F.A.B. Distribution

Archers Of Loaf [Vee Vee (2CD expanded edition)]

Feb. 21 street date. Expanded reissue of ARCHERS OF LOAF's second album, 'Vee Vee'. Remastered by Bob Weston and featuring new liner notes by MAGNET magazine editor Eric Miller, CD copies of 'Vee Vee' will include 16 bonus tracks and new cover art re-imagined by graphic artist Jay Ryan. The limited edition LP's are pressed to green vinyl and include a coupon to download the entire album, plus the 16 bonus tracks. The first full-length produced by Bob Weston, 1995's 'Vee Vee' was a slight departure from the bombastic noisepop that characterized Archers of Loaf's previous work, and the album's success proved that the band wasn't just a flash in the pan. The album became their best-selling album to date and landed them on the covers of national publications and at the top of college radio charts across the country. "Harnessed In Slums" and "Greatest Of All Time" became anthems of the underground and led to successful tours with the Flaming Lips and Weezer, and international tours of Europe and Australia. The bonus tracks include singles from the same era and unreleased demo versions.

Dion [Tank Full Of Blues]

Jan. 24 street date. A street poet and singer of extraordinary versatility, range and resonance, DION defined rock 'n' roll for a generation. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, Dion has returned to his deepest roots and influences to release his first blues album with mostly original songs. His critically acclaimed 2007 blues album 'Bronx In Blue' was nominated for a Grammy. It is this latest album, however, that Dion considers the crown of his career. 'Tank Full Of Blues' showcases his inexhaustible creativity and sheer exuberance, qualities that have made his music and his legend endure. Fittingly, this album will be released via Blue Horizon, the legendary Blues record label that was re-launched in 2010 by Richard Gottehrer and Seymour Stein, the founders of Sire Records.

Dirty Three [Toward The Low Sun]

Feb. 28 street date. DIRTY THREE return! It has been 7 years since their last album (2005's 'Cinder'), and 'Toward The Low Sun is a true humdinger. Warren Ellis (Grinderman, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) is always sawing away at something on the violin that kind of tightens our chest and gives us that ol' thousand-yard stare; Mick Turner (Fungus Brains, Tren Brothers) wanders with hollow-bodied guitar from abstract and dreamy to punishing hard chord rock in the space of a breath, never sacrificing a sense of the awesome along the path; then there's Jim White (Cat Power, Nina Nastasia, Bonnie "Prince" Billy). He's doing something that no one else does back there. Plus, he's drumming!

Dr. Dog [Be The Void (includes CD copy)]

February 7 street date. Beloved Philadelphia band Dr. Dog are poised to release a staggering burst of vital rock ‘n’ roll with their new record Be The Void. The album is the raucous follow up to the group’s critically lauded Shame, Shame. Having evolved from a band whose primary creative outlet was the album-making process into one that favored the energy of their live performances, Dr. Dog knew they wanted to document the new dynamic they had developed on the road. Tracking live in the studio and turning up the guitars, the band has delivered a truly great cathartic rock ‘n’ roll album played with near reckless abandon and passion, blending their early punk-infused energy with the songwriting craft that made Fate and Shame, Shame fan favorites. From the rollicking re-imagined blues of the disc’s title track to the searing guitars of “Vampire,” the frenetic urgency of “Over Here Over There” and the beautifully fuzzed out rock of “Warrior Man,” Dr. Dog’s Be The Void is a truly great rock ‘n’ roll record and the unmistakable sound of a band whose moment has arrived.

Earth [Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II]

Feb. 14 street date. Recorded in the same two week session as 2011's 'Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I' by Stuart Hallerman at Avast and mastered by Mell Detmer, EARTH's 'Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II' carries on in the freely improvised, folkloric vein of the title track from their last release. Tape was rolled and spontaneous composition occurred. 'Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II' is striking in many ways, not least, in the wildly improvised nature of this particular recording. Some tracks perfectly emphasise how the interplay between the foursome becomes even more accomplished as the recording evolves, a testament to the dynamism of this particular line up. Meanwhile, the track "His Teeth Did Brightly Shine" veers further into an entirely other direction, recalling sounds of the great British "Acid Folk" generation. This new Earth material brings forth some highly original and deeply mesmerising tones throughout, at times more hopeful and less dark and death oriented than previous work. Ultimately, the album presents a new, completely unanticipated direction for Earth, and a very welcome one at that. Vinyl edition will be released in March.

Guided By Voices [Let's Go Eat The Factory (incl. download)]

Jan. 17 street date. After a 15 year hiatus, the "classic lineup" of GUIDED BY VOICES (Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos and Kevin Fennell) finishes off its year-long reunion tour by releasing an album of 21 new songs, deliberately choosing to return to what bandleader Pollard calls the "semi-collegial" approach of iconic GBV albums like 'Bee Thousand' and 'Alien Lanes'. 'Let’s Go Eat The Factory' is much more than a mere return, however: sprawling, variegated, heavy, melodic, and yet still recognizably and coherently Guided By Voices in both its literal and mythic senses. Eschewing the recording studio, 'Let’s Go Eat The Factory' was instead manufactured in the living rooms, basements and garages of various longtime band members. Band members occasionally switched instruments, and Pollard gladly accepted input from other band members. Sprout wrote or co-wrote and sings on six of the 21 songs. The aesthetic is very much GBV, but in some unexpected ways (more prevalent use of keyboards and samples, for one thing) the 21st century can't help but poke its nose into the resulting music.

Hospitality [Hospitality]

Jan. 31 street date. The angular, intricate, and intelligent compositions of HOSPITALITY signal a sophisticated new pop voice. Singer Amber Papini's idiosyncratic songwriting coupled with the band's rich arrangements on their self-titled debut explore youth, New York, and the bittersweet commingling of past and present in a way that feels just right, right now. Papini's singing has a wisp of an English accent via Kansas City (she learned to sing by imitating Richard Butler on The Psychedelic Furs' 'Talk Talk Talk') and her lyrics create a moonstruck, even cinematic vision of New York City, where the band formed in 2007. The production by Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) and band member Nathan Michel (guitar, drums, keyboards), who released his share of experimental "bedroom" pop, culminating in 2005's The Beast (Skipp/Sonig), imbues the entire record with an intimate yet prodigious sound, layering period keyboards with horns, synthesizers, and treated guitars. Vinyl edition is limited to 1000 copies.

Imperial Teen [Feel The Sound]

Jan. 31 street date. The fifth album by IMPERIAL TEEN, 'Feel The Sound', succeeds completely at its goal, plainly stated in the collection's title. From the exhilarating, propulsive "Runaway", which features the entire band on lead vocals (how many other groups can make that claim?), to the expansive final statement of "Overtaken", Roddy Bottum, Lynn Perko Truell, Will Schwartz, and Jone Stebbins feel the sound themselves and, in turn, make the listener feel it in ways immediate, pleasurable, and haunting. ELO-like symphonic pop has become a touchstone for everyone from Justice to Cut Copy in recent years, but 'Feel The Sound' makes it manifest through live instrumentation that possesses a Krautrock level of intuitive synchronicity and a desert island jukebox's sense of fun. So many bands lose momentum and focus over time, but a little past its sweet sixteenth year of existence, Imperial Teen somehow grows both younger and wiser, connecting four characters through creative friendship and deep trust, and forging a communal power that continues to grow stronger. Vinyl edition is limited to 1000 copies.

Islands [A Sleep & A Forgetting]

February 14 street date. Islands’ new album A Sleep & A Forgetting continues the band’s penchant for crafting adventuresome and infectious state of the art pop music. But this time band leader Nick Thorburn has infused the songs with a personal introspection that gives the record a new and powerful emotional resonance. “This album is far more personal than any I’ve made before,” Thorburn explains. “I left New York after the end of a relationship and came to Los Angeles. There was a piano where I was staying and that’s where I wrote these songs. This record deals with loss, with memory and forgetting and with dreaming. I started writing it on Valentine’s Day and it’s coming out on Valentine’s Day.” The new album was produced by Thorburn and fellow Islands member Evan Gordon in less than two weeks, the 11 songs recorded live with hardly a single overdub. It’s a stripped down process and beautifully understated sound which only reinforces the confessional content of the lyrics.

Jazzanova [Upside Down (Remix compilation)]

January 24 street date. From the left or the right side? Straight ahead or upside down? No matter how you look at it - but it seems to be about time that all the remixes for Jazzanova that have been done over the last few years need to be bundled up in a nice big shiny package. After the first collection of remixes from 2003 ("Remixed") now's the turn for "Upside Down", some of dance music finest key figures' interpretations of selected Jazzanova tunes from the last eight years. And be assured, the line-up is as massive as the Berlin quintet’s worldwide reputation. From fellow Berliner Henrik Schwarz, Ye:Solar and Âme to Atjazz and Mr. Scruff from the UK, Motor City Drum Ensemble from Cologne, Glasgow's Midnight Mauraders and Soldiers Of House from Pretoria in South Africa this is a top notch international heavy weight affair. The Upisde Down release will be presented in a very unique and appealing packaging. The CD will come with a print on the front of the jewel case. The art work is done by JuToJo.

Lambchop [Mr. M]

Feb. 21 street date. It's been nearly two decades since LAMBCHOP released its first album, at the time pronouncing itself "Nashville's most fucked-up country band". Provocative it may have been, but the description made sense: at the heart of all that ruckus was a band at once defying and embracing the musical legacy of its hometown. Since then, Lambchop has evolved into an accomplished ensemble, adding palpable depth and substance to singer-songwriter-guitarist Kurt Wagner's songs - and the band sounds as commanding as ever on its 11th album, 'Mr. M', a collection of meditations on love and loss and the detritus of everyday existence. As on past Lambchop records, many of the songs on 'Mr. M' are framed with lush strings, and there's a restrained undercurrent of distortion and discord. The core of the music remains the cyclical picking of Wagner's guitar and the soft, warm croaking of his voice. The songs are spacious, even dreamy, while the lyrics and titles are rich with allusions, some of them obvious, others seemingly unknowable. The double vinyl edition is limited and includes 4 bonus tracks.

Letlive [Fake History (2LP includes CD)]

January 24 street date. Letlive. mix elements of hardcore punk, metalcore, and even jazz in their sound, a melting pot of influences that reflects the melting-pot Los Angeles neighborhoods in which the band came together. For their Epitaph debut, Fake History, letlive. showcase this eclecticism, from the haunting piano breakdown on “Muther” to the soul-inflected thrash of “Day 54.” Inheritors of maverick hardcore bands like Refused, At the Drive In, and the Deftones, letlive. have captured Los Angeles audiences with their gripping live shows and driving self-released recordings; now they set their sights on the wider world. Double LP with Etched fourth side. Includes CD of full album.

Moka Only & Chief [Crickets]

Jan. 31 street date. Now available at a much lower price! Vancouver rapper/producer MOKA ONLY (Swollen Members) teams up with Swiss beatmaker Chief for the finest indie hip hop album you might hear this year, 'Crickets'. The album showcases the talent of two very gifted artists, pushing the boundaries of hip hop while preserving its backbone. The album showcases Moka Only's unique raps fused with Chiefs sound signature of merging straight hip hop elements with forward-thinking production. From moody ambiences, bewitching loops and hybrid beats to sophisticated soulful beats or mesmerizing urban soundscapes, 'Crickets' exhibits a rich pallet of atmospheres and attitudes with a smart and creative approach. Blending deft production with unique raps, 'Crickets' truly is a refreshing hip hop exploit from two driving forces in the hip hop scene.

Pallbearer [Sorrow And Extinction]

Feb. 21 street date. Never before has a band generated such a huge buzz on the strength of a single demo release. With only a three-song self-released cassette to their name, Little Rock, Arkansas's PALLBEARER have risen through the ranks of the doom metal scene with unprecedented speed. The group's sound recalls classic traditional heavy metal, taking cues not only from legendary doom bands like Candlemass, Trouble and Warning, but also from 70s prog and hard rock. 'Sorrow And Extinction' is Pallbearer's much-anticipated proper debut album and it surpasses all expectations. Powerful melodies counterbalance epic, somber passages of gloom, and the soaring vocals from frontman Brett Campbell sound eerily like a young Ozzy Osbourne in his prime. Undoubtedly, 'Sorrow And Extinction' will throw the young four-piece right into the spotlight as one of America's mightiest doom metal acts.

Pulp [Freaks (2CD expanded edition)]

Feb. 21 street date. PULP's 1987 album 'Freaks', reissued as a special 2 disc release, with the second bonus disc packed with singles and b-sides from the 'Freaks' era. Pulp had changed significantly since their debut 'It'. By this time every member bar Jarvis Cocker had moved on, but the addition of Russell Senior proved to be a pivotal turning point for the band. No longer did Pulp sound pastoral, easy-natured; now they were darkly romantic, brooding, noisy and a little bit Gothic, in the way young folk who brush their hair a certain way are always a little bit Gothic. Pulp were out-of-tune with the times: but the times didn't satisfy Pulp. The first disc is the original album, unaltered and in its entirety. The second is an 11 track bonus disc, comprising of tracks from the two big non-album singles from the same era, 'Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)' and 'Dogs Are Everywhere'.

Pulp [Separations (expanded edition)]

Feb. 21 street date. PULP's 1992 album 'Separations' was their third and last album on Fire. The band had already transformed from their debut 'It through the dark electronic phase of 'Freaks', and were garnering significant momentum. Now critically acclaimed and with a live reputation matched by only a few, most of the songs on 'Separations' sound fully-realised in that undeniably Pulp manner that was soon to be experienced everywhere. And, for the first time, there was an inescapable disco pulse. This is the transition album where Pulp, caught between a doomed romantic outsider past and an acid-bright future, made an album that brilliantly reflects both. Remastered and repackaged, with liner notes by Everett True. This edition features 4 bonus tracks - "Death Goes To The Disco" and "Is This House", as well as an extended version of the single "Countdown" and the previously unreleased "Death Comes To Town".

Pulp [It (expanded edition)]

Feb. 21 street date. Remastered, expanded reissue of PULP's 1983 debut album 'It'. 'It' is one of their most honest recordings - capturing a band at the beginning of their startling career; a gentle, mainly acoustic album that hints at the musical directions Pulp would later pursue. The album touches on the majestic, theatrical ballads of Scott Walker, as well as the stark, folky song poems of Leonard Cohen. Certainly an album by a young band trying to pinpoint their direction, and absorbing many an influence from all around, 'It' has aged beautifully into a charming collection. With new liner notes by Everett True and featuring 4 bonus tracks including the single version of "My Lighthouse", an alternative mix of "Blue Girls", the previously unreleased "Sink Or Swim", and "Please Don't Worry" from Pulp's John Peel session in 1981.

Samson, John K. [Provincial]

January 24 street date. Since 1997, John K. Samson has written four acclaimed albums with The Weakerthans. The band's most recent studio release Reunion Tour garnered praise from an assortment of publications including Paste Magazine, who said, "If such a prize existed, it would be the leading candidate for this year's Punk Pulitzer." Provincial, Samson’s first solo release began with a simple idea: to explore four different roads in Manitoba, the Canadian province where Samson lives. “They're the places I kept going back to.” Samson talked to relatives, friends and strangers; he visited archives, a tuberculosis sanatorium-turned-RV park, a forgotten cemetery. The result is this collection of evocative songs, an album that fits beside Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, Sun Kil Moon’s Ghosts Of The Great Highway, Mountain Goats’ Tallahassee. While the teenage craving of “Cruise Night” recalls the Cars, “Stop Error” invokes Bach; for “When I Write my Master’s Thesis,” Samson’s inspiration was all jukebox serendipity—Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” sailing out from the corner of a Yukon dive-bar. Provincial is a record full of fierce, tuneful, vivid stories.

Wire [The Black Session: Paris, 10 May 2011]

Feb. 7 street date. 2011 saw the release of WIRE's most critically acclaimed and fastest-selling album in recent years, 'Red Barked Tree'. The band also embarked on its most ambitious tour to date, embracing four continents and dozens of cities, many of which Wire had never played before. In celebration of this extraordinary year, Pink Flag presents a special keepsake for those many thousands that saw the band live, as well as those who weren't able to make it. Named for the legendary series of radio broadcasts hosted by Bernard Lenoir for Radio France, 'The Black Session: Paris 10 May 2011' was initially available as an exclusive tour item during Wire's UK autumn dates, but will see a worldwide release in February 2012. The selection of tracks marries live versions of songs from 'Red Barked Tree' with choice cuts from Wire's extensive back catalogue, including much-loved classics "Kidney Bingos", "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" and "Two People In A Room".

Witch Mountain [South Of Salem]

Feb. 21 street date. WITCH MOUNTAIN was formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1997 by Rob Wrong and SUNN 0))) collaborator Nathan Carson. By 2000, the groundwork had been laid, the demo 'Homegrown Doom' remastered and released in Europe, and Dave Hoopaugh was brought in on bass. Debut album 'Come The Mountain' was released to critical acclaim in 2001; the first printing sold out in two months. Between 1998 and 2002 Witch Mountain was a live staple in the Northwest and on the national circuit, touring with Weedeater and Spirit Caravan. A period of hibernation ensued until 2009 when the group resurfaced with soulful female vocalist Uta Plotkin. They self-released a vinyl-only edition of 'South Of Salem' in April 2011 to exceptional press as well as serious nods from NPR (!), Decibel magazine and beyond. The limited-to-1000 CD pressing will help spread awareness for their unique brand of sludgy, bluesy, soulful doom while the band enters the studio this spring to record a follow-up album.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan [YT//ST]

December 13 street date. With YT//ST, the pan-Asian cultural collective, YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN has crafted a debut LP that sets new standards for the creative heights and satisfactions of genre fusion. They call it Noh-Wave. The key to Yamantaka’s sound lies in their uninhibited admixture of East and West, their commingling of the band’s ancestral musics with more contemporary genres to explore the complications and contradictions of dual identity. By simultaneously inhabiting a variety of cultural forms, the band shatters the comfort with which colonialist cultures have appropriated the image and art of Asian and Native peoples to assemble a wholly new hybrid form. This is Noh-Wave, and it draws from both pop and J-pop, British prog and Japanese psychedelia, punk rock and Iroquois social songs, black metal and Chinese Opera, noise music and Noh theatre. The resultant sounds could be seductively soft (as heard on “Hoshi Neko”) or electrifyingly loud (as heard on “Reverse Crystal // Death of a Spider”), but they’re invariably the stuff of a visionary new approach to popular music. Based in Montreal and Toronto, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan are a diasporic collective helmed by RUBY KATO ATTWOOD and ALASKA B. On YT//ST, the vocals, drums, and art duo is joined by the traditional Mohawk singer and MC, ANGELA LOFT, GRAND TRINE guitarist, SHUB ROY, JOHN ANCHETA on bass; BRENDAN SWANSON on keys; and WALTER SCOTT on backing vocals. In live contexts, the group’s dazzling musical theatre and giant mangaesque set designs are illuminated by the lighting-work of Alana Ruth. For fans of Boredoms, Flower Travellin’ Band, Taj Mahal Travellers, Deep Purple, J-Pop and Chinese Opera. LP limited to 500 copies on white vinyl.

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