A Pair From Slimm

After releasing three new albums on his Archive label, Scott Slimm has kept the distro stocked with some great releases. Suishou No Fune have put out two fantastic releases and they have a new album out called 'Writhing Underground Flowers'. Three lengthy tracks make up the release that was produced by Bardo Pond's Michael Gibbons. I haven't been able to give this a listen yet.

I do like to buy directly from the label, but Slimm has the new two disc set by Australia's Whitehorse on 20 Buck Spin. I've heard some great things about this band and the previous releases Slimm had in stock sold out very quickly. Now just need to find some time to listen to both of these.

The Mars Volta and Related Projects

When I was looking at records in Amoeba Records in May I noticed that all of albums, the EP and single of The Mars Volta were all available. For some reason I thought their full length albums were out of print and never bothered to confirm this. Having spent enough money Amoeba I decided to hold off getting their recordings on vinyl. Until now... Also picked up some of The Mars Volta's guitarist's solo recordings and a CD from their dub side project.

LPs:

The Mars Volta - Tremulant EP
The Mars Volta - De-Loused In The Comatorium 2LP
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute 3LP
The Mars Volta - The Widow 12"
The Mars Volta - Amputechture 2LP
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Picture Disc)
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Damo Suzuki - Please Heat This Eventually 12"

CDs:
The Mars Volta - Termulant EP
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One
De Facto - Megaton Shotblast

Pair Of New Releases

The latest albums from Oxbow and Tomahawk have arrived in the post today. Tomahawk's 'Anonymous' comes in a gorgeously designed digipak that has raised lettering and graphics that perfectly fit the them Native American theme that runs throughout the disc. This will certainly be a controversial album for Tomahawk and Mike Patton fans who were probably expecting more of a rock record. I think came up with one of the more original albums I've heard in awhile.

Oxbow has put out a record in awhile and they're back with 'The Narcotic Story'. According to the liner notes it's the first part of a trilogy the will conclude with a film and soundtrack. I've only listened once but it sounded like a very solid album that might match what they did on 'An Evil Heat'.

aRCHIVE + SL

The next batch of releases from Archive are out and include a couple of Khanate albums. The first live album (aRCHIVE 13) they did for the label was limited to 500 copies and quickly sold out so Mr. Slimm has reissued it (slightly remastered). The other Khanate album released is a live show they did in Stockholm in 2004. The third release is a live album from Galax who are the duo of Hiroshi Hasagawa and Keichi Miyashita with quest Hiroshi Higashi on a track. Can't wait to hear what this sounds like. For distro items, I picked up the new Destructo Swarmbots' CD.

My order to Southern Lord was for the LP-only release from Burial Chamber Trio (aka Greg Anderson, Oren Ambarchi and Attila Csihar), the latest from Earthride, the reissue of Thorr's Hammer's only album, the reissue of The Obsessed's Incarnate and the new Southern Lord compilation as a freebie.

The stack on my desk is huge, time to get listening.

Trip To Lou's + TLR

Arriving on Thursday was the latest CD release from Three Lobed Records. Actually coming in a standard jewel case, the disc collects the best from three CD-R releases by Wooden Wand Hassara.

Titled Hassara 'Backyard I-III', the album features eight instrumentals that sounds nothing like I've heard from a Wooden Wand release. I had no idea what to expect on this release (would it be like the "free folk" of the Vanishing Voice albums or more like the folky singer-songwriter approach of the Sky High Band and Omen Bones Band) but find it's a bit of both styles with more of a psych rock approach. There are some nice long jams with most of the tracks over nine minutes in length. With only one listen under my belt, I've only scratched the surface. Should get better with more listens. Another solid release from Cory at Three Lobed. Can't wait for the Turnstone album.

Yesterday I went to Lou's to pick up a bunch of new releases that have come out in the past couple of weeks. The list:

CDs -

Do Make Say Think - Do Make Say Think :: finally completed their discography
Earth & KK Null Tour Split CD :: out of print so I had to snag a copy
Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
Grave Temple - The Holy Down
Michio Kurihara - Sunset Notes [2007 Reissue] :: finally released domestically for a much lower price
Nadja - Truth Becomes Death
Neurosis - Given To The Rising
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo
Pelican - City Of Echoes :: I found this to be a much better album than I first thought
Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Queens Of The Stone Age - The Fun Machine Took A Shit & Died (Single) :: Came with the above
Year Of No Light - Nord :: Domestically released by Crucial Blast

LPs -

Bardo Pond / Pre - Split 10"

Auction Wins

Someone on ebay was selling off a lot of their collection of stoner rock CDs that are long out of print and I won a couple of them. Dutch band Beaver's sorta self-titled album '13eaver' and a split CD from Nebula and Lowrider were had for good prices. I probably should have snagged the other out of print Beaver album as I ended up losing by a dollar. Oh well, hopefully that one will pop up again.

Catching Up

Been getting lots of new stuff this week, most recently orders in from Eclipse Records and All That's Heavy. Many new albums from this year in this batch. So far 2007 has been a fantastic year of releases. The list of new stuff:

CDs:

Acrimony - Tumuli Shroomaroom
Brant Bjork And The Bros - Somera Sól
Buried At Sea - Migration
Causa Sui - Free Ride
Nadja - Corrasion
Orange Goblin - Healing Through Fire

LPs:

Brant Bjork And The Bros - Somera Sól
Raccoo-oo-oon - Mythos Folkways Vol. 1
Wooden Wand/Hust Arbors - Split 7"
Hush Arbors/Voice Of The Seven Woods - Split 7"