Sure, there are more than 225 albums arriving between now and Friday. And yeah, that includes plenty of titles that might very well prove to be interesting — including new albums by Rhye, Kiwi Jr., TRZTN and more. But when you get right down to the nitty gritty, there are only a pair of releases that I absolutely have to hear. And they are:
Cub Scout Bowling Pins
Heaven Beats Iowa EP
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New EP and project from members of Guided By Voices.” If you’re a fan of Robert Pollard and his Ohio indie-rock stalwarts — as I definitely am — you really don’t need to know any more than that.
Richard Hell & the Voidoids
Destiny Street Complete
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Destiny Street was the followup album to one of the greatest punk albums of all time, 1977’s Blank Generation. The album was originally recorded in 1981 and released in 1982, but not to Richard Hell’s satisfaction. As he says in his new liner notes to Destiny Street Remixed, “The final mix was a morass of trebly multi-guitar blare.” Now, for the 40th anniversary of its creation, the album is at last presented improved the way Richard Hell has long hoped and intended: “The sound of a little combo playing real gone rock and roll.” Richard had wished forever that he could remix Destiny Street, but was told by the record company that the original 24-track masters had been lost. In the early 2000s, Hell discovered a cassette from 1981 that contained just the album’s rhythm tracks (drums, bass and two rhythm guitars) and he realized he could add new guitar solos and vocals to that to obtain a cleaner, improved version of the songs. He enlisted Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and Ivan Julian to overdub the solos and he re-sang everything. This was released as Destiny Street Repaired in 2009. Then, in 2019, three of the four original 24-track masters were discovered. Now, at long last, Destiny Street could be fully remixed, and Hell signed Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) to help him. The result became the uncanny centerpiece of the 2-CD Destiny Street Complete.”
