Finger-picked bliss, lo-fi soul soothers and a set of absolute pounders via Rocket.
A short and sweet set of new titles for your considerations this week.
Me Neither is the superb new LP from British-born, Chicago-based guitarist James Elkington and how! With twenty-nine new acoustic guitar meditations across a double LP. He explained that he composed each of the tracks at his studio, early in the morning, and that he thinks of them as “library music.” There really is phenomenal dexterity here, not just in the pace and precision of his playing, but also the way in which the mood moves from the euphoric and pretty to the dark and swirling. Hugely impressive stuff and our Record of the Week.
Michael Nau returns on Karma Chief Records this week with Accompany, his fifth LP, and it really is low-paced soul gold. His voice sounds fantastic, full of sedate and grounded balladeering with rich and carefully balanced instrumentation to support him. We’ve had it on a few times this morning and it has soundtracked these rain spattered windows perfectly. Pensive and sweetly uplifting.
+ Available on limited Powder Blue colour vinyl.
On March 28th-30th 2022, Car Seat Headrest played three consecutive, sold-out nights at Brooklyn Steel in New York. Matador Records this week release Faces From The Masquerade, a limited 2LP set that preserves those shows and the band in full flow. New bits, old bits and even Bartees Strange guesting. Great stuff.
Lastly for today, LAUNCH300 is an absolutely banging new compilation from Rocket Recordings to celebrate 25 years of releasing loud noises! Contributions include; Smote, Goat, Och, Shit & Shine, Gnod, J. Zunz, Centrum and The Utopia Strong; all flowing along a hypnotic and pounding trip through all the flavours of rock ‘n’ roll. Really highly recommended, it is thoroughly unrelenting.
Oh, we do have a few copies of Panda Bear & Sonic Boom’s Reset in Dub. Likely to sell out very quick tbh. Shame, it’s bloody good.
Reissues this week (we’ll talk more about them in the regular Monday slot) include; the mercurial Cymande, essential Fiona Apple, C-Clamp on Numero and Big Thief, plus jazz depth from Melvin Jackson, John Coltrane, Max Roach and Charlie Parker.
- Drift
