Shakey Graves: Roll the Bones X (2LP, black & gold vinyl) [DUALTONE]

Why you'll love it

This 10th anniversary 2LP set pairs the original album with Odds & Ends, a disc of unheard demos, early versions and interludes, in a gold-foil gatefold with a 20-page photo book. The anniversary edition reached No. 136 on the Billboard 200.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Photo book included
• 10th anniversary edition

About the album

Before he had a band, Alejandro Rose-Garcia had a suitcase. Tired of borrowing kick drums, he had a friend build him one that doubled as a bass drum and tambourine stand, and the one-man-band act that came out of it is all over Roll the Bones, his self-made debut, first sold as a CD-R and on Bandcamp. A decade on, it finally got the full vinyl treatment.

The songs are rough, warm and sly, folk and blues played with a punk's impatience. "Roll the Bones" and "Unlucky Skin" set the tone, "Built to Roam" and "Georgia Moon" wander nicely, and "The Seal Hunter" and "To Cure What Ails" close the first disc, with "Business Lunch" and "Proper Fence" in between. The second gathers the Odds & Ends: early takes of "Word of Mouth" and "Late July," a demo of "Pansy Waltz," an alternate "Lonely Hill" and "Saving Face," the early version of "Roll the Bones."

The Austin mayor once declared a Shakey Graves Day, and Rose-Garcia still celebrates it each February by putting his music up on a pay-what-you-want basis. Generous chap. This set is easier to wrap.

Also at Kops: more Shakey Graves on vinyl · browse Folk

Tracklist

Listen

On Dualtone, a reissue of the 2011 album.