Tuesday, September 23, 2008

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl ))))) Fiery Furnaces, Matthew Dear, Tortoise re-issues & more

MATTHEW DEAR Dog Days: The Robsoul Remixes 12"
*** "A cross-continental project that mines the connections between Matthew Dear's precision techno-pop and the French label Robsoul's expansive funk." Remixes by DJ SNEAK, PHIL WEEKS, CHRIS CARRIER.

THE FIERY FURNACES Remember 3xLP + MP3 / 2xCD
*** "Remember captures the high energy, intricate complexity vocal acrobatics and the technical musicianship that defines a Fiery Furnaces performance. Collecting songs from their entire catalogue and performances across the globe, Remember is 51 tracks." 3xLP version comes with a coupon to download the album in MP3.

HIGH PLACES High Places LP / CD
*** "The debut full-length album! The duo have created a signature sound out of using bass-heavy, yet crisp beats, lilting vocal melodies, syncopated rhythmic lines performed on folk percussion instruments, guitar duets turned into treated samples, and percussive lines created from the manipulation of household objects."

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Half Asleep 7"
*** Ex-SECRET MACHINES, ex-ON!AIR!LIBRARY! "School of Seven Bells stylishly split the difference between shoegazing introspection and stargazing dream pop. Compact, propulsive throb; layers of milky-blue synthesizer; bottomless guitar; and the angelic, harmonized coos of sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza."

IRMA THOMAS Sings LP
*** "This is a fantastic collection of all of Irma's early singles for the Minit and Imperial labels. Dubbed 'The Soul Queen of New Orleans,' Irma had some of the most beautiful and raw soul singles yet she never received the notoriety of contemporaries like Etta James and Aretha Franklin."

TINDERSTICKS The Hungry Saw LP / CD
*** RECOMMENDED “The first new TINDERSTICKS album in five years, The Hungry Saw, is most certainly a great one and it sounds a lot like you'd imagine it to. After all, this is a band who've crafted their own very specific language over the years."

TORTOISE Standards LP + MP3
TORTOISE It's All Around You LP + MP3
*** RE-ISSUED! Standards is on red vinyl.

TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science LP + MP3 / CD
*** 'Best New Music' by Pitchfork with a 9.2 "Fine-tuning what they did best on 2006's Return to Cookie Mountain, TVOTR tweak, loop and distort a grand arsenal of aggressive percussion, new wave synths, epic guitar noise and various kitchen-sink devices, then layering them all into a big, beautiful art-rock symphony."