VIA PRESS RELEASE | There was a time, back in the ‘70s before it became the ubiquitous, mass-produced product it is today, that pornography made a bid to become taken seriously as an art form.

And it was this film, The Devil in Miss Jones, that made the biggest leap forward both commercially and artistically. Made by Gerard Damiano after his success with Deep Throat, and based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s play No Exit, the film tells the story of a lonely spinster who, after she commits suicide, is denied entrance to heaven and is condemned to limbo. She then decides she’d rather go back to earth and “earn” her place in hell by practicing the deadly sin of lust. The Devil in Miss Jones wound up being the seventh highest-grossing film of 1973, and set new standards for production value and, yes, musical scoring.

Alden Shuman’s soundtrack wasn’t the usual monotonous wah-wah of the time, but a sweeping, panoramic, and plaintive score played by piano and full orchestra. It’s never been reissued on LP before; our Real Gone release comes in limited (to 900 copies) hellfire vinyl that you can watch spin…for eternity.

The ragged, raw, rough roots sound of blues is usually not thought of as a music suited to audiophile listening. However, it has spawned numerous recordings that have been released when new audiophile formats and companies have emerged.

Two recent releases have been given the full high-end reissue treatment by one of the most important audiophile companies around, Acoustic Sounds Series. One of the releases, Lightnin’ Strikes from Lightnin’ Hopkins, is, if not the best, then one of the best-ever recorded blues albums. The other one, It Serve You Right To Suffer, from John Lee Hooker, now has to be considered a blues audiophile must-have release.

Lightnin’ Strikes from Lightnin’ Hopkins was released in 1966 at the height of the blues revival, when many pioneering, post-war blues musicians were being rediscovered by young, scholarly folk and blues music purists in America and the emerging British rock artists of the blues and R&B boom.

A previous Lightnin’ Hopkins album called Lightnin’ Strikes was released in 1962 on Vee-Jay Records from recordings made in Texas of tracks different from those here. This album, recorded in Los Angeles in 1965, was reissued as part of the Verve Folkways roots imprint after Vee-Jay went out of business. Its original reissue title was Nothin’ But the Blues.

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Ready for Heaven is the latest record by Deradoorian, the mononymous project of Angel Deradoorian, the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter formerly of Dirty Projectors, out May 9 on vinyl, compact disc, and digital through Fire Records. It’s a fiesta of art-pop that embraces the weird while lacking miscalculations, the tight set of nine songs thriving on confidence in its assemblage and a clear vision of when to hit the brakes and when to lay on the gas.

Since leaving Dirty Projectors in 2012, Angel Deradoorian work has grown in scale and assurance. Ready for Heaven’s opener “Storm In My Brain” is art-pop with an ’80s tinge, never going overboard, with its rhythmic energies establishing a tropical undercurrent. “Any Other World” doubles down on the art-pop, bringing Laurie Anderson and Kate Bush to mind, but with a nod to the dancefloor that thankfully avoids trite maneuvers. Instead, it blends ’80s pop-R&B (or art-funk, perhaps) with flashes of the Neue Deutsche Welle.

Deradoorian is fond of programmed beats, but the good news is that she also leans into some primo organic rhythmic heat, as in “No No Yes Yes,” which turns up the dial on the ’80s R&B, and in large part through Deradoorian’s soulful vocal swagger (the temperature rises through the funky bass lines). Notably, the music maintains a disaffected basement dance party groove that’s very appealing.

If Deradoorian draws inspiration from the ’80s, there’s no mistaking the timeframe from whence Ready for Heaven derives. “Digital Gravestone” is as thick and sturdy as the best post-punk, but the cut works up a well-controlled momentum that’s very much of the moment. The guest saxophone by Patrick Shiroishi enhances the contemporary feel by nixing any throwback gestures.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | This 3xLP box collects the complete discography of Washington, D.C.’s Swiz. The limited edition set is a joint effort between Dischord and the band’s original labels, Sammich and Hellfire Records. It features the quartet’s two full-lengths (S/T and Hell Yes I Cheated) plus a compilation of three 7″ singles (“Rejects,” “Down,” “With Dave”) all remastered from the original analog tapes, plus a 34-page 12×12 photo book with rare and unseen images.

This collection will be a one-time pressing manufactured to order and will be available via pre-order only. Pre-orders begin today with the window closing on May 30th. Delivery is expected late this summer. The music will be available for streaming on all platforms around the physical ship date. Pre-order the box now via Bandcamp or Dischord.com.

Swiz was a Washington, DC-based hardcore punk band that existed from April of 1987 through August of 1990, cutting their teeth and carving their place in the scene that birthed trailblazers and contemporaries like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Dag Nasty, and Fugazi.

Featuring original Dag Nasty singer Shawn Brown, Swiz’s faster, darker, and more aggressive take on the DC sound ran counter to the melodic, experimental, and poppy direction the scene had been leaning toward in the years before punk broke into the mainstream during the early ’90s.

In the thirty-five years since the group’s demise, Swiz’s popularity and infamy have only grown. Their short, sharp, sonic blasts still resonate and continue to inspire musicians, artists, and fans alike. Swiz was Shawn Brown (vocals), Jason Farrell (guitar), Nathan Larson (bass 1987–1989), Alex Daniels (drums), and Dave Stern (bass 1989–1990).

VIA PRESS RELEASE | GRAMMY® Award-winning progressive metal trailblazers Dream Theater released their massively successful Vol. 1 boxed set in 2024, covering the band’s 1992–1999 studio albums. Today, they are set to unveil the next installment with Dream Theater Vol. 2. Volume 2 notably includes the next four highly sought-after studio albums: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002), Train of Thought (2003), Octavarium (2005), and Systematic Chaos (2007). This 8LP boxed set is exclusively available on Rhino.com in North America and via select Warner Music Group stores internationally. Limited to only 2,500 copies worldwide. 

Vol. 2 highlights Dream Theater’s journey through the 2000s, reflecting not only their continuous sonic evolution but also their success in carving out space for progressive metal on international charts.

This volume includes the group’s iconic Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, which features the 42-minute title track that encapsulates their approach to redefining the boundaries of commercial music. This album also introduces drummer Mike Portnoy’s twelve-step suite with “The Glass Prison” and continues throughout the next four albums in their discography. The last chord of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence serves as the opening chord to the group’s follow-up album, Train of Thought.

Expanding on the group’s heavier live sound, Train of Thought is the group’s most traditional metal album, using thicker guitar tones, heavier drums, and intensely targeted lyricism. The album features suites four and five of Portnoy’s twelve-step suite with “The Dying Soul,” a lyrical and musical continuation of “The Glass Prison.” Like its predecessor, Train of Thought’s final note rings through the beginning of the following, and one of Dream Theater’s most essential albums, Octavarium.

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Celebrating Bob Seger on his 80th birthday. —Ed.

Through no fault of his own—or maybe it is his fault, I don’t know—Bob Seger has never gotten any respect. He’s the Rodney Dangerfield of rock, and this despite the fact that he’s written his fair share of memorable, and even great, songs. He’s always been the consummate journeyman—someone you might go to see, but without being totally psyched about it—but in the bicentennial year of 1976 he rose above his station to produce two very, very good LPs, Night Moves and Live Bullet.

The former included a couple of instant standards, while the latter made a convincing argument that seeing him live might just be a better bet than you think. I’ve liked him since I first listened to my older brother’s copy of Live Bullet way back in 1976, and I continue to have a soft spot in my heart for him, this despite the fact that he’s the force of evil who bequeathed us such awful songs as “Like a Rock,” “We’ve Got Tonight,” and the dreadful “Old Time Rock and Roll,” which to his credit he didn’t write but still recorded, which probably merits the electric chair. Why he even helped the Eagles write “Heartache Tonight,” a song that deserves to be burned at the stake.

But I forgive him, because he’s also given us such great tunes as “Get Out of Denver,” “Turn the Page,” “Beautiful Loser,” “Looking Back,” “Katmandu,” “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,” “Night Moves,” and “2 + 2 = ?” And his version of “Nutbush City Limits” is almost as good as Tina Turner’s. As much a product of Detroit as the trucks he’s helped to sell via the suckass “Like a Rock,” Seger played in or founded a number of bands—the most notable being The Bob Seger System—without achieving much more than regional success before forming the Silver Bullet Band in 1974. Live Bullet finally propelled him to national stardom, and Night Moves solidified his status as a player in the big leagues.

Unlike fellow Detroiters the MC5 and The Stooges, Seger was never a firebrand; instead he was the epitome of Heartland Rock, which pays due respect to rock’s origins and doesn’t have a musically radical bone in its body. He was John Mellencamp before there was a John Mellencamp, a purveyor of meat and potato songs that told stories and that never veered too far from a relatively conservative template that fit neatly into the classic rock tradition. Which is undoubtedly why he’s been inducted into that den of iniquity, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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The recordings of Berlin-based violist and composer Catherine Lamb are resonant extensions of contemporary classical chamber style. Lamb utilizes the tuning system Just Intonation and the conceptual discipline of Deep Listening as unifying structural principles, with these foundational qualities profoundly shaped by the work of composer Pauline Oliveros and brought to life on the new LP interius/exterius in collaboration with the nine-piece Ghost Ensemble of New York City. Drone enthusiasts will find much to love in this robust, engaging set, which is available May 9 on limited edition vinyl (300 copies) and digital through the greyfade label.

Catherine Lamb has openly acknowledged the centrality of Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening on interius/exterius, with the album’s longform composition in six segments realized through intense and extensive workshopping in New York City by Ghost Ensemble with Lamb in attendance. Their first achievement was a premiere performance at NYC’s Roulette Intermedium in December of 2022. The studio recording took place two years later.

A nonet, Ghost Ensemble consists of Margaret Lancaster on flute, Sky Macklay on oboe, Ben Richter on accordion, Lucia Stavros on harp, Chris Nappi on hammered dulcimer, Martine Thomas on viola, Tyler J Borden on cello, and James Ilgenfritz and Gregory Chudzik on the contrabass. The instrumentation is especially well-suited for the enveloping thickness of sustained drones as the group shares a collective mastery of Just Intonation with Lamb.

Specifically, for interius/exterius, the sonic bedrock is taken completely from the harmonic series of a theoretical 10Hz fundamental; that is, an inaudible frequency in which the overtones establish a rich interweaving of sound. To elaborate further, the 10Hz fundamental is a base-10 tuning system where every pitch can be grasped in connection with the others and creates a unified collective language that thrives in tandem with the individual voices in the ensemble.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In celebration of Black Music Month, Rhino Reserve continues with the next installment of the acclaimed premium vinyl series with Baby Huey’s The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, The Meters’ Fire On The Bayou, and Otis Redding’s Otis Blue.

This next set of Rhino Reserve titles are pressed on 180-gram premium-quality black vinyl locally at Fidelity Record Pressing’s brand-new plant in Oxnard, CA, and cut by the highly respected Chris Bellman from Bernie Grundman Mastering, a name synonymous with audiophile excellence.

Focused on preserving the authenticity of original packaging while delivering exceptional sound quality, each release features heavyweight board jackets, Rhino Reserve-branded labels, and a Fidelity-branded poly sleeve. Rhino Reserve titles are available on June 27 and will retail for $31.98 and be available at Rhino.com and select retail locations. Pre-order here.

The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend was recorded in 1970 as the only solo album by Funk icon James “Baby Huey” Ramey. Produced and released by Curtis Mayfield, the album pays tribute to Baby Huey following his untimely death. The album features captivating covers of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Going To Come” and John and Michelle Phillips’ “California Dreamin’,” as well as a Mayfield original, “Hard Times,” later sampled by A Tribe Called Quest and Ice Cube.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The White Stripes are marking the 20th anniversary of their GRAMMY® Award-winning 2005 fifth studio album, Get Behind Me Satan, with a limited-edition commemorative vinyl release. The 2LP edition—featuring one red smoke and one clear with red and black smoke vinyl—arrives worldwide via Third Man Records on Friday, June 27. Pre-orders are available now.

Recorded on the stairway of Jack White’s home in the Indian Village neighborhood of Detroit, Get Behind Me Satan sees The White Stripes at their most experimental, creative best, augmenting their traditional sound of guitar, drums, and piano with marimba, tympani, mandolin, bells, and more.

Not commercially released on vinyl until 10 years after its initial 2005 release, the album made a Top 3 debut on album charts in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia and earned global acclaim thanks to its unique rhythmic approach and such classic singles as “Blue Orchid,” the GRAMMY® Award-nominated “My Doorbell,” and “The Denial Twist,” all three of which proved Top 10 hits on the UK’s Official Singles Chart.

Hailed by Rolling Stone for “twisting a variety of American music styles to their own emotional purpose…the music is so wild, it could make you weep over how pitilessly the White Stripes keep crushing the other bands out there,” Get Behind Me Satan went on to earn RIAA Gold certification in the US, Platinum certification in the UK and Canada, and The White Stripes’ second consecutive GRAMMY® Award for “Best Alternative Album.”

Earlier in the week, The White Stripes were named among the inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2025. The 6x GRAMMY® Award-winning, 11x GRAMMY® Award-nominated band join esteemed fellow 2025 inductees Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, and Soundgarden.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Four decades after igniting college-radio airwaves and launching R.E.M.’s remarkable career, their 1981 debut single “Radio Free Europe” is broadcasting a new signal. Today, R.E.M. proudly announces “Radio Free Europe 2025,” a five-track benefit EP led by a never-before-released 2025 remix by the band’s longtime collaborator Jacknife Lee. The release celebrates the 75th anniversary of the “OG” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and arrived just ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

Radio Free Europe 2025 is available to stream and download today. A limited-edition 10-inch orange-vinyl pressing—available for pre-order now exclusively via the official R.E.M. store and independent record stores—lands September 12.

Proceeds from all vinyl sales will go to RFE/RL, an editorially independent nonpartisan and nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was established by the United States 75 years ago and currently broadcasts news and information in 27 languages to 23 countries where a free press is either banned by the government or under threat. Throughout the Cold War and continuing today, RFE/RL is often the only lifeline to the outside world for people living under extreme censorship.

Members of R.E.M. say this mission of promoting free expression has always resonated with the band. “Whether it’s music or a free press—censorship anywhere is a threat to the truth everywhere. On World Press Freedom Day, I’m sending a shout-out to the brave journalists at Radio Free Europe,” says Michael Stipe, lead singer and founding member of R.E.M.

“Radio Free Europe’s journalists have been pissing off dictators for 75 years. You know you’re doing your job when you make the right enemies. Happy World Press Freedom Day to the ‘OG’ Radio Free Europe,” says Mike Mills, bassist and founding member of R.E.M.

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Want to know exactly how many times I’ve heard the Fall played on American radio, AM, FM, for-profit, not-for-profit, college, high school, guy down the block who sticks his speakers out his windows and considers himself a radio station because he shouts “The next song is by Oingo Boingo!” etc? Zero. And do you want to know how many American Fall fans I know? Don’t even get me started. I know more HENRY COW fans, and Henry Cow are art prog shit!

All of which is to say, from my personal experience, that The Fall are a distinctly un-American proposition. In Great Britain and other places around the world they’re considered sacred, the only band that matters, and they regularly made the pop charts. You can walk into any pub in England and find rabid Fall fans hitting other rabid Fall fans over the head with pint glasses because they had the temerity to suggest, I don’t know, that the Brix Smith-era Fall is far superior to the Live from the Witch Trials-era Fall. Here in America the legendary curmudgeon and band resident genius Mark E. Smith could (if he weren’t deceased) win the Masked Singer and people would say “Mark E. Who?”

It’s undeniable that the music of The Fall can be both challenging and, and, at least upon first listen, off-putting. The band sounds amateurish, the songs are as often not repetitive grooves, and Mark E. Smith declaims obscurantist (to me anyway, people keep telling me he’s actually making sense) “poetry” in a voice that veers in an instant from rant to sneer to falsetto squeal. He sounds like the strange geezer at the far end of the bar muttering to himself. And you may almost think he’s saying something of momentous import until he stops you dead with a word like “infaskunkstructure.” He’s anything but the Iowa Writer’s Workshop type.

And I think that’s the gist of it. Americans simply can’t wrap their minds around Mark E. Smith. He’s a crank and uniquely English species of iconoclast, a type as exotic to the American sensibility as spotted dick or deliberately driving on the wrong side of the road. Smith is always driving on the wrong side of the road, and as often as he not he’s pissed in both the British and American meanings of the world. It’s an aside, but one of my personal Mark E. Smith anecdotes goes as follows:

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