New Releases & Staff Picks – 12/6/24
STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Hayden Pedigo
Dario – Actress
Kimber – Twilight Sad reissue
Jake – Hayden Pedigo
Zach – Duster
Ash – Run The Jewels reissue
Duster – In Dreams CD/LP/Cassette (Numero)
San Jose slowcore/space rock outfit Duster returns with the surprise album In Dreams, continuing their inclination of sonically capturing an open-ended question. These thirteen tracks hone in on their trademark dark, droning guitar tones, dialed-back percussion, and alluring hard-panned vocals while expanding and exploring synth-heavy and drum machine avenues. [A clear vinyl pressing is available.]
Tori Amos – Diving Deep: Live 2xCD/2xLP (Decca)
Tori Amos has long been renowned for never playing the same show twice. Now, these unique live performances are captured in a new live album entitled Diving Deep recorded across Tori’s 2022-2023 Ocean to Ocean tour, which spanned 93 dates around the globe. The album features beloved tracks from Amos’s iconic back catalog, including hits such as “Cornflake Girl.” [An indie store exclusive color vinyl pressing is available.]
Aurora – What Happened To The Heart? CD/2xLP (Glassnote Music)
Fifth studio album by Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer. What Happened To The Heart? finds Aurora working alongside various new collaborators-including Ane Brun, Matias Tellez (girl in red, Maisie Peters), Tom Rowlands (Chemical Brothers), Chris Greatti (Yungblud, Blink-182) and Dave Hamelin (Beyonce, King Princess, Zara Larsson) among others-each bringing their own unique styles and depth to the project. [A blue color vinyl pressing is available.]
White Denim – 12 CD/LP (Bella Union)
White Denim, one of the very best rock bands to emerge this millennium, have gone through rapid changes in the 2020s, and now open an exciting new chapter with the wondrous album, 12, which arrives rich in hot tunes and fresh invention. The results on 12 are intricate, hi-tech and forward-facing, yet also somehow still of a piece with the questing ambition, rootsy swing and uplifting way with melody we’ve come to adore about their music. [A white color vinyl pressing is available.]
Lucinda Williams – Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road CD/LP (Highway 20)
Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road features 12 Beatles songs that include classic hits such as “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “Something”. Williams and her band also take on beloved deeper tracks such as “I’m So Tired”, “I’ve Got A Feeling,” and “Yer Blues”. Being raised on the blues in the South, the latter is a song Williams was clearly meant to sing. Recorded at The Beatles’ legendary studio in London, the new collection serves as Vol. 7 of her celebrated ‘Lu’s Jukebox’ series and is the first new volume in almost four years.
Actress – Дарен Дж. Каннінгем LP (Smalltown Supersound)
Actress delivered his mix for RA in June and it was surprisingly all new and exclusive Actress music. When asked if this was a new album, Actress aka Darren S. Cunningham simply answered that “it’s a collage – Braque”. Whatever you call this, a mix, a mixtape, a collage/braque, a new album, what it is, is another Actress statement. Actress grows music. Completely unconcerned with what it is, with what format it is or what it’s defined as.
Campus Christy – Campus Christy LP (Stones Throw)
Campus Christy is a collaboration between Stones Throw Records’ founder Chris Manak aka Peanut Butter Wolf (vocals) and Brian Ellis (instruments). Nearly 25 years after his 1999 release of My Vinyl Weighs A Ton, Manak has formed a brand new musical project, reinterpreting lesser-known tracks from the late ’60s to early ’80s. Campus Christy revives Manak’s high school garage band moniker, a niche ode to the past.
Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2 [Reissue/2014] 2xLP (Seeker Music Group)
Celebrate a decade of raw, uncompromising energy with the Run the Jewels 2 – 10th Anniversary Edition. This exclusive 180-gram vinyl re-release honors the iconic album that redefined the hip-hop landscape, now elevated with premium features tailored for die-hard fans and collectors alike.
Hayden Pedigo – Live In Amarillo, TX LP (Mexican Summer)
Hayden Pedigo’s music evolved dramatically between the summer of The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored and Christmas Eve 2023. Months of touring honed his skills, bringing new precision and versatility. Returning to his home town of Amarillo, he recorded a stunning live set before nearly five hundred fans. An album that could one day be mentioned in the same breath as John Fahey and Townes Van Zandt’s legendary live albums, Mexican Summer proudly presents Hayden Pedigo: Live in Amarillo, Texas.
Sabrina Carpenter – Fruitcake CD/LP (Island)
Fruitcake is the second extended play (EP) and first Christmas themed record by American singer Sabrina Carpenter. It was released by Island Records and produced by Julian Bunetta and John Ryan.
Stuart Moxham – Fabstract LP (Tiny Global Prod)
Young Marble Giants’ master of twee post-punk pop, Stuart Moxham, sifts archival YMG songs into a new dessert platter of sugary fancies for fans of everything from The Smiths to Scritti Politti and Etienne Daho. “Young Marble Giants’ “Colossal Youth” has mystified and beguiled audiences since its 1980 release. Stuart has since delved into family life, though he never stopped writing and recording. In more recent years, two retrospective compilations of lost recordings by The Gist have been released, as well as a superb collaboration with French arranger Louis Philippe, “The Devil Laughs”. Fabstract is the final gathering of Stuart’s lost recordings. Compiling long-lost YMG-era tracks with the recent brilliance of “Crow, Crow” and “Suburban Monochrome”, through bits of whimsy and vastly alternate versions of fan faves, this diverse album shouldn’t work… but it does, telling a satisfying story of an underrated talent whose mistake was following his muse, not the charts. This album precedes a new recording, years in the making, produced by Dave Trumfio, which promises to be Stuart’s most complete – and original – work since Colossal Youth.
Laufey – Very Laufey Holiday 7″ (Laufey LLC)
GRAMMY-winning Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey brings her annual holiday series, A Very Laufey Holiday, to vinyl for the first time. The Winter Wonderland edition features a 7 inch disc with the holiday classic on side A and “Christmas Dreaming” on Side B. Avail on red and green vinyl
Peter Tosh – Mystic Man [Reissue/1979] LP (Rhino/Parlophone)
Green vinyl. Mystic Man, released in 1979, is an introspective and spiritually charged album by Peter Tosh. The album reflects his deep Rastafarian beliefs and features a mix of soulful and political tracks. Songs like “Mystic Man” and “Jah Seh No” highlight Tosh’s commitment to his faith and his disdain for societal corruption. The album’s production is marked by a refined sound that balances roots reggae with subtle experimentation.
Trampled By Turtles & Dead Man Winter – Always Here / Always Now LP (Banjodad)
Always Here / Always Now is a collaborative project between indie-folk band Trampled By Turtles and americana-rock band Dead Man Winter. Dave Simonett is the lead singer and main songwriter of both. In this project, each band has tackled the same set of Dave’s five original songs in their own sound, with the intention of exploring the relationship between a song and the people who bring it to life. [Amber w/ smoke colorway.]
The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave (Demos) LP (Fat Cat)
The Twilight Sad are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their acclaimed fourth studio album, Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave, with a special limited edition Demos version. It features a full album line up of demo tracks, with the original working titles, laid down in preparation for recording the official version of the album.
A few years ago, Angel Olsen quietly formed somethingscosmic, a new imprint and a home for Olsen to have “the flexibility to release when and how I want to with the help from my longtime partners at Jagjaguwar.” somethingscosmic’s second release, Cosmic Waves Volume 1 is a compilation reimagined as a dialogue; side A features artists chosen by Olsen, with each artist choosing their own song for the collection. Side B is a collection of songs from the same artists but chosen by Olsen and recorded by her. Each, unsurprisingly, illuminates a star in the constellation of talents that make Angel Olsen such a spectacular and enduring artist. Hearing Olsen refract the artists’ songs back to them reveals not just the depth of Olsen’s imagination, but the multiple masters at work across the collection as well.
Various Artists – Bliss Out: For Days 2xLP (Numero)
The Numero Group guide to private issue new age. Featuring Laraaji, Iasos, Joanna Brouk, Don Slepian, Peter Davison, Master Wilburn Burchette, Jordan de la Sierra, David Casper, Robert Slap and 9 other pioneers of the Perrier underground. Adorned with Marcus Uzilevsky’s Linear Landscapes, this 2xLP compilation is housed in a sturdy tip-on jacket and is accompanied by a 32-page booklet. The fourth world awaits. [A clear vinyl pressing is available.]
Ben Webster Meets Oscan Peterson – Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson [Reissue/1959] LP (Verve)
Ben Webster was, without a doubt, one of the most important and influential tenor saxophonists in jazz. Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson features some of his finest collaborations with Oscar Peterson, who the tenor saxophonist often stated was his favorite accompanist.
Tony Williams Lifetime – Emergency! [Reissue/1969] 2xLP (Verve)
In what many consider to be the birth of jazz fusion, Emergency!, led by Tony Williams (drums) with bandmates John McLaughlin (guitar) and Larry Young (organ), is a true adventure in the beginning of the jazz-rock blend that would take shape in late 1960’s and beyond. From the opening title track, the direction is decisive and commands attention as Williams leads his crew through a mixture of swing, rock and free jazz that cements its place as one of the most influential albums of the time.
Magdalena Bay – A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling [Reissue/2020] LP (Luminelle)
Magdalena Bay’s first EP for Luminelle, 2020’s A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling, is full of electro-pop gems from the Los Angeles duo, who released their fantastic debut, Mercurial World in 2021. Now on limited Cobalt Color Vinyl.
Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World [Reissue/2021] LP (Luminelle)
Mercurial World – Indie Retail Exclusive Orchid color vinyl of Magdalena Bay’s debut full-length LP, Mercurial World. Entirely written, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by the duo, Mercurial World proposes an abstract theory of time and explores the staggering “what ifs” that make up the human experience. Approaching reality as a construct allows Magdalena Bay to enact their own, one that is committed to nothing but expanding the possible. Even the album’s sequencing hints at the eternal: the first track is titled “The End,” the last is “The Beginning,” forming a perfect loop when you listen to it straight through. “Matt, Matt, wake up!” Tenenbaum whispers on the introductory track. “I was thinking about how there’s no true end to anything/ Everything comes from and goes to the same place: NOWHERE.”
Plastikman – Musik 30th Anniversary LP (Mute)
The record was first released in November 1994 through NovaMute and Plus 8, following the debut Plastikman album, Sheet One (1993). A masterclass in minimal techno, Musik quickly propelled Hawtin to new levels of success. The release followed Plastikman’s first-ever live performance in a black vinyl-encased room at a semi-derelict Packard Plant in Detroit, where Hawtin was central to the burgeoning underground scene.
Painkiller – Samsara CD (Tzadik)
Originally formed in 1991, PainKiller is a legendary trio that forged a completely unique language blending jazz, metal, grindcore, ambient, dub, and so much more. Recording again for the first time in over a quarter century, these three master musicians have come up with an intense new musical direction. Mick Harris, performing on his trademark electronics, has created a rich tapestry of beats and sounds that have inspired Laswell and Zorn to some exciting new heights. Samsara presents three old friends exploring some bold new sounds.
Counterparts – Heaven Let Them Die LP (Pure Noise)
Since forming in 2007, Counterparts have gone from the Hamilton, Ontario, underground to touring the world as one of Canada’s most important and impactful musical export. This surprise EP, Heaven Will Let Them Die, out via Pure Noise.
COMING NEXT WEEK!
THE NATIONAL – Rome CD/LP
ANDREW BIRD / MADISON CUNNIGHAM – Cunningham Bird CD/LP
JERRY GARCIA / DAVID GRISMAN – Bare Bones Vol 1 CD/LP
DESTROY BOYS – Make Room LP
INNOCENCE MISSION – Midwinter Swimmers CD/LP
SIMON JOYNER – Coyote Butterfly CD/LP
SHAKEY GRAVES – War Came 10 Year Anniversary LP
TELEVISION – Television LP reissue
WAR ON DRUGS – Live On Drugs Again CD
TALIB KWELI / J RAWLS – Confidence of Knowing CD/LP
FLEET FOXES – Live On Boston Harbor CD/LP
NEIL YOUNG – On The Beach 50th Anniversary LP
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Penrose Showcase Vol II LP
NICOLAS JAAR – Piedra 1+2 LP
UNDERWORLD – Strawberry Hotel LP
