TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015
Funkadelic – Shake The Gate

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015

Baroness – Purple
Black Crowes – Amorica
Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker (Re-Issue)
Clutch – Psychic Warfare
Deafheaven – New Bermuda San Francisco’s Deafheaven found massive critical success when their 2013 album Sunbather was an unexpected crossover hit, earning the band a 92/100 Metacritic score and ending the year as the best reviewed album of 2013. No one could have anticipated a band that drew from equal parts Weakling and My Bloody Valentine ascending to such heights, and that incomprehensibility added to the band’s singularity and allure. Two years later, founding members George Clarke and Kerry McCoy began working on their ANTI debut, New Bermuda, with a new perspective. Says Clarke: “Sunbather yearned for something better. New Bermuda focuses on the idea of false promise, achieving something and wondering if it’s what you really wanted in the first place.” McCoy shares that sentiment: “Sunbather sounds like people who have nothing but are satisfied with life. There’s an uplifting quality to it. But New Bermuda is a very tense record.” McCoy cites death metal demigods Dissection and Morbid Angel, the blackened death pioneers Behemoth, and Cliff Burton-era Metallica as influences on the new album. As New Bermuda progresses, Deafheaven travels further outside of their comfort zone, feasting on other niches of underground metal and offsetting the blunt force of their feral rage with more complex and nuanced beauty. A sophisticated and subdued pop element kicks off “Baby Blue”, before the band abruptly shifts into an amalgam of NWOBHM’s anthemic urgency and thrash metal’s racing chugs. There’s a brief comedown where the band veers into the musique concrete soundscapes and hushed melodrama of early Godspeed You! Black Emperor before “Come Back” resumes the band’s merciless assault of stampeding drums and vitriolic guitar harmonies, only to shift mid-song into the somber territories of 4AD’s early catalog. Which is not to say that Deafheaven have softened their approach; New Bermuda offers the most punishing music of the band’s career in the wake of their greatest success.
FKA Twigs – M3LL155X
Chris Isaak- Forever Blue  (Re-Issue)
Modern Baseball – The Nameless Ranger 10″
Modern Baseball / Marietta – Couples Therapy 7″
New Order – Tutti Frutti 12″
Pantera – 1990-2000 the Complete Studio Album
Phish – Siket Disc
Son Little – Son Little
Saint Seneca – Such Things
Tinariwen – Live In Paris
The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – Harmlessness
Yoko & The Oh No’s – S/T Yoko & the Oh No’s are three kids from Chicago – Max Goldstein on vocals, Max Loebman on guitar, and Stef Roti on drums – a raging trio fueled by Taco Bell, rock & roll myths, and pilfered booze. It doesn’t quite add up how kids this young (Max L. just graduated high school) managed to tap into a vibe this classic. The band’s self-titled full-length debut, out July 31 on Autumn Tone, is crammed with classic rock riffs, swinging beats, and up front, the sassy, done-up style of Max G. emoting loosely and widly like a young David Johansen fronting the New York Dolls, possessing a crooner’s voice and a taste for style. Dolled up in flashy get-ups, Max G.’s voice is a growly, beefy thing, a rangy tenor that belies his taste for soul shouters. The prevailing mood in modern indie garage rock is one of stylistic indifference, but that’s not how Yoko & the Oh No’s come across; these kiddos don’t just care, they care a lot. Listen to the crashing classic rock chorus of “Heart Attack,” the sneering “She Knows It,” and the distorted R&B groove of “Nobody Wants to Know.” “Talking over radio/on the moonlit drive/We listen to VU/Jane says close your eyes.” Yoko & the Oh No’s S/T album is their first for Autumn Tone Records, which has a knack for finding raw young bucks (turn up records by the Orwells, Twin Peaks, and Modern Vices as a testament). Yoko & the Oh No’s are currently on tour with likeminded rock & roll weirdos The Growlers, blowing minds and connecting with crowds across the Midwest.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015

K180 – That Place Where Pain Lives

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Ryan Adams – 1989
Beach Boys – Beach Boys’ Party Uncovered & Unplugged The original album stripped down plus unreleased album sessions
Curt Cobain – Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings 31 track 2-LP soundtrack to the documentary
D’Angelo – Live At The Jazz Cafe, London
Grimes – Art Angels
Josh Groban – Noel
Jennylee – Right On! Right on! is the debut solo album from jennylee, a.k.a. Jenny Lee Lindberg of Warpaint. While right on! retains some of Jenny’s signature Warpaint groove, she also incorporates New Wave and Goth elements into her solo work; her vocals, alternately cool and impassioned, and her meticulous bass playing, create a new sonic aura that is hazy, dreamy, and all her own. Recorded with a full band of notable musicians, including Norm Block (Mark Lanegan), Dan Elkan (Broken Bells), and Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, right on! will be the perfect winter soundtrack for Warpaint fans and beyond. Preview shows in LA & NYC have been scheduled for Oct/Nov & a national tour is planned for early 2016.
Killing Joke – Pylon
Mark Lanegan – One Way Street One Way Street set compiles the first five solo albums recorded by Mark Lanegan, the Pacific-Northwest icon also known for his work with Screaming Trees, Gutter Twins, Mad Season, Queens of the Stone Age, Isobel Campbell, and more. The Winding Sheet, Mark Lanegan’s first solo work, is notable in its departure from the characteristic sound of Screaming Trees, the band he fronted from 1985 until 2000. Its follow-up, Whiskey for The Holy Ghost, released during the grunge explosion of the early 1990s, showcases Lanegan’s growing maturity as a songwriter and vocalist. Scraps at Midnight could be considered the final installment of a trilogy of albums featuring Lanegan’s interpretation of American roots music accompanied by his troubling lyrics of loss, sin, and redemption. I’ll Take Care of You, Lanegan’s fourth solo effort, consists entirely of cover songs with interpretation of songs from a wide variety of songwriters, including Tim Rose, Tim Hardin, Booker T. Jones, and Buck Owens. On Lanegan’s fifth and final solo album for Sub Pop, Field Songs, Lanegan seems to have taken the best elements from his previous work to create one of the most fulfilled, and fulfilling, albums of his career; Field Songs also includes “Kimiko’s Dream House,” which Mark co-wrote with Jeffrey Lee Pierce of The Gun Club. Three of these five albums have been out of print on vinyl for many years; I’ll Take Care of You was only released on vinyl in Europe, and Field Songs was only issued on CD. Each album in the One Way Street box set was pressed on 180-gram vinyl, and is housed in a sleeve reproducing the art for its original release.
Cass McCombs – A Folk Set Apart, Rarities, B-Sides & Space Junk, ETC.
Gary Numan – Pleasure Principal
Gary Numan – Replicas
Gary Numan – Telekon
The Pharcyde – Labcabincalifornia Special limited edition gold vinyl double LP
Spoon – Gimmie Fiction 10th Anniversary Edition To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Spoon classic, Merge will release a deluxe limited-edition version of Gimme Fiction on double-LP (180g) and double-CD. The reissue contains the album remastered by Howie Weinberg from the original tapes, a second disc with 12 previously unreleased demos from the era, nine additional bonus tracks via digital download, and a full-color book containing photos and an extensive oral history of the making of the album. The deluxe LP package will also include a 24” x 36” poster. Gimme Fiction dragged the sonic pointillism of Kill the Moonlight further into dub-influenced weirdness as the increasingly confident Spoon went crazy in the studio, experimenting with everything from warped hip-hop samples to horse whinnies. How all this directionless Dylan worship and psychedelic goofing resulted in an album as sharply realized as Gimme Fiction is a testament solely to Spoon’s self-assurance and tastefulness (and some hard work, and a bit of luck, etc.). Whatever digging or strange alchemy had to go into it, they only produced more gold. Gimme Fiction deserves special recognition because it’s the album where Spoon—backed into a corner—took some crazy leaps, all of them forward. It’s a “departure point” for a band that, lucky for us, has never made a real departure. And when it came time for a reissue, we knew it deserved a lasting place on vinyl, right alongside every other indispensable record in Spoon’s discography.
Various Artists – Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘N’ Roll – This collection accompanies Peter Guralnick’s landmark book of the same title. A hand-picked selection of 45 of Sam Phillips production that illustrates his unique approach to recording.
Amy Winehouse – The Collection 5 lp box set containing never before released songs
Frank Zappa – Sheik Yerbouti 180 gram audiophile quality vinyl.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015

Mike Adams At His Honest Weight – Preperation Age Mike Adams At His Honest Weight rounds out 2015 with Preparation Age, a new 5-song one-sided LP. It was recorded during the same sessions as a forthcoming 2016 full-length and serve as companion songs and a taste of what is to come. They build on the solidly crafted pop songs of 2014’s The Best of Boiler Room Classics through sonic experimentation and take the band’s sound into a hazier new territory combining influences from the synth-based rock of Wheat, Grandaddy, and Flaming Lips with Beach Boys inspired vocal harmonies. Throughout Preparation Age, Mike Adams manages to tell stories of forgotten friends and everyday people, turning fear and anxiety from the departed past into something pleasing and beautiful. In the more perfect universe next door, 2016 is the year for Mike and the boys’ magnum opus crowning achievement that will earn them a well-deserved gold record. For 2015, in the here and now, it’s Mike Adams At His Honest Weight’s Preparation Age. Preparation Age is presented in a limited vinyl-only release of 500 copies with the B-side featuring an etching and including a digital download code.
Sam Amidon – But the Chicken Proved Falsehearted
Trey Anastastsio – Paper Wheels
The Avengers – S/T
The Beatles – 1
David Bowie – 1.Outside
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Nocturna
Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs – Coulda Shoulda Woulda Re-issue
Meredith Graves / Kevin Devine – Took The Ghost to The Movies / Giesen Split 7″
Inventions – Blanket Waves When Explosions In The Sky’s Mark T. Smith and Eluvium’s Matthew Cooper united as Inventions last year, the expectation was a sound that married Smith’s iconic, emotional compositions with Cooper’s introspective, occasionally noisy ambiance. For the most part, their debut album delivered on that promise. However, their quick follow-up, Maze of Woods, exploded those sounds and smeared them into a rich, abstract space where comfort and confusion coexist. The duo’s individual identities dissolved into a fluid, ever-changing landscape of mechanical rhythms, vocal samples, and indeterminate instrumentation. It was uniquely haunting, and brilliantly executed. Blanket Waves continues in the direction charted on Maze of Woods increasingly malleable, and even farther-reaching in its blurring of dream and reality. Composed of two 12-minute tracks, it encompasses the curiosity and craft that Smith and Cooper are renowned for, exemplified by their weaving of seemingly disparate pieces into a breathtaking pastiche that manages to evoke the same sense of wonder and blissful abandon that have made Explosions In The Sky and Eluvium so important to so many.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – S/T
Johnny Marr – Adrenalin Baby: Johnny Marr Live ‘Adrenalin Baby’ was recorded primarily at his Brixton Academy and Manchester Apollo shows during Johnny’s ‘Playland’ tour in support of his Top 10 solo albums ‘The Messenger’ and ‘Playland’. In addition to material from his solo albums, ‘Adrenalin Baby’also features takes on The Smiths’ classics ‘The Headmaster Ritual’,‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ and ‘How Soon Is Now?’. The collection is completed by Electronic’s ‘Getting Away With It’ and Johnny’s interpretation of ‘I Fought The Law’. “I wanted to capture the atmosphere and feeling of the last couple of tours,” says Johnny. “It’s been a special time and the album is a document for fans who were there, and for people who haven¹t seen me and might want to check out what the shows are about. I like live records when they¹re a good listen, It¹s turned out really well.” Released on digital, LP, limited edition and numbered pink coloured double-vinyl (with a poster)
Nirvana – S/T The black & silver greatest hits package released on double 200 gm vinyl mastered at 45 rpms, or a regular single LP version on 150 gram vinyl.
Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy 10th Anniversary Edition In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of this iconic album, Jagjaguwar is proud to present the Black Sheep Boy 10th Anniversary Edition, a three-LP set combining the classic Black Sheep Boy album and its counterpart the Black Sheep Boy Appendix with an all new unreleased album entitled There Swims a Swan: full-band recordings made six months prior to the release of Black Sheep Boy which illuminate the album’s roots in the traditional American songbook. Featuring beautiful, emotional readings of songs popularized by such artists as Washington Phillips, Lead Belly, the Louvin Brothers, and Roscoe Holcomb, There Swims a Swan takes the listener on a trip through the songs that inspired Sheff while composing Black Sheep Boy and reads like a run-through of that album’s themes. Black Sheep Boy is celebrated for its album artwork as well as its music, and the Anniversary Edition collects that artwork in a meticulously reworked package, combining every previous element of William Schaff’s imagery with a large new piece by Schaff depicting an updated Black Sheep Boy. The release also includes lengthy liner notes by Will Sheff walking the listener through the circumstances surrounding the album. For Okkervil River fans (the most high-profile of whom was recently revealed to be President Barack Obama, who included “Down Down the Deep River” on his 2015 summer playlist), the Anniversary Edition is a loving, comprehensive, richly expanded presentation of a record many consider to be one of the band’s best. For those new to the band, this might be the best place to start, the first step on a long road, the opening to a forest you can get lost in.
Linda Olah & Isabel Sorline -Cabaret Con temporary All tracks written by Moondog
Original Soundtrack – Kill Bill Vol. 1
Original Soundtrack – Kill Bill Vol. 2
Phoenix – Alone on Christmas 7″ single with Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Shaffer & Buster Poindexter.
Pointed Sticks – The Pointed Sticks have a self-titled new album on Sudden Death and Northern Electric. It’s a great record with ten amazing new songs by Vancouver’s punk / pop kings-“You’re Not The One,” “Lovely Bird” and “Tin Foil Hat” are all über-catchy hits in the band’s classic style. In a parallel universe, this is what the radio might sound like
Professor Longhair – Hadacol Bounce 14 tracks recorded in New Orleans between 1949-1957
Ty Segall – T. Rex
Snoop Dogg – The Game Is To Be Sold, Not Told
The Soviettes – [Rarities]
Peter Stringer-Hye – 4 Song 7″ EP
Swans – Love Of Life
Tiger’s Jaw / Kevin Devine – In Between Days / Lovesong Split 7″
Various Artists – Black Man’s Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti
Various Artists – Early Motown EPs Seven 7″ singles in a box mimicking the UK releases. 28 tracks in all, limited to 3000 copies.
Various Artists – The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family Somewhere, not long into the twentieth century, at the foot of a great limestone mountain, a young, bright blue-eyed girl picked up a guitar for the first time. This simple yet mysterious child of Virginia was then Maybelle Addington. In the quiet hollows of Appalachia near Hiltons, Virginia, where the coal smoke lay like early morning fog over the tobacco fields, she developed a style of guitar playing destined to influence musicians around the world… Artists include George Jones, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Cash, Marty Stuart, Janette & Joe Carter, John Prine, Willie Nelson, Roseanne Cash, & more.