Category: NEWS

It’s been six years since Cat Power released Sun—which, according to Wikipedia, we called “easily her fullest-sounding, most animated record to date”; just fact-checked, and we did indeed say that (see kids, you can trust Wikipedia!), and we meant it, dammit—and now Chan Marshall is set to release Wanderer via Domino on October 5. Like with Sun, Marshall is again is the producer seat solo, and Wanderer also features guest appearances from Lana Del Rey and unnamed “longtime friends and compatriots.” Since we couldn’t find out who those were, we decided to guess. So we think they include Jude Law, Eddie Vedder, Yoko Ono and Michelle Obama. And we also think that Wanderer could easily be Cat Power’s fullest-sounding, most animated record to date … In the music-to-take-drugs-to department: Animal Collective has teamed up with art-science duo Coral Morphologic for Tangerine Reef (Domino, August 17), an audiovisual album commemorating the International Year Of The Reef. (Side note: Based on our walk to work each day, 2018 also seems to be the International Year Of The Reefer, in Philly at least.) … In The Blue Light (Sony, September 7) is the 14th studio album from Paul Simon, featuring new versions of some of Rhymin’ Simon’s favorite songs from his catalog with help from a bunch of musicians including the National’s Bryce Dessner … Not to be outdone done by his twin-brother National bandmate, Aaron Dessner has teamed up with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) for Big Red Machine, a 10-track LP out August 31 on PEOPLE/Jagjaguwar … Waxahatchee, the artist behind MAGNET’s album of the year in 2017, is back September 7 with the Great Thunder EP on Merge, seven songs that Katie Crutchfield wrote earlier in her career and decided to reimagine and re-record … Metric‘s seventh album is out September 21 via MMI/Crystal Math, but it has no title, track listing or album art yet; so you crazy kids are grounded until you turn that shit in, eh? … That same day, Thalia Zedek Band, aided by J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) and the always wicked-cool Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine), is back with  Fighting Season (Thrill Jockey) … Negro Swan is the fourth album from Blood Orange (a.k.a. Devonté Hynes, of Lightspeed Champion and Test Icicles fame), due out August 24 on Domino … 13 Rivers (New West, September 14) is 13 new songs from Richard Thompson, recorded and produced by the living legend in just 10 days … Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta) and Cheval Sombre will release the self-described “western dreampop” Dean Wareham Vs. Cheval Sombre (we’re betting on a tie) via Double Feature on October 26 … Devotchka‘s This Night Falls Forever is out courtesy of Concord on August 24 … Lucy Wainwright Roche is self-releasing Little Beast on September 28 … Swingin’ Utters and Fat Wreck Chords are feeling the Peace And Love on August 31 … On October 19, Columbia will release Forever Neverland, the second LP from MØ … Eric Church‘s new album, Desperate Man, is out October 5 on EMI Nashville … Finally,The Rick And Morty Soundtrack is the, uh, soundtrack to Rick And Morty, featuring music by the show’s composer Ryan Elder alongside songs from Blonde Redhead, Mazzy Star, Belly and Chaos Chaos; the 24-track record is out via Sub Pop/Adult Swim on September 28 (as a CD and a double-LP set) and on November 23 (as a deluxe double-LP set that comes with LED lights, a poster, a patch, a sticker, a bonus seven-inch and MacGyver).

Much R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

The still-hard-to-believe-he’s-gone Tom Petty is the subject of a career-spanning, 60-track boxed set called An American Treasure (Reprise) featuring previously unreleased songs, alternate versions, rarities, live performances and rare tracks; it’s available in two different four-CD editions, a six-LP version and as a 26-track, two-CD set … On September 21 (one day short of its 40th anniversary), Rhino is reissuing the Ramones‘ Road To Ruin as a single CD and as a three-CD/one-LP boxed set with the original mix, a “revisited” mix, an extras disc and a 32-track concert recording from 1979 … Now that Real Gone has reissued all the Grateful Dead Dick’s Picks albums, the label has moved on to successor series Road Trips; out September 7 is the three-CD Vol. 4 No.1: Big Rock Pow-Wow ’69 (two complete shows from the Hollywood Seminole Reservation in West Hollywood, Fla.), which has never been sold at retail stores before … Confessin’ The Blues compiles essential tracks by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and many more; out November 9 via BMG, the set was curated by the Rolling Stones, is available in three formats (two CDs, two LPs and a 5×10 vinyl book-pack that mimicks 78 RPM releases), features cover art by Ronnie Wood and benefits Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation … Mønk, a “lost” Thelonious Monk live recording from 1963 featuring the quartet that played on his classic first two Columbia records (Monk’s Dream and Criss-Cross), will finally see the light of day September 28 via Gearbox … Love The Way: The Solo ’70s Recordings (Omnivore, September 14) combines remastered versions of both albums—Jorge Santana and It’s All About Love—that guitarist Jorge Santana (Carlos’ brother) made after San Fransisco-based Latin rockers Malo originally disbanded in 1974 …

VINYL FEVER: On September 21, Rhino will issue MC5 Total Assault: 50th Anniversary Collection, a limited-edition vinyl boxed set that compiles all three MC5 albums: Kick Out The Jams (red vinyl), Back In The USA (white vinyl) and High Time (blue vinyl) … The U.K. Singles Volume One: 1972-1978 (Legacy, September 21) boxed set compiles 15 Electric Light Orchestra singles/b-sides and 1978’s The ELO EP, all reproduced to look like the original U.K. releases … Real Gone—try real on; the always intriguing Real Gone label has two great reissues scheduled for September 7: L7‘s Hungry For Stink (limited to 1,200 red-vinyl copies with the original artwork from the grunge gals’ fourth LP; typically heard around lunchtime at the MAGNET office circa the album’s release in 1994: “You hungry?” “Yeah, hungry for stink!”) and Pentangle‘s Sweet Child (limited to 700 sky-blue double-LP copies; 50th anniversary edition of the highly influential British band’s sophomore album) … A remastered version of U2‘s The Best Of 1990-2000 is out courtesy of Island/Interscope/UMC on September 28 … All five of Nitzer Ebb‘s out-of-print albums for Geffen/Mute—1987’s That Total Age, 1989’s Belief, 1990’s Showtime, 1991’s Ebbhead and 1995’s Big Hit—have been compiled as a 10-LP set called Nitzer Ebb 1982-2010: The Box Set (Pylon, October 5) with bonus tracks, rare 12-inch remixes and tons of cool artwork; a limited-edition 11-LP colored vinyl set that includes 1983 debut Basic Pain Procedure is available at Pylon’s website … As if the aforementioned Vol. 4 No.1: Big Rock Pow-Wow ’69 isn’t enough for Deadheads to end their summer with, here comes Jerry On Jerry: The Unpublished Jerry Garcia Interviews, available as a book and audiobook via Black Dog & Leventhal and as a vinyl LP (with a download code for the whole audiobook) courtesy of the Wax Audio Group; in case you couldn’t guess, the Dennis McNally-edited collection compiles numerous unheard interviews with Jerry Garcia … Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66‘s out-of-print Greatest Hits has been reissued by Craft Recordings … On September 28, Island/DCD2/UMe will release Fall Out Boy‘s The Complete Studio Albums, which compiles all seven of the band’s LPs in a vinyl box.

Part four of a career-spanning series of David Bowie boxed sets that already includes Five Years (1969-1973), Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976) and A New Career In A New Town (1977-1982), the 11-CD or 15-LP Loving The Alien (1983-1988) is out October 12 via Parlophone/Rhino. It contains remastered versions of Let’s Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down (as well as a newly recorded version of that LP) and the live Glass Spider (Live Montreal ’87) (exclusive to the vinyl set), plus the unreleased live Serious Moonlight, remix record Dance and odds-and-sods collection Re:Call 4 … Out now on Columbia/Legacy is Bob Dylan‘s two-CD Live 1962-1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections … The Cherry Red label concludes its A Decade In Music reissue series for ’80s indie cult band Felt (ask your cool aunt) on September 14 with remastered versions of Lawrence and Co.’s final five albums: 1986’s Forever Breathes The Lonely Word, 1987’s Poem Of The River, 1988’s The Pictorial Jackson Review and Train Above The City and 1989’s Me And A Monkey On The Moon … Phil Collins has collaborated with a lot of big names over the years, and on Plays Well With Others (Rhino, September 28), he’s compiled 59 of those tracks, including songs with the likes of Paul McCartney, Brian Eno, George Harrison, John Cale, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Bee Gees, Lil’ Kim, Tony Bennett and good buddy (and MAGNET fave) John Martyn … Light In The Attic continues its amazing Lee Hazlewood archive series on September 14 with Woodchucks Crusin’ For Surf Bunnies, a lost instrumental surf album from the early ’60s featuring songs that were later recorded by the likes of Dick Dale, the Ventures and John Paul Jones … Unicorn released three albums in the mid-’70s that were produced by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour that have remained fairly obscure; Omnivore is trying to change that October 5 with Laughing Up Your Sleeve, a 20-track set of unreleased demos recorded in Gilmour’s home studio … Fastball’s All The Pain Money Can Buy gets the remastered, 20th anniversary treatment November 9 via Omnivore on CD and vinyl, with nine bonus tracks (four previously unissued) … Every music nerd between the ages of 45 and 55 worth his or her weight in Teardrop Explodes vinyl had a high-school post-punk band, so why would Ben Stiller be any different; on September 14, Captured Tracks is reissuing Capital Punishment‘s sole album (1982’s Roadkill), so now you can be the judge if Gaylord Focker was indeed a punk rocker … Joni Mitchell‘s Both Sides Now: Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970—which documents her very brave and ballsy performance at the tumultuous (to say the least) music festival—is out on Blu-ray via Eagle Vision on September 14 … For Discos Only: Indie Dance Music From Fantasy & Vanguard Records (1976-1981) is a five-LP or three-CD set compiling 31 tracks (mostly rare 12-inch mixes) from the likes of Sylvester, the Players Association, the Blackbyrds and Poussez!; it’s out August 24 on Craft Recordings … The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King: The Complete Recordings (Rhino, September 22) is a six-LP boxed set compiling all the music from the movie; it’s also available as a four-CD/Blu-ray edition

Paul Weller‘s True Meanings (Parlophone/Warner Bros) is his 26th studio album overall. And it’s brought to you by the number 14 (Sesame Street reference, kids): The 14-track LP is his 14th solo album and is out September 14. The Modfather, who turned 60 (not 14) in May, welcomes more guests to the party than ever before on True Meanings, including Noel Gallagher (Oasis), Rod Argent (Zombies), Martin Carthy, Danny Thompson, Little Barrie and Lucy Rose … Sticking with the “14” theme: The Crossing (Yep Roc, September 14) is a concept album by Alejandro Escovedo about two young immigrants working in a Texas restaurant and pursuing the American dream (insert your own Trump joke here); Thrice makes its Epitaph debut September 14 with Palms; and the Chills‘ Snow Bound is out September 14 via Fire …
Digital Garbage is MAGNET fave Mudhoney‘s 10th album in 30 years, and it’s out September 28 on Sub Pop … Fellow Singles soundtrack alum Alice In Chains is back August 24 with Rainier Fog (BMG) … Rich Robinson, former Black Crowes bandmates Marc Ford and Sven Pipien and three other Robinson regulars have formed the Magpie Salute, whose High Water I debut is out August 10 on Eagle Rock … Tokyo Police Club is back with TPC, out October 5 via Dine Alone … Frontperson is Kathryn Calder (New Pornographers) and Mark Andrew Hamilton (Woodpigeon), and their Frontrunner debut arrives courtesy of Oscar St. on September 21 … John Grant returns with Love Is Magic (Partisan/Bella Union), his first album in three years, on October 12 … Rhyme & Reason will issue Walter Salas-Humara‘s Walterio on August 10 … Roy Montgomery‘s Suffuse is out August 22 via Grapefruit … September 7 brings with it Kilonova, the Bloodshot debut from William Elliott Whitmore.

 

Just because you were the face of the Only Band That Matters doesn’t mean you didn’t make some essential music on your own. Joe Strummer‘s contributions to the Clash are extremely well documented, but a lot of people forget the man made some incredible music without Mick, Paul and Topper. (OK, there was some shit, too, but no one’s perfect, as Saint Joe would be the first to admit.) On September 28, Ignition is releasing Joe Strummer 001, the first career-spanning compilation of Mr. Mellor’s work outside the Clash. The collection is available on double-CD (limited edition in A4 book; regular in slipcase) and quadruple-LP (limited edition in A4 book with seven-inch, cassette and more goodies; regular in slipcase). Let’s rock again! … The Band‘s iconic Music From Big Pink debut gets the remixed-and-expanded, 50th-anniversary-edition treatment on August 31 courtesy of Capitol/UMe in multiple formats: CD/Blu-ray/two-LP/seven-inch/book set, single-CD edition, two-LP (black) set and limited-edition two-LP (pink) set … If you aren’t familiar with the wonderful and frightening world of the Fall, you should probably kill yourself right now; short of that, you could buy the vinyl reissue of 458489 A-Sides, a 17-track singles collection spanning 1984-1989, out via Beggars Arkive on August 10 … On September 7, Rhino is reissuing Led Zeppelin‘s The Song Remains The Same, the soundtrack to the film of the same name, on multiple formats: two-CD, four-LP and Blu-Ray audio sets as well as a super-deluxe boxed set (two CDs, four LPs, three DVDs, download card, book, program and numbered print—a whole lotta love, indeed) … On August 10, Rough Trade is reissuing the self-titled debut from the Moldy Peaches on CD and red vinyl (which comes with a bonus seven-inch) … Rhino concludes its Pet Shop Boys Catalogue: 1985-2012 reissue series on August 31 with remastered/repackaged versions of 1990’s Please, 1993’s Very and 1996’s Bilingual containing demos, extended mixes, remixes and unreleased material … 50 years ago, the Doors released Waiting For The Sun, their third album and first to go to number one on the charts, and on September 14, Rhino is reissuing it as a remastered two-CD/one-LP set with 14 unreleased studio and live tracks … The 1987 self-titled debut from Drivin’ N Cryin’ is getting the reissue treatment by New West on July 27, now rechristened Too Late To Turn Back Now and featuring new artwork … The 14-track Where No One Stands Alone (RCA/Legacy, August 10) features Elvis Presley performing gospel songs with newly recorded instrumentation and backing vocals, as well as a duet with daughter Lisa Marie Presley on the title track … Aretha Franklin‘s Atlantic years get the R-E-S-P-E-C-T they deserve on September 28 with The Atlantic Singles 1967-1970, available as two-CD (34 songs) and two-LP (25 songs) sets via Atlantic/Rhino … Hold Fast (Acoustic Sessions) is a career-spanning acoustic album by Face To Face, out July 27 on Fat Wreck Chords … Feed (or chop off) your head: Alice Copper has a new live album, A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris, out August 31 via Paranormal on double-CD and double-LP … Speaking of Alices: The great Alice Coltrane will see her Warner Bros. years celebrated on two CDs as Spiritual Eternal: The Complete Warner Bros. Studio Recordings (Real Gone, September 7) … Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman: Live At The Apollo is, well, a concert recording of Yes from last year featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman live at the Manchester Apollo; it’s out on DVD, Blu-ray, two-CD and three-LP on September 7 via Eagle Vision … 35 years ago, Twisted Sister released sophomore album You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll (kids, don’t even try to stop rock ‘n’ roll, because you can’t), and on September 14, Rhino is reissuing the remastered LP along with a live set also from 1983 as Live At The Marquee: Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll, a two-CD and two-LP set with bonus tracks … Jean-Michel Jarre has been making his mark on electronic music for half a century now, and to celebrate, Sony is issuing Planet Jarre on September 14, a 41-track, remastered double album curated by the man himself … On August 10, Studio One will release a deluxe edition of the Gladiators’ Presenting The Gladiators, a 1977 compilation of the roots-reggae pioneers’ early material now augmented with bonus tracks and unreleased disco mixes … Mobb Deep‘s Juvenile Hell debut has been reissued on vinyl by Urban Legends/UMe to celebrate the landmark LP’s 25th anniversary.

Michael Gira’s Young God label has just released Swans’ seminal Soundtracks For The Blind on vinyl for the first time. The double album was initially issued in 1996 and was the last Swans studio record prior to the band’s reformation (sans Jarboe, the only constant member aside from Gira for a decade) four years later. The initial 4,000 copies of the vinyl Soundtracks For The Blind reissue come as a four-LP boxed set with a poster. After that version sells out, Young God will issue a non-limited-edition gatefold-sleeve edition. Soundtracks is also available as a three-CD set, with a disc featuring German-only 1996 EP Die Tür Ist Zu, which was issued earlier this year on vinyl for Record Store Day.

Soundtracks For The Blind was an intensely personal album for both Gira and Jarboe. “Michael and I were both going through the decline of a parent,” Jarboe told MAGNET in 2016. “This was a significant aspect of our lives, and, indeed, aging parents who become ill is a significant part of the lives of many others.”

“My father and I didn’t speak—he was out of my life—for about 12 years,” said Gira. “I wanted to get to know him again without the tension of the earlier years. He was a great man, though. I wanted to capture that as he went through the process of going blind.”

“Our personal field recordings used on Soundtracks gave both a true soundtrack feel and provide a document of our lives,” said Jarboe. “And I also believe listeners have a deep experience because of this.”

Gira will be hitting the road this fall for a handful of solo West Coast dates as well as a one-off Brooklyn show. In the meantime, though, Jawbone Press has published Swans: Sacrifice And Transcendence, An Oral History, a book by Nick Soulsby tracing the 35-year career of Gira’s one-of-a-kind musical ensemble.

Tour dates and album artwork below. And while you’re here, read our MAGNET Classics on the making of Soundtracks For The Blind:

MAGNET Classics: The Making Of Swans’ “Soundtracks For The Blind”

Tour Dates
9/27 – Los Angeles, Regent Theatre
9/29 – Berkeley, CA, The UC Theatre
10/4 – Portland, The Old Church Concert Hall
10/5 – Seattle, Columbia City Theater
10/25 – Brooklyn, Warsaw

It’s a bitter “pil” to swallow, but Public Image Ltd does indeed turn 40 this year. Happy? Disappointed?

After quitting the Sex Pistols in January 1978, Johnny Rotten reverted back to his birth name—John Lydon—and immediately formed PiL with guitarist Keith Levene (Clash), bassist Jah Wobble and drummer Jim Walker. By the end of 1980, only Levene remained from Lydon’s original lineup, a sign of the countless personnel changes to follow during the band’s initial 14-year run. Lydon “reunited” PiL in 2009 with guitarist Lu Edmonds (Damned), drummer Bruce Smith (Slits) and bassist Scott Firth (Spice Girls, John Martyn, Elvis Costello), and the quartet has self-released two albums, the last being What The World Needs Now… in 2015.

What comes next for Lydon and Co. is both a brave new world and the same old story: On Friday, UMe will release The Public Image Is Rotten (Songs From The Heart), a five-CD/two-DVD boxed set also available as a six-LP collection. The former contains Singles 1978-2015 (CD1), B-sides, Rarities & Radio Sessions (CD2), 12″ Mixes & Dance Tracks (CD3), Unreleased Mixes & Tracks (CD4) and Live @ New York Ritz: July 16th 1989 (CD5) and Promo Videos And Tallinn Rock Summer Festival, Estonia August 26th 1988 (DVD1) and BBC TV Performances: Archive And Sydney, Enmore Theatre, Australia, April 10th 2013 (DVD2). The LP set has all the singles, b-sides and 12-inch mixes and dance tracks, plus some of the unreleased material.

PiL’s public image will be bolstered even more this year when the Tabbert Fiiller-directed The Public Image Is Rotten documentary hits theaters and the band hits North American for a four-week tour this fall.

Back in 2012, Lydon told MAGNET that PiL was about “personal politics. Looking inwards and solving your own problems. You can go a long way toward helping others if you can get ahead of that game. When I started, the targets were institutions and governments, not easy targets, not in the social landscape of that time. Groundbreaking on my part, really. PiL is about clearing yourself up inside and, by example, hoping that lifestyle improves the lifestyle of others. My general principle, and that goes for PiL as well, has always been to not tell lies. Cheat no one. I never have.”

That’s no selfish rubbish.

Live dates and track listings for both boxed sets after the jump.

Continue reading “A New Public Image Ltd Boxed Set Is Both From The Heart And Rotten”

On August 31, Temporary Residence will release Mogwai’s soundtrack to Kin, a sci-fi/crime drama directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker. Although the Scottish post-rockers have scored documentaries such as Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, Before The Flood and Atomic: Living In Dread And Promise and contributed to the likes of Miami Vice and The Fountain, Kin marks Mogwai’s first feature-film soundtrack. We think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship … Longtime MAGNET fave Eric Bachmann delivers the stripped-down follow-up to his excellent 2016 self-titled album on September 7; the nine-track No Recover (Merge) features Liz Durrett as well as Bachmann’s Archers Of Loaf bandmate Eric Johnson … The Joy Formidable‘s AAARTH is the Welsh trio’s fourth album, out September 28 via Hassle … For My Crimes is Marissa Nadler’s eighth album, out September 28 via Sacred Bones/Bella Union and featuring Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Kristin Kontrol and Patty Schemel … Also on album number eight are Murder By Death (whose The Other Shore will be issued by Bloodshot on August 24) and Josh Groban (whose Bridges is out via Reprise on September 21) … Sun Kil Moon‘s This Is My Dinner is out November 1 on Caldo Verde, and yes, it features an AC/DC cover (“Rock ‘N’ Roll Singer”) … Your mom will be thrilled to know that Say Hi’s latest, Caterpillar Centipede, is due September 7 on Euphobia … This just in: We’re getting a vague impression some people might not love Trump—like guitar hero Marc Ribot, whose Songs Of Resistance 1942-2018 (Anti-, September 14) is self-described as “anti-Trump” and features guest vocalists including Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sam Amidon and Tift Merritt … It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a decade since the Mendoza Line broke up, but it’s nice to know Shannon McArdle’s third solo album since, A Touch Of Class, is out August 24 on Bar/None … Around the time we first got turned on to the Mendoza Line around the MAGNET office, we were also grooving to Jack Drag‘s excellent Dope Box; now songwriter/composer/producer John Dragonetti (Submarines) is back with 2018, his first Jack Drag album in 16 years and one that features contributions from Aimee Mann, Dylan Gardner and members of Belle And Sebastian, Eels and Dispatch … With now having marked three decades in the music biz, Blues Traveler returns October 12 with 13th LP Hurry Up & Hang Around (BMG) … Third Eye Blind’s Thanks For Everything (Mega Collider, August 24) is a covers EP of songs by Queens Of The Stone Age, Tim Buckley, Santigold, Bon Iver, Babyshambles, Chastity Belt and Happy Diving … Speaking of covers: Ann Wilson will release Immortal (BMG, September 14), on which the Heart singer/guitarist pays tribute to songs by departed heroes like David Bowie, Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen, Chris Cornell, Amy Winehouse and more … In Doubt, Shadow Him! is a documentary about Lee Ranaldo that finds director Arnaud Maguet following the Sonic Youth guitarist around NYC while he interacts with other music and visual artists; Ranaldo and Hifiklub composed and performed the film’s six-track soundtrack, out July 6 on Joyful Noise … Secret Club, Pohgoh’s first album of new material in 21 years, is out September 7 via New Granada.