December 9, 2016 —

This Week’s New Releases & Staff Picks – 12/9/16

STAFF PICKS

kimber – kleenex/liliput
lindsay – leonard cohen
dario – solange
jeff – the microphones
dominic – the microphones

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
Atmosphere – Frida Kahlo Vs. Ezra Pound CD/7”x7” (Rhymesayers)
In September 2015, Atmosphere began releasing a series of individual songs digitally. In the months leading up to their new album, Fishing Blues, they released a total of seven digital singles. Much to the surprise of Atmosphere fans, none of these digital singles would appear on Fishing Blues, and they remained available as digital singles only… Until now.


The Last Shadow Puppets – The Dream Synopsis CDEP/12” (Domino)
The Last Shadow Puppets — Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner & Miles Kane — return with a follow up EP to this year’s studio album Everything You’ve Come To Expect. The EP compiles studio recordings of new versions of EYCTE tracks “Aviation” and “The Dream Synopsis” as well as covers of Leonard Cohen, Jacques Dutronc, The Fall, and Glaxo Babies performed in the band’s live sets this past year.
 

Buck Owens And The Buckeroos – The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957-1966 2xCD (Omnivore)
Taken from the original mono, single reels, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957-1966 collects all 56 sides from that period, including 13 #1’s, in their original and chronological form, newly remastered, and featuring liner notes from Buck’s autobiography (written with Randy Poe), plus an introduction by Dwight Yoakam.
 

Neil Young – Peace Trail CD/Cassette (Reprise)
Peace Trail features all new songs that Young wrote since the release of his album Earth, this past June. This new album is primarily acoustic and reflects an intimate, sparse approach to each of the ten songs within. It was recorded at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-la Studios and features Young on vocals and guitar, Jim Keltner on drums, and Paul Bushnell on bass. [Vinyl edition due January 6.]


Body/Head – No Waves LP+MP3 (Matador)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Body/Head is the duo of Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth, Free Kitten) and guitarist Bill Nace (Northampton Wools, Celyon Mange). They play experimental, free-form guitar drones highlighted by Gordon’s unmistakable voice. Their sound is an immersive, three-dimensional experience and no two performances are similar. No Waveswas recorded on March 24th, 2014 during Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN at the Bijou Theater.


Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker LP (Columbia)
Recently released on CD – now available on limited 180gm vinyl. “For the past 25 years I’ve had this notion that on every successive Leonard Cohen record his voice would get deeper and deeper until one day he’d put out an album so subsonic that you’d just feel it, not hear it. Well, we’re close. ‘You Want It Darker,’ the title track to his 14th studio album in a 49-year recording career, speaks of a world without hope. ‘A million candles burning / for the love that never came. / You want it darker / we kill the flame.’ Despite the depth of his voice and the strength and wisdom of his writing, I discern a frailness. What I hear are multiple takes on just this one track and a few edits within a verse. Listen at 2:06 — you can hear an edit right in mid-breath just after the line ‘middle-class and tame.’ And shortly after, Cohen says, ‘I’m ready my Lord,’ and the choir sullenly and eerily keeps the tone dark.” – NPR


Dead Can Dance – Toward The Within [Reissue/1994] 2xLP (4AD)
Released in October 1994 and out of print on vinyl ever since, Toward The Within was an audio and video document of the 1993 sell-out Dead Can Dance World tour. Recorded at the Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica, California, it marked one of the final performances at the historic theatre as it later suffered major structural damage in an earthquake in 1994. Despite being a live recording, Toward The Within includes twelve previously unrecorded tracks as well as material from their six previous studio albums.


Erasure – Tomorrow’s World [2011] 2xLP (Mute)
Erasure – Snow Globe [2013] 2xLP (Mute)
First-time vinyl editions now available.


Kleenex/Liliput – First Songs 2xLP (Kill Rock Stars)
You can’t dispute legendary Swiss punk band from the late ‘70s Kleenex later named Liliput’s status as pioneers of feminist art-punk. Along with fellow travelers like The Slits and The Raincoats, this (mostly) female Swiss group took advantage of punk’s anything-goes attitude and created jittery, spirited pop that was both in step with the times and completely singular. The early material is a riot of exuberant energy, taking stylistic cues from peers like Gang Of Four and Wire — propulsive bass, skittering pop rhythms, slashing guitars — and adding distinctive overlapping vocal patterns, which are sung, shrieked, and hiccupped in three languages and made-up dadaistic slang. More than 20 years on, it still sounds fresh.


Mac Miller – The Divine Feminine 2xLP (WB)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The Divine Feminine is an album about women, for women. It includes guest contributions from Kendrick Lamar, CeeLo Green, Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla $ign, Ariana Grande, and Chicago singer Njomza. “‘It was actually a concept that was told to me about just the energy of the world being a female energy, the energy of the planet,’ Miller said of the album’s title during an interview with Beats 1 Radio’s Zane Lowe. ‘And just kind of like how that mirrors the soul of a woman, and you know, like Mother Earth and falling in love with the universe.’ On The Divine Feminine’s first single, ‘Dang!,’ the rapper is in a more crooning, reflective mode as he sings of the allure and confusion that comes with a relationship over a smooth funk groove. ‘It’s an album that’s all about the journey that is love,’ he told Lowe and the vibe of the first single fits into that concept. He also revealed that the album initially began as an EP, but he found that as he got deeper into the material, he had to further ‘shed light on the topic.’” – Rolling Stone
 
Napalm Death – Scum [Reissue/1987] LP (Earache)
“Full Dynamic Range” vinyl repress of the influential UK hardcore/grindcore/thrash band’s debut album.
 
Senses Fail – Let It Enfold You [Reissue/2004] LP (Vagrant)
Senses Fail – Still Searching [Reissue/2006] LP (Vagrant)
Post-hardcore scene staples Senses Fail formed in 2001 and released their debut EP, From The Depths Of Dreams in 2002 followed by their gold certified first full-length outing, Let It Enfold You in 2004. Heavily influenced by the poetry and literature of Joseph Campbell, Charles Bukowski and the Chinese sacred text Dao de Jing, Let It Enfold You is home to a handful of the group’s signature songs including “You’re Cute When You Scream,” ” Rum Is For Drinking, Not For Burning,” “Lady In a Blue Dress,” “Bite to Break the Skin” and “Buried A Lie.” A compelling concept album about depression, substance abuse and faith, the band’s sophomore album Still Searching features some of the most vulnerable and affecting songs of their career including “Can’t Be Saved,” “The Priest And The Matador,” “Shark Attack” and “Calling All Cars.”
 
Solange – A Seat At The Table 2xLP (Columbia)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “The third album by Solange Knowles, A Seat At The Table, is a record about black survival in 2016; a combination of straight talk and refracted R&B for what she calls her ‘project on identity, empowerment, independence, grief and healing.’ Beyond titles that telegraph the album’s powerful, political backbone – ‘F.U.B.U.,’ ‘Mad,’ ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ – it’s a fantastic-sounding LP that takes sonic cues from dusty soul sides while sounding as timely as a freshly sent tweet. Co-executive-produced by Solange and neo-soul sage Rapahel Saadiq, A Seat At The Table derives its sonic power from lightness, with Solange’s simply stated opinions landing harder as a result. A triptych of songs serve as invitations for people to check themselves: ‘Don’t You Wait’ pairs a stuttering bass line and Solange’s falsetto with lyrics about removing negative influences from her life; ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ uses sparkling synths and drowsy horns as broadsides against those who might deny Solange and other black women their bodily autonomy; the trembling guitars of ‘Don’t Wish Me Well’ provide a glittery backdrop as Solange revels in her personal growth. ‘Junie,’ a lightly percolating shimmy that pays tribute to funk polymath Junie Morrison (Ohio Players, Parliament-Funkadelic), brings Andre 3000’s falsetto and a vamping piano into its heady mix.” – Rolling Stone
 

The Felice Brothers – Country Ham b/w Murder By Mistletoe 7” (Yep Roc)
Last year the Felice Brothers put together a Christmas EP, Felice Navidad, to benefit the Food Banks of the Hudson Valley, which works in upstate New York to alleviate hunger. The release was digital only, but this year one of the tracks, “Country Ham” is coming out in 7” form, backed with a version of “Murder by Mistletoe” which was recorded in January. “Country Ham” is fairly mournful as Christmas songs go, but full of feeling, and certainly fitting for the message last year’s EP was out to convey. “It’s a narrative about feeling lonely on Christmas, and the different emotions that can go with the holidays that aren’t always talked about in the happy-go-lucky songs,” Ian Felice said.


THE MICROPHONES – EARLY TAPES 1996-1998 LP

LP release of rare tapes that were released before any of the “proper” Microphones titles.
Compiles the best parts of the much-sought-after and hard-to-find 
Beautiful Face, Microphone, Microphone Mix, Wires + Cords, and Tests cassettes.
Includes a 3-foot long, double-sided poster with notes, reflections, context, lyrics and archival photos. 
A new (old) Microphones album that we’ve had to keep quiet about for what seems like forever!

16 songs. 40+ minutes. Heavy, old-style jacket. Download card.



NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

SOFT KILL – Choke CD
FACE TO FACE – Big Choice LP
FACE TO FACE – Don’t Turn Away LP
FACE TO FACE – Self- Titled LP
HOLD STEADY – Boys and Girls in America LP
JIM JAMES – Eternally Even LP
LADY GAGA – Joanne LP
M83 – Go 12″