July 20 street date. First time pressed to vinyl !! LPs are pressed at IRP to white vinyl, limited to 1k for the world!! Includes coupon for full album download & three rare digital bonus tracks! The Essex Green are a neo-psychedelic pop outfit from Brooklyn, NY, via Burlington, VT. The ban--primarily composed of songwriters Jeff Baron, Sasha Bell, and Chris Ziter--specializes in a classic sound inspired by 1960s–1970s pop and folk in the tradition of bands like The Left Banke and Fairport Convention. Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2018, The Long Goodbye, second album in the Essex Green discography is pressed to limited edition white vinyl and available here for the the first time on LP. The album includes a full download plus three rare digital bonus tracks: “The Boo Hoo Boy Reprise,” “Mendocino,” and “Everybody’s Missin’ the Sun.”
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 20 street date. First time pressed to vinyl !! LPs are pressed at IRP to blue vinyl, limited to 1k for the world!! Includes coupon for full album download & three rare digital bonus tracks! The Essex Green are a neo-psychedelic pop outfit from Brooklyn, NY, via Burlington, VT. The band--primarily composed of songwriters Jeff Baron, Sasha Bell, and Chris Ziter--specializes in a classic sound inspired by 1960s–1970s pop and folk in the tradition of bands like The Left Banke and Fairport Convention. Cannibal Sea, originally released in 2006, is the third album in the Essex Green discography. This LP reissue marks the first appearance on vinyl. This limited edition blue pressing includes a full download plus three rare digital bonus tracks: “Pack Up Your Sorrows,” “San Bernadino,” and “Victor.”
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 20 street date. Ty Segall and White Fence are become one again, regrooving what we once called "Hair" into what is now "Joy". If, as the dyphrenic duo indeed affirm on "Joy", rock in 2018 is dead, don'’t come around here looking for no burial. Instead, find "Joy" caught up in the commencement of on-beyond rock; music made with the old tools, but emitted from a fresh new, single-celled organism. With "Joy", Tim and Ty arrive without travelling from the same place, occupy one single headspace, finishing the other's phrases, pulling licks from each other's places. Both these fellows have been known to trifle with tropic pasts and reactivate vintage visions within their new music. Not now. Now is the only time this time - "Joy" is their own sound of today, a shared individuality, prisming all possible stances into an unseamly metastasis that FLOWS for 15 ebbcentric tracks.
July 20 street date. Ty Segall and White Fence are become one again, regrooving what we once called "Hair" into what is now "Joy". If, as the dyphrenic duo indeed affirm on "Joy", rock in 2018 is dead, don'’t come around here looking for no burial. Instead, find "Joy" caught up in the commencement of on-beyond rock; music made with the old tools, but emitted from a fresh new, single-celled organism. With "Joy", Tim and Ty arrive without travelling from the same place, occupy one single headspace, finishing the other's phrases, pulling licks from each other's places. Both these fellows have been known to trifle with tropic pasts and reactivate vintage visions within their new music. Not now. Now is the only time this time - "Joy" is their own sound of today, a shared individuality, prisming all possible stances into an unseamly metastasis that FLOWS for 15 ebbcentric tracks.
July 20 street date. Ty Segall and White Fence are become one again, regrooving what we once called "Hair" into what is now "Joy". If, as the dyphrenic duo indeed affirm on "Joy", rock in 2018 is dead, don'’t come around here looking for no burial. Instead, find "Joy" caught up in the commencement of on-beyond rock; music made with the old tools, but emitted from a fresh new, single-celled organism. With "Joy", Tim and Ty arrive without travelling from the same place, occupy one single headspace, finishing the other's phrases, pulling licks from each other's places. Both these fellows have been known to trifle with tropic pasts and reactivate vintage visions within their new music. Not now. Now is the only time this time - "Joy" is their own sound of today, a shared individuality, prisming all possible stances into an unseamly metastasis that FLOWS for 15 ebbcentric tracks.
July 20 street date. "Powerhouse Gospel on Nashboro Records" .. Founded in 1951 by independent record store owner and radio show promoter Ernie Young, Nashville, TN’s Nashboro Records recorded some of the most potent and forceful gospel music of the time period. Although initially begun in response to overwhelming demand for gospel locally, Nashboro quickly became nationally applauded for its curatorial prowess (under the guidance of Rev. Dr. Morgan Babb of the Radio Four) and signature production style. The lightly-reverbed, clear sound of a Nashboro record is unmistakable. Give Me My Flowers is a compilation of some of the finest cuts released by Nashboro Records, many of which have not been previously reissued. It kicks off with a total banger, The Hightower Brothers’ “Until He Comes,” which would have made an amazing cover song for Spacemen 3. Iola and Sullivan Pugh, also known as The Consolers, top off the A-side of the compilation with the intensely potent namesake track, “Give Me My Flowers”. A final highlight is “Almighty God” from Sister Pope and the Pearly Gates; dare you to get it out of your head after you hear the chorus even once. Not only are the featured artists endlessly skilled at their craft, their songs are absolutely explosive. This is the opposite of indifference or irony; there is a mission here, steeped in a full-heartedness that can only be derived from selfless devotion. Additionally, the songs featured on Give Me My Flowers are representative of a far too overlooked and important chapter in Nashville’s music history. These musicians, store employees and businesspeople played a critical role in building the infrastructure for independent music to flourish in their city. Naturally, it is a cornerstone in Third Man’s long-term mission to support and highlight the complete music histories of Tennessee and Michigan, from the most rightfully revered to the most critically under-represented. All of these tracks were assembled with producer and journalist Mike McGonigal (Detroit Gospel Reissue Project, Temperature’s Rising: An Oral History of Galaxie 500) and transferred directly from the 45 collection of Kevin Nutt (Case Quarter Records, Sinner’s Crossroads radio program).
July 27 street date. Come Away With ESG - 35-year anniversary release of the classic genre-busting debut album by the Bronx sisters ESG. The sample-friendly opus that’s the inspiration for hip-hop, house and post punk. Music that falls outside of the no wave, new wave and post punk library, it’s for the dance floor but it’s not funk, there’s no horns, no driving organ; it’s the opposite of Sly And The Family Stone but no less cool and no less groovy. “A lasting document of their unique brand of minimal funk that would influence subsequent post-punk, hip-hop, and dance music acts. Stripped down to the most basic of drumbeats and rudimentary bass lines, ‘Come Away’ confirms the notion that the real rhythm is what happens between the beats. – AllMusic
July 27 street date. Note: LP is black vinyl (different from the RSD issue). Come Away With ESG - 35-year anniversary release of the classic genre-busting debut album by the Bronx sisters ESG. The sample-friendly opus that’s the inspiration for hip-hop, house and post punk. Music that falls outside of the no wave, new wave and post punk library, it’s for the dance floor but it’s not funk, there’s no horns, no driving organ; it’s the opposite of Sly And The Family Stone but no less cool and no less groovy. “A lasting document of their unique brand of minimal funk that would influence subsequent post-punk, hip-hop, and dance music acts. Stripped down to the most basic of drumbeats and rudimentary bass lines, ‘Come Away’ confirms the notion that the real rhythm is what happens between the beats. – AllMusic
July 27 street date. When it comes to punk rock, few can rival what FACE TO FACE has accomplished in 27 years (!) as a band.
While always staying true to their signature sound, they are consistently finding new and exciting ways to keep their fans invigorated. With this in mind, it will come as no surprise that the band shifted gears on their upcoming album "Hold Fast (Acoustic Sessions)". As the name implies, the new album features 10 acoustic renderings of classic Face To face songs. Comprised of fan-favorites ranging across their entire catalog, the songs on "Hold Fast (Acoustic Sessions)" are so much more than simply stripped down versions of the originals on acoustic guitar. The songs come to life in a whole new way with robust
instrumentation and a savvy musical perspective that puts them right at home among today’s most respected Americana and Alt-Acoustic acts. Of course, these fresh new takes still feature the unforgettable melodies that fans originally fell in love with, making them the perfect addition to summer playlists for both long-time fans and new listeners alike.
July 27 street date. When it comes to punk rock, few can rival what FACE TO FACE has accomplished in 27 years (!) as a band.
While always staying true to their signature sound, they are consistently finding new and exciting ways to keep their fans invigorated. With this in mind, it will come as no surprise that the band shifted gears on their upcoming album "Hold Fast (Acoustic Sessions)". As the name implies, the new album features 10 acoustic renderings of classic Face To face songs. Comprised of fan-favorites ranging across their entire catalog, the songs on "Hold Fast (Acoustic Sessions)" are so much more than simply stripped down versions of the originals on acoustic guitar. The songs come to life in a whole new way with robust
instrumentation and a savvy musical perspective that puts them right at home among today’s most respected Americana and Alt-Acoustic acts. Of course, these fresh new takes still feature the unforgettable melodies that fans originally fell in love with, making them the perfect addition to summer playlists for both long-time fans and new listeners alike.
July 27 street date. (Special Edition Translucent Blue Vinyl!! Indie-shops only!) One of the leading bands of the ’70s Los Angeles punk scene, the Germs (Darby Crash, Pat Smear, Lorna Doom, and Don Bolles) only released one studio album before the untimely death of lead singer Crash at the age of 22. Equal parts Sex Pistols and Iggy Pop, the band’s legendary live shows bordered on chaos, with Crash having a tendency to cover himself with whatever food was located nearby while diving into the crowd whenever possible. The lone album the band did manage to record, (GI), was produced by Joan Jett and features 16 tracks of unbridled garage-punk bliss.
Please note: new street date is July 27. Limited edition pink vinyl! Released in 1985 on the legendary Homestead label, GREEN RIVER's "Come On Down" was a record existing in its sonic universe - out of step with its own time. Was it glam? Was it punk? Was it metal? Was it cool? We now know it was one of the building blocks of what Mark Arm would coin as "grunge", but in 1985 this record was a silent groundbreaker. It was not only the raw, sludgy, slower guitar sound that makes this band important in its place in rock history, but the members of Green River would go on to lead some of the biggest names in the genre: Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, the latter of which also contained the roots of Pearl Jam. Includes a previously unreleased rare bonus track!
July 27 street date. Remastered from original 1959 Master Tapes, Classic Folkways style tip-on jackets featuring original liner notes. Texas bluesman Samuel “Lightnin’” Hopkins’ musical career was reignited by this 1959 release. With the aid of a little gin and a borrowed acoustic guitar, musicologist Sam Charters recorded Hopkins in his tiny apartment in Houston, Texas. The result is nine tracks of pure country blues and Hopkins’ reminiscences of his time performing with Blind Lemon Je erson.This vinyl reissue is part of Folkways Records’ 70th anniversary celebration series, revisiting some of the most iconic and in uential albums released on the record label, starting with Lightnin’ Hopkins (FSLP03822), Woody Guthrie (FWLP02485), and Jospeh Spence (FWLP03844).
July 27 street date. Very Emergency (1999) is the third album by The Promise Ring. This album sees the band continuing to explore the sounds they had started on their previous release Nothing Feels Good, a more pop - rock leaning when compared to their debut. The Promise Ring’s hook-packed pop sensibility was unique for the genre at the time and helped them inject a shimmery energy into emo that still feels fresh today. Hailing from Milwaukee, The Promise Ring weren’t just emblematic of ‘90s Midwestern emo: they were one of the most celebrated bands in the history of the genre. Under the leadership of frontman Davey Von Bohlen of Cap’n Jazz, their sound incorporated elements of power pop that would become more popular in later years. They broke up in 2002 and after nearly a decade of inactivity The Promise Ring officially reunited in February 2012.
July 27 street date. Very Emergency (1999) is the third album by The Promise Ring. This album sees the band continuing to explore the sounds they had started on their previous release Nothing Feels Good, a more pop - rock leaning when compared to their debut. The Promise Ring’s hook-packed pop sensibility was unique for the genre at the time and helped them inject a shimmery energy into emo that still feels fresh today. Hailing from Milwaukee, The Promise Ring weren’t just emblematic of ‘90s Midwestern emo: they were one of the most celebrated bands in the history of the genre. Under the leadership of frontman Davey Von Bohlen of Cap’n Jazz, their sound incorporated elements of power pop that would become more popular in later years. They broke up in 2002 and after nearly a decade of inactivity The Promise Ring officially reunited in February 2012.
July 27 street date. Very Emergency (1999) is the third album by The Promise Ring. This album sees the band continuing to explore the sounds they had started on their previous release Nothing Feels Good, a more pop - rock leaning when compared to their debut. The Promise Ring’s hook-packed pop sensibility was unique for the genre at the time and helped them inject a shimmery energy into emo that still feels fresh today. Hailing from Milwaukee, The Promise Ring weren’t just emblematic of ‘90s Midwestern emo: they were one of the most celebrated bands in the history of the genre. Under the leadership of frontman Davey Von Bohlen of Cap’n Jazz, their sound incorporated elements of power pop that would become more popular in later years. They broke up in 2002 and after nearly a decade of inactivity The Promise Ring officially reunited in February 2012.
July 27 street date. (Limited colour vinyl "indie-retail" edition) Very Emergency (1999) is the third album by The Promise Ring. This album sees the band continuing to explore the sounds they had started on their previous release Nothing Feels Good, a more pop - rock leaning when compared to their debut. The Promise Ring’s hook-packed pop sensibility was unique for the genre at the time and helped them inject a shimmery energy into emo that still feels fresh today. Hailing from Milwaukee, The Promise Ring weren’t just emblematic of ‘90s Midwestern emo: they were one of the most celebrated bands in the history of the genre. Under the leadership of frontman Davey Von Bohlen of Cap’n Jazz, their sound incorporated elements of power pop that would become more popular in later years. They broke up in 2002 and after nearly a decade of inactivity The Promise Ring officially reunited in February 2012.
July 27 street date. Unhinged Aussie grunge captured just as the Scientists were imploding/attempting to explode. Recorded over three days in February 1986, Weird Love is the band''s last ditch effort to bring their bad vibes to bedrooms the world over, a colossal failure and brilliant mistake that sounds best when blasting out of 1982 Corolla's blown Alpine tweeters.
July 27 street date. Soundtracks for the Blind (1996) was Swans last studio album prior to their 2010 reformation. This remastered 3xCD set features a repackage of the original digipak for the 1996 Atavistic release plus a bonus disc of the contemporaneous Die Tür Ist Zu EP (a German language version of some of the material from Soundtracks that also includes unique material) recently released for the first time on vinyl in the USA for Record Store Day 2018. “This album has everything in there – all the ideas from Swans’ initial 15 years of work. There’s some contemporary recordings of the band as it existed in ‘96/7, but there’s also a huge amount of sounds and recordings that Jarboe and I collected over the years. These are reassembled, looped, mangled, and in many cases overdubbed upon to create new pieces of music… I really set my own trap, dug my own grave on this one. There was SO MUCH material to deal with, to sift through, and the task of making it into something coherent was at times debilitating. But in the end I managed to sculpt something out of it which actually breathes, seems to live, in most places I think. … When I decided to reform Swans in 2010 Soundtracks was what I referred to as a starting point” – Michael Gira / Swans 2018
July 27 street date. Soundtracks for the Blind (1996) was Swans last studio album prior to their 2010 reformation. Remastered and released for the first time on vinyl, the package consists of four LPs in individual jackets, enclosed in a box with a poster, insert and download card. The box set is limited to 4,000 copies worldwide, and once sold out will be followed later in 2018 by a gatefold LP version. “This album has everything in there – all the ideas from Swans’ initial 15 years of work. There’s some contemporary recordings of the band as it existed in ‘96/7, but there’s also a huge amount of sounds and recordings that Jarboe and I collected over the years. These are reassembled, looped, mangled, and in many cases overdubbed upon to create new pieces of music… I really set my own trap, dug my own grave on this one. There was SO MUCH material to deal with, to sift through, and the task of making it into something coherent was at times debilitating. But in the end I managed to sculpt something out of it which actually breathes, seems to live, in most places I think. … When I decided to reform Swans in 2010 Soundtracks was what I referred to as a starting point” – Michael Gira / Swans 2018
July 27 street date. Thou is a forward thinking metal/punk band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through constant output they’ve attained prolific status, having released nearly forty genre bending records on labels like Gilead Media, Thrill Jockey, and Robotic Empire. Each one blurring the sub-genre lines that define the sludge, noise, metal, and experimental music worlds. “Rhea Sylvia” is the first of three EPs the band plans to release in 2018. It is a six song monster that sees Thou exploring melodious territory with more confidence than ever before. All the while maintaining a heaviness and depth that few other bands could ever achieve.
August 3 street date. First time pressed to vinyl in North America!! Originally released in 1998, What Another Man Spills celebrates 20 years in 2018. What Another Man Spills (1998) represents a milestone in Lambchop’s career, but not in the modern sense of a ‘landmark’ release. Building on foundations that had once sounded almost literally creaky, it expands upon the tentative manoeuvres they’d undertaken with the previous year’s Thriller (1997) and gestures confidently towards its brassy successor, Nixon, which would arrive in 2000 to wild acclaim and previously unimaginable commercial success. Indeed, it sits at a crossroads between the band that Lambchop first emerged as, and the band that they would later become. If it felt at the time like a reasonable, yet slightly confused descendant of what had gone before, without it, one suspects, what followed might never have been possible. In fact, what might first seem an anomaly in their catalogue, a deviation from a previously familiar path, instead becomes a beacon lighting the way forward. It is, one might say, both ugly duckling and beautiful swan all at once. In terms of production, What Another Man Spills represented a huge leap forward, and stylistically it took bold, convincing strides towards uncharted territory too. Its impact wouldn’t be felt for another couple of years, of course, but then it would suddenly look like part of a carefully orchestrated masterplan. Today, too, it continues to stand as a vibrant, satisfying snapshot of a band at a pivotal moment in their lengthy career. Soon Lambchop would almost entirely leave their formative aesthetic behind to embark on a journey that would reach so many people it would ultimately help transform Nashville’s image as culturally moribund and reactionary. But what and who Lambchop were, and what and who they are, never really changes, despite their gradual evolution. They are, and always will be, Lambchop, and they could never have been that without What Another Man Spills.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. First time pressed to vinyl in North America!! Originally released in 1998, What Another Man Spills celebrates 20 years in 2018. What Another Man Spills (1998) represents a milestone in Lambchop’s career, but not in the modern sense of a ‘landmark’ release. Building on foundations that had once sounded almost literally creaky, it expands upon the tentative manoeuvres they’d undertaken with the previous year’s Thriller (1997) and gestures confidently towards its brassy successor, Nixon, which would arrive in 2000 to wild acclaim and previously unimaginable commercial success. Indeed, it sits at a crossroads between the band that Lambchop first emerged as, and the band that they would later become. If it felt at the time like a reasonable, yet slightly confused descendant of what had gone before, without it, one suspects, what followed might never have been possible. In fact, what might first seem an anomaly in their catalogue, a deviation from a previously familiar path, instead becomes a beacon lighting the way forward. It is, one might say, both ugly duckling and beautiful swan all at once. In terms of production, What Another Man Spills represented a huge leap forward, and stylistically it took bold, convincing strides towards uncharted territory too. Its impact wouldn’t be felt for another couple of years, of course, but then it would suddenly look like part of a carefully orchestrated masterplan. Today, too, it continues to stand as a vibrant, satisfying snapshot of a band at a pivotal moment in their lengthy career. Soon Lambchop would almost entirely leave their formative aesthetic behind to embark on a journey that would reach so many people it would ultimately help transform Nashville’s image as culturally moribund and reactionary. But what and who Lambchop were, and what and who they are, never really changes, despite their gradual evolution. They are, and always will be, Lambchop, and they could never have been that without What Another Man Spills.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. First time pressed to vinyl in North America!! Limited "Peak" vinyl edition on Yellow & white swirl 2LP, limited to 750 for NA. Originally released in 1998, What Another Man Spills celebrates 20 years in 2018. What Another Man Spills (1998) represents a milestone in Lambchop’s career, but not in the modern sense of a ‘landmark’ release. Building on foundations that had once sounded almost literally creaky, it expands upon the tentative manoeuvres they’d undertaken with the previous year’s Thriller (1997) and gestures confidently towards its brassy successor, Nixon, which would arrive in 2000 to wild acclaim and previously unimaginable commercial success. Indeed, it sits at a crossroads between the band that Lambchop first emerged as, and the band that they would later become. If it felt at the time like a reasonable, yet slightly confused descendant of what had gone before, without it, one suspects, what followed might never have been possible. In fact, what might first seem an anomaly in their catalogue, a deviation from a previously familiar path, instead becomes a beacon lighting the way forward. It is, one might say, both ugly duckling and beautiful swan all at once. In terms of production, What Another Man Spills represented a huge leap forward, and stylistically it took bold, convincing strides towards uncharted territory too. Its impact wouldn’t be felt for another couple of years, of course, but then it would suddenly look like part of a carefully orchestrated masterplan. Today, too, it continues to stand as a vibrant, satisfying snapshot of a band at a pivotal moment in their lengthy career. Soon Lambchop would almost entirely leave their formative aesthetic behind to embark on a journey that would reach so many people it would ultimately help transform Nashville’s image as culturally moribund and reactionary. But what and who Lambchop were, and what and who they are, never really changes, despite their gradual evolution. They are, and always will be, Lambchop, and they could never have been that without What Another Man Spills.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. (Black vinyl packaged in a black paper dust sleeve, inside a double gatefold jacket with full lyrics. Includes digital download. CD Housed in a 4-panel digipak with 8-page lyric booklet.) The Love Language’s Baby Grand has its share of breakup songs—nobody writes those better than Stuart McLamb—but this time, even as something is being mourned, something else is being worked through; as lovers have been left behind, so have places and a time in life. Listen as the heartbreak and yearning of “New Amsterdam” come crashing down into the beautiful stasis of “Southern Doldrums,” or as the beautiful lift of the startling sequence of songs that make up Baby Grand’s propulsive midsection gives way to a moody instrumental called “Rain/Delay,” a collection of distant plinks and plonks struggling to assemble themselves into melody. The song “Juiceboxx” is what you’d get if Mick Jagger crooned his “Emotional Rescue” falsetto over a backing track by the Style Council, and “Let Your Hair Down” impressively suggests what “Caroline, No” might have sounded like if only it had been written by George Michael.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. (Black vinyl packaged in a black paper dust sleeve, inside a double gatefold jacket with full lyrics. Includes digital download. CD Housed in a 4-panel digipak with 8-page lyric booklet.) The Love Language’s Baby Grand has its share of breakup songs—nobody writes those better than Stuart McLamb—but this time, even as something is being mourned, something else is being worked through; as lovers have been left behind, so have places and a time in life. Listen as the heartbreak and yearning of “New Amsterdam” come crashing down into the beautiful stasis of “Southern Doldrums,” or as the beautiful lift of the startling sequence of songs that make up Baby Grand’s propulsive midsection gives way to a moody instrumental called “Rain/Delay,” a collection of distant plinks and plonks struggling to assemble themselves into melody. The song “Juiceboxx” is what you’d get if Mick Jagger crooned his “Emotional Rescue” falsetto over a backing track by the Style Council, and “Let Your Hair Down” impressively suggests what “Caroline, No” might have sounded like if only it had been written by George Michael.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. (Special edition " Peak LP" is pressed to pink & yellow marble vinyl with 2 digital-only bonus tracks, “Cellophane (Demo)” and “Midlife (Demo).” Limited to 1k worldwide.) The Love Language’s Baby Grand has its share of breakup songs—nobody writes those better than Stuart McLamb—but this time, even as something is being mourned, something else is being worked through; as lovers have been left behind, so have places and a time in life. Listen as the heartbreak and yearning of “New Amsterdam” come crashing down into the beautiful stasis of “Southern Doldrums,” or as the beautiful lift of the startling sequence of songs that make up Baby Grand’s propulsive midsection gives way to a moody instrumental called “Rain/Delay,” a collection of distant plinks and plonks struggling to assemble themselves into melody. The song “Juiceboxx” is what you’d get if Mick Jagger crooned his “Emotional Rescue” falsetto over a backing track by the Style Council, and “Let Your Hair Down” impressively suggests what “Caroline, No” might have sounded like if only it had been written by George Michael.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Aug. 3 street date. FAT's fan-favorite "Live in a Dive" is back!!! And who better to revive this classic live series than Fat Mike's very own NOFX? And yes, "Ribbed: Live in a Dive" is the classic 1991 NOFX "Ribbed" album from start to finish! This gives us what we expect from a NOFX show: equal parts punk rock and comedy hour, chock full of all the wit and hijinks you can handle. On NOFX’s previous live records they changed up the old classics a bit. Fast songs became slow songs, slow jams became fast-paced rippers; all the while sprinkling in their signature drunkenness and glaring mistakes. However, fans who love the original "Ribbed" studio LP, fear not! There was no messing around when they recorded this thing in 2012 at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, CA. All 14 songs are played true to their original form. Vinyl edition includes download.
Aug. 3 street date. FAT's fan-favorite "Live in a Dive" is back!!! And who better to revive this classic live series than Fat Mike's very own NOFX? And yes, "Ribbed: Live in a Dive" is the classic 1991 NOFX "Ribbed" album from start to finish! This gives us what we expect from a NOFX show: equal parts punk rock and comedy hour, chock full of all the wit and hijinks you can handle. On NOFX’s previous live records they changed up the old classics a bit. Fast songs became slow songs, slow jams became fast-paced rippers; all the while sprinkling in their signature drunkenness and glaring mistakes. However, fans who love the original "Ribbed" studio LP, fear not! There was no messing around when they recorded this thing in 2012 at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, CA. All 14 songs are played true to their original form. Vinyl edition includes download.
August 3 street date. Special Limited Peach Season Edition!! The records are pressed on peach-coloured vinyl and the gatefold sleeve has a peach scent. 2LP, 180 gram, insert, poster, printed innersleeves. Call Me By Your Name, the film by Luca Guadagnino, is a sensual and transcendent tale of first love, based on the acclaimed novel by André Aciman. The film received critical acclaim. Critics praised in particular Chalamet, Hammer and Stuhlbarg’s performances, Guadagnino’s direction and the screenplay. Call Me By Your Name won a variety of Awards, including Academy, Bafta, GLAAD and many more. Sufjan Stevens’s song “Mystery of Love” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards.
August 3 street date. Spider Bags is Dan McGee (DC Snipers), Rock Forbes, Steve Olivia and Gregg Levy, with guest performance by Patrick Stickles (Titus Andronicus) on “Cop Dream / Black Eye (True Story),” “Burning Sand” & “My Heart Is a Flame in Reverse” Guest performance by Jack Yarber (the Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers) on “Rollin’ with the Flow”. Four years after releasing their Merge debut, Frozen Letter, Spider Bags return with an LP that ascends to new levels of aural punch and perspective. The years that elapsed between records were crucial in enabling that progress to take place. Recorded in Memphis at Bunker Audio by Andrew McCalla (who also engineered 2012’s Shake My Head), Someday Everything Will Be Fine leverages the limitations and glory of the Tascam 388, a vintage recording/mixing device that’s acquired a mythos via its association with legendary records by Dinosaur Jr. and others. Unlike the error-erasing editing software Spider Bags frontman Dan McGee has favored in the past, the Tascam’s charms are more immediate, and it has a visceral resonance all its own. Someday Everything Will Be Fine, which is about the importance of saying f**k it and dancing to a rock and roll record, is an album only Spider Bags could make.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. Spider Bags is Dan McGee (DC Snipers), Rock Forbes, Steve Olivia and Gregg Levy, with guest performance by Patrick Stickles (Titus Andronicus) on “Cop Dream / Black Eye (True Story),” “Burning Sand” & “My Heart Is a Flame in Reverse” Guest performance by Jack Yarber (the Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers) on “Rollin’ with the Flow”. Four years after releasing their Merge debut, Frozen Letter, Spider Bags return with an LP that ascends to new levels of aural punch and perspective. The years that elapsed between records were crucial in enabling that progress to take place. Recorded in Memphis at Bunker Audio by Andrew McCalla (who also engineered 2012’s Shake My Head), Someday Everything Will Be Fine leverages the limitations and glory of the Tascam 388, a vintage recording/mixing device that’s acquired a mythos via its association with legendary records by Dinosaur Jr. and others. Unlike the error-erasing editing software Spider Bags frontman Dan McGee has favored in the past, the Tascam’s charms are more immediate, and it has a visceral resonance all its own. Someday Everything Will Be Fine, which is about the importance of saying f**k it and dancing to a rock and roll record, is an album only Spider Bags could make.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 3 street date. (Special "Peak" edition on bruised black & blue marble vinyl, limited to 800 worldwide) Spider Bags is Dan McGee (DC Snipers), Rock Forbes, Steve Olivia and Gregg Levy, with guest performance by Patrick Stickles (Titus Andronicus) on “Cop Dream / Black Eye (True Story),” “Burning Sand” & “My Heart Is a Flame in Reverse” Guest performance by Jack Yarber (the Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers) on “Rollin’ with the Flow”. Four years after releasing their Merge debut, Frozen Letter, Spider Bags return with an LP that ascends to new levels of aural punch and perspective. The years that elapsed between records were crucial in enabling that progress to take place. Recorded in Memphis at Bunker Audio by Andrew McCalla (who also engineered 2012’s Shake My Head), Someday Everything Will Be Fine leverages the limitations and glory of the Tascam 388, a vintage recording/mixing device that’s acquired a mythos via its association with legendary records by Dinosaur Jr. and others. Unlike the error-erasing editing software Spider Bags frontman Dan McGee has favored in the past, the Tascam’s charms are more immediate, and it has a visceral resonance all its own. Someday Everything Will Be Fine, which is about the importance of saying f**k it and dancing to a rock and roll record, is an album only Spider Bags could make.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Please note: new street date is July 20. There is a clichéd way to say anything worth saying, so Michael Feuerstack simply looks for the scenic route and tries to enjoy the journey at the same time. On his latest full-length album, Natural Weather, the songwriter wanted to make something gentle and complex: a recording that celebrates music as a refuge from binary thinking - a means to seek wisdom in the grey areas. Recorded at home, Natural Weather offers a deceptively rich palette. Most of the instrumentation is provided by Feuerstack, with Jeremy Gara on drums and violin cameos by Sarah Neufeld. The background singers also figure prominently: Camille Delean shadows Feuerstack in harmony, while Michelle Tompkins and Mike O’Brien glimmer in response. This collection balances Feuerstack’s signature dark humour and empathic inquisitiveness as the songs relax into deep ambiguity around heavy themes: love, death, memory, age, mental illness, intimacy, and ambition.
August 10 street date. Valley of Rain was Giant Sand’s debut album recorded in 1983, and released in 1985. It included Howe Gelb on vocals, guitar and Winston Watson on drums for most of it, Tommy Larkins on drums for some of it and Scott Garber on fretless bass for all of it. At the time of the recording, Howe was unacquainted with the possibilities of tube (valve) amps and had recorded most of the album with a Roland JC120 at the miraculous 8 track facilities of The Control Center in Korea Town, Los Angeles by Ricky “Mix” Novak. This impromptu recording had occurred because the band refused to cancel their first Los Angeles live gig, at Madame Wong’s, when the band (Giant Sandworms) had broken up days before in Tucson. Instead, Howe headed out anyway with Scott, the newest member who’d only been in the band for about a year, after band mainstays Billy Sed and Dave Seger reasonably decided ‘enough was enough’ following a rough and tenuous year spent in the lower east side of NYC attempting to further the band circa 1981/82. Tucsonan Winston Watson was already living in Los Angeles and was brave/kind enough to jump in for the live date with no rehearsal. The result was so sparked with adrenalin, that the trio set up an impromptu studio session the next day to attempt to capture the sonic thrust on tape. The total cost of the day and a half recording was $400 including one 1” reel of 30 minute tape. When Enigma Records offered to release the album they requested another 15 minutes of music to make it a full LP. Ron Goudie was then called in to oversee the extra recordings. It was then when Howe borrowed an amp that had been stored at the studio did he discover the bolster of a tube amp and his world changed. The amp was a slightly modified Fender Twin Reverb owned by Robbie Krieger of The Doors. 30 some years later, now that the band had been put to sleep indefinitely, those very first songs had begun creeping into the last Giant Sand tours. It somehow seemed appropriate to give them another shot with the proper amp just to see what they could’ve been. What made the idea more approachable was the availability of both original drummers living back in Tucson. The first attempt came last summer with both Winston & Tommy and Thøger Lund on bass, as well as the 2 newest members, 29 year old Gabriel Sullivan and 23 year old Annie Dolan on double neck guitars. The sound was insane. The funny part was Gabriel, who engineered and mixed the session, gave it an intentional 80s production sound. Howe later explained to Gabe he had been at war with that production trend since those first original recordings. So they all tried it again at Christmas time, this time with a newly discovered Fender 30 amp that had only been in production from 1980 – 1983. This new re-recording of that first album now sounds like it should’ve sounded. It was re-done for $400 and the same day and a half session time as the original. Scott Garber even drove up from Austin TX with his fretless to play so that the album is literally the originally line up for at least half of the songs. And yes, no pedal boards were used too. The band intends to tour this summer playing only those Valley of Rain songs. Giant Sand Returns To Valley Of Rain.
August 10 street date. Valley of Rain was Giant Sand’s debut album recorded in 1983, and released in 1985. It included Howe Gelb on vocals, guitar and Winston Watson on drums for most of it, Tommy Larkins on drums for some of it and Scott Garber on fretless bass for all of it. At the time of the recording, Howe was unacquainted with the possibilities of tube (valve) amps and had recorded most of the album with a Roland JC120 at the miraculous 8 track facilities of The Control Center in Korea Town, Los Angeles by Ricky “Mix” Novak. This impromptu recording had occurred because the band refused to cancel their first Los Angeles live gig, at Madame Wong’s, when the band (Giant Sandworms) had broken up days before in Tucson. Instead, Howe headed out anyway with Scott, the newest member who’d only been in the band for about a year, after band mainstays Billy Sed and Dave Seger reasonably decided ‘enough was enough’ following a rough and tenuous year spent in the lower east side of NYC attempting to further the band circa 1981/82. Tucsonan Winston Watson was already living in Los Angeles and was brave/kind enough to jump in for the live date with no rehearsal. The result was so sparked with adrenalin, that the trio set up an impromptu studio session the next day to attempt to capture the sonic thrust on tape. The total cost of the day and a half recording was $400 including one 1” reel of 30 minute tape. When Enigma Records offered to release the album they requested another 15 minutes of music to make it a full LP. Ron Goudie was then called in to oversee the extra recordings. It was then when Howe borrowed an amp that had been stored at the studio did he discover the bolster of a tube amp and his world changed. The amp was a slightly modified Fender Twin Reverb owned by Robbie Krieger of The Doors. 30 some years later, now that the band had been put to sleep indefinitely, those very first songs had begun creeping into the last Giant Sand tours. It somehow seemed appropriate to give them another shot with the proper amp just to see what they could’ve been. What made the idea more approachable was the availability of both original drummers living back in Tucson. The first attempt came last summer with both Winston & Tommy and Thøger Lund on bass, as well as the 2 newest members, 29 year old Gabriel Sullivan and 23 year old Annie Dolan on double neck guitars. The sound was insane. The funny part was Gabriel, who engineered and mixed the session, gave it an intentional 80s production sound. Howe later explained to Gabe he had been at war with that production trend since those first original recordings. So they all tried it again at Christmas time, this time with a newly discovered Fender 30 amp that had only been in production from 1980 – 1983. This new re-recording of that first album now sounds like it should’ve sounded. It was re-done for $400 and the same day and a half session time as the original. Scott Garber even drove up from Austin TX with his fretless to play so that the album is literally the originally line up for at least half of the songs. And yes, no pedal boards were used too. The band intends to tour this summer playing only those Valley of Rain songs. Giant Sand Returns To Valley Of Rain.
August 10 street date. Limited Blue Coloured Vinyl (FIRELP534X) is for Indie stores only. Valley of Rain was Giant Sand’s debut album recorded in 1983, and released in 1985. It included Howe Gelb on vocals, guitar and Winston Watson on drums for most of it, Tommy Larkins on drums for some of it and Scott Garber on fretless bass for all of it. At the time of the recording, Howe was unacquainted with the possibilities of tube (valve) amps and had recorded most of the album with a Roland JC120 at the miraculous 8 track facilities of The Control Center in Korea Town, Los Angeles by Ricky “Mix” Novak. This impromptu recording had occurred because the band refused to cancel their first Los Angeles live gig, at Madame Wong’s, when the band (Giant Sandworms) had broken up days before in Tucson. Instead, Howe headed out anyway with Scott, the newest member who’d only been in the band for about a year, after band mainstays Billy Sed and Dave Seger reasonably decided ‘enough was enough’ following a rough and tenuous year spent in the lower east side of NYC attempting to further the band circa 1981/82. Tucsonan Winston Watson was already living in Los Angeles and was brave/kind enough to jump in for the live date with no rehearsal. The result was so sparked with adrenalin, that the trio set up an impromptu studio session the next day to attempt to capture the sonic thrust on tape. The total cost of the day and a half recording was $400 including one 1” reel of 30 minute tape. When Enigma Records offered to release the album they requested another 15 minutes of music to make it a full LP. Ron Goudie was then called in to oversee the extra recordings. It was then when Howe borrowed an amp that had been stored at the studio did he discover the bolster of a tube amp and his world changed. The amp was a slightly modified Fender Twin Reverb owned by Robbie Krieger of The Doors. 30 some years later, now that the band had been put to sleep indefinitely, those very first songs had begun creeping into the last Giant Sand tours. It somehow seemed appropriate to give them another shot with the proper amp just to see what they could’ve been. What made the idea more approachable was the availability of both original drummers living back in Tucson. The first attempt came last summer with both Winston & Tommy and Thøger Lund on bass, as well as the 2 newest members, 29 year old Gabriel Sullivan and 23 year old Annie Dolan on double neck guitars. The sound was insane. The funny part was Gabriel, who engineered and mixed the session, gave it an intentional 80s production sound. Howe later explained to Gabe he had been at war with that production trend since those first original recordings. So they all tried it again at Christmas time, this time with a newly discovered Fender 30 amp that had only been in production from 1980 – 1983. This new re-recording of that first album now sounds like it should’ve sounded. It was re-done for $400 and the same day and a half session time as the original. Scott Garber even drove up from Austin TX with his fretless to play so that the album is literally the originally line up for at least half of the songs. And yes, no pedal boards were used too. The band intends to tour this summer playing only those Valley of Rain songs. Giant Sand Returns To Valley Of Rain.
August 10 street date. Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent (known jointly as the Americana/folk duo Shovels & Rope) started their career performing independently as solo artists, each releasing records under their own names in the mid-to-late aughts and early 2010’s. In 2008 they released the album titled Shovels & Rope as a collaboration and the two artists decided to tour together. Performing live, they’d play together on songs from Hearst’s Lions and Lambs (2011), Trent’s The Winner (2010), and their collaborative album, creating the first live glimpses of the band that would eventually become Shovels & Rope. Dualtone is excited to offer these early individual solo albums along side early collaborations in the form of Predecessors, a three LP package featuring Hearst’s Lions and Lambs, Trent’s The Winner, and a third LP with never-before-released material from Shovels & Rope’s archives.
August 10 street date. REMASTERED ON 180 GRAM VINYL!! Blue Valentine (1978) is a big departure from earlier Waits albums. Trading the piano for the guitar, Waits is getting rawer and bluesier and the title track is a great example of this. Waits is in transition here, so you also get a stunning orchestrated rendition of Gershwin’s “Somewhere”, and the beautiful piano ballad, “Kentucky Ave.”, but you also get the juke joint swagger of “Romeo Is Bleeding” and “Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard”. This is also the record that contains one of Waits’ most popular songs ever, “Christmas Card from A Hooker in Minneapolis”.
August 10 street date. LIMITED REMASTERED 180 GRAM INDIE-RETAIL COLOUR VINYL!! Blue Valentine (1978) is a big departure from earlier Waits albums. Trading the piano for the guitar, Waits is getting rawer and bluesier and the title track is a great example of this. Waits is in transition here, so you also get a stunning orchestrated rendition of Gershwin’s “Somewhere”, and the beautiful piano ballad, “Kentucky Ave.”, but you also get the juke joint swagger of “Romeo Is Bleeding” and “Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard”. This is also the record that contains one of Waits’ most popular songs ever, “Christmas Card from A Hooker in Minneapolis”.
Please note: new street date is August 10. (Indie-Shop-Only Colour Vinyl Edition!!) Remastered 2018 Reissue!! Tom Waits' first seven albums, originally released through Elektra Asylum Records in the 1970's, have been re-mastered and are being re-released via Anti-Records! 1977’s Foreign Affairs takes the jazz and poetry that Tom Waits explored on his earlier albums in a more cinematic direction, foreshadowing his own breakthrough work in the 80s. Opening with the instrumental “Cinny’s Waltz” and featuring some new standards like “Muriel” and “I Never Talk To Strangers”, his dramatic duet with Bette Midler, this album gets into some of Waits’ most ambitious storytelling ever. Foreign Affairs also features the jazzy, colorful “Jack and Neil” and the sweeping, dramatic “Potters Field” as well as classic Waits ballads “Burma Shave” and “Sight for Sore Eyes”.
August 17 street date. REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL STUDIO MASTERS, BRINGING A LOUDER MORE CLEAR SOUND. The New American is the eleventh album from Bad Religion, and was originally released in 2000. The album features the songs, “New America”, “ The Hopeless Housewife” and “I Love My Computer.” Bad Religion has become synonymous with intelligent and provocative West Coast punk rock and are considered one of the most influential and important bands in the genre. Over the past three decades the band has continually pushed social boundaries and questioned authority and beliefs armed only with propulsive guitars, charging drumbeats, thoughtful lyrics and an undying will to inspire and provoke anyone who will listen.
August 17 street date (date change). Her final Impulse album, originally released in 1972 • First-time vinyl reissue, remastered from the original master tapes • Featuring Alice Coltrane, Charlie Haden and Ben Riley! - Originally released in 1972, Lord Of Lords was Alice Coltrane’s final album for Impulse! and the last installment in her awe-inspiring trilogy that also included Universal Consciousness and World Galaxy. While all three records featured strings alongside a jazz ensemble, Lords Of Lords stood apart from its predecessors due to the sheer size of the orchestra (12 violins, 6 violas and 7 cellos, arranged and conducted by Coltrane herself) and its refined, blissful performances—shining a vital light on the devotional path that she would follow for the rest of her career. On the first two pieces, “Andromeda’s Suffering” and “Sri Rama Ohnedaruth” (titled after the spiritual name for her late husband), Alice’s dazzling piano and harp blend perfectly with the blanket of strings, while the haunting rhythm section of Charlie Haden and Ben Riley and a magnificent, droning electric organ emerge immaculately on the title track and closer “Going Home.” Coltrane’s musical vision is bold in its imagination and cosmic in scope, yet remains intensely personal and immediate. Lord Of Lords points inward as much as to the beyond, recalling her classical roots and recasting Eastern modes to radically invert the American avant-garde and spiritual jazz traditions. This first-time vinyl reissue has been carefully remastered from the original master tapes.
August 17 street date. (Special YELLOW vinyl version!! We'll only be getting a very limnited amount of this version. Order now before they're all spoken for!!) Crack the coffers, Oh Sees have spawned another frothy album of head-destroying psych-epics to grok and rock out to. Notice the fresh dollop of organ and keyboard prowess courtesy of Memory Of A Cut Off Head-alum and noted key-stabber Tom Dolas, while the Paul Quattrone / Dan Rincon drum-corps polyrhythmic pulse continues to astound and pound in equal measure, buttressed by the nimble fingered bottom end of Sir Tim Hellman the Brave and the shred-heaven fret frying of John Dwyer, whilst Lady Brigid Dawson again graces the wax with her harmonic gifts. Aside from the familiar psych-scorch familiar to soggy pit denizens the world over, there’s a fresh heavy-prog vibe that fits like a worn-in jean jacket comfortably among hairpin metal turns and the familiar but no less horns-worthy guitar fireworks Dwyer’s made his calling card. Perhaps the most notable thing about Smote Destroyer is the artistic restlessness underpinning its flights of fancy. Dwyer refuses to repeat himself and for someone with such a hectic release schedule, that stretching of aesthetic borders and omnivorous appetite seems all the more superhuman!
August 17 street date. Crack the coffers, Oh Sees have spawned another frothy album of head-destroying psych-epics to grok and rock out to. Notice the fresh dollop of organ and keyboard prowess courtesy of Memory Of A Cut Off Head-alum and noted key-stabber Tom Dolas, while the Paul Quattrone / Dan Rincon drum-corps polyrhythmic pulse continues to astound and pound in equal measure, buttressed by the nimble fingered bottom end of Sir Tim Hellman the Brave and the shred-heaven fret frying of John Dwyer, whilst Lady Brigid Dawson again graces the wax with her harmonic gifts. Aside from the familiar psych-scorch familiar to soggy pit denizens the world over, there’s a fresh heavy-prog vibe that fits like a worn-in jean jacket comfortably among hairpin metal turns and the familiar but no less horns-worthy guitar fireworks Dwyer’s made his calling card. Perhaps the most notable thing about Smote Destroyer is the artistic restlessness underpinning its flights of fancy. Dwyer refuses to repeat himself and for someone with such a hectic release schedule, that stretching of aesthetic borders and omnivorous appetite seems all the more superhuman!
August 17 street date. Crack the coffers, Oh Sees have spawned another frothy album of head-destroying psych-epics to grok and rock out to. Notice the fresh dollop of organ and keyboard prowess courtesy of Memory Of A Cut Off Head-alum and noted key-stabber Tom Dolas, while the Paul Quattrone / Dan Rincon drum-corps polyrhythmic pulse continues to astound and pound in equal measure, buttressed by the nimble fingered bottom end of Sir Tim Hellman the Brave and the shred-heaven fret frying of John Dwyer, whilst Lady Brigid Dawson again graces the wax with her harmonic gifts. Aside from the familiar psych-scorch familiar to soggy pit denizens the world over, there’s a fresh heavy-prog vibe that fits like a worn-in jean jacket comfortably among hairpin metal turns and the familiar but no less horns-worthy guitar fireworks Dwyer’s made his calling card. Perhaps the most notable thing about Smote Destroyer is the artistic restlessness underpinning its flights of fancy. Dwyer refuses to repeat himself and for someone with such a hectic release schedule, that stretching of aesthetic borders and omnivorous appetite seems all the more superhuman!
August 17 street date. From a basement in New Jersey, Tommy Falcone remade himself into a DIY Phil Spector. From 1962 to 1970, he founded and ran Cleopatra Records, discovered and mentored young Garden State talent, wrote songs and produced wild studio effects, and quit his day job to promote it all himself. Trained as an accordionist, Falcone had a whirlwind imagination and an omnivorous approach to genre, expressed through acts like the Centuries, the Tabbys, Johnny Silvio, the Inmates, Bernadette Carroll, the Hallmarks, Vickie & the Van Dykes, the Shandillons, Eugene Viscione, the Shoestring, and more. Cleopatra became a time-capsule of every 1960s pop style imaginable - garage rock, psychedelia, surf, girl groups, soul, novelties, exotica, even a crooner - a kaleidoscope of sound in search of the ever-elusive hit record.
August 17 street date. From a basement in New Jersey, Tommy Falcone remade himself into a DIY Phil Spector. From 1962 to 1970, he founded and ran Cleopatra Records, discovered and mentored young Garden State talent, wrote songs and produced wild studio effects, and quit his day job to promote it all himself. Trained as an accordionist, Falcone had a whirlwind imagination and an omnivorous approach to genre, expressed through acts like the Centuries, the Tabbys, Johnny Silvio, the Inmates, Bernadette Carroll, the Hallmarks, Vickie & the Van Dykes, the Shandillons, Eugene Viscione, the Shoestring, and more. Cleopatra became a time-capsule of every 1960s pop style imaginable - garage rock, psychedelia, surf, girl groups, soul, novelties, exotica, even a crooner - a kaleidoscope of sound in search of the ever-elusive hit record.
August 24 street date."Murder By Death’s eighth full-length album The Other Shore is a space-western about a ravaged Earth, its fleeing populace, and a relationship in jeopardy. It’s an epic journey rocketing toward the unknown, both within the characters represented in these 11 songs, and through the band’s ever-evolving sound. As trailblazers of the early 2000s indie-Americana style, the Louisville, KY-based quintet finds a way of taking tried & true rock-and-roll and knocking it slightly off axis, into tottering revolutions of something eerie, emotional, immediate, lush, and uniquely theirs. As the album and voyage progress, the atmosphere transitions from earthy to cosmic, sober to festive—from folksy Midwestern indie rock and piano-laden devil-on-one-shoulder/angel-on-the-other Leonard Cohen-style balladry, to buoyant new wave a la The Cure, to celebratory jangly singalongs. The Other Shore pits quantifiable reality against incalculable newness. The duality of big and broad vs. microscopic and narrow is ever-present, especially as the group explores untapped genres, dynamic and emotional touches, intersecting and introspective storylines, and remote edges of the galaxy. Welcome: After nearly 20 years, thousands of performances around the world, and eight albums—you’ve landed on your new Murder By Death.”
August 24 street date."Murder By Death’s eighth full-length album The Other Shore is a space-western about a ravaged Earth, its fleeing populace, and a relationship in jeopardy. It’s an epic journey rocketing toward the unknown, both within the characters represented in these 11 songs, and through the band’s ever-evolving sound. As trailblazers of the early 2000s indie-Americana style, the Louisville, KY-based quintet finds a way of taking tried & true rock-and-roll and knocking it slightly off axis, into tottering revolutions of something eerie, emotional, immediate, lush, and uniquely theirs. As the album and voyage progress, the atmosphere transitions from earthy to cosmic, sober to festive—from folksy Midwestern indie rock and piano-laden devil-on-one-shoulder/angel-on-the-other Leonard Cohen-style balladry, to buoyant new wave a la The Cure, to celebratory jangly singalongs. The Other Shore pits quantifiable reality against incalculable newness. The duality of big and broad vs. microscopic and narrow is ever-present, especially as the group explores untapped genres, dynamic and emotional touches, intersecting and introspective storylines, and remote edges of the galaxy. Welcome: After nearly 20 years, thousands of performances around the world, and eight albums—you’ve landed on your new Murder By Death.”
August 24 street date. Signed to Geffen Records, The Posies recorded 3 releases, 1990’s Dear 23, Frosting On The Beater in 1993, and Amazing Disgrace in 1996. Over the years, the CDs have been in and out of print, there have been inconsistent presences on streaming, and the LPs either long out of print or not issued at all depending on the territory. Good news: all that’s about to change. Frosting On The Beater is back, re-issued by Omnivore Recordings. The album will be released as a double CD set: one CD containing the original album, remastered from the original analog tapes, plus enough bonus material to fi ll out the rest of the CD; and another full CD of more bonus material. Don’t expect just a repackaging of material already available on our 2000 boxed set of outtakes— 15 of Frosting On The Beater’s 31 bonus tracks on this reissue have never been heard! Frosting On The Beater will now stretch across two LPs and will be mastered at 45 rpm from the original tapes. We made the decision to stick to just the original albums for the vinyl release, to give it room to breathe across two glorious slabs of wax. So, if bonus tracks are your thing, the 2-CD set will have you covered Catch The Posies on their 30th Anniversary tour in 2018 too!
August 24 street date. Signed to Geffen Records, The Posies recorded 3 releases, 1990’s Dear 23, Frosting On The Beater in 1993, and Amazing Disgrace in 1996. Over the years, the CDs have been in and out of print, there have been inconsistent presences on streaming, and the LPs either long out of print or not issued at all depending on the territory. Good news: all that’s about to change. Frosting On The Beater is back, re-issued by Omnivore Recordings. The album will be released as a double CD set: one CD containing the original album, remastered from the original analog tapes, plus enough bonus material to fi ll out the rest of the CD; and another full CD of more bonus material. Don’t expect just a repackaging of material already available on our 2000 boxed set of outtakes— 15 of Frosting On The Beater’s 31 bonus tracks on this reissue have never been heard! Frosting On The Beater will now stretch across two LPs and will be mastered at 45 rpm from the original tapes. We made the decision to stick to just the original albums for the vinyl release, to give it room to breathe across two glorious slabs of wax. So, if bonus tracks are your thing, the 2-CD set will have you covered Catch The Posies on their 30th Anniversary tour in 2018 too!
August 24 street date. The Oxford based alternative rock band Swervedriver released their third studio album Ejector Seat Reservation in 1995. Despite the little promotion and disappointing sales the album is widely considered as one of their strongest records. While listening to this record you’ll hear the true quality of this hidden gem. Besides the alternative rock the shoegaze and even bluesy influences are woven into their music. The fusion and variety of the songs which they recorded for this album are a little less on the shoegaze side compared to their previous two albums Raise and Mezcal Head. Ejector Seat Reservation is the band’s most complete record, best experienced as a whole. After splitting up in 1998 Swervedriver reunited in 2008 for touring purposes. After seventeen years they released their fifth album I Wasn’t Born to Lose You. The Ejector Seat Reservation package includes a 4-page booklet and is available as a first pressing of 2.500 individually numbered copies on coloured (silver & black mixed) 180 gram audiophile vinyl.
August 31 street date. Since their 2011 comeback album, street-punk mainstays SWINGIN' UTTERS have been on a tear, releasing two more new albums, a career spanning greatest hits album, and relentless touring - building on their hallmark aesthetic of classic street-punk, with a wide array of folk, country, garage-rock, and even honky-tonk embellishments. Once again Johnny, Darius, and Jack have collaborated to put together 15 songs that are as catchy as they are cohesive. "Peace And Love" is a true testament to the creative dexterity of these talented songwriters. With the addition of Luke Ray
(Cobra Skulls), and Tony Teixeira (Cobra Skulls, Western Addiction), the band have taken on a whole new life while maintaining that classic Utters sound that has placed them in a league of their own for 3 decades.
August 31 street date. Since their 2011 comeback album, street-punk mainstays SWINGIN' UTTERS have been on a tear, releasing two more new albums, a career spanning greatest hits album, and relentless touring - building on their hallmark aesthetic of classic street-punk, with a wide array of folk, country, garage-rock, and even honky-tonk embellishments. Once again Johnny, Darius, and Jack have collaborated to put together 15 songs that are as catchy as they are cohesive. "Peace And Love" is a true testament to the creative dexterity of these talented songwriters. With the addition of Luke Ray
(Cobra Skulls), and Tony Teixeira (Cobra Skulls, Western Addiction), the band have taken on a whole new life while maintaining that classic Utters sound that has placed them in a league of their own for 3 decades.
Please note: new street date is September 7. In 2016, after reissuing two Bruce Haack albums, Haackula and Electric Lucifer Book II, Telephone Explosion began speaking with Ted Pandel (Bruce’s lifelong friend and business partner) about working on the 1970 masterpiece The Electric Lucifer. It turned out there was another matter that he wanted to discuss: finding a final resting place for the Bruce Haack archive. We were shown test-pressings of The Electric Lucifer board mixes from his Columbia studio sessions, countless pieces of written music, a large number of personal photos, an invitation from Raymond Scott inviting Bruce to play his newly created Electronium instrument (now owned by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh), poems, press clippings, and, most importantly, a heavyduty shelf containing 213 reel-to-reel tapes. All of the chosen material on The Preservation Tapes is unreleased, has only been heard by a handful of people and showcases a relatively unknown period in Bruce’s musical career where Bruce was recording for Sparrow Records (who billed themselves as "America's best Christian music record label”). Bruce’s signature Farad vocoder continues to feature prominently, but the lyrical content is decidedly more religious. The Bruce Haack archive is now resting in the Provincial Archives of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Preservation Tapes will be available on August 10th on LP with 12-page booklet.
Sept. 14 street date. For their 31st studio album, HAWKWIND have collaborated with songwriter and conductor Mike Batt to recreate a selection of Hawkwind songs with an extra, orchestral ingredient. Hawkwind invited Mike to help create arrangements for some of their most celebrated songs. Tracks such as "Quark, Strangeness and Charm", "We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago", and "Psychic Power" are re-rooted acoustically, then embellished with a strength and majesty only Hawkwind can produce. "The Watcher" features trademark guitar licks from special guest Eric Clapton. The limited edition vinyl comes with a gatefold sleeve.
July 13 street date. In 1997, PBS began airing Sessions at West 54th, a program far removed from the live music fare aimed at the older set that one usually finds on the network. Instead, Sessions at West 54th brought the hottest and hippest acts to New York to perform live in front of a studio audience. And one of the first acts asked to appear was Ben Folds Five. Which was a very big deal to the leader of the band. “I viewed it as an equal to a classic BBC live music television show,” says Ben Folds. “I walked into it thinking, ‘This is the one I leave [behind],’ because it felt like some kind of a time capsule gig.” Now, we at Real Gone Music are thrilled to present the complete performance by Ben Folds Five as recorded at Sony Music Studios. This 2-LP/CD release represents the first live album to be released in either format from the “vintage” years of the trio (consisting of Folds, drummer Darren Jessee and bassist Robert Sledge). Among the 15 tunes are three from the group’s self-titled debut, nine from their then-current release Whatever and Ever Amen featuring their hit “Battle of Who Could Care Less,” and three songs that had not been released at the time (“Emaline,” “Theme from ‘Dr. Pyser’,” and their radically reimagined cover of Flaming Lips’ “She Don’t Use Jelly”). Folds and crew were always a great live band—they even recorded their studio albums in a largely live setting—but this performance crackles with palpable intensity, brought home by this recording’s flawless fidelity. But don’t take our word for it—as Folds says in Bill Kopp’s liner notes that accompany the release, “That gig was pretty special.” Available on CD or in a gatefold blue vinyl double-LP limited to 1000 copies!
July 13 street date. Birds In Row are a melodic/abrasive band from Laval, France. Blurring the lines between hardcore, punk, and related sub-genres, Birds In Row offer something of substantial weight to their listeners. Collectively carrying somber hearts and poignant souls, they navigate through melancholic seas to shape beautifully hook-laden songs unlike anything else out there today. “We Already Lost the World” is their latest, a stunning nine song album that blends post punk and angular rock influences into something emotional and electric. Recorded and mixed by Amaury Sauve at The Apiary, and mastered by Thibault Chaumont at Deviant Lab.
July 13 street date. Birds In Row are a melodic/abrasive band from Laval, France. Blurring the lines between hardcore, punk, and related sub-genres, Birds In Row offer something of substantial weight to their listeners. Collectively carrying somber hearts and poignant souls, they navigate through melancholic seas to shape beautifully hook-laden songs unlike anything else out there today. “We Already Lost the World” is their latest, a stunning nine song album that blends post punk and angular rock influences into something emotional and electric. Recorded and mixed by Amaury Sauve at The Apiary, and mastered by Thibault Chaumont at Deviant Lab.
July 13 street date. Indie exclusive limited to 1000 copies on coke bottle green vinyl. Packaging includes a gatefold jacket & printed inner sleeve. Birds In Row are a melodic/abrasive band from Laval, France. Blurring the lines between hardcore, punk, and related sub-genres, Birds In Row offer something of substantial weight to their listeners. Collectively carrying somber hearts and poignant souls, they navigate through melancholic seas to shape beautifully hook-laden songs unlike anything else out there today. “We Already Lost the World” is their latest, a stunning nine song album that blends post punk and angular rock influences into something emotional and electric. Recorded and mixed by Amaury Sauve at The Apiary, and mastered by Thibault Chaumont at Deviant Lab.
July 13 street date (date change). LONG-AWAITED VINYL AND CD REPRESS! re-recorded and re-mastered from the original DAT tapes and has been re-cut onto heavyweight collector’s edition vinyl. The CD will be placed in a Digi-Pak sleeve with some extra art & the vinyl will have a double-sided 12” poster. The original image on the back of the sleeve will now be in colour. There will be a spot varnish finish on the images & text alongside the usual Skam Braille sticker to give the whole package new depth and a refreshing look and feel. Originally released in 1996, ‘Hi Scores’ constitutes Boards Of Canada’s second official release after 1995’s ‘Twoism’.
July 13 street date (date change). LONG-AWAITED VINYL AND CD REPRESS! re-recorded and re-mastered from the original DAT tapes and has been re-cut onto heavyweight collector’s edition vinyl. The CD will be placed in a Digi-Pak sleeve with some extra art & the vinyl will have a double-sided 12” poster. The original image on the back of the sleeve will now be in colour. There will be a spot varnish finish on the images & text alongside the usual Skam Braille sticker to give the whole package new depth and a refreshing look and feel. Originally released in 1996, ‘Hi Scores’ constitutes Boards Of Canada’s second official release after 1995’s ‘Twoism’.
July 13 street date. The comprehensive remastering and repackaging upgrade of the Man In Black's legendary Sun catalogue continues with the release of Johnny Cash's second LP. Released in November 1958, Johnny Cash's "Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous" was a superb collection of many his Sun hits and featured "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen", a No. 1 country smash which also crossed over to no. 14 in the pop charts, "There You Go", "Train Of Love", "Home Of The Blues", "The Ways Of A Woman In Love", and "Guess Things Happen That Way", his biggest national pop hit on Sun. 1958 was one of Johnny Cash's most prolific years in the charts and helped make him the Sun label's most consistently successful artist. Complete with sleeve notes by noted Sun Records authority Adam Komorowski and president of Sun Entertainment Corporation John Singleton, this LP has been remastered from the original Sun master tapes by Nick Robbins at Soundmastering Studios and cut to lacquers at half-speed for unrivalled sound quality by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering in London.
July 13 street date. (Available on CD / standard 150g black vinyl / HQ 180g black vinyl / indie-exclusive colour vinyl) Deafheaven was formed in 2010 by vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy. They released their debut studio album Roads To Judah in 2011. They added drummer Daniel Tracy to the group and released their breakthrough album Sunbather in 2013. After rounding out their line up with guitarist Shiv Mehra and bassist Stephen Clark—each subsequent live set felt like a religious experience for the bigger (and bigger) shows that followed. Their third album, and first for ANTI-, 2015’s New Bermuda, was heavier, sturdier, and more grounded in the dirt than Sunbather. They toured extensively to support New Bermuda playing tours and festivals with Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Danzig, and Gojira. Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its imper¬fection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them. Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation.
July 13 street date. (Available on CD / standard 150g black vinyl / HQ 180g black vinyl / indie-exclusive colour vinyl) Deafheaven was formed in 2010 by vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy. They released their debut studio album Roads To Judah in 2011. They added drummer Daniel Tracy to the group and released their breakthrough album Sunbather in 2013. After rounding out their line up with guitarist Shiv Mehra and bassist Stephen Clark—each subsequent live set felt like a religious experience for the bigger (and bigger) shows that followed. Their third album, and first for ANTI-, 2015’s New Bermuda, was heavier, sturdier, and more grounded in the dirt than Sunbather. They toured extensively to support New Bermuda playing tours and festivals with Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Danzig, and Gojira. Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its imper¬fection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them. Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation.
July 13 street date. (Available on CD / standard 150g black vinyl / HQ 180g black vinyl / indie-exclusive colour vinyl) Deafheaven was formed in 2010 by vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy. They released their debut studio album Roads To Judah in 2011. They added drummer Daniel Tracy to the group and released their breakthrough album Sunbather in 2013. After rounding out their line up with guitarist Shiv Mehra and bassist Stephen Clark—each subsequent live set felt like a religious experience for the bigger (and bigger) shows that followed. Their third album, and first for ANTI-, 2015’s New Bermuda, was heavier, sturdier, and more grounded in the dirt than Sunbather. They toured extensively to support New Bermuda playing tours and festivals with Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Danzig, and Gojira. Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its imper¬fection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them. Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation.
July 13 street date. (Available on CD / standard 150g black vinyl / HQ 180g black vinyl / indie-exclusive colour vinyl) Deafheaven was formed in 2010 by vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy. They released their debut studio album Roads To Judah in 2011. They added drummer Daniel Tracy to the group and released their breakthrough album Sunbather in 2013. After rounding out their line up with guitarist Shiv Mehra and bassist Stephen Clark—each subsequent live set felt like a religious experience for the bigger (and bigger) shows that followed. Their third album, and first for ANTI-, 2015’s New Bermuda, was heavier, sturdier, and more grounded in the dirt than Sunbather. They toured extensively to support New Bermuda playing tours and festivals with Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Danzig, and Gojira. Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its imper¬fection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them. Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation.
July 13 street date. On her debut album Lake Tear of the Clouds, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Cornelia Murr taps into the bucolic spirit of the Hudson Valley in upper New York State. Working with producer Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Murr conjures a hazy blend of folk and cosmic soul music, her voice floating over ghostly soundscapes that bring to mind the fantasias of Broadcast, Stereolab’s most pastoral moments, and the spooky romance of Beach House. Murr was born in London and resides in California as a dual citizen, but spent much of her childhood moving through the United States, from Colorado to Massachusetts, California to New York City and upstate New York. It’s the latter locale that most informs the spiritual geography of the album, which invokes the cyclical journey of water from the highest point in the Adirondack Mountains to the valley below and out to sea. Like that water, Murr’s voice flows with a liquid grace.
July 13 street date. On her debut album Lake Tear of the Clouds, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Cornelia Murr taps into the bucolic spirit of the Hudson Valley in upper New York State. Working with producer Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Murr conjures a hazy blend of folk and cosmic soul music, her voice floating over ghostly soundscapes that bring to mind the fantasias of Broadcast, Stereolab’s most pastoral moments, and the spooky romance of Beach House. Murr was born in London and resides in California as a dual citizen, but spent much of her childhood moving through the United States, from Colorado to Massachusetts, California to New York City and upstate New York. It’s the latter locale that most informs the spiritual geography of the album, which invokes the cyclical journey of water from the highest point in the Adirondack Mountains to the valley below and out to sea. Like that water, Murr’s voice flows with a liquid grace.
Please note new street date is July 13. The Only Reason I Feel Secure is the second EP by Pedro the Lion. Originally released as a 5 track EP in 1999 on Made In Mexico Records, it was re-issued by Jade Tree records in 2001 with 3 bonus tracks which originally constituted the bands’s first single – and appear only on the Jade Tree reissue. After a shifting lineup, Pedro the Lion eventually became a one-man outfit. That man is David Bazan. A Seattle native, Bazan cut his teeth playing in hardcore bands before forming Pedro in 1995, taking the band’s name from a character he made up for a possible children’s book. Under the moniker of Pedro the Lion, Bazan creates melodic pop in the vein of Bedhead, Hayden, and Sebadoh, with a lyrical focus on relationships -- with both other people and God. In early 2006, Bazan retired the Pedro moniker to continue on with solo work under his own name. In December of 2017 Bazan announced that Pedro The Lion be reunited to make a new album and tour the world in 2018.
Please note new street date is July 13. Indie-shop CLEAR vinyl edition! The Only Reason I Feel Secure is the second EP by Pedro the Lion. Originally released as a 5 track EP in 1999 on Made In Mexico Records, it was re-issued by Jade Tree records in 2001 with 3 bonus tracks which originally constituted the bands’s first single – and appear only on the Jade Tree reissue. After a shifting lineup, Pedro the Lion eventually became a one-man outfit. That man is David Bazan. A Seattle native, Bazan cut his teeth playing in hardcore bands before forming Pedro in 1995, taking the band’s name from a character he made up for a possible children’s book. Under the moniker of Pedro the Lion, Bazan creates melodic pop in the vein of Bedhead, Hayden, and Sebadoh, with a lyrical focus on relationships -- with both other people and God. In early 2006, Bazan retired the Pedro moniker to continue on with solo work under his own name. In December of 2017 Bazan announced that Pedro The Lion be reunited to make a new album and tour the world in 2018.
July 13 street date. SAVE FACE is a New Jersey-based rock band which features vocalist/guitarist Tyler Povanda, guitarist Phil McGarry, bassist Chris Aveta, and drummer Chris Flannery. Merci is their new album and Epitaph Records debut, which features tracks with that are instantly catchy, built on heavy guitar riffs and throat-shredding vocals which embody the raw yet melodic sensibilities of SAVE FACE. The band is known for their passionate live performances which have earned them a dedicated following in recent years. Merci is the follow up to their 2016 release Folly, a six-track EP that showcased their hook-driven but viscerally charged sound. Last November, the band delivered Folly: On The Rocks—a stripped-down, partly acoustic, more intimate rendition of the EP. The band has also taken on a relentless touring schedule over the past few years. With the band’s ambition and constant need to be on tour, SAVE FACE was on the road for 9 months in 2017, including a run with label mates The Menzingers. Continuing the grind in 2018, SAVE FACE will tour this spring as support for Boston Manor.
July 13 street date. SAVE FACE is a New Jersey-based rock band which features vocalist/guitarist Tyler Povanda, guitarist Phil McGarry, bassist Chris Aveta, and drummer Chris Flannery. Merci is their new album and Epitaph Records debut, which features tracks with that are instantly catchy, built on heavy guitar riffs and throat-shredding vocals which embody the raw yet melodic sensibilities of SAVE FACE. The band is known for their passionate live performances which have earned them a dedicated following in recent years. Merci is the follow up to their 2016 release Folly, a six-track EP that showcased their hook-driven but viscerally charged sound. Last November, the band delivered Folly: On The Rocks—a stripped-down, partly acoustic, more intimate rendition of the EP. The band has also taken on a relentless touring schedule over the past few years. With the band’s ambition and constant need to be on tour, SAVE FACE was on the road for 9 months in 2017, including a run with label mates The Menzingers. Continuing the grind in 2018, SAVE FACE will tour this spring as support for Boston Manor.
July 13 street date. Remastered 2018 Reissue!! Tom Waits' first seven albums, originally released through Elektra Asylum Records in the 1970's, have been re-mastered and are being re-released via Anti-Records! 1977’s Foreign Affairs takes the jazz and poetry that Tom Waits explored on his earlier albums in a more cinematic direction, foreshadowing his own breakthrough work in the 80s. Opening with the instrumental “Cinny’s Waltz” and featuring some new standards like “Muriel” and “I Never Talk To Strangers”, his dramatic duet with Bette Midler, this album gets into some of Waits’ most ambitious storytelling ever. Foreign Affairs also features the jazzy, colorful “Jack and Neil” and the sweeping, dramatic “Potters Field” as well as classic Waits ballads “Burma Shave” and “Sight for Sore Eyes”.
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Digest 
Essex Green
