Rock & Indie 4 Items

Limited edition for Black Friday RSD 2016!

In 1997, Integrity would release their most critically controversial record. Seasons In The Size Of Days was an enormous departure from the previous rage that was Humanity Is The Devil. Where Humanity Is The Devil scorched the senses with blistering ferociousness, Seasons was a more thoughtfully focused dense bleakness. From the stark layout to the expanded instrumentation, fans at large were confounded. Two decades later, it is now commonly heralded as a crowning achievement for the band. INTEGRITY was never meant to fit into a specific category and nothing exemplified that as much as Seasons. In celebration of the upcoming milestone, Organized Crime Records is please to release the 20-year anniversary edition of this ground-shattering album.

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Nils Lofgren in 1997 released a small treasure for longtime fans. "Acoustic Live" captures Lofgren alone in front of an appreciative audience, knocking out such favorites as "You", "No Mercy" and "Keith Don't Go", plus six new songs. Even with the new songs, there are no real revelations, only a selection of little gems that will put a smile on your face as you listen.
Along with his work as a solo artist, Lofgren has marked more than 25 years as a member of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band as well as a former member of Crazy Horse and Grin. Lofgren joined Neil Young's band in 1968 at age 17, playing piano on the album "After The Gold Rush". Lofgren would maintain a close musical relationship with Young, appearing on his "Tonight's The Night" album and tour among others. He was also briefly a member of Crazy Horse, appearing on their 1971 LP and contributing songs to their catalogue. From '71 to '74 Lofgren was active in Grin, the band he founded in '69. Solo albums and tours followed every year through the 1970s as Lofgren established himself as a top guitarist and live performer earning the respect and acclaim of his peers. Bruce Springsteen made the call in 1984 and Lofgren joined the E-Street Band for the "Born In The USA" tour. Lofgren was an instant hit with Springsteens fans through his playing and vibrant on stage persona. Lofgren remains a stalwart of the E-Street Band to the present day.
»"Acoustic Live" is an interesting and charming album from Nils Lofgren in 1997 as he follow on in the Unplugged tradition that became popular in the 1990s. It was actually recorded at The Barns Of Wolftrap, Vienna in Virginia on January 18th, 1997.« — bestlivealbums.com

Acclaimed saxophonist, producer and composer Yasuaki Shimizu will release Kiren, his unreleased album from 1984, on the Palto Flats record label on February 25, 2022. Liner notes by music historian Chee Shimizu, and credits in both Japanese and English.

By the early 1980s Yasuaki Shimizu had established himself on the Japanese new wave scene, producing many important experimental pop records and releasing several albums as the bandleader of Mariah. Following the release of his widely regarded solo classic Kakashi, from 1982, and the otherworldly Utakata No Hibi, by Mariah in 1983, he went into the studio the following year with frequent collaborators, producer Aki Ikuta and Morio Watanabe (bassist of Mariah), to record a mystifying collection of experimental dance music. Utilizing cutting-edge technology and studio trickery, Kiren showcases Shimizu's trademark playfulness, marrying richly layered production techniques to off-kilter, sometimes traditional sounding rhythms and melodies. Portending his work with the Saxophonettes as well as forecasting trends in techno, new wave, and futuristic rhythmic music, this formerly lost album represents an important period of Shimizu's artistic expression, an artist at his peak, while successfully exploring the intersections of fusion, synthpop, new wave, and jazz.

As Chee Shimizu (no relation) writes in the liner notes, Kiren, and his concurrent release Latin were “born out of a free environment of collaboration that existed between Yasuaki and Aki Ikuta ... (exemplifying) his most energetic works.” In listening to Kiren, we might share with Yasuaki Shimizu the joy and excitement of experimentalism and movement that went into the making of this album, now released for the first time many years later.