Tropical proto City Pop maximalism, vast sonic vistas, live Zeppelin, Bowie boxed and plenty more.
Man alive, are we ready for Haruomi Hosono on a Monday?! Released a couple of years after his landmark solo debut - Hosono House - Hosono’s Tropical Dandy turned fifty years old a few weeks back, and the crew over at Stones Throw have reissued it for the first time outside of Japan. Fusing exotica, pop and soft jazz hues, Tropical Dandy is just sublime and positively as light as air. There is a sweetly psychedelic element to it as the gorgeous production whistles around the stereo, absolute maximalism and the starts of Japanese City Pop. Really joyous, highly recommended.
+ Available on Ocean Blue colour vinyl.
Do you want a great fact? The joyous sleeve art has a ship in the corner that resembles The Titanic, which Hosono's grandfather - Masabumi Hosono - infamously escaped the sinking of on its maiden voyage.
Crate digger, friend to the shop and premium raconteur James Endeacott has compiled a new album for the Two-Piers label called Unlock Your Mind with Morning Glory, based on his excellent and long running radio show of the same name. This really is a formidable set, spanning genres and sonic auras with remarkable fluidity. Some proper mind expanders, with tons we didn’t know alongside Muriel Grossmann’s epic jazz work out Traneing In raising all the hairs. Not one wasted second.
+ Available on very limited and exclusive Sunrise Yellow & Dawn Break Pink colour vinyl.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their iconic sixth album, Physical Graffiti (on triple 180g vinyl with promotional poster), Led Zeppelin release their Live EP this week, featuring live recordings of “In My Time Of Dying” and “Trampled Under Foot” from Earl’s Court 1975, alongside “Sick Again” and “Kashmir” from Knebworth 1979. They were previously only available on the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD, so these are CD/LP exclusives… and pretty tasty too!
It’s the David Bowie mega box!!! I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002-2016) is the sixth and chronologically final installment in the series of career-spanning boxed sets overseen by the man himself. The box sets include newly remastered versions of Heathen, Reality, A Reality Tour, The Next Day, The Next Day Extra, plus ★, a previously unreleased Montreux Jazz Festival performance and Re:Call 6, featuring 41 rare non-album tracks, with input from David’s co-producer Tony Visconti. Formidable boxes (as 18LP or 13CD), they chart one of the most innovative and exciting periods of his iconic career.
The esteemed International Anthem label reissue another couple of gems as part of their ongoing IA11 series with the beautifully serene The Oracle from Angel Bat Dawid and the piano and viola collaboration - Recordings From The Åland Islands - from Los Angeles-based musicians Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer. Absolutely one of the most consistent and essential labels around, but these both really are well worth discovering.
Robyn’s iconic self-titled debut LP gets a limited coke bottle-clear vinyl pressing to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. It was last pressed for RSD2020 and this edition shares that revised artwork.
Lastly then for today. Not a reissue, but an essential repress with Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band’s exceptional New Threats From the Soul back in the racks after absolutely flying out of stock. We really can’t rave enough about how much we’ve been listening to Ryan over the last couple of years, just a brilliant and singular voice. As we said on release back in the summer, this is an instant classic.
+ Double White vinyl.
