This Week’s New Releases & Staff Picks – 12/8/17
STAFF PICKS
Kimber – Courtney Marie Andrews, Jim James
Lindsay – Courtney Marie Andrews, Jim James, Califone
Dario – Courtney Marie Andrews
THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
Courtney Marie Andrews – On My Page [Reissue/2013] CD/LP (House Arrest)
Courtney Marie Andrews’ predecessor to the highly successful Honest Life (2016) is back in-print on CD and available on vinyl for the first time. For a decade or so Courtney was a session and backup singer and guitarist for nearly 40 artists – from Jimmy Eat World to Damien Jurado – but she never stopped writing her own material. Picking up admirers like Ryan Adams (who called her “a phenomenal songwriter”) along the way, she quietly earned a reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter.
A Certain Ratio – The Graveyard And The Ballroom [Reissue/1980] CD/2xLP (Mute)
A Certain Ratio – To Each… [Reissue/1981] CD/LP (Mute)
A Certain Ratio – Force [Reissue/1986] CD/LP (Mute)
CD and vinyl reissues of the British post-punk band’s first, second and fifth albums. A Certain Ratio was one of the first groups to sign to the legendary Factory Records in Manchester. Whilst many credit New Order and The Happy Mondays as the groups who brought dance music into the sound of Manchester (later Madchester!), it was in fact A Certain Ratio who were there from the beginning. [Limited colored vinyl pressings of To Each… and Force also available.]
After releasing the politically charged solo album Eternally Even in 2016, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James returns with Tribute To 2, a collection of cover songs that reverberate with fresh meaning. Blurring the boundaries of time and genre, James interprets songs made famous by a wide variety of artists – ranging from early 20th century standards by Ray Noble and Al Bowlly (“Midnight, The Stars And You,” “Love Is The Sweetest Thing”) and 1960’s songs by Willie Nelson and Sonny & Cher to Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s 1970 breakthrough hit “Lucky Man” and 1990s releases by Abbey Lincoln and Diane Izzo. Also included are covers of songs by The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Abey Lincoln and Irving Berlin. [Limited gold colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Kendrick Lamar – Damn [Collector’s Edition] CD (Aftermath)
Includes new cover art and a revised (reversed) track list. “I think like a week after the album came out, [fans] realized you can play the album backwards…It plays as a full story and even a better rhythm… It’s something that we definitely premeditate while we’re in the studio,” Kendrick said to MTV. “I don’t think the story necessarily changes, I think the feel changes…The initial vibe listening from the top all the way to the bottom is…this aggression and this attitude. You know, ‘DNA,’ and exposing who I really am. You listen from the back end, and it’s almost the duality and the contrast of the intricate Kendrick Lamar. Both of these pieces are who I am.”
Shovels & Rope – Busted Jukebox: Volume 2 CD (New West)
The second installment of the collaborative effort between the critically acclaimed duo and some of their favorite musicians and friends. Busted Jukebox: Volume 2 again finds the band covering well-known songs or tracks they have either performed or arranged with other artists in the past. Features collaborations with Brandi Carlile, John Moreland, Hayes Carll, Nicole Atkins, Rhett Miller and more. [180gm vinyl edition due February 9.]
This 33-song anthology serves as a testament to the Utters’ peerless punk rock attack.
Chris Thile – Thanks For Listening CD (Nonesuch)
New studio recordings of ten songs originally written as Songs Of The Week on A Prairie Home Companion. Thile manned almost all of the stringed instruments on Thanks For Listening and is joined by guest singers Sarah Jarosz, Gaby Moreno, and Aoife O’Donovan. “Right now, with how easy it is to be the talker on social media, how hard it is to maintain focus or give something enough attention to appreciate it, we’re in a place where listening is a precious commodity,” says Thile. “Thanks For Listening is a celebration of people who haven’t switched off, despite being given every reason to do so.” [Vinyl edition due December 15.]
Wiki – No Mountains In Manhattan CD/2xLP (XL)
Wiki’s anticipated debut album, following his lauded membership in Ratking, sees him pushing himself into the spotlight as the voice of a new generation of New York City hip-hop. No Mountains In Manhattan is a journey through the trials and tribulations of a coming to age experience in New York’s most populated borough. The album is New York to the core – featuring local emcees, from legend to novice. “His love letter to the city, No Mountains In Manhattan is the most New York-ass sounding rap record all year.” — Pigeons And Planes
Thom Yorke – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes [Reissue/2014] CD/LP (XL)
The Radiohead frontman’s second solo album reissued on CD and heavyweight 180gm white vinyl, housed within heavy white board inner and outer sleeves.
Beastie Boys – The In Sound From Way Out [Reissue/1996] LP (Capitol)
Beastie Boys – To The Five Boroughs [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Capitol)
Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two [Reissue/2011] 2xLP (Capitol)
Back on vinyl.
Belle and Sebastian – How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 1) 12”+MP3 (Matador)
The first installment of three new EPs. The How To Solve Our Human Problems EP project is the latest installment in a career that has always pursued a singular and delightful vision of what pop represents and what it can achieve, a career that has seen them triumph against the odds to win a Brit award, be one of the first bands to curate their own festival, and play at the London residence of the US ambassador. Belle and Sebastian’s new music has the timeless blend of joy and melancholy that has always characterized them.
Califone – Heron King Blues [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Dead Oceans)
Long out-of-print vinyl reissue of Califone’s critically acclaimed 2004 full-length album complete with a bonus LP featuring unreleased tracks. For this recording, the band set out to make a record like Captain Beefheart’s Mirror Man, entering the studio with a blank canvas and laying things down quickly. The resulting songs combine the bands more pop-oriented qualities alongside their more spaced out ethereal thoughts.
Jóhann Jóhannsson – IBM 1401- A User’s Manual [2006] 2xLP+MP3 (4AD)
First-time vinyl edition of the Iceland composer’s 2006 album – expanded with a D-side of live versions of Part 1 and Part 5.
Limited edition transparent yellow colored vinyl pressing of Stevens’ November 9, 2015 performance at North Charleston Performing Arts Center in South Carolina.
NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES