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New Releases

August Vinyl

Summer is the slow time for new music releases and August saw a number of great new releases, with even more coming later this fall.

Here’s some of the new releases I picked up on vinyl in August:

  • Superchunk – I Hate Music:  The alt rockers have been around since 1989(!) and I Hate Music is their tenth album.  The album is short and sweet, clocking in at just over 37 minutes.  If you’re a fan of Superchunk there isn’t anything new here, and that’s a good thing.  (I also picked up the Divine Fits 12″ at the same time featured in the picture below).
  • Volcano Choir – Repave: Justin Vernon of Bon Iver joins up with Wisconsin’s Collection of a Colony of Bees for their second album.  Mr. Vernon says he didn’t write any of the music – the one chord he wrote the band didn’t use.  But to me, this could easily be a 3rd Bon Iver album.  Barb Abney of The Current wrote a fantastic review a couple weeks back when it was The Current’s Album of the Week.  Highly recommended.
  • Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You:  Neko Case released her 6th solo album and it’s fantastic.  The alt-country darling follows up 2009’s Middle Cyclone with an album that works through her recent depression after recently losing her grandmother and both parents – and it works.  The pacing of the album is fantastic and she clearly opens her soul and bares it all.  The vinyl release is stunning – both the artwork and Side D of the vinyl release, which doesn’t have any music, features a stunning etching that covers the album.  Middle Cyclone was the first new vinyl album I bought on Record Store Day 2010 in clear vinyl and holds a special place in my heart.

August Vinyl

  1. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 2. Volcano Choir – Repave, 3. Volcano Choir – Repave, 4. Now Now – Threads, 5. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 6. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 7. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 8. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, 9. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

What I’m Listening to: New Music Releases 7/25

Welcome back!

July 25th is a big day for new music. If you’re not reading the Largeheartedboy blog for new music releases, including where you can stream the new releases for free before buying (which usually comes out on Wednesdays), you should be. The list of today’s releases can be found here.

Albums I’ve purchased this week include:

Passion Pit’s Gossamer: If you’re a fan of the first album, you’ll love their second album. Not a lot has changed since their breakthrough debut album Manners. The same upbeat tempo, falsetto – a great summer album.

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPlkiMQ]

The next album I’ll be listening to is the latest from The Gaslight Anthem, Handwritten. I haven’t given it a spin, but the first single, 45, released a while back shows the New Jersey rockers haven’t changed much from their last few releases. If you’re a fan of good old-fashioned rock and roll, give it a listen. The vinyl is available from Amazon for only $13.99!

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPlksjw]

Stagnant Pools release their debut album on Polyvinyl today. One of the things I love about Polyvinyl is they often give you the digital release weeks before the physical albums come out. I’ve given this a few spins, and their artist page sums them up quite well:

Stagnant Pools are Bryan and Douglass Enas, two brothers (21 and 22) from Bloomington, Indiana. With just one guitar and a drum kit, they make music which the Chicago Reader describes as “drone-heavy, slate-gray art-rock that should appeal to fans of Disappears, Joy Division, and Sonic Youth records from back when they were still actually scary.”

Lastly, Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü and Sugar fame, has signed on with the ultimate indie label Merge for his upcoming solo release. Before that comes out, he has remastered and re-released the Sugar catalog today on Merge. Featuring the first album, Copper Blue, along with the Beaster EP as well as the follow-up File Under Listening, they are available from Merge with a bonus content featuring live songs and B-sides on MP3, CD or vinyl.

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPloMjQ]

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPloMjA]

I’ve ordered all of the above albums on vinyl and am looking forward to giving them a spin.

You can follow me on Rdio at http://www.rdio.com/people/prcutler