June Releases

Hey Vinyl Fans:

Some exciting releases are scheduled to hit the streets in June.

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the albums we are looking forward to:

Steve Earle—The 180-gram vinyl version of Earle’s latest, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (New West), is set to come out June 7. He also has a new novel with the same title.

Eddie Vedder—Vedder’s soundtrack to Into the Wild is a masterpiece. His latest solo effort, Ukulele Songs (Monkeywrench), has a June 14 street date. And, yes, the album features Vedder playing the ukulele, and it sounds great. Check out the video for the single “Longing to Belong.”



Neil Young—Young reaches into the archives for his latest 12-track release. A Treasure (Reprise) features music that Young recorded on tour with The International Harvesters in 1984. It comes out June 14.

Alison Krauss—Paper Airplane (Rounder) is the first album in seven years from Krauss and the stellar Union Station. The vinyl version is scheduled for a June 21 release.

Bon Iver—Bon Iver returns with new album June 21. This might be the most-anticipated indie release of the year.

Marianne Faithfull—Faithfull’s latest is called Horses and High Heels (Naïve). Unlike her last album, the outstanding Easy Come, Easy Go, which featured all covers, the new effort includes several original numbers along with some more well-chosen covers. The album was recorded in New Orleans, with a core of local musicians. Horses and High Heels has a June 28 street date. Should be good.

New Bon Iver LP Coming In June

Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) is set to release his follow-up to 2008's For Emma, Forever Ago, one of the most beloved indie releases of all time. (The 2009 release, Blood Bank, was an EP.)

The new album, Bon Iver Bon Iver, on Jagjaguwar has a June 21 street date.

Fans can get a download of the gorgeous single “Calgary” at boniver.org.

A special pre-order bundle that feature a vinyl edition of the album plus a T-shirt, poster, 12-inch single, and download is available for $39.99. A package of just the vinyl album and poster is available for $14.99.

Anti to Release The Duke & The King

Anti-Records just announced that it will be releasing an album by The Duke & The King.

The band’s upcoming self-titled release will hit stores Aug. 2 and is a collection of songs culled from the group’s two previous English albums, not yet available in the U.S. Both records have received unanimously enthusiastic reviews from the British press.

Formed in New York by acclaimed musician-writer Simone Felice, a key songwriter and founding member of celebrated country rock outfit The Felice Brothers, The Duke & The King are a potent acoustic-vocal group created by Felice and Robert Bird Burke featuring Simi Stone and Nowell “ The Deacon” Haskins.


The track list released by Anti reveals that the album will feature 12 songs, including “If You Ever Get Famous,” “Shaky,” and “One More American Song.”

This should be good. I’ve been waiting for the band to release some records here.
An earlier post linked to their video of “Shaky.” Here it is again:

Kate Bush Announces New Works

There's big news from Kate Bush. Well, any news from the reclusive Bush is big, but it's particularly exciting when she announces a new album.

Bush is preparing to release Director's Cut on May 16 on her own label, FIsh People, in conjunction with EMI. She'll be revisiting selections from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes.

The press release explains that she has re-recorded some elements while keeping the best musical performances of the songs.

A new version of “Deeper Understanding” will be released as a single in April.

Director’s Cut will be released in the following formats: digital album, standard CD in a case-bound book, deluxe CD (three disc package, including Director’s Cut, The Sensual World and re-mastered The Red Shoes) in a case-bound book and two-disc vinyl. Other digital and vinyl formats will be made available on katebush.com.

Bush also reports that she is working on new material for a later release.

Oh please, oh please, let there be a tour.

March Releases

Hey Vinyl Fans,

If the rest of 2011 is as strong as the first two months have been, this is going to be an amazing year in music. We've already had some remarkable releases, notably new music from The Decemberists, Bright Eyes, Adele, Low Anthem, and The Dirtbombs. Fantastic stuff.

It looks like the trend will continue in March. I'm looking forward to several big releases.

Lucinda Williams—Lu returns with Blessed on the Lost Highway label on March 1. It's her first album since 2008's Little Honey.

Alexander—Alexander Ebert releases a self-titled solo album on Community Music. He's the lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. This is also expected to come out March 1.

REM—There's much anticipation surrounding the latest REM album, Collapse Into Now (Warner/WEA). In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Peter Buck called it "the best thing we've ever done." That's a bold statement. This looks to be REM's last record for Warner. It comes out March 8.

The Strokes—Angles has a March 22 street date.

Radiohead—With little notice, the band delivers The King of Limbs on March 29.

Dirty Beaches—I can't wait to check out Dirty Beaches' Badlands. Dirty Beaches is Alex Zhang Hungtai, who makes moody, dark, beautiful, lo-fi music. The vinyl is available for pre-sale at insound. If you want something new and different, check him out. The album also has a March 29 release.

Clem Snide Gets Vinyl Treatment

I somehow missed Clem Snide's Your Favorite Music when it came out in 2000.

Lucky for me and others, the album has been released on vinyl for the first time. It's a gorgeous, melancholy album that gets under your skin with its beautiful melodies and Eef Barzelay's sad voice singing his funny, tender lyrics.

The LP is the second release from the Microfiche Records label, which is working hard to bring some older albums to vinyl.

The Clem Snide album is pressed on either lime green or light blue vinyl. The blue is exclusive to indie record stores.

Here's a vide of the record being pressed:

Radiohead Pre-sale Announced

Surprise! Radiohead has announced the pre-sale of its forthcoming "newspaper album," The King of Limbs.

The package sounds incredible. It includes:

Two clear 10" vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
A compact disc.
Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
The album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.

The King of Limbs will be shipped on Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download on Feb. 19.
Shipping is included in the prices shown.
One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12" vinyl.

The cost is about $48.

For more information, visit the band's Web site.