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Ariel Pink [Worn Copy (2LP)] April 24 street date. 2nd installment of Ariel Pink collections/reissues from Mexican Summer; The Doldrums, Worn Copy, and House Arrest, three of the signature records from the Haunted Graffiti era. Recorded during a sleepier era in Ariel’s native Los Angeles, it’s easy to hear The Doldrums as a response to a feeling of under-stimulation or malaise, a mood that had been angrily mined by Gen X in the 1990s but which Ariel treated with some ironic distance. Songs like “Gray Sunsets” and “Let’s Build a Campfire There” articulate a longing melancholia with arresting lyrics that blend the juvenile and poetic. Ariel Pink’s public profile at the time was limited to Los Angeles. It wasn’t until 2004, after Ariel Pink’s music began reaching wider audiences through releases on Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks label that he began touring the U.S. in support of The Doldrums, House Arrest and Worn Copy. Live reviews from the tour mention Ariel changing the format and feel of the show night by night. Oddly, albums such as The Doldrums, Worn Copy and House Arrest were not widely embraced initially, though their inventiveness and strange beauty was usually recognized by reviewers, if not begrudgingly. Critical opinion was divided: Ariel Pink was either a self-indulgent “weirdo” or a pop music genius. Twenty years on, Ariel’s music still stupefies. |
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Barry, Jennah [Holiday] March 27 CD Street date. (LP due Fall 2020) Jennah Barry's long-awaited sophomore release!! (new single hiit #5 on CBC Top 20. Confirmed coverage from Mojo, Popmatters, Exclaim! & many more!!) - Hailing from the coastal haven of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Jennah Barry is one of Atlantic Canada’s surest sirens. Her undeniable, rosewater voice sets a mood wherein even the hardest truths seem palatable. Moving effortlessly between folk, country and soft rock motifs, Barry’s music, last heard on her instantly classic debut Young Men, sets her at the forefront of a tradition of women making music as strong as it is sentimental. "Hazy and calm and entirely entrancing" - The Line of Best Fit // "Barry has an unsettling ability to capture the warmth of an evening (possibly seaside) while slowly cracking into that cozy façade with the tap-tap of insistent heartbreak." - CBC Music |
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Bloodshot Bill [Get Loose Or Get Lost] April 10 street date. (Legendary Montreal-based wildman of rock and roll and R & B has worked with Jon Spencer, King Khan, the 5678’s and Deke Dickerson!!) For nearly twenty years, Bloodshot Bill has shouted, snorted, cooed and crooned his way through the wild shadowland of primitive rock and roll, touring the world and collaborated with heavyweights like Jon Spencer, King Khan, the 5678’s and Deke Dickerson. Seventeen albums and over two dozen singles later, this unstoppable Montrealeño has not slowed his manic touring and recording schedule one whit. He’s a seminal punk, a true wildman who blazes his own path to honky tonk hell with a bottomless repertoire of desperate rock and roll and insatiable R&B. That means he knows a lotta songs—not that he doesn’t wear pants. But on the right night, who knows! This spring, Bloodshot Bill will release his eighteenth album, Get Loose Or Get Lost, his second for Memphis’ Goner Records. He will be touring everywhere, continuing his twenty-year rampage with a new record and a new slew of shows—do not miss it! |
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Bon Iver [Blood Bank EP (10th anniversary edition)] March 27 street date. Bon Iver's "Blood Bank" EP was originally released in early 2009, hot on the heels of the beloved album "For Emma, Forever Ago". The EP was a harbinger of a new sound for Bon Iver: a movement away from the acoustic guitar-led instrumentation of the debut and the beginning of an exploration into the experimental sounds that have evolved but defined Bon Iver ever since. The reissue of this seminal EP is coupled with brand new live renditions of all the EP tracks, all recorded at various venues in 2018. |
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Burch, Anna [If You're Dreaming] April 3 street date. When Anna Burch introduced herself on her 2018 debut "Quit The Curse", it was with a concentrated wash of energetic, serotonin-boosting pop. Two years later, Burch's follow up "If You're Dreaming" takes us down a different path than its predecessor, shedding some nervous energy in favor of a deeper exploration of an internal world. "If You're Dreaming" was tracked with producer Sam Evian in his home studio in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. The end goal was to present not just an assortment of new songs, but craft an album that moved dynamically through an interconnected emotional arc. With recurring themes of isolation, weariness and longing, these songs deliver that emotional arc with a delicate but uncompromising execution. Even at its most introverted, "If You're Dreaming" is always warm and present. Daring and clear-headed, these songs cut deeper in their subtleties. "If You're Dreaming" moves with intention, taking its time revealing new layers of sophistication and growth in Burch's always charming songcraft. |
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Cable Ties [Far Enough] March 27 street date. Cable Ties are a fierce, tense rock’n’roll trio. They take the three-minute punk burner and stretch it past breaking point to deliver smouldering feminist anthems. Post-punk and garage rock hammered together by a relentless rhythmic pulse. Jenny McKechnie channels her struggles into songs that resonate deeply, giving voice to feelings often buried in modern life. Shauna Boyle and Nick Brown are a rhythm section anchored in Stooges primitivism, relentlessly hammering out a bedrock for McKechnie’s guitar pyrotechnics and vocal wallop. Three friends summoning a rhythmic tide to deliver anthems that turn latent anxieties into a rallying cry. The band has been committed to an inclusive feminist and political outlook since its inception in 2015, exploring issues of gendered violence, colonialism, and sexual assault. The band members have been involved in benefit shows, organized DIY festivals, and volunteer with Girls Rock!, a not-for-profit organization that aims to empower female, trans, and gender non-binary youth in music. Their debut self-titled album, released in 2017 on Poison City Records, was a Triple J feature album and album of the week on 3RRR, with strong support nationally from community radio. The album was distributed internationally by independent distributors Cargo UK and Cargo Germany. They have also self released three 7-inch singles which have all sold out. The debut album is on its third vinyl pressing. Cable Ties have supported artists such as Joan Jett, The Kills, Camp Cope, and Cash Savage. They won Best Hard Rock Act at the 2017 National Live Music Awards and were nominated in five categories. They won the Corner Music Award in 2017, have been nominated for eight Age Music Victoria awards, and were longlisted for The Australian Music Prize 2017. |
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Clams Casino [Moon Trip Radio] April 3 street date. Clams Casino stands amongst the most respected hip-hop producers in the game today. After several years of underground notoriety, Clams became widely known after producing several of the standout tracks on A$AP Rocky’s monolithic debut mixtape "Live. Love. ASAP" and has received widespread critical acclaim for his collaborations with Lil Peep, Vince Staples, Lil B, Mac Miller, The Weeknd, Joji amongst others. His hugely anticipated instrumental album "Moon Trip Radio" is a stunning collection of tracks that showcase his immense talent as both a composer and producer. |
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Craig, Ian William [Red Sun Through Smoke] March 27 street date. Forged in trauma and an intense, bewildering slew of mixed emotions - wildfires raged near the secluded cabin near Kelowna in which he was recording, his grandfather passed away from said wildfires during the recording process, and he discovered his new feelings of love were mutual only a day before she moved to Paris - Vancouver's Ian William Craig has created an album of incredible beauty, sadness and depth. "Red Sun Through Smoke" is a profoundly moving album, a standout record in a prolific body of work that shows no sign of faltering. |
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Danzig [Sings Elvis] April 17 street date. The brand new studio album from punk/metal icon and powerhouse vocalist Glenn Danzig paying tribute to his idol and inspiration, Elvis Presley! Features 14 unforgettable interpretations of well-known Elvis classics and unheralded deep cuts that will thrill fans of both of these kings of rock music! Highlights include Danzig's sinister take on "Fever" and a truly haunting version of "Always On My Mind!" Danzig is no stranger to working with American music royalty having written songs for both Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison! Available in a special digipak for CD and on vinyl in a deluxe gatefold jacket! |
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Dream Syndicate [The Universe Inside] April 10 street date. When one thinks of the Dream Syndicate, it’s not just the wild abandon with which singer/guitarist Steve Wynn, drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, and lead guitarist Jason Victor perform – it’s the carefully constructed songwriting of Wynn that comes to mind. By now every rock critic in the country has predetermined who he or she feels Wynn reminds them of and what they think of that style of songs. This time, don’t! Which brings us to The Universe Inside. Every article or review ever written will claim “this is new and different” – well, it is! Just look at the song lengths: 20:27, 7:36, 8:56, 9:55 and 10:53. Ok, sure – the Syndicate have occasionally committed a long song to vinyl, “John Coltrane Stereo Blues” was 9 minutes with live versions over the ten-minute mark. For the first time, every song is a group songwriting effort. What seeps in are Dennis Duck’s knowledge of European avant-garde music , Jason Victor’s passion for 70s prog, Mark Walton’s experience in Southern-fried music collectives and Wynn’s love of vintage electric jazz. The dazzling display of album cover artwork alone should clue you into the changes. But don’t take our word for it. Dive in! |
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Everything Is Recorded [Friday Forever] April 3rd street date. Everything Is Recorded is the collaborative artist project helmed by British musician and producer Richard Russell.
FRIDAY FOREVER is an investigation into the universality of the Friday night experience.
It's the follow up to his eponymous debut album which was released in 2018 and went on to be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and hailed by Q Magazine as a "masterclass in the art of collaboration".
FRIDAY FOREVER features an instinctively curated set of collaborators including the Manchester rapper Aitch, South London's FLOHIO and James Massiah, Trinidad born Berwyn, Ireland's Maria Somerville and Kean Kavanagh, Staten Island rap god Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan, longterm EIR collaborator Infinite Coles, West London's A.K. Paul and a rare contribution from the anarchy punk legend Penny Rimbaud of Crass
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Frusciante, John [The Empyrean (2LP-10th anniversary edition)] April 3 street date. 10 year anniversary vinyl reissue of "The Empyrean" by John Frusciante, cut from the original analog tapes at Bernie Grundman's mastering. Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, composer, and producer, best known as the guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he recorded five albums. Originally released in January of 2009, "The Empyrean" contains contributions from RHCP bandmate Flea and former guitarist of The Smiths, Johnny Marr. Includes hi res audio download card. |
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Half Waif [The Caretaker] March 27 street date. Half Waif Nandi Rose is on her own again, and three songs into her forthcoming album The Caretaker , the singer, songwriter and producer declares her fearlessness: “Baby don’t worry about me, I don’t worry about you.” Here, on “Ordinary Talk,” Rose meditates on the heaviness of ordinary moments, the constellation of tears and chores and self-doubt and small talk that comprise being a person, accompanied by her most cinematic, pulsing arrangements to date. It’s an apt introduction to The Caretaker, an ax-lbum that negotiates the space between working alone and with others, between isolation and connection. The result is her boldest work yet. Over the course of eleven songs, Rose creates the lush world of a humid summer night, dreaming of and reaching for a season in which she is her “best self.” |
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Mergia, Hailu [Yene Mircha] March 27 street date. It's been a long, winding road to Hailu Mergia's sixth decade of musical activity. With 2018's critical breakthrough "Lala Belu", Mergia championed himself and consolidated his legacy, producing the album on his own and connecting with listeners through the sheer creative power of his version of modern Ethiopian music. His subsequent performances revealed an artist who is in no way stuck in the nostalgia for the "golden age" sound. The press agreed, including the New York Times, BBC and Pitchfork, calling his music "triumphantly in the present" in its Best 200 Albums of the 2010's list. Mergia's new album "Yene Mircha" encapsulates many of the things that make the keyboardist, accordionist and composer-arranger remarkable - elements that have persisted to maintain his vitality all these years, through the ebb and flow of his career. The rock solid trio with whom he has toured the world most recently, DC-based Alemseged Kebede (bass) and Ken Joseph (drums), forms the nucleus around which an expanded band makes a potent response to the contemporary jazz future "Lala Belu" promised. "Yene Mircha" calcifies Mergia's prolific stream of creativity and his philosophy that there is a multitude of Ethiopian musical approaches, not just one sound. |
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Parkway Drive [Viva the Underdogs (2LP)] March 27 street date. Parkway Drive, the five-piece metal band from Byron Bay, Australia formed in 2002. The band features vocalist Winston McCall, guitarists Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling, bassist Jia O’Connor, and drummer Ben Gordon. For more than a decade, the band has stood at the forefront of heavy music worldwide, matching their uncompromising urgency with a powerful musicality. They have released six studio albums, two platinum selling DVDs and one book in their storied career, which has been documented in the feature length documentary Viva the Underdogs, and this album release is the soundtrack to the film. The film, Viva The Underdogs features over a decade of behind the scenes personal footage, coupled with unprecedented access to the bands most explosive live tours and world’s biggest music festivals. The film gives an incredibly honest and candid look at Parkway Drive’s journey; the good-times, battles, triumphs, and sacrifices. Viva The Underdogs the album features 14 tracks; 11 of their biggest songs recorded live at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany, as well as three of their most popular tracks re-imagined, recorded in German and one with a feature from German Rap artist, Casper. |
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Redd Kross [Show World (re-issue)] Please note new street date: May 8. Third Man Records reissue of two of Redd Kross' beloved 1990s albums, Phaseshifter (1993) and Show World (1997). Phaseshifter line-up intact (Gene Fennelly would soon move on, but plays all the keyboards on the recording), Redd Kross came back at us with amps turned up and smiles on their faces on 1997’s Show World. The album starts off with a spot on cover of The Quick’s L.A. power pop classic, Pretty Please Me, and sets the tone for yet another killer album by the thinking person’s good time band. Like all Redd Kross albums before and since, this one is all killer, no filler, with special highlights Stoned, Vanity Mirror, One Chord Progression and the absolutely sublime Follow The Leader. |
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Redd Kross [Phaseshifter (re-issue)] Please note new street date: May 8. Third Man Records reissue two of Redd Kross' beloved 1990s albums, Phaseshifter (1993) and Show World (1997). The brothers are joined by drummer Brian Reitzell, guitarist Eddie Kurdziel (R.I.P.) and keyboardist Gene Fennelly on 1993’s Phaseshifter. Redd Kross leaves the ‘60s and ‘70s pop culture references at the door (well, most of them) and brings their strong melodies, dreamy harmonies, psychedelic punk / bubblegum metal to the front, tearing through 12 new Redd Kross tunes. Every track is a full-on Redd Kross gem, with standouts like Crazy World, Dumb Angel, Pay For Love and After School Special. |
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SONICS [Boom (180g)] April 3 street date. We follow up January's release of "Here Are The Sonics!" with a 180g black vinyl replica release of "Boom", the Sonics' second album, originally released in 1966 on Etiquette Records in wonderful mono. "Boom" still does much more than merely deliver on the promise of the first album, "Here Are The Sonics!". Few records have ever packed as much of a musical punch from start to finish. Even more so than their first LP, it offers a representation of what the Sonics must have sounded like at the peak of their considerable powers. Recorded in the most glorious no-fi you could ever wish for and with anthemic originals like ‘Cinderella’ and ‘He’s Waiting’ vying for your attention with what is possibly the most violent version of ‘Louie Louie’ that there will ever be, "Boom" is an album that has always justified the esteem in which it is held by collectors around the globe. |
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Stevens, Sufjan & Lowell Brams [Aporia] March 27 street date. "Aporia" is a New Age album from Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather and record label co-owner, Lowell Brams. In the spirit of the New Age composers who sanded off the edges of their synths' sawtooth waves, "Aporia" approximates a rich soundtrack from an imagined sci-fi epic brimming with moody, hooky, gauzy synthesizer soundscapes. The album may suggest the progeny of a John Carpenter, Wendy Carlos, and Mike Oldfield marriage, but it stands apart from these touchstones and generates a meditative universe all its own. This is no mere curio in the Sufjan Stevens catalog - but a fully realized collaborative musical piece. |
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Tops [I Feel Alive] April 3 street date. The artwork for TOPS' fourth LP sets the tone for the music enclosed. Inspired by the work of photographer Thomas Ruff, TOPS' vocalist Jane Penny stares bare-faced down the lens-simple and un-posed, yet striking with starkness and vulnerability. The image captures the fraught nature of being alive, which the 11 tracks on "I Feel Alive" explore. Penney's remarkably expressive voice is front and center. On this record more than any other, she sings with passion and energy, without sacrificing the honesty and introspection that gives her voice its depth. The songs cover a range of experiences but at its heart "I Feel Alive" is a record about resilience, the ways we can grow from for our pain and the strength that comes from learning to stand on your own as an individual. TOPS' trademark sound of beguiling melodies over soft-rock grooves, with touches of '80s sophisti-pop and a contemporary experimental palette is intact, but bolder and more expansive. The songs manage to be both immediately catchy and deceptively deep, with Penny's literary lyrics adding an extra dimension to the pure pop hooks. Satisfying yet far from predictable, this is a record to be savored, revealing itself slowly, gaining power and poignancy with each listen. |
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V/A [Whispers: Lounge Originals] March 27 street date. A lounge in the Poconos located just inside a Holiday Inn, 1973. The smoky haze clears to reveal a middle aged couple on a one-foot high stage, prattling on about the weather or Watergate before launching into a serviceable cover of Burt Bacharach's "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?". Tens of thousands of such combos littered restaurants, cruise ships, casinos, lobbies, and cocktail bars throughout the 60s and 70s, but far fewer cut a record worth buying from the stage, much less listening to on the home hi-fi. Gathered here are 14 lounge originals from across the entire easy listening spectrum. Includes letterpressed heavyweight matchbook-style jacket with screenprinted strike strip, debossed inner sleeve, and a 22" square fold-out matchbook gallery poster. |
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Ward, M. [Migration Stories] April 3 street date. “It was in winter 18/19 - I flew to Montreal to meet with Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry, Craig Silvey and Teddy Impakt at Le Studio Du Arcade Fire. It was a fine time with a dream team in a city I love. Winter in beautiful Quebec. Les semaines les plus froides de ma vie. I had a bunch of demos that were inspired by migration stories I had heard from friends or read in newspapers while on tour in Europe and North America. I remember being struck by the similarities of the stories I heard from both continents and how really only the names of the powerful and the powerless had changed - thinking, “Is this the future? Is this our future?” Some time went by, the stories wove together and I remember them now closer to characters in a dream of how people could treat each other than any kind of front-page news realism. I think music subconsciously - whether writing or listening - is a filter for me - helping to process all the bad news into something new to build from - some records to me are like self-fulfilling prophecies - visualizing change to wish something into being - those records inspired this one.” - M. Ward winter 19/20 |
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Waxahatchee [Saint Cloud] March 27 street date. What do we hold on to from our past? What must we let go of to truly move forward? Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield spent much of 2018 reckoning with these questions and revisiting her roots for answers. The result is Saint Cloud, an intimate journey through the places she’s been, filled with the people she’s loved. Written immediately in the period following her decision to get sober, the album is an unflinching self-examination. This raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements as well. While her last two records featured the kind of big guitars, well-honed noise, and battering sounds that characterized her Philadelphia scene and strongly influenced a burgeoning new class of singer-songwriters, Saint Cloud strips back those layers to create space for Crutchfield’s voice and lyrics. The result is a classic Americana sound with modern touches befitting an artist who has emerged as one of the signature storytellers of her time. Over the course of Saint Cloud, which was recorded the summer of 2019 and produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver), Crutchfield peels back the distortion of electric guitars to create a wider sonic palette than on any previous Waxahatchee album. It is a record filled with nods to classic country, folk-inspired tones, and distinctly modern touches. To bolster her vision, Crutchfield enlisted Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox, both of the Detroit band Bonny Doon, to serve as backing band on the record, along with Josh Kaufman (Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver) on guitar and keyboards and Nick Kinsey (Kevin Morby) on drums and percussion. Saint Cloud marks the beginning of a journey for Crutchfield, one that sees her leaving behind past vices and the comfortable environs of her Philadelphia scene to head south in search of something new. If on her previous work Crutchfield was out in the storm, she’s now firmly in the eye of it, taking stock of her past with a clear perspective and gathering the strength to carry onward. |
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MONDAY MARCH 23, 2020 - Quebec and Ontario order closure of all non-essential businesses Today the province of Quebec has ordered that all non-essential businesses must close for three weeks in order to help slow the spread of the accelerating Covid-19 Pandemic. Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced today that the closure is to take effect as of 11:59 PM Tuesday March 24th but urged stores and businesses to close as soon as possible. In compliance with this order F.A.B. will be temporarily closed from today through Monday April 13th. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also ordered a shut-down of all non-essential businesses for at least the next 14 days. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/coronavirus-covid19-march23-canada-world-1.5506430 RECORD STORE DAY 2020 - POSTPONED TO JUNE 20/20 |
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