Conjuring images of blizzards and howling winds, Kevin Richard Martin’s Sub Zero is called that for a reason. It’s monolithic and unforgiving, even by the Bug’s standards, representing his most suffocating take on ambient dub yet. It’s not just a matter of making already heavy music heavier: Here, Martin hollows out his materials, leaving just the bass and high frequencies.
The only real midrange comes from what sounds like inclement weather or the occasional distant, lumbering percussion. It’s a new wrinkle in Martin’s sound, making yet another record of bleak electronic dirges feel unexpectedly novel. Sub Zero is a black hole of sound that sucks the color out of everything around it and makes a universe out of what feels like nothingness.
Category: remastered
This first record to feature Ryuichi Sakamoto, a collaboration with percussionist Toshiyuki Tsuchitori, pre-dates both his first solo album and also the debut release of Yellow Magic Orchestra by a couple of years.
However, its re-issue here, the first on vinyl since the 1976 original, is very welcome, and highlights both his versatility and, at the same time, the breadth of his musical interests, from modern classical (as an undergraduate, he paid close attention to the likes of Stockhausen) to what would become known, not very satisfactorily, as world music reflecting his postgraduate studies in ethno-musicology. There’s also more than an echo of his enthusiasm for such jazz figures as Herbie Hancock. In the context of his role in…
First released in October 1974, the album was a conceptual piece based upon the theme of a travelling circus and was recorded at Chipping Norton Studios in England. The studio had been the location of the recording of the band’s previous album ‘Remember The Future’, issued in 1973. For Down to Earth the band opted for a more direct approach to their music and sessions saw contributions from a horn section and legendary vocalist P.P. Arnold.
By the time ‘Down to Earth’ was released in Europe, ‘Remember The Future’ had become a top twenty US hit and the band travelled to the States to embark on a successful tour. A second US visit followed in the spring of 1975 to promote ‘Down to Earth’. The band enjoyed huge success…
By 1961, pianist Bill Evans had been rolling with his classic trio for a couple of years; this short-lived group, featuring drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro, was the same trio that recorded his much-celebrated Sunday at the Village Vanguard set, which continues to be cited as a highlight of Evans’ career and live jazz records as a whole. This trio would be cut short, however, with the death of LaFaro just ten days after the Village Vanguard set was recorded, subsequently causing Evans to cease performing for several months in mourning. Persuaded to return to music by Riverside record producer Orrin Keepnews, Evans appeared on vocalist Mark Murphy’s 1961 album Rah, as well as a short solo piano session, and Evans’ work in music continued long after that.
…Sourced from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition hybrid SACD presents the 1978 effort on what is the definitive-sounding digital version of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ biggest-selling record.
With Tom Johnston gone from the lineup because of health problems, this is where the “new” Doobie Brothers really make their debut, with a richly soulful sound throughout and emphasis on horns and Michael McDonald’s piano more than on Patrick Simmons’ or Jeff Baxter’s guitars. Not that they were absent entirely, or weren’t sometimes right up front in the mix, as the rocking, slashing “Don’t Stop to Watch the Wheels” and the bluegrass-influenced “Steamer Lane Breakdown” demonstrate. But given the keyboards,…
James Brown wants to know one thing before he and his band begin Sex Machine. “Can I get into the thing, really?,” he asks. His cohorts enthusiastically respond in the affirmative. And for the next hour and change, Mr. Dynamite gets into it and more, turning in a sweat-soaked, feet-moving, hip-swiveling, emotion-purging, in-the-red, drop-everything-you’re-doing-and-dance performance for the ages. Ranked by Rolling Stone among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the sweeping 1970 effort towers as a testament to Brown’s inimitable legacy as well as the peak powers of his voice, vibrancy, and bands.
Sourced from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition hybrid SACD presents Sex Machine in audiophile sound for…
Remastered by Mark Beazley.
On The Boy and the Tree, Susumu Yokata continues the trajectory of ambient albums formed by Sakura and Grinning Cat. Like Sakura, The Boy and the Tree is gentle and buoyant, but for the most part Yokata leaves guitars behind for odder instrumentation — plinks, clacks, gurgles, gongs, and bells. The result, especially on tracks like “Live Echo,” sounds like Brian Eno crossed with the ancient and pastoral. “Fairy Link” dances through a dreamy repetition until it floats into even less grounded territory, “Secret Garden” employs hushed, indiscernible vocals that suggest some magical twilight realm, and “Red Swan” finds an exotic, sparkling Middle Eastern groove. “Thread Leads to Heaven,” possibly the best track on…
Tori Amos’ daring 2001 concept album Strange Little Girls returns February 20 in an expanded edition that adds rarities and previously unreleased recordings. The Grammy® Award-nominated album finds Amos reinterpreting a dozen songs written by men, shifting them to a female perspective and performing each through one of 12 personas she created for the project. Strange Little Girls (Expanded Edition) combines the original album and B-sides with two unreleased covers from the sessions.
Celebrating 25 years, Strange Little Girls remains one of Amos’ most striking and conceptually ambitious works. To bring the concept to life, she collaborated with renowned makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, who helped transform her into 12…
A recording consisting solely of the sound of water droplets? As the practice of field recordings continues to expand and extend in to multiple forms of music, that notion is not as odd as it once might have seemed. But this reissue of Shizukutachi by Japanese sound artist Masaaki Takano confounds categorization. Takano began his career in the 1950s developing sound effects for stage, film and broadcasting and working as a recording engineer at music studios. By the 1970s he moved away from sound effects and began performing using self-made sound instruments and collecting field recordings of natural sounds. These two practices intersect in Shizukutachi, his first release from 1978. The project was inspired by a Japanese garden ornament and sound…
Subtle and sleepy, gentle and resonant, Eric Thompson’s shimmering take on country-rock takes Nashville’s emotive vocal style, throws in a pedal steel and rootsy rock riffs, and turns out a dusty, feel-good – if slightly too slick – album called Manic + Organic. Whether on the shuffling rock anthem “Get Back to It” or the humorous, old-school country of “It’s a Guy Thing,” Thompson’s band uses simple arrangements to evoke a true down-home feeling. The songwriting isn’t as gritty and powerful as that of Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams, or Kasey Chambers, but Eric Thompson is cut from the same thread – patterned by Gram Parsons, the Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson – and Manic + Organic shows his potential to one day make a really spectacular record.
Bob “Slim” Dunlap epitomized the journeyman musician who plays for the fun of it when his day gig allows. However, even casual listeners know his name for one reason: landing the “hot seat” assignment of succeeding the Replacements’ late, troubled guitarist Bob Stinson. But there’s more to Dunlap’s story than his experience with that legendarily star-crossed Minneapolis quartet might indicate.
Slim Dunlap’s two obscure yet adored mid-90’s solo albums “The Old New Me” & “Times Like This” have been remastered and packaged on a new double-CD entitled Every Little Word. In full cooperation with Slim’s family and Peter Jesperson’s Medium Cool – Twin/Tone Records imprint especially for Curation Records.
Wild Horses originally formed in 1978, when guitarist Brian Robertson left Thin Lizzy after the legendary ‘Live And Dangerous’ record, and bassist Jimmy Bain left Rainbow following the double live ‘On Stage’ album, joining forces to create this melodic, hard rock supergroup.
Originally featuring drummer Kenney Jones (Faces, The Who) and guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (Wings, Stone The Crows), the line-up stabilised when Robertson and Bain were joined by drummer Clive Edwards (Uli Jon Roth, UFO, Pat Travers) and multi-instrumentalist Neil Carter (UFO, Gary Moore).
They were signed to EMI following their appearance at the 1979 Reading Rock Festival, releasing their Trevor Rabin (Yes) produced debut ‘The First Album’ in 1980. Featuring the singles…
…This expanded reissue adds 8 songs recorded at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA, a few months after the album sessions. These sessions provided playfully experimental B sides to the album’s singles, two cover songs (the New Order cover “Your Silent Face,” and a Beach Boys cover) for a single on Merge Records, and a compilation track.
The problem with Copacetic was the dingy production, so for Simpatico, Velocity Girl hooks up with the Smiths’ first LP producer John Porter. Flaw corrected. Perhaps too much? Some have expressed the opinion that Porter has neutered them somewhat, and indeed, the rawer edges have largely been relinquished, but so what? They sound great now, much tighter, more convincing, more together. Constant touring has…
…remastered 40th Anniversary Edition originally recorded and mixed by the lauded British sound engineer Ian Burgess.
One of the first major bands on the Chicago punk scene, the Effigies arrived as first-era punk was being supplanted by hardcore, but their sound reflected little of either. The band was less interested in speed than impact: their songs were simple but intelligently constructed, their lyrics were angry but artful meditations on urban alienation with shout-along choruses, and their performances were muscular and made clever use of dynamics with the guitars grinding and slashing. The Effigies’ influence in the Midwest (especially in their hometown) was significant, and one can hear the faint echo of their early work…
The latest volume in Bulbous Monocle’s Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 reissue campaign vaults over the Matador years back to the band’s earliest LP. Tangle was released in 1989, prior to TFUL282’s years of rigorous touring.
It’s a first album; you can hear styles engaged and influences acknowledged in a partially digested manner that differs from their later years, when, if they wanted to sound like something, they just covered the song.
There’s a deep vein of blues and western guitar, most evident on the slow, sinister groove of “Cold Cold Ground,” but also audible on the twangy lead guitar of “Sister Hell” and the languid slide intro to “Choke.” The band works a few Sonic Youth moves into the mix as well, like…
Originally released through Relapse Records, the album has been remastered by long time Unsane collaborator and engineer Andrew Schneider. Include the extra track “No Soul” which was originally released on Frank Kozik’s infamous Man’s Ruin label as a limited edition vinyl only release. Additionally the band has made available digitally this release’s original 6 song demo session recorded at AmRep Studios in Minneapolis.
New York City’s Unsane assisted in pioneering a more aggressive, less studied version of noise rock, one that blended the scum/art industrial sturm und drang of Foetus, the Swans, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Sonic Youth with the decidedly more straightforward hardcore idiom favored by acts like Sick of It All.
New expanded edition of the band’s very first double album On the Double, released in 1969, including the Golden Earring classic Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart.
Remastered for the first time from the original first-generation Phonogram Studio and Sterling Sound master tapes. Including four bonus tracks, including previously unreleased stereo mixes of Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi Dong and Wake Up-Breakfast! Also includes a 20-page booklet with liner notes, memorabilia, and photos.
Founded in 1961 by George Kooymans and Rinus Gerritsen, Dutch rock band Golden Earring (or Golden Earrings, until 1969) started off as a beat band, experimented as a psychedelic quartet and finally became a heavy rock group.
From October 2019 to July 2020, The Black Dog released a brand new track each month for their Patreon supporters. Freed from the high concept and overthinking of their early ’00s output, the Sheffield trio were able to work fast and loose, flitting freely between ambient, IDM and academic synthesis to paint a portrait of a particular time and space. The end result is oddly cohesive while still remaining full of twists, turns and surprises, becoming a psychospiritual ramble through some abstract, astral version of The Black Dog’s post-industrial hometown.
Consider “Porn Shop,” the first and most substantial track to seize your attention and draw you in. After creeping in with a drawn-out dubby intro, sounding something like walking down a long…
NRBQ’s 1983 classic and sole release on the Bearsville label returns! The album has been remastered, includes new liner notes and boasts seven bonus tracks making this edition the definitive version of Grooves In Orbit.
Founded in 1966 in Louisville, Kentucky, NRBQ has given their dedicated fan base decades of great recordings and exceptional live shows in countless festivals, clubs, colleges, and concert halls. No style of music is safe around NRBQ—their first Columbia album, for example, ranged from Eddie Cochran to Sun Ra and their own diverse compositions have been covered by artists including Bonnie Raitt, Dave Edmunds, She And Him, Steve Earle, Los Lobos, and Widespread Panic. There are very few bands that have lasted for half a century, and the list…
After releasing two strong albums for Slash, the Blasters had plenty of critical acclaim and a sizable hometown following, but they hadn’t come especially close to landing a hit record, and on the 1985 album Hard Line, they overhauled their approach in the studio in hopes of creating something that sounded more contemporary.
Producer Jeff Eyrich pumped up the sound of Bill Bateman’s drums (and for a few tracks replaced him with Stan Lynch of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Dave Alvin’s guitar tone got thicker and harder and the emphasis was put squarely on new songs. “Trouble Bound” and “Help You Dream” showed Dave Alvin’s gift for writing in traditional styles was as strong as ever. Alvin’s songs took on a darker tone on Hard Line, especially the tale…