101% all killer and no filler; starting and ending in NYC.
Hudson River Wind Meditations is the final recordings from cultural icon Lou Reed, a 2004 set of ambient recordings that are truly high on spirituality. The main body of work is two thirty minute sections, with quiet beautiful undulations that ebb and flow with reverbs and distortions like heartbeats.
“I first composed this music for myself as an adjunct to meditation, Tai Chi, and bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life, to replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of an unpredictable nature.”
- Lou Reed
People are going to listen because it’s Lou and he spent forty years being Lou so that people listen to what he does because he’s Lou… but that aside, this is right up there with Tim Hecker, Grouper, Jon Hassell and William Basinski as emotionally ambient music; it’s powerful stuff.
The album has been remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin with vinyl pressed at Record Technology Inc. (RTI). The Double LP set is presented in a gatefold jacket designed by GRAMMY®-winning artist, Masaki Koike and features new liner notes by renowned Yoga instructor and author, Eddie Stern, who guided Reed’s practice for years.
+ Available on limited double Blue vinyl.
Heavenly Recordings take an essential rummage through the magical record bag for a 30th Anniversary Edition of East Village’s Drop Out. The only album the band would release is a proper jangling treasure, with euphoric pop nuggets and wistful minor chord downers. It is not an album of this time, nor the time it was released necessarily, maybe not even the Byrds-esque layers of the late sixties either; it is just what it is and it remains wide-eyed and full of hope. Such a vibe.
+ The 2CD edition included bonus tracks and both feature new liners from Jon Savage.
Verve By Request is open for business in 2024, with two essentials for your collection.
Today and Tomorrow is the fourth studio LP from jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, taped at two sessions to include fellow John Coltrane Quartet members Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. The pace is really excellent, right up in the speakers throughout. Tootie Heath’s drumming is something else.
The In Crowd is a live album taped at three sessions during a 1965 club date at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C from the Ramsey Lewis Trio and man alive does it have soul. The various crowds play a big part in it all, clapping and wailing. It’s really dynamic, but when they’re up, they are up!
+ Both editions are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.
[PIAS] Recordings have pressed a 40th Anniversary edition of Treeless Plain, the debut LP from antipodean janglers The Triffids.
+ This special 40th Anniversary reissue is pressed on limited 1LP White Vinyl and is housed in the original gatefold sleeve. The album has been remixed by original engineer Nick Mainsbridge using the original 24 track masters.
Two really great compilations back in print this week, with Soul Jazz Records delivering 200% DYNAMITE! Ska, Soul, Rocksteady, Funk & Dub in Jamaica and Numero putting light onto Miami’s The Saadia Label as part of the Eccentric Soul series. Both have nice pressings and both are going to be played a lot here, they both really have a lot going on.
And lastly this week, back to NYC for one of our most favourite ever albums and certainly one of the most effervescent LPs the Big Apple has produced.
Is This It is the debut LP from NYC five-piece The Strokes and it is absolutely drenched in late night high energy. Originally released in the high summer of 2001, no one was expecting a guitar band to capture hearts and minds, but they did, with a rough, raw and legit LP of young love, young lust and a huge central focus on the city. It still sounds exactly as it did, explosive and the perfect balance of relatable and aspirational. One of the most played albums we’ve ever owned; all time top ten.
+ Repressed on limited Red vinyl.