Back in July, Landlocked presented its mid-year round-up - providing a brief reflection of the previous 6 months of new music. This week we give to you the remainder of our highlights of 2007, and in a couple of weeks you'll get a full end of the year wrap-up and staff picks. Next week expect a return to our normal format. Enjoy your tofurkey sandwiches. JULY Nick Drake - Family Tree CD (Tsunami) ................................................................... An hour of music that predates his first album. He does traditional songs as well as songs by Dylan and Blind Boy Fuller plus early demos of later tracks. Justice - + (Cross) CD/LP (Vice) ................................................................... Huge slabs of beats, brutal strings, and cathartic release from this French duo. Boasting the already ubiquitous disco pop anthem "D.A.N.C.E." and others. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga CD/LP (Merge) ................................................................... Another chapter in the pop-hook canon of these well dressed gentlemen. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - Keep Reachin Up (Light in the Attic) ................................................................... Fans of Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings will find much to love on this passionate and suave Mod-Soul collaboration. Marmoset - Florist Fired CD/LP (Secretly Canadian) ................................................................... Indiana faves Marmoset are back! Merging the Swell Maps-inspired tumultuous clamor of their debut, their addictive 2-minute anthems, and epic joyful dirges, "Florist Fired" has it all. Spencer Moore - s/t CD (Tompkins Square) ................................................................... He played a tent show with the Carter Family in the 30s, and was recorded by Alan Lomax in 1959. Knowing over 500 songs by heart, this 88 year old country singer can sing you most any old-time song known and this is his debut album. Bat For Lashes - Fur & Gold CD/LP (Caroline) ................................................................... A UK version to figures like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, and Cocorosie? Dig a little deeper and hear Bjork at her most restrained or a songwriter of the poetic calibre of Kate Bush. A haunting and richly orchestrated debut album. Studio - West Coast CD/LP (Information) ................................................................... Slo-mo Italo disco that is the missing link between The Cure and Lindstrom touching on Can, Neu, Happy Mondays and more in their creation of an Afrobeat dub disco indie pop adventure. AUGUST The Budos Band - II CD/LP (Daptone) ................................................................... The unheralded emperors of Instrumental Staten Island Afro-Soul continue to rule. Ten exciting new instrumentals of funk, afro-beat and soul music. Magnolia Electric Co. - Sojourner 4CD+DVD (Secretly Canadian) ................................................................... This box includes 4 CDs, a documentary DVD, poster, postcards, and a medallion. The CDs are from 4 distinct recording sessions w/ Steve Albini, Sun Studios, David Lowery, and at home alone. Oh No - Dr. No's Oxperiment CD/LP (Stones Throw) ................................................................... Instrumental hip-hop. Raw and rare psych from Turkey, Lebanon, Greece and Italy formulate this antidote to wack samples and played-out loops from Madlib's little brother. M.I.A. - Kala CD/LP (Interscope) ................................................................... Recorded in India, Trinidad, Australia, London, New York and Baltimore, M.I.A. has crafted an international sound that is as excitingly undefineable as it is infectious. Dance music from the global future. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass CD/LP (Definitive Jux) ................................................................... Aesop proves once again why he is at the top of the verbose underground hip hop heap. The majority of production duties have been handled by Aesop's longtime partner Blockhead, while label mates El-P and Rob Sonic each make offerings. Angels of Light - We Are Him CD/LP (Young God) ................................................................... We Are Him, Angels' 5th album, is a potent new chapter in a fiercely individual and remarkable musical journey for Michael Gira (Swans). Contributing musicians include Akron/Family. Liars - Liars CD/LP (Mute) ................................................................... Back on the map after 2 albums that saw them journey deep into the experimental wilderness. Discord-heavy rock, clanking grooves & skronky garage crunch suggest this band still have little to no interest in pandering to the mainstream. No Age - Weirdo Rippers CD (Fat Cat) ................................................................... No Age purvey a stripped, essential, life-affirming, skewed take on pop delivered via a clearly-defined punk-rock aesthetic, taking in noise, energy, and melody in equal measure. Variously reminiscent of Black Dice, The Ramones, and My Bloody Valentine. SEPTEMBER Vic Chesnutt - North Star Deserter CD/2LP (Constellation) ................................................................... All 7 members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion, along with Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), and members of Frankie Sparo, Hangedup, and Godspeed You Black Emperor - offered influences and approaches to Vic's music that yielded a record unlike any other in his substantial discography. Another gem in Vic's crown. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam CD/LP (Domino) ................................................................... In terms of its scale and vision Strawberry Jam feels like space dust and radar falling on the desert and making it bloom. It is the sound of a band spinning wildly and intoxicated, at the cusp of their powers, as thick and rich and sweet and colourful as it sounds. Wooden Shjips - s/t CD/LP (Holy Mountain) ................................................................... The Shjips arrive via the 70s Germanic-guitar lunacy of Guru Guru and the confrontational repetition of Velvet Underground. Spacemen 3 channeling Doors playing Stooges. Killer. Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon CD (XL) ................................................................... Banhart's "freak folk" tag is gone, replaced with this classic, gorgeous rock album. Some songs are fragile and solipsistic, others have a pronounced tropicalia influence, and still others are wildly electric and epic. Dragons - BFI CD/LP (Ninja Tune) ................................................................... Imagine Brian Wilson jamming with Steely Dan. Darryl Dragon went on to play with the Beach Boys and become The Captain, alongside Tenille. RIYL Stereolab, United States of America, Free Design, etc. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature CD/LP (Mute) ................................................................... In Our Nature shows Gonzalez' growth as a songwriter. Displaying a heightened emphasis on melody and strong, focused lyrics - the album is a dark combination of softness and anger that is at once mesmerizing, intimate and hauntingly epic. Heliocentrics - Out There CD/LP (Stones Throw) ................................................................... A listen reveals no small influence from the funk universe of James Brown. But there's also the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra's music. The cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone. The sublime fusion of David Axelrod. But the Heliocentrics' music isn't retro. It's brand new and it's timeless. Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog CD/LP (Sub Pop) ................................................................... Iron And Wine's most ambitious and accomplished record to date. The album breathes with an extended line-up of instruments and styles. Southern gothic literature to sound. Bettye LaVette - The Scene of the Crime CD (Anti) ................................................................... With swampy guitars, slippery Wurlitzer piano, and a driving backline courtest of The Drive By Truckers, this record conjures up the spirit of great loose 70s bands like the Faces while offering Bettye an urgent, vital setting for her razor-sharp vocals. Recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL. OCTOBER PJ Harvey - White Chalk CD/LP (Island) ................................................................... A lovely departure, these piano based songs might make for her most gripping release in years. It includes musical contributions from Harvey's long time associate Eric Drew Feldman and Jim White from The Dirty Three. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days 100 Nights CD/LP (Daptone) ................................................................... Sharon's smoky, soulful voice and blistering grooves hark back three decades earlier to the heyday of funk, evoking the music of James Brown proteges like Marva Whitney and Lynn Collins with uncanny precision. Bruce Springsteen - Magic CD/LP (Sony) ................................................................... His 15th studio album is not only a return to rock, but also a reunion w/ the E Street Band. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup CD/LP (Ba Da Bing) ................................................................... An homage to France's culture, fashion, history, and music. Soaking up the likes of Francois Hardy, Charles Aznavour, and, most notably, Jacques Brel. Celebration - The Modern Tribe CD/LP (4AD) ................................................................... Nothing sounds like The Birthday Party. Yet Celebration has just enough holy chaos and free-flung tribal drumming to warrant the much-hyped comparison. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala CD/LP (Secretly Canadian) ................................................................... Like a modern day Chet Baker, Jens loves to sing about heartache. Old Time Relijun - Catharsis In Crisis CD/LP (K) ................................................................... The ferocity of lead singer Arrington De Dionyso draws listeners deeper into a world where language, rhythm and unrepentant libido collide. RIYL The Contortions, hallucinatory snake handling and jaw harp. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera CD/LP (Domino) ................................................................... On his 9th solo album, Wyatt collaborates with Brian Eno, Paul Weller, Phil Manzanera, and a small orchestra. Divided into three acts, Comicopera is an epic genre-bending allegory told through Robert's fragile tenor voice. Pylon - Gyrate [reissue] CD (DFA) ................................................................... Originally unleashed in 1980 and for the first ever time on CD, the band's jagged rhythms, scratchy guitar and insistent bass lines were the perfect foil for Vanessa's whisper-to-a-shriek vocals and sweaty dance parties. Venetian Snares - My Downfall CD/LP (Planet Mu) ................................................................... If there has been one Snares album that everybody has talked about, its Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett, scored by an orchestra and the Amen break. This is the answer, even more epic & bombastic than its predecessor. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals CD (We Are Free) ................................................................... One could say they hear harmonies suggestive of CSNY - or even the prog-ness of Peter Gabriel era Genesis. Although they name both as influences, its impossible to overlook the other inspirations: Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars and Popul Vuh. NOVEMBER Burial - Untrue CD/LP (Hyperdub) ................................................................... Untrue is a record of weird soul music, which lovingly processes spectral female voices into vaporized R&B and smudged two-step garage. Vocal lines are blurred, smeared, and bent until their content is cast adrift into the void. Citay - Little Kingdom CD/LP (Dead Oceans) ................................................................... Citay is an otherworldly place, full of psychedelic swirl, soaring harmonies and grandiose jams. Like their debut, the 70s rock sensibility is intact; Thin Lizzy, acoustic Led Zeppelin, Big Star and the Byrds all remain touchstones. Bobb Trimble - Iron Curtain Innocence / Harvest of Dreams CD/LP (Secretly Canadian) ................................................................... Trimble echoes the ghosts of Bolan, Buckley, Rapp, Spence, and Wyatt. Freely incorporating a pastiche of phasing guitars, answering machine noise, spliced up tapes, and an heaping helping of god knows what. Gram Parsons w/ The Flying Burrito Bros - Live At The Avalon CD (Amoeba) ................................................................... Part irony-fuelled hillbilly anthems, part inventive country and soul covers built upon their achingly beautiful 2-part harmonies, the Burritos package was all underscored by Sneaky Pete's radical pedal-steel - with a total of 10 songs never formally recorded by Parsons in any of his incarnations. Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind 2CD (Dichristina) ................................................................... This collection of Bunyan's existing early recordings is a young London girl's series of beautiful love songs that resonate profoundly via an almost brutal efficiency and honesty. The melodies seem timelessly sweet and addictive, the vision at once delicate but somehow tough as granite. Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter from the Ash CD/LP (Drag City) ................................................................... From its seemingly straighforward presentation to the tight song constructions all the way through to the soaring spiritual burst you get once having made it through the maze, Shelter From the Ash is a rewarding listen. ................................................................... NEXT WEEK - Pre-Order/Reserve one of next week's releases and guarantee you'll have it when its released!!! - info@landlockedmusic.com ................................................................... 4 Bonjours Parties - Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (12/4) Aloha - Light Works (12/4) Bonde Do Role - Marina Gasolina (12/4) Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (12/4) Defiance, Ohio - The Fear, The Fear, The Fear (12/4) Nick Drake - Fruit Tree [box] (12/4) Ghostface Killah - Big Dough Rehab (12/4) Isis - Holy Tears (12/4) Jonathan Kane - Little Drummer Boy EP (12/4) The Libertines - Best of (12/4) Minus Story - Make the Dead Come EP (12/4) Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris LP (12/4) Chris Shlarb - Twilight and Ghost Stories (12/4) Sigur Ros - Heima DVD (12/4) Jed Speare - Sound Works 1980-87 2CD (12/4) Tender Forever - Wider (12/4) Woelv - Tout Seul dans la Foret... (12/4) ................................................................... COMING SOON (dates often subject to change, sorry) ................................................................... Rivers Cuomo - Alone: The Home Recordings (12/11) Wu Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams (12/11) VA - Great Debators OST (12/11) Lupe Fiasco - The Cool (12/18) Radiohead - In Rainbows (1/2) Dirty on Purpose - Like Bees EP (1/15) Magnetic Fields - Distortion (1/15) Blood on the Wall - Liferz (1/22) Cat Power - Jukebox (1/22) Times New Viking - Rip It Off (1/22) Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead (1/29) The Mars Volta - The Bedlam is Goliath (1/29) Radar Brothers - Auditorium (1/29) Sons & Daughters - The Gift (1/29) Xiu Xiu - Women as Loers (1/29) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Top 5 sellers at Landlocked Music for the week of 11/20 - 11/27: 1. Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter from the Ash CD/LP (Drag City) 2. Bonnie Prince Billy - Ask Forgiveness CD/LP (Drag City) 3. Paul McCartney - Amoeba's Secret LP [live] (Hear) 4. James Murphy & Pat Mahoney - Fabriclive.36 CD (Fabric) 5. Boris/Merzbow - Rock Dream CD (Southern Lord) Don't miss the boat! We have still fresh CDs, LPs and DVDs from Bonnie Prince Billy, Boris w/ Merzbow, British Sea Power, Cloudland Canyon / Lichens, Electric Wizard, Gorillaz, LoVid, Major Stars, James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, Nine Inch Nails, Push-Pull, Six Organs of Admittance, The Valerie Project, Cursive, Opeth, Residents, Boscoe, Vashti Bunyan, Burial, Eskiboy, Robyn Hitchcock, Os Mutantes, Pantaleimon, Wire, Battles, Bright Eyes, Burial, Citay, Loren Connors, Einsturzende Neubauten, Grizzly Bear, Jay Z, LCD Soundsystem, Operation Ivy, Gram Parsons w/ The Flying Burrito Bros, Pedro, Pine Hill Haints, Sigur Ros, Bobb Trimble, White Williams, Buck 65, The Cake, Charalambides, Youssou N'Dour, Elephant Micah, Gescom, Levon Helm, Lindstrom, Steve Moore, Orgone, Luke Vibert & Jean Jaques Perrey and much much more! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Upcoming Bloomington shows that Landlocked Music is excited about: 12/2 - Unwed Sailor @ Space 101 12/2 - Mustard Plug @ Rhino's 12/3 - Jose Gonzalez / Cass McCombs @ Buskirk-Chumley 12/6 - Austin Lucas & the Pressmen @ Rhino's 12/7 - White Magic @ Art Hospital 12/7 - Dillinger Escape Plan / A Life Once Lost / Genghis Tron @ Rhino's 12/12 - Mae @ Rhino's We have tickets and further information for many of these wonderful performances. Sorry, but we can only accept cash for ticket purchases. ------------------------------------------------------------------ More information about shows and more on the horizon is available for the technologically inclined at http://www.landlockedmusic.com/ or http://myspace.com/landlockedbton or http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2385198570 We are looking to buy/trade all your old unwanted CDs & LPs! Bring 'em in and we'll make an offer. We are also ready, willing and able to special order anything for you. Email us or drop in and we will hook you up with whatcha need. Feel free to forward this to all your lovely friends that need to know whats going on, we'd love to have them join our little party here on the newsletter. Tell us what you think, what you desire. ------------------------------------------------------------------ BFF, Jason & Heath info@landlockedmusic.com Landlocked Music 314 S. Washington St. (next door to Boxcar Books) Bloomington, IN, 47401 http://www.landlockedmusic.com/ http://myspace.com/landlockedbton http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2385198570 (812) 339 - 2574 Hours of Operation: Monday - Saturday : 11:30am - 7:30pm Sunday : Noon - 5pm