We have our first ever, two time Record of the Week honoree and his name is James Blackshaw. His 2009 album, The Glass Bead Game, was our first ever Record of the Week after the great website redesign of last year. This time it’s his fantastic new album, All Is Falling, that gets the call for Record of the Week.

If you are not familiar with James Blackshaw’s work, he is a 20-something year old guitar prodigy who’s work was deeply rooted in the American Primitivism styling of John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Leo Kottke. As he has continued to put out albums, he’s found himself more and more, composing piano pieces as well as string arrangements to surround his very intricate acoustic guitar work.

With his new album he’s decided to pick up the electric guitar and you can see influence from Phillip Glass to Sandy Bull and comparisons to more modern acts such as Peter Broderick and even Nico Muhly. Instead of song titles, the tracks are listed as parts, giving off the idea that this album is one long piece broken into movements. There isn’t much of a break in the album until the final movement, which also happens to be the longest on the album.

All in all, another absolutely fine effort from James Blackshaw. It’s not often an album comes out and we already eagerly await what he’s going to do next, but with Blackshaw’s musical evolution, we can’t help but be excited what he’s got in store for the future.

Listen to “Part 2″ from James Blackshaw’s All Is Falling

Honorable Mentions

Christian Mistress – Agony & Opium (20 Buck Spin)

Our honorable mention could have very well of been Record of the Week as well. It’s refreshing when a record comes around these days and you can only describe it with two words: heavy metal. Christian Mistress’ debut album, Agony & Opium, is six tracks of metal played the way the it should be played. Hearkening back to the sounds of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and maybe even Megadeth, this album is an absolute for any fan of NWOBHM.

Listen to “Split Minute” from Christian Mistress’ Agony & Opium

Getting to this Record of the Week a couple days late after a busy couple weeks, but that certainly doesn’t cheapen the selection. One of the biggest musical surprises of 2010 thus far happens to be one of the best releases as well!

We were huge fans of Darker My Love’s last album, 2. A dark, shoegaze-y, psychedelic album, it had flourishes of pop rock that just about everyone we played it for found something to like about it. So as you could imagine, we were pretty excited for their new album, Alive As You Are. The second we got it in, we put it in the player but we could have never been prepared for what we heard.

Gone was the shoegaze elements. Out the door with the psychedelic sound. Right from the start, their influences are noticeably radically different. A dash of the Byrds here. A little bit of the Beatles there. Even a tiny bit of Grateful Dead coming through. Where before they would inundate you with distorted guitars to close a track out, now they keep it on the clean channel, opting for a slide guitar solo to bring a track to an end.

There are so many good songs on this album that we’re having a hell of a time choosing some tracks for you to check out. You can check out the first track, “Backseat”, on our brand new sampler that is free if you’re in the store! In the meantime, we have two more tracks for you to check out below!

Listen to “Split Minute” from Darker My Love’s Alive As You Are

Listen to “June Bloom” from Darker My Love’s Alive As You Are

Some absolutely huge releases this week with the long anticipated new albums from Arcade Fire and Wavves, as well as the new album from Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band and Versus’ first new album in over a decade.

While it’d be easy to just choose the new Arcade Fire or Wavves for the Record of the Week, it’s our job to scour everything that’s coming out to give you what truly is fantastic. Our Record of the Week however comes from out of nowhere though to completely floor us. Hailing from Chapel Hill, NC, Horseback is the recording moniker of Jenks Miller. After having become familiar with Horseback through his debut album, Impale Golden Horn, which was an absolutely wonderful fuzzed out drone album filled with buzzing guitars, piano and very little vocals, I was quite shocked to see Relapse, mostly known for nothing but metal acts, announce they were releasing the new Horseback. Little did I know what Jenks Miller had up his sleeve for the newest album.

The Invisible Mountain is four tracks of psychedelic-fused, drone-dirged metal that reveals itself in layers. The opener, “Invokation,” fades in to the band already picking up steam. The track is nearly seven minutes long and calls to mind if the last Om album, God Is Good, had a guitarist on it. “Tyrant Symmetry” brings in a second guitarist and a rhodes piano in the background. There is a certain twang to the riffs that evoke the spirits of the last couple Earth albums. “The Invisible Mountain” keeps the album going with another seven minute song of heavy riffs and vocals that seem to channel a level of evil, as if something happened between this album and his last.

The album really takes a turn with the final track, “Hatecloud Dissolving Into Nothing,” which, by it’s title, sounds like it could be the most evil track but almost feels like a musical repentance. Jenks takes it on his own in this sixteen minute long track of layered, blissed out guitars that will leave you completely mind melted. Absolutely essential.

Listen to “Tyrant Symmetry” from Horseback’s Invisible Mountain

Honorable Mentions

Wavves – King of the Beach (Fat Possum)

This is the best album Wavves has put out yet. There, I said it. Gone is the super lo-fi recordings, traded in for just slightly lo-fi recordings(HA!) and in is the former rhythm section of the late Jay Reatard. This has helped contribute to making one hell of a catchy album of garage-y beach bangers that barely ever reach the three minute mark. A great new album by one of the fastest rising bands of the last couple years.

Listen to “King of the Beach” from Wavves’ King of the Beach

Another great week for music as we have quite a few releases to talk about. When Mark Olson puts out a record and we can still gush about three more records on top of that, you know it’s going to be a good week.

First and foremost though is an album that I have been anticipating for quite awhile right now. Christopher Willits put out his last “proper” full length 4 years ago titled, Surf Boundaries. The follow-up, Tiger Flower Circle Sun, continues his brand of incredibly intelligent compositions that manages to be hard to pinpoint into a genre. Glitchy ambient pop? While Willits continues to explore and experiment, he manages to keep his songs and ideas succinct, with most of them clocking in around 3 and a half minutes and the longest being only 5 and a half minutes. For people working in the context of anything remotely ambient, that’s nearly unheard of.

What really will amaze you about this album is that Christopher Willits is a guitarist, first and foremost. He does a lot of computer processing, being a software engineer with a master’s degree in electronic composition from Mills College, that turns his guitar into an instrument of endless possibilities. There are moments where the guitar is just the guitar though, as evidenced on the very folk based, “Light Into Branches.”

All in all, Christopher Willits has turned in an absolutely fantastic album that rates up there amongst this year’s finest.

Listen to “Light Into Branches” from Christopher Willits’ Tiger Flower Circle Sun

Listen to “Sun Body” from Christopher Willits’ Tiger Flower Circle Sun

Honorable Mentions

Best Coast – Crazy For You (Mexican Summer)

What could have very easily have been Record of the Week itself, Best Coast’s debut full length is 20 something odd minutes of throwback girl group, garage pop that is going to be just about everyone’s Summer record of 2010 and at the top of most people’s album of the year as we creep closer to 2011.

Listen to “Goodbye” from Best Coast’s Crazy For You

Jaill – That’s How We Burn (Sub Pop)

Sub Pop have seriously been firing on all cylinders lately, with nothing but killer records this year with the likes of Beach House, Male Bonding, Wolf Parade, Dum Dum Girls, Avi Buffalo, and far too many others to remember. They continue it with the new album by Jaill, that is an excellent jangly summer indie-pop record, sharing some similarities to the Girls album that came out last year.

Listen to “Everyone’s Hip” from Jaill’s That’s How We Burn

A busy week this week with lots of good releases and some great shows as well happening in the area! Still recovering from last night’s Kurt Vile / Real Estate show up in Detroit, we’re ready and raring to go see the Heartless Bastards with Peter Wolf Crier(May 25th’s Record of the Week!) at Mickey Finns in town tonight. Two store favorites playing here in town doesn’t happen too often! After that we have Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti(June 8th’s Record of the Week!) on Wednesday in Pontiac, new favorites in Toledo’s own Fangs Out playing at the Ottawa Tavern on Friday and then more store favorites in the Black Atlantic playing at the Ottawa Tavern in town on Sunday!

So with all of this driving around, it’s a good time to get a couple great new albums ready for the car rides! This week definitely provided us with a couple. First and foremost is a brand new album from the Books! It’s only been, oh, five years since they graced us with their brand of indescribable folktronica, if we can even call it that.

The Way Out is fourteen tracks of a sample-laden euphoria. The album begins with nearly new age meditation speech samples before going into the shuffle of “I Didn’t Know That” which has a chorus that almost sounds like it could replace the theme of In the Heat of the Night. Quickly the band displays why they are who they are with “A Cold Freezin’ Night”. Filled with some absolutely hilarious samples from children, the song runs the gamut of some of the absolutely bizarre things that kids can say.

There are a couple songs in which the Books come to rely on their own singing instead of samples, which proves to be rather enjoyable as well. All in all, this was one of my most anticipated albums this year and it’s done nothing but impress with every listen. Totally essential.

Listen to “A Cold Freezin’ Night” from the Books’ The Way Out

Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen,alongside Fred Nicolaus, returns with side project, Department of Eagles. This time around, we’re treated to sketches of what ultimately became their debut album, In Ear Park. There are songs on here that you aren’t exactly sure why they weren’t used as they sound like they would have been right at home on a Grizzly Bear album. All in all, it’s a great snapshot of a band that we unfortunately won’t hear much from as Grizzly Bear is full steam ahead for the time being.

Listen to “While We’re Young” from Department of Eagles’ Archive 2003 – 2006

A couple real good new releases this week with the new M.I.A., School of Seven Bells, Love Language and plenty more. But in the end only one album could be Record of the Week…but there are always honorable mentions as well!

Sun Kil Moon, or just Mark Kozelek as he is on this release, is one of those guys that I think the entire store can agree on. Having honed his craft for years in the great slowcore band Red House Painters, Kozelek went solo with his Sun Kil Moon project in 2003. Despite being around for over 7 years now though, his new album, Admiral Fell Promises, is just his third full length of original material. After having a full band on the previous two full lengths, Kozelek decided to go this album alone, armed with nothing but his voice and a nylon stringed acoustic guitar.

For a lot of artists, that might be a pretty daunting task. For Kozelek though, it’s his voice and guitar that have always been at the forefront of any band he’s been a part of. The ten tracks clock in around 60 minutes and is some of the most intimate Sun Kil Moon songs ever put to tape. Absolutely essential.

Listen to “Admiral Fell Promises” from Sun Kil Moon’s Admiral Fell Promises

Honorable Mentions

Even though it maybe technically came out a couple weeks ago, the debut full length of Toledo’s own Fangs Out just came into the store this past week so it’s new to us! Having said that, we can’t express how excited we are about this record. Two-piece post punk that sounds like they are straight from D.C., these Toledoans have put out a record that isn’t just a “good local record” but is a great album, no matter where they’re from.

Listen to “Omerta” from Fangs Out’s Speech Shadowing

Last Summer we were graced with an absolute killer glitch-hop album in Bibio’s Ambivalence Avenue, which was our Record of the Week as well for June 23rd, 2009. We still listen to that album consistently in here and odds are, if you’ve been in here in the past year, you might have even been suggested it!

Well it looks like we have found our glitch-hop album of Summer 2010 with Baths’ Cerulean. Not looking to fall into the oft-maligned “chillwave” label, Will Weisenfeld, brainchild of Baths, layers rhythms on top of complex rhythms with plenty of melody in between to create an album that certainly isn’t for chilling.

Baths takes a little bit of a lot of good things. The similarities to Bibio are certainly there, in that both take an almost folktronica approach. The singing on top of the tracks also bears a striking similarity. There is definitely a little bit of Prefuse 73 as well but it’s not too overly complex, leaving plenty of room for the song itself to shine.

All in all, an absolutely essential purchase right now and a completely surprising debut album from Baths.

Listen to “Maximalist” from Baths’ Cerulean

Brad Rose has been performing under the North Sea moniker for some time now and his sound has evolved with each release. And he certainly puts out releases as I think this is his 26th full length. He has ventured into the darker realm of music the past year, calling to mind Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse. Certainly not a noise record, this dark ambient record is one of the most disorienting and frightening albums you’ll hear in some time and is damn near perfect.

Listen to “Reunion” from the North Sea’s Bloodlines

An absolute behemoth of a release week this week with some rather big heavy hitters coming out. New albums from Against Me, Blitzen Trapper, Ratatat, Delta Spirit, Nachtmystium, Tokyo Police Club, Teenage Fanclub, and Here We Go Magic are just a portion of what came out this week. Having said that, there are three releases that really caught our attention this week.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti is someone who had first popped on our radar with his 2004 release, The Doldrums. It was an absolutely beautiful mess of lo-fi pop that featured some killer tracks, such as “Good Kids Make Bad Grown Ups” and “For Kate I Wait.” Seriously, how could you NOT like this song…

Well, to get back on track, what Ariel Pink has done on their new album, their first for the legendary 4AD label, is clean up the lo-fi sounds and turn up the charm. We had become familiar with some of these songs a couple months ago, with “Can’t Feel My Eyes” popping up on a 7″ single for the Mexican Summer label and “Menopause Man” appearing on the 4AD Record Store Day compilation, Fragments From Work in Progress. But despite hearing those two songs, I am still not sure we were prepared for what Ariel Pink has delivered on Before Today.

From the A.M. Gold sound on “Can’t Hear My Eyes” to the standard 80′s fare on “Round and Round”, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti is a resounding success of a lo-fi pop album. Sounds like “Fright Night (Nevermore)” and “Butthouse Blondies” have this sort of spooky sound that reminds you of the fact this band is called Haunted Graffiti. “Bright Lit Blue Skies” is a cover of the Rockin’ Ramrods, and stays pretty true to the original.

All in all, this is one of our favorite albums to come through the store in awhile. An absolute blast to listen to and it reveals itself a bit more and more with each listen. If you are a fan of Kurt Vile, Washed Out, Neon Indian and the such, let it be known that Ariel Pink is one of the main inspiration for these bands. Absolutely essential.

Listen to “Round and Round” from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti’s Before Today

Listen to “Beverly Kills” from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti’s Before Today

Honorable Mentions

Blk Jks, whom we absolutely LOVE around these parts, are back with a brand new EP just in time for the World Cup to take place in South Africa, their homeland. The title track, is a song about just that, soccer, and is one of the reasons they are being tapped to play the opening ceremonies of the World Cup. The songs is surrounded by 4 more killer Blk Jks songs and this is an EP definitely worth checking out.

Listen to “Zol!” from Blk Jks’ Zol!

Integrity has returned for what is probably it’s 100th different line-up but Dwid is still the creative force behind the band. Every time I see there is a new line-up, I go into the album with zero expectations. After all, Integrity 2000 did happen. Ugh. Well, The Blackest Curse was a huge surprise as the solo’s that were former guitarist Aaron Melnick’s specialty, are there in spades and the influential Cleveland metalcore band’s spirit remains intact. Killer album.

Listen to “Learn to Love the Lie” from Integrity’s The Blackest Curse

A pretty slow release week this week, heading into a huge one next week. So big in fact that we actually decided to pull our Record of the Week this week from next week so we can showcase as much of it as possible. We also couldn’t be more excited to share this album with you.

If you know me at all, and this is a rather large giveaway as to who “me” is, you know that I am absolutely obsessed with everything that Type Records releases. I’ve collected every release they’ve put out, missing just a single 7″ out of 70+ releases. Having said that, I can confidently say, Rene Hell’s Porcelain Opera, is one of the best things Type has put out all year.

Now that’s a hefty statement because the Alps recent album, an honorable mention in a Record of the Week last week, was such a killer slab of wax, we haven’t been able to stop listening to it around here. What Rene Hell does, doesn’t stray far from the kosmiche sounds of the Alps either. The exception falls, where the Alps had an organic sound to it all, mixing in acoustic instruments, Rene Hell is an all out analog synth experience.

Rene Hell’s sound could best be described as a church choir filled with nothing but analog synths. Gospel music for the psychedelic soul. In that same token, I’m not sure there is anything psychedelic going on whatsoever with this. It’s one of the most choral and spiritual sounding albums I’ve heard in awhile, all as if it’s being filtered through the fingers of other recent analog visionaries such as Emeralds or Oneohtrix Point Never.

In the end, it’s a sound that needs to be heard. An absolutely wonderful album and one that will leave you wanting to put it on repeat.

Listen to “IV 18-54″ from Rene Hell’s Porcelain Opera

What might look a slower release week in terms of some of the more marquee titles, this week has provided us with so many damn good albums we had a heck of a time picking out what Record of the Week was going to be. Sure we had new releases from Crystal Castles, Tobacco, and even Stone Temple Pilots but it’s the new albums by Grails, Rangda, Ty Segall and others that have us incredibly excited. Who are those others? Well…

Record of the Week goes to the debut album by Minneapolis group, Peter Wolf Crier. Peter Wolf Crier have absolutely nothing to do with former J. Geils frontman, Peter Wolf, who did just put out an excellent full length recently with his album Midnight Souvenirs. That’s neither here nor there though.

With that out of the way, what Peter Wolf Crier bring to the table is more of the Bon Iver / Megafaun / Grizzly Bear variety than anything. Just a two piece, you wouldn’t believe it if you heard the full pallet of instruments showcased throughout their songs. The drums are very reminiscent of the style from Grizzly Bear’s last two albums. Lead singer, Peter Pisano’s, voice brings to mind the Bowerbirds and even M. Ward on a song or two. Piano, wurlitzer, and organ all back up some great vocal harmonies and an all around great folk-pop album.

As an aside, Peter Wolf Crier will be playing here in Toledo, opening up for the Heartless Bastards on July 20th. This will be a don’t miss show for sure.

Listen to “Hard As Nails” from Peter Wolf Crier’s Inter-Be

Honorable Mentions

The new, vinyl only EP, from store favorite Kurt Vile is a bridge between his excellent full length that came out last year, Childish Prodigy, and his upcoming full length coming this Fall. The songs on here range from upbeat acoustic folk numbers, such as the opening track “Ocean City”, to some of his trademark, long playing, lo-fi sounds on the track “Invisibility Nonexistant”. All in all, another great effort from our favorite weirdo in music.

Listen to “I Wanted Everything” from Kurt Vile’s Square Shells
Damien Jurado have been putting out records for what seems like forever now, and he is showing no signs of slowing down. This time around he has enlisted fellow labelmate, Richard Swift, to handle production and we have to consider it an all around success. Much more hopeful sounding from the usual sad-bastard stylings of Jurado, this is one of his finest efforts in years.

Listen to “Arkansas” from Damien Jurado’s Saint Bartlett

The fourth full length from one of my favorite Type Records artists, the Alps return with Le Voyage. Bringing to mind the sort of kosmische sounds of Popul Vuh and Cluster, the Alps have gone towards a bit more of an organic sound with this record which harkens back to the bands roots of being part of the Jewelled Antler collective. Absolutely essential for any fan of psychedelic rock.

Listen to “Le Voyage” from The Alps’ Le Voyage