SmashAndGrab Torrents

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Thelonious Monk - Palo Alto (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... jazz
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - Ruby, My Dear
02 - Well, You Needn’t
03 - Don’t Blame Me
04 - Blue Monk
05 - Epistrophy
06 - I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams

After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, racial tensions across the country rose. Palo Alto, a largely white college town in Cali, wasn't immune. Danny Scher, a junior at the high school, had a dream to have Thelonious Monk perform and help bring about racial unity the community while raising funds for the International Committee. After many twists and turns, the triumphantly successful concert eventually happened.

[SmashAndGrab]

Bright Eyes - Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... alternative, indie, indie rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - Pageturner’s Rag
02 - Dance and Sing
03 - Just Once in the World
04 - Mariana Trench
05 - One and Done
06 - Pan and Broom
07 - Stairwell Song
08 - Persona Non Grata
09 - Tilt‐A‐Whirl
10 - Hot Car in the Sun
11 - Forced Convalescence
12 - To Death’s Heart (In Three Parts)
13 - Calais to Dover
14 - Comet Song

After the release of their 2011 album The People's Key, Bright Eyes disappeared. The Omaha, Nebraska band had grown from their start as an outlet for teenage songwriter Conor Oberst into a genre-defining institution of angsty, emotive indie folk that could take experimental turns without warning. Oberst's wavering vocals and high-drama lyricism were eventually joined by contributions from official bandmates Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott. All three continued various creative endeavors after 2011, but it had been decided at some point that Bright Eyes was done until the trio reconvened. That reconvening comes with Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, the group's tenth studio and first new material in nine years. What's most striking about the 14 tracks that make up Down in the Weeds is how in line they are with Bright Eyes albums past. Returning after almost a decade off to a project known for bold left turns and unexpected shifts in approach could have more likely resulted in a brand new sound, but instead elements from most of Bright Eyes' best-loved phases show up in updated forms. Oberst's heartaching, Dylan-channeling folk that was spiked with weird field recordings on 2002 breakthrough album Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground can be heard in "Stairwell Song" and the dour, swaying "Persona Non Grata." The canned laugh tracks and bizarre found sounds on intro track "Pageturner's Rag" also recall the cryptic atmospheres Oberst explored on his early-2000s material. The triumphant string and horn arrangements of "Dance and Sing" harken back to 2007's Cassadaga, and there are hints of the band's flirtations with electronic sounds sprinkled throughout. In addition to the familiar styles, Bright Eyes break plenty of new ground as well. "Marina Trench" throws everything at the wall at once, with bass synths burbling along to hyperactive drum patterns for a song unlike anything the band have aimed for before. "One and Done" is a typically downtrodden Oberst song, but echoey clattering rhythms, noisy sound effects, and uncharacteristically funky bass gather around the wounded melody for an over-the-top presentation. Down in the Weeds avoids being either a phoned-in nostalgia trip or a wildly new direction that would alienate fans. Instead it continues Bright Eyes' evolution without skipping a beat, and manages to be one of their stronger records in the process.

[SmashAndGrab]

Cold War Kids - New Age Norms 2 (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... rock, alternative
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - Who's Gonna Love Me Now
02 - Obsession
03 - You Already Know
04 - Ceiling Fan
05 - Regret Regret
06 - Somewhere
07 - Across the Divide
08 - Catch Me Falling

After making their major-label breakthrough with L.A. Divine, Cold War Kids embarked on a project that was more ambitious and more spontaneous: New Age Norms, a trilogy of mini-albums that let them sharpen their songwriting and stretch out musically at the same time. On the first volume, Cold War Kids and their longtime producer Lars Stalfors continue to challenge each other. Together, they consolidated L.A. Divine's sound into a slick yet rootsy whole; this time, they use the album's eight songs to expand the band's range. There are a few quintessentially Cold War Kids moments here, including "4th of July," a piano-driven showcase for Nathan Willett's falsetto that sounds almost as warm as its namesake, and "Calm Your Nerves," the kind of rousing ballad that shows why U2 remains such a big influence on their music. For most of New Age Norms, Vol. 1, however, the band pushes their sound forward with insistent grooves indebted to disco, funk, and pop; the scornful shimmy of "Dirt in My Eyes" could almost pass for a grittier version of Maroon 5. On "Fine Fine Fine," the band underscores the sentiment "I don't want to be young again" with the strummy guitars of their early days and backing vocals straight from '60s soul. This reimagining of traditional sounds echoes the way Cold War Kids question stereotypes during a time of changing social mores on New Age Norms, Vol. 1. This includes sexual politics: "I want you for your intelligence," Willett croons on the strutting "Waiting for Your Love." Two of the band's clearest statements of purpose bookend the album. "Complainer" begins the album with a funky call to action against exhausting negativity, and "Tricky Devil" closes it with a smoky, spooky portrait of hypocrisy that feels equally timely and timeless. Both polished and revealing, New Age Norms, Vol. 1 reflects how Cold War Kids continue to broaden their horizons.

[SmashAndGrab]

Guided by Voices - Mirrored Aztec (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... rock, indie rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - I Think I Had It, I Think I Have It Again
02 - Bunco Men
03 - Citizen’s Blitz
04 - To Keep an Area
05 - Easier Not Charming
06 - Please Don’t Be Honest
07 - Show of Hands
08 - Lip Curlers
09 - Math Rock
10 - Transfusion
11 - Biker’s Nest
12 - A Whale Is Top Notch
13 - I Touch Down
14 - Haircut Sphinx
15 - Screaming the Night Away
16 - Thank You Jane
17 - The Best Foot Forwards
18 - Party Rages

The phase Guided by Voices entered around the time their classic '90s lineup reunited for the 2012 album Let's Go Eat the Factory was one marked by ferocious new levels of output. Even for a band known for churning out unrivaled, high-quality material, GBV's release schedule accelerated, with new full-lengths coming out multiple times a year. Mirrored Aztec comes at the crest of one such wave, following three very different albums that were all released in a 16-month period leading up to this new 18-song collection. 2019's Warp & Woof was a return to minute-long, muse-chasing fragments, while Sweating the Plague (which came out a few months later) was a guitar-heavy blast of proggy rock and Surrender Your Poppy Field (again, released within months of its predecessor) leaned into trippy melodies and lo-fi presentation. Right out of the gate, Mirrored Aztec takes a different path completely, embracing songwriter Bob Pollard's power pop side along with the hard rock sauntering that's made up the entirety of some of their recent output. Album opener "I Think I Had It. I Think I Have It" flies by in under two minutes of righteous riffing and Pollard's best Roger Daltrey-esque shouts. "To Keep an Area" is bounding jangle pop heavy on the kind of catchy melodies that made some of Pollard's best songs. Even when Mirrored Aztec gets into weirder moods (the Devo-meets-baroque pop detour rocker "Please Don't Be Honest," the ham-fisted light metal of "Biker's Nest," the toy instruments and demented children's choir on "Math Rock"), the album's driving force is one of giddy excitement. The production is decidedly higher quality than some of the band's recent returns to home recording, with tunes like "The Best Foot Forward" and sweetly melodic "Thank You Jane" exploding out of the speakers rather than offering the group's familiar shambling lo-fi sound. High-energy and high-strung, Mirrored Aztec is a cut above the usual set of fresh Pollard tunes. The memorable, high-octane, and outright strange moments all sit nicely together in a way that GBV's best albums perfected, but the band don't always achieve.

[SmashAndGrab]

Nas - King's Disease (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... hip hop
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - King's Disease
02 - Blue Benz
03 - Car #85 (feat. Charlie Wilson)
04 - Ultra Black (feat. Hit-Boy)
05 - 27 Summers
06 - Replace Me (feat. Big Sean & Don Toliver)
07 - Til The War Is Won (feat. Lil Durk)
08 - All Bad (feat. Anderson .Paak)
09 - The Definition (feat. Brucie B)
10 - Full Circle (feat. The Firm, AZ, Foxy Brown & Cormega)
11 - 10 Points
12 - The Cure
13 - Spicy (feat. Fivio Foreign & A$AP Ferg)

King’s Disease marks the Queens legend’s 13th studio album to date and serves as the direct follow-up to 2018’s Nasir. Whereas that release was produced entirely by Kanye West, this time around Nas has linked up with in-demand producer Hit-Boy.

[SmashAndGrab]

Fleetwood Mac - 1969-1974 Box Set (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. CD
Genre ................... rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

CD1 - 1969 - Then Play On (2020)
CD2 - 1970 - Kiln House (2020)
CD3 - 1971 - Future Games (2020)
CD4 - 1972 - Bare Trees (2020)
CD5 - 1973 - Penguin (2020)
CD6 - 1973 - Mystery To Me (2020)
CD7 - 1974 - Heroes Are Hard To Find (2020)
CD8 - 1974 - Live From The Record Plant 1974-12-15 (2020)

A wealth of material, this box set includes remastered versions of all seven studio albums the band recorded between 1969 and 1974, several bonus tracks, and an unreleased 1974 concert recorded just a few months before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band. The set covers a five-year timeframe that encompasses several different band lineups, from founding members Fleetwood, Green, McVie and Spencer; to later additions like Danny Kirwan, Christine McVie, Dave Walker, Bob Welch, and Bob Weston.

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Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material (1979) [24.96 FLAC]



Released ................ 1979
Source .................. VINYL
Genre ................... punk
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 24 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 96.0 kHz

01 - Suspect Device
02 - State of Emergency
03 - Here We Are Nowhere
04 - Wasted Life
05 - No More of That
06 - Barbed Wire Love
07 - White Noise
08 - Breakout
09 - Law and Order
10 - Rough Trade
11 - Johnny Was
12 - Alternative Ulster
13 - Closed Groove

Originally released in 1979, Stiff Little Fingers were Ireland's answer to both the Clash and the Sex Pistols. They had the personal and political stance of the former, and the noisy, pissed off, slash-and-burn musical aesthetic as the latter. Fronted by guitarist and songwriter Jake Burns (he collaborated with journalist Gordon Ogilvie), SLF took off with their two singles "Alternative Ulster," and, for that time, the utterly out of control screaming that was "Suspect Device." These two singles make the purchase price of the album a priority. They represent barely contained youthful anger at social and political mores as righteous, utterly devoid of posturing or falsity and raging to break out. "Alternative Ulster" decries the Irish political sides in the Northern Ireland controversy -- the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Irish Republican Army -- holding them both accountable for bloodshed and social and economic stasis furthering nothing but their own interests. "Suspect Device" which opens the set, screams at the heart of the conflict, that neither side can be believed as both reduce freedom to a buzzword while wielding guns. Both tracks are calls to arms, but of a different sort -- the arms of dialogue and intelligence in the midst of idiocy and murder. Punk rock never sounded so brutal or positive in one band. There are other fine cuts here as well, such as the Bob Marley cover "Johnny Was," reinvented for the times in Northern Ireland; "Wasted Life," another paean to drop out of a society that breeds death and acquiescence for its own sake, and the scathing indictment of the record company that released the album, "Rough Trade." The bonus material includes the single mix of "Suspect Device," the B-side "78 RPM," and part one -- the other two parts are on the subsequent reissues -- of an interview with Burns. If you already have these, don't bother. If you've been trying to dig through the morass into the heart of punk's original fire, this one's for you.

[SmashAndGrab]

Marilyn Manson - WE ARE CHAOS (2020) [FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - RED BLACK AND BLUE
02 - WE ARE CHAOS
03 - DON'T CHASE THE DEAD
04 - PAINT YOU WITH MY LOVE
05 - HALF-WAY & ONE STEP FORWARD
06 - INFINITE DARKNESS
07 - PERFUME
08 - KEEP MY HEAD TOGETHER
09 - SOLVE COAGULA
10 - BROKEN NEEDLE

As chaos envelopes the world, Manson penned the perfect prescription. The aptly titled WE ARE CHAOS was written and produced by Marilyn Manson & Shooter Jennings. Rock & roll icon and painter, Manson continues to infiltrate fashion, film, and music, leaving his fingerprints on modern culture. "Making this record, I had to think to myself: Tame your crazy, stitch your suit, try to pretend that you are not an animal. But I knew that mankind is the worst of them all."

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The Flaming Lips - American Head (2020) [24.96 FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... rock, alternative, psychedelic
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 24 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 96.0 kHz

01 - Will You Return _ When You Come Down
02 - Watching the Lightbugs Glow
03 - Flowers of Neptune 6
04 - Dinosaurs on the Mountain
05 - At the Movies on Quaaludes
06 - Mother I’ve Taken LSD
07 - Brother Eye
08 - You n Me Sellin’ Weed
09 - Mother Please Don’t Be Sad
10 - When We Die When We’re High
11 - Assassins of Youth
12 - God and the Policeman
13 - My Religion Is You

On American Head, the Flaming Lips use their storytelling skills to their fullest, combining some of their purest moods and most beautiful melodies with some of their most overtly autobiographical songwriting. Drawn from Wayne Coyne's memories of growing up in early '70s Oklahoma with his freewheeling brothers and their biker friends -- as well as his imagined version of Mudcrutch, the precursor to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers that honed their chops in Tulsa around that time -- the album's concept is one of the band's richest in some time. At the time of American Head's release, the band compared it to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and The Soft Bulletin, and it's true that the album's scope and depth of feeling put it on that level. However, American Head still bears the scars of albums like The Terror, which brought a weight to the Flaming Lips' music that works especially well on these meditations on the loss of innocence. The band couples the album's frank emotions with frank depictions of drugs. Though their music has evoked altered states since the beginning, they've rarely mentioned drugs directly. They're portrayed as powerful agents of escape and change, particularly on American Head's pair of songs about LSD. "Flowers of Neptune 6" sets a moment of pure epiphany to a lush swath of trumpets, tympani, strings, and the sugared twang of Kacey Musgraves' backing vocals (one of several appearances the country star makes on the album) that calls to mind early '70s AM pop. On "Mother, I've Taken LSD," the dawning awareness of life's beauty and pain, and their intrinsic connections, feels like crossing a threshold from which there is no return. The Lips give equal time to drugs' transcendent and destructive qualities on "At the Movies on Quaaludes" and the hallucinatory "You n Me Sellin' Weed," and moments like these are grounded in just enough realism to make American Head's music that much more transporting. Cocooned in harmonies, "Will You Return/When You Come Down" begins the album with a fragile reflection on the loneliness of surviving that's a perfect example of the Lips' inimitable ability to sound massive and close-up at the same time. Later, the cascading psych-pop epic "Assassins of Youth" serves as a reminder that they're as good at distilling disillusionment as they are at capturing joy. Even American Head's brightest moments are shadowed with sorrow, whether it's the knowledge that the untainted childhood wonder of "Dinosaurs on the Mountain'' is fleeting, or that by the album's end, there's just enough hope left to love someone unquestioningly on "My Religion Is You." Far from a rehash of the band's previous glories, American Head feels transformational; at once magical and down-to-earth, it's the album the Flaming Lips needed to make and fans needed to hear at this point in their career.

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Otis Redding - The Best Of Otis Redding (2020) [24.44 FLAC]



Released ................ 2020
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... soul, rhythm and blues
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 24 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - These Arms of Mine (2020 Remaster)
02 - Pain in My Heart (2020 Remaster)
03 - Stand by Me (2020 Remaster)
04 - Mr. Pitiful (2020 Remaster)
05 - That's How Strong My Love Is (2020 Remaster)
06 - I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) [2020 Remaster]
07 - Respect (2020 Remaster)
08 - My Girl (2020 Remaster)
09 - I Can't Turn You Loose (2020 Remaster)
10 - Satisfaction (2020 Remaster)
11 - Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) [2020 Remaster]
12 - Try a Little Tenderness (2020 Remaster)
13 - Shake (2020 Remaster)
14 - (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay [2020 Remaster]
15 - Hard to Handle (2020 Remaster II)
16 - I've Got Dreams to Remember (2020 Remaster II)

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was one of American soul music’s greatest ambassadors. He is most known for penning and performing the iconic 1967 single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". As a singer-songwriter, record producer, and arranger, he traveled the world popularizing the musical sensibilities of the rural American South. His artistic style helped influence musicians from Elton John to Rod Stewart and aided in bringing Memphis-based soul music to new audiences and heights. The Best of Otis Redding features some of his most beloved songs.