Tuesday, January 27, 2009

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl ))))) Los Campesinos, Of Montreal, the Boss!

LOS CAMPESINOS We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed LP+MP3+FANZINE
*** Holy smokes! This package includes a single 180g vinyl LP, a code to download the album PLUS video content, and a fanzine with contributions from XIU XIU, GRANDADDY, MENOMENA and others.

OF MONTREAL Jon Brion Remix EP LP
*** "Grammy-nominated producer Jon Brion's interpretation of songs from Of Montreal's 'Skeletal Lamping.'"

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Working On A Dream LP+MP3 / CD
*** "13 new jams with the E Street Band."

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) Cluster, the Boss, Omar Rodriguez Lopez and a bunch of other hitmakers!

THE BIRD AND THE BEE Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future CD
*** "Every bit as beguiling as their debut, the album retains its predecessor's lithe melodies and Brazilian influences, but takes its stylish, '60s pop deeper into new sonic terrain, especially the psychedelic period of the Tropicalia era."

CLUSTER Grosses Wasser CD
*** "Combining the ambient space rock of early albums on some songs with a more updated, beat-driven (dare I say space-disco?) sound on others, this is Cluster's last great album."

FRANZ FERDINAND Tonight CD
*** "New album featuring three big hits."

JOHN FRUSCIANTE The Empyrean CD
*** "The eleventh solo album from this enigmatic singer-songwriter and Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist, suited to dark living rooms late at night. Featuring Flea, Sonus Quartet, Johnny Marr, and The New Dimension Singers."

OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ Old Money CD
*** "Fitting comfortably between the ORL's monumental work with The Mars Volta, and The Apocalypse Inside Of An Orange, Old Money is a 10-track collection of concise rock compositions, which range from progressive to psychedelic to downright funky."

MARK OLSON & GARY LOURIS Ready For The Road CD
*** "The glorious reunion of JAYHAWKS frontmen!"

CAROLINE PEYTON Mock Up CD
*** "This 1972 album has been expanded to 14 tracks, including her three vocal cuts on the Screaming Gypsy Bandits In The Eye LP." On NUMERO/ASTERISK.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Working On A Dream LP+ MP3 / CD
*** "13 new jams with the E Street Band."

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl ))))) Microphones triple-LP, Lou Reed, Bon Iver & more

ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS Another World 12"
*** NOW ON VINYL!

DEVENDRA BANHART Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon 2xLP
*** NOW ON VINYL!

BON IVER Blood Bank 12" / CD
*** *** "BON IVER's snow-blanketed harmonies live across the seasons. Both expansive and intimate, these four songs explore the darker and lighter natures of the seasons and what they signify, and offer a dynamic glimpse into the natural energy and refined craftsmanship that characterize Justin Vernon's music."

FUCKED UP Crooked Head 7"
*** Crooked Head b/w I Hate Summer.

GANG GANG DANCE Saint Dymphna LP
*** NOW ON VINYL!

MI AMI African Rhythms 12"
*** BACK IN STOCK!

MICROPHONES Glow Pt. 2 3xLP
*** NOW IN STOCK! Holy smokes -- it was impossible to get copies of this triple-vinyl mammoth!! This is the reissued deluxe version of this mighty, mighty album. Don't sleep!

A.C. NEWMAN Get Guilty LP+MP3 / CD
*** *** "The second solo album from A.C. Newman, leader and songwriter behind The New Pornographers, finds the pop songsmith in decidedly more upbeat and guitar-heavy form than the last NPs album. An irresistible set of layered pop
songs of great melodic and lyrical depth."

LOU REED Berlin: Live @ St. Ann's 2xLP / CD
*** NOW ON VINYL!

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) Animal Collective, Antony, Andrew Bird and some non-A groups as well

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Merriweather Post Pavilion CD
*** Perhaps you've heard of these gents. Do the words "ALBUM OF THE DECADE" mean anything to you!?!?!?!?

ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS The Crying Light CD
*** "Bridging the gap between avant-classical music and the blues, the intimacy of the Johnsons' sound is enveloped by avant-classical composer Nico Muhly's symphonic arrangements. "The Crying Light" is a soul-stirring new work with its daring compositions and captivating vocal performances. Antony and the Johnsons have created a subtle and timely work that brings a magical and yet changing world to the forefront of our consciousness.

ANDREW BIRD Noble Beast CD
*** Perhaps you've heard of this fellow! Vinyl and double-disc edition to come!

JAMES BLACKSHAW Litany Of Echoes CD
*** A young guitar English player once more so in the tradition of John Fahey/Basho/etc. now sports a Steve Reich-ian/Phil Glass bent. Highly recommended by all sorts of people, not least of all is Pitchfork.

BON IVER Blood Bank 12" / CD
*** "BON IVER's snow-blanketed harmonies live across the seasons. Both expansive and intimate, these four songs explore the darker and lighter natures of the seasons and what they signify, and offer a dynamic glimpse into the natural energy and refined craftsmanship that characterize Justin Vernon's music."

HAUSCHKA Ferndorf CD
*** "Where Volker Bertelmann's previous album comprised primarily solo recordings of Bertelmann and his prepared piano (with a few electronic and instrumental overdubs), Ferndorf is a more expansive and fully-realized effort."

JOHANN JOHANNSSON Fordlandia CD
*** "Johann Johannsson makes stately, slow-building and hauntingly melodic music - which frequently combines electronic processing with classical orchestrations - that has been quietly bewitching listeners for the last few years."

DAMIEN JURADO Caught In The Trees CD
*** BACK IN STOCK!

LITTLE JOY Little Joy CD
*** "Little Joy is Rodrigo Amarante (LOS HERMANOS), Fabrizio Moretti (THE STROKES), and Binki Shapiro. three friends who dropped their routine at their respective hometowns to make a record in Los Angeles, California."

MONKEY Journey To The West CD
*** GORILLAZ side project.

A.C. NEWMAN Get Guilty LP+MP3 / CD
*** "The second solo album from A.C. Newman, leader and songwriter behind The New Pornographers, finds the pop songsmith in decidedly more upbeat and guitar-heavy form than the last NPs album. An irresistible set of layered pop
songs of great melodic and lyrical depth."

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS Do It Like We Used To Do 2xCD+DVD
*** New!

LOU REED Berlin: Live @ St. Ann's 2xLP / CD
*** "Lou Reed recorded the album Berlin in 1973. It was a commercial failure.
For five nights in December 2006 at St. Ann's Warehouse Brooklyn, Lou Reed performed his master work about love's dark sisters; jealousy, rage and loss and was made a film by Julian Schnabel."

SKELETONS Money CD
*** "Why not call it GASOLINE or DEATH? Because MONEY is the root, and this is Root Music. Because MONEY will still be there after you've thinned out. Because MONEY is TIME and TIME is SPACE. MONEY is YOURS!"

TITUS ANDRONICUS The Airing Of Grievances CD
*** "Written during a particularly crucial time in any young person's life, TA launches insights across a wall of defiant, triumphant rock anthems, which have earned comparisons to such iconoclasts as the Pogues, and The Replacements."

THOM YORKE The Eraser Rmxs CD
*** "Previously available on highly limited 12" singles these remixes are now available for a limited time on CD. Featuring remixes by BURIAL, FOURTET, and THE BUG among others."

FRANK ZAPPA Zappa/Wazoo 2xCD
*** A disc of previously unreleased orchestral Zappa tunes with fancy packaging.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl ))))) Psychedelic giants on LP!

ARESKI & BRIGITTE FONTAINE L'Incendie LP
*** Areski Belkacem and Brigitte Fontaine compose some of the most indescribably beautiful music: otherworldly vocals delivering unique and dark surrealist poetry over minimalist world/folk with psychedelic touches in the background.

JOE BYRD & THE FIELD HIPPIES The American Metaphysical Circus LP
*** Often recalling Joe Byrd's previous band, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, The American Metaphysical Circus is a hugely ambitious, strange, and beguiling LP of spacey melodicism and psychedelic pulse with nods to straightforward rock, old-time music and gospel.

CEYLEIB PEOPLE Tanyet LP
*** RECOMMENDED Featuring a young Ry Cooder, Ceyleib People's sole offering is a 1967 psychedelic masterpiece of Beefheart-esque instrumental electric blues drifting in and out of hazy swathes of sitar, tablas and mellotron.

GANDALF Gandalf LP
*** Attractive baroque-psychedelia with a spacey air, often quite weird. The material is a mix of covers (TIM HARDIN) and originals on the cusp between rock, progressive-rock, and psychedelia.

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) The Fall, The Week That Was, Wild Beasts

THE FALL Imperial Wax Solvent CD
*** Import-only 2008 album by The Fall finally in-stock -- one of the best-received Fall albums in years.

THE WEEK THAT WAS The Week That Was CD
*** "The Week That Was emerged from an imagined crime thriller dreamt up by FIELD MUSIC's Brewis and inspired by Paul Auster's labyrinthine storytelling. Musically the record is an expansive tribute, paying direct (and indirect) homage to the wildly ambitious Linn Drum and Fairlight experiments of Gabriel, and Tin Drum-era Japan."

WILD BEASTS Limbo, Panto CD
*** "The debut from Leeds-based Wild Beasts is a collection of ten beautiful, eccentric, very British tales. An incredibly confident record showcasing the band's pop sensibility as well as their humorous side. Delightful, romantic, magical, and timeless."

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

( NEWS ) R.I.P. RON ASHETON

Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton found dead in his Ann Arbor home
by Art Aisner | The Ann Arbor News

Famed rock-and-roll guitarist and longtime Ann Arbor resident Ronald "Ron" Asheton was found dead in his home on the city's west side this morning, police said.

Asheton, 60, was an original member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band headlined by Iggy Pop and formed in Ann Arbor in 1967.

Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was found dead early today in his Ann Arbor home. His personal assistant contacted police late Monday night after being unable to reach Asheton for days, Detective Bill Stanford said.

Officers went to the home on Highlake Avenue at around midnight and discovered Asheton's body on a living-room couch. He appeared to have been dead for at least several days, Stanford said.

Detective Sgt. Jim Stephenson said the cause of death is undetermined but investigators do not suspect foul play. Autopsy and toxicology results are pending.

Asheton was born in Washington, D.C. His brother, Scott, who lives in Florida, is the band's drummer.

In 2007, The Stooges reunited and released "The Weirdness," their first album in three decades.

Asked how it felt to be back with The Stooges, Asheton told The News in an interview that year that it was "great to be back on the road."

Friday, January 2, 2009

(( RECOMMENDED )) Former-Q and not U fellow!

RIS PAUL RIC Purple Blaze CD
*** "The debut solo album from Q And Not U member, Christopher Paul Richards, recorded by Tim Hecker."

Soon after the passing of Dischord's late/great Q And Not U, Chris Richards holed up with Canadian electronic composer, Tim Hecker, and recorded a collection of primarily acoustic tunes. Some of Q And Not U's rough edges have been smoothed away and replaced with subtle textures provided by Hecker. Following a somewhat spotty final album with his former band, Richards more than makes up for it with this strong debut.