Monthly Archives: May 2018

VIA PRESS RELEASE | “The bold souls at Ripple Music, Kozmik Artifactz, Twin Earth Records, and DHU Records have come together across continents to make it happen, and a 500-copies-pressed 2LP four-way label sampler split featuring all previously unreleased tracks and versions is the result. I shouldn’t have to tell you this is something special, something that doesn’t happen every day, and something that might not happen again.” —The Obelisk

Over a year in the making! Perhaps the world’s first four-label collaborative effort to bring together some of the best heavy psych, stoner, doom from both sides of the Atlantic. Two US-based labels, Ripple Music and Twin Earth Records, join forces with two European-based labels, DHU Records and Kozmik Artifactz, to bring forth a double album of epic proportions, something so massive it could only have its own monolith, Skull Mountain. Each Label showcases one full album side of its signature sound, each song previously unreleased or unreleased mix. The entire album mastered to perfection by Tony Reed at HeavyHead.

Inside the gatefold, tarot cards display the four element theme of Skull Mountain with each label represented by its own signature element—Ripple; water, Twin Earth; earth, DHU; fire, and Kozmik; air. Accordingly, each label has a limited amount of vinyl available in its own signature elemental color, Ripple; blue, Twin Earth; green, DHU; red, and Kozmik; clear.

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If you stress it, they’ll press it. —Ed.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The 1982 self-titled debut by post-punk supergroup The Lords of the New Church will be unearthed for a new generation of fans by Blixa Sounds Records on July 20, 2018.

This special edition two-CD set titled Lords of the New Church: Special Edition features all 10 tracks from the band’s 1982 self-titled debut, originally released by I.R.S. Records in the U.S., plus the B-side bonus tracks “Girls Girls Girls” and “Young Don’t Cry,” as well as the single version of the band’s modern rock hit, “Open Your Eyes.” The album is augmented by a 13-track 1982 live set — culled from the band’s own vault — featuring the Lords in all their glory at My Father’s Place, the legendary Long Island, N.Y. nightclub. Aside from live versions of the songs on their debut, the second disc includes the Lords’ reading of the Allen Toussaint classic “Fortune Teller.” The set includes a 12-page, full-color booklet, featuring photos of the band, replicas of gig posters, and new liners noted by music journalist Craig Rosen, who interviewed the band in 1983 for his college newspaper.

The Lords of the New Church were formed in 1980 by Stiv Bator and Brian James, both survivors of the punk wars of the late ’70s. James was a founding member and chief songwriter of U.K. punks the Damned, responsible for such classics as “New Rose” and “Neat Neat Neat.” Bator was the mouthpiece of young, loud and snotty Cleveland punks the Dead Boys, known for such classics as “Sonic Reducer” and “Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth.” It was record mogul Miles Copeland, founder of the I.R.S. Records label and older brother of Police drummer Stewart, who suggested the Bator-James alliance.

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“Vinyl… Although I’m surrounded by digital media throughout my waking moments, listening to a great jazz, blues, Motown, classic rock, or pop record is a welcome respite from the disconnectedness of our time.”

“It’s an active (interactive), sensual experience. The smell… pulling the shrink-wrap off virgin vinyl, the anticipation… knowing that something new awaits your ears. The reverence… holding the disc in your hands, carefully avoiding putting so much as a fingerprint on it, balancing it over the waiting turntable, gently setting the needle on that first track, then intently listening as sounds made in New Orleans, or Memphis, Detroit, or London fill the room.

And the extra dimension to that sound that you can feel as well as hear… actual air being moved, not just zeroes and ones. It’s like the difference of looking at a picture of a Degas or Seurat vs standing in its presence.

There’s another level of pleasure in the warm familiarity of a record spun to the point of wearing out. Pops, crackles, and imperfections you can count on and grow to love more than any new, untouched version. In writing this, I’ve had a memory come up that won’t quit. My parents spinning Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, especially “Isn’t She Lovely.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The two releases bookend Cruise’s incredibly fruitful Twin Peaks-era collaboration with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti.

25 years after its initial release, Julee Cruise’s sophomore album The Voice of Love will be issued for the first time on vinyl August 17 via Sacred Bones Records. Also available August 17th, Three Demos, a very unique companion 12” featuring the very first demo recordings for songs from Cruise’s initial LP with Lynch and Badalamenti, Floating Into the Night. Stream the original demo version of “Floating” from that release below.

Julee Cruise fulfills a special cornerstone in the Twin Peaks universe. Her initial collaboration with Lynch and Badalamenti on Blue Velvet’s “Mysteries of Love” set into motion a chain of events that would ultimately help birth the core sonic identity of the 1990 series…all before a frame of it was ever shot.

In 1985, Lynch’s obsession with This Mortal Coil’s “Song to the Siren” was at a fever pitch. Wanting to feature the song in Blue Velvet, the rights to the Tim Buckley cover proved problematic and prohibitively expensive. Lynch had famously just began working with Angelo Badalamenti, who had been suggested by producer Fred Caruso to coach Isabella Rossellini with singing “Blue Velvet” for the film.

Faced with the “Song to the Siren” dilemma, Caruso again suggested his friend Badalamenti as a possible solution…encouraging Lynch himself to pen lyrics in order to come up with an original alternative for the film. “David reluctantly agreed to write a lyric, but he thought writing a new song was absolutely preposterous because ‘Song to the Siren’ was his favorite song of all time,” Badalamenti says. The result ended up forging a rich blueprint for not just one song, but two full-length albums.

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Foxygen’s 2013 full-length We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic raises an interesting question. To wit: Just how good can an album be when the strongest cut on it is a shameless Pavement rip?

The answer, surprisingly enough, is pretty damn good indeed. It doesn’t hurt that the Pavement steal in question–”No Destruction”–is for the ages. Nor does it hurt that the indie pop duo of Sam France and Jonathan Rado have an uncanny knack for raiding the old musical closet to put together new and garishly interesting outfits.

When it comes to retro, Foxygen prefers the AM band to the FM one; their songs are twisted, for sure, but most of them have the exuberant pop! of a cork coming out of a bottle of expensive champagne. And like a good bottle of bubbly, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors will definitely go to your head.

The album’s potpourri of sounds runs the gamut from the dizzy-making French pop readymade that is “San Francisco” (dig those cheesy glockenspiels and the dreamy backing vocals of Sarah Versprille) to the truncated mutant blues that is “Bowling Trophies.” The latter is a total musical outlier (it borders on noise rock, from the Cows bugle blurt on down) and our favorite pot-loving duo’s retort to those people who wondered what it was doing on the LP probably ran along the lines of, “Hey, it sounded great when we were stoned.”

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Billed on its sleeve as an “experimental fusion of hip-hop and jazz,” the 1993 release of Guru’s Jazzmatazz delivered historical perspective, seriousness of intent, and organic richness in a sweet-sounding package that, rather than succumbing to grandiosity, registered as a natural (and inevitable) encounter. It was a landmark affair that spawned numerous sequels, but UMG’s Urban Legends division has kept the focus on the first with a sharp 25th anniversary expansion, adding instrumental versions and a rack of remixes for a total of three LPs. Certain to be cherished by longtime fans, this edition’s approachable depth and diversity make it a worthwhile pick-up for appreciative newbies. It’s out now.

Although the parameters of its ambition get established in its opening introductory track, Jazzmatazz is a crisp pleasure to listen to throughout, and its success now stands as an essential chapter in the voluminous tome that is ’90s hip-hop’s golden era. Like the music of his contemporaries, Guru, an MC who came to prominence in the Brooklyn-based duo Gang Starr (alongside turntable wizard DJ Premier), was a meticulous and levelheaded purveyor of urban groove science, and it was through this approach that he shared a baseline with the jazz that is his most celebrated album’s inspiration.

Too many fusions are nearer to patchwork, but Jazzmatazz not only seamlessly blends elements of post-bop and soul-jazz (its cover design in homage to the bountiful achievements of the Blue Note label) with the thrust of cutting-edge East Coast hip-hop, it also pulls off the tricky combination of live instrumentation (which works better at deepening the relationship of hip-hop and jazz than it does in other’s attempts to fuse rap and rock) and the style’s original tools, namely a pair of turntables, some records, and a microphone.

If a byproduct of the LP was the mass awakening of doubters to hip-hop’s burgeoning artistry (a still somewhat contentious topic in ’93), there were no traces of pleading for acceptance (and by extension, lessened impact). Instead, Guru (who sadly passed in 2010) cut an album that aficionados would be (and still are) proud to pull off the shelf, its contents also dropping a knowledge bomb regarding the general connectedness of African-American musical experience.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings is pleased to announce two special reissues from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Doug Clifford and Tom Fogerty.

The two helped make up CCR’s distinctive “chooglin'” rhythm section, roles that, along with John Fogerty and Stu Cook, earned them a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Besides being members of the Greatest American Rock Band, they each recorded solo albums. Tom Fogerty’s Excalibur and Doug Clifford’s Doug “Cosmo” Clifford were both originally released in 1972 and have been long out-of-print until now. These reissues, pressed on 180-gram vinyl from lacquers cut at Fantasy Studios by George Horn and Anne-Marie Suenram, are essential additions to the record collection of any Creedence aficionado. A special bundle is also available via the Craft Recordings store, including a very limited number of LPs signed by Doug Clifford.

About Doug Clifford’s Doug “Cosmo” Clifford | Doug Clifford is best known as the powerhouse drummer for legendary American rock band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Clifford’s signature simple grooves and impeccable timing, as heard on CCR hits including “Fortunate Son,” “Born on the Bayou,” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” have proven to be timeless and influential on future generations of Americana and roots rock drummers.

In 1972, Clifford recorded Doug “Cosmo” Clifford, his first and only solo outing and a fascinating artifact from the end of the Creedence era. This 11-track outing includes eight originals that range from country-infused R&B (“Take a Train”) to Latin rock (the aptly titled “Latin Music”) to CCR-style rockers (“Get Your Raise”). It also features rollicking covers of the Lovin’ Spoonful (“Daydream”), Doug Sahm (“She’s About a Mover”), and the Spencer Davis Group (“I’m a Man”).

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