FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24th:
All Them Witches – Sleeping Though The War
Albert Ayler – Hilversum Sessions
Baked – Farnham
Andrew Bird – Mysterious Production of Eggs Andrew Bird is a previously unimaginable combination of songwriter, violinist, guitarist, vocalist and professional whistler. His unfailingly unique and striking music has been dumbfounding audiences for years. 2005’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs, served as his second album on Righteous Babe Records and follow-up to Weather Systems, his critically-acclaimed 2003 mini-LP. The recording sessions for Mysterious Production saw Bird scrap the album three times and travel between studios in Chicago, Los Angeles and his own home studio on a farm in Northern Illinois. The album took final shape with the production help of David Boucher, whose credits include Paul Westerberg, Lisa Loeb, and Randy Newman. Bird plays most of the instruments on Mysterious Production, and is joined by a handful of special guests complimenting his already lush sonic palette. The results are magnificent, a powerhouse of a record dealing with nothing less than the mysteries of childhood, creativity and modern science – epic in scope and minute in detail.
Tommy Bolin – Northern Lights Live 9/22/76
Kenny Bureell – Bluesy Burrell
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Tourist
Kenny Dorham – Quiet Kenny
The Early November – Fifteen Years
The Feelies – In Between Impose Magazine recently called The Feelies “… one of the most influential bands in the history of alternative and underground music” and Rolling Stone said that they are “a template of formal perfection.” They have influenced bands like REM, Yo La Tengo, Real Estate and WEEZER, Now during their 40th anniversary comes “In Between” their first album of all new material in over 6 years. While working the VU template they are famous for this album brings some interesting new sonics into the mix. The album is both quieter and decibolically furious than anything they’ve ever done.
Lupe Fiasco – Drogas Light
Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
George Harrison – Brainwashed
George Harrison – Cloud Nine
George Harrison – Dark Horse
George Harrison – Electronic Music
George Harrison – Extra Texture
George Harrison – George Harrison
George Harrison – Gone Troppo
George Harrison – Live In Japan
George Harrison – Living In The Material World
George Harrison – Somewhere In England
George Harrison – Thirty-Three & A 1/3
George Harrison – Wonderwall Music
Johnny Hartman – Once In Every Life
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks – Greatest Licks
Hippo Campus – Landmark
Lightnin’ Hopkins – Lightnin’
Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power
Kill Devil Hills – In On Unde Near Water
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana
Modern Baseball – MoBo Presents: The Perfect Cast EP
Old 97’s – Graveyard Whistling
Pissed Jeans – Why Love Now
Sun Ra – Magic City +2
Ramones – WBUF FM Broadcast
Ed Sanders – Yiddish Speaking Socialist of the Lower East Side
Teenage Fanclub – I’m In Love 7″
Jimmy Witherspoon – Evenin’ Blues
Xiu Xiu – Forget
Various Artists – Peru, Rare Groove
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17th:
Ryan Adams – Prisoner
Bing & Ruth – No Home of the Mind
Molly Burch – Please Be Mine
Tim Darcy – Saturday Night
Eisley – I’m Only Dreamin
Hanni El Khatib – Savage Times, The Complete Collection Vol.1-5 Hanni El Khatib’s first idea for his Savage Times project was to do something he’d never done before. Instead, he ended up doing… well, everything he’d never done before. He’d be playing new instruments, writing in unfamiliar new ways, opening himself up to an unrelenting stream of ideas and dedicating himself totally to pure musical instinct. And the result? 19 best-of-the-sessions songs, destined for vinyl release as a Limited Edition 10” LP Box Set, as well as the kind of creative revelations that only happen when you quit looking around and start looking ahead. Originally, he’d hoped to explode the lingering idea that he was simply a blues-rock guitar player, but that’s why Savage Times touches on everything from garage rock to punk to disco, hip-hop and even some unexpected solo-guitar self-portraiture. But on the way, he also exploded his own idea of what he could do—even maybe who he was, or would be. Savage Times was an experiment as well as an experience, that touched on some of the most personal, social & political elements to date.
Grails – Chalice Hymnal
Jethro Tull – Stand Up Remixed by Steven Wilson on 180 gram vinyl
Nikkie Lane – Highway Queen
Lift To Experience – The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Gimmie Back My Bullets Quality Record pressing
Lynyrd Skynyrd – (pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd) Quality Record pressing
Majuere – Apex
Middle Kids – Middle Kids EP
Mind Over Mirrors – Undying Color
New Spirit – Felte
Novella – Change of State
The Orwells – Terrible Human Beings
Augustus Pablo – King David’s Melody
The Paperhead – Chew
Maceo Parker – Roots Revisted
Parquet Courts – Captive of the Sun 12″
Six. By Seen – The Closer You Get
Strand of Oaks – Hard Love Tim Showalter’s latest release as Strand of Oaks, Hard Love, emanates an unabashed, raw, and manic energy that embodies both the songs and the songwriter behind them. “For me, there are always two forces at work: the side that’s constantly on the hunt for the perfect song, and the side that’s naked in the desert screaming at the moon. It’s about finding a place where neither side is compromised, only elevated.” Drawing from his love of Creation Records, Trojan dub compilations, and Jane’s Addiction, and informe by a particularly wild time at Australia’s Boogie Festival, he sought to create a record that would merge all of these influences while evoking something new and visceral. These influences coupled with an uninhibited and collaborative studio experience moved an initial concept for a singularly feel-good record to something more complex and real. As much as Showalter wants this record to seem like a party, it’s more than that. It feels like living. “You went away…you went searching…came back tired of looking” is how Showalter begins the title track, a sentiment that epitomizes Showalter’s own mentality in beginning Hard Love. As the record progresses, so do the themes of dissatisfaction and frustration with love, family, success, and aging, both in personal experience and songwriting
Visible Cloaks – Reassemblage
Soundtrack – A Cure For Wellness, Original music by Benjamin Wallfisch
Various Artists – New Order Presents Be Music – Double vinyl LP pressing. 2017 release, a compilation of productions by members of iconic Manchester group New Order, including classic dance and electro tracks released on Factory Records between 1982 and 1985, as well as more recent remixes for current artists such as Factory Floor, Marnie, Tim Burgess and Fujiya & Miyagi. The generic tag Be Music was first used in 1981 and covered studio production work by all four members of New Order: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. Sumner often teamed with Donald ‘Dojo’ Johnson of A Certain Ratio, including the pioneering electro cuts featured here by Quando Quango, 52nd Street, Marcel King, Paul Haig and Surprize. Morris and Gilbert worked with Thick Pigeon, Life, Red Turns To and also 52nd Street. Although more rock orientated, Hook proved he was no slouch on the dancefloor either with the mighty Fate/Hate by Nyam Nyam. After 1985 the band focused more on producing their own records, both as New Order and solo projects such as Electronic, Revenge, The Other Two, Monaco and Bad Lieutenant. However in recent years Stephen Morris in particular has remixed several newer artists. All tracks are newly remastered. The liner notes feature commentary on the tracks by the artists and the members of New Order. Design and packaging are by Matt Robertson/Peter Saville Studio.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th:
Big Star – Complete Third – Volume 2
David Bowie – David Live
David Bowie – Diamond Dogs
David Bowie – Live Nassau
David Bowie – Sound & Vision 7″ Pic Disc
David Bowie – Station To Station
David Bowie – Young Americans
Bush – Razorblade Suitcase
Vic Chesnutt – Drunk
Dillinger Escape Plan – Irony Is A Dead Scene
Jesca Hoop – Memories Are Now The stark and reverberant title track opens the album with “a fighting spirit,” says Hoop, serving as an anthem to push through any obstacle and put forth your very best work. And she has unequivocally done that here, with an album of stunningly original songs–minimalist yet brimming with energy, emerging from a wealth of life experience, great emotional depth, and years of honing the craft of singing. As riveting as it is reflective, the album, produced by Blake Mills (Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes), is a fresh debut of sorts for Hoop, as the first of her solo records made outside of Tony Berg’s Zeitgeist Studios where she and Mills were mentored. Says Hoop, “Blake is so utterly musical and emotionally intelligent in his expression. I wanted to see what we could do, just he and I out from under Tony’s wing.” Mills pushed her to strip away layers, keeping it as close to the live experience as possible, using whole live takes and working very quickly. “It’s still covered in embryonic fluid, for lack of a better way to put it,” says Hoop. However fast the work, Memories Are Now covers a great deal of ground, showcasing every edge and curve of Hoop’s captivating voice, with sounds and themes ranging from the mythic to the deeply intimate. She sings of the religion that weighs heavily on her past and the world, of the imagination of myth, of the cruel nature of life and love. The defiance that permeates Memories Are Now is both a product and necessity of a career that has been independently driven and self-funded from the beginning. “All of my successes have been won on the grassroots level, with handshakes and hugs from great people who believe in me,” says Hoop, more than a decade into her career and with new paths to forge. As she sings in the title track, “I’ve lived enough life, I’ve earned my stripes. That’s my knife in the ground, this is mine.” –Evie Nagy
Lecherous Gaze – One Fifteen
Nation of Ulysses – 13 Point Program To Destroy America
Old Crow Medicine Show – Best of
Pazant Bros. – Skunk Juice
Chuck Prophet – Bobby Fuller Died for Our Sins
Queen – Greatest Hits II
Sadies – Northern Passages
Sleep – Clarity
Sun Ra – Spaceways
Thievery Corporation – Temple of I & I
Tinariwen – El Wan
Soundtrack – Billions by Eskmo
Soundtrack – 20th Century Women, Music from the Motion Picture
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd:
Behind Closed Doors – Exit Lines: The Brief History of Behind Closed Doors
Cigarettes After Sex – I.
John Coltrane – Blue Train 180 gram blue vinyl
Elbow – Little Fictions
Ron Gallo – Heavy Meta
Beth Hart – Fire On The Floor
Helloween – Pink Bubbles Go Ape
Judas Priest – Turbo 30 Anniversary
B.B. King – Nothin’ But Bad Luck
Ben Lee -Freedom, Love & The Recuperation of the Human Mind
Less Than Jake – Sound The Alarm
Steve Miller Band – The Joker
Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol. 1
Morricone Youth – Night of the Living Dead
Soft Machine – Live At The Paradiso
Stereophonics – Language, Sex Violence Other
Stereophonics – Word Get Around
Surfer Blood – Snowdonia
Unwound – Fake Train