Today is the last day ever that Netflix will be sending out DVDs, and, film-lover that I am, there's a little tear in my eye. Nothing will quite replace the thrill of getting the little red envelopes, even if their focus on physical goods diminished over time in favor of streaming and their own original programming. I've been burning my way through a bunch of out of print films by Andy Warhol associate Paul Morrissey and Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku (best known these days for Battle Royale, but he had made about 60 features prior to that), and that's just not something that'll be easy to find anymore. Of course you know well that we carry tons and tons of movies on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD, and these kinds of things pass through our shelves regularly, so if you're got the movie bug, make sure you check out our extensive collection of physical media on video!
This release week in music we're looking at a pretty sizeable batch of releases, both bigger and smaller, so brace yourself and dive in to this big bunch of winners that caught my eye: the new Animal Collective album Isn't It Now? is out this week on both CD and indie exclusive tangerine-colored vinyl LP; rap duo Armand Hammer (Billy Woods and Elucid) are back with their latest album We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, out on CD and limited edition purple vinyl LP; Black Keys main man Dan Auerbach had a new solo release out, Keep It Hid, out now on CD, Cassette, and orange/black splatter vinyl LP; Blonde Redhead returns with their tenth studio album — and their first new album in nine years! — Sit Down For Dinner, out on CD, and limited clear white vinyl LP; one of the leading lights of queer hip-hop, Cakes Da Killa, has a new album out this week as well — Svengali — out now on both CD and LP; we've also got the fourth album by L.A. rockers Cherry Glazerr, I Don't Want You Anymore, on both CD and LP; 16 Horsepower frontman David Eugene Edwards returns with his second solo album, Hyacinth, out now on CD and indie exclusive cloudy green vinyl LP; the Grateful Dead's classic Wake of the Flood album sees a 50th anniversary reissue in a few versions this week — a 2CD deluxe version, 180 gm vinyl LP, and a limited edition picture disc LP; and in other reissue news, Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie celebrates its 30th (!) anniversary with a deluxe 4CD box set, a blue vinyl LP reissue, and an indie exclusive brown vinyl 6LP box set; the RSD Essentials series of spruced up LP reissues of classic and hard-to-find vinyl titles includes a new pair this week — Vince Guaraldi's evergreen Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack on white splatter vinyl, and 311's major label debut album Music on clear orange vinyl; and another record celebrating its 50th is legendary space-rock band Hawkwind's great album Space Ritual, released in a 2CD set, a clear vinyl LP reissue, and a CD/Blu-ray box set (which we ordered, but it hasn't arrived yet, so stay tuned); experimental electronic musician Jlin's latest album, Perspective, is out this week on CD and clear vinyl LP; our pals at Think Indie distribution have released an indie exclusive clear/black splatter vinyl version of Jerry Lee Lewis's Sun Records rarities collection Killer In Stereo: Good Rockin' Tonight; several classic Joni Mitchell albums — Ladies of the Canyon, Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns (black vinyl only), and Miles of Aisles — have been remastered and reissued this week in both regular black vinyl and colored vinyl indie exclusive versions; another great LP reissue out this week is Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West, available now as a picture disc; the album 1975 by No-No Boy was one of my favorite surprises of 2021, and they're back with a new release, Empire Electric, out now on CD and LP; The Orb teamed up with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour for the 2010 album Metallic Spheres, and this week sees the release of the remix album Metallic Spheres In Colour on both CD and LP; the fourth album by jam legends Phish, Rift, has been reissued on LP this week; jazz composer/saxophonist Matana Roberts continues her ambitious series of albums with Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden, out now on CD and 10” vinyl; TV on the Radio's underrated album Return to Cookie Mountain has been reissued on orange vinyl LP this week; and lastly (whew!) English prog-rocker Steven Wilson's latest album, Harmony Codex, is out on CD and LP.
Over in DVD and Blu-ray it's also a fairly busy release week, so here are some things that are pretty cool: the doc about the late singer Ronnie James Dio, Dreamers Never Die, is out now on both DVD and Blu-ray; the beloved animated show Adventure Time now has a DVD set of the Complete Series; the Criterion Collection has picked up the Brett Morgen documentary about David Bowie, Moonage Daydream, and released it in both Blu-ray and 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo packages; director Gregg Araki's films are getting a long overdue re-appraisal and remastering, and the long unseen director's cut of The Doom Generation is out this week on Blu-ray; Criterion also tackled the great Richie Valens biopic La Bamba, starring Lou Diamond Phillips, and it's out on Blu-ray this week; our pals at the cult film distributor Vinegar Syndrome have been busy this week, with Blu-ray releases of the exploitation films Amazon Jail 1 & 2 and the 1999 English comedy Guest House Paradiso (written by, starring, and directed by Young Ones alumni Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall), plus a 4K UHD release of Lamberto Bava's A Blade in the Dark. In UHD releases for the week, we've got the Arrow films limited edition UHD/Blu-ray combo of Brian De Palma's superb crime film Carlito's Way, the cult sci-fi hit The Fifth Element, the solid franchise reboot Halloween: H20, the wacko (and also excellent) German cult horror/comedy Killer Condom, Shout Factory collector's edition UHD/Blu-ray combos of both the 1981 horror film My Bloody Valentine and the Tarantino-scripted, Oliver Stone-directed 1994 film Natural Born Killers, a Synapse Films release of Dario Argento's (possibly) last great film Tenebrae, the early Michael Cimino action film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and John Frankenheimer's WWII action drama The Train, starring Burt Lancaster.
Outside the store, happening tonight (Friday Sept. 29th) at Levitt Pavilion there's yet a great free show — the Divinae Feminae concert, headlined by the Colombian singer Lido Pimienta, and also featuring Katiria & Lolita. You can secure tickets and get any other info you need HERE. And tomorrow night, Saturday September 30th, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Ayer and Shahzad Ismaily will be performing music from their gorgeous, mesmerizing album Love in Exile at Denver University's Newman Center – you can read more details and get tickets HERE. And then coming up next week Nigerien singer-songwriter Bombino will be performing on Thursday October 5th at Cervantes Other Side. It will be super intimate in that space, so snag your tix soon. Click HERE for all the deets!
Further out in October, Metropolitan State University Denver's Music program will be running a series of great jazz shows called Up From the Roots, featuring both regional and national performers on Saturdays throughout October. The series starts on Saturday Oct. 7th with a quartet consisting of Paul Riola, Colin Bricker, Greg Harris, and Glenn Taylor, and will be taking place at MSU Denver's Department of Music at 800 Kalamath. You can see all of their music programming and scope out the personnel for future weeks by clicking the HERE. Hometown singer-songwriter Esmé Patterson will be promoting her new album Notes From Nowhere (out in October) with a live show at Globe Hall on Tuesday Oct. 17th, and you can read all about that HERE. Two great NYC-based jazz groups — The Bad Plus and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog trio, will be performing together at the Bluebird Theater on Saturday Oct. 21st. All the news you need to know about that can be found HERE. And as long as we're keeping it jazzy, Dazzle Jazz follows up its Ron Miles series with a new series of music honoring Colorado-based guitar legend Dale Bruning. The first show in the series features guitarist Dave Corbus and will be taking place on Thursday October 26th at the new Dazzle at The Arts Complex and you can read all about it and get your tickets HERE. And lastly, Aoife O'Donovan will be performing her own take on Bruce Springsteen's classic album Nebraska at the Boulder Theater on Friday Oct. 27th — get all the deets and your tix HERE.
Cheers,
Patrick
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER
We're always trying to find ways to recommend good stuff to you and let you know what we're listening to, so we like to use this space for staff members to show you what's been lighting up their sound systems lately and tell you a little about it without it having to be some scholarly in-depth essay. This week, we asked web sales/vinyl guy Ethan to let us know what he's been spinning these days and he's been all over the new album by Anonhi. Read on for his thoughts:
Like the gaze of activist Marsha P. Johnson that graces its cover, the music on ANOHNI's fifth album with the reformed Johnsons is stark, penetrating, and hinting at disaster. While the maximalist electronics of her 2015 solo debut HOPELESSNESS have been traded for organic, dim-lit rock 'n' soul, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross finds the New York singer ruminating on all her lyrical and thematic trademarks. As her voice cascades and pierces through the sparse, guitar-driven arrangements of songs like "It Must Change," "Sliver of Ice," and "It's My Fault," it's clear that ANOHNI has never had more command and power over her instrument: a voice that radiates with truth and enlightenment. While not an angry record, louder numbers such as "Go Ahead" and "Can't" allow her to vent her immense frustrations at the lack of social justice experienced by the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the disdain our species has towards our own natural environment. "Go ahead, kill your friends/You are an addict/Go ahead, hate yourself/I can't stop you," she wails - modern listening for modern times.
