It may have been a holiday weekend, but some new releases still hit the stores, including the highly-anticipated ninth album from Icelandic icon Björk. Seattle's own Dude York shares a full-length holiday album, featuring mostly original material. And Sufjan Stevens shares a collection of demos, remixes, and four previously unreleased outtakes dating from his 2015 album, Carrie and Lowell.
Reissues ruled the day to coincide with Black Friday, including a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Ramones' Rocket to Russia. (The 3 CD/1 LP collection includes a remastered version of the original LP and a new "40th Anniversary Mix" by the original Rocket To Russia engineer/mixer Ed Stasium. The set also includes a number of unreleased studio recordings, a live 1977 concert in Glasgow, and many more bonus items.) A limited edition 25th Anniversary Edition of Neil Young's Harvest Moon was released for the first time ever on vinyl in North America, as part of Record Store Day's Black Friday. Long-running UK band The Fall share a seven-CD box set compiling A-sides and select B-sides. And Mute Records reissues A Certain Ratio's 1980 debut LP The Graveyard and the Ballroom, originally produced by Martin Hannett and released on Factory Records.
L.A. artist Miguel shares his fourth full-length, an album KEXP Music Director Don Yates declares "a potent set of psych-tinged R&B and funk featuring a hazy, groove-driven sound with echoing psych-rock guitars, spacey keyboards, and blunted beats accompanying his soulful vocals and lyrics of t…
This week sees new albums from two soul greats. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings share their seventh and final album, recorded before Jones passed away from cancer in November 2016. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "a strong set of buoyant old-school soul and funk, with songs mostly written b…
