Previous Week
Music Releases 11-17-23
- The National
Laugh Track [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear Pink 2LP] - Iron And Wine
Who Can See Forever Original Soundtrack [Limited Edition Glacial Blue 2LP]
Video - Post Malone
The Diamond Collection [Deluxe 2 CD]
Video - Kurt Vile
Back to Moon Beach EP [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Coke Bottle Clear LP] - Andrew Bird
Outside Problems [LP] - Vince Clarke
Songs Of Silence [LP] - Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO [Metallic Gold LP] - Plain White T's
Plain White T's - Deafheaven
Sunbather: 10th Anniversary [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Orange, Yellow & Pink Haze 2LP] - Little Richard
Little Richard: I Am Everything (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Daniel Pemberton
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Original Score) [2LP] - ENHYPEN
ORANGE BLOOD [ENGENE Ver.] - Sheryl Crow
Story Of Everything [Limited Edition Picture Disc LP] - Five Finger Death Punch
F8 [Limited Edition Cassette]
Video - Bob Dylan
The Complete Budokan 1978 [4CD Box Set] - Bob Dylan
Another Budokan 1978 [2LP]
Current Week
Music Releases 11-24-23
10th anniversary deluxe edition of Mac Miller's second studio album Watching Movies with the Sound Off on heavyweight galaxy vinyl. Includes a bonus 10" zoetrope picture disc with bonus track "The Star Room (OG Version)" and a never before released vinyl exclusive track "The Quest."
Busta Rhymes returns with his eleventh studio release executive produced by Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Swizz, along with Busta himself. The new album contains lead off singles “Beach Ball” featuring BIA, “Luxury Lifestyle” featuring Coi Leray, and “OK” featuring Young Thug along with a host of other features.
Legendary hip hop pioneer DJ Muggs and frequent David Lynch collaborator Dean Hurley join forces for the original score to the 2023 Sundance-premiering feature film Divinity. Equal parts sonically punishing and ethereal, the soundtrack delivers a unique punch that further intensifies the mind-bending, acid-trip experience of the film.
Divinity is a sci-fi dystopian odyssey produced by Steven Soderbergh and helmed by visionary director Eddie Alcazar. Set in the distant future, scientist Sterling Pierce dedicated his life to the quest for immortality, slowly making progress developing a serum named Divinity. Jaxxon Pierce, his son, now controls and profits from his father’s once benevolent dream. Society on their barren planet has been entirely perverted by the supremacy and pervasiveness of the drug. Two mysterious brothers arrive with a plan to abduct the mogul, and with the help of a woman named Nikita, they set on a trajectory hurtling toward true immortality.
Amidst the film’s extraordinary tapestry of stark aesthetics and themes, the score is a ten ton barbell of sonic weight. Crafted with 8-bit samplers, Wavestation synths, extended choir and string techniques, the soundtrack manages to swing wildly between the arenas of both music and sound design. Like all rich soundtracks, listening to the score on its own re-conjures the imagery of the film in the screen of the listener’s mind, an aural experience that manages to encapsulate and pulse a matched intensity of the film.
Tracks like ‘The Brothers’ and ‘Reflective Dreams’ cascade Vangelis-esque tones, painting with broad strokes of cinematic grandeur and ethereal wonder. ‘Main Titles’ and ‘InfinityTechno’ conversely swing hard into relentless, punishing sonics; with brutal, pulsing energy representative of the twisted, relentless pursuit of immortality. A standout of the album is undoubtedly “Divinity 2 Infinity: The Odyssey,” featuring cult hip-hop hero and lyrical-savant Kool Keith. Written for the film’s end credits, the track is a satisfying throwback to the 90’s original soundtrack cut bespoke-tailored to the film’s narrative themes.
DJ Muggs and Dean Hurley’s synergy yields a soundtrack that takes Divinity beyond the screen and into a multi-dimensional experience, inviting its listener along uncharted aural terrain for an unforgettable odyssey in sound.
Renowned musician and producer Joe Jackson unveils his latest artistic endeavour 'What A Racket!' – a new album reviving the songs of enigmatic early 20th-century English Music Hall artist Max Champion.
Music Hall (along with its American cousin, Vaudeville) was the first form of mass entertainment created by the working classes. Its raw beginnings were in the pubs and streets of mid-19th century London, and while never really considered ‘respectable’, it was, by 1900, performed in opulent theatres to huge audiences drawn from all walks of life. Prostitutes and princes alike sang along with superstar performers, many of whom are now legendary, and whose songs are still known in the UK.
Those songs, depicting everyday life in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, were most often humorous or satirical, though some were sentimental or patriotic, and others dealt with darker themes such as jealousy and murder. Many were also blatantly sexual, though always expressed in clever euphemisms and double entendres.
One of the most fascinating of the later Music Hall performers was Max Champion. Little is known about him, except that he was born in 1882 in London’s East End, and is thought to have been related to the great Victorian entertainer Harry Champion. As an up-and-coming performer he shared the stage with big stars such as Gus Ellen and Vesta Tilley, but his career (much like the Music Hall era itself) was cut short by the First World War, and his songs faded into obscurity. That is, until 2014, when Max Championsheet music started to surface: first in Malta, then in England, and, intriguingly, in Belgium, where Max probably met his end in the trenches. By 2019, enough songs had been recovered for Joe Jackson to resurrect them with a 12-piece orchestra.
'What A Racket!' presents eleven of Max Champion’s songs for the first time in more than a century. According to producer Joe Jackson, ‘These were wonderful songs in their time, but they’re surprisingly modern, too. Sometimes it’s almost as if Max is speaking, from his London of the early 20th century, directly to us in the early 21st.’
Members from The Offspring, Smash Mouth, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Street Dogs and The Briggs have united to form the new band THE DEFIANT! The members of The Defiant are no strangers to success as individuals but as a group their music stands for so much more on both a personal and professional level. Together the five members create a rock ’n’ roll pedigree that culminates into a riot of melodic punk. The Defiant will release their twelve-song debut album this October with touring to follow. The Defiant is: Pete Parada on drums (The Offspring), Greg Camp on guitar (Smash Mouth), Johnny Rioux on bass (Street Dogs), Joey LaRocca on guitar and keys (The Briggs) Dicky Barrett front and center (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones)
Next Week
Music Releases 12-01-23
- Peter Gabriel
i/o [Bright-Side Mix 2LP]
- Hector Tellez Jr.
The Great Unknown [LP]
- Five Finger Death Punch
The Wrong Side Of Heaven & The Righteous Side Of Hell Volumes 1&2 [6LP Box Set]
- Collective Soul
7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits, 1994-2001 [LP]
- Daisy Jones & The Six
Aurora [Indie Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition Milky Clear 2LP]
- Stephen Marley
Old Soul [2LP]
Video - Ateez
THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL [Vinyl]
- Zach Russel
Where The Flowers Meet The Dew [LP]
- Weezer
SZNZ: Winter EP [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Milky Clear Vinyl]
- TALK
Lord Of The Flies & Birds & Bees [LP]
- Saosin
Translating the Name: 20th Anniversary [Limited Edition Picture Disc LP]
- Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes: Remastered 2023 [Deluxe Edition 2CD]
- Bruce Dickinson
Afterglow of Ragnarok [Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl Single + Comic]
- Lil Durk
7220 [2LP]
- Lil Durk
The Voice [LP]
- SIPHO.
PRAYERS & PARANOIA [Indie Exclusive limited Edition]