Jazz vibes, Scottish rock and Texan pastoral swooners. It’s a good set.
Hello, Friends.
Kicking off the week we have a new partnership from the Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG Records with iconic performances from the festival's 55-year history. The very first release is going to take some topping, with Nina Simone's The Montreux Years. Her ability to play so fragile and build like a whirlwind is just extraordinary across the various performances (recorded between 1968 and 1990) and includes the tempestuous 1976 show that was the centrepiece of the Netflix documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?
+ Limited Turquoise, Yellow and White Splatter Vinyl.
Is there anything that we can say about Midlake's The Trials of Van Occupanther that we haven't already said? It remains - for us - an all-time top five album, rich and woozing pastorals that move between delicate and all-out driving. Really iconic stuff and JUST what we needed to kickstart a Monday morning over here.
+ Pressed on Gold colour vinyl.
A double set of groovers on Blue Note this week. Trumpeter Lee Morgan's ¡Caramba! has a South American lilt whilst avoiding sounding like a Tropicália dressup attempt, the rhythms are so locked in. Also this week, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson's first quartet album, Inner Urge. Another extraordinary line-up with McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.
Both editions are all-analogue, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
Fat Cat take a trip back through their esteemed vaults this week for a Scottish indie rock extravaganza! The Twilight Sad's Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters debut and following The Wrong Car and No One Can Ever Know albums get their first vinyl pressings since release. We also have We Were Promised Jetpacks' excellent These Four Walls debut and Frightened Rabbit's much-loved The Midnight Organ Fight.
New Continent release Cross Road Blues, an essential set from iconic bluesman and OG badass, Robert Johnson. The LP compiles twenty master recordings waxed in San Antonio and Dallas, between 1936 and 1937. Pretty magic stuff.
Jamie T's Panic Prevention turns fifteen and receives a new (white vinyl) pressing. We got as many as we could, but we’re afraid to report that they hardly touched the sides. We'll get more as soon as we can (guessing this'll be post-summer).
In slightly better news, the simply stunning Nala Sinephro Space 1.8 album is back in the building and straight onto the stereo. Absolutely one of the most exciting new talents out there.
Lastly today, we were delighted to work with Los Campesinos! to bring you a 10th Anniversary pressing of their Hello Sadness album. It is the eighth album to enter the Dinked Archive vaults and really does look amazing. The band also worked up a limited Opaque Yellow vinyl version with really lush gold foiling on the sleeve, we have more of those going online very shortly so do get ready as these will be the last ones.