AUTOLUX - 'LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS'

Formats

• TMR379 - LP

Details

Third Man Records has a theory: It's impossible not to like Autolux. Because Carla Azar. Because of the soundtrack-of-the-otts symphony of their first two records. Because of their recent release PUSSY'S DEAD, which sounds more like the future than the score to TRON. Because two of the band's members met while composing the music for a Nobel-prize winner's play. Because Danger Mouse's 30th Century Records is their new label home (and we love us some Danger Mouse.) Because this. And this. And this. Following that logic, it’s impossible not to also like Autolux’s first live record, captured direct-to-acetate on Third Man Records’ 1955 Scully lathe on March 26th, 2016. Eugene Goreshter, Greg Edwards, and Carla Azar made the Blue Room stage feel small that evening, Azar standing atop her drum throne, projections kaleidoscoping on the acoustic tiling behind them. It was one of their first live shows together in the years since their last record, Transit Transit, was released (in 2010), the in between of which saw each band member pursuing other worthy projects. No time to lose, the band’s cohesion was immediate, their sense-of-self solid, and their energy infectious. Some of the best tracks of PUSSY’S DEAD made it into this live set, to the delight of the ecstatic Nashville audience that Saturday night: “Soft Scene,” “Anonymous,” “Brainwasher,” to name a few. Combine with a few well-placed gems from their previous releases (“Plantlife!” “Blanket!”), and the result is one of the most fun (and one of the more nuanced) records in the Third Man Live catalog.

Tracks

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NAIM AMOR & JOHN CONVERTINO - 'THE WESTERN SUITE AND SIESTA SONGS'

Formats

• LM10 - LP

  613505500151

• LM10CD - CD

  616892423249

Details

The Western Suite and Siesta Songs, the first release by newly formed duo Naïm Amor & John Convertino, is the perfect soundtrack to a drive through the desert Southwest. The thin, straight line of the road, unending to the horizon; dark, distant rainclouds hovering far ahead and above; the feel of the heat on the asphalt; and most of all the space... Space and time have come together here to create an environment unequaled elsewhere in elegance and beauty. This duo have created a classic record matching those desert roads and views of Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas. John Convertino recorded the initial tracks in a big room, alone, direct to four track, managing with very simple equipment to capture piano, accordion, and incredible analog drum sounds Those master cassette tapes were mailed to Amor, who added arrangements and his signature guitar style. Each musician needed each other to finish these works—Amor’s brittle electric guitar stabs, lyrical acoustic guitar playing, and cirrus cloud lap steel combine with the hovering space echoes and rattlesnake hiss / thunderous boom of Convertino’s drums to create an epic sequence of themes and variations. These compositions conjure up not only vivid scenes and vistas, but also characters, and moments in lives. The Western Suite And Siesta Songs is a masterpiece of Southwestern music, an album that could be the soundtrack to the best Western film since Once Upon a Time in the West.

Tracks

1. Round Em Up
2. Rye Grass Waltz
3. Of Dust And Wind
4. Jelly Roll Tango
5. Se?ora Sonora
6. Black Boot Shuffle
7. Fortune Diggers
8. XO Waltz
9. Santa Cruz River
10. Snow Falls On The Desert Plain
11. Tucson, Paris
12. Before We Go

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THE RENDERERS - 'A DREAM OF THE SEA'

Formats

• TELP001 - LP

  600197730119

Details

Amidst their stellar discography, The Renderers are best known for A Dream Of The Sea, released in the mid-nineties by Siltbreeze, and now issued for the first time ever on vinyl in a gatefold jacket on the band’s own label. Various forces were at work to create this album — a revered label, increased attention toward New Zealand artists — but the greatest achievements came from the band itself. Maryrose and Brian Crook reached new levels of honesty, forming a wave of insight and metaphor that is just as forceful today. Drawing from ghostly sea tales and personal demons, The Renderers’ tornados of guitar-play propel specters rising from the water and emerging from the self. A connection can be heard between The Renderers and Dead Moon, both bands dedicated wholly to the music they create, a fact clear in every note they play. A Dream Of The Sea will inevitably be listed amongst the greatest New Zealand rock albums of all time.

Tracks

1. Low To The Ground
2. Dream Of The Sea
3. Out Of The Forest
4. Transparent Black
5. Right From Wrong
6. Dark Continent
7. Great Ships
8. Broken Banks
9. Dimmer Waters
10. Thin Atmosphere

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ST. LENOX - 'TEN HYMNS FROM MY AMERICAN GOTHIC'

Formats

• AW096 - LP

  711447009616

Details

Ten Hymns From My American Gothic is a sprawling, layered, stream-of-consciousness portrait of modern American life, presented by St. Lenox as a gift to his father, who immigrated to the United States, in honor of his 70th birthday. Written, performed and recorded by the writer in off hours, while working as an attorney in Manhattan, the album meditates on progressive themes, immigration, cultural divide, forgiveness and manifest destiny. “[St. Lenox’s] voice is one of the most striking instruments in music today, a harsh and commanding howl that reminds me of John Darnielle, Michael Stipe, and Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart but is something entirely its own. His subject matter is equally transfixing and unique, a mix of queer love songs, protest music, and savvy observations about the modern American experience.” —Stereogum

Tracks

1. Fuel America
2. Thurgood Marshall
3. The Public School System
4. Nixon
5. Conspiracy Theories
6. You Don?t Call Me Anymore
7. Korea
8. People From Other Cultures
9. What I Think About When
You Say South Korea
10. When I Return

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