It’s Samantha Fish New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:
A Place to Bury Strangers- Hologram
Beach Bunny- Blame Game
Beach Bunny- Honeymoon
Billy Idol- Roadside
Bob Marley- Legend
Cavetown- Cavetown
Weekly Review:
Artist Robin Skinner, or Cavetown, started his career early with youtube, releasing soft covers and originals, later moving to platforms like spotify and apple music. His top song, “This Is Home,” has over 160 million streams, making for himself a name and creating another subgenre of singer-songwriter.
At the young age of just 16, he released his debut self titled album, “Cavetown.” This album includes a lot of different synths, and instruments, but track one, “Meteor Shower,” introduces the album with his staple sound- ukulele and soft vocals with whimsical backing synths. I like that he chose this song as the intro to the album because it sets up the other tracks well.
This album could put me to sleep, not because it’s boring, it’s rather relaxing. The songs flow from one to another seamlessly. This is something I admire; it’s hard to make a variety of different elements come together as one, but I think he does this wonderfully.
My favorite song on this album (and one of his top streamed songs) is, “Devil Town.” This song is a lot more upbeat and catchier than others on this album. I would’ve liked to see more like this following it, as I feel like this would’ve been a good mid/turning point. It’s still a great song and a great way to conclude the album though. It almost ends in a way that makes me want to repeat the album, just because the note it left me on.
Overall I’d say this album is worth the listen. With only 8 songs it runs for about 30 minutes, so it’s by no means an over extended listen. I’d recommend this to anyone that likes: Dodie, Conan Gray, and Clairo. -Nova Stebbin
Chet Faker- Hotel Surrender
Chvrches- Screen Violence
Corinne Bailey Rae- Corinne Bailey Rae
Deftones- Diamond Eyes
Digital Underground- This is an E.P. Release
Weekly Review:
When Digital Underground MC Shock G died earlier this year, social media timelines were flooded with “Humpty Dance” videos. Digital Underground were so much bigger (and better) than their highest Top 40 hit, as their 1991 EP proves.
This is an E.P. Release bridges the gap between the group’s 1990 debut Sex Packets and their follow-up album Sons of the P, released in late 1991. This is an E.P. Release only contains six songs, but it makes each of them count.
Lead track (and first single) “Same Song” is a prime slab of G-funk built around a Parliament sample that features the recording debut of Tupac Shakur on the final verse. Recorded for the Dan Aykroyd/Chevy Chase film Nothing but Trouble, “Same Song” belongs on any early ‘90s hip hop playlist.
“Tie the Knot” and a remix of “Packet Man” showcase a jazzy side of the group. The former is built around jazz piano riffs on the traditional wedding march song. D.U. sound a bit like A Tribe Called Quest on the horn-and-bass driven remix of “Packet Man.”
The centerpiece of the release, “Nuttin’ Nis Funky” is more than 9 minutes of Shock G and Money B trading lines over a Miles Davis sample. It’s not the strongest song on the EP, but is a great encapsulation of what makes Digital Underground great: inventive sampling, laid-back feel and rhymes that are both sophisticated and fun.- Joel Francis
Green Jelly- Garbage Band Kids
Gruff Rhys- Seeking New Gods
Halsey- If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
Heartless Bastards- A Beautiful Life
Weekly Review:
Midwestern roots rockers Heartless Bastards were busy in their first decade, releasing five albums between 2005 and 2015. Erika Winnerstrom proved to be the group’s only consistent member through those albums and when she released a solo album in 2018, the future of the Bastards seemed in jeopardy. After a six-year layoff between albums, the Heartless Bastards – and Winnerstrom – are back.
A Beautiful Life opens with “Revolution,” a sonic homage to the ‘60s that starts like an acoustic folk number before electric instruments and drums add psychedelic day-glow colors to the song. Most of the other 10 songs follow suit, existing somewhere between the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield.
Andrew Bird drops by to add some violin on the meditative “The River,” while “Went Around the World” snaps the listener back to more modern times with a drum program and piano loop that hints at “O.P.P.” before a string section arrives, steering the track back to flower power. My favorite track on the album, “Photograph,” which opens like a lost Jefferson Airplane song before morphing into a wonderful cosmic jam.
Winnerstrom is lyrically on point throughout the album, throwing darts at the avarice of modern society while remaining hopeful and optimistic. Love – either romantic or brotherly – permeates most of the songs. Winnerstrom gets existential on “Dust.”
Whether A Beautiful Life is a repurposed Winnerstrom solo album under a more marketable name or a glorified follow-up to her first solo release, there is plenty here for aficionados of the 1960s and faith in humanity.- Joel Francis
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Henry Franklin- The Skipper at Home
Holly Golightly Ft Brokeoffs- Long Distance
Holly Golightly- Medicine County
Jimi Hendrix- Are You Experienced
Jimmy Giuffre- Jimmy Giuffre 3 1961
John Coltrane- Coltrane
Jungle- Loving In Stereo
Justin Townes Earle- Saint Of Lost Causes
Kacey Musgraves- Star-crossed
Laura Jane Grace- Stay Alive
Weekly Review:
For nearly two decades, Laura Jane Grace was the face of Against Me! a punk band that owed as much to Billy Bragg as it did to Minor Threat and Anti-Flag. Nearly a decade ago, Grace documented her transgender experience on the album Transgender Dysphoria Blues (and in a book of the same name). Now Grace is back to her roots, singing alone with an acoustic guitar on her second solo album, Stay Alive.
Dropped as a surprise release in October, 2020, Stay Alive is the sound of an artist enduring extended isolation and trying to comfort herself through music. While Grace’s singing and acoustic guitar provide 90% of the album’s music, don’t mistake Stay Alive as a relaxed folk album. The arrangements may be unplugged, but the performances are undeniably electric.
“I am a haunted swimming pool,” Grace sings on album opener “Swimming Pool Song.” “I am emptied out and drained/My capacity remains unchanged.” Grace then adds the kicker: “I know I will be full again.”
Across these 14 songs and 30 minutes, Grace shows the same defiance on display in her band’s amplified performances, refusing to back down or be buckled by circumstance, no matter how severe.
“There’s always someone dying to leave/where you’re dying to get to,” Grace reminds us on “Shelter in Place” before asking, no demanding, “give me refuge in your shelter.”
Across her journey, Grace torches America’s former president on “Hanging Tree” and delivers upbeat ear candy with “Supernatural Possession.” The latter is one of the few songs on the album with drum machines and electric instruments. While the arrangement provides a different texture to the album and help these songs stand out against the acoustic performances, it also makes them feel like demos.
Ultimately, Stay Alive feels like rough sketches of an Against Me! album we’ll never hear, but provides cathartic satisfaction for everyone worn down and worn out by the pandemic.-Joel Francis
Laura Nyro- American Dreamer
Weekly Review:
Singer-songwriter Laura Nyro’s best-known song provides a snapshot of her legacy. “And When I Die” was recorded as a jaunty folk sing-along by Peter, Paul and Mary in 1966. One year later, Nyro included her version on her debut album. In Nyro’s hands, the song sounds like a Broadway number, complete with orchestra. Finally, in late 1968, Blood, Sweat and Tears took their horn-laden jazz interpretation all the way to No. 2 on the charts. One song that allowed for three very different interpretations and a mostly forgotten author.
American Dreamer, an eight-album box set containing the seven studio albums Nyro released between 1967 and 1978, aims to correct Nyro’s forgotten legacy.
Nyro’s brilliance as a songwriter and performer shine brightest on the first five albums in the set. Released in 1967, More Than a New Discovery displays Nyro’s songwriting talent across several songs that would become hits for other artists. When Eli and the Thirteenth Confession followed just a year later, the growth of Nyro’s talent was explosive. Given more freedom by her label, Nyro played piano and co-produced the album. Regarded as Nyro’s masterpiece, Eli is consistently named as a huge influence by many artists over the years.
New York Tendaberry is starker and more intimate that Nyro’s previous releases. Produced by Simon and Garfunkel producer Roy Halee, the album doesn’t feature as many hits-in-waiting for other artists, but the soulful, gospel-based approach displays Nyro’s range as a singer. Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, Nyro’s fourth album in as many years, features two distinct sides, one recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with the musicians who backed Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin and, later, the Staple Singers and Paul Simon. The other side was recorded in New York City with many of the city’s greatest session musicians. Nyro’s fifth classic album, 1971’s Gonna Take a Miracle, found Nyro exploring R&B covers, backed by LaBelle and produced by Philly soul legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. This concept may seem incongruous with Nyro’s previous material, but she sounds so relaxed and comfortable leaning into this material, that it is a true delight.
After a five-year break, Nyro returned with this collection’s final albums, Smile and Nested. Both albums are enjoyable and display the maturity of a woman who by now has married, had children and divorced. Marked by smoother production and jazz-based arrangements, Smile and Nested are solid, but not as spectacular as Nyro’s previous releases.
Nyro took another multi-year break, returning with an album in 1984 and another nearly a decade later, in 1993. Eight years after that, in 2001, a posthumous collection of songs recorded in the mid-‘90s came out. None of these post-1970s albums are included with this box set.
An album of rarities and live recordings completes the American Dreamer collection. Featuring demos, 1971 performances at the Fillmore East and single versions, this eighth volume fills in the cracks between Nyro’s prime albums.
In 1997, at the tender age of 49, Nyro died from ovarian cancer. In the years since her passing, Nyro has become your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter. Testimonials from many of her famous fans dot the booklet included with the box set. If their words won’t convince you, the music here will surely do the trick.- Joel Francis
Laura Nyro- Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape
Lee Konitz & Gerry Mulligan- Lee Konitz Plays With The Gerry Mulligan Quartet
Lindsey Buckingham- Lindsey Buckingham
Low- HEY WHAT
Weekly Reviews:
It’s difficult to drop the needle on Low’s HEY WHAT without thinking about Double Negative, the album that preceded it. Sure, there were indications from the band’s 2015 album, Ones and Sixes, that the band might be heading into a chillier, electronic landscape, but Double Negative was a line of demarcation for the band. It was harsh, overblown, and electronic. Like music software being pushed to its rational end.
If the band (and producer BJ Burton) seemed to focus on reinvention with Double Negative, then it seems to be asking, “Now what?” The shock of harsh sounds on the last record could obscure the songs. (But great songs like “Fly” were there! It just required some patience and work to find them.) Sure, the bit-crushed crescendos and auto-tuned vocals return on HEY WHAT, but the songwriting and the band’s trademark harmonies are prominent this time around. It’s an embrace of the band’s strengths and a logical step forward.
The first side opens with “White Horses,” which sets the tone for the record with upfront vocals and a guitar that could also be a synthesizer. Or maybe it’s a synthesizer that sounds like a guitar? Or maybe both? That closing chopped-up guitar sound segues into the second track, “I Can Wait.” It’s the first of several smooth song transitions on the record, which give the impression that each side of the LP is a song suite. Although the band covers a lot of ground with some long songs, the track order and flow of songs make the experience almost effortless.
The songs seem to plod along without the aid of much percussion. Through the years, Mimi Parker became known for standing as she plays a stripped-down drum kit, but there’s almost no drumming on the album until the final song. Or if there is percussion earlier in the album, it’s been so processed and, like the guitars, it sounds like synthesizers or pulsating white noise. Either way, the album somehow moves along with a pulse and never gets dull.
“Days Like These” opens the second side with an acapella verse and Mimi and Alan harmonizing. It’s a bit of a sonic palette-cleanse until (presumably) BJ Burton distorts it all, and the song collapses like the band’s old songs used to do. So, despite all the studio chicanery, the pacing of the record feels quintessentially Low. It’s hard to compare this album to Trust or Things We Lost in the Fire, but it’s also difficult to think of any other band making an album like this.- Jonathon Smith
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Lump- Animal
Metallica- Metallica
Weekly Review;
“Sad but True.” “Wherever I Roam.” “The Unforgiven.” “Nothing Else Matters.” “Enter Sandman.” These are the songs that have defined a generation of heavy metal and dominated the airwaves since their release 30 years ago.
A look beyond these metal mainstays reveals a band harkening back to its roots with thrash numbers like “Holier Than Thou” and “Through the Never.” On the other hand, “My Friend of Misery” and “The God that Failed” point ahead to the lengthy mood pieces found on Load and Reload.
Sure, you’ve heard these songs a million times, but prior to now owning hearing them on vinyl has been an expensive endeavor. What’s more, they sound better. The new remaster has cleaned up the tracks, making the drums kick harder and crunch louder. James Hetfield’s grunts and growls punch in tandem with the music, like a boxer working a punching bag.
So, buy this metal masterpiece for the hits you know by heart, but give some spins to the lesser-known tracks as well. They tell the other half of the story.- Joel Francis
Modest Mouse- The Golden Casket
Weekly Reviews:
No one ever accused Modest Mouse leader Isaac Brock of being an optimist, but the title of the Oregon-based indie rock band’s seventh release promises a particularly bleak experience. Fortunately, The Golden Casket isn’t as dark as its title implies, thanks to several upbeat songs that punctuate the nihilism.
The reason for this unexpected cheer also explains the six-year wait between Casket and the band’s previous album: Brock’s daughter. Brock sounds positively giddy (and sentimental) when “Lace Your Shoes” arrives two-thirds of the way through the album. “The sunshine pours out of your mouth and eyes,” Brock sings while listing some of the events he can’t wait to experience with his daughter. Lest you think Brock is going soft, the next song is titled “Never F-k a Spider on the Fly.”
The Golden Casket doesn’t contain anything as catchy as “Float On,” the band’s breakthrough single from 2004, but there are several tracks that figure to be longtime fixtures on playlists and set lists. Lead single “We Are Between” is instantly recognizable as Modest Mouse as Brock gets existential, musing “We are between/ Somewhere between dust and the stars.” The playful “Sun Hasn’t Left” sounds like a collaboration with the Flaming Lips.
On the other side of these sunny numbers lies what Brock calls the tinfoil hat part of the album. “Transmitting Receiving” is an inventory of electronic gadgets and appliances that may or may not be messing with our minds. “Wooden Soldiers” takes aim at “hash-tagging, photo bragging” and embraces a luddite world where “you just being you’s enough for me.”
While these the cheerful and paranoid natures seem oppositional, they manage to coalesce nicely, making The Golden Casket one of the most consistent and engaging Modest Mouse albums in some time.- Joel Francis
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Mono- Pilgrimage of the Soul
New Order- Brotherhood
Nick Lowe- The Convincer
Nick Lowe- The Old Magic
Noreaga- N.O.R.E.
O.V. Wright- A Nickel and a Nail and Ace of Spades
Ozzy Osbourne- No More Tears {30th Anniversary}
Weekly Review:
Here we go again – yet ANOTHER 30 year anniversary edition of yet ANOTHER breakthrough album, yet THIS TIME it IS a 2LP reissue. I want to apologize for stating Amy Grant’s Heart In Motion reissue would be a 2LP set in last week’s newsletter. That is how it was promoted pre-release with no hint at being a single LP. H o w e v e r, No More Tears – Ozzy’s 6th solo studio LP and guitarist Zakk Wylde’s 2nd with Ozzy – DEMANDS a 2LP reissue. This album clocks in at close to 60 minutes, and those minutes are filled with brutal guitar tones, heavy bass riffing and drums that thunder like drums, not like cardboard boxes on Ozzy’s previous The Ultimate Sin album.
Released actually on September 17th, 1991, a week prior to Nirvana’s Nevermind, No More Tears became Ozzy’s strongest solo outing – boasting 4 Top 10 Mainstream Rock Tracks and a Grammy winning song “I Don’t Wanna Change The World”, peaking at #7 on the Billboard 200, and going on to sell 4x Platinum in the U.S. Positive critic’s reviews and heavy MTV video rotation for lead off single, “No More Tears”, cemented this album’s popularity with metal fans. Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister helped pen 4 of the album’s 11 tracks, including the 2nd single, “Mama, I’m Coming Home”, which went on to become a rock radio staple and a favorite of soldiers coming home from active duty. Rounding out the singles released from this record are “Time After Time”, “Road To Nowhere” and the naughty “Mr. Tinkertrain”.
But the metalheads are gonna gravitate to tracks like “Desire”, “Hellraiser”, and “Zombie Stomp”. Guitarist Zakk Wylde pummels the strings of his signature Les Paul on these metal classics. And his guitar solo in the title track is just iconic. The band as a whole exhibits cohesiveness in every song, which in turn gives this album life within the listening experience. It’s dark in some ways, but more fun than most metal doom & gloom. He IS known as the “Prince of Darkness”, but he has more fun poking fun at himself and his critics than being a self-absorbed mouthpiece. Ozzy has often pointed out how fun it was making this record, and that exuberance is evident in the grooves. The band is firing on all cylinders. Drummer Randy Castillo and bassist Bob Daisley provide a solid foundation for Zakk & Ozzy to rip it up.
Happy 30th to an iconic slab of metal m/ ~ David Lombardo
Roy Brooks- Beat
Royal Blood- Typhoons
Samantha Fish- Faster
Sierra Ferrell- Long Time Coming
Weekly Review:
The debut release from West Virginia native Sierra Ferrell is one of those albums that feels instantly familiar, even on the first listen.
Ferrell brings together Dixieland, Western swing, bluegrass and 1950s pop on a dozen songs that mostly ruminate over romance, with consequences of Biblical proportion. A singing saw makes opening number “The Sea” feel like it is about to capsize as Ferrell sings about waves putting her flames. A similar metaphor pops up on the Mariachi-flavored “Far Away Across the Sea.”
Ferrell gets a little too cute and comfortable on a couple tracks. The arrangement on “Made Like That” is too saccharine and salvaged only by the percussion line and baritone guitar. “Bells of Every Chapel” gets a little too adorable with a cloying arrangement that echoes Ferrell’s lyrics.
But these are isolated moments and trivial matters in the scope of the album. Channeling Bob Wills, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Patti Page, Long Time Coming points to a fruitful career.-Joel Francis
Slothrust- Parallel Timeline
Spirit Adrift- Forge Your Future – EP
Spiritualized- Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Taylor Swift- Evermore
The Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
The Beatles- Abbey Road Anniversary
The Brian Jonestown Massacre- Tepid Peppermint Wonderland 2
The Doves- Lost Souls
The Nerves- One Way Ticket
The Rolling Stones- A Bigger Bang Live On Copacabana Beach
The Velvet Underground- Velvet Underground & Nico
Theo Croker- Escape Velocity
Theo Croker- Star People Nation
Various Artists- Motown Greatest Hits
Various Artists- Very Best of Death Row
Vince Guaraldi- It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Wayne Shorter- The All Seeing Eye
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