Fresh Wax--All You Need to Know About Vinyl Releases This Week

​There's so much good local music dropping this week that there's almost no excuse for you to not visit a record store in the next seven days. We've already let you know what new local projects are available digitally or on CD as of today, but this column is all about the vinyl heads.

After the jump, Jason Ferguson hips readers to all of the fresh wax that's available this week. Not just the local, but the national and international. Yes, Grand Archives and Bill Frisell released new vinyl today but so did the Doors and Betty Davis. To get the full scoop, read below.

There are some great new vinyl releases hitting the racks this week. Q-Tip's Kamaal the Abstract is FINALLY making its way to stores, the remastered versions of Sunny Day Real Estate's first two albums will sate the needs of aging emo fans across the land and the fine folks at Rhino are putting out superlative 180g, RTI-pressed vinyl versions of the Doors and New Order catalogs, which I would strongly recommend playing consecutively, if not concurrently.

Yet, despite all those great full-length releases, in keeping with the 7-inch theme explored a couple weeks back, I wanted to let everyone know about some amazing news on the 45 rpm front.

​First up is the announcement of a new series of 7-inches from Japanese metal merchants BORIS. The group is going to put out a new single every month  for the next three months; the Japanese Heavy Rock Hits sets are coming out on Southern Lord, which means they'll be beautiful, crushing, and, in a few months, worth exponentially more than you paid for them. All the tunes contained on the singles will be new; here's what's going to be on them:

September:
Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 1
Side A: "8"
Side B : "Hey Everyone/ねえエヴリワン"
October:
Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 2
Side A: "H.M.A. - Heavy Metal Addict"
Side B: "Black Original/黒い点滅"
November:
Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 3
Side A:  "16:47:52... / 16時47分52.."
Side B: "..and Hear Nothing/きこえない"

​In other news, the fine roots archivists at Dust-To-Digital have really outdone themselves with the launch of their new vinyl imprint, Parlortone. They could have released a cool series of rare folk or country sides on 78s or done an Anthology of American Folk Music-style album, but instead, they have introduced Parlortone with a decidedly unique 7-inch single: "Au Clair de la Lune," as recorded by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Not familiar with the tune?

Well, in 1860 - nearly two decades before Edison would invent the phonograph - "Au Clair de la Lune" was recorded for posterity on Scott's "phonautograph" machine, a device meant to record and reproduce visuals and sound. The piece was the fifth recording he made, but it is the oldest in a collection found in the Institute of France's Academy of Sciences, making it the oldest known sound recording in the world. The Parlortone 7-inch it's now available on is packaged beautifully, and the record itself is a one-sided disc, with etchings on the non-playable side. Definitely not the sort of record you'll find yourself ripping to your iPod for repeated listening, but an essential purchase for vinyl historians and aficionados.

New Releases:
Avett Brothers: I and Love and You
David Bazan: Curse Your Branches
Burnt By the Sun: Heart of Darkness (Relapse)
Dying Fetus: Descend into Depravity (Relapse)
Bill Frisell: Good Dog, Happy Man (Nonesuch, 2LP)
Grand Archives: Keep In Mind Frankenstein
Kid Cudi: Man on the Moon: The End of the Day
Q-Tip: Kamaal the Abstract
Shadows Fall: Retribution (limited edition)
69 Eyes: Back In Blood

Reissues:
John Coltrane: Crescent (Impulse/Original Recordings, 180g 45 rpm 2LP)
Betty Davis: Is This Love of Desire (Sundazed, 180g)
The Doors: The Doors, LA Woman, Morrison Hotel, Strange Days, Soft Parade, Waiting for the Sun (Rhino, 180g)
Gerry Mulligan: Meets Ben Webster (Verve/Original Recordings Group, 180g 45 rpm 2LP)
New Order: Movement, Technique, Low Life, Brotherhood, Power, Corruption Lies (Rhino, 180g)
Oxbow: Fuckfest (Hydra Head)
Sunny Day Real Estate: Diary, LP2
The Velvet Underground: The Singles 1966-1969

--Jason Ferguson