I can't even believe to explain how excited I am about this box set. All three This Mortal Coil albums have been remastered and repackaged into a beautiful box set by 4AD. This is a limited edition box set, so you shoud reserve a copy right now if you want it. I really can't imagine my life without 4AD and these beautiful albums. We all have those albums in our lives. I can remember when and where I bought each of these albums. I can remember who I listened to them with. I spent many nights falling asleep to these albums. These albums will stay with me forever in my memories. And they sound just as amazing now as they did when I first heard them. I love you, This Mortal Coil. Thank you for the amazing memories.

Check out the link for more details and to preorder a copy at Amoeba.com



THIS MORTAL COIL
deluxe limited edition
[4 CD BOX SET]
Preorder it now at amoeba.com
$99.98 w/ FREE SHIPPING!







"Song To the Siren" by This Mortal Coil from It'll End In Tears (1984)



"Strength of Strings" by This Mortal Coil from Filigree & Shadow (1986)

UPDATE 9/13 AT 5:57PM:  We are sold out of passes to tonight's show.

St. Vincent is playing a show at Space15Twenty in Los Angeles on Tuesday September 13! Her new album, Strange Mercy, is out on CD and LP that same day.

Buy Strange Mercy in-store at Amoeba Hollywood starting at 10:30am on 9/13 and get tickets to her show that night at Space 15Twenty!

One ticket per item, limit 2 per person. While supplies last!

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The 11 new tracks on Strange Mercy showcase St. Vincent's (a.k.a. Annie Clark) gift for fusing the cerebral and the visceral, her melodically elegant arrangements packing hefty emotional punches. She redefines the idea of the guitar hero, utilizing the instrument as a pointillist artist might wield a brush. Countless judiciously placed riffs and instrumental flares, each distinct and unique, cohere into grand tableaus. On "Cruel," she elicits punchy bursts like an R&B horn section. "Cheerleader" froths and boils, with deep and fuzzy guitars bubbling up to the surface, while "Surgeon" twirls about endlessly, Clark's vocals dancing amid a blizzard of notes.

Clark reunited with producer John Congleton and recorded Strange Mercy in her hometown of Dallas, TX. Other musicians on the album include the Grammy Award winning Bobby Sparks on mini Moog, clavinet, Arp and Wurlitzer; Midlake’s MacKenzie Smith on drums; and Daniel Hart on violin. Also contributing were Beck keyboardist and musical director Brian LeBarton, Evan Smith on woodwinds and Phil Palazzolo.

Every once in while an album comes along that just absolutely blows your mind. It seems to be happening more often than not this year! I am talking about the kind of album that you just can't stop listening to...the kind of album you want to live inside of...the kind of album you want to call in sick for so you can listen to it over and over again...the kind of album I have in my car, on my turntable and in my cd player all at the same time! I am seriously considering making a cassette tape of this album so I can carry it around with me everywhere I go...I did just say cassette, because the album I am talking about does not really make sense as a digital file. It would make more sense on a cassette or 8-track. I am talking about the new album by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti! Ariel Pink has found a new home with 4AD records and has put out one of the best albums of the year. I just don't think any other album is gonna be able to compete with it this year. The new album is called Before Today. I will be the first to admit that I don't own any other Ariel Pink albums. I obviously know who he is and have been hearing things about him for years, but I just always figured he was a bit too weird for me. I sort of put him with the whole Devendra Banhart genre and thought it was best to stay away. I'd like to think that Ariel Pink got sick of me ignoring his albums and made this album just for me. He made the exact kind of album that I was going to fall in love with -- the kind that seems like it came directly out of the 70s, like it was 1975 all over again and you just happened to turn on the radio and hear this amazing album. Think about your favorite songs from Hall & Oates, Asia, Bread, Ambrosia, Todd Rundgren, Chicago, The Carpenters, Michael McDonald, Billy Joel, The Climax Blues Band, 10CC, Al Stewart, and Manfred Mann's Earth Band; and then imagine them all mixed up together and then the best things about them created into new amazing songs. This is sort of what you get with this new album!

Ariel Pink was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, which makes me love him even more. I know that there are a lot of us born in LA. but it seems that very few of the artists that I fall in love with end up coming from LA. He has been putting out music since 1996, it just took him this long to get into my life. I know I am not alone in my recent discovery of the genius of Ariel Pink. This album is for sure a bit more accessible and well-produced. He has a full real band playing with him now also! This is some seriously good stuff. You need to go pick up this album and discover it for yourself. But don't worry if you're already a fan -- there's still some weird stuff. The songs often get a bit crazy and end up going places you would never find a normal pop song exploring. This album is full of fantastic songs and as it plays out they just keep gettin better! One of my favorites is "Bright Light Blue Skies." "Fright Night" is amazing! "Can't Hear My Eyes" is probably my favorite of them all, though. Thank you, Ariel PInk! This album is full of the perfect summer jams -- what a great start to the summer! Perfect for those warm Los Angeles Summer nights. I will be exploring some old Ariel PInk albums for sure as well, but I have a felling that they will all be leading me back to this amazing new album. It just can't really get any better than this!

"One man's attempt to dissect the method to 3 days of madness in the desert"
  - By Scott Butterworth

On the 3rd weekend of April my Coachella will give to me.....
.....12 DJ's.....11 Angelenos....

....and 10 Duos Duet-ing:  

She & Him
Orbital
La Roux
MGMT
2ManyDJ's
Matt & Kim
The Big Pink
Beach House
The Raveonettes
Girls

Continue reading...

I still can't believe that summer has already started. I am sure that it will be over even quicker. Soon it will be Christmas time again. The year is a little more than half over and I have been back in Los Angeles for about 6 months now. The boyfriend just moved down last week and it has been a busy couple of weeks for me, but it has been a bit slow for the new releases the last couple of months. Some big things are right around the corner for the next couple of weeks, but not so much for this week or the last. Last week was the week of the debut album for the Black Kids and the release of the second album by CSS. There was another Nine Inch Nails album and a new Dr. Dog.

This week is basically a new Neil Halstead album and a new one by Rick Springfield. Not a very big week. I am a huge fan of both Slowdive and Mojave 3, so I am a bit excited about the new Neil Halstead, but I have not yet heard it. Next week we get new albums from both The Faint and Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes. They both were on the label Saddle Creek Records up until these new albums. Bright Eyes put out a ton of albums on Saddle Creek and helped to make a name for the label, but he has made the jump to Merge Records for his new solo album. The Faint decided to go with their own new label for this new album. Conor is one of those guys you either love or hate. Most people I know have some passionate opinion about him. I know I have talked about this before. I was on the hating side for a bit, but crossed over to the fan side about 4 years ago. Conor Oberst will also be playing a free show at Amoeba in both San Francisco and Hollywood. The Hollywood instore is this coming Monday, August 4th. We will also be selling the album the day before it comes out since the actual street date is the day after the instore. He is playing at the San Francisco store 3 days before the album comes out, on Saturday August 2nd. There will be tons of people at both these instores, but I think it is worth dealing with the crowds just to see him perform live. It might convert you to a fan as well.