo Park’, ‘Lazy Sunday’, ‘Here Come the Nice’, ‘Tin Soldier’, ‘The Universal’, ‘Afterglow of Your Love’ and more, all of which are still played on radio throughout the world.) Sun Araw – Belomancie – Drag City (Limited 2 x LP. Seventh album from Sun Araw.) Vtgnike – Dubna – Other People (Nicolas Jaar’s very own Other People label returns with yet another discovery from their artist roster. This time it’s a Juke by mysterious Russian producer VTGNIKE (spelled Vintage Nike). For fans of Forest Swords.) Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness – Jagjaguwar (We like this. Angel Olsen sings with full-throated exultation, admonition, and bold, expressive melody. Also, with the help of producer John Congleton, her music now crackles with a churning, rumbling low end and a brighter energy. Strictly limited edition white vinyl LP edition exclusively available to independent retailers, limited to 150 copies for the UK.) New Bums – Voices In A Rented Room – Drag City (Lovely stuff. New Bums are a new band featuring two well- seasoned veterans of the underground music wars: Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance, Comets On Fire, 200 Years, Rangda). Debut album ‘Voices In A Rented Room’ tells New Bums’ whole life story and probably more of yours than you’d care to admit. The voices are two, spinning harmonies both heavenly and salt- pickled.) David Grubbs / Andrea Belfi / Stefano Pilia – Dust & Mirrors – Drag City (‘Dust & Mirrors’ is the second full-length album by the trio of Andrea Belfi (drums, percussion, electronics), David Grubbs (electric guitar, piano, voice), and Stefano Pilia (electric guitar). It follows 2010’s ‘Onrushing Cloud’ LP.) Death - …For The Whole World To See – Drag City (A very limited Cassette of one of our all-time favourite albums.) Death – North St. b/w We’re Gonna Make It 7” – Drag City (An absolute belter recorded in 1980. So great.) Joan As Police Woman – Holy 7” – Play It Again Sam (Limited edition 7” (750 copies for the UK) featuring first single ‘Holy City’ plus the title track from Joan Wasser’s anticipated new album ‘The Classic’. ‘Holy City’ is a fast-paced Motown-influenced number featuring comedian and musician Reggie Watts, and was inspired by a trip to Jerusalem.) Blue Jean Committee / The Fingerlings – Massachusetts Afternoon 7” – Drag City (The Blue Jean Committee were the proud products of the late 70s Northampton, Massachusetts music scene. Comprised of some of the most talented and sought after local session musicians, the group was most defined by Richie Cornish’s busy talk-singing lyrical style. The gently soulful ‘Massachusetts Afternoon’ celebrates a time in one’s life when independence from the family somehow brings friends closer to one another, and the autumn sunset seems to go on and on forever. As of this writing, The BJC continue to play in Northampton, still drawing crowds and still singing songs about dancing to music on the jukebox.) Lady Gaga – Artpop – Interscope (Limited and long delayed double vinyl version of Gaga’s last album) The Beatnuts – Street Level – Delicious vinyl (Limited double repress) Various Artists – Sitar Beat Vol II – Guerilla Reissues (Following the success of the first Sitar Beat compilation, a collection of Indian and Indian-inspired European funky selections from the 60s and 70s, the crew knew they had to come deep for the sequel. So for Volume 2, they go straight to heart of India with some of the rarest, and best tracks recorded between the years of 1970 and 1984. Sixteen tracks of rare and funky Indian flavour, blending heavy beats with the sounds of the sitar and the inimitable vocal sounds of beloved Indian singers such as the ubiquitous Asha Bhosle and producers/songwriters like Kalyanji Ananji and R. D. Burman.) The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II – Delicious Vinyl (Limited double repress) Helms Alee – Sleepwalking Sailors – Sargent House (Helms Alees music is exactly the sort of mutant, fantastic hybrid that used to only occasionally erupt out of small, isolated scenes, uninformed by trends of the day — instead inspired by the band’s own collective contributions. The Seattle trio’s unique amalgam of metal, art rock, pop and punk is charmingly reminiscent of the fertile creativity that groups once had before the Internet seemed to instruct bands to only copy one another. Helms Alee’s third album, Sleepwalking Sailors sounds like many styles combined into one, and none of it concerned with any notion other than creating vital, urgent and uniquely characteristic music.) Beat Happening – Black Candy – K Records (Hey, Gravedigger. Welcome to Black Candy, the fourth Beat Happening album. Bret, Heather, and Calvin explore the more sinister aspects of life, with an eye towards the relief that can be found in its simpler pleasures. “Melancholy” is a word that has been used to describe this approach, though Black Candy does include many optimistic moments. If you like it black, here’s a blast of playhouse on fire, pyjama party and haunted shadow to propel your day. Included on here is the original version of “Cast a Shadow”, covered by Yo La Tengo and Adam Green.) Suede Reissues – Edsel (Lovely deluxe vinyl versions of the Suede Back Catalogue) -S/T -Sci-Fi Lullabies -A New Morning -Head Music -Coming Up -Dog Man Star The Incredible Bongo Band – The Return Of… - Mr Bongo (Re-released for the first time since 1974, this is the sequel to the classic 1973 ‘Bongo Rock’, which became a foundation of rap and popular music, up to the present day. This LP has been sampled by Bentley Rhythm Ace, Fatboy Slim, Macy Gray, Group Home and Koushik. Reproduced on heavyweight 180g vinyl and in top-quality Japanese sleeves.) The Incredible Bongo Band – Bongo Rock – Mr Bongo (“Bongo Rock” is significant, for being one of the musical cornerstones of rap ... it is certainly one of the most sampled LP’s in history, if not the most sampled. Most every history-minded hip-hop DJ has a copy, and the first few bars of its signature number, a driving cover version of the 60’s instrumental number “Apache,” can send crowds into overdrive.” According to Kool Herc, the stylistic pioneer many people consider to be the father of hip-hop music, the Bongo’s “Apache” is “the national anthem of hip-hop.”) Gregory Isaacs – In Person – Sunspot (Classic 1975 reggae album re-issued on 180 gram vinyl. Comes with a double-sided insert featuring photos, track-by-track breakdown and biography.) Guided By Voices – Motivational Jumpsuit – Fire (Motivational Jumpsuit is the latest, from the mighty Guided By Voices. Sounds fantastic too, but it would its GBV.)
Posted on: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 18:41:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015