For this Memorial Day, I recommend All Will Prosper, the 2011 release from composer Keith Kenniff's Goldmund project. This release contains what I believe to be one of the most moving renditions of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" I've ever heard. It's a loose and lonely arrangement, and it beautifully conveys sadness, struggle, and, what I imagine to be, the small glimmer of hope that a homecoming will occur.
To all the men and women who've defended our country, I thank you.
It was with Boris's essential 2006 release, Pink, that I'd first become aware of the group's versatile brand of rock, drone and metal excellence. Hard to believe that that was ten years ago. In recognition of the album's 10th anniversary, Sargent House is releasing deluxe editions of Pink in both triple-LP and double-CD formats. Along with the original release, a volume of unreleased tracks dubbed Forbidden Songs will be included. A selection from the Forbidden portion of the reissue was posted at Pitchfork called, "Are You Ready?". You can give it a listen and then read about the reissue below. All info was provide by Us/Them Group.
In addition to the reissue, Boris will be performing Pink live for U.S. audiences. Tour dates are posted below. And they're touring with Earth!
BORIS announce 10th anniversary Pink album deluxe reissue, U.S. tour performing Pink in its entirety
Japanese trio Boris announce the 10th anniversary deluxe reissue of Pink today and premiere one of 9 previously unreleased tracks from the new edition via Pitchfork. See track list below. Hear and share "Are You Ready?" HERE. (Direct Soundcloud.) Boris will launch a full U.S. headlining tour in July in which they will perform Pink in its entirety. The band's new Sargent House labelmates Earth will play all dates except two in Canada. Please see complete dates below.
Pink, the landmark 2006 album by Boris, which earned widespread critical praise — including Pitchfork's Top 10 Albums of 2006 — will be reissued in a deluxe edition this summer to commemorate the album's 10th anniversary. The deluxe 3xLP box set and 2xCD features an entire album of previously unreleased tracks recorded during the Pink album sessions in 2004-2005. The bonus Forbidden Songs collects 9 tracks of the same hyperactive, accessible and aggressive caliber of the original album, available here for the first time, mixed (with additional editing and arrangement) in 2015 and mastered in January 2016. Like the original U.S. vinyl release, the Pink (Deluxe Edition) LP set has three longer edits of songs that were truncated on the original CD issue ("Farewell", "Pseudo-Bread" and "My Machine"). Otherwise, both the LP and CD versions have the same audio as the 2006 release. And, Pink (Deluxe Edition) also features the artwork of the original Japanese release, made by the band members themselves. In 2006, Pink was Boris' 10th album and a major breakthrough that earned new fans outside of the underground metal community — the track "Farewell" was even featured in Jim Jarmusch's classic film The Limits of Control. The album landed on countless "best of the year" lists from underground metal sites to mainstream rock magazines. And the praise was certainly well deserved for its more accessible sound and explorations into shoegaze and ambient structures alongside brutal noise, searing psychedelia and apocalyptic doom.
Pink succeeds at what most bands cannot do: swiftly changing styles from song to song, while always sounding distinctly like themselves. The seamless, explosive set of fan favorites from the classic longtime lineup of drummer/vocalist Atsuo, guitarist/vocalist Wata and bassist/guitarist/vocalist Takeshi still sounds as mindblowing as it did a decade ago. And, Forbidden Songs continues with the same unbridled creativity and ferocity. These songs aren't outliers, they're rather more like the director's cut version of the original album. Boris is now in their 24th year as a band — 20 years in the classic trio lineup — and showing no signs of slowing down. They have always demolished expectations of what a band can do musically and aesthetically. And in looking back with Pink (Deluxe Edition), the band's trajectory as experimenters and innovators over subsequent releases becomes even clearer.
Pink (Deluxe Edition) will be available everywhere (excluding Japan) on July 8th on 3xLP box set, 2xCD and download via Sargent House. BORIS / EARTH / SHITSTORM TOUR 2016: 07/22 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah 07/23 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom 07/25 Dallas, TX @ Trees 07/26 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk 07/28 Ybor City, FL @ The Orpheum 07/29 Orlando, FL @ The Social 07/30 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade 07/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel 08/01 Nashville, TN @ Third Man Records 08/03 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle 08/04 Washington, DC @ 930 Club 08/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw 08/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer 08/07 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall 08/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club 08/10 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. (no Earth) 08/11 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace (no Earth) 08/12 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop 08/13 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme 08/14 Chicago, IL @ Metro 08/16 Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater 08/17 Minneapolis, MN @ Fineline Music Cafe 08/18 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre 08/19 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater 08/20 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 08/22 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's 08/23 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom 08/25 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 08/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater 08/27 Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Hotel - Psycho Las Vegas
Producer and On-U Sound owner Adrian Sherwood is releasing the second installment of his Sherwood at the Controls series. Sherwood at the Controls Vol. 2: 1985-1990 features tracks from Mark Stewart (The Pop Group), Lee "Scratch" Perry, Ministry, and KMFDM to name a few, and will be out June 24th. The first volume, which encapsulates selected material from 1979 till 1984, was released April of 2015.
In light of Prince's recent and very unfortunate passing, a cover of his song "Girls & Boys" by the group Pankow, which is coincidentally featured on the compilation, is available online. You can check out the track below:
Here is a video trailer advertising the compilation:
You can read more about the release below. All info, links, and tracks were provided by Julian T. Schoen.
Pankow covers Prince "Girls & Boys", off Sherwood At The Controls Vol. 2: 1985-1990 on On-U Sound June 24
Stream Pankow "Girls & Boys" (Prince Cover) Pre-Order Sherwood At The Controls Volume 2: 1985-1990
Last month, On-U Sound and Adrian Sherwood announced news of a second label compilation, Sherwood At The Controls Volume 2: 1985-1990, which will be available June 24th on vinyl, CD and digitally. Volume 2 includes cuts from Lee Scratch Perry, Mark Stewart, and Tackhead, as well 5 previously unreleased tracks from the On-U vault. Today, in respect and honor to the spirit and untimely death of Prince, the group releases a serendipitous 1987 metal dance deconstruction cover of the Purple One's classic "Girls & Boys", by Italian group Pankow, with additional production from Sherwood, available on this compilation. To add some context to this song and its history, here is a snippet from the compilation's liner notes - Adrian's mid-80s productions with the Tackhead axis were some of the most innovative of the period in their sheer sonic extremity - creating huge walls of sound with skull-crushing beats, a Dadaist collage of vocal samples, and instruments pushed way into the red. Distortion became another colour in his sonic palette, just as echo, reverb and parametric EQ had been to his dub productions. These records caught the ears of musicians from the emerging second wave industrial scene - an international affair taking inspiration from earlier groups like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire but applying it to tracks intended for a dancefloor or rock club. The hybrid would be dubbed 'electronic body music', and Sherwood very much had a hand in shaping the sound, being invited to work with the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten, Ministry, KMFDM, Nitzer Ebb and Nine Inch Nails. Pankow were from Florence, Italy and Adrian made their acquaintance after producing fellow hometown act Rinf (also featured on this comp). Pankow's early synth and drum machine excursions such as "Das Vodkalied" have become a seminal touchstone for modern techno producers such as Helena Hauff in recent years, with their heavier late-80s productions with Adrian Sherwood being championed as metal dance classics by On-U compiler Trevor Jackson. They also ended up having their records released in the states by Wax Trax!, and worked on two albums with Adrian, Freiheit Für Die Sklaven (Freedom For The Slaves) and Gisela. This irreverent deconstruction of a Prince song is a highlight of their time working together and appeared in extended form on the humorously titled EP, Pankow Play The Hits Of The Nineties.
Various Artists - Sherwood At The Controls Vol. 2 (YouTube // Vimeo // Pre-Order)
Various Artists - Sherwood At The Controls Volume 2: 1985-1990 (On-U Sound, out June 24) 2LP // CD // Download Pre-Order Track Listing - 1. Mark Stewart - Hypnotised (12" Mix) [1985] 2. Tackhead - Mind At The End Of The Tether [1987] 3. Doug Wimbish & Fats Comet - Don't Forget That Beat (alternate dub) [1985] 4. Flux - The Value Of Nothing [1986] 5. The Unknown Cases - Masimbabele 89 (Adrian Sherwood Remix) [1989] 6. Keith LeBlanc - These Sounds [1989] 7. The Beatnigs - Television (Dance Mix) [1988] 8. Pankow - Girls & Boys [1987] 9. Ministry - All Day Remix [1986] 10. Rinf - Big Bondage (Kinky Sex Wet Mix) [1987] 11. KMFDM - Don't Blow Your Top (Adrian Sherwood Remix) [1988] 12. Dub Syndicate - Snatch A Style [1985]* 13. Lee Perry - Music & Science Madness [1987]* 14. Bim Sherman - Haunting Ground Dub [1986]* 15. African Head Charge - Hold Some More Version [1990]* 16. Dub Syndicate - Early Mafia [1990]* * - Previously Unreleased On-U Sound (Site // Store // Soundcloud // Twitter // Facebook)
You can't talk about heavy metal without talking about PENTAGRAM. The legendary D.C. band has been committed to the dark arts for going on half a decade, and has only recently seen the kind of recognition its legacy deserves. Though the band has released nine influential full-lengths over the course of its career, PENTAGRAM's most popular and influential material since its Relapse resurrection fifteen years ago can be found in First Daze Here, a collection of the band's earliest works that has been out-of-print for years and will now finally see a new reissue via Relapse this coming June. Its companion First Daze Here Too, a 22-track collection of unreleased studio recordings and live rehearsals from the early '70s, will also see its first reissue since going out of print several years ago.
Both reissues have been newly remastered and include in-depth liner notes from founding PENTAGRAM member / original drummer Geof O'Keefe along with gorgeously revitalized layouts. CD Version of First Daze Here includes a vinyl-shaped CD featuring the two newly remastered versions of the infamous Macabre 45! The original mix of the long-lost 45 will also see its first-ever vinyl pressing for this reissue, and is available in the deluxe First Daze Here / First Daze Here Too bundle or along with the Bone White / Gold Merge LP of First Daze Here. Stream the remastered version of the classic track "Forever My Queen" now at this location.
First Daze Here and First Daze Here Too will both be released this June 17 on 2CD/LP/Digital and 2CD/2xLP/Digital respectively. Physical pre-orders, including a variety of limited-edition vinyl colors and exclusive package options containing the Macabre 7", can be found via Relapse.com at this location. Digital pre-orders for First Daze Here and First Daze Here Too are available via Pentagram's Bandcamp page here and here respectively. PENTAGRAM have also announced a West Coast tour with Wax Idols and King Woman this coming May! The band will be crushing audiences for two weeks kicking off this May 17, and will also be performing at Psycho Las Vegas this August - check out a full list of dates below.
***All Dates With Wax Idols & King Woman*** May 17 Seattle, WA Studio Seven May 18 Portland, OR Dante's May 19 Boise, ID Neurolux May 20 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room May 21 Denver, CO Marquis Theater May 23 Phoenix, AZ Nile Theater May 24 Los Angeles, CA The Echo May 25 San Diego, CA Brick By Brick May 26 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory May 27 San Francisco, CA DNA Lounge May 28 San Jose, CA The Ritz Aug 27 Las Vegas, NV Psycho Las Vegas
First Daze Here Tracklisting:
Disc 1 1. Forever My Queen 2. When The Screams Come 3. Walk In The Blue Light 4. Starlady 5. Lazy Lady 6. Review Your Choices 7. Hurricane 8. Livin' In A Ram's Head 9. Earth Flight 10. 20 Buck Spin 11. Be Forewarned 12. Last Days Here
Disc 2 13. Be Forewarned (The Macabre 7" - Original Mix) 14. Lazy Lady (The Macabre 7" - Original Mix)
First Daze Here Too Tracklisting:
Disc 1 1. Wheel Of Fortune 2. When The Screams Come 3. Under My Thumb 4. Smokescreen 5. Teaser 6. Little Games 7. Much Too Young To Know
Disc 2 8. Virgin Death 9. Yes I Do 10. Ask No More 11. Man 12. Be Forewarned 13. Catwalk 14. Die In Your Sleep 15. Frustration 16. Target 17. Everything’s Turning To Night 18. Take Me Away 19. Nightmare Gown 20. Cartwheel 21. Cat & Mouse 22. Show ‘em How
For this Memorial Day, I recommend All Will Prosper, the 2011 release from composer Keith Kenniff's Goldmund project. This release contains what I believe to be one of the most moving renditions of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" I've ever heard. It's a loose and lonely arrangement, and it beautifully conveys sadness, struggle, and, what I imagine to be, the small glimmer of hope that a homecoming will occur. 
