If you've ever said anything along the lines of "Hey man, every day is Record Store Day for me!" then this Friday's offerings will blow your mind. Some of our most beloved artists have released new albums to coincide with the big weekend, and we've hustled together a whole lot more far-flung offerings as well, giving all the upstairs bins a fresh shot of life. Read on for a hopefully not-too-long rundown!
We start off with some heavies! NYC institution The Budos Band have led the rare-groove renaissance for close to 20 years on the strength of just a handful of untouchable records combining afro-soul with a blackened sense of riffage. 'V' is their fifth studio album and finds them in peak form, in the house on limited color vinyl. Philadelphia guitar expressionist Chris Forsyth returns with a new record called 'All Time Present', honing his devotional, vibrant style in the tradition of Tom Verlaine and Richard Thompson. Sahel guitarist Mdou Moctar elevates his desert blues to another level, metallic and trancy, on his latest album 'Ilana'. East Coast psych undergrounders Elkhorn re-emerge with a glorious album of duo blazers called 'Sun Cycle'.
Widespread Panic celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 1999 album 'Til The Medicine Takes' with an in-demand vinyl repress in a beautiful holographic sleeve. John Frusciante's experimental prog opus 'The Empyrean' is back in print on vinyl, and we have a fresh vinyl edition of Nirvana's 1991 Halloween show, 'Live At the Paramount'. Pretty wild 'Territorial Pissings' on that one, if I recall!
Some hallowed names in jazz grace us with new discs this week, starting with the duo of Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan, whose 'Epistrophy' comes through on CD and LP. Joshua Abrams & the Natural Information Society have delivered a sprawling new 2 CD set called 'Mandatory Reality' that continues to elevate the Chicago group's positively celestial take on organic jazz, with contributions from Hamid Drake, Ben Lamar Gay, Nick Mazzarella, and many more. The vinyl on this one is due within the month. We've also got new CDs from Ben Monder, Tony Tixier, and a new collection of tunes from Allen Toussaint.
More big new releases are here this week on the folk, rock and pop levels from established names like Norah Jones, Shovels & Rope, John Paul White of the Civil Wars, Glen Hansard, Melissa Etheridge, and a very promising new album from Bruce Hornsby produced by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon!
World-beating rapping boogieman Anderson Paak returns with 'Ventura', CD only for now, LP to follow. Plus we've got new releases from Kehlani and Intellexual.
Few electronic pop artists get a dreamy as Bibio does, and his latest record 'Ribbons' might be the most blissed out yet. Snag a copy on purple vinyl while you can. Night Slugs producer Girl Unit has lent his distinctly sleek grime sound to vocalists like Kelela and Fatima al Qadiri, and steps out now with his first full length album. Acid techno legend Bogdan Raczynski has a killer career retrospective out called 'Rave Til You Cry', and we have an incredible new EP out from the Turkish duo Mekine U Teksi. 'Steppenroboters Polyvisionen' is a delightful, ineffable blend of synth-pop, Italo disco, and traditional Turkish elements.
Next we turn to the punkers! Devo's underappreciated 1990 album 'Smooth Noodle Maps' gets an expanded reissue, we've got the latest album from Aussie garage pioneers The Scientists, a new expanded repress of TSOL's debut album 'Dance With Me' and, for the first time ever on LP, the complete discography of the shortlived early 90s DC band Autoclave, which featured a young Christina Billotte pre-Slant 6, and Mary Timony before she formed Helium and Ex Hex!
With the weather making a sudden turn for the gray, you might need some drifty business on the music end to make the perfect pairing. Get sorted with the latest LP from Hampshire & Foat, 'Saint Lawrence' is a one-take masterclass in pastoral jazz folk. Mirrorring, the one-off pairing of Grouper's Liz Harris and Tiny Vipers' Jes Fortino, see their 2011 album 'Foreign Body' come back in print. I kinda forgot how much of a stunner this one is! Young composer Kali Malone delivers a much needed vinyl version of last year's tape called 'Organ Dirges', a collection of, well, organ dirges that manage to convey an impressive range of melody and emotion. The Caretaker closes out his latest cycle with the 6th and final volume of 'Everywhere at the End of Time', in which his imaginary subjects face their final oblivion. If you need catching up, we also have several earlier volumes of the series back in stock, as well as a huge CD set collecting volumes 4 through 6.
A stunning array of reissued rarities this week cover a lot of ground. First up, the 1982 cool fusion nugget from Chicago duo Potter & Tillman called '...space...rapture', which straddles the line between jazz and modern soul and is crammed full of killer tunes. 'Inscrutably Obvious' is the debut 1981 LP from UK loner Kevin Harrison, an invigorating blend of minimal synth-pop and This Heat-style sound-art sketches. Before he re-emerged as the bluesman Watermelon Slim, Bill Homans was a Vietnam Veteran driving a forklift in 1970s Oklahoma, and he released one private pressed LP called 'Merry Airbrakes' that channeled raw, Beefheartian blues into timeless songs with a political edge, and now we have a beautiful, authorized reproduction in the house. The 1976 self-titled debut LP from Swedish psychedelic proggers Ragnarok is as close as you come to the ultimate Weird Scandinavia classic without involving Bo Hansson. If you've checked out Japanese pop ambient on Youtube, chances are you've stumbled across the lovely 'Memories in Beach House', the 1986 album from the trio Seaside Lovers. Blending new age vibes with tropical pop and just the right amount of J-Jazz polish, this group includes keyboardist Hiroshi Sato, also known for his excellent earlier albums 'Orient' and 'Awakening'. As is common with legit repoductions of music from this era, the price tag's a little steep on this one, but I can vouch for it being worth every penny. Before his group Sensations Fix became the stuff of cinematic prog legend, Italian musician Franco Falsini recorded an album of library-style electronic atmospheres that's rare as hen's teeth nowadays, and it's been restored with its mindblowing original cover art.
Cologne's dance capo Jorg Burger has been a driving force behind the Kompakt label's legendary long-running series of Pop Ambient compilations, providing a revealing cross section of the label's deep roster. He now turns towards psychedelic rock and folk with the first volume of 'Velvet Desert Music', a collection of tunes from new and old Kompakt artists that treads capably outside of the label's club environs. UK jazzhouse kingpin Al Dobson Jr drops a new pastiche beat tape called 'Sounds From the Village Vol. 2'. Perhaps the most refreshing new album of the whole week comes from Argentine trio Femina, who deliver a delightfully aired-out album of soft samba funk on 'Perlas Y Conchas'.
More rap vinyl for the heads in stock this week from MED and Guilty Simpson; 'Hiding Places', the startling new album from Billy Woods and Kenny Segal; Smoke DZA and Pete Rock's 'Don't Smoke Rock', and a fresh pressing of the classic various artists piece 'Wu Tang Meets the Indie Culture'.
The Midnight Drive label reissues the very ahead of its time 1990 album from Mappa Mundi. 'Musaics' is a perfect blend of Belgian new beat and organic trance that would come to define the R&S/braindance sound later in the 90s, and sounds good at just about any speed. Russian producer Pavel Milyakov sheds his (unfortunate) Buttechno moniker for a resplendent album of abstract beat music under his own name on the Berceuse Heroique label, with stunning artwork from TTT's Will Bankhead. Laurel Halo's 2018 ambient delight 'Raw Silk Uncut Wood', which disappeared in a heartbeat last year, is back in stock on LP as well.
The prolific Belgian musician Dirk DeSaever was active in the 80s DIY synth scene, but what little of his work I'd heard hardly prepared me for the range of sonics on a new collection of his works, released separately as an album and an EP. From twitchy minimal wave to baroque ambient, this man had some real range. 'Noises', a rare 1977 French compilation of ecelctic pop and experimental tunes from Marc Moulin, Ariel Kalma and more is back in print, plus we have two behemoth LPs from German psychedelic electronic legend Manuel Gottsching back in the house, 'E2 E4' and 'Inventions For Electric Guitar'.
To match with the RSD release of 'Dedication', we have three classic 70s Herbie Hancock LPs back in print: 'Crossings', 'Fat Albert Rotunda', and 'Mwandishi'. And lastly, a trio of rare spiritual jazz LPs are back in print from Phil Ranelin, John Hicks, and Abdullah Sami!
USED VINYL ALERT:
Heading downstairs for this week's Used Vinyl Alert, we've got twice the fun planned for you this weekend. We will be unveiling a special selection of LPs at 3PM on Record Store Day (more on that in the next email), but we cant short-change our Friday regulars! Read on for the rundown of what's in the New Arrivals on Friday.
A scattered assortment of contemporary LPs from names like the Mars Volta, Touche Amore, the Silver Jews, the Strokes, the Thermals, Weezer, Elvis Costello, Dashboard Confessional, and the Halo Benders can be found alongside some older classics from Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia solo, the Who, the Kinks, Bruce Springsteen, the Beach Boys and Pink Floyd.
Punk and new wave abounds this week with slabs from the New York Dolls, Ultravox, U.K., REM, OMD, Depeche Mode, Wham, the Clash, Iggy Pop solo and the Stooges, the Ramones, Television, Husker Du, New Order, 999, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Holly Golightly, and Devo. These are joined by 70s heaters from Incredible String Band, plus Mike Heron and Robin Williamson solo, Dwight Twilley, Uriah Heep, El Chicano, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, Wings, the Cars, the Yardbirds, Captain Beyond, Whitesnake, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Lee Hazlewood, and Harmonia!
A fine sampling of jazz includes LPs from Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mal Waldron, Billy Cobham, Keith Jarrett, and the Sons of Kemet. Soul aplenty with crucial records from Marvin Gaye, Prince, James Brown, Sweet Inspiration, Earth Wind and Fire, Rick James, Jerry Butler, Change, Confunkshun, Chic, the Chilites, Arthur Conley, Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones, Margie Joseph, Kalapana, Otis Redding, the Jones Girls, Roberta Flack, the Gap Band, Fatback and many more.
We've got some newer metal and doomy things from Red Fang, Wolvserpent, Horseback, and Bastard Noise. Folk, blues and country from Wanda Jackson, Johnny Cash, Mickey Newbury, Waylon Jennings, John Lee Hooker, Maria Muldaur, John Hartford, and Richard Harris. We round it out with some sweet soundtracks, classical sets, reggae, children's albums, Moog records, and records on two topics that certainly herald the arrival of spring: baseball and bird songs!
RECORD STORE DAY 2019 IS SATURDAY, APRIL 13TH!
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 on Saturday, April 13th
RSD AT STRICTLY DISCS:
It's true, on Record Store Day there's typically a line outside the shop all morning, just as there is at hundreds of other local shops across the country (and the world). But walk through this line, and you'll find ardent music fans of every stripe: young, old, male, female, seasoned pro and beginners. The line has come to symbolize the size, passion and staying power of both the physical music audience and the locally-oriented music community. Amidst the RSD crowds, we've seen musicians discussing upcoming gigs and tours, knowledgeable jazz heads giving high schoolers tips on the essentials, people meeting up for the first time "in real life" or for the first time in a decade, parents buying their kids their first new LPs, or better yet, a huge stack of 99 centers.
BUT FOR ME, EVERYDAY IS RECORD STORE DAY:
With all of the hubbub about "The Line" each year at Record Store Day, we thought it would be nice to remind everyone that your RSD experience doesn't just boil down to how early you line up. Each year, we've gotten better and better at targeting the items that are the most in-demand, so that we have as many copies as possible to go around, and also ensuring that we have the broadest selection of everything that's available. In short, we want to make sure that whether youre busting down the door at 7 am, or rolling in by the end of the day, you're still looking at quite the spread. In some degree, this day is about our regular customers, for whom just about every day is Record Store Day, and we want you to know you are welcome to stop through any time. Enjoy the digs, the beers, the sounds of the local DJs, and just hang out!
RSD USED VINYL ALERT:
In addition to the spread of Record Store Day exclusives, we will also be celebrating with a very special selection of 1200+ fresh used records. The record gods have smiled on us with some exciting finds over the past year, and we will be culling from these recent collections for a batch of records going out on Saturday the 13th at 3PM. More details about this round of LPs will go out in the final email before RSD.
WHAT IS HAPPENING AT STRICTLY DISCS ON RSD:
Record Store Day is a day crammed full of records, so naturally we've got a full schedule of entertainment for your listening and imbibing enjoyment as you browse all of the many new arrivals. Our DJ lineup this year will take you on a journey through sound, with lively sets of dance, funk, jazz and psych rock all morning and afternoon, bookended by two of our favorite chillers to start and end things on a more relaxing note.
7 - 9AM - Julian Lynch, solo musician and Real Estate guitarist: mellow morning moods
9-11:30AM - DJ Nate Zukas, Great Dane brewer: disco and house
11:30-2PM - Michael Bell, local record collector: soul, jazz and funk
2-4PM - Dan Donahue and Page Campbell, local musicians: psych-pop and krautrock
4-6PM - Erik Kramer, Anthropocene Recordings: mellow evening moods
Our doors open at 7AM!
AND SPEAKING OF WHEN THE DOORS OPEN...
The morning will get started right this year with FREE TREATS courtesy of our neighborhood friends.
Barriques is cooking up our traditional chili-rubbed, half-dipped in chocolate bacon. Bloom Bakery is bringing over one of their specialties, (gluten free) sweet potato doughnuts, and Colectivo is supplying the caffeine with free hot coffee! Things are looking up!
Plus, El Grito will roll through at midday selling their amazing lunch tacos!
STRICTLY DISCS/RSD SPECIALTY BEER:
Every year The Great Dane collaborates with Strictly Discs to brew a beer in celebration of Record Store Day, and this year it's the Oranje Crush Saison. We will be serving this up starting at 7AM! Fruit is part of a balanced breakfast, right?
WIN A TURNTABLE:
In celebration of RSD 2019, the Great Dane is giving away a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable (valued at $400). For your chance to win, all you gotta do is a little social media-izing:
1. Post a picture of you and the offiicial RSD beer Oranje Krush at Strictly Discs on the 13th. 2. Tag @greatdanepub AND @strictlydiscs 3. Use the hashtag #GDXSD
The winner will be chosen on April 13th and must be able to pick up the turntable at at Strictly Discs before 6PM on the 13th.
TAKING OVER THE TAP NEXT - ONE BARREL BREWING COMPANY:
What if we kick the keg? We've got a plan. One Barrel Brewing, another one of our favorite brewers in town, has stepped up to supply those crucial mid-day beers with a keg of their most popular brew, the Commuter Kolsch.
NEW BELGIUM BEER TASTING:
Last but certainly not least, we will be pouring up a variety of award winning beers from New Belgium Brewery to close out RSD 2019!
PLUS
Loaded grab bags for the first 200 customers FREE with every RSD purchase. Each of these will include a coupon good for a free Pizza from Pizza Brutta (yum!).
PLUS
Enter to win AWESOME prizes, including:
Gift Certificates & Prize Packs from our friends & neighbors at: Hive, Brasserie V and Monroe Street Framing
Oodles of concert tickets from the good folks at the Sylvee, Majestic Madison, Barrymore Theatre and High Noon Saloon
PLUS MUCH MUCH MORE!
WHAT DID YOU PICK UP ON RSD?
We're partnering with our friends at The Sylvee to give away a $100 Sylvee giftcard + a $100 Strictly Discs giftcard!
Let's be real, you're going to show off your haul on Instagram anyways. All you have to do to enter is use #StrictlySylveeRSD and tag us in your photo on Record Store Day. Make sure you follow @TheSylvee and @StrictlyDiscs while you're at it!
THE LIST:
For all details on pressing quantities, production credits, alternate versions, color vinyl, and other record datum, please refer to the Official Record Store Day list of releases, located at www.recordstoreday.com
We do not buy used CDs or LPs on Record Store Day.
We do not accept coupons for Record Store Day releases.
Record Store Day titles do not count towards the Buy 12 Get 1 Free program.
Record Store Day items are limited to one copy per title per person.
NEXT STRICTLY DISCS MUSIC TRIVIA IS MAY 14TH:
Join us Tuesday, May 14th for Music Trivia at the High Noon Saloon.
Test your music knowledge monthly at High Noon!
Registration starts 5:30 | First question at 6:00 PM FREE | 21+
New prizes to the winning team each month and a cumulative prize for the top team of the year includes a golden ticket to every show at High Noon Saloon the next year!
May 14 | June 18 | July 16 | August 13 | September 17 | October 15 | November 12 | December 17
SELL US YOUR CDS & LPS:
NOW HEAR THIS:
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.
Priests – “The Seduction of Kansas” Priests is a hot new, mainly female, band from Washington D.C. and “The Seduction of Kansas” is only their second album. Their debut in 2017 was highly thought of and made a lot of year’s best lists. The band started with what could be described as a post-punk sound. And their youth and enthusiasm made a sometimes tired genre sound fresh and compelling. The band has added psych and garage into the mix on this album. “The Seduction of Kansas” shows tremendous musical growth and this is obviously a better release than their debut. Judging by what the band has accomplished in 2 short years, Priests is obviously a band to watch in the future. - Ted
Shana Cleveland – “Night of the Worm Moon” This album is the first solo album from this La Luz front woman. La Luz is a sixties influenced garage pop band and “Night of the Worm Moon” really sounds nothing like your typical Lu Luz album. It is about as far away from her regular band that is possible. The album is an acoustic and gentle excursion into the musical soul of Ms. Cleveland. One could even call it freak folk. The interesting thing is Ms. Cleveland made such a good album so far away from her usual milieu. Perhaps she might possess a musical talent that, at times, transcends genres. And that is a rare thing in today’s stratified musical climate. - Ted
Ron, Ryan, Angie, Marty, Evan, Matt, Michael, Ben, Will, Ed, Isaac, Larry, Sean, Andy & Mark
