Today I am going to talk about All Nerve, the new album by The Breeders, recorded with the lineup that put them on the indie rock map in 1993: Kim Deal (vocals, lead guitar), twin sister Kelley Deal (guitar), Josephine Wiggs (bass), and Jim McPherson (drums).

Since her years spent with the Pixies, Kim Deal’s music has always had that trademark Deal-y sound; the rocky, grungy roughness around the edges juxtaposed with sweet melodic hooks. This new album comes after a decade-long hiatus and it sounds as fresh as their early material, infused with maturity, shimmering songwriting and explosive creativity and manages to deliver a nice fare of killer tunes and no fillers.

The release I am reviewing is from Japan (4AD/Beat Records, Catalog #4AD0035CDJP), available on Amazon JP, which I would recommend for its two exclusive bonus tracks: Joanne and Gates Of Steel, a couple of masterful and imaginative cover versions of Michael Nesmith and Devo songs, respectively, that entirely justifies importing this CD.

The first single off the album—Wait In The Car—is a groovy, propulsive, joyous tangle of guitars and pop sensibility, while the opener Nervous Mary, a powerful rocker kicking off this work is contrasted by a glorious grower, the eponymous All Nerve, and a gorgeous lower key tune: Spacewoman.

The enthusiastic surf style of Walking With A Killer sparkles and spices up the already diverse mood of this work, while MetaGoth—probably my favorite tune on the album, with its driving bass and new wave-y sonics—in its clean, sparse instrumentation, delivers one of the most urgent and focused performances, featuring Jo Wiggs on lead vocals. Dawn: Making An Effort has an almost otherworldly quality echoing a post-rock canon thanks to its multi-layered sound and cryptic lyrics, while Blues At The Acropolis sounds huge, magnificent and monumental, with its wall-of-sound quality.

The long and short: All Nerve is an exquisitely creative collection of indie, pop, punk-rock, surf, Americana, and more experimental sounds. It is what I have come to expect from the Deal sisters and a whole lot more and, predictably, I am not disappointed. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy!

Today I’m going to talk about Every Country’s Sun, the latest work from Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. Released by Rock Action in Europe and Temporary Residence in North America as a stunning Deluxe Edition and consisting of a lift-top box set containing the conventional CD, a double LP on white vinyl, and a bonus 12-inch EP featuring six previously unreleased demo recordings.

Creating sound tapestries and patterns for movie soundtracks has allowed the band to further enrich its offering (1,000 Foot Face) by introducing a more mature, more diverse sound palette with the addition of increasingly multilayered, more immersive soundscapes. Such a feat was certainly achieved with the inclusion of poppier numbers, like Party In The Dark—a sung track reminiscent of New Order—juxtaposed with more austere and concise production (Aka 47, or Don’t Believe The Fife).

This album confirms Mogwai’s ability to write and produce music that is atmospheric, urgent, somber, and euphoric and attests to the band’s capability of developing in the most disparately creative directions, yet being capable to tastefully circle back to some of its familiar cyphers, moods, and elements that have characterized Mogwai’s canon over the years. The demo recordings, exclusive to the Deluxe Edition, are a perfect example to support such statement, so are 20 Size and Fight For Work, another sung track that can only be found on the CD released in Japan by Hostess Records in really nice a packaging which can easily be obtained on Amazon).

This album by Mogwai is another killer, it’s been in my music playlist since its release  and I highly recommend it!

Track listing:
1. “Coolverine” 6:17

2. “Party in the Dark” 4:02

3. “Brain Sweeties” 4:44

4. “Crossing the Road Material” 6:58

5. “aka 47” 4:16

6. “20 Size” 4:44

7. “1000 Foot Face” 4:31

8. “Don’t Believe the Fife” 6:24

9. “Battered at a Scramble” 4:03

10. “Old Poisons” 4:30

11. “Every Country’s Sun” 5:38

12.  “Fight For Work”  6:49 (Japanese CD bonus track)

Deluxe edition bonus tracks:
1. “Acoustic Wash” (Demo Rough Mix)

2. “Baritone 2” (Demo Rough Mix)

3. “Bass Tuned to C” (Demo Rough Mix)

4. “Bends” (Demo Rough Mix)

5. “Frez” (Demo Rough Mix)

6. “Ludicrous Ripper” (Demo Rough Mix)

Today I’m going to talk about The 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of Automatic For The People by R.E.M., a band that certainly shouldn’t need an introduction, but since its sad demise occurred in 2011, I will gladly share a few words on this incredibly influential group.

R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band from Athens, Georgia. Formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/backing vocalist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe. After a remarkable debut single on Hib-Tone, a small independent label, and a slew of critically-acclaimed early albums that garnered them increased success in the college rock circuit, R.E.M. signed to Warner Bros Records in 1988. If Green (1988) was universally lauded by listeners and critics and Out Of Time (1990) broke the band into the mainstream, Automatic For The People (1991) became a worldwide hit and stayed at the top of the charts for many months going on to sell 18 million copies globally.

With its perfect mix of somberness (Monty Got A Raw Deal), playfulness (The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite), anger (Drive), and melancholy (Find The River, Man On The Moon), AFTP proves to be the definitive album by anybody’s standards. This beautiful 4-disk, 12”x12” lift-top box deluxe edition features fresh remaster of the original album, a brand new remix of all the songs in Dolby Atmos, a technology that allows for a truly multi-dimensional sound. I did test the disk on my lousy Sony Blu-Ray player piping the audio through a Sonos Playbar, two surround Play:1s and a Play:5 speakers…and it really wowed me! I was really impressed with the quality and spatiality of the whole rendition, offering a rich, shimmering, all-immersive soundscape.

This boxset includes 20 never-before-heard demo versions of the songs, plus previously unreleased tracks Devil Rides Backwards and Mike’s Pop Song. A third disk features a performance recorded live at the 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, 11/19/92—the only concert the band played for the AFTP album. The fourth disk is a Blu-ray including all the music videos for the album, press kit interviews. the package is rounded of by a nice hardbound book featuring awesome photographies by Anton Corbjin, song lyrics and liner notes.

The long and short: this is the definitive edition of AFTP and the ultimate reason for owning a piece of this legendary band’s art. Here is a link to R.E.M.’s official website, if you would like to purchase a copy.

I have been a huge music fan ever since I can remember, and was raised in a family where music always played a major role. I started buying records and CDs when I was 11 years old and never stopped. I believe that any form of art should have a tangible incarnation (music needs a CD/record, movies/shows need a DVD/blu-ray disk) which is why this era of digital downloads is extremely troublesome to me. While digital downloads may be convenient, they render the work of art utterly cheap and disposable, thus: forgettable. My goal is to present music by interesting artists coming in rare, valuable, and hard to find physical formats, so that owning these products becomes even more meaningful.