Indie / Alternative
Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP was originally released in early 2009, hot on the heels of the beloved album 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. The EP was a harbinger of a new sound for Bon Iver: a movement away from the acoustic guitar-led instrumentation of the debut and the beginning of an exploration into the experimental sounds that have evolved but defined Bon Iver ever since. The reissue of this seminal EP is coupled with brand new live renditions of all the EP tracks: A reflection on the Blood Bank EP by Ryan Matteson: When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes it's entrance on "Beach Baby," it's transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. "Babys" follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there's "Woods." A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don't exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, "I'm building a sill to slow down the time." Time doesn't slow down, it races.
i,i is Bon Iver's most expansive, joyful and generous album to date. If 'For Emma, Forever Ago was the crisp, heart-strung isolation of a northern Winter; Bon Iver the rise and whirr of burgeoning Spring; and '22, A Million', a blistering, crazy energy Summer record, i,i completes the cycle: a fall record; Autumn-colored, ruminative, steeped. The autumn of Bon Iver is a celebration of self acceptance and gratitude, bolstered by community and delivering the bounty of an infinite American music. The sales and accolades are well-known multiple Gold albums, multiple Grammys, chart-topping collaborations and festival headlines. But even more significantly, with each release Bon Iver quietly shifts the state of modern music. From the boundaries of folk, to the rules of autotune, to production work for others, Bon Iver s fingerprint finds its way across the mainstream every time. Vernon has always been a master collaborator, and on i,i that desire becomes maximal, with guests ranging from Moses Sumney and Bruce Hornsby to Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Here, the music and band, and themes, and creative space are bigger than ever.
The first-ever official anthology of recordings from the iconic rock duo, Jack and Meg White, is an essential career-spanning collection highlighting 26 previously released songs. From late Nineties flashes of brilliance through early 2000s underground anthems, masterful MTV Moon Man moments, Grammy-grabbing greatness, and worldwide stadium chants, the songs here are as wide-ranging as you can imagine. In an era of streaming where the idea of a “Greatest Hits” album may seem irrelevant – that an act’s most streamed songs are considered their de facto “hits” – we wholeheartedly believe that great bands deserve “Greatest Hits” and that a large part of Third Man Records’ and The White Stripes’ successes have been built on zigging when the rest of the music business is zagging. Thus, for a great band with great fans, a greatest hits compilation for The White Stripes is not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.
A1 Seven Nation Army 3:51
A2 Black Math 3:03
A3 There's No Home For You Here 3:43
B1 I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself 2:46
B2 In The Cold, Cold Night 2:58
B3 I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart 3:20
B4 You've Got Her In Your Pocket 3:39
C1 Ball And Biscuit 7:19
C2 The Hardest Button To Button 3:32
C3 Little Acorns 4:09 (intro by Mort Crim)
D1 Hypnotize 1:48
D2 The Air Near My Fingers 3:40
D3 Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine 3:17
D4 It's True That We Love One Another 2:42 (vocals by Holly Golightly) -- EXCLUSIVE RECORD STORE DAY RELEASE
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of this Grammy Award winning album, Third Man Records releases a special Limited Edition vinyl pressing of their acclaimed hit album, ''Elephant,'' exclusively for Record Store Day. Includes their classic, ''Seven Nation Army.''
Limited Edition Third Man Records releases are notoriously known to be some of the most sought after collectable items and with Jack White as this year's Record Store Day Ambassador, this release will certainly be on top of most customer's want lists.
LP1: Vinyl
LP2: Vinyl
(note: these are different color arrangements than the 2003 U.S. vinyl release from V2)
includes download
Tip-On double gatefold jacket
printed inner sleeves
Limited to: UNKNOWN
THE WHITE STRIPES:
Jack White - vocals, guitar, piano
Meg White - vocals, drums
Produced by: Jack White
Engineer, Mixing: Liam Watson
Mastering: Noel Summerville
Photography: Patrick Pantano
Layout Design: Bruce Brand
Recorded to eight track reel-to-reel at Toe-Rag Studios, Hackney, London in April 2002, except B1 recorded at the BBC Maida Vale Studios.
Mastered direct from analog.
Manufactured by: United Record Pressing
The Raconteurs – Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler – have announced the release of their long-awaited new album, HELP US STRANGER, which is the GRAMMY® Award-winning rock band’s third studio LP and first new album in more than a decade. Out on Friday, June 21, HELP US STRANGER sees the mighty combo reassembled, stronger and perhaps even more vital than ever before as they continue to push rock 'n' roll forward into its future, bonding prodigious riffs, blues power, sinewy psychedelia, Detroit funk, and Nashville soul via Benson and White’s uncompromising songcraft and the band’s steadfast musical muscle. With HELP US STRANGER, The Raconteurs have returned right when they are needed most, unified and invigorated with boundless ambition, infinite energy and a collectivist spirit operating at the peak of its considerable powers, once again creating a sound and fury only possible when all four of its members come together.
Arctic Monkeys and War Child UK are proud to announce the release of Arctic Monkeys - Live At The Royal Albert Hall. All proceeds from the album will go to War Child UK to help fill what could be up to a £2 million deficit they are facing in 2021 caused by the devastating impact of Covid-19 on their fundraising. These funds are urgently needed to support those who are worst hit by the virus.
Recorded at the start of the band’s Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino tour, Arctic Monkeys - Live At The Royal Albert Hall, features 20 of the band’s finest moments to date.
“On June 7, 2018 we played a very special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall. All the proceeds from that memorable night were donated to War Child UK in support of the vital work they do protecting, educating and rehabilitating children who have experienced the trauma of conflict and the horror of war. The situation that was bad in 2018 is now desperate and those children and their families need our help more than ever. To enable War Child UK to reduce their funding deficit and continue their valuable work, we are happy to be able to release a live album, recorded that evening at The Royal Albert Hall. All proceeds will go direct to the charity. We thank all our fans in advance for their support of this release and in turn for their support of War Child UK” - Arctic Monkeys.
Wavves will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album "King Of The Beach" this year with a reissue on "Purple kush vinyl" with alternate art that was originally slated to be the cover but was eventually scrapped. It will come with a bonus 7" featuring two songs from the "KIng Of The Beach" era called "Mutant" and "Stained Glass (Won't You Let Me Into Yr Heart)".
The Ascension is the eighth studio album from singer, songwriter and composer Sufjan Stevens and is the long awaited follow-up to Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell. One of the most acclaimed albums of 2015, The New York Times praised Carrie & Lowell as “restrained and meticulous” while Pitchfork declared it “a masterpiece.”
In the time between Carrie & Lowell and the forthcoming The Ascension, Stevens also released Oscar-nominated music for the Luca Guadagnino film Call Me By Your Name; a collaborative album entitled Planetarium with Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner (The National) and James Mcalister; The Decalogue, a solo piano work performed by Timo Andres; and scored several works for ballet: Reflections (Houston Ballet) and Principia (NYCB).
The Ascension is musically expansive and sweeping in thematic scope.