Welcome to another weekly update of new arrivals from Strictly Discs. Much like this week's weather has brought a host of blooming beauty, the record goddesses have delivered an extremely long list of new releases, so you might want to grab a snack or a beverage before you dive in here.
Courtney Barnett brings us a 3rd indelible album of her one of a kind down-under slacker genius, renovating grunge for the 21st century and killing us with her never-so-clever lyrical chops. The slightly more polished yin to Barnett's yang, Ray LaMontagne delivers a suite of his smooth folk-rock with a touch more psychedelia than his previous efforts. This ones here on clear vinyl while it lasts.
Two generations of indie rockers that are too smart for their own good bring us new records this week. Stephen Malkmus and his band the Jicks (what is a Jick anyway?) release their first in four years, and it's a sprawling, yet focused romp through a whole bag of rock/pop genres. Same goes for Parquet Courts, who embrace a bit of uptempo (dare I say) Britpop on their new one, 'Wide Awake', in the house on CD, LP and very limited deluxe LP.
Two of SD's most reliable faves treat their fans to the pure good stuff with new records this week: Ryley Walker's 'Deafman Glance' finds the wise young guitar whiz shedding a bit of the 'revival' feel of his past couple records while sticking in a very amiable zone of frontporch/backyard jamming. Harpist Mary Lattimore delivers her most fully realized album yet. 'Hundreds of Days' pairs her luxurious stringwork with keys, piano and a little guitar, in an absolutely gorgeous cyclical suite of songs that you can listen to over and over (we have!).
Want to fill your sunny afternoons with endless parades of killer guitar jams? Look no further than the new albums from the Sahelian great Bombino and the San Franciscan burner legends Wooden Shjips! We've also got new releases from Quiet Slang (the mellow side project of Beach Slang frontman James Alex). Michael Rault, Jennifer Castle, Brad Mehldau, and a new album from TT, the solo project of Warpaint vocalist Theresa Wayman which, lucky for us, basically sounds like a new Warpaint album!
Two electronic producers who keep their cards (and their releases) close to the vest open up the vaults big time this week. Nicolas Jaar's Against All Logic project is a continuation of the more dance-oriented work he started off making, and the new vinyl set '2012-2017' is remarkably packed full of satisfying, deliriously funky jams that will whet the appetites of those who miss the old Nico. Same goes for 'Rausch', the massive new album from the German ambient producer Gas aka Wolfgang Voigt, which pairs beautiful, layered passages with looming, sinister tones wrought with an ambiguous nostalgic reach.
In case you forgot, the latest album from the Breeders reminded you just how kickass all those early, out of print records from their first two phases were. Lucky for you they are back in print now. That's 'Pod', 'Last Splash', 'Title TK', and 'Mountain Battles'.
Crucial art-rock reissues come in from Jonny Greenwood and Bark Psychosis. 'Bodysong' was the Radiohead co-founder's first entry into soundtrack work, and was barely even circulated on vinyl in 2003 when it was released. Same goes for Bark Psychosis' 2004 swansong 'Codename:Dustsucker', a genre-defying album of hallucinatory slowcore that drifts somewhere at the intersection of later-era Talk Talk and early-era Low.
Two reissues that basically bookend the long career of Pink Floyd hit vinyl this week. First up is 'Relics' a collection of the band's earliest, wildest songs, replicated here (with a couple exceptions) in their original stereo versions. Next up is the massive l995 live set 'Pulse', which would have set you back close to a grand until now. That one comes as a 4LP set with a hard slipcase and a 52 page hardback book, but inexplicably no blinking light.
More classic names get reissued and/or archived this week. We've got a new LP of Otis Redding 'Dock of the Bay Sessions', celebrating the 50th anniversary of that album. Fresh LP pressings of Gene Clark's 'White Light' and Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills' 'Super Session', an unreleased early live CD from the Shadows of Knight, and two deep ones from the Paul McCartney catalog, 'Thrillington' and 'Chaos and Creation in the Backyard'.
The German electro-punk innovators Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft (usually just D.A.F.) provided the seeds for all sorts of electro-pop and sexed-up techno to come with their run of early 80s albums 'Die Kleinen und Die Bosen', 'Alles Ist Gut' and 'Fur Immer'. These records are uncompromising, inventive, fun, and funny, and haven't found many matches in the 30-some years since their release. Think of LCD Soundsystem, but significantly more German, with a slightly lower BMI and a slightly higher tweaking of gender expectations and you're about there. These LPs are also quite hard to come by on LP until these affordable represses hit the shelves today.
Trim, twitchy post punk incoming from the PacNW's great, underrated Lithics, while we've got two new LPs from the doomsters Krallice, 'Loum' and 'Go Be Forgotten'. Well OK then!
Some great hip hop new and old in the house today. Guru's 90s landmark 'Jazzmatazz' gets a very deluxe vinyl re-run as a 3LP set with a disc of instrumentals and a disc of unreleased tracks. G-Eazy's radio-dominator 'The Beautiful & Damned' is now here on vinyl. We've got the vinyl version of the score from 'Black Panther', as well as new CDs from Del (the Funkee Del) and someone known to the kids as YFN Lucci.
If chill, relaxing, impossible to define music is your bag, this week is overloaded with winners. The Music From Memory label delivers a second LP of unearthed treasures from 80s UK bedroom musician Michal Turtle that are somehow just as unbelievably lovely, detailed and strange as the first set, straddling the worlds of Jon Hassell and Bill Nelson, with a touch of homespun electro-pop ala Arthur Russell. German microhouse producer Moomin makes warm, lush tracks that hit you like a mallet wrapped in a silk pillowcase, and 'Yesterday's Tomorrows' may be his most expansive LP yet. NYC's Shy Layers follows up his surprise debut with an even more sultry suite of muted pop sophistication on 'Midnight Marker', while the inimitable Stroom label has repressed it's exceedingly hard-to-snag overview of the Dutch ethno-eccentric explorer Cybe's early 80s cassette work, 'Tropische Verlangen', which is a deeply revelatory trip through some parallel earth's idea of a new age album.
Some truly breathtaking new jazz and avant CDs hit the racks this week from some big names. Check out new discs from Daniel Carter with William Parker and Matthew Shipp, two new ones from Henry Threadgill, a reissue of Phil Niblock's 'Touch Food', a long-needed new disc from folk-jazz tripper Steve Tibbetts, unclassifiable avant from Okkyung Lee, and a truly stunning album of Norwegian folk songs rearranged by bandleader/bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten.
On the international front, check out a very lush CD and LP reissue of the lone (extremely, very, nobody in the world even has it-rare) 1975 album from Brazilian musician Helio Matheus, which slots in well alongside psychedelic Brazil classics from Arthur Verocai, Tim Maia and Caetano Veloso. We have new CDs from Fatoumata Diawara and Ballake Sissoko, a lovely and moving collection of music from the Burkina Faso folk-soul-pop star Pierre Sandwidi, and a great new CD set of Yoruban rhythm music from Soul Jazz.
On the techno and electronic front, there's some biggies. Celestial house god Mr. Fingers returns to show us how its done with 'Cerebral Hemispheres', a sprawling 2 disc masterclass in contemplative moods. The Trilogy Tapes bequeaths us a new EP from NYC breaky techno whiz J. Albert. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith delivers a limited edition EP of music taken from a recent documentary film score on clear vinyl, while the latest edition of the Dekmantel Selectors series finds German leftfield queen Lena Willikens sharing almost entirely unreleased tracks from her favorite contemporary artists, plus a couple rare ones from her collection. We've also got huge new albums from Paul White, Ame, Gabor Lazar, Cecelia, Kali Malone and the Head Technician (better known as Pye Corner Audio), and new EPs from SW and SVN, Manos Tsangaris, Job Sifre, Darling, Jamal Moss, Dego & Kaidi, and Iury Lech, remixed by Powder and Suzanne Kraft.
USED VINYL ALERT:
Heading downstairs for this week's Used Vinyl Alert, you might want to write your name and number on your arm, because it's about to get extremely psychedelic down here. In addition to some big ones in the jazz, blues, soul, new wave, and electronic worlds, this week's collection goes very, very deep into the many heavy, heady worlds of psych.
Check out classics, cheap and rare alike, from names like Blue Cheer, Caravan, Fever Tree, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Pretty Things, Nektar, Love, Canned Heat and the Electric Prunes, plus more obscurities from the Poppy Family, Crystal Mansion, the Zodiac, Ars Nova, Mount Rushmore, Neighbrhood Childr'n, the Bubble Puppy, the Troggs, Trapeze, Atlantis, Ayers Rock, Boomerang, Blues Image, the Section, Jane, Budgie, Blackpearl, the Creation, Clearlight, Myrrh, Camel, and the Nazz, and a whole lot more. That's the stuff, man.
Heavy hitters in the classic rock and pop worlds are here as well, including some collectible ones from Jimi Hendrix and the Kinks, plus greats from the Who, Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, Tim Buckley, Fairport Convention, Joni Mitchell, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Tom Petty, Dr. John, Frank Zappa, and Harvey Mandel.
All kinds of punk, postpunk, new wave and early indie from names like the Pogues, the Specials, Patti Smith, Kate Bush, Tindersticks, Indigo Girls, the Clash, Thin Lizzy, the Call, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd solo, the Teardrop Explodes, Bush Tetras, REM, INXS, U2, Shelleyan Orphan, and Devo!
Not a massive amount of jazz LPs this week BUT every one down here is basically a must-own. Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Horace Silver, Oliver Nelson, Dave Brubeck, Willis Jackson, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Luiz Bonfa, and many more are waiting for you this time around.
A hall of fame cast of blues players have crucial albums show up this week, including names like Howlin Wolf, Lightnin Hopkins, Magic Slim, Sleepy John Estes, Merl Saunders, Elmore James, James COtton, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Son House, and BB King. Dang!
Plenty of deep soul this week, including names like the Undisputed Truth, Betty Wright, Bill Withers, Osibisa, Ripple, Chuck Brown, Jimmy Castor, the Rimshots, Instant Funk, Bootsy Collins, and the Jacksons.
We round things off with folk from Nancy Griffith, Joe Ely, Tim Hardin, and Leo Kottke. Electronic and avant stuff from Steve Tibbetts, Michael Brook, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Van Tieghem and A Split Second. Reggae from Bob Marley and Pablo Moses.
Lastly, we've put out a solid crates worth of fresh bargain bins, if you're looking for cheap luck. Last but certainly not least, we have added more selections to our rapidly growing shelves of used music books! Lots of fascinating and hard to find tomes in here, for a nice price!
MONROE STREET CONSTRUCTION UPDATE:
Remember Y2K? The Mayan apocalypse? The Swing revival? It seemed like we might not make it to the other side of those events as they loomed before us, but we're fine. And so, Monroe Street construction has begun, and the disruption it has wracked upon our lives…is not that bad. Really.
We've got helpful directions on our site involving a couple of side streets and gentle re-routing. You can still get here, just consult the map of your choice and give yourself a little extra time.
We’ll still be putting out a minimum of 500 incoming used records out everyFridayand we’ll keep bringing in today’s freshest titles. While you’re here, make it count and pay a visit at one of our friends in the neighborhood. Even when a bit of dust kicks up, we like it here, and it's gonna look even better when all this pounding is done!
DIRECTIONS FROM REGENT/EAST:
From Regent Street:
Continue on Regent through the Monroe St intersection
Turn Left on SPOONER ST
Turn Right on West Lawn or Keyes
Turn Left on Harrison St.
We are on the corner of Harrison & Monroe Streets (the street level parking lot outside of the Trader Joe's doors is a public City of Madison lot & the side streets all have FREE 2 hour parking.
MONROE STREET IS OPEN FROM THE WEST
SELL US YOUR CDS & LPS:
NEXT MUSIC TRIVIA TUESDAY JUNE 5TH:
Our next MUSIC TRIVIA at the High Noon Saloon is Tuesday, June 5th. Registration starts at 5:30 with the first question from Angie and Marty at 6PM. Save the date for July 10th!
OTHERS TALK BACK:
This isn't the spot to lay down odds on the third race. OTB is where Others Talk Back and give you the lowdown on what they've been feeling lately. This one's for the customers.
Beach House – “7”We last heard from Beach House in 2015 when they released two albums within months of each other.Those albums were stunners, with each album having a slightly different take on their dream pop sound.But that shouldn’t be a surprise; Beach House has always had a high standard of quality in all their previous releases.But “7” has to be their best album yet.Part of the reason may be their choice of a new producer.The band picked Peter ‘Sonic Boom” Kember, formerly of Spaceman 3 and the Sonic Boom band.Mr. Kember has mostly worked with psychedelica and shoegaze sounds in the past.And while there is no direct rip-off of those sounds on the album, there is a spirit of adventure on this album that was certainly not as pronounced on the past Beach House albums. That adventuresome attitude takes the band away from their safe place and really shows the talent of the band as they take on a varietyof different sounds and make them their very own.The band’s musical aptitude is fully on display on “7.”It would be a safe bet that “7” will be on a lot of people’s best of 2018 lists.Yes, it is that good. - Ted Talks
Mark Kozelek “Mark Kozelek”It may seem a little strange that this is a self-titled album after some forty years as a working musician.This album, however, is a bit different than his other solo releases.It was mainly recorded in several San Francisco hotel rooms with Mr. Kozelek as the only musician.It seems that Mr. Kozelek wanted to take a break from recording in studios and try a fresh take on making a record.The album has a natural sparseness due to the way it was produced. That sparseness makes the lyrics the main focus of the album.And Mr. Kozelek continues his recent stream of consciousness lyrics.Some of those lyrics are the most naked and personal of his career.But don’t think that there are no melodies on this album.The melodies may be skeletal, but they are definitely present. Mr. Kozelek took a chance on recording this album in hotel rooms, but “Mark Kozelek” succeeds as an experiment, but also succeeds as one of the best albums of his recent career. - Ted Talks
Ron, Ryan, Angie, Marty, Evan, Matt, Michael, Ben, Will, Ed & Isaac
