July 7, 2022

NEW THIS WEEK AT THE SHOP:

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Brilliant UK soul singer EMELI SANDE continues to seize her moment with her most ambitious record to date, 'Let's Say For Instance', which weds her very radio friendly Nina-esque voice to a wide spectrum of R&B and stadium-sized pop, in the house in a special edition with a signed art print. Veteran songwriter LAURA VEIRS was upfront about her last album being specifically about her divorce from longtime collaborator Tucker Martine. A new record from her called 'Found Light' sounds like a true rebirth; co-producing alongside Shahzad Ismaily, Veirs creates a new sound from the ground up, incorporating the indie, punk, and DIY pop of her youth. Italian double bassist ROSA BRUNELLO delivers a stunning new album of hypnotic, comforting jazz on 'Sounds Like Freedom', with guests from Egypt and Bahrain. Vaguely German pop singer ALICE MERTON returns with S.I.D.E.S., a slightly darker take on the anthemic pop that brought her global acclaim a few years back.

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he mighty PEARL JAM bless their dedicated fans with a new 'tour edition' of their 2020 album 'Gigaton', combining the LP with a CD of the full album performed live throughout 2021. It's NEIL YOUNG and to a slightly lesser extent CRAZY HORSE's world, we just happen to live in it. If the man decides to unshelf a previously shelved album, like say 2001's 'Toast', which features early versions of songs that ended up on 'Are You Passionate?', we bring it to you. Likewise, we've had requests for CAKE's irrepressible piece of 90s pop perfection, 'Fashion Nugget', for decades now. This week we get a standard reissue of this distance-going gem, plus a new color vinyl edition of 'Violet Street', the latest from LOCAL NATIVES.

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40 years since releasing their scorching debut album that set out the blueprint for fast hardcore punk with transcendent attitude, BAD BRAINS still sit underrated in the canon of American music. Perhaps the song programmers over at Stranger Things could do something about this? Until then, we have an incredible new version of this timeless album: the 'Punk Note' edition, which somehow manages to rival the iconic original's cover art by casting a great action shot of Dr. Know and H.R. in a soft color transparency and a clean sans-serif, ala the classic 60s-era Blue Note covers by Reid Miles. We don't often recommend buying multiple copies of the same record, but in this case an exception must be made! 'Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent', the 1996 sophomore album from influential Swedish hardcore band REFUSED gets a nice vinyl reissue, alongside the first album from OWLS, the early 00s group helmed by Tim Kinsella of Joan of arc, plus a fresh printing of a pair of early EPs from beloved local-ish melodic indie champions SLOW PULP.

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Latin funk rising star CIMAFUNK collaborates with George Clinton and Lupe Fiasco on a rollicking new record called 'El Alimento'. Sao Paulo musician SESSA opens up his Veloso-inspired modern samba in colorfully mellow new ways on 'Estrela Acesa'. An absolute dream team of Canadian pop oddballs (Andre Ethier, Joseph Shabason, Dan Bejar) join forces as FRESH PEPPER, on a delightful concept album about the joys of working in a kitchen. We've enjoyed diving into this ingenious album of jazzy pop, but haven't gone far enough to figure out what the deal is with the 3-d rendered baby chef. Must be a Canada thing.�

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Big week for vinyl from ELTON JOHN! Some big mid-career releases from Sir Elton are back in print: 1993's 'The One' and 2004's 'Peachtree Road', on vinyl for the first time, alongside a fresh pressing of his recently unearthed archive of juvenilia, 'Regimental Sgt. Zippo'.

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The four horsewomen of the indie apocalypse ride through the shop and into your hearts this week, as we welcome limited copies of some of the most-requested albums of the last few years from JAPANESE BREAKFAST, MITSKI, PHOEBE BRIDGERS, and ANGEL OLSEN.

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Few entertainers are as skilled at winking, offbeat comedy and achingly sincere music like TIM HEIDECKER, who turns the spotlight of his id-baring songwriting to his teen years on 'High School', with booth assists from Eric D. Johnson, Kurt Vile and Mac Demarco helping Tim recall wishing that he could beat his cousin's ass. Montreal's YVES JARVIS crafts shape-shifting dark pop influenced by Eno and Bowie on 'The Zug', and we welcome a repress of the modern classic of discoid jazz-funk 'Expectations' from Aussie HARVEY SUTHERLAND.

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Decades into his role as American dance music' most cerebral founding father, Larry Heard aka MR FINGERS still has some magic in his digits! A few years after re-making the scene with a stunning comeback album, Heard returns with 'Around The Sun Part 1', another flawless suite of thermal house tunes as suited for the club as for an evening stroll. Also back in print, Heard's first full length as Mr. Fingers, 1989's 'Amnesia', which contains the all-time great tune 'Mystery of Love', somewhat recently flipped to great effect by Kanye. A pair of absolute legends from the earliest days of the electro scene deliver classic material with new and improved artwork. DJ STINGRAY's ferocious 2012 album 'F.T.N.W.O.' gets a fresh cut, along with BOCHUM WELT's 'Feelings On A Screen'.�

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Indigenous Tlingit musician ARCHIE JAMES CAVANAUGH laid down the smoothest, funkiest AOR record ever to come out of Alaska back in 1980 with 'Black & White Raven'. If any Alaskan AOR experts are reading this and we've got that wrong, please let us know and feel free to send samples. The Spiritmuse�label has put together a fantastically deep and well-annotated selection of gems from the oft-intersecting worlds of spiritual jazz and psychedelic folk in commune-era France called SPIRIT OF FRANCE. The Soul Jazz label delivers a nice repro 12" of tunes from the female vocal reggae trio BROWN SUGAR, and after several years of TFW when no Sky Girl, we have a fresh pressing in the house of one of the greatest compilations to ever bless the vinyl format.�

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Ambient jazz pioneer MIDORI TAKADA has had a busy few years since the rediscovery of her 80s classic 'Through The Looking Glass'. She emerges once again with two stunning albums showcasing her range with acoustic percussion, 'Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter' and 'You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana', a selection of Buddhist liturgical chants recorded alongside a group of Japanese monks. Glasgow musician Jasper Baydala makes, well, pretty cool music as KOOL MUSIC. On his first widely-available release 'Dagobah', he stages brilliant abstract guitar pieces across from drifting�fourth-world summits. Danish space-rock kings CAUSA SUI bless us with a fresh repressing of their 2018 late night stoner classic 'Free Ride'

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A very elusive gem from the vast discography of Italian library music godfather PIERO UMILIANI comes back this week. His 1968 record for Omicron called 'Playtime' is full of upbeat Western-tinged instrumentals, and pairs well with a reissue of MARIO MOLINO's 1971 Omicron release 'Beat Gregoriano', which is jammed full of acid drenched instrumental freakbeat. Deep jazz funk fusion from the Canary Islands comes via a reissue of LUIS VECCHIO's 1978 album 'Contactos'. We've been snapping up every release from esteemed DJ Paul Murphy's Jazz Room Records, as each one has been a proper schooling in deep cuts from the genre's many fringes. This week it's�an early 70s Latin jazz gem via the UK, ROBIN JONES AND HIS QUINTET's effervescent 'Denga'.

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Tabla-player and jazz composer Sarathy Korwar heads up a new London group called FLOCK on the Strut label, with members of The Comet Is Coming and Collocutor. The mighty chillout label International Feel breaks a few years of hiatus with a lovely album of seaside motorik from Italian producer L.U.C.A. Longtime purveyors of post-club ambient sound art fulfill expectations in a major way on a pair of slabs: FFT follows up a few scattered singles with a full length debut called 'Clear', while BATU delivers a massive full length called 'Opal' after many years making tracks for labels like Timedance and Livity Sound. Aussie crowd-mover TORNADO WALLACE returns with an absolutely perfect new EP of moody jungle called 'Dream Corner', and Japanese balearicist KOTA MOTOMURA keeps things interesting with 'Pay It Forward'.

USED VINYL ALERT:

Classic rock, deep jazz, soul gems, and a deep trove of blues are the highlights in this week's Used Vinyl Alert. We've got heavy slabs from heavy names like the Who, Dr. John, the Kinks, the Stones, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, King Crimson, David Bowie, ZZ Top, Yes, Def Leppard, Todd Rundgren, Talking Heads, Public Image Ltd, Kiss, AC/DC, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Tom Waits, and many more.