A momentous week, one way or another, though I can’t help wishing the resonant and thought-through fury of “Tramp The Dirt Down” was heading into the Top Ten instead of “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead”.
At times in the past few days, it was a little harder than usual to concentrate on the business of new records. Nevertheless, some really good things here, I think: special mentions to Justin Vernon’s Shouting Matches (my favourite thing he’s been involved with, by a long way, since the first Bon Iver album; follow the link to hear it all); the beautiful new Date Palms set; and, predictably, Mark Kozelek’s new project. The last thing on “Perils From The Sea” is called “Somehow The Wonder Of Life Prevails”, and its content feels in some ways like the culmination of the themes Kozelek has been assiduously working through for the past two decades. For those of us who’ve followed him all that time, it’s a pretty emotional experience: usual rash promises, but I’ll try and write about it properly next week, once this issue is out of the way.
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1 Gregor Schwellenbach – Gregor Schwellenbach Spielt 20 Jahre Kompakt (Kompakt)
2 Goat – Stonegoat/Dreambuilding (Rocket)
3 Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle – Perils From The Sea (Caldo Verde)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsRjfEMz47k
4 Frugal Puritan – Frugal Puritan (Folk Police)
5 Elvis Costello – Tramp The Dirt Down (Warner Bros)
6 The Shouting Matches – Grownass Man (Middle West)
7 Date Palms – The Dusted Sessions (Thrill Jockey)
8 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd)
9 Waxahatchee – Brother Bryan (Wichita)
10 Charlemagne Palestine/Z’ev – Rubhitbangklanghear (Sub Rosa)
11 The Master Musicians Of Bukkake – White Mountain Return (Important)s
13 Various Artists – The Liminal Mix 25 – The Choir of Love and the Dancing Feet by High Wolf (theliminal.co.uk)
25 The Choir of Love and the Dancing Feet by HIGH WOLF by Theliminal on Mixcloud
14 Queens Of The Stone Age – My God Is The Sun (Matador)
15 Grim Tower – Anarchic Breezes (Outer Battery)
16 Daniel Menche – Marriage Of Metals (Editions Mego)
17 Thee Oh Sees – Floating Coffin (Castleface)
18 Moon Duo – – Trails (White Rainbow Remix) (Souterrain Transmissions)
19 Chris Abrahams – Memory Night (Room40)
20 Holden – The Inheritors (Border Community)
21 The Handsome Family – Wilderness (Loose)
22 Cool Ghouls – Cool Ghouls (Empty Cellar)
23 Stellar Om Source – Joy One Mile (RVNG INTL)
24 Various Artists – Inspirational Anthems Volume 6: Origins Of American Primitive Guitar (Tompkins Square)
25 Various Artists – Road Songs: Car Tune Classics 1942-1962 (Fremeaux)