saki newsletter 2/5/13!

Are you ready for another saki newsletter? If not, here's your chance to get off the ride... ok, here we go! We'd like to thank Metropolitan Brewing and the Blast Beats for helping us out with Amanda Olbrys' opening this past Friday. Amanda's photos will be up for the rest of the month if you want to come check them out! 

Other than that, we had a fairly slow weekend events-wise, but we're kicking back into high gear this weekend with the return of your new favorite game show, IMBG: The International Movie Betting Game at Schubas upstairs lounge on Thursday! We can't tell you what movie we'll be watching, but trust us, it will be a terrible one. That's part of the fun! We'll also have a panel of Chicago comics, including Bill Cruz, Joe Fernandez and Liza Treyger there to make you laugh and compete to win YOU prizes! The whole affair is hosted by our favorite Chicago comic, Joe McAdam. It's going to be a real fun time and it's FREE!

Here's the big one, folks: on Sunday we've get our 2nd installment in the Off The Record listening party series. This month we're celebrating two new Trouble In Mind Records releases - Jacco Garnder's Cabinet of Curiosities and Maston's Shadows! You'll get to hear both of those records in full AND we've got a very special guest, (TiM alum) Mikal Cronin playing a live set. Ok, that's all pretty cool, right - but wait, there's PIE and DRINKS too! Bang Bang Pie Shop is providing an assortment of goodies and our friend Joel Beeman from Weegee's Lounge will be mixing brunch beverages with drinks provided by Goose Island! Not only is all of this FREE, but we'll also be selling Jacco and Maston's new records a few days early! I think we just used all the exclamation points available for this month, but it was worth it. You HAVE to come. You just HAVE to.


We've got some more great stuff coming up in February and into March, so keep checking back with us here on the weekly newsletter, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and the saki blog!


New Releases @ saki 2/5/13:

Apache Dropout "Magnetic Heads" LP (archival recordings)

Assiyo Bellema "Golden Years Of Ethiopian Music" LP (Mississippi archival comp.)

Alan Lomax "United Sacred Harp Convention (on Mississippi)

Bad Indian "Are On The Other Side" LP

Cheatahs "Extended Plays" LP

Circuit Des Yeux "CDY3" 10"

Dog Bite "Velvet Changes" CD/LP

Eels "Wonderful, Glorious" 10"

Fire! Orchestra "Exit" LP

Grouper "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" CD/LP (Kranky re-issue)

Grouper "The Man Who Died In His Boat" (compilation of unreleased material)

Jim James "Regions Of Light & Sound Of God" CD/LP

Matt Pond "The Lives Inside The Lines On Your Hand" LP

Night Beds "Country Sleep" LP

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down "We the Common" CD/LP

Unknown Mortal Orchestra "II" CD/LP

V/A "A Short Life Of Trouble: Popular American Ballads '27-'43" (Mississippi label comp.)

V/A "Your Victorian Breasts" LP (compilation w/ Robert Hampson, Supreme Dicks, and others)

Don't forget about the weekly new release sale! You can get Speck Mountain and Grouper for 20% off this week at saki!

Upcoming events:

Thursday, February 7th, 8pm at Schubas upstairs lounge

IMBG: The International Movie Betting Game returns!

Sunday, February 10th @ 11am (doors open at 10:30)

Off The Record: a brunchtime listening party w/ Trouble In Mind!

feat. an in-store performance by Mikal Cronin

Celebrating the release of Maston and Jacco Gardner's new records on TiM!


Check out these new and upcoming featured releases from saki/CTD!

A Short Life Of Trouble    V/A Label:  Mississippi  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  mrp036lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  Compilation of truly great sorrowful American folk ballads recorded between 1927-1943. Songs mostly about murder, death & broken hearted-ness. Lots of intense minor chords & stark gritty vocals. Artists include Emry Arthur, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Red Hot Old Mose, The DeZurik Sisters, Shortbuckle O'Rouke & Family, Jimmie Tarlton, Mississippi John Hurt & more. Mountain bluesmen & songsters presenting their darkest & most intense work      Assiyo Bellema    V/A Label:  Mississippi  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  mrp029lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  All hits compilation of late 1960's - early 1970's Ethiopian soul & R&B. Very intensely groove oriented material by some of Ethiopia's top musicians. Includes songs by Mulatu Astatke, Seyfou Yohannes, Ayelew Mesfin, Getatchew Kassa & the mighty Abbebe Tessemma. Non stop party      Dear, Matthew    Fighting Is Futile Remixes Label:  Spectral Sound  Format:  12"  Catalog Number:  spc111lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  3rd single off Beams, accompanied by 4 remixes from SETH TROXLER, KINK, BENOIT & SERGIO, LAID BACK      Frontier Ruckus    Eternity of Dimming Label:  Quite Scientific  Format:  2CD  Catalog Number:  qsr038cd  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. 2xCD!! The 20 song strong "Eternity of Dimming" is the closing chapter of their suburban memory landscape series, is the embodiment of real things - not of the world that now contains paper-thin computers & full length records clocking in at 25 minutes. This is the gorgeous & inevitable disintegration of all that we once knew ourselves by, blurring into the graininess of gradual dusk. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK      Frontier Ruckus    Eternity of Dimming Label:  Quite Scientific  Format:  2LP  Catalog Number:  qsr038lp  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. 2xLP VINYL RELEASE comes with gratis download code & VINYL ONLY BONUS TRACK. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK      Gardner, Jacco    Cabinet of Curiosities Label:  Trouble in Mind  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  tim047cd  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. The 12 tracks that make up the debut album "Cabinet of Curiosities" from Dutch multi-instrumentalist & producer Jacco Gardner deftly explore the loss of innocence in a far more accomplished & mature way than you would expect from a 24 yr old, fulfilling the promises made by his 1st 2 singles. The overall feel is more Zombies than Left Banke & more Nirvana & Billy Nicholls than Beach Boys & Van Dyke Parks      Gardner, Jacco    Cabinet of Curiosities Label:  Trouble in Mind  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  tim047lp  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. 150 gram LIMITED EDITION RANDOMLY COLORED VINYL VERSION includes full color insert & gratis download. Get ready for your new obsession from across the pond!      Goodly Thousands    Honest / I Wish Label:  Shelflife  Format:  7"  Catalog Number:  life088  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. VINYL ONLY RELEASE LIMITED TO 300 QTY. Goodly Thousands draw inspiration from many of the beloved UK guitar pop groups of the mid 80s. In fact, vocalist Colm reminds us of young Julian Henry (The Hit Parade) on guitar mixed with Ken Sweeney (Brian) on vocals. His songs are like lost Primal Scream demos from 1983.      Ladyfinger (NE)    Errant Forms Label:  Saddle Creek  Format:  LP+CD  Catalog Number:  lbj177lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  Three decades of influence are bridged here. As w/ their sophomore effort "Dusk", the band mixes early 70s classic rock w/ punk & hardcore of the late 80s & early 90s. Here, they add a new level of musical nuance & lyrical breadth to an already dynamic sound      Maston    Shadows Label:  Trouble in Mind  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  tim048cd  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. Debut release from So Cal stunner, MASTON. Imagine if David Lynch had set Twin Peaks in Malibu instead of the Northwest, & you'll start to peek inside the world of Maston. Brass, woodwinds, organs & piano mix with haunting melodies & eerie guitar lines that seem to spring forth from the very fingers of Alessandro Alessandroni himself.      Maston    Shadows Label:  Trouble in Mind  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  tim048lp  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STERET DATE. 150 gram LIMITED EDITION RANDOMLY COLORED VINYL VERSION includes full color insert & gratis download. These songs aren't reflections, they are "Shadows".      Orchestre Regional de Mauritanie    S/T Label:  Mississippi/Sahel Sounds  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  mrp032lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  Recordings of Mauritania's first modern musical group w/ some never before released material. Formed in the 1960s, the Orchestre Nationale combined folk instrumentation w/ brass sections & electric guitars. Dreamy & hypnotic sessions are reminiscent of other post-colonial West African orchestras but diverge w/ experiments in Mauritanian classical tradition. Co-release w/ Sahel Sounds      Part Time    Seashells Label:  Fuzz City  Format:  7"  Catalog Number:  fuzz005  Release Date:  December 18, 2012  W/ nebulous keys, icy guitar leads & the effective amalgamation of live & programmed drums, this band affectionately references moody synth-rock of decades past, but it's their front man's idiosyncratic lyrics & delivery that propel them beyond curious into intriguing. Two tracks previously released on a long-gone Burger cassette      PVT    Homosapien Label:  Felte  Format:  CD  Catalog Number:  felte006cd  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. This is the 1st release that's placed Richard Pike front & center as a bona fide frontman. The change gives the band a focal point that allows "Homosapien" to be more open, more intimate & yet also more direct than its predecessors. This is the document of a band as close as ever to defining 'their sound': a seamless collage of instruments, electronics, old keyboards, machines, & Pike's voice. NO EXPORT OUTSIDE OF USA. NO EXPORT TO CANADA      tUnE-yArDs    tUnE-yArDs As Yoko Label:  Chimera Music  Format:  10"  Catalog Number:  chim014/10  Release Date:  February 12, 2013  **EXCLUSIVE!! 02/12 STREET DATE. LIMITED EDITION OF 1000 QTY 10-INCH VINYL FOR DIRECT RETAIL ACCOUNTS ONLY. One-sided with etching on flip side. tUnE-yArDs record Yoko Ono's "We're All Water" & remix Yoko's "Warrior Woman", with all proceeds to benefit charity. NO EXPORT TO EU/UK/JAPAN      United Sacred Harp Convention    V/A Label:  Mississippi  Format:  LP  Catalog Number:  mrp024lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  The first stereo recordings of the Fiery choral sounds of Sacred Harp singing. Recorded by Alan Lomax at Corinth Baptist Church in 1959. Over 300 singers performing shape note music, shaking the walls & doors. Very intense & beautiful performances. Ltd one-time pressing      UUVVWWZ    Trusted Language Label:  Saddle Creek  Format:  LP+CD  Catalog Number:  lbj179lp  Release Date:  February 05, 2013  An avant-blues quartet from Lincoln, NE. This record aspires to braid music theory w/ experimental poetry, which functions as a conduit toward a schizo-cultural critique & embodied project. Skronk-tastic

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