Hi Everyone,
Hope ye are all well…..
Quite a bit for me to ramble on about tonight so I will cut to the chase and try not to get too sidetracked…
I will start with Warner releases for Friday the 6TH of February.
First up with Warner is an album by RHIANNON GIDDENS (CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS) and the record company are expecting some darn fine results (units) from this one….I have heard a lot of it….they send a link for the albums they want to push and I suppose, records they ultimately believe in, and it is a really nice listen, but whether it will do the business, we will have to wait and see…..check the aul attachment on her.
Warner also has a ROXETTE 30 greatest hits CD (timing about two months askew) and a mid price METAL MATTERS compilation covering an A to Z of influential metal acts down through the years.
Warner on the Vinyl front for the 6th has two nice MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE reissues” three cheers for sweet revenge’ and “ the black parade”, the new JOHNNY MARR 7” single, the music of LLEWYN DAVIS live called “ another place, another time” on triple LP…expensive…some great artists perform on it….. EXHUMED “gore metal redux” (a reworking of there classic album) and BLACK RIVERS which are the two brothers from Manchester band DOVES.
Warner as I mentioned last week have moved warehouse (has been a bit of a disaster since Christmas really with them for stock, when you are competing with the clinical spirits in the sky, you need to get the stock orders in and not 30% of what you order).
So they have moved the warehouse from a site in the UK to one in Germany and have said there will be a more efficient service…lets see if the Germans are all there cracked up to be!…new warehouse went “live’ (that’s the buzz word I hear anyway) last Monday and the Music Zone Corporation placed a sizeable order for a small indie shop mainly because I have not got much since Christmas, but alas 72 hours later if we fast forward to tomorrow morning….no goodies….on what is supposed to be a 48 hour turnaround…teething problems I hope….to be fair, the last crowd were a disaster…stock turnaround was ok but constantly missing stuff from orders, wrong invoicing, no reply’s to queries, I could go on….
Seeing as I am having a bit of a moan and as Macbeth might say “I am steeped in blood so far, that to return is as tedious as to go o’r” ,i had to register for RECORD SHOP DAY this week, by tomorrow actually, and there was talk of a 60 euro fee this year to register….nothing came of it in the end. (For this year anyway)
I think there was 280 or 290 shops in the UK and here at home involved in RSD last year….that’s a nice chunk of change for the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) if they start looking for a registration fee…I didn’t even have to send a cribbing email (not that my email would count) but it seemed the fee had disappeared……
I am getting a bit sidetracked now but I have a few views on RSD from a retailer and consumers point of view which I will voice next week (otherwise it could be a late one and I don’t want to bore ye to death with the exciting problems of a record shop )
PIAS has the next two NICK CAVE LP reissues “ let love in” and “ no more shall we part” out on the 13th of February and the first three SIGUR ROS double LPs get the reissue treatment also ( these include the CD in the LP).
PIAS also have a release by S.CAREY or Sean Carey or BON IVER (fierce exciting, like working for the MI5 or the Irish equivalent) on a limited Vinyl…..here’s where the excitement ends….because even though I have my hat in the ring for a few….safe to say the 200 copies available wont leave the UK.
Sony has the new album by KODALINE and as with all the Irish bands out there I hope they sell loads….LP is a couple of weeks down the line…..Sony are the worst of the suppliers for giving an LP release date and then changing it at the last second….DYLAN’s new LP coming out now in a week or so I am told….found that out today….its due out tomorrow!
Sony also has the physical Vinyl release of the new D’ANGELO and the VANGUARD record “the black messiah”, his third album, the CD came out pre Santa and done very little yet there is a lot of interest in the LP release….23 euro with your local record shop….24 pounds sterling with the biggest beast in the sky…..just hope Sony don’t email me next Thursday to say its coming out in June……still very unusual for an LP to outsell a CD on a standard new album release….jack white did it last year but he was about the only one….those in the know tell me that D’angelo wants people to REALLY hear the record and that is why there is so much interest in the great Vinyl…..tip hats to the D’angelo fans for that….
UNIVERSAL biggest release for the 6th of Feb. is the 50 shades of grey soundtrack…the rep tells me the film company are spending 5 million euro on advertising the film….that would feed a lot of mouths for a long time….its a mad world.
UNI have a deluxe version of the ST VINCENT recent album with 5 extra tracks….great for those who don’t own it but a right pisser for those who do!
New albums also from UNI by MELISSA ETHERIDGE (quite good id say) JACK SAVORETTI and TWIN PEAKS.
MUSIC ON VINYL have a nice couple of releases for the middle of February including the brilliant debut records by both FAITHLESS and SINEAD O CONNOR, a grammy winning MUDDY WATERS live LP, MILES DAVIS and MARCUS MILLER” SIESTA “ soundtrack and Harry Connick’s “ when a man loves a woman” soundtrack.
PROPER has TOWNES VAN ZANDT “late great townes van zandt” LP and the UK SUBS LP reissues out next week.
The new JOSE GONZALEZ record from ESSENTIAL is pushed back a week now to the 20th Feb.
Here is the latest on REPUBLIC OF MUSIC releases……
Singles – 2 beauties for you – Lonely Boy “I Like Disco” on Futureboogie a 3 track 12″ including an Emperor Machine Disco To Go Special Dub Mix & The Wave Pictures “I Could Hear The Telephone (3 floors above me) 7” on Moshi Moshi which is b/w “Walking On The Water” a Creedence Clearwater Rivial cover with Billy Childish. Nice
Albums – The wise words of Zen Buddhist Alan Watts gathered on what’s billed as the first psychedelic album “This Is It” on Numero, originally released in 1962 this pre dates the Acid Tests of the mid 60s; things were getting pretty cosmic… also on that plane we have a limited special pressing of Matt Berrys “Opium” on orange vinyl – 100 copies for retail. OK Go are back with their 4th album “Hungry Ghosts” on Paracadute/BMG great support from Radio 2 on the single and they return to the UK for a one off show at London’s Koko on 13th February; and finally this week to help you with the post Christmas health kick (?) we have VA “Detox Music” a 2CD at single price on 7 Star Music.
On the local scene, there is a great local festival happening next weekend the 6th to 8th on South and North Main Street….some great home grown artists will be playing gigs all over the weekend including O EMPEROR, THE ALTERED HOURS, CIAN NUGENT and ELASTIC SLEEP amongst them….for more info check out
Also this week got some copies of Limerick’s finest FOX JAW on glorious looking Vinyl and CD.
Last but certainly not least, I heard some tracks today from THE SHAKER HYMN’s new forthcoming record and I have to say I was hugely impressed.
I really liked the last album “ RASCAL’S ANTIQUE” as we all did in the shop, its back in stock now, but the new songs are a step up again, really really great tunes….indie rock….the lads could be the biggest band out of Cork since the Franks…basically folks and I’m not bullshitting here these lads should be heard….i know I have banged on about them before…but this sounds like it could be a great album….one of the tunes “ sucking it out” has the most blissful riffs I have heard in ages and with a little tweaking and luck could be a big radio friendly hit….well worth checking out folks….THE SHAKER HYMN http://theshakerhymn.bandcamp.com/
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Thanks as always for listening,
Sin e
Ray.