Hey good people! Yup, sure feels like the 90s here today as we have reissues from Nirvana and Sonic Youth, plus a new album from The Cult. M. Ward’s latest release is now out on vinyl too. The Sonic Youth reissues are trickling in slowly, hopefully we aren’t waiting much longer for “Goo” and “Washing Machine” to show up. Check out all the details on the recent releases below. We also received a slew of restocks this week. Plus way down this page you will find a few teaser pics of some of the recent arrival vintage/used vinyl we’ve been putting out.
New Vinyl Releases
Sonic Youth – Dirty (2LP)
20th Anniversary 2-LP Reissue. Newly remastered from original stereo analog masters. Includes download card for Mp4 of album tracks.
Dirty is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on July 21, 1992 by record label DGC. The band recorded and produced the album with Butch Vig in early 1992 at The Magic Shop studios. The sound on Dirty was inspired by the grunge scene of the time, and was described as avant-rock. Some songs on the album mark the first appearance of three guitars in Sonic Youth songs.
Nirvana – From the Muddy Banks Of Wishkah (2LP)
Kurt Cobain’s former bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl clearly had an agenda in compiling From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, the second of what will no doubt be a long line of posthumous Nirvana albums. Because of its somber, intense nature, the first post-Cobain release, MTV Unplugged in New York, was largely perceived as music for a wake—an impression reinforced by MTV’s constant airings of the special in the days following Cobain’s suicide. But that acoustic detour aside, the Nirvana live experience was always about displaying a lust for life—not a death wish—with all the energy the musicians could muster. Wishkah offers 16 songs spanning the band’s career, all delivered in the loudest, most frenzied, and sometimes the sloppiest versions imaginable. In the opening “Intro,” a snippet of pre-show noise, Cobain screams his heart out in joyful contrast to the haunted screams on “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” Then the group launches into “School,” which ends with the spirited chorus “Don’t be sad.” Indeed, it’s impossible to dwell on the maudlin when listening to these renditions of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Sliver,” “Heart-Shaped Box,” and “Negative Creep”—they—they’re too loud and too full of life. But while it should be applauded, Wishkah isn’t the great lost Nirvana album—there are no unheard gems to add to the catalog—and in the end, it isn’t nearly as essential as any of the band’s studio albums—or even the downbeat but revelatory Unplugged. —Jim Derogatis
The Cult – Hidden City
The Cult has released the tenth studio album of their stellar career with the epic ‘Hidden City’, produced by Bob Rock and written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy. It’s the final part of a trilogy that has witnessed the rebirth of the band, beginning with ‘Born Into This’ (2007), which evolved into ‘Choice of Weapon’ (2012), and arrived fully formed, kicking and screaming with the seductive ‘Hidden City’.
The sonic assault of ‘Dark Energy’ is the perfect intro to this startling new album. Peel away the layers of this 12 track master class in space and time, and you will discover a band in their absolute prime. Which comes as no surprise, as the Cult have existed in the shadows and wild spaces since their inception.
According to Astbury, “We don’t have fans, we have devotees. You either need it or you don’t. You either get it or you won’t. There is nothing casual about The Cult.”
M. Ward – More Rain
More Rain, Ward’s eighth solo affair, finds the artist picking up the tempo and volume a bit from his previous release, 2012’s A Wasteland Companion. Where that record introspectively looked in from the outside, More Rain finds Ward on the inside, gazing out. Begun four years ago and imagined initially as a DIY doo-wop album that would feature Ward experimenting with layering his own voice, it soon branched out in different directions, a move that he credits largely to his collaborators here who include R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters, and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. The result is a collection of upbeat, sonically ambitious yet canonically familiar songs that both propel Ward’s reach and satisfy longtime fans.
Recent Arrival Vintage/Used Vinyl
Since we renovated the shop, we’ve nearly tripled the amount of records for you to flip through. Here’s a few pics of what has been hitting the shop the past week.
That’s it for today! Have an awesome weekend. MMMMM weekend…