Featured New Vinyl Releases, recent arrival used vinyl and yup, more RSD.

We can finally kick back and focus on some new release vinyl that has come in this week. Hey how about a live Eels triple LP?! Yes Please! Someone come buy this so I’m not tempted to open it! And damn, that Lower Dens is good. Some titles got overlooked or delayed with all the craziness that is Record Store Day, so please take a few to check out some of this weeks featured new release vinyl. Yup, there are a few late RSD 2015 records that came in today, details on those are way down and a whole load of new vintage vinyl hitting the bins today.

On with it.


 

Featured New Vinyl May8

 

Eels – Royal Albert Hall (3LP+DVD)
In May 2014 EELS embarked on an ambitious fifty-three show world tour. Starting in Phoenix, Arizona and crossing The United States and Canada before rolling through mainland Europe and Great Britain, the band performed spine-tingling shows at New York’s Apollo, Chicago’s Vic Theater, Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theater, The Montreux Jazz Festival and The Amsterdam Concert Hall among many others. On the night of June 30th EELS returned to London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall for the first time in nine years to play a stunning show that was filmed and recorded.

 


 

Calexico – Edge of the Sun
For the better part of two decades, the acclaimed band Calexico has crossed musical barriers, embracing a multitude of styles, variety in instrumentation, and well-cultivated signature sounds. With their forthcoming record Edge of the Sun, out April 14th, they take inspiration from a trip to a place surprisingly unexplored by the band before in Mexico City, and with the benefit of many friends and comrades to help guide the way. The first outside invitation came when the band’s Joey Burns was writing the track ‘Bullets and Rocks’ and recognized space for a former Calexico collaborator. “When putting vocals on that song, it immediately reminded me of the Iron & Wine feel,” says Burns. “So I texted Sam (Beam), who wrote back quickly and got it going.” Encouraged by the experience, the guest list grew to include Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Nick Urata (Devotchka), Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, Amparo Sanchez, multi-instrumentalists from the Greek band Takim, and Neko Case. Burns’ brother John Burns lent a hand to some lyrics and songwriting, and the band’s keyboardist, Sergio Mendoza, stepped up to co-write and arrange certain songs, ultimately co-producing the album along with Burns, John Convertino, and longtime associate Craig Schumacher.
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Lower Dens – Escape From Evil
On Escape From Evil, Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter emerges: cerebral and hot-blooded, rash and incorruptible, and, crucially, possessing of a loud, clear voice. The album sees Hunter stepping up and taking center stage, and emboldening every aspect of the band.
Escape From Evil is a cinematic, tonally rich work. The sounds are clean and warm. The pulse of the album is strong. Melodies are potent and songs are physical. Lyrics are direct, frank confrontations with life’s common crises. The album title is brazen, and along with the grimly funny title of lead single, “To Die in L.A.”, almost theatrical.

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Mumford & Sons – Wilder Mind
Wilder Mind is the third studio album from Mumford & Sons and is the successor to the 2012 album Babel, which earned the band a BRIT Award in the ‘Best British Group’ category (their 2nd BRIT) and Grammy award for best ‘Best Album’. Babel was the fastest selling album in both the UK and US in its first week of release in 2012 and saw the band headline Glastonbury festival. Produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, HAIM, Florence & The Machine), it features twelve new tracks, written collaboratively by the band. This new album marks a significant departure for the young British band from their previous records, 2009’s Sigh No More, and 2012’s Babel. The early sessions in New York and London witnessed a change in the band’s approach not just to writing and recording, but to texture and dynamics, too. There is a minimalist yet panoramic feel to the new album, the band describe it as “a development, not a departure.”

 


 

Suuns And Jerusalem In My Heart – Suuns And Jerusalem In My Heart
Beginning in November of 2012, Suuns and long time friend, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh of Jerusalem In My Heart, rented a studio in Montreal for seven days. The idea was to collaborate on rough sketches of song ideas and to complete as much recording as possible without discrimination. The session was successful, yielding many vibe-laden songs featuring heavy analog synths, Arabic influences and electronic sensibilities. As Suuns’ Shemie is quick to point out, “It’s not a Suuns record, it’s not a Jerusalem In My Heart record. It’s really a product of 5 musicians that had spent a lot of time on tour listening to music together.”

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Elwins – Play For Keeps
Like most of the songs on Play For Keeps, So Down Low was written and recorded relatively close to the bands’ homes in Keswick, Ontario. You could probably draw a York region map on a napkin to the Keswick dock where lead singer Matthew Sweeney wrote the song chorus, trace a line to record producer Derek Hoffman’s mother’s house in Aurora where the vocals were recorded, and mark an x on the Keswick basement jam space where bass player Frankie Figliomeni locked in the bass line that keeps the song moving at a rapid pace. The map would be appended with stops in Toronto’s 6 Nassau Kensington Market studio where Travis Stokl’s drums were captured as well as the Toronto Annex “keyboard lair” where they got cosy in a friends’ tiny space to finish up the final flourish with Feurd’s keys.

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Death – N.E.W.
Since the discovery of Death in 2008 and the release of the archival LP …For The Whole World To See, the story has been often told. Three African-American brothers, David, Dannis and Bobby Hackney, tapped into the surging energy of their hometown rock-and-roll scene (mid-70s Detroit) to produce a style and a set of songs that, while completely unappreciated in their day, proved later to be a powerful missing link in the evolution of punk rock. All this was predicted by their leader, older brother David, on his deathbed, ten years before their rediscovery. His stubborn insistence on keeping the name Death instead of signing a record contract under a more palatable name is, in itself, a defining act of true rebellion. The power, precision and passion of the music says everything else that need be said. It has been an EPIC time since 2008: Death began playing live again to large and grateful audiences, meanwhile issuing two additional archival records, Spiritual-Mental-Physical, and Death III.
Inspired by the positivity brought to them by ever-increasing numbers of new fans, the current performing Death (Bobby Hackney, Dannis Hackney, and Bobbie Duncan) completed several songs started back in the late 1970s by Bobby and David, as well as composing entirely new songs that continue the timeless vibe, feel and resolve of Death with remarkable drive and vigor. N.E.W. surveys the whole Death story, making a statement that screams to the soul, even when reviewing the tracklisting.

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Record Store Day Month continues…

So a few more Record Store Day titles trickled in this week. Anyone out there care any more?

More RSD

 

George Ezra – Wanted on Voyage
Full length picture disc version of Ezra’s Wanted On Voyage, first time available on vinyl in the US


Stephen Rennicks – Frank OST
Stephen Rennicks’s song based soundtrack to Leonard Abrahamson’s fantastical black comedy featuring Michael Fassbender as the masked leader of a doomed avant-rock group.

The film is inspired by cult comedy creation Frank Sidebottom, as well as underground music legends Captain Beefheart and Daniel Johnston. Rooted in Jon Ronson’s real-life account of his time playing keyboards in Frank Sidebottom’s Oh Blimey Big Band, the film follows Domhnall Gleeson as a wannabe pop star Jon Burroughs who joins the unpronounceable Soronprfbs band. The bands’ live performances often descend into chaos and the band members ooze eccentricity. The actors play the instruments live.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is Clara, the band’s severe theremin player, François Civil is Baraque, the guitarist who only speaks French, and the only professional musician, Autolux drummer, Carla Azar plays Nana, the silent type.

The song “I Love You All”, performed by Michael Fassbender and the Soronprfbs, was released digitally on 11th August. The band performed the song live on The Colbert Report in NY on 6th August.

• Pressed on green wax
• Includes Frank mask
• Limited to 500 copies for North America
• Featured bonus track on LP


Nightsatan – Nightsatan and the Loops of Doom

* Record Store Day Exclusive
* GREEN VINYL LP with 30 minute short film on a region free DVD

NIGHTSATAN caught the ear of the attentive laser metal enthusiast with their  debut album, Midnight Laser Warrior, in 2010, and now the trio debut as movie  stars in Nightsatan And The Loops Of Doom. The movie draws inspiration from  the very same source the band does: ’80s post-apocalyptic science fiction.

The synth trio NIGHTSATAN hail from the doomy city of Turku, Finland, and  they place themselves in the post-apocalyptic laser metal genre. In the beginning, the synth warrior Wolf Rami envisioned the band’s music as “the soundtrack to Miami Vice meets heavy metal.” During their career, the band’s sound has extended to both ends of that spectrum, and the synth-metal riffs of the early material have given way for a more progressive and atmospheric approach.

Given the international cult fame gained with the already quite cinematic debut album – with kudos given by the likes of Monocle, Empire, and Popvoyage – and  live shows in their native Finland and Sweden, it is fitting that the trio’s next  step is a movie soundtrack. Directed by Chrzu, better known as the director of  animated films such as Curse of the Remote Island (2008), Nightsatan and the Loops of Doom is a proud tribute to vintage Italian post-apocalyptic sci-if. It is a very unusual short epic, full of sex, violence, and general sense of wonder.The soundtrack album is a considerably more epic and measured affair than its predecessor. Recorded and produced by the band’s second keyboard wizard Mazathoth, the album features full-length versions of all tracks from the movie.


Linval Thompson – Dreadlock Sessions
Dub Vocal Meet Version
Colour Vinyl
Label: Jamaican Recordings
Quantity: 750


The Wibbley Brothers – Go Weird
RSD Exclusive 180g LP with insert
Label: Trubshaws Astonishing Sounds
Quantity: 500

 


 

Last but not least getting the recent arrival used vinyl restocked today. Should have some really sweet vinyl heading into the shop over the next couple months. So sit tight and keep checking back so you don’t miss out.

Recent Vintage May8

 

 

Did you really just read the whole thing? Mighty nice of you… now go outside.