New Releases & Staff Picks – 9/17/21
Staff Picks
Lindsay – Charley Crockett and José González
Dario – Karate Reissue and Weather Station Reissue
Zach – Felice Brothers, Avey Tare Reissue, and Jordan Rakei
Kimber – José González
Charley Crockett – Music City USA CD/2xLP (Son Of Davy)
Charley Crockett has been a remarkable artist to follow. He’s got a sound. He’s got something to say. He has a look. And there’s a gauzy veil of mystery surrounding him suggesting he knows more than he’s letting on. All those records in such a short amount of time have come with a “no two alike” guarantee, particularly the last three releases: the darkly prescient Welcome To Hard Times; the semi-autobiographical, hard-core country-roots The Valley; and 10 For Slim, his tribute of songs by the obscure and wholly authentic Texas honky-tonk maestro James Hand.
And still, despite his penchant for pearl snaps and western hats, Charley Crockett has managed to elude being pigeon-holed. Call him neo country-western if you’d like. It’s true that few contemporaries present themselves as part of a lineage harkening back to Hank Williams and George Jones like Charley does, and even fewer can pull it off convincingly. Or call him a bluesman, if you prefer. Music City is sad, uplifting, hard, sweet, complex and delicate all at once. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is available.]
José González’s – Local Valley CD/LP+MP3 (Mute)
José González’s fourth studio effort Local Valley is a natural continuation of the styles that he has developed over the years both solo and with his band Junip. The album strikes a balance between stripped back arrangements – just Jose’s intimate vocal and exquisite nylon string guitar work – and tracks driven by groovy drum machine loops and other percussive elements. With songs sung in English, Spanish and Swedish, Local Valley invites us to look beyond our tribal instincts and join in a more harmonic state. The album explores our shared humanity and the scientific-based existential questions we face together on our quest to understand ourselves and our place in the cosmos. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is available.]
Mild High Club – Going Going Gone CD/LP (Stones Throw)
While Alex Brettin, “bartender and resident selector” of the metaphysical listening lounge he calls the Mild High Club, could not have foreseen the numerous overlapping crises of these past years, his new album Going Going Gone feels especially apt for the moment. On the first single “Me Myself And Dollar Hell”, he explores themes of paranoia, individualism, kleptocracy, gun violence, faith, and climate change. Following his Mild High Club debut Timeline (2015), which examined the burgeoning social media age, and second album Skiptracing (2016), which questioned his identity as an artist and featured the massively popular single “Homage”, Brettin followed with the King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard collaboration Sketches From Brunswick East in 2017. After releasing three records in three years, he sought to hone his craft over the five-year process that would yield Going Going Gone.
The Beths – Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 CD/LP+MP3 (Carpark)
The Beths’ Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 begins with crowd screeches and bellows. It’s a collective exhalation, in one of the few countries where live music is still possible. The album title, and film of the same name, deliberately include the date and location. In a mid-pandemic world, playing to a heaving, enraptured home crowd feels miraculous.
The Felice Brothers – From Dreams To Dust CD (Yep Roc)
CD now, LP due out 10/29. On From Dreams To Dust, their eighth and most recent studio album, the band’s exuberance to be together doing what they do so well is palpable. Characteristic of The Felice Brothers, the new tracks are a mixture of somber tunes with ones that are musically upbeat, all the while carrying messages that beg listeners to think deeply about the environment, humanity, legacy, and death. Many of the songs depict the passage of time, nostalgia, transience and getting older. “I want for my music to do what the best music in my life has done for me,” explains Ian Felice. “I want to do that for other people – to help them think through hard times or think through how to communicate something they didn’t know how to; to just make them happy.”
25th Anniversary edition featuring previously unheard tracks from the original 1996 recording sessions, previously unseen photos, and new liner notes. Buena Vista Social Club is both the name given to this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just seven days in 1996 in Havana’s 1950s vintage EGREM studios.
Bob Dylan – Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985) 5xCD/2xLP (Columbia/Legacy)
The latest chapter in the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series shines fresh light on the provocative new musical directions Dylan was taking as a songwriter and a recording artist from 1980 through 1985. In the early 1980s, while the music industry was grappling with the arrival of new trends and technology, from MTV to compact discs to digital recording, Bob Dylan was writing and recording new songs for a new decade, creating new chapters in his studio catalog. Bob Dylan – Springtime In New York (1980-1985) celebrates the rich creative period surrounding Dylan’s classic albums Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque with previously unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsal recordings, live performances and more. [The 5-CD boxset presents 57 rare Dylan recordings, 54 of them previously unreleased in any format, from 1980-1985.]
Everything But The Girl – Eden [Reissue/1984] LP (Buzzin’ Fly)
Originally released in June 1984 on Blanco y Negro Records, Eden is British duo Everything But The Girl’s debut studio album, produced by Robin Millar (Sade, Fine Young Cannibals). This reissue, now coming out on the bands own Buzzin’ Fly label, has been remastered and cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. The album contains the single “Each And Every One”, which peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. The cover design was created by lead singer Tracey Thorn’s former bandmate in the Marine Girls, Jane Fox.
Guided By Voices – Isolation Drills [Reissue/2001] 2xLP (TVT)
Originally released in 2001, Isolation Drills is the twelfth album by Guided by Voices. It was their second and final LP released under TVT Records and their second to feature producer in Rob Schnapf. The album notably features instrumental contributions from Elliott Smith and David Sulzer. This special 20th Anniversary Edition has been remastered and it is included on double gatefold vinyl for the first time.
Karate – In Place Of Real Insight [Reissue/1997] LP (Numero)
The Great Alternative Boom of the early ’90s had begun to wither on corporate FM barely halfway through the decade, but the ever-changing underground had almost entirely regenerated after two major-label thrifting trips. In the ever-in-flux city of Boston, Karate positioned themselves as a crucial tendril in a sprawling nationwide community. They did so largely by refusing to stick to any single formula from the myriad of styles at their root-slowcore, post-hardcore, and jazz. As if to make a point, Karate’s lineup went through its own shift too. In the lead up to 1997’s In Place of Real Insight, Eamonn Vitt took up the guitar, and Karate compatriot Jeff Goddard entered the fold to become the band’s bassist. Armed with two guitarists, the band got significantly louder, and they smeared punk fury all over their second LP.
Nick Lowe – The Convincer [Reissue/2001] LP+7”+MP3 (Yep Roc)
Limited color vinyl reissues of two of the British singer-songwriter’s albums. The Convincer established him as an elder statesman of rock and roll, far removed from the ironic power popper he was in the 1970s. The album arrived in a different world than the day before, releasing on September 11, 2001.
SZA – Good Days 10” (RCA)
Color vinyl pressing. “Good Days” is the dreamy, platinum-certified 2020 single from SZA which served as the singer’s first solo song to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard charts. Features Grammy-nominated London musician Jacob Collier on backing vocals.
Jordan Rakei’s most vulnerable and intimate album to date. While the heart of the record will be familiar to fans of his neo-soul and hip-hop-infused work, here Rakei dives deeper into his sound, merging electronic with acoustic, and rugged grooves with ambient atmospheres, to create something richer, more detailed, and more textural than before. Jordan has previously collaborated with hip-hop titan Common; Terrace Martin (Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington); the certified legend Nile Rodgers; Disclosure; jazz drummer Richard Spaven (Flying Lotus, Jose James); Rosie Lowe; and Jordan wrote, produced and performed on four tracks for Loyle Carner’s 2019 album “Not Waving But Drowning”. Available on limited edition green vinyl.
Down There is the debut solo album from Animal Collective member Avey Tare released in 2010 and recorded with fellow band member Deakin.
Dehd’s Flower of Devotion was one of the most critically-heralded releases of the year, named Best New Music by Pitchfork who called the record “an effortless, elegantly rumpled strain of indie rock”, a triumphant statement crowning Dehd one of the most exciting voices in Indie today. Flower of Devotion Remixed sees Dehd surrounded by a myriad of close collaborators (Lala Lala, Protomartyr, Freak Heat Waves, and more) and points a shining spotlight on the Chicago music scene the band still calls home, staying true to the trio’s earnest melodies while creating an amorphous blend of experimentations in mutated beats and danceable hooks that feels like a personal mixtape for the friends that know them best.
Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing housed in gatefold jacket. Blue Note Tone Poet Series release. The All Seeing Eye is Wayne Shorter’s brilliant and multi-layered album for Blue Note. His goal was to use “a wider range of colors and textures” while continuing his explorations of “life and the universe and God.” Joining Shorter are Freddie Hubbard, Grachan Moncur III, James Spaulding, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Joe Chambers, and Wayne’s brother Alan Shorter on flugelhorn.
Beggars Arkive is excited to announce a limited edition reissue of Silverfish’s first full-length album, Fat Axl, originally released in 1990 by Beggars label Wiiija. Recorded in Sheffield by Steve Albini in just two days, the album’s nine songs are unrestrained and uncommercial. It’s been remastered yet still retains the raw “lurch” appeal of the mighty Silverfish. Set for release on September 10th, this reissue is a limited edition, pressed on red splattered vinyl.
First time vinyl edition of one of Laraaji’s best-loved albums, originally released in 1992 as one of the first releases on the All Saints label. Flow Goes The Universe was recorded in Tokyo, Osaka, New York City and the English Lake District at various studio sessions and live concerts, and subsequently compiled and augmented by “infinite guitarist” Michael Brook, noted for his collaborations with Brian Eno, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Robert Fripp and David Sylvian. A suite of luminous ambient pieces that stands amongst Laraaji’s very best work.
Suck On This is the debut album by the band Primus, originally released in 1989. At the time of recording, the featured lineup of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander had only been playing together for “about two months”. Available on limited edition blue vinyl.
At the top of 2020, after a year of traversing the globe in support of 2019’s Run Fast Sleep Naked, Nick Murphy began creating music that simply felt good. Though the singer had retired his billion streaming Chet Faker project four years prior, the new songs he was working on in his New York City studio had an energy reminiscent of his earlier work. Reviving the project “wasn’t on my radar” at the time, Murphy admits, but the next thing he knew, he had a full album. The result is Hotel Surrender, a radiant 10-track LP full of swaggering bass lines and electrifying melodies that reintroduces Chet Faker to the world – and to Murphy himself. Like his debut LP, 2014’s Built on Glass, Murphy wrote and produced Hotel Surrender solely on his own, finishing most of the songs before COVID-19 hit in March 2020. He admits that before Hotel Surrender, he had never approached his process with such ease.
PIXIES – Trompe Le Monde LP colored reissue