Ragged Records

Limited vinyl LP pressing. Regularly hailed as one the most important composers of the late 20th century, John Zorn is comfortable at the helm of an ensemble, as improviser on an array of instruments, and as a bold theorist of collaboration. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the New York artist and operator of the esteemed Tzadik label became known for assembling hardcore-inflected jazz ensembles and for devising "game systems," or intricate musical conditions intended to force players into new territory. Partnering with Nonesuch in mid-1980s, he released The Big Gundown, which radically reimagines Ennio Morricone scores; and Spillane, which fuses improv and Zorn's "file-card" system. 

180gm vinyl LP pressing. Womack returned to American in 1969 to cut My Prescription, also produced by Moman, at a time that the venue was becoming exceptionally hot with visits from the likes of Elvis, Dusty Springfield, Neil Diamond and others. Womack's sophomore album may however well be one of the most demonstrative showcases of studio and session crew, incandescent on a finely-honed program of classy and soulful performances, with the singer in full control. Tracks like 'How I Miss You Baby,' 'Arkansas State Prison' and 'I Can't Take It Like A Man' stand as some of Womack's greatest moments, and taken as

Limited vinyl LP pressing. The mesmerizing 2016 album from L.A.'s premiere psych rock band, The Warlocks, offers some of founder/vocalist Bobby Hecksher's most captivating compositions in years! Features the hypnotic lead single "Lonesome Bulldog," plus the subtly seductive album opener "Only You," and a woozy ode to alcohol in "Drinking Song!" "Lonesome Bulldog" made its debut on Spin magazine's website and earned praise for the track's "distant, drowning percussion and jangling guitar interludes!" The Warlocks formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1998 by guitarist/singer Bobby Hecksher. The band's music has ranged from psychedelic rock to drone music. There have been many changes in personnel since their formation, with Hecksher the only constant member.

Vinyl LP pressing including digital download. 2016 release, the 16th studio album from alt-rock pioneers Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. This follows the Bad Seeds' most critically and commercially successful release of recent times, Push the Sky Away (2013). Skeleton Tree began it's journey in late 2014 at Retreat Studios, Brighton, with further sessions at La Frette Studios, France in autumn 2015. The album was mixed at AIR Studios, London in early 2016. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were formed in Melbourne in 1983 by lead singer Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout it's career. They have released 15 previous studio albums and completed numerous international tours.

Limited vinyl LP pressing of this album from the grunge/alt-rock trailblazers. The 1996 sessions for No Code featured longtime producer Brendan O'Brien (his third consecutive collaboration with the band) and drummer Jack Irons, who'd joined the band at the end of the Vitalogy sessions. They explored new approaches to writing and recording, developing songs out of jam sessions and eschewing their stadium-rock style for self-examining ballads, garage rock and even psychedelic sounds. No Code became the band's third consecutive # 1 album, with lead single "Who You Are" topping Billboard's Modern Rock chart. This is the first time the album has been available on vinyl since it's original release and the first time the album is being mastered specifically for vinyl, by Grammy Award-winning engineer Bob Ludwig. It features recreations of their original packaging, including the set of nine random replica Polaroids/lyric cards.

Limited vinyl LP pressing of this 1998 album from the grunge/alt-rock trailblazers. On Yield, Pearl Jam and Brendan O'Brien teamed up once again for a spirited session marked by the breakthrough of band members (guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Irons) bringing in finished songs for Vedder to add his signature lyrics to. With a more accessible mainstream rock sound and a full-scale tour (and replacing Irons with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, the band's drummer to this day), Yield became the band's fifth straight album to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. - The album is mastered specifically for vinyl, by Grammy Award-winning engineer Bob Ludwig and it features recreations of their original packaging.

Vinyl LP pressing. Anyone reckless enough to have typecast Angel Olsen according to 2013's Burn Your Fire For No Witness is in for a rethink with her third album, My Woman. The crunchier, blown-out production of the former is gone, but that fire is burning wilder. Her disarming, timeless voice is even more front-and-center. Yet, the strange, raw power and slowly unspooling incantations of her previous efforts remain. Over two previous albums, she gave us reverb-shrouded poetic swoons, shadowy folk, grunge-pop band workouts and haunting, finger-picked epics. My Woman is an exhilarating complement to her past work, and one for which Olsen recalibrated her writing/recording approach and methods to enter a new music-making phase. As the record evolves, one gets the sense that the "my woman" of the title is Olsen herself, absolutely in command but also willing to bend with the influence of collaborators and circumstances. An intuitively smart, warmly communicative and fearlessly generous record, My Woman speaks to everyone. That it might confound expectation is just another of it's strengths.

The preceding years have been extraordinary for Ryley Walker. In March, his second album, Primrose Green, emerged to critical hosannas from the likes of NPR, Village Voice, Uncut, and Mojo - in the process, earning admiration of musicians who had chalked up no shortage of turntable miles in Walker's life. Robert Plant declared himself a fan - as did double-bass legend Danny Thompson, with whom Ryley would later embark on a British tour. A sprawling tour of the USA around Primrose Green presented a perfect chance to workshop ideas for what would eventually become his third studio album, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung. On the album, "The Roundabout" represents a symbolic return to Chicago, while other songs are directly wedded to Ryley's actual return there. Perhaps more than any other song on the record, the somnambulant sun-dappled intimacies of opening track "The Halfwit In Me" most audibly bear the imprint of Ryley's improvisational sessions with Wilco multi-instrumentalist, Chicagoan and producer Leroy Bach, while "Funny Thing She Said" is an unflinching study of separation set to a shimmeringly supple ensemble performance.

Vinyl LP pressing includes digital download. In July of 2015, noted rock band Titus Andronicus made history, twice. The wider world shook upon the impact of The Most Lamentable Tragedy, the triple-LP rock opera that immediately established itself as the most ambitious punk record of all time, a distinction challenged only by a foolish few. Meanwhile, in the hallowed halls of Shea Stadium, NYC's longest running active all-ages DIY space, Titus Andronicus was doing the unthinkable again, becoming the first band in the history of NYC DIY to sell out five consecutive nights at the same venue. While these epic shows ostensibly served as a record-release celebration for TMLT (as well as an uproarious shindig for the 30th birthday of singer-songwriter Patrick Stickles), they shattered the limits of mere promotional exercise and reached mythical status. Sadly for the wider world, you had to be there... until now.

Vinyl LP pressing includes digital download. Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Will Butler returns with Friday Night, an album of live performances from the tour in support of his solo debut album, Policy. Recorded mostly at Lincoln Hall in Chicago on June 4, 2015, Friday Night includes five brand-new songs, five from Policy, and two songs he wrote for The Guardian newspaper last year. Capturing the energy of the dynamite Will Butler band was the major inspiration for this release. Miles Arntzen (EMEFE, Antibalas) played drums (standing up at a full kit - he didn't use a hi-hat pedal, so he could stand on that leg while working the kick drum with the other), Julie Shore played synth bass, and Sara Dobbs played synth leads and Mellotron pads. Everybody sang backing vocals. Featuring artwork by Broad City's Abbi Jacobson, Friday Night is the perfect companion to Policy and an exciting look ahead to what we can expect from Will Butler in the future.

Gatefold sleeve housed inside a bespoke white die cut outer jacket with white spot varnish finish, complete with obi strip Sleeve notes By Angelo Badalamenti. Vinyl re-master by Tal Miller. Laquers cut by David Cheppa at Plush Vinyl. "I'm glad that after 25 years, Death Waltz Recording Company has re-released the original soundtrack for Twin Peaks for a new audience to enjoy. This is my defining work as a composer and I'm happy it will get a fresh listen" - Angelo Badalamenti (2016). Composed by Angelo Badalamenti, this is the official soundtrack to the television series Twin Peaks (1990-91). The series' co-creator David Lynch produced the album alongside Badalamenti and wrote lyrics for several tracks, including the series theme song "Falling".

Sneaks songs are the mesmerizing post-punk incantations of Washington, DC’s Eva Moolchan. Bass and drum machine underpin Moolchan’s compelling vocals, and the music straddles several decades of serious minimalist fun to create her own unique niche of rock. “The songs came together pretty fast, very tongue-in-cheek,” writes Moolchan of Gymnastics. “I was playing with how we use language and twisting the words of mundane slogans, ads, and repetitive symbols I was seeing while attending school.”

Sneaks is currently recording her sophomore album to be released on Merge in early 2017. While her music and lyrics are rooted in punk, Sneaks’ live shows often provide the joy and release of a dance party. See the band on tour this fall, with more dates to be announced soon.

Vinyl LP pressing includes digital download. Touche Amore is a Los Angeles, CA based punk band whose earnest and artful approach to song writing, along with relentless touring, fueled their rise to prominence in the hardcore community. In 2013 Touche Amore crossed into new territory with their beloved release, Is Survived By. The band had reached a high point in notoriety when frontman Jeremy Bolm received news that his mother had been diagnosed with Stage Four cancer. With the band's support, Bolm wanted to go on hiatus to care for his ailing mother. However, as his biggest supporter, she encouraged him to continue on living his dream. So he returned to the road with bandmates - guitarists Nick Steinhardt and Clayton Stevens, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. In October of 2014 while Touche Amore was headlining Fest in Gainesville, FL, the final stop on their tour, Bolm received a call that his mother passed. He went home the next day. Now from a band both living it's dream and marred by loss comes their new album Stage Four. 

2016 release, the seventh full-length studio album from punk rock band, Against Me. The album is being released right before lead singer Laura Jane Grace's memoir titled Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout is set to be released. The band's last studio album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues (January 2014), has scanned nearly 50,000 albums to date. Against Me formed in Gainesville, Florida, United States, in 1997 by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas Gabel). Since 2001, the band's lineup has also included guitarist James Bowman. In 2012, Grace publicly came out as transgender, beginning a transition to living as a woman and dropping her birth name.

Limited five 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Nearly 20 years ago, Led Zeppelin introduced BBC Sessions, an acclaimed two-disc set of live recordings selected from the band's appearances on BBC radio between 1969 and 1971. The Complete BBC Sessions is an updated version of the collection that's been newly remastered with supervision by Jimmy Page and expanded with eight unreleased BBC recordings, including three rescued from a previously "lost" session from 1969. In addition, the set includes extensive session-by-session liner notes written by Dave Lewis. For the first time ever, it provides accurate details and notes about all of the band's BBC sessions. Musical highlights on this new collection include the debut of a long-lost radio session that has achieved near-mythic status among fans. Originally broadcast in April 1969, the session included three songs: "I Can't Quit You Baby," "You Shook Me," and the only recorded performance of "Sunshine Woman." Also included are two unreleased versions of both "Communication Breakdown" and "What Is And What Should Never Be." Separated by two years, the performances vividly demonstrate the young band's rapid evolution over a short period of time.

Limited vinyl LP pressing. Cooleyhighharmony is the 1991 debut album from Boyz II Men. The album includes the Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 Singles, "Motownphilly" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday". Cooleyhighharmony has been certified nine-times platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over nine million units in the US. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of this classic, UMe reissue this title back on standard weight vinyl for the first time in over 20 years. Boyz II Men is best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. During the 1990s, Boyz II Men gained international success.

Double vinyl LP pressing. The formula was simple: marry bubblegum and soul to the absolute sincerity of an enthusiastic child, cross your fingers and pray for airplay. But while the youthful sums of that formula may have grown up and walked away from their illusions of stardom, their permanent records remain. By 1973, Michael, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Jackie were as hip as kids could get - household names, with lunchboxes, coloring books, a Saturday morning cartoon, and an Alpha-Bits cereal commercial pushing the J5 brand onto any kid with television reception. Their impressive run of four consecutive #1 singles playing on both pop and R&B stations cemented their appeal to both whites and blacks, prompting MGM to launch the Osmonds as the safer (read: white) alternative. And parents? Well Michael had that wrapped up with his impossible-not-to-love mini-James Brown thing. Even their song selection straddled both sides, with "Zip A Dee Do Dah" and "ABC" for kids, and contemporary standards "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" and "My Cherie Amour" for the older crowd. This extreme marketing and merchandising juggernaut created the kid soul explosion. 

Limited edition colored ten inch vinyl pressing. Among Sun Ra's most famous and jet-propelled anthems, "Rocket Number Nine" is heard here in one of the earliest renditions from a marathon June 1960 session, with a staggering, swaggering, hip-bop beat. Ignition. Liftoff. "Rocket Number Nine Take Off for the Planet Venus, Zoom Zoom! Up in the air! Zoom! Up!" Paired with originally unknown recordings, including the driving, bossa nova-infused "Ankhnation" from 1959 and "Project Black Mass" from 1962. More energized and driving in contrast with the rather laconic subsequent versions appearing elsewhere, "Ankhnation" features a feast of traded solos from assorted Arkestral all-stars such as John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, and Hobart Dotson. "Project Black Mass" is straight from the Vaults of Mystery: Voice of the Cosmos in spirit-science precision. Romping, rumbling low tones, glittering, twinkling stars, wanderful wondering. Architecture of moments, milestones of Blackness. Extension out.

Curse Go Back is a collection of tape experiments from William S. Burroughs. Burroughs was in and out of London from the mid-50s to 1974, and towards the end of this period he  occupied a flat near Piccadilly for several years. During this latter time he developed and refined the techniques he used for creating cut-ups on tape. Working closely with Ian Sommerville, who helped acquire – and no doubt maintain – the various tape recorders that Burroughs used and abused in these experimental works. The work here is in two sections, which in their original form lasted for over an hour and first appeared in 1998 under the name Electronic Revolution as a free CD with Issue One of the French magazine Crash. The CD was quickly withdrawn, with perhaps only 100 copies finding their way into circulation. This edition is edited down to 46 minutes and comprises the core of the original recordings. It employs the now familiar techniques of random drop-ins and cut-ups of readings. The readings themselves are also cut-ups of words on the page. The first section of the tape uses further processing by means of a second tape recorder. Recorded in Duke Street in 1968, the tape was then passed on to Brion Gysin in Paris where it remained in his archive until 1998. This is the first readily available edition of a hypnotic and meditative recording that examines the hidden power of words, in a form closer sound poetry than anything literary. 

Triple vinyl LP pressing, includes digital download. Soul Jazz Records' new Nigeria Soul Fever is their first release to explore the vast wealth of Nigerian music recorded in the 1970s. The new album comes with introductory sleeve-notes by Bill Brewster (author of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life). Packed-full with Afro-Funk, Disco and Boogie all from Nigeria, this triple album/double CD set brings together a stunning collection of diverse West African sounds. Whilst a small handful of the artists featured (Joni Haastrup, Tee Mac, Christy Essien) have seen the light of day outside Africa, this is essentially a collection of killer tracks by an array of artists completely unknown outside of Nigeria. Artists such as Don Bruce & The Angels, Akin Richards & The Executives, Angela Starr, Jimmy Sherry & The Music Agents. It's no surprise that these records are extremely rare and expensive to buy individually so this album will save you going broke trying to find them.

New EP Debut for Chicago's Thrill Jockey from Guy Blakeslee's Entrance project. 

Goblin Cock is a heavy metal band from San Diego, California started by Rob Crow of the band Pinback.

Limited edition colored vinyl LP pressing. In a world full of cheesecake rappers, one man has assembled a phenomenal team to bring you madness. So stop what you're doing and get ready for a journey you've never taken before. Enter the sinister doctor, the Ultramagnetic visionary, Kool Keith, whose Feature Magnetic, released September 2016 on Mello Music Group, is his latest bizarre transformative odyssey. As always, Keith seems unstuck in time, oblivious to geography, brilliantly mixed unflinchingly grim details with surreal, fantastical tangents. He's from the Bronx, but belongs to far-reaching astral dimensions. And where many of his contemporaries have become legacy acts or revivalists, Keith continues to originate and perfect his wild style. He's parked behind Oracle Arena in Oakland with Norah Jones - iding a horse and carriage through Central Park (bystanders shout that he looks like Mike Tyson). He drinks with MF DOOM in dusty London basement and recruits a legendary squadron of fellow travelers including Sadat X (Brand Nubian), Bumpy Knuckles, Boston pioneer Ed O.G., Slug from Atmosphere, and Vallejo legend Mac Mall.

Vinyl LP pressing. Austin, TX experimental synth quartet Survive's sophomore full-length and Relapse debut, RR7349, is a dark, sweeping exercise in analog synth mastery. The pulsating, 9-song instrumental release showcases immense diversity between tracks - RR7349's compositions range from grim tom-tom thunder to space-age epics, pairing tense plodding grooves with meditative ambience and driving, rhythmic beats. Inspired by IDM and horror scores alike, RR7349 is simultaneously ominous and hopeful; tense and relaxed; percussive and melodic. A unique addition to the Relapse discography, and unquestionably Survive's best work to date.

Vinyl LP pressing. 2016 release. Oblique pop ensemble Vanishing Twin formed in 2015 over a love of unusual instruments, freaky records and the irresistible seduction of a good groove. Founder Orlando, after releasing a string of conceptual cassettes on her own RAM label, put a band together and named it for her other self, a twin absorbed and internalized in utero when they were both still a cluster of cells. She is joined by drummer Valentina Magaletti (Tomaga, Shit and Shine, Raime, Neon Neon), bassist Susumu Mukai (A.K.A. primitive electronic producer Zongamin), library music head Phil M.F.U. (Man From Uranus) on strange sounds, and film-maker and visual artist Elliott Arndt on flute and percussion.

Limited edition vinyl LP pressing. At the turn of the 21st Century, sandwiched between two of their most iconic albums - Secret Name and Things We Lost In The Fire - Low released The Exit Papers as part of Temporary Residence Ltd.'s long-running CD subscription series, Travels In Constants. A sparse suite of six mostly instrumental pieces composed for a film that never existed, The Exit Papers still stands as Low's most haunting and experimental work. Originally released exclusively on CD in a scarce edition of only 1,000 copies, Low helps celebrate the 20th anniversary of Temporary Residence by finally releasing The Exit Papers on vinyl for the first time ever.

Ambitious go-getters rich in trash.

Machine Gun Jimi Hendrix The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/1969 - Historic debut concert of Band of Gypsys to be released in it's entirety for first time ever - Recordings from the legendary band of Gypsys shows at the Fillmore East in New York with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums - 11 songs recorded New Year's Eve 1969, the night before the original Band of Gypsys live album was recorded - 8 tracks never before heard - 3 previously released tracks have been newly mixed by Eddie Kramer

2016 release. On the 20th anniversary of being a band, Drive-By Truckers return with an urgent and timely protest album, made for our times, and in particular this election year. Songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have made an epic statement and what NPR Music says " very well might be their greatest album." Drive-By Truckers are based in Athens, GA though two out of five current members (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of Northern Alabama, and the band strongly identifies with Alabama. The band currently consists of Cooley (lead vocals, guitar, banjo), Hood (lead vocals, guitar), Brad Morgan (drums), Jay Gonzalez (keys/guitar/accordion/backing vocals) and Matt Patton (bass guitar).

Limited colored vinyl LP pressing. Dude Ranch is the second studio album by American pop punk band blink-182. Recorded at Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, California with producer Mark Trombino, the album was released in the United States on June 17, 1997, jointly through independent label Cargo Music and major label MCA Records. MCA signed the band in 1996 following moderate sales of their debut Cheshire Cat (1995) and growing popularity of the trio in Australia. Dude Ranch was the band's final recording released on Cargo and their last with original drummer Scott Raynor before he was dismissed from the band in 1998. - The band recorded the album during the winter of 1996-1997. With lyrical material written on the band's nonstop tours over the previous years, as well as completed songs, the band recorded with Trombino in sessions that lasted for five weeks. During the production for Dude Ranch, the members of blink-182 were plagued with difficulties only made worse by the rushed schedule: bassist Mark Hoppus and guitarist Tom DeLonge, co-vocalists for the band, were having vocal problems and Raynor had to record his drum tracks with both heels broken, on crutches.

It’s been less than a year since the dreamy UK rock duo Ultimate Painting released their sophomore LP Green Lanes, but they’ve just announced plans to come back with another album called Dusk. The band, whose members come from the bands Mazes and Veronica Falls, recorded the new album in their home studio, and first single “Bills” is a lovely piece of crisp, efficient psychedelia that reminds me a bit of Clinic or the Beta Band. 

Norwegian experimentalist Jenny Hval’s latest album, Blood Bitch, is a haunting, compelling listen. It’s an album centered around blood and menstruation via an amalgam of vampire mythology and horror films from the ’70s; it takes a while to unspool that narrative from the album’s 10 tracks, but even before you get there, it’s apparent that Blood Bitch is Hval at her most refined and daring. As is their nature, early singles “Conceptual Romance,” “Female Vampire,” and “Period Piece” are some of the most accessible entry points on the record, but the rest of it is just as great. 

Exploded View is a new collaborative project helmed by the UK-born, Berlin-based political-journalist-turned-musician Anika (Invada Records / Stones Throw). After playing a string of 2014 solo shows in Mexico with a backing lineup composed of local producers Martin Thulin, Hugo Quezada and Amon Melgarejo, Anika and her new bandmates discovered a chemistry that they simply had to capture on tape.

Limited vinyl LP pressing. North Dakota Impressions, Tom Brosseau's 2016 album, is the third of a trilogy to visit life from a local perspective, taking the listener on a journey begun with Grass Punks (2014) and Perfect Abandon (2015), through time that doesn't clip along uniformly on some common interstate but treads at it's own pace on a rural route. More glances, more investigations and introspections, more light, more dark. Memories, imaginings, longings for a place, a home. Produced by Sean Watkins in Silverlake and Highland Park, Los Angeles, North Dakota Impressions is a hopeful album.