STAFF PICKS

kimber – r.e.m. reissues
lindsay – john prine reissue
dario – squirrel nut zippers reissue
jeff – modest mouse reissue

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
Bouncing SoulsSimplicity CD/LP+MP3 (Rise)
Tenth studio album from the New Jersey punk veterans. “We set out to recapture the spirit of our earlier songs, not over-thought or over-produced. In the studio our goal was to keep it raw and real, the feeling of a band playing live.”[Limited copies pressed on ‘blood red’ color vinyl.]


Death GripsBottomless Pit CD/LP (Harvest)
Bottomless Pit finds Ride (aka Stefan Burnett), producer Flatlander (aka Andy Morin), and drummer Zach Hill in their most cohesive and incendiary form since 2012’s The Money Store. Flatlander obfuscates and annihilates seemingly insurmountable soundscapes with the help of Hill’s passioned and precise drumming, as well as Ride’s occultist and misanthropic rage. All of this is focused through a new lens where the band’s actions no longer dictate their relevance — Death Grips are Death Grips because of what they make, not what they do.Bottomless Pit is Death Grips 2.0, as promised.” – Consequence Of Sound


DescendentsHypercaffiumSpazzinate CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
On their first album in 12 years, vocalist Milo Aukerman, drummer Bill Stevenson, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and bassist Karl Alvarez channel an energy just as raw and jittery as in their earliest days—a time when the band was driven by the equally mighty forces of “rejection, food, coffee, girls, fishing, and food.”HypercaffiumSpazzinate began taking shape soon after the Descendents surfaced from extended hiatus for a series of gigs in 2010. With Milo now living in Delaware, Karl and Bill in Colorado, and Stephen in Oklahoma, the album came to life over a three-year period in which the band sent tracks back and forth and occasionally met up in Karl and Bill’s adopted hometown of Fort Collins. “Since the dawn of rock-and-roll every band’s tried to pretend they exist in the age group of 18 to 35, no matter how old they get,” says Karl. “But this band’s very honest about the fact that we’re not teenagers anymore.” “Each time we make a record it’s almost like the first time all over again,” says Bill. “There’s a quote from Ornette Coleman about how the song is the territory, and what you do with the song is the adventure. We’re definitely still going on all these little adventures together.” [CD is available in regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds five bonus tracks. Limited white vinyl pressing also available.]


FeaFea CD/LP (Blackheart)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD.Fea’s self-titled full-length was produced by Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!), Lori Barbero (Babes In Toyland) and Alice Bag (The Bags). Fea is a new band from Girl In A Coma’s Jenn Alva and Phanie Diaz a unique riot grrrl resurgence with a Chicana punk edge from San Antonio, TX. The album is a fierce, melodic exploration of societal, cultural, and gender-related issues. Includes a zine featuring exclusive content.


Modest Mouse – Night On The Sun [Reissue/1999] CD/EP/12” (Glacial Pace)
    ***FIRST TIME ON VINYL!!! Originally released as a 700 CD limited run in Japan in 1999. All of these songs are different versions from the versions on The Moon & Antarctica and Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks. The versions on this one are generally longer. Recorded at Jupiter Studio with PHIL EK, Jan. 9-12, 1999


Thee Oh SeesLive In San Francisco CD/2xLP+DVD (Castle Face)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD. “Perched in the belfry of The Chapel, we caught thee mighty Oh Sees, alive and in their natural element, with our shutters aflutter and our tapes on a roll.”


OwenThe King Of Whys CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Polyvinyl)
Owen – the solo musical guise of singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Mike Kinsella – releases the first work in his two-decade-plus career to be made entirely outside of his beloved Chicago home base. The King Of Whyswas produced by S. Carey over 18 days last winter at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios in Eau Claire, WI. Songs like “The Desperate Act” and “Sleep Is AMyth” remain spare but with a distinctly outward shift in scope, their open-armed sonic range a perfect foil to Kinsella’s evocative explorations of marriage, melancholia, and modern middle age.
Fraught with hurt and wry humor, The King Of Whys is a portrait of a restless artist grappling with doubt and ghosts of the past but searching for meaning through candor, creativity, and an ardent need for emotional release.


John PrineIn Spite Of Ourselves CD/LP+MP3 (Oh Boy)
Reissue, first time on vinyl. The songwriter’s songwriter takes a curious turn with his first studio album since 1995’s Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings with this collection of duets (mostly covers). “On In Spite Of Ourselves, Prine penned only the hysterically coarse title track, opting instead to coo a slew of classic lovin’-and-losin’ country tunes with Iris DeMent, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Connie Smith, Trisha Yearwood, Melba Montgomery, Patty Loveless, Fiona Prine, and Dolores Keane. Given Prine’s ragged-but-right voice, the effect is something akin to casting a grizzled character actor opposite Katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story. And you know what? It’d probably still be a charming (albeit very different) movie, because romantic comedies, like country duets, are all about chemistry, which is something In Spite Of Ourselves has in excess” – Rolling Stone. [Limited edition numbered 180gm translucent red color vinyl pressing also available.]


The Chris Robinson BrotherhoodAnyway You Love, We Know How You Feel CD/LP (Silver Arrow)
When the Chris Robinson Brotherhood headed into the studio to begin recording their fourth album, Any Way You Love, We Know How You Feel, no one knew just what to expect. These would be the band’s first recordings with new drummer Tony Leone (Ollabelle, Levon Helm), their first since the departure of founding bassist Mark “Muddy” Dutton,” and their first time producing themselves. But as anybody who’s been following the CRB can attest, this is a band that thrives on the unexpected. “Instead of seeing these things as challenges, we started to see them as something exciting,” explains Robinson. “It was an opportunity to see where our expression could take us. Some people get really uptight when they’re making records, but for us, the looser it gets the better. It’s all about taking our intuition and following it to where our ideas can really manifest themselves. This turned out to be the most spontaneous record I’ve ever been a part of.” Not coincidentally, Robinson also cites it as perhaps the best recording experience of his life. The band relocated to northern California for the sessions, recording on the side of a mountain overlooking the foggy Pacific Ocean and channeling the natural majesty and melancholic weather of their surroundings into the album’s eight, epic, immersive tracks.


HoleLive Through This [Reissue/1994] LP (Geffen)
Vinyl reissue of the second studio album by alternative rock band Hole. The title is derived from a quote in the film Gone With The Wind. Considered a contemporary classic, this record was included in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of ‘500 Greatest Albums Of All Time’. Features production by Sean Slade and Paul Q Kolderie with mixing by Scott Litt and J Mascis.


Lightnin’ Hopkins Lightnin’s Boogie: Live At The Rising Sun Celebrity Jazz Club 2xLP (Justin Time)
On June 23, 1977, Sam ‘Lightnin’ Hopkins walked onto a small stage in a smoke and whisky filled club in Montreal and proceeded to lay down arguably his last great performance before his death five years later. “Lightnin’s Boogie – Live at The Rising Sun Celebrity Jazz Club” –remastered and available on vinyl for the first time – reveals a master blues man still in full control of his many talents and working the crowd to “Get Up Off O’ Yo’”.


R.E.M.Life’s Rich Pageant [Reissue/1986] LP (IRS)
R.E.M.Dead Letter Office [Reissue/1987] LP (IRS)
R.E.M.Eponymous [Reissue/1988] LP (IRS)
Limited edition vinyl reissues now available.


The Sisters Of MercyVision Thing Era 4xLP (Elektra)
This box set spotlights The Sisters Of Mercy’s third studio release, Vision Thing, which was originally released in 1990. The set includes the original album plus its 12″ singles, all pressed on 180gm vinyl: More, Doctor Jeep, and When You Don’t See Me. Additional highlights include a non-album B-side, an extended mix, and live recordings.


Squirrel Nut ZippersHot [Reissue/1996] 2xLP (Mammoth)
New remastered180gm vinyl repress includes the bonus track “The Puffer.”

 

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
DINOSAUR JR – Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not CD/LP (purple vinyl)
NELS CLINE – Lovers CD
RUSSIAN CIRCLES – Guidance CD/LP
WILD BEASTS – Boy King CD/LP
WYE OAK – Tween CD/LP
J DILLA – King Of Beats CD/LP
AVETT BROTHERS – True Sadness LP
HALEY BONAR – Impossible Dream CD/LP
GOV’T MULE – Te-Star Sessions CD/LP
OAR – XX CD/LP
TIG NOTARO – Boyish Girl Interrupted CD/LP
BLACK SABBATH LP reissues
JAD + DAVID FAIR – Shake Cackle + Squall CD/LP
DAMIEN JURADO – Ghost Of David LP reissue
DAMIEN JURADO – Rehearsals For Departure LP
MERCURY REV – Yerself Is Steam LP reissue
PHAROAH OVERLORD – 1 LP
SONNA – Keep It Together LP