The Needle Drop

unreleased

Graham Lambkin - No Better No Worse (Vol 1)

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Just a month following the sad but deliberate closure of Graham Lambkin's Kye record label, the sound and visual artist has embraced digital distribution by joining Bandcamp. His five, long out of print solo albums are now on the platform, as is a new compilation of previously unreleased material. The recording of this collection spans from the first of those albums in 2001, all the way through last year; with the project effectively serving as an alternate history of the man's post-Shadow Ring career up to this point. The sprawling opening track, for instance, could be another world's Salmon Run.

Consequently, I recommend listening to the actual albums first if you're not familiar with them – given their aforementioned OOP status, that's a distinct possibility. Salmon Run is my favorite sound collage / musique concrète work of all time, Amateur Doubles is one of this decade's greatest ambient works, and Community was one of my 2016 faves, so it's hard to go wrong with any of those. But if you'd prefer a baptism by fire with this comp, fucking go for it.

A second volume of unreleased material is due out later in the year; not to mention a collaborative double album with Áine O'Dwyer on the way via Erstwhile. Suffice it to say Graham's making big plays in 2018.

-Austen

Radiohead - "I Promise"

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The 20th anniversary reissue of Radiohead's seminal album OK Computer is coming out later this month, containing of course a remastered version of the album, as well as a bonus disc of b-sides and previously unreleased material. The long passed-over "I Promise" is one of the three unreleased tracks that kicks off the disc, and it's been paired with an equally pensive video. The uncanny valley is real with this one.

Lil Ugly Mane - Three Sided Tape Volume Two

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Southern hip hop oddity Lil Ugly Mane has dropped yet another collection of unreleased songs and instrumentals. Again, he's separated the three tracks here into a seamless mix, bringing all of these odds and ends together into tracks that span past 15 minutes each. Enjoy! Stream volume 1 of the Three Sided Tape here.

Karen Dalton- "Reason To Believe"

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Karen Dalton is a folk and blues artist from the late 60's and early 70's. She was born in Enid, Oklahoma July 19, 1937 and passed away March 19, 1993 at the age of 55. She led what was described by the people around her as a troubled life, which lead to a dependence on drugs. She was already married twice by the time she was 21 and faced many issues dealing with custody of her children in combination with her drug habit. Her music is the very definition of heartbreaking beauty.

Her music has been celebrated by many well-known artists such as Bob Dylan and Nick Cave, yet her music was never very successful. She only released two albums: It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best and In My Own Time. It's not to late to discover her music as her past albums have been re-released and a new compilation of previously unreleased home recordings was released earlier this year entitled, 1966. "Reason To Believe" is one of the tracks on 1966. It perfectly exemplifies Dalton's raspy blues styled vocals that are able to deliver an emotional response from the listener and really display the depressing desperation of the lyrics. The rawness of the home recording and simplicity that goes along with it makes her vocals and lyrics feel all the more emotional, it really can not be stressed enough how impacting her music can be and how unbelievable it is that she never found any kind of major success with her talent.