New Releases & Staff Picks - 10/25/24

STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Amyl and the Sniffers and Laura Marling
Dario – Songs: Ohia reissue
Kimber – Gang of Four reissue
Jake – Slint reissue
Zach – Amyl and the Sniffers and BadBadNotGood
Ash – Charlie Megira

AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS - Cartoon Darkness CD/LP (Virgin)
Recorded with producer Nick Launay at Foo Fighters' 606 Studios in Los Angeles, on the same desk that captured Nirvana's Nevermind and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, the latest Amyl and The Sniffers album is their most diverse yet. It stretches from classic punk to the glammy strut of hit single "U Should Not Be Doing That" to the stormy balladry of "Big Dreams" to pugnacious punk of "Jerkin." The Sniffers are back and back with a vengeance - bigger, brighter, smarter and sharper in every way. Available on black and colored vinyl.

BADBADNOTGOOD - Mid Spiral LP (XL)
At the start of 2024 BadBadNotGood were brimming with new creative energy. Having just come off a run of one-off international tour dates and a series of sessions for projects with artists Daniel Cesar, Charlotte Day Wilson, reggie, Baby Rose, and Turnstile, the Canadian-trio of Al Sow, Chester Hansen and Leland Whitty were eager to get back into the studio to simply create. The trio called on some of their closest friends and collaborators, BadBadNotGood touring member Felix Fox-Pappas (keys) and a few key-players in the Toronto jazz scene including Kaelin Murphy (trumpet), Juan Carlos Medrano (percussion) and LA musician Tyler Lott (guitar), for an intensive and productive one-week of recording at Valentine Studios in Los Angeles in February 2024. The result of those sessions is the Mid Spiral series, originally released as 3 parts - Chaos, Order and Growth - digitally earlier this year and now collected altogether on a double LP and CD. The Mid Spiral suites see BadBadNotGood return to their roots of instrumental jazz while once again pushing the boundaries of how they cross pollinate genres, incorporating their love of hip-hop, neo-soul, psychedelic, funk and more.

INTERPOL - Antics LP reissue (Matador)
Interpol’s iconic sophomore album celebrates 20 years as part of Matador’s ongoing Revisionist History catalog series, released on limited edition red vinyl available exclusively to retailers. The reissue supplements a wider anniversary campaign that draws attention to Interpol’s classic, era-defining 2004 studio album through previously unreleased music, concert footage, and photos.

PIXIES - Night The Zombies Came CD/LP  (BMG)
35 years since their groundbreaking platinum-certified album Doolittle catapulted the band into the UK Top Ten, and 20 years since their celebrated reformation at Coachella, Pixies are deep into their second act, and in the midst of a creative purple patch. The Night The Zombies Came is Pixies' tenth album, if you count their classic 1987 4AD mini-LP, Come On Pilgrim. 13 new songs that find Pixies looking ahead to the most cinematic record of their career. Druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, mediaeval themed restaurants, 12th century poetic form, surf rock, gargoyles, bog people, and the distinctive dry drum sound of 1970s-era Fleetwood Mac are just some of the disparate wonders that inform the new songs. The Night The Zombies Came will be released via BMG.

SOCCER MOMMY - Evergreen CD/LP (Loma Vista)
Available on black, blue and blue autographed LP. Sophie Allison has always written candidly about her life, making Soccer Mommy one of indie rock’s most interesting and beloved artists of the last decade. On Evergreen, Allison is again writing about her life but life’s different these days. Since 2022's Sometimes, Forever, Allison experienced a profound and personal loss. New songs emerged, unflinching reflections on what she was feeling. She wanted them to sound that way too, as true to the demos as possible. Nothing overindulgent, everything real.

LAURA MARLING - Patterns In Repeat CD/LP (Chrysalis)
Grammy nominated Laura Marling is back with her eighth studio album Patterns in Repeat. Now eight albums and 15 years into her career as one of the most acclaimed, prolific and respected songwriters of her generation (Grammy and Mercury Nominated and Brit award winning) Patterns in Repeat was written following the birth of her daughter in 2023 and finds Laura reflecting on her motherhood experience as well as more broadly diving deeper into her reckoning with the ideas and behaviors we pass down through family over generations.

CHARLIE MEGIRA - End Of Teenage LP (Numero)
The Hebrew surf-grunger returns! End of Teenage captures Charlie Megira's Berlin years with the Bet She'an Valley Hillbillies, shortly before his death. A time-traveling, five-song murder mystery guitar album that owes as much to Dick Dale as it does David Lynch. This expanded 10 year anniversary edition also includes the 11-song demo, where Megira's familiar themes of drive-inn melancholia, beach blanket bongos, and desert drifting are explored in the privacy of his bedroom. Let him whisper in your ear.

SONGS: OHIA - Protection Spells LP (Secretly Canadian)
Ohia's Protection Spells, a collection of some of the most precious time capsules in the greater Molina Vaults. Protection Spells has a spotty release history, with long periods out of print and limited formats. It returns to print now for the first time in over a decade (possibly two) and for the first time on vinyl. Of Protection Spells, Molina had this to say: "The Protection Spells is a collection of songs recorded over a period of several Songs: Ohia tours. Presented here are nine entirely improvised pieces. The approach to these songs involved no rehearsals, no second takes, no additions and no going back. What you have here are songs that just happened in real time. The many musicians on these recordings were friends, bandmates, and, at times, total strangers. I have long hoped to offer the listener a chance to have some of these great accidents on record. It is a direct look at my songwriting process, only a little more risky, and nobody has any idea what direction we are going until we all start working on it together. I think that the years of improvised music I played in the past helped to strengthen the risk-taking with these songs. Here the goal was to still have basic songs without falling into long freak-out noise experiments, saving that kind of exploration for live settings. You will notice the appearances and disappearances of ideas that could never be recreated, not that they are all brilliant, but they are certainly not forced. The seemingly arbitrary moments of strange repetition the lyrics, the clear lack of a preconceived system of established song parts, all are the marks of improvised songwriting. Since even the singing had no idea what the floorplan of the song was to be, there were some unanticipated troubles and some shy steps taken, but I have preserved these mappings of the dangerous musical byroads that Songs: Ohia has always depended on. I hope you enjoy this." - Jason Molina, July 10, 2000

CHARLIE PARKER - Bird In Kansas City LP (Verve)
This new set of rare Charlie Parker recordings dating from between 1941-1951, most of them never having been heard before and some never even having been known to exist, chronicle Bird's evolution from a blossoming soloist with the Jay McShann Band into a brilliant improviser who dominated the jazz landscape for decades to come. In addition to two unreleased 78s with the McShann band, this set offers two sets of private recordings made with local musicians and a very relaxed-sounding Parker.

SLINT - Tweez [Reissue/1989] LP (Touch and Go)
Slint's first recording is getting a 35th Anniversary reissue! Available as a single LP pressed on limited edition red vinyl and also as a 2 LP. LP1: Originally recorded by Steve Albini and released in 1989, tweez has been remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Studio from the original analog master tapes. LP2: tweethan mix. Per Ethan Buckler (Slint bassist on tweez), "Finally - after thirty-five long years - the other guys in Slint decided to be nice to me and let me have my Tweez remix. I complained incessantly back in the day about how the Albini production style ruined our first recording." In 2023, Ethan took the original multi-track recordings to a local studio in Louisville. Upon handing the engineer a copy of a pre-tweez Slint practice tape, he said "Make it sound like this." LP2 of this tweez (35th anniversary edition) is the result. Mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Studio. Limited edition of 3138 hand-numbered opaque white 180 gram 2xlp Liner notes by Steve Albini and Ethan Buckler.

SQUAREPUSHER - Ultravisitor LP 20th Anniversary reissue
An album beloved by fans since its release in March 2004, Ultravisitor is one of the most popular records in Squarepusher’s entire discography. A unique blend of studio and live recordings, it’s an excellent showcase for the diversity of his music: from the frenetic title track to the funky jazz of “Iambic 9 Poetry” to the sunlit bliss of “Tommib Help Buss” and beyond.  For the 20th anniversary, Warp is proud to present this expanded deluxe version, a limited edition one-time pressing, carefully remastered from the original tapes by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering and overseen by Tom Jenkinson. Never entirely happy with the sound of the original release, Tom has relished the opportunity to revisit the tapes, bringing out fresh dynamics and details in the tracks. The bonus album Venus No.17 Maximised is compiled from tracks originally released as part of the Ultravisitor promo EP (released January 26, 2004), the Square Window 3” CD (a free bonus disc given out with WarpMart pre-orders of the Ultravisitor album), and the Venus No.17 EP. The accompanying booklet contains rare photos, flyers, and recording documentation.

BEN FOLDS - Sleigher CD/LP (New West)
Both CD and LP are available in limited edition autographed versions. “Christmas is constant,” says Ben Folds. “Allowing you to take stock of what’s different, to understand who you are and all the ways you’ve grown and changed.” That notion lies at the heart of Folds’ brilliantly titled new holiday collection, Sleigher. Built on an eclectic mix of originals and reimagined classics, the album examines the passage of time through the lens of Christmas, reflecting on memory, loss, and longing as it explores the variety of ways the yuletide season marks the chapters of our lives. The songs are playful here, full of humor and cheer, but they’re also laced with an inescapable sense of melancholy, a looming darkness that always seems to hover around the periphery of those late December nights.

BARDO POND - Set and Setting LP (Matador)
Matador is pleased to confirm further reissues with legendary Philadelphia ensemble Bardo Pond. Following the long-since sold out repress of ‘Amanita’ in 2021, Bardo Pond will release a remastered edition of their classic 1999 LP ‘Set and Setting’ on purple vinyl, featuring the eleven-minute opener “Walking Stick Man” and the single “This Time (So Fucked).” Timothy Leary said “never take psychedelics without proper set and setting.” Available on October 25th, these two additions to the mighty Bardo Pond oeuvre would not be a bad place to start.

BARDO POND - Melt Away LP (Matador)
Accompanying ‘Set and Setting’ is the new double LP compilation ‘Melt Away,’ cataloging late-90s rarities and outtakes from a creative apex in the band’s career, released together on vinyl for the first time. Album highlight “The Trail,” originally recorded for the ‘What’s Up Matador’ compilation, dissolves six minutes into a moment. Blink once and you’ll miss it. Blink twice and the wallpaper might begin to move.

GANG OF FOUR - Songs Of The Free [Reissue/1982] LP (Matador)
Gang of Four was formed in Leeds in 1976 and pioneered a style of music that inverted punk’s blunt and explosive energies — favoring tense rhythms, percussive guitars, and lyrics that traded in Marxist theory and situationism. Matador Records will reissue Gang Of Four’s third album ‘Songs of the Free’ on October 25th. The album is pressed on standard black vinyl and has been remastered from the original tapes by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road, with supervision by Jon King. The album includes “Call Me Up”, which is a live favorite, and their biggest “hit” – “I Love A Man In Uniform”.

RUTHVEN - Rough + Ready CD/LP (XL)
Since first appearing on Jai Paul & A.K. Paul’s label and collective Paul Institute in 2017, Ruthven has carefully mastered the soulful, infectious, R&B influenced sound he has masterfully displayed over six expansive singles. Drawing from both imaginative and autobiographical experiences, he presents his debut album, ‘Rough & Ready’. Led by ‘Thru The Walls’, the conversational love song which calls back to the sensual classics of Prince and D’Angelo, perfectly exemplifies Ruthven’s incredible musicianship and playful yet sincere lyricism.

HALSEY - Great Impersonator CD/LP (Columbia)
Halsey’s fifth studio album The Great Impersonator is due out on Columbia Records on October 25th. In this confessional, concept album, Halsey explores who she would be as an artist and a person if she existed throughout different decades

BRYAN FERRY - Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 LP (BMG)
Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 provides the first-ever comprehensive career retrospective to fully explore the depth and breadth of Bryan Ferry as a solo artist. It brings together for the first time his classic output with Island Records, Polydor, Virgin/EG, and BMG, and brings the story right up to date, spanning a period of over 50 years. Featuring 20 tracks that provide the perfect entry point for people who are curious about Bryan Ferry's music and offers a wider perspective to those who are familiar.

PEACH PIT - Magpie LP (Columbia)
Magpie, the fourth studio album from Peach Pit is due out October 25th. The album was written and recorded in the band's hometown of Vancouver, BC. Single disc vinyl, standard jacket, printed sleeve, with poster. Available on clear mint and clear with white swirl vinyl.

311 - Full Bloom LP (SKP)
311 return with their first new album in 5 years! The first single from the album, "You're Gonna Get It" is the band's highest charting radio single in 13 years. The band has sold over 10 million albums and has over 1.5 billion streams globally. 311 has been a force in alternative music since 1988, and this album further cements their position as leaders in rock, alt, funk, reggae, jam and more! "Full Bloom" is available on orange colored vinyl.

PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS - Synthesizer CD/LP (Dedstrange)
Synthesizer is the title of A Place to Bury Strangers' seventh album. It is also a physical entity, a synthesizer made specifically for A Place to Bury Strangers' seventh album. Synthesizer is a record that celebrates sounds that are spontaneous and natural, the kind of music that can only come from collaboration and community. It now features a fully collaborative new lineup, with John and Sandra Fedowitz. That spirit of reinvention is all over the record.

NAP EYES - Neon Gate CD/LP (Paradise Of Bachelors)
Nap Eyes' metamorphic fifth long-player collects a cache of nine fascinating songs recorded over the four years since Snapshot of a Beginner. The Neon Gate reveals classic touchstones (the uneasy interplay of physics and philosophy, perambulatory meditations, self-interrogating soliloquies, apertures of surreality, video games), but also evidence of divergent impulses toward nonlinear abstraction and longform improvisational composition (resulting in their most discursive, deconstructed, and deliquescent songs to date) and narrative and lyric formality (including adaptations of thorny poems by Alexander Pushkin and W. B. Yeats), imparting the sense that Nap Eyes have transmuted, as has their understanding of what a song is, what it can do, where it might go.

BASTILLE -  & CD/LP (Republic)
Bastille's fifth studio album '&' is a collection of story songs, including "Intros & Narrators," and "Blue Sky & The Painter." Dan Smith says of the release, "I've always loved writing story songs and using tales of other people as a way into making music and talking about my experiences in life. Over the last few years, I've been working on a whole load of songs about people who I think are fascinating and whose lives really spoke to me." 2 LP set on recycled black and colored vinyl in a gatefold jacket.

SHIGETO - Cherry Blossom Baby LP (Ghostly)
Cherry Blossom Baby, Shigeto's first full-length statement since 2017, sprouts out from a collective thaw, ambitious, collaborative, and fully realized. The Detroit-based, Japanese-American musician, DJ, Portage Garage Sounds label co-founder, and longtime Ghostly International artist embraces the role of producer and composer. Bold and cultivated with intention, the band-built sound honors traditions in electronic, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop, a fusion that's become his signature, now more vibrant than ever. Zach Saginaw and a group of guests and players present a snapshot in time, a celebration of self-love and an expression of vitality distinctly rooted in Detroit and informed by his family's cultural history. "I am a cherry blossom baby," he says. "We all are cherry blossom babies, we all are resilient, we all are growing, we all will continue to."

JAMES BLAKE + LIL YACHTY - Bad Cameo LP (Quality Control)
Esteemed hip-hop artist Lil Yachty teams up with James Blake to release their first collaborative alternative album titled Bad Cameo featuring 10 tracks on limited-edition Royal Magenta colored vinyl.

PORNO FOR PYROS - Pyrotechnics Latest and Greatest LP (Rhino)
On clear with orange splatter vinyl . Porno for Pyros exploded out of the ashes of Lollapalooza founders Jane's Addiction's ashes. Featuring two of the founding members of Jane's, Porno went on to create bombastic alternative rock that defined the sound of the 90s. This is the first ever greatest hits collection from the band, who just reunited for a brief tour in 2024 for the first time in ages. Pressed on multi-coloured vinyl and featuring brand new art, it also includes a brand new remix of "Pets" by Daniel Avery, and three brand new recordings - "Fingernail," "Little Me" and "Agua."

TEARS FOR FEARS - Songs For A Nervous Planet LP (Concord)
The new album from Tears for Fears, Songs For A Nervous Planet, features four new studio tracks plus live recordings of Tears for Fears on tour and at their best. The album features live performances of hit songs like "Shout," "Head Over Heels," "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," "Mad World" and more. Spanning all eras of the band from The Hurtingto The Tipping Point and beyond, this record takes you on the incomparable sonic journey that is a Tears for Fears live show and their career to date.

BLUE NILE - Reissues CD/LP (Confetti)
After an extended hiatus, the Blue Nile are re-releasing their highly regarded catalogue "A Walk Across The Rooftops", "Hats", "High" & "Peace At Last" on both CD and Vinyl. Each album has been remastered by Calum Malcolm

BRATMOBILE - Ladies, Women and Girls CD/LP (KRS)
Bratmobile’s sophomore LP finds Allison Wolfe’s singsong delivery of her trademark barbed-wire lyrics center stage - each line catching the ear and cutting with truth. Backed by Molly Neuman’s heart attack drumming and Erin Smith’s shark-in-the-surf riffs the band returns pulling no punches. This is essential feminist punk.

BRATMOBILE - Pottymouth CD/LP reissue (KRS)
Along with Bikini Kill, Bratmobile spearheaded the riot grrrl revolution of the early 1990s, battling the long-standing dominance of men within the punk rock community to help empower a new generation of female musicians and fans. Comprised of singer Allison Wolfe, guitarist Erin Smith, and drummer Molly Neuman, Bratmobile made their debut at 1991’s International Pop Underground convention; after a handful of singles—with members spread out between California, Washington, and Maryland, recording was a logistical nightmare—the trio finally released Pottymouth in 1993.

BRATMOBILE - Girls Get Busy CD/LP reissue (KRS)
Equal parts sass, snark and surf-punk infused guitar, Bratmobile’s third album bursts with catchy hooks and thought-provoking critiques of their scene, consumerism and the patriarchy. It's clear what Bratmobile was busy doing in '02: creating the most brutally honest anthems brimmed with the defiant punk attitude the original grrrl gang is known for.

FINK - Hard Believer LP reissue (R'Coupd)
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of landmark album Hard Believer - R’COUP’D/Ninja Tune reissue the album with an newly-expanded booklet featuring archival photos & a “making off” extract. The reissue includes the much-loved Denmark Street & Electric Monkey Sessions, plus a live version of “White Flag” - all previously unavailable on vinyl.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
CURE - Songs Of A Lost World CD/LP
WILLIE NELSON - Last Leaf On The Tree CD/LP
ROBERT GLASPER - In December LP
ROBYN HITCHCOCK - 1967 Vacations In The Past CD/LP
ELLIOTT SMITH - From A Basement On The Hill CD reissue
ELLIOTT SMITH - Either/Or LP reissue
SPIRITUALIZED - Music For William Eggleston's Stranded IN Canton CD/LP
AMERICAN FOOTBALL - Self Titled LP 25th Anniversary
TUXEDO - IV LP
HANK III - Risin' Outlaw LP reissue
TRENT REZNOR + ATTICUS ROSS - Challengers LP
PETER PERRETT - Cleansing CD/LP
JEREMIE ALBINO - Our Time In The Sun CD/LP