New Releases & Staff Picks 7/24/2020
Staff Picks
Kimber- Courtney Marie Andrews
Lindsay-PJ Harvey Reissues, Courtney Marie Andrew, Spoon Reissues
Dario- Jim White & Marisa Anderson
Eric- X, Courtney Marie Andrews
Spoon – Soft Effects LP”+MP3 (Matador)
Out of print for nearly five years, Soft Effects has been remastered and reissued on vinyl. Soft Effects (1997) features five of Spoon’s strongest songs and marks a leap forward in the band’s repertoire, signaling the great things to come on subsequent Spoon albums. The vinyl repress features blue sky cover never before used in physical packaging.
Spoon – Telephono CD/LP (Matador)
Spoon’s debut LP Telephono is back in print for the first time since its initial release nearly 25 years ago. Newly recut from the original mas-ters, the 14 tracks are available as a single LP or as a CD that includes the five song 1997 EP Soft Effects.
Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers CD/LP (Fat Possum)
Created in the aftermath of a long-term relationship, Old Flowers features the acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician’s most vulnerable writing across 10 new songs that chronicle her journey through heartbreak, loneliness and finding herself again after it all. Produced by Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief), Old Flowers features only three musicians: Andrews (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano), Twain’s Matthew Davidson (bass, celeste, mellotron, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, wurlitzer, background vocals) and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia (drums, percussion).
PJ Harvey – Dry – Demos CD/LP (Island)
PJ Harvey – Dry [Reissue/1992] LP (Island)
Archive collection containing demos of PJ Harvey’s seminal 1992 debut album. Dry features the singles “Dress” and “Sheela-Na-Gig” which heralded Harvey’s burst onto the global stage. The Los Angeles Times’ Robert Hilburn described the record as “… a seductive calling card that signals the arrival of an extraordinary new artist.” NME wrote, “Polly dredges these sounds from the pit of her dissected soul and drags them out of her mouth with clenched fists,” while Pitchfork said, “On her debut, Polly Jean Harvey matched Patti Smith’s incandescence with Bessie Smith’s lasciviousness, outplayed everyone on the British indie circuit, and became an instant star.” [Dry has also been reissued this week on 180gm vinyl.]
RY X, solo alternative artist and member of The Acid and Frank, bring fans a bigger, sharper follow-up to their debut, Sacred Ground. On Colure, the Berlin-based Wiedemann and Los Angeles-based RY X conjure transcendent creations out of their contrasting musical backgrounds and environments. The album is assuredly dualistic: electronic and acoustic sounds sit comfortably side-by-side, and big melodic hooks are laced into hypnotic club productions.
STRFKR has always been a constantly evolving entity, growing over the years from rambunctious beginnings into the manicured electro-pop perfection they exhibited on their last studio album, 2016’s pristine Being No One, Going Nowhere. Future Past Life breaks new ground, dialing back some of the high-gloss production they’re known for to craft songs that are stripped down, spaced out and somehow as visceral as they are dream-like. The immaculate but danceable pop that has long been STRFKR’s calling card is pushed into exciting new places on Future Past Life. It’s a strange and beautiful sonic environment, one that finds STRFKR growing as they embrace the chance and spontaneity that brought these songs about in the first place. [Limited opaque orange colored vinyl pressing also available.]
X – Alphabetland CD (Fat Possum)
Alphabetland is the eighth studio album by legendary American punk rock band X. It is their first studio release in 27 years and the first with their original line-up in the past 35 years. [Vinyl edition due August 21.]
Devendra Banhart – Vast Ovoid 12” (Nonesuch)
This four-song limited edition vinyl EP features three songs recorded during the sessions for his album Ma as well as the Helado Negro remix of the track “Love Song”.
Mansions fourth LP, Big Bad, refers to the conscious and unconscious ways we react to our own mortality and self-sabotage the good things in life. While fans of Mansions previous releases – 2011’s Dig Up the Dead, 2013’s Doom Loop, and 2017’s Deserter – will appreciate Big Bad’s strikingly personal lyrics and lush atmosphere, Big Bad is more indicative of a specific place in time and the visceral feelings that go along with it than it is a direct follow-up to any of the band’s previous work. Limited edition colored vinyl pressing.