Holiday tidings, shop friends! The month of December gets off to a roaring start with a robust week of new releases, starting with some big names in rock. SMASHING PUMPKINS continue their welcome return to form on 'CYR', in the house on 'love colour' vinyl. ARCTIC MONKEYS deliver a live set called 'Royal Albert Hall' which we have on limited clear vinyl. PHISH return to the studio for their 15th album; 'Sigma Oasis' is here on seafoam green wax. THE WHITE STRIPES thank the masses with a new 'Greatest Hits' collection which covers their entire curious career with extra care. Just black vinyl on these but we do have some rather impressive peppermint striped record bags to give you with your purchase.
'To All My Friends: Blood Makes The Blade Holy' is the unwieldy title of rapper ATMOSPHERE's 2010 double EP, considered by rap fans I trust to be the finest work of his career, and is now back in print on vinyl for the first time in years. Hot shit! We've got the timeless, Diamond-certified album 'Country Grammar' from NELLY back on vinyl in an expanded edition. New hip-hop vinyl is here as well from TRIPPIE REDD and LOGIC.
German downtempo dons KRUDER & DORFMEISTER blew up so quick on the back of their late 90s mixes and remixes, they somehow never got around to releasing their studio full length debut, '1995', which now emerges a staggering 25 years later sounding fresh as a daisy. Everything you love about the K&D vibe is here in spades. Just...stunning. Chillout king BONOBO revisits his standout album 'Black Sands' in an expanded 10th anniversary edition. Unstoppable nu-disco diva ROISIN MURPHY finally gets us the vinyl edition of her masterful new album 'Roisin Machine', which is hitting all the spots. Uhh, is it too late to revise my top ten list? Not to be outdone, the fleet-footed COM TRUISE returns with 'In Decay, Too', in the building on 'synthetic storm' vinyl. Ok, that's not even a color guys!
It took what, eight months, but we finally found a silver lining on this whole Covid cloud. Bassist DEZRON DOUGLAS and harpist BRANDEE YOUNGER set up a livestream studio in their Harlem apartment when lockdown hit, and now the International Anthem delivers an LP collecting the finest moments from their comforting, soulful performances on 'Force Majeure'. Another stunner from the IA gang to add to the dozen (literally!) they have graced us with this year. Israeli/Persian singer LIRAZ has a marvelous new LP of synthy rai-styles called 'Zan', plus we get the latest from the up and coming Belarussian synth-punk group MOLCHAT DOMA, and a vinyl edition of the delightful Brighton indie rockers PORRIDGE RADIO's 2020 album 'Every Bad'.
Scottish producers LINKWOOD and OTHER LANDS turn away from the deep house that they are very good at making for a super-cool record of eclectic vibes, running from post-punk, to boogie, to a tad of blue eyed soul. The LIGHT SOUNDS DARK label strikes again with a stunning compilation called 'Crossed Wires' that is meant to be a collection of early 80s synthwave obscurities (no information is given, as usual) but could be anyone from Aphex Twin to your uncle on an MPC taking the piss, who knows! It rules! We've also got cracking new EPs from producers DORISBURG and KHOTIN.
Attn: Heads. We've got a fresh edition of MORT GARSON's landmark record-for-plants 'Plantasia' back in stock, this time as an audiophile edition on two 45rpm LPs, plus we have a fresh edition of the legendary psych-funk beatdigger goldmine that is JEAN-CLAUDE VANNIER's 'L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches', which beats all other "naked guy on cover" records by a country mile. We also top you off with the uncompromising prog of PICCHIO DAL POZZO's 1977 debut, and a new pressing of the enigmatic, very early (1967!) American psych record from THE BEAT OF THE EARTH.
Check it, a new EP from ORVILLE PECK teases his new artistic partnership with Diplo, plus we've got a new one from SHAWN MENDES on vinyl, vault stuff from soul belter LEE FIELDS, and a very cool record of Andalusian folk meets indie rock from BLANCO WHITE.
Lovable folk softie S. CAREY celebrates his classic 'All We Grow' turning ten with a new color vinyl edition. JOHN FRUSCIANTE, ex-Chi Peps, makes beats now. Always has, apparently. A new record from him called 'Maya' is straight up early 90s hardcore/jungle worship and it rules. I guess I can't call Chicago art-homies JOAN OF ARC a permanent fixture any more, as 'Tim Melina Theo Bobby' is supposed to be their last album ever, which is sad. Poetic songcraft meets elegant, ambient folk arrangements on JENNIFER CASTLE's fantastic 'Monarch Season'.
Boundary-pushing metal band DEAFHEAVEN had to scrap their 2020 tour plans, so they went into the studio to record their live set instead, which features a couple reworked early tracks and a lot of new material. Melodic doom glory returns with KHEMMIS' 2015 debut 'Absolution' back in print, plus we have a new collab from EMMA RUTH RUNDLE and THOU, and a new LP from western noir-tinged black metallers WAYFARER.
Iconic Dutch punk pioneers THE EX are so good at being a band that they are *still a great band* today, more than forty years since the release of their first pair of albums, 'History Is What's Happening' and 'Disturbing Domestic Peace'. There's no better time to dive into this group's earliest efforts than now, with the first ever reissues of both. We've also got a new pressing of the landmark 'Frozen Niagara Falls' triple album from prolific noise artist PRURIENT, a new yellow vinyl pressing of the raggedy early GUIDED BY VOICES classic 'Vampire on Titus', a great odds and ends collection from Ralph Records' greats SNAKEFINGER, and a new pressing of the first album from FLYING SAUCER ATTACK, which to this day remains one of the most powerful lofi drone-rock albums made outside of Australia.
We're still not done! How about new vinyl pressings of classics from THE PRETTY THINGS, THE GUN CLUB, and OZRIC TENTACLES? We've also got vinyl reisssues of CAT STEVENS' 'Tea For the Tillerman' and 'Mona Bone Jakon', plus an LP edition of his 2020 rework, 'Tea For the Tillerman 2'.
