NEW RELEASES / NEW RE-ISSUES
Beat 4: Habia una Vez…
Big K.R.I.T.: Live from the Underground
Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family: My Ancestors
Fela Kuti: Live in Detroit 1986 (4LP Set)
Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel…
Guided by Voices: Class Clown Spots a UFO
Liars: WIXIW
Mr. Oizo: Stade 3
Nazoranai: s/t
Ol’ Dirty Bastard: Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
Romare: Meditations on Afrocentrism (12”)
Outer Space: Akashic Record (Events: 1986-1990)
Gary War: Jared’s Lot

NEW ARRIVALS / RE-STOCKS
Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle
Baths: Cerulean
The Brief Encounter: Special Release
Codeine: Barely Real
Tino Contreras: El Jazz Mexicano De Tino Contreras
Dinosaur L: Go Bang (7”)
Dirty Three: Toward the Low Sun
Faust: Faust Tapes
Feelies: Crazy Rhythms
Field Music: Plumb
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Ella & Louis / Ella & Louis Again (3LP)
Grimes: Visions
Hilton Felton: The Best of Hilton Felton 1970-74
J Dilla: Ruff Draft
Krazy Baldhead: The Noise in the Sky
Lettuce: Fly
Mercury Rev: Boces
The Mummies: Play Their Own Records
Neu!: s/t
Genius / GZA: Liquid Swords
Gold: Lost Treasure
Madlib: Shades of Blue - Madlib Invades Blue Note
MF Doom: Rhymes (Picture 7”)
Pissed Jeans: King of Jeans
Jim O’Rourke: Bad Timing
Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle
Ratatat: LP4
The Roots: Rising Down
The Sidewinders: Flatfoot Hustlin’
Teen Daze: All of Us Together
Scott Walker: The Drift
Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material
Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers
*plus many more…

FEATURED VINTAGE ARRIVALS
Billy Bragg: Life’s a Riot / Between the Wars
Burning Spear: Dry & Heavy
Burning Spear: Garvey’s Ghost
Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey
John Cale: Helen of Troy
Miles Davis: On the Corner (Columbia 2-Eye)
Dillinger: Talkin’ Blues
The Gladiators: Proverbial Reggae (Front Line Press)
The Heptones: In a Dancehall Style
Monty Cantsin First Aid Brigade: Mass Media (Original 1984)
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Confrontation
The Mighty Diamonds: Right Time
Thelonious Monk: At the Five Spot
Don Pullen: Solo Piano Album
Betty Roché: Take The “A” Train
Leroy Sibbles: Now
Dieter Schnebel: Atemzüge / Choralvorspiele I/II
Patti Smith: Horses
Patti Smith: Radio Ethiopia
Cecil Taylor & Buell Niedlinger: New York City R&B
Peter Tosh: Mystic Man
Toots & The Maytals: Pass the Pipe
Bunny Wailer: Marketplace
Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones (Original CA)
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (Original CA)
Delroy Wilson: Who Done it (UK)
*plus many more…

COMING SOON… (RE-STOCKS AND RELEASES)
Alice Coltrane: Eternity
Blur: Parklife (Re-issue)
California Funk: Funk 45s from the Golden State
Coke: s/t
Serge Chaloff: Blue Serge
Spencer Davis Group: Their First LP (Import LP w/ Bonus tracks)
Spencer Davis Group: The 2nd Album (Import LP w/ Bonus tracks)
Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch
Headhunters: Survival of the Fittest
Eddie Kendricks: People…Hold On
The Kinks: Arthur (Import 2LP, Mono & Stereo)
Minutemen: Project Mersh
The Sea and Cake: Nassau (20th Anniversary Limited Edition)
Secret Circuit: Jungle Dogs, Jungle Bones (12”)
Martial Solal: Breathless (Original soundtrack)
Wicked Lady: The Axeman Cometh

STAFF PICKS OF THE WEEK: NEW ARRIVALS

Ian’s Pick(s) of the Week:


Liars: WIXIW (Mute)
Electronic / Pop: My favorite Liars record (for now) is still “Drums Not Dead”.  However, this is nothing like that so I don’t really think a comparison is fair.  Lairs are one of those bands that I feel know how to be just accessible enough to not be alienating while still indulging musical exploration.  They may do this partially unintentionally with simply being expressive with their own taste and style, but it doesn’t really matter b/c in my opinion it works.  On its own merits, I think it’s a great record with tasteful tones and the expected textural scapes, repetitive drones and experimental moments.  On a hip note, they are definitely keeping up with the current trend of fusing 80’s new wave aesthetic into their more pop-song  moments.  This band doesn’t really have a ‘bad’ release, and this one I find (as always for them) tasteful and relaxing.

Godspeed and good hunting,
Ian

Dennis’ Pick(s) of the Week

Beat 4: Habia una Vez… (Shadoks Music - Germany)
1960’s psychedelic: In the late 60’s Beat 4 was one of the most popular bands in Chile, and judging by Habia una Vez… it’s easy to understand why. On this 1968 release, Beat 4 effortlessly channel the songcraft of late-period Zombies and the smooth, pop-friendly guitar work of George Harrison. Laden with harmonies and and lush psychedelic arrangements, Habia Una Vez… sounds immediately familiar, yet entirely exotic and fresh. Newly re-issued courtesy of German imprint Shadoks Music, Habia una Vez… is a great find for anyone into obscure, yet accessible psych.

Jim O’Rourke: Bad Timing (Drag City - USA)
Instrumental post-rock: Though not a new release, we received our first copies of Bad Timing at June this week. By all accounts, Bad Timing is Jim O’Rourke’s most realized record. Combining elements of John Fahey and Brian Eno, O’Rourke creates instrumental soundscapes layer by layer, each beginning with his solemn fingerpicked guitar. Consisting of four tracks at roughly ten minutes per piece, Bad Timing is a patient record that chooses its moments carefully and beautifully.

Dig it,
Dennis

FEATURED NEW ARRIVALS / RE-STOCKS
Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family: My Ancestors (Shadoks Music - Germany)
Chrissy Zebby Tembo is the drummer of the Ngozi family. This time the album is under his name and Paul Ngozi is his guitarist. This album is so great, we left the best for the last Zam Rock release. Wild fuzz guitars all over (how do they get those sounds?), African beats and extra cool vocals. Complete stoned music. People say it is easily one of the best African psychedelic rock album ever recorded — raw, rough, with a gaping charm and tons of front and center fuzz guitar over basic, ultra catchy rock/pop tunes reminiscent in style to maybe the Velvet Underground.

Romare: Meditations on Afrocentrism (12”) (Black Acre - UK)
Romare is a London-to-Paris transient crate digger, collecting dusty snippets of undead voices and antiquated rhythms. Once in his underground lab, these pieces of yesterday are chopped, spliced and reattached. This EP explores the connection between the history of African and African-American culture in the form of collage to create musical conversations between the past, present and future. Rhythms from Africa are integrated with voices from Harlem, conversations about race and identity between writers and ethnomusicologists, speeches from activists and the voices of prisoners.

Mr. Oizo: Stade 3 (Because Music - France)
French electronic musician and film director Quentin Dupieux, best known by his pseudonym Mr. Oizo (pronounced “wah-zoh”) is releasing his new mini-album Stade 3 via Ed Banger Records and Because Music.        

Outer Space: Akashic Record (Events: 1986-1990) (Spectrum Spools)
Outer Space is a rapidly-evolving sound entity headed by John Elliott and joined by a constantly rotating cast of Midwestern U.S. electronic figures. Akashic Record sees the project grow in many different directions from the self-titled Arbor album created throughout 2008 and 2009 while retaining similar aesthetics of synthesizer experimentation and its esoteric relations. Recorded over the course of a year with close engineering assistance and compositional contributions from Andrew Veres in home and studio situations, a fresh array of fidelities and ideas previously unexplored have been mined and documented. New contributions from the elusive Philip Whiteside (of Wavehead) and Drew McDowall (past Coil/current Mirror Eye member) expand, stretch and challenge previous working methods. In the tradition of many other past releases, Jeff Hatfield (of Cleveland, Ohio’s Fragments) makes his essential appearance as well. Akashic Record sees the project move on from the stripped-down, primitive nature of the old into a more urgent, fractured and aggressive set of reality-based compositions. The work was created based on the events of others in mind; those doomed to circumstances beyond predictability or imagination.

Gary War: Jared’s Lot (Spectrum Spools)
It’s been nearly two years since we’ve heard new music from Gary War, and Spectrum Spools are excited to announce the release of his inevitable breakthrough Jared’s Lot. Through the years we have heard the developments from the D.I.Y. psychedelia of New Raytheonport to the more current electronic acid-prog tracks we heard from Horribles Parade and the most recent Police Water EP. Jared’s Lot brings the years of laboring and hard work full circle, with every facet of the project dialed into perfection. These tight and intelligently arranged pieces are the most concise and mind-blowing set of songs presented yet and we’re sure you’ll have a hard time taking this off your turntable. Gary has a masterful control of his machines, and you can tell that countless hours were spent making sure that the vision came direct and absolutely pure, from his mind to the record you will hold in your hands. Even though we have a more synthetic-based set of tracks, it’s apparent that these transmissions are messages that are based in our reality, evoking a boundless range of emotions throughout. The hectic fidelity of Gary War’s previous recordings has morphed into a unique production style which rewards with its rich tone and multi-layered tiers of sound and melody. We are witnessing a huge leap forward in both sound and vision, respectively.

*write-ups from June staff and various web sources.