SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
(WEEK # 37)
1.
AGF & VARIOUS ARTISTS-“DEEP
MYSTERIOUS TONE” (9/18) (A Deep
Mysterious Tone is the third edition in AGF's poetry series, following
Gedichterbe (AGF 015CD, German, 2011) and Kuuntele (AGF 017CD, Finnish, 2013].
The series investigates the history of poetry in one particular language from a
female perspective. Via current music and sound art practices, the poems are reimagined
in a 21st-century context. Twelve Japanese poets were selected for this issue.
Three poets date from the Heian period (794-1185) and the rest are from the
Meiji Restoration (when Japan opened up to the world, starting in 1868) and
after. In addition to the Japanese-language poets, one piece features the sound
of the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan. These primarily female
stories were interpreted by AGF and her contemporaries Kyoka, Tujiko Noriko, Yu
Kawabata, and Ryoko Akama, fellow artists and producers she got to know at
various music festivals in Europe. The only living poet represented here is
Misumi Mizuki, who reads her work herself)
2.
DAVE
ALVIN & PHIL ALVIN-“LOST TIME” (9/18)
3.
ASTRONAUTS,
ETC-“MIND OUT WANDERING” (9/18)
4.
BATTLES-“LA
DI DA DI” (9/18)
5.
RANDALL BRAMBLETT-“DEVIL MUSIC” (9/18)
6.
CARTER
TUTTI VOID-“F (X)” (9/18) (Featuring
Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (aka Chris & Cosey) plus Nik Void of Factory Floor, Carter Tutti Void first united for Mute's 2011 Short
Circuit Festival in London, offering an improvisational set that was captured
on the 2012 release Transverse. As that wonderful LP displayed, this
May-December band were simpatico when it came to hypnotic and austere
industrial music that seemed to guide itself, and now with this first proper
studio album, they continue to be the great ghost in the machine. Six tracks
are offered, all of them designed like sound sculptures or tape loops that
slowly develop, dissolve, and then return to a robotic heart-throbbing beat.
Drop the needle in a random spot and it makes much less sense than taking the
full ride, and while this is a more controlled and more composed effort --
compared to their debut -- it sounds like the sum of its parts. It also brings
to mind Chris & Cosey's old cohorts Coil, especially the hallucinatory
landscapes of their Time Machines release. Otherwise, there is no
comparison, as Carter Tutti Void create drone albums of great worth and
value, leaving the other electro shaman stuck in a loop.)
7.
COCOROSIE-“HEARTACHE CITY” (9/18)
8.
LANA
DEL REY-“HONEYMOON” (9/18)
9.
DESTRUCTION
UNIT-“NEGATIVE FEEDBACK RESISTOR” (9/18) (For two years now, the psychedelic Destruction Unit
has been keeping the world waiting for a new album. And it s not because they
ve grown up or gotten soft, rather because they ve been in the streets and in
your backyards, pushing the freek agenda and immanentizing the alien-eschaton.
They ve been up and down and all around this globe, battling the greedy club
owners, show promoters and control pigs to bring the new american heavy
underground through your back door. Now here we are, with the psychedelic Unit
s second album for Sacred Bones, Negative Feedback Resistor. In the spirit of
solidarity with the other revolutionary communities of our sisters and
brothers, the psychedelic Unit urges you to use this album s energy, energy
your speakers can hardly contain, for it s intended purpose: to break the
chains which you, at the dawn of your understanding, have fastened around your
hands and feet. And to see to it that the thrones of every despot erected
within you are destroyed. This is crazed-psychedelic-freek-noise guerrilla
warfare and these are our streets. The pigs of the law can use their system to
manipulate and censor our messages. The control creeps can keep their airwaves
safe and comfortable. But none of them have been able to make us turn our
voices or our guitar amps down. Destruction Unit sacrificed their ears to make
this album as loud of a statement as possible. Will you lend them yours?)
10. EVENING
HYMNS-“QUIET ENERGIES” (9/18)
11. FENNESZ & KING MIDAS SOUND-“EDITION
1” [2-CD] (9/18)
12. ROBERT FORSTER-“SONGS TO PLAY”
(9/18) (In 2008,
Robert Forster, one of Australia's most respected singer-songwriters, released
The Evangelist, a work that was widely regarded as his best solo album; it more
than lived up to the many high points of his legendary band The Go-Betweens. In
2015, seven years after that album, fans and critics alike may wonder what's
been doing since. Quite a lot, as it turns out. Producer for acclaimed albums
by Brisbane bands The John Steel Singers and Halfway. An extended stint as a
music critic for the Australian periodical The Monthly that was so well
received that a collection of his writings was published as The Ten Rules of
Rock and Roll in 2009, and was reprinted in revised and updated form in 2011.
Curator and compiler of G Stands for Go-Betweens: The Go-Betweens Anthology
Volume 1 (2015), the first of three lavish box-set compilations charting the
career of the iconic Australian band of which he was founding member, singer,
and songwriter. Still, seven years is a long time, musically speaking. Time for
writing songs, time for gathering musicians, time for preparing a refreshed
creative direction that took shape as Songs to Play. Ten very different Robert
Forster songs recorded on a mountaintop half an hour from his Brisbane home, in
an analog studio, with a troop of young musicians: talented
multi-instrumentalists Scott Bromley and Luke McDonald (from The John Steel
Singers), Matt Piele (drummer from Forster's touring band), and violinist and
singer Karin Bäumler. The resultant album is really like nothing he's ever done
before, although it retains many of the qualities listeners know from his
songwriting. His work remains highly melodic, with incisive, witty lyrics
attuned to real people and real lives. The surprise is in the spirit of the
record, its sense of adventure and fun -- especially after the meditative
reflections of The Evangelist (recorded a year after the death of The
Go-Betweens co-founder Grant McLennan). Seven years have brought a bolder,
wilder approach to sound, and a set of truly inspiring compositions. Pop songs.
Five minute epics. A bossa nova tune. Singer-songwriter classics. Experimental,
detailed production assistance from Bromley and McDonald. It's no wonder that,
from the album's opening lines on the super-charged "Learn to Burn,"
Forster is bursting to get out and tell his story. Seven years in the making.
And worth every minute.)
13. GLEN
HANSARD-“DIDN’T HE RAMBLE” (9/18)
14. RICHARD HAWLEY-“HOLLOW
MEADOWS” (9/18)
15. HeCTA-“THE
DIET” (9/18) (Diets? Who needs ’em?
Well, if you’re like Buddy Hackett, or us… you do. A few years ago, I came
across a 45-second monologue about trying to lose weight, performed by the
comedian Buddy Hackett. It was on a 78 RPM record on the Coral Records imprint.
It occurred to me that it could make an interesting dance recording given the
right situation and circumstance. Equally inspirational was the book Love Saves
the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970–1979 by Tim Lawrence.
In reading it, I saw parallels between the dance culture of that era and the
indie-rock/punk/experimental music culture. It unlocked in my mind a genre of
music long dormant in memory yet an influence so prevailing in a variety of
current musical genres. Woe be it unto the man whose tastes are frozen forever,
for given time, space, and understanding, such things become reborn and
reimagined as we search for a creative kernel of truth. I went about the
realization of this idea with fellow Lambchops and electronic-minded musicians
Ryan Norris (Coupler) and Scott Martin (Hobbledeions). Together we became
HeCTA. Using the idea of combining the notion of “song” and elements from
stand-up comedy, and electronic music and a shared love of the electronic form
and its many permutations, we respectfully, playfully explored and
experimented. It was to be an equal sharing of ideas, influences, and missteps.
We were looking for a new way of making songs incorporating these things, to
make something concise on beat. The form is not such a surprise when you
consider other electronic collaborations I’ve been involved with: Zero 7’s
remix of Lambchop’s “Up With People” and co-writing X-Press2’s “Give It.” The
results became The Diet, and those songs are with us now. As HeCTA, we take our
approach seriously and are respectfully aware of the great electronic music
created throughout its history continuing into the present—so much so that when
it came time to mix these recordings, we reached out to some of the central
figures of the genre. Such greats as Morgan Geist, John McEntire, and Q all had
a hand in shaping the refined sound we present to you. With invaluable
creativity and engineering by Jeremy Ferguson at Battle Tapes in Nashville, we
together created what we consider to be a collection of songs that move and
move through you, from the dashboard to the dance floor, from Decatur to
Dornburg, from Dorchester to Detroit. Suck it up, hippies. This music is our
attempt to extend the boundaries of our expression and have some fun. It’s not
Americana, house, techno, trap, juke, or blaze. Why would it be? And like any
good diet, it will be reviled then ultimately loved by all who give it a chance
to work its way into their lives. We love you for trying, and we’re trying to
love you back. —kurtx)
16. LE
BUTCHERETTES-“A RAW YOUTH” (9/18)
17. ROSE
MCDOWALL-“CUT WITH THE CAKE KNIFE” (9/18) (Cut
With The Cake Knife was recorded by Rose McDowall in 1988 and 1989 following
the break up of her group Strawberry Switchblade. Produced with the aid of
several musicians in several studios, the album features songs written for the
fabled second Strawberry Switchblade album. More importantly, perhaps, it
showcases the honest, direct and life-affirming songs of one of the greatest
unsung songwriters of the modern pop era at a tumultuous time in her career.)
18. METRIC-“PAGANS
IN VEGAS” (9/18)
19. MILD
HIGH CLUB-“TIMELINE” (9/18)
20. OUGHT-“SUN
COMING DOWN” (9/18)
21. POLE-“WALD”
(9/18) ("Wald begins immediately, ends
abruptly, and is divided into three acts of three tracks each. It is the first
studio album under Stefan Betke's Pole moniker in eight years... half an
eternity in the digital age -- yet the pieces on Wald seem timeless, or to have
fallen from time. Stefan Betke: 'After Steingarten (SCAPE 044CD, 2007) I was on
tour for two years. At the same time, Barbara Preisinger and I set up our
record label ~scape. Those were two hindering circumstances that were not exactly
conducive to a creative restart... I couldn't have really added anything new in
the wake of Steingarten and the dub declensions I had made in previous
years.'... Over several years, long walks in the woods preceded the resumption
of the production of his own material: 'Walks through the Isar valley, but also
through the forests in the Alps... You have to go through life with an open
mind and with extended antennae. If something strikes you and inspires you to
create new music, then it will be for a reason...' For Pole, it was the forest;
its spatiality... manifested, for example, in raw sounds (second act) and in
psychedelic structures (third act), which sound as if they might be guitars
(but are actually distorted synthetic lines)... From the tangible experience of
the forest, a rather abstract question emerges: 'How can I take what I have
seen or felt and make it audible?' This question becomes a narrative, a
storyline. The initial story is that Pole went into a dialogue with his
instruments, and the second story can be heard in the three acts of Wald. The
new compositions on Wald do not deny their inheritance within the continuum of
dub, yet they bring an entirely new vocabulary to Pole's sonic and spatial
universe... 'If Wald had nothing to do with the world of Pole, then I would
have come up with a new alter ego and produced it under a new name.' The
structures, forms, and processes that Betke perceived in the forest were
translated into musical structures, forms, and processes that inherently sounded
like Pole. Perhaps the forest simply produces reverberations (just like the
echo in the mountains!) that give rise to a bounty of thoughts. The story
behind it is told in music, without the use of words -- as has previously so
often been the case with Pole." --Max Dax)
22. DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE-“NASHVILLE
OBSOLETE” (9/18)
23. SWEET-“ACTION:
THE ULTIMATE STORY” [2-CD] (9/18)
24. TELEKINESIS-“AD
INFINITUM” (9/18) (When it came
time to make Ad Infinitum, the fourth Telekinesis album,
drummer/songwriter/principal architect Michael Lerner found himself in a
predicament. In just under five years, he had released three fantastic
records—Telekinesis! (2009), 12 Desperate Straight Lines (2011), and Dormarion
(2013)—each more ambitious than the last. He had toured all over the world,
shared stages with great bands, and enthralled fans of his infectious,
ebullient power pop. Newly married and happily ensconced in the home studio
he’d assembled in his West Seattle basement, Lerner found himself asking the
question that has haunted modestly successful bands down the ages: What do you
do after the rock and roll dreams you had when you were 19 have come true? “I
went down to the basement,” Lerner recalls, “and started playing the same
chords I always play… I just felt like I’d exhausted everything I knew. I was
not excited at all. I just could not make another power-pop album.” While many
artists have made fruitful use of vintage sounds and production techniques in
recent years, Ad Infinitum is a different animal. It feels less like a time
capsule and more like a time machine. In the movie version of the story, Lerner
would stumble on his way down the stairs, hit his head, and wake up in 1983,
and the only way he could get back to the present day would be to make a record
using available instruments. Then he’d wake in 2015 to discover he’d been in
his basement studio all along. And the record he’d made in that strange dream
state would turn out to be Ad Infinitum, the most ambitious and assured
Telekinesis release to date.)
25. VARIOUS
ARTISTS-“STILL ON THE LINE: A TRIBUTE TO JIMMY WEBB” (9/18) (For the last 50 years, American popular music has been filled with the
timeless songs of Jimmy Webb and we are thrilled to help continue that legacy
with Still on the Line: A Tribute to Jimmy Webb. These are 12 new recordings by
artists who share our passion for his songs, which we consider to be some of
the most emotionally moving and skillfully crafted of all time. Part of Webb's
unique talent lies in the versatility of his songs. While none of these songs
are meant to replace any of their previously recorded versions, they
demonstrate their strength to grab our hearts no matter the genre, voice or
decade where they find themselves. All profits from the sale of "Still on
the Line: A Tribute To Jimmy Webb" will go to benefit Mother Hubbard's
Cupboard, a food pantry in Bloomington, Indiana. Features contributions from
THE CAIRO GANG, BONNIE PRINCE BILLY, ELEPHANT MICAH, SISTER SISTER, PAN-PAN
WEN, VIA VEGRANDIS, WOODEN WAND, ANDREW SLATER, POP ZEUS, and more.)
SEPTEMBER 25, 2015
(WEEK #38)
1.
BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS AND CHOIR OF TRINITY
WALL STREET-“JULIA WOLFE: ANTHRACITE FIELDS” (9/25) (Haunting, poignant and relentlessly physical, Julia
Wolfe's Anthracite Fields is a lovingly detailed oratorio about
turn-of-the-20th-century Pennsylvania coal miners, and a fitting recipient of
the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Weaving together personal interviews that
she conducted with miners and their families, along with oral histories,
speeches, rhymes and local mining lore, Wolfe sought to honor the working lives
of Pennsylvania's anthracite region. It's not necessarily mainstream history,
she told NPR shortly after she received word of winning the Pulitzer. The
politics are very fascinating the issues about safety, and the consideration
for the people who are working and what's involved in it. But I didn't want to
say, Listen to this. This is a big political issue. It really was, Here's what
happened. Here's this life, and who are we in relationship to that? We re them.
They're us. And basically, these people, working underground, under very
dangerous conditions, fueled the nation. That's very important to understand.
Featuring the always adventurous Bang on a Can All-Stars and the renowned Choir
of Trinity Wall Street, Anthracite Fields merges diverse musical styles with
classical themes from the deep, ambient sweep of the opening movement Foundation
(with the All-Stars Mark Stewart wrenching waves of keening sound from his
electric guitar) to the high-energy rock mood of Breaker Boys.)
2.
BIKINI KILL-“REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE NOW”
(9/25) (BIKINI KILL is the
infamously fierce, riot grrrl band featuring feminist punk pioneers KATHLEEN
HANNA, TOBI VAIL, BILLY KARREN and KATHI WILCOX. Bikini Kill s first collection
of work, Revolution Girl Style Now, is now released on vinyl, CD, and digital
formats for the first time via the band's own Bikini Kill Records. The
Revolution Girl Style Now reissue features three previously unreleased and
mostly unheard tracks: Ocean Song, Just Once, and Playground. These songs
feature a decidedly more grunge sound than the rest of the Bikini Kill
catalog.)
3.
DAVID BOWIE-“FIVE YEARS 1969-1973” [12-CD
BOXED SET] (9/25) (The 12-CD box feature all of
the material officially released by Bowie during the nascent stage of his
career from 1969 to 1973. All of the formats include tracks that have never
before appeared on CD/digitally as well as new remasters. The boxed set
accompanying book, 128 pages in the CD box, will feature rarely seen photos as
well as technical notes about each album from producers Tony Visconti and Ken
Scott, an original press review for each album, and a short foreword by
legendary Kinks front man Ray Davies. The CD boxed set will include faithfully
reproduced mini-vinyl versions of the original albums and the CDs will be gold
rather than the usual silver.)
4.
CASPIAN-“DUST AND DISQUIET” (9/25)
5.
CHVRCHES-“EVERY
OPEN EYE” [TARGET EXCLUSIVE] (9/25)
6.
THE
DEAD WEATHER-“DODGE AND BURN” (9/25)
7.
THE DEARS-“TIMES INFINITY, VOLUME ONE”
(9/25)
8.
DUNGEN-“ALLAS
SAK” (9/25)
9.
FUTUREBIRDS-“HOTEL PARTIES” (9/25)
10. GIRL
BAND-“HOLDING HANDS WITH JAMIE” (9/25)
11. PATTY
GRIFFIN-“SERVANT OF LOVE” (9/25)
12. JULIA HOLTER-“HAVE YOU IN MY
WILDERNESS” (9/25)
13. THE
INTELLIGENCE-“VINTAGE FUTURE” (9/25)
14. KASKADE-“AUTOMATIC”
(9/25)
15. LOS LOBOS-“GATES OF GOLD”
(9/25)
16. COURTNEY
LOVE-“MISS NARCISSIST B/W RADIO KILLER” [ON GHOST RAMP 7” SINGLE] (9/25)
17. NEW ORDER-“MUSIC COMPLETE”
(9/25)
18. PEACHES-“RUB” (9/25)
19. PRAYERS-“YOUNG GODS” (9/25)
20. RICKED
WICKY-“SWIMMER TO A LIQUID ARMCHAIR” (9/25) ("Dayton,
Ohio-based supergroup Ricked Wicky pulls off a rarely ventured and even more
rarely gained three-peat with its third album—all recorded and released in the
span of a year—"Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair". Serving up the same
gleefully messy prog / punk / pop stew as on the previous two Ricked Wicky
releases, theres a sense of assurance evident on this record that indicates a
promising future.")
21. SILVERSUN PICKUPS-“BETTER
NATURE” (9/25)
22. SNEAKERS-“SNEAKERS”
(9/25) (Before
The dB’s and Let’s Active, there was Sneakers! Chris Stamey, an icon of indie
pop, and friend Mitch Easter began to explore recording techniques in
Winston-Salem, NC, during their youth. In 1976, Chris and his band, Sneakers
(including drummer Will Rigby, with appearances from Easter), released a single
on Stamey’s own Carnivorous Records. The sessions were engineered by Don Dixon,
who would eventually produce bands like R.E.M. (with Easter) and The
Smithereens. Stamey & Rigby would go on to form The dB’s and Easter would
reappear in Let’s Active – but the Sneakers single remains vital in not only
independent record history, but music in general. Omnivore Recordings is proud
to reissue this seminal 7” single as an expanded CD – also available digitally.
Sneakers’ original six tracks are joined by five bonus tracks, including a
cover of The Grass Roots’ “Let’s Live For Today.” 9 of the tracks were
available on Omnivore’s 2015 10” vinyl reissue for Record Store Day Black
Friday, but this new version adds “Be My Ambulance,” which previously appeared
on the 1978 collectible mini-album, In The Red and “Some Kinda Fool” from the
out-of-print 1992 collection, Racket. Featuring photos and an essay from Scott
Schinder, Sneakers will give people the opportunity to experience this genesis
of jangle pop. Fans of the 80s indie scene will be beyond happy to add this
release to their collection, and to experience the birth of the music they
love. Whether to run to the record store or just to dance, everyone needs
Sneakers.)
23. U
S GIRLS-“HALF FREE” (9/25)
24. KURT VILE-“B’LIEVE I’M GOIN
(DEEP) DOWN…” (9/25) (Kurt Vile
does his own myth making; a boy/man with an old soul voice in the age of
digital everything becoming something else, which is why this focused,
brilliantly clear and seemingly candid record is a breath of fresh air.
Recorded and mixed in a number of locations, including Los Angeles and Joshua
Tree, b lieve I m goin down... is a handshake across the country, east to west
coast, thru the dustbowl history ( valley of ashes ) of woody honest strait
forward talk guthrie , and a cali canyon dead still nite floating in a nearly
waterless landscape. The record is all air, weightless, bodyless, but grounded
in convincing authenticity, in the best version of singer songwriter upcycling.
In Kurt s words, I wanted to get back into the habit of writing a sad song on
my couch, with nobody waiting on me. I really wanted it to sound like it s on
my couch -- not in a lo-fi way, just more unguarded and vulnerable. “It s a
weird, accepting, mature record, acknowledging the inherent immaturity of being
a person whether father, husband , partner, adult, musician, not perfect, but
compelling for its understanding ... that s life though so sad to say... --Kim
Gordon”)
25. WAND-“1000
DAYS” (9/25)
26. YOUTH LAGOON-“SAVAGE HILLS
BALLROOM” (9/25)
OCTOBER 2, 2015
(WEEK #39)
1.
AUTRE NE VEUT-“AGE OF TRANSPARANCE”
(10/2)
2.
THE BEVIS FROND-“EXAMPLE 22” (10/2)
3.
BLITZEN TRAPPER-“ALL ACROSS THIS LAND”
(10/2)
4.
THE BOTTLE ROCKETS-“SOUTH BROADWAY
ATHLETIC CLUB” (10/2)
5.
DARK STAR-“FOAM ISLAND” (10/2)
6.
DEAFHEAVEN-“NEW
BERMUDA” (10/2)
7.
BENJAMIN DAMAGE-“OBSIDIAN” (10/2)
8.
EAGLES
OF DEATH METAL-“ZIPPER DOWN” (10/2) (EODM (Eagles of Death Metal) aka Jesse Hughes ('Boots
Electric') and Joshua Homme ('Baby Duck'), are back with their first new album
in seven years, ZIPPER DOWN! Available worldwide on October 2, ZIPPER DOWN
features 11 tracks, including the hot lead single, 'Complexity.' Recorded at
Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, California, Hughes and Homme co-wrote all of the
album's songs (with the exception of their cover of Duran Duran's 'Save A
Prayer'), and performed all of the instruments and vocals themselves. The album
is produced by Homme. 'The new album,
ZIPPER DOWN, really represents to me an attitude and philosophy of life,' says
Hughes. 'One should not zipper up, they should zipper down and let it all hang
out.' Homme says, 'In an independent study, four out of three doctors say
ZIPPER DOWN is an eargasm trapped inside a crazerbeam. And I believe them.'
EODM was formed in 1998 in Palm Desert, California by best friends Jesse Hughes
and Joshua Homme. Despite their band name, EODM (Eagles Of Death Metal) is not
a death metal band. The story goes that a friend was introducing Joshua Homme
to the death metal genre, and Homme wondered what a cross between the Eagles
and a death metal band would sound like. With that, EODM was born. The band
released Peace Love Death Metal in 2004, followed by Death By Sexy in 2006, and
Heart On in 2008.)
9.
EDITORS-“IN
DREAM” [DELUXE EDITION 2-CD] (10/2)
10. GIRLS
NAMES-“MY ARMS AROUND A VISION” (10/2)
11. JOHN GRANT-“GREY TICKLES,
BLACK PRESSURE” (10/2) (On
October 2nd, John Grant will release his third solo album ‘Grey Tickles, Black
Pressure’ produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Swans) and mastered by Greg
Calbi at Sterling Sound. Lyrically and musically, the 12 original songs
represent Grant’s most ambitious work, fusing lush strings and electronic
influences with his singular wit and brutal candor. The album opens in an
unsettling swirl of overlapping male voices repeating 1 Corinthians 13:4 in
English and Icelandic before dissolving into fuzz, and closes with the same
passage read clearly, this time by a young girl. In between, Grant's depth and
range are vividly present. "Voodoo Doll" is an ode to a depressed
lover, drenched in bright synths and pulsing bass lines, while "Guess How
I Know" is a bonafide hell-raiser, its snarling guitar licks layered with
distortion as Grant sings about a toxic yet irresistible relationship. Title
track "Grey Tickles, Black Pressure" blends swelling strings and
choral harmonies with Grant's darkly biting humor, as he tackles his HIV
diagnosis with equal parts confusion and clarity ("I'm supposed to believe
that there's some guy who'll take the pain away / There are children who have
cancer, and so all bets are off / 'Cause I can't compete with that").
‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ follows 2013’s ‘Pale Green Ghosts,’ which earned
Grant a Best International Male Solo Artist nomination at the 2014 BRITS
alongside Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Drake, and 2010’s ‘Queen of
Denmark,’ named Mojo’s #1 Album of the Year. Rolling Stone calls Grant’s music
“richly textured, both musically and emotionally” and NPR Music’s Bob Boilen
says, “John Grant's songs don't mess around.” Grant recently performed with the
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for BBC Radio 6 Music and just wrapped a North
American tour with The Pixies. More dates TBA soon.)
12. IAMX-“METANOIA”
(10/2)
13. THE
ICARUS LINE-“ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVEN” (10/2)
14. JOE
JACKSON-“FAST FORWARD” (10/2) (Fast Forward
features four sets of four songs recorded in four different cities New York,
New Orleans, Berlin and Amsterdam each with different supporting musicians,
including Bill Frissell, Regina Carter, members of Galactic and Zuco103, and
the 14-year old singer Mitchell Sink (from the Broadway musical
"Matilda.") . In addition to 14 new Jackson songs, the album features
two covers (Television s See No Evil & the classic German song Good Bye
Jonny. ))
15. LUMINOUS
BODIES-“LUMINOUS BODIES” (10/2) (During
Luminous Bodies' performance at Supernormal Festival 2014, lobster people shot
foam with phallic water pistols at the audience -- an apt introduction to the
band. Since then the band have continued to rampage across the land, including
a standout performance at Raw Power Festival 2015, with their "scumbag
lysergic racket." While it's easy to praise Luminous Bodies for their
electrifying spirit, their songwriting-craft should not be overlooked. Beneath
their occasionally tongue-in-cheek delivery is a band that has produced a
superb debut rock record. It's an album that'll whip you up and leave you in
high spirits. Luminous Bodies are Dan Hunt, Gordon Watson, Luca Zoo Franzoni,
Tom Fug, and Tracy Bellaries. Recorded and mixed by Wayne Adams, Bear Bites
Horse. Mastered by Sam Grant, Blank Studios. Artwork direction by Jussi
Brightmore. Sleeve layout by Dirty DC. 180-gram vinyl; includes download code.)
16. MERCURY REV-“THE LIGHT IN YOU”
(10/2)
17. MS
JOHN SODA-“LOOM” (10/2)
18. PEARS-“LETTERS
TO MEMAW” 7” SINGLE (10/2) (Letters to
Memaw is a one-two punch of manic melodic hardcore from PEARS. Since taking the
punk world by storm last year with their debut release Go To Prison, PEARS have
been on an all-out rampage. Letters to Memaw is the first taste of new material
that the band is working on for their follow up full-length due out next year.
Both songs on the 7" continue to carve out PEARS unique niche, melding
punchy cadence with grinding hardcore and catchy melody.)
19. SHOPPING-“WHY
CHOOSE” (10/2)
20. SWIM
DEEP-“MOTHERS” (10/2)
21. WAVVES-“V” (10/2)
22. ALLISON
WEISS-“NEW LOVE” (10/2)
