Just a heads-up about some upcoming vinyl pieces. Some interesting stuff, for sure:

Five volumes on Mississippi Records of Various Artists compilations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Lomax's Southern Journey.

1. Wave the Ocean, Wave the Sea
2. Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long
3. I'll Meet You On That Other Shore
4. I'll Be Glad When the Sun Goes Down
5. I'm Gonna Live Anyhow Until I Die

Here's a little write up:

In 1959 and 1960, at the height of the Folk Revival, Alan Lomax undertook the first-ever stereo field recording trip through the American South to document its still thriving vernacular musical culture. He traveled through Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina, making over 70 hours of recordings. The trip came to be known as Lomax's "Southern Journey," and its recordings were first issued for the Atlantic and Prestige labels in the early '60s. Those, however, as well as subsequent releases on New World and Rounder Records, are now all out of print. To remedy this, and to celebrate the Southern Journey's 50th anniversary, Mississippi Records and the Alan Lomax Collection have collaborated on five commemorative LPs, spanning the breadth of Lomax's '59-60 Southern recordings, drawing on new transfers of the original 1/4" tapes, and featuring a considerable amount of previously unreleased material. The five LP volumes feature singing siblings Hobart Smith and Texas Gladden from Saltville, Virginia; menhaden fishermen's chorus the Bright Light Quartet; the Young Brothers' Mississippi Hill Country fife and drum band; Blue Ridge instrumentalists Wade Ward and Charlie Higgins; Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers; work songs and hollers from Parchman Farm; congregational hymns from African American and white Appalachian meeting-houses; Alabama's singing washerwoman Vera Ward Hall; the 1959 United Sacred Harp Convention; and the debut recordings of bluesman Fred McDowell, among much else.

Each volume is being sold separately with its own distinctive packaging. All come with a 12 page booklet featuring many never before published photos. Old school tip on sleeves & beautiful sound. Like all MR releases, these will be limited. I've ordered a few of each but if it's something you're desperate for, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) so I'm certain to order enough. Not to be missed!

Italy's Doxy Records has some nice stuff coming out:

Willie Dixon - Walkin' the Blues
Ornette Coleman - Something Else
Ornette Coleman - Tomorrow Is the Question
Miles Davis - Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud
John Lee Hooker - Driftin' the Blues
John Lee Hooker - The Blues
John Lee Hooker - The Great John Lee Hooker
Lightnin' Hopkins - Country Blues

The wonderful The National's first few records are finally coming out on vinyl: Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers and The National.

Ambient Doom master Svarte Greiner's got a new release on Digitalis--it's a rerelease of a 2008 cassette-only album, with a new side of material as a bonus. We'll be getting it in on CD and LP. Title is Penpals Forever (and Ever). The vinyl is limited to just 450 copies.

Speaking of Digitalis, the Roll the Dice LP which we sold out of earlier in the year... ? It's coming in on CD. I play it often at the store and people always inquire. It's a duo, featuring the male half of The Knife, which lots of people have been asking about as well. We'll have Silent Shout 2LP in stock soon.

Soundway's got two 3LP sets coming: The World Ends Part A and Part B. But what are they, you ask? Here's the write-up:

The World Ends is the latest title from Soundway Records showcasing a wave of guitar-driven and psychedelic groups that sprung up in Nigeria during the early 1970s. Featuring 32 electrifying and funk-laden grooves, this is the sound of a generation attempting to pick up the pieces after the devastation of the Nigerian civil war. Spread over 2 triple gatefold LPs, this bumper collection is brimming with youthful exuberance, fuzzed-out guitar and cosmic organ vibes and owes much to the psychedelic sounds of Jim Morrison, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and James Brown. As the Summer of Love was blossoming in London and San Francisco, Nigeria was imploding into civil war. Also known as the Biafra War of 1967, it was a grisly conflict taking over three million lives, yet at the same time the country was being pulled apart, there was a new world beginning. The tracks featured represent a forgotten chapter in Nigeria's musical history when the youth threw their varied morsels into the pot, from hard rock to psychedelic soul, when guitars were cherished instruments, symbolic of a new movement, when highlife and Afrobeat played second fiddle to "the beat."

Another interesting 2LP release is coming from Sublime Frequencies: Saigon Rock & Soul: Vietnamese Classic Tracks 1968-1974:

Saigon Rock & Soul delivers the goods international retro collectors have been searching for in vain for many years -- and it delivers beyond belief. Every song is a mini-masterpiece, be it heavy acid-rock psychedelia, horn- and guitar- drenched funk grooves, or gripping soul ballads reflective of life during wartime. The tracks that form this collection cut a window into a rich musical Vietnamese music scene that has long been obscured, and for the most part, forgotten. As the scope of electrified Vietnamese music from the 1960s and 1970s begins to be revealed, it becomes evident that this was among the heaviest and most eclectic musical scenes of Southeast Asia at the time. These songs tell of war, love and what war does to love. All of them were recorded in makeshift studios and even U.S. army facilities while the Vietnam War raged -- and were issued by a handful of Saigon record companies on vinyl 45s and reel or cassette tapes.

I guess I should also be asking whether anyone is keen on the multi-LP Neu! box. It's CRAZY expensive so we're not bringing it in unless it's a special order. That said, I *do* think I can get the best price on it in the city, which would be around $200, I think. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you want me to investigate further.

And, finally, 12-string guitar master James Blackshaw's new album, All Is Falling is coming soon. Here's a taste:

I don't usually post about concerts because I rarely get out much anymore and we don't sell tickets at the store. However, some wonderful things at the Music Gallery over the next little while.

I'm very excited to be seeing Grouper play this Wednesday. Regulars to the shop will have heard me playing her music. Much of her stuff is put out on limited edition vinyl, which we carry whenever we can, and we also try to stock whatever CDs of hers are in print. We've currently got a few copies of her extraordinary Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill on disc and the recent re-release of Wide on vinyl. Liz was also super sweet to have sent us some stuff for the Record Store Day raffle. She's the one artists I regret not being able to include on the Vortex-only CD we put out (she wanted to participate but was on the road when I was curating the tracks). I've posted a few of her tracks via youtube vids below.

Opening for Grouper will be cellist Julia Kent. We used to stock her Delay CD but I think it's out of print now. A live video of her is below as well.

Next week, at the same venue, William Basinski will be playing. I'll be checking him out as well as I've never seen him play.

I'll see what I can pick up from each of the artists at the concert and bring in the store to resell.

Grouper







Julia Kent


William Basinski

I'm glad you asked. Some treats in on all formats:

Celer - Dwell in Possibility (vinyl, ltd to 420 copies; "Over a relatively short period of time, Celer's catalogue has amounted to a major presence in the field of ambient music, and this fine limited edition LP will only add to the duo's prestige within the genre." - Boomkat)
Z'EV - As / If / When (vinyl)
Max Richter - 24 Postcards (vinyl)
V/A - Ecstatic Music of the Jemaa El Fna (vinyl, Sublime Frequencies)
For centuries, the Jemaa El Fna (Rendezvous of the Dead) has remained the stage for one of the most spectacular social forums on the planet. By day, this central square in the city of Marrakesh, one of Morocco's great imperial cities, fosters a kaleidoscope of entertainment for its local inhabitants; storytellers, acrobats, magicians and snake charmers all create intriguing displays of bewitching spectacle. As the sun sets, the evening grows frantic with the pulse of the crowd; it is then that the night musicians set up. Free from the restrictions and expectations of light entertainment for a tourist crowd, these musicians manifest ecstatic performances that animate the audience and players alike. The groups represented on this album; Troupe Majidi, Amal Saha, and Mustapha Mahjoub, are working and carrying the torch of their musical heroes nightly in the square. These songs come from the repertoire of Morocco's greatest musical exports: Nass El Ghiwane, Lemchaheb, Jil Jilala, Larssad, and many others from the Chaabi (Moroccan popular music) canon and are given a raw, emotional and fiery interpretation. Instruments are powered by car batteries and blown out through megaphone speakers. These recordings represent a rare opportunity to hear this music at such close proximity taking in all the power and passion of the performances. The raw fidelity captures an unflinching immersion of what is simply some of the greatest street music on earth.

On CD we've got the latest releases from:

Broken Social Scene
Band of Horses
Court Yard Hounds
Keith Jarret / Charlie Haden
Hold Steady
Japandroids
Rolling Stones
KD Lang
The National
Jack Johnson


&

Jasper TX - Black Sheep
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

&

Two nice Mosaic Box Sets, both ltd to 5000 each:

Curtis Amy
McCoy Tyner

The latest from Hollywood is also in on DVD and Blu-Ray: Alice In Wonderland and Avatar.

I've been threatening for a while to bring in a bunch of new ambient / drone / experimental / folk. Many of you have tried to stop me. Anyone visiting the store from here on out will be a testament to your failure.

As I've done in the past when bringing a new batch from a new supplier, I've put them at quote unquote introductory prices, so gobble them up. I've seen one or two of the titles at other shops but no one stocks this many and we've got them at absolutely the cheapest price I've seen them for anywhere in town. These are almost all limited edition CDs. Available today:

Valerio Cosi - Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock
"What Valerio Cosi coaxes from his saxophone on Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock is unparalleled. ... Cosi's captivating sonics sit alongside the greats of experimental music … it's so fresh that calling it ‘free’ limits its potential and blemishes the sound … genres bend to the will of Cosi and his feverish imagination" - Tiny Mix Tapes

Black to Comm - Charlemagne & Pippin
“Starting with a microcosm of a drone, the piece largely develops itself as an extended crescendo, continuously moving steadily forward into ever deeper waters … an intoxicating and immersive experience akin to the very MC5 song it is named after. Not in sound perhaps, but certainly in attitude and scope.” - Brainwashed

Barn Owl - From Our Mouths A Perpetual Light
"Some might label this as garden variety stoner rock, but it transcends those genre misgivings. Barn Owl's ultimate value lies within the subtlety of their approach, reminiscent almost of Indian classical music." - Cokemachineglow
"It's as though the first layer of American settlers has been reactivated through the music and Barn Owl are transmitters." - Julian Cope

Ilyas Ahmed - The Vertigo of Dawn
“Heavy, jamming, acoustic guitar licks, eastern grooving hand percussions, stoned backwards or fuzzed-out electric guitar splatters, and subtle creaky drones. The vocals are nearly unintelligible but swirl beautifully through the songs like floating, smoky ripples. Woozy, head-bobbing, and completely there.” – Brad Rose (Digitalis)

Ilyas Ahmed - Between Two Skies / Towards The Night
"These primitive recordings house some remarkably beautiful sounds, largely focussed on Ahmed's solo guitar playing and mournfully howling voice." - Boomkat
"Call it abandon, a facility for letting go, for moving on; either way Ahmed's music is gone. And all we have are the recordings, scattered notes to prove that he once existed and felt it all as deeply and miraculously as any of us. And right now, from where I'm calling from, I wouldn't ask for anything more." - David Keenan, from the liner notes

Evan Caminiti - Psychic Mud Shrine (Caminiti is one half of Avant Metal band Barn Owl)
“Four towering guitar pieces that move beyond the pursuit of drone and sludge and take on a more slippery, mystical quality.” - Boomkat

Elm - Nemcatacoa - (Jon Porras (Elm) is one half of Barn Owl)
“Achingly beautiful album fusing elements of everything from Earth to Windy & Carl, Stephen O'Malley, My Bloody Valentine, Fennesz, Keith Fullerton Whitman and Emeralds. … Incredible.” – Boomkat

Turner Cody - Buds of May (Turner is the bassist for Herman Dune.)
“I think he's a really gifted songwriter. Whatever it is, I think he has it … If you can track down his Buds of May, that's where it's at!” – Wooden Wand “Cody is pre-war, Old Testament & A Confederate General from Big Sur.” - Glenn Donaldson (Jewelled Antler / Skygreen Leopards)

Concern – Truth & Distance
“Despite the heavily processed sound of this material, the three long tracks here were constructed almost entirely out of acoustic instrumentation … almost unspeakably beautiful.” - Boomkat

Scott Tuma – Not For Nobody (Scott is Ex-Boxhead Ensemble & a member of Zelienople)
“This album is too good to be true. It captures some of the finest elements of music and places these notes and passages in contexts that are at once instantly familiar and yet new. A truly unique work.” – Boomkat

Taiga Remains – Wax Canopy
“Neither sedate enough to fall into the ambient category nor ferocious enough to sit alongside Yellow Swans and the like, Wax Canopy resides somewhere in the blurry betweenness, at times bringing to mind Lichens, Birdshow and perhaps even the rainforest collages of Francisco Lopez.” – Boomkat

Cursillistas – Wasp Stings the Last Bitter Flavor
“…sounds like an intimate secret whispered in the listener's ear.” – Brad Rose (Digitalis)
“…sweet, abstract narratives in a lowest-ever-fi setting… otherworldly folk and esoteric song warping, with one foot in the outsider undergrowth and the other firmly rooted in more traditional soils.” - Boomkat

Chriss Sutherland – Me in a Field (Chriss is a founding member of Cerberus Shoal)
“Fans of Sufjan Stevens, Akron/Family or just good 'ole fashioned American Primitive folk music would do well to check this without any further ado - I'm off to grab a bottle of moonshine, last week's Sunday paper and a rockin' chair.” – Boomkat

Ensemble Economique – At the Foot of Nameless Roads (Brian Pyle (ee) is in Starving Weirdos and RV Paintings)
“This is vivid, haunting music that leaves a trail of gold in its wake. – Brad Rose (Digitalis)

Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) / Mariska Baars (soccer Committee) / Wouter Van Veldhoven – Zeeg
“A glorious forty-minute epic of a track … melts into gut-churning bass drones and a dense brick-wall of hissing, reverberating sound. All this is slowly piped through the tape machine again and again before the calmer elements start to wade through the fog and calm is restored. Highly Recommended.” – Boomkat

The Green Blossoms - Whiskey Leaves
“Aiko Koga’s voice is the real focal point of the album. Soft and restrained, even when you can't understand her words (some of the lyrics are in Japanese), you are hooked from the get-go. Hours later, you find yourself humming her melodies while her ghostly incantations are stuck in the back of your mind. … Beautiful.” – Brad Rose (Digitalis)

Theo Angell & the Tabernacle Hillside Singers - Auraplinth (Theo Angell has worked with Hall of Fame & Jackie-O Motherfucker.)
“There's a feel to this album perhaps best described as Manson-esque.” – Boomkat

(VxPxC) - Porchmass
“These guys are a three-man scene, and a joy to follow.” – Dusted Magazine
“The wordless vocals flicker like volcanic ash falling from a sunkissed sky. There's so many things at odds with each other throughout these pieces that the resulting dichotomies and trichotomies create an entirely new sound.” - Brad Rose (Digitalis)

Milton Cross - Light in the West (Cross is in Tarentel, Dial Square, & Party of Doom)
“Cross does his best work when he's playing his violin or harmonium. He's classically trained and his skill is immediately apparent. Both instruments permeate the album, adding a thick layer of glowing warmth to the songs which they haunt.” – Brad Rose (Digitalis)

Jeremy Kelly - s/t
“A hypnotic Middle-Eastern jam that feels baked in the scorching desert sand. Add in some blues-infused acoustic ragas that throw a nod to Ben Chasny's Six Organs of Admittance and glazed walls of analog noise, and you're somewhere in the ballpark of this album.” – Brad Rose (Digitalis)

Fabio Orsi & Gianluca Becuzzi - The Stones Know Everything
“Crafting something this immense puts these two musicians into the realm of Stars of the Lid, Birchville Cat Motel and Growing, creating several intense worlds of ambient splendor, juxtaposing the sounds of everyday life with jetstreams of microtones and pulses of audible light.” – Brad Rose (Digitalis)

So, we got our first batch of new (as in sealed) CDs in today, as well as a small batch of interesting vinyl. Most of the CDs we only brought one copy in, so we've opened them and stuck a NEW sticker on them and put the cases out and kept the discs behind the counter, same way we always do. Items we received more than one of have sealed counterparts behind the counter and the opened case on the floor.

I've made a section on the wall above the new arrivals (as in used) bin. Here's a breakdown of what's there right now, as well as the new records we received. More should be in by week's end.

Compact Disc:

- Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion (2CD; Hospital Productions)
- Hildur Gudnadottir - Without Sinking (Touch; UK Import) - "... a captivating, often unsettled release..." (Allmusic)
- Ilyas Ahmed - The Vertigo of Dawn (Time Lag)
- Grouper / Inca Ore - Split (Acuarela; Spanish Import) - "These two artists complement each other brilliantly ... Highly Recommended." (Boomkat)
- Spoon - Transference (Merge) - "... smarts, wit, hooks ..." (Allmusic)
- Leyland Kirby - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (3CD, HAFTW) "Truly life affirming sounds, and without doubt one of the most important, substantial releases of the year." (Boomkat) - This release also made many year end top 10 lists; we sold out instantly on vinyl (6LP).
- My Morning Jacket - At Dawn, original pressing (2CD; Darla; Limited to 2000 copies in 2001; Out of print)
- Jasper TX - Singing Stones (Fang Bomb; Swedish Import) "Singing Stones is an exceptional album, artfully constructed and sequenced in a way that preserves its enigmatic feel, continually shifting between coy tunefulness and glorious abstraction. Superb." (Boomkat)
- Julie Doiron / Okkervil River - Split (Acuarela; Spanish Import) "[Doiron's] five songs are short, spare, heart-wrenching, and bedroom recorded." (Allmusic)
- His Name Is Alive - Firefly Dragonfly (Acuarela; Spanish Import)
- Lou Barlow - Mirror the Eye (Acuarela; Spanish Import)
- Damien Jurado - Holding His Breath (Acuarela; Spanish Import) "... a tense twenty minutes inside Jurado's world." (Allmusic)

Vinyl:

- Richard Skelton - Landings (2LP+CD) "Richard Skelton proves himself to be more than just a modern-classical outsider and consolidates his status as an auteur with a singular vision... Amazing Music." (Boomkat)
- Spoon - Transference (Merge) 7.8 outta 10 (Pitchfork)
- Coil / The New Blockaders / Vortex Campaign - The Melancholy Mad Tennant (Important; Ltd to 500 copies; 180g)
- Black to Comm - Rückwärts Backwards (Dekorder; Ltd. to 222 Copies; Out of print) - "... recalling Fennesz or Tim Hecker's crumbly, floury vapournoise ... the lines between organic and digital are invisible..." (The Wire)
- Black to Comm - Fractal Hair Geometry (Dekorder; Ltd. to 500 Copies) - "With a sound built on Krautrock-style keyboard oscillations, fluttering electronics and processed vocal moans, his songs play out as textural pieces with a closed-in, near claustrophobic feel." (The Wire)
- Animal Hospital - Memory (2LP; Barge; Ltd to 350 Hand-Numbered copies; white vinyl) - "Memory is a record that engages with familiar techniques and proceeds to completely fuck with the programme.... Just awesome." (Boomkat)
- Charley Patton - You're Gonna Need Somebody When You Die: The Recorded Works (4LP; Monk Records; Ltd. to 275 Copies; 4 different colored vinyls)
- Reverend Johnny L. "Hurricane" Jones - Jesus Christ From A To Z (Parlotone; Ltd Edition; Culled from recordings Johnny made for his own private use -- over 1,000 tapes going back to 1957 -- assembled for the very first time.)
- Faust - IV (Virgin; UK Import; Exact replica, officially reissued by EMI. 180 gram audiophile pressing with printed inner sleeve.)

And restocks of these Mississippi Records titles:

- Reverend Louis Overstreet
- Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long
- Mortika
- Mississippi Fred McDowell
- Clara Rockmore