And here it is… our final blog for the year,
below you will find an assortment of news, reviews and vintage hues!
Thank you all for your continued support throughout 2024;
We hope you’ve all had a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to keeping your record fancy tickled in the new year!
CASBAH’S RECORDS OF THE YEAR
Here we are again folk, sorting through the year’s finest releases!
After plenty of discussion and some tough choices, we’ve narrowed it down to our top ten favorites. There were some real gems released this year which we hope you enjoy! Think we’ve missed a worthy contender? Stop by and let us know!
NEW RELEASES
1. MJ Lenderman “Manning Fireworks”
Raw, honest, and full of lo-fi charm. A must-listen for fans of alt-country and slacker rock that speaks to the soul!
2. Jessica Pratt “Here In The Pitch”
The otherworldly Jessica Pratt only continues to expand, with her latest album seeing some of her best songwriting to date, delicately embraced with smooth Bossa-nova and touches of 60s pop á la Spector
Here In The Pitch is heart wrenching, an intimate slow burn that is bound to linger on and on.
3. Nala Sinephro “Endlessness”
Meditative and boundary-pushing, A swirling transcendental journey, blending lush ambient textures with elements of ethereal jazz. Hear your heart beat endlessly through Sinephro’s masterfully arpeggiated modular synths.
4. Ghost Funk Orchestra “A Trip To The Moon”
A cosmic blast of groove filled jazz and psychedelic soul. Feels like a long lost soundtrack to a film from the 1960s!
5. Kim Gordon “The Collective”
The legendary Kim Gordon returns with her second solo effort, an experimental blend of gritty, distorted noise rock with industrial trap beats.
6. Bette Smith “Good Thing”
7. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings “Woodland”
8. Geordie Greep “The New Sound”
9. Jack White “No Name”
10. Charli XCX “Brat”
Honourable Mentions!
Plantoid “Terrapath”
Lady Blackbird “Slang Spirituals”
Milton Nascimento & Esperanza Spalding “Milton & Esperanza”
Vegyn “The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions”
Brittany Howard “What Now”
Cindy Lee “Diamond Jubilee”
Highlights from all of these releases along with other honorable mentions from the year are rounded up in the playlist linked below!
REISSUES AND COMPILATIONS
1. Juliet Lawson “Boo! The Early Recordings”
“Britain’s answer to Joni Mitchel” After 50 long years, the 1972 singer-songwriter cult classic, Boo! is finally available. See below the original artwork
2. John Cale “Paris 1919”
Delicately remastered from its original tapes, the prolific Velvet Underground co-founder revisits his baroque-pop classic Paris 1919.
3. Nico “Desertshore”
Out of print and with faulty original pressings, the year has somehow become less bleak with the re-issues of Nico’s seminal avant-garde masterpieces The Marble Index and Desertshore.
Remastered from the original analogue tapes, highlighting Nico’s everlasting visionary in tandem with John Cale’s haunting arrangements.
4. George Harrison “Living In a Material World”
5. Bob Dylan “Live 1974”
6. Barry Ryan “Rarities 1975-79”(CD Box Set)
7. Kevin Ayers “Joy of a Toy”
8. Margo Guryan “Words and Music”
9. White Noise “An Electric Storm”
10. The Radio Dept. “Lesser Matters”
VINTAGE VINYL
Below are a superb selection selection of vintage vinyl that have gracefully entered the market!
IT AND FRIENDS
In other vintage news, we have also bought in some great British underground papers, namely IT and Friends, Here’s a selection of some great period artwork and articles, along with some cheeky proposals for love!
feel curious to dig deeper into the fine print by clicking on the images!
Radio Geronimo
Radio Geronimo, as advertised in this excerpt from ‘Friends’ was one of the first independent underground radio stations, legally broadcast via Monte Carlo.
A group of serious music fans with a strong desire to bang out the sound of the underground, including everything from cosmic jazz, to progressive rock, long album tracks with minimum chat in between,
Radio Geronimo was truly groundbreaking.
In the links below you can read more about the fascinating, forgotten story of this incredibly influential station, and even listen to an archived broadcast!
CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S STILL HERE!
We still have this superb 2007 all bells and whistles copy of the. ‘Harold & Maude’ soundtrack by Cat Stevens.
Unreleased at the time, this reissue is the final word in deluxe reissues. Not only containing many hitherto unreleased Stevens songs this package just keeps on giving. Lavish gatefold sleeve, posters, book, flyers, 7″ picture sleeve single and outer obi strip. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I’ve only ever seen this one copy!
FOR SALE!
For sale we’ve got an amazingly rare, original 1970s 8-track player, fit for a car. You’ll have to go a very long way to find one of these!
There’s no Spotify, no playlists here—just a very satisfying clunk as you push in the tape to your player.
Be the envy of your friends as the holder of this very vintage kit, enquire within!
SHOPS WE MISS
One Stop Records on London’s South Molton Street achieved legendary status in the late sixties and early 70’s as the go to place to find all the latest imports and underground music.
Frequented by many famous musicians and DJ’s such as Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan, Elton John and John Peel to name a few!
Read more about this cooler than cool shop in the link below;