Here's what's out and recommended by us this week:

→ LA LA LAND: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (CD & LP)

→ HOLY MACKEREL - THE HOLY MACKEREL (LP re-release)

→ THE DREAM - GET DREAMY (LP re-release)

→ THE BYRDS - SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO (limited edition gold vinyl)

→ TOOTHLESS - THE PACE OF PASSING (LP)

→ THE AVALANCHES - SINCE I LEFT YOU (limited edition blue vinyl)

→ TY SEGALL - TY SEGALL (CD)

→ DELICATE STEVE - THIS IS STEVE (LP)

→ SLEATER-KINNEY - LIVE IN PARIS

→ CLOUD NOTHINGS - LIFE WITHOUT SOUND (CD)

→ JAPANDROIDS - NEAR TO THE WILD HEART OF LIFE (CD & LP)

LA LA LAND: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Damien Chazelle, the eagerly awaited movie will open in Los Angeles and New York on December 9 and a wide opening December 16. 

La La Land tells the story of Mia [Emma Stone], an aspiring actress, and Sebastian [Ryan Gosling], a dedicated jazz musician, who are struggling to make ends meet.

HOLY MACKEREL - THE HOLY MACKEREL

The Holy Mackerel (Reprise 1-6311) is one of the most underrated albums of the Sixties. Fronted by then-up-and-coming Paul Williams and produced by Richard Perry (two personalities who would soon define the musical tones of the Seventies), Perry tapped Williams to record his own album after featuring Williams' "Fill Your Heart" (Co-written with Biff Rose) on the flip-side of Tiny Tim's hit "Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips With Me." Part music album and part like the soundtrack to a lost sub-culture movie, The Holy Mackerel traverses the spectrum of Sixties-synonymous musical sounds; psych-rock to sunshine pop to folk rock to country rock to AM pop - it's all here. Standouts include the organ-driven, haunting "Scorpio Red," the Chicago-esque "Bitter Honey" (written by Williams and Roger Nichols prior to their smash-hits "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "We've Only Just Begun") and an early, folk version of "The Lady Is Waiting" (Williams re-recorded the song on his 1972 album Life Goes On). The group's original line up was as eclectic as the album's song selection: joining Paul Williams was his brother Mentor Williams (who would go on to author Dobie Gray's hit "Drift Away"), original Jefferson Airplane bassist Bob Harvey (who contributed "Wildflowers" to the album), guitarist George Hiller (who later played on Williams' 1970 solo-debut Someday Man), flautist Cynthia Fitzpatrick, and former Turtles drummer Don Murray. Though the group's sound may have become more refined if pop music history had been blessed with a follow up Holy Mackerel album, liner notes contributor Richard Barone notes that Williams' sound is "the driving force [on this album]... that would soon break him through the top of the charts."

THE DREAM - GET DREAMY (LP re-release)

Vinyl LP pressing.

Digitally remastered edition of this 1967 album. From the somewhat sparse, yet unique catalog of adventurous, high-quality rock music coming out of Scandinavia in the late 60's the sole album Get Dreamy by The Dream has been one of the most hunted treasures. It also marks the beginning of guitar legend Terje Rypdals journey from beat music and pop into new musical territories, which would ultimately lead him to become a key player in the European jazz world. The Dream's highly personal and almost exotic take on free rock and psychedelia was the first of it's kind in Norway. With a mix of jazzy elements, ballads, hazy sounding pop songs and the occasional whimsical vaudeville-vibes so typical of 1967, it is a special slice of vinyl from the era. Nothing like it had ever been presented on record in Norway. Round 2 proudly presents this rarity and true Norwegian classic, remastered from the original tapes and with liner notes written by Rypdal afficionado and guitar ace Reine Fiske (Dungen, The Amazing).

THE BYRDS - SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO (limited edition translucent gold vinyl)

Limited 180gm audiophile translucent gold vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket.

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is the sixth album by The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records. Recorded with the addition of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, it was influential as the first major country rock album by an established act and represented a stylistic move away from the psychedelic rock of the band's previous LP, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. The Byrds had occasionally experimented with country music on their four previous albums, but Sweetheart Of The Rodeo represented their fullest immersion into the genre thus far. The album was also responsible for bringing Gram Parsons, who had joined The Byrds prior to the recording of the album, to the attention of a mainstream rock audience for the first time. Thus, the album can be seen as an important chapter in Parsons' personal and musical crusade to make country music fashionable for a young audience.

TOOTHLESS - THE PACE OF THE PASSING 

Following two limited edition vinyl singles through Transgressive Records, Ed Nash AKA Toothless has made a seamless transition into a fruitful and flourishing solo career following the runaway success he experienced in his band, Bombay Bicycle Club.

The debut album was was self-produced by Ed and mixed by Beach House/TV On The Radio’s acclaimed producer, Chris Coady, and signals a forthcoming album set for release early 2017.

Zane Lowe of BBC Radio 1, “Toothless will be my Bombay Bicycle Club, at least for the next couple of years”.

“If this introduction is a glimmer of what the album from Toothless will sound like, we’re all ears.” - Wonderland Magazine (on ‘Terra’)

“Toothless is looking like one of 2016’s indie success stories.” - NME

THE AVALANCHES - SINCE I LEFT YOU (very limited edition 2LP blue vinyl)

The Avalanches’ landmark debut LP, Since I Left You, is finally available – this time on never seen before limited edition blue coloured 2LP!

The Melbourne bands iconic debut blew minds upon its release, winning a clutch of ARIA Awards and topping polls all over the world. Since I Left You flows seamlessly from start to finish like a travelogue dedicated to a lover somewhere across oceans, The Avalanches’ sample-based approach setting a precedent for dance music that has been influential ever since and is arguably yet to be rivaled.

The records singles Frontier Psychiatrist and Since I Left You were accompanied by dazzling, unforgettable videos that captured punters imaginations as much as the music itself.

The overwhelming reception of the record led The Avalanches on an infamous world tour that resulted in raucous, joyous festival shows, kitchen sink club DJ sets, media offices set alight, two broken legs and an indecent amount of nudity.

The release and touring of Since I Left You was followed by a 16 year radio silence which was broken this year with the long-awaited release of Wildflower.

“Since I Left You sounds like nothing else” – Pitchfork, 9.5/10

“A masterpiece of mood-setting that riffs off an ideal where getting on an airplane and landing in another corner of the world was the most exotic thing a person could do.” – Pitchfork.

TY SEGALL - TY SEGALL

Ty Segall has announced a new self-titled album. Ty Segall marks the prolific artist’s ninth studio record. (His debut record from 2008 was also called Ty Segall).

Ty Segall has made whole records that wrestle with realities - fighting against some, pulling mightily to bring others into being. Of late, he’s thrown up his hands and donned clown shoes, dancing merrily in the dual role of oppressed/oppressor! His hands aren’t any more or less dirty than anyone else’s - but amidst the thunder and the chaos of the ongoing storm, he’s looking for the eye within.

The new self-titled record - the next record after Emotional Mugger, Manipulator, Sleeper, Twins, Goodbye Bread, Melted, Lemons, and the first self-titled album that started it up in the now-distant year of 2008 - is a clean flow, a wash of transparency falling into a world that needs to see a few things through clearly, to their logical end. It’s got some of the most lobe-blasting neckwork since the Ty Segall Band’s Slaughterhouse (from way back in the long, hot summer of 2012), but it also features a steep flight of fluent acoustic settings, as Ty’s new songs range around in their search for freedom without exorcism, flying the dark colors high up the pole in an act of simple self-reclamation.

DELICATE STEVE - THIS IS STEVE (LP)

This Is Steve, DELICATE STEVE’s first new record in 4 years, and first for the ANTI- imprint, is an articulation of his spirit. Joy. Love. Positivity. Perseverance. Meditation. A general communion with the people and world around him. Easy to call such things hackneyed in this cynical time, but in Steve’s case, it’s very hard to separate the person from the art. It’s real. It’s pure. This, is Steve.

Melody begins with the needle drop on This is Steve, and it’s this hallmark as a songwriter on display in tune after tune that has defined all of DELICATE STEVE’s work. It’s his incredible capacity to write wordless songs that are impossible not to sing along to. He works in no genre, there are no words, but there is never a question as to what he is saying.

DELICATE STEVE (a.k.a. Steve Marion) had cornered the status of ‘your favorite band’s favorite band’, as Steve himself became a fixture in and an on-demand collaborator among disparate scenes, players, and bands, making some of the most celebrated and forward thinking music today: Co-signs and work with David Byrne, Dirty Projectors, tUnE-yArDs, Mac DeMarco, Dr. Dog, and most recently, providing guitar on Paul Simon’s new record. Likely the only guitarist alive who will cut records with Sondre Lerche and Death Grip’s Zach Hill.

Steve produced and played all the instruments on this record. He created it as an introduction from himself to you, and named it appropriately. If there is a question as to who This is Steve’s creator is, you’ll find it imbued in these ten songs. As he has done from the start, Steve lets the music speak for itself. Without a word.

LP contains download card.

SLEATER-KINNEY - LIVE IN PARIS

[coming soon]

Live in Paris is the first official record of Sleater-Kinney’s famously blistering stage performance. The thirteen track album, which features Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker, Janet Weiss, and touring member Katie Harkin, was captured on March 20th, 2015 at the Paris’s historic La Cigale venue, during the band’s sold-out, international tour in support of their acclaimed eighth album, 2015’s No Cities to Love.

Live in Paris includes songs from nearly every Sleater-Kinney album, including No Cities to Love, The Woods, One Beat, The Hot Rock, Dig Me Out, and Call the Doctor. The recording was mixed by John Goodmanson at Avast and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.

Marketing to include retail displays & digital advertising.

Praise for No Cities To Love:

“No Cities To Love stares down its troubles, power and joy ultimately lying in the hands of the people who can write such songs.” MOJO (5 stars)

“Even though they're no longer underdogs—their last album, 2005's The Woods, cemented their rep as one of the all-time great groups—that hasn't changed on their triumphant return.” Entertainment Weekly (5 stars)

“Though some of their peers may have waned on their long, drawn out returns, Sleater-Kinney have only grown stronger in their time off. Ten years away has made them more essential than ever.” DIY (10/10)

“They’ve boiled their process down to its essentials, and No Cities to Love crams genius lyrics and hook after inescapable hook into just 10 tracks and 33 minutes.” Consequence of Sound (9.1/10)

“No Cities to Love is the band's most front-to-back accessible album, amping their omnipresent love of new wave pop with aerodynamic choruses.” Pitchfork (8.7/10 Best New Music)

FOR FANS OF: Bikini Kill, St. Vincent, Sonic Youth, Hole

CLOUD NOTHINGS - LIFE WITHOUT SOUND

[get it on CD]

[get in on vinyl]

“Life Without Sound”, the most polished and outwardly reflective set of songs to date, from Cleveland band, Cloud Nothings

Workshopped over the course of 2015/2016 with his bandmates, it’s an album rich in both worldly insight and incandescent detail.

Smart, nuanced, and immensely listenable, this is guitar-driven pop as it should be—conceived by a songwriter who continues to sound like one of the finest of his generation.

Cloud Nothings was founded in a Cleveland basement, the one-man recording project of Dylan Baldi, an unassuming, then 18-year-old student of song with a remarkable ear for melody. Prolific from the start, Baldi’s early work was rough but immediate: crudely recorded spring-loaded spasms of Buzzcocks-informed pop that quickly found an online following among the lo-fi-inclined. When an opportunity presented itself to open a small show in Brooklyn, Baldi abandoned a still-in-progress final project to be there. The gamble paid off.

FOR FANS OF: Smith Street Band

JAPANDROIDS - NEAR TO THE WILD HEART OF LIFE

CD & LP available, both with 24 page booklet!

[get it on CD]

[get it on vinyl]

Japandroids are a two-piece band from Vancouver, BC., which formed in 2006 and consists of Brian King and David Prowse. Japandroids are one guitar, one set of drums, and two vocalisers. They’re maximal in their delivery; a two-piece band sounding like a five-piece band.

Like their prior albums Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, Near to the Wild Heart of Life is 8 songs. This is because 8 songs is the standard template for a great rock n roll album. Like Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album was sequenced specifically for the LP. On Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, side A (songs 1-4) and side B (songs 5-7) each follow their own loose narrative. Taken together as one, they form an even looser narrative, with the final song on side B (song 8) acting as an epilogue.

If Celebration Rock was the culmination of something, then Near To The Wild Heart Of Life can be considered the beginning of something else.

First new music in 4 years, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life is the highly anticipated 3rd album by Japandroids

24 page booklet and poster included in both CD and LP versions

“The fist-raising summer anthem you need in your life right now.” FasterLouder

“The Nights Of Wine And Roses and Young Hearts Spark Fire were incredible moments of raw delight, and there was suddenly a sense of congruence that permeated through the event.” The Music

Critical acclaim for Celebration Rock: “2012 band of the year” (SPIN), “ten coolest summer albums of all time” (Rolling Stone), “A rock record for the ages” (Pitchfork – Best New Music), Top Albums of 2012 (FasterLouder)

FOR FANS OF: Wolf Parade, Parquet Courts, Cloud Nothings

Get amongst, music lovers!