Big Black was started by Steve Albini in 1982 while he was attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Lungs, the first Big Black release was recorded by Steve on a borrowed 4-track. He played everything on the EP himself - except the sax bleating courtesy of pal John Bohnen and the drums courtesy of Roland. Soon after, Steve recruited Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) on bass, and Santiago Durango (also Naked Raygun) joined them on guitar. In 1983, together with live drummer Pat Byrne, they recorded the Bulldozer EP. By 1984, the band had done some touring and recorded the Racer X EP and the start of the Il Duce 7". After that, Jeff returned to Naked Raygun and was replaced by Dave Riley. In 1985, Big Black recorded their first full-length, Atomizer, as well as finishing the Il Duce 7". Atomizer was released in 1986 along with the release of the Hammer Party compilation CD. In 1987, the Headache EP and Heartbeat 7" were released. That same year, the band recorded and released the 7" of The Model/He's A Whore as well as their second full-length album, Songs About Fucking. They toured extensively (for Big Black). And they broke up.

TRACK LISTING

1. Racer X
2. Shotgun
3. The Ugly American
4. Deep Six
5. Sleep!
6. The Big Payback

Vinyl now remastered By Steve Albini And Bob Weston.

The Players: Dave Riley - Bass, Santiago Durango - Guitar, Vocals, Steve Albini - Vocals, Guitar, Roland Drum Machine - itself.

Big Black was started by Steve Albini in 1982 while he was attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Lungs, the first Big Black release was recorded by Steve on a borrowed 4-track. He played everything on the EP himself - except the sax bleating courtesy of pal John Bohnen and the drums courtesy of Roland. Soon after, Steve recruited Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) on bass, and Santiago Durango (also Naked Raygun) joined them on guitar. In 1983, together with live drummer Pat Byrne, they recorded the Bulldozer EP. By 1984, the band had done some touring and recorded the Racer X EP and the start of the Il Duce 7”. After that, Jeff returned to Naked Raygun and was replaced by Dave Riley. In 1985, Big Black recorded their first full-length, Atomizer, as well as finishing the Il Duce 7”. Atomizer was released in 1986 along with the release of the Hammer Party compilation CD. In 1987, the Headache EP and Heartbeat 7” were released. That same year, the band recorded and released the 7” of The Model/He’s A Whore as well as their second full-length album, Songs About Fucking. They toured extensively (for Big Black). And they broke up. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
The Power Of Independent Trucking
The Model
Bad Penny
L. Dopa
Precious Thing
Columbian Necktie
Side B:
Kitty Empire
Ergot
Kasimir S. Pulaski Day
Fish Fry
Pavement Saw
Tiny, King Of The Jews
Bombastic Intro

When Leon Michels and El Michels Affair released their fi­rst record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented “cinematic soul” sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later all while producing for some of the biggest names in the industry Michels has trademarked his sound, with each project taking audiences somewhere new and pushing the boundaries of what he is known for. The man is a river, not a lake and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of hip-hop laying down a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone: Black Thought of The Roots crew.

Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game and it is a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought have been in each other's orbit for a while now. The two fi­rst met in the 2000s when Thought was fi­rst getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Philly together. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time," Michels explains. "Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy."

Being that Black Thought is the co-founder and emcee for, hands down, the best live-band group in hip-hop. Michels took a decidedly different approach to this project and instead of sending recorded tracks of live compositions, he pulled out the sampler and sampled himself and some records from his collection. "I'm a big fan of soul music," as if Michels has to remind us. "And part of hip-hop's appeal to me has always been the sample-based production".

For Glorious Game, Michels would make wholly composed and recorded soul songs in his studio, sample himself, then chop and/or loop up his sounds and create instrumentals for Black Thought. On some tracks he took a more traditional hip-hop approach, starting from samples of other people’s music but then adding live instrumentation on top. But for the most part, it's him reinterpreting his own compositions into something new.

The result is an organic feel of loop-based tracks that breathe and fluctuate enough for Black Thought to ‑ex on. "What I write about is determined by the equation of the producer's energy and my energy," Black Thought says. "It's about where we meet." So armed with Michels sampled and re-sampled soul cinematics, Black Thought rhymes through personal memories and distinctive.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: With Michels laying down scattered soul-infused hip-hop beats, and the legendary Black Thought on vocal duties, this was always going to be a superb outing, but it's the ease with which these talented producers work together that is really refreshing. Forging an entirely new sound through their respective, distinctive voices, 'Glorous Game' is even more of a triumph than expected. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Grateful
2. Glorious Game Feat Kirby
3. I’m Still Somehow
4. Hollow Way
5. Protocol (feat. Son Little)
6. The Weather
Side B
7. That Girl
8. I Would Never
9. Alone
10. Miracle
11. Glorious Game (Reprise)
12. Alter Ego (feat. Brainstory)

Big Black was started by Steve Albini in 1982 while he was attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. ‘Lungs’, the first Big Black release, was recorded by Steve on a borrowed 4-track. He played everything on the EP himself, except the sax bleating courtesy of pal John Bohnen and the drums courtesy of Roland. Soon after, Steve recruited Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) on bass and Santiago Durango (also Naked Raygun) joined them on guitar.

In 1983, together with live drummer Pat Byrne, they recorded the ‘Bulldozer’ EP. By 1984, the band had done some touring and recorded the ‘Racer X’ EP and the start of the ‘Il Duce’ 7”. After that, Jeff returned to Naked Raygun and was replaced by Dave Riley.

In 1985, Big Black recorded their first full-length, ‘Atomizer’, as well as finishing the ‘Il Duce’ 7”. ‘Atomizer’ was released in 1986 along with the release of the ‘Hammer Party’ compilation CD.

In 1987, the ‘Headache’ EP and ‘Heartbeat’ 7” were released. That same year, the band recorded and released the 7” of ‘The Model’ / ‘He’s A Whore’ as well as their second full-length album, ‘Songs About Fucking’. They toured extensively (for Big Black) and they broke up.

Available again on vinyl...

TRACK LISTING

1 Jordan, Minnesota
2. Passing Complexion
3. Big Money
4. Kerosene
5. Bad Houses
6. Fists Of Love
7. Stinking Drunk
8. Bazooka Joe
9. Strange Things
10. Cables (Live)

Love Record Stores Edition available from 9am on Saturday June 20th.
Limited to one per person.

Sea blue vinyl.

Agitated's favourite album that they didn’t release in 2014 was the amazing bulldozer of australian rock and roll driven by HITS. "Hikikomori" was released in Australia and France, Agitated asked to do a single, a proper old fashioned 7" single. HITS obliged, and the track "Loose Cannons" (from the album) was chosen as the a-side, with the unreleased studio version of Big Black Car.

Both songs recorded with Radio Birdman /New Christs' Rob Younger at the desk. Loose Cannons kicks out your speaker dust with a sound that can only be from Australia, loud guitars, riffs a-plenty, hi energy rock and roll with killer vocals. and then theres "big black cars" on the flip, a previously released live version blew peoples ear offs, this studio version is even more proof that rock and roll action from Australia is superior to all!

Bulldozer is the second EP by Big Black, originally released in 1983. It was their first release to feature an actual band performing, including Pat Byrne from Urge Overkill playing drums on some of the songs in addition to the Roland TR-606 drum machine that provided rhythm tracks on Big Black's early records. On Bulldozer, Big Black's founder and frontman Steve Albini achieved a signature "clanky" sound with his guitar by using metal guitar picks notched with sheet metal clips, creating the effect of two guitar picks at once. The Bulldozer EP was recorded with engineer Iain Burgess and released in December 1983, with the first two hundred copies packaged in a galvanized sheet metal sleeve in homage to Public Image Ltd.'s Metal Box. Many of the EP's lyrics depicted scenarios drawn from Albini's midwest upbringing, such as "Cables", which described the slaughtering of cows at a Montana abattoir, and "Pigeon Kill", about a rural Indiana town that dealt with an overpopulation of pigeons by feeding them poisoned corn. The EP's final song, "Jump the Climb," was recorded by Albini before the addition of his bandmates. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Cables
A2 Pigeon Kill
A3 I'm A Mess
B1 Texas
B2 Seth
B3 Jump The Climb

Prodigious Swedish teenagers Klara (16) and Johanna Söderberg (19), AKA First Aid Kit, have been gathering fans apace throughout 2009 since the release of their “Drunken Trees” EP in February.
Spending their formative years drinking from the fountain of American classics – everything from Buffy Sainte-Marie, to the likes of Conor Oberst – it shaped their way with song writing, arrangements and even the use of a second language. Audiences have been falling at their feet, enraptured by their pure, shimmering voices in harmony. Until now they have been rightfully praised for their astonishing cover versions, such as their infamous YouTube phenomenon of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”, but First Aid Kit are now unveiling some remarkable songs of their own. The first flourishes can be heard on this masterly debut album, built around the sweeping majesty and almost telekinetic, intricate weaving of their voices. Sounding like the dreamy and spectral nieces of the Indigo Girls or Michelle Shocked coming in from the campfire to settle at the Stockholm kitchen table, the Söderberg’s distil all of their collective influences and make them their own.

TRACK LISTING

01. In The Morning
02. Hard Believer
03. Sailor Song
04. Waltz For Richard
05. Heavy Storm
06. Ghost Town
07. Josefin
08. A Window Opens
09. Winter Is All Over You
10. I Met Up With The King
11. Wills Of The River

Probably the best and definitely the most well known of Big Black albums. This incredible noise trio led by Steve Albini, released this ferocious album in 1987, but it still sounds intense and fantastic to this day. In a word, ESSENTIAL!!!