King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard -Murder Of The Universe
Showing no signs of slowing down, Geelong’s King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard release Murder Of The Universe, the second of their five albums set for release in 2017. Broken down into 3 distinct ‘chapters’, the track listing of the sprawling 21-track album, which is concerned with the downfall of man and the death of the planet. The album was recorded at Flightless HQ in East Brunswick, Melbourne Australia in early 2017 and produced by the band’s Stu Mackenzie. Lit by thunderclaps and lightning, Murder Of The Universe inhabits a sonic landscape of death, decay, ossification, fossilisation, rebirth. It is a place occupied by wandering shape-shifting beasts, bleeding skies, pools of blood, great fires and mushroom clouds; a planet rent asunder by conflict. A disorientating experience, the album hinges on three distinct sections that rise from larval beds, and whose lyrics should be carved in stone, squeezed from moss, discovered in ancient runes. And all the while a passing cast of characters imbue the tale with both human and non-human emotions. Snippets of earlier recordings breakthrough collection I’m In Your Mind Fuzz and Nonagon Infinity resurface throughout like ghostly shadow form to haunt their latest sound. In years to come King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard will be judged not by their separate albums, but by a body of work where themes, melodies, motifs, riffs and ideas resurface and recur, each album peeling back a layer of the onion to glimpse at past and future alike.
LP – Black Vinyl with 32 page booklet and Download card included.LP+ – Limited edition Glow in the dark vinyl with scented sticker with 32 page booklet and Download card included.CD – Contains 28 page booklet.
Big Thief – Capacity
The trails that Brooklyn’s Big Thief – Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums) – take us down on Capacity, the band’s highly anticipated second record out on Saddle Creek Records, are overgrown with the wilderness of pumping souls. After last year’s stunning Masterpiece, Capacity was recorded in a snowy winter nest in upstate New York at Outlier Studio with producer Andrew Sarlo. The album jumps right into lives marked up and nipped in surprisingly swift fashion. They are peopled and unpeopled, spooked and soothed, regenerating back into a state where they can once again be vulnerable. Lenker’s songs introduce us to a gallery of multifacted women and deal with the complicated matters of identity — at once dangerous and curious, though never unbelievable. Lenker shows us the gentle side of being ripped open. Tricked into love, done in and then witnessing the second act of pulling oneself back together to prepare for it to all happen again, but this time to a sturdier soul, one who is going to take the punches better than ever before and deal some jabs and roundhouses of their own.The album is thick with raw, un-doctored beauty: most of the songs on Capacity were played for the first time in the studio and were recorded the same day. “There is a darker darkness and a lighter light on this album,” Lenker explains. “The songs search for a deeper level of self-acceptance, to embrace the world within and without. I think Masterpiece began that process, as a reaction from inside the pain, whereas I feel Capacity examines the pain from the outside.”
LP – Black Vinyl with Download.
LP+ – Limited White Coloured Vinyl with Download and housed on Gatefold Sleeve. Limited to 500 Copies.
Jeff Tweedy – Together At Last
Together At Last is a new album by songwriter and guitarist Jeff Tweedy. It features the Wilco bandleader performing eleven of his own songs, culled from the Wilco catalog as well as from side-projects Loose Fur and Golden Smog, in a solo acoustic setting. Recorded at Tweedy’s Chicago recording studio The Loft, Together At Last showcases Tweedy’s accomplished and intricate guitar playing and his expressive, plaintive voice, and while audiences have experienced Tweedy live onstage as a solo performer for years, this is the first studio recording of its kind for the acclaimed musician.
LP+ – 750 Copies on 180 Gram Solid Yellow Vinyl.
LP – Black Vinyl.
The Deslondes – Hurry Home
The Deslondes are a five-piece band from New Orleans. In the time between the release of their self-titled debut and new sophomore album, Hurry Home, The Deslondes have toured the world and drawn critical acclaim for their studied and inventive take on New Orleans country and R&B. Hurry Home represents a sonic shift from the country-folk of their debut to a sometimes-psychedelic, electrified gospel-soul sound, with a stronger emphasis on organ and electric guitar. The band split up songwriting and lead vocal duties among its five members, continuing its democratic ethos and musical versatility. The sound may continue to draw comparisons to the country-funkiness of The Band, but The Deslondes were equally inspired by the sound of early Sun Records, the punchy rock and roll of VU-era Velvet Underground and the experimental pop of Joe Meek. Perhaps most importantly, Hurry Home is the sound of a band that understands the history of American music, but is deftly finding their own contemporary approach.
Radiohead – OK Computer – OKnotOK 1997 – 2017
Rescued from defunct formats, prised from dark cupboards and brought to light after two decades in cold storage… OKnotOK is released through XL Recordings, coinciding (roughly) with the original 1997 release date(s) of Radiohead’s landmark third album OK Computer. OKnotOK features the original OK Computer twelve track album, eight B-sides, and the Radiohead completist’s dream: I Promise, Lift, and Man Of War. The original studio recordings of these three previously unreleased and long sought after OK Computer era tracks finally receive their first official issue on OKnotOK. All material on OKnotOK is newly remastered from the original analogue tapes. OK Computer was originally released on various dates ranging from May to July 1997. Produced by the band and Nigel Godrich, the album features the singles Paranoid Android, Karma Police, Lucky and No Surprises, and is widely cited as one of the greatest works of Radiohead’s – or any artist’s – catalogue. OK Computer was the first Radiohead record to reach number 1 in the UK and to be nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy. In 2015, The National Recording Registry selected OK Computer to be preserved in the Library of Congress as a recording that has proven “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
3LP – A triple-sleeve Gatefold holding three 180 gram black 12″ vinyl records containing the original twelve track album, three unreleased tracks and eight B-sides, all newly remastered from the original analogue tapes. The sleeve includes a download card for a 320k MP3 or 16-bit Wav download of the 23 track album.
3LP+ – Limited to 3000 Copies. Indies only opaque blue vinyl. A triple-sleeve Gatefold holding three 180 gram blue 12″ vinyl records containing the original twelve track album, three unreleased tracks and eight B-sides, all newly remastered from the original analogue tapes. The sleeve includes a download card for a 320k MP3 or 16-bit Wav download of the 23 track album.
5LP – Rescued from defunct formats, prised from dark cupboards and brought to light after two decades in cold storage… OK Computer: the original twelve track album, three unreleased tracks and eight B-sides, all newly remastered from the original analogue tapes. Inside a black box emblazoned with a dark image of a burned copy of OK Computer are three heavyweight 180 Gram black 12″ vinyl records and a hardcover book containing more than 30 artworks, many of which have never been seen before except by us, and full lyrics to all the tracks except the ones that haven’t really got any lyrics. Under this weighty tome are yet more surprises: a notebook containing 104 pages from Thom Yorke’s library of scrawled notes of the time, a sketchbook containing 48 pages of Donwood and Tchock’s ‘preparatory work’ and a C90 cassette mix tape taken from OK Computer session archives and demo tapes. Comes with a Download.
Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain
The DNA of Purple Rain can be felt throughout pop culture at large. It is a timeless body of work with an immortal resonance exemplified by smashes such as Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Darling Nikki, the title track Purple Rain and more. Minted Diamond by the RIAA for sales exceeding 13 million, the record stands out as the sixth best-selling soundtrack album in history, moving more than 22 million copies. Hailed by Vanity Fair as “the best soundtrack of all time,” Time Magazine placed it as the 15th greatest album ever. The album won two 1985 Grammy Awards® in the categories of “Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” and “Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special.” Posthumously, it was honoured as “Favorite Soundtrack” at the 2016 American Music Awards. It was also recently nominated for a 2017 Billboard Music Award in the category of “Top Soundtrack / Cast Album.”
LP – 2015 Paisley Park Remaster. Overseen by Prince. 180 Gram Vinyl with original 1984 packaging. Includes Poster.
2CD – 2015 Paisley Park Remaster of the original tapes from the soundtrack, presenting an unheard vision of the album overseen by Prince himself before his untimely 2016 passing. The 2nd disc: From The Vault and Unreleased boasts eleven gems unearthed from the heart of Prince’s storied vault. Six tracks that have never been released or distributed in the collector or bootleg community include: Possessed – the ’83 Prince solo version, never heard before; Electric Intercourse – the studio version not known to exist before it was discovered at Paisley; Father’s Song – a full, five plus minute version that prior to this fans could only find a minute and half snippet of in the movie; We Can Fuck – a track that has never circulated as the full, 10 minute version with these lyrics; and Katrina’s Paper Dolls – a finished master of the song, which has previously only circulated as a demo. Additionally, all of the material is taken from the source and mastered by Bernie Grundman, the mastering engineer who worked on the original album.
4CD – 3CD and 1 DVD Version. 2015 Paisley Park Remaster of the original tapes from the soundtrack, presenting an unheard vision of the album overseen by Prince himself before his untimely 2016 passing. The 2nd disc: From The Vault and Unreleased boasts eleven gems unearthed from the heart of Prince’s storied vault. Six tracks that have never been released or distributed in the collector or bootleg community include: Possessed – the ’83 Prince solo version, never heard before; Electric Intercourse – the studio version not known to exist before it was discovered at Paisley; Father’s Song – a full, five plus minute version that prior to this fans could only find a minute and half snippet of in the movie; We Can Fuck – a track that has never circulated as the full, 10 minute version with these lyrics; and Katrina’s Paper Dolls – a finished master of the song, which has previously only circulated as a demo. Additionally, all of the material is taken from the source and mastered by Bernie Grundman, the mastering engineer who worked on the original album. The Purple Rain Deluxe – Expanded Edition presents a third disc of Single Edits and B-Sides, as well as the concert DVD Prince And The Revolution Live at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY, March 30, 1985. With audio and video restored from the original production master tape, it offers an exclusive vignette into the passion and power of his legendary live performances during one of the artist’s most celebrated eras.
Joseph Arthur – Redemption’s Son – 15th Anniversary Edition
Reissue of Joseph’s third album for Real World. 15th Anniversary of one of his most beloved records. Consistently inspired, occasionally frazzled, and often startlingly beautiful with its rich textures, vulnerability and acute, poetic lyrics guaranteed to raise goose bumps.
2LP – First Time on Vinyl. The download includes previously unreleased material: Morning Star, is a collection of Redemption’s Son era songs that have been selectively preserved in a time capsule waiting for the perfect time.
2CD – The second CD, called Morning Star, is a collection of Redemption’s Son era songs that have been selectively preserved in a time capsule waiting for the perfect time.
Natalie Merchant -The Natalie Merchant Collection
Nonesuch Records releases The Natalie Merchant Collection, a deluxe 10-CD box set compiled by Merchant. The Natalie Merchant Collection comprises all eight of her solo studio albums from the past three decades. A ninth disc, Butterfly, is a new studio set featuring four new songs and six reinterpreted selections from her catalogue, all arranged for string quartet. The final disc is Rarities, a collection of 15 rare and previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1998 and 2017, which offers a unique view of Merchant’s creative experimentation through home studio demos, album outtakes, live tracks, and collaborations with diverse artists like Billy Bragg, David Byrne, The Chieftains, Cowboy Junkies, and Amy Helm. The package includes a 100-page lyric book and pictorial history of the singer-songwriter’s solo career – an archival treasure box for collectors.
The Fat Angel Sings 