November 27 is always a special day for vinyl enthusiasts. Still filled up on last night's Thanksgiving meal, music fans line up at their local shop for a chance at limited-edition vinyl. While the celebrations may look a little different this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (RSD has announced they'll be less stringent about online sales) one thing remains the same: There are some excellent releases on offer, available exclusively from your local participating record shop! Here are
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! America, Half Century (America Records/Gonzo) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 50th anniversary celebration of America rolls on with a massive new box set. Half Century is an expansive 7-CD/1-DVD box packed with rare and previously unreleased material from the beloved band featuring Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and the late Dan Peek. There's a slew of unreleased demos circa 1970; a remastered full-length radio session in Bremen
Despite the challenges facing the music business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some bright spots. On March 20, indie music service Bandcamp waived their share of revenue on all sales for 24 hours, allowing artists and labels to support themselves even more robustly. Thanks to impressive results ($4.3 million spent on music and merch, 15 times an average Friday's revenue), Bandcamp repeated the strategy not once, but thrice: the first Fridays of each month (May 1, which raised $7.1
Seventeen years after Elliott Smith's tragic death at the age of 34, his spare, haunting music continues to resonate. On August 28, the Kill Rock Stars label will reissue his 1995 self-titled sophomore album in a 2-CD deluxe edition to commemorate its 25th anniversary. Elliott Smith continued in the acoustic singer-songwriter vein of its predecessor, Roman Candle, with the solo artist's guitar backed up only by an occasional other instrument such as harmonica or drums. Darkness pervaded the
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elliott Smith, Either/Or: Expanded Edition (Kill Rock Stars) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Kill Rock Stars label has a new remastered, expanded reissue of Elliott Smith's 1997 Either/Or on 2 CDs or 2 LPs. The bonus material includes five live tracks, the unreleased tune "I Figured You Out," a new mix of B-side "I Don't Think I'm Ever Gonna Figure It Out," and alternate
Two decades after its release, and more than 13 years after his tragic passing, the Kill Rock Stars label will reissue Elliott Smith's breakthrough studio album Either/Or. Either/Or found Smith, then just 27 years old, moving away from the spare acoustic folk of his previous, self-titled album from 1995 and toward a fuller band sound. Smith recorded all the instruments on the album, and tracks like "Between the Bars" and "Say Yes" reflect his growth as an artist. These songs also gained