Summer may be coming to an end but that doesn’t mean we can’t still pine for it, right? Melissa Bel does just that eloquently and poignantly on new single “Summer So Long” which we’re proudly premiering today ahead of its release tomorrow.
We first featured Melissa Bel way back in 2016 and she has been making some pretty definitive waves ever since. Her previous releases have always fallen comfortably within the commercial pop genre, but Melissa’s latest cut is taking her to expansive new territories and we’re all for it.
Combining elements of country, pop, and Americana, Melissa’s new single “Summer So Long” is the perfect summer sizzler that will make you want to get your picnic baskets out for one last hoorah before the impending cold and rain hit us, and you know it will. Fans of Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton will feel at home here.
Melissa grew up in Toronto but now resides in Sussex, UK, the perfect spot for watching those stunning seaside sunsets, apparently.
“Summer So Long” is in stores 28th August 2020.
NEW RELEASE PICK: Fay Wildhagen, Leave Me to the Moon (Live in Oslo) (Warner Music Norway) While she’s tersely described as a Norwegian folk-pop singer-songwriter, that shortchanges the strength of Wildhagen’s vocalizing and doesn’t even touch upon her guitar skills, which are considerable. There is also a grand, dare I say Nordic, sweep to her work, that on this performance document spills forth with a flowing continuity eschewing the familiar trappings of a live recording (at least in the audio I was provided); there’s no explication or conversation, but also a lack of applause, which gets back to the flow, or as said, the sweep, of the music as it progresses. There are a few spots where this sweep borders on becoming too grand (and in a manner akin to other music from Wildhagen’s geographical region), but this impulse is ultimately kept in check, and overall, Leave Me to the Moon serves as a highly engaging introduction to the artist. B+
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICKS: Galaxie 500, Copenhagen (20/20/20) Having been lucky enough to catch a show by this band at the old, dank 9:30 Club in Washington, DC (with Velocity Girl opening) on their tour for their final studio album This is Our Music, I was truly gassed when this live recording hit stores in 1997, particularly as offering selections from all three of their LPs on the last show of their final European tour, it was roughly of the same vintage as the show I witnessed. After spending time with Copenhagen back then, I was pleased but also struck by the air of a fantastic band nearing the end of their time together, something I hadn’t picked up on as they played in front of me, or after; I walked out onto 14th St. that night elated that they’d encored with “Ceremony.” Over time, the bittersweet feeling inspired by Copenhagen subsided and I was left with some fine music. It’s hard to pick a favorite from the set, but Wareham’s guitar in “Summertime” is massive. A-
Ned Lagin, Seastones: Set 4 and Set 5 (Important) Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart all contribute to this LP, with Round Records, the short-lived label founded by Garcia and Ron Rakow, having initially released it in 1975, so it’s kind of impossible to contemplate this serving of experimental electronics without also thinking about the Grateful Dead. But hey, David Crosby, Spencer Dryden, Grace Slick, and David Frieberg are here, too. I can recall hitting this record store in Northern VA a few times a year in the early 1990s, and on every visit, I’d see the same copy of this LP. Due to the title I assumed it was just ocean sounds and paid it no further mind. Well, I bring it up because that record is not this record. The covers are different, sure, but so is the music, as this edition assembles 18 tracks from the Seastones undertaking (which totals 83, the whole bunch self-released by Lagin on 2CD in 2018), some from the original LP, some not. Academics were in Lagin’s background, but his sounds encompass more than conservatory-spawned electronic abstraction. Much more, including proto-New Age and space drift. A-
V/A, The Land of Sensations & Delights: The Psych Pop Sounds of White Whale Records, 1965–1970 (Craft Recordings) My introduction to White Whale came by sponging up second-hand copies of The Turtles’ back catalog, and I suspect I’m not alone in this route of discovery. Well, The Turtles aren’t on this comp, as after a long stretch of bad litigiousness on the part of White Whale’s operators, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman own their catalog. Craft currently owns the rest of the discography, and they’ve put together a doozy of a 2LP here, with the contents really illuminating the label’s multipronged specialties of garage-rock, pop-psych, sunshine-pop, baroque-pop, and even borderline bubblegum. Not every non-Turtles killer the label put out is here, which bodes well for an additional installment or even two, but The Laughing Gravy’s cover of The Beach Boys’ “Vegetables” is, and so is The Clique’s “Superman.” But there are 24 more, and it suffices to say that anybody who’s ever gotten gooseflesh while listening to “Care of Cell 44” should be satisfied with this one. A-
Islington, UK | Find out where to celebrate Record Store Day 2020 in Hackney and Islington: Record shops around Hackney and Islington are gearing up for their annual celebration of vinyl despite the coronavirus pandemic. Since 2008, on a date in April, music-lovers have flocked to record shops on Record Store Day in order to come together, buy exclusive releases and attend special events. This year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Record Store Day is being held across three months – August 29, September 26 and October 24. So which shops in Hackney and Islington are taking part? Check out the Gazette’s list below. Flashback Records, on Essex Road in Islington, is a long-time seller of vinyl and records – it has been “recycling music since 1997.” It has three stores across London, in Islington, Crouch End and Bethnal Green. The Essex Road branch spans two floors, with CDs, DVDs, and new vinyl as well as a large selection of second-hand products. Staff are knowledgeable about different types of music styles and are always on-hand to help. It will be open from 8am on Record Store Day, with social-distancing measures in place such as 
Milwaukee, WI | A Record Store Day unlike any other is coming. Here’s what Milwaukee shops have planned. Every April for the past decade, Record Store Day has meant huge business for local shops, with vinyl lovers lining up outside the doors of the Exclusive Company in Milwaukee as early as 4 a.m. to get their hands on rare new releases. That didn’t happen this April, when the country was in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis. But Record Store Day is still a go. Or rather, days. With shops, including in Milwaukee, reducing capacity to mitigate the spread of the virus, organizers have split up the bounty of Record Store Day-exclusive releases into three separate dates: Aug. 29, Sept. 26 and Oct. 24. Combined with Black Friday — which will also feature exclusive releases — local shopkeepers are hoping to make up for months of slow sales. “It’s going to be a big help,” said Brian Kirk, manager of the Exclusive Company location in Milwaukee. “We were closed down for at least six weeks. … We did a lot of sales (online), but it was a fraction of our normal sales. … Like many stores, (revenue is) 
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Daniel Blumberg, On&On (Mute) A record exceeding my expectations is always a wonderful thing. Not that my anticipation gauge was set low for this effort by Blumberg, it’s just that I missed his 2018 debut for Mute, Minus, and mainly knew him as the former guitarist for the band Yuck. Now, I thought Yuck was just fine, but in my experience, they were ultimately just one band amongst many, and the scoop with On&On is that in an even larger field of singer-songwriters, Blumberg stands apart. It’s worth noting that Blumberg left Yuck after their first album (before that, he was in Cajun Dance Party, whom I don’t think I’ve ever heard), and subsequent to his departure, he’s been up to some interesting things, though I learned of these activities only after being struck by the quality of his newest record. That On&On was released by Mute was enough for me to cue up the music without further PR browsing.
V/A, Total 20 (Kompakt) This is indeed volume 20 in Kompakt’s annual series of techno compilations, and as electronic dance music is a genre where high quality and longevity aren’t commonly shared traits, that Total 20 maintains the standard established across the prior two decades is worthy of note alongside deserved anniversary commemoration. But here’s something else; the music that fortifies the Total series (and by extension, the Kompakt label overall) is club music at its impetus, which is kind of an obvious thing to say, but I had to be reminded of it, or more specifically, that 2020, while a horrendous year with a little over four months to go, has been especially hard on club culture. With this in mind, Total 20 flicks my switch with a little more gusto than usual, but I can also detach from the sentimentality of Kompakt’s persistence and say that the bangers in this nearly three-hour run-time are doing more than just banging, while the pop-angled numbers are inventive and inspired. Kudos! A-
Alan Braufman, The Fire Still Burns (Valley of Search) Alto saxophonist Braufman’s Valley of Search, which was released in 1975 by the India Navigation label and reissued to much acclaim (including my long review for TVD) in 2018, is a rediscovered gem of loft-era NYC free jazz gush, and this new set, with Braufman’s longtime friend and collaborator Cooper-Moore returning on piano from the earlier recording, is clearly intended as an extension of aesthetic principles, with the very title driving this home. However, Braufman has grown compositionally (all the pieces are his) in the decades since and embraced a few accessible melodic motifs, hitting an apex in this regard with “Alone Again,” and with finale “City Nights” even dishing a borderline groove cooker. These developments set this LP apart, but ultimately for the better, even as I’m likely to always prefer the wildness of ’75.
Manningtree, UK | Record Store Day: Winyl, in Manningtree, prepares for annual record event: Vinyl enthusiasts will help fellow record fans celebrate an international event – all at a social distance. Record Store Day is one of the most important days in the calendar for independent music shop owners who sell vinyl records. The annual event is usually held in April, but the coronavirus crisis put this year’s event on pause. Instead, the celebrations will be spread out across three separate dates so record fans can enjoy the event, but keep at a social distance. Winyl, a vegan wine and record shop, in South Street, Manningtree, is holding its Record Store Day events on August 29, September 26, and October 24. Steve Tattam, who runs Winyl with his partner Whilmari Swift, said: “Previously the day was a music extravaganza with around 500 limited vinyl releases all coming out on one day, on a first come first served basis, with store events 
London, UK | London record shop Cigarette Records is being evicted: “We’ve been given 10 days to move 12,000 records.” Cigarette Records is being evicted from its premises in Beckenham Place Mansion in south-east London. According to a statement posted on the the shop’s Instagram page, the owners were served an eviction notice by Beckenham Place Mansion Management, who also manage Peckham’s Bussey Building and Copeland Park. The notice gives Cigarette’s owners six weeks to leave the premises, with the final deadline set for 30th September. However, the shop has also been told to clear 12,000 records out of a shared attic storage space at the Mansion within just 10 days. In June, the government extended measures to prevent business evictions until the end of September. It also published a code of practice for the commercial property sector “to encourage commercial tenants and landlords to work together to protect viable businesses.” Cigarette Records’ owners have claimed that their pending eviction is a breach of the Quiet Enjoyment clause in their contract — which specifies a tenant has the right to use their property without unreasonable or 
Split, the fourth album from UK blues-rockers The Groundhogs, wasn’t quite as ambitious as their prior set, 1970’s Thank Christ for the Bomb, but the first side of this ’71 effort does consist of the title track in four (distinct) parts, so it’s not like they regressed into 12-bar hackery. Christ was reissued by Fire last year along with a second disc of material, and as the full title Split + Extras should make clear, the generosity is repeated here.
New Brighton, UK | New Brighton’s Victoria Quarter revival boosted as record store gets alcohol licence: The licence will support Rockpoint’s regeneration of Victoria Quarter. A major New Brighton regeneration plan has been bolstered by the granting of an alcohol licence for a multi-purpose record store. Rockpoint Records, one of a number of new outlets to have sprung up in New Brighton’s Victoria Quarter in the last couple of years, will be able to sell alcohol from 9am until 11pm every day of the week. The outlet contains a number of attractions within it, including a cafe, a tattoo parlour, a barbers and a retro vinyl store. The man behind the store, businessman Daniel Davies, has poured £4.5m into New Brighton over the last few years, setting up a number of venues in the seaside town’s Victoria Quarter including The James Atherton Pub, the restaurant Habibi and the clothing store Rockpoint Apparel. Mr Davies said the need for 
The Doors’ ‘Morrison Hotel’ to be reissued for 50th anniversary: The newly remastered record includes over 60 minutes of unreleased studio outtakes and a biographical comic book. Due to arrive on October 9, the double CD/LP deluxe edition of the acclaimed 1970 album will contain the original record newly remastered by the band’s longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick. It will also include over 60 minutes of unreleased studio outtakes. “There are many takes, different arrangements, false starts, and insightful studio conversations between the band and producer Paul Rothchild who was in the control room. It’s like being 
