New Releases & Staff Picks – 7/19/24
STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Melissa Carper and Lilacs and Champange
Dario – Parlor Greens and Elori Saxl
Kimber – Bert Jansch reissues
Jake – Dr. Dog
Zach – Oneida and Free Throw
Ash – Pete Rock reissue
Glass Animals – I Love You So F****ing Much CD/LP (Republic)
The fourth studio album from human musical group sensations Glass Animals, released on Republic Records. Avail on black and limited edition black/white splatter vinyl. Initial copies come with a free Glass Animals tote bag, while supplies last!
Melissa Carper – Borned In Ya CD/LP (Mae Music)
2024 release from the country music singer-songwriter. Borned In Ya showcases Carper’s long-standing musical influences as well as her artistic growth and sense of adventure. In addition to her familiar blend of country with jazz, blues, soul, and R&B, the album sees Carper continuing her subtle mix of these elements, creating songs that cross the genres, calling back to the “popular” sounds of another era. From Gospel-style vocal choruses to funky grooves, to recalling the classic R&B of the 50s and 60s, to hillbilly jazz, honky-tonk, and country soul, Carper has created another stunner for eager listeners to enjoy.
Parlor Greens – In Green We Dream CD/LP (Colemine)
Perhaps one of the most exciting and anticipated projects in the world of heavy instrumental music is Parlor Greens, a fresh organ trio on Colemine Records! You could say that Parlor Greens are greater than the sum of their parts…however, the individual parts are simply stellar on their own. Tim Carman (GA-20) on drums, Jimmy James (True Loves, formerly Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio) on guitar, and Adam Scone (Scone Cash Players, The Sugarman 3) on organ. Eleven cuts. Ten originals. Two sides. All killer, no filler. Straight to the old reliable Tascam 388 tape machine, mixed up nice and dirty for your enjoyment. Parlor Greens are proud to present their debut long player, In Green We Dream.
Growlers – Chinese Fountain LP (Everloving)
Transparent Magenta reissue. The 10th anniversary edition of The Growler’s Chinese Fountain has been updated to include a gatefold with never before seen photos and colored vinyl. Includes the favorites, “Going Gets Tough”, “Black Memories” and “Rare Hearts”
Dr Dog – Dr Dog CD/LP (We Buy Gold)
For more than two decades, Dr. Dog have maintained a shared devotion to the unruly alchemy of making music. When it came time to create their eleventh studio album, the Philadelphia-bred band adopted an entirely new way of working together, embracing a multilayered process designed to foster a deeper synergy among its five members (bassist Toby Leaman, lead guitarist Scott McMicken, rhythm guitarist Frank McElroy, keyboardist Zach Miller, and drummer Eric Slick). After beginning that journey with a close-knit session at Leaman’s uncle’s cabin in the Pennsylvania woods, Dr. Dog steadily made their way toward the joyfully unfettered psych-rock of their new self-titled LP. Mixed by multi-Grammy-winner Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers), Dr. Dog finds McMicken taking the helm as producer for the first time in the history of the decidedly egalitarian band. True to the eclectic spirit that’s always animated the band, Dr. Dog’s 11 tracks shift from soul to surf-rock to symphonic pop with an exuberance made all the more powerful by their revitalized creative energy.
Lilacs & Champagne – Fantasy World CD/LP (Temporary Residence)
Nearly a decade after their last album, Lilacs and Champagne picks up right where that record, Midnight Features Vol. 2: Made Flesh, left off. With bizarre excursions into pillowy, sentimental made-for-TV music – and children’s choirs incanting the blackest dread-filled music the band has conjured to date – Fantasy World is both transcendent and traumatic. Despite sharing two founding members of Grails (multi-instrumentalists Emil Amos and Alex Hall) Fantasy World only peripherally resembles their core group. Lilacs & Champagne have exaggerated their early record’s implications and accelerated their mercurial rearranging of music history by deftly incorporating live instrumentation and samples with equal amounts of deference and disregard.
Mr Bungle – Quote Unquote 1991-1999 6LP (Rhino)
The 6LP boxset of Mr. Bungle’s three legendary albums on Warner Records: Mr. Bungle, Disco Volante & California. Each album comes as a 2LP Gatefold, all packaged together in a metallic foil box. Mastered by Scott Hull exclusively for vinyl from the original mixes (some for the first time ever). Features two alternate takes of inter-program material from the Bungle archives.
Fink – Beauty In Your Wake LP (R’coup’d)
Fink, Long-established alt-folk trio, return with Fin Greenall’s eighth studio album under the genre-hopping moniker. Coalescing around the emergent urgency in each of the album’s ten tracks and intimate, closed-door sessions in picturesque Cornwall, the soul-reaching Beauty In Your Wake is released on the band’s R’COUP’d label. Now resident in Berlin, native Cornishman Greenall, one time collaborator with John Legend, Amy Winehouse, Colin Stetson and more, sought the solitude and back-to-earth atmosphere of the small village of Zennor, on the county’s picturesque Atlantic coast for the agenda-free, organic recording sessions.
Sonic Youth – Hits Are For Squares LP (Geffen)
Double vinyl LP pressing. Hits Are for Squares was the first greatest hits album by American rock band Sonic Youth, originally released in 2008. The album features 15 songs spanning Sonic Youth’s career since the release of their debut studio album in 1983, Confusion Is Sex. It also includes one new song: “Slow Revolution”. The band intended to create a compilation album that appealed to the casual consumer.
AFI – Black Sails In The Sunset [Reissue/1999]LP (Craft)
AFI celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Black Sails in the Sunset with this colored vinyl reissue. The limited-edition pressing of AFI’s 1999 breakthrough includes the original 12 tracks and three bonus tracks. This year marks the 25th anniversary of AFI’s breakthrough Black Sails in the Sunset.
Pete Rock – Petestrumentals 2 LP (Mello Music Group)
Petestrumentals 2 conjures memories of BBQ cookouts and 70s Blaxploitation scores, rattling summer jeep cruises and blunted Jamaica vacations. There’s a gorgeous requiem to Dilla (“Dilla Bounce (R.I.P),” where the originator pays tribute to the prodigy. You see the full range of Rock’s gifts on display: the meticulously chopped horns, unquantized drums, and air raid sirens. It contains the emotion of a thousand eulogies. This special 24 for ’24 Artist Series Edition is a one time pressing on metallic gold vinyl w/ original KipDaFog oil painted cover art.
Duran Duran – Rio LP reissue (Rhino)
Remastered Duran Duran Duran’s second album, Rio, was released in 1982 following the success of their debut album. Rio electrified the already-rising ‘second British invasion’, dominating the American charts with singles such as ‘Rio’, ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ and ‘Save a Prayer’. All of which remain as some of Duran’s biggest streaming songs to this day.
Duran Duran – Seven and the Ragged Tiger LP reissue (Rhino)
Originally released in 1983, Seven and the Ragged Tiger was the final Duran album with the original five members (until 2004). This third album was the first of Duran’s to reach #1 in the UK charts.
Duran Duran – Notorious LP reissue (Rhino)
Notorious 2010 Remastered Duran Duran
Duran Duran – Self Titled LP reissue (Rhino)
The debut album was originally released in 1981 and includes the hits ‘Planet Earth’ and ‘Girls On Film’. It’s considered a significant album in the new-wave and synth-pop movements of the early 80s.
Duran Duran – Big Thing LP reissue (Rhino)
The band continued to explore different styles and culminated in Big Thing which was released in 1988. The album was a reflection on the musical climate which was changing towards the late 80s and had a more experimental and electronic approach compared to earlier Duran releases.
CD now, vinyl coming Aug 16th. Drifts and Surfaces is a three-piece set, with each work originating from commissions, and unified by shared themes: the flux between ephemeral movement and everyday stasis, the paradox of extraordinary and mundane beauty, and the ambition and idleness, that defines living in the 21st century. Saxl continues to utilize chamber-music ensemble alongside analog synth and digital experimentation, deeply tuning into textural emotion and the vivid details of small actions.
Oneida – Expensive Air LP (Joyful Noise)
A song is a song until it isn’t, until it’s pushed to its limits and beyond to become harder, faster and more dissonant. The music on Oneida’s 17th full-length album, Expensive Air, all started as tightly structured, melodic rock songs—very much in line with the non-stop bangers of Success from 2022—but along the way, they changed. Bobby Matador sketched the structures of these songs from his home base in Boston, then sent the demos to Oneida’s New York contingent: Kid Millions, Hanoi Jane, Shahin Motia and Barry London. Oneida has long straddled gray-area boundaries between the NYC punk/psych/rock world and the art/experimental world, playing at gritty rock clubs and elevated cultural institutions, including the Guggenheim, MoMA PS1, ICA London, MassMOCA and the Knoxville Museum of Art. The band has been known for extended live improvisational performances, collaborating onstage with Mike Watt, members of Flaming Lips, Portishead, Boredoms, Yo La Tengo, Dead C, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and many others
Free Throw – Self-Titled/Lavender Town LP (Wax Bodega)
Self-Titled / Lavender Town puts Free Throw’s first two career-starting EPs together on vinyl for the first time, originally released in 2013 and 2014. Free Throw are a stronghold in the emo-punk world, releasing 5 full length records over the course of decade, including their most recent – 2023’s Lessons That We Swear To Keep. The band has a storied touring history with bands like The Wonder Years, Tiny Moving Parts, Hot Mulligan, Mom Jeans and more.
Beachwood Sparks – Across The River of Stars CD/LP (Curation Records)
After a 12-year hibernation, Beachwood Sparks emerges with Across The River Of Stars, a transcendent and succinct sonic odyssey. Under the guiding hand of Chris Robinson, the band’s revival showcases their growth and musical maturity. From their indie roots to this celestial return, the album bridges the past and present, offering a journey through cosmic and earthly landscapes. Within its nine songs Across The River Of Stars invites listeners to rediscover Beachwood Sparks.
Coil/Nine Inch Nails – Recoiled LP [Reissue/2024] (Cold Spring)
Recoiled is a 2014 EP by Coil and Nine Inch Nails described as “a compilation of Coil’s unreleased work for Nine Inch Nails” and “outtakes from the remix sessions from Fixed, Closer to God and Further Down the Spiral“.
Bert Jansch – Black Swan [Reissue/2006] LP (Earth Recordings)
Originally released in 2006, The Black Swan was Jansch’s last studio album bookending his tremendous contribution to music. Available on limited edition Jade Green vinyl as part of ‘Bert Jansch 80’, celebrating the enduring legacy of Bert Jansch’s peerless guitar playing and songwriting. An important release that sees Jansch’s revered style boosted by musical admirers Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart, Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall and Noah Georgeson. Featuring sentimental ode ‘High Days’, beautiful title track, instrumental ‘Hey Pretty Girl’ and the country spirited ‘Texas Cowboy Blues’. Beth Orton accompanies with her mesmeric vocals on ‘When The Sun Comes Up’, traditional folk song of withered glory ‘Katie Cruel’ that has been brilliantly rearranged and features Devendra Banhart. Jansch’s extraordinary perceptive lyricism and exceptional songwriting makes The Black Swan a vital record in his canon.
Bert Jansch – Edge Of A Dream [Reissue/2002] LP (Earth Recordings)
Originally released in 2002 Edge Of A Dream will be reissued on limited edition Cream vinyl as part of ‘Bert Jansch 80’, celebrating the enduring legacy of Bert Jansch’s peerless guitar playing and songwriting. Following Crimson Moon, Edge Of A Dream is one of Jansch’s last studio records featuring original and traditional songs that are modal with his trademark bluesy and folk sound. Edge Of A Dream remains that period’s most overlooked beauty, featuring some beautiful playing and some great collaborations.
Adverts – Cast Of Thousands [Reissue/1979] LP (Call Of The Void)
Originally released to a fan base and music press that were unprepared for the band to move on from the punk fury of Crossing The Red Sea, The Adverts Cast Of Thousands has since been recognized as a lost classic of the time.
Hozier – Wasteland, Baby [Reissue/2019] LP (Sony Legacy)
Double vinyl LP pressing. Includes bonus tracks. Wasteland, Baby! Is the sophomore album by Irish Singer-Songwriter Hozier. Originally released in 2019, featuring the singles ‘Nina Cried Power’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Almost (Sweet Music)’, the album has gone on to be certified Platinum in Canada and Gold in multiple territories. This expanded edition includes the original album, b-sides, acoustic version of ‘Be’ + brand new song ‘Why Would You Be Loved’.
AJ Lee & Blue Summit – City Of Glass CD/LP (Signature Sounds)
AJ Lee & Blue Summit are an award-winning, energetic, and technically jaw-dropping bluegrass band quickly rising on the national roots music scene. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the group met as teenagers, picking together as kids at local bluegrass festivals until one day, they decided they would be a band. Their Signature Sounds debut, City of Glass is a spellbinding collection of original songs and covers that’s just as much country soul and gritty, bluesy Americana as it is rock club and festival-ready string band fare, all framed through a California folk lens. City of Glass not only focuses on AJ Lee’s songwriting and once in a generation voice, but also features the Bakersfield sound of guitarist and second lead vocalist Scott Gates on three tracks along with the guitar wizardry and indie rock influence of Sullivan Tuttle, the younger brother of Bluegrass superstar Molly Tuttle.
Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams [Reissue/1977] LP (WEA)
Now on sea blue vinyl, Linda Ronstadt’s Simple Dreams is a timeless and eclectic album that showcases her versatile vocal talent across various musical genres. From the upbeat and catchy “It’s So Easy” to the poignant and emotional “Blue Bayou,” the album seamlessly weaves together rock, country, and folk influences.
War – Greatest Hits [Reissue/1976] LP (Avenue Records)
Limited edition blue vinyl reissue. The classic collection of War’s Greatest Hits including universal favorites “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Low Rider,” and “Cisco Kid” as well as deeper fan favorites including “Gypsy Man” and “Southern Part of Texas” that demonstrate the breadth, fusion, and originality of War’s sound and influences.
A Day To Remember – Homesick [Reissue/2009] LP (Craft)
15th anniversary pressing of A Day to Remember’s Gold-certified third album, Homesick. The two-LP set features the original album, two acoustic tracks and nine live tracks. Homesick features some of the band’s biggest hits to date, including “The Downfall Of Us All,” “If It Means A Lot To You” and “Have Faith In Me.” After it’s 2009 release, the album hit #21 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Independent Albums Chart, as well as KILLYOURSTEREO’s Album of the Year.
COMING NEXT WEEK !