New Releases & Staff Picks – 7/29/22
Staff Picks
Lindsay – Shearwater, Yo La Tengo, Viagra Boys
Zach – Viagra Boys, DOMi & JD Beck, Kacy Hill
Caleb – Kacy Hill
Dario – Mary Lattimore + Growing
Kimber – Shearwater
KACY HILL – Simple, Sweet and Smiling LP
Born and raised in Phoenix and now living in Los Angeles, Hill got her start in 2014 when her self-released single “Experience,” the second song Hill had ever recorded, started attracting attention online. After touring with Kanye West and Vanessa Beecroft as part of the cast of the YEEZUS tour, Hill signed to West’s imprint G.O.O.D. Music. Her debut EP Bloo came shortly thereafter, and she’s since released three albums: 2017’s Like A Woman, 2020’s independently issued Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again, and 2021’s Simple, Sweet, and Smiling. Throughout her career, Hill has collaborated and shared stages with Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Bon Iver, Francis and the Lights, Cashmere Cat and countless others. “Simple, Sweet, and Smiling delves deeper into Hill’s interest in 1980s synth pop and adult contemporary, maintaining a misty-eyed ease. She sounds lovely on the rich and churning opening track, ‘I Couldn’t Wait.’ ‘Oh how the night feels soft,’ she sighs over vivid piano, guitar, and saxophone, the elements
mingling like watercolors.”—Pitchfork
BEACH RATS – Rat Beat CD/LP (Epitaph)
Against the backdrop of Asbury Park, NJ rock and punk history comes Beach Rats. With a membership that includes four impossible-to-avoid New Jersey punk stalwarts including Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Ari Katz (Lifetime), Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls) and rounded out by Danny Windas, aka “Dubs” on drums. Beach Rats play a brand of hardcore/punk that stays true to their members’ roots while creating something completely fresh and urgent. [An indie store exclusive color clear vinyl pressing is available.]
Moby – Moby [Reissue/1992] LP (D.E.F.)
Moby – Ambient [Reissue/1993] LP (D.E.F.)
Moby – Early Underground [Reissue/1993] 2xLP (D.E.F.)
Limited multi-color vinyl pressing of the first two studio albums and compilation Early Underground Records by electronica musician Moby.
Earthling serves as Eddie Vedder’s first solo album since releasing Ukelele Songs in 2011 and third overall. Helmed by reigning Grammy Producer of the Year Andrew Watt and recorded at his Beverly Hills studio, the new collection comes introduced by the singles “Long Way”, “The Halves” and “Brother The Cloud”. Earthling features collaborations with a multitude of music legends including Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, and Elton John. In a New York Times Magazine interview Eddie noted: “the album is structured kind of like a concert: The special guests come out at the end. Stevie, then Elton, then we’ve got our “Mrs. Mills” song with Ringo. Then the last special guest was my father, whom I really didn’t get to know.”
Newly remastered for CD and vinyl in deluxe packaging. This landmark double album by Ani DiFranco, features her trio from 1995-1996 with Andy Stochansky (drums) and Sara Lee (bass). 25 years later the album is recognized as a point of entry that radically expanded DiFranco’s audience, and a historically important testament to the relationship between Ani as a live performer and the devoted community she created with her fans. [A limited-edition red color vinyl pressing is available.]
Beam Me Up Scotty is the third mixtape by Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj. It was originally released in 2009. The mixtape features guest verses from rappers Bobby V, Brinx, Busta Rhymes, Drake, Gucci Mane, Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz, Lil Wayne, Red Café, Ricky Blaze, Rocko, Ron Browz, and singer Shanell.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT – Rufus Does Judy At Capitol Studios LP (BMG)
Rufus Does Judy At Capitol Studios finds Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright performing his groundbreaking 2007 tribute to Judy Garland, Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall, in its entirety, live from Los Angeles’ famed Capitol Studios. “The American Songbook and Judy Garland’s famed 1961 Carnegie Hall concert gave me a lot of hope after 9/11 and lead to the idea for my first song by song recreation of that show at the same venue,” says Wainwright. “It felt fitting to do the entire set again as the dazzling finale of my Rufus-Retro-Wainwright-Spective and hopefully the beginning of the finale of this global pandemic. Once again, these songs revealed their healing power. To be able to sing them in front of Renée, to sing with Kristin Chenoweth and still have my sister Martha be part of these shows was particularly meaningful although to sing them into the very microphone that Judy used for her recordings at Capitol Studios was the most mind-blowing.”
The follow up to 2020’s Afterburner, which topped charts and debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200, Dance Gavin Dance’s new album Jackpot Juicer features 18 tracks that serve as the progressive post-hardcore veterans’ first new music in almost two years. Lead single “Synergy” features guest vocals from Rob Damiani of Don Broco. Jackpot Juicer also marks bassist Tim Feerick’s final contributions to Dance Gavin Dance who passed away in April 2022.
DOMI & JD BECK – Not Tight CD (Apeshit Inc./Blue Note)
Domi & JD Beck release their highly anticipated debut album Not Tight on Anderson.Paak’s new label, Apeshit Inc in partnership with Blue Note Records. Featuring special guests Anderson.Paak, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Herbie Hancock, Thundercat, Mac DeMarco, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, the album exemplifies their trailblazing take on jazz. The New York Times hailed them as simultaneously “freakishly complex and virtuosic” and “relentlessly melodic.”
THE DEAD SOUTH – Easy Listening For Jerks Pt. 1 10”(Six Shooter)
THE DEAD SOUTH – Easy Listening For Jerks Pt. 2 10” (Six Shooter)
Released earlier this year on CD – now available on vinyl. The Carter Family meets The Addams Family in Easy Listening For Jerks, two new covers EPs by prairie pickers The Dead South. Rich with quality finger picking and replete with harmonies, Easy Listening For Jerks offers many new moods of songs we think we know so well. Under a title that recalls the songwriting humor of Roger Miller and Steve Martin’s comedy stylings alike, the EPs offer a surprising and compelling mix of gravity and levity. Foggy Mountain Boys meets Beetlejuice.
THE HOTELIER – It Never Goes Out [Reissue/2011] CD/LP+MP3 (Dreams Of Field)
THE HOTELIER – Home, Like Noplace Is There [Reissue/2014] CD (Dreams Of Field)
THE HOTELIER – Goodness [Reissue/2016] CD/2xLP+MP3 (Dreams Of Field)
The Hotelier exploded in 2014 with its sophomore album, Home, Like No Place Is There. Met with universal critical acclaim, the record catapulted the Worcester, MA band from unknowns to indie darlings. In 2016 The Hotelier returned with its ambitious third album, Goodness, a record about natural, unnatural, and supernatural love. Recorded and produced by Seth Manchester (Lighting Bolt, Battles, Fang Island) at Machines With Magnets and mastered by Heba Kadry (Future Islands, White Lung, Ty Segall) at Timeless Mastering, Goodness proved once again that The Hotelier was not content to stand still as it pushed and progressed its art further.
JOSH ROUSE – Going Places CD/LP (Yep Roc)
Josh Rouse wrote the songs for Going Places while hunkered down in Spain with his family in 2020 and 2021. The inspiration was to have a set of new songs to play in a small club run by a couple of his Spanish bandmates. Josh recorded and produced the songs in his home studio. The result is a collection of songs that feel a bit looser, lean into the guitar a bit more and will sound great in the live setting. It’s also another sonic shift for Josh, who is not afraid of changing things up. What remains consistent is Josh’s ability to write hooks and find grooves that create a sound that is at once familiar, but wholly new.