New Releases & Staff Picks - 1/17/24

STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Songhoy Blues, Weather Station, and Songs:Ohia reissue
Dario – Weather Station and Sam Amidon
Kimber – Team Dresch and Pains of Being Pure at Heart reissues 
Jake – Low and Yo La Tengo reissues 
Zach – Ela Minus and Yo La Tengo reissue
Ash – Songhoy Blues

WEATHER STATION - Humanhood CD/LP (Fat Possum)
The Weather Station returns with the new album Humanhood following up 2021's Album of the Year, Ignorance. Forged in more trying circumstances, Humanhood addresses rather more basic questions of what it takes to survive in the modern world. The basic elements of Humanhood came together in a couple of sessions in late 2023, Lindeman improvising in the studio in the company of long-term collaborators – drummer Kieran Adams, pianist Ben Boye, percussionist Philippe Melanson, reeds player Karen Ng and bassist Ben Whiteley – plus co-producer Marcus Pequin. Edited and re-sculpted (with the help of additional guests like Sam Amidon and James Elkington), the music mirrors Lindeman’s lyrical vision, not exactly embracing chaos, but accepting its place in a damaged personal ecosystem.

LOW - Exit Papers LP (gold) (Temporary Residence)
Gold Vinyl. At the turn of the 21st Century, sandwiched between two of their most iconic albums - Secret Name andThings We Lost In The Fire - Low released The Exit Papers as part of Temporary Residence Ltd.'s long-running CD subscription series, Travels In Constants. A sparse suite of six mostly instrumental pieces composed for a film that never existed, The Exit Papers still stands as Low's most haunting and experimental work. Originally released exclusively on CD in a scarce edition of only 1,000 copies, Low helps celebrate the 20th anniversary of Temporary Residence by finally releasing The Exit Papers on vinyl and all digital formats for the first time ever.

SONGS: OHIA  - Travels In Constants LP (yellow) (Temporary Residence)
Sometime in 2001 – sandwiched between the release of Ghost Tropic and its follow-up, the cryptic classic, Didn't It Rain– Songs: Ohia recorded an EP for Temporary Residence's distance-themed subscription series, Travels In Constants. The untitled EP consisted of a single 18-minute song – performed live by Jason Molina in his living room, recorded directly to 4-track cassette as the sounds of a typical Chicago night bled through the air. Built solely from an acoustic guitar and Molina's familiar melancholy croon, it's a hauntingly intimate track. Molina once remarked that it was "probably too out there" for a proper Songs: Ohia album, which is perhaps why it felt right at home in this context. Scarcely available in its original CD-only edition of 1,000 copies, Travels In Constants has finally been remastered and reissued for vinyl and digital formats. Completing this reissue is "Howler," another unusually lengthy Songs: Ohia track that, like Travels In Constants, was recorded and released in 2001 in an edition of only 1,000. These tracks are amongst the most abstractly beautiful and alarmingly delicate music that Molina ever committed to tape. It's an honor to finally make it properly available for the world.

MAC MILLER - Balloonerism CD/LP/CASS  (Warner)
Balloonerism is the seventh studio album by rapper Mac Miller. It is his second posthumous album since his death in 2018. Miller recorded the album between 2013 and 2014, around the time his mixtape Faces was released.

VINCE GUARALDI - Be My Valentine Charlie Brown LP (LMFP)
Charlie Brown has been waiting by the mailbox for this Valentine for 50 years, but you don't need to. Today, for the first time ever, Vince Guaraldi's 1975 Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (Original Soundtrack Recording - 50th Anniversary Extended Edition) premieres, including the complete 22 cue score plus 8 never-before-heard bonus tracks. The holiday special was written and created by Charles Schulz, directed by Phil Roman and produced by Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson. The album is mixed and mastered for audiophiles, jazz lovers, and Peanuts¨ fans everywhere from the original 2" session tapes to a 192kHz/24bit master. The record Includes Guaraldi hits like the sweet centerpiece melody, "Heartburn Waltz" and its diverse reprises. Other highlights include "Paw Pet Overture," "Jennie L." and "There's Been A Change." Some songs have equally stunning alternate takes that have never been heard. Guaraldi effectively layered his Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano to create a sublime, heartfelt soundtrack throughout and, perhaps, the most unique version of everyone's favorite "Linus and Lucy." Beyond the composer's playing, the trio is made up of Seward McCain on electric bass (at Guaraldi's request), and Vince Lateano on drums.

YO LA TENGO -  Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo 2CD/2LP (Matador)
A 2xLP / 2xCD repress of ‘Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo.’ Back in print for the first time in over 20 years, the compilation assembles more than two hours of hard to find and unreleased Yo La Tengo music from 1988 – 1995.

FRANK BLACK - Teenager Of The Year LP (Gold) (4AD)
To celebrate Frank Black’s landmark solo album, Teenager Of The Year, turning 30 comes a special vinyl pressing to accompany a tour of North America plus Paris and London where Frank and original band will be performing the album in its entirety. Recorded amid a rich songwriting vein, just as the Pixies had been placed on hold, Frank Black’s ambitious 22-track album Teenager Of The Year came out in May 1994, just one year after his fantastic self-titled solo debut. Recorded with scene legend Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, Pere Ubu, The Residents) and featuring the single ‘Headache’, Teenager Of The Year is seen by many as his greatest solo work, subsequently appearing in both Pitchfork’s Top 100 Albums of the 1990s poll and the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die book.

SOLANGE - Sol-Angel and the Hadley St Dreams LP (red vinyl reissue) (RSD Essentials)
Solange's 2008 critically-lauded album was her second, but the first where she stretched out and showed the vision and creativity that fans have come to expect . This Motown-influenced album debuted #9 on the Billboard Top 200 and features production by Pharrell Williams, Mark Ronson, Thievery Corporation, Bilal and others.

NOURISHED BY TIME - Erotic Probiotic 2 LP (XL)
Repress of the critically acclaimed debut album from Nourished By Time, which sold out worldwide upon release. “Filtering the sound of ’80s freestyle through a buoyant, time-warped haze, the debut album from singer/producer Marcus Brown is both captivating and elusive.” - Pitchfork (Best New Music). Nourished By Time's debut album, Erotic Probiotic 2, tells his transformative story through impeccable songwriting, infectious ear worm melodies, vivid storytelling and intimate DIY production. The album traverses a broad spectrum of sound, allowing his songwriting to dictate the ever changing mood he orchestrates; whether it is love or loss. Sitting somewhere between indie, pop, alternative RnB, ultimately carving out a fresh sound defined by his vulnerable vocals, raw guitar licks and undeniable groove.

SAM AMIDON - Salt River CD/LP (River Lea)
Sam Amidon is a singer and multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, fiddle).  The new album, Salt River finds Amidon reinterpreting and regenerating 10 familiar pieces of music that he has collected together over time, ranging from traditional English shanty “Golden Willow Tree” to Lou Reed's “Big Sky”. It was recorded in collaboration with saxophonist and producer Sam Gendel. Sam has released 7 acclaimed albums plus collaborated with The National, Bon Iver, Beth Orton, Marc Ribot & The Blind Boys of Alabama.

SQUANDERERS - If A Body Meet A Body LP (Shimmy Disc)
Squanderers are the glowingly new—2024 vintage—trio of guitarists Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs alongside multi-instrumentalist and legendary producer Kramer. The group sprung into action as the duo of Kramer and Grubbs with the single “Congress of Poodles” b/w “Lendrick Muir Bible Study Weekend,” part of Kramer’s 2023 Shimmy-Disc box set Rings of Saturn. Squanderers now enter the arena of live performance with the addition of bona-fide guitar slayer Eisenberg, a dream of a foil to Grubbs’s grubbslike guitarisms, setting the scene for Kramer to follow his musical divining rod. Divining urges not dirges. In Grubbs’s book-length poem, The Voice in the Headphones, “Squanderer” is the nickname that most deeply troubles of the book’s unnamed protagonist: “Hang your head, Squanderer. You’ll never darken the doorway of Studio A.” Will this trio of inveterate Squanderers redeem themselves?

ELA MINUS - Dia CD/LP (Domino)
Colombian artist Ela Minus returns. DIA is both introspective and expansive, the wide sweep of its songs revealing more of Ela as a person and producer than ever before.

SONGHOY BLUES - Heritage (Transgressive)
From the first listening to Héritage, the much-awaited fourth album by Songhoy Blues, it's clear that the 4-piece rock band from northern Mali are in a new frame of mind, moving into a more acoustic, creative re-imagining of the "desert blues" style that has brought them to world fame. For over a decade, when not on tour, the four members of Songhoy Blues, three of whom are originally from the north, have been based in Bamako, capital of Mali, unable to return to their homeland, where musicians are in real danger of their lives because of religious fanaticism that sees music as 'haram' (a sin). Charismatic, articulate and creative, the band burst onto the scene in 2013 with a powerful style and stage manner once described as "Timbuktu Punk". Their songs deal with issues of life and love in Mali, and are based on five-note scales, rock rhythms, gritty vocals, and glittering guitar. These elements are ever present in their new album Héritage, but with a more intimate groove laced with other sounds from different ethnic traditions from around the country. The experience of being in Bamako, a melting pot of music, has led Songhoy Blues to rethink their own understanding of the concept of tradition. It does not come from one single source. Héritage was recorded in Remote Records Studio and Studio Moffou in Bamako, with producer Paul Chandler, and draws on the remarkable wealth of musical talent in the city. The album presents new compositions and reworkings of old classics. It is infused with the ethereal sounds of various traditional instruments, all in the hands of great Malian masters. Héritage is compulsive listening for Songhoy Blues fans - at home and abroad - and more widely, fans of desert blues, rock, or just good music.

LOS STRAITJACKETS - Jet Set LP reissue (Yep Roc)
Jet Set is a collection of 15 carefully crafted guitar-driven songs that prove to be the most diverse and inventive of Los Straitjackets' oeuvre. The album was recorded at The Pow Wow Fun Room studios in Los Angeles with producer and friend Janne Haavisto (of Laika and the Cosmonauts) and includes a few guest appearances by The Basic Cable Horns (from the Conan show) and Finnish actress and musician Irina Bjorklund. Jet Set delivers the high-energy rock and roll instrumental music fans have come to expect from Los Straitjackets. This pressing of Los Straitjackets' long-out-of-print 2012 classic is pressed on orange vinyl and limited to 500 copies.

LOS STRAITJACKETS - Supersonic Guitars in 3-D LP reissue (Yep Roc)
For their seventh album, the mighty, masked Los Straitjackets holed up in a secret San Diego location with mad scientist of sound, producer Mark Neill to create the 13 terrifying tracks that make up Supersonic Guitars in 3-D. Rumors of secret Aztec rituals, animal sacrifice, and other unholy alliances are easy to believe when you hear the gargantuan guitar tones & dominating drum sounds that were achieved. Adding to the fun, the album features guest appearances from Billy Zoom, DJ Bonebrake, Don Fleming and Jon Spencer. This is the first time that this 2003 masterpiece has been reissued on vinyl since its original pressing over two decades ago! This pressing is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide and is pressed on clear vinyl with blue and red swirls to match the 3-D cover artwork. And yes, 3-D glasses are included in the sleeve!

TEAM DRESCH - Personal Best LP (Jealous Butcher)
Combining the brazenness of Riot Grrrl with the angst dirge of grunge, Team Dresch didn't just raise the stakes of queercore: They created two near-perfect albums about longing, freedom, and belonging over guitar riffs as epic and intense as Jody Bleyle and Kaia Wilson's poetic couplets. On their 1995 debut, Personal Best, they rage against the Christian right and small towns, then kiss their girlfriends on the mouth. Donna Dresch, Bleyle, and Wilson play ferocious, intricate riffs fast while Marcéo Martinez hits the drums hard. To paraphrase their own song, they are amazing; their words save us.

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART - Self TItled LP reissue (Silver Nugget) (Slumberland)
Reissue on silver nugget colored vinyl. Since its release in 2009 The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's self-titled debut has attained the status of a modern indiepop classic, and even more crucially a record that continues to have an impact well beyond the indiepop scene. As one of the key bands in Brooklyn’s late 00s guitar music revival (alongside Crystal Stilts, Grizzly Bear, Vivian Girls, Frankie Rose and others) The Pains paid tribute to everything from C86 to early Slumberland, Sarah and Creation label pop, but with a distinct American flavor drawn from groups like Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies.

ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS - Like Someone In Love LP (Blue Note)
The 1960 edition of the Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers was one of the band's greatest line-ups with the drummer joined by trumpeter Lee Morgan, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt. Opening with a sublimely swinging version of the title track, the rest of Like Someone In Love presented originals by Morgan and Shorter.

CELIA CRUZ - A Night Of Salsa LP (Universal Latino)
25th Anniversary reissue pressed on magenta splatter. Celia Cruz and Friends: A Night of Salsa is a live album by Cuban salsa musician Celia Cruz. The album was recorded during a concert on May 12, 1999, in Hartford, Connecticut, which was broadcast by PBS. Among the participants of the concert were Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, La India, and Isidro Infante.

PAUL ARAMBULA - Still's Keep LP (Gilgongo)
A timeless collection of heartfelt and abstract pop, as obscured through the lenses of Robert Wyatt, Legendary Pink Dots and an amalgamation of aspects from the Flying Nun catalog. As summarized from the label, previously: “Although he has lived in Berlin for most of the past decade, Paul Arambula has always been close-by on the localized level of Gilgongo Records. Living in Arizona, it would have been impossible to not find Paul: From his “legendary if you caught them as the opener for your band’s Phoenix tour date” group The Chandails (who had a raw pop sound that could draw comparisons to both The Clean and Velvet Underground, to eclectic post-punk trios Vegetable (who had a 7” on the label clear back in 2010) and Mall, as permanent satellite member of the band Soft Shoulder". Paul’s solo output has ranged from primitive guitar (think no-wave blues) to large ensemble noise-assault poetry, with his current approach to orchestrated and dynamic songwriting yielding material that feels both raw and highly intricate / orchestrated.

JUSTICE - Neverender 12" (Because)
Justice - "Neverender (Remixes)" [Crystal Clear 12" EP] 12" EP that features remixes from Kaytranada, Keinemusik's Rampa and Justice themselves. Following their new album, Hyperdrama, here comes Justice's 12" remixes EP for "Neverender" x Tame Impala revisited. Featuring exclusive remixes by Kaytranada & Rampa, plus Justice's own extended remix. Available on crystal clear 12" vinyl. Virgin Music Group; Because Music; Electronic.

MIDLAKE - Trials Of Van Occupanther LP reissue (Midlake)
Denton, TX indie folk-rock pioneers, Midlake release a new pressing of their timeless classic The Trials of Van Occupanther. Originally released July 25, 2006, and labeled by MOJO as an unimpeachable record, it features the original layout and labels from the first pressing in 2006. The album, deemed A bona fide classic by NME, is limited to 500 copies on Opaque Marigold, 180-gram vinyl.. 

PRO-TEENS - MF-Teen LP (College Of Knowledge)
Enigmatic instrumental group from The Pro-Teens pay tribute to the late great rapper MF DOOM, reimagining 14 iconic cuts through a wonky boom bap funk lens. Helmed by Hudson Whitlock, prolific drummer and percussionist of Karate Boogaloo and Surprise Chef, Melbourne’s The Pro-Teens is a collective of instrumentalists making weirdo instrumental soul records. Drawing from the community of musicians from such bands in the College Of Knowledge orbit, The Pro-Teens’ incorporate the comic book stylings of DOOM and Kool Keith, the dark and exotic flavors of Gravediggaz and Wu-Tang Clan, the cinematic compositional mastery of Galt MacDermot, Richard Evans and Marc Moulin, culminating in an unorthodox patchwork of cinematic soul, boom-bap funk breaks and left-field instrumental textures.

EVERYTHING IS RECORDED - Porcupine Tattoo 7" (XL)
Everything Is Recorded, the collaborative music project centred around producer Richard Russell, returns with a brand new single, “Porcupine Tattoo”. Released today via XL Recordings, it’s a stripped-back lament featuring two American musical icons - Noah Cyrus and Bill Callahan - who appear on record together for the very first time.--

PASTEL - Souls In Motion LP (Spirit of Spike Island)
Pastel are a 5-piece guitar band signed to independent Manchester label; Spirit of Spike Island. Having previously topped the vinyl charts with their debut EP, selling out shows across the UK and being personally chosen by Liam Gallagher to play at his Knebworth shows, their long awaited debut album 'souls in motion' is set to be released in January 2025

DUA LIPA - Live From The Royal Albert Hall LP (Warner)
Dua Lipa Live From The Royal Albert Hall features Dua's greatest hits reimagined with The Heritage Orchestra, and a 14 person choir and 7 piece band. With spot gloss text detailing and a special die cut front cover, fans are able to swap the main album cover to one of 3 other images from the special showIncludes 2LPs, four exclusive images captured on the night and a 8 page booklet.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
FKA TWIGS - Eusexu CD/LP
MOGWAI - Bad Fire CD/LP/CASS
PESO PLUMA - Genesis LP
BOILERMAKER - Not Enough Time To Get Anything Halfway Done LP
THE CLEAN - Late Last Night 7"
THE CLEAN - Modern Rock LP
ANT - Collection Of Sounds Vol 3 LP
EMILY NENNI - Hell Of A Woman LP reissue
ADRIAN YOUNGE - Presents Black Dynamite LP
ROSE CITY BAND - Sol Y Sombra LP
SWERVEDRIVER - Doremi Faso Latido LP
TEDDY SWIMS - I've Tried Everything But Therapy Vol 2 LP
VERVE - This Is Music: The Singles LP
UNDERWORLD -  Strawberry Hotel LP