It’s Jackie McLean New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:
Aldous Harding – Warm Chris (Gatefold LP Jacket)
Amyl and The Sniffers- Amyl and the Sniffers
Aretha Franklin- Young Gifted and Black
Beirut – Artifacts
Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There (Boxed Set, 140 Gram Vinyl, With Booklet, Deluxe Edition)
Bill Withers – Live at Carnegie Hall (180 Gram Vinyl)
Bjork – Post
The Beatles- Abbey Road Anniversary
Claud- Super Monster
Childish Gambino – Camp
Childish Gambino- Awaken My Love
Daryl Hall & John Oates – Marigold Sky
Don Cherry – Eternal Now (Pink Colored Vinyl)
Destroyer – Labyrinthitis (Green, White Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive, Digital Download Card)
Weekly Review:
The 13th album by Vancouver indie-rock veterans Destroyer is named after an inflammation in the inner
ear. This ailment doesn’t figure into the album’s concept, frontman and songwriter Dan Bejar just liked
the way the word sounded. One of the songs titles on Labyrinthitis name checks the 16 th century Italian
painter Tintoretto. Again, the song isn’t about the artist, Bejar just remembered pompously claiming he
liked Tintoretto as a young man.
If either of these tidbits, or knowing that one of the songs on Labyrinthitis is titled “Eat the Wine, Drink
the Bread,” strikes you as pretentious, then Labyrinthitis may not be right for you. For the hearty souls
still game, Bejar has cooked up 10 delightful, inscrutable songs that are somehow ready for the dance
floor.
Although Labyrinthitis was recorded remotely, it sounds like it was done with all the musicians in the
same room. The band once again mines the slick pop sound of the late 1970s and ‘80s, but with more of
a New Order and Cure atmosphere this time around. “Eat the Wine” has a disco-ready, four-on-the-floor
rhythm, while “All My Pretty Dresses” marries a smooth jazz alto sax solo to what could be a forgotten
New Order b-side.
Bejar packs a lot of ideas into this 44-minute album. Most of them aren’t very obvious, but sifting
through the clues is an immersive experience. -Joel Francis
Fela Kuti – Coffin For Head Of State
Fela Kuti – Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense
Gerald Clayton – Bells On Sand
The Ghost – Impera (Gatefold LP Jacket, With Booklet)
Guerilla Toss – Famously Alive
Weekly Reviews:
Guerilla Toss spent the better part of a decade as a Boston-based quintet known for trippy albums and
loud, loud concerts. On Famously Alive, the band’s fifth album, they emerge as a New York City-based
trio with a deep love of day-glo ‘80s pop.
Opening track “Cannibal Corpse” opens with a mélange of noise that sounds like an extra-terrestrial
radio tuning in before blooming into a Krautrock rhythm with plinky ‘80s synths. “Famously Alive”
marries a hardcore punk drum line with shoegaze guitars and keyboards and auto-tuned vocals. “Happy
Me” rides the ying/yang of foreboding synthesizers and upbeat handclaps to wonderfully off-kilter
creation.
Lyrically, singer Kassie Carlson uses the album to celebrate her recover from an addiction to opioids. The
sunny, kaleidoscopic helps rescue Carlson’s lyrics sounding like affirmations found in greeting cards,
turning the listening experience into something positive and uplifting.
Guerilla Toss hinted at this direction on their 2019 EP. Now they’ve embraced it, creating an album that
frees both the feet and the mind from their shackles. -Joel Francis
Weekly Review #2:
Guerilla Toss new debut album on Subpop is called “Famously Alive” and it feels like a sea-change of sorts that has been brewing in the group over the course of their past several albums.
The band’s kitchen sing approach makes Guerilla Toss a difficult band to categorize. Early releases made use of rock, fusion, post punk and even electronic/ disco influences combined with front person Kassie Carlson‘s unique rhythmic/ speak sing delivery for a truly innovate sound.
After multiple lineup changes since their inception in 2012 and the current situation appears to have struck a solid balance between experimental art rock and the current version of synth inspired dance pop.
“Famously Alive” maintains the cut and paste, Dubstep/ indie fusion, synth inspired influences of classic bands like Animal Collective infused with big singalong hooks and choruses.
The shift is never more apparent than on the title track where Carlson’s uplifting chorus drive ELOesque vocals sing:
Stay famous
Famous in your mind
Keep it famous
Famous all the time
Your famous
Doctor, she prescribed
Stay famous
Famously alive
Track 4,“Mermaid Airplane,” is hard house influenced track with an infectious, nursery rhyme melody that aches to be broadcasted over stadium sized EDM audiences.
The expansiveness and breadth of this record is quite clear and even though the band makes good use of dreamy vocoders and sweeping synth lines, in songs like “Got Spirit,” core reggae new wave influence a la The Police and The Raincoats can be detected.
Looks like 2022 could be a breakthrough year for Guerilla Toss. We’ve got the limited edition first pressing purple swirl vinyl, while supplies last. For fans of Chvrches and Animal Collective. -Major Matt
Heather Leigh – Throne
Ian Noe – River Fools And Mountain Saints
Ilmiliekki Quartet – Ilmiliekki Quartet (Silver Colored Vinyl)
Jackie McLean – Tippin’ The Scales
Janet Jackson- Rhythm Nation
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City
Lana Del Rey – Blue Banisters
Lomelda – Thx
Maserati – Maserati Vii
Miles Davis – Merci, Miles! Live At Vienne
Nolan Potter – Music Is Dead
North Mississippi Allstars – Set Sail (Limited Edition, Colored Vinyl, Bonus Tracks, Indie Exclusive, Digital Download Card)
Nas – Illmatic
Nas – King’s Disease II
Nirvana – In Utero
The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die (140 Gram Vinyl)
Nina Simone – The Hits
Quelle Chris & Chris Keys – Innocent Country 2 (Indie Exclusive)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Unlimited Love (Orange Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Robert Plant- Raise The Roof (Gatefold LP Jacket, 180 Gram Vinyl)
Richard Thompson – (guitar, vocal) A Collection of Unreleased and Rare Material 1967-1976
Weekly Review:
In the mid-‘70s, after having released three albums in 18 months with his wife Linda, British guitar hero
and songwriter Richard Thompson decided to walk away from music to join a Sufi Muslim commune. At
the time, Thompson wasn’t yet the cult artist he is today, but as a founding member of the UK folk
group Fairport Convention, Thompson had a stellar reputation and respectable following. Not wanting
to slow the reliable Thompson gravy train, Island Records assembled (guitar, vocal) during the musician’s
retirement.
As the subtitle delineates, this two-LP set collects stray tracks from across Thompson’s near-decade as a
recording artist. While this type of anthology could easily be a cynical cash-in, (guitar, vocal) is a strong
cross-section of Thompson’s work. The half-dozen Fairport Convention songs show the band’s strength
and range. B-side “Throwaway Street Puzzle” imagines Laurel Canyon folk-rock hijacked by Shel Talmy,
who produced the early Who and Kinks singles. A cover of the Byrds “The Ballad of Easy Rider”
showcases Sandy Denny’s haunting vocals.
The remaining seven cuts from Thompson’s solo career are pulled from live recordings. It’s hard not to
compare Linda Thompson’s weary vocals on the soul ballad “Dark End of the Street” to Denny’s turns at
the mic and psychoanalyze what drew Thompson to each woman. Side three and side four each end
with an emotional and musical tour de force. Stretching nearly 12 and a half minutes, “Night Comes In”
finds Thompson displaying his six-string abilities without any of the crass pyrotechnics that plague most
guitar solos. “Calvary Cross” repeats the feat and lasts a minute longer.
Fortunately for music fans, Thompson’s retirement didn’t last. In the 45 years since his sabbatical,
Thompson has released more than two dozen live and studio albums. (guitar, vocal) holds its own
among this vast catalog, serving both newcomers and long-time fans well. -Joel Francis
Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come
Slink Moss Explosion – Floating Ghost Hotel
Son House – Forever On My Mind (Black & White (Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Sonny Red – Out Of The Blue
The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble – Step Down
Theon Cross – Intra I
Weekly Review:
Perhaps no other Tuba player, in recent memory, has brought more innovation and attention to the often noticed but under-appreciated instrument than Theon Cross.
With his latest album “Intra-I” he continues to tastefully stretch the instrument into new and exciting realms.
I’ve spilled a lot of words about how London is ground zero for present day contemporary jazz and Cross is unquestionably a driving force. As well as his solo work he is a core member of Shabaka Hutchings-led Sons Of Kemet as well as well as a regular contributor to the works of Nubya Garcia.
The album begins with guest vocalist Remi Graves declaring “The world is in a spin…” and that pretty much sets the pace for Intra- I.
Son of a Jamaican father and Saint Lucian mother, born and raised in London, Cross’s influences are a melting pot of Caribbean, contemporary jazz, hip hop, reggae and pop. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Cross’s last studio album, 2019’s “Fayah,” centered around a small core trio consisting of himself, tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia and drummer Moses Boyd, with two tracks including other luminaries of the alternative London jazz scene.
“Intra- 1” tightens the circle even more to a duo consisting of Cross and shamanistic drummer Emre Ramazanoglu along with a series of features guest vocalists and rappers.
The pace in “Intra- I” stays pretty upbeat. One notable somber note is the pastoral “Watching Over (Bless Up Dad), a touching tribute to Cross’s father who passed unexpectedly in 2020.
There are more contemporary influences on this album than the last. Songs like “ We Go Again” and “40tude” delve into the realms of house and techno while “Forward Progression III” is a straight up reggae, dub track.
Most pieces eventually return in some form to Cross’s signature Afro-Caribbean rhythms, which is not a band thing. Cross himself refers to his style as Afro Diaspora Music. I call it good music! -Major Matt
Sade – The Best of Sade [180 gram Vinyl]
Twenty One Pilots – Vessel (FBR 25th Anniversary Edition, Silver Colored Vinyl)
Tinariwen – Amassakoul (Colored Vinyl, Limited Edition, Digital Download Card)
Tom Morello – The Atlas Underground Fire (Orange Colored Vinyl, Sticker)
Various – Country Funk Vol. 3 1975-1982 (Clear, Red, Blue Colored Vinyl, Limited Edition)
Van Halen – Van Halen
Wallows – Tell Me That It’s Over
Wendell Harrison – Farewell To The Welfare
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Enjoy the music and we will see you soon. Your loving Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven staff:
Sherman, Gordon, Cat, Matt, Dylan, Doyle, Heather, Greg, Dave and Lain
