saki newsletter 2/12/13!

First thing's first: we hope you all had a great time this Sunday at our second Off The Record listening party! We know a lot of people didn't get to enjoy the pie or coffee, but that turnout was obviously even better than we thought it would be. Who'd have known that free pie and Mikal Cronin would be such a big draw!? Wait, now that we think about it WE Should have know that... well, we hope you had a blast anyway! We'd of course like to thank Trouble In Mind, Mikal Cronin, Jacco Gardner, Maston, Goose Island, Bang Bang Pie Shop, New Wave Coffee, and our man Joel Beeman from Weegee's Lounge for mixing your brunch beverages. None of these Off The Record parties would be possible without the support of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events so the biggest thank you always goes to them and the great work they do!

We don't have much going on at the shop this weekend, but make sure you stop by and pick up Grouper or tUnE-yArDs for 20% off sometime in the next week! We'll pick it back up on Friday the 22nd with this month's installment of Creative Control, followed by in-stores with Fue, As One, Panda Riot and Startropics. We hope to see you then, but also probably before that too. What we mean to say is, come shop here!

Upcoming events: Friday, February 22nd @ 8pm Creative Control w/ Joe McAdam featuring comedy from Joe Kwaczala, Charlie Bury, Aaron Weaver, Jeff Hanson, Chris Hauser & music from Hemmingbirds! Saturday, February 23rd @ 4pm In-store w/ Fue and As One! Sunday, February 24th @ 4pm Notes and Bolts presents and Epitonic saki Session w/ Panda Riot and Startropics! Thursday, February 28th The Punch-Up at Lincoln Hall featuring Showgirls and Flashdance! Friday, March 1st @ 6pm Opening reception of Anne Benjamin: Posters and Prints! Saturday, March 2nd @ 4pm In-store w/ Audiences and Norman Toronto! New releases @ saki 2/12/13: Austin Psych Fest 2012 DVD Casiotone For The Painfully Alone "In Cambridge" LP Durutti Column "LC" (2xCD reissue) Frontier Ruckus "Eternity Of Dimming" CD/LP Goodly Thousands "Honest/I Wish" 7" Jacco Gardner "Cabinet Of Curiosities" LP/CD Maston "Shadows" LP/CD Pissed Jeans "Honeys" LP/CD PVT "Homosapien" CD/LP tUnE-yArDs "As Yoko" 10" Veronica Falls "Waiting For Something To Happen LP/CD Chelsea Wolfe "Prayer For The Unborn" LP/CD Fear Of Men "Early Fragments" LP Check out these new and upcoming featured releases from saki/CTD!   Bad Indian    Are On The Other Side Label:  CQ  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  cq004lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  This Michigan band brings their brand of rust belt garage, psych, jangle & rock n' roll over 13 tracks on their 2nd fulll-length. 60s style punk rave-ups, organ laced c86 jangle, haunting ballads & psych freak-outs      Barreracudas    7th Time Around Label:  Windian  Format:  7"  Catalog Number:  win20027  Release Date:  January 08, 2013  Atlanta power-poppers follow up their 2011 full-length release w/ 2 more dirt meets glam punkers      Black Twig Pickers    Rough Carpenters Label:  Thrill Jockey  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  thrill309cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  STREET DATE 2/19. Can be seen as an inward-gazing foil to Whompyjawed EP's long-form hoedown epics. NO EXPORT      Casiokids    Skip i Natten / Offerdans Label:  Splendour  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  sple018lp  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/19 STREET DATE. LIMITED EDITION OF 150 QTY VINYL ONLY RELEASE. Casiokids returned with a cathcy, dancy, beautiful synth pop offering on a limited edition 12" for their fall Norway tour. The songs are exclusive to this 12". NO EXPORT OUTSIDE OF NA      Casiotone For The Painfully Alone    In Cambridge Label:  Orindal  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  ord06lp  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  First official live album. Recorded on April 28th, 2010 at the Middle East Upstairs, at the tail end of the only tour to feature a 6 piece band (members of MAGICAL BEAUTIFUL & DEAD SCIENCE). Drawing heavily from "Etiquette" & "Vs. Children" these recordings bring 14 classic songs to life w/ pianos, organs, horns, guitars, live drums, & percussion. A document of a short-lived live incarnation of OWEN ASHWORTH's often solo, electronic, lo-fi pop songwriting project. Limited edition 150G vinyl. Incld download      Friel, Dan    Total Folklore Label:  Thrill Jockey  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  thrill324cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  STREET DATE 2/19. Founding member of PARTS & LABOR. Armed w/ an arsenal of thriftstore pedals & noisemakers splayed across his lap, he has spent the last decade home brewing electronic music that is equal parts ragged, punk, psychedelic & glorious. NO EXPORT      Heavy Times    K-9 Label:  Windian  Format:  7"  Catalog Number:  win20028  Release Date:  January 08, 2013  Follwing their rock-solid sophomore full-length "Jacker" for Hozac records, this single features the same harsh dual guitars w/ a surfy punk underbelly. The B-side showcases their stellar bare bones songwriting      Hot Water Music    Live In Chicago Label:  No idea  Format:  2LP  Catalog Number:  nir280lp  Release Date:  January 13, 2013  3xLP version. Incld download. Colored vinyl      Howling Hex    The Best of The Howling Hex Label:  Drag City  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  dc545cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. NOTE: This is NOT a greatest hits compilation, but is a NEW album by a new incarnation of The Howling Hex. Don't fret - the album is still square state rock with sharp corners; southern lights refocused on a more northern steppe, yet still awash in the vibration of the west, red as the rocks that the Indians danced upon not so very long ago. CD features HIDDEN BONUS TRACK! NO EXPORT TO EU/UK.      Howling Hex    The Best of The Howling Hex Label:  Drag City  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  dc545lp  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. VINYL VERSION. NON-RETURNABLE. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK      King, Peter    African Dialects Label:  Secret Stash  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  srr28lp  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  1979 recording is a heavy blend of Afrobeat, Afro Funk, & Caribbean sounds. Includes download      Lusine    The Waiting Room Label:  Ghostly International  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  gi172cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. s the 3rd full length from Seattle-based electronic pop & experimental electronic producer Jeff McIlwain (LUSINE). It's an album that's both cerebral & visceral, a record that's both rewarding of a serious headphone session & also warm & melodic enough to make listening as engaging in an emotional sense as it is in an intellectual one. Features vocals from Sarah McIlwain. NO EXPORT OUTSIDE OF NA      Lusine    The Waiting Room Label:  Ghostly International  Format:  2LP  Catalog Number:  gi172lp  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. DOUBLE VINYL VERSION. NO EXPORT OUTSIDE OF NA      Matmos    Marriage of True Minds Label:  Thrill Jockey  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  thrill316cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  STREET DATE 2/19. Known for making toe-tapping rhythmic pop out of odd & unusual sound sources. They have always worn genre loosely, but it's safe to say that this is the 1st electronic album to start w/ tap dancing & end w/ doom metal. Stomping techno, eerie synth jams, musique concrete, Latin rhythms, & Ethiopian music, at once at home in the academy, the art gallery, the nightclub & the noise warehouse. NO EXPORT      McCarthy, Dawn & Bonnie Prince Billy    What The Brothers Sang Label:  Drag City  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  dc555cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. Bonny & Dawn of FAUN FABLES present "What the Brothers Sang" as no mere gesture of nostalgia; these new versions rethink The Everly Brothers for the audience of listeners today, people who naturally might have no knowledge or experience with those songs. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK/AUSTRALIA/HONG KONK/JAPAN      McCarthy, Dawn & Bonnie Prince Billy    What The Brothers Sang Label:  Drag City  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  dc555lp  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. VINYL VERSION. NON-RETURNABLE. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK      My Gold Mask    Leave Me Midnight Label:  Goldy Tapes  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  gt004cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/19 STREET DATE. MY GOLD MASK have been the buzz of the internets & blogosphere, featured on Gossip Girl, included in Vogue fashion shows & remixed by The Hood Internet. The follow up is a wall of sound that creates a spooky realm for these songs to flourish. "ItÕs only a matter of time before people fall head over heels for their spooky racket." - Time Out Chicago      Pissed Jeans    Honeys Label:  Sub Pop  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  spp1029cd  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  Refined, but no less intense. Catchy-ness at Black Flag velocity      Psychic Ills    One Track Mind Label:  Sacred Bones  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  sacbr089cd  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  STREET DATE 2/19. Perhaps the most straight-forward rock record the Ills have ever made. NO CANADA/NO EXPORT      Stereolab    Dots & Loops Label:  1972  Format:  2LP  Catalog Number:  if10lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  5th album, originally released in 1997. 1st to completely ditch the motorik drone that had been a trademark since their inception; predominated by lush lounge & jazz textures, it showcases the band's most complex set of rhythms yet. NO EXPORTS      Stereolab    Emperor Tomato Ketchup Label:  1972  Format:  2LP  Catalog Number:  if09lp  Release Date:  January 22, 2013  4th full-length, originally released in 1996. Continuing to mine the music of the '60s & early '70s, they employ Farfisas & Moogs, melodies from Bacharach & Hardy, soft-rock, bubblegum, dub & hip-hop sounds to augment their core influences of krautrock, punk, jazz & space rock. NO EXPORT      Veronica Falls    Waiting For Something To Happen Label:  Slumberland  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  slr185cd  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  The quartet easily throw off the tongue in cheek references to ghostly romances & suicides to elegantly distill the essence of an aimless twenty-something existence - the collective anxieties, tensions & confusion of moving from adolescence into full fledged adulthood - into a set of immaculately conceived & perfectly wrought pop songs      Ward, M.    Transfiguration of Vincent Label:  Jealous Butcher  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  jb070lp  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE! 02/19 STREET DATE. VINYL VERSION. COMING BACK INTO PRINT! Ward's 3rd album that is clearly progressive while simultaneously sounding regressive, feeling dusty w/ age, & manifesting a genius that is pure & untempered.      Wingdale Community Singers    Night, Sleep, Death Label:  Blue Chopsticks  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  bch023lp  Release Date:  February 19, 2013  02/19 STREET DATE. VINYL ONLY RELEASE LIMITED TO 500 QTY. 3rd full-length album finds the core trio of Hannah Marcus, Rick Moody, & David Grubbs augmented by a cast of effortlessly sympatico guests including JOLIE HOLLAND, TANYA DONNELLY & ONEIDA'S KID MILLIONS, featuring lyrical content from Walt Whitman. NON-RETURNABLE. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK

If you are interested in our other exclusives please check out our list of exclusively distributed labels. Good stuff, cheap and available a week before other online retailers!