Hi hello, Strictly Discs email readers. Hope you like options, as you have dozens and dozens of them this week, starting with the long awaited vinyl edition of 'Evermore' from TAYLOR SWIFT on luscious green vinyl. Not to get too philosophical so early in the email but...all records eventually sell out, and this one might sell out faster than usual. Fear not! We will have more copies in the coming weeks, and you can reserve one if need be. Same goes for these new live records from CAAMP and SHANNON MCNALLY.
- an innovative and experimental new album from PLAYBOI CARTI, 'Whole Lotta Red', in the shop alongside a new pressing of 'Brick Body Kids Still Daydream' from one of the most poetic (and hilarious) rappers out there, OPEN MIKE EAGLE. Cross-genre 'inner city folk music' makes itself creative and comfortable on the debut from Toronto songwriter MUSTAFA on 'When Smoke Rises, along with a collab between MOOR MOTHER and BILLY WOODS called 'Brass' that sets the bar high for expansive rap this year. Esteemed doobie handler DEVIN THE DUDE returns with an LP called 'Soulful Distance', and we finally have some copies of the explosively cool collaboration album 'Ocean Bridges' from DAMU THE FUDGMUNK, RAW POETIC, and ARCHIE SHEPP. That's right.
Good googly moogly, it's a gosh-doomed miracle! The day has finally come, our MF DOOM section is full again! While they last, we have freshly-pressed, regular price copies of 'Madvillainy', 'MM...Food', and 'Special Herbs Vol 3/4'.
But that's not all! Two albums from ANIMAL COLLECTIVE that we haven't had in stock for years are back. 'Sung Tongs' and 'Feels' came out in the heady years of '04 and '05, as the band found their precarious footing between joyful noise and abstract folk forms. We've also got the latest vinyl reissue in from PJ HARVEY, 'Peel Sessions'.
Hopeful, blooming ambience abounds on the latest from MAX RICHTER, 'Voices 2'. A pair of ECM jazz titles come through on wax, VIJAY IYER's 'Uneasy' and JAKOB BRO's 'Uma Elmo'. A new repress of ABBEY LINCOLN's 'Abbey Is Blue' restores a timeless vocal jazz classic.
The Aussie perpetual motion machine of a band KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD send two new records our way this week. 'Teenage Gizzard' collects early material from the band on pink and yellow swirl vinyl, while 'L.W.' continues the band's microtonal experiments, on anvil silver wax. Also Aussie but a bit more low-profile is the doom metal band PORTAL, who return with an unholy new record called 'Avow'.
Legendary producer MIKA VAINIO made his name with an uncompromising approach to techno and noise as a member of Pan Sonic and in countless collaborations right up until his recent passing. His final public performance is now enshrined in a lovely edition called 'Last Live'. Ragged, rigorous breakcore meets a slew of Ugandan MCs on a new SCOTCH ROLEX on the Kampala label Hakuna Kulala. Jimmy DNTEL, better known as 1/2 of the Postal Service, never makes the same album twice; 'The Seas Trees See' is full of daring new pop ambient creations. Under the KOSS alias, prolific Japanese producer Kuniyuki Takahashi crafts stunning rainforest-inspired ambient with flecks of murmuring house; his marvelous 2008 CD 'Ancient Rain' finally gets a vinyl edition this week.
Vancouver ambient mainstay LOSCIL returns with his most invigorating album in some time, called 'Clara'. Patient, cosmic harmonics aplenty on a new album from drone veterans GROWING. Sound-artist ANNE GUTHRIE makes accessible sonic postcards from a variety of inspired locales on 'Gyropedie'. An arresting new record from LEA BERTUCCI called 'A Visible Length of Light' finds the saxophonist illuminating vast landscapes with rippling, generous tones.
An early gem from the catalog of synth-pop outsider MOLLY NILSSON is back in print; if you want John Maus but a lady and without all the problematic tweets, 'Europa' is the record for you. Ellen from Palehound and Melina from Jay Som team up on a cool new slack-pop band called BACHELOR, and we have the critically acclaimed new records from MOBY and GLAIVE in the building.
Madisonians of a certain vintage might recall the fierce, brief existence of XEROBOT, a no-wave band featuring Solid Freek and friend-of-the-shop Steve Coombs on drums. We've now got copies of their lovingly compiled, comprehensive discography in the racks courtesy of the tenacious Chunklet Industries label. For more insight on this classic Madtown group, pick up a copy and read the oral history inside, or look up the recent excellent article on Tone. We go back even further into the future with a repress of the debut 12" from Kansas indie heroes THE EMBARRASSMENT, and the first time on LP for a 1986 cassette from American ambient pioneer MARC BARRECA.
A certified scorching "authorized bootleg" of one of the country's best live guitarists is here from CHRIS FORSYTH & THE SOLAR MOTEL BAND on 'Rare Dreams: Solar Live 2.27.18'. Members of Slowdive, the Flaming Lips, and the Casket Girls reconfigure in a great new dream pop band called BEACHY HEAD with a fantastic debut. If you need a 'Reason To Live', look no further than the new solo record from LOU BARLOW, the Sebadoh founder and sometime Dinosaur Jr member who I once told to "keep up the good work" for some reason when I shook his hand after a show, and it still bothers me.
'To Love Somebody', the lone studio album from reggae balladeer BUNNY SCOTT gets a hearty repress, while a pair of new compilations IF I HAD A PAIR OF WINGS and PIRATES CHOICE Vol. 2 get you a dose of Jamaican doo-wop and Studio One rarities.
Stormy boom-bap grooves abound on the latest album from Australian jazz unit GODTET, plus we've got a fresh pressing of the London jazz-funk gem 'Yellow Ochre' from VELS TRIO. The explosive combo of Tashi Dorji, Dave Rempis, and Tyler Damon form like voltron as KUZU on 'The Glass Delusion', and a quartet of UK musicians led by veteran pianist PAT THOMAS pay tribute to Ahmed Abdul-Malik on 'Nights On Saturn'. That's Ahmed on the cover if you are wondering. I was wondering!
ROSCOE MITCHELL and MIKE REED team up on 'The Ritual And The Dance'; Nimbus West rarity 'At The Crossroads' from HORACE TAPSCOTT and EVERETT BROWN is here in its original form; ethereal spiritual jazz hits a peak on DOUG and JEAN CARN's 'Revelation'; early 70s UK jazz gem 'Pause, And Think Again' from JOHN TAYLOR gets a first-time reissue.
Deeeeeep cuts time! ROLAND P. YOUNG's strange, sublime private soul compilation 'Hearsay I-Land' is back in print, pairing nicely with the Canadian cosmic synth holy grail 'Amanita' from STU CISCO. A proper remaster from SOUL CONNECTION restores a holy grail of street soul to its most potent levels. Lebanese studio musician ROGER FAKHR sees a collection of his unreleased late 70s folk tunes reissued by Habibi Funk on 'Fine Anyway', sounding kinda like a Middle Eastern Tim Hardin or maybe Rodriguez. Amazing stuff!
Techno time! Thrilled to have a new one from legend JOHN TEJADA called 'Year of the Living Dead'. Hmm I think I know what that means. Blown away by 'Blush', a new LP from FACTA on the Wisdom Teeth label, unfussy melodic techno with an impressive sheen and pristine drums. If the names LAWRENCE or FOREST DRIVE WEST mean a thing to you, both of their new releases find them in absolutely top of the class form.
A new Brownswood label compilation called INDABA IS connects us with the cream of the crop of contemporary South African jazz. West coast smoked-out funk powerhouse ORGONE return with a new LP called 'Connection'. 'Selected Rhythms Vol 2' collects potent dub-rock grooves from the Portland unit ELITE BEAT.
Still going! The mighty CAN appear in their core quartet form on the expansive set 'Live In Stuttgart 1975' on color wax. Japanese percussionist EITETSU HAYASHI tapped musicians like vibraphonist Midori Takada for his stunning mid-80s new age drum rarity 'Kaze No Shisha', which gets a gorgeous new edition. Italian minimalist GIUSTO PIO's most major work 'Motore Immobile' is back in print, and we have a new vinyl edition of the shreddiest 'France Demos' by the mystical, mysterious suitcases LES RALLIZES DENUDES.
Prototypical cuban jazz fire back in print on AL VALDEZ' 'Gozando', crisp soul meets jazz funk on CARL SMITH and THE NATURAL GAS COMPANY's 'Burnin', plus we have reissues of seminal rarities from ROBERT COTTER and MARK FRY. That's all folks.
