STAFF PICKS

Kimber – First Aid Kit
Lindsay – Shopping, Tune-yards

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

Arcade Fire – Creature Comfort 12” (Sony)
Limited 180gm white 12” vinyl pressing of this single taken from the album Everything Now. Includes “Comfort My Sleng Teng” (Geoff Barrow Mix/12″ Vinyl Version).

 

Belle and Sebastian How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 2) 12”+MP3 (Matador)
The second 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.

Corrosion Of Conformity No Cross No Crown 2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. “It’s been a dozen years since C.O.C. recorded new material with vocalist/guitarist Pepper Keenan at the helm. In that time, there have been rumors, whispers and outright allegations that the legendary Southern rock outfit would reunite to blow the doors off the whole damn scene again. In 2014, after nearly a straight decade traversing the globe as a guitarist with New Orleans supergroup Down, Keenan reconnected with the core C.O.C. trio of Woody Weatherman, Mike Dean and Reed Mullin to hit the road hard and write and record the band’s highly anticipated tenth album, No Cross No Crown.”

Tommy EmmanuelAccomplice One CD/LP (CGP Sounds)
Accomplice One is a testament to Tommy Emmanuel’s musical diversity, the range of expression that stretches from authentic country-blues to face-melting rock shredding, by way of tender and devastating pure song playing. The songs are a mix of new takes on indelible classics and brand new originals from Tommy and his collaborators. The artists who stepped forward to join Tommy in the studio are an impressive list of some of today’s most respected performers, from across the musical spectrum – a lineup including Jason Isbell, Mark Knopfler, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Amanda Shires, Ricky Skaggs, J.D. Simo, David Grisman, Bryan Sutton, Suzy Bogguss and many more.

First Aid KitRuins CD/LP+MP3 (Columbia) Get a free postcard pack with purchase. While supplies last
Swedish duo First Aid Kit’s new album Ruins follows the band’s Columbia Records debut Stay Gold, a lush and ambitious 10-song collection that beautifully captured their vivid storytelling, landing the group on countless “Best of 2014” accolades. Produced by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, Laura Veirs), the album was recorded in Portland, OR where Klara (vocals/guitar) and Johanna Söderberg collaborated with top rate musicians like REM’s Peter Buck, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche and Midlake’s McKenzie Smith. Rolling Stone calls lead single “It’s A Shame,” a “Dylan-meets-Emmylou Harris shot of country-rock sunshine” while the duo note that follow-up, “Postcard” is one of the most traditional sounding songs we’ve ever written, and we wanted the production to mirror that. It’s not a resentful song, but more of a reaching out to a lover to wish them well on their journey in the midst of having to let them go.”

Ron GalloReally Nice Guys CDEP (New West)
Really Nice Guys is a concept EP by Thyme Magazine’s “Man Of The Year,” Ron Gallo. The EP is another thought provoking and inspired installment, extending an already prolific calendar year by Gallo which saw the release of the critically acclaimed full-length album Heavy Meta as well as the 7” singles, “Temporary Slave” and “Sorry Not Everybody Is You.” Really Nice Guys finds Gallo exploring new sonic frontiers and instrumentation in the form of what might be called a conceptual art piece. Whatever you call it is wholly original and Gallo continues to melt faces and free minds.

Ghost B.C.Ceremony And Devotion 2xCD/2xLP (Loma Vista)
Ceremony And Devotion was recorded during the band’s critically exalted Popestar tour during the summer of 2017 and documents Ghost’s unforgettable live show in pursuit of becoming the world’s next great arena band. Ceremony and Devotion was produced and mixed by Tom Dalgety and features fan favorites spanning the band’s entire catalogue from Opus Eponymous (2010) to Infestissumam (2013) to Meliora (2015) to the Popestar EP (2016). Ghost’s most recent studio album, Meliora, and its accompanying EP Popestar, earned the Swedish rock band a Grammy Award for ‘Best Metal Performance’. Along the way Ghost have racked up both widespread critical acclaim and adoration from a legion of fans across the globe in a genre stagnated by Nü metal for nearly two decades.

The Go! TeamSemicircle CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Memphis Industries)
Unlike The Go! Team’s 2015 effort The Scene Between – which was essentially a solo project that followed the dissolution of the previous line-up – Semicircle finds leader Ian Parton collaborating with current live players Simone Odaranile (drums) and Angela ‘Maki’ Won-Yin Mak (vocals), as well as two original members, guitarist Sam Dook and rapper Ninja. Annelotte de Graaf (aka Amber Arcades), previous collaborator Julie Margat (aka Lispector), and a crew of unexpected musicians feature throughout.

Great Lake SwimmersGreat Lake Swimmers [Reissue/2003] LP (Paper Bag)
Great Lake Swimmers have hugely affected the music world with their ambient-independent-folk sound. Paper Bag Vintage are pleased to reissue the Canadian indie darlings’ debut self-titled album on colored vinyl. Originally released in 2003, the haunting collection was recorded over several months in an abandoned grain silo in Southern Ontario and exhibits their familiar thematic threads of beauty in the natural world, environmental issues and explorations of close personal ties that hold us together.

Glen HansardBetween Two Shores CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Following up 2015’s Grammy nominated Didn’t He Ramble, and his 2012 solo debut Rhythm and Repose, Glen Hansard’s third solo album Between Two Shores was produced by Hansard himself for the first time. The culmination of more than six years of writing and recording, Between Two Shores came together in only a matter of weeks. In March 2017, Hansard booked himself time at Black Box Studios in France with the original idea of taking inventory of his songbook. Working again with former Frames bandmate and producer David Odlum, Hansard was in search of a direction for his next record. As he reviewed his previous sessions, various ideas and home recordings, a sketch of an unplanned record began to take shape. The album’s title comes from Hansards ongoing love of sailing and the sea. When one is equal distance between their starting point and their destination they are in essence “between two shores.” A less than ideal time to wonder whether you should turn back or continue on, but a thought that inevitably rears its head. With Between Two Shores, Hansard has managed to capture that feeling of the big soulful sound of his large touring band while still retaining the intimate introspective nature of his acoustic shows. To which way the wind will blow on his next record remains to be seen.

Hot SnakesAutomatic Midnight [Reissue/2000] CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Hot SnakesSuicide Invoice [Reissue/2002] CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Hot SnakesAudit In Progress [Reissue/2004] CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
San Diego’s influential post-hardcore all-stars Hot Snakes – boasting members of Pitchfork, Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Earthless, Obits, Burning Brides, OFF!, The Delta 72, and more – released three of Sub Pop’s favorite rock records of the past 20 years: Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice, and Audit in Progress. All three were originally issued on Swami Records, with art by singer/guitarist and visual artist Rick Froberg. As we await the somewhat-later-in-2018 release of their first new album since 2004, the label is pleased to reissue this trio of classics back on vinyl.

MudhoneyLie LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Recorded live during their 2016 European tour at shows in Germany, Croatia, Sweden, Austria, Norway, and Slovenia, Lie is the first unlimited-edition, non-bootleg live Mudhoney album to date. New album to be released sometime this year.

Gary NumanThe Dance [Reissue/1981] LP (Beggars UK)
Limited double purple colored vinyl reissue of the electronic pop pioneer’s fifth album.

PorchesThe House CD/LP (Domino)
Bonus lighter with purchase. While supplies last
The third studio album by New York-based musician Aaron Maine’s Porches project. The House, a conscious effort in minimalism and honesty, includes contributions from (Sandy) Alex G, Dev Hynes, Solange collaborator Bryndon Cook, Okay Kaya, Maya Laner, Cende’s Cameron Wisch, and Porches’ father Peter Maine.

ShinsThe Worms Heart CD/LP+MP3 (Sony)
The Worms Heart is a complete re-work of The Shins 2017 album Heartworms. The album offers new reworked versions of Heartworms album tracks, and the sequence is flipped as well.

ShoppingThe Official Body CD/LP (FatCat)
Following on the success of their two previous albums for FatCat, which were praised on both sides of the pond as “breakneck, open-eared, positivist post-punk canter” (NME) and “direct, smart, catchy, and extremely punk” (Pitchfork) – Shopping returns to shake some asses with their new album.

StarcrawlerStarcrawler CD/LP (Rough Trade)
What do you get when you combine elements of the Cramps, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne and The Runaways? You get Starcrawler, a Los Angeles, CA rock band who formed in 2015. Starcrawler’s eponymous debut was recorded by Ryan Adams on analog tape at his PaxAm Studio. Ryan’s love for the band and his excitement about the album has been well documented in his many posts from the studio.

 

Television PersonalitiesBeautiful Despair CD/LP (Fortuna Pop)
Vinyl and CD edition of Television Personalities’ unreleased album. It was originally recorded in 1990 by Jowe Head at his flat in Glading Terrace, Stoke Newington (shortly before it was demolished), over a number sessions on a portable 4-track cassette-tape machine. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

They Might Be Giants I Like Fun CD (Idlewild)
They Might Be Giants’ remarkable new album I Like Fun jumps with surprises, vitality, and the startling point of view of these Brooklyn originals. Over a year in the making, songwriters and band founders John Linnell and John Flansburgh draw on themes of dread, death, and disappointment and set them to their driving, hyper-melodic music. The results will leave even the most heavy-hearted among us with a renewed sense of wonder. Fresh and sonically adventurous, the band’s command of the studio and the song is in rare form from beginning to end. On I Like Fun, the spotlight is also on the band’s formidable long-standing live lineup; drummer Marty Beller, bassist Danny Weinkauf and lead guitarist Dan Miller. While the group enjoys a reputation for delivering one of the liveliest shows around, the album accomplishes the rare feat of capturing that ecstatic intensity on LP. Co-produced with and mixed by Patrick Dillett (St. Vincent, Donald Fagen, The National, Mary J. Blige), I Like Fun was tracked and mixed at the brand-new Reservoir Studios – site of the legendary Skyline Studios where TMBG recorded their platinum-selling album Flood. [Vinyl edition due February 9.]

tUnE-yArDs I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life CD/LP (4AD)
Thematically, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life tackle race, politics, intersectional feminism and environmental prophecies head on. But in the billows of intense subject matter, the album arrives as tUnE-yArDs’ (now a duo) most immediate and upbeat music yet – this is music to dance to. [Limited edition colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Various ArtistsSomething Got A Hold On Me: The Ru-Jac Records Story, Volume One 1963-1964 CD (Omnivore)
Various ArtistsGet It Right: Get Right: The Ru-Jac Records Story, Volume Two 1964-1966 CD (Omnivore)
The Baltimore soul/R&B label Ru-Jac Records was founded in 1963 by local promoter Rufus Mitchell and investor partner Jack Bennett (their names forming the Ru-Jac name). The label primarily released regional soul/R&B singles from 1963 until the mid-1970s, when Mitchell stepped away to focus on another business venture. All four volumes o The Ru-Jac Records Story (the first two available now, the third and fourth available in February) collects for the very first time the audio history of Ru-Jac Records. Each volume is produced by the Grammy-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski and Kevin Coombe, East Coast soul historian. Coombe provides liner notes detailing the rise and eventual closure of the label, and its close ties to the segregated beaches and performance spaces of the region. Rare photos and ephemera will be included in each volume to help illustrate and trace the history of the label. Utilizing original tapes, extremely collectible 45s, and acetates, all four volumes underwent extensive restoration and mastering by Grammy® Award winning engineer, Michael Graves. Volume One, 1963–1964 contains 28 tracks, 10 of them previously unissued. The other 18 tracks chart the history of the first 45s issued by the label and includes songs by Winfield Parker, Flattop Bobby & The Soul Twisters, and Brenda Jones among others.

 

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

CORNELIUSMellow Waves CD/LP
CALEXICOThreat That Keeps Us CD/LP
DJANGO DJANGOMarble Skies CD/LP
MARY GAUTHIERRifles + Rosary Beads CD/LP
MARIE/LEPANTO (Will Johnson + Justin Peter Kinkel Schuster)Ten Killer CD/LP
MIMICKING BIRDS Layers Of Us CD/LP
TY SEGALLFreedom’s Goblin CD/LP
EVIDENCEWeather Or Not CD/LP
NIGHTMARES ON WAXShape The Future CD/LP
BRIAN ENOAnother Green World LP
BRIAN ENOHere Come The Warm Jets LP
KHRAUNGBINCon Todo El Mundo CD/LP
LANGLEY SCHOOLS MUSIC PROJECT Innocence and Despair LP
NILS FRAHM All Melody LP
NO AGESmells Like A Haircut CD/LP