2014 NEW RELEASES WEEK #13 MARCH 25, 2014

MARCH 25, 2014 (WEEK #13)  

1.    MARC ALMOND-“TASMANIAN TIGER” [EP] (3/25) 

2.    ASIA-“GRAVITAS” (3/25)

3.    AZTEC CAMERA-“HARD LAND, HARD RAIN” (DELUXE 2-CD REISSUE) (3/25) In his liner notes for this re-issue, David Fricke calls High Land, Hard Rain "ten songs of anxious yearning, romantic urgency, big hurt and hard-won learning, distilled into compact dramas of buckskin-folk jangle and skewed-pop elegance." We call it the one of the greatest debut albums in the history of rock 'n' roll. That it was written and conceived by mastermind Roddy Frame when he was NINETEEN YEARS OLD, well that just defies all logic and sense of fair play. Completely remastered from the analog tapes this deluxe 30th anniversary edition of High Land, Hard Rain will not disappoint.

4.    THE BAD PLUS-“THE RITE OF SPRING” (3/25)

5.    THE BELLE BRIGADE-“JUST BECAUSE” (3/25) 

6.    JOHNNY CASH-“OUT AMONG THE STARS” (3/25) (1981/2014 ISSUED) 

7.    CEX-“MANUMIT ME” (3/25) 

8.    CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO-“LOCUS” (3/25)

9.    THE COLOURIST-“THE COLOURIST” (3/25)

10. CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX-“WHITE LIGHT GENERATOR” (3/25) 

11. SIMONE FELICE-“STRANGERS” (3/25) 

12. FRANCOIS & THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS-“PIANO OMBRE” (3/25) 

13. FUTURE ISLANDS-“SINGLES” (3/25) 

14. GOLDFRAPP-“THEA” [EP] (3/25) 

15. JIMI GOODWIN-“ODLUDEK” (3/25) (DOVES FRONTMAN DEBUT ALBUM) 

16. HALLS-“LOVE TO GIVE” (3/25) 

17. THE HOLD STEADY-“TEETH DREAMS” (3/25) 

18. THE HOLIDAYS-“REAL FEEL” (3/25) 

19. HOWLER-“WORLD OF JOY” (3/25) 

20. ELTON JOHN-“GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD” (40^TH ANNIVERSARY SUPER DELUXE EDITION) (4-CD / 1-DVD) (3/25) 

21. KLAXONS-“THERE IS NO OTHER TIME B/W CHILDREN OF THE SUN” (SINGLE) (3/25) 

22. GLENN KOTCHE-“ADVENTURELAND” (3/25) (WITH GAMELAN GALAK, EIGHTH BLACKBIRD & KRONOS QUARTET) (When he's not manning the drumkit for alt-rock juggernaut Wilco, Glenn Kotche works tirelessly on his own as a composer and percussionist with "unfailing taste, technique and discipline" (Chicago Tribune). His latest work is the multi-hued Adventureland, a collaborative effort and his first since 2006's Mobile. It all started when Kotche caught a Kronos Quartet concert in 2006 and set out to write a string quartet; eventually, the scope of the project morphed into a kaleidoscopic amusement ride of strings, gamelan, electronics and Kotche's vast arsenal of percussion instruments. "For the string quartet, I was banging my head against the wall for ideas," Kotche remembers, "and the solution didn't really come to me until I sat down at the drums. I realized, 'Hey-four voices, four limbs!' So I made the cello my right foot, the viola my left foot, and took it from there. When I transposed that, I had the first three movements of Anomaly." Kotche premiered Anomaly with Kronos Quartet at the 25th Anniversary San Francisco Jazz Festival in 2007. Fittingly, the piece's seven movements serve as the connective tissue that binds Adventureland into a cohesive whole. From the wild ride of Triple Fantasy (an ingeniously spliced suite of performances by Kronos Quartet and Chicago's eighth blackbird ensemble, embellished with various field recordings) to the playfully pop-like gamelan arrangement of The Traveling Turtle, the recording maps an intense and fertile period of growth in Kotche's artistic vision. It's capped off by the chilling, at times even macabre five-part piece The Haunted (for "two pianos vs. percussion"), which features Lisa Kaplan, Doug Perkins, Matthew Duvall and Yvonne Lam. "I called this Adventureland because besides being something that's fun, it's also kind of weird and mysterious, and at the same time scary and intimidating," Kotche explains. "It's a confluence of new territory that I'm trying to figure out and navigate, and by approaching it as who I am-as a drummer, a percussionist-that's where I do have an original voice, and I do have something to say.")

23. LIARS-“MESS” (3/25) 

24. MACHINEFABRIEK-“DUBBELTJES” (GATHERED EOCENTRICS 2008-2013) (3/25) 

25. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE-“MAY DEATH NEVER STOP YOU – THE GREATEST HITS 2001-2013” (3/25)

26. MY SAD CAPTAINS-“BEST OF TIMES” (3/25) 

27. NUMBERS-“THREE” (3/25) 

28. OWLS-“OWLS 2” (3/25)

29. JON  PORRAS-“LIGHT DIVIDE” (3/25)

30. CHUCK RAGAN-“TILL MIDNIGHT” (3/25)

31. THE SOFT WHITE SIXTIES-“GET RIGHT.” (3/25) 

32. TOKYO POLICE CLUB-“FORCEFIELD” (3/25) 

33. WITHERED HAND-“NEW GODS”(3/25) 

34. WOLFMOTHER-“NEW CROWN” (3/25) 

35. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“FABRIC 74: MOVE D” (3/25) 

2014 NEW RELEASES WEEK #12 MARCH 18, 2014

MARCH 18, 2014 (WEEK # 12)

1.    BLACK LIPS-“UNDERNEATH THE RAINBOW” (3/18) 

2.    CARSICK CARS-“3” (3/18) 

3.    COATHANGERS-“SUCK MY SHIRT” (3/18)

4.    COLO-“UR” (3/18)

5.    CURRENT 93-“I AM THE LAST OF ALL THE FIELD THAT FELL: A CHANNEL…” (3/18) (2014 release, the hallucinatory album from the experimental British group. Clocking in at 68 minutes in length, the disc is packaged in a full-color digipak designed by David Tibet with a 24-page booklet containing all lyrics, credits and photographs of the band. Channeling C93 for this River are: Jack Barnett (These New Puritans), James Blackshaw, Ossian Brown (Cyclobe), Nick Cave, Antony Hegarty, Reinier van Houdt, Norbert Kox, Andrew Liles, Tony (TS) McPhee (The Groundhogs), Jon Seagroatt (Comus), Carl Stokes (The Groundhogs), David Tibet, Bobbie Watson (Comus) and John Zorn.)

6.    KEVIN DREW-“DARLINGS” (3/18) 

7.    EKOPLEKZ-“UNFIDELITY” (3/11) 

8.    ELECTRO DELUXE-“HOME” (IMPORT) (3/18) 

9.    ELUVIUM-“CATALIN” (3/18) 

10. FOSTER THE PEOPLE-“SUPERMODEL” (3/18)

11. GALLON DRUNK-“THE SOUL OF THE HOUR” (3/18) (After the critical success of their acclaimed album The Road Gets Darker From Here (CLOUDS 037CD/LP) from 2012, Gallon Drunk have returned to their producer Johann Scheerer's Clouds Hill studio in Hamburg. Together with new bassist Leo Kurunis, Gallon Drunk have created their most exciting, passionate and groundbreaking work to date -- The Soul of the Hour. A howling celebration of survival and creative drive against the crushing weight of day-to-day existence, The Soul of the Hour finds Gallon Drunk pushing ever further into previously uncharted musical territory for the band. With an emphasis firmly upon hypnotic, locked-down grooves, free-flowing instrumental passages and all manner of European inspirational music that courses through the band's collective bloodstream (singer/guitarist, keyboard player James Johnston was a member of Faust), Gallon Drunk have stretched out their music into thrilling and unfamiliar shapes. Though always present in Gallon Drunk's music, the band has thrust the leftfield aspect inherent in their sound to the fore -- with exhilarating results. An emphasis upon a more focused, disciplined attack has fashioned a compelling musical wall of sound of considerable power, melancholy and fury. The Soul of the Hour offers heartfelt songs of dread, sadness, love and anguish, ever reaching for the transcendent moment within the incessant race against the passage of time. Opening with the epic "Before the Fire," which lets the tension and momentum build over a mesmeric nine minutes, the album then explodes with the wild, brutal euphoria of "The Dumb Room," and the relentless hypnotic Krautrock of "The Exit Sign," continuing with the album's immense title-track, the unsettling tension carried by Johnston's haunting vocal before erupting into a wild explosion of Ian White's relentlessly heavy drums and Terry Edwards' glorious brass section. Throughout the album, Leo Kurunis proves key to the new sound of the band, as evidenced in the subtle and sympathetic playing on "Dust in the Light," where rolling toms carry an uncharacteristically fragile upper register vocal from Johnston. Without doubt the most beautiful song the band have put to tape, its ghostly feel is reminiscent of Big Star's Third. Penultimate track "Over and Over" is washed over by waves of synthesizer -- an immense and dream-like song of anguish and yearning. Finally we reach the album closer, "The Speed of Fear" where James Brown meets motorik European psychedelia, insistent vocals and extended, hypnotic freak-outs building to a crushing final chorus. The Soul of the Hour marks Gallon Drunk's return in a style of its own, and with an album of true sonic brilliance.)

12. HAUSCHKA-“ABANDONED CITY” (3/18) 

13. BETH ISRAEL-“DENTAL DENIAL” (3/18) 

14. JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN-“THE CLASSIC” (3/18) 

15. KANGDING RAY-“SOLENS ARC” (3/18) 

16. MAGIC TOUCH-“PALERMO HOUSE GANG” (3/18) 

17. GEORGE MICHAEL-“SYMPHONICA” (3/18) 

18. MINILOGUE-“ISLAND OF IF” (3/18) 

19. PERFECT PUSSY-“SAY YES TO LOVE” (3/18) 

20. DEX ROMWEBER DUO-“IMAGES 13” (3/18) 

21. SHIT ROBOT-“WE GOT A LOVE” (3/18) 

22. SISYPHUS-“SISYPHUS” (3/18) (Sisyphus is the new name for the collaboration between Serengeti, Son Lux, and Sufjan Stevens (formally s/s/s), whose new project under this moniker is a self-titled album partly inspired by the art of Jim Hodges, and commissioned by the Walker Art Center and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music series in Minneapolis/Saint Paul.)

23. SLOWLY ROLLING CAMERA-“SLOWLY ROLLING CAMERA” (3/18) 

24. THE SOFT HILLS-“DEPARTURE” (3/18) 

25. TYCHO-“AWAKE” (3/18) 

26. UNWOUND-“RAT CONSPIRACY” (3-CD COLLECTION) (3/18) 

27. VERMONT-“VERMONT” (3/18) (ON KOMPAKT)

28. THE WAR ON DRUGS-“LOST IN THE DREAM” (3/18) 

29. WHITE SUNS-“TOTEM” (3/18) 

30. WHOMADEWHO-“DREAMS” (3/18) 

JANUARY 2014 CHARTS / MY PICKS!!

FAVOURITE SINGLES BY MONTH: 

JANUARY SINGLES 2014 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

1.    PANAMA-“ALWAYS”

2.    JOHN NEWMAN-“TRY”

3.    AGAINST ME-“TRANSGENDER DYSPHORIA BLUES”

4.    ALCEST-“SHELTER” (FAV!)

5.    HARD WORKING AMERICANS-“THE MOUNTAIN SONG”

6.    DOUG PAISLEY-“IT’S NOT TOO LATE (TO SAY GOODBYE)”

7.    DUM DUM GIRLS-“RIMBAUD EYES”

8.    BLANK REALM-“REACH YOU ON THE PHONE” (#1 SINGLE OF THE MONTH FOR JANUARY!!!)

9.    TOGETHER PANGEA-“MAKE MYSELF TRUE” (FAV!)

10. SEPTEMBER GIRLS-“SHIPS”

11. SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS-“SLOW DOWN, LOVE” (FAV!)

12. YOUNG THE GIANT-“FIRELIGHT”

13. SUPERSUCKERS-“NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN” (DEPECHE MODE COVER)

14. MATT EDWARDS AND THE LONELY-“THIS AIN’T LOVE” (FAV!)

15. NEW MENDICANTS-“SHOUTING MATCH”

16. HOLY WAVE-“PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER”

17. RINGO DEATHSTARR-“GODS DREAM” (#2 SINGLE OF THE MONTH!)

18. SKINNY PUPPY-“PRO-TEST” (BECAUSE IT’S A PHENOMENAL TRACK AND WAS REMASTERED THIS YEAR IT GETS HIGH ACCOLADES FROM ME!)

19. THE PACK A.D.-“STALKING IS NORMAL”

20. THE DROWNERS-“PURE PLEASURE”

21. MT. ROYAL-“MORE” (FAV!)

22. PONTIAK-“GHOSTS” (FAV!)

23. UNCLE TUPELO-“GRAVEYARD SHIFT” (I KNOW IT’S ON A REISSUE, BUT THIS SONG IS SO AWESOME IT CANNOT BE IGNORED!)

JANUARY 2014 (IN ORDER BEGINNING WITH MY FAVOURITE RELEASES OF THE MONTH)

1.    ROSANNE CASH-“THE RIVER & THE THREAD” (DELUXE EDITION)

2.    BLANK REALM-“GRASSED INN”

3.    GEM CLUB-“IN ROSES”

4.    RINGO DEATHSTARR-“GODS DREAM”

5.    PONTIAK-“INNOCENCE”

6.    CHRIS MILLS AND THE DISTANT STARS-“ALEXANDRIA”

7.    ALCEST-“SHELTER (DELUXE EDITION)”

8.    DOUG PAISLEY-“STRONG FEELINGS”

9.    SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS-“GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT”

10. DUM DUM GIRLS-“TOO TRUE”

11. MT ROYAL-“MT. ROYAL”

12. NIR FELDER-“GOLDEN AGE”

13. THE PACK A. D.-“DO NOT ENGAGE”

14. SEPTEMBER GIRLS-“CURSING THE SEA”

15. SLEEPY SUN-“MAUI TEARS”

16. AGAINST ME!-“TRANSGENDER DYSPHORIA BLUES”

17. EAST INDIA YOUTH-“TOTAL STRIFE FOREVER”

18. TOGETHER PANGEA-“BADILLAC”

19. NIR FELDER-“GOLDEN AGE”

20. STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS-“WIG OUT AT JAGBAGS”

21. JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW-“POST TROPICAL”

22. DAMIEN JURADO-“BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE ETERNAL SON” (DELUXE 2-CD EDITION)

23. MOUSE ON MARS-“SPEZMODIA” [EP]

24. THE DROWNERS-“DROWNERS”

25. WARPAINT-“WARPAINT”

26. BVDUB-“I’LL ONLY BREAK YOUR HEART”

27. MORRISSEY-“SATELLITE OF LOVE” [EP]

28. PANGAEA-“FABRICLIVE 73: PANGAEA”

29. DOG BITE-“TRANQUILIZERS”

30. HOLY WAVE-“RELAX”

31. QUILT-“HELD IN SPLENDOR”

32. THE AUTUMN DEFENSE-“FIFTH”

33. TARA JANE O’NEIL-“WHERE SHINES NEW LIGHT”

34. MATT EDWARDS AND THE LONELY-“LEAVE THE BOTTLE”

35. BIBIO-“THE GREEN” [EP]

36. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“MIXMAG MAGAZINE JANUARY 2014 ISSUE- HOT NATURED: ALTERNATE STATES”

37. HARD WORKING AMERICANS-“HARD WORKING AMERICANS”

38. THEE SILVER MT ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA-“FUCK OFF GET FREE WE POUR LIGHT ON EVERYTHING”

39. MOGWAI-“RAVE TAPES”

40. ED HARCOURT-“TIME OF DUST” [EP]

41. ACTRESS-“GHETTOVILLE”

42. I BREAK HORSES-“CHIAROSCURO”

43. THE HIDDEN CAMERAS-“AGE”

44. MODERAT-“LAST TIME” [EP]

45. HOSPITALITY-“TROUBLE”

46. THE O (AKA MIKA VAINIO FORMERLY OF PAN SONIC)-“KONSTELLAATIO”

47. NEW MENDICANTS-“INTO THE LIME”

48. SUPERSUCKERS-“GET THE HELL”

49. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“INSOUND DIGITAL MIXTAPE JANUARY 2014”

50. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“INSOUND VINYL MIXTAPE JANUARY 2014”

51. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“UNCUT MAGAZINE JANUARY 2014 ISSUE” (UNCUT’S THE SOUND OF 2013: 14 TRACKS FROM THE YEAR’S BEST ALBUMS)

52. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“MOJO MAGAZINE JANUARY 2014 ISSUE” (MOJO PRESENTS: 2013 THE BEST OF THE YEAR)

53. PIXIES-“EP #2”

OTHER RELEASES I LIKED BUT EITHER WEREN’T AMAZING TO MAKE MY FAVOURITES LIST, OR THEY ONLY HAD A FEW TRACKS I REALLY LIKED. STILL THEY MAY BE WORTH A LISTEN AND A MENTION.

JANUARY 2014 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

1.    PANAMA-“ALWAYS” [EP]

2.    BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN-“HIGH HOPES”

3.    FAT WHITE FAMILY-“CHAMPAGNE HOLOCAUST”

4.    GAP DREAM-“SHINE YOUR LIGHT” (DELUXE EDITION)

5.    PAINTED PALMS-“FOREVER”

6.    ARCADE FIRE-“HER” (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING)

7.    EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY + STEVE JABLONSKY-“LONE SURVIVOR” (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING)

8.    TOM BROSSEAU-“GRASS PUNKS”

9.    WHITE DENIM-“PRETTY GREEN” [EP]

10. BILL CALLAHAN-“HAVE FUN WITH GOD” (THE DUB ALBUM)

11. KYE KYE-“FANTASIZE”

12. YOUNG THE GIANT-“MIND OVER MATTER”

13. JEREMY JAY-“ABANDONDED APARTMENTS”

14. THE FAREWELL DRIFTERS-“TOMORROW FOREVER”

15. AMY RAY-“GOODNIGHT TENDER”

16. MORGAN DELT-“MORGAN DELT”

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER THESE ARE RELEASES I DIDN’T REALLY CARE FOR AT ALL IN JANUARY 2014:

1.    JOHN NEWMAN-“TRIBUTE” (DELUXE EDITION)

2.    FOX AND THE BIRD-“DARKEST HOURS”

3.    SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR-“WANDERLUST”

4.     

THESE ARE EITHER A RE-RELEASE OR BEST OF COLLECTION FOR 2014. JANUARY FAVOURITES IN ORDER:

1.    UNCLE TUPELO-“NO DEPRESSION” (1990/2014 LEGACY EDITION 2-CD)

2.    LUCINDA WILLIAMS-“LUCINDA WILLIAMS” (1988/2014 DELUXE EDITION W/ BONUS LIVE DISC)

3.    MARK LANEGAN-“HAS GOD SEEN MY SHADOW? AN ANTHOLOGY 1989-2011” (2-CD COLLECTION)

4.    LONE JUSTICE-“THIS IS LONE JUSTICE: THE VAUGHT TAPES, 1983”

5.    SKINNY PUPPY-“THE GREATER WRONG OF THE RIGHT” (2004/2014 REMASTERED)

6.    LA HONDA (FEATURING RUMER)-“I SEE STARS” (2001/2014 ISSUED)

BEST ELECTRONICA/DANCE RECORDS (JANUARY 2014)

1.    PANGAEA-“FABRICLIVE 73: PANGAEA”

2.    MOUSE ON MARS-“SPEZMODIA” [EP]

3.    VARIOUS ARTISTS-“MIXMAG MAGAZINE JANUARY 2014 ISSUE- HOT NATURED: ALTERNATE STATES”

4.    MODERAT-“LAST TIME” [EP]

BEST FOLK / COUNTRY / AMERICANA ALBUMS OF THE MONTH (JANUARY 2014)

1.     

DEBUT ALBUMS OF THE MONTH – IN ORDER OF GREATNESS (JANUARY 2014)

1.    MATT EDWARDS AND THE LONELY-“LEAVE THE BOTTLE”

2.    DOG BITE-“TRANQUILIZERS”

MY PICKS FOR BEST EP’S / SINGLES OF JANUARY 2014

1.    ED HARCOURT-“TIME OF DUST” [EP]

2.    ALLAH-LAHS-“HAD IT ALL B/W EVERY GIRL (SINGLE)

3.    MOUSE ON MARS-“SPEZMODIA” [EP]

4.    BIBIO-“THE GREEN” [EP]

5.    PIXIES-“EP #2”

MY PICKS FOR BEST ELECTRONIC / INSTRUMENTAL / EXPERIMENTAL RECORDS OF JANUARY  2014

1.    NIR FELDER-“GOLDEN AGE”

2.    ACTRESS-“GHETTOVILLE”

3.    THE O (AKA MIKA VAINIO FORMERLY OF PAN SONIC)-“KONSTELLAATIO”

2014 NEW RELEASES WEEK #11 MARCH 11, 2014

MARCH 11, 2014 (WEEK #11)

1.    BLOOD RED SHOES-“BLOOD RED SHOES” (3/11) 

2.    ELBOW-“THE TAKE OFF AND LANDING OF EVERYTHING” (3/11)

3.    FIRE! ORCHESTRA-“SECOND EXIT” (3/11) 

4.    CHARLOTTE MARTIN-“WATER BREAKS STONE” (3/11) 

5.    METRONOMY-“LOVE LETTERS” (3/11) 

6.    SUPERFOOD-“MAM” (IMPORT) (3/11)

7.    TENSNAKE-“GLOW” (3/11) 

8.    DEAN WAREHAM-“DEAN WAREHAM” (3/11) 

2014 NEW RELEASES WEEK #10 MARCH 4, 2014

MARCH 4, 2014 (WEEK #10)

1.    ANNE-“PULLING CHAIN” (3/4) (Anne's proper debut LP - Pulling Chain leads a dark and dirty dance oozing with gothic sexuality. Combining vibing, moody synths with thumping electronic back beats, Pulling Chain marks a change in form as frontman David Lindell continues Anne into electronic territory. His vocals dip and tease between a lusty, bellowing baritone and a playful falsetto. Maintaining post-punk rhythmic tendencies and stepping out of the reverbed cloudiness of previous work, Lindell emerges with a collection of songs that carry a grinding, primal urgency.)

2.    AVA LUNA-“ELECTRIC BALLOON” (3/4) 

3.    CARLA BOZULICH-“BOY” (3/4) 

4.    DIANE CLUCK-“BONESET” (3/4) 

5.    CREATIVE ADULT-“PSYCHIC MESS” (3/4) (Creative Adult comes from the diverse musical breeding ground of California's North Bay Punk scene. The band's sonic blast careens between the harsh, noisy punk of Scratch Acid and Gang of Four while carrying the brooding emotion of Joy Division's darkest moments. This debut full-length is a grimey, paranoid acid trip through 80s west coast punk. Engineered and produced by Efrim Menuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Hotel 2 Tango Studios in Montreal.)

6.    DAMAGED BUG-“HUBBA BUBBA” (3/4) ("Recorded at home in the fall of 2013 with a variety of synthesizers, drum machines and assorted handmade electronics, Damaged Bug is Oh Sees mastermind John Dwyer’s latest bit of cracked pop alchemy.  The project is the cure to the ailment of too much guitar for too long. Fizzing and sputtering like a glowing, temperamental cockpit control panel, Dwyer bunkered deep in a blinking laboratory, penning songs about the long arc of our travels across space and time. A far-out side of our main man—nocturnal, hard-wired, and chrome-plated.")

7.    DEATH OF SAMANTHA-“IF MEMORY SERVES US WELL” (3/4) (CAREER-SPANNING DOUBLE ALBUM) (If Memory Serves Us Well is the first album released in 24 years by Cleveland underground rock legends DEATH OF SAMANTHA. If Memory Serves Us Well marks the return of Death of Samantha, which released three albums and an EP on Homestead Records, a pioneering New York indie label run by Gerard Cosloy. Death of Samantha reunited with its original line-up and recorded If Memory Serves Us Well while practicing in the studio for a reunion concert. The band was so happy with the results that it decided to release the album, which features 18 songs that span the career of the band, from 1984-1990. During that time, Death of Samantha performed with contemporaries such as Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the Replacements, Smashing Pumpkins, the Gun Club and Jesus and Mary Chain. The band's iconoclastic approach inspired, among others, ROBERT POLLARD of GUIDED BY VOICES, THURSTON MOORE and MARK LANEGAN. All three contribute liner notes to If Memory Serves Us Well, along with esteemed critic BYRON COLEY.  After breaking up, members of Death of Samantha went on to play in COBRA VERDE,  Guided by Voices, GEM, SWEET APPLE and NADA SURF. In 2014, the band plans to re-issue its back catalog and re-enter the studio to record an album of new material.)

8.    DIVINE FITS-“LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 6/17/13” (VINYL) (3/4) 

9.    DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS-“ENGLISH OCEAN” (5/4) 

10. EAGULLS-“EAGULLS” (3/4) 

11. ECHOLOGIST-“STORMING HEAVEN” (3/3)

12. ELYSIAN FIELDS-“FOR HOUSE CATS AND SEA FANS” (3/4) 

13. ETERNAL SUMMERS-“THE DROP BENEATH” (3/4) 

14. THE JASMINE MINKS-“CUT ME DEEP: THE ANTHOLOGY 984-2014” (2-CD COLLECTION) (3/4)

15. THE MEN-“TOMORROW’S HITS” (3/4) 

16. NOTHING-“GUILTY OF EVERYTHING” (3/4) 

17. LINDA PERHACS-“THE SOUL OF ALL NATURAL THINGS” (3/4)

18. REAL ESTATE-“ATLAS” (3/4) 

19. SHACKLETON-“FREEZING OPENING THAWING” [EP] (3/4) 

20. SWANS-“BURNING WORLD” (REISSUE) (3/4)

21. TRUST-“JOYLAND” (3/4) 

22. WAKE OWL-“THE PRIVATE WORLD OF PARADISE” (3/4) 

23. WE ARE SCIENTISTS-“TV EN FRANCAIS” (3/4) 

24. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“A PSYCH TRIBUTE TO THE DOORS” (3/4)