So we've got stock on Nadja's Radiance of Shadows, Touched, and Truth Becomes Death.

Each is a 2XLP limited to 750 copies. Though Nadja's a Toronto-based band, they're now living in Berlin and the vinyl editions of these records (gorgeously packaged) were put out by Belgian label Conspiracy Records, so not only are they limited, they're imports. The artwork on each includes embossed outersleeves with cut-out and heavy full colour innersleeves with pictures by Seldon Hunt.

Pitchfork gives Radiance of Shadows an 8.2 outta 10 and says it's Nadja's "best album to date" and I have to say I agree. This is not weak praise as the duo has released some terrific stuff. Pitchfork continues, saying it's "a series of warm-ups, cool-downs, and sprints that turn those sounds into a dramatic marathon through steep hills. A vortex of instability ... exhausting."

Of Touched, Pitchfork says: "as strident as it is meticulous, its Swans sense of purpose and volume attached to an almost symphonic use of motion. Even when things are still, there's an intense undercurrent just below the surface. That's as true in classical music as it is in some of the best noise, and on the explosive Touched, Nadja bridges its taste for both." They give it a 7.9.

Truth Becomes Death gets a 7.5: "Heavy and abstract, Nadja plow the increasingly popular territory being laid out between slow metal and staticy ambiance."

We only brought in a couple of each of the albums so if you want them, act now. We can't get more stock on these. Both Touched and Truth Becomes Death are out of print so you can't get them thru the label. Radiance of Shadows is still in print as it's a recent pressing. However, it's 16 Euro, which is about $25, but then there's shipping... we're selling each for $24.99.

Got a small shipment of new vinyl in today. I'll concentrate this post on the ambient titles that arrived: Tim Hecker's new release, An Imaginary Country, is a 2LP set on Kranky for $22.99. Pitchfork calls it "an otherworldly landscape," and says Hecker "paints these portraits in painstaking three-dimensional detail; the music is strikingly colorful [and he] showcases here a capacity for coaxing natural textures out of his electronic arrangements." Allmusic Guide calls the album "one of his most serene and, from its striking start 100 Years Ago forward, uplifting albums."

We also restocked Hecker's previous album, Harmony in Ultraviolet. Pitchfork named this double LP as one of the top 50 records of 2006--clocking it in at #14 and saying, "What makes the album brilliant-- not merely gorgeous-- is the gradual accrual of power that occurs throughout its 50-minute duration: Submerged, sinking synths are steadily woven into stuck-between-stations radio static, floating from a patient, natural-world meander until, in the last 20 minutes, the dam breaks and angels swirl. This is the ambient album of 2006, one of Canada's most celebrated sound artists imbuing electro-magnetic b-rolls with humanity and grace." $21.99.

I also brought in two albums by one of my all-time favorite ambient acts: Stars of the Lid. Six years separate the release of The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid and ... And Their Refinement of the Decline. Allmusic raves about both albums, saying of the latter, "It's an awesome thing, this album, and anyone, virtually anyone who encounters it will be in some way moved by the impure music it contains," and of the former, " something unspeakably beautiful and determinedly unmentionable in its vast and luxuriant erasure from any musical category." Pitchfork gives each album an 8.6 outta 10 and puts Refinement in the top 50 albums released in 2007 (they didn't do a top 50 the year Tired came out). Each release is 3XLP and they're $27.99 each.

Yesterday we had a shipment of some more vinyl. Here's a quick list:

Dan Deacon, Bromst (2LP)
Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombone
Rachel's, Sea & the Bells
Rachel's, Selonography
Neutral Milk Hotel, On Avery Island
John Holt, I Can't Get You Off of My Mind (2LP)
Tortoise, Beacons of Ancestorship (180g)
Neko Case, Middle Cyclone (2LP, 180g)
Jay Reatard, Singles 06-07 (2LP)
Jay Reatard, Blood Visions
Panda Bear, Person Pitch (2LP + Poster)
Joanna Newsom, Milk-Eyed Mender
The National, Boxer
The National, Alligator
M83, Saturdays = Youth (2LP + CD, Colored Vinyl)
Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen
Bonnie Prince Billy, Lie Down in the Light
Bonnie Prince Billy, The Letting Go
Tim Hecker, Harmony in Ultraviolet (2LP)

The Tim Hecker sold within minutes so I have another on order, as well as a copy of his An Imaginary Country. As far as ambient / electronic goes, in the near future we should also be receiving some Fennesz, Stars of the Lid, and Deep Listening Band.

Life Through Bombardment is an absolutely gorgeous 7xLP set. Eluvium (Matthew Cooper) has been making beautiful ambient music since 2003. This set collects virtually every Eluvium song ever released (plus a bunch of rare and unreleased non-album tracks) for the first (and last, apparently!) time on vinyl.

Limited to 1000 pressings, it comes housed in a hardbound, linen-cover book, with metallic gold foil stamping and embossed text on the spine, and a beautiful full-color print embossed into the front cover. This is a stunning piece of work all-around. $175. Note that due to the high price, we only brought in one of these. Comes with a download code so you also get all the tracks as mp3s.