Some just ins today from some perennial faves.

EMBRACE – Embrace (Dischord)
LTD Green Vinyl repress.

Ian MacKaye’s group between Minor Threat and Fugazi built on the remains of the group Faith reimagined U.S. Hardcore as something emotional, personal, inward looking and critical. Yes yes it’s basically year zero emo but MCR this ain’t (no shade on the Chems). Despite all those OG Emo tags, Embrace hit much more like HXC, like a slightly more developed Minor Threat. The lyrics read a little like MacKaye’s diaries of the time, pissed off, trying to reach to the future, trying to build community. The little classic rock inflections subsumed into the HXC stew are kind of incredible. Little guitar licks, gang vocals, major chord changes bleeding into distortion. A key Dischord release back in.

DON CHERRY – Hear And Now (Real Gone Music)
LP – Black Vinyl

Wow, I was NOT prepared for this. Starting off a little like some of the most spacious Miles records before bursting into a distorted guitar and pentatonic riff, it’s easily the most ROCK I’ve ever heard Cherry flex. There’s so many disparate, fun elements: Tabla drones (Classical Indian scholars please go easy if I’ve got this wrong), synthesizers, broken funk electric guitar, the omnipresent AND OMINPOTENT Wah Wah axe. Dep said that a key way to choose Don Cherry records is that anything with tapestry on it was bound to be good. Consider this peak tapestry. Very cool.

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – Belong (Slumberland)
LP – Icy Blue Vinyl

You know we love this group so it’s a nice fall into the memory hole listening to Belong again. Here the group pumped up the jams to stadium proportions with production from none other than Flood. I hope they don’t take this as a slight but the record sounds a little like a heavenly mix of Siamese-era Smashing Pumpkins and Feed Me With Your Kiss-style MBV. If you don’t think this sounds like the golden ticket WHO EVEN ARE YOU. Seriously though, the group wrote some of their best songs on this record and it’s great to have it back in stock.