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: