FREE IN-STORE PICKUP, AND FREE SHIPPING ON PURCHASES OVER $100 IN THE USA!
Ben LaMar Gay

Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun (IA11 Edition / Deluxe) [3/28/2025]

$22.99

Shipping & Pick-Up

SHIPPING POLICY

We offer FREE shipping on orders of $100 or more. All media orders (vinyl/CD/cassette) will ship via USPS media mail. Please be aware that we cannot provide free multiple shipments for a single order, so if your order includes pre-order items, the entire order will be held until all items are in stock and ready to be shipped.

Your tracking information usually updates within 24-72 hours. Once your order departs from our facility, we no longer have control over it. For assistance with missing packages, kindly reach out to your local post office branch. Please note that we are not responsible for stolen packages and are not able to refund you for your purchase if your package was stolen after delivery. Shipping times may vary.


FREE IN-STORE PICKUP

If you are local, we offer FREE in-store pickup on online orders.  Please note, however, that using Apple Pay at checkout will auto-fill a shipping charge and will not allow you the option to choose free in-store pickup. In other words, if you wish to choose free in-store pickup at checkout, you must checkout without using an accelerated payment method like Apple Pay.

Release Date: 3/28/2025 (Pre-orders will be shipped or available for in-store pickup within 3 days of expected release date. Please note release dates are subject to change. For orders placed that have other items along with the pre-orders, all items will be held until every item from the order is available to ship.)

This title is limited to 1 per customer. Any order placed for more than 1 will be cancelled.

"There is no one universe for Ben LaMar Gay, he just sonic booms from one sound to another." - NPR Music

Ben LaMar Gay’s de facto debut album, Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun, was our attempt to introduce the legendary Chicago composer / improvisor / renaissance man to the rest of the world with a compilation of tracks from “7 albums he made over 7 years but never made the effort to actually release.” The material showcases Gay’s penchant for genre-hopping—from Reich-ian soundscape voyages to Don Cherry-esque polyrhythm treks to Jorge Ben-style vocal-and-string earworms—while keeping his singular musical voice in focus.

In the years since its release, this long OOP collection has become a touchstone, foreshadowing the breadth and scope of Ben LaMar Gay’s output since. The songs-between-the-songs warped Soul Americana madness and beauty of Open Arms To Open Us, the unhinged long form freedom of Certain Reveries—each fresh mode would defy expectation if without the context established by Downtown Castles. To quote the OG press release, “to call it ‘eclectic’ would only scratch the surface. This music is everything.”

LP comes packaged in the deluxe International Anthem style - heavyweight jacket, IARC OBI strip, poly-lined inner-sleeve, insert booklet (new for 2025), and re-cut lacquers, on classic black vinyl.

IA11 Edition / Deluxe

UPC: 634457197879


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Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun album cover.
Ben LaMar Gay

Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun (IA11 Edition / Deluxe) [3/28/2025]

$22.99

Release Date: 3/28/2025 (Pre-orders will be shipped or available for in-store pickup within 3 days of expected release date. Please note release dates are subject to change. For orders placed that have other items along with the pre-orders, all items will be held until every item from the order is available to ship.)

This title is limited to 1 per customer. Any order placed for more than 1 will be cancelled.

"There is no one universe for Ben LaMar Gay, he just sonic booms from one sound to another." - NPR Music

Ben LaMar Gay’s de facto debut album, Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun, was our attempt to introduce the legendary Chicago composer / improvisor / renaissance man to the rest of the world with a compilation of tracks from “7 albums he made over 7 years but never made the effort to actually release.” The material showcases Gay’s penchant for genre-hopping—from Reich-ian soundscape voyages to Don Cherry-esque polyrhythm treks to Jorge Ben-style vocal-and-string earworms—while keeping his singular musical voice in focus.

In the years since its release, this long OOP collection has become a touchstone, foreshadowing the breadth and scope of Ben LaMar Gay’s output since. The songs-between-the-songs warped Soul Americana madness and beauty of Open Arms To Open Us, the unhinged long form freedom of Certain Reveries—each fresh mode would defy expectation if without the context established by Downtown Castles. To quote the OG press release, “to call it ‘eclectic’ would only scratch the surface. This music is everything.”

LP comes packaged in the deluxe International Anthem style - heavyweight jacket, IARC OBI strip, poly-lined inner-sleeve, insert booklet (new for 2025), and re-cut lacquers, on classic black vinyl.

IA11 Edition / Deluxe

UPC: 634457197879


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