VIA PRESS RELEASE | 1983 solo LP from the legendary artist and Suicide frontman who blazed a trail for post-punk, synth-pop, industrial rock, techno, and electronic music.

Alan Vega’s work with Suicide is revered by just about every electronic music artist who’s tapped a keyboard or moved a mouse; his snarling, rockabilly-styled vocals teamed with Martin Rev’s ominous, repetitive soundscapes blazed a trail for post-punk, synth pop, industrial rock, techno…the list goes on. Vega’s solo career substantially overlapped with his Suicide recordings; this 1983 release, his first for a major label (Elektra), was his bid for commercial success, enlisting Ric Ocasek of the Cars (who had produced the second Suicide record) to produce and recruiting a young Al Jourgenson (who had just founded Ministry) to play keyboards.

Vega even trimmed down his notoriously long songs…however, his art still proved too idiosyncratic for mainstream success. But even if it didn’t result in sales, the relatively accessible sound of Saturn Strip ended up garnering much critical acclaim; this is Vega’s best solo album, highlighted by “Kid Congo,” his tribute to Cramps/Gun Club guitarist Kid Congo Powers, and a cover of the disco hit “Every 1’s a Winner” that sounds like White Light White Heat-era Velvet Underground. First- ever LP reissue, pressed in highlighter yellow vinyl.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | On June 26 2012, DIIV released their seminal debut record, Oshin, via Captured Tracks. The album received critical acclaim from Pitchfork granting it “Best New Music,” NME ranked it in the Top 10 among the “Albums of the Year,” and more.

Today, the band announces their 10 year anniversary 2xLP expanded limited edition vinyl of Oshin. In addition to the 2xLP, DIIV will be sharing a box set collection of their inaugural three 7″s “Sometime”, “Human,” and “Geist,” repressed for the first time since their original release.

DIIV: “Oshin is our first album. It came out ten years ago and because of that we have decided to put together a very nice and very intricate and thoughtful 10th anniversary edition of the album for you. We are packaging it alongside my homemade demo recordings and a few unreleased live recordings from one of our first shows. It has new art by our friend Parker Sprout and it has some writing from the members of the band, the writer of the original Oshin poem, and an expansive meditation on the history of the album from Shaad S’souza. We hope you enjoy it.”

The first LP will be a replicate of the original tracklist and the second LP will include the original Oshin demos, two live cuts, including the previously unreleased track “Yuk,” and a 24-pg retrospective booklet with photos, DIIV “Fuck The World” poster, reflections from all four band members, and new liners written by Shaad D’Souza. The record will be pressed on Blue Marble vinyl (to match the original Captured Track Exclusive edition of Oshin from 2012), limited to 5000 copies. LP2 will be available digitally on bandcamp + YouTube only on June 24, and physical will be released on August 19.

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Sun Records, that Memphis, TN institution and essential building block of 20th century music, turns 70 years old this year. To mark the anniversary, The Sam Phillips Years: Sun Records Curated by Record Store Day: Vol. 9, focuses on a diverse slate of material recorded by the man who made it all possible. Straight blues, R&B, C&W, and rockabilly (of course) are well represented as the sequence rolls forth, and as the latest installment in ORG Music’s annual series of limited edition vinyl issued in alignment with Record Store Day (which is celebrating 15 years of existence in 2022), it holds up just dandy.

For those drawn to raw sounds like moths fluttering around an uncovered bulb, it’s easy to spend hours delving into the early years of Sun Records. And so, for folks assuming that after nine volumes, ORG Music’s worthy endeavor might be running on fumes, I’m chuffed to relate that it’s not that way. And there’s also an appealing sense of wrapping around to the beginning of the series (not to infer that the undertaking is winding down): Vol. 9 shares five artists with Vol. 1 and eight with Vol. 2.

This set gathers a dozen cuts all picked by record store employees, with six on each side and the ceaselessly stomping rockabilly of Sonny Burgess’ “We Wanna Boogie” kicking off the mania. As the track hurdles forth it’s difficult to decide what’s sweeter, Richard Nance’s trumpet splatter or the caustic guitar solo courtesy of either Burgess or Joe Lewis.

Issued in 1956, “We Wanna Boogie” is the undiluted essence of foundational rockabilly, with Burgess and the band going for it so hard they’re barely able to keep it together (Kern Kennedy’s unwavering piano thunder serves as the anchor), while the addition of that trumpet undermines the codified rules set forth by the retro-‘billy brigades over what the stuff is “supposed” to sound like. It’s a truly wonderful thing.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, Bill Withers’ Still Bill still stands as the greatest male-fronted soul album not made by a singer named Marvin, Al, Sam, James, or Ray.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MoFi), a company delivering the foremost audio technology and specializing in high-quality reissues, in partnership with Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, is proud to announce the release of this understated soul masterwork on its industry-leading 180-gram single LP format. Named “One of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Rolling Stone, listed in “1,000 Albums to Hear Before You Die” by The Guardian, and included in Tom Moon’s 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die book, the 1972 landmark album includes the timeless hits “Lean on Me” and “Use Me.” 180-gram numbered-edition single LPs are available for preorder now at mofi.com and musicdirect.com.

Mastered on Mobile Fidelity’s renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI, MoFi’s numbered-edition LP of Still Bill gives this lush classic the luxe treatment it has always deserved. Replete with intoxicating detail and depth, the collectible analog reissue zeroes in on the music’s crux—Withers’ unique, rich, West Virginia-accented voice—while clearing a true-to-the-source path to the extraordinary backing he receives from members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.

The diverse spectrum of colors, textures, and tones Withers captured at the Record Plant can now be experienced for the first time outside the L.A. studio. The lifelike presence and directness of his singing, as well as the smooth glide of his phrasing, further elevate the magnificence of the music and underscore why the record continues to escalate in stature.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Merge Records is thrilled to release the 35th anniversary edition of Neurotica, the 1987 power pop and alternative rock opus by Redd Kross, on June 24, 2022. The reissue contains the original album, remastered by JJ Golden (Pearl Jam, Thee Oh Sees), as well as 12 previously unreleased demos from the era (rediscovered recently in the archives of the band’s original A&R guy, Geoffrey Weiss).

This special edition of Neurotica will be available worldwide on a single CD as well as 2-LP—the album on translucent turquoise, the demos on translucent orange—housed in in a slick gatefold jacket. Exclusive to the Merge store is a new Neurotica t-shirt, which can be purchased on its own or bundled with the vinyl or CD. Redd Kross completists should check out our Neurotica superbundle that includes both formats of the album plus the t-shirt at a discount. Today, the remastered version of Neurotica is available on digital service providers for the first time.

In some ways, Neurotica can be viewed as a This Is Your Life–esque document of what brothers Jeff McDonald and Steve McDonald had been working towards creatively since starting Redd Kross in their Hawthorne, CA, living room circa 1978. The songs quake with punk rock fury, no doubt about it… I mean, how could they possibly have shaken off all that untamed energy of their early years (the Red Cross years, one might call them) after it helped build such a strong foundation for Southern California hardcore punk & DIY culture (and, arguably, indie rock as a whole) alongside bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Descendents?

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Many fans and collectors of music from the 1960s have a particularly soft spot in their hearts and minds for psychedelic music. The genre broadly encapsulates a variety of styles, yet is narrowly slotted into a very brief time period, roughly late 1965 through late 1968.

When one thinks of ‘60s psychedelia, two British groups, and specifically a handful of singles and albums they released in the ‘60’s, come to mind. Those two groups are, of course, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Yet, when many music fans think of psychedelia from the ‘60s, American groups, particularly from San Francisco, are usually thought of first. British psyche, other than the aforementioned, are often forgotten.

Thankfully, a glorious new 5CD set, Think I’m Going Weird: Original Artefacts From The British Psychedelic Scene 1966-1968, has been released, and it will remind everyone how rich and varied the British psychedelic scene was from 1966 through 1968. This set is particularly welcome, as the only other such box set to be produced that included almost as much music as this new one, is sadly out of print. That one, Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, released by Rhino in 2006, covered more years (1964–1969) and was just as lovingly produced as this set, but decided it would be cool to spell artefacts incorrectly.

The Beatles and Pink Floyd are not included on this set and they may be the only serious omissions. Also, not only was the music here wisely chosen, spanning 122 tracks and including 50 minutes of previously unreleased music, but the packaging is unbeatable, including period photographs, album and singles cover art, and a 60-page book, with an informed and entertaining 25,000-word essay. This is a package to keep one busy for months at a time and it can be dipped into for listening, reading, or just tripping out on the artwork.

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Interpret It Well is the new compact disc from drummer and vibraphonist Ches Smith. It features the return of his trio with violist Mat Maneri and pianist Craig Taborn, but now pleasingly expanded to a four-piece with guitarist Bill Frisell. The sounds range from spaciously quiet to angular to pretty to downright heavy, at moments abstract, at other points melodic and occasionally bordering on grooving, but with unifying tension and flashes of unease. Fittingly, a stark and ambiguously ominous painting by Raymond Pettibon provides the CD with both its cover art and its title. The disc is tucked inside a six panel gatefold sleeve available May 6 through Pyroclastic Records.

Ches Smith has played on a formidable amount of records, spanning from groups and sessions organized by Tim Berne, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, David Torn, Trevor Dunn and others to numerous leaderless encounters and even handful of collective units, e.g. Secret Chiefs 3 and Good for Cows. Additionally, Smith has a (still manageable) batch of releases solo and as leader, with Interpret It Well his second in dialogue with Mat Maneri and Craig Taborn; the first, The Bell, came out on CD in 2016 through ECM.

The Bell is a pretty terrific record and obviously Smith felt that way too as he attempted, in his words, to make the creative triangle his “road” band” from 2016-’18. Bill Frisell caught a show late in that stretch and was so impressed that he wrote to Smith about what he’d heard. And long story short: as everybody in this scenario held everybody else in high regard, Frisell was invited to join them on the bandstand for a performance.

The show went down rather swimmingly, but then Covid reared its ugly viral mug, and with all the parties masked up in the same city, the decision was made to record with Frisell. That Interpret It Well delivers an advance on The Bell’s already substantial worthiness might be seen as unsurprising and maybe even as an inevitability, but just as there is “addition by subtraction” in musical situations, the opposite is also a possibility.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Sony Music Entertainment and Trafalgar Releasing today launched the brand-new trailer for George Michael Freedom Uncut, a deeply autobiographical feature documentary narrated by the late Grammy® Award winner.

A poignant and moving tribute to the legacy of one of Britain’s greatest performers, in his final work George Michael reclaims the narrative of his career, personal life and controversies in collaboration with co-director, producer and friend David Austin. This feature-length documentary will be released as a global cinema event on Wednesday, 6/22.

Throughout the film, Michael reveals openly and honestly the two distinct sides of his life: his very public music career and his private personal life that cameras never truly saw. Michael was heavily involved in and dedicated to the making of this documentary before his tragic passing in 2016, making George Michael Freedom Uncut an incredibly special posthumous release and a moving tribute to his legacy.

The documentary features a slew of famous faces, contributors include George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Sir Elton John, Ricky Gervais, Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Tracey Emin, Liam Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Jean Paul Gaultier, James Corden, Tony Bennett, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Tatjana Patitz

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Upon first meeting Warren Zevon, says Barney Hoskins in his 2006 book California Rock, Linda Ronstadt “thought he was a psychopath.” I’m sure she wasn’t alone. Hollywood’s notorious excitable boy was spinning out of control at the time, a one-man alcohol and drug-fueled perma-binge that led even the most decadent members of the Hollywood demimonde to nail shut their doors. But just when he seemed primed for self-immolation, he sobered up long enough to record his sixth album, 1982’s The Envoy. (He would fall on and off the wagon until his death in 2003.)

Zevon’s third LP, 1978’s Excitable Boy, which includes his signature song “Werewolves of London, ” is unarguably his best, and you’ll need lawyers, guns and money to convince me The Envoy comes close. The irresistible charm, razor wit, and dark worldview are all there, but then again so is the generic L.A. sound that blunted the edges of so much of the music coming out of the Hotel California at the time. Much to his detriment, Zevon chose to remain a part of the scene’s old boy network—inviting the bland likes of Don Henley, Lindsey Buckingham, and J.D. Souther to sit in on your sessions was hardly the act of a musical bomb thrower. Yet the LP works despite itself, and includes some of the best songs Zevon would ever write.

On The Envoy you get Zevon’s usual mix of sex, drugs, love, booze, violence, and international intrigue. The title track is a tip of the cap to Philip Habib, the U.S. special envoy whose job it was to clean up America’s self-inflicted problems and broker peace in Vietnam, the Middle East, and Central America. Zevon provides a rather dry rundown of Habib’s iron-fist-in-velvet-glove diplomacy (“Things got hot in El Salvador/CIA got caught couldn’t do no more/He’s got diplomatic immunity/He’s got a lethal weapon that nobody sees”) but the real kicker comes at the end—Habib may have the power to patch up the United States’ problems, ‘except,” concludes Zevon, “for me.” It’s a very good song, but underscores one of Zevon’s chief problems as a songwriter; his hard rockers can be ham-fisted affairs. That bass drum thump of an anchor drags the song down with it, and as result “The Envoy” lacks the nimble touch that make hard-rockers like “Lawyers, Guns and Money” so memorable.

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