March 23, 2023
New This Week At The Shop
Did your inbox just groan loudly? Why that's just our weekly newsletter landing with a heavier thud than normal, for there are so very many new releases to celebrate this week! Lets get to it without delay. Chicago composer and activist ANGEL BAT DAWID has spent a fiery run of records attempting to move beyond the boundaries of jazz, and takes a huge stride with the massive 'Requiem For Jazz', available on purple or black vinyl variants. Londoner LUCINDA CHUA's effervescent, blissful meditations on her Chinese, Malaysian, and English identities form 'Yian', a delicate splash of a debut for the 4AD label. An international supergroup of sorts has formed with vocalist AROOJ AFTAB, pianist VIJAY IYER, and bassist SHAHZAD ISMAILI, and their haunting debut is called 'Love In Exile'. Sri Lankan producer SKINS drops a great LP of liminal dark pop, 'Never Cursed' is giving big Yves Tumor vibes.
A little bit Fellini and a little bit James Thurber is Miz LANA DEL REY, who re-elects herself to the LA tourism board with 'Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd', her long-awaited new album that raises so many questions while answering others. We have the limited edition alternate cover of this one while it lasts. Emo-boys to men FALL OUT BOY return with the zinging 'So Much (For) Stardust', in on coke-bottle clear vinyl. Simmering, self-started pop songwriter OMAR APOLLO sees his Grammy-nominated debut 'Ivory' finally land on vinyl, and we've got a ten year color vinyl re-edition of SHARON VAN ETTEN's shambolic, triumphant 'Tramp'.
'Honky Chateau' was ELTON JOHN's fifth studio album and his first to hit #1 on the US charts, an irresistible suite of funky, clever pop perfection that's earned a spot on every last G.o.a.t. list worth its salt. The Honky Cat turns 50 this year with an expanded edition that includes an extra disc of demos. Also turning 50 and no slouch in the universal acclaim category? PINK FLOYD's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. We've got a snazzy new edition of the band's 'Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974' performance of this iconic concept album, with nifty alternate Hipgnosis cover art. For the gold-tier Floydians out there, we've also got the super deluxe box set of 'Dark Side'. The rather legendary live set 'Le Bataclan 1972' documents the first time LOU REED, NICO & JOHN CALE all shared a stage since Cale split the band in 68, and is remastered for vinyl at the proper playback speed for the first time in awhile, plus we've got a first time vinyl edition of the GENE CLARK & CARLA OLSON roots-rock classic 'So Rebellious A Lover'.
Tuff Gong and the BOB MARLEY estate have done a super-solid for the worldwide Marley fanbase; limited-run, numbered editions of every one of his albums, studio and live, all pressed at Tuff Gong HQ in Kingston, Jamaica. Not a bad way to complete (or begin!) your collection of the mighty Bob; limited copies of 'Catch A Fire', 'Burnin', 'Natty Dread', 'Live!', 'Rastaman Vibration', 'Exodus', 'Kaya', 'Babylon By Bus', 'Survival', 'Uprising', 'Confrontation', aaaaaand 'Legend'.
There's no Bob without his influential Jamaican forbearers on the microphone, the mighty KEN BOOTHE and JOHN HOLT, both of whom are celebrated with 'Essential Artist' comps from Trojan, collecting classic and hard to find singles. The Mr Bongo label delivers a deeply sourced compilation of JORGE BEN covers by Brazilian artists young and old; irresistibly funky Nigerian synth-disco is back in print from NKONO TELES, and we've got a freshly reprinted slab of heavy Colombian salsa from ALFREDO GUTIERREZ Y LOS CAPORALES DEL MAGDALENA.
IRON & WINE will be releasing a series of limited-run EPs covering some of his favorite artists, and he begins with LORI MCKENNA on 'Lori', in the shop on sky blue vinyl. Genre-meandering songwriter CAROLINE ROSE delivers their first release post-pando, the emotional 'The Art Of Forgetting', on neon green. The mighty DEPECHE MODE return with 'Memento Mori', and we've got a cool new record of indie-leaning pop from the duo of electronic producers Kedr Livanskiy and Flaty under the name KOSAYA GORA.
It's been some time since we've heard from the Brooklyn post-metallers LITURGY, so expectations that their latest, '93696', will be extremely epic are quite merited! We'd run out of time listing off the appropriate biography for the punk super-group FAKE NAMES (members of Minor Threat, Refused, and Rites of Spring to name just a couple), but they'd probably rather we just listened to their searing new material on 'Expendables'. New limited color variants are in for some other punker classics as well, BAD BRAINS' 'Rock For Light' and KILLING JOKE's 'Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell'.
Taking metal to extreme, academic and avant-garde settings might seem commonplace these days, but the road starts with the 80s swiss giants of the form, CELTIC FROST. A pair of their early monuments to extremity, 'Into The Pandemonium' and 'To Mega Therion', are back in print in massive editions this week, pairing up nice with 'Heimdal', the latest from ENSLAVED. Alongside late 90s acts like Cave-In and Converge, the mighty BOTCH wrote the complicated, potent script for chugging, technical metalcore. Their crushing debut, 'American Nervoso', is back in print this week.
Originally a soundtrack for experimental videowork, 'Elemental 7' has become one of the most sought after piece of the CHRIS & COSEY discography, mainly due to its absolute all-timer track, 'Dancing Ghosts', a 12 minute portal to a zombie rave scene that sounds as inviting today as it did nearly 40 years ago. The art-rock masterpiece 'Daytime Viewing' by JACQUELINE HUMBERT & DAVID ROSENBOOM, acolytes of Robert Ashley and Blue Gene Tyranny, gets a fresh printing on vinyl, along with a new edition of 'Sunergy', the grand collaboration between synth inventors and advancers SUZANNE CIANI & KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH, on blue vinyl with a new track added, and the latest arboreal rhythm freakout from YOSHIMI and company, 'To The Forest To Live A Truer Life'.
Berlin producer KAPOTE updates his classic of nu-disco 'What It Is' in a new version with some tracks swapped out (occupational hazards of becoming a popular edit DJ: the lawyers come calling). NICK LEON and DY PYTHON, two wild and crazy guys of the current reggaeton-house scene team up on a banging EP of freshies, plus we've got a new one from grimescaper KODE9, and reissues of the BASEMENT JAXX classics 'Rooty' and 'Remedy'.
Delve down the rabbit hole of their false identities if you wish, but please do enjoy the truly unique music of DEUX FILLES, the duo of Claudine Coule and Gemini Forque who made two timeless albums of forlorn, chartreuse-drenched bedsit pop in the 80s before vanishing. 'Double Happiness' and 'Silence & Wisdom' are both back in print on LP this week. Japanese quartet SABOTEN made one LP of spellbinding, Satie-influenced post-punk in 1982 thats back in print, and we've got copies of the second pressing of GHOST RIDERS, the stunning deep-dive into private press garage from the Efficient Space label.
Lithuanian ambi-jazz unit SANTAKA delivers entrancing tunes on 'No Rivers Here'; we welcome a fresh pressing of the lovely 'Birds On The Playground' from the master of subdued house, LAWRENCE; an exquisite set of Balearic guitar chill ala Joan Bibiloni or Gigi Masin is in from Japanese artist 222, plus we have a quite different collection of abstractions from YOSUKE TOKUNAGA, which recalls the deepest dubtech detritus of Basic Channel.
Used Vinyl LP Alert
This week's Used Vinyl drop features lots of heavy hitters alongside tried and true favorites. We've got lots of rock going out from the likes of Prince, Jimi Hendrix, The Eagles, The Beach Boys, Santana, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and The Police. Plus plenty of titles we haven't seen in a while from T Rex, Gram Parsons, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia Band, King Crimson, John Prine, and The Pretenders.
We've got a great clutch of Soul titles from Stevie Wonder, Booker T and The MGs, The Temptations, Boney M, Isaac Hayes, The Chamber Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Temptations, Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, and War.
The Jazz offerings going out are represented by Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Gene Krupa, Django Reinhardt, Lenny Breau, Bud Freeman, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Stanley Turrentine, and Charlie Byrd.
Rounding things out for the week we've got plenty of Folk, Country, Blues, Experimental, Classical, and Soundtrack titles.
We've got a great clutch of Soul titles from Stevie Wonder, Booker T and The MGs, The Temptations, Boney M, Isaac Hayes, The Chamber Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Temptations, Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, and War.
The Jazz offerings going out are represented by Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Gene Krupa, Django Reinhardt, Lenny Breau, Bud Freeman, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Stanley Turrentine, and Charlie Byrd.
Rounding things out for the week we've got plenty of Folk, Country, Blues, Experimental, Classical, and Soundtrack titles.
SAVE THE DATE - RECORD STORE DAY 2023 IS APRIL 22ND
RECORD STORE DAY IS APRIL 22ND:
Launched in 2007 with the humble idea to recognize independent record stores, Record Store Day (RSD) has blossomed into a global phenomenon. The list of RSD vinyl and CD exclusives continues to expand, as more labels continue to throw open their catalogs to an appreciative audience that grows each year.
Beyond the day-long frenzy, RSD exists to offer proof of the lively role record stores play in the community and a chance for folks on both sides of the counter to offer gratitude for each other. It's a capsule-sized snapshot of what this whole record world is about. Whether you’re a hardcore type who times their arrival for a spot at the front of the line or somebody who waits until the afternoon for a more leisurely experience, we hope you’ll join us.
WISHLISTS:
Record Store Day wish lists can be made HERE. The deadline to create or modify a RSD WISH LIST was Thursday, February 23rd at NOON.
Launched in 2007 with the humble idea to recognize independent record stores, Record Store Day (RSD) has blossomed into a global phenomenon. The list of RSD vinyl and CD exclusives continues to expand, as more labels continue to throw open their catalogs to an appreciative audience that grows each year.
Beyond the day-long frenzy, RSD exists to offer proof of the lively role record stores play in the community and a chance for folks on both sides of the counter to offer gratitude for each other. It's a capsule-sized snapshot of what this whole record world is about. Whether you’re a hardcore type who times their arrival for a spot at the front of the line or somebody who waits until the afternoon for a more leisurely experience, we hope you’ll join us.
WISHLISTS:
Record Store Day wish lists can be made HERE. The deadline to create or modify a RSD WISH LIST was Thursday, February 23rd at NOON.
SELL US YOUR CDS & LPS
Yes, we are still buying! Call Ron to schedule (608.213.3610).
Ron, Ryan, Angie, Marty, Evan, Matt, Ed, Eric, Jack, Steve, Mark, Brad, Roger, & Adam
