New Releases & Staff Picks - 7/4/25

STAFF PICKS  
DARIO -  Gastr Del Soul and Jeff Parker Reissues 
ASH - Wu-Tang Clan live 
JAKE - Irreversible Entanglements reissue
KIMBER - Jeff Parker reissue
MARY - Dexter Gordon reissue 
ZACH - The Reds, Pinks & Purples
DREW - Sisters Of Mercy 

RIVAL CONSOLES - Landscape CD/LP (Erased Tapes)  
Rival Consoles has been concurrently in the background and foreground of electronic music since the late-‘00s; conjuring tense melancholia for Black Mirror soundtracks, playing in front of 10,000 dance fans at Drumsheds, selling out London’s Barbican Centre, and logging an expansive, wandering collection of synth-sculpted albums that veer off in different directions—but always with human emotion as their lodestar. Landscape from Memory, the ninth studio LP from the UK producer and musician born Ryan Lee West, finally blossomed following a frustrating fallow year away from the production desk.

GASTR DEL SOL - Upgrade & Afterlife LP [Reissue/1996] (DRAG CITY)  
When placed next to each other, dueling concerns enrich each other and push the envelope into new, newer, and newest envelopes of a different color. Step inside Grubbs and O'Rourke's magnetic garden of verse (c. 1996) & spin their exquisite replica of "Eternity" on LP - the first vinyl repress for Upgrade & Afterlife in over a decade.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Soul Jazz Records presents / 300% DYNAMITE! Ska, Soul, Rocksteady, Funk and Dub in Jamaica LP (Soul Jazz) 
New black vinyl edition of this most popular and highly-acclaimed of all Soul Jazz Records' Dynamite! series – 300% Dynamite is jam-packed with reggae tunes that crossed over to become dancefloor hits and are 100% guaranteed to rock any party! // This album is fully remastered, relicensed and with new tracks. Wayne Smith's booming anthem "Sleng Teng", Althea & Donna's worldwide hit “Uptown Top Ranking”, Sister Nancy's classic "Bam Bam", Augustus Pablo, Lee Perry – it's all here as 300% Dynamite joins the dots between reggae, jazz, funk, dub and soul. 

THE REDS PINKS & PURPLES - The Past is a Garden I Never Fed lp (Fire Records)  
Having penned over 200 songs in the last six years, The Reds, Pinks and Purples release a collection of tracks previously unreleased on physical format that continues to romanticise the wonders and woes of the world. With song titles that read like chapter sub-heads for a post-Douglas Coupland novella, ‘The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed’ takes The Reds, Pinks and Purples central orator Glenn Donaldson through the turmoil of small talk and everyday water cooler moments with a fine sense of pathos and irony. Set to a soundtrack that swerves between the dark days of Television Personalities and Byrdsian twang to the Jarvis Cocker-styled rhetoric and vocal tenderness of ‘Richard In the Age Of The Corporation’ with hints of everything from Husker Du’s fuzzed splendour to the chiming majesty of The Chameleons it’s an empowering listen.

PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS - Carpe Diem Moonman LP (What Reality Records)  
Perth’s finest, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, continue their onslaught on 2025 with the releaseof their 7th record Carpe Diem, Moonman. Carpe Diem, Moonman promises to be another weird & wonderful journey through the mind of Jack McEwan, the talisman of the Perth 5-piece.

WU-TANG CLAN - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - Live From N.Y. LP (Iconic Artists Group)  
Made with recycled vinyl, this environmentally conscious 140g LP pressing was recorded live at Wu-Tang Clan's legendary NY State of Mind Tour in 2023 at Climate Pledge Arena (celebrating 50 years of Hip Hop). Includes live performances from their seminal album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and more. As each disc is made with recycled regrind vinyl, each disc will be unique in color and one of a kind.

SISTERS OF MERCY - First And Last And Always LP (Elektra) 
To celebrate the 40th anniversary for The Sisters of Mercy's debut album First And Last And Always, a 4LP black and red marble coloured vinyl set is to be released on 4th July 2025. The set includes the original First And Last And Always album alongside the three EP's that preceded it's release -'Body & Soul', 'Walk Away’ and 'No Time To Cry’.

DEXTER GORDON - Landslide (Blue Note Tone Poet Edition) LP [Reissue] (Blue Note Records)   
First released in 1980 as part of the LT Series, Dexter Gordon's Landslide collected unreleased recordings made during 3 different Blue Note sessions in 1961-62 that showcased the great saxophonist's hard-swinging improvisational creativity and brilliant balladry with a varied cast of musicians. This stereo Blue Note Tone Poet Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS - Irreversible Entanglements (IA11 Edition) LP reissue (International Anthem)   
Irreversible Entanglements's debut album was originally released in September 2017, and features the first music ever played together by the freshly assembled Philly/NY/DC-based quintet of poet Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), bassist Luke Stewart, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. The explosive collection of improvised free-jazz with spoken word accompaniment was born after the group's initial meeting at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event (organized by musicians/comrades Amirtha Kidambi and Peter Evans following the state-sponsored killing of Akai Gurley.

JEFF PARKER - New Breed (IA11 Edition) LP Reissue (International Anthem)  
Jeff Parker's 2016 album The New Breed was a turning point for both Parker and International Anthem, changing the trajectory of his solo career as well as drawing an abundance of attention to our fresh imprint despite our then very limited catalog. Most importantly though, the album is the first to give voice to Parker's wholly unique take on sample-based beat construction augmented by improvisation and live instrumentation (performed in this case by the high-level crew of Paul Bryan on bass, Josh Johnson on alto saxophone and keys, Jamire Williams and Jay Bellerose on drums, Parker's daughter Ruby on vocals, and Parker himself on guitar, synths, and other instruments). What began as Jeff's interest in understanding his own idea of hip-hop processes (and how they related to his work in jazz) expanded into a blueprint for much of his work since then. (Hear also: The New Breed's expansive followup Suite For Max Brown, the gentle deconstructionist solo guitar of Forfolks, and the long-form slow bloom improvisation of The Way Out of Easy.) The IA11 Edition LP features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus a new 16-page 11x11 insert booklet with unpublished session photos, new liner notes by album co-producer Paul Bryan, and an in-depth conversation between Jeff Parker and IARC co-founder Scott McNiece.

SAM RIVERS - New Conception (Blue Note Tone Poet Edition) LP Reissue (Blue Note Records)
After releasing 2 astonishing albums of original material with Fuchsia Swing Song & Contours, saxophonist Sam Rivers went in another direction on A New Conception, a set of standards given riveting interpretations by a quartet featuring Hal Galperon (piano), Herbert Lewis (bass), and Steve Ellington (drums). This stereo Blue Note Tone Poet Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

WILLI CARLISLE - Winged Victory LP (Signature Sounds)  
Within his heart and his music, folksinger Willi Carlisle holds tight the conviction that love is bigger than hate, and no-one is expendable. Deemed One of country music's most important and unmistakable voices. (PASTE), Carlisle's music has always been a dance between spectacle and philosophy. On his fourth studio (and first self-produced) album, Winged Victory, Carlisle returns with his signature blend of traditionally-rooted folk music and kaleidoscope of oddball characters to confer with his core tenets in more overt and provocative ways. Intent on creating art and a well-rounded life in a broken world, Carlisle directly addresses the hope that by understanding our collective suffering we might be free of it. Rather than a manifesto, the eleven songs on Winged Victory should be understood as a reflection. They revel in the beauty of tiny, monetarily-worthless moments and things, offering with them a consideration of our innate humanity.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
WET LEG - Moisturizer CD/LP
MAC MILLER - I Love Life Thank You LP
LADYTRON - 602 CD/LP
ANTHONY GREEN - So Long Avalon CD/LP
NATALIA LAFOURCADE - Cancionera LP 
BARRY CAN’T SWIM - Loner CD/LP
SUN CITY GIRLS - Famous Asthma LP Reissue
SUN CITY GIRLS - Extra-Sensory Defection LP Reissue
SWELL SEASON - Forward LP