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Algiers [Shook (2LP)] February 24 street date. Atlanta based post-punk group Algiers present their 4th album, "Shook". At the same time notably joyous and celebratory, the record was born when bandmates Franklin James Fisher and Ryan Mahan found themselves at home for several months, reeling from growing pressures and burnout as touring musicians. This triggered an intense period of beatmaking, reconnecting as friends over hours immersed in episodes of "Rhythm Roulette", and descending deep into alt-rap YouTube rabbit holes. A revisit of DJ Grand Wizard Theodore's 1970s punk-infused New York City rap masterpiece ‘Subway Theme’ then emerged as a spiritual moodboard for what was to be the cross-pollination of urban and counter-culture styles on "Shook". The sprawling 17-track double LP is Algiers' first new music since 2020's "There Is No Year" and features an array of guests spanning icons like Rage Against The Machine's Zack De La Rocha to 2021 Polaris prize winner Backxwash and Future Islands' frontman Samuel T. Herring. Each contribution deftly reshapes and recontextualized the notion of being shook from a variety of perspectives, occupying shifting roles as oracles and narrators. |
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Bria [Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 (EP)] February 24 street date. As its name suggested, the intimate and sultry "Cuntry Covers Vol. 1" was always going to have a follow-up. Led by the brooding vocals of Bria Salmena, "Cuntry Covers Vol. 2" is every bit as potent as its predecessor, whose noir-inflected alternative country-rock stood in sharp contrast to the singer's commanding delivery as leader of post-punk revivalists Frigs. Debuting the project in 2021, the languid, reverb-drenched "Cuntry Covers Vol. 1" saw her artfully collaborating with multi-instrumentalist Duncan Hay Jennings and reimagining a carefully picked collection of Americana anthems. "Vol. 2" pushes the envelope further and harder. Encompassing feverish takes on tracks by Gillian Welch, Paula Cole, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Robert Lester Folsom, Glen Campbell - by way of Nick Cave - and Loretta Lynn, Bria's deliciously dark approach shimmers through these six startling songs. |
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Brian Jonestown Massacre [The Future Is Your Past (180g-clear vinyl)] February 17 street date. Recorded in Berlin and remotely between 2020 and 2021, The Brian Jonestown Massacre returns with their 20th full-length studio album. The album was recorded in Berlin By Anton Newcombe, and joining him in the studio for this album were Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar) and Uri Rennert (drums). The band have been touring and completed a 34 date North American tour in 2022 with Mercury Rev and The Magic Castles. 180g clear vinyl LP with a pack of 6 colour pencils so you can colour in your own album cover. The CD comes in two different designs. |
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Callahan, Bill [Reality (2LP)] February 24 street date (Vinyl) / (CD available now). Bill Callahan continues his journey, tunneling underneath the weathered exterior of what seems to be and into the more nuanced life everything takes on in the dark. Bill's got a full band sound going on this one, with him and Matt Kinsey on guitars, Emmett Kelly on bass and backing vocals, Sarah Ann Phillips on B3, piano and backing vocals, and Jim White on drums. Jim and Matt sing on one song, too, and some other singers come in, too. Bill plays some synth here and there, and Carl Smith drifts in and out of the picture with his contra alto clarinet, as do Mike St. Clair and Derek Phelps on brass. Somehow in between them all, you might think you hear the distant sound of a steel guitar. With Bill's voice making the extraordinary leaps and bounds that measure the lives of the songs, the band follow him through passages that seem to invent themselves; other times playing with deeply soulful grooves and/or desperate intensity, as these moments come and go. |
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Cleveland, Shana [Manzanita] March 10 street date. The second solo album by La Luz singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland. Manzanita is the common name for a kind of small evergreen tree endemic to California which has strong medicinal properties. It's also the name of the brand new full length by visual artist, writer, songwriter, and musician Shana Cleveland. Subtle, powerful, and unafraid - and her strongest and most personal album to date. These songs are as strong as the bricks in the Brill building, and seem destined to be covered by others in years to come. Where her previous record, 2019's "Night Of The Worm Moon" functions as a collection of speculative fictions equally inspired by Afro-futurist pioneers Herman "Sun Ra" Blount and Octavia Butler, "Manzanita" concerns the love that loves to love. The combinations of words and song structure are so strong throughout that one hardly notices Cleveland's nimble fingerpicking on first listen, or how much is packed into the arrangements. The lyrics are satisfyingly direct, with the buoyantly whimsical descriptions typical of the 1960s New York School of poetry. It's peppered with the kind of unexpected turns that make the words more modern, and in their spookiness they are more West Coast. |
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Cult [Love] February 24 street date. Beggars Arkive release the long-awaited reissue of The Cult's multi-platinum second album, "Love". Fronted by vocalist Ian Astbury, along with Billy Duffy on guitar, their music needs no introduction as they have cemented themselves over the years as one of the greatest rock bands around. Originally released in 1985, "Love" was their breakthrough and produced singles including "Rain", "Revolution", and the epic anthem "She Sells Sanctuary", all songs that still resonate today. "She Sells Sanctuary" was recently featured in Season Two of the hit HBO TV show "Euphoria". The Cult's "Love" is the album that eventually defined their career, but at the time, it flew in the face of everything that was going on in music. |
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Dropkick Murphys [Blackout (20th Anniversary/red)] March 17 street date. The music on "Blackout" rocks, has a truckload of sweat, blood and energy, and conveys an intense insight into relationships ("Walk Away") and personal politics ("Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight" - lyrics written by Woody Guthrie after the band was given special exclusive access and permission to use his words through Guthrie's family). The record still contains rousing tunes rooted in Irish music and American folk and destined to be a Boston Bruins (boo!) call to arms classic called "Time To Go". And it's important to mention that each member of the band played a crucial role, working hand in hand to create this new record. Reissued on limited edition red vinyl to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary! |
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Grade 2 [Grade 2] February 17 street date. 50 years after the genre turned the music world upside-down, Grade 2 bring the raw power of old school punk to a new generation. Their second release on Tim Armstrong's legendary Hellcat Records is a thumping 15 track tour de force melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth, authentically told by three lads with punk coursing through their veins. Formed on their native Isle of Wight when they were just 14 years old, Jack Chatfield (guitar & vocals), Jacob Hull (drums) and Sid Ryan (bass & vocals) honed their craft covering punk pioneers before creating a sound uniquely theirs: ten years on, the eponymous "Grade 2" is their magnum opus. The new album was produced by the band along with Tim Timebomb (Armstrong) and T.J. Rivers at Armstrong's Ship Rec Studio in Los Angeles. |
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Guided By Voices [Sandbox (black vinyl)] February 17 street date. First stand-alone reissue of this early album from Guided By Voices in thirty-five years! Even back in 1987, Guided By Voices was not content to release just one album in a year - "Sandbox" was released in the summer of that year following the appearance of "Devil Between My Toes" that February. Likewise, in similar GBV style, the sound and approach of the two albums could not be more different. Where "Devil" mostly mines a darker, lo-fi psychedia, along with several instrumental explorations, "Sandbox" is sunny, direct, has a bigger, crunchier sound, and zero instrumentals. Of all the band's early self-released albums, "Sandbox" differs the most from the sound fans would later associate with the group, which is in itself a recommendation. |
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Holley, Lonnie [Oh Me Oh My (black vinyl)] March 10 street date. "Oh Me Oh My" is both elegant and ferocious. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal. Lonnie Holley's harrowing youth and young manhood in the Jim Crow South are well-told at this point - his sale into a different home as a child for just a bottle of whiskey; his abuse at the infamous Mount Meigs correctional facility for boys; the destruction of his art environment by the Birmingham airport expansion. But Holley's music is less a performance of pain endured and more a display of perseverance, of relentless hope. Intricately and lovingly produced by Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), there is both kinetic, shortwave funk that call to mind Brian Eno's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno's ambient works. But it's a tremendous achievement in sonics all its own. Illustrious collaborators like Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Moor Mother, and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver serve as not only as choirs of angels and co-pilots to give Lonnie's message flight but as proof of Lonnie Holley as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community. |
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Moctar, Mdou [Niger EP Vol. 2 (green)] March 10 street date. Tuareg rock group Mdou Moctar present the second installment of their "Niger" EP series - featuring live and alternate versions of songs spanning the band's discography, recorded in their home country. The limited edition transparent green "Niger EP Vol. 2" is an innovative alchemy of Tuareg folk, blues and rock, electric guitar pyrotechnics, field recordings and electronics with poetic call-to-arms lyrics about the plight of his homeland of Niger. "Ibitlan" captures the band's renowned live energy in unmediated form, pushing the faders to their very limits and representing what Mdou Moctar are accomplishing with this project. Speaking on track, and the ethos behind these recordings, producer and bassist Mikey Coltun said "this particular recording was done in Agadez in 2017 at a wedding. Mdou and I had played three weddings a day for about a month and a half on that trip. It was like bootcamp. I loved it. "Ibitlan" is one of Mdou's oldest songs and is covered by pretty much every Tuareg guitarist. We've played versions of this song lasting over 20 minutes. It's definitely one of my favorites to play!". |
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Naughty By Nature [19 Naughty III (2LP-30th anniversary edition/orange vinyl)] February 24 street date. Despite an excellent debut album, Naughty By Nature was pegged as a one-hit wonder by some. After all, they'd never duplicate the inescapably catchy "O.P.P.". But when "19 Naughty III" was released on February 23, 1993 with the lead single "Hip Hop Hooray", the group proved that they could recreate that magic. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the album has been certified platinum and "Hip Hop Hooray" has become a hip hop anthem. The single was #1 on the charts, earning the band their second Top 10 hit, with the video directed by Spike Lee, featuring appearances from Tupac Shakur, Run-DMC and more. The album also contains the hits "Written on Ya Kitten" and "It's On" and has guest appearances from Heavy D and Queen Latifah. Production was handled entirely by group member KayGee, who has one foot in the clubs and the other one on the street corner, and that's true of the group as a whole. |
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Neutral Milk Hotel [The Collected Works Of..(4LP/2 x10"/3x7" posters etc)] February 24 street date. The two full-length records that Jeff Mangum made as Neutral Milk Hotel sound both in and out of time. Like translations of a shared subconscious, 1996's "On Avery Island" and 1998's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" give voice to the perennial spirit of youthful epiphany, of beginning to see the world clearly, to process and express it - no matter when you encounter them. With lo-fi indie rock, accordion, singing saw, tape collages, the so-called "zanzithophone" and beyond, Neutral Milk Hotel created an eternal entry into their Elephant 6 scene and an enduring feeling of possibility.For all the mythology Mangum's elusive persona has accrued, it's the beguiling songs themselves that have resonated so deeply for generations. In 2011, Mangum collected nearly all of the band's recorded output in a limited-edition box set (self-released under Neutral Milk Hotel Records, a small operation helmed by Mangum and his mother) which is now being updated for wide reissue by the band's longtime label Merge Records. |
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Orb [The Dream (2022 remaster)] March 3 street date. The Orb's eight studio album, 2007's "The Dream" was a return to form and leans towards the earlier Orb sound and aesthetic. On "The Dream", Dr. Alex Paterson reunited with Martin ‘Youth’ Glover and was also joined by Tim Bran of Dreadzone. As well, listeners are treated to the magical guitar flair from none other than Steve Hillage (Gong, System 7) as he joins in on several of the album's tracks. |
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Peterson, Oscar Trio [Vancouver, 1958 (2LP)] February 17 street date. First time on vinyl, remastered with a new cover. Hailing from Montreal, Oscar Peterson (August 15, 1925-December 23, 2007) is one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, releasing over 200 recordings, winning seven Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. The Oscar Peterson Trio with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown, as you'll hear on "Vancouver, 1958", was at the top of its game. Oscar's early U.S. appearances were in duo form with Brown, while Texas-born Ellis had been a member of another trio-of-note, The Soft Winds, with John Frigio and Lou Carter. When Oscar replaced the group's original third member, Barney Kessel - Ellis, who Oscar had heard with the aforementioned threesome, was an immediate choice, seconded by Kessel himself (later he and Herb worked as a guitar duo). Ellis joined in 1953 and, by the time of their appearances in Western Canada, this was about as tight a trio as you'll find in jazz. Ellis left the trio in 1958, so these recordings rank among the last by this classic trio. |
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Quasi [Breaking The Balls Of History (LOSER-pink vinyl)] February 10 street date. "Breaking The Balls Of History" is Quasi's tenth record, landing ten years after their last record. Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss have become Pacific Northwest icons, and Quasi has always felt so steadfast - their enduring friendship so generative, their energy infinite, each album more raucous and catchy and ferocious and funny than the last. For a while, they thought 2013's intricate "Mole City" might be their last record. They'd go out on a great one and move on. Then in August 2019 a car smashed into Janet's and broke both legs and her collarbone. Then a deadly virus collided with all of us, and no one knew when or if live music as we knew it would ever happen again. Each afternoon, Sam and Janet bunkered down in their tiny practice space and channeled the bewilderment and absurdity of this alien new world into songs. Janet's strength returned and rose to athlete-level stamina. The incredible result of those sessions is "Breaking The Balls Of History". Janet's galloping drums and Sam's punk-symphonic Rocksichord and their intertwining vocals make something gigantic, anthemic. They've crafted exquisitely melodic songs that glitter with rage and wild humour and intelligence, driven by a big bruised pounding heart. |
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Rhys, Gruff [The Almond & the Seahorse (2LP/yellow/soundtrack)] February 24 street date. Following his UK top 10 album "Seeking New Gods", Welsh musician/composer Gruff Rhys presents the original soundtrack for the film "The Almond & The Seahorse". The 22-track album comprises original songs and instrumental score, all composed by Gruff Rhys. Tonally, the soundtrack compliments the movie perfectly: the drama of the subject matter and the human relationships is counterbalanced by the film's wry humour and lightness of touch, and the varied compositions and styles on Rhys' score and compositions reflects that. The film tells the story of archaeologist (Rebel Wilson) and an architect (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and their fight to re-imagine a future after a traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love. The title of the film itself refers to the nicknames given to the parts of our brains that lay down new memories and hold on to the old ones. "The Almond & The Seahorse" is released as a foil numbered, limited edition transparent yellow double LP with a fold out film poster. |
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Segall, Ty & Emmett Kelly [Live At Worship (EP)] February 10 street date. In July 2022, with the release show for "Hello, Hi" coming up, Ty Segall & The Freedom Band were working and playing to get it together. There'd be a little acoustic set to open things up, which was something different, so a last minute show was drummed up, for Ty and Emmett Kelly to work it out in front of some people. And that kind of became the REAL record release show. This show clearly ruled, just hearing the five songs included here. With the incredible feelings of the crowd and the spontaneous play in the songs we now know from the album almost miraculously captured to tape at FULL WARMTH, none of us can say we missed it at all anymore - drop the needle and you're there, at the launching of sounds that added to the evolution of the world we've been living in ever since! |
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Shame [Food For Worms (black vinyl)] February 24 street date. Chalie Steen declares that "Food For Worms" is "the Lamborghini of shame records". It marks a sonic departure from anything they've done before, abandoning their post-punk beginnings for more eclectic influences, drawing from the tense atmospherics of Merchandise, the sharp yet uncomplicated lyrics of Lou Reed, and the more melodic works of 90s German band Blumfeld. For the first time, the band are not delving inwards, but seeking to capture the world around them. In many ways, the album is an ode to friendship, and a documentation of the dynamic that only five people who have grown up together - and grown so close, against all odds - can share. |
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Subhumans [The Day The Country Died] March 10 street date. The astounding debut album that established the Subhumans as a genuine force to be reckoned with, ‘The Day The Country Died’ captured both the band’s serious anarcho punk ideology and their irreverent sense of humour. It was apparent from the off that here was a band that could not only stimulate your brain but also put a big shit-eating grin on your face as you jumped about to them. And the now-iconic artwork by Nick Lant – probably his most recognisable piece of work for the band - has adorned countless thousands of jackets and T-shirts since. Recorded over just four days during the heady summer of 1982, and released six months later in January 1983, when it quickly climbed to No. 3 in the UK’s then-important Independent Charts, this exhilarating collection of songs has endured for four decades, the band still regularly kicking their live set off with the opening track, ‘All Gone Dead’. As a staple of the punk scene, ALL of the Subhumans records are still in high demand, and this long overdue repress of this album couldn’t be coming at a better time. Subhumans are one of the most influential bands from the UK Anarcho-Punk scene of the 80's, filed right alongside Crass and Conflict, and just as relevant today as they were during the darkest days of Thatcher's Britain. Take your choice in how to label them – Punk, UK82, Crusty, etc. – therein lies the attraction and consequent reason for their popularity, the band epitomizes non-conformity and connects with people in many different scenes. This album is an essential piece of history in the world of punk that Subhumans helped create. |
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Unknown Mortal Orchestra [V (2LP-black vinyl)] March 17 street date. "V" is the first double album from the Hawaiian-New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson's Unknown Mortal Orchestra band. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, "V" is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record. Across fourteen sunbleached songs - written solo or with his brother Kody - Ruban draws from the rich traditions of West Coast AOR, yacht rock, weirdo pop, and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. Over a laidback blend of singalong anthems and cinematic instrumentals, he evokes blue skies, afternoons spent lounging by hotel swimming pools, and the alluring darkness that lurks below perfect, pristine surfaces. Having been influenced by Hawaiian music since Unknown Mortal Orchestra's first album, Ruban saw a space for himself within the tradition. When he reflected on his success, he realised he had the responsibility and platform to represent Hapa-haole music on the global stage. |
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World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid [Thank You For Being Here (live)] March 10 street date. "Thank You For Being Here" is a new live album by The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and is a companion piece to a feature length documentary film of the same name. After multiple delays, the seven-piece band from Connecticut set out on the road in 2021 for a five -week tour to support their critically acclaimed new album, "Illusory Walls". They brought with them a documentary filmmaker and audio engineer to capture the adventures. This collection of songs features fan favourites from the band's catalog along with a deep dive into their latest studio album. The film is slated for release in October, the one year anniversary of the band's latest studio album, "Illusory Walls". |
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Xiu Xiu [Ignore Grief (silver ghost coloured)] March 3 street date. Xiu Xiu has spent twenty years grappling with how to process, to be empathetic towards, to disobey and to reorganize horror. "Ignore Grief" is a record of halves. Angela Seo sings on half of the record. Jamie Stewart sings on half of the record. Half of it is real. Half of it is imaginary. The real songs attempt to turn the worst life has offered to five people the band is connected with into some kind of desperate shape that does something, anything, other than grind and brutalize their hearts and memory within these stunningly horrendous experiences. The imaginary songs are an expansion and abstract exploration of the early rock and roll "teen tragedy" genre as jumping off point to decontaminate the band's own overwhelming emotions in knowing and living with what has happened to these five people. |
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Yo La Tengo [This Stupid World (2LP)] February 10 street date. Acclaimed indie trio Yo La Tengo present their most live-sounding album in years, "This Stupid World". Times have changed for the group as much as they have for everyone else. In the past they've often worked with outside producers and mixers, but for their latest effort, the band's sixteenth studio record and first full-length in five years, they were left to their own devices. Their time-tested judgment across the double-LP is both sturdy enough to keep things up to Yo La Tengo's high standards, and nimble enough to make things new. At the base of nearly every track on "This Stupid World" is the trio playing all at once, giving everything a right-now feel. There's an immediacy to the music, as if the distance between the first pass and the final product has become more direct. |
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