July 19 street date. By the time the world hears the performances from these two shows, Gov’t Mule will have celebrated 25 years as a band, which is something they never could have imagined. It’s no easy task keeping a band together for 25 years. You don’t get to do that without having built, nurtured, depended on, and tested important relationships. In fact, with any band that’s stayed around that long, it’s all about relationships. When the band decided to document where they are currently (musically speaking), it was immediately clear that, amongst other things, this release should be a celebration of those relationships. From the project’s inception it was always planned on being filmed and recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Where they have "had the pleasure of playing there multiple times with many magical shows taking place over the years." Filmed and directed by Danny Clinch, who’s filmography includes projetcs with Pearl Jam, The Avett Brothers, The Foo Fighters, John Mayer, and many more. The performances were captured on 9 cameras. This is the first time the band’s updated stage setup and production has been captured on film. Gov’t Mule has releases 22 albums since their inception.
July 19 street date. By the time the world hears the performances from these two shows, Gov’t Mule will have celebrated 25 years as a band, which is something they never could have imagined. It’s no easy task keeping a band together for 25 years. You don’t get to do that without having built, nurtured, depended on, and tested important relationships. In fact, with any band that’s stayed around that long, it’s all about relationships. When the band decided to document where they are currently (musically speaking), it was immediately clear that, amongst other things, this release should be a celebration of those relationships. From the project’s inception it was always planned on being filmed and recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Where they have "had the pleasure of playing there multiple times with many magical shows taking place over the years." Filmed and directed by Danny Clinch, who’s filmography includes projetcs with Pearl Jam, The Avett Brothers, The Foo Fighters, John Mayer, and many more. The performances were captured on 9 cameras. This is the first time the band’s updated stage setup and production has been captured on film. Gov’t Mule has releases 22 albums since their inception.
July 19 street date. HUNNY is a band from Newbury Park, CA who first made a name for themselves in early 2015 after releasing their debut single “Cry for Me”. They have since released 3 Eps, including 2018’s Windows II. Tastemakers and fans alike found the Southern California group to be a perfect mix of post-punk tinged pop and their childhood influences like Prince and The Cure. The result is a sound that feels uniquely them. With a few more years and more material under their belt, HUNNY has gained fans across the globe by touring with the likes of The Neighbourhood, Beach Slang, The Frights and more. This is just the start of a long and promising career for HUNNY. HUNNY is front man Jason Yarger, guitarist Jake Goldstein, bassist/keyboardist Kevin Grimmett, and drummer Joey Anderson. “HUNNY blends sterling pop hooks with melodies and arrangements influenced by ‘80s alternative rock (especially the Cure) and lyrics that put an upbeat spin on heartache” - Mark Demming /AllMusic.com
July 19 street date. Caligula, the new album from Lingua Ignota, takes the vision of Kristin Hayter’s vessel to a new level of grandeur, her purging and vengeful audial vision going beyond anything preceding it and reaching a new unparalleled sonic plane within her oeuvre. Succeeding her self-released 2017 All Bitches Die opus, this new one sees Hayter design her most ambitious work to date, displaying the full force of her talent as a vocalist, composer, and storyteller. Vast in scope and multivalent in its influences, with delivery nothing short of demonic, this is an outsider’s opera; magnificent, hideous, and raw. Eschewing and disavowing genre altogether, Hayter builds her own world. Working closely with Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets studio, Hayter strips away much of the industrial and electronic elements of her previous work, approaching instead the corporeal intensity and intimate menace of her notorious live performances, achieved with unconventional recording techniques and sound sources, as well as a full arsenal of live instrumentation and collaborators including harsh noise master Sam McKinlay (The Rita), visceral drummer Lee Buford (The Body) and frenetic percussionist Ted Byrnes (Cackle Car, Wood & Metal), with guest vocals from Dylan Walker (Full of Hell), Mike Berdan (Uniform), and Noraa Kaplan (Visibilities). Caligula is a massive work, a multi-layered epic that gives voice and space to that which has been silenced and cut out.
July 19 street date. Caligula, the new album from Lingua Ignota, takes the vision of Kristin Hayter’s vessel to a new level of grandeur, her purging and vengeful audial vision going beyond anything preceding it and reaching a new unparalleled sonic plane within her oeuvre. Succeeding her self-released 2017 All Bitches Die opus, this new one sees Hayter design her most ambitious work to date, displaying the full force of her talent as a vocalist, composer, and storyteller. Vast in scope and multivalent in its influences, with delivery nothing short of demonic, this is an outsider’s opera; magnificent, hideous, and raw. Eschewing and disavowing genre altogether, Hayter builds her own world. Working closely with Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets studio, Hayter strips away much of the industrial and electronic elements of her previous work, approaching instead the corporeal intensity and intimate menace of her notorious live performances, achieved with unconventional recording techniques and sound sources, as well as a full arsenal of live instrumentation and collaborators including harsh noise master Sam McKinlay (The Rita), visceral drummer Lee Buford (The Body) and frenetic percussionist Ted Byrnes (Cackle Car, Wood & Metal), with guest vocals from Dylan Walker (Full of Hell), Mike Berdan (Uniform), and Noraa Kaplan (Visibilities). Caligula is a massive work, a multi-layered epic that gives voice and space to that which has been silenced and cut out.
July 19 street date. Freak Show is the second album by the popular Australian band Silverchair, which charted in different lists all over the world (US, UK, Australia, Canada and many more). After their debut Frogstomp they were fusing more elements together in their music. Freak Show contains a lot of strong hooks and the song writing skills increased. This post-grunge album is more versatile in comparison to their earlier work and it marks the beginning of the definitive band sound. Silverchair were an Australian rock band formed in 1992, who have sold over 9 million albums worldwide. Their sounds evolved during the years from the grunge and alternative rock to pop and art rock. In 2011 they announced their “indefinite hibernation” and it is still unknown if they ever going to return on stage. Freak Show is available as a limited edition of 5000 individually numbered copies on 180 gram flaming (red & yellow swirled) vinyl.
July 19 street date. Grammy nominated rock band Sum 41 is back and bigger than ever with their seventh studio album Order In Decline. Written, produced, mixed, and engineered by frontman Deryck Whibley, Order In Decline is a burst of uninhibited feeling, a page out of his journal, a window into his soul that reflects on extremely personal and vulnerable events. The album is undoubtedly Sum 41’s heaviest and most aggressive album in their storied career, while also being its most dynamic and raw. For Fans Of: The Used, The Offspring, Blink 182, Good Charlotte Touring Highlights: Headlining the “No Personal Space” tour from April to May of 2019. Also on the Rockstar Energy Disrupt Festival lineup from June to July of 2019. Playing Toronto, headlining at Echo Beach on August 08th and playing Rock La Cauze Festival in Victoriaville, QC on August 10th. First single “Out For Blood” being worked on by RPM Promotions in Canada for Radio at Active Rock and Alternative stations.
July 19 street date. Grammy nominated rock band Sum 41 is back and bigger than ever with their seventh studio album Order In Decline. Written, produced, mixed, and engineered by frontman Deryck Whibley, Order In Decline is a burst of uninhibited feeling, a page out of his journal, a window into his soul that reflects on extremely personal and vulnerable events. The album is undoubtedly Sum 41’s heaviest and most aggressive album in their storied career, while also being its most dynamic and raw. For Fans Of: The Used, The Offspring, Blink 182, Good Charlotte Touring Highlights: Headlining the “No Personal Space” tour from April to May of 2019. Also on the Rockstar Energy Disrupt Festival lineup from June to July of 2019. Playing Toronto, headlining at Echo Beach on August 08th and playing Rock La Cauze Festival in Victoriaville, QC on August 10th. First single “Out For Blood” being worked on by RPM Promotions in Canada for Radio at Active Rock and Alternative stations.
July 19 street date. (Hugely anticipated third album from Toronto death metal band follows widely praised album from last year. First vinyl press comes w/ bonus gatefold insert with additional artwork) Recklessly devouring the world into a vortex of alternate dimensional planes with Manor Of Infinite Forms, Tomb Mold has crashed through boundaries with the impact of an ocean-sized asteroid. Somewhere between outer space, inner space and the unseen dark matter in between all space, they’ve devised an alchemical formula both crushingly oppressive and rapidly expanding outward in every direction. Waking from stasis for the third time in three years, their new record Planetary Clairvoyance is the sum total of knowledge gained and aeons absorbed, concentrated into a single massive tome of arcane wisdom and implausible physics. Like the album’s cover art, it exists in a domain of alien anatomical abnormality, malign flora and cold void desolation, warping and deforming the familiar into unknown obscurity. Tracked in Canada and then mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk once again, the amalgamation of the huge sound of Manor Of Infinite Forms and the gritty particle chaos of Primordial Malignity come into boundless unity on this latest. With the explosive weight of a collapsing black hole, Tomb Mold accelerate unhinged toward infinite resurrection.
July 19 street date. (Hugely anticipated third album from Toronto death metal band follows widely praised album from last year. First vinyl press comes w/ bonus gatefold insert with additional artwork) Recklessly devouring the world into a vortex of alternate dimensional planes with Manor Of Infinite Forms, Tomb Mold has crashed through boundaries with the impact of an ocean-sized asteroid. Somewhere between outer space, inner space and the unseen dark matter in between all space, they’ve devised an alchemical formula both crushingly oppressive and rapidly expanding outward in every direction. Waking from stasis for the third time in three years, their new record Planetary Clairvoyance is the sum total of knowledge gained and aeons absorbed, concentrated into a single massive tome of arcane wisdom and implausible physics. Like the album’s cover art, it exists in a domain of alien anatomical abnormality, malign flora and cold void desolation, warping and deforming the familiar into unknown obscurity. Tracked in Canada and then mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk once again, the amalgamation of the huge sound of Manor Of Infinite Forms and the gritty particle chaos of Primordial Malignity come into boundless unity on this latest. With the explosive weight of a collapsing black hole, Tomb Mold accelerate unhinged toward infinite resurrection.
July 19 street date. LIMITED ROYAL BLUE VINYL EDITION!!! (Hugely anticipated third album from Toronto death metal band follows widely praised album from last year. First vinyl press comes w/ bonus gatefold insert with additional artwork) Recklessly devouring the world into a vortex of alternate dimensional planes with Manor Of Infinite Forms, Tomb Mold has crashed through boundaries with the impact of an ocean-sized asteroid. Somewhere between outer space, inner space and the unseen dark matter in between all space, they’ve devised an alchemical formula both crushingly oppressive and rapidly expanding outward in every direction. Waking from stasis for the third time in three years, their new record Planetary Clairvoyance is the sum total of knowledge gained and aeons absorbed, concentrated into a single massive tome of arcane wisdom and implausible physics. Like the album’s cover art, it exists in a domain of alien anatomical abnormality, malign flora and cold void desolation, warping and deforming the familiar into unknown obscurity. Tracked in Canada and then mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk once again, the amalgamation of the huge sound of Manor Of Infinite Forms and the gritty particle chaos of Primordial Malignity come into boundless unity on this latest. With the explosive weight of a collapsing black hole, Tomb Mold accelerate unhinged toward infinite resurrection.
July 19 street date. Bonding over a shared love of Chic, Parliament and the other signs in the greater funk Zodiac, Mayer Hawthorne (Aquarius) and Jake One (Taurus), collectively known as Tuxedo, return with their third studio album, "Tuxedo III" released on the Tuxedo-owned and newly launched label, Funk on Sight. Their powers combined have yet again yielded a bevy of absolute slappers that are packaged perfectly for dance floors in 2019. The album includes features from MF DOOM, DaM-FunK, Leven Kali, Benny Sings, Gavin Turek and others. Tuxedo is back to remind you that the dance floor will always be there to welcome you, whoever you are.
July 19 street date. Bonding over a shared love of Chic, Parliament and the other signs in the greater funk Zodiac, Mayer Hawthorne (Aquarius) and Jake One (Taurus), collectively known as Tuxedo, return with their third studio album, "Tuxedo III" released on the Tuxedo-owned and newly launched label, Funk on Sight. Their powers combined have yet again yielded a bevy of absolute slappers that are packaged perfectly for dance floors in 2019. The album includes features from MF DOOM, DaM-FunK, Leven Kali, Benny Sings, Gavin Turek and others. Tuxedo is back to remind you that the dance floor will always be there to welcome you, whoever you are.
July 19 street date. Bonding over a shared love of Chic, Parliament and the other signs in the greater funk Zodiac, Mayer Hawthorne (Aquarius) and Jake One (Taurus), collectively known as Tuxedo, return with their third studio album, "Tuxedo III" released on the Tuxedo-owned and newly launched label, Funk on Sight. Their powers combined have yet again yielded a bevy of absolute slappers that are packaged perfectly for dance floors in 2019. The album includes features from MF DOOM, DaM-FunK, Leven Kali, Benny Sings, Gavin Turek and others. Tuxedo is back to remind you that the dance floor will always be there to welcome you, whoever you are.
July 26 street date. New York's B Boys find inspiration in the chaos that surrounds them: the aggressive attitude and sonic lawlessness of the city they live, work, and breathe in every day. Their raw, yet meticulous style is characterized by rhythmic complexity, commanding riffs, and introspective lyrics that are as playful and self-aware as they are cutting. Across their two acclaimed releases on Captured Tracks - 2016's "No Worry No Mind" EP and 2017's debut full-length "Dada" - B Boys explore solitude and self-reflection through sharp, high-energy shouts and melodic mediations. Now, the sprightly sarcasm and acerbic commentary continues on the band’s highly anticipated sophomore LP, "Dudu". Influenced by The Clash, Wire, and Talking Heads, "Dudu" finds B Boys picking up where they left off, pondering quotidien grievances while examining the bigger picture.
July 26 street date. New York's B Boys find inspiration in the chaos that surrounds them: the aggressive attitude and sonic lawlessness of the city they live, work, and breathe in every day. Their raw, yet meticulous style is characterized by rhythmic complexity, commanding riffs, and introspective lyrics that are as playful and self-aware as they are cutting. Across their two acclaimed releases on Captured Tracks - 2016's "No Worry No Mind" EP and 2017's debut full-length "Dada" - B Boys explore solitude and self-reflection through sharp, high-energy shouts and melodic mediations. Now, the sprightly sarcasm and acerbic commentary continues on the band’s highly anticipated sophomore LP, "Dudu". Influenced by The Clash, Wire, and Talking Heads, "Dudu" finds B Boys picking up where they left off, pondering quotidien grievances while examining the bigger picture.
July 26 street date (date change). For more than 25 years, Good Riddance has written tuneful punk anthems that take on injustice in all forms, and that spirit carries through to their brand new album "Thoughts And Prayers", their second album since reforming in 2012. As a voice of resistance through four presidential administrations, Good Riddance seems well-suited for these fraught times - but don't expect a bunch of obvious anti-45 screeds. Produced and mixed once again by Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore - who've helmed every Good RIddance album since 1999's "Operation Phoenix" - "Thoughts and Prayers boasts the band's signature sound of highly melodic, fast-paced punk. Good Riddance may not have changed the world in their lengthy triumphant career, but their impact is apparent through the social awareness and political action of their many many thousands of passionate fans. $.50 from each sale of "Thoughts And Prayers" will be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank and Never Again MSD.
July 26 street date (date change). For more than 25 years, Good Riddance has written tuneful punk anthems that take on injustice in all forms, and that spirit carries through to their brand new album "Thoughts And Prayers", their second album since reforming in 2012. As a voice of resistance through four presidential administrations, Good Riddance seems well-suited for these fraught times - but don't expect a bunch of obvious anti-45 screeds. Produced and mixed once again by Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore - who've helmed every Good RIddance album since 1999's "Operation Phoenix" - "Thoughts and Prayers boasts the band's signature sound of highly melodic, fast-paced punk. Good Riddance may not have changed the world in their lengthy triumphant career, but their impact is apparent through the social awareness and political action of their many many thousands of passionate fans. $.50 from each sale of "Thoughts And Prayers" will be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank and Never Again MSD.
July 26 street date. The legendary Marlene Dietrich as the madam of a regiment of gigolos, including David Bowie, in post-World War I Berlin. That was the chemistry conceived for the film Just A Gigolo, and Marlene, who hadn’t spoken a line of dialogue before movie cameras for 17 years, agreed to return to the screen because she was eager and willing to team up with Bowie…“He is a very interesting star”, she commented, which is quite a compliment from someone who has had her pick of the most interesting stars of her time. Her moments with Bowie in the film are very special, and her singing of the 1920s title song around which the entire screenplay centers, disturbing, unforgettable. At 77 in “Just A Gigolo”, the legend becomes even stronger, so this album rightly begins with her. Capturing the atmosphere of the era, the soundtrack also features exclusive contributions from various artists including Bowie, who composed and recorded the composition “Revolutionary Song” between scenes and provided most of the accompaniment. There were three different versions produced for the film, two featuring Bowie on vocals (parts 1 & 3). There are also three tracks from American award-winning vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, whose haunting and disturbingly sexy version of the song “Johnny” is a classic, as well as music from The Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Sydne Rome, and The Gunther Fischer Quintet. Just A Gigolo is available as a limited edition of 3000 individually numbered copies on 180 gram transparent blue vinyl.
July 26 street date. Mute / BMG announce the definitive reissue of Suicide’s genuinely classic and highly influential eponymous debut album. As part of the Art Of The Album series, the album has been re-mastered in 2019 and re-issued on CD & Vinyl. The hardback CD and 140g red vinyl packages include exclusive photographs and extensive sleeve notes by The Quietus’ John Doran exploring the impact of the band through “The Times,” “The Key Players,” “The Song Writing,” “The Production,” “The Impact” and “The Legacy.” Although the band barely received any credit at the time, Suicide (vocals: Alan Vega and electronics: Martin Rev) were inspirational for numerous synth pop bands throughout the 80’s. Having originally formed in 1970, Suicide lay dormant for several years before they re-emerged in 1976 at the heart of the punk scene centered on CBGB's club in New York where the likes of The Ramones, Patti Smith and Television also found initial recognition. Four decades later, we are only just now counting the positive cost of their influence across genres such as techno, noise, electro clash, goth, synth pop, psych and industrial. Suicide's influence was immediately seen in the rise of bands like Soft Cell, Depeche Mode and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Elsewhere they have had been praised widely by Nick Cave, Jim Thirlwell and M.I.A. and count Jason Pierce (Spacemen 3 / Spiritualized), Lydia Lunch, Bobby Gillespie, Nik Void of Factory Floor and Savages as fans.
July 26 street date. Mute / BMG announce the definitive reissue of Suicide’s genuinely classic and highly influential eponymous debut album. As part of the Art Of The Album series, the album has been re-mastered in 2019 and re-issued on CD & Vinyl. The hardback CD and 140g red vinyl packages include exclusive photographs and extensive sleeve notes by The Quietus’ John Doran exploring the impact of the band through “The Times,” “The Key Players,” “The Song Writing,” “The Production,” “The Impact” and “The Legacy.” Although the band barely received any credit at the time, Suicide (vocals: Alan Vega and electronics: Martin Rev) were inspirational for numerous synth pop bands throughout the 80’s. Having originally formed in 1970, Suicide lay dormant for several years before they re-emerged in 1976 at the heart of the punk scene centered on CBGB's club in New York where the likes of The Ramones, Patti Smith and Television also found initial recognition. Four decades later, we are only just now counting the positive cost of their influence across genres such as techno, noise, electro clash, goth, synth pop, psych and industrial. Suicide's influence was immediately seen in the rise of bands like Soft Cell, Depeche Mode and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Elsewhere they have had been praised widely by Nick Cave, Jim Thirlwell and M.I.A. and count Jason Pierce (Spacemen 3 / Spiritualized), Lydia Lunch, Bobby Gillespie, Nik Void of Factory Floor and Savages as fans.
July 26 street date. The highly anticipated companion to 2017's "To The Outside Of Everything"! In the wake of punk, musicians in the UK found themselves suddenly liberated artistically and free to think in new terms commercially. The outcome was the independent label boom, and beyond that a certain Do It Yourself aesthetic. Overnight, the possibility arose of recording your own music and releasing your own record, or, if you weren’t musical yourself, setting up your own label to release records by people who were. Enabled by a new independent distribution network, classified ads in Britain's music press and the enthusiasm of record shop owners countrywide, a new kind of musician leapt into the spotlight, free of the shackles of commercial aspirations and the conformist musical approaches they necessitated. New sounds were delivered every week, pressed onto cheaply produced 7" singles and ambitious compilations by bedroom based labels. Among the photocopied sleeves and inserts, hand-stamped labels and SAE addresses, not to mention the eclectic range of sounds they accompanied, a common ground appeared: it didn’t matter what you did, so long as you did it yourself. "Optimism/Reject" captures a snapshot of that time and place. From scratchy lo-fi guitar pop to ambitious home productions and experimental meanderings, this is the sound of an underworld beneath the underground. A place so far from the mainstream only those with a keen imagination figured out how to get there. 4 CD's, with over a hundred self-released missives, lo-fi manifestos, boutique label offerings, and expressions from the edge of punk and the post-punk explosion. Features classics, rarities and unearthed gems from The Fall, Subway Sect, Sisters Of Mercy, The Raincoats, Young Marble Giants, John Cooper Clarke, and many, many more!
August 2 street date. The long-awaited fourth full-length by Föllakzoid isn’t merely a recalibration for the band. It is a multidimensional reconsideration of what the process of songwriting, performance, and creating a work of recorded music can be. Föllakzoid grows via depuration, aiming with each record to fill longer spaces of time with fewer and fewer elements. The creative perspective of the band has always been about unlearning the narrative and musical knowledge that shape the physical and digital formats and conceptions available, both visually and musically in order to make a time-space metric structure that dissolves both the author and the narrative paradigms. Unlike past Föllakzoid records, that were done in single takes with the full band, this record took three months to construct out of more than 60 separate stems - guitars, bass, drums, synthesizers, and vocals, all recorded in isolation. Producer Atom TM, who was not present for recording, was then asked to re-organize the four sequences of stems without any length, structural restrictions or guidelines. The result of this was a set of songs where neither the band's, nor the producer's, structural vision primarily shaped the metric or tonal space shifts, but where both were still subliminally present in each of the parts that form the structure and the frequency modulations that guide them.
August 2 street date. The long-awaited fourth full-length by Föllakzoid isn’t merely a recalibration for the band. It is a multidimensional reconsideration of what the process of songwriting, performance, and creating a work of recorded music can be. Föllakzoid grows via depuration, aiming with each record to fill longer spaces of time with fewer and fewer elements. The creative perspective of the band has always been about unlearning the narrative and musical knowledge that shape the physical and digital formats and conceptions available, both visually and musically in order to make a time-space metric structure that dissolves both the author and the narrative paradigms. Unlike past Föllakzoid records, that were done in single takes with the full band, this record took three months to construct out of more than 60 separate stems - guitars, bass, drums, synthesizers, and vocals, all recorded in isolation. Producer Atom TM, who was not present for recording, was then asked to re-organize the four sequences of stems without any length, structural restrictions or guidelines. The result of this was a set of songs where neither the band's, nor the producer's, structural vision primarily shaped the metric or tonal space shifts, but where both were still subliminally present in each of the parts that form the structure and the frequency modulations that guide them.
August 2 street date. Baltimore natives Have Mercy are back with their newest album The Love Life set for release on August 2nd. Awash in textured instrumentation, The Love Life finds the pair exploring the negative space in Have Mercy’s music like never before. From the droning, delicate “Dressed Down” to the nostalgic look back “Mattress on the Floor” and first single “Clair,” which marries propulsive melodies with staccato strings and drum machines, The Love Life pulls from all eras of the band’s career while simultaneously writing a new one—deftly balancing the confidence Swindle and Gleason have grown into as songwriters and retaining the sense of wide-eyed spontaneity that colored Have Mercy’s early work. For Fans Of: Real Friends, Sorority Noise, Manchester Orchestra.
August 2 street date. Baltimore natives Have Mercy are back with their newest album The Love Life set for release on August 2nd. Awash in textured instrumentation, The Love Life finds the pair exploring the negative space in Have Mercy’s music like never before. From the droning, delicate “Dressed Down” to the nostalgic look back “Mattress on the Floor” and first single “Clair,” which marries propulsive melodies with staccato strings and drum machines, The Love Life pulls from all eras of the band’s career while simultaneously writing a new one—deftly balancing the confidence Swindle and Gleason have grown into as songwriters and retaining the sense of wide-eyed spontaneity that colored Have Mercy’s early work. For Fans Of: Real Friends, Sorority Noise, Manchester Orchestra.
August 2 street date. Saxon Celebrate Four Dominant Metal Decades With ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’. On August 2nd, British heavy metal legends will release their live 40th anniversary celebration The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live) through Silver Lining Music. Featuring 40 of the band’s most iconic tracks spanning their entire career thus-far, the selection was personally curated by front man and founder Biff Byford, who selected the best live performances from an array of international shows over the last twelve years. From “State of Grace” to “Machine Gun” to “20,000 Ft”, The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live) is Saxon at their loudest, proudest and definitive best, delivering a full-blooded journey through the songs which have established them as vanguards of heavy metal music. The album will be released in the following formats: Triple CD packed in a 6 panels digipack with a 16 pg booklet, 12” lid-off Boxset, containing 5 x 12” 180 gms vinyl, The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live) Tour Pass and Slipmat and an exclusive 40 page book & Digital Download.
August 2 street date. Saxon Celebrate Four Dominant Metal Decades With ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’. On August 2nd, British heavy metal legends will release their live 40th anniversary celebration The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live) through Silver Lining Music. Featuring 40 of the band’s most iconic tracks spanning their entire career thus-far, the selection was personally curated by front man and founder Biff Byford, who selected the best live performances from an array of international shows over the last twelve years. From “State of Grace” to “Machine Gun” to “20,000 Ft”, The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live) is Saxon at their loudest, proudest and definitive best, delivering a full-blooded journey through the songs which have established them as vanguards of heavy metal music. The album will be released in the following formats: Triple CD packed in a 6 panels digipack with a 16 pg booklet, 12” lid-off Boxset, containing 5 x 12” 180 gms vinyl, The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live) Tour Pass and Slipmat and an exclusive 40 page book & Digital Download.
August 2 street date. "First Taste" is an introspective set after the extroversions of "Freedom’s Goblin" - yet just as steeped in party beats somehow, even as Ty trails through his back pages, reflecting on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures. This production is INSANE, far-out, stranger than known, tones and rhythms that expand before our ears. "First Taste" is arch, full of high-energy jams, with a thing in each mix always insistently different. Ty's song design is all over the place - not even a surprise anymore - but unlike the freewheeling feast style of "Freedom's Goblin", these twelve numbers form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound that focuses thoughts.
August 2 street date. "First Taste" is an introspective set after the extroversions of "Freedom’s Goblin" - yet just as steeped in party beats somehow, even as Ty trails through his back pages, reflecting on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures. This production is INSANE, far-out, stranger than known, tones and rhythms that expand before our ears. "First Taste" is arch, full of high-energy jams, with a thing in each mix always insistently different. Ty's song design is all over the place - not even a surprise anymore - but unlike the freewheeling feast style of "Freedom's Goblin", these twelve numbers form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound that focuses thoughts.
August 2 street date. "First Taste" is an introspective set after the extroversions of "Freedom’s Goblin" - yet just as steeped in party beats somehow, even as Ty trails through his back pages, reflecting on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures. This production is INSANE, far-out, stranger than known, tones and rhythms that expand before our ears. "First Taste" is arch, full of high-energy jams, with a thing in each mix always insistently different. Ty's song design is all over the place - not even a surprise anymore - but unlike the freewheeling feast style of "Freedom's Goblin", these twelve numbers form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound that focuses thoughts.
August 2 street date. "Power pop is what we play", declared Pete Townshend in a 1967 interview to promote the Who's ‘Pictures Of Lily’. Although the term power pop did not gain much traction at the time, it re-emerged at the beginning of the 70s after the Beatles had dissolved and music began to fracture into various camps. In the USA, bands that remained true to the Beatles tradition began to be referred to as power pop. The Raspberries set the ball rolling in 1972, and young bands began to spring up who really only wanted to sing about girls and having a good time on Saturday night. 24 tracks, including songs by The Dwight Twilley Band, The Flamin' Groovies, Van Duren & Jody Stephens, Big Star, Shoes, 20/20, and many more.
August 2 street date. Third Man Records is excited to announce the release of ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969, a 50th anniversary celebration collecting 24 previously unheard songs by such blues legends as Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. The first ever release of music recorded live at the landmark event, ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 will be available in two individual 2x LP volumes, exclusively on 180 gram vinyl. The historic gathering was presented by a small group of blues-obsessed University of Michigan students determined to give their blues heroes a public spotlight where they might shine before it was too late. Among those enterprising student-promoters was John Fishel, whose teenage brother Jim Fishel, gathered some friends to help record the festival as a personal memento. Taking advantage of their all-access pass and juggling a small Norelco tape recorder from set to set, the friends let the 1/4” tape roll. Though field recordings in the literal sense of the term, they capture the brilliance of the musicians, the excitement of the crowd and the loose, convivial nature of the entire festival. Those tapes, long thought to be lost, have now been lovingly restored to capture the electric energy of the landmark concert. Both volumes include never-before-seen photographs, artist biographies, an exclusive reminiscence from Jim Fishel, and extensive liner notes by Parker Fishel, Sophie Abramowitz and David Beal.
August 2 street date. Third Man Records is excited to announce the release of ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969, a 50th anniversary celebration collecting 24 previously unheard songs by such blues legends as Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. The first ever release of music recorded live at the landmark event, ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 will be available in two individual 2x LP volumes, exclusively on 180 gram vinyl. The historic gathering was presented by a small group of blues-obsessed University of Michigan students determined to give their blues heroes a public spotlight where they might shine before it was too late. Among those enterprising student-promoters was John Fishel, whose teenage brother Jim Fishel, gathered some friends to help record the festival as a personal memento. Taking advantage of their all-access pass and juggling a small Norelco tape recorder from set to set, the friends let the 1/4” tape roll. Though field recordings in the literal sense of the term, they capture the brilliance of the musicians, the excitement of the crowd and the loose, convivial nature of the entire festival. Those tapes, long thought to be lost, have now been lovingly restored to capture the electric energy of the landmark concert. Both volumes include never-before-seen photographs, artist biographies, an exclusive reminiscence from Jim Fishel, and extensive liner notes by Parker Fishel, Sophie Abramowitz and David Beal.
August 9 street date. The sequel to Pastor Barrett's landmark 1971 masterpiece "Like A Ship, Do Not Pass Me By" finds the young Chicago preacher and his Youth for Christ Choir continuing their genre-bending spiritual journey. Heavy drums, soaring falsettos, euphoric tambourines, sharp horns, and Barrett's unwavering devotion dance around a 40-piece choir, working together to form sanctified slab of gospel funk. Pressed in a minuscule quantity in 1973, "Do Not Pass Me By" was sold primarily from the pulpit of Barrett's Mt. Zion Baptist Church, disappearing into Chicago’s south side for 45 years before Numero's excavation. The ten-song album has been remastered, and its generic album cover updated to match Barrett's vision.
August 9 street date. Limited silver vinyl edition. The sequel to Pastor Barrett's landmark 1971 masterpiece "Like A Ship, Do Not Pass Me By" finds the young Chicago preacher and his Youth for Christ Choir continuing their genre-bending spiritual journey. Heavy drums, soaring falsettos, euphoric tambourines, sharp horns, and Barrett's unwavering devotion dance around a 40-piece choir, working together to form sanctified slab of gospel funk. Pressed in a minuscule quantity in 1973, "Do Not Pass Me By" was sold primarily from the pulpit of Barrett's Mt. Zion Baptist Church, disappearing into Chicago’s south side for 45 years before Numero's excavation. The ten-song album has been remastered, and its generic album cover updated to match Barrett's vision.
August 9 street date. For anyone who has listened to punk rock over the past couple decades, Strung Out needs no introduction. Their signature brand of intense, frenetic, metal-influenced punk has elevated them to elite status and played a significant role in redefining the genre. If you listened to their new album "Songs of Armor and Devotion" with no prior knowledge of Strung Out, you probably wouldn't guess that the California band has been together for almost 30 years - such is the intensity and fresh energy of these 13 songs. Produced by Cameron Webb, it's a record that brims with the same ferocious fire the band had at the very start of its career, but which also demonstrates how far the California five-piece have evolved as songwriters, musicians and people.
August 9 street date. For anyone who has listened to punk rock over the past couple decades, Strung Out needs no introduction. Their signature brand of intense, frenetic, metal-influenced punk has elevated them to elite status and played a significant role in redefining the genre. If you listened to their new album "Songs of Armor and Devotion" with no prior knowledge of Strung Out, you probably wouldn't guess that the California band has been together for almost 30 years - such is the intensity and fresh energy of these 13 songs. Produced by Cameron Webb, it's a record that brims with the same ferocious fire the band had at the very start of its career, but which also demonstrates how far the California five-piece have evolved as songwriters, musicians and people.
August 9 street date. For anyone who has listened to punk rock over the past couple decades, Strung Out needs no introduction. Their signature brand of intense, frenetic, metal-influenced punk has elevated them to elite status and played a significant role in redefining the genre. If you listened to their new album "Songs of Armor and Devotion" with no prior knowledge of Strung Out, you probably wouldn't guess that the California band has been together for almost 30 years - such is the intensity and fresh energy of these 13 songs. Produced by Cameron Webb, it's a record that brims with the same ferocious fire the band had at the very start of its career, but which also demonstrates how far the California five-piece have evolved as songwriters, musicians and people.
August 16 street date. Fourth full-length under the Blanck Mass moniker by Benjamin John Power (Fuck Buttons). "Animated Violence Mild" was written throughout 2018, at Blanck Mass' studio outside of Edinburgh. "These eight tracks are the diary of a year of work steeped in honing craft, self-discovery, and grief - the latter of which reared its head at the final hurdle of producing this record and created a whole separate narrative: grief, both for what I have lost personally, but also in a global sense, for what we as a species have lost and handed over to our blood-sucking counterpart, consumerism, only to be ravaged by it. I believe that many of us have willfully allowed our survival instinct to become engulfed by the snake we birthed. Animated - brought to life by humankind. Violent - insurmountable and wild beyond our control. Mild - delicious." - Benjamin John Power.
August 16 street date. Fourth full-length under the Blanck Mass moniker by Benjamin John Power (Fuck Buttons). "Animated Violence Mild" was written throughout 2018, at Blanck Mass' studio outside of Edinburgh. "These eight tracks are the diary of a year of work steeped in honing craft, self-discovery, and grief - the latter of which reared its head at the final hurdle of producing this record and created a whole separate narrative: grief, both for what I have lost personally, but also in a global sense, for what we as a species have lost and handed over to our blood-sucking counterpart, consumerism, only to be ravaged by it. I believe that many of us have willfully allowed our survival instinct to become engulfed by the snake we birthed. Animated - brought to life by humankind. Violent - insurmountable and wild beyond our control. Mild - delicious." - Benjamin John Power.
August 16 street date. "The Rescue" is commonly referred to as Explosions In The Sky's "secret album", mostly due to the fact that since its initial limited mail-order only CD release in 2005, it has never been made commercially available on any format, in any store, anywhere in the world. In 2005, after having toured the world for over a year straight in support of "The Earth Is Not A Cold Place" and scoring the major motion picture, "Friday Night Lights", Explosions In The Sky took the year off to physically, emotionally, and creatively recharge. It was during this period that they decided to try making an entire album in a method that was totally foreign to them: Quickly, and loosely. They came up with the idea to compose, rehearse, record, and mix an entirely new song each day for eight days in a row. They kept the rules simple and strict: the song had to be crafted from start to finish in one day, and could not be revisited once that day was done. "The Rescue - Anniversary Edition" has been remastered and is pressed onto audiophile-quality 100% virgin vinyl, and is packaged in a full-color jacket with a full-color heavyweight inner sleeve featuring the hand-written story of "The Rescue", as told by the band upon its completion in 2005.
August 16 street date. Opaque dusty orange vinyl edition, limited to 4000 copies. "The Rescue" is commonly referred to as Explosions In The Sky's "secret album", mostly due to the fact that since its initial limited mail-order only CD release in 2005, it has never been made commercially available on any format, in any store, anywhere in the world. In 2005, after having toured the world for over a year straight in support of "The Earth Is Not A Cold Place" and scoring the major motion picture, "Friday Night Lights", Explosions In The Sky took the year off to physically, emotionally, and creatively recharge. It was during this period that they decided to try making an entire album in a method that was totally foreign to them: Quickly, and loosely. They came up with the idea to compose, rehearse, record, and mix an entirely new song each day for eight days in a row. They kept the rules simple and strict: the song had to be crafted from start to finish in one day, and could not be revisited once that day was done. "The Rescue - Anniversary Edition" has been remastered and is pressed onto audiophile-quality 100% virgin vinyl, and is packaged in a full-color jacket with a full-color heavyweight inner sleeve featuring the hand-written story of "The Rescue", as told by the band upon its completion in 2005.
August 16 street date. In 2000, Explosions In The Sky recorded their first album, "How Strange, Innocence", over the course of two days, and made 300 CD-R copies to sell at shows and give to friends in their hometown of Austin, TX. Following their third album, "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place", the band released a single vinyl pressing of "How Strange, Innocence" as the debut release on a friend's short-lived local imprint, Ruined Potential Records. Sold exclusively on a 2004 North American tour, the sole pressing of 300 sold out immediately, quickly becoming an urban legend for fans. Now, in honor of the Explosions In The Sky's 20th anniversary, we are delighted to bring this treasured document of the band's humble beginnings back into the world. Remastered and packaged in an incredible full-color, heavyweight triple-gatefold jacket with matte varnish, heavyweight full-color insert, and custom vinyl etching containing the charming story of "How Strange, Innocence" in the band's own words.
August 16 street date. Light and dark blue mix vinyl edition, limited to 4000 copies. In 2000, Explosions In The Sky recorded their first album, "How Strange, Innocence", over the course of two days, and made 300 CD-R copies to sell at shows and give to friends in their hometown of Austin, TX. Following their third album, "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place", the band released a single vinyl pressing of "How Strange, Innocence" as the debut release on a friend's short-lived local imprint, Ruined Potential Records. Sold exclusively on a 2004 North American tour, the sole pressing of 300 sold out immediately, quickly becoming an urban legend for fans. Now, in honor of the Explosions In The Sky's 20th anniversary, we are delighted to bring this treasured document of the band's humble beginnings back into the world. Remastered and packaged in an incredible full-color, heavyweight triple-gatefold jacket with matte varnish, heavyweight full-color insert, and custom vinyl etching containing the charming story of "How Strange, Innocence" in the band's own words.
August 16 street date. (Black Sabbath-meets-Afrobeat band return after two critically acclaimed albums with their next step on the way to conquer riff-based rock • Features members of Antibalas • Rough Trade named their 2017 debut one of the best albums of that year). Here Lies Man took the music world by storm in 2017 with their self-titled debut positing the intriguing hypothesis: What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat? Since that time, they have expanded and expounded upon their sound and ideas of heavy riff rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave. The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly over the past two years, while also releasing a second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both in 2018. No Ground to Walk Upon is their third album. It continues with an ongoing concept of playing a soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. Rough Trade named Here Lies Man in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 and Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. 2018’s You Will Know Nothing furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers. This latest album is the next step in the band’s rapid ascent to what is bound to be influential upon riff-based rock.
August 16 street date. (Black Sabbath-meets-Afrobeat band return after two critically acclaimed albums with their next step on the way to conquer riff-based rock • Features members of Antibalas • Rough Trade named their 2017 debut one of the best albums of that year). Here Lies Man took the music world by storm in 2017 with their self-titled debut positing the intriguing hypothesis: What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat? Since that time, they have expanded and expounded upon their sound and ideas of heavy riff rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave. The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly over the past two years, while also releasing a second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both in 2018. No Ground to Walk Upon is their third album. It continues with an ongoing concept of playing a soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. Rough Trade named Here Lies Man in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 and Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. 2018’s You Will Know Nothing furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers. This latest album is the next step in the band’s rapid ascent to what is bound to be influential upon riff-based rock.
August 16 street date. Brown vinyl edition, limited to 1000 copies. "Thrashing Thru The Passion collects five new songs not previously released along with five songs from the collection of singles they released between November 2017 and March 2019. Formed in 2003, The Hold Steady have released six albums, numerous singles and played over 1000 shows during the past 16 years. They began releasing two-song singles in November 2017 ahead of the sold-out weekend shows they do in select cities each year and have released five new singles (nine songs total) thru March 2019.
August 16 street date. Hot Water Music. Those three words describe more than just a band at this point, they describe a way of life. Since forming in Florida in 1994, the act have constantly reinvented themselves by combining elements of punk rock and post-hardcore over the course of eight full-lengths, countless vinyl releases and energetic live shows. However instead of taking a victory lap in celebration of their current 25th anniversary tour –group marked the occasion by recording five new songs for the Shake Up The Shadows EP, which sees the band – guitarist/vocalists Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard, bassist Jason Black and drummer George Rebelo – crafting some of the most impassioned music of their career. “Celebrating our 25th anniversary isn’t self-congratulatory,” Ragan summarizes. “It’s the band saying, ‘Look at what all of us built and let’s celebrate that.’”
August 16 street date. Ten years ago, Ikebe Shakedown began pushing the boundaries of instrumental music. Each new track and live set has sent them deeper into combining the primal elements of '70s soul, raw psychedelic style, and cinematic Western soundtracks with powerful grooves and soaring melodies. Now, with their new release, "Kings Left Behind", the band is giving listeners more mystery and majesty than ever before. The album features the entire group collaborating to produce tracks that deliver punches right to the gut, even as dreamy guitars and lush horn melodies and string arrangements capture the imagination.
August 16 street date. Ten years ago, Ikebe Shakedown began pushing the boundaries of instrumental music. Each new track and live set has sent them deeper into combining the primal elements of '70s soul, raw psychedelic style, and cinematic Western soundtracks with powerful grooves and soaring melodies. Now, with their new release, "Kings Left Behind", the band is giving listeners more mystery and majesty than ever before. The album features the entire group collaborating to produce tracks that deliver punches right to the gut, even as dreamy guitars and lush horn melodies and string arrangements capture the imagination.
August 16 street date. Ten years ago, Ikebe Shakedown began pushing the boundaries of instrumental music. Each new track and live set has sent them deeper into combining the primal elements of '70s soul, raw psychedelic style, and cinematic Western soundtracks with powerful grooves and soaring melodies. Now, with their new release, "Kings Left Behind", the band is giving listeners more mystery and majesty than ever before. The album features the entire group collaborating to produce tracks that deliver punches right to the gut, even as dreamy guitars and lush horn melodies and string arrangements capture the imagination.
August 16 street date. Canadian composer Scott Morgan’s 12th long-player as loscil takes its title from an influential series of early 20th century photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, abstracting clouds into miasmic, painterly canvases of smoke and shadowplay. It’s a deeply fitting analog for Morgan’s own musical process across the past two decades, fraying forms and tones into widescreen mirages of opaque texture and negative space. The name Equivalents referred to Stieglitz’s notion of the photographs as being equivalent to his “philosophical or emotional states of mind;” the same could be said of these eight weighty, shivering chiaroscuros of sound. Each piece unfolds and evolves enigmatically, adrift in low oxygen atmospheres, shifting dramatically from pockets of density to dissipated streaks of moonlit vapor. The entirety of the record was created specifically for the album with the exception of “Equivalent 7,” which began as a dance score for frequent collaborator Vanessa Goodman. The album version of this track was reworked with Vancouver musician Amir Abbey aka Secret Pyramid. Cloud photographs taken by Scott Morgan at various locations throughout Cascadia in 2018.
August 16 street date. Canadian composer Scott Morgan’s 12th long-player as loscil takes its title from an influential series of early 20th century photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, abstracting clouds into miasmic, painterly canvases of smoke and shadowplay. It’s a deeply fitting analog for Morgan’s own musical process across the past two decades, fraying forms and tones into widescreen mirages of opaque texture and negative space. The name Equivalents referred to Stieglitz’s notion of the photographs as being equivalent to his “philosophical or emotional states of mind;” the same could be said of these eight weighty, shivering chiaroscuros of sound. Each piece unfolds and evolves enigmatically, adrift in low oxygen atmospheres, shifting dramatically from pockets of density to dissipated streaks of moonlit vapor. The entirety of the record was created specifically for the album with the exception of “Equivalent 7,” which began as a dance score for frequent collaborator Vanessa Goodman. The album version of this track was reworked with Vancouver musician Amir Abbey aka Secret Pyramid. Cloud photographs taken by Scott Morgan at various locations throughout Cascadia in 2018.
August 16 street date. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS are back with their new album, Be Good. The band has been relatively quiet over the last two years, largely because frontman Ryan Young was tending to an ill family member who ultimately passed away last year. But through mourning came inspiration. “She was a photographer, and at the wake were all these photos she took,” he remembers. One of those photos struck him immediately. It shows a Mennonite family enjoying a sunny day at the beach while an ominous cooling tower looms in the background. “I said: That’s gonna be the cover of the album that doesn’t exist yet.” That photo captures the spirit of Be Good. While all of OFF WITH THEIR HEADS’ previous work shares a common thread of being rooted in Young’s fatalistic view of the world, Be Good at least allows a tiny glimmer of hope to peek through. Young and the band members—bassist Robbie Smartwood, guitarist John Polydoros, and new drummer Kyle Manning—holed up for two and a half weeks at Pachyderm Studios, a mid-century mansion in Minnesota where Nirvana recorded In Utero, to make Be Good. Young co-produced the record along with Dan Jensen, and it was the first time he enjoyed the process, or at least tolerated it.
August 16 street date. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS are back with their new album, Be Good. The band has been relatively quiet over the last two years, largely because frontman Ryan Young was tending to an ill family member who ultimately passed away last year. But through mourning came inspiration. “She was a photographer, and at the wake were all these photos she took,” he remembers. One of those photos struck him immediately. It shows a Mennonite family enjoying a sunny day at the beach while an ominous cooling tower looms in the background. “I said: That’s gonna be the cover of the album that doesn’t exist yet.” That photo captures the spirit of Be Good. While all of OFF WITH THEIR HEADS’ previous work shares a common thread of being rooted in Young’s fatalistic view of the world, Be Good at least allows a tiny glimmer of hope to peek through. Young and the band members—bassist Robbie Smartwood, guitarist John Polydoros, and new drummer Kyle Manning—holed up for two and a half weeks at Pachyderm Studios, a mid-century mansion in Minnesota where Nirvana recorded In Utero, to make Be Good. Young co-produced the record along with Dan Jensen, and it was the first time he enjoyed the process, or at least tolerated it.
August 16 street date. Hey there, human kids, lift your face out of the feed trough and pluck that feculence from your ears. Hark! A sonar blip from beneath the pile of bodies—the latest Oh Sees, Face Stabber! Boop, blip, ughhh….people churning like a boiling swamp. Man, this din is nauseating. The screen flickers for the first time this year with a transmission from two months in the future: “the internet has deemed guitar music dead and you are free to do whatever the fuck you like ….long live the new flesh!” This album is Soundcloud hip-hop reversed, a far flung nemesis of contemporary country and flaccid algorithmic pop-barf. No songs about money or love are floating in the ether. Just memories, echoes, foggy blurs, blip-blop goes the scope, heavy funk, dystopia-punk canons, long jams, bloated solos dribbling down your caved-in chest. Human cattle like a beef avalanche, right on your burned out face hole. Spider-legs fuzz crawling in your brain. Lots of curse words for your mom. You’ve gotten the over-population blues, so let’s have some art for art’s sake. What else are you gonna do? Stare at the sky? Please…fifty carbon copies of you look back at you as you walk the streets. Take a breath, you’re going to need it. Take drugs, you’re going to need those just to stand in line at the air and water reclamation center soon enough. There’s no fruit, buddy. You’re at the bleak-peak. They will squeeze you till you’re all squeezed out. (For fans of fried prog burn-out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings. If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub. Back to the comments section with you! Easy—over and out.)
August 16 street date. Hey there, human kids, lift your face out of the feed trough and pluck that feculence from your ears. Hark! A sonar blip from beneath the pile of bodies—the latest Oh Sees, Face Stabber! Boop, blip, ughhh….people churning like a boiling swamp. Man, this din is nauseating. The screen flickers for the first time this year with a transmission from two months in the future: “the internet has deemed guitar music dead and you are free to do whatever the fuck you like ….long live the new flesh!” This album is Soundcloud hip-hop reversed, a far flung nemesis of contemporary country and flaccid algorithmic pop-barf. No songs about money or love are floating in the ether. Just memories, echoes, foggy blurs, blip-blop goes the scope, heavy funk, dystopia-punk canons, long jams, bloated solos dribbling down your caved-in chest. Human cattle like a beef avalanche, right on your burned out face hole. Spider-legs fuzz crawling in your brain. Lots of curse words for your mom. You’ve gotten the over-population blues, so let’s have some art for art’s sake. What else are you gonna do? Stare at the sky? Please…fifty carbon copies of you look back at you as you walk the streets. Take a breath, you’re going to need it. Take drugs, you’re going to need those just to stand in line at the air and water reclamation center soon enough. There’s no fruit, buddy. You’re at the bleak-peak. They will squeeze you till you’re all squeezed out. (For fans of fried prog burn-out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings. If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub. Back to the comments section with you! Easy—over and out.)
August 16 street date. When Shura started work on ‘forevher’, she did so at her most tired and homesick, setting up shop in Minneapolis at the close of a two-year tour cycle for her debut album, ‘Nothing’s Real’. It was in Minneapolis that Shura began talking to her current girlfriend online. ‘forevher,’ then, is a record born from a budding romance, covering everything from the initial pull of desire, to the giddy joy of finally being together, to recognising the moment when the connection develops from lust into something scarily meaningful. Whilst how to live - and love - as a queer woman has always been integral to Shura, it's remarkable to hear these stories twisted through such a gorgeous amalgam of influences: Joni Mitchell and Minnie Riperton, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean, Prince and Ariel Pink. Through these inspirations, Shura’s own modern, outlier perspective found a newer, more daring approach to sound and song.
August 16 street date. When Shura started work on ‘forevher’, she did so at her most tired and homesick, setting up shop in Minneapolis at the close of a two-year tour cycle for her debut album, ‘Nothing’s Real’. It was in Minneapolis that Shura began talking to her current girlfriend online. ‘forevher,’ then, is a record born from a budding romance, covering everything from the initial pull of desire, to the giddy joy of finally being together, to recognising the moment when the connection develops from lust into something scarily meaningful. Whilst how to live - and love - as a queer woman has always been integral to Shura, it's remarkable to hear these stories twisted through such a gorgeous amalgam of influences: Joni Mitchell and Minnie Riperton, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean, Prince and Ariel Pink. Through these inspirations, Shura’s own modern, outlier perspective found a newer, more daring approach to sound and song.
August 23 street date. A slab of Cincinnati hard funk slammers, reissued (legally) for the first time! Post JB's/pre-P-funk outfits headed up by brothers Catfish and Bootsy Collins along with a Cincinnati who-who's of top club players who could turn it out night after night after night in places like The Psychedelic Grave or The Round Up Club that featured a caged bear in the club!
August 23 street date. Written and recorded primarily in Marfa, Texas, during a transitional moment between records, cities, and relationships, Release the Dogs occupies it's own liminal space between the natural and the man-made, between the structures we create to keep ourselves safe and the terrifying enormity that exists beyond them. Throughout the record, organic and electronic elements are seamlessly woven together into a single fabric that can be both intimate and explosive. The fingerpicked guitars of "After You" appear no more or less "real" than the processed drum machine beats on album opener "Alight," just as the tarantula on the album's cover appears no more or less "real" than the white wall on which it sits. The magic of the image, and the magic of the record, is in the way they are framed together. Release the Dogs finds it's own unique voice by holding opposing ideas and aesthetics in tension with each other, and inviting the listener to find their own answer.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 23 street date. Written and recorded primarily in Marfa, Texas, during a transitional moment between records, cities, and relationships, Release the Dogs occupies it's own liminal space between the natural and the man-made, between the structures we create to keep ourselves safe and the terrifying enormity that exists beyond them. Throughout the record, organic and electronic elements are seamlessly woven together into a single fabric that can be both intimate and explosive. The fingerpicked guitars of "After You" appear no more or less "real" than the processed drum machine beats on album opener "Alight," just as the tarantula on the album's cover appears no more or less "real" than the white wall on which it sits. The magic of the image, and the magic of the record, is in the way they are framed together. Release the Dogs finds it's own unique voice by holding opposing ideas and aesthetics in tension with each other, and inviting the listener to find their own answer.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 23 street date. Written and recorded primarily in Marfa, Texas, during a transitional moment between records, cities, and relationships, Release the Dogs occupies it's own liminal space between the natural and the man-made, between the structures we create to keep ourselves safe and the terrifying enormity that exists beyond them. Throughout the record, organic and electronic elements are seamlessly woven together into a single fabric that can be both intimate and explosive. The fingerpicked guitars of "After You" appear no more or less "real" than the processed drum machine beats on album opener "Alight," just as the tarantula on the album's cover appears no more or less "real" than the white wall on which it sits. The magic of the image, and the magic of the record, is in the way they are framed together. Release the Dogs finds it's own unique voice by holding opposing ideas and aesthetics in tension with each other, and inviting the listener to find their own answer.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 23 street date. Redd Kross invite you to explore Beyond the Door, an album inspired by the band’s “total commitment to having the best f*cking time we can have while we’re all still here” (what they like to call “the Party”). It’s a rock and roll record and a celebration of everything brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald love, from cultures both high and low. Musically, it’s guitars, bass, and drums topped with a generous portion of sweet vocal melodies often delivered with an ambiguous edge. Beyond the Door marks Redd Kross’ most collaborative record to date. Steven describes this evolution: “Jeff is still very much the driving force behind the compositions, but with more help from me than ever. Jeff and I haven’t shared this much of the writing and singing since Born Innocent in 1981.” Guitarist Jason Shapiro and drummer Dale Crover (Melvins, OFF!) are longtime members of the Redd Kross live band, but this album marks the pair’s recorded debut with the group. Mixed in Los Angeles by Steven McDonald, Beyond the Door includes notable guest appearances from Anna Waronker (That Dog), Geré Fennelly, Buzz Osborne (Melvins), and Josh Klinghoffer.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 23 street date. Redd Kross invite you to explore Beyond the Door, an album inspired by the band’s “total commitment to having the best f*cking time we can have while we’re all still here” (what they like to call “the Party”). It’s a rock and roll record and a celebration of everything brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald love, from cultures both high and low. Musically, it’s guitars, bass, and drums topped with a generous portion of sweet vocal melodies often delivered with an ambiguous edge. Beyond the Door marks Redd Kross’ most collaborative record to date. Steven describes this evolution: “Jeff is still very much the driving force behind the compositions, but with more help from me than ever. Jeff and I haven’t shared this much of the writing and singing since Born Innocent in 1981.” Guitarist Jason Shapiro and drummer Dale Crover (Melvins, OFF!) are longtime members of the Redd Kross live band, but this album marks the pair’s recorded debut with the group. Mixed in Los Angeles by Steven McDonald, Beyond the Door includes notable guest appearances from Anna Waronker (That Dog), Geré Fennelly, Buzz Osborne (Melvins), and Josh Klinghoffer.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 23 street date. Redd Kross invite you to explore Beyond the Door, an album inspired by the band’s “total commitment to having the best f*cking time we can have while we’re all still here” (what they like to call “the Party”). It’s a rock and roll record and a celebration of everything brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald love, from cultures both high and low. Musically, it’s guitars, bass, and drums topped with a generous portion of sweet vocal melodies often delivered with an ambiguous edge. Beyond the Door marks Redd Kross’ most collaborative record to date. Steven describes this evolution: “Jeff is still very much the driving force behind the compositions, but with more help from me than ever. Jeff and I haven’t shared this much of the writing and singing since Born Innocent in 1981.” Guitarist Jason Shapiro and drummer Dale Crover (Melvins, OFF!) are longtime members of the Redd Kross live band, but this album marks the pair’s recorded debut with the group. Mixed in Los Angeles by Steven McDonald, Beyond the Door includes notable guest appearances from Anna Waronker (That Dog), Geré Fennelly, Buzz Osborne (Melvins), and Josh Klinghoffer.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 23 street date. Sophomore album from Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm, featuring ex-Drones members Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin. Liddiard cites "Doc At The Radar Station"-era Captain Beefheart as a key sonic touchstone, and "Braindrops" certainly shares the Captain's penchant for pounding abstract grooves. Liddiard's own description of Tropical Fuck Storm's sound is nearly as interesting and evocative as the music itself. He describes the LP's title track as "Fela Kuti in a car crash," and talks of creating a sonic atmosphere that "sounds like chloroform smells" for "Maria 62", which takes aim at the once-marginalized alt-right conspiracy theories that now seem to be a driving force behind the rise of fascism in global politics. "It’s about a Mossad agent traveling to Buenos Aires to assassinate Maria Orsic, a Nazi witch who telepathically got the blueprints for warp drive engines from aliens," Liddiard shares. "It may be the most stupid song ever written," Liddiard jokes. He's wrong, "Maria 63" is emblematic of Tropical Fuck Storm's keen ability to mine the extreme edge of pop culture's periphery for potent musical and conceptual spice.
August 23 street date. Sophomore album from Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm, featuring ex-Drones members Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin. Listening to "Braindrops" is a jarring and exhilarating experience, full of pulsating grooves, dissonant experimentation, and unsettling dystopian plot-lines. Liddiard cites "Doc At The Radar Station"-era Captain Beefheart as a key sonic touchstone, and "Braindrops" certainly shares the Captain's penchant for pounding abstract grooves. Liddiard describes the LP's title track as "Fela Kuti in a car crash," and talks of creating a sonic atmosphere that "sounds like chloroform smells" for "Maria 62", which takes aim at the once-marginalized alt-right conspiracy theories that now seem to be a driving force behind the rise of fascism in global politics. "It’s about a Mossad agent traveling to Buenos Aires to assassinate Maria Orsic, a Nazi witch who telepathically got the blueprints for warp drive engines from aliens," Liddiard shares. "It may be the most stupid song ever written," Liddiard jokes. He's wrong, "Maria 63" is emblematic of Tropical Fuck Storm's keen ability to mine the extreme edge of pop culture's periphery for potent musical and conceptual spice.
August 30 street date. "i,i" is Bon Iver's most expansive, joyful and generous album to date. If "For Emma, Forever Ago" was the crisp, heart-strung isolation of a northern Winter; "Bon Iver" the rise and whirr of burgeoning Spring; and "22, A Million", a blistering, "crazy energy" Summer record, "i,i" completes the cycle: a fall record; Autumn-colored, ruminative, steeped. The autumn of Bon Iver is a celebration of self acceptance and gratitude, bolstered by community and delivering the bounty of an infinite American music. The sales and accolades are well-known - multiple Gold albums, multiple Grammys, chart-topping collaborations and festival headlines. But even more significantly, with each release Bon Iver quietly shifts the state of modern music. From the boundaries of folk, to the rules of autotune, to production work for others, Bon Iver's fingerprint finds its way across the mainstream every time. Vernon has always been a master collaborator, and on "i,i" that desire becomes maximal, with guests ranging from Moses Sumney and Bruce Hornsby to Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Here, the music - and band, and themes, and creative space - are bigger than ever.
August 30 street date. "i,i" is Bon Iver's most expansive, joyful and generous album to date. If "For Emma, Forever Ago" was the crisp, heart-strung isolation of a northern Winter; "Bon Iver" the rise and whirr of burgeoning Spring; and "22, A Million", a blistering, "crazy energy" Summer record, "i,i" completes the cycle: a fall record; Autumn-colored, ruminative, steeped. The autumn of Bon Iver is a celebration of self acceptance and gratitude, bolstered by community and delivering the bounty of an infinite American music. The sales and accolades are well-known - multiple Gold albums, multiple Grammys, chart-topping collaborations and festival headlines. But even more significantly, with each release Bon Iver quietly shifts the state of modern music. From the boundaries of folk, to the rules of autotune, to production work for others, Bon Iver's fingerprint finds its way across the mainstream every time. Vernon has always been a master collaborator, and on "i,i" that desire becomes maximal, with guests ranging from Moses Sumney and Bruce Hornsby to Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Here, the music - and band, and themes, and creative space - are bigger than ever.
August 30 street date. On this album, woven between new arrangements of Will Oldham's cryptic songs and the late Julius Eastman's iconic "Stay On It" are several of Bryce Dessner's "Murder Ballades", works that tease out the homicidal strain of old folk tunes. These explorations of violence are natural fits for Oldham, who has always examined the interstices between intimacy and cruelty. Four of his songs appear here in new, sumptuous arrangements by pianist Lisa Kaplan. Oldham compared working with Eighth Blackbird to becoming acquainted with a "haunted house", continually returning to the same spot and observing how his fear was interlaced with a charged energy. The arrangements push Oldham's voice to new heights, as in the ecstatic refrain of "New Partner" or the lithe polyrhythms of "Beast For Thee. On "One with the Birds" and "When Thy Song", shimmering introductions deploy avant-garde effects as a window into Oldham's bleak, poignant sound world.
August 30 street date. Restlessness is at the heart of Whitney's resonant and stunning sophomore album "Forever Turned Around". Though Julien Ehrlich is Whitney's lead singing drummer while Max Kakacek is the lead guitarist, when writing, both transcend their roles to piece together each offering lyrically and compositionally. Challenging each other is the core of their songwriting partnership. After a session with producers Bradley Cook (Hand Habits, Hiss Golden Messenger) and Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) helped color in the arrangements, the album truly revealed itself when they reunited with original rhythm guitarist Ziyad Asrar in his basement Chicago studio - the same place where they hashed out much of their critically acclaimed 2016 debut, "Light Upon The Lake". Happiness can be fleeting but this album proves that even when it feels like time is turning on its head and there's either a moment of clarity or crippling doubt, there's still beauty in figuring it all out.
August 30 street date. Restlessness is at the heart of Whitney's resonant and stunning sophomore album "Forever Turned Around". Though Julien Ehrlich is Whitney's lead singing drummer while Max Kakacek is the lead guitarist, when writing, both transcend their roles to piece together each offering lyrically and compositionally. Challenging each other is the core of their songwriting partnership. After a session with producers Bradley Cook (Hand Habits, Hiss Golden Messenger) and Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) helped color in the arrangements, the album truly revealed itself when they reunited with original rhythm guitarist Ziyad Asrar in his basement Chicago studio - the same place where they hashed out much of their critically acclaimed 2016 debut, "Light Upon The Lake". Happiness can be fleeting but this album proves that even when it feels like time is turning on its head and there's either a moment of clarity or crippling doubt, there's still beauty in figuring it all out.
August 30 street date. Restlessness is at the heart of Whitney's resonant and stunning sophomore album "Forever Turned Around". Though Julien Ehrlich is Whitney's lead singing drummer while Max Kakacek is the lead guitarist, when writing, both transcend their roles to piece together each offering lyrically and compositionally. Challenging each other is the core of their songwriting partnership. After a session with producers Bradley Cook (Hand Habits, Hiss Golden Messenger) and Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) helped color in the arrangements, the album truly revealed itself when they reunited with original rhythm guitarist Ziyad Asrar in his basement Chicago studio - the same place where they hashed out much of their critically acclaimed 2016 debut, "Light Upon The Lake". Happiness can be fleeting but this album proves that even when it feels like time is turning on its head and there's either a moment of clarity or crippling doubt, there's still beauty in figuring it all out.
August 30 street date. Yoni Wolf has spent the last two decades traveling the remote sonic terrain where underground hip hop, avant-pop, and psych-rock meet. On "AOKOHIO", he condenses the essential elements of WHY? into a stunningly potent musical vision. Co-produced by Wolf and his brother Josiah, the record presents a rich palette of musical voices that emerge and disappear into a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of sound. "AOKOHIO" finds Yoni rethinking fundamental aspects of his approach to creating and delivering his music. The album is presented as six movements comprised of two to four songs each, with some segments appearing as brief fragments that dissolve within seconds. "AOKOHIO" feels like a consequential addition to the WHY? catalog, possibly even an artistic turning point.
August 30 street date. Yoni Wolf has spent the last two decades traveling the remote sonic terrain where underground hip hop, avant-pop, and psych-rock meet. On "AOKOHIO", he condenses the essential elements of WHY? into a stunningly potent musical vision. Co-produced by Wolf and his brother Josiah, the record presents a rich palette of musical voices that emerge and disappear into a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of sound. "AOKOHIO" finds Yoni rethinking fundamental aspects of his approach to creating and delivering his music. The album is presented as six movements comprised of two to four songs each, with some segments appearing as brief fragments that dissolve within seconds. "AOKOHIO" feels like a consequential addition to the WHY? catalog, possibly even an artistic turning point.
August 30 street date. Yellow vinyl edition. Yoni Wolf has spent the last two decades traveling the remote sonic terrain where underground hip hop, avant-pop, and psych-rock meet. On "AOKOHIO", he condenses the essential elements of WHY? into a stunningly potent musical vision. Co-produced by Wolf and his brother Josiah, the record presents a rich palette of musical voices that emerge and disappear into a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of sound. "AOKOHIO" finds Yoni rethinking fundamental aspects of his approach to creating and delivering his music. The album is presented as six movements comprised of two to four songs each, with some segments appearing as brief fragments that dissolve within seconds. "AOKOHIO" feels like a consequential addition to the WHY? catalog, possibly even an artistic turning point.
August 30 street date. Red vinyl edition, available exclusively to independent shops. Yoni Wolf has spent the last two decades traveling the remote sonic terrain where underground hip hop, avant-pop, and psych-rock meet. On "AOKOHIO", he condenses the essential elements of WHY? into a stunningly potent musical vision. Co-produced by Wolf and his brother Josiah, the record presents a rich palette of musical voices that emerge and disappear into a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of sound. "AOKOHIO" finds Yoni rethinking fundamental aspects of his approach to creating and delivering his music. The album is presented as six movements comprised of two to four songs each, with some segments appearing as brief fragments that dissolve within seconds. "AOKOHIO" feels like a consequential addition to the WHY? catalog, possibly even an artistic turning point.
September 6 street date. This is the debut album release from L'ÉPÉE , the band are Emmanuelle Seigner (Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle) , Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) & Lionel & Marie Liminana (The Liminanas) . It is very rarely that a musical project lives up to the billing of being a ‘supergroup’. However, the exception to this rule comes in the shape of L’Epee. A stellar combination of the talents of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, cinematic femme fatale Emmanuelle Seigner and ice-cool pop provocateurs The Limiñanas (Lionel and Marie Liminana), L’Epee transcend artistic and traditional borders. “We are living in very culturally insular times, so it feels really good to be swimming against the tide,” says Anton of the band’s bi-lingual, cross-continental approach.“There’s something really positive about branching out, collaborating and taking risks.” Far from being defeated by a world seemingly regressing into turmoil, L’ Epee’s strength comes from a long history of challenging the status quo. From Anton’s legendary battles with ‘The Man’ with The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Emmanuelle’s eclectic screen career to The Liminana’s community-minded ethos- setting up their own record shop, L.G.D.C, and promoting gigs by the cream of the world’s garage rock scene ( New Bomb Turks, Oblivians, Fleshtones, Revelators) -they share a fierce intelligence and an outsider aesthetic which, over the decades, has been sharpened to a razor’s edge. Fitting, then, that their name translates as The Sword.
September 6 street date. This is the debut album release from L'ÉPÉE , the band are Emmanuelle Seigner (Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle) , Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) & Lionel & Marie Liminana (The Liminanas) . It is very rarely that a musical project lives up to the billing of being a ‘supergroup’. However, the exception to this rule comes in the shape of L’Epee. A stellar combination of the talents of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, cinematic femme fatale Emmanuelle Seigner and ice-cool pop provocateurs The Limiñanas (Lionel and Marie Liminana), L’Epee transcend artistic and traditional borders. “We are living in very culturally insular times, so it feels really good to be swimming against the tide,” says Anton of the band’s bi-lingual, cross-continental approach.“There’s something really positive about branching out, collaborating and taking risks.” Far from being defeated by a world seemingly regressing into turmoil, L’ Epee’s strength comes from a long history of challenging the status quo. From Anton’s legendary battles with ‘The Man’ with The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Emmanuelle’s eclectic screen career to The Liminana’s community-minded ethos- setting up their own record shop, L.G.D.C, and promoting gigs by the cream of the world’s garage rock scene ( New Bomb Turks, Oblivians, Fleshtones, Revelators) -they share a fierce intelligence and an outsider aesthetic which, over the decades, has been sharpened to a razor’s edge. Fitting, then, that their name translates as The Sword.
September 6 street date. It took seven years for Sandro Perri to return with an album under his own name, releasing "In Another Life" ("his outsider pop masterpiece" - Exclaim) in the fall of 2018, as the much-anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed full-length "Impossible Spaces" (#38 album of 2011 at Pitchfork, among other accolades). But the Perri floodgates have now well and truly opened: the flow of sparkling, eddying music he's been meticulously doling out of late (including two recent volumes of collaborative avant-electronic work with his Off World project) charts another vital, rejuvenating tributary with "Soft Landing". Rounding up songs he's been toying with for the better part of the last decade, Perri enters his third decade of music-making with this lovely, langourous collection of subtly detailed soft rock - his most guitar-based album since 2007's "Tiny Mirrors".
September 6 street date. It took seven years for Sandro Perri to return with an album under his own name, releasing "In Another Life" ("his outsider pop masterpiece" - Exclaim) in the fall of 2018, as the much-anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed full-length "Impossible Spaces" (#38 album of 2011 at Pitchfork, among other accolades). But the Perri floodgates have now well and truly opened: the flow of sparkling, eddying music he's been meticulously doling out of late (including two recent volumes of collaborative avant-electronic work with his Off World project) charts another vital, rejuvenating tributary with "Soft Landing". Rounding up songs he's been toying with for the better part of the last decade, Perri enters his third decade of music-making with this lovely, langourous collection of subtly detailed soft rock - his most guitar-based album since 2007's "Tiny Mirrors".
September 6 street date. “I Don’t Think I Live There Anymore” takes the fan through an out of body experience to show the feeling of being out of control, wandering vacantly through life without agency and free will, and finding themselves at a destination not of their choosing. This theme is prevalent all over Smile Wide, the band’s third full-length album, and the follow up to 2017’s Great Heights & Nosedives. Upon entering the studio with acclaimed producer, Machine(As It Is, Every Time I Die), the band was determined to break down every pre-conceived notion of what a ROAM song could sound like or be. The result is the most honest, raw, gut-punching collection of songs of the band’s career Since forming in 2012, ROAM has extensively toured the world, headlining in the US, UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, and supporting acts such as New Found Glory, Sum 41,and playing sets at festivals including Warped Tour, Reading & Leeds, 2000 Trees and Slam Dunk. This Fall, they will embark on a co-headlining tour in Europe with With Confidence. For Fans Of: Neck Deep, Man Overboard, The Story So Far
September 6 street date. Amadjar means ‘the unknown visitor’ in the language of Tamashek, the one who seeks hospitality and who’s condemned to an inner exile, within a territory or within himself. The story of Amadjar, the ninth Tinariwen album, begins at the end of 2018, at the Taragalte Festival of nomadic cultures in the Moroccan Sahara. After a concert and a sandstorm, Tinariwen hit the road and head for Mauritania, via southern Morocco, Western Sahara and the Atlantic coast. The destination is important but no more so than the journey itself. Tinariwen are joined by their French production team, who arrive in old camper van that’s been converted into a makeshift studio. The journey to Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, takes a dozen days or so. Every evening, the caravan stops to set up camp and the members of Tinariwen get to work under the stars – to prepare for the recording, talking things through, letting their guitar motifs, thoughts and long buried songs come. Then, during a final camp in the desert around Nouakchott that lasts about fifteen days, to an audience of scorpions, the band record their songs under large tent. In a few takes, without headphones or effects. This nomadic album, recorded in a natural setting, is as close as you can get to Tinariwen. And also, therefore, to the idea that things can evolve: bassist Eyadou plays a lot of acoustic guitar; percussionist Said tries his hand at new instruments; Abdallah exhumes songs that he’s never played on stage with Tinariwen. And that violin that appears on several songs and reminds you of the traditional imzad ; It’s actually played by Warren Ellis. The violinist in Nick Cave’s band is one of several western guests on the album. We also hear the mandolin and charango of Micah Nelson (son of the country music giant Willie Nelson, and Neil Young’s guitarist), and the guitars of Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O)))), Cass McCombs and Rodolphe Burger. The album is mixed by Joshua Vance Smith.
September 6 street date. Amadjar means ‘the unknown visitor’ in the language of Tamashek, the one who seeks hospitality and who’s condemned to an inner exile, within a territory or within himself. The story of Amadjar, the ninth Tinariwen album, begins at the end of 2018, at the Taragalte Festival of nomadic cultures in the Moroccan Sahara. After a concert and a sandstorm, Tinariwen hit the road and head for Mauritania, via southern Morocco, Western Sahara and the Atlantic coast. The destination is important but no more so than the journey itself. Tinariwen are joined by their French production team, who arrive in old camper van that’s been converted into a makeshift studio. The journey to Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, takes a dozen days or so. Every evening, the caravan stops to set up camp and the members of Tinariwen get to work under the stars – to prepare for the recording, talking things through, letting their guitar motifs, thoughts and long buried songs come. Then, during a final camp in the desert around Nouakchott that lasts about fifteen days, to an audience of scorpions, the band record their songs under large tent. In a few takes, without headphones or effects. This nomadic album, recorded in a natural setting, is as close as you can get to Tinariwen. And also, therefore, to the idea that things can evolve: bassist Eyadou plays a lot of acoustic guitar; percussionist Said tries his hand at new instruments; Abdallah exhumes songs that he’s never played on stage with Tinariwen. And that violin that appears on several songs and reminds you of the traditional imzad ; It’s actually played by Warren Ellis. The violinist in Nick Cave’s band is one of several western guests on the album. We also hear the mandolin and charango of Micah Nelson (son of the country music giant Willie Nelson, and Neil Young’s guitarist), and the guitars of Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O)))), Cass McCombs and Rodolphe Burger. The album is mixed by Joshua Vance Smith.
September 13 street date. Alex Cameron's newest and most musically expansive LP, the glistening "Miami Memory", takes a surprising turn. Cameron's flair for narrative and character are still on full display; yet the album's most frequent narrator is, for the first time, Cameron himself - singing with stunning candor of his three-year relationship with visual artist and actor Jemima Kirke. Though remnants of his synth-driven earlier work sneak in to unsettle the tone, the bulk of "Miami Memory", produced by Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) and recorded and mixed by Marta Salogni (Björk, Kelela), revels in the emotional overdrive of classic dad rock, its warm, anthemic songs driven by bass, guitar, sax, and layers of Vegas wedding chapel-ish organ.Cameron's dad rock funhouse of an album ultimately twists and subverts the genre: it recalls classics the white male ego has historically visited for its regular adrenaline injection, and morphs them into a singular "stepdad" rock that largely turns its lens away from the dads, celebrating the demise of old norms of gender and power.
September 13 street date. Alex Cameron's newest and most musically expansive LP, the glistening "Miami Memory", takes a surprising turn. Cameron's flair for narrative and character are still on full display; yet the album's most frequent narrator is, for the first time, Cameron himself - singing with stunning candor of his three-year relationship with visual artist and actor Jemima Kirke. Though remnants of his synth-driven earlier work sneak in to unsettle the tone, the bulk of "Miami Memory", produced by Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) and recorded and mixed by Marta Salogni (Björk, Kelela), revels in the emotional overdrive of classic dad rock, its warm, anthemic songs driven by bass, guitar, sax, and layers of Vegas wedding chapel-ish organ.Cameron's dad rock funhouse of an album ultimately twists and subverts the genre: it recalls classics the white male ego has historically visited for its regular adrenaline injection, and morphs them into a singular "stepdad" rock that largely turns its lens away from the dads, celebrating the demise of old norms of gender and power.
September 13 street date. Alex Cameron's newest and most musically expansive LP, the glistening "Miami Memory", takes a surprising turn. Cameron's flair for narrative and character are still on full display; yet the album's most frequent narrator is, for the first time, Cameron himself - singing with stunning candor of his three-year relationship with visual artist and actor Jemima Kirke. Though remnants of his synth-driven earlier work sneak in to unsettle the tone, the bulk of "Miami Memory", produced by Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) and recorded and mixed by Marta Salogni (Björk, Kelela), revels in the emotional overdrive of classic dad rock, its warm, anthemic songs driven by bass, guitar, sax, and layers of Vegas wedding chapel-ish organ.Cameron's dad rock funhouse of an album ultimately twists and subverts the genre: it recalls classics the white male ego has historically visited for its regular adrenaline injection, and morphs them into a singular "stepdad" rock that largely turns its lens away from the dads, celebrating the demise of old norms of gender and power.
September 13 street date. At first listen, "The Practice of Love", Jenny Hval's seventh full-length album, unspools with an almost deceptive ease. Across eight tracks, filled with arpeggiated synth washes and the kind of lilting beats that might have drifted, loose and unmoored, from some forgotten mid-'90s trance single, "The Practice of Love" feels, first and foremost, compellingly humane. Given the horror and viscera of her previous album, 2016's "Blood Bitch", "The Practice of Love" is almost subversive in its gentleness - a deep dive into what it means to grow older, to question one's relationship to the earth and one's self, and to hold a magnifying glass over the notion of what intimacy can mean. As Hval describes it, the album charts its own particular geography, a landscape in which multiple voices engage and disperse, and the question of connectedness - or lack thereof - hangs suspended in the architecture of every song.
September 13 street date. At first listen, "The Practice of Love", Jenny Hval's seventh full-length album, unspools with an almost deceptive ease. Across eight tracks, filled with arpeggiated synth washes and the kind of lilting beats that might have drifted, loose and unmoored, from some forgotten mid-'90s trance single, "The Practice of Love" feels, first and foremost, compellingly humane. Given the horror and viscera of her previous album, 2016's "Blood Bitch", "The Practice of Love" is almost subversive in its gentleness - a deep dive into what it means to grow older, to question one's relationship to the earth and one's self, and to hold a magnifying glass over the notion of what intimacy can mean. As Hval describes it, the album charts its own particular geography, a landscape in which multiple voices engage and disperse, and the question of connectedness - or lack thereof - hangs suspended in the architecture of every song.
September 13 street date. Sand coloured vinyl, limited to 2500 copies. At first listen, "The Practice of Love", Jenny Hval's seventh full-length album, unspools with an almost deceptive ease. Across eight tracks, filled with arpeggiated synth washes and the kind of lilting beats that might have drifted, loose and unmoored, from some forgotten mid-'90s trance single, "The Practice of Love" feels, first and foremost, compellingly humane. Given the horror and viscera of her previous album, 2016's "Blood Bitch", "The Practice of Love" is almost subversive in its gentleness - a deep dive into what it means to grow older, to question one's relationship to the earth and one's self, and to hold a magnifying glass over the notion of what intimacy can mean. As Hval describes it, the album charts its own particular geography, a landscape in which multiple voices engage and disperse, and the question of connectedness - or lack thereof - hangs suspended in the architecture of every song.
September 13 street date. “I Don’t Think I Live There Anymore” takes the fan through an out of body experience to show the feeling of being out of control, wandering vacantly through life without agency and free will, and finding themselves at a destination not of their choosing. This theme is prevalent all over Smile Wide, the band’s third full-length album, and the follow up to 2017’s Great Heights & Nosedives. Upon entering the studio with acclaimed producer, Machine(As It Is, Every Time I Die), the band was determined to break down every pre-conceived notion of what a ROAM song could sound like or be. The result is the most honest, raw, gut-punching collection of songs of the band’s career Since forming in 2012, ROAM has extensively toured the world, headlining in the US, UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, and supporting acts such as New Found Glory, Sum 41,and playing sets at festivals including Warped Tour, Reading & Leeds, 2000 Trees and Slam Dunk. This Fall, they will embark on a co-headlining tour in Europe with With Confidence. For Fans Of: Neck Deep, Man Overboard, The Story So Far
September 13 street date. "The Dead Don't Die" is writer/director Jim Jarmusch's unique, semi-comic take on the zombie apocalypse genre. As with his recent efforts "Only Lovers Left Alive" and "Paterson", the film's score was composed and performed by SQÜRL, the band Jarmusch and producer Carter Logan founded in 2009. The score to the "The Dead Don't Die" is a true expression of where SQÜRL stand at the center of a decade of sonic exploration. It is the culmination of their passion for analog synths, with guitar violence reverberating from the darker corners of Americana. It is at once a tribute to the classic sounds of horror and sci-fi, as well as a decapitation of traditional film scores. It is naturally supernatural.
September 13 street date. "Bloody LeMans" (red splatter on green) coloured vinyl edition, limited to 2500 copies. "The Dead Don't Die" is writer/director Jim Jarmusch's unique, semi-comic take on the zombie apocalypse genre. As with his recent efforts "Only Lovers Left Alive" and "Paterson", the film's score was composed and performed by SQÜRL, the band Jarmusch and producer Carter Logan founded in 2009. The score to the "The Dead Don't Die" is a true expression of where SQÜRL stand at the center of a decade of sonic exploration. It is the culmination of their passion for analog synths, with guitar violence reverberating from the darker corners of Americana. It is at once a tribute to the classic sounds of horror and sci-fi, as well as a decapitation of traditional film scores. It is naturally supernatural.
September 13 street date. Tiny Moving Parts has always been a vehicle for catharsis, and that’s nothing new on breathe. The fifth full-length by the Benson, Minnesota, trio sees vocalist/guitarist Dylan Mattheisen and his cousins, brothers Matt (bass) and Billy (drums) Chevalier, tackle issues such as mental health, anxiety and mortality while also expanding their sound. Recorded with longtime collaborator Greg Lindholm and established pop producer John Fields (Jimmy Eat World, Goo Goo Dolls, All Time Low),breathe is a valuable reminded that we’re all in this together, channeled through the band’s trademark blend of math-rock, pop-punk and emo, albeit with a few new musical tricks (including some electronic flourishes and a banjo). More than just a collection of songs, breathe serves as an important emotional crutch. It’s the friend we all need at our darkest times. It’s the sound of a band coming to terms with their own mortality, their own anxieties, their own self-doubts. And it’s a reminder that, as long as there are songs sung back as if our lives depend on them, we are never alone. For Fans Of: Sorority Noise, The Hotelier, Foxing.
September 13 street date. Tiny Moving Parts has always been a vehicle for catharsis, and that’s nothing new on breathe. The fifth full-length by the Benson, Minnesota, trio sees vocalist/guitarist Dylan Mattheisen and his cousins, brothers Matt (bass) and Billy (drums) Chevalier, tackle issues such as mental health, anxiety and mortality while also expanding their sound. Recorded with longtime collaborator Greg Lindholm and established pop producer John Fields (Jimmy Eat World, Goo Goo Dolls, All Time Low),breathe is a valuable reminded that we’re all in this together, channeled through the band’s trademark blend of math-rock, pop-punk and emo, albeit with a few new musical tricks (including some electronic flourishes and a banjo). More than just a collection of songs, breathe serves as an important emotional crutch. It’s the friend we all need at our darkest times. It’s the sound of a band coming to terms with their own mortality, their own anxieties, their own self-doubts. And it’s a reminder that, as long as there are songs sung back as if our lives depend on them, we are never alone. For Fans Of: Sorority Noise, The Hotelier, Foxing.
September 20 street date. "C'est ça" marks the return of Montréal avant-rock quartet Fly Pan Am, who released an acclaimed series of albums in Constellation's early years, from 1999-2004. The band's unique and heady collision of motorik repetition, shoegaze maximalism, punk skronk, tape- and electronic-based interventions and audio sabotage, garnered them a cult following among fans of audaciously deconstructed post-rock. "C'est ça" is a brilliant return to form for Fly Pan Am - an album of renewed vitality and experimentation where rock structures underpinned by J.S. Truchy’s trademark rapidfire bass and Félix Morel's disciplined, ascetic drumming are submerged beneath waves of processed guitar by Roger Tellier-Craig and Jonathan Parant, with fluorescent noise treatments and sonic vandalisms wrought by all four.
September 20 street date. "C'est ça" marks the return of Montréal avant-rock quartet Fly Pan Am, who released an acclaimed series of albums in Constellation's early years, from 1999-2004. The band's unique and heady collision of motorik repetition, shoegaze maximalism, punk skronk, tape- and electronic-based interventions and audio sabotage, garnered them a cult following among fans of audaciously deconstructed post-rock. "C'est ça" is a brilliant return to form for Fly Pan Am - an album of renewed vitality and experimentation where rock structures underpinned by J.S. Truchy’s trademark rapidfire bass and Félix Morel's disciplined, ascetic drumming are submerged beneath waves of processed guitar by Roger Tellier-Craig and Jonathan Parant, with fluorescent noise treatments and sonic vandalisms wrought by all four.
May 10 street date. Lydia Ainsworth is a composer, producer and singer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has released two albums, the Juno-nominated Right From Real and Darling of the Afterglow. Her Third album Phantom Forest is slated to be released in early May of 2019. On ‘Phantom Forest’ Lydia Ainsworth introduces a lush, complex dream world that she created and inhabits largely on her own. It’s a beautiful, vast collection of art pop with hooks about the search for personal connections in the midst of apocalypse and technology. It’s a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but can also exist on a purely emotional plane. In all cases, it asks that you listen, and take some kind of action.
May 10 street date. Lydia Ainsworth is a composer, producer and singer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has released two albums, the Juno-nominated Right From Real and Darling of the Afterglow. Her Third album Phantom Forest is slated to be released in early May of 2019. On ‘Phantom Forest’ Lydia Ainsworth introduces a lush, complex dream world that she created and inhabits largely on her own. It’s a beautiful, vast collection of art pop with hooks about the search for personal connections in the midst of apocalypse and technology. It’s a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but can also exist on a purely emotional plane. In all cases, it asks that you listen, and take some kind of action.
March 29 street date. "Pedal Steal + Four Corners" collects, for the first time, Terry Allen's radio plays and long-form narrative audio works - two and a half hours of cinematic songs, stories, and country-concrète sound collage - in a deluxe gatefold edition, including one LP, three CDs, a DL code, and an exhaustive 28pp. color booklet boasting the first in-depth essay to explore this body of work; dozens of images of Allen's related visual art; and full scripts and credits for all five pieces. "Pedal Steal" (1985), originally composed as a soundtrack to a dance performance, appears on vinyl for the first time, as well as on CD. "Torso Hell" (1986), "Bleeder" (1990), "Reunion (a return to Juarez)" (1992), and "Dugout" (1993) comprise the "Four Corners" suite, radio plays broadcast on NPR and never before released, now spanning two CDs. Fans of Allen's masterpiece "Juarez" will find much to love in these haunting desert dramas, which feature Jo Harvey Allen, Lloyd Maines, Butch Hancock, Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, and many others. Roger Corman tried to option the film rights; Jesse Helms tried to ban them; now you can own them!
May 31 street date. Requiring less than two weeks of studio time to complete, it's accurate to say that Apex Manor's Heartbreak City was captured more than it was recorded due to the "everybody in the same room" live sessions featuring songwriter Ross Flournoy on guitar and vocals, Dan Allaire (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) on drums, and Rob Barbato on bass and production duties. The raucous result is a sonic spectacle that cleverly balances aggressive Dinosaur Jr.-esque guitars with dreamy synth work that's reminiscent of The Cure, all mixed together with spirited instrumental performances, nuanced melodicism, and lyrics that swing wildly between being cryptic and being profound. In short, it's everything there is to love about early '90s pre-commercialized alternative rock but with a refreshingly modern absence of pretense or nostalgia.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
May 31 street date. Requiring less than two weeks of studio time to complete, it's accurate to say that Apex Manor's Heartbreak City was captured more than it was recorded due to the "everybody in the same room" live sessions featuring songwriter Ross Flournoy on guitar and vocals, Dan Allaire (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) on drums, and Rob Barbato on bass and production duties. The raucous result is a sonic spectacle that cleverly balances aggressive Dinosaur Jr.-esque guitars with dreamy synth work that's reminiscent of The Cure, all mixed together with spirited instrumental performances, nuanced melodicism, and lyrics that swing wildly between being cryptic and being profound. In short, it's everything there is to love about early '90s pre-commercialized alternative rock but with a refreshingly modern absence of pretense or nostalgia.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 12 street date. Trailblazing Richmond, Virginia punk band Avail will reunite this summer for a series of sold-out shows, their first in twelve years, to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of their album, Over the James. Originally released in 1998 on Lookout! Records, this re-issue will include bonus tracks that were added in 2006, when Jade Tree Records first pressed this title on vinyl. Over The James is the fourth album from Avail and this version includes the 14 original songs plus four bonus tracks including “Lombardy Street (Acoustic)” from the Fall of Richmond split with (Young) Pioneers and the band’s covers of Elvis Presley, Billy Joel and Embrace.
July 12 street date. Trailblazing Richmond, Virginia punk band Avail will reunite this summer for a series of sold-out shows, their first in twelve years, to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of their album, Over the James. Originally released in 1998 on Lookout! Records, this re-issue will include bonus tracks that were added in 2006, when Jade Tree Records first pressed this title on vinyl. Over The James is the fourth album from Avail and this version includes the 14 original songs plus four bonus tracks including “Lombardy Street (Acoustic)” from the Fall of Richmond split with (Young) Pioneers and the band’s covers of Elvis Presley, Billy Joel and Embrace.
June 14 LP street date / May 3 for CD. BAD RELIGION began in the sprawling suburbs surrounding Los Angeles, with the teenage punks offering an impassioned counterpoint to a culture of consumerism and anti-intellectualism. Founding members Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz, and Jay Bentley were eventually joined by guitarists Brian Baker of Minor Threat, Mike Dimkich of The Cult, and drummer Jamie Miller of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Bad Religion have been highly influential force in modern punk, producing beloved international hits like “Infected,” “21st Century (Digital Boy),” and “Sorrow,” and building a devoted worldwide following. BAD RELIGION are set to release their new album Age of Unreason, which can be described as “a musical manifesto on the current political landscape.” In a world still brimming with rampant anti-intellectualism, inequality and oppression, the band’s signature brand of sonically charged humanist dissent seems as relevant as ever.
June 14 LP street date / May 3 for CD. BAD RELIGION began in the sprawling suburbs surrounding Los Angeles, with the teenage punks offering an impassioned counterpoint to a culture of consumerism and anti-intellectualism. Founding members Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz, and Jay Bentley were eventually joined by guitarists Brian Baker of Minor Threat, Mike Dimkich of The Cult, and drummer Jamie Miller of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Bad Religion have been highly influential force in modern punk, producing beloved international hits like “Infected,” “21st Century (Digital Boy),” and “Sorrow,” and building a devoted worldwide following. BAD RELIGION are set to release their new album Age of Unreason, which can be described as “a musical manifesto on the current political landscape.” In a world still brimming with rampant anti-intellectualism, inequality and oppression, the band’s signature brand of sonically charged humanist dissent seems as relevant as ever.
June 14 LP street date / May 3 for CD. BAD RELIGION began in the sprawling suburbs surrounding Los Angeles, with the teenage punks offering an impassioned counterpoint to a culture of consumerism and anti-intellectualism. Founding members Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz, and Jay Bentley were eventually joined by guitarists Brian Baker of Minor Threat, Mike Dimkich of The Cult, and drummer Jamie Miller of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Bad Religion have been highly influential force in modern punk, producing beloved international hits like “Infected,” “21st Century (Digital Boy),” and “Sorrow,” and building a devoted worldwide following. BAD RELIGION are set to release their new album Age of Unreason, which can be described as “a musical manifesto on the current political landscape.” In a world still brimming with rampant anti-intellectualism, inequality and oppression, the band’s signature brand of sonically charged humanist dissent seems as relevant as ever.
Available now ! (Baillargeon’s ecclectic band features musicians from Les Sinners and L’Infonie and was one of the first in Québec to include a Moog synthesizer on an LP! .. Pressing of 1000 copies, LP includes a folded insert with extensive liner notes, rare artwork and exclusive commentaries from the composers.) .. Trésor National is a new Montreal-based record label dedicated to reissuing long lost gems recorded in Québec (Canada). Their inaugurational release will be a 180g vinyl-only official reissue of the 1970 cult classic soundtrack “Viens, mon amour” (Love in a 4 Letter World), composed by Paul Baillargeon (Star Trek TV series, Jean-Pierre Ferland's Soleil, Curious Georges) and Dean Morgan. Between 1968 and 1974, Quebec was exposed to unabashed exploitation cinema. Erotic and taboo, the B-movies took on the name of “films de fesses” (titty films) or “maple syrup porn”. The genre produced some of the most delectable and collectable soundtracks at the time while “Viens, mon amour” easily stands out as one of the sexiest example ever recorded in La Belle Province! Original pressings are scarce and have been highly sought-after for decades by collectors from around the world. This remastered reissue highlights every sensual, psychedelic and funky side, where rare grooves mix with delicate pop songs and Moog-infused, fuzz-driven titles with hard-hitting brass. A true gem for cinephiles, DJs and all diggers of exotic sounds... with a distinctive Québécois feel. - - - - -// Trésor National est une nouvelle étiquette de disques montréalaise dédiée à la réédition d’oeuvres nichées voire inédites du patrimoine musical québécois. Nous inaugurons notre catalogue avec la réédition sur vinyle 180g de la cultissime bande sonore de 1970 “Viens, mon amour”, composée par Paul Baillargeon (Soleil de Jean-Pierre Ferland; séries télévisées de Star Trek) et Dean Morgan. (Plus info + audio : TresorNational.ca )
May 3 street date. Inclusivity is at the heart of Barrie, the Brooklyn five-piece made of Barrie Lindsay, Dominic Apa, Spurge Carter, Sabine Holler and Noah Prebish. And on their debut LP "Happy To Be Here", their multidimensional take on classic pop sounds awake and present, like a group that's daydreaming but firmly there with one another. Barrie, the band, is primarily her project; on the record, which she co-produced with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Solange, Grizzly Bear), Lindsay plays guitar, piano, synth and bass. But still, Barrie is distinctly not a solo project, and this is very much a full band record.
May 3 street date. Inclusivity is at the heart of Barrie, the Brooklyn five-piece made of Barrie Lindsay, Dominic Apa, Spurge Carter, Sabine Holler and Noah Prebish. And on their debut LP "Happy To Be Here", their multidimensional take on classic pop sounds awake and present, like a group that's daydreaming but firmly there with one another. Barrie, the band, is primarily her project; on the record, which she co-produced with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Solange, Grizzly Bear), Lindsay plays guitar, piano, synth and bass. But still, Barrie is distinctly not a solo project, and this is very much a full band record.
May 3 street date. Inclusivity is at the heart of Barrie, the Brooklyn five-piece made of Barrie Lindsay, Dominic Apa, Spurge Carter, Sabine Holler and Noah Prebish. And on their debut LP "Happy To Be Here", their multidimensional take on classic pop sounds awake and present, like a group that's daydreaming but firmly there with one another. Barrie, the band, is primarily her project; on the record, which she co-produced with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Solange, Grizzly Bear), Lindsay plays guitar, piano, synth and bass. But still, Barrie is distinctly not a solo project, and this is very much a full band record.
April 12 street date. April 12 street date. "The Beast You Are", the new album from L.A.'s Big Business, delivers 10 doses of uncategorizably heavy rock music. There are hints of Melvins, Torche, and Tad, but drummer Coady Willis (Murder City Devils) and bassist/vocalist Jared Warren (Karp) bring their own off-kilter sensibilities to the genre. The two formed Big Business in 2004, and their idiosyncrasies soon caught the attention of The Melvins. Together they recorded three albums, an EP, and various songs between 2006 and 2016, all while maintaining their own identity as Big Business. They also picked up guitarists Toshi Kasai and Scott Martin along the way, but on 2016's "Command Your Weather", they returned to their core duo format. They remain in that lineup for this, their sixth full length album.
April 12 street date. Bone coloured vinyl edition. "The Beast You Are", the new album from L.A.'s Big Business, delivers 10 doses of uncategorizably heavy rock music. There are hints of Melvins, Torche, and Tad, but drummer Coady Willis (Murder City Devils) and bassist/vocalist Jared Warren (Karp) bring their own off-kilter sensibilities to the genre. The two formed Big Business in 2004, and their idiosyncrasies soon caught the attention of The Melvins. Together they recorded three albums, an EP, and various songs between 2006 and 2016, all while maintaining their own identity as Big Business. They also picked up guitarists Toshi Kasai and Scott Martin along the way, but on 2016's "Command Your Weather", they returned to their core duo format. They remain in that lineup for this, their sixth full length album.
Please note: new street date is June 14. Originally released in 1993 and out-of-print the last seven years, "Pussy Whipped" is Bikini Kill's debut full-length. Bikini Kill was a feminist punk band based in Olympia, WA and Washington, D.C., forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (aka Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 90s via their political lyrics, zines, and confrontational live performances.
Please note: new street date is June 14. Originally released in 1993 and out-of-print the last seven years, "Pussy Whipped" is Bikini Kill's debut full-length. Bikini Kill was a feminist punk band based in Olympia, WA and Washington, D.C., forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (aka Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 90s via their political lyrics, zines, and confrontational live performances.
Please note: new street date is June 14. Originally released in 1996 and out-of-print the last seven years, "Reject All American" is Bikini Kill's second and final full-length. Bikini Kill was a feminist punk band based in Olympia, WA and Washington, D.C., forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (aka Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 90s via their political lyrics, zines, and confrontational live performances.
Please note: new street date is June 14. Originally released in 1996 and out-of-print the last seven years, "Reject All American" is Bikini Kill's second and final full-length. Bikini Kill was a feminist punk band based in Olympia, WA and Washington, D.C., forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (aka Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 90s via their political lyrics, zines, and confrontational live performances.
July 12 street date. "Don't You Think You've Had Enough?" is what Jennifer Clavin asked herself when she hit a turning point in her life. It's also the title of the new record from Bleached, Jessie and Jennifer Clavin's first LP written from a place of sobriety. That newfound perspective serves as the guiding force, yielding a courageous, honest, and sonically ambitious album. It's a record about fighting both literally and figuratively for your life - and the clarity born from that struggle. Producer Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) helped open every door to experimentation, wanting to be exploratory while keeping the sound singularly Bleached. The resulting LP is explosive, grappling with the past; its twelve tracks mark some of the sisters' most visceral, rawest songwriting to date - and some of their best. The work glimmers with inspiration found in touring with the likes of The Damned and Paramore. That arena-ready pop, incisively catchy, was a palpable influence helping to push Bleached's sound in a new direction.
July 12 street date. "Don't You Think You've Had Enough?" is what Jennifer Clavin asked herself when she hit a turning point in her life. It's also the title of the new record from Bleached, Jessie and Jennifer Clavin's first LP written from a place of sobriety. That newfound perspective serves as the guiding force, yielding a courageous, honest, and sonically ambitious album. It's a record about fighting both literally and figuratively for your life - and the clarity born from that struggle. Producer Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) helped open every door to experimentation, wanting to be exploratory while keeping the sound singularly Bleached. The resulting LP is explosive, grappling with the past; its twelve tracks mark some of the sisters' most visceral, rawest songwriting to date - and some of their best. The work glimmers with inspiration found in touring with the likes of The Damned and Paramore. That arena-ready pop, incisively catchy, was a palpable influence helping to push Bleached's sound in a new direction.
July 12 street date. "Don't You Think You've Had Enough?" is what Jennifer Clavin asked herself when she hit a turning point in her life. It's also the title of the new record from Bleached, Jessie and Jennifer Clavin's first LP written from a place of sobriety. That newfound perspective serves as the guiding force, yielding a courageous, honest, and sonically ambitious album. It's a record about fighting both literally and figuratively for your life - and the clarity born from that struggle. Producer Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) helped open every door to experimentation, wanting to be exploratory while keeping the sound singularly Bleached. The resulting LP is explosive, grappling with the past; its twelve tracks mark some of the sisters' most visceral, rawest songwriting to date - and some of their best. The work glimmers with inspiration found in touring with the likes of The Damned and Paramore. That arena-ready pop, incisively catchy, was a palpable influence helping to push Bleached's sound in a new direction.
May 31 street date. 2019 sees Fat Wreck and Bracket reunited at last with the release of their first new album together in nearly two decades! "Too Old to Die Young" is a return to form for the band, distilling the Bracket sound stretching back to when "2rak005" first hooked listeners in 1994. The album finds Bracket still indulging their love for Beach Boys harmonies, but also taking a more straightforward songwriting approach. Self-recorded over the period of a couple years, "Too Old to Die Young" shows Bracket at their most collaborative to date. Everything was written together, including the lyrics. The album wrestles with the themes implied by its title, including the wariness that comes from making music for such a long time.
May 31 street date. 2019 sees Fat Wreck and Bracket reunited at last with the release of their first new album together in nearly two decades! "Too Old to Die Young" is a return to form for the band, distilling the Bracket sound stretching back to when "2rak005" first hooked listeners in 1994. The album finds Bracket still indulging their love for Beach Boys harmonies, but also taking a more straightforward songwriting approach. Self-recorded over the period of a couple years, "Too Old to Die Young" shows Bracket at their most collaborative to date. Everything was written together, including the lyrics. The album wrestles with the themes implied by its title, including the wariness that comes from making music for such a long time.
June 14 street date. "It’s been nearly two years since Burial’s last solo releases: In late 2017, he enjoyed an unusually productive spell, putting out three 12"s in just a few months’ time, each one subtly expanding the boundaries of his sound. “Subtemple” and “Beachfires” were pure ambient; “Rodent” was a brooding, heads-down house groover; and “Pre Dawn”/”Indoors,” for Boddika’s Nonplus imprint, were cavernous rave anthems as big as anything he’d ever done. With “Claustro,” he returns to the UK garage that has always been fundamental to his sound. The rimshot-heavy beat shuffles and swings like it’s 1999 all over again, and the way he chops up the vocals has the unmistakable air of the 2-step bootlegs of R&B hits that once ruled the UK’s dancefloors. It’s slathered in all the vinyl hiss and moody sound effects we’ve come to expect from Burial, but despite the murk, the whole thing just moves, with overlapping vocal hooks, buried MC shouts, and errant rave stabs contributing to the forward motion." - PITCHFORK
June 14 street date. As you listen to "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest", a feeling of totality, of completeness, steals over you, like a thief in broad daylight. Of course it does - you're listening to a new Bill Callahan record! The first one in almost six years! For Bill, it's a different kind of record. He's now writing from somewhere beyond his Eagle-Apocalypse-River headspace, and "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest" is very much its own beast. The songs are, by and large, shorter, and there are more of them. It took almost all of the previous three albums to add up to that many. Plus, twenty's a lot of songs! But again, it goes a lot deeper than that. After "Dream River", Bill's life went through some changes. Good changes - marriage and a kid - but afterwards, it was suddenly harder for him to find the place where the songs came, to make him and these new experiences over again into something to sing. While sorting it all out, he worked on songs every day - which meant that for a while, there were lots of days simply confronting the void, as he measured this new life against the ones he'd previously known. "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest" glows incandescent - an entirely acoustic arrangement, sounds and stories shifting seamlessly, almost like one big song made of a bunch of new stories - the kind that only Bill Callahan thinks to sing.
June 14 street date. As you listen to "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest", a feeling of totality, of completeness, steals over you, like a thief in broad daylight. Of course it does - you're listening to a new Bill Callahan record! The first one in almost six years! For Bill, it's a different kind of record. He's now writing from somewhere beyond his Eagle-Apocalypse-River headspace, and "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest" is very much its own beast. The songs are, by and large, shorter, and there are more of them. It took almost all of the previous three albums to add up to that many. Plus, twenty's a lot of songs! But again, it goes a lot deeper than that. After "Dream River", Bill's life went through some changes. Good changes - marriage and a kid - but afterwards, it was suddenly harder for him to find the place where the songs came, to make him and these new experiences over again into something to sing. While sorting it all out, he worked on songs every day - which meant that for a while, there were lots of days simply confronting the void, as he measured this new life against the ones he'd previously known. "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest" glows incandescent - an entirely acoustic arrangement, sounds and stories shifting seamlessly, almost like one big song made of a bunch of new stories - the kind that only Bill Callahan thinks to sing.
June 14 street date. As you listen to "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest", a feeling of totality, of completeness, steals over you, like a thief in broad daylight. Of course it does - you're listening to a new Bill Callahan record! The first one in almost six years! For Bill, it's a different kind of record. He's now writing from somewhere beyond his Eagle-Apocalypse-River headspace, and "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest" is very much its own beast. The songs are, by and large, shorter, and there are more of them. It took almost all of the previous three albums to add up to that many. Plus, twenty's a lot of songs! But again, it goes a lot deeper than that. After "Dream River", Bill's life went through some changes. Good changes - marriage and a kid - but afterwards, it was suddenly harder for him to find the place where the songs came, to make him and these new experiences over again into something to sing. While sorting it all out, he worked on songs every day - which meant that for a while, there were lots of days simply confronting the void, as he measured this new life against the ones he'd previously known. "Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest" glows incandescent - an entirely acoustic arrangement, sounds and stories shifting seamlessly, almost like one big song made of a bunch of new stories - the kind that only Bill Callahan thinks to sing.
July 5 street date. Originally known as the singer, songwriter, and founder of both Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut, Joey Cape has established himself as a recognized solo artist over the past 13 years. His solo ventures have allowed him to stretch the bounds of his musical stylings, highlighting more diverse instrumentation, subdued pace, and experimental elements. The one constant, of course, is his unique ability to craft unforgettable songs. In recent years he's come to a realization about life - even though we're living in very troubled times, it's important to not get bogged down by it all. As he incorporates that mindset into his day-to-day life, it naturally gets absorbed into his music, and serves as the crux of Joey's new solo album "Let Me Know When You Give Up". This idea of simplifying your life and letting go of the struggle, rings clear throughout the album's 11 tracks.
July 5 street date. Originally known as the singer, songwriter, and founder of both Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut, Joey Cape has established himself as a recognized solo artist over the past 13 years. His solo ventures have allowed him to stretch the bounds of his musical stylings, highlighting more diverse instrumentation, subdued pace, and experimental elements. The one constant, of course, is his unique ability to craft unforgettable songs. In recent years he's come to a realization about life - even though we're living in very troubled times, it's important to not get bogged down by it all. As he incorporates that mindset into his day-to-day life, it naturally gets absorbed into his music, and serves as the crux of Joey's new solo album "Let Me Know When You Give Up". This idea of simplifying your life and letting go of the struggle, rings clear throughout the album's 11 tracks.
April 13 street date. (2xLP, 180g vinyl, gatefold Stoughton tip-on jacket, booklet insert) Trout Mask Replica is a touchstone in the history of recorded music. The mix of dada absurdist blues and previously unexplored experimental avenues has long been praised as one of the greatest albums of all time. As so eloquently put by John Peel, "If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica is probably that work.” In full partnership with the Zappa Family Trust and to celebrate the relaunch of the seminal Bizarre label imprint, Third Man Records is proud to announce Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's Trout Mask Replica. Out of print on vinyl for nearly ten years, this remaster was helmed by industry legend Bob Ludwig and cut by the estimable Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Utilizing crystalline-quality safety masters kept in the Zappa family vault for decades by the trustworthy Joe Travers, the audio here is positively glorious. Every last skronk breathes full life into the room. Every twisted guitar figure uncurls onto paths previously unpaved. Every last bark and howl shines resolute through the vast emptiness of your mind. Previous countless Trout Mask Replica repressings used scans of scans of scans of the cover image, but the original Cal Schenkel cover photo has been tracked down and reproduced here at its clearest — its resolution from the original release in 1969. If you’ve only ever seen a jpg online or fuzzy, smeared-looking CD issues from the 90’s, be prepared to be wowed by the fully engaging spectrum this iconic image casts. This 2xLP is pressed on heavyweight 180-gram black vinyl for that full-on frenetic feeling.
May 17 street date. Record Kicks presents the new album by Juno Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated Canadian soul star Tanika Charles, produced by a stable of some of Canada's finest musical minds including DJ Kemo (The Rascalz, Kardinal Offishall), Chin Injeti (DJ Khalil, Eminem, Drake) and Daniel Lee (Hooded Fang, Phedre). "The Gumption" picks up where "Soul Run" left off, continuing her tradition of marrying classic soul with modern production styles. Across a dozen songs spanning 38 minutes, Tanika addresses moments of vulnerability, vindication, uncertain love, forbidden fruit and the state of the world today. Predominately guitar-driven mid-tempo soul, with a handful of dance floor friendly tunes and some psychedelic leanings, "The Gumption" was indirectly influenced by the likes of Alabama Shakes, The Supremes, Khruangbin, D'Angelo, and Moses Sumney. It is sonically moody at times, but with consistent silver-lining arcs.
May 17 street date. Record Kicks presents the new album by Juno Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated Canadian soul star Tanika Charles, produced by a stable of some of Canada's finest musical minds including DJ Kemo (The Rascalz, Kardinal Offishall), Chin Injeti (DJ Khalil, Eminem, Drake) and Daniel Lee (Hooded Fang, Phedre). "The Gumption" picks up where "Soul Run" left off, continuing her tradition of marrying classic soul with modern production styles. Across a dozen songs spanning 38 minutes, Tanika addresses moments of vulnerability, vindication, uncertain love, forbidden fruit and the state of the world today. Predominately guitar-driven mid-tempo soul, with a handful of dance floor friendly tunes and some psychedelic leanings, "The Gumption" was indirectly influenced by the likes of Alabama Shakes, The Supremes, Khruangbin, D'Angelo, and Moses Sumney. It is sonically moody at times, but with consistent silver-lining arcs.
April 12 street date. Melbourne punks Clowns have never been ones to conform. The five-piece started life in 2010 as a more-or-less straightforward hardcore punk act, but over the course of their first three albums they have steadily evolved and mutated their sound in whatever direction they felt like. It has always been loud but has become more nuanced over the years. The upcoming album (and FAT debut!) "Nature/Nurture" continues down this snaking path - its 11 songs swerving right and left abruptly, veering from frenetic punk to slower more psychedelic-tinged rock, all while remaining a cohesive amalgamation of their three previous albums.
April 12 street date. Melbourne punks Clowns have never been ones to conform. The five-piece started life in 2010 as a more-or-less straightforward hardcore punk act, but over the course of their first three albums they have steadily evolved and mutated their sound in whatever direction they felt like. It has always been loud but has become more nuanced over the years. The upcoming album (and FAT debut!) "Nature/Nurture" continues down this snaking path - its 11 songs swerving right and left abruptly, veering from frenetic punk to slower more psychedelic-tinged rock, all while remaining a cohesive amalgamation of their three previous albums.
March 29 street date. Chris Cohen's songs initially sound easy. They're each tiny jewels that unfurl at a leisurely pace, but dig a little deeper and you'll reach a melancholy core. His previous two albums - 2012's "Overgrown Path" and 2016's "As If Apart" - were built from lush, blurry tracks that embedded themselves in your subconscious, like they'd always been there. "Chris Cohen", his third solo album, is a thoughtful, accomplished meditation on life and family, backed by dusky instrumentation influenced by the late evening beauty of Pat Metheny's "Falcon and the Snowman" soundtrack, and Thomas Dolby's "Golden Age of Wireless". It's beautiful, but it's also unflinching in its depiction of emotional turmoil.
March 29 street date. Chris Cohen's songs initially sound easy. They're each tiny jewels that unfurl at a leisurely pace, but dig a little deeper and you'll reach a melancholy core. His previous two albums - 2012's "Overgrown Path" and 2016's "As If Apart" - were built from lush, blurry tracks that embedded themselves in your subconscious, like they'd always been there. "Chris Cohen", his third solo album, is a thoughtful, accomplished meditation on life and family, backed by dusky instrumentation influenced by the late evening beauty of Pat Metheny's "Falcon and the Snowman" soundtrack, and Thomas Dolby's "Golden Age of Wireless". It's beautiful, but it's also unflinching in its depiction of emotional turmoil.
April 26 street date. Fat Mike, the infamous front-man from the most successful independent punk rock band in the world, has never been one to mince words. NOFX fans have come to expect a certain filter level (or lack there-of) when it comes to what travels through Mike's brain and out his mouth. But back in 2010, Fat Mike surprised even his most ardent fans with the debut performance of his grimy alter ego Cokie The Clown at SXSW in Austin, TX. The live set involved a series of brutally heartbreaking true stories from Mike's past mixed in with a stripped-down acoustic set, and a suspect bottle of tequila that landed the singer on TMZ. Now, nine years later we are finally ready to unveil what so many have been eagerly awaiting (or bracing themselves for). the release of Cokie's debut album! "You're Welcome" is a 10-song, 38-minuite quest into the darkest depths of Fatty's psyche. But he didn't have to do it alone. The album's liner notes read like a ‘who's who’ of A-list rock talent. Produced by Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), drums by Travis Barker (Blink-182), and keyboards by Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) to name a few. Musically, "You're Welcome" is compelling and dynamic, with haunting vocal melodies laid atop string sections and elaborate piano parts. Lyrically, it is designed to make the listener squirm in their seat. Fat Mike is determined to speak his truth on "You're Welcome", no matter how ugly it may get.
April 26 street date. Fat Mike, the infamous front-man from the most successful independent punk rock band in the world, has never been one to mince words. NOFX fans have come to expect a certain filter level (or lack there-of) when it comes to what travels through Mike's brain and out his mouth. But back in 2010, Fat Mike surprised even his most ardent fans with the debut performance of his grimy alter ego Cokie The Clown at SXSW in Austin, TX. The live set involved a series of brutally heartbreaking true stories from Mike's past mixed in with a stripped-down acoustic set, and a suspect bottle of tequila that landed the singer on TMZ. Now, nine years later we are finally ready to unveil what so many have been eagerly awaiting (or bracing themselves for). the release of Cokie's debut album! "You're Welcome" is a 10-song, 38-minuite quest into the darkest depths of Fatty's psyche. But he didn't have to do it alone. The album's liner notes read like a ‘who's who’ of A-list rock talent. Produced by Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), drums by Travis Barker (Blink-182), and keyboards by Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) to name a few. Musically, "You're Welcome" is compelling and dynamic, with haunting vocal melodies laid atop string sections and elaborate piano parts. Lyrically, it is designed to make the listener squirm in their seat. Fat Mike is determined to speak his truth on "You're Welcome", no matter how ugly it may get.
May 24 street date. A few years have passed since their last album for DAIS, but Los Angeles-based Cold Showers steadily returns to the label’s roster with their third album, "Motionless", wielding a more developed pop sound that is familiar to followers, yet more sophisticated and evolved than their previous works. Having traversed the realm of synth-laced post punk expertly for close to a decade, their return with "Motionless" is a process-based album that reaches into the band's collective quiver, melding their familiar anthem infused post-punk and lush, grand pop influences.
May 24 street date. A few years have passed since their last album for DAIS, but Los Angeles-based Cold Showers steadily returns to the label’s roster with their third album, "Motionless", wielding a more developed pop sound that is familiar to followers, yet more sophisticated and evolved than their previous works. Having traversed the realm of synth-laced post punk expertly for close to a decade, their return with "Motionless" is a process-based album that reaches into the band's collective quiver, melding their familiar anthem infused post-punk and lush, grand pop influences.
May 17 street date. For nearly a decade the story of Com Truise has relied on science fiction and abstract fact. Seth Haley's singular style of melodic beat music subsists as hazy machinist nostalgia, a mainframe downloaded cosmology. Yet with each release, alongside sonic refinement, comes an increasingly visible vapor trail to Haley's own ontology. His long-awaited 2017 LP Iteration brought to completion a conceptual space saga while also reflecting seismic life changes for the producer and designer. With mini-LP Persuasion System, Haley leaves the past narrative behind, settling into a new period marked by change - on this planet, in the present - putting forth his most grounded and visceral work to date.
May 17 street date. For nearly a decade the story of Com Truise has relied on science fiction and abstract fact. Seth Haley's singular style of melodic beat music subsists as hazy machinist nostalgia, a mainframe downloaded cosmology. Yet with each release, alongside sonic refinement, comes an increasingly visible vapor trail to Haley's own ontology. His long-awaited 2017 LP Iteration brought to completion a conceptual space saga while also reflecting seismic life changes for the producer and designer. With mini-LP Persuasion System, Haley leaves the past narrative behind, settling into a new period marked by change - on this planet, in the present - putting forth his most grounded and visceral work to date.
May 3 street date. Through her folkloric mystique, otherworldly psychedelia, and a dash of enigmatic punk, Ahomale by Combo Chimbita catapults the sacred knowledge of our forebears into the future. Their second studio album and Anti- Records debut sees the visionary quartet drawing from ancestral mythologies and musical enlightenment to unearth the awareness of Ahomale, the album’s cosmic muse. Comprised of Carolina Oliveros’ mesmeric contralto, illuminating storytelling and fierce guacaracha rhythms, Prince of Queens’ hypnotic synth stabs and grooving bass lines, Niño Lento’s imaginative guitar licks, and Dilemastronauta’s powerful drumming, the lure and lore of Combo Chimbita comes into existence. Rooted in Colombia and based in New York, Combo Chimbita lives in the future. After playing together for years, these first-generation New Yorkers began experimenting with different traditional musical styles during their late night residencies at Barbès in Brooklyn. Exploring the connections between visual identity and improvisational long-form trips, Combo Chimbita came together as a four-piece band after they started encouraging more vocals by Carolina Oliveros, who tightens the rhythm with her guacharaca.
May 3 street date. Through her folkloric mystique, otherworldly psychedelia, and a dash of enigmatic punk, Ahomale by Combo Chimbita catapults the sacred knowledge of our forebears into the future. Their second studio album and Anti- Records debut sees the visionary quartet drawing from ancestral mythologies and musical enlightenment to unearth the awareness of Ahomale, the album’s cosmic muse. Comprised of Carolina Oliveros’ mesmeric contralto, illuminating storytelling and fierce guacaracha rhythms, Prince of Queens’ hypnotic synth stabs and grooving bass lines, Niño Lento’s imaginative guitar licks, and Dilemastronauta’s powerful drumming, the lure and lore of Combo Chimbita comes into existence. Rooted in Colombia and based in New York, Combo Chimbita lives in the future. After playing together for years, these first-generation New Yorkers began experimenting with different traditional musical styles during their late night residencies at Barbès in Brooklyn. Exploring the connections between visual identity and improvisational long-form trips, Combo Chimbita came together as a four-piece band after they started encouraging more vocals by Carolina Oliveros, who tightens the rhythm with her guacharaca.
April 13 street date. JUSTIN COURTNEY PIERRE (frontman of Motion City Soundtrack) is back with three new songs plus one cover of a Jesus & Mary Chain classic. The players on these recordings include Justin Courtney Pierre – Vocals, Guitar, Bass , Dani Barstad – Drums, Heidi Brink – Vocals and Thomas Rehbein – Percussion, Loops, Vocals. Dubbed Open Mic at the Lo-Fi: Vol 1, these tracks were produced and engineered by Thomas Rehbein. This RSD 2019 exclusive vinyl features four tracks on Side A and an etching on Side B.
April 13 street date. 7 Track EP from Reggae Legend Culture. Includes 4 Previously Unissued Tracks. Omnivore Recordings is proud to present these historic recordings (on three different vinyl colors) to honor the legacy of Culture on this Record Store Day! Liner Notes From Nighthawk Founder / Producer Leroy Jodie Pierson. Culture began recording in 1976 with an early cut of This Time which was only released on an obscure Jamaican single. Composed in response to the state of emergency declared by the Jamaican government in that year, the early recording is a tame and lyrically altered version of the original song as finally presented on this album. During the late 1970s Culture recorded seven fine albums, three for Joe Gibbs, three for Sonia Pottinger, and one issued in America by April Records, which Joseph Hill regarded as a bootleg. Culture was truly in their prime when they recorded the material included on this album. The first three tracks were recorded in 1981 with backing by the Roots Radics. The remaining tracks were taped in 1983 with backup by The Wailers band. Calling Rastafari, Dem A Payaka, and This Time were all originally included on the 1982 Nighthawk compilation album, Calling Rastafari. Most of the tracks released on the classic, roots reggae compilation, were recorded during a three-day session in 1981 at the Harry J studio in Jamaica. The Culture songs appeared alongside tracks by Gladiators, Mighty Diamonds, Wailing Souls and others, with most of the songs being unique to the album including those by Culture. Can They Run and Mister Music and their respective Versions were recorded two years after Calling Rastafari was issued and languished in the Nighthawk vaults until the release of this special, limited-edition EP.
June 14 street date. The Dangerous Summer's Mother Nature is their most personal album to date. Following their successful 2018 comeback after a five-year hiatus, the band is getting more raw and real than ever. With lyrics outlining painful breakups, feeling isolated, and trying to rebuild - Mother Nature propels The Dangerous Summer forward again - with no hiatus in sight. For Fans Of: Silverstein, The Wonder Years, Have Mercy.
June 14 street date. The Dangerous Summer's Mother Nature is their most personal album to date. Following their successful 2018 comeback after a five-year hiatus, the band is getting more raw and real than ever. With lyrics outlining painful breakups, feeling isolated, and trying to rebuild - Mother Nature propels The Dangerous Summer forward again - with no hiatus in sight. For Fans Of: Silverstein, The Wonder Years, Have Mercy.
April 26 street date. "Trinity Thirty" is a reinterpretation of the beloved Cowboy Junkies classic "The Trinity Session", on the occasion of the album's 30th anniversary. Berlin-based Canadian producers Deadbeat and Fatima Camara bonded over a shared love of this iconic album (and their shared small-town Ontario roots) and embarked on their first-ever collaboration. While Deadbeat and Camara couldn't entirely replicate the original album's approach as a duo, they similarly re-recorded everything with single mics in a big open space at Berlin's Chez Cherie studio, relying heavily on natural room acoustics, committed to raw first takes, guided by an overriding strategy of slowing down the tempos as far as they could while continuing to channel the warm asceticism of the original album. The result is a gorgeously somnambulant acoustic-meets-electronic collection of "covers of covers", where the reference point is always the Junkies' original approach, stretched to new and beguiling limits of deceleration and dubby narcotized spaciousness - a sensibility further reinforced by the mastering treatment of minimalist dub-techno legend Stefan Betke (~scape, Pole).
April 26 street date. "Trinity Thirty" is a reinterpretation of the beloved Cowboy Junkies classic "The Trinity Session", on the occasion of the album's 30th anniversary. Berlin-based Canadian producers Deadbeat and Fatima Camara bonded over a shared love of this iconic album (and their shared small-town Ontario roots) and embarked on their first-ever collaboration. While Deadbeat and Camara couldn't entirely replicate the original album's approach as a duo, they similarly re-recorded everything with single mics in a big open space at Berlin's Chez Cherie studio, relying heavily on natural room acoustics, committed to raw first takes, guided by an overriding strategy of slowing down the tempos as far as they could while continuing to channel the warm asceticism of the original album. The result is a gorgeously somnambulant acoustic-meets-electronic collection of "covers of covers", where the reference point is always the Junkies' original approach, stretched to new and beguiling limits of deceleration and dubby narcotized spaciousness - a sensibility further reinforced by the mastering treatment of minimalist dub-techno legend Stefan Betke (~scape, Pole).
May 3 street date. Since their inception in 2008, Defeater have stood apart as storytellers in the world of hardcore. Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, the band’s lineup consists of Derek Archambault (vocals), Adam Crowe (guitar), Jake Woodruff (guitar), Joe Longobardi (drums) and Mike Poulin (bass). They have toured with the likes of La Dispute, Comeback Kid, and August Burns Red. Defeater will be the band’s fifth studio album. (For Fans of Touche’ Amore’, La Dispute and Title Fight).
May 3 street date. Since their inception in 2008, Defeater have stood apart as storytellers in the world of hardcore. Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, the band’s lineup consists of Derek Archambault (vocals), Adam Crowe (guitar), Jake Woodruff (guitar), Joe Longobardi (drums) and Mike Poulin (bass). They have toured with the likes of La Dispute, Comeback Kid, and August Burns Red. Defeater will be the band’s fifth studio album. (For Fans of Touche’ Amore’, La Dispute and Title Fight).
May 3 street date. Since their inception in 2008, Defeater have stood apart as storytellers in the world of hardcore. Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, the band’s lineup consists of Derek Archambault (vocals), Adam Crowe (guitar), Jake Woodruff (guitar), Joe Longobardi (drums) and Mike Poulin (bass). They have toured with the likes of La Dispute, Comeback Kid, and August Burns Red. Defeater will be the band’s fifth studio album. (For Fans of Touche’ Amore’, La Dispute and Title Fight).
May 24 street date. Diamond Head – the Stourbridge, England born New Wave of British Heavy Metal pioneers – return to the world stage with a new album. The Coffin Train is at once fresh and exuberant while also being a stone-cold classic slice of old school heavy metal excellence. Formed in 1976 under the riff-rolling leadership of guitarist Brian Tatler, Diamond Head would quickly establish themselves as a vanguard of the exploding New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene. With their genre-defining debut album Lightning To The Nations, Diamond Head became the band who influenced and opened gates for many metal bands. The Coffin Train, Diamond Head’s eighth studio album, is a glorious testimony to Brian Tatler and Rasmus Bom Andersen’ masterful ability to create the flavours necessary for prime Diamond Head music. Look no further than “Belly of the Beast” for a ripping signal of intent, the huge, catchy, crunchy riff coupled with Ras’ fiery vocals and married to a steam-engine old school tempo which will have headbangers gleefully reaching for their air guitars and aspirin. It is both furious and thickly intense. Diamond Head have not only managed to create an album of pure heavy metal intensity, they have created a timeless aural statement which feels destined to see them delivering both The Coffin Train and DH 2.0 to more fans than ever.
May 24 street date. Diamond Head – the Stourbridge, England born New Wave of British Heavy Metal pioneers – return to the world stage with a new album. The Coffin Train is at once fresh and exuberant while also being a stone-cold classic slice of old school heavy metal excellence. Formed in 1976 under the riff-rolling leadership of guitarist Brian Tatler, Diamond Head would quickly establish themselves as a vanguard of the exploding New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene. With their genre-defining debut album Lightning To The Nations, Diamond Head became the band who influenced and opened gates for many metal bands. The Coffin Train, Diamond Head’s eighth studio album, is a glorious testimony to Brian Tatler and Rasmus Bom Andersen’ masterful ability to create the flavours necessary for prime Diamond Head music. Look no further than “Belly of the Beast” for a ripping signal of intent, the huge, catchy, crunchy riff coupled with Ras’ fiery vocals and married to a steam-engine old school tempo which will have headbangers gleefully reaching for their air guitars and aspirin. It is both furious and thickly intense. Diamond Head have not only managed to create an album of pure heavy metal intensity, they have created a timeless aural statement which feels destined to see them delivering both The Coffin Train and DH 2.0 to more fans than ever.
May 10 street date. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ will be available on Vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with inner bag (SOLP1), CD Digi (SOCD1) and Cassette (SOCASS1). The Deluxe CD (SOCD1X) & Deluxe clear vinyl (SOLP1X) include a live and demos CD and DVD film. The deluxe vinyl (SOLP1X) is for Indie stores only. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ was recorded live to beautifully capture the essence and spirit of the Puta Madres at a family home overlooking a fishing village in Étretat Normandy, over 4 days last summer and mixed at Urchin Studios (East London). The album is engineered by Dan Cox (Laura Marling, Thurston Moore, Florence & The Machine)and produced by Jai Stanley. It is a devastatingly intimate portrait of love, loss, being lost, happiness, tragedy, addiction and the power of the human soul to transcend its darker levels. All the songs from the album were road tested over the last 18 months across Europe at Festivals and headline shows. Songs include the reflective ‘All At Sea,’ the raw ‘Punk Buck Bonafide,’ the upbeat and playful ‘Shoreleave,’ the joyous hymn of liberation ‘Paradise Is Under Your Nose,’ ‘Someone Else To Be’ Peter’s re-imagining of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Ride Into The Sun’ and Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger and ‘Who’s Been Having You Over’ with dialogue from the 1948 film adaption of Graham Greene ‘Brighton Rock’ and the cheeky poke at his own notoriety, “You’re so rock’n’roll.” As previously announced Pete has just finished a sold out solo tour of the UK, followed by six full band shows. The band are back out on the road in May. Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres are: Peter Doherty (Vocals/Guitar), Miggles (bass), Miki Beavis (violin), Katia DeVidas (Piano/keyboards), Jack Jones (lead guitar), Rafa (drums).
May 10 street date. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ will be available on Vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with inner bag (SOLP1), CD Digi (SOCD1) and Cassette (SOCASS1). The Deluxe CD (SOCD1X) & Deluxe clear vinyl (SOLP1X) include a live and demos CD and DVD film. The deluxe vinyl (SOLP1X) is for Indie stores only. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ was recorded live to beautifully capture the essence and spirit of the Puta Madres at a family home overlooking a fishing village in Étretat Normandy, over 4 days last summer and mixed at Urchin Studios (East London). The album is engineered by Dan Cox (Laura Marling, Thurston Moore, Florence & The Machine)and produced by Jai Stanley. It is a devastatingly intimate portrait of love, loss, being lost, happiness, tragedy, addiction and the power of the human soul to transcend its darker levels. All the songs from the album were road tested over the last 18 months across Europe at Festivals and headline shows. Songs include the reflective ‘All At Sea,’ the raw ‘Punk Buck Bonafide,’ the upbeat and playful ‘Shoreleave,’ the joyous hymn of liberation ‘Paradise Is Under Your Nose,’ ‘Someone Else To Be’ Peter’s re-imagining of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Ride Into The Sun’ and Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger and ‘Who’s Been Having You Over’ with dialogue from the 1948 film adaption of Graham Greene ‘Brighton Rock’ and the cheeky poke at his own notoriety, “You’re so rock’n’roll.” As previously announced Pete has just finished a sold out solo tour of the UK, followed by six full band shows. The band are back out on the road in May. Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres are: Peter Doherty (Vocals/Guitar), Miggles (bass), Miki Beavis (violin), Katia DeVidas (Piano/keyboards), Jack Jones (lead guitar), Rafa (drums).
May 10 street date. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ will be available on Vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with inner bag (SOLP1), CD Digi (SOCD1) and Cassette (SOCASS1). The Deluxe CD (SOCD1X) & Deluxe clear vinyl (SOLP1X) include a live and demos CD and DVD film. The deluxe vinyl (SOLP1X) is for Indie stores only. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ was recorded live to beautifully capture the essence and spirit of the Puta Madres at a family home overlooking a fishing village in Étretat Normandy, over 4 days last summer and mixed at Urchin Studios (East London). The album is engineered by Dan Cox (Laura Marling, Thurston Moore, Florence & The Machine)and produced by Jai Stanley. It is a devastatingly intimate portrait of love, loss, being lost, happiness, tragedy, addiction and the power of the human soul to transcend its darker levels. All the songs from the album were road tested over the last 18 months across Europe at Festivals and headline shows. Songs include the reflective ‘All At Sea,’ the raw ‘Punk Buck Bonafide,’ the upbeat and playful ‘Shoreleave,’ the joyous hymn of liberation ‘Paradise Is Under Your Nose,’ ‘Someone Else To Be’ Peter’s re-imagining of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Ride Into The Sun’ and Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger and ‘Who’s Been Having You Over’ with dialogue from the 1948 film adaption of Graham Greene ‘Brighton Rock’ and the cheeky poke at his own notoriety, “You’re so rock’n’roll.” As previously announced Pete has just finished a sold out solo tour of the UK, followed by six full band shows. The band are back out on the road in May. Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres are: Peter Doherty (Vocals/Guitar), Miggles (bass), Miki Beavis (violin), Katia DeVidas (Piano/keyboards), Jack Jones (lead guitar), Rafa (drums).
May 10 street date. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ will be available on Vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with inner bag (SOLP1), CD Digi (SOCD1) and Cassette (SOCASS1). The Deluxe CD (SOCD1X) & Deluxe clear vinyl (SOLP1X) include a live and demos CD and DVD film. The deluxe vinyl (SOLP1X) is for Indie stores only. ‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ was recorded live to beautifully capture the essence and spirit of the Puta Madres at a family home overlooking a fishing village in Étretat Normandy, over 4 days last summer and mixed at Urchin Studios (East London). The album is engineered by Dan Cox (Laura Marling, Thurston Moore, Florence & The Machine)and produced by Jai Stanley. It is a devastatingly intimate portrait of love, loss, being lost, happiness, tragedy, addiction and the power of the human soul to transcend its darker levels. All the songs from the album were road tested over the last 18 months across Europe at Festivals and headline shows. Songs include the reflective ‘All At Sea,’ the raw ‘Punk Buck Bonafide,’ the upbeat and playful ‘Shoreleave,’ the joyous hymn of liberation ‘Paradise Is Under Your Nose,’ ‘Someone Else To Be’ Peter’s re-imagining of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Ride Into The Sun’ and Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger and ‘Who’s Been Having You Over’ with dialogue from the 1948 film adaption of Graham Greene ‘Brighton Rock’ and the cheeky poke at his own notoriety, “You’re so rock’n’roll.” As previously announced Pete has just finished a sold out solo tour of the UK, followed by six full band shows. The band are back out on the road in May. Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres are: Peter Doherty (Vocals/Guitar), Miggles (bass), Miki Beavis (violin), Katia DeVidas (Piano/keyboards), Jack Jones (lead guitar), Rafa (drums).
July 12 street date. Drab Majesty's third album, "Modern Mirror", is a journey of self-reflection, nostalgia, love, beauty, and heartbreak told across eight addictive and emotional synth pop anthems - a seemingly classic tale delivered unblinkingly through the frame of the modern world. Elements of classic tragedy weigh heavily in the reflection of Modern Mirror in songs like "The Other Side", possessing a fundamental sound that is energetic, luminous and hopeful. Fusing the sonic aesthetics of predecessors like New Order and The Cure within the cautious instruction of Greek mythology and modern science fiction, Drab Majesty has birthed a hybrid of dreamy malaise, captured for a future moment.
July 12 street date. Drab Majesty's third album, "Modern Mirror", is a journey of self-reflection, nostalgia, love, beauty, and heartbreak told across eight addictive and emotional synth pop anthems - a seemingly classic tale delivered unblinkingly through the frame of the modern world. Elements of classic tragedy weigh heavily in the reflection of Modern Mirror in songs like "The Other Side", possessing a fundamental sound that is energetic, luminous and hopeful. Fusing the sonic aesthetics of predecessors like New Order and The Cure within the cautious instruction of Greek mythology and modern science fiction, Drab Majesty has birthed a hybrid of dreamy malaise, captured for a future moment.
May 3 street date. There are two phases of The Dream Syndicate. There was the band with revolving lineups that existed from 1982 to 1988 and made four albums including The Days of Wine and Roses and have influenced bands and delighted fans in the years since. And then there’s the band that reunited in 2012 and is closing in on its seventh year with nary a lineup change. This 21st Century version of the Dream Syndicate released How Did I Find Myself Here in 2017 to universal acclaim, no small feat for a band reuniting after almost three decades. With that reintroduction and a full year of touring behind them, the Dream Syndicate had the freedom to take it all somewhere new, to dig a little deeper, get outside of themselves a little bit. Their new album ‘These Times’ feels like a late-night radio show that you might have heard as a kid, drifting off into dreams and wondering the next morning if any of it was real. So, what does it sound like? If How Did I Find Myself Here was a 10 pm record, all swagger and cathartic explosion, then These Times is the 2 am sibling, moodier and more mercurial, the band acting as DJs of their own overnight radio station, riffing on an idea of what a Dream Syndicate album could be at this moment in time. It is Radio DS19. So, what’s it all about? Founder and singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Wynn says, “These Times. That’s it. It’s all we’re talking about, all we’re thinking about. There’s no avoiding the existential panic of a world that’s hurtling somewhere quickly and evolving and shifting course by the hour. It seems like a lie to not address or reflect the things that we can’t stop thinking about—the whole world’s watching indeed.”
May 3 street date. There are two phases of The Dream Syndicate. There was the band with revolving lineups that existed from 1982 to 1988 and made four albums including The Days of Wine and Roses and have influenced bands and delighted fans in the years since. And then there’s the band that reunited in 2012 and is closing in on its seventh year with nary a lineup change. This 21st Century version of the Dream Syndicate released How Did I Find Myself Here in 2017 to universal acclaim, no small feat for a band reuniting after almost three decades. With that reintroduction and a full year of touring behind them, the Dream Syndicate had the freedom to take it all somewhere new, to dig a little deeper, get outside of themselves a little bit. Their new album ‘These Times’ feels like a late-night radio show that you might have heard as a kid, drifting off into dreams and wondering the next morning if any of it was real. So, what does it sound like? If How Did I Find Myself Here was a 10 pm record, all swagger and cathartic explosion, then These Times is the 2 am sibling, moodier and more mercurial, the band acting as DJs of their own overnight radio station, riffing on an idea of what a Dream Syndicate album could be at this moment in time. It is Radio DS19. So, what’s it all about? Founder and singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Wynn says, “These Times. That’s it. It’s all we’re talking about, all we’re thinking about. There’s no avoiding the existential panic of a world that’s hurtling somewhere quickly and evolving and shifting course by the hour. It seems like a lie to not address or reflect the things that we can’t stop thinking about—the whole world’s watching indeed.”
May 3 street date. There are two phases of The Dream Syndicate. There was the band with revolving lineups that existed from 1982 to 1988 and made four albums including The Days of Wine and Roses and have influenced bands and delighted fans in the years since. And then there’s the band that reunited in 2012 and is closing in on its seventh year with nary a lineup change. This 21st Century version of the Dream Syndicate released How Did I Find Myself Here in 2017 to universal acclaim, no small feat for a band reuniting after almost three decades. With that reintroduction and a full year of touring behind them, the Dream Syndicate had the freedom to take it all somewhere new, to dig a little deeper, get outside of themselves a little bit. Their new album ‘These Times’ feels like a late-night radio show that you might have heard as a kid, drifting off into dreams and wondering the next morning if any of it was real. So, what does it sound like? If How Did I Find Myself Here was a 10 pm record, all swagger and cathartic explosion, then These Times is the 2 am sibling, moodier and more mercurial, the band acting as DJs of their own overnight radio station, riffing on an idea of what a Dream Syndicate album could be at this moment in time. It is Radio DS19. So, what’s it all about? Founder and singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Wynn says, “These Times. That’s it. It’s all we’re talking about, all we’re thinking about. There’s no avoiding the existential panic of a world that’s hurtling somewhere quickly and evolving and shifting course by the hour. It seems like a lie to not address or reflect the things that we can’t stop thinking about—the whole world’s watching indeed.”
April 5 street date. Brutalism is quite possibly the best collection of songs in The Drums’ ten-year career. The album is defined by growth, transformation and questions, but it doesn’t provide all the answers. Brutalism is a form of simplistic architecture defined by blocks of raw concrete. Brutalism is rooted in an emotional rawness but its layers are soft, intricate and warm, full of frivolous and exquisitely crafted pop songs that blast sunlight and high energy in the face of anxiety, solitude and crippling self-doubt. Even the fact that Brutalism sounds intentional, focused and efficient is a symbol of how Pierce’s prioritizing of his own health and well being has bled into how he makes music. For the making of this album, between his lake house in Upstate New York and a studio in Stinson Beach, California, Pierce was more open than ever, keeping his control freakery at bay, working with others to produce and record the album. He brought in Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands, Amen Dunes) to mix it. If there was a guitar part he wanted to write but couldn’t play, he brought in a guitarist. It’s also the first Drums record with a live drummer. Delegating freed up Pierce’s time to produce a more specific vision. Brutalism is the fifth studio album from The Drums. Vinyl LP include one bonus track. For Fans of Real Estate, Wild Nothings and Best Coast.
April 5 street date. Brutalism is quite possibly the best collection of songs in The Drums’ ten-year career. The album is defined by growth, transformation and questions, but it doesn’t provide all the answers. Brutalism is a form of simplistic architecture defined by blocks of raw concrete. Brutalism is rooted in an emotional rawness but its layers are soft, intricate and warm, full of frivolous and exquisitely crafted pop songs that blast sunlight and high energy in the face of anxiety, solitude and crippling self-doubt. Even the fact that Brutalism sounds intentional, focused and efficient is a symbol of how Pierce’s prioritizing of his own health and well being has bled into how he makes music. For the making of this album, between his lake house in Upstate New York and a studio in Stinson Beach, California, Pierce was more open than ever, keeping his control freakery at bay, working with others to produce and record the album. He brought in Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands, Amen Dunes) to mix it. If there was a guitar part he wanted to write but couldn’t play, he brought in a guitarist. It’s also the first Drums record with a live drummer. Delegating freed up Pierce’s time to produce a more specific vision. Brutalism is the fifth studio album from The Drums. Vinyl LP include one bonus track. For Fans of Real Estate, Wild Nothings and Best Coast.
April 5 street date. Brutalism is quite possibly the best collection of songs in The Drums’ ten-year career. The album is defined by growth, transformation and questions, but it doesn’t provide all the answers. Brutalism is a form of simplistic architecture defined by blocks of raw concrete. Brutalism is rooted in an emotional rawness but its layers are soft, intricate and warm, full of frivolous and exquisitely crafted pop songs that blast sunlight and high energy in the face of anxiety, solitude and crippling self-doubt. Even the fact that Brutalism sounds intentional, focused and efficient is a symbol of how Pierce’s prioritizing of his own health and well being has bled into how he makes music. For the making of this album, between his lake house in Upstate New York and a studio in Stinson Beach, California, Pierce was more open than ever, keeping his control freakery at bay, working with others to produce and record the album. He brought in Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands, Amen Dunes) to mix it. If there was a guitar part he wanted to write but couldn’t play, he brought in a guitarist. It’s also the first Drums record with a live drummer. Delegating freed up Pierce’s time to produce a more specific vision. Brutalism is the fifth studio album from The Drums. Vinyl LP include one bonus track. For Fans of Real Estate, Wild Nothings and Best Coast.
May 31 street date. "Pianoworks" is Eluvium's first solo piano album since his sophomore album, "An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death" (2004). Inspired by the quiet thoughts and solitary observations of children - and the evolution/dissolution of that ephemeral, uncorrupted wander of simple joy - "Pianoworks" begins with a song about children's piano lessons, and culminates with an etude driven by the struggle to hold onto innocence and imagination as adulthood settles in. The record's dramatic simplicity in both execution and expression is with purpose: Cooper wants the music to be simple enough to inspire children and novices to play, and the concept simple enough to resonate regardless of age or experience.
May 31 street date. "Pianoworks" is Eluvium's first solo piano album since his sophomore album, "An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death" (2004). Inspired by the quiet thoughts and solitary observations of children - and the evolution/dissolution of that ephemeral, uncorrupted wander of simple joy - "Pianoworks" begins with a song about children's piano lessons, and culminates with an etude driven by the struggle to hold onto innocence and imagination as adulthood settles in. The record's dramatic simplicity in both execution and expression is with purpose: Cooper wants the music to be simple enough to inspire children and novices to play, and the concept simple enough to resonate regardless of age or experience.
May 31 street date. Limited edition (2000 copies) 2xCD set includes bonus album featuring new recordings of every Eluvium solo piano work ever released.
May 17 street date. It was never intended to get this far. Endless Boogie had been a band for six years when they were invited by Slint to play the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK. Up to that point, they had been perfectly content existing only at their weekly Lower East Side rehearsals (and the occasional New York City show). They figured if they were leaving the country to play a show, they should have something to sell, so they pulled some recordings from their rehearsal tape archive, ran two small pressings, hand stamped some sleeves, and the Endless Boogie story officially began. The records (often referred to as "black" and "white") have long fetched high prices on the secondary market. They're back in print here and packaged together as a double CD / double LP set. Vinyl comes in an debossed gatefold jacket. CDs come packaged in a gatefold wallet.
May 17 street date. It was never intended to get this far. Endless Boogie had been a band for six years when they were invited by Slint to play the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK. Up to that point, they had been perfectly content existing only at their weekly Lower East Side rehearsals (and the occasional New York City show). They figured if they were leaving the country to play a show, they should have something to sell, so they pulled some recordings from their rehearsal tape archive, ran two small pressings, hand stamped some sleeves, and the Endless Boogie story officially began. The records (often referred to as "black" and "white") have long fetched high prices on the secondary market. They're back in print here and packaged together as a double CD / double LP set. Vinyl comes in an debossed gatefold jacket. CDs come packaged in a gatefold wallet.
May 24 street date. The first release in Cherry Red's new series of deluxe Fall reissues is a 3CD expanded edition of their first studio album, originally released in 1979. Alongside the full album is a disc of single a and b-sides and session tracks and a live show from Mr. Pickwick's in Liverpool 1978. The box set also features a booklet of new sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea and has been remastered by long-term Fall engineer Andy Pearce.
May 24 street date. 3CD expanded edition of The Fall's second studio album, originally released in October 1979. Housed in a clamshell box, this edition includes the original album along with several single a and b-sides and alternative takes plus live shows from Retford in 1979 and Los Angeles in 1979. The box set also features a booklet of new sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea and has been remastered by long-term Fall engineer Andy Pearce.
April 5 street date. Legendary former lead guitarist and songwriter of the Eagles, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and New York Times bestselling author DON FELDER, announces his highly anticipated all-new album AMERICAN ROCK 'N' ROLL. The album features some of the biggest names in music including Sammy Hagar, Slash, Richie Sambora, Orianthi, Peter Frampton, Joe Satriani, Mick Fleetwood, Chad Smith, Bob Weir, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Alex Lifeson and more. The album was mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bernie Grundman. The leadoff single and title track "American Rock 'N' Roll", featuring performances by Slash, Mick Fleetwood, and Chad Smith, is out now. Available on LP or CD.
April 5 street date. Legendary former lead guitarist and songwriter of the Eagles, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and New York Times bestselling author DON FELDER, announces his highly anticipated all-new album AMERICAN ROCK 'N' ROLL. The album features some of the biggest names in music including Sammy Hagar, Slash, Richie Sambora, Orianthi, Peter Frampton, Joe Satriani, Mick Fleetwood, Chad Smith, Bob Weir, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Alex Lifeson and more. The album was mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bernie Grundman. The leadoff single and title track "American Rock 'N' Roll", featuring performances by Slash, Mick Fleetwood, and Chad Smith, is out now. Available on LP or CD.
April 5 street date. "It Rains Love" is the second album by Lee Fields & The Expressions on Big Crown Records (and fifth overall) and gives us yet another masterclass in soul. Teaming up again with frequent collaborator and producer Leon Michels and his devoted band, The Expressions, they have managed again to take a classic approach and update it. Traditional soul sensibilities are mixed with a hip-hop tinged, sample ready sound that is as much an homage to the old as to the new. Some of the songs sound like they could belong to any of the last 4 decades without it feeling like a throwback, while others are 60s soul through and through. Lyrically, Lee runs the gamut from gushing admonishments of love to politically charged calls to action, from proclamations of God's existence to love letters written to his wife.
April 5 street date. "It Rains Love" is the second album by Lee Fields & The Expressions on Big Crown Records (and fifth overall) and gives us yet another masterclass in soul. Teaming up again with frequent collaborator and producer Leon Michels and his devoted band, The Expressions, they have managed again to take a classic approach and update it. Traditional soul sensibilities are mixed with a hip-hop tinged, sample ready sound that is as much an homage to the old as to the new. Some of the songs sound like they could belong to any of the last 4 decades without it feeling like a throwback, while others are 60s soul through and through. Lyrically, Lee runs the gamut from gushing admonishments of love to politically charged calls to action, from proclamations of God's existence to love letters written to his wife.
April 26 street date. Kelly Finnigan's debut solo album for Colemine Records represents the culmination of his 15 years of experience - in the studio as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer - and touring the US and Europe as a singer, musician, and band-leader. The content within reflects his dedication to expression through the rich American music traditions of soul, gospel, doo-wop, and R&B. The subject is love. Its ecstasies and heartaches. Love sought, found, betrayed, lost, and rediscovered. The result is a marvelous collection of songs and performances that run the gamut from whispering tenderness to roaring appeals; from lean and mean to lush and lovely. With Finnigan guiding these songs from their conception all the way to the record pressing plant, the new release provides the singular voice missing from soul music: a visionary that writes, records, performs and produces his own material.
April 26 street date. Kelly Finnigan's debut solo album for Colemine Records represents the culmination of his 15 years of experience - in the studio as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer - and touring the US and Europe as a singer, musician, and band-leader. The content within reflects his dedication to expression through the rich American music traditions of soul, gospel, doo-wop, and R&B. The subject is love. Its ecstasies and heartaches. Love sought, found, betrayed, lost, and rediscovered. The result is a marvelous collection of songs and performances that run the gamut from whispering tenderness to roaring appeals; from lean and mean to lush and lovely. With Finnigan guiding these songs from their conception all the way to the record pressing plant, the new release provides the singular voice missing from soul music: a visionary that writes, records, performs and produces his own material.
April 26 street date. Kelly Finnigan's debut solo album for Colemine Records represents the culmination of his 15 years of experience - in the studio as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer - and touring the US and Europe as a singer, musician, and band-leader. The content within reflects his dedication to expression through the rich American music traditions of soul, gospel, doo-wop, and R&B. The subject is love. Its ecstasies and heartaches. Love sought, found, betrayed, lost, and rediscovered. The result is a marvelous collection of songs and performances that run the gamut from whispering tenderness to roaring appeals; from lean and mean to lush and lovely. With Finnigan guiding these songs from their conception all the way to the record pressing plant, the new release provides the singular voice missing from soul music: a visionary that writes, records, performs and produces his own material.
March 29 street date. By August 2006, Myspace had over a hundred million member accounts, and, in October of that year, it decided to launch its first-ever webcast. The artist chosen for this epochal event? Ben Folds. The hour-long program featured Folds in front of a small audience housed in a custom set built right in Folds’ home studio in Tennessee, performing songs from his third and latest solo album, Supersunnyspeedgraphic, as well as a couple of tunes from his previous group, Ben Folds Five. As the first concert offered in real-time by the social networking site, Folds and his band (bassist Jared Reynolds and drummer Lindsay Jamieson) were arguably positioning themselves on the leading edge of entertainment-meets-technology. Real Gone Music is bringing this superlative show to CD and LP for the first time with its release of Ben Folds: Live at Myspace, a single CD/double vinyl package featuring all 12 songs from Folds’ Myspace performance along with five bonus tracks from the digital-only iTunes Originals series. Featuring pictures from the Myspace gig and liner notes by Bill Kopp offering Ben Folds’ reminiscences about the concert, this is as close as you can get to being there, and the studio-quality sound may just convince you that you are there if you just shut your eyes. We’ve also created custom gatefold jacket art for the vinyl release, which is being pressed in white vinyl limited to 1000 copies.
March 29 street date. By August 2006, Myspace had over a hundred million member accounts, and, in October of that year, it decided to launch its first-ever webcast. The artist chosen for this epochal event? Ben Folds. The hour-long program featured Folds in front of a small audience housed in a custom set built right in Folds’ home studio in Tennessee, performing songs from his third and latest solo album, Supersunnyspeedgraphic, as well as a couple of tunes from his previous group, Ben Folds Five. As the first concert offered in real-time by the social networking site, Folds and his band (bassist Jared Reynolds and drummer Lindsay Jamieson) were arguably positioning themselves on the leading edge of entertainment-meets-technology. Real Gone Music is bringing this superlative show to CD and LP for the first time with its release of Ben Folds: Live at Myspace, a single CD/double vinyl package featuring all 12 songs from Folds’ Myspace performance along with five bonus tracks from the digital-only iTunes Originals series. Featuring pictures from the Myspace gig and liner notes by Bill Kopp offering Ben Folds’ reminiscences about the concert, this is as close as you can get to being there, and the studio-quality sound may just convince you that you are there if you just shut your eyes. We’ve also created custom gatefold jacket art for the vinyl release, which is being pressed in white vinyl limited to 1000 copies.
April 26 street date. "Seeing Other People" is curiously positioned as Foxygen's most recent last-ever album. With every album the band dies; with every album the band is reborn. But unlike the last-ever Foxygen albums before it, this one seems to have a self-effacing bittersweetness to it that signifies some sort of passing; some sort of white flag. But it SOUNDS in no way like a band giving up. It has experiments in tone and genre the likes of which we've not heard on a Foxygen record since "Starpower"?; since "21st Century"?; since "Take The Kids"?
April 26 street date. "Seeing Other People" is curiously positioned as Foxygen's most recent last-ever album. With every album the band dies; with every album the band is reborn. But unlike the last-ever Foxygen albums before it, this one seems to have a self-effacing bittersweetness to it that signifies some sort of passing; some sort of white flag. But it SOUNDS in no way like a band giving up. It has experiments in tone and genre the likes of which we've not heard on a Foxygen record since "Starpower"?; since "21st Century"?; since "Take The Kids"?
April 26 street date. "Seeing Other People" is curiously positioned as Foxygen's most recent last-ever album. With every album the band dies; with every album the band is reborn. But unlike the last-ever Foxygen albums before it, this one seems to have a self-effacing bittersweetness to it that signifies some sort of passing; some sort of white flag. But it SOUNDS in no way like a band giving up. It has experiments in tone and genre the likes of which we've not heard on a Foxygen record since "Starpower"?; since "21st Century"?; since "Take The Kids"?
April 12 CD street date // May 10 LP street date. Live At The Observatory was recorded on 9/8/18 at the sold out kick-off show for the band’s Hypochondriac album tour. The San Diego based band will be supporting the live album with performances at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival (Indio, CA) in April, and additional tour dates to follow. The live record features tracks from the band’s entire catalog including five tracks from their 2018 album Hypochondriac. A must have any fan of The Frights!
April 12 CD street date // May 10 LP street date. Live At The Observatory was recorded on 9/8/18 at the sold out kick-off show for the band’s Hypochondriac album tour. The San Diego based band will be supporting the live album with performances at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival (Indio, CA) in April, and additional tour dates to follow. The live record features tracks from the band’s entire catalog including five tracks from their 2018 album Hypochondriac. A must have any fan of The Frights!
June 21 street date. Gold Past Life marks both an end and a beginning for Fruit Bats. It's the end of an unintentional thematic trilogy of records that began with 2014's EDJ (a solo record by name, but a Fruit Bats release in spirit) and hit an emotional peak with 2016's Absolute Loser. They encompassed years of loss, displacement, and the persistent, low-level anxiety of the current political climate. They were written in the wake of friends who left these earthly confines and families that could have been. But these salves, these songs on Gold Past Life, also represent new beginnings-the journeys that await after making it through troubled times. Gold Past Life is about rejecting notions of idealized nostalgia ("Gold Past Life") and the process of grounding oneself in the present, both geographically ("A Lingering Love," "Ocean") and spiritually ("Drawn Away"). With Gold Past Life, Eric Johnson of Fruit B hopes to bring more immediacy to the music and share positivity, hope, and motivation to keep on keepin' on with a wider audience.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
June 21 street date. Gold Past Life marks both an end and a beginning for Fruit Bats. It's the end of an unintentional thematic trilogy of records that began with 2014's EDJ (a solo record by name, but a Fruit Bats release in spirit) and hit an emotional peak with 2016's Absolute Loser. They encompassed years of loss, displacement, and the persistent, low-level anxiety of the current political climate. They were written in the wake of friends who left these earthly confines and families that could have been. But these salves, these songs on Gold Past Life, also represent new beginnings-the journeys that await after making it through troubled times. Gold Past Life is about rejecting notions of idealized nostalgia ("Gold Past Life") and the process of grounding oneself in the present, both geographically ("A Lingering Love," "Ocean") and spiritually ("Drawn Away"). With Gold Past Life, Eric Johnson of Fruit B hopes to bring more immediacy to the music and share positivity, hope, and motivation to keep on keepin' on with a wider audience.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
June 21 street date. Gold Past Life marks both an end and a beginning for Fruit Bats. It's the end of an unintentional thematic trilogy of records that began with 2014's EDJ (a solo record by name, but a Fruit Bats release in spirit) and hit an emotional peak with 2016's Absolute Loser. They encompassed years of loss, displacement, and the persistent, low-level anxiety of the current political climate. They were written in the wake of friends who left these earthly confines and families that could have been. But these salves, these songs on Gold Past Life, also represent new beginnings-the journeys that await after making it through troubled times. Gold Past Life is about rejecting notions of idealized nostalgia ("Gold Past Life") and the process of grounding oneself in the present, both geographically ("A Lingering Love," "Ocean") and spiritually ("Drawn Away"). With Gold Past Life, Eric Johnson of Fruit B hopes to bring more immediacy to the music and share positivity, hope, and motivation to keep on keepin' on with a wider audience.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
May 17 street date. Godzilla’s/Eatin’ Dust is the most popular release in Fu Manchu’s 29 year recorded history. It is the combination of what were originally 2 distinct 10” releases: Godzilla (1997) and Eatin’ Dust (1999). Last year, Scott Hill (vocals/guitar) found the original tapes from the Godzilla recording sessions produced by Josh Homme and unearthed a secret that had been in his garage since 1996...The band had recorded 4 songs that had never been released. These extra songs are early versions of "Grendel, Snowman," "Strolling Astronomer" and "Urethane” (whose final versions appeared on 1997’s The Action Is Go) and a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" (which is a different version than the one which was released on 7” in 1998). The songs line up perfectly with the original tracklist, which includes the band’s crowd pleasing cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” and fan favourites “Eatin’ Dust” and “Mongoose”. The vinyl packaging is comprised of 3 10” records (in a nod to the original 10” releases) with each of the three pressed on a different custom colour in a limited run of 2000. The vinyl is housed in a triple gatefold package with never before seen photos of the band. The CD version of the album has also been remastered for maximum fidelity.
May 17 street date. Godzilla’s/Eatin’ Dust is the most popular release in Fu Manchu’s 29 year recorded history. It is the combination of what were originally 2 distinct 10” releases: Godzilla (1997) and Eatin’ Dust (1999). Last year, Scott Hill (vocals/guitar) found the original tapes from the Godzilla recording sessions produced by Josh Homme and unearthed a secret that had been in his garage since 1996...The band had recorded 4 songs that had never been released. These extra songs are early versions of "Grendel, Snowman," "Strolling Astronomer" and "Urethane” (whose final versions appeared on 1997’s The Action Is Go) and a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" (which is a different version than the one which was released on 7” in 1998). The songs line up perfectly with the original tracklist, which includes the band’s crowd pleasing cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” and fan favourites “Eatin’ Dust” and “Mongoose”. The vinyl packaging is comprised of 3 10” records (in a nod to the original 10” releases) with each of the three pressed on a different custom colour in a limited run of 2000. The vinyl is housed in a triple gatefold package with never before seen photos of the band. The CD version of the album has also been remastered for maximum fidelity.
June 7 street date. On his third and most finely wrought album yet, guitarist, singer, and master interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell is joined for the first time by a full band featuring Nathan Bowles (drums), Casey Toll (bass), Nathan Golub (pedal steel), Libby Rodenbough (violin, vocals), and James Anthony Wallace (piano, organ). An utterly transporting selection of traditional narrative folksongs addressing the troubles and delights of love, work, and wine (i.e. the things that matter), collected from a myriad of obscure sources and deftly metamorphosed, "Out Of Sight" contains, among other moving curiosities, a fishmonger's cry that sounds like an astral lament ("The River St. Johns"); a cotton mill tune that humorously explores the unknown terrain of death and memory ("Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues"); and a fishermen's shanty/gospel song equally concerned with terrestrial boozing and heavenly transcendence ("Drinking of the Wine").
June 7 street date. On his third and most finely wrought album yet, guitarist, singer, and master interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell is joined for the first time by a full band featuring Nathan Bowles (drums), Casey Toll (bass), Nathan Golub (pedal steel), Libby Rodenbough (violin, vocals), and James Anthony Wallace (piano, organ). An utterly transporting selection of traditional narrative folksongs addressing the troubles and delights of love, work, and wine (i.e. the things that matter), collected from a myriad of obscure sources and deftly metamorphosed, "Out Of Sight" contains, among other moving curiosities, a fishmonger's cry that sounds like an astral lament ("The River St. Johns"); a cotton mill tune that humorously explores the unknown terrain of death and memory ("Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues"); and a fishermen's shanty/gospel song equally concerned with terrestrial boozing and heavenly transcendence ("Drinking of the Wine").
June 21 street date. If you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears) in 1976, you also took home "Plantasia", an album recorded especially for plants. Subtitled "warm earth music for plants and the people that love them," it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytum comosum.
June 21 street date. If you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears) in 1976, you also took home "Plantasia", an album recorded especially for plants. Subtitled "warm earth music for plants and the people that love them," it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytum comosum.
July 12 street date. On July 12, Washington, DC’s Gauche will release A People’s History of Gauche, a collective catharsis of anger, frustration, and trauma through creativity. Jason P Barnett, Adrienne CN Berry, Mary Jane Regalado, Pearie Sol, and Daniele Yandel find their agency and joy through creating and performing music together in 36 minutes of groove-filled power punk. Recorded with Austin Brown (Parquet Courts) and Robert Szmurlo in Brooklyn, NY, and with Jonah Takagi (Ex Hex) in DC, A People’s History of Gauche marks the first time the band worked with people outside of their ranks, resulting in a fuller sound that boasts more intricate instrumentation. From the very first line of album opener “Flash”—“Light’s supposed to show the way, not over-expose it”—Gauche are here to compel us to dance while singing along about society’s universal struggles. Gauche undoubtedly make art, but their guiding tenet is craft. “When I say that, I mean in the sense that Art with a capital A is thought of as something rarefied, something outside the context of everyday life, outside of everyone’s grasp or potential,” expounds Daniele. “That sense of craft, of something you return to every day and is valuable because it is something you share in common with all people, is how I think of music. Well, good music at least.” Gauche bring us music and movement and struggle and light, and now it is our job to dance!
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 12 street date. On July 12, Washington, DC’s Gauche will release A People’s History of Gauche, a collective catharsis of anger, frustration, and trauma through creativity. Jason P Barnett, Adrienne CN Berry, Mary Jane Regalado, Pearie Sol, and Daniele Yandel find their agency and joy through creating and performing music together in 36 minutes of groove-filled power punk. Recorded with Austin Brown (Parquet Courts) and Robert Szmurlo in Brooklyn, NY, and with Jonah Takagi (Ex Hex) in DC, A People’s History of Gauche marks the first time the band worked with people outside of their ranks, resulting in a fuller sound that boasts more intricate instrumentation. From the very first line of album opener “Flash”—“Light’s supposed to show the way, not over-expose it”—Gauche are here to compel us to dance while singing along about society’s universal struggles. Gauche undoubtedly make art, but their guiding tenet is craft. “When I say that, I mean in the sense that Art with a capital A is thought of as something rarefied, something outside the context of everyday life, outside of everyone’s grasp or potential,” expounds Daniele. “That sense of craft, of something you return to every day and is valuable because it is something you share in common with all people, is how I think of music. Well, good music at least.” Gauche bring us music and movement and struggle and light, and now it is our job to dance!
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 12 street date. On July 12, Washington, DC’s Gauche will release A People’s History of Gauche, a collective catharsis of anger, frustration, and trauma through creativity. Jason P Barnett, Adrienne CN Berry, Mary Jane Regalado, Pearie Sol, and Daniele Yandel find their agency and joy through creating and performing music together in 36 minutes of groove-filled power punk. Recorded with Austin Brown (Parquet Courts) and Robert Szmurlo in Brooklyn, NY, and with Jonah Takagi (Ex Hex) in DC, A People’s History of Gauche marks the first time the band worked with people outside of their ranks, resulting in a fuller sound that boasts more intricate instrumentation. From the very first line of album opener “Flash”—“Light’s supposed to show the way, not over-expose it”—Gauche are here to compel us to dance while singing along about society’s universal struggles. Gauche undoubtedly make art, but their guiding tenet is craft. “When I say that, I mean in the sense that Art with a capital A is thought of as something rarefied, something outside the context of everyday life, outside of everyone’s grasp or potential,” expounds Daniele. “That sense of craft, of something you return to every day and is valuable because it is something you share in common with all people, is how I think of music. Well, good music at least.” Gauche bring us music and movement and struggle and light, and now it is our job to dance!
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
April 29 street date. Chrysalis Records are proud to release a deluxe edition of Generation X's debut album from 1978. Formed in late 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and Derwood Andrews with Mark Laff joining in early 1977. They signed to Chrysalis in the Summer of 1977, with their first single ?Your Generation? being released in the September. Incidentally, they were one of the first punk bands to appear on the BBC TV's Top of The Pops, followed closely with subsequent singles 'Wild Youth' and 'Ready Steady Go'. Their debut album 'Generation X' produced by Martin Rushent (The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Human League), was released in February 1978, reaching number 29 in the UK charts. This expanded deluxe edition vinyl box set has been newly remastered and cut from the original production tapes and includes 11 previously unreleased recordings. LP1 contains the original UK 11 track album, LP2 includes all the A and B-sides of their singles from the period and LP3 contains 11 previously unreleased outtakes, a single mix and several mixes made by engineer Alan Winstanley (Madness, Elvis Costello, Morrissey). Housed in a rigid slipcase with previously unseen photos and newly commissioned sleeve notes by journalist Adrian Thrills.
April 29 street date. Chrysalis Records are proud to release a deluxe edition of Generation X's debut album from 1978. Formed in late 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and Derwood Andrews with Mark Laff joining in early 1977. They signed to Chrysalis in the Summer of 1977, with their first single ?Your Generation? being released in the September. Incidentally, they were one of the first punk bands to appear on the BBC TV's Top of The Pops, followed closely with subsequent singles 'Wild Youth' and 'Ready Steady Go'. Their debut album 'Generation X' produced by Martin Rushent (The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Human League), was released in February 1978, reaching number 29 in the UK charts. This expanded deluxe edition vinyl box set has been newly remastered and cut from the original production tapes and includes 11 previously unreleased recordings. LP1 contains the original UK 11 track album, LP2 includes all the A and B-sides of their singles from the period and LP3 contains 11 previously unreleased outtakes, a single mix and several mixes made by engineer Alan Winstanley (Madness, Elvis Costello, Morrissey). Housed in a rigid slipcase with previously unseen photos and newly commissioned sleeve notes by journalist Adrian Thrills.
July 12 street date. Looking Through The Shades, is Glitterer’s debut full-length album, featuring Ned Russin, bassist/vocalist of Title Fight. This is Glitterer all glown up. Now there are live drums (twin-brother Ben did the honours) and dopamine-releasing fuzzy guitars to go with the synths, the bass, and the voice. Now there’s a full 14-song tracklist to luxuriate in. Produced by Alex Giannascoli and Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip, Sumerlands) the album delivers Glitterer’s best-yet sonics and songs. The lyrics are still insouciantly tortured, in a reluctant-college-boy kind of way, the choruses are still obscenely catchy, and the arrangements still carry not so much as an ounce of excess fat. From the saturated distortion of the opener, “The Race” (“I wish I could look at your life and know it’s mine”), through the road-weary “1001” (“I sang 1,000 songs / didn’t want to sing again”) and the vox-and-bass-only Side B outlier “The News” (“I used to be original”), the listener is simultaneously satiated and left wanting more. For Fans of Title Fight, Touche’ Amore’ & Balance and Composure
July 12 street date. Looking Through The Shades, is Glitterer’s debut full-length album, featuring Ned Russin, bassist/vocalist of Title Fight. This is Glitterer all glown up. Now there are live drums (twin-brother Ben did the honours) and dopamine-releasing fuzzy guitars to go with the synths, the bass, and the voice. Now there’s a full 14-song tracklist to luxuriate in. Produced by Alex Giannascoli and Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip, Sumerlands) the album delivers Glitterer’s best-yet sonics and songs. The lyrics are still insouciantly tortured, in a reluctant-college-boy kind of way, the choruses are still obscenely catchy, and the arrangements still carry not so much as an ounce of excess fat. From the saturated distortion of the opener, “The Race” (“I wish I could look at your life and know it’s mine”), through the road-weary “1001” (“I sang 1,000 songs / didn’t want to sing again”) and the vox-and-bass-only Side B outlier “The News” (“I used to be original”), the listener is simultaneously satiated and left wanting more. For Fans of Title Fight, Touche’ Amore’ & Balance and Composure
June 28 street date. By the time the world hears the performances from these two shows, Gov’t Mule will have celebrated 25 years as a band, which is something they never could have imagined. It’s no easy task keeping a band together for 25 years. You don’t get to do that without having built, nurtured, depended on, and tested important relationships. In fact, with any band that’s stayed around that long, it’s all about relationships. When the band decided to document where they are currently (musically speaking), it was immediately clear that, amongst other things, this release should be a celebration of those relationships. From the project’s inception it was always planned on being filmed and recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Where they have "had the pleasure of playing there multiple times with many magical shows taking place over the years." Filmed and directed by Danny Clinch, who’s filmography includes projetcs with Pearl Jam, The Avett Brothers, The Foo Fighters, John Mayer, and many more. The performances were captured on 9 cameras. This is the first time the band’s updated stage setup and production has been captured on film. Gov’t Mule has releases 22 albums since their inception.
June 28 street date. By the time the world hears the performances from these two shows, Gov’t Mule will have celebrated 25 years as a band, which is something they never could have imagined. It’s no easy task keeping a band together for 25 years. You don’t get to do that without having built, nurtured, depended on, and tested important relationships. In fact, with any band that’s stayed around that long, it’s all about relationships. When the band decided to document where they are currently (musically speaking), it was immediately clear that, amongst other things, this release should be a celebration of those relationships. From the project’s inception it was always planned on being filmed and recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Where they have "had the pleasure of playing there multiple times with many magical shows taking place over the years." Filmed and directed by Danny Clinch, who’s filmography includes projetcs with Pearl Jam, The Avett Brothers, The Foo Fighters, John Mayer, and many more. The performances were captured on 9 cameras. This is the first time the band’s updated stage setup and production has been captured on film. Gov’t Mule has releases 22 albums since their inception.
June 28 street date. By the time the world hears the performances from these two shows, Gov’t Mule will have celebrated 25 years as a band, which is something they never could have imagined. It’s no easy task keeping a band together for 25 years. You don’t get to do that without having built, nurtured, depended on, and tested important relationships. In fact, with any band that’s stayed around that long, it’s all about relationships. When the band decided to document where they are currently (musically speaking), it was immediately clear that, amongst other things, this release should be a celebration of those relationships. From the project’s inception it was always planned on being filmed and recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Where they have "had the pleasure of playing there multiple times with many magical shows taking place over the years." Filmed and directed by Danny Clinch, who’s filmography includes projetcs with Pearl Jam, The Avett Brothers, The Foo Fighters, John Mayer, and many more. The performances were captured on 9 cameras. This is the first time the band’s updated stage setup and production has been captured on film. Gov’t Mule has releases 22 albums since their inception.
June 7 street date. A band’s third album usually tells you whether they’re in it for the long haul or a flash in the pan. On "Age Hasn’t Spoiled You", Greys prove that they are undoubtedly the former. The Toronto post-punks eschew their trademark frenzy for a more cerebral and cinematic affair. This widescreen approach loses none of the impact of their early material, instead employing space and dynamics to propel the listener toward even greater payoffs when they decide to switch back into high gear. When we last left them, days before the 2016 US election, Greys had just finished a year of touring with the likes of Bully, White Lung, Japandroids, Preoccupations and more after releasing their sophomore record, "Outer Heaven," and its companion piece, "Warm Shadow." The following year saw the quartet taking some much needed downtime with members pursuing solo projects and moonlighting in other bands. As their city surrendered to gentrification and the world abroad descended further into chaos, the four men spent most of 2018 in the studio channeling these feelings of displacement and alienation into songs that reflect the state of panic and confusion prevalent in our news feeds. What results is a richly textured experience that draws influence from krautrock, industrial, hip hop, dub, jazz, ambient, drone and more, sometimes within the same song. That their blend of disparate sounds never obscures the album’s sharp focus is a testament to the group’s mastery of both songwriting and production. With "Age Hasn’t Spoiled You," Greys strive to exist in a similar echelon of bands that seek to shatter the boundaries that contain them.
June 7 street date. A band’s third album usually tells you whether they’re in it for the long haul or a flash in the pan. On "Age Hasn’t Spoiled You", Greys prove that they are undoubtedly the former. The Toronto post-punks eschew their trademark frenzy for a more cerebral and cinematic affair. This widescreen approach loses none of the impact of their early material, instead employing space and dynamics to propel the listener toward even greater payoffs when they decide to switch back into high gear. When we last left them, days before the 2016 US election, Greys had just finished a year of touring with the likes of Bully, White Lung, Japandroids, Preoccupations and more after releasing their sophomore record, "Outer Heaven," and its companion piece, "Warm Shadow." The following year saw the quartet taking some much needed downtime with members pursuing solo projects and moonlighting in other bands. As their city surrendered to gentrification and the world abroad descended further into chaos, the four men spent most of 2018 in the studio channeling these feelings of displacement and alienation into songs that reflect the state of panic and confusion prevalent in our news feeds. What results is a richly textured experience that draws influence from krautrock, industrial, hip hop, dub, jazz, ambient, drone and more, sometimes within the same song. That their blend of disparate sounds never obscures the album’s sharp focus is a testament to the group’s mastery of both songwriting and production. With "Age Hasn’t Spoiled You," Greys strive to exist in a similar echelon of bands that seek to shatter the boundaries that contain them.
April 13 street date. (Matte direct-to-board LP jacket, standard weight black/white splatter Liquid Darkness vinyl) Griot Galaxy is a “secret” jewel of Detroit’s avant-garde jazz history – until now. That is to say, they will always be a jewel of Detroit’s avant-garde jazz history, their deeply passionate music a testament to experimentation, freedom, and blackness. But with the long-awaited reissue of their first album, the hard-to-find Kins, the secret is out. Griot Galaxy doesn’t strictly begin with Kins. It begins with visionary bandleader and saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey’s musical and political awakening in the late ‘60s, when the 1967 Detroit Rebellion was tearing Detroit apart and Coltrane’s untimely death was devastating the jazz community. Kins, recorded in 1981 and originally released in 1982, is a masterstroke of creative Detroit jazz. The freeness of the playing is anchored by a serious propensity for rhythm, evident in the way its members layered their collective backgrounds in bebop, funk, reggae, and other styles within the expansive possibility of sonic expression. And all but 200 or so copies of the original 2000 pressed were unintentionally trashed. Griot Galaxy’s willingness to push boundaries was as affectionate as it was fearless. Kins is Detroit's post-Coltrane, high-on-Sun-Ra bridge into the ‘80s. They certainly weren’t the first to experiment with polyrhythms, odd meters, and tonal scales beyond the traditional concepts, but it was in part the combination of Shahid and Tabbal’s previous experience with Sun Ra, as well as Tabbal’s experience with one-time Arkestra trumpeter Phil Cohran, that allowed the group to blossom. Donning silver face paint and spouting poetry on stage, the group gained notoriety for both impressive musicianship and theatrical proto-Afrofuturist flourishes as they played all over town, including Cobb’s Corner, a jazz bar in the Cass Corridor. We’re lucky that lead engineer Ron DeCorte saved the original master tapes, from which these recordings came. Although most of the wider world didn’t get a chance to experience the wonder of Griot Galaxy at the time, we will gloriously, happily, gratefully take what we can get now.
May 24 street date. Back with their 13th studio album, Guitar Wolf's newest LOVE&JETT is full of the group's sweet, sweet love songs, all recorded in Japan. The energy explodes on the scene with the title track’s opening 1-2 bass-snare piston-fire and truly does not let up at any point on the full album. The band shines especially bright on Sex Jaguar, barely clocking in just over 2 minutes with chorus catchphrases and feline roars. While each song’s words (apart from a handful of song titles, 1-2-3-4s plus a clever cover of Spencer Davis Group's Gimme Some Lovin’) punch out in their native Japanese, the adoring English-speaking public will be granted an insert enclosed in each LP and CD with all lyrics translated to English. So with your heart flying high and faster than Mach speed, the untouchable legends Guitar Wolf are back to rush you away into another dimension.
May 24 street date. Back with their 13th studio album, Guitar Wolf's newest LOVE&JETT is full of the group's sweet, sweet love songs, all recorded in Japan. The energy explodes on the scene with the title track’s opening 1-2 bass-snare piston-fire and truly does not let up at any point on the full album. The band shines especially bright on Sex Jaguar, barely clocking in just over 2 minutes with chorus catchphrases and feline roars. While each song’s words (apart from a handful of song titles, 1-2-3-4s plus a clever cover of Spencer Davis Group's Gimme Some Lovin’) punch out in their native Japanese, the adoring English-speaking public will be granted an insert enclosed in each LP and CD with all lyrics translated to English. So with your heart flying high and faster than Mach speed, the untouchable legends Guitar Wolf are back to rush you away into another dimension.
April 12 street date. This Wild Willing is Glen Hansard’s fourth solo album. Written and created in Paris, France with a band of brothers; new friends and old, more than 24 musicians collaborating on the album. From his partners in The Frames (Joe Doyle) and Swell Season (Marketa Irglova & Joe Doyle), to his touring family of players , to three Iranian brothers he met in Paris (the Kroshravesh brothers) , Glen brought together a group of global talents who each left an indelible mark on this recording. “It became quickly apparent in the studio we were onto something interesting. I was finding new ways into the existing songs and we were improvising new ideas every day. When you surround yourself with great musicians and do your best to keep up, stay loose, give little direction, and allow everyone to bring what they bring, something transformative may happen. This collection of songs is mainly made up of those that came through while improvising and following the melodic lines and threads. Sometimes when you take a small musical fragment and you care for it, follow it, and build it up slowly, it can become a thing of wonder. In this sense, some of these songs weren’t written in the traditional form; they were ideas followed to a conclusion. I want to thank all these great musicians for coming and giving these songs their best. All a song wants is to be heard. I hope something in this music can be of use to you. I know it’s been of great use to me to make it. Beauty is in the ear of the behearer.” – Glen Hansard / Oct. 2018
April 12 street date. This Wild Willing is Glen Hansard’s fourth solo album. Written and created in Paris, France with a band of brothers; new friends and old, more than 24 musicians collaborating on the album. From his partners in The Frames (Joe Doyle) and Swell Season (Marketa Irglova & Joe Doyle), to his touring family of players , to three Iranian brothers he met in Paris (the Kroshravesh brothers) , Glen brought together a group of global talents who each left an indelible mark on this recording. “It became quickly apparent in the studio we were onto something interesting. I was finding new ways into the existing songs and we were improvising new ideas every day. When you surround yourself with great musicians and do your best to keep up, stay loose, give little direction, and allow everyone to bring what they bring, something transformative may happen. This collection of songs is mainly made up of those that came through while improvising and following the melodic lines and threads. Sometimes when you take a small musical fragment and you care for it, follow it, and build it up slowly, it can become a thing of wonder. In this sense, some of these songs weren’t written in the traditional form; they were ideas followed to a conclusion. I want to thank all these great musicians for coming and giving these songs their best. All a song wants is to be heard. I hope something in this music can be of use to you. I know it’s been of great use to me to make it. Beauty is in the ear of the behearer.” – Glen Hansard / Oct. 2018
May 17 street date. THE HEAVY are the music industry’s worst kept secret. They make blazing, urgent, infectious rock-soul with a strong dose of hip-hop. You’ve heard their songs in a lot of different places, and it’s likely that you loved them. Their breakthrough single “How You Like Me Now?” reached Gold status in the United States—a stunning achievement for an English, independent artist. A heady mix of impassioned, incandescent vocal, gargantuan riff and boom-bap drums conjured up a triumph-inadversity sentiment that struck a chord across the globe. Forming in the fertile swamps of England’s West Country in the mid-noughties, around the axis of Dan Taylor (guitarist and songwriter) and Kelvin Swaby (vocalist and songwriter), THE HEAVY immediately astounded. Jaw dropping, freshly minted riffs, funk-ridden bass and Swaby’s startling, Mayfield-esque vocals blew minds and won hearts. THE HEAVY’s most recent album Hurt & The Merciless was released in 2016.
May 17 street date. THE HEAVY are the music industry’s worst kept secret. They make blazing, urgent, infectious rock-soul with a strong dose of hip-hop. You’ve heard their songs in a lot of different places, and it’s likely that you loved them. Their breakthrough single “How You Like Me Now?” reached Gold status in the United States—a stunning achievement for an English, independent artist. A heady mix of impassioned, incandescent vocal, gargantuan riff and boom-bap drums conjured up a triumph-inadversity sentiment that struck a chord across the globe. Forming in the fertile swamps of England’s West Country in the mid-noughties, around the axis of Dan Taylor (guitarist and songwriter) and Kelvin Swaby (vocalist and songwriter), THE HEAVY immediately astounded. Jaw dropping, freshly minted riffs, funk-ridden bass and Swaby’s startling, Mayfield-esque vocals blew minds and won hearts. THE HEAVY’s most recent album Hurt & The Merciless was released in 2016.
Please note new street date May 24. Montreal's Tim Hecker returns with "Anoyo", which draws from the same sessions with members of Tokyo Gakuso which led to the 2018 work "Konoyo", but rendered starker, solemn, and stripped back, with more of a naturalist tint. Hecker's processing here moves in veiled ways, soft refractions and whispered shrouds woven within improvisational sessions of traditional gagaku interplay, evoking a sense of vaulted space, temples at dawn, shredded silk fluttering in the rafters. This is boldly barren music, skeletal and sculptural, shaped from wood, wind, strings, and mist. Modern yet ancient, delicate and desolate, "Anoyo" inverts its predecessor to compellingly conjure a parallel world of illusion, solitude, and eternal return.
Please note new street date May 24. Montreal's Tim Hecker returns with "Anoyo", which draws from the same sessions with members of Tokyo Gakuso which led to the 2018 work "Konoyo", but rendered starker, solemn, and stripped back, with more of a naturalist tint. Hecker's processing here moves in veiled ways, soft refractions and whispered shrouds woven within improvisational sessions of traditional gagaku interplay, evoking a sense of vaulted space, temples at dawn, shredded silk fluttering in the rafters. This is boldly barren music, skeletal and sculptural, shaped from wood, wind, strings, and mist. Modern yet ancient, delicate and desolate, "Anoyo" inverts its predecessor to compellingly conjure a parallel world of illusion, solitude, and eternal return.
June 7 street date. As far as we know, Tim Heidecker remains a happily married man with two delightful children. But we wouldn't blame you if you hear his latest collection of songs nd worry for the fella! For the last three years, Heidecker has been waging a hellish war of upon the current presidential administration and its shady minions. Whether because of his unrelenting Twitter prodding of Trump, his spot-on impersonation of Info Wars' Alex Jones or his well of caustic Trump protest songs, Heidecker has found himself in the crosshairs of the online alt-right community. At some point, one of those Incel or QAnon trolls started a vicious rumour that Tim's wife had, in fact, left him and the rumor caught fire across certain social channels. Instead of getting pissed off, our protagonist (antagonist?) Tim Heidecker got inspired. He knows full well that here in the music biz nothing breeds good tunes like utter heartbreak. From "Blood On The Tracks" to "Shoot Out The Lights", it's a nearly universal truth: divorce is a hit factory. So he imagined himself an awful divorce and let the hits flow.
June 7 street date. As far as we know, Tim Heidecker remains a happily married man with two delightful children. But we wouldn't blame you if you hear his latest collection of songs nd worry for the fella! For the last three years, Heidecker has been waging a hellish war of upon the current presidential administration and its shady minions. Whether because of his unrelenting Twitter prodding of Trump, his spot-on impersonation of Info Wars' Alex Jones or his well of caustic Trump protest songs, Heidecker has found himself in the crosshairs of the online alt-right community. At some point, one of those Incel or QAnon trolls started a vicious rumour that Tim's wife had, in fact, left him and the rumor caught fire across certain social channels. Instead of getting pissed off, our protagonist (antagonist?) Tim Heidecker got inspired. He knows full well that here in the music biz nothing breeds good tunes like utter heartbreak. From "Blood On The Tracks" to "Shoot Out The Lights", it's a nearly universal truth: divorce is a hit factory. So he imagined himself an awful divorce and let the hits flow.
May 10 street date / June 21 for LP. Shafiq Husayn is a talented musician, producer, songwriter, and recording artist who has worked with some of the top artists in R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and beyond. Perhaps best known as one third of innovative Los Angeles musical collective Sa Ra Creative Partners, Husayn has produced for the likes of Erykah Badu, Andre 3000, John Legend, Kanye West, Jurassic 5, Bilal, and many more. In recent years, Shafiq has helped launch the careers of some of the most influential new artists to emerge from L.A., serving as a mentor to Anderson .Paak and working with Ty Dolla $ign before his rise to fame. His solo debut "Shafiq En A-Free-Ka" drew widespread critical acclaim, and he earned a Grammy for his work on Robert Glasper's breakthrough album "Black Radio". His new album "The Loop" includes several high-profile guest appearances, including Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Robert Glasper, Bilal, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote, Jimetta Rose, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Coultrain, and more. Vinyl includes download card giving access to album plus all instrumentals and the physical-only bonus track "Jungle Madness".
May 10 street date / June 21 for LP. Shafiq Husayn is a talented musician, producer, songwriter, and recording artist who has worked with some of the top artists in R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and beyond. Perhaps best known as one third of innovative Los Angeles musical collective Sa Ra Creative Partners, Husayn has produced for the likes of Erykah Badu, Andre 3000, John Legend, Kanye West, Jurassic 5, Bilal, and many more. In recent years, Shafiq has helped launch the careers of some of the most influential new artists to emerge from L.A., serving as a mentor to Anderson .Paak and working with Ty Dolla $ign before his rise to fame. His solo debut "Shafiq En A-Free-Ka" drew widespread critical acclaim, and he earned a Grammy for his work on Robert Glasper's breakthrough album "Black Radio". His new album "The Loop" includes several high-profile guest appearances, including Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Robert Glasper, Bilal, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote, Jimetta Rose, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Coultrain, and more. Vinyl includes download card giving access to album plus all instrumentals and the physical-only bonus track "Jungle Madness".
June 21 street date. 2LP clear vinyl edition. Shafiq Husayn is a talented musician, producer, songwriter, and recording artist who has worked with some of the top artists in R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and beyond. Perhaps best known as one third of innovative Los Angeles musical collective Sa Ra Creative Partners, Husayn has produced for the likes of Erykah Badu, Andre 3000, John Legend, Kanye West, Jurassic 5, Bilal, and many more. In recent years, Shafiq has helped launch the careers of some of the most influential new artists to emerge from L.A., serving as a mentor to Anderson .Paak and working with Ty Dolla $ign before his rise to fame. His solo debut "Shafiq En A-Free-Ka" drew widespread critical acclaim, and he earned a Grammy for his work on Robert Glasper's breakthrough album "Black Radio". His new album "The Loop" includes several high-profile guest appearances, including Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Robert Glasper, Bilal, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote, Jimetta Rose, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Coultrain, and more. Vinyl includes download card giving access to album plus all instrumentals and the physical-only bonus track "Jungle Madness".
July 12 street date. Imperial Teen’s releases over the past 20+ years have been pointed and specific diaries of musical celebration, windows into the hypersensitive personal drama of relationships within the band, individual conquests and failures, and collective, aspirational hopes, dreams, and perspectives. The band wrote and recorded the new album in the cities the individual members have geographically gravitated to: New York City, the Bay Area, Denver, and Los Angeles. Themes of time and movement, averting and succumbing to crisis, dealing with loss and pain are all represented on the record, but what rings triumphant is the undeniable joy and catharsis that come from the band’s spontaneous and improvisational approach to making music together. In strict keeping with the band’s roots of creating seemingly clean, pop presentations as a springboard for dramatic themes of loneliness, triumph, suicide, success, and failure, Now We Are Timeless moves us into a realm of inevitability for the band. While Seasick, the band’s first release, thematically touched on the queasiness of pop and beach and sun and glare and the optimism that lies beneath, the new release serves as a bookend of sorts in its portrayal of a world in crisis, a frostbitten but melting iceberg, monolithic and stationary yet impermanent and resonant. What has remained constant over the years is Imperial Teen’s indisputable knack for writing profound hooks as a framework for their musical memories. Their songs exhibit the realness, joy, and energy that only good friends can conjure.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 12 street date. Imperial Teen’s releases over the past 20+ years have been pointed and specific diaries of musical celebration, windows into the hypersensitive personal drama of relationships within the band, individual conquests and failures, and collective, aspirational hopes, dreams, and perspectives. The band wrote and recorded the new album in the cities the individual members have geographically gravitated to: New York City, the Bay Area, Denver, and Los Angeles. Themes of time and movement, averting and succumbing to crisis, dealing with loss and pain are all represented on the record, but what rings triumphant is the undeniable joy and catharsis that come from the band’s spontaneous and improvisational approach to making music together. In strict keeping with the band’s roots of creating seemingly clean, pop presentations as a springboard for dramatic themes of loneliness, triumph, suicide, success, and failure, Now We Are Timeless moves us into a realm of inevitability for the band. While Seasick, the band’s first release, thematically touched on the queasiness of pop and beach and sun and glare and the optimism that lies beneath, the new release serves as a bookend of sorts in its portrayal of a world in crisis, a frostbitten but melting iceberg, monolithic and stationary yet impermanent and resonant. What has remained constant over the years is Imperial Teen’s indisputable knack for writing profound hooks as a framework for their musical memories. Their songs exhibit the realness, joy, and energy that only good friends can conjure.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 12 street date. Imperial Teen’s releases over the past 20+ years have been pointed and specific diaries of musical celebration, windows into the hypersensitive personal drama of relationships within the band, individual conquests and failures, and collective, aspirational hopes, dreams, and perspectives. The band wrote and recorded the new album in the cities the individual members have geographically gravitated to: New York City, the Bay Area, Denver, and Los Angeles. Themes of time and movement, averting and succumbing to crisis, dealing with loss and pain are all represented on the record, but what rings triumphant is the undeniable joy and catharsis that come from the band’s spontaneous and improvisational approach to making music together. In strict keeping with the band’s roots of creating seemingly clean, pop presentations as a springboard for dramatic themes of loneliness, triumph, suicide, success, and failure, Now We Are Timeless moves us into a realm of inevitability for the band. While Seasick, the band’s first release, thematically touched on the queasiness of pop and beach and sun and glare and the optimism that lies beneath, the new release serves as a bookend of sorts in its portrayal of a world in crisis, a frostbitten but melting iceberg, monolithic and stationary yet impermanent and resonant. What has remained constant over the years is Imperial Teen’s indisputable knack for writing profound hooks as a framework for their musical memories. Their songs exhibit the realness, joy, and energy that only good friends can conjure.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
July 12 street date. Inspectah Deck is one of the founding members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. The veteran wordsmith has enjoyed a successful solo career as well. Going back to his groundbreaking debut, "Uncontrolled Substance", to "The Movement" and "Manifesto", Deck isn't afraid of stepping outside the box. He has achieved underground success and critical acclaim from his Czarface albums with 7L and Esoteric, including recent albums with DOOM and Ghostface, respectively. Now, the Shaolin MC is back with a banging new solo album titled "Chamber No. 9", featuring Deck shining on the mic over some classic gritty production. Album guests include Cappadonna, Streetlife, and Hellfire. Production is handled by up and coming Danny Caiazzo and Boo Bundy. "Chamber No. 9" is certainly another brick in the wall for Deck and the Wu legacy.
July 12 street date. Inspectah Deck is one of the founding members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. The veteran wordsmith has enjoyed a successful solo career as well. Going back to his groundbreaking debut, "Uncontrolled Substance", to "The Movement" and "Manifesto", Deck isn't afraid of stepping outside the box. He has achieved underground success and critical acclaim from his Czarface albums with 7L and Esoteric, including recent albums with DOOM and Ghostface, respectively. Now, the Shaolin MC is back with a banging new solo album titled "Chamber No. 9", featuring Deck shining on the mic over some classic gritty production. Album guests include Cappadonna, Streetlife, and Hellfire. Production is handled by up and coming Danny Caiazzo and Boo Bundy. "Chamber No. 9" is certainly another brick in the wall for Deck and the Wu legacy.
June 28 street date. Wilderness is a powerhouse of a record by Jade Jackson, a follow-up to her 2017 debut, Gilded. Her new work deals heavily with the in-betweens and stepping stones we dwell in and leap across while coming to terms with our sense of self, and how melancholy can be a powerful weapon to wield, especially in the form of a roots-rock or country song. Wilderness, like Gilded, was produced by Mike Ness, the SoCal punk rock legend who essentially plucked Jackson from obscurity several years ago and helped hone her craft and sound. Jackson calls Ness “a master of feel and rhythm” and credits him with showing her how to invoke more of those calling cards in her new work, in addition to those countless tools now in her arsenal that they developed together over time. As the pair’s master-pupil relationship continues to evolve, Jackson recognizes that Ness has become more open to her input while she herself has gotten more hands-on in the studio, a process that ultimately resulted in delivering the sound for which both parties were striving. “The message of ‘Wilderness’ is in how to get through tough situations—if you visualize yourself somewhere, all that good energy and intention can get you where you want to go.” – Jade Jackson. Produced by Mike Ness ( Social Distortion). For Fans of Margo Price, Lucinda Williams and Sturgill Simpson
June 28 street date. Wilderness is a powerhouse of a record by Jade Jackson, a follow-up to her 2017 debut, Gilded. Her new work deals heavily with the in-betweens and stepping stones we dwell in and leap across while coming to terms with our sense of self, and how melancholy can be a powerful weapon to wield, especially in the form of a roots-rock or country song. Wilderness, like Gilded, was produced by Mike Ness, the SoCal punk rock legend who essentially plucked Jackson from obscurity several years ago and helped hone her craft and sound. Jackson calls Ness “a master of feel and rhythm” and credits him with showing her how to invoke more of those calling cards in her new work, in addition to those countless tools now in her arsenal that they developed together over time. As the pair’s master-pupil relationship continues to evolve, Jackson recognizes that Ness has become more open to her input while she herself has gotten more hands-on in the studio, a process that ultimately resulted in delivering the sound for which both parties were striving. “The message of ‘Wilderness’ is in how to get through tough situations—if you visualize yourself somewhere, all that good energy and intention can get you where you want to go.” – Jade Jackson. Produced by Mike Ness ( Social Distortion). For Fans of Margo Price, Lucinda Williams and Sturgill Simpson
March 29 street date. "Mise En Abyme" is the second full-length by Joni Void, the avant-electronica project of France/Canada producer Jean Cousin, following his acutely accomplished and acclaimed 2017 debut album "Selfless" (#8 Experimental Album of 2017 at Pitchfork, among other accolades). Consistent with "Selfless", the primary raw material for the sample-based cut-up songcraft on "Mise En Abyme" is Cousin's recordings of the voices of various friends. His self-professed body/voice dysmorphia and search for the disembodied-yet-emotional transcendent subject continues to mandate the use of other (mostly wordless) voices in the construction of his sublimely affecting electronic-minimalist compositions. But where Selfless was a restless, kinetic and visceral work of outer projection, "Mise En Abyme" is markedly more introspective and meditative - explicitly in search of intimacy and recuperative beauty. The 180g vinyl edition includes art print poster and MP3 download.
March 29 street date. "Mise En Abyme" is the second full-length by Joni Void, the avant-electronica project of France/Canada producer Jean Cousin, following his acutely accomplished and acclaimed 2017 debut album "Selfless" (#8 Experimental Album of 2017 at Pitchfork, among other accolades). Consistent with "Selfless", the primary raw material for the sample-based cut-up songcraft on "Mise En Abyme" is Cousin's recordings of the voices of various friends. His self-professed body/voice dysmorphia and search for the disembodied-yet-emotional transcendent subject continues to mandate the use of other (mostly wordless) voices in the construction of his sublimely affecting electronic-minimalist compositions. But where Selfless was a restless, kinetic and visceral work of outer projection, "Mise En Abyme" is markedly more introspective and meditative - explicitly in search of intimacy and recuperative beauty. The 180g vinyl edition includes art print poster and MP3 download.
July 12 street date. Globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin are set to release 'Hasta El Cielo', the glorious dub version of their second album 'Con Todo El Mundo'. The full album has been processed anew along with two bonus dubs by renowned Jamaican producer Scientist. The band's exotic, spacious, psychedelic funk aligns with the dub treatment particularly well. Formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald "DJ" Johnson on drums; Khruangbin's sounds are rooted in the deepest waters of music from around the world, infused with classic soul, dub and psychedelia.
July 12 street date. Globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin are set to release 'Hasta El Cielo', the glorious dub version of their second album 'Con Todo El Mundo'. The full album has been processed anew along with two bonus dubs by renowned Jamaican producer Scientist. The band's exotic, spacious, psychedelic funk aligns with the dub treatment particularly well. Formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald "DJ" Johnson on drums; Khruangbin's sounds are rooted in the deepest waters of music from around the world, infused with classic soul, dub and psychedelia.
May 31 street date. Channeling the hard-learned lessons of history, Kishi Bashi's fourht album "Omoiyari" reflects the turbulent socio-political atmosphere of present day America. Kishi Bashi recognized parallels between the current U.S. administration's constant talk of walls and bans, and the xenophobic anxieties that led to the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. So he immersed himself in that period, visiting former prison sites and listening to the stories of survivors, while developing musical concepts along the way. The strong conceptual elements of "Omoiyari" are driven by Kishi Bashi's captivating musical score. Stepping away from his past loop-based production model, he embraced a more collaborative approach when recording, and for the first time included contributions from other musicians. Kishi Bashi’s spectacular trademark violin soundscapes are still an essential component of his sound, but the focus of Omoiyari is centered squarely on its songs.
May 31 street date. Channeling the hard-learned lessons of history, Kishi Bashi's fourht album "Omoiyari" reflects the turbulent socio-political atmosphere of present day America. Kishi Bashi recognized parallels between the current U.S. administration's constant talk of walls and bans, and the xenophobic anxieties that led to the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. So he immersed himself in that period, visiting former prison sites and listening to the stories of survivors, while developing musical concepts along the way. The strong conceptual elements of "Omoiyari" are driven by Kishi Bashi's captivating musical score. Stepping away from his past loop-based production model, he embraced a more collaborative approach when recording, and for the first time included contributions from other musicians. Kishi Bashi’s spectacular trademark violin soundscapes are still an essential component of his sound, but the focus of Omoiyari is centered squarely on its songs.
June 7 street date. The first L7 album in 20 years, Scatter the Rats embodies everything that made the band so iconic in the first place-the distortion-heavy riffs and headbanging rhythms, sludgy grooves and indelible melodies. And in their lyrics, L7 achieve a direct transmission of raw feeling, often spiked with biting commentary on the chaos of the world today. ''Burn Baby'' opens the album with a galvanizing reflection on letting go of old grudges for the sake of fighting a greater evil, while ''Fighting the Crave'' offers a slice of life on the inner push and pull of whatever one might crave. Throughout the album, L7 also examine depression (Sparks's ''Holding Pattern,'' which matches its delicate melody with a disarming vulnerability), lonely hearts (Suzi Gardner's gloriously swampy ''Murky Water Cafe'') and codependency (the unhinged ''Garbage Truck,'' written by Jennifer Finch). And on ''Uppin' the Ice,'' the band delivers a dance-worthy track inspired by a bit of advice Demetra Plakas got from her doctor upon breaking her arm before the band headed into the studio. ''I took the idea of upping the ice as a metaphor for throwing down and doing what you have to do to make something happen, naysayers be damned, because that's who we are as a band,'' says Sparks. Produced by Norm Block (Jenny Lee, Paper Cranes, Plexi) & Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
June 7 street date. The first L7 album in 20 years, Scatter the Rats embodies everything that made the band so iconic in the first place-the distortion-heavy riffs and headbanging rhythms, sludgy grooves and indelible melodies. And in their lyrics, L7 achieve a direct transmission of raw feeling, often spiked with biting commentary on the chaos of the world today. ''Burn Baby'' opens the album with a galvanizing reflection on letting go of old grudges for the sake of fighting a greater evil, while ''Fighting the Crave'' offers a slice of life on the inner push and pull of whatever one might crave. Throughout the album, L7 also examine depression (Sparks's ''Holding Pattern,'' which matches its delicate melody with a disarming vulnerability), lonely hearts (Suzi Gardner's gloriously swampy ''Murky Water Cafe'') and codependency (the unhinged ''Garbage Truck,'' written by Jennifer Finch). And on ''Uppin' the Ice,'' the band delivers a dance-worthy track inspired by a bit of advice Demetra Plakas got from her doctor upon breaking her arm before the band headed into the studio. ''I took the idea of upping the ice as a metaphor for throwing down and doing what you have to do to make something happen, naysayers be damned, because that's who we are as a band,'' says Sparks. Produced by Norm Block (Jenny Lee, Paper Cranes, Plexi) & Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
May 17 street date. On her sophomore LP, "The Best Of Luck Club", 26-year-old Australian Alex Lahey navigates the pangs of generational ennui with the pint half-full and a spot cleared on the bar stool next to her. Self-doubt, burn out, break-ups, mental health, moving in with her girlfriend, vibrators: "The Best of Luck Club" showcases the universal language of Lahey's sharp songwriting, her propensity for taking the minute details of the personal and ipping it public through anthemic pop-punk. "The Best Of Luck Club" dives head first into a broader spectrum of both emotion and sound through polished, arena pop-punk in the vein of Paramore with the introspective sheen of Alvvays or Tegan & Sara.
May 17 street date. On her sophomore LP, "The Best Of Luck Club", 26-year-old Australian Alex Lahey navigates the pangs of generational ennui with the pint half-full and a spot cleared on the bar stool next to her. Self-doubt, burn out, break-ups, mental health, moving in with her girlfriend, vibrators: "The Best of Luck Club" showcases the universal language of Lahey's sharp songwriting, her propensity for taking the minute details of the personal and ipping it public through anthemic pop-punk. "The Best Of Luck Club" dives head first into a broader spectrum of both emotion and sound through polished, arena pop-punk in the vein of Paramore with the introspective sheen of Alvvays or Tegan & Sara.
April 12 street date. French-born Canadian pianist and composer Alain Lefèvre makes his Warner Classics debut with My Paris Years. The album brings together a collection of classic piano pieces written by some of the most beloved French composers: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, and César Franck. My Paris Years is, in essence, a hymn to the city where Lefèvre spent some of his most precious years of learning. From the rolling waters of the Seine to its calm banks above, from the subdued mood of the streets to their sometimes intense flurries of movement – every piece plays its part in depicting the scene that is Paris and recreating the multifaceted spirit of this city in music.
Please note new street date: May 10. Originally released in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Wedding Album" was the couple's third experimental, album-length record, and one of the most remarkable of the duo's testaments to an intense romantic and artistic partnership that would last fourteen years, until Lennon's tragic passing in 1980. On March 20, 1969, John and Yoko were married in a civil service in Gibraltar. To celebrate the event, in lieu of a conventional honeymoon, the newlyweds spent a week in bed at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, inviting members of the press into their room for interviews and photo sessions, and using their fame and the publicity generated by their "Bed-in" to call attention to their campaign for world peace. With "Wedding Album", John and Yoko created an enduring snapshot of a vibrant pop-cultural moment, with the hostilities of the Vietnam War as its bracing backdrop. It captures the humor, earnestness, and spontaneity that marked the early years of the "Ballad of John and Yoko" era. Now, with a faithful recreation of Wedding Album in limited-edition, white-vinyl LP; compact disc; and digital-download formats, Secretly Canadian and Chimera Music are making one of the most unusual and emblematic recordings of the Sixties available again to mark the golden wedding anniversary of two of the 20th century's most emblematic cultural figures.
March 29 street date. Originally released in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Wedding Album" was the couple's third experimental, album-length record, and one of the most remarkable of the duo's testaments to an intense romantic and artistic partnership that would last fourteen years, until Lennon's tragic passing in 1980. On March 20, 1969, John and Yoko were married in a civil service in Gibraltar. To celebrate the event, in lieu of a conventional honeymoon, the newlyweds spent a week in bed at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, inviting members of the press into their room for interviews and photo sessions, and using their fame and the publicity generated by their "Bed-in" to call attention to their campaign for world peace. With "Wedding Album", John and Yoko created an enduring snapshot of a vibrant pop-cultural moment, with the hostilities of the Vietnam War as its bracing backdrop. It captures the humor, earnestness, and spontaneity that marked the early years of the "Ballad of John and Yoko" era. Now, with a faithful recreation of Wedding Album in limited-edition, white-vinyl LP; compact disc; and digital-download formats, Secretly Canadian and Chimera Music are making one of the most unusual and emblematic recordings of the Sixties available again to mark the golden wedding anniversary of two of the 20th century's most emblematic cultural figures.
May 10 street date. Craig Leon revisits the extraterrestrial origins of civilization in "Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 2: The Canon". Picking up where the pioneering electronic albums "Nommos" and "Visiting (Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1)" left off, "The Canon" traces the imparted knowledge of alien visitors as it spread from Africa across the ancient world. Co-produced and featuring vocals by Cassell Webb, the pair engage a sonic pallet familiar from Vol. 1, updated with ecstatic contemporary sound and synthesis, creating a propulsive, exploratory album of cosmic lore and speculative anthropology.
May 10 street date. Craig Leon revisits the extraterrestrial origins of civilization in "Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 2: The Canon". Picking up where the pioneering electronic albums "Nommos" and "Visiting (Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1)" left off, "The Canon" traces the imparted knowledge of alien visitors as it spread from Africa across the ancient world. Co-produced and featuring vocals by Cassell Webb, the pair engage a sonic pallet familiar from Vol. 1, updated with ecstatic contemporary sound and synthesis, creating a propulsive, exploratory album of cosmic lore and speculative anthropology.
March 29 street date. Light Conductor is the twilight slow-burn modular synthesis duo of Young Galaxy's Stephen Ramsay and Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes. "Sequence One" is their first album: a warm shimmering sonic hug of enveloping drone and hypnotic arpeggiation flowing along buoyant filter-sweeping eddies and waves. Gently immersive like a saltwater bath under a starry sky, Light Conductor make nighttime/sunrise music in widescreen high-fidelity at their vintage-equipped Breakglass Studios in Montréal, pinning the pre-amps with stately, slowly shifting synth tones, stereophonic squelches and pink noises. First pressing of 500 copies on 180 gram vinyl at Optimal (Germany) in jacket and with art print poster spot printed in blue and metallic gold ink. Inside of jacket also spot printed in metallic gold.
July 12 street date. From frontman Stuart McLamb: "On The Love Language’s most recent tour opening for Teenage Fanclub, we played for lots of fresh ears, many of whom came to the merch table after the show and asked, “If you had to pick one, which of your albums is your favorite?” That’s a very tough question, like trying to pick a favorite child. While it’s hard to call it “best,” it’s impossible to deny that our self-titled record is and will always be the most sentimental to me. It’s where it all started. A collection of “demos” posted every couple months on Myspace between 2007 and 2008 until we were signed to our first label, Portland, Oregon’s Bladen County Records, who compiled them all as a full LP in 2009. The songs came effortlessly, and each one was recorded by a mobile multitrack recorder in various rooms (storage spaces, the back office of a record store, living rooms) throughout North Carolina literal hours after it was conceived. There’s a freshness and vitality to these songs that I hope, but don’t expect, to recapture again. It’s the sound of a songwriter discovering their voice in real time. The record has been out of print on vinyl for a few years now, and I’m excited to reissue it with some slight updates to the original packaging with my friends at Merge Records!"
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
May 31 street date. The debut LP from Montréal art-punk/sludge-rock trio Lungbutter, who've built a strong local and regional following since 2013, alongside support slots for Psychic TV, Suuns, Perfect Pussy, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan and more. Lungbutter's minimal guitar-drums-voice configuration is rooted in a visceral, ascetic punk idiom, refracted variously by free-noise, sludge rock and slowcore. Kaity Zozula marshals chaotic motifs of full-spectrum distorto-guitar, occupying a huge tonal space from low-end bass to paint-peeling treble, redolent of blown-out Melvins/Flipper fuzz and equally indebted to the frenetic dissonance of Keiji Haino or Merzbow. Song structures coalesce around guitar riffs of shifting tempos and the backbone of Joni Sadler's muscular, deliberate drums, while Ky Brooks' voice - at once mantric and declarative - deconstructs one brilliant lyrical theme after another, dancing along the knife-edge of dispassionate acerbic examination and wide-eyed cathartic revelation. Deluxe vinyl features a commissioned painting by celebrated artist and graphic novelist Tommi Parrish, including art poster and insert prints sourced therefrom.
June 7 street date. Pirouetting on decadence, meeting eyes with a dizzy sensation, falling and flying at the same time - Lust For Youth have continually held poise through the most vitalising of times. Their new album, a self-titled collection of eight songs, is sure-footed where they had earlier feared to tread, and light-headed for a new set of reasons. The album is driven by a dance-pop agenda, hustling its way through upbeat peaks that level out into reflective ballads. While still taking clear cues from a crop of austere synth-pop, Lust For Youth sound brighter than they ever have before, taking tips from some of the flirtiest Eurobeat to aid their new direction.
June 7 street date. Pirouetting on decadence, meeting eyes with a dizzy sensation, falling and flying at the same time - Lust For Youth have continually held poise through the most vitalising of times. Their new album, a self-titled collection of eight songs, is sure-footed where they had earlier feared to tread, and light-headed for a new set of reasons. The album is driven by a dance-pop agenda, hustling its way through upbeat peaks that level out into reflective ballads. While still taking clear cues from a crop of austere synth-pop, Lust For Youth sound brighter than they ever have before, taking tips from some of the flirtiest Eurobeat to aid their new direction.
June 21 street date. The third full-length from Mannequin Pussy, Patience is an album fascinated with the physical experience of the body, its songs tracking the movements of mouths and hands and racing hearts, skin and spit and teeth and blood. Deeply attuned to the power of their own physicality, the Philadelphia-based band channels complex emotion in blistering riffs, thrashing rhythms, vocals that feel as immediate and untamed as a gut reaction. But throughout Patience, the Philadelphia-based band contrasts that raw vitality with intricate melodies and finely detailed arrangements, building a strange and potent tension that makes the album all the more cathartic. The follow-up to Romantic—a 2016 release praised by Pitchfork for “combin[ing] punk, shoegaze, death metal, and more, with the ferocious push-pull energy of a mosh pit”—Patience came to life at Studio 4 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. In creating the album, Mannequin Pussy worked with producer/engineer Will Yip (Quicksand, The Menzingers), shaping an explosive sound that never overshadows the subtlety of their songwriting. “In the past there’s been a chaotic feeling to the recording process, but working with Will put us in a different headspace,” says Dabice. “It helped us show our progression over the past few years and make a very crisp-sounding record, without losing the dirtiness of what Mannequin Pussy really is.” For fans of Downtown Boys, Joyce Manor and Cherry Glazer.
June 21 street date. The third full-length from Mannequin Pussy, Patience is an album fascinated with the physical experience of the body, its songs tracking the movements of mouths and hands and racing hearts, skin and spit and teeth and blood. Deeply attuned to the power of their own physicality, the Philadelphia-based band channels complex emotion in blistering riffs, thrashing rhythms, vocals that feel as immediate and untamed as a gut reaction. But throughout Patience, the Philadelphia-based band contrasts that raw vitality with intricate melodies and finely detailed arrangements, building a strange and potent tension that makes the album all the more cathartic. The follow-up to Romantic—a 2016 release praised by Pitchfork for “combin[ing] punk, shoegaze, death metal, and more, with the ferocious push-pull energy of a mosh pit”—Patience came to life at Studio 4 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. In creating the album, Mannequin Pussy worked with producer/engineer Will Yip (Quicksand, The Menzingers), shaping an explosive sound that never overshadows the subtlety of their songwriting. “In the past there’s been a chaotic feeling to the recording process, but working with Will put us in a different headspace,” says Dabice. “It helped us show our progression over the past few years and make a very crisp-sounding record, without losing the dirtiness of what Mannequin Pussy really is.” For fans of Downtown Boys, Joyce Manor and Cherry Glazer.
June 28 street date. Mega Bog is the fluid musical moniker of songwriter Erin Elizabeth Birgy, who has spent the last ten years channeling, capturing, and releasing her unique bouquet of fragrant, sci-fi pop experiments with a handful of bicoastal collaborators. She is joined on her fifth and finest album (and first for Paradise of Bachelors) by members of Big Thief, Hand Habits, and iji, who help her spin a manic web of emotions into beautiful, abstract future poems and thrilling genre perversions.
June 28 street date. Mega Bog is the fluid musical moniker of songwriter Erin Elizabeth Birgy, who has spent the last ten years channeling, capturing, and releasing her unique bouquet of fragrant, sci-fi pop experiments with a handful of bicoastal collaborators. She is joined on her fifth and finest album (and first for Paradise of Bachelors) by members of Big Thief, Hand Habits, and iji, who help her spin a manic web of emotions into beautiful, abstract future poems and thrilling genre perversions.
May 10 street date. Efrim Manuel Menuck (founding member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion) and Kevin Doria (Growing, Total Life) are now officially a duo. Menuck recruited Doria to help him translate his acclaimed 2018 album Pissing Stars from the studio to the stage, and the pair have been touring under the Efrim Manuel Menuck moniker for the past year (often with Doria's latest solo project KGD opening the proceedings). They've also been co-writing piles of new material, diving deeper into whirling maximalist electronics, still shot through with Menuck's incantatory singing awash in plaintive distortion and hope. Efrim Manuel Menuck & Kevin Doria are SING SINCK, SING presents the first volume of songs forged from this febrile and fertile merger: an antifa poetics of sound that unspools across five crushing, keening tracks driven by thick sweeping drones and ostinatos, battered by inscrutably searching, ricocheting vocals. Anguish, yearning, and desperate conviction combine in these saturated survivalist electro-hymns, for as long as the power stays on to overload the amplifiers.
April 13 street date. RSD Exclusive 7” featuring two brand new tracks from THE MENZINGERS, recorded during the sessions for their 2017 After the Party album. Produced by Will Yip (Say Anything, Turnstile, Code Orange) and recorded at Studio 4 in Conshocken, PA.
April 19 street date. Even inside Genesis, Mike Rutherford’s forte has always been his melodic songwriting. With the successful side project MIKE + THE MECHANICS, the artist managed to find a further way to express himself working with other composers and different teams. Since 1985, Mechanics became a brand in their own, releasing seven albums, selling more than 10 million records, launching many hit singles and touring worldwide with a two frontmen led band. The sudden death of one of the original singers, Paul Young, needed a period of adjustment but, after one experimental album with Paul Carrack as the only vocalist, Rutherford changed the face to the band recruiting two new singers, Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar. While the album including their most famous song, “The Living Years,” celebrates its 25th anniversary, Mike + The Mechanics are still hitting the road, to the pleasure of the fans worldwide.
April 19 street date. Even inside Genesis, Mike Rutherford’s forte has always been his melodic songwriting. With the successful side project MIKE + THE MECHANICS, the artist managed to find a further way to express himself working with other composers and different teams. Since 1985, Mechanics became a brand in their own, releasing seven albums, selling more than 10 million records, launching many hit singles and touring worldwide with a two frontmen led band. The sudden death of one of the original singers, Paul Young, needed a period of adjustment but, after one experimental album with Paul Carrack as the only vocalist, Rutherford changed the face to the band recruiting two new singers, Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar. While the album including their most famous song, “The Living Years,” celebrates its 25th anniversary, Mike + The Mechanics are still hitting the road, to the pleasure of the fans worldwide.
April 19 street date. Even inside Genesis, Mike Rutherford’s forte has always been his melodic songwriting. With the successful side project MIKE + THE MECHANICS, the artist managed to find a further way to express himself working with other composers and different teams. Since 1985, Mechanics became a brand in their own, releasing seven albums, selling more than 10 million records, launching many hit singles and touring worldwide with a two frontmen led band. The sudden death of one of the original singers, Paul Young, needed a period of adjustment but, after one experimental album with Paul Carrack as the only vocalist, Rutherford changed the face to the band recruiting two new singers, Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar. While the album including their most famous song, “The Living Years,” celebrates its 25th anniversary, Mike + The Mechanics are still hitting the road, to the pleasure of the fans worldwide.
July 12 street date. Rock ‘n Roll with the Modern Lovers is the second album released as Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers. The band, which is build around singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Richman, almost totally focuses on the sound from the ‘50s. The lo-fi record breathes folky roots music and rock ‘n roll as it would sound ages ago. “Ice Cream Man”, “Egyptian Reggae” (earning them a UK Top 5 hit) and “Roller Coaster by the Sea” are all superb songs, uncomplicated and wonderful. This is one of the most remarkable projects recorded by Jonathan. The Modern Lovers were formed in 1970 by teenage singer, songwriter, guitarist Jonathan Richman, augmented with Jerry Harrison (keyboards), Ernie Brooks (bass) and David Robinson (drums), with Richman’s friend and original band member John Felice joining them occasionally. Rock ‘n Roll with the Modern Lovers is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on 180 gram turquoise coloured vinyl.
June 14 street date. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of MONO, and the 10th anniversary of their most iconic album, Temporary Residence Ltd. proudly presents "Hymn to the Immortal Wind" - anniversary edition. Beautifully remastered from the original analog master tapes by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, this super deluxe reissue sounds, looks, and feels more pure and powerful than ever before. The CD format has been repackaged in a gorgeous full-colour gatefold jacket with metallic gold inks, matte varnish, and custom inner sleeve. The 2xLP vinyl format is packaged in a mind-blowing full-color, custom die-cut jacket with metallic gold foil stamping, matte varnish, and 7 interchangeable full-colour cover inserts. The vinyl is pressed onto 100% virgin, audiophile-quality vinyl. No expense was spared in properly honoring what has become MONO's most beloved album!
June 14 street date. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of MONO, and the 10th anniversary of their most iconic album, Temporary Residence Ltd. proudly presents "Hymn to the Immortal Wind" - anniversary edition. Beautifully remastered from the original analog master tapes by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, this super deluxe reissue sounds, looks, and feels more pure and powerful than ever before. The CD format has been repackaged in a gorgeous full-colour gatefold jacket with metallic gold inks, matte varnish, and custom inner sleeve. The 2xLP vinyl format is packaged in a mind-blowing full-color, custom die-cut jacket with metallic gold foil stamping, matte varnish, and 7 interchangeable full-colour cover inserts. The vinyl is pressed onto 100% virgin, audiophile-quality vinyl. No expense was spared in properly honoring what has become MONO's most beloved album!
June 14 street date. Pearlescent blue-green coloured vinyl edition, limited to 1000 copies. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of MONO, and the 10th anniversary of their most iconic album, Temporary Residence Ltd. proudly presents "Hymn to the Immortal Wind" - anniversary edition. Beautifully remastered from the original analog master tapes by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, this super deluxe reissue sounds, looks, and feels more pure and powerful than ever before. The 2xLP vinyl format is packaged in a mind-blowing full-color, custom die-cut jacket with metallic gold foil stamping, matte varnish, and 7 interchangeable full-colour cover inserts. The vinyl is pressed onto 100% virgin, audiophile-quality vinyl.
April 26 street date. Throughout his four solo albums and myriad records of various collaboration, Kevin Morby has recognized in his work the ubiquity of an apparent religious theme. Though not identifying as "religious" in the slightest, Morby recognizes in himself a somewhat spiritual being with a secular attitude towards the soulful. And so, in an effort to tackle that notion head-on and once-and-for-all, he sat down in his form of church - on planes and in beds - and wrote what would become his first true concept-album: the lavish, resplendent, career-best double LP "Oh My God".
April 26 street date. Throughout his four solo albums and myriad records of various collaboration, Kevin Morby has recognized in his work the ubiquity of an apparent religious theme. Though not identifying as "religious" in the slightest, Morby recognizes in himself a somewhat spiritual being with a secular attitude towards the soulful. And so, in an effort to tackle that notion head-on and once-and-for-all, he sat down in his form of church - on planes and in beds - and wrote what would become his first true concept-album: the lavish, resplendent, career-best double LP "Oh My God".
April 26 street date. Throughout his four solo albums and myriad records of various collaboration, Kevin Morby has recognized in his work the ubiquity of an apparent religious theme. Though not identifying as "religious" in the slightest, Morby recognizes in himself a somewhat spiritual being with a secular attitude towards the soulful. And so, in an effort to tackle that notion head-on and once-and-for-all, he sat down in his form of church - on planes and in beds - and wrote what would become his first true concept-album: the lavish, resplendent, career-best double LP "Oh My God".
April 26 street date. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE JOHN DARNIELLE, PETER HUGHES, JON WURSTER, AND MATT DOUGLAS. THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING MUSIC TOGETHER AS A QUARTET FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THREE OF THEM LIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA AND ONE HAS MOVED BACK TO ROCHESTER. THEIR SONGS OFTEN SEEK OUT DARK LAIRS WITHIN WHICH TERRIBLE MONSTERS DWELL, BUT THEIR MISSION IS TO RETRIEVE THE TREASURE FROM THE DARK LAIR & PERSUADE THE TERRIBLE MONSTERS INSIDE TO SEEK OUT THE PATH OF REDEMPTION. AS AXL ROSE ONCE MEMORABLY ASKED, IN THE SONG “TERRIBLE MONSTER”: “WHAT’S SO TERRIBLE ABOUT MONSTERS, ANYWAY?” THIS IS THE QUESTION THE MOUNTAIN GOATS HAVE BEEN DOGGEDLY PURSUING SINCE 1991. THEY WILL NEVER LEAVE OFF THIS QUEST UNTIL EVERY OPTION HAS BEEN EXHAUSTED. THANK YOU.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
April 26 street date. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE JOHN DARNIELLE, PETER HUGHES, JON WURSTER, AND MATT DOUGLAS. THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING MUSIC TOGETHER AS A QUARTET FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THREE OF THEM LIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA AND ONE HAS MOVED BACK TO ROCHESTER. THEIR SONGS OFTEN SEEK OUT DARK LAIRS WITHIN WHICH TERRIBLE MONSTERS DWELL, BUT THEIR MISSION IS TO RETRIEVE THE TREASURE FROM THE DARK LAIR & PERSUADE THE TERRIBLE MONSTERS INSIDE TO SEEK OUT THE PATH OF REDEMPTION. AS AXL ROSE ONCE MEMORABLY ASKED, IN THE SONG “TERRIBLE MONSTER”: “WHAT’S SO TERRIBLE ABOUT MONSTERS, ANYWAY?” THIS IS THE QUESTION THE MOUNTAIN GOATS HAVE BEEN DOGGEDLY PURSUING SINCE 1991. THEY WILL NEVER LEAVE OFF THIS QUEST UNTIL EVERY OPTION HAS BEEN EXHAUSTED. THANK YOU.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
April 26 street date. ("Hardcore Version" comes in Slipcase with debossed dragon scale pattern, on Limited-edition yellow and green marbled vinyl. Gatefold jacket with full lyrics - Exclusive black vinyl 7-inch featuring two non-album tracks - Collectible Dragon League membership card.) THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE JOHN DARNIELLE, PETER HUGHES, JON WURSTER, AND MATT DOUGLAS. THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING MUSIC TOGETHER AS A QUARTET FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THREE OF THEM LIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA AND ONE HAS MOVED BACK TO ROCHESTER. THEIR SONGS OFTEN SEEK OUT DARK LAIRS WITHIN WHICH TERRIBLE MONSTERS DWELL, BUT THEIR MISSION IS TO RETRIEVE THE TREASURE FROM THE DARK LAIR & PERSUADE THE TERRIBLE MONSTERS INSIDE TO SEEK OUT THE PATH OF REDEMPTION. AS AXL ROSE ONCE MEMORABLY ASKED, IN THE SONG “TERRIBLE MONSTER”: “WHAT’S SO TERRIBLE ABOUT MONSTERS, ANYWAY?” THIS IS THE QUESTION THE MOUNTAIN GOATS HAVE BEEN DOGGEDLY PURSUING SINCE 1991. THEY WILL NEVER LEAVE OFF THIS QUEST UNTIL EVERY OPTION HAS BEEN EXHAUSTED. THANK YOU.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
April 26 street date. "Droneflower" is in bloom. The new collaboration between Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), is a sprawling and expansive exercise in contrasts. It is the sound of the war between the brutal and the ethereal, the dark and the light, the past and the present, and the real and imagined. Brodsky met Nadler for the first time in 2014 and they quickly became friends. Both of them had been wanting to explore songwriting that didn't fit into their existing projects, and they soon became energized by the prospect of working together. One of the first ideas they discussed was a horror movie soundtrack, and while "Droneflower" isn't that, it is a richly cinematic album. It's easy to imagine much of the record set to images, though it wasn't composed that way.
April 26 street date. Clear/black marbled vinyl edition. "Droneflower" is in bloom. The new collaboration between Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), is a sprawling and expansive exercise in contrasts. It is the sound of the war between the brutal and the ethereal, the dark and the light, the past and the present, and the real and imagined. Brodsky met Nadler for the first time in 2014 and they quickly became friends. Both of them had been wanting to explore songwriting that didn't fit into their existing projects, and they soon became energized by the prospect of working together. One of the first ideas they discussed was a horror movie soundtrack, and while "Droneflower" isn't that, it is a richly cinematic album. It's easy to imagine much of the record set to images, though it wasn't composed that way.
May 3 street date. Pop-punk all-stars New Found Glory are reviving their love for the big screen with their upcoming album From The Screen To Your Stereo 3. This will be the third installment of their fan-favorite nostalgic movie cover records. Featuring songs from blockbuster movies such as Frozen, Back To The Future, and Rocky 3, this album has been long awaited since the release of the last installment in 2007. For Fans Of: Sum 41, Good Charlotte, The Wonder Years First single “The Power Of Love” added to Spotify, Google Play, Deezer and Apple Music playlist’s world wide!
May 3 street date. Pop-punk all-stars New Found Glory are reviving their love for the big screen with their upcoming album From The Screen To Your Stereo 3. This will be the third installment of their fan-favorite nostalgic movie cover records. Featuring songs from blockbuster movies such as Frozen, Back To The Future, and Rocky 3, this album has been long awaited since the release of the last installment in 2007. For Fans Of: Sum 41, Good Charlotte, The Wonder Years First single “The Power Of Love” added to Spotify, Google Play, Deezer and Apple Music playlist’s world wide!
July 12 street date. Limited vinyl edition of Pere Ubu's new album. Named after Raymond Chandler's novel, "The Long Goodbye" is the end of a road. Front man David Thomas has long talked of their journey to Satisfied City: "this wraps up every song and story that Pere Ubu has been telling in different ways for the past forty plus years". This Pere Ubu album sounds like no other. It boasts a large expanse of synths due to Thomas writing and arranging the songs alone with his collection of drum machines, synthesizers and a melodeon before sending to the other musicians to complete this unique fusion of techno meets trad rock meets the avant garage. Limited to just 1000 copies, this beautiful vinyl edition is housed in a splendid gatefold sleeve reflecting the film noir-ish artwork, the perfect packaging for the inspiration behind the album's title.
July 12 street date. Named after Raymond Chandler's novel, Pere Ubu's new album "The Long Goodbye" is the end of a road. Front man David Thomas has long talked of their journey to Satisfied City: "this wraps up every song and story that Pere Ubu has been telling in different ways for the past forty plus years". This Pere Ubu album sounds like no other. It boasts a large expanse of synths due to Thomas writing and arranging the songs alone with his collection of drum machines, synthesizers and a melodeon before sending to the other musicians to complete this unique fusion of techno meets trad rock meets the avant garage. The CD edition boasts a live bonus disc, recorded in December 2018. Former member Chris Cutler rejoined David Thomas, Gagarin and Keith Moliné to play the entire album to a packed theatre in Montreuil, Paris. The show also included the seminal Pere Ubu classic ‘Heart Of Darkness’ and Neil Young's ‘Running Dry’.
June 7 street date. Plague Vendor are a fierce live band and the foursome have spent the last five years playing endless live shows. A fearless our-way-is-the-hard-way work ethic and famously physical live shows won the band a ferocious fan base. At the heart of every show is the frenetic performances by front man Brandon Blaine, guitarist Jay Rogers, bassist Michael Perez, drummer Luke Perine. That combined with the musicians’ energy and spirit, the band evokes a foreboding, and very rock ‘n’ roll presence. Plague Vendor are ready to release their third album, entitled By Night, a record that captures feelings of ruin and regeneration, of charisma and catastrophe and of slashing at the night with nothing but pure electricity. Where 2016’s BLOODSWEAT ended with a to-be-continued moment and Blaine shouting “Romance!” into the silence, By Night ends with a second of feedback and noise. It’s a perfectly spent finish to an adrenaline rush of a record that asks, “What just happened?” The band spent eleven days locked in at Hollywood’s legendary EastWest Studios (Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop) with St Vincent producer John Congleton, with all visitors banned and all distraction eliminated. When they met Congleton they connected intensely and instantly, more like co-conspirators than colleagues. With Congleton’s precision production, they found their own way between the powerful-but-too-polished sound of right now and the engaging-but-aging reinterpretations of classic punk/rock albums of the 60s and 70s.
June 7 street date. Plague Vendor are a fierce live band and the foursome have spent the last five years playing endless live shows. A fearless our-way-is-the-hard-way work ethic and famously physical live shows won the band a ferocious fan base. At the heart of every show is the frenetic performances by front man Brandon Blaine, guitarist Jay Rogers, bassist Michael Perez, drummer Luke Perine. That combined with the musicians’ energy and spirit, the band evokes a foreboding, and very rock ‘n’ roll presence. Plague Vendor are ready to release their third album, entitled By Night, a record that captures feelings of ruin and regeneration, of charisma and catastrophe and of slashing at the night with nothing but pure electricity. Where 2016’s BLOODSWEAT ended with a to-be-continued moment and Blaine shouting “Romance!” into the silence, By Night ends with a second of feedback and noise. It’s a perfectly spent finish to an adrenaline rush of a record that asks, “What just happened?” The band spent eleven days locked in at Hollywood’s legendary EastWest Studios (Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop) with St Vincent producer John Congleton, with all visitors banned and all distraction eliminated. When they met Congleton they connected intensely and instantly, more like co-conspirators than colleagues. With Congleton’s precision production, they found their own way between the powerful-but-too-polished sound of right now and the engaging-but-aging reinterpretations of classic punk/rock albums of the 60s and 70s.
May 17 street date. Inspired by the warm, inviting sounds of ‘70s singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne and Graham Nash, Ryan Pollie wanted to make the most personal music of his career. He had released two albums as Los Angeles Police Department, and now he was ready to shed the protective barrier of his old band name — to make music, simply, as himself. Bolder and crisper than the albums he’s made as Los Angeles Police Department, his self-titled record emerges from a deeply collaborative place. He invited many of his closest friends over to his home to record the album, and a feeling of warm camaraderie shines through the music. “When somebody plays on a song, their character is in it,” he says. “I like to think all my friends are on this record. Their personality is in it. That was really important to me. I’m able to do what I do, mentally and emotionally, because of the people around me.”
May 17 street date. Inspired by the warm, inviting sounds of ‘70s singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne and Graham Nash, Ryan Pollie wanted to make the most personal music of his career. He had released two albums as Los Angeles Police Department, and now he was ready to shed the protective barrier of his old band name — to make music, simply, as himself. Bolder and crisper than the albums he’s made as Los Angeles Police Department, his self-titled record emerges from a deeply collaborative place. He invited many of his closest friends over to his home to record the album, and a feeling of warm camaraderie shines through the music. “When somebody plays on a song, their character is in it,” he says. “I like to think all my friends are on this record. Their personality is in it. That was really important to me. I’m able to do what I do, mentally and emotionally, because of the people around me.”
April 5 street date. With fireworks of noise and arresting melodies, Priests' 2017 debut LP Nothing Feels Natural was heralded as a modern classic of "post-punk", but Priests feel urgently present. If NFN felt like an album-length ode to possibility, then The Seduction of Kansas exists within the adventurous world its predecessor pried open. If NFN was the reach and conviction of a band pushing beyond itself, willing itself into existence on its own terms, then Kansas stands boldly in the self-possessed space it carved, an immediate and cohesive album. Bred in punk, Priests play rock'n'roll that is as intellectually sharp as it is focused on pop's thrilling pleasure centers, that is politically galvanizing without sloganeering. The high-wire physicality of their live shows and their commitment to cultural, political, and aesthetic critique have all made Priests one of the most exciting bands of their generation.
July 12 street date. Ten years have come and gone since David Berman's Silver Jews ended their classic run and Berman announced his retirement from music. Now Berman returns with Purple Mountains, his new nom-de-rock. "Purple Mountains" is also the name of what will be known as one of his greatest albums - full of double-jointed wit and wisdom, up to the neck in his special recipe of handcrafted country-rock joys and sorrows that sing legendary in cracked and broken hearts. The songs of "Purple Mountains" are a potent brew, stitched together from lifetimes, knitting the drift of the years with the tightest lyric construction Berman's ever attempted. Honesty is archly in the air, but lines of incredible bleakness somehow give way to playful distraction and the hiding of surprises for close listeners.
July 12 street date. Ten years have come and gone since David Berman's Silver Jews ended their classic run and Berman announced his retirement from music. Now Berman returns with Purple Mountains, his new nom-de-rock. "Purple Mountains" is also the name of what will be known as one of his greatest albums - full of double-jointed wit and wisdom, up to the neck in his special recipe of handcrafted country-rock joys and sorrows that sing legendary in cracked and broken hearts. The songs of "Purple Mountains" are a potent brew, stitched together from lifetimes, knitting the drift of the years with the tightest lyric construction Berman's ever attempted. Honesty is archly in the air, but lines of incredible bleakness somehow give way to playful distraction and the hiding of surprises for close listeners.
July 12 street date. Ten years have come and gone since David Berman's Silver Jews ended their classic run and Berman announced his retirement from music. Now Berman returns with Purple Mountains, his new nom-de-rock. "Purple Mountains" is also the name of what will be known as one of his greatest albums - full of double-jointed wit and wisdom, up to the neck in his special recipe of handcrafted country-rock joys and sorrows that sing legendary in cracked and broken hearts. The songs of "Purple Mountains" are a potent brew, stitched together from lifetimes, knitting the drift of the years with the tightest lyric construction Berman's ever attempted. Honesty is archly in the air, but lines of incredible bleakness somehow give way to playful distraction and the hiding of surprises for close listeners.
June 14 street date. Remo Drive, the indie rock band conceived in suburban Minnesota by brothers Erik and Stephen Paulson, are back with their 2nd studio album Natural, Everyday Degradation. On this follow-up to their highly acclaimed 2017 release Greatest Hits, the band continue to evolve their sound, drawing on influences from such artists as Pedro The Lion, Arctic Monkeys, and Queens of the Stone Age. The band?s signature sound which features high energy guitars and Erik?s unique vocal style, along with thoughtful and clever lyrics have helped Remo Drive grow an avid following. The band will be touring extensively in support of Natural, Everyday Degradation.
June 14 street date. Remo Drive, the indie rock band conceived in suburban Minnesota by brothers Erik and Stephen
Paulson, are back with their 2nd studio album Natural, Everyday Degradation. On this follow-up to their highly
acclaimed 2017 release Greatest Hits, the band continue to evolve their sound, drawing on influences from such artists
as Pedro The Lion, Arctic Monkeys, and Queens of the Stone Age. The band?s signature sound which features high
energy guitars and Erik?s unique vocal style, along with thoughtful and clever lyrics have helped Remo Drive grow an
avid following. The band will be touring extensively in support of Natural, Everyday Degradation.
May 31 street date. Sacred Paws have a natural inclination not to take things too seriously. You can hear it all the way through a conversation with it's two members, guitarist Rachel Aggs and drummer Eilidh Rodgers, punctuated by rolls of giggles and thoughtful pauses, and you can hear it in the light touch they bring to their music, a jangly blend of indie pop full of fizzing world rhythms and bright horns. Run Around the Sun brims with upbeat reflections on growing up and looking back. Shimmering guitar riffs dance between snappy beats and swooning melodies that will have crowds committing to far more than a simple head-bob. "I think we'd get bored if it was too slow," Eilidh says. "We'd never want to play something live that people couldn't dance to. It would feel really strange to us. It's kind of the whole point."
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
May 31 street date. Sacred Paws have a natural inclination not to take things too seriously. You can hear it all the way through a conversation with it's two members, guitarist Rachel Aggs and drummer Eilidh Rodgers, punctuated by rolls of giggles and thoughtful pauses, and you can hear it in the light touch they bring to their music, a jangly blend of indie pop full of fizzing world rhythms and bright horns. Run Around the Sun brims with upbeat reflections on growing up and looking back. Shimmering guitar riffs dance between snappy beats and swooning melodies that will have crowds committing to far more than a simple head-bob. "I think we'd get bored if it was too slow," Eilidh says. "We'd never want to play something live that people couldn't dance to. It would feel really strange to us. It's kind of the whole point."
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
May 31 street date. The inventors of lo-fi indie rock return with a 15-track blast of melodic melancholy, all delivered by the smudged middle finger of Dinosaur Jr original Lou Barlow… “The auteur of the subterranean lovesick blues.” Houston Press… Their first studio album since 2013’s ‘Defend Yourself’ and their first release with Fire Records, Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein and Bob D'Amico return with a smorgasbord of beautifully dysfunctional tunes harking back to their finest college rock anthems. It’s Barlow at his introverted songwriting best; matter-of-factly delivering a stream of self-questioning stories, punctuated by detuned guitars, spine-tingling time changes and throwaway one liners. A grainy post grunge postcard wrapped in bittersweet melodies with an aftertaste that’s pure heartbreak. More songs about growing up wrong for those who continue to act surprised at life itself - all illegibly handwritten and lovingly submitted to vinyl.
May 31 street date. The inventors of lo-fi indie rock return with a 15-track blast of melodic melancholy, all delivered by the smudged middle finger of Dinosaur Jr original Lou Barlow… “The auteur of the subterranean lovesick blues.” Houston Press… Their first studio album since 2013’s ‘Defend Yourself’ and their first release with Fire Records, Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein and Bob D'Amico return with a smorgasbord of beautifully dysfunctional tunes harking back to their finest college rock anthems. It’s Barlow at his introverted songwriting best; matter-of-factly delivering a stream of self-questioning stories, punctuated by detuned guitars, spine-tingling time changes and throwaway one liners. A grainy post grunge postcard wrapped in bittersweet melodies with an aftertaste that’s pure heartbreak. More songs about growing up wrong for those who continue to act surprised at life itself - all illegibly handwritten and lovingly submitted to vinyl.
May 3 street date. He was a singer, a rebel, and a voice of the people. With a banjo and a selfless dedication to justice and the transformative power of music, he inspired all of humanity to question the status quo, to sing out and speak up against oppression wherever they witnessed it. His body of work reflects a deep reverence for the earth and all of those who walk on it; you can hear it in his voice and in the voices of the thousands of people who sang and continue to sing with him every day. Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection is a career-spanning anthology of one of America’s most quintessential, celebrated, and influential musicians. Featuring classic recordings, 20 previously unreleased tracks, historic live performances, and special collaborations, this set encompasses over 60 years of Pete’s Folkways catalog, released on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
June 14 street date. Shellac's sixth album is a collection of 1994 and 2004 sessions recorded for the late John Peel. Both formats of this collection of Peel Sessions are packaged in a top-load single pocket wide-spine jacket with two printed inner sleeves. The vinyl edition includes a CD of the full album.
Touch and Go Records came into existence (sort of) in late 1980, when the Ohio punk band Necros decided they wanted to put out a 7" record. Being in high school at the time (ie: broke), they were aided in this project by their friends Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson, who were the geniuses behind a fanzine called Touch and Go (and who were a little older and had real jobs). The 7"s by the Necros and the Fix (a Michigan punk band) were recorded in late 1980 and released in early 1981, and Touch and Go Records was officially born. Corey Rusk was a member of the Necros, and for the first couple years of Touch and Go Records' life he ran the business part of it from his bedroom in his grandmother's house in Ohio, and Tesco Vee ran the promotional part of it from his apartment in Michigan. Then Tesco moved to Washington DC, leaving the label in Corey's hands. Early releases for Touch and Go consisted mainly of 7" vinyl singles by many of the early '80s Michigan / Ohio hardcore bands, including the Necros, the Meatmen, and Negative Approach. In 1983, Corey left the Necros, and together with his wife and partner in Touch and Go (Lisa Rusk), relocated the label to an apartment in Detroit, Michigan. Touch and Go began to move beyond the hardcore genre, while also increasing the frequency of its release schedule. Releases during this time period included albums from Die Kreuzen, Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Killdozer and many others. At the same time Touch and Go was expanding, Corey and Lisa also started an all ages club in Detroit called the Graystone. The club was financed by Russ Gibb, a generous and supportive school teacher who ran the infamous Grande Ballroom in Detroit in the late '60s. In its heyday, the Grande had been the Detroit home to the likes of the MC5, the Stooges, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, etc... In the mid '80s the Graystone hosted such bands such as Black Flag, Minutemen, Misfits, Big Boys, Big Black, Scratch Acid, Necros, Negative Approach, et al. After a few years in Detroit, Touch and Go moved to a house on the North side of Chicago, Illinois. Energized by its new environs, and by the increasing interest in the records they were releasing, Touch and Go entered a new and rewarding period in its existence, releasing albums by Slint, Scratch Acid, Rapeman, The Jesus Lizard, Didjits, Laughing Hyenas, Urge Overkill, and many others. In 1990, Touch and Go began to provide manufacturing and distribution services for other independent labels who shared similar ideals. Over the past 15 years, Touch and Go is proud to have provided manufacturing and distribution services for such influential labels as All Natural, All Tomorrow's Parties, Atavistic, Cold Crush, Dim Mak, Drag City, Emperor Jones, Estrus, 5RC, Invisible, Konkurrent, Kill Rock Stars, Le Tigre, Merge, Overcoat, Skin Graft, Suicide Squeeze, Thrill Jockey, Trance, Truckstop, and Warm. In keeping with 1990 being a pivotal year, Quarterstick Records, Touch and Go's "sister label," came into being, releasing albums by Henry Rollins, Pegboy, and Mekons. Since its inception, Quarterstick has developed its own individual, eclectic identity through the releases of groups such as the Bad Livers, Calexico, June Of 44, Mule, Rachel's, Rodan, Shannon Wright, Tara Jane O'Neil, The Shipping News, and others. Also around 1990, Corey and Lisa parted ways both personally and professionally. Just before the dawn of the '90s, T&G moved into a run down warehouse on the North side of Chicago. Its new digs provided lots of room to grow; an opportunity that was not wasted. Throughout the 90's, Touch and Go expanded its staff and capacities in an effort to always be the best it could be for the bands and labels it felt so privileged to be associated with. All the hard work paid off, and during the '90s, T&G had the good fortune to be involved with albums by Shellac, Blonde Redhead, The Black Heart Procession, Girls Against Boys, Arcwelder, Dirty Three, Don Caballero, Brick Layer Cake, Seam, Man...Or Astroman?, The Delta 72, Brainiac, Storm and Stress, and many others. Toward the end of the '90s, T&G had outgrown its space in the decrepit warehouse it had inhabited the prior 7 years. The staff had gotten soft and was demanding such outrageous luxuries as heat in the winter and bathrooms that worked. This revolt led to the move to a much better warehouse space a couple miles away. This move led to an even more organized and productive T&G. It was perfect timing, as the 2000s brought more great bands and labels to T&G. Bands such as CocoRosie, Enon, Nina Nastasia, Quasi, Pinback, Supersystem, The EX, The New Year, TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and !!!.
June 14 street date. Shellac's sixth album is a collection of 1994 and 2004 sessions recorded for the late John Peel. Both formats of this collection of Peel Sessions are packaged in a top-load single pocket wide-spine jacket with two printed inner sleeves. The vinyl edition includes a CD of the full album.
Touch and Go Records came into existence (sort of) in late 1980, when the Ohio punk band Necros decided they wanted to put out a 7" record. Being in high school at the time (ie: broke), they were aided in this project by their friends Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson, who were the geniuses behind a fanzine called Touch and Go (and who were a little older and had real jobs). The 7"s by the Necros and the Fix (a Michigan punk band) were recorded in late 1980 and released in early 1981, and Touch and Go Records was officially born. Corey Rusk was a member of the Necros, and for the first couple years of Touch and Go Records' life he ran the business part of it from his bedroom in his grandmother's house in Ohio, and Tesco Vee ran the promotional part of it from his apartment in Michigan. Then Tesco moved to Washington DC, leaving the label in Corey's hands. Early releases for Touch and Go consisted mainly of 7" vinyl singles by many of the early '80s Michigan / Ohio hardcore bands, including the Necros, the Meatmen, and Negative Approach. In 1983, Corey left the Necros, and together with his wife and partner in Touch and Go (Lisa Rusk), relocated the label to an apartment in Detroit, Michigan. Touch and Go began to move beyond the hardcore genre, while also increasing the frequency of its release schedule. Releases during this time period included albums from Die Kreuzen, Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Killdozer and many others. At the same time Touch and Go was expanding, Corey and Lisa also started an all ages club in Detroit called the Graystone. The club was financed by Russ Gibb, a generous and supportive school teacher who ran the infamous Grande Ballroom in Detroit in the late '60s. In its heyday, the Grande had been the Detroit home to the likes of the MC5, the Stooges, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, etc... In the mid '80s the Graystone hosted such bands such as Black Flag, Minutemen, Misfits, Big Boys, Big Black, Scratch Acid, Necros, Negative Approach, et al. After a few years in Detroit, Touch and Go moved to a house on the North side of Chicago, Illinois. Energized by its new environs, and by the increasing interest in the records they were releasing, Touch and Go entered a new and rewarding period in its existence, releasing albums by Slint, Scratch Acid, Rapeman, The Jesus Lizard, Didjits, Laughing Hyenas, Urge Overkill, and many others. In 1990, Touch and Go began to provide manufacturing and distribution services for other independent labels who shared similar ideals. Over the past 15 years, Touch and Go is proud to have provided manufacturing and distribution services for such influential labels as All Natural, All Tomorrow's Parties, Atavistic, Cold Crush, Dim Mak, Drag City, Emperor Jones, Estrus, 5RC, Invisible, Konkurrent, Kill Rock Stars, Le Tigre, Merge, Overcoat, Skin Graft, Suicide Squeeze, Thrill Jockey, Trance, Truckstop, and Warm. In keeping with 1990 being a pivotal year, Quarterstick Records, Touch and Go's "sister label," came into being, releasing albums by Henry Rollins, Pegboy, and Mekons. Since its inception, Quarterstick has developed its own individual, eclectic identity through the releases of groups such as the Bad Livers, Calexico, June Of 44, Mule, Rachel's, Rodan, Shannon Wright, Tara Jane O'Neil, The Shipping News, and others. Also around 1990, Corey and Lisa parted ways both personally and professionally. Just before the dawn of the '90s, T&G moved into a run down warehouse on the North side of Chicago. Its new digs provided lots of room to grow; an opportunity that was not wasted. Throughout the 90's, Touch and Go expanded its staff and capacities in an effort to always be the best it could be for the bands and labels it felt so privileged to be associated with. All the hard work paid off, and during the '90s, T&G had the good fortune to be involved with albums by Shellac, Blonde Redhead, The Black Heart Procession, Girls Against Boys, Arcwelder, Dirty Three, Don Caballero, Brick Layer Cake, Seam, Man...Or Astroman?, The Delta 72, Brainiac, Storm and Stress, and many others. Toward the end of the '90s, T&G had outgrown its space in the decrepit warehouse it had inhabited the prior 7 years. The staff had gotten soft and was demanding such outrageous luxuries as heat in the winter and bathrooms that worked. This revolt led to the move to a much better warehouse space a couple miles away. This move led to an even more organized and productive T&G. It was perfect timing, as the 2000s brought more great bands and labels to T&G. Bands such as CocoRosie, Enon, Nina Nastasia, Quasi, Pinback, Supersystem, The EX, The New Year, TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and !!!.
April 12 street date. Shovels & Rope is one of the hardest-working bands out there today. Throughout their career, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent have constantly been touring, and all the while they’ve made music wherever they can, and recently they’ve taken on two giant new challenges; raising a (growing) family, and helming a successful music festival, Charleston’s High Water Festival. Their new album By Blood is a gritty, powerful look into their lives and the world around them, with tender songs commenting on their relationship, and human stories weaving throughout. (NEARLY 100 MILLION ARTIST STREAMS ON SPOTIFY & APPLE MUSIC. OVER 200,000 ALBUMS SOLD to date) Expect coverage from Rolling Stone, Billboard, American Songwriter, NPR Music, Paste, Garden and Gun, CMT, and many more, as well as national late night TV looks.
April 12 street date. Shovels & Rope is one of the hardest-working bands out there today. Throughout their career, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent have constantly been touring, and all the while they’ve made music wherever they can, and recently they’ve taken on two giant new challenges; raising a (growing) family, and helming a successful music festival, Charleston’s High Water Festival. Their new album By Blood is a gritty, powerful look into their lives and the world around them, with tender songs commenting on their relationship, and human stories weaving throughout. (NEARLY 100 MILLION ARTIST STREAMS ON SPOTIFY & APPLE MUSIC. OVER 200,000 ALBUMS SOLD to date) Expect coverage from Rolling Stone, Billboard, American Songwriter, NPR Music, Paste, Garden and Gun, CMT, and many more, as well as national late night TV looks.
June 21 street date. 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL - GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH DELUXE SPOT-VARNISH FINISH - PRINTED INNERSLEEVES - ETCHED D-SIDE - LIMITED EDITION OF 5000 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON LIME-GREEN VINYL. Australian post-grunge band Silverchair released their debut album Frogstomp when the band members were only 15 years of age. In just 9 days they recorded a fantastic album. For fans of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, etc.
May 17 street date. Siskiyou returns from a four-year hiatus with "Not Somewhere", an album that finds band leader Colin Huebert (ex-Great Lake Swimmers) essentially in solo artist mode, writing and self-recording this new collection of tunes on his own, playing all the guitar, bass, keyboard and drum parts himself. "Not Somewhere" harkens back to Siskiyou's magical and understated 2010 self-titled debut in this and other ways: the album's production rekindles a homespun intimacy, where plain-spoken lyrics grapple with portraits of quiet quotidian despair, fragile existential horizon lines separating perseverance and defeatism, honest and unremarkable lives trapped in cultures of false consciousness, impossible desire, self-analysis and self-medication.
July 5 street date. Hermit Hut is pleased to announce their first Six Organs Of Admittance release with remastered For Octavio Paz, on vinyl for the first time since it’s original pressing of 500 on Time-Lag records in 2003 (which sold out in 24 hours). This new edition has been re-mixed and remastered from the original four-track cassettes to bring out the resonant tones of the acoustic guitars that were lost in the original transfer (2019 analog-to-digital technology has come a long way since early 2000 16-bit DAT machines, remember those?). For Octavio Paz is considered by many to be a high point in the early Six Organs of Admittance catalog. Almost wholly instrumental, it is the only Six Organs record that sounds fully dedicated to touching the edges of an acoustic finger-style world that was still quite underground back in the first few years of the new century. The songs here utilize a variety of approaches to the acoustic guitar, both steel string and nylon, solo and overdubbed, but always in the service of atmosphere. The record ends with a side long solo steel string piece that sounds equally at home next to modern guitar players like Tashi Dorji (who released his first LP on Hermit Hut) as classic American Primitive players such as Robbie Basho. When released on CD in 2004, For Octavio Paz earned an 8.0 from Pitchfork who said, “Though they vary from melancholy to warm memory in between notes, the emotions that Chasny creates on For Octavio Paz are always stark and imagistic.”
Please note new street date: June 14. (Deluxe reissue, Pressed on colored vinyl with bonus 7", SPOT UV Gatefold jacket. Includes download.) Originally released on Hellcat in 2006, "Peculiar” has remained timeless, continuously heralded as a true testament to their energy on stage and what makes them such a treasured band by fans across the globe. Alternative Nation called it “protest music made for dim, sweaty basements - The Slackers would sound at home supporting Rancid just as well as some grizzled New Orleans electric blues trio.” While “Peculiar” isn't a proper live album, the band managed to turn a club into their studio and truly strike a balance between their incredible live show and their equally impassioned studio work. The rhythm parts of the album were laid down during a live performance at reknowned Dutch ska club Ernesto’s (in Sittard, Holland), with vocal overdubs added later in the studio. In addition to many soon to be favorites, the setlist also includes tracks from their previous War Criminal EP, reinterpreted, reframed and played quite differently from their original release. “Peculiar” ranks right up there with Redlight and The Question as one of the Slackers' best - certainly one of the most played and cherished albums in their arsenal. Pirates Press Records is proud to have teamed up with the band to bring you this incredible expanded gatefold version of “Peculiar”, including a bonus 45 carrying two additional tracks from the project not offered with the original Hellcat release. Hope you’ve got your dancin’ shoes on!!!
April 5 street date. Ryan Lott's first two releases as Son Lux, "At War With Walls & Mazes" and "We Are Rising", document one of the most compelling musicians of the 21st century finding a distinctive creative voice, while making strikingly original music along the way. Eleven years after his debut as Son Lux, Joyful Noise Recordings is reissuing the works on vinyl. In the last few years, Son Lux has shifted from Lott's singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. But Lott's initial Son Lux recordings still point toward an exciting musical future that contemporary pop music has yet to realize.
April 5 street date. Ryan Lott's first two releases as Son Lux, "At War With Walls & Mazes" and "We Are Rising", document one of the most compelling musicians of the 21st century finding a distinctive creative voice, while making strikingly original music along the way. Eleven years after his debut as Son Lux, Joyful Noise Recordings is reissuing the works on vinyl. In the last few years, Son Lux has shifted from Lott's singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. But Lott's initial Son Lux recordings still point toward an exciting musical future that contemporary pop music has yet to realize.
April 5 street date. Ryan Lott's first two releases as Son Lux, "At War With Walls & Mazes" and "We Are Rising", document one of the most compelling musicians of the 21st century finding a distinctive creative voice, while making strikingly original music along the way. Eleven years after his debut as Son Lux, Joyful Noise Recordings is reissuing the works on vinyl. In the last few years, Son Lux has shifted from Lott's singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. But Lott's initial Son Lux recordings still point toward an exciting musical future that contemporary pop music has yet to realize.
April 5 street date. Ryan Lott's first two releases as Son Lux, "At War With Walls & Mazes" and "We Are Rising", document one of the most compelling musicians of the 21st century finding a distinctive creative voice, while making strikingly original music along the way. Eleven years after his debut as Son Lux, Joyful Noise Recordings is reissuing the works on vinyl. In the last few years, Son Lux has shifted from Lott's singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. But Lott's initial Son Lux recordings still point toward an exciting musical future that contemporary pop music has yet to realize.
May 10 street date. Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions is the latest reissue in the Songs: Ohia canon. The CD reissue includes the original, classic album, The Lioness, as well as never-before-heard recordings from The Lioness sessions. The Lioness is the first Jason Molina project to fully turn away from the battlefield folk and deconstructed Americana of earlier Songs: Ohia recordings. At the dawn of the 21st century, the album felt modern. It aligned Molina with a new set of peers - Low, Gastr del Sol, Red House Painters and, most importantly, the influential Scottish band Arab Strap, whose producer and members were crucial in the creation of The Lioness. The avant-garde tones and arrangements of Arab Strap are absorbed here into Molina's songwriting to create what would become, for many acolytes, the archetypal Songs: Ohia sound. Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions will serve as the seminal log of the era, complete with lost songs, photos, drawings, and essays from those who knew Molina best.
May 10 street date. Mavis Staples returns with a brand new studio album produced and written by Ben Harper. Backed by Mavis’ critically acclaimed live band, We Get By features 10 songs of longing, strength, and spirituality, presented with simplicity, grit and sublime beauty. Highlights include the buoyant, “Anytime”, the cathartic, “Change”, and the title track, an uplifting duet with Ben Harper.
May 10 street date. Mavis Staples returns with a brand new studio album produced and written by Ben Harper. Backed by Mavis’ critically acclaimed live band, We Get By features 10 songs of longing, strength, and spirituality, presented with simplicity, grit and sublime beauty. Highlights include the buoyant, “Anytime”, the cathartic, “Change”, and the title track, an uplifting duet with Ben Harper.
March 29 street date. Leading off with standout track "Weird Ways" and his powerful declaration of "I don’t feel it anymore," "Eraserland" traces Tim Showalter's evolution from apprehension to creative awakening, carving out a new and compelling future for Strand of Oaks. In February 2018, he spent two weeks alone writing and demoing all of the songs that would eventually comprise "Eraserland". And in April, he went into the studio to record with his band. Jason Isbell also contributed his Hendrix-esque guitar work to the album while singer/songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle provided gorgeous vocals. Every song was recorded live, with all musicians playing together in one room and working to bring Showalter's ideas to fruition.
March 29 street date. Leading off with standout track "Weird Ways" and his powerful declaration of "I don’t feel it anymore," "Eraserland" traces Tim Showalter's evolution from apprehension to creative awakening, carving out a new and compelling future for Strand of Oaks. In February 2018, he spent two weeks alone writing and demoing all of the songs that would eventually comprise "Eraserland". And in April, he went into the studio to record with his band. Jason Isbell also contributed his Hendrix-esque guitar work to the album while singer/songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle provided gorgeous vocals. Every song was recorded live, with all musicians playing together in one room and working to bring Showalter's ideas to fruition.
June 21 street date. NOTE: Limited copies available, indie shops only !! (New acoustic version of Foolish, featuring Allison Crutchfield, Matt Douglas, Peter Holsapple, Owen Pallett, and Jenn Wasner) From Mac McCaughan: Our original idea for an all-acoustic album was for it to be a selection of songs from all our albums, played in the style of an acoustic performance in a record store or a radio station, which we have done quite a bit of over the years (and documented on the first of our “Clambake” series in 2001). But with 2019 being the 25th anniversary of the Foolish album, it seemed weirder and more interesting to record an acoustic version of one whole album. I didn’t want this to sound like “acoustic demos recorded 25 years after the fact” or a band trying to “rock out” except on acoustic guitars, though to be fair we do some rocking out. Once we got into the process of learning how to play the songs on acoustic guitars—some of which we had never performed at all—it made sense to make this record its own thing altogether." (...) "We are lucky to have Allison Crutchfield, Matt Douglas, Peter Holsapple, Owen Pallett, and Jenn Wasner lend their great talents to the record and also lucky that Jon has an arsenal of small bells and a vibraslap."
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
April 5 street date. Vinyl reissue of 2007's "Dressed Up For The Letdown", the third album from the late Richard Swift. The album is another original masterpiece; employing an archaic attitude of tempered restraint on a fresh collection of ten songs, without appearing shamelessly retro or kitschy. Playing a vast majority of the instruments on "Dressed Up" himself, by virtue Swift created something that is characteristically his. And considering his rough-around-the-edges exterior, one could rightly assume that Swift desires the listener to accept him as an ordinary honest man with some honest songs - unmasked blemishes and all. Yet when one engages with Swift on this narrow-road-less-traveled, one immediately ignores the subtle imperfections shadowed by the all-consuming white light of well-crafted pop songs in an analog heaven.
April 5 street date. Vinyl reissue of 2008's "The Atlantic Ocean", the fourth release from the late American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift. With a methodical approach and help from engineer Chris Colbert (The Walkmen) and mulit-instrumentalist Casey Foubert (Sufjan Stevens, Crystal Skulls), Swift's vintage mixtures on "Ocean" are seamless and bright. A collaboration with producer Mark Ronson on track "Ballad of Old What's His Name" features the talents of Ryan Adams, Mark Ronson, Sean Lennon and Pat Sansone of Wilco, a strange pairing of musicians, producing beautiful results. With a balanced mix of dry, minimal rock and roll, and futuristic synthesizer stabs, Swift himself referred to the album's sound as "Prince sitting in on John Lennon's Plastic Ono sessions".
April 5 street date. It was a great Swiftian irony that the shining moment of realization that is "Ground Trouble Jaw" first saw its release as a modest, digital-only EP in 2008. That wrong is now righted as it is paired with 2011s "Walt Wolfman" EP, very much a spiritual twin of "Ground Trouble Jaw". "Ground Trouble Jaw" was the first release that folded the tireless, vying personalities of Richard Swift's art into a singular, succinct artistic statement. Here is a man discovering at once his own capacity for timelessness. Swift was an outsider-pop wanderkind who could do more with one worn, old mic than most men could with a high-end studio, taking "the holy moment" and making it eternal.
June 21 street date. An Obelisk is the sixth album from Titus Andronicus, which finds the noted rock band under the stewardship of producer and legendary rocker Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar, et al.). This trans-generational meeting of the minds has yielded the most immediate, intense, and unadorned Titus Andronicus record to date. Clocking in it a brisk 38 minutes and change, it is also the shortest. Recorded over six breathless days at Steve Albini's world-renowned Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, An Obelisk presents the sound of Titus Andronicus, rock band, at it's most irreducible, as monolithic as the album's titular monument.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
June 21 street date. An Obelisk is the sixth album from Titus Andronicus, which finds the noted rock band under the stewardship of producer and legendary rocker Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar, et al.). This trans-generational meeting of the minds has yielded the most immediate, intense, and unadorned Titus Andronicus record to date. Clocking in it a brisk 38 minutes and change, it is also the shortest. Recorded over six breathless days at Steve Albini's world-renowned Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, An Obelisk presents the sound of Titus Andronicus, rock band, at it's most irreducible, as monolithic as the album's titular monument.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
June 21 street date. An Obelisk is the sixth album from Titus Andronicus, which finds the noted rock band under the stewardship of producer and legendary rocker Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar, et al.). This trans-generational meeting of the minds has yielded the most immediate, intense, and unadorned Titus Andronicus record to date. Clocking in it a brisk 38 minutes and change, it is also the shortest. Recorded over six breathless days at Steve Albini's world-renowned Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, An Obelisk presents the sound of Titus Andronicus, rock band, at it's most irreducible, as monolithic as the album's titular monument.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
June 21 street date. Since Fat Wreck Chords began nearly 30 years ago, people have associated the label with a certain sound, and it's safe to say it bears little resemblance to Tommy and June. The self-titled debut from the mysterious duo lacks the aggressive, overdriven power of the bands on Fat Wreck's Mount Rushmore. The album's 10 tracks stick mostly to acoustic guitars, breathy vocal harmonies, and a spirit indebted to Pete Seeger as much as Pete Shelley. This isn't power chords on acoustic guitars, or punks unplugging for novelty's sake. Listeners who pay attention to the lyrics will hear enough clues to guess something about Tommy and June's lives. But label co-founder Fat Mike - who assembled the duo like an impresario from rock 'n' roll's past - wants to maintain the mystery.
June 21 street date. Since Fat Wreck Chords began nearly 30 years ago, people have associated the label with a certain sound, and it's safe to say it bears little resemblance to Tommy and June. The self-titled debut from the mysterious duo lacks the aggressive, overdriven power of the bands on Fat Wreck's Mount Rushmore. The album's 10 tracks stick mostly to acoustic guitars, breathy vocal harmonies, and a spirit indebted to Pete Seeger as much as Pete Shelley. This isn't power chords on acoustic guitars, or punks unplugging for novelty's sake. Listeners who pay attention to the lyrics will hear enough clues to guess something about Tommy and June's lives. But label co-founder Fat Mike - who assembled the duo like an impresario from rock 'n' roll's past - wants to maintain the mystery.
July 12 street date. Uzeda, one of the longest-running punk bands on the planet, returns with their first new album in 13 years, "Quocumque jeceris stabit". Recorded, as always, by longtime friend and collaborator, Steve Albini, "Quocumque jeceris stabit" sees Uzeda picking up where they left off, albeit with the sands and scars of time cutting new creative paths within the reputable map through which Uzeda have traveled for the past four decades. Vocalist Giovanna Cacciola's fragile, dynamic rasp still cuts through the jagged guitar of husband and fellow Bellini member, Agostino Tilotta, while the rhythm section of bassist Raffaele Gulisano and drummer Davide Oliveri provide the sturdy foundation on which all Uzeda songs are built. But there's something noticeably different now, a kind of melodic tension that was always hinted at but perhaps never fully displayed until now. It is a sound and a feel that Uzeda was made for, and one that unquestionably defines them.
July 12 street date. Uzeda, one of the longest-running punk bands on the planet, returns with their first new album in 13 years, "Quocumque jeceris stabit". Recorded, as always, by longtime friend and collaborator, Steve Albini, "Quocumque jeceris stabit" sees Uzeda picking up where they left off, albeit with the sands and scars of time cutting new creative paths within the reputable map through which Uzeda have traveled for the past four decades. Vocalist Giovanna Cacciola's fragile, dynamic rasp still cuts through the jagged guitar of husband and fellow Bellini member, Agostino Tilotta, while the rhythm section of bassist Raffaele Gulisano and drummer Davide Oliveri provide the sturdy foundation on which all Uzeda songs are built. But there's something noticeably different now, a kind of melodic tension that was always hinted at but perhaps never fully displayed until now. It is a sound and a feel that Uzeda was made for, and one that unquestionably defines them.
July 12 street date. The conceptual adventure that became a compilation, RED GOLD GREEN & BLUE calls on the black cream of Jamaican artistry, generations of talent spanning decades. Completing a circle, the classic American blues songs performed here, bring out an intriguing tonality in this record’s top-notch selection of already flavor-ful voices, familiar and brand new. This modern anthology throws down a creative challenge: how will today’s great Jamaican artists, themselves descendants of captured Africans, reinterpret African-American blues songs written and sung by artists who are effectively their own long-lost family? To answer this question, here’s the first release on a new label, TROJAN JAMAICA. Co-founders Zak Starkey and his partner, musician/producer Sshh Liguz, with their island allies, are taking the veteran UK reggae imprint and hurtling it headlong into the future. These voices help make the island great. This disc is a missing link that helps to try and bind a fractured African diaspora. Each of the idiosyncratic tracks reborn here represents the sort of pan-African vision that fired Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Angela Davis. Wherever they came from, stolen Africans had no control over where the slaveships would make them disembark. But whether it was New Orleans or Kingston, Jamaica, the music they brought with them would survive, against all odds, evolve, elevate and actually change global culture. This record is in some measure a tribute to their resilience and brilliance. TRACKLISTING: 1. MYKAL ROSE – I Put A Spell On You 2. ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE – Bring It On Home 3. FREDDIE MCGREGOR – Come On In My Kitchen 4. PHYLEA CARLEY – Baby Please Don’t Go 5. BIG YOUTH – Temperature 6. SSHH & ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE – Wang Dang Doodle / Oh Well 7. MYKAL ROSE – 44 Blues 8. TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS – Man Of The World 9. MYKAL ROSE – Bad Luck Shadow 10. ANDREW TOSH – Don’t Go No Further 11. ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE – Just Your Fool 12. BIG YOUTH – Gunslinger 13. KIDDUS I – Sun Is Shining
July 12 street date. The conceptual adventure that became a compilation, RED GOLD GREEN & BLUE calls on the black cream of Jamaican artistry, generations of talent spanning decades. Completing a circle, the classic American blues songs performed here, bring out an intriguing tonality in this record’s top-notch selection of already flavor-ful voices, familiar and brand new. This modern anthology throws down a creative challenge: how will today’s great Jamaican artists, themselves descendants of captured Africans, reinterpret African-American blues songs written and sung by artists who are effectively their own long-lost family? To answer this question, here’s the first release on a new label, TROJAN JAMAICA. Co-founders Zak Starkey and his partner, musician/producer Sshh Liguz, with their island allies, are taking the veteran UK reggae imprint and hurtling it headlong into the future. These voices help make the island great. This disc is a missing link that helps to try and bind a fractured African diaspora. Each of the idiosyncratic tracks reborn here represents the sort of pan-African vision that fired Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Angela Davis. Wherever they came from, stolen Africans had no control over where the slaveships would make them disembark. But whether it was New Orleans or Kingston, Jamaica, the music they brought with them would survive, against all odds, evolve, elevate and actually change global culture. This record is in some measure a tribute to their resilience and brilliance. TRACKLISTING: 1. MYKAL ROSE – I Put A Spell On You 2. ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE – Bring It On Home 3. FREDDIE MCGREGOR – Come On In My Kitchen 4. PHYLEA CARLEY – Baby Please Don’t Go 5. BIG YOUTH – Temperature 6. SSHH & ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE – Wang Dang Doodle / Oh Well 7. MYKAL ROSE – 44 Blues 8. TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS – Man Of The World 9. MYKAL ROSE – Bad Luck Shadow 10. ANDREW TOSH – Don’t Go No Further 11. ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE – Just Your Fool 12. BIG YOUTH – Gunslinger 13. KIDDUS I – Sun Is Shining
June 28 street date. Punk's Year Zero was 1976. But very few Punk records were actually released that year. The most significant musical developments happened in 1977, with a burgeoning, self-supporting network of clubs, performers, fanzines, indie labels and distributors creating an unstoppable groundswell that would revolutionise UK music and have an enduring impact on pop culture. "1977: The Year Punk Broke" reflects how a thrilling, controversial scene developed over those tumultuous twelve months. Many of the year's major breakthrough acts and cult favourites are included, including The Jam, The Damned, The Boomtown Rats, Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, Generation X, Sham 69, The Only Ones, The Rezillos, Ultravox!, 999, X-Ray Spex, ATV, The Boys and The Vibrators. The older guard - variously labelled Pub Rock, New Wave or Art Rock - are represented by Doctors Of Madness, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Deaf School, The Tyla Gang, Graham Parker & The Rumour, The Gorillas, The Count Bishops, Radio Stars, Spider and Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias. Other key names include Motorhead and The Heartbreakers, Johnny Thunders' band who recorded in London. Also present are a host of obscure indie Punk 45s and other rarities.
May 10 street date. 5 discs, over 300 minutes of music, 136-page book. Few music festivals are as rich, profound, and joyous as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, now entering its 50th year. With 50 tracks recorded live, Jazz Fest captures the festival’s ecstatic spontaneity, which defines the essence and vitality of American popular music. Ever since its inception a half century ago, Jazz Fest has exuberantly expressed the unique confluence in New Orleans of Native American, African, Caribbean, European, Hispanic, and Asian communities. With essays and annotations by Keith Spera, Karen Celestan, Robert Cataliotti, Jeff Place, Rachel Lyons, and Jon Pareles, plus photos spanning the festival’s history, this box set delivers the sights and sounds of being at Jazz Fest for those who have not yet been there, and rekindles memories for the hundreds of thousands who return to New Orleans year after year.
May 31 street date. The year - 1978. The mood - revolution. The latest addition to the musician's sound palette - the synthesiser. And so a new sound was born, and one which would free pop music from its guitar dominated tradition into something with a bright new future which would write itself. Almost overnight, via a handful of key single releases, the big bang of punk produced something the kids called ‘synth-pop’. Cherry Red presents "Electrical Language" - a 4CD/80 track set exploring the independent side of the UK's post-punk synth-pop boom. From household names and scene legends to underground outsiders and bedroom experimenters. Packaged in hardback book format, including over 12,000 words of sleevenotes (including artist-written pieces), introductory essay by Dave Henderson and period imagery. With key tracks and hidden gems from Mute Records, Rough Trade, 4AD, Survival Records, Cherry Red and a host of essential independent players.
Please note new street date: June 14. Long time Vancouver, Canada favorites The Vicious Cycles play hook-heavy singalong moto-anthems. They are punk rockers born in the garage, delivering songs straight from a rock-n-roll heart! There is chaos. Sometimes there is fire. Things get burnt. Everyone has a good time. TARGET MARKETS: ALL major punk & motorcycle related outlets, especially Vancouver (Hometown). (FOR FANS OF: THE CLASH / THE CRAMPS / THE HIVES / STIFF LITTLE FINGERS / THE WHO / EVIL KNIEVEL | STEVE / MCQUEEN / PINBALL)
May 24 street date. On 21-year-old Atlanta native Faye Webster's new album, the omnipresence of pedal steel eschews bluegrass trappings, flexible under Webster's genre-bending direction. Webster didn't set out to make it sound like any artist in particular, but she cites Aaliyah as her main musical inspiration for how she uses sound. Pulling from a familial lineage of folk storytelling and time spent in Atlanta's hip-hop scene, Webster's work is a study of duality, weaving through her own introversion and heartbreak; it's an idiosyncratic sadness punctuated by fleeting observations and an unexpected, sly sense of humor. And like the way Webster takes the traditional instrumentation of Americana and flips it into something else, she uses her own calm, laid-back demeanor to say you can be boldly and unapologetically yourself in a quiet way, too.
May 24 street date. On 21-year-old Atlanta native Faye Webster's new album, the omnipresence of pedal steel eschews bluegrass trappings, flexible under Webster's genre-bending direction. Webster didn't set out to make it sound like any artist in particular, but she cites Aaliyah as her main musical inspiration for how she uses sound. Pulling from a familial lineage of folk storytelling and time spent in Atlanta's hip-hop scene, Webster's work is a study of duality, weaving through her own introversion and heartbreak; it's an idiosyncratic sadness punctuated by fleeting observations and an unexpected, sly sense of humor. And like the way Webster takes the traditional instrumentation of Americana and flips it into something else, she uses her own calm, laid-back demeanor to say you can be boldly and unapologetically yourself in a quiet way, too.
May 10 street date. Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties is the brainchild of The Wonder Years’ frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell. Following up We Don’t Have Each Other which sold over 13k copies in the US, Routine Maintenance is the next full length installment in the story of Aaron West. Routine Maintenance offers up a more stripped down approach with Campbell’s signature story telling lyrics. For Fans Of: Sorority Noise, Modern Baseball, Microwave.
May 10 street date. Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties is the brainchild of The Wonder Years’ frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell. Following up We Don’t Have Each Other which sold over 13k copies in the US, Routine Maintenance is the next full length installment in the story of Aaron West. Routine Maintenance offers up a more stripped down approach with Campbell’s signature story telling lyrics. For Fans Of: Sorority Noise, Modern Baseball, Microwave.
May 31 street date. After ERIC'S TRIP, ELEVATOR TO HELL, ELEVATOR, his UNINTENDED project with the SADIES, a trio of solo albums as RICK WHITE ALBUM, and producing albums for JULIE DOIRON, 100 DOLLARS, and many more, in 2011, Rick White decided to take a step back from making music. His hiatus lasted over seven years, but now he's back at it and he's teamed up with a like-minded soul named EIYN SOF. Singing in harmony together for all the vocals, the songs float within creepy mellotron melodies, echo guitars, dizzying synths and deep rolling bass and drum rhythms. It's a brand new heavy spacey psychedelic fairytale of an album, and we’re very proud to bring it to life here. Limited vinyl run on blue fog coloured vinyl.
May 10 street date. Jamila Woods has a voice and lyrical sensibility that transcends generations, and so it makes sense to have this lush and layered album that bounces seamlessly from one sonic aesthetic to another. This was the case on 2016's "HEAVN", which found Woods hopeful and exploratory, looking along the edges resilience and exhaustion for some measures of joy. Her new album, "LEGACY! LEGACY!" is the logical conclusion to that looking. From the airy boom-bap of "Giovanni" to the psychedelic flourishes of "Sonia," the instrument which ties the musical threads together is the ability of Woods to find her pockets in the waves of instrumentation, stretching syllables and vowels over the harmony of noise until each puzzle piece has a home. Jamila Woods is a singular soul singer who, in voice, holds the rhetorical demand. The knowing that there is no compromise for someone with vision this endless.
May 10 street date. Jamila Woods has a voice and lyrical sensibility that transcends generations, and so it makes sense to have this lush and layered album that bounces seamlessly from one sonic aesthetic to another. This was the case on 2016's "HEAVN", which found Woods hopeful and exploratory, looking along the edges resilience and exhaustion for some measures of joy. Her new album, "LEGACY! LEGACY!" is the logical conclusion to that looking. From the airy boom-bap of "Giovanni" to the psychedelic flourishes of "Sonia," the instrument which ties the musical threads together is the ability of Woods to find her pockets in the waves of instrumentation, stretching syllables and vowels over the harmony of noise until each puzzle piece has a home. Jamila Woods is a singular soul singer who, in voice, holds the rhetorical demand. The knowing that there is no compromise for someone with vision this endless.
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Digest 
Sum 41
Garson, Mort
