Month: August 2017

There are a ton of excellent new releases this week from the likes of Iron & Wine, Queens Of The Stone Age, Oh Sees (they dropped the “Thee”) and more, but the release a few of us on Team Sweat are most excited for is the first-ever vinyl edition of Craig Armstrong’s underrated downtempo/neo-classical masterpiece The Space Between Us. This is probably the make-out album to end all make-out albums, AND it has Liz Fraser of Cocteau Twins singing “This Love,” arguably one of the sexiest songs ever recorded. The Space Between Us is also excellent for rainy days, late night wind-downs, contemplative walks… damn, I feel like I’m writing a personal ad here. If you’ve never heard this album before, you can have the pleasure of hearing it for the first time on vinyl. I’m gonna light some candles and hang out with my copy later. Don’t picture that though – instead check out “This Love” and this week’s incredible in-stock list below. -MLE

Craig Armstrong – The Space Between Us 2LP
Listen: “This Love”
“For his first solo album, The Space Between Us (Melankolic, 1998) Craig Armstrong brings together a collection of works from his career to date, including the haunting strings of modern classic ‘Weather Storm,’ which formed part of his collaboration with Bristol’s Massive Attack on their 2006 hit album Protection.

Elsewhere is a beautiful reworking of Blue Nile’s ‘Let’s Go Out Tonight,’ with singer Paul Buchanan, and ‘This Love,’ with vocals from Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser. Early film work, such as Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene from the award-winning score for Baz Luhrmann’s tragic romance, is also included.”

The space between tracks – new releases, reissues & restocks…

Read moreThis Just In: The Space Between Us

James Lavelle’s UNKLE returns with another excellent cinematic, beat-driven record full of stellar guest vocalists. His approach the the project is tried and true, and he doesn’t only rely on well-known vocalists to push the agenda, giving some newer/lesser-known singers a chance at being part of the UNKLE canon. Killer artwork (plus 36-page booklet), format (180g 2LP) and packaging to boot! Check out the hypnotically gorgeous video for “Looking For The Rain” below and this week’s in-stock list below that. Lots of killer new releases to pick up! -MLE

Unkle – The Road Pt. 1 2LP, CD
Watch: “Looking For The Rain”
“After a rollercoaster twenty-five year career as an artist, curator and tastemaker, James Lavelle returns with Unkle’s fifth studio album: The Road. In the twenty years since Unkle’s debut, Lavelle has been prolific. He created three studio albums with Unkle (Never Never Land, War Stories and Where Did The Night Fall), a host of critically acclaimed film scores, and curated a series of art exhibitions through Daydreaming with… most notably, the hugely successful DayDreaming with Stanley Kubrick exhibition at Somerset house. After a productive trip to the States, Lavelle returned to London to add the finishing touches to what was shaping up to be another classic Unkle record. Lavelle then managed to conclude a twenty year conversation with Primal Scream’s Andrew Innes, as the pair finally got together in the studio. Innes plays lead guitar to the album’s title track The Road. Another first for Lavelle was a collaboration with Planet Funk’s Gigi Canu and Marko Baroni, who along with Duke Spirit starlet Liela Moss, contributed to Sunrise (Always comes around), Unkle’s reinterpretation of the summer anthem. ”

The black wax road – new releases, reissues & restocks…

Read moreThis Just In: UNKLE

Peter Gabriel’s Passion (AKA the soundtrack for Scorsese’s The Last Temptation Of Christ) is back on vinyl for the first time in 15 years! Most hardcore Gabriel fans will tell you this is their favorite piece from his entire body of work, and a couple members of Team Sweat fall into that group. Gabriel was no stranger to incorporating world music elements into his pop/rock compositions, so Passion’s content wasn’t completely out of left field, but this was the first time he exposed listeners to these styles full-on. If you know Gabriel’s more-popular music but haven’t heard Passion, here’s your chance to check it out as a deluxe, 45 RPM, half-speed re-mastered version, overseen by Gabriel and released by his Real World label to assure highest quality. There’s a massive in-stock list this week as well, so don’t forget to scope that out! -MLE

Peter Gabriel – Passion 3LP
Listen: Full Album
“One of the most important records for me was the Passion record which was an opportunity really to try as a writer to do a whole different sort of job than I usually do. I wasn’t intending to sing on it, I ended up doing some sort of background singing but it was with the brief for The Last Temptation of Christ for creating something that had references to that time and that part of the world but really had it’s own character and was to be sort of timeless in a way. I was very fortunate to have some extraordinary performances from people Nusrat, Youssou N’Dour and I remember one night with Nusrat and Shankar and there was a sort of India and Pakistan working together effectively on the track that is called ‘Passion,’ I think, was an extraordinary evening to be in the studio and just watch as these very gifted musicians really emoting.

I was excited to be asked to work on the music. When I first discussed the project with Martin Scorsese in 1983 I wanted to find out how he was intending to film this controversial novel. He wanted present the struggle between the humanity and divinity of Christ in a powerful and original way, and I was convinced by his commitment to the spiritual content and message. He is an excellent and very musical director and working with him has been a great experience. After we finished mixing the film, there were some unfinished ideas that needed developing, and I took some extra time to complete the record. There are several pieces that were not able to be included in the film and I felt the record should be able to stand as a separate body of work. I chose the working title for the film – Passion.

We recorded some of the finest singers and soloists in the field of world music and set the score on a backdrop of traditional North African rhythms and sounds. It was a wonderful experience working with such different and idiosyncratic musicians. They came from Pakistan, Turkey, India, Ivory Coast, Bahrain, Egypt, New Guinea, Morocco, Senegal and Ghana. For many of them working with this material was something quite new and they were very enthusiastic. The soundtrack is full of the spirit of their performance.” Peter Gabriel (1989)

Passionate – new releases, reissues & restocks…

Read moreThis Just In: Passion

Rhino’s provided super-collectors with another installment of the legendary Nuggets series as part of its Summer Of Love campaign! Transparent Days: West Coast Nuggets focuses on, you guessed it, psychedelic gems from the west coast. Titled after a track from The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Transparent Days offers up 30 tracks from well-known acts and relative unknowns, all active during the Summer Of Love. Take a listen to the title-ish track below and scope this week’s in-stocks as well. -MLE

Various – Transparent Days: West Coast Nuggets 2LP
Listen: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – “Transparent Day”
“The summer of 1967 was a turning point in popular culture that drew as many as 100,000 young people to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. It represented a social convergence driven by free thinking, hippie fashion, political upheaval, sexual freedom, drug use and creative expression. As the movement spread around the world, it led to an outpouring of poetry, artwork, and especially music.

In July, Rhino will launch its 50th anniversary celebration of the Summer of Love with vinyl re-issues of key albums from that era along with new compilations that provide a soundtrack to this defining moment of the Sixties.

The final month’s batch goes increasingly esoteric with a new 2LP set in the famous Nuggets series: Transparent Days: West Coast Nuggets offers 30 rare gems from the Summer of Love.”

Transparent, translucent, transcendent – new releases, reissues & restocks…

Read moreThis Just In: Transparent Days