First off, we will have the new Joanna Newsom triple record, Have One on Me, on the floor today about 2:30 pm. (It has arrived and is awaiting my processing--I start at 2). Today, Pitchfork gave it a 9.2 outta 10 and categorized it as "best new music". We have it on CD and LP.

I believe the box will also contain ONE copy of Susumu Yokota's Grinning Cat on 2LP. This album has been a bitch to bring in. I've only managed to find 3 copies in almost a year as it's technically out of print and was limited to 2500 copies. I bought one of the three, sold the other, and now the third'll be on the floor later today. If you like electronic music, this is a masterpiece of the genre. And I'm not alone in thinking that:

"Ambient genius." - MOJO

"One of the most gifted producers on the planet... the early works of Eno and Aphex Twin have been joined on their pedestal." -- Wax

"God-like genius." - Sleazenation

"Blissfully enchanting music...Fantastic sounds to immerse yourself in completely." - DJ

"Yokota exists on a different plane to most of his contemporaries." - NME

I should just take this copy and give it to a friend. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone worthy. You can hear a track in the left column.

I believe the box will also have some restock of some catalog titles (Beatles, Husker Du, Soundgarden, Bad Brains, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, AC/DC, yadda yadda yadda).

Next... one of the touchstone releases of my generation, The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs is being issued in April on vinyl for the first time. It'll be a 6 x 10" box set and is limited to just 3000 copies. I don't have exact pricing yet but expect it to be around $95. We'll do our best to beat Amazon and other big box shops, just as we did with the Tom Waits and Numero box sets.

If this is something you're keen on, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) so we order enough copies. Here's the Allmusic review. Here it is on PFM. The Onion AV Club gave it a 10, as did Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice. It was #1 on many 1999 year end lists as well as in the top slot for best of the 90s. Hell, it even has an unofficial wiki. To me, the only record that maybe held more significance for me in that decade was Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. As I said, touchstone. You've no doubt heard a bunch of songs from the release, even if you don't know it. Hopefully you didn't have to suffer through Peter Gabriel's dreadful cover of The Book of Love. The original is below.

Musician Vic Chesnutt, 45, dead of suicide. Here's Dodge from my favorite of his releases, Drunk.

Our second shipment of Numero Group titles has arrived, including copies of Light: On the South Side and the Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation 4LP box set.

Get 'em while you can--last time we sold out of the Light: On the South Side in one day! We will not be getting more stock before Christmas.

Also back in stock: Mississippi Records titles, including a few that are out of print: Bishop Perry Tillis, Love is Love, String of Pearls, and Last Kind Words. We will definitely not be getting more of these. More Abner Jays were in the box, too, along with some Mississippi Fred McDowell, and the wonderful Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long compilation.

These vinyl titles should be in in a week or so. Click for reviews. I've also got confirmation that our Numero Group order has shipped and restock of the Candi Staton 2LP.

World - Various Artists

African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds 2LP
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Vol 1 2LP
Legends Of Benin 2LP
The Bombay Connection: Funk From Bollywood Action Thrillers 2LP
Bombshell Baby of Bombay: Bouncin' Nightclub Grooves 2LP
Tumbélé! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds 2LP
London is the Place for Me 2LP
Thai Beat A Go-Go Vol 1

Experimental / Drone / Ambient

Anduin - Forever Waiting (CD+LP, limited to 300 copies on colored vinyl)
Simon Scott - Navigare (Scott is x-Slowdive)
Black to Comm - Alphabet 1968 (Stream the entire LP.)
Leyland Kirby - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What it Was 2LP, limited to 450 copies

I'm also bringing in a cd-only release of Black to Comm's Charlemagne & Pippin. I played my copy twice on Saturday and had a few inquiries. It's limited to 500 copies. Here's an mp3 sample.

One thing we never see enough of is good blues on vinyl. A very few of our customers have been lucky enough to snatch up the limited edition releases we've managed to bring in on Mississippi Records, a small imprint out of Portland, Oregon. Though MR has done a few repressings, for the most part their initial runs are rather limited, usually to just 1000 copies, making them rather difficult to get hold of. They've also done some non-blues releases of an international focus as well as some folk and gospel recordings. We've had a few of their blues compilations, as well as their Abner Jay and Cecil Barfield releases, and they've all sold out instantly.

However, that's all about to change as I've now got a reliable source for the label who'll be able to provide us with all Mississippi Records releases as soon as they become available... and, at by far what I think will be the cheapest price around. My initial order will probably be in in about two weeks and should consist of:

Abner Jay - True Story of Abner Jay
This is one of my favorite blues albums. It comes with an archival photo (pictured at left), typed notes, and a lovely flyer that looks like it was made in the '70s. Outstanding.

Fred McDowell - Fred McDowell
Reissue of the Arhoolie LP originally titled "Fred McDowell - Volume 2". A beautiful set by the Mississippi blues legend. One of Fred's best. Intense Delta blues.

Various Artists - Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long
Fantastic comp of blues featuring Bukka White, Bo Weavil Jackson, Blind Joe Taggart and more.

Cecil Barfield - South Georgia Blues
I've written about this album in a previous post. See below.

Various Artists - Mortika (2LP)
2LP set of Greek underground folk music sometimes called "rembetica" or "Greek Oriental Music." Compiled by Tony Klein. Songs about drugs, sex, crime, poverty, & heartbreak. Housed in a box & includes 20 page notes with extensive archival photos & full lyric translations.

Michael Hurley - Parsnip Snips
Originally released in 1997 in Germany in a press size of 500. These original copies were seized by the government shortly after the record's release. Only 150 or so were sold before the seizing, but copies have leaked out of whatever dank German bureaucratic basement they were relegated to. Still, a very hard record to find for years, now back in print. This release is remastered from the original tapes and has superior sound quality to the original. Culled from Michael's unreleased output between his 1964 'First songs' LP and 'Armchair Boogie' in 1972. All tracks feature just Michael and guitar.

Joseph Spence - Bahaman Guitarist
Reissue of the Arhoolie LP recorded in 1971. Joseph Spence was a highly original guitarist & vocalist from the Bahamas. His music is hard to describe - extreme guitar runs with joyful vocalese rambled along with it. This album includes hits such as "Out On the Rolling Sea" and "Sloop John B". Silk screened cover glued over a hand manufactured folkways style cover.

Various Artists - Mata La Pena
Compilation focusing on music from around the world -- from Calypso to Flamenco to Thai ballads to Indonesian instrumentals to American country to Hawaiian music. Designed as a sort of sequel to the out of print I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore comp. Heavyweight sleeve with paste-on Folkways style cover. Limited run of 3000. Cover design by Eric Isaacson, featuring a painting by Chris Johansson. Project direction for cover and sleeve construction and assembly by Pow Wow.

Mississippi Records also has some interesting things in the pipe, and we'll be sure to get them as soon as they're available:

Clara Rockmore - Theremin Virtuoso LP

Various Artists - five LP releases to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Lomax's Southern Journey--a mix of released & never before released material straight from the Lomax Archive!

Various Artists - Madagascaran field recordings LPs

And while I'm writing about limited releases from a small label... we're also bringing in a few releases some similar outfits:

Various Artists - A Orillas del Magdalena (Coastal Cumbias from Colombia's Discos Fuentes)
Radiant cumbias from Colombia in the 50s and 60s. Soft accordions with snaking melodies, an inistent rhythm said to sound like the bouncing shackles on the ankles of slaves, and also horns, chants and tons of unusual percussion accents. If you travel to Colombia today, this would be the equivalent of listening to 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay'--you can easily hear why it spread hastily through the rest of Latin America. Compiled by the fine New Orleans store Domino Sound Record Shack.

Bobby BeauSoleil with the Freedom Orchestra & The Magick Powerhouse of Oz - The Lucifer Rising Suite 4LP Set
Remastered recordings spanning 11 years, from the ‘67 recording to the Tracy Prison recordings of ‘78. Four full-length LPs worth of ‘Lucifer Rising’ material with half being never-before-heard sessions personally selected by Bobby BeauSoleil. Nine new pieces of art from Bobby: eight record sleeve panels and one 2′ x 3′ poster. Two posters, one by Bobby BeauSoleil and one by Dennis Dread. A much-extended version of the ‘Fallen Angel Blues’ piece by Bobby that originally appeared in the Kenneth Anger DVD set. ‘Hymns to the Solar Temple’ - impressions on a visit to Bobby at the Oregon Correctional Facility in Pendleton, Oregon by Dennis Dread. The Saga of a Soundtrack by Michael Moynihan. Art from Dennis Dread for the back of the LP box, also included as a 2′ x 2′ poster. Art from Dennis Dread for the front lid of the box which will provide a window into the works of Bobby’s to be found within. Remastered by Robert Ferbrache, well known for his work with Blood Axis, 16 Horsepower and others.”