PATSY CLINE - 'SWEET DREAMS: THE COMPLETE DECCA STUDIO MASTERS 1960 - 63'

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• TMR516 - 3xLP

  813547028327

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*BLACK VINYL - PLS NOTE NEW PRICING* Released for the first time on vinyl, Sweet Dreams: The Complete Decca Studio Masters (1960 - 1963) is an absolute must for any country music fan. This beautiful collection gathers all 51 tracks that Cline recorded with Owen Bradley after she left a restrictive deal at 4 Star Records and joined on with Decca Records in 1960. It's hard to believe that these songs were all recorded in such a small time frame; so many of her top hits and fan-favorites were all captured during this very fruitful period with Bradley at Decca. Right off the bat, the new sessions struck gold with the classic "I Fall To Pieces," Cline's first Country #1. Most notably, working with Bradley led Cline to find her signature, distinctive sound - braiding wistful country music ballads with big-band pop sensibilities that shone a spotlight on her elastic, smooth vocals, forging the path for future country-pop crossovers. With her sound in place, the duo doubled-down on their successes, with sessions that produced chart-toppers "She's Got You," "Crazy" and "Sweet Dreams (of You)." Featuring absolutely stunning, powerful, full-color photos printed on the interior of the gatefold 3xLP jacket, Sweet Dreams is as just as rewarding for the eyes as the ears. The songs on this 51 track collection form the crown jewels of her discography and cement Patsy Cline's legacy as one of country music's greatest of all time. 

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JONATHAN FIRE*EATER - 'WOLF SONGS FOR LAMBS'

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• TMR612 - LP

  813547028310

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*BLACK VINYL - PLS NOTE NEW PRICING* At the height of Fire*eater mania, as the first big-ticket signing to the Dreamworks super-label, featured in spreads across all the hippest and au courant magazines at the time, amidst rumors of band members rejecting lucrative offers to be Calvin Klein models, the fact that they were able to deliver an album as solid as Wolf Songs For Lambs is still something to marvel at. Some of the band’s best work exists in songs like the wrist-breakingly beautiful drum work of “When the Curtain Calls for You” or the slappy, percussive reverb of “No Love Like That” or the twisted carnival organ figures carved in “These Little Monkeys.” The album explores emotive depths in the haunting corners of “Everybody Plays the Mime” or the plaintive simplicity of “A Night In the Nursery” through the charming, doo wop-styled backing vocal “ooh oohs” of “Inpatient Talent Show”…all of which seem to presage the slightly different downtempo direction band members Paul Maroon, Walter Martin and Matt Barrick would employ upon their formation of the Walkmen years later. As is far too common in the realm of “popular” music, the public was in a full-on Britney and Bizkit frenzy and Jonathan Fire*Eater was unable to connect with the masses before their implosion in 1998. But Wolf Songs For Lambs, along with their previous albums, has long stood as a totem amongst the die-hard supporters of the group, spreading the word like gospel and converting heathens into believers for over twenty years. This version released by Third Man Records was cut directly from the original 1/4” analog master tapes, is the first vinyl issue of the album since 1997 and is the first-ever vinyl release of the album in North America.

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TENACIOUS D - 'BLUE SERIES 7'

Formats

• TMR651 - 7"

  813547028198

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*BLACK VINYL* The long-awaited, heavily-hinted project between Jack White and Jack Black is here, in the form of a Jack White-produced Blue Series 7” featuring the incomparable Tenacious D. Kage and Jables stopped by Third Man Studios in Nashville to record this hilarious A-side-only single, with an absolutely iconic cover photo shot against the famous Blue Room wall at Third Man headquarters. We are honored to release Tenacious D’s first 7” single since 2006 and to make this release the first Blue Series single in over 4 years. 

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THE RACONTEURS - 'HELP ME STRANGER / SOMEDAYS (ALTERNATE TAKE)'

Formats

• TMR627 - 7"

  813547028419

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The first (and maybe only?) single from The Raconteurs' glorious return to form, Help Us Stranger. Include the album version of Help Me Stranger, plus an alternate take of fan favorite Somedays.

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ROSTAM - 'LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS'

Formats

• TMR549 - LP

  813547028372

Details

Recorded shortly after his solo debut album Half-Light (and about 2 years following his departure from Vampire Weekend), Third Man had the distinct pleasure of hosting Rostam, as he graced the Third Man Blue Room stage in Nashville with a penetratingly thoughtful yet cheery set of whole-hearted indie electronica, fi lled out with bongos and a string section. The live document is a very special one because it contains only songs from Half-Light, tour-tight and with clever nuances, nods and charm that can only be captured live. Not to say that this was anything but an outstanding live recording, complete with expertly commanded vocals and elegantly crafted strings. For those of us who weren’t able to see live, a standout moment is the playful fourth track “Wood”, which nourishes a lush, dynamic, beautiful little world into The Greater Consciousness. This live album was recorded direct-to-2” tape in the Blue Room.

Tracks

A1. Don?t Let It Get to You (Reprise)
A2. Sumer
A3. Never Going to Catch Me
A4. Wood
A5. Bike Dream
A6. Eos
B1. Rudy
B2. Half Light
B3. Gwan
B4. In a River
B5. Don?t Let It Get to You

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VARIOUS - 'MAGGOT BRAIN ISSUE #1'

Formats

• MG002 - BOOK

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Third Man Records is excited to announce Maggot Brain, a new, full-color quarterly edited by noted Detroit music scribe Mike McGonigal. Inside the Premiere Issue - Dec/Jan/Feb 2020: Alice Coltrane, Swell Maps, Malls Across America, Mia Zapata, Dilla’s ‘Donuts’, Luc Sante, Vibrant Detroit Sign Painting, Mayakovsky, Index, Big Joanie, How To Resist Ice, Daniel Johnston, Les Filles Des Illeghidad, Swampfest, The KLF’s Greatest Pranks + More!

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CHRISTIAN LOFFLER - 'GRAAL (PROLOGUE)'

Formats

• KI018CD - CD

  193483370828

• KI018LP - LP

  193483370743

Details

Christian Löffler has always been driven by a desire to be creative. In his early teens he would draw and dabble in painting, trying to capture if not a specific feeling, then the essence of something. An ideal. Something profound. “Still, today, it’s the same feeling that drives me, and it makes no difference what I use for it, whether it is music or paint.,” he explains. Graal (Prologue), his new project, utilises both, but it was not born solely of his creative urges. It also stems from frustration, and a sense that while touring he no longer had the mental space or down time to let his creativity flourish. Following an intense period of live concerts, where his music felt stagnated Löffler would find himself solely focussed on visual art – painting, drawing, and “some video stuff”, but absolutely no music. This return to his roots reminded him how it felt when he first started making music, and allowed him to “turn off my brain a bit, especially thoughts about what is possible or not”. In other words, it gave him freedom. He had a series of “sketches” on his touring laptop – “little melodies, or nice lines on my synthesiser, that were born on the fly” – built over untold hours in hotels, layovers, and long drives while on the road. “Music is made differently when you are somewhere else than in the studio,” he says. “They were rough ideas; very, very open.” Freshly inspired, he set to work on these raw forms in a back-to-basics approach that also saw him return to the software he used at the start of his career – Logic. “When I first started making electronic music, it took me one week to get a sound out of it. It was crazy!” he remembers. “But it was also exciting, like a new world opening up. Switching softwares – Ableton has been his first choice for years – took him out of his comfort zone, forcing him to virtually “re-learn” how to turn ideas into sounds. The result is six, typically downtempo minimal tracks – “very focused and concentrated” says Löffler. They have a nocturnal feel, perfect for eyes- closed introspection, and it’s no surprise to learn that two of them – ‘Bird’ and ‘Refu’ – were conceived during late-night jam sessions in gardens underneath starry skies. That same, wide-open expansiveness is reflected in a relaxed, easy flow, each element given the space to breath and unfurl – at times, Löffler fades everything out except a muffled beat and subtle, barely-there synths, skeletal moments than none- theless convey a quiet power. Two tracks feature vocalists, both of which Löffler describes as happy accidents. ‘Like Water’, featuring Mohna, was initially an instrumental piano piece, but was transformed by some vocal improvi- sations during a soundcheck for a Elbphilharmonie performance into atmospheric, spectral electro. Josephine Phillip, whose haunting Nordic voice warms the poignant ‘Running’ was someone that Löffler had always hoped to record with and when their schedules finally aligned, he took full advantage. Graal (Prologue) is named after the town he calls home – a windswept yet picturesque German outpost on the Baltic coast – and the rugged beauty and wonder of the area’s famed landscapes shines through the whole record. Löffler has always been influenced by nature and a sense of place, and he’s become a master at exploring space and amplifying the power of tranquility. Despite retaining what he describes as a rudimentary roughness – “for me, they still feel like sketches because I never really produced them out” – there’s a grace and lushness to all six tracks that inexorably draws and comforts you. The record comes illustrated with a series of Löffler’s hand drawn sketches, stark, monochro- matic line drawings of people and places. The austerity of the images perfectly matches the music; in fact, the drawings came first and served as inspiration for the sound. As with all his art, he was trying, he says, “to keep it simple. Mostly I focus on having one or two people, then a landscape, but it’s never really in detail; it’s more like something that comes out naturally and quickly. It’s the same with music; there’s an idea, and I try to catch it as fast as I can.” Graal is, as denoted by ‘Prologue’, also just a prelude – a second, companion album will be released before the end of the year. The idea is for the whole project to have an organic dichotomy – while Graal was created on the road (Löffler likens it to a travel diary), the follow up will be a classic studio album, created in his home recording space. It will also come illustrated with paintings, not drawings, continuing the theme of more roundly fleshing out ideas. “Much slower,” he says of this as yet untitled –and unfinished – sequel, “and a little more ambient.” But for now we have Graal, a bold gamble from an artist who needed to do something different, and one that has yielded rich dividends. “It definitely feels like going back to the core, to the essential feelings that got me into music and creating art,” he explains. “To just start over.” Such an approach has uncovered the magic at the heart of Löffler’s music, and what makes this enigmatic, astute artist so very special.

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APARDE - 'HANDS REST'

Formats

• KI020 - LP

• KI020CD - CD

  0193483750941

Details

Art has the power to mirror and capture its creators surroundings and environment. Art can also reflect something much more personal by offering us a glimpse of the artist’s mind. Hands Rest, the 2nd studio album by German composer and musician Aparde, does both. While reflecting the essence of Berlin’s club scene, in which Aparde undoubtedly is immersed in, the album also takes us to the depths of the musician himself, far from clubs and live sets, to a world that is both intimate and profound. “I think that I always process circumstances uncon- sciously in my music and that my way of thinking is full of internal conflicts,” he says. It is this duality, of an artist who is both entertaining Berlin’s nightlife through electronic sounds and delving deep into his own emotions through avant-garde pop, that epitomises Aparde’s work. Hands Rest, which was created over the span of one year, has a cathartic feel to it, “the process was very diffused in terms of time, because over the past year my life circumstances have been very complicated and often frustrating, and I had to motivate myself again and again.” While he crafted the tracks, Aparde was in fact processing his own thoughts and feelings after the end of a long relationship, and listeners navigate through varying soundscapes that seem to accompany Aparde’s own internal commotions as he himself navigated a turbulent year. “It [the break up] was accompanied by numbness and repression. This was followed by a period of inactivity and the thought of ending my activity as a musician,” he tells. But while pain, anger and melancholy can be felt in tracks, Hands Rest also contains moments of transcendental insight and “breakthroughs” that evoke comfort and acceptance. For Aparde, making music has always had a therapeutic effect, and many of the album’s tracks take psychological states as a starting point on a journey of self- knowledge. Take the album’s first track, Tar, whose tone is at once heavy and subdued, or tar-like as Aparde notes, “like a dark sticky mass into which one dives.” For Aparde, the track refers to the emotions of denial and acceptance that are so intrinsic to the human experience; “To live with what you do not want to live but learn to live with.” These meditations are felt through the entire album, and it is no surprise that making it was also a highly introspective and solitary endeavour: “everything that I do, without exception, arises from my own hand,” he says. There is undoubtedly a lot of Aparde in the album, not only through what he hand-crafts on his analogue equipment, but also through his own voice. “I use my voice in each track either as a sound element or as a lyrical component, that is, as classical pop songwriting.” Aparde’s lyrics also expose a fragility that complements the harder electronic elements, “I try to be as honest as possible and keep the message as simple as possible” he says. This transparency certainly shines through in the album’s first single Hands Rest where Aparde sings: ‘And I feel like a tired child. Now all my senses wish to sink into the night.’ The track is also accompanied by a video, which exposes the musician’s face and hands in close-ups of palpable candor; “That's me, but now I have nothing left to hide, I'll show you my open hands and my naked battered face” says Aparde of the single. In fact it is the use of his voice in Hands Rest, in hushed and soft tones, that balances some of the more dance tracks with mellow and deeply intimate undertones, showing the progression of the artist from a club musician to something that lies beyond that environment too, “I wanted to make half of the album with avant-garde pop tracks and the other with club tracks.” The second half of the album certainly feels more thumping than the first, with repetitive beats of a faster tempo, but the choice of equipment accompanied by Aparde’s voice warms up what could otherwise feel impersonal, “Only analogue instruments were used. With the DSI Prophet 08 I mainly make rhythmic lead sounds, pads and atmospheric layers... I do not use external samples or ready-made preset sounds,” he explains. In Integrity, one of the album’s dance and more stimulating tracks, heavy electronic crescendos are intercalated with Aparde’s mum- blings on a loop, “Integrity calls for radical action. This title wants to be heard and lived, and, except for a brief moment of searching for the right direction, it does not contradict and continues on its way.” No Need is the track that perhaps most encap- sulates Aparde’s duality between an avant-garde pop musician and a club artist. It takes the listener from a place of heavy-hearted alienation, sadness and beauty to the stamina present in a Berlin club. No need sees Aparde unfolding the flow slowly, switching the mood of the track from inward to outward, in a way that characterizes the whole album; “No need is a development from emotional melancholy to an aggressive drive,” he explains. With Hands Rest, Aparde brings listeners deep into his soul, a soul that is at times conflicted and agitated and at times low-key and solemn. And as he does so, the listener’s own mood is muted and lifted in a journey of quest, dance and healing “I learned that the power of your own thoughts can affect your personality and your own reality. Now I try to use this consciously to lead a happy life. I hope that my music can continue to make me and others happy and inspired.”

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MONOKLE & AL-90 - 'MINDPERFECTION'

Formats

• KI022V - LP

  0194491032807

Details

Mindperfection is the result of a collaboration between the St Petersburg producer, Monokle and AL-90, a musician hailing from the Russian port of Murmansk on the edge of the Arctic Circle. “A few years ago we were offered to make a joint track, it turned out to be very original and suited in spirit both me and AL-90. We also got a very big feedback after its release,” says Monokle of the relation, “After that, we talked to each other for a long time about working on another joint release.” Despite the hundreds of kilometers of land separating both musicians, creating the album was a smooth and speedy process, “We did it very quickly. I've never written so fast, literally 5 months. At the time of recording, everything was done just by sharing files, samples and projects with each other,” explains Monokle. ‚Mindperfection’ definitely draws on Monokle’s earlier releases; tracks which unite fragments of IDM, glitch, ambient and drone to create a unique mosaic of sound that has come to define the producer’s style. There is a lot going on some of the tracks, samples with varying moods, accele- rated beats, and scraps of voice heard here and there, but the overall picture is surprisingly very harmonic. The tracks in the album are tied together and made cohesive by an inherent warmth. Even in some of the more fast-paced and darker titles, there is a subtle melancholy that can be felt within. The track ‘Lowland’ for instance, consists of displaced rhythms which accelerate and slow down in an eerie melody, “I like the atmosphere of this track, it is gloomy and at the same time brisk and free,” says Monokle. While a lot of their usual tools and effects were employed, Monokle and AL-90’s collaboration rendered new sound worlds to ‚Mindperfection’. AL-90’s earlier releases have a lo-fi quality to them, a fuzziness that is reminiscent of the sound of a cassette. For ‚Mindperfection’, he employed several filters on Monokle’s otherwise crisp sound to soften it’s edges and create something more organic, “I'm not used to such a dirty sound, because AL-90 deliberately spoiled the original, pure sound. But it gave the album a certain soft, analog and cassette charm,” says Monokle. ‚Mindperfection’ is an album that delivers in textures and complexity. With superimposed layers that are at once dark and beautiful, alienating and warm, toe-tapping and introspective, the album is a melting pot of effects and ideas. The seemingly contradictory elements come together in structures of kaleidoscopic cohesiveness, that are testament to Monokle and AL-90s experience, skills and successful collaboration.

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FEJKA - 'REUNION'

Formats

• KI024V - LP

  194491037154

Details

Creating an album is a journey of self-knowledge through hindsight; putting together the tracks that will compose the oeuvre much like putting together a photo album. It involves looking back and undoubtedly reflecting over the memorable times that inspired each composition. That is definitely the case for Fejká, who released this year his album, Reunion. “The tracks on this album started to emerge from all different moments, feelings and mental states of my life during the last two years. They all have the same origin and purpose, to be fragments of my journey to find myself. Each song is a part of me,” says the German electronic music producer and visual artist. Like with everything that involves hindsight, there is a great deal of nostalgia in the album – and it is the nature of nostalgia to be fluid. It can be at once sweet or melancholic, agitated or mellow, airy or heavy, but it nonetheless invokes in all its forms a sentimental longing for something. In Reunion, nostalgia is primarily given shape in dreamlike soundscapes, soft atmospheres that nonetheless evoke strong contemplative feelings. This longing is carefully unfolded in the album’s track Youth where a simple melody plays out over the sound of seagulls and develops effortlessly into a joyful tune. The track, informed by its title, invokes the candor and naivety of childhood, “The song is not trying to be cool, dreamy, dancy or anything, it's just this carefree and lighthearted atmosphere.” But to describe Fejká’s music only by its more delicate side would only be painting a part of the picture. Since his EP Twilight, the producer has been exploring sounds that are at once ethereal and dynamic, celestial but also very much grounded on the dancefloor. In a seamless way, Fejká crafts music that is equally suitable for introspective moods and wonders as it is for a club. But while ‘Twilight’ explored this duality between dreamlike atmospheres and dance music, Reunion seems to delve into a much vaster range of emotions and approaches, cementing the young producer’s eclecticism, “I think that I realized that life is too diverse to be only portrayed by one sound style,” explains Fejká,“It's a collection of my life and the sum of all the ups and downs.” Take the track Untold for instance, perhaps the most fast-tempo title of the album with it’s punctuated beats and repetitive melodies. Rather than it being just a dance tune, it is also a highly emotive and contemplative song which plays out like a riddle, provoking feelings of quest and curiosity, “It catches a mysterious atmosphere and plays with the power of the unknown. I really love music causing emotions which seem too complex to understand,” says Fejká. The track couldn't be more different than the album’s opening title, Reunion, which moves slowly and carries an ethereal melody of melancholy and insight. Both songs nonetheless are equally compelling in conveying a feeling instantly and potently. Another tool used on Reunion that hits hard on an emotional level, is the use of the voice, “It conveys a certain authenticity and truth, and builds a bridge in terms of emotionality for the listener. Experiencing an emotional medium through human voice triggers some deeply rooted evolutionary feelings,” explains Fejká. The strongest example of this sentimentality comes in the track Reunion for which friend and musician Marie Angerer contri- buted with haunting vocals, “For me, a female fragile voice is very special and outstanding in the universe of musical elements,” he says. Putting together the album might have been a journey of self-knowledge, but creating its ten tracks was purely intuitive for Fejká, “While doing a song, I think you should just do it and not think about anything else,” he explains. “After finishing, you will start to realize what you have just created and try to find personal meaning.” Having a visceral creative process means that inspiration could hit at any time, anywhere. Drafting sketches became an important way in which Fejká would capture those revelations, “Sometimes I have ideas for melodies and lyrics, so I end up humming the melody awkwardly into my phone.” From then, Fejká would develop these sketches in his laptop - a basic setup which nonetheless permitted him to take his ideas far, “I only expand my set up when I really feel that I can't produce what I want with my current equipment, otherwise, it will just overstress my mind and wallet.” It is fair to say that Reunion is much more about feelings than it is about any technical element or craft. The strength of the album’s tracks is deeply tied to their ability to capture a mood, and convey it to the listener. Fejká has successfully been honing this ability since his last EP. In Reunion, the young producer moves the listener through his own personal emotive journey, through his own experiences, and at every track the listener feels closer and more at home with Fejká himself

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