New Releases - 1/28/22

Hitting The Racks

Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's

New Releases

Tori Amos – Ocean To Ocean 2xLP (Verve)

Released last fall on CD – now available on vinyl. Despite the various crises that have occurred since 2017's Native Invader, Tori Amos has emerged with Ocean To Ocean, her most personal work in years – an album bursting with warmth and connection, with deep roots in her earliest song writing. Written during the third lockdown in Cornwall in 2021, Ocean To Ocean is a universal story of going to rock bottom and renewing yourself all over again.

Anteloper – Kudu LP (International Anthem)

Anteloper is the electric brainchild of Jaimie Branch (Fly Or Die, High Life) and Jason Nazary (Little Women, Helado Negro, Bear In Heaven). Branch and Nazary have been playing together as trumpeter and drummer for years, since meeting at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2002, but in this duo both musicians include synthesizers to push further into the spectral spaceship ether. With deep rhythmic passages, telepathic improvisations and effortless melodic negotiations, Anteloper pushes forward, swinging its horns all the while. [Limited-edition indie store exclusive blue vinyl.]

Bad Suns – Apocalypse Whenever CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)

Apocalypse Whenever features dreamy '80s pastiche flanked by Stratocasters through cranked Vox amps, pulsing synths, and palpable rhythmic energy. While all the elements associated with the band's signature sound are beautifully showcased, their fourth studio album sees Bad Suns take a more conceptual approach to their songwriting. The 13-track album was conceived as "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't yet exist," setting the scene as the album's protagonist washes up on the shores of a fictionalized L.A. after a near-death experience at the hands of the turbulent ocean. In order to fully conceptualize their story, the band did what any good director would do; assembling a mood board, filtering their neo-noir version of Los Angeles through the dreamlike haziness of author Haruki Murakami, the futuristic flair of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Blade Runner, and the lifted cinematography of Spike Jonze's HER. [Indie exclusive pink clear vinyl.]

Boy Named Banjo - Circles LP (Mercury Nashville)

Nashville-based Boy Named Banjo's major label debut is an EP entitled Circles, which was produced by Oscar Charles (Charlie Worsham, Carly Peace, Elvie Shane). The EP consists of seven songs all co-written by members of the band, invoking elements of country, bluegrass, folk-rock, and more. Copies of the EP include an autographed insert.

Burial – Antidawn LP+MP3 (Hyperdub)

Antidawn reduces Burial's music to just the vapors. The record explores an interzone between dislocated, patchwork songwriting and eerie, open-world game-space ambience. In the resulting no man's land, lyrics take precedence over song, lonely phrases color the haze, a stark and fragmented structure makes time slow down. Antidawn seems to tell a story of a wintertime city, and something beckoning you to follow it into the night. The result is both comforting and disturbing, producing a quiet and uncanny glow against the cold. Sometimes, as it enters 'a bad place', it takes your breath away. And time just stops. [CD edition due March 4.]

Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy – Blind Date Party CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)

Bill & Bonnie shared these songs with a travel-challenged world from fall 2020 through Spring 2021; now their online sensation comes home to roost on the good ol' fashioned format in which all these songs were originally heard in the first place. A record to, from, for and dedicated to almost everyone. Hats off! Pants off too! NOW it's a party.

Cloakroom – Dissolution Wave LP (Relapse)

Yellow color vinyl pressing. Cloakroom celebrate their tenth anniversary as a band with their new album, Dissolution Wave. The eight-track collection is a concept - a space western in which an act of theoretical physics - the dissolution wave - wipes out all of humanity's existing art and abstract thought. In order to keep the world spinning on its axis, songsmiths must fill the ether with their compositions. [CD edition due February 4.]

Brent Cobb – And Now, Let’s Turn To Page… CD (Ol’ Buddy)

And Now, Let's Turn to Page... is the fifth album overall and debut gospel album from Georgia singer-songwriter Brent Cobb. It includes eight traditional songs and hymnals Cobb grew up singing in church plus one new original song ("When It's My Time"), incorporating multiple genres - country, Southern rock, blues, folk, soul. Produced, engineered, and mixed by six-time Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, John Prine, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton) at RCA Studio A in Nashville, TN. [Vinyl due Feb. 4]

Jason Boland & The Stragglers – The Light Saw Me LP (Proud Souls)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The Light Saw Me is as incisive and thought-provoking as any of Jason Boland's previous albums and shows he truly belongs alongside the great songwriters of his time. Drawing from influences as wide as Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger and Tougher Than Leather to Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime, Boland succeeded by creating a concept album that's as ambitious as it is accessible. On the surface, The Light Saw Me traces a cowboy living in Texas in the 1890s who is abducted by aliens and ends up in Texas in the 1990s, but there's way more to it. Packed into three distinctive interlocking parts, The Light Saw Me is layered with vivid imagery that touches on old legends (such as a spacecraft allegedly crashing in Aurora, Texas which thematically fits), conspiracies and other accounts that run contrary to reality. Referencing aliens can oftentimes be campy and corny, but Boland uses them in a fascinating fashion.

Buffalo Nichols – Buffalo Nichols CD/LP (Fat Possum)

Austin, TX-based vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Buffalo Nichols – Fat Possum's first solo blues signing in nearly 20 years – delivers his self-titled debut album on the label. The album sees Nichols wrestling with prescient topics, such as empathy and forgiveness on the poignant, ever-building melody of "How To Love"; regret and loss on moving, violin-inflected "These Things"; and the pitfalls of lives lived too close to the edge on the smooth, dynamic "Back On Top".

Combo Chimbita – IRÉ CD (ANTI-)

Continuing their mystical saga, Combo Chimbita roar back onto the global stage with their cathartic new album, IRÉ, channeling the fear, rage and empathy of a world in flames into an urgent spirit of musical dissidence. The album's evocative title is forged upon double-edged meaning: on one hand embracing the divinely inspired blessings and prosperity foretold by our spiritual elders, and on the other a brazen, propulsive affirmation of revolutionary futures in the making. Afro-Caribbean transcendence, bewildering chants, booming drums and psychedelic distortion lay the rhythmic foundation for IRÉ; a testament to the ever-expanding scope of Combo Chimbita's sonic palette and their modes of resistance in realms both spiritual and terrestrial. [Vinyl edition due February 18.]

Charlotte Cornfield – Highs In The Minuses LP (Double Double Whammy)

Limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing. When the world shut down in March 2020, Charlotte Cornfield was in the middle of an artist residency in the Rocky Mountains, hunkered down in a hut with a baby grand piano, sketching ideas for a follow-up album to her Polaris-Longlisted 2019 LP The Shape of Your Name. The result is Highs In The Minuses, a memoir in fragments. Here Cornfield fully embraces the role of narrator, moving from one vignette to another in a colorful collage. We see her at 21, heartbroken and lost, carrying a friend's 3-legged cat back to her apartment in a box; then as a teenager, playing a new song for a group of friends on a trampoline. She sings of a magical first date, an ex with a mean streak, two skateboarders gliding in a lakeside parking lot.

Earthless – Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons 2xLP (Nuclear Blast)

There's an ancient Japanese legend in which a horde of demons, ghosts and other terrifying ghouls descend upon the sleeping villages once a year. Known as Hyakki Yagyō, or the Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons, one version of the tale states that anyone who witnesses this otherworldly procession will die instantly-or be carried off by the creatures of the night. As a result, the villagers hide in their homes, lest they become victims of these supernatural invaders. Such is the inspiration for the latest album from Earthless. Whereas 2018's Black Heaven featured shorter songs and vocals from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell on much of the album-an unprecedented move for the San Diego power trio- their latest is a return to the epic instrumentals Earthless made their unmistakable name on. Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons is comprised of two monster songs - the 41-minute, two-part title track and the 20-minute "Death To The Red Sun". [Limited edition gold vinyl featuring an etched D-side.]

Eels – Extreme Witchcraft CD/LP/2xLP+CD (E Works/PIAS)

Eels have had one of the most consistently acclaimed careers in music. The ever-changing project of principal singer/songwriter E (Mark Oliver Everett), Eels have released thirteen studio albums since their 1996 debut, Beautiful Freak. During the height of the pandemic lockdown in early 2021, E got an out of the blue message from Mark Romanek, director of the first Eels video, "Novocaine For the Soul". It triggered him to reach out to John Parish, who was in between numerous projects and immediately got to work in his HonorSound studio in Bristol and began sending ideas to E. "I'd sneak out of bed at 4 in the morning to hear the latest thing John had sent and try to add my part to it and get it back to him quickly before my 4-year-old son woke up," E says. The resulting album is Extreme Witchcraft. Limited box set edition features a 45rpm master of the album on yellow color vinyl plus a copy on CD and an Extreme Witchcraft Ouija Board with custom Eels planchette and sticker sheet.

Eliane Elias – Mirror Mirror LP (Candid)

Released last fall on CD – now available on vinyl. Over the course of a distinguished career spanning nearly 30 albums, multi-Grammy-winning pianist/singer/composer Eliane Elias' distinctive musical style has emerged as one of the most unique and immediately recognizable sounds in jazz. Elias blends her Brazilian roots and alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz, classical and compositional skills, while she consistently displays her pianistic mastery and ability to integrate the many artistic roles she takes on.

Eric Gales – Crown CD/2xLP (Mascot Label Group)

Eric Gales is a blues firebrand. Over 30 years and 18 albums, his passion for the music and his boundless desire to keep it vital has never waned, even when his own light dimmed due to his substance struggles. Throughout it all, he continued to reinvigorate the art form with personal revelation in his lyrics and bold stylistic twists in his guitar playing and songwriting. Five years sober, creatively rejuvenated, and sagely insightful, Eric is ready for the fight of his career. Aptly, he calls his masterful new album, Crown. Here, Eric opens like never before, sharing his struggles with substance abuse, his hopes about a new era of sobriety and unbridled creativity, and his personal reflections on racism. The songs are delivered with clarity and feature Eric's personal experiences and hope for positive change. In addition, the 16-track collection boasts his finest singing, songwriting, and his signature guitar playing that burns throughout. Produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, this is Eric at his most boldly vulnerable, uncompromisingly political, and unflinchingly confident. [Limited-edition gold vinyl.]

Good Morning TV - Small Talk LP (Geographie)

Good Morning TV started in 2016 with a self-titled EP, released by pop diggers Requiem pour un Twister. At the time a solo adventure of Bérénice Deloire, the project has since expanded to a full band, and the Parisian quartet isolated themselves in a peaceful home of the south of France in order to record their debut album. Small Talk was born in this rough temporary studio that rather resembled a weird laboratory. With this record, Good Morning TV paints a melancholic portrait of daily disillusions and claims its own vision of pop, somewhere between Broadcast, Deerhoof, Crumb, and The Olivia Tremor Control.

Jethro Tull – The Zealot Gene CD/2xLP+CD/3xLP+2xCD+Blu-ray Audio (Inside Out U.S.)

Jethro Tull return with its first album of all-new music for 22 years. Evoking Biblical writings in a wholly different way from the now 51-year-old Aqualung, The Zealot Gene - in the making since 2017 - is a darker album for darker times. Ian Anderson elaborates, "While I have a spot of genuine fondness for the pomp and fairytale story-telling of the Holy Book, I still feel the need to question and draw sometimes unholy parallels from the text. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly rear their heads throughout, but are punctuated with elements of love, respect, and tenderness.” Music born of emotional necessity put together by a band with nothing to prove, The Zealot Gene is a worthy addition to a peerless catalogue. [A limited-edition red color vinyl pressing and a Deluxe box including triple-LP plus double-CD plus 5.1 Blu-ray audio artbook edition with bonus demo material and a turntable slipmat are available.]

Lady Wray – Piece Of Me 2xCD/LP (Big Crown)

The sophomore full length offering from Lady Wray is something of a homecoming for Nicole. Where her 2016 solo debut Queen Alone leaned more towards soul and R&B with tinges of hip-hop, this record changes the mixture. It's still R&B with the textures of analog soul, but there is a heavy hip-hop influence that brings the sum of Nicole's career together in a new sound that will define her future. Boom-bap drums and chunky bass lines are front-and-center creating a perfect head-nodding backdrop for Lady Wray to take on the good, the bad, the difficult, and the joyful on her most personal collection of songs to date. [Indie store exclusive deep emerald vinyl.]

Aaron Lewis – Frayed At Both Ends CD (Valory)

After 10 years in Nashville, two No. 1 country albums and several hundred thousand miles playing shows, Aaron Lewis recognizes the part of America that no one is speaking to - or for. Frayed At Both Ends is his measure of the wages of being a grown-up in today's world, an American in a nation torn apart and a man seeking love and redemption in the words of his songs. [Vinyl edition due May 13.]

Anaïs Mitchell – Anaïs Mitchell CD (BMG)

Anaïs Mitchell returns with her first solo studio album in over a decade. “The sound is gently polished and the songs richly melodic enough to bear comparison with Taylor Swift in downhome mode (both Mitchell and Swift contributed vocals to Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner’s last album as Big Red Machine), but the whole enterprise is noticeably low-key. Around Mitchell’s acoustic guitar are delicate shimmers of tremolo-heavy guitar or electric piano; little smears of electronics so subtly placed you barely notice them first time around; the occasional sax solo courtesy of Bon Iver sideman Michael Lewis, sprawling gracefully in a way that recalls the same instrument’s use on Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, as well as Lewis’s work on Gayngs’ small-hours soft rock-inspired album Relayted. Even the drums are gently tapped: rimshots rather than snares; brushes and soft mallets rather than drumsticks. That the musical scenery is shot in soft focus draws the listener’s attention to Mitchell’s distinctive voice…” – The Guardian [Vinyl edition – including an indie store exclusive pressing - due March 25.]

Aoife O'Donovan – Age Of Apathy CD/2xCD/LP+MP3/2xLP+MP3 (Yep Roc)

Produced by fellow Grammy-winner Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens) and featuring guest appearances from Allison Russell and Madison Cunningham, Age Of Apathy finds Aoife O'Donovan's gift for poetic imagery and unconventionally alluring melody in full bloom as she confronts the sense-dulling barrage of the digital age. Amid symphonic arrangements that reveal a stunning mastery of her craft, Aoife puts forth a statement of defiance and radical love – one that reaffirms her as one of our most vital songwriters today. [A deluxe double-CD edition featuring eight of the album tracks re-recorded in the studio and performed solo acoustic is available, in addition to a bone color vinyl pressing. A limited-edition double-LP color vinyl edition featuring the eight bonus tracks on the double-CD is due February 25.]

Pinegrove – 11:11 CD/LP (Rough Trade)

Pinegrove's new album 11:11 is an unqualified triumph, an album that seizes listeners with hook-filled songs imbuing feelings of warmth, urgency, and poetic beauty, even as it asks some of life's big and difficult questions. On previous Pinegrove recordings, band member Sam Skinner usually oversees mixing duties, but this time out, noted producer and former Death Cab for Cutie member Chris Walla has assumed the role. Calling previous album Marigold's production "crisp and contained," Hall, who co-produced 11:11 with Sam, sought more of a "messier" feel for these new songs. The album features lush soundscapes, organs, Megan Benavente's melodic and adventurous bass playing, Josh Marre's signature guitar work and a special guest - Doug Hall, Evan's father- playing piano on many tracks. The record sounds intimate, yet expansive. [A limited edition red vinyl pressing is available with deluxe gatefold sleeve.]

The Plot In You – Swan Song LP (Fearless)

The Plot In You continue to move forward on Swan Song, their fifth full-length album and second for Fearless Records. The Ohio quartet stare down years of negativity, soured friendships, disappointment, and mistakes and flush it all away in the wake of hammering distortion, towering melodies, cinematic production, and unapologetically cathartic lyrics. [Limited-edition peach fuzz vinyl.]

Rizomagic - Voltaje Raizal LP (Disasters by Choice)

The debut album from the Colombian tropical futurist music project Rizomagic, which is the duo of Diego Manrique, director of the avant-garde cumbia orchestra Niño Pueblo, and Edgar Marun, director of the ethno-Afrobeat ensemble, Dorado Kandua. The sounds of the album are rooted in the Afro-Caribbean musical tradition, in the mixed ancestry that defines Colombian culture, and IDM. The melodic construction of the album takes inspiration from various cultures, including indigenous chants from Colombia's Embera people, the traditional scales from Mali's Bambara ethnic group, and the Ghanian palm wine guitar interpreted by a Caribbean millo flute.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Alien Coast CD/LP (ATO/Virgin)

A fever dream in sonic form, The Alien Coast is the first album St. Paul & The Broken Bones recorded in their hometown of Birmingham. Produced by Matt Ross-Spang, the band’s fourth full-length is a dizzying convergence of rock ‘n' roll, R&B, psychedelia, stoner metal, gospel and jazz-funk. At turns explosive, elegant, and thrillingly unhinged - it makes for a majestic backdrop to the group's visceral exploration of the strangest dimensions of the human psyche. [Limited-edition indie store exclusive gold vinyl AND, exclusive to Grimey’s, a watercress darter color vinyl.]

The Temptations – Temptations 60 CD (UMe)

An album of brand-new songs from the #1 R&B group of all time. Featuring tracks written and produced by Narada Michael Walden, young hip hop producer K. Sparks, longtime group member Ron Tyson, founding member Otis Williams, and the equally legendary Smokey Robinson, whose classic songs launched the group's original hit streak.

Trivium – In The Court Of The Dragon LP (Roadrunner)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “How long does a ‘return to form’ have to last until it’s just ‘form’? You all know Trivium’s story at this point: the highs of instant classic Ascendancy, the troughs of The Crusade and Vengeance Falls and the stunning redemption of 2017’s The Sin And The Sentence and last year’s What The Dead Men Say. Weirdly, despite all of this contextual weight, when approaching In The Court Of The Dragon you just never really ever felt in any doubt that Trivium 2021 would or could let you down. The band have just been so good, so reliable, in the last five years that you really shouldn’t be surprised to hear that (spoiler alert) this album is another exceptional effort.” – Metal Hammer [This title shipped late and will arrive early next week.]

Steve Vai – Inviolate CD (Mascot Label Group)

Vai's newest and 10th solo album, Inviolate, is a nine-song opus that pushes the boundaries of instrumental guitar music. For the recording, Vai invented not just a new guitar, but also a new guitar-playing technique. "An inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure," Vai explains. "It appears almost in its completeness, and there's a recognition of it as being right for you - perfectly right for you. There's no excuses in it. There's no fantasy in it. There's just a recognition of 'yes.' And then you capture that in a way that's authentic to your unique creativity. Hopefully, that's what I've done with this record." [Vinyl edition due March 18.]

Morgan Wade – Reckless [Deluxe Edition] CD (SME Nashville)

With a voice that is raw hurt, deep knowing and somehow innocence retained, Wade wrote or co-wrote a song cycle about the reality facing teens and 20-somethings that embraced raw desire, the reality of getting high and getting sober, the realm of crawling through the wreckage with a tough vulnerability that is as singular as the young woman from Floyd, Virginia. [Previously an indie release, now available in an expanded deluxe CD from Sony.]

Immanuel Wilkins – The 7th Hand CD/2xLP (Blue Note)

Alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins follows-up his acclaimed debut, Omega, with another striking album featuring his remarkable quartet with pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Kweku Sumbry, plus appearances by flutist Elena Pinderhughes and the Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble. It consists of an hour-long suite comprised of seven movements that strive to bring them closer to complete vesselhood by the end, where the music would be entirely improvised and channeled collectively. [Our vinyl shipped late and should arrive next week.]

Lucinda Williams – Lu's Jukebox Vol. 6: You Are Cordially Invited....A Tribute To The Rolling Stones CD/2xLP (Highway 20)

Lu's Jukebox is a six-volume series of mostly full-band performances recorded live at Ray Kennedy's Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN. Each volume features a themed set of songs by other artists curated by the multi-Grammy award winner, Lucinda Williams. The series aired as ticketed shows through Mandolin in late 2020 with a portion of ticket sales benefitting independent music venues struggling to get by through the pandemic.

Charlotte Day Wilson – Alpha LP (Stone Woman Music)

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 release of her debut EP CDW (2016), along with her work with collaborators BADBADNOTGOOD, Daniel Caesar and River Tiber. [Indie store exclusive translucent pink color vinyl.]

Reissues, Compilations, Live Recordings & Vault Excavations...

The 5th Dimension – Greatest Hits On Earth [Reissue/1972] LP (Sony Legacy)

Vinyl reissue of the compilation consisting of R&B/soul group’s charted singles from both Soul City and Bell labels.

The Beths – Jump Rope Gazers [Reissue/2020] LP+MP3 (Carpark)

Clear vinyl pressing. Songwriter/lead vocalist Elizabeth Stokes worked on The Beths' second LP, Jump Rope Gazers, in between these intense periods of touring. Like their earlier music, the album tackles themes of anxiety and self-doubt with effervescent power pop choruses and rousing backup vocals, zeroing in on the communality and catharsis that can come from sharing stressful situations with some of your best friends. Their most emotive and heartfelt work to date, Jump Rope Gazers stares down all the hard parts of living in communion with other people, even at a distance, while celebrating the ferocious joy that makes it all worth it.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ‎– Beat The Devil's Tattoo [Reissue/2010] 2xLP (Vagrant)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ‎– Specter At The Feast [Reissue/2013] 2xLP (Vagrant)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ‎– Wrong Creatures [Reissue/2018] 2xLP (Vagrant)

BRMC’s fifth, sixth, and seventh albums are back in-print on vinyl. [These titles shipped late and will arrive early next week.]

Ornette Coleman – Round Trip - The Complete Ornette Coleman 6xLP (Blue Note)

Coleman shook the jazz world when he arrived at the Five Spot Café in New York City in 1959 and began his run of seminal albums on Atlantic that laid the foundation for the free jazz movement to come. After a period of disillusionment during which he withdrew from public music making, Coleman re-emerged on Blue Note in 1966 and began writing an intriguing new chapter of his legendary career. This set includes At The ‘Golden Circle’ Stockholm, Vol. 1 (1965), At The ‘Golden Circle’ Stockholm, Vol. 2 (1965), The Empty Foxhole (1966), New And Old Gospel (1967), New York Is Now! (1968), and Love Call (1968).

Fruit Bats – Sometimes a Cloud Is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs (2001–2021) 2xLP+MP3 (Merge)

Limited-edition pink and violet vinyl pressing. Eric D. Johnson, the creative force behind Fruit Bats, doesn't spend a lot of time looking in the rearview mirror. But with the 20th anniversary of his first Fruit Bats release (2001's Echolocation) on his mind, it seemed as good a time as any to take stock of his work-and he's doing so in the form of Sometimes A Cloud Is Just A Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits And Lost Songs (2001-2021), a two-disc collection that tracks the history of Fruit Bats from its earliest days to right now.

Dexter Gordon ‎– Daddy Plays The Horn [Reissue/1956] LP (BMG)

Reissue of the 1956 classic featuring "Confirmation", "Autumn In New York" and "You Can Depend On Me". Dexter Gordon wasn't quite THE Dexter Gordon when he made Daddy Plays The Horn, but his unique, obtuse way of playing the saxophone and hitting his rhythm section's playing at weird, swinging angles was already fully formed for this album. Recorded in between periods of tumult and distress -he was in and out of jail with a bear of a heroin addiction - Gordon is one of the finest men to ever put play the saxophone. [This title shipped late and will arrive early next week.]

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West, San Francisco 3/1/69 3xLP (Grateful Dead/Rhino)

The latest vinyl box from the Grateful Dead’s legendary 4-night run at the Fillmore West in late February/early March of 1969. Many of the tracks on the iconic Live/Dead release came from these shows. Part of Rhino’s Start Your Ear Off Right slate of releases. [Our Warner Records order didn’t ship until today - Friday - so this will not arrive until early next week. Call the shop to reserve a copy: 615-226-3811.]

Baligh Hamdi - Modal Instrumental Pop of 1970s Egypt 2LP (Sublime Frequencies)

Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi -- one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the Diamond Orchestra with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music, charting a new melodic direction and creating a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi's long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern-tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s.

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake – Demos CD/LP+MP3 (Island)

A collection of unreleased demos of tracks written for the eighth PJ Harvey studio album Let England Shake, including demos of “The Words That Maketh Murder”, “The Glorious Land” and “The Last Living Rose”. Features brand new artwork - the cover is a drawing by Polly, and the package also includes previously unseen photos by Seamus Murphy. Mastering by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering, under the guidance of longtime PJ Harvey producer John Parish. [A 180gm vinyl reissue of the original album is also available this week.]

PJ Harvey ‎– Let England Shake [Reissue/2011] LP (Island)

180gm vinyl reissue of PJ Harvey’s eighth album. Let England Shake features the singles “The Words That Maketh Murder” and “The Glorious Land” and was the second album in the catalogue to win the UK's Mercury Music Prize.

Omar Khorshid - Giant + Guitar LP (Wewantsounds)

Omar Khorshid's highly sought-after instrumental album, originally released in 1974 in Lebanon and recorded at Polysound Studio by famed Lebanese engineer Nabil Moumtaz. The album features Khorshid's unique electric guitar sound mixed with Arabic melodies over superb psych arrangements. Omar Khorshid's life, if short (he died age 36 in a road accident), was extraordinary. Blessed with a great talent for music, the Egyptian musician and actor became one of the best guitarists of the Arab World, accompanying the greatest stars of the '60s and '70s, including Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez and Farid El Atrache. The album is bold and accessible, displaying Khorshid's unique guitar sound, accompanied by a small band mixing traditional and modern fuzzed-up arrangements, often featuring groovy organs and early synthesizers.

Charlie Megira – The Abtomatic Miesterzinger Mambo Chic [Reissue/2000] LP (Numero)

On his 2000 debut, Da Abtomatic Meisterzinger Mambo Chic, Megira channels the optimism of post-war America, narcoleptic surf, and the Twin Peaks soundtrack into a lo-fi masterpiece all his own. Sung in both Hebrew and English, Mambo Chic moves at a deliberate pace, unconcerned by the traffic of the modern world and wrapped in a blanket of Tascam 4-track hiss. On "Tomorrow's Gone" Megira achieves the feat of being so far back in time that he's somehow living in the future and waiting for the rest of us to arrive. [Limited-edition red/black/yellow multicolor vinyl.]

oso oso – Real Stories Of True People, Who Kind Of Looked Liked Monsters [Reissue/2015] LP (Counter Intuitive)

“Let's get one thing straight - oso oso knows how to craft pop-punk records full of indie spunk, head-bobbing moments and singalong melodies. The band continued their simple formula for making music with 2015's Real Stories of True People, Who Kind of Looked Like Monsters. They brilliantly walk the tightrope of pop and punk here, a balancing act they pull off all too well once again.”

Todd Rundgren – Todd [Reissue/1973] 2xLP (Friday Music)

Audiophile 180gm vinyl reissue. or his fifth album Todd, the legendary Todd Rundgren delivered a double album complete with 17 stellar performances. As with many of his solo albums, Rundgren wrote most of the tracks, plays most of the instruments, sings and handles productions duties.

Sea Wolf – Through A Dark Wood [Reissue/2020] LP (Dangerbird)

Everything is alright now. Alex Brown Church – the man behind the dark folk, indie rock band Sea Wolf – wants you to know that from the start. Sea Wolf’s fifth LP, Through A Dark Wood, proves it in 11 textured, sometimes-acoustic, sometimes-electronic, unabashedly honest tracks. But beforehand, everything was decidedly not okay. Church wrote and recorded an entire album after 2014’s streaming-only, stripped down album Song Spells No. 1: Cedarsmoke, but decided to scrap it. He realized those songs lacked a through-line and felt conceptually disjointed, something he attributes to a sense of denial of what had been going behind the scenes – dealing with the disintegration of a long-term relationship, reconciling with the death of an estranged parent, and trying to cope with the magnitude of current events, all while maintaining a passionately beloved, yet slow-burning creative career. So, Church mustered his courage to go back to the drawing board. Starting from scratch, he spent months in his northeast Los Angeles studio writing, singing, tracking, and producing the new set of Sea Wolf songs that comprise Through A Dark Wood. The result is a catharsis record, not merely a breakup record – one that highlights power in vulnerability and bravery in the face of fear.

Majid Soula - Chant Amazigh CD/LP (Habibi Funk)

Habibi Funk presents a selection of works by Algerian-born, Amazigh artist Majid Soula. Majid’s music blends the best of Arab-disco, highlife and groovy funk into something wholly unique. With no formal music education, Majid’s tenacity has led to a career that is still blooming. A strong proponent for the rights of the Amazigh, he has a band that to this day plays shows, most linked to cultural events of the Amazigh diaspora in France, as well as in Belgium, Russia the UK and Sweden. For Majid Soula, music is more than just entertainment. He considers himself an activist through music, and foremost a “chanteur engagé”, as he says of himself: "I take my inspiration from the daily life of my people and I share all their aspirations, mainly the official recognition of Tamazight as a language, culture and identity."

Tin Pan Alley - Tin Pan Alley LP (Life Goes On Records)

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to a collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flower District of Manhattan. Haruomi Hosono (Apryl Fool, Happy End, Yellow Magic Orchestra), Masataka Matsutoya (music producer, arranger, keyboard player and composer married to popstar Yumi Arai), Shigeru Suzuki (also guitarist in Happy End) and drummer Tatsuo Hayashi (later on in fusion prog-bands such as Aragon and Parachute) took the name for granted. Their 1975 self-titled debut is still one of the most sophisticated venture in the so-called city pop scene.

Uriah Heep – ...Very 'Eavy Very 'Umble... [Reissue/1970] LP (Sanctuary)
Uriah Heep – Salisbury [Reissue/1971] LP (Sanctuary)

Limited-edition picture vinyl reissues of the UK prog rock band’s first two albums. [These titles shipped late and will arrive early next week.]

Various Artists - Cosmic Discotheque Vol. 5 LP (Naughty Rhythm Records)

A massive new dose of rare and bizarre tracks for all disco junkies out there. With this new Cosmic Discotheque release, Naughty Rhythm Records keep their focus on the most bizarre '70s disco productions and further explore the fascinating Afro side of disco. Wild Afro-funk and tribal rhythms, and deep voodoo atmospheres are the backbone of this fifth volume. A highly exciting potion that will not disappoint the many fans of this sub-genre. Features Tom Tom, Michael Amara, M'Bamina, Raw Energy, The Starlights, Truman Bley's African Rhythm Machine, Maani, Zubaba, Eddie Quansah, Makonde, Malinga Five, and Black Blood.

Various Artists - Mainstream Funk: Funk, Soul, Spiritual Jazz 1971-1975 2LP (Wewantsounds)

Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad's venerable jazz label Mainstream Records, presenting a selection of 12 turntable-friendly tracks recorded between 1971 and 1975 and showcasing the label's superb blend of spiritual jazz, funk, and soul. Mainstream Records is one of the key independent jazz labels of the early 70s, together with Flying Dutchman, Strata East, CTI, and Black Jazz. Founded by legendary label man Bob Shad (who had been head of A&R at Mercury Records and set EmArcy in the '50s), the label signed a new crop of jazzmen in the early 70s, fed on John Coltrane and Miles' electric experiments. Thus, was born the cult Mainstream "300 Series" with its distinctive artwork and outstanding music from which this selection is largely drawn. The Mainstream sessions included many of the hottest session players of that time such as Ron Carter, Eddie Henderson, Airto, Mtume, Earl Palmer, Mickey Roker, Merl Saunders, Cedar Walton, to name but a few. Shad also had a long-standing association with jazz divas showcased here with the opening track by Sarah Vaughan, a funkified version of Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues" recorded the same year as the original in 1971.

Various Artists - Tokyo Glow 2LP (Wewantsounds)

Following the recent success of the Tokyo Dreaming, Wewantsounds presents another compelling set, this time compiled by city pop expert DJ Notoya who has dug through the rich Nippon Columbia catalog to unearth a breezy selection of funky gems. Particularly strong in the '70s and '80s, the Nippon Columbia label was one of the main purveyors of great music at a time when Japan was entering its greatest economic boom and labels had budgets at hand to create the highest quality music. Keen to emulate the music created in the US by their American counterparts, Japanese musicians came with their own blend of funk, boogie and soul that has come to be known as city pop. With Tokyo Glow, Notoya says he "focused more on the slightly more underground tracks from the era, rather than the bigger, well-known releases. For me that was a more fun and satisfying approach," and his selections range from sunshiney grooves to superb boogie, with some mid-tempo cuts and more soulful sounds mixed in. Features Miyuki Maki, Hatsumi Shibata, Hiroshi Sato, Kengo Kurozumi, Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama, Haruyoshi Yamashina, Sumiko Yamagata, Makoto Iwabuchi, Arakawa Band, Kiyohiko Ozaki, Ken Nishizaki, and many more.

Widespread Panic – Widespread Panic [Reissue/1991] 2xLP (Widespread Records)
Widespread Panic – Ain’t Life Grand [Reissue/1994] 2xLP (Widespread Records)

Limited-edition color vinyl pressing of the second and fourth studio albums by the Athens, GA-based band.

Wiz Khalifa – Kush & Orange Juice [Reissue/2010] LP (Rostrum)

Wiz Khalifa's classic mixtape, Kush & Orange Juice, became a viral sensation and garnered critical acclaim when it was

YoungBoy Never Broke Again – 38 Baby 2 LP (Atlantic)
YoungBoy Never Broke Again – Top 2 LP (Atlantic)
YoungBoy Never Broke Again – AI YoungBoy 2 2xLP (Atlantic)

Three previously digital-only releases from the rising rapper are now available on vinyl. [These titles shipped late and will arrive early next week.]