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Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (LP)
Lana Del Rey
Lana really didn’t disappoint with this album it’s just as good as her other ones but takes more of a calmer mature approach than the others. This record is full of beautiful piano melodies and of course her emotion filled lyrics a great one I like to listen to is “Paris, Texas” for example but there’s also songs like you can really jam to like “Peppers” ft. Tommy Genesis. It’s a new era of Lana Del Rey and i’m looking forward to it.
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Factory (LP)
Cheree
The first time I heard a track from this album was when I saw the band live and the recorded version definitely met the high standards they left me with after their amazing performance. If you enjoy the industrial noise genre or just powerful female vocals and guitar distortion you should check them out!
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Memento Mori (CD)
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode’s “Memento Mori” had a classic Depeche Mode sound to it. Great synths and catchy beats, it’s a good album to play on a car ride.
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Evenfall of the Apocalypse (LP)
Ascended Dead
About time! 6 years after their last proper full length, the boys come back into town with this absolute barnburner of a record. Nasty, chaotic old school death metal worship in the vein of Incantation, Morbid Angel, Immolation etc. with some tinges of blackened psychedelia thrown in for good measure.
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Non Serviam (LP)
Rotting Christ
I love this record. It's certainly got its flaws, be it awkward mixing choices, bad edits, a stiff-sounding drum machine (I don't care what the band says, that is a drum machine, not someone playing an electronic kit with real cymbals) but despite and, to an extent, because of said flaws, the finished product shines blazingly bright. The riffs are powerful, the guitar interplay is intriguing without being wanky, even the goofy 90's keys fit right in, giving it an atmosphere that is instantly distinct, and coming off almost like a lost continuation of Bathory's classic material.
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Again Shall Be/Alone Walkyng (LP)
Hades
Speaking of reissues that sound like continuations of Bathory's classic material...the first two Hades records are back in print thanks to Nuclear War Now! "Again Shall Be," packaged here with the "Alone Walkyng" demo, boasts the honor of being recorded at Grieghallen, where Mayhem's "De Mysteriis..." was recorded, but overall feels very much like a sonic and spiritual successor to Bathory's "Hammerheart." Steady and triumphant riffing are the order of the day here, so if you're trynna break your neck headbanging, look elsewhere. If however, you're looking for something a little moodier that maintains a fierce intensity, this is for you.
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Death Age (LP)
Kommand
More solid contemporary death metal from 20 Buck Spin! Kommand's second full length is a deliciously ignorant slab of old school death metal in the vein of Bolt Thrower with some touches of early Entombed, Grave, Dismember, etc. to keep it moving quickly. Nothing here is reinventing the wheel or trying too hard to impress you with novelty, and that's as it should be. In a world of Periphery's, be a Kommand.
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Of the Sign... (LP)
Spirit Possession
The gruesome twosome does it again! Probably the best black metal band in the US are back with another masterclass in spellbinding riff-fests that expertly weave together the past, present and future of the extended black metal multiverse. I know, I've spent the last four reviews praising bands for not trying to reinvent the wheel, but if you're gonna tack that course, this is the way to do it. By remaining steeped in the tradition of the old school, but pushing the boundaries in all the right ways (i.e. song structure, chord voicing, drum patterns) Spirit Possession manage to pull off something which is at once immediately recognizable as black metal, but has neither peer nor equal, neither sonically nor compositionally, within that sphere. Absolutely necessary listening.
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Heavenly Persona (LP)
Shizuka
A great lost album brought back by LA's Black Editions with some truly above and beyond packaging. Shizuka bridged a nonexistent gap between Les Rallizes Denudes' endless squall and the moodier sounds of English shoegaze and goth rock. It's a singular document (and their sole studio album) and not an easy listen, but immensely cathartic.
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Astral Traveling (LP)
Lonnie Liston Smith and the
Real Gone Music could stand to tout themselves a bit more. The Ohio reissue label has affordably and legally revived some of America's great lost spiritual jazz, with their massive Black Jazz reissue campaign of the past few years and this utterly necessary re-up of living legend Lonnie Liston Smith's debut album. Great job, y'all!
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w/ love (LP)
Infinite Bisous
An excellent and intimate collection of whispery sex-synth I purchased in Paris this spring. Music for sharing a bottle of wine or two (or three...) and sundown with that special someone.
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Bar Mediterraneo (LP)
Nu Genea
One of the easiest records in ages to love. Nu Genea's debut album "Nuova Napoli" was all killer, no filler, but almost painfully so as it clocked in at just over 20 minutes. Luckily they've contributed much more music with this follow-up with no loss of quality. For fans of Daft Punk, Italo disco, or being too broke to go to Bar Part Time...
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1992-2001 (LP)
Acetone
Every song on this has the vibe of Modest Mouse's "Sleepwalkin'," which may be the single greatest 90s indie rock vibe of all time: being hungover as shit on a hot and sunny day with nothing to do. Beautiful clean guitars, mellow drums, and falsetto vocals - just a picture perfect yin yang of then-dominant grunge.
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Placebo Years (LP)
Marc Moulin
Marc Moulin of Placebo (the Belgian band) had a neurotically heady take on 70s jazz-funk with some of the coolest synth sounds of all time. Their material has been long out of print until recently, but this Music On Vinyl comp will do for the budget conscious among us.
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Gaia: Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996-2003) (CD)
Dream Dolphin
Dream Dolphin's sole track on Music from Memory's 2021 comp "Heisei no Oto" mesmerized me, so I was very stoked to see this comp of the enigmatic Noriko's ambient material. My experience with her music has been that, besides her completely insane album art, she buried 90s ambient gold next to some of the worst techno/trance I've ever heard in my life. So this comp that trims the fat is very, very much appreciated. Also available on LP.
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Heavy Rocks (LP)
Boris
All hail Boris, one of the loudest bands to ever exist. This upcoming LP/CD reissue of their 2002 "Heavy Rocks" courtesy of Third Man Records fills one of the last gaps in their discography, as it has been woefully out of print since its initial CD-only run in Japan. This album is Boris at their most stoner rock, with lead guitarist Wata turning in terrifyingly nimble fretwork in particular. 20 years later and Boris are still crushing it, but this may be one of their mightiest masterpieces.
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All About Lily Chou-Chou (BLU)
Shunji Iwai
Shunji Iwai nailed the next 20+ years of teenage alienation to a disturbing degree in 2001's "All About Lily Chou-Chou." We watch a group of teenagers, already hurting from the world around them, turn to the solitude of an anonymous message board of their favorite pop star. Eventually their internet and real lives come together in tragedy in this very, very dark coming of age film.
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Young Loud and Snotty (LP)
Dead Boys
An essential record, re-issued on the cheap by Jackpot Records, an amazing Label/Store always worthy of your support.
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Live at the Cub Azteca 1978 (LP)
The Weirdos
An official bootleg of the entire show, which has a place in punk lore.
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