Tuesday, August 10, 2010

NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - Cloud Cuckooland, Arcade Fire, Best Coast, Madlib, Wavves + more

v/a CLOUD CUCKOOLAND CD
*** RECOMMENDED "The ideologies of rebellion, rule breaking and risk taking, which would provide the foundation for the German rock explosion affectionately known as krautrock, were sewn into Kuckuck Records founder Eckart Rahn's DNA. Most of the music on this compilation is pre-1974, focusing on Kuckuck's prog rock years that would be filed under the kosmiche or krautrock banner."

v/a DOUBLE COOKIN' Classic Northern Soul Instrumentals CD
*** "Kent's first ever all-instrumental collection brings together some of the most popular 'wordless wonders' to have livened up Northern Soul dance floors as well as a handful of instrumental versions of long-time vocal favourites that were created especially for and are mostly exclusive to Double Cookin'."

v/a NEXT STOP SOWETO VOL. 3: Giants, Ministers and Makers: Jazz In South Africa 1963-1978 2xCD
*** "A long overdue retrospective of the rich jazz scene that happened in South Africa from the early 60s to mid-80s while many major artists lived in exile abroad and South Africa's finest jazz players remained."

ARCADE FIRE The Suburbs 2xLP / CD
*** Perhaps you've heard of them! Poised to conquer the world and simultaneously piss off Wayne Coyne, Arcade Fire have yet to disappoint their listening republic.

BEST COAST Crazy For You CD
*** "Hazy, dreamy and genre-defining, this collection of songs proves that the incredible amount of blog and press hype for Best Coast is more than warrented. Ultimate summer record and record of the year?"

BUDOS BAND The Budos Band III CD
*** "If the menacing album art, which features a cobra primed for the attack, is any indication of the music itself, we can expect an all out assault of the senses, with a tendency towards the venomous and psychedelic."

EL-P WeAreAllGoingToBurnInHellMegaMixxx3 CD
*** "Collecting short and to the point songs (ala Donuts) that were meticulously crafted yet never found a home on a proper release, EL-P creates a dark, dystopian sonic universe filled with ominous basslines and thumping, punishing drums."

ESHAM Suspended Animation CD
*** Juggalo4Life3000 gave Suspended Animation 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon and said "This album is mad fresh I love it."

NINA HAGEN Nunsexmonkrock + Nina Hagen Band Ep CD
*** "NunSexMonkRock is the first solo album by punk singer-songwriter Nina Hagen after the two albums she made with the Nina Hagen Band."

MADLIB Medicine Show No. 7: High Jazz CD
*** "High Jazz, the name itself a tribute to the landmark jazz-fusion album released by Stanton Davis's Ghetto Mysticism in 1976, shows a marked development in Madlib's craft. Is that tune modal-funk? Was that song psych-fusion? Was that a bossa-tinged run or another kind of latin-affair? Where did that sitar come from?"

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE Rated R - Deluxe Edition 2xCD
*** "QOTSA marks the 10th anniversary of 'Rated R' with the expanded, two-CD Rated Rx - Deluxe Edition. Added to the original album is a second disc with six B-sides and the band's 2000 Reading Festival concert--featuring nine previously."

WAVVES King Of The Beach CD
*** "An adventurous and ambitious record that cuts deeper into the bleeding throat zatharsis and '60s sunshine soul that Wavves is known for. It also unexpectedly flips out with elements of primitive electronics and psychedelic studio experimentation."