music

As a label, Sly Stone's Stone Flower produced four singles in all, one promo-only, all written by Stone and many of them stripped-down revamps of older Family Stone material. But thanks to alternate versions, outtakes, and prototypical versions of later songs, I'm Just Like You doubles as the clearest available sonic roadmap for one of the most radical transformations in pop history.

The Stone Roses is the debut studio album by English rock band the Stone Roses. It was recorded mostly at Battery Studios in London with producer John Leckie from June 1988 to February 1989 and released in May of that year by Silvertone Records. Reissued on Light In The Attic on deluxe double-vinyl, this is your chance to discover the album for the first time or to own it in its most beautiful presentation yet.

Re-mastered from the Original Tapes by Dave Cooley (Melody Nelson) ... Vinyl release features 180 gram wax, thick gatefold jacket, liner notes, lyrics. The disc quickly shot its cigarette brandishing author and fresh-faced vocalist into the international spotlight; and although the lead-off single “Je T’aime” and it’s seductive purrs reached top slot in the UK charts, no one other than the Pope branded the tune offensive and blasphemous. Ever the conversationalist, Gainsbourg wittily replied, “we couldn’t have gotten a better PR man!” Indeed Serge, indeed.

The unlikely union of Suicide’s Alan Vega, Big Star’s Alex Chilton, and singer-songwriter Ben Vaughn happened in December 1994 in a fog of cigarette smoke at two barely-lit, all-night improv sessions at Dessau Studios in New York. What transpired was the group’s only release, a brilliant album called Cubist Blues. What transpired was the group’s only release, a brilliant album called Cubist Blues. Some kind of alchemy happened. The elements are disparate–Vega, known for Suicide’s grinding, pre-industrial drone, Chilton for his ultra-melodic FM rock, and Vaughn for his outsider art. Put together, what came out was something totally unexpected, a long, mesmeric incantation built on Elvis-meets-Ian Curtis vocals, rockabilly guitar, growling synths, and metronomic drums.

Limited double vinyl LP pressing housed in a hand-numbered jacket. Includes download card for full Live at Trans Musicales concert as well as their only other show, Live At The Mercury Lounge. “Looking back, it was magic to work with those guys,” continues Vaughn. “Two nights in the studio, two live shows, and then it was over. That material was never performed again.”

BADBADNOTGOOD return with Jonah Yano on vocals covering “Key To Love (Is Understanding),” originally recorded in 1982 by Milwaukee’s funk/soul pioneers Majestics. Classic low-rider soul, rebooted by one of the world's premier jazz outfits.

Cochin Moon (コチンの月, Kochin no Tsuki) is Haruomi Hosono's fifth solo album. Cochin Moon is a clear precursor to the groundbreaking synth and sequencer-dominated sounds that would come to define the iconic trio. Credited to Hosono and Pop Art legend Tadanori Yokoo (who created the cover art), Cochin Moon is a fictional soundtrack to a journey into unknown worlds, inspired by Hosono and Yokoo’s trip to India. Initially the album was to be a kind of ethnographic musical document, using found sounds and field recordings made by Hosono himself. Instead, after Yokoo introduced Hosono to the sounds of Kraftwerk and krautrock during the trip, Cochin Moon became something much stranger. Created almost entirely on synthesizers and sequencers with the help of future YMO collaborators Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, the music on the album is the perfect encapsulation of Hosono’s concept of “sightseeing music,” transporting the listener to an exotic place that may or may not exist. This highly sought-after album sees its first-ever official release outside of Japan.

Deep in the LHI tape archive hid a mysterious tape marked “Woodchucks.” The tape held a "lost” instrumental surf album recorded by Lee Hazlewood in the early 1960s. Some of the songs have been recorded by The Astronauts, Jack Nitzsche, Dick Dale and His Del-Tones, Takeshi Terauchi, The Ventures, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), The Trashmen, The Challengers and The Surfaris.

Light In The Attic’s Pacific Breeze 2: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1972 – 1986 spotlights the sonic development and diversity of a style that often feels reduced to an aesthetic or algorithmically-assisted curiosity. The album digs deeper into those sounds of bubble-era Japan. From the proto-City Pop funk to the crate-digger favorites Eri Ohno and Piper, the latest entry in Light In The Attic’s Japan Archival Series brings another set of sought-after tunes, most of which have never before been available outside of Japan.

A new volume, Wheedle’s Groove Vol. II, documents the period from 1972 to 1987, when funk was superseded by disco and modern soul. Heading into the ‘80s, artists in the Emerald City caught wind of the hip-hop and electro scenes that were growing in bigger cities across America, and gave the music their own distinct spin. 18-track compilation will also introduce you to the long-forgotten blue-eyed soul boy Don Brown (‘Don’t Lose Your Love’) and frustrated talents Push, overlooked for record deals on account of singer “Big Joe” Erickson’s larger-than-life heft (‘You Turn Me On’). There’s Frederick Robinson III and his gospel-funk protest tune ‘Love One Another’, Tony Benton of Teleclere being Seattle’s answer to Prince (‘Steal Your Love’) and Seattle Mariners baseball star Lenny Randle recording a tribute to their infamous stadium.