Available now. Toronto-based French/American Jazz singer Laura Anglade is making a name for herself in the jazz world. Continuing the tradition of the great ladies of jazz - Laura's singing is reminiscent of many of the great vocal stylists of the 20th century including Anita O'Day, Shirley Horn, and Blossom Dearie, but her voice is uniquely her own. Accompanied by guitarist Sam Kirmayer (and accordionist Benjamin Rosenblum on two tracks), their new recording "Venez donc chez moi" is an homage of sorts, and a nod to Laura's beloved France. It features jazz versions of French classics made famous by Maurice Chevalier, Boris Vian, Edith Piaf, and Jacques Brel to name a few. She digs emotionally and eloquently into a standard, her story-telling abilities portray a soul beyond her years.
May 20 street date. THE Canadian heavy metal cult band is back! Anvil proudly present their brand new (the 19th in total!) studio album, "Impact Is Imminent". Charismatic singer/guitarist Lips, drummer Robb Reiner and bass player Chris Robertson definitely deliver the goods here: both sonically and when it comes to songwriting, the new album (consisting of 14 merciless metal tracks) directly advances to a highlight in the over 40-year band history - an eventful career (also well depicted in 2009's award-winning documentary film "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil") which proves Anvil to be among the most consistent acts of the genre. Their sound and intensity was inspiration for generations of subsequent musicians and Anvil's unparalleled tenacity and unwillingness to compromise are already legendary. The fact that they are now releasing such a strong and fresh album in 2022 once again underlines the quality of the band.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. If "KiCk I" is a multidimensional self-portrait that held all of Arca's many mutations, "KiCk ii" sees her deconstruct reggaeton rhythms she grew up listening to in Caracas, balancing structure and chaos to create her most accessible work yet without sacrificing any of her uncompromising experimentation; the rising cycle.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. "KiCk iii" sees her returning to the club nights that shaped her early adulthood where Arca was born: the surrealist DJ, warping dance music structures to fit her singular vision - relentless rhythms to drive listeners into uncharted states of euphoria, dark queer clubs of our cyberpunk near-future; the climax of the cycle.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. "KiCk iii" sees her returning to the club nights that shaped her early adulthood where Arca was born: the surrealist DJ, warping dance music structures to fit her singular vision - relentless rhythms to drive listeners into uncharted states of euphoria, dark queer clubs of our cyberpunk near-future; the climax of the cycle.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. With "KiCk iiii", the cycle resolves, and a new species of xenopop emerges, sensual and serene. Arca's talents as a composer and sound designer take the lead on closing track "Paw", setting melodies to drift on deep, gentle waves of orchestral ambience, an oceanic bliss.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. With "KiCk iiii", the cycle resolves, and a new species of xenopop emerges, sensual and serene. Arca's talents as a composer and sound designer take the lead on closing track "Paw", setting melodies to drift on deep, gentle waves of orchestral ambience, an oceanic bliss.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. On "KiCk iiiii" the ambient ecstasy transitions swiftly into lullaby-like compositions as we come to the conclusion of the "KiCk" series; the renewal stage.
May 20 street date. Produced and recorded by Arca, the "KiCk" series is an ambitious act of music world-building that has captivated fans and critics around the world. On "KiCk iiiii" the ambient ecstasy transitions swiftly into lullaby-like compositions as we come to the conclusion of the "KiCk" series; the renewal stage.
May 20 street date. If the pandemic made you realize that you missed one thing about your connection with punk, there's a decent chance that Bishops Green had something to do with that. This band hits hard and reaches people on a very deep level. Making new fans daily, they continue to connect with scores of people very deeply, even not being able to tour. Yet the true magic in this band is really seeing them live. As the world returns to normal and gigs materialize, more and more people are gonna realize how important this band is to the social fabric of punk rock. The passion they’ve instilled in fans, and the fervor from within are both equally strong and together are the reason why this band has so much impact to deliver! This album and these songs absolutely set the tone, brilliantly, but there is so much more to come as well. Absolutely no lack of excitement in this maple-leaf-adorned corner of the punk rock world - in fact, quite the opposite! There are seemingly black skies adrift right now, but somehow these songs make you feel like there's a golden future on the horizon! We can all at least sing loud, and hope…
May 20 street date. Vinyl edition to be released later this year. Down in Louisiana, they do things differently. The Southern state's musical giants have always had their own distinct recipe for American roots: spiced with jazz, steeped in swamp-blues and cooked up a little differently by every artist who performs it. As a second-generation child of the Bayou State, Kenny Neal has taken his own inimitable guitar, gale-force harp and roadworn voice all over the globe. But in 2022, the Grammy-nominated blues master's latest album, "Straight From The Heart", finds him drawn by the siren call of his hometown and musical ground zero, Baton Rouge. If there's a guiding concept behind the eleven songs of "Straight From The Heart", it's Neal's mission to wind back the reels of his life and channel the spirit of the music that crackled from the family record player in early years.
May 20 street date. When Porridge Radio's Dana Margolin, one of the most vital new voices in rock, began to consider the themes of their new album, three vivid words emerged: joy, fear and endlessness. The band's third full-length, "Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky" is an image that's partly inspired by a collage by the surrealist artist Eileen Agar, and evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life. But Dana was also drawn to the story of Jacob's Ladder from the Old Testament which "symbolises the ups and downs of human life, of virtue and sin", she explains. "Within this album the feelings of joy, fear and endlessness coexist together". That mix of emotions has defined Porridge Radio's past two years to say the least. It's a strange sensation, becoming a breakthrough band who are breathlessly championed by every major music site, without being able to experience any of it in the real world.
May 20 street date. When Porridge Radio's Dana Margolin, one of the most vital new voices in rock, began to consider the themes of their new album, three vivid words emerged: joy, fear and endlessness. The band's third full-length, "Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky" is an image that's partly inspired by a collage by the surrealist artist Eileen Agar, and evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life. But Dana was also drawn to the story of Jacob's Ladder from the Old Testament which "symbolises the ups and downs of human life, of virtue and sin", she explains. "Within this album the feelings of joy, fear and endlessness coexist together". That mix of emotions has defined Porridge Radio's past two years to say the least. It's a strange sensation, becoming a breakthrough band who are breathlessly championed by every major music site, without being able to experience any of it in the real world.
May 20 street date. When Porridge Radio's Dana Margolin, one of the most vital new voices in rock, began to consider the themes of their new album, three vivid words emerged: joy, fear and endlessness. The band's third full-length, "Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky" is an image that's partly inspired by a collage by the surrealist artist Eileen Agar, and evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life. But Dana was also drawn to the story of Jacob's Ladder from the Old Testament which "symbolises the ups and downs of human life, of virtue and sin", she explains. "Within this album the feelings of joy, fear and endlessness coexist together". That mix of emotions has defined Porridge Radio's past two years to say the least. It's a strange sensation, becoming a breakthrough band who are breathlessly championed by every major music site, without being able to experience any of it in the real world.
Please note new street date: May 20. On their new album "House", Swedish indie darlings Shout Out Louds share a collection of songs attuned to the strange poetry of everyday life, the kind of small and subtle moments that together form the very texture of our existence. The sixth full-length from the Stockholm-based band, "House" ponders such matters as mental unrest, growing older, and the fragility of love with an unblinking realism that's endlessly brightened by their heavenly melodies and indelibly warm sound. The result: a body of work beautifully suited to getting lost in what Olenius refers to as "the little house inside your head". Produced by Peter Bjorn and John's Björn Yttling (Lykke Li, Franz Ferdinand, Primal Scream, etc), who also helmed Shout Out Louds' acclaimed sophomore album "Our Ill Wills", "House" marks a purposeful departure from the grand and lush vibe of 2017's "Ease My Mind". To that end, the band this time recorded live and embraced a post-punk-inspired minimalism that magnifies the raw emotion of each song, fully harnessing the effusive energy they've brought to the stage.
Please note new street date: May 20. On their new album "House", Swedish indie darlings Shout Out Louds share a collection of songs attuned to the strange poetry of everyday life, the kind of small and subtle moments that together form the very texture of our existence. The sixth full-length from the Stockholm-based band, "House" ponders such matters as mental unrest, growing older, and the fragility of love with an unblinking realism that's endlessly brightened by their heavenly melodies and indelibly warm sound. The result: a body of work beautifully suited to getting lost in what Olenius refers to as "the little house inside your head". Produced by Peter Bjorn and John's Björn Yttling (Lykke Li, Franz Ferdinand, Primal Scream, etc), who also helmed Shout Out Louds' acclaimed sophomore album "Our Ill Wills", "House" marks a purposeful departure from the grand and lush vibe of 2017's "Ease My Mind". To that end, the band this time recorded live and embraced a post-punk-inspired minimalism that magnifies the raw emotion of each song, fully harnessing the effusive energy they've brought to the stage.
May 20 street date. With their new album, "If I Never Know You Like This Again", SOAK has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut "Before We Forgot How To Dream", and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow up album, "Grim Town". Showing from a young age an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the material so it was always there for them to revisit. Now, at 25, SOAK's third album "If I Never Know You Like This Again'" is naturally made up of what Bridie intimately calls "song-memories". Throughout the album SOAK pushes and pulls at melodies, but never milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production the swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop-edge. There's a constant pulsating beat at the album's centre, propelling it towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 1990s coming-of-age film.
May 20 street date. With their new album, "If I Never Know You Like This Again", SOAK has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut "Before We Forgot How To Dream", and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow up album, "Grim Town". Showing from a young age an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the material so it was always there for them to revisit. Now, at 25, SOAK's third album "If I Never Know You Like This Again'" is naturally made up of what Bridie intimately calls "song-memories". Throughout the album SOAK pushes and pulls at melodies, but never milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production the swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop-edge. There's a constant pulsating beat at the album's centre, propelling it towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 1990s coming-of-age film.
May 20 street date. With their new album, "If I Never Know You Like This Again", SOAK has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut "Before We Forgot How To Dream", and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow up album, "Grim Town". Showing from a young age an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the material so it was always there for them to revisit. Now, at 25, SOAK's third album "If I Never Know You Like This Again'" is naturally made up of what Bridie intimately calls "song-memories". Throughout the album SOAK pushes and pulls at melodies, but never milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production the swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop-edge. There's a constant pulsating beat at the album's centre, propelling it towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 1990s coming-of-age film.
May 20 street date. Vinyl edition coming later in 2022. The incredible, indelible Jon Spencer is back with the incendiary HITmakers - and with his hottest record yet! "Spencer Gets It Lit" is classic Jon Spencer taken to the extreme - electro-boogie, constructivist art pop, and a psychedelic swamp of industrial sleaze and futurist elegance. It is an epic master work of freak beat from the world's weirdest garage. Across brain-boggling layers of fury, fuzz guitar, and a crash-bang battery of phaser blasts, photon torpedoes, and otherworldly zounds, he frantically spits, croons, rhapsodizes, and seduces. "Spencer Gets It Lit" is his most complex and groovy record in years, a dark, danceable odyssey - both a studied take-down of the early 21st century, and a celebration of the place where electricity meets the mind. Thirteen wicked hot songs of love, loss, lust, life - "Spencer Gets It Lit" delivers all of the friction, excitement, and post-modern depravity one could ever ask for!
May 20 street date. If you're looking for a raw, sugary blast of distorted pop, look no further than Weird Nightmare. The debut album from METZ guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins contains all of his main band's bite with an unexpected, yet totally satisfying, sweetness. Imagine The Amps covering Big Star, or the gloriously hissy miniature epics of classic-era Guided by Voices combined with the bombast of "Copper Blue"-era Sugar - just tons of red-line distortion cut with the type of tunecraft that thrills the moment it hits your ears. These ten songs showcase a new side of Edkin's already-established songwriting, but even though the bulk of "Weird Nightmare" was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic some of its tunes date back to 2013 in demo form. "Weird Nightmare" is, in its own way, a study in extremes: Edkins' melodic instincts and penchant for dissonance are both turned up to the max throughout, the latter reflecting not only the barn-burning tendencies of METZ, but Alex's own sonic predilections.
May 20 street date. If you're looking for a raw, sugary blast of distorted pop, look no further than Weird Nightmare. The debut album from METZ guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins contains all of his main band's bite with an unexpected, yet totally satisfying, sweetness. Imagine The Amps covering Big Star, or the gloriously hissy miniature epics of classic-era Guided by Voices combined with the bombast of "Copper Blue"-era Sugar - just tons of red-line distortion cut with the type of tunecraft that thrills the moment it hits your ears. These ten songs showcase a new side of Edkin's already-established songwriting, but even though the bulk of "Weird Nightmare" was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic some of its tunes date back to 2013 in demo form. "Weird Nightmare" is, in its own way, a study in extremes: Edkins' melodic instincts and penchant for dissonance are both turned up to the max throughout, the latter reflecting not only the barn-burning tendencies of METZ, but Alex's own sonic predilections.
May 20 street date. If you're looking for a raw, sugary blast of distorted pop, look no further than Weird Nightmare. The debut album from METZ guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins contains all of his main band's bite with an unexpected, yet totally satisfying, sweetness. Imagine The Amps covering Big Star, or the gloriously hissy miniature epics of classic-era Guided by Voices combined with the bombast of "Copper Blue"-era Sugar - just tons of red-line distortion cut with the type of tunecraft that thrills the moment it hits your ears. These ten songs showcase a new side of Edkin's already-established songwriting, but even though the bulk of "Weird Nightmare" was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic some of its tunes date back to 2013 in demo form. "Weird Nightmare" is, in its own way, a study in extremes: Edkins' melodic instincts and penchant for dissonance are both turned up to the max throughout, the latter reflecting not only the barn-burning tendencies of METZ, but Alex's own sonic predilections.
May 27 street date. Following the release of their debut album, "Overcast!", Atmosphere was already making waves in the underground Hip-Hop scene, attracting attention for their unique combination of content, styles and sounds. Although the group was suddenly smaller due to the departure of one member, Spawn, the buzz continued to grow, as did the creative output of remaining members Slug and Ant. Over the next 3 years, the duo recorded and released a flurry of unofficial Atmosphere CD's, tapes, songs and side projects, along with pressing and distributing a string of vinyl EP's, titled "Ford One", "Ford Two", and "The Lucy EP". These vinyl EP's were ultimately consolidated onto one CD as well, for the purpose of selling on tour and distributing to retail, becoming what most considered to be Atmosphere's official sophomore album, "Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's", more commonly referred to as simply "Lucy Ford". Now, in celebration of its 20th anniversary, the entire "Lucy Ford" album is finally available on 2xLP vinyl, for the first time in history.
May 27 street date. It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. This wouldn't be a Bright Eyes project if a moment devoted to appreciating the past weren't turned into an opportunity to connect with the future. That's where the nine companion EPs come in. Or as Oberst puts it, "the supplemental reading" for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each featuring five reworked songs from that album. "My thing was they had to sound different from the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way". Plus one cover that felt "of the era" in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at the time.
May 27 street date (CD)/July 15 street date (LP). It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. Originally released in 1998, "A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997" is, well, a collection of Bright Eyes songs written and recorded between 1995-1997.
May 27 street date (CD)/July 15 street date (LP). It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. Originally released in 2000, "Fevers And Mirrors" is the second album from Bright Eyes.
May 27 street date. It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. This wouldn't be a Bright Eyes project if a moment devoted to appreciating the past weren't turned into an opportunity to connect with the future. That's where the nine companion EPs come in. Or as Oberst puts it, "the supplemental reading" for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each featuring five reworked songs from that album. "My thing was they had to sound different from the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way". Plus one cover that felt "of the era" in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at the time. To help the EP come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends, like Phoebe Bridgers and M. Ward as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee.
May 27 street date. It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. This wouldn't be a Bright Eyes project if a moment devoted to appreciating the past weren't turned into an opportunity to connect with the future. That's where the nine companion EPs come in. Or as Oberst puts it, "the supplemental reading" for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each featuring five reworked songs from that album. "My thing was they had to sound different from the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way". Plus one cover that felt "of the era" in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at the time. Phoebe Bridgers guests on four of the EP's six tracks.
May 27 street date (CD)/July 15 street date (LP). It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. Originally released in 1998, "Letting Off The Happiness" is the debut album from Bright Eyes.
May 27 street date. The term "classic album" has been devalued somewhat through overuse, but if ever an album has proved worthy of the term it's Robert Fripp's 1979 solo debut "Exposure". An invitation from David Bowie and Brian Eno in July 1977 resulted in his appearance as lead guitarist on "Heroes", David Bowie's second 1977 album, and marked Fripp’s return to full time musician. Further work with Daryl Hall, Peter Gabriel, The Roches, and Blondie preceded the sessions. Recorded at the Record Plant in New York, the album was originally conceived as part of a trilogy alongside Daryl Hall's "Sacred Songs" and Peter Gabriel's second solo album (both Fripp produced). When "Exposure" finally appeared in 1979, its mixture of songs, singers, instrumentals, snatches of speech, audio verite sound collages - all linked by an autobiographical/diary approach - presented a very different musician from that of the initial King Crimson period 1969-74. Now presented in CD/DVD form as remixed from the original multi-track master tapes by Steven Wilson as part of his work on the "Exposures" boxed set, in 24/96 hi-res stereo and DTS 5.1 Surround Sound with additional material and two complete earlier editions, the album retains all of the power and vitality that made it such a compelling listen when first released.
May 27 street date. The term "classic album" has been devalued somewhat through overuse, but if ever an album has proved worthy of the term it's Robert Fripp's 1979 solo debut "Exposure". An invitation from David Bowie and Brian Eno in July 1977 resulted in his appearance as lead guitarist on "Heroes", David Bowie's second 1977 album, and marked Fripp’s return to full time musician. Further work with Daryl Hall, Peter Gabriel, The Roches, and Blondie preceded the sessions. Recorded at the Record Plant in New York, the album was originally conceived as part of a trilogy alongside Daryl Hall's "Sacred Songs" and Peter Gabriel's second solo album (both Fripp produced). When "Exposure" finally appeared in 1979, its mixture of songs, singers, instrumentals, snatches of speech, audio verite sound collages - all linked by an autobiographical/diary approach - presented a very different musician from that of the initial King Crimson period 1969-74. Now presented in single LP form as remixed from the original multi-track master tapes by Steven Wilson as part of his work on the "Exposures" boxed set, the album retains all of the power and vitality that made it such a compelling listen when first released.
May 27 street date. "Full Circle" is the emotional and pivotal album that followed the tragic death of founding member and bassist Jason Mathew Thirsk. Dedicated to the memory of Thirsk, "Full Circle" is hard as nails, reflective and ultimately redemptive. Despite the somber task at hand, the record is exhilarating and uplifting. With the help of long time friend Randy Bradbury on bass, Pennywise was able to look inward and work through the issues that would have torn a lesser band apart. "Full Circle" also features a moving re-recording of "Bro Hymn" and a special hidden piano instrumental of "Unknown Road". Reissued on coloured vinyl for the first time to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
April 29 street date. 7 years after their last studio album, "The Inevitable End", and their farewell to the traditional album format, Röyksopp unveils "Profound Mysteries", an expanded creative universe and a prodigious conceptual project. In 2022, they embark on a new chapter in their career and musical oeuvre, exploring technology and nature in a similar fashion as in their youthful days in Tromsø, but with added profundity. "As human beings, what we don't know vastly overshadows what we do know. As teenagers, we would discuss our own fascination and preoccupation with the infinite and the impossible - the most profound mysteries of life". After stepping on a lot of puffball mushrooms out in the forest and emerging from an organic cloud of dust, they deliver their most extensive work to date and reveal once more why only Röyksopp is Röyksopp.
May 27 street date. Drag City grandly presents "Whirlybird (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", featuring all-new music by Ty Segall, created for Matt Yoka's compelling new documentary.
May 27 street date. Stars return with the announce of their ninth album, "From Capelton Hill". Focus single "Pretenders" showcases their signature hook-heavy, dance-infused anthems that the band has been known for over 20+ years. Stars continue to prove themselves some of the finest musical storytellers in Canada, moving through life with their fans.
May 27 street date. Stars return with the announce of their ninth album, "From Capelton Hill". Focus single "Pretenders" showcases their signature hook-heavy, dance-infused anthems that the band has been known for over 20+ years. Stars continue to prove themselves some of the finest musical storytellers in Canada, moving through life with their fans.
May 27 street date (LP) (date change)/ CD available now. Various artists musically interpret poems from "The Fall of America: Poems of these States 1965-1971" on this 50th anniversary tribute to Allen Ginsberg's "The Fall of America". Featuring Yo La Tengo, Shintaro Sakamoto, Angelique Kidjo, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Devendra Banhart, Bill Frisell, Andrew Bird and more. Ginsberg, already heavily influenced by Jack Kerouac's methods of spontaneous composition, felt the taping was an ideal way to pursue his own spontaneous work. He began planning a volume of poems, a literary documentary examining contemporary America, not unlike what Kerouac had done in "On the Road", or what Robert Frank had accomplished in his photographs in The Americans. He would add one important element: the violence, destruction, and inhumanity of the escalating war in Vietnam-an edgy contrast to what he was witnessing in his travels, particularly his country's natural beauty. CD features 7 tracks not available on vinyl.
June 3 street date. AWOLNATION's upcoming album "My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers And Me" is a fiercely collaborative and celebratory project. It's an eclectic collection of masterfully crafted and carefully curated covers, with each track featuring at least one acclaimed musical artist. It includes epic re-imaginings of classics like "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, "Take a Chance on Me" by Abba, and "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil; and features collaborations with artists like Portugal the Man, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Jewel, Beck, Taylor Hanson, and more.
June 3 street date. "Date Night: Chromeo Live!" is a document of a band nearly 20 years into their storied career and a foreshadowing of what's to come from Dave 1 and P-Thugg, inseparable friends and collaborators and forever guardians of the groove. The album features live versions of songs spanning the band's entire career, recorded on their last pre-pandemic tour, a 2019 headline run of iconic U.S. venues like Colorado's Red Rocks and the Hollywood Bowl. "Date Night: Chromeo Live!" captures the band in full swing, at the height of their funky superpowers, delivering 90 minutes of pure, uncut funk.
June 3 street date. Riff-monsters Crobot conjures up the kind of rock 'n' roll that has grooves so powerful they throw you around the room and hooks high enough to shake the heavens. With tens of millions of streams, countless shows and acclaim from the likes of Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Kerrang, BBC Radio, SiriusXM Octane, Loudwire, Guitar World and more, Brandon Yeagley [vocals], Chris Bishop [guitar], Tim Peugh [bass], and Dan Ryan [drums] realize their vision like never before on their fifth full-length, "Feel This", the follow-up to 2019's Top 10 Heatseekers album "Motherbrain" - whose cumulative streams have surpassed 30 million (20 million of which were for the goliath single "Low Life" - a US Top 10 hit at the Mainstream Rock radio with a 29-week run on the Billboard charts). "We never want to make the same album twice," Brandon says. "There is something for every Crobot fan out there as well as newcomers. At the same time, we're having fun. We want to be taken seriously, but not too seriously - because this is monkey hour after all. We want you to walk away smiling".
June 3 street date. Riff-monsters Crobot conjures up the kind of rock 'n' roll that has grooves so powerful they throw you around the room and hooks high enough to shake the heavens. With tens of millions of streams, countless shows and acclaim from the likes of Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Kerrang, BBC Radio, SiriusXM Octane, Loudwire, Guitar World and more, Brandon Yeagley [vocals], Chris Bishop [guitar], Tim Peugh [bass], and Dan Ryan [drums] realize their vision like never before on their fifth full-length, "Feel This", the follow-up to 2019's Top 10 Heatseekers album "Motherbrain" - whose cumulative streams have surpassed 30 million (20 million of which were for the goliath single "Low Life" - a US Top 10 hit at the Mainstream Rock radio with a 29-week run on the Billboard charts). "We never want to make the same album twice," Brandon says. "There is something for every Crobot fan out there as well as newcomers. At the same time, we're having fun. We want to be taken seriously, but not too seriously - because this is monkey hour after all. We want you to walk away smiling".
June 3 street date. The Montréal/Berlin producer returns with a second LP for Constellation and follow-up to his acclaimed "Therapy With Colour" (2020). "Miracles" draws on recordings originally captured in a 2018 audio/visual performance project based around surveillance footage - a precursor to video-capped, monitor-based horizons that soon took on new meanings. Re-immersing himself in this material, Gowdy disassembles and deploys the source material for new experiments with vactrols, noise gates and analog-to-digital triggering and aliasing, the original recordings then juxtaposed anew amidst these successive textural and rhythmic treatments. Gowdy keeps this re-composition process stripped down, elemental and purposive, guided by an ascetic synthesis as sublation. The result is a captivating collection of minimal IDM and oscillated electronics, working primarily in a 120-140 BPM zone of tonal percussion and corrugated pulse.
June 3 street date. The Montréal/Berlin producer returns with a second LP for Constellation and follow-up to his acclaimed "Therapy With Colour" (2020). "Miracles" draws on recordings originally captured in a 2018 audio/visual performance project based around surveillance footage - a precursor to video-capped, monitor-based horizons that soon took on new meanings. Re-immersing himself in this material, Gowdy disassembles and deploys the source material for new experiments with vactrols, noise gates and analog-to-digital triggering and aliasing, the original recordings then juxtaposed anew amidst these successive textural and rhythmic treatments. Gowdy keeps this re-composition process stripped down, elemental and purposive, guided by an ascetic synthesis as sublation. The result is a captivating collection of minimal IDM and oscillated electronics, working primarily in a 120-140 BPM zone of tonal percussion and corrugated pulse.
June 3 street date. Horsegirl are best friends. You don't have to talk to the indie rock trio for more than five minutes to feel the warmth and strength of their bond, which crackles through every second of their debut full-length, "Versions of Modern Performance". Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) do everything collectively, from song writing to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments, to sound and visual art design. "Versions of Modern Performance" was recorded with John Agnello (Kurt Vile, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.) at Electrical Audio, and across the record Horsegirl expertly play with texture, shape and shade, showcasing their fondness for improvisation and experimentation. One can hear elements of the 1980s and 90s independent music the band love so deeply and sincerely - the scuzzy melodicism of what used to be called "college rock", the cool, bubbly space-age sheen of the 90s vamps on lounge and noir; the warm, noisy roar of shoegaze; the economical hooks and rhythms of post-punk. But as Horsegirl fuse all of this together it feels not like a pastiche or a hacky retread, but something as playful and unique as its predecessors.
June 3 street date. Horsegirl are best friends. You don't have to talk to the indie rock trio for more than five minutes to feel the warmth and strength of their bond, which crackles through every second of their debut full-length, "Versions of Modern Performance". Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) do everything collectively, from song writing to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments, to sound and visual art design. "Versions of Modern Performance" was recorded with John Agnello (Kurt Vile, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.) at Electrical Audio, and across the record Horsegirl expertly play with texture, shape and shade, showcasing their fondness for improvisation and experimentation. One can hear elements of the 1980s and 90s independent music the band love so deeply and sincerely - the scuzzy melodicism of what used to be called "college rock", the cool, bubbly space-age sheen of the 90s vamps on lounge and noir; the warm, noisy roar of shoegaze; the economical hooks and rhythms of post-punk. But as Horsegirl fuse all of this together it feels not like a pastiche or a hacky retread, but something as playful and unique as its predecessors.
June 3 street date. Horsegirl are best friends. You don't have to talk to the indie rock trio for more than five minutes to feel the warmth and strength of their bond, which crackles through every second of their debut full-length, "Versions of Modern Performance". Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) do everything collectively, from song writing to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments, to sound and visual art design. "Versions of Modern Performance" was recorded with John Agnello (Kurt Vile, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.) at Electrical Audio, and across the record Horsegirl expertly play with texture, shape and shade, showcasing their fondness for improvisation and experimentation. One can hear elements of the 1980s and 90s independent music the band love so deeply and sincerely - the scuzzy melodicism of what used to be called "college rock", the cool, bubbly space-age sheen of the 90s vamps on lounge and noir; the warm, noisy roar of shoegaze; the economical hooks and rhythms of post-punk. But as Horsegirl fuse all of this together it feels not like a pastiche or a hacky retread, but something as playful and unique as its predecessors.
Also available: OLE1846LP (black vinyl) / OLE1846CD
June 3 street date. Casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father's old cassette recorder, Jens Lekman recalls an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers: "all my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands", he says. "I'm going to sound like Scott Walker. But I'm going to do it in my bedroom". Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure flea market vinyl records, telling burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg, Lekman's early songs come from a different time and place: an era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. "The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom" and "The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom" are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes, each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.
June 3 street date. Casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father's old cassette recorder, Jens Lekman recalls an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers: "all my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands", he says. "I'm going to sound like Scott Walker. But I'm going to do it in my bedroom". Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure flea market vinyl records, telling burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg, Lekman's early songs come from a different time and place: an era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. "The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom" and "The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom" are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes, each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.
June 3 street date. Casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father's old cassette recorder, Jens Lekman recalls an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers: "all my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands", he says. "I'm going to sound like Scott Walker. But I'm going to do it in my bedroom". Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure flea market vinyl records, telling burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg, Lekman's early songs come from a different time and place: an era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. "The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom" and "The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom" are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes, each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.
June 3 street date. Casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father's old cassette recorder, Jens Lekman recalls an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers: "all my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands", he says. "I'm going to sound like Scott Walker. But I'm going to do it in my bedroom". Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure flea market vinyl records, telling burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg, Lekman's early songs come from a different time and place: an era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. "The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom" and "The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom" are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes, each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.
June 3 street date. Casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father's old cassette recorder, Jens Lekman recalls an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers: "all my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands", he says. "I'm going to sound like Scott Walker. But I'm going to do it in my bedroom". Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure flea market vinyl records, telling burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg, Lekman's early songs come from a different time and place: an era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. "The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom" and "The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom" are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes, each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.
June 3 street date. Casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father's old cassette recorder, Jens Lekman recalls an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers: "all my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands", he says. "I'm going to sound like Scott Walker. But I'm going to do it in my bedroom". Works of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure flea market vinyl records, telling burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg, Lekman's early songs come from a different time and place: an era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible. "The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom" and "The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom" are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes, each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.
June 3 street date. A product of generations of underground music in L.A. and beyond, The Linda Lindas' debut, "Growing Up", channels classic punk, post punk, power pop, new wave, and other surprises into timelessly catchy and cool songs sung by all four members - each with her own style and energy. A handful of cuts have already been previewed at shows and enthusiastically approved by diehard followers in the pit at L.A.'s DIY punk institution The Smell and Head in the Cloud festival goers at The Rose Bowl alike. The Linda Lindas first played together as members of a pickup new wave cover band of kids assembled by Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls) for Girlschool LA in 2018 and then formed their own garage punk group just for fun. When the pandemic put a pause on shows, The Linda Lindas went on to self-release a four-song EP, make their own videos and grow a following beyond Los Angeles. But they never expected or could have even dreamed that their performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" for the Los Angeles Public Library in May 2021 would take them from punk shows to TV shows.
June 3 street date. A product of generations of underground music in L.A. and beyond, The Linda Lindas' debut, "Growing Up", channels classic punk, post punk, power pop, new wave, and other surprises into timelessly catchy and cool songs sung by all four members - each with her own style and energy. A handful of cuts have already been previewed at shows and enthusiastically approved by diehard followers in the pit at L.A.'s DIY punk institution The Smell and Head in the Cloud festival goers at The Rose Bowl alike. The Linda Lindas first played together as members of a pickup new wave cover band of kids assembled by Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls) for Girlschool LA in 2018 and then formed their own garage punk group just for fun. When the pandemic put a pause on shows, The Linda Lindas went on to self-release a four-song EP, make their own videos and grow a following beyond Los Angeles. But they never expected or could have even dreamed that their performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" for the Los Angeles Public Library in May 2021 would take them from punk shows to TV shows.
June 3 street date. A product of generations of underground music in L.A. and beyond, The Linda Lindas' debut, "Growing Up", channels classic punk, post punk, power pop, new wave, and other surprises into timelessly catchy and cool songs sung by all four members - each with her own style and energy. A handful of cuts have already been previewed at shows and enthusiastically approved by diehard followers in the pit at L.A.'s DIY punk institution The Smell and Head in the Cloud festival goers at The Rose Bowl alike. The Linda Lindas first played together as members of a pickup new wave cover band of kids assembled by Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls) for Girlschool LA in 2018 and then formed their own garage punk group just for fun. When the pandemic put a pause on shows, The Linda Lindas went on to self-release a four-song EP, make their own videos and grow a following beyond Los Angeles. But they never expected or could have even dreamed that their performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" for the Los Angeles Public Library in May 2021 would take them from punk shows to TV shows.
Please note new street date: June 3. The Epitaph debut from pop punk upstarts, Magnolia Park. Contrary to what some may say, pop punk is alive and well in 2021, and groups like Magnolia Park are making sure it stays that way. Hailing from Orlando, Florida, Magnolia Park is a five-piece consisting of lead vocalist Joshua Roberts, guitarists Tristan Torres and Freddie Criales, bassist Jared Kay, and drummer Joe Horsham. In recent years, experimental sounds and more personal lyrics have dominated the pop punk scene. While staying true to the genre's roots, the members of Magnolia Park bring their own twist to the table with louder, angrier vocals and a fusion of genres ranging from hip-hop and emo to hardcore and alt rock.
June 3 street date. Grammy award-winning blues icon Charlie Musselwhite returns to his Delta blues roots for the most captivating musical statement of his long and legendary career. Charlie's first new solo studio release in seven years is stripped-down and semi-acoustic, driven by his deft guitar playing, while also featuring the masterful harp and soul-deep vocals for which he is famed. "Mississippi Son" is front porch country blues that is at turns raucous and languid, haunting and impossibly soulful. The track listing includes Musselwhite originals and songs by Charley Patton, Yank Rachell, and Big Joe Williams. This warm, intimate recording is loaded with feeling and exhilarating, timeless music. Essential listening for any blues fan.
June 3 street date. Grammy award-winning blues icon Charlie Musselwhite returns to his Delta blues roots for the most captivating musical statement of his long and legendary career. Charlie's first new solo studio release in seven years is stripped-down and semi-acoustic, driven by his deft guitar playing, while also featuring the masterful harp and soul-deep vocals for which he is famed. "Mississippi Son" is front porch country blues that is at turns raucous and languid, haunting and impossibly soulful. The track listing includes Musselwhite originals and songs by Charley Patton, Yank Rachell, and Big Joe Williams. This warm, intimate recording is loaded with feeling and exhilarating, timeless music. Essential listening for any blues fan.
June 3 street date. Fresh grief, like fresh love, has a way of sharpening our vision and bringing on painful clarifications. No matter how temporary we know these states to be, the vulnerability and transformation they demand can overpower the strongest among us. Then there are the rare, fertile moments when both occur, when mourning and limerence heighten, complicate and explain each other; the songs that comprise Angel Olsen's "Big Time" were forged in such a whiplash. "I can't say that I'm sorry/when I don't feel so wrong anymore", the record begins, her voice softer and more open than ever, as if she's singing through a hard won smile. "Big Time" is an album about the expansive power of new love, but this brightness and optimism is tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss. During Olsen's process of coming to terms with her queerness and confronting the traumas that had been keeping her from fully accepting herself, she felt it was time to come out to her parents, a hurdle she'd been avoiding for some time. After that tearful but relieving conversation, she celebrated with her partner, their friends, oysters, and wine. Three days later, her father died; his funeral became the occasion for Olsen to introduce her partner to her family. Only two weeks later Olsen got the call that her mother was in the ER. Hospice came soon after, and a second funeral came quickly on the heels of the first. The shards of this grief - the shortening of her chance to finally be seen more fully by her parents - are scattered throughout the album.
June 3 street date. Fresh grief, like fresh love, has a way of sharpening our vision and bringing on painful clarifications. No matter how temporary we know these states to be, the vulnerability and transformation they demand can overpower the strongest among us. Then there are the rare, fertile moments when both occur, when mourning and limerence heighten, complicate and explain each other; the songs that comprise Angel Olsen's "Big Time" were forged in such a whiplash. "I can't say that I'm sorry/when I don't feel so wrong anymore", the record begins, her voice softer and more open than ever, as if she's singing through a hard won smile. "Big Time" is an album about the expansive power of new love, but this brightness and optimism is tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss. During Olsen's process of coming to terms with her queerness and confronting the traumas that had been keeping her from fully accepting herself, she felt it was time to come out to her parents, a hurdle she'd been avoiding for some time. After that tearful but relieving conversation, she celebrated with her partner, their friends, oysters, and wine. Three days later, her father died; his funeral became the occasion for Olsen to introduce her partner to her family. Only two weeks later Olsen got the call that her mother was in the ER. Hospice came soon after, and a second funeral came quickly on the heels of the first. The shards of this grief - the shortening of her chance to finally be seen more fully by her parents - are scattered throughout the album.
June 3 street date. Fresh grief, like fresh love, has a way of sharpening our vision and bringing on painful clarifications. No matter how temporary we know these states to be, the vulnerability and transformation they demand can overpower the strongest among us. Then there are the rare, fertile moments when both occur, when mourning and limerence heighten, complicate and explain each other; the songs that comprise Angel Olsen's "Big Time" were forged in such a whiplash. "I can't say that I'm sorry/when I don't feel so wrong anymore", the record begins, her voice softer and more open than ever, as if she's singing through a hard won smile. "Big Time" is an album about the expansive power of new love, but this brightness and optimism is tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss. During Olsen's process of coming to terms with her queerness and confronting the traumas that had been keeping her from fully accepting herself, she felt it was time to come out to her parents, a hurdle she'd been avoiding for some time. After that tearful but relieving conversation, she celebrated with her partner, their friends, oysters, and wine. Three days later, her father died; his funeral became the occasion for Olsen to introduce her partner to her family. Only two weeks later Olsen got the call that her mother was in the ER. Hospice came soon after, and a second funeral came quickly on the heels of the first. The shards of this grief - the shortening of her chance to finally be seen more fully by her parents - are scattered throughout the album.
June 3 street date. Fresh grief, like fresh love, has a way of sharpening our vision and bringing on painful clarifications. No matter how temporary we know these states to be, the vulnerability and transformation they demand can overpower the strongest among us. Then there are the rare, fertile moments when both occur, when mourning and limerence heighten, complicate and explain each other; the songs that comprise Angel Olsen's "Big Time" were forged in such a whiplash. "I can't say that I'm sorry/when I don't feel so wrong anymore", the record begins, her voice softer and more open than ever, as if she's singing through a hard won smile. "Big Time" is an album about the expansive power of new love, but this brightness and optimism is tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss. During Olsen's process of coming to terms with her queerness and confronting the traumas that had been keeping her from fully accepting herself, she felt it was time to come out to her parents, a hurdle she'd been avoiding for some time. After that tearful but relieving conversation, she celebrated with her partner, their friends, oysters, and wine. Three days later, her father died; his funeral became the occasion for Olsen to introduce her partner to her family. Only two weeks later Olsen got the call that her mother was in the ER. Hospice came soon after, and a second funeral came quickly on the heels of the first. The shards of this grief - the shortening of her chance to finally be seen more fully by her parents - are scattered throughout the album.
June 3 street date. The tenth installment of Fat Wreck's "Live In A Dive series" takes us back over 30 years to Eindhoven, Holland. The date is May 12, 1989, not too long before Montecito, CA punks RKL will call it quits (for the first time, anyway). The 17-song set - a good chunk of which is culled from 1987's album "Rock 'n Roll Nightmare" - was recorded at famed Eindhoven squat-turned-venue De Effenaar, and is beautifully ragged and raw. Although the band would get back together, things were never quite the same after the members went their separate ways the first time. As such, this record is a document of one of the last points before everything took a dive, of a band holding it together - incredibly well, it has to be said - before everything unraveled. And even though you can't really hear that tension, there does seem to be an extra sense of urgency in these songs.
June 3 street date. The tenth installment of Fat Wreck's "Live In A Dive series" takes us back over 30 years to Eindhoven, Holland. The date is May 12, 1989, not too long before Montecito, CA punks RKL will call it quits (for the first time, anyway). The 17-song set - a good chunk of which is culled from 1987's album "Rock 'n Roll Nightmare" - was recorded at famed Eindhoven squat-turned-venue De Effenaar, and is beautifully ragged and raw. Although the band would get back together, things were never quite the same after the members went their separate ways the first time. As such, this record is a document of one of the last points before everything took a dive, of a band holding it together - incredibly well, it has to be said - before everything unraveled. And even though you can't really hear that tension, there does seem to be an extra sense of urgency in these songs.
Please note new street date: June 3. For anyone who's been feeling suffocated by the sameness that's been afflicting hip-hop and pop - where a small handful of ideas gets recycled endlessly, and a spin through the big new-release playlists quickly devolves into a blur - They Hate Change's Jagjaguwar debut, "Finally", New lives up to its name. Starting as kids trawling the internet for tracks, the two members of They Hate Change have been collecting music from around the world and across the decades, amassing a shared sonic knowledge so deep that "encyclopedic" barely begins to cover it - not just East Coast hip-hop, or the hyperlocal bass-music variants like jook and crank, but also drum 'n' bass, Chicago footwork, post-punk, prog (they're, like, seriously into prog), grime, krautrock, emo, and basically any genre on the map."Finally, New" is what a truly post-genre musical landscape is supposed to be: building deep connections that transcend outdated distinctions between them, spilling over with the joy of exploration and possibility, and daring other artists to think broader, go deeper, take bigger risks.
Please note new street date: June 3. For anyone who's been feeling suffocated by the sameness that's been afflicting hip-hop and pop - where a small handful of ideas gets recycled endlessly, and a spin through the big new-release playlists quickly devolves into a blur - They Hate Change's Jagjaguwar debut, "Finally", New lives up to its name. Starting as kids trawling the internet for tracks, the two members of They Hate Change have been collecting music from around the world and across the decades, amassing a shared sonic knowledge so deep that "encyclopedic" barely begins to cover it - not just East Coast hip-hop, or the hyperlocal bass-music variants like jook and crank, but also drum 'n' bass, Chicago footwork, post-punk, prog (they're, like, seriously into prog), grime, krautrock, emo, and basically any genre on the map."Finally, New" is what a truly post-genre musical landscape is supposed to be: building deep connections that transcend outdated distinctions between them, spilling over with the joy of exploration and possibility, and daring other artists to think broader, go deeper, take bigger risks.
Please note new street date: June 3. For anyone who's been feeling suffocated by the sameness that's been afflicting hip-hop and pop - where a small handful of ideas gets recycled endlessly, and a spin through the big new-release playlists quickly devolves into a blur - They Hate Change's Jagjaguwar debut, "Finally", New lives up to its name. Starting as kids trawling the internet for tracks, the two members of They Hate Change have been collecting music from around the world and across the decades, amassing a shared sonic knowledge so deep that "encyclopedic" barely begins to cover it - not just East Coast hip-hop, or the hyperlocal bass-music variants like jook and crank, but also drum 'n' bass, Chicago footwork, post-punk, prog (they're, like, seriously into prog), grime, krautrock, emo, and basically any genre on the map."Finally, New" is what a truly post-genre musical landscape is supposed to be: building deep connections that transcend outdated distinctions between them, spilling over with the joy of exploration and possibility, and daring other artists to think broader, go deeper, take bigger risks.
CD available now (lower price)/LP street date June 10. There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when Bernard Allison returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, "Highs & Lows", everything felt right with the world. For 56 years, music has been Bernard Allison's essence. As the youngest son of the much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison, he was a bluesman from birth, naturally drawn to this ancient music that seemed to heal deep wounds, and held spellbound by early encounters with heavyweights like Muddy Waters, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor.
June 10 street date. In 2021 the story of the infamous Unabomber Ted Kaczynski received its theatrical debut in a Tony Stone directed film, "Ted K". Stone's choice to have the renowned electronic artist Blanck Mass score the film is somewhat ironic and creates an obvious tension perfect for the controversial and complex subject matter. 2020 saw the first Blanck Mass movie score, for the soundtrack to Nick Rowland's acclaimed cinematic debut "Calm With Horses". This expansion into new areas of melodic composition and textural exploration won Blanck Mass many new fans, with BBC's acknowledged number one film buff Mark Kermode proclaiming the work the soundtrack of the year. In 2021, Blanck Mass won the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for best original film score and has firmly established himself at the forefront of the latest wave of experimental soundscape wizards. The gentle madness of sound achieved is exquisite and slowly builds in intensity and desperation as the score of Ted K moves along. Power is able to perfectly capture the complexity, the terror and the deep emotionality of the film while presenting an often breathtakingly beautiful and always masterful album that stands on its own as a work of art.
June 10 street date. In 2021 the story of the infamous Unabomber Ted Kaczynski received its theatrical debut in a Tony Stone directed film, "Ted K". Stone's choice to have the renowned electronic artist Blanck Mass score the film is somewhat ironic and creates an obvious tension perfect for the controversial and complex subject matter. 2020 saw the first Blanck Mass movie score, for the soundtrack to Nick Rowland's acclaimed cinematic debut "Calm With Horses". This expansion into new areas of melodic composition and textural exploration won Blanck Mass many new fans, with BBC's acknowledged number one film buff Mark Kermode proclaiming the work the soundtrack of the year. In 2021, Blanck Mass won the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for best original film score and has firmly established himself at the forefront of the latest wave of experimental soundscape wizards. The gentle madness of sound achieved is exquisite and slowly builds in intensity and desperation as the score of Ted K moves along. Power is able to perfectly capture the complexity, the terror and the deep emotionality of the film while presenting an often breathtakingly beautiful and always masterful album that stands on its own as a work of art.
June 10 street date. The brand-new album from The Dream Syndicate blends vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sun baked sheen into the their classic psychedelic, melodic, hue. The Dream Syndicate have moved well past their early Velvet Underground influences and taken on British glam, German prog, and more. Featuring singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Wynn, drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, lead guitarist Jason Victor plus their newest member Chris Cacavas on keyboards, plus guest appearances from Stephen McCarthy (of The Long Ryders) and Marcus Tenney's expressive sax and trumpet work.
June 10 street date. The brand-new album from The Dream Syndicate blends vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sun baked sheen into the their classic psychedelic, melodic, hue. The Dream Syndicate have moved well past their early Velvet Underground influences and taken on British glam, German prog, and more. Featuring singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Wynn, drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, lead guitarist Jason Victor plus their newest member Chris Cacavas on keyboards, plus guest appearances from Stephen McCarthy (of The Long Ryders) and Marcus Tenney's expressive sax and trumpet work.
June 10 street date. The brand-new album from The Dream Syndicate blends vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sun baked sheen into the their classic psychedelic, melodic, hue. The Dream Syndicate have moved well past their early Velvet Underground influences and taken on British glam, German prog, and more. Featuring singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Wynn, drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, lead guitarist Jason Victor plus their newest member Chris Cacavas on keyboards, plus guest appearances from Stephen McCarthy (of The Long Ryders) and Marcus Tenney's expressive sax and trumpet work.
Please note new street date: June 10. New EP from Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!. "At War With The Silverfish" finds Grace in a range of stripped-back, poignant modes that amount to an honest and holistic account of our shared humanity. Unafraid to spotlight open wounds and tangled feelings, Grace conveys the distinctive pluck that has defined her work with Against Me! and The Devouring Mothers, but with the intimate energy of home recording with an acoustic guitar. The album is not a clarion call, but a tender invitation. It is a necessary capsule of a woman's artistic pulse; love, longing and loneliness told in affecting turns of phrase. "These are songs of late night madness and loneliness, orphan songs that came wandering in looking to feed like insects", Laura Jane Grace says of her new EP. Throughout the record, she's deftly illustrating the mental gymnastics on the roads to self doubt and self acceptance.
Please note new street date: June 10. "40 oz. to Fresno" is the highly anticipated 6th studio album by Joyce Manor. Produced by Rob Schnapf, this 9 song album is an honest, hard-hitting, post-emo, power pop masterpiece packed with the elevated writing and earnest delivery Joyce Manor is loved for. Joyce Manor has toured extensively and their live show has been the driver behind the band's success. They have made festival appearances at FYF Fest, Coachella, Riot Fest and since the release of their last studio album in 2018, the band has headlined NYC Central Park SummerStage, sold out two nights at the Palladium in LA, and sold out two matinee show at LA's historic Union Station. Barry Johnson and Chase Knobbe started the band in 2008 in the Disneyland parking lot, named after an apartment complex that Johnson would walk past every day. Joyce Manor made their debut as an acoustic two-piece. Quickly they learned that playing loud was much more fun and invited friends to join the lineup. The band has released five studio albums since 2011.
Please note new street date: June 10. "40 oz. to Fresno" is the highly anticipated 6th studio album by Joyce Manor. Produced by Rob Schnapf, this 9 song album is an honest, hard-hitting, post-emo, power pop masterpiece packed with the elevated writing and earnest delivery Joyce Manor is loved for. Joyce Manor has toured extensively and their live show has been the driver behind the band's success. They have made festival appearances at FYF Fest, Coachella, Riot Fest and since the release of their last studio album in 2018, the band has headlined NYC Central Park SummerStage, sold out two nights at the Palladium in LA, and sold out two matinee show at LA's historic Union Station. Barry Johnson and Chase Knobbe started the band in 2008 in the Disneyland parking lot, named after an apartment complex that Johnson would walk past every day. Joyce Manor made their debut as an acoustic two-piece. Quickly they learned that playing loud was much more fun and invited friends to join the lineup. The band has released five studio albums since 2011.
Please note new street date: June 10. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with "Endless Rooms", the Melbourne quintet's third album proper. Described by the band as them "doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together", "Endless Rooms" stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF. While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush near Melbourne. There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there. The house also features on the album cover. For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duy), creating their most naturalistic and expansive document yet. The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind.
Please note new street date: June 10. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with "Endless Rooms", the Melbourne quintet's third album proper. Described by the band as them "doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together", "Endless Rooms" stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF. While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush near Melbourne. There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there. The house also features on the album cover. For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duy), creating their most naturalistic and expansive document yet. The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind.
Please note new street date: June 10. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with "Endless Rooms", the Melbourne quintet's third album proper. Described by the band as them "doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together", "Endless Rooms" stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF. While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush near Melbourne. There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there. The house also features on the album cover. For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duy), creating their most naturalistic and expansive document yet. The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind.
Please note new street date: June 10. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with "Endless Rooms", the Melbourne quintet's third album proper. Described by the band as them "doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together", "Endless Rooms" stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF. While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush near Melbourne. There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there. The house also features on the album cover. For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duy), creating their most naturalistic and expansive document yet. The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind.
June 10 street date (CD) / July 15 (LP). It's hard not to hear "The Great Awakening", Shearwater's first album in five years, as the record the band has been striving toward for years. It's a journey into the unknown, embracing sorrow and joy, beauty and terror. Over the past five years, bandleader Jonathan Meiburg has stretched out in all directions. Musically, he staged a reconstruction of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy for WNYC's New Sounds, issuing a set of instrumental albums on Bandcamp, and forming a new band - Loma, who released two albums for Sub Pop - with Texan producer/engineer Dan Duszynski and singer Emily Cross. With Duszynski as a fellow performer and co-producer, "The Great Awakening" evolved through the long months of 2020 and 2021, emerging as a meditation on hope amid hopelessness, and the freedoms to be found (or dreamed about) in isolation. Several Shearwater veterans returned, including keyboardist and arranger Emily Lee and drummer Josh Halpern, but the rock gestures of 2015's Jet Plane And Oxbow" fell away: "The Great Awakening" is a soulful and immersive travelog of grand atmospheres and intimate landscapes, decorated with field recordings from Meiburg's travels and anchored by his closely-recorded voice, more otherworldly and urgent than ever.
June 10 street date. Volume 5 of Mr Bongo's renowned Record Club series is less dancefloor-driven than the previous volumes, as fewer opportunities for live events drove the label to explore other paths and styles in the musical spectrum. But, whether you're DJing for a kitchen or a club, there is still a generous serving of spicy dancefloor magic. Volume 5 looks to a broad church - from Brazil to Cuba, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, Mauritania, South Africa, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK, and the US with songs from the 1970s up to the present day from a stellar cast of artists. There's an exclusive track from Sven Wunder which was recorded solely for this compilation, a track from Admin which was released as a private press 7" at the start of 2021, and one of Mr Bongo's most treasured Gyedu Blay Ambolley productions, a full-force African disco colossus! Mr Bongo hope you will enjoy this selection of seventeen eclectic songs as much as they do.
June 10 street date.June 10 street date. Volume 5 of Mr Bongo's renowned Record Club series is less dancefloor-driven than the previous volumes, as fewer opportunities for live events drove the label to explore other paths and styles in the musical spectrum. But, whether you're DJing for a kitchen or a club, there is still a generous serving of spicy dancefloor magic. Volume 5 looks to a broad church - from Brazil to Cuba, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, Mauritania, South Africa, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK, and the US with songs from the 1970s up to the present day from a stellar cast of artists. There's an exclusive track from Sven Wunder which was recorded solely for this compilation, a track from Admin which was released as a private press 7" at the start of 2021, and one of Mr Bongo's most treasured Gyedu Blay Ambolley productions, a full-force African disco colossus! Mr Bongo hope you will enjoy this selection of seventeen eclectic songs as much as they do.
June 10 street date.June 10 street date. Volume 5 of Mr Bongo's renowned Record Club series is less dancefloor-driven than the previous volumes, as fewer opportunities for live events drove the label to explore other paths and styles in the musical spectrum. But, whether you're DJing for a kitchen or a club, there is still a generous serving of spicy dancefloor magic. Volume 5 looks to a broad church - from Brazil to Cuba, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, Mauritania, South Africa, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK, and the US with songs from the 1970s up to the present day from a stellar cast of artists. There's an exclusive track from Sven Wunder which was recorded solely for this compilation, a track from Admin which was released as a private press 7" at the start of 2021, and one of Mr Bongo's most treasured Gyedu Blay Ambolley productions, a full-force African disco colossus! Mr Bongo hope you will enjoy this selection of seventeen eclectic songs as much as they do.
Please note new street date: June 10. With exquisite harmonies, gorgeous melodies and emotionally charged, tightly crafted lyrics, Wild Rivers deliver their unique blend of folk-pop songs that are at once inviting and infectious. On the "Songs To Break Up To" EP, the band transposes personal experiences into relatable anthems woven from strands of folk, indie, rock, pop, country, and beyond. The EP brings Wild Rivers - Khalid Yassein [guitar, vocals, keys], Devan Glover [vocals, bass], Andrew Oliver [lead guitar, bass], and Julien Laferrière [drums] - closer as it also draws listeners in.
June 10 street date. After premiering its tracks for hometown fans inside the dome at Société des arts technologiques de Montréal in the Summer of 2020, post-everything outfit Yoo Doo Right knew there was but one way to record A Murmur, Boundless To The East: live off-the-floor at world-famous studio Hotel2Tango. To help achieve this vision, the musicians called upon acclaimed record producer, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Suuns, Ought, Fly Pan Am), who deftly printed forty-five minutes of gritty experimental rock. Though dynamics and depth were always core elements in Yoo Doo Right’s music, A Murmur, Boundless To The East reaffirms the notion that the spectrum of sound is in fact infinite. Also thanks to the work of celebrated engineer Seth Manchester, tasked with mixing the opus at Machines With Magnets (Battles, Lightning Bolt, Lingua Ignota) in Pawtucket (RI), as well as that of Matthew Barnhart (FACS, Destroyer, METZ) at Chicago Mastering Services, fans of extremes in music are served with a long-player that fascinates and lingers. Also featuring inspired contributions from innovative violin player, Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tralala Band, Black Ox Orkestar), to compliment percussion, bass, guitar, synthesizers and vocals, A Murmur, Boundless To The East is a must-have for fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, My Bloody Valentine, METZ, etc.
June 10 street date. After premiering its tracks for hometown fans inside the dome at Société des arts technologiques de Montréal in the Summer of 2020, post-everything outfit Yoo Doo Right knew there was but one way to record A Murmur, Boundless To The East: live off-the-floor at world-famous studio Hotel2Tango. To help achieve this vision, the musicians called upon acclaimed record producer, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Suuns, Ought, Fly Pan Am), who deftly printed forty-five minutes of gritty experimental rock. Though dynamics and depth were always core elements in Yoo Doo Right’s music, A Murmur, Boundless To The East reaffirms the notion that the spectrum of sound is in fact infinite. Also thanks to the work of celebrated engineer Seth Manchester, tasked with mixing the opus at Machines With Magnets (Battles, Lightning Bolt, Lingua Ignota) in Pawtucket (RI), as well as that of Matthew Barnhart (FACS, Destroyer, METZ) at Chicago Mastering Services, fans of extremes in music are served with a long-player that fascinates and lingers. Also featuring inspired contributions from innovative violin player, Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tralala Band, Black Ox Orkestar), to compliment percussion, bass, guitar, synthesizers and vocals, A Murmur, Boundless To The East is a must-have for fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, My Bloody Valentine, METZ, etc.
Please note new street date for LP: June 17 (CD available now). In 1970, nine years after leaving the United States to study music in Canada, Beverly Glenn-Copeland released two self-titled albums. Both were a stunning showcase of classical and jazz acumen, layered with poetry and accompanied by some of the best players of the time. Original pressings now fetch thousands of dollars. Glenn-Copeland then vanished as a recording artist until his re-emergence in 1986 with the release (just a few hundred copies on cassette) of what many now believe to be his masterpiece, "Keyboard Fantasies". This seminal album just celebrated its 35th anniversary, and this new reimagining features indie all-stars from Bon Iver (with A Flock Of Dimes), Blood Orange, Joseph Shabason, Julia Holter, Arca, and more.
June 17 street date. Lykke LI returns with her fifth studio album "EYEYE". The LP is an eight track story about lust, attraction, attachment, and rejection; the landscape of love. The songs are inhabited by moving images that neither start nor end. Each film functions as a visual loop, concise as a haiku, yet continuing in perpetuity. The result is a somatic, repetitious experience, compounding chapters between a dream and reality.
June 17 street date. The music of "Ugly Season" was written for Perfume Genius and choreographer Kate Wallich's immersive dance piece, "The Sun Still Burns Here". The work, commissioned by the Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA, was performed via residencies in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York City, and Boston throughout 2019. During this time, Perfume Genius shared two of the dance project's compositions - ‘Pop Song’ and ‘Eye in the Wall’. "It's the sound of dancefloor euphoria", said Pitchfork. Now the entirety of the project's original music can be heard in the expansive dance-centric double LP, "Ugly Season". The album, produced by Perfume Genius and GRAMMY-winning producer/collaborator Blake Mills, was created in collaboration with Mike Hadreas' long-time partner Alan Wyffels. Perfume Genius will support the release this summer with a Canadian show at the PNE amphitheatre in Vancouver.
June 17 street date. 25th anniversary edition, including never before heard and previously unreleased demo tracks from the album. The second full-length release from Sweden's Refused, "Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent" was released in 1996 to uniform praise as the group's worldwide following grew in both numbers and intensity. Signifying a musical evolution that culminated with their masterpiece "The Shape of Punk to Come", "Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent" is perhaps the most metal offering in the group's catalogue. Consistently aggressive, the staccato guitar riffs and drumming rest directly on top of the beat, giving this tighter, later-era Refused material a thick sound that retains its punk energy. A truly definitive late-1990s hardcore disc, "Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent" is a first-rate record from one of the best, most aggressive hardcore bands of this or any era.
June 17 street date. "A Light For Attracting Attention" is the debut from The Smile, but they're "not The Smile as in ha-ha-ha, more The Smile as in the guy who lies to you every day"... speaks Thom Yorke on the inspiration behind the supergroup that consists of his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner of UK jazz outfit Sons of Kemet. The description was borne out of The Smile's acerbic first single "You Will Never Work In Television Again," a 2:48 blast of ragged, pulsing raw energy familiar to "The Bends" era Radiohead. Additional singles "The Smoke", "Skrting the Surface", "Pana-Vision" - which epically closed the series finale of hit show "Peaky Blinders" - and "Free In The Knowledge" each encapsulate different aspects and dynamics of the project. All are collected on The Smile's double LP, "A Light For Attracting Attention", produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of UK jazz players.
June 17 street date. "A Light For Attracting Attention" is the debut from The Smile, but they're "not The Smile as in ha-ha-ha, more The Smile as in the guy who lies to you every day"... speaks Thom Yorke on the inspiration behind the supergroup that consists of his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner of UK jazz outfit Sons of Kemet. The description was borne out of The Smile's acerbic first single "You Will Never Work In Television Again," a 2:48 blast of ragged, pulsing raw energy familiar to "The Bends" era Radiohead. Additional singles "The Smoke", "Skrting the Surface", "Pana-Vision" - which epically closed the series finale of hit show "Peaky Blinders" - and "Free In The Knowledge" each encapsulate different aspects and dynamics of the project. All are collected on The Smile's double LP, "A Light For Attracting Attention", produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of UK jazz players.
June 17 street date. "A Light For Attracting Attention" is the debut from The Smile, but they're "not The Smile as in ha-ha-ha, more The Smile as in the guy who lies to you every day"... speaks Thom Yorke on the inspiration behind the supergroup that consists of his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner of UK jazz outfit Sons of Kemet. The description was borne out of The Smile's acerbic first single "You Will Never Work In Television Again," a 2:48 blast of ragged, pulsing raw energy familiar to "The Bends" era Radiohead. Additional singles "The Smoke", "Skrting the Surface", "Pana-Vision" - which epically closed the series finale of hit show "Peaky Blinders" - and "Free In The Knowledge" each encapsulate different aspects and dynamics of the project. All are collected on The Smile's double LP, "A Light For Attracting Attention", produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of UK jazz players. The limited edition yellow indie vinyl includes a gatefold with lyrics printed inside.
Please note new street date: June 17. Iconic singer Mavis Staples is an alchemist of American music, and during her 70+ year career one of her most beloved musical moments was her riveting performance in Martin Scorsese's film "The Last Waltz", performing "The Weight" with The Band, a moment that forged a life-long friendship between her and Levon Helm. Staples came to Woodstock, NY to perform as part of Helm's renowned Midnight Ramble series, and the ensuing concert - available now for the first time on the rousing new ANTI- Records release "Carry Me Home" - would mark a personal high watermark for both artists. Captured live in the summer of 2011, "Carry Me Home" showcases two of the past century's most iconic voices coming together in love and joy, tracing their shared roots and celebrating the enduring power of faith and music. The set list was righteous that night, mixing vintage gospel and soul with timeless folk and blues, and the performances were loose and playful, fueled by an ecstatic atmosphere that was equal parts family reunion and tent revival.
Please note new street date: June 17. Iconic singer Mavis Staples is an alchemist of American music, and during her 70+ year career one of her most beloved musical moments was her riveting performance in Martin Scorsese's film "The Last Waltz", performing "The Weight" with The Band, a moment that forged a life-long friendship between her and Levon Helm. Staples came to Woodstock, NY to perform as part of Helm's renowned Midnight Ramble series, and the ensuing concert - vailable now for the first time on the rousing new ANTI- Records release "Carry Me Home" - would mark a personal high watermark for both artists. Captured live in the summer of 2011, "Carry Me Home" showcases two of the past century's most iconic voices coming together in love and joy, tracing their shared roots and celebrating the enduring power of faith and music. The setlist was righteous that night, mixing vintage gospel and soul with timeless folk and blues, and the performances were loose and playful, fueled by an ecstatic atmosphere that was equal parts family reunion and tent revival.
Please note new street date: June 17. Iconic singer Mavis Staples is an alchemist of American music, and during her 70+ year career one of her most beloved musical moments was her riveting performance in Martin Scorsese's film "The Last Waltz", performing "The Weight" with The Band, a moment that forged a life-long friendship between her and Levon Helm. Staples came to Woodstock, NY to perform as part of Helm's renowned Midnight Ramble series, and the ensuing concert - vailable now for the first time on the rousing new ANTI- Records release "Carry Me Home" - would mark a personal high watermark for both artists. Captured live in the summer of 2011, "Carry Me Home" showcases two of the past century's most iconic voices coming together in love and joy, tracing their shared roots and celebrating the enduring power of faith and music. The setlist was righteous that night, mixing vintage gospel and soul with timeless folk and blues, and the performances were loose and playful, fueled by an ecstatic atmosphere that was equal parts family reunion and tent revival.
June 17 street date. Stella makes her Sub Pop debut with the mesmerizing "Up And Away", an old-school pop paean to the pangs and raptures of love. From the Greek folk-inflected get-go, we're swept up in her world - and it's quite the captivating place to be. The singer-songwriter joined forces with artist and producer Tom Calvert (aka Redinho), and it was a match made in Athens; the results are heavenly. Her songs have always riffed on American and Greek mid-century pop but "Up And Away" doubles down on the vintage aesthetic. Tom says he styled the record "as if it was a rare gem from the 1960s found in a box of records in Athens", and Stella notes she was ready for a more "deeply Greek touch - it felt comfortable and right, smoothly fusing with the pop". By the end of the "Up And Away", the album's core concerns are clear: the conflicting and conflicted emotions inherent in love, that live on in ways we can't always understand or control.
June 17 street date. Stella makes her Sub Pop debut with the mesmerizing "Up And Away", an old-school pop paean to the pangs and raptures of love. From the Greek folk-inflected get-go, we're swept up in her world - and it's quite the captivating place to be. The singer-songwriter joined forces with artist and producer Tom Calvert (aka Redinho), and it was a match made in Athens; the results are heavenly. Her songs have always ried on American and Greek mid-century pop but "Up And Away" doubles down on the vintage aesthetic. Tom says he styled the record "as if it was a rare gem from the 1960s found in a box of records in Athens", and Stella notes she wass ready for a more "deeply Greek touch - it felt comfortable and right, smoothly fusing with the pop". By the end of the "Up And Away", the album's core concerns are clear: the conflicting and conflicted emotions inherent in love, that live on in ways we can't always understand or control.
June 17 street date. Ron Trent's highly collaborative, career-topping new LP ‘What Do The Stars Say To You’ took little persuasion to recruit serious star power. Brazilian royalty Ivan Conti and Alex Malheriros from Azymuth, violin maestro Jean Luc Ponty, ambient hero Gigi Masin, hype band Khruangbin and more performed, whilst NY cornerstone François K provided mastering duties. At various points Ron himself played drums, percussion, keys, synths, piano, guitar and electronics. Harking back to the 70s and 80s boom in adventurous, luxurious albums, "What Do The Stars Say To You" is a love letter to the long player, where rich musicality and a liquid smooth, silky flow make seemingly odd genre bedfellows acquiesce harmoniously. Each song its own high-fidelity odyssey, Trent incorporated a broad range of live instruments and electronics into a sophisticated, euphonic whole. This is aural soul food, gently easing you into balmy nights, where everything is alright.
June 17 street date. Ron Trent's highly collaborative, career-topping new LP ‘What Do The Stars Say To You’ took little persuasion to recruit serious star power. Brazilian royalty Ivan Conti and Alex Malheriros from Azymuth, violin maestro Jean Luc Ponty, ambient hero Gigi Masin, hype band Khruangbin and more performed, whilst NY cornerstone François K provided mastering duties. At various points Ron himself played drums, percussion, keys, synths, piano, guitar and electronics. Harking back to the 70s and 80s boom in adventurous, luxurious albums, "What Do The Stars Say To You" is a love letter to the long player, where rich musicality and a liquid smooth, silky flow make seemingly odd genre bedfellows acquiesce harmoniously. Each song its own high-fidelity odyssey, Trent incorporated a broad range of live instruments and electronics into a sophisticated, euphonic whole. This is aural soul food, gently easing you into balmy nights, where everything is alright.
June 17 street date. Without a brutal evaluation of their own becoming, TV Priest might have never made their second album. Heralded as the next big thing in post-punk, they were established as a bolshy, sharp-witted outfit, the kind that starts movements with their political ire. There was of course truth in that, but it was a suit that quickly felt heavy on its wearer's shoulders, leaving little room for true vulnerability. Having made music together since their teenage years, the London four-piece piqued press attention in late 2019 with their first gig as a newly solidified group, a raucous outing in the warehouse district of Hackney Wick. When their debut album "Uppers" arrived in the height of a global pandemic, it reaped praise from critics and fans alike for its "dystopian doublespeak". The tension between existential fear born from the constant uncertainties of life, and an armative, cathartic urge to seize the moment, is central to "My Other People", a record that heals by providing space for recognition, a ground zero in which you're welcome to stay awhile but which ultimately only leads up and out. For TV Priest, it is a follow-up that feels truly, properly them; free of bravado, unnecessary bluster or any audience pressure to commit solely to their original sound.
June 17 street date. Without a brutal evaluation of their own becoming, TV Priest might have never made their second album. Heralded as the next big thing in post-punk, they were established as a bolshy, sharp-witted outfit, the kind that starts movements with their political ire. There was of course truth in that, but it was a suit that quickly felt heavy on its wearer's shoulders, leaving little room for true vulnerability. Having made music together since their teenage years, the London four-piece piqued press attention in late 2019 with their first gig as a newly solidified group, a raucous outing in the warehouse district of Hackney Wick. When their debut album "Uppers" arrived in the height of a global pandemic, it reaped praise from critics and fans alike for its "dystopian doublespeak". The tension between existential fear born from the constant uncertainties of life, and an armative, cathartic urge to seize the moment, is central to "My Other People", a record that heals by providing space for recognition, a ground zero in which you're welcome to stay awhile but which ultimately only leads up and out. For TV Priest, it is a follow-up that feels truly, properly them; free of bravado, unnecessary bluster or any audience pressure to commit solely to their original sound.
Please note new street date: June 18. RECORD STORE DAY release. One of the most the most popular and commercially successful albums of Ray Charles' illustrious career, "Genius Loves Company" reached #1 on the Billboard 200, and won 8 Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year in 2005. It sold over 200,000 copies in the US alone during its first week of release, and went on to Triple Platinum status. This duet album features collaborations with some of the biggest names in music like Norah Jones, James Taylor, B.B. King, Elton John, Diana Krall, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, and more. It is also notable, and fitting, as the final album Ray Charles ever recorded.
June 18 street date. RECORD STORE DAY release. Long out of print on vinyl, Get On Down presents this landmark of MF DOOM's career as a double gatefold LP for RSD 2022. For 2003's "Vaudeville Villain", MF DOOM took on yet another pseudonym. Where MF DOOM drew from Doctor Doom, Viktor Vaughn drew from the Doctor's government name, Victor von Doom. The influence of superheroes and supervillians however goes much deeper than the nom de plume, the sci-fi vibe is present, musically, throughout "Vaudeville Villain".
June 24 street date. THE Canadian heavy metal cult band is back! Anvil proudly present their brand new (the 19th in total!) studio album, "Impact Is Imminent". Charismatic singer/guitarist Lips, drummer Robb Reiner and bass player Chris Robertson definitely deliver the goods here: both sonically and when it comes to songwriting, the new album (consisting of 14 merciless metal tracks) directly advances to a highlight in the over 40-year band history - an eventful career (also well depicted in 2009's award-winning documentary film "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil") which proves Anvil to be among the most consistent acts of the genre. Their sound and intensity was inspiration for generations of subsequent musicians and Anvil's unparalleled tenacity and unwillingness to compromise are already legendary. The fact that they are now releasing such a strong and fresh album in 2022 once again underlines the quality of the band.
June 24 street date. THE Canadian heavy metal cult band is back! Anvil proudly present their brand new (the 19th in total!) studio album, "Impact Is Imminent". Charismatic singer/guitarist Lips, drummer Robb Reiner and bass player Chris Robertson definitely deliver the goods here: both sonically and when it comes to songwriting, the new album (consisting of 14 merciless metal tracks) directly advances to a highlight in the over 40-year band history - an eventful career (also well depicted in 2009's award-winning documentary film "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil") which proves Anvil to be among the most consistent acts of the genre. Their sound and intensity was inspiration for generations of subsequent musicians and Anvil's unparalleled tenacity and unwillingness to compromise are already legendary. The fact that they are now releasing such a strong and fresh album in 2022 once again underlines the quality of the band.
June 24 street date. On September 29, 2021 - the year of the band's 20th anniversary - Kentucky's favorite sons, Black Stone Cherry realized their childhood dream of playing at the legendary Royal Albert Hall, London. And they don't disappoint as they open with the explosive "Me and Mary Jane". From clubs to arenas and Festival headline performances, no one puts on the kind of show that these boys do. They tear through an impressive back catalog, playing songs from their most recent studio album "The Human Condition" through to their biggest hits and fan favorites. The band have always belonged to the fans and vice versa, which is why when you hear those songs emanate from the stage and then sung back, every fan in the world can close their eyes and remember either being there or imagine being there and the sheer joy and pride in the boys for realizing a dream. On the Blu-ray, the live footage is dotted with behind-the-scenes interviews, fly on the wall footage and archival insights into the band as kids first starting out, snippets of their first ever UK tour and heartfelt moments of reflection.
June 24 street date. On September 29, 2021 - the year of the band's 20th anniversary - Kentucky's favorite sons, Black Stone Cherry realized their childhood dream of playing at the legendary Royal Albert Hall, London. And they don't disappoint as they open with the explosive "Me and Mary Jane". From clubs to arenas and Festival headline performances, no one puts on the kind of show that these boys do. They tear through an impressive back catalog, playing songs from their most recent studio album "The Human Condition" through to their biggest hits and fan favorites. The band have always belonged to the fans and vice versa, which is why when you hear those songs emanate from the stage and then sung back, every fan in the world can close their eyes and remember either being there or imagine being there and the sheer joy and pride in the boys for realizing a dream.
June 17 street date. Originally released in 1972, "A Message From The People" remains one of Ray Charles' most celebrated albums, as well as the most socially-conscious work of his six decade career. The record directly confronts societal ills of poverty and injustice while offering a universal message of brotherhood and hope for peace; topics that are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. The album includes such classic tracks as "There'll Be No Peace On Earth Without All Men As One", "Abraham, Martin and John", the Gospel infused "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "Heaven Help Us All", and Ray's iconic version of "America The Beautiful".
June 17 street date. Originally released in 1972, "A Message From The People" remains one of Ray Charles' most celebrated albums, as well as the most socially-conscious work of his six decade career. The record directly confronts societal ills of poverty and injustice while offering a universal message of brotherhood and hope for peace; topics that are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. The album includes such classic tracks as "There'll Be No Peace On Earth Without All Men As One", "Abraham, Martin and John", the Gospel infused "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "Heaven Help Us All", and Ray's iconic version of "America The Beautiful".
June 24 street date. With "Happy Hour", her ravishing new LP, Hollie Cook matures into the queen of modern day "lovers rock" - the lush girly harmony reggae style beloved in Britain since the 1970s. Evolution rings from the bittersweet opening title track; tender yet assertive, Hollie's voice caresses evocative lyrics through the arrangement's tumbling changes. Hollie dares to invite listeners into her true personality through these alluring songs, which she co-produced with her General Roots band members Ben Mckone and Luke Allwood, and executive producer Youth. Full of emotion, leaning into healing and understanding, Hollie's lyrics on "Happy Hour" speak directly to our pain and confusion and steer us towards resolution. Touring as a teenager with punk legends The Slits encouraged the fierceness within her sweetness. Hollie's mentor was Ari Up, the band's lead singer and a lifelong friend of Cook's parents (Sex Pistols drummer Paul and her singer mother Jeni).
June 24 street date. With "Happy Hour", her ravishing new LP, Hollie Cook matures into the queen of modern day "lovers rock" - the lush girly harmony reggae style beloved in Britain since the 1970s. Evolution rings from the bittersweet opening title track; tender yet assertive, Hollie's voice caresses evocative lyrics through the arrangement's tumbling changes. Hollie dares to invite listeners into her true personality through these alluring songs, which she co-produced with her General Roots band members Ben Mckone and Luke Allwood, and executive producer Youth. Full of emotion, leaning into healing and understanding, Hollie's lyrics on "Happy Hour" speak directly to our pain and confusion and steer us towards resolution. Touring as a teenager with punk legends The Slits encouraged the fierceness within her sweetness. Hollie's mentor was Ari Up, the band's lead singer and a lifelong friend of Cook's parents (Sex Pistols drummer Paul and her singer mother Jeni).
June 24 street date. With "Happy Hour", her ravishing new LP, Hollie Cook matures into the queen of modern day "lovers rock" - the lush girly harmony reggae style beloved in Britain since the 1970s. Evolution rings from the bittersweet opening title track; tender yet assertive, Hollie's voice caresses evocative lyrics through the arrangement's tumbling changes. Hollie dares to invite listeners into her true personality through these alluring songs, which she co-produced with her General Roots band members Ben Mckone and Luke Allwood, and executive producer Youth. Full of emotion, leaning into healing and understanding, Hollie's lyrics on "Happy Hour" speak directly to our pain and confusion and steer us towards resolution. Touring as a teenager with punk legends The Slits encouraged the fierceness within her sweetness. Hollie's mentor was Ari Up, the band's lead singer and a lifelong friend of Cook's parents (Sex Pistols drummer Paul and her singer mother Jeni).
June 24 street date. New coloured vinyl pressing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Distillers' iconic album! Improving on their very fine, self-titled debut album, "Sing Sing Death House" is battle-scarred and resolute, but Brody's tough voice is more expressive than your average punker's and especially affecting when she flaunts the full range of her throaty snarl. On "Seneca Falls", an appreciation of the women's suffrage movement set to chugging guitars and a thumpity-thump bass, there's an exceptional, goosebump-inducing though unintelligible chorus, which soars above the music because of the emotional quality of Brody's howl. Otherwise, the music is quite stirring, coming from a gang of gutter-punks with lip piercings.
June 24 street date. In 1992, "The House of Tomorrow", a four-song 7-inch on a small indie label, ushered in a new era for The Magnetic Fields. When Susan Anway, who sang on their early albums "Distant Plastic Trees" and "The Wayward Bus", left the group, Stephin Merritt stepped up to the microphone. Likewise, the arrangements and production of "The House of Tomorrow" felt less polished overall than on its predecessors, even as the band’s sound was evolving. "The House of Tomorrow" rose in stature upon re-release on CD in 1996, with a new addition, "Alien Being" (previously relegated to the flip of the "Long Vermont Roads" single), boosting its modest track list from four songs to five. Although this new vinyl edition of "The House of Tomorrow" includes an etching of Buckminster Fuller's visionary D.I.Y. Dymaxion House, Stephin laments the sluggish pace of architectural innovation.
June 24 street date. In 1992, "The House of Tomorrow", a four-song 7-inch on a small indie label, ushered in a new era for The Magnetic Fields. When Susan Anway, who sang on their early albums "Distant Plastic Trees" and "The Wayward Bus", left the group, Stephin Merritt stepped up to the microphone. Likewise, the arrangements and production of "The House of Tomorrow" felt less polished overall than on its predecessors, even as the band’s sound was evolving. "The House of Tomorrow" rose in stature upon re-release on CD in 1996, with a new addition, "Alien Being" (previously relegated to the flip of the "Long Vermont Roads" single), boosting its modest track list from four songs to five. Although this new vinyl edition of "The House of Tomorrow" includes an etching of Buckminster Fuller's visionary D.I.Y. Dymaxion House, Stephin laments the sluggish pace of architectural innovation.
May 6 street date (CD)/June 24 street date (LP). Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present. Whether it is her Haitian heritage or her adopted home of New Orleans, she - a bilingual multi-instrumentalist and alumna of Grammy award-winning African-American string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops - has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. McCalla has produced a multi-disciplinary music, dance and theatre work, "Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever", which follows her personal journey as she uncovers the history of Radio Haiti, the first radio station in Haiti to report news in Haitian Kreyol - the voice of the people. Through this juxtaposition of voices - the personal and political, the anecdotal and the journalistic - McCalla gives expression to the enduring spirit of Haiti's marginalized poor in the face of several centuries of political oppression. Performances of the theatre work are currently scheduled in New Orleans and Philadelphia with more to be announced in soon. This album is a soundtrack of sorts to the theatre piece, featuring the songs that Leyla McCalla wrote and performs in this work.
June 24 street date. Merge Records is thrilled to reissue "Neurotica" by Redd Kross, the 1987 power pop and alternative rock opus celebrating 35 years in 2022. The original album is remastered by JJ Golden (Pearl Jam, Thee Oh Sees) and then paired with 12 unreleased demos rediscovered in the archive of original A&R guy Geoffrey Weiss. "Neurotica" could be viewed as a "This Is Your Life"-esque document of what brothers Jeff & Steve McDonald had been working toward creatively since starting Redd Kross in their Hawthorne, CA living room circa 1978. The songs quake with punk rock fury. And how could they possibly have shaken off the untamed energy of their early Red Cross years which laid a foundation for Southern California hardcore punk and DIY culture alongside bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Descendents? But fury is only part of their formula. To find the other parts, travel back to the 1970s, when the McDonald boys lived for nothing but Saturday morning cartoons, sugary cereal, bubblegum pop singles, Beach Boys LPs, Partridge Family TV specials, and the arena rock guitars of KISS and Cheap Trick.
June 24 street date. Merge Records is thrilled to reissue "Neurotica" by Redd Kross, the 1987 power pop and alternative rock opus celebrating 35 years in 2022. The original album is remastered by JJ Golden (Pearl Jam, Thee Oh Sees) and then paired with 12 unreleased demos rediscovered in the archive of original A&R guy Geoffrey Weiss. "Neurotica" could be viewed as a "This Is Your Life"-esque document of what brothers Jeff & Steve McDonald had been working toward creatively since starting Redd Kross in their Hawthorne, CA living room circa 1978. The songs quake with punk rock fury. And how could they possibly have shaken off the untamed energy of their early Red Cross years which laid a foundation for Southern California hardcore punk and DIY culture alongside bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Descendents? But fury is only part of their formula. To find the other parts, travel back to the 1970s, when the McDonald boys lived for nothing but Saturday morning cartoons, sugary cereal, bubblegum pop singles, Beach Boys LPs, Partridge Family TV specials, and the arena rock guitars of KISS and Cheap Trick. The double vinyl edition - the album on translucent turquoise, the demos on translucent orange - arrives in a slick gatefold jacket.
June 24 street date. XTC's 1978 classic debut album "White Music", newly cut from masters by Jason Mitchell at LOUD mastering and approved by Andy Partridge. "I wanted it to sound like hearing Johnny & The Hurricanes' ‘Red River Rock’ as heard on a fairground ride through a cranked up PA speaker or like Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band playing bubblegum music" - Andy Partridge. Containing more energy than a fully functioning power plant, "White Music"'s pop via punk was more like ? and the Mysterians channeling The Stooges and The Lemon Pipers than Brit Punk. The playing was tight (yes, the band could play), the tunes were strong, the lyrics clever, John Leckie's production kept the sound direct and ‘in your face’ (or should that be ears?) and even the sole cover version on the album was, in that period, a brave choice; a Dylan song and not just any Dylan song but a trippy, dub influenced ‘All Along the Watchtower’. "White Music" neatly encapsulates the frenetic nature of the post-punk/new wave period, a time when bands such as XTC could issue two singles and two albums in under twelve months while maintaining a full schedule of gigs reached in poor transport, frequently followed by poorer accommodation and along with all of the accompanying press and promo requirements, all in order to build an audience.
Please note new street date: June 24. There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned to a place that's already wrapped inside you but obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it's also a gift, because once it's opened, once you're inside of it, it can show you the truth. Zola Jesus's new album, "Arkhon", finds new ways of loosing this submerged, stalled pain. "Arkhon" sees Zola Jesus's first collaboration with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Mandy soundtrack, Candyman soundtrack) and with drummer and percussionist Matt Chamberlain, whose prior work appears on albums by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Through these turns, Arkhon reveals itself as an album whose power derives from abandon. Both its turmoils and its pleasures take root in the body, letting individual consciousness dissolve into the thick of the beat.
Please note new street date: June 24. There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned to a place that's already wrapped inside you but obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it's also a gift, because once it's opened, once you're inside of it, it can show you the truth. Zola Jesus's new album, "Arkhon", finds new ways of loosing this submerged, stalled pain. "Arkhon" sees Zola Jesus's first collaboration with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Mandy soundtrack, Candyman soundtrack) and with drummer and percussionist Matt Chamberlain, whose prior work appears on albums by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Through these turns, Arkhon reveals itself as an album whose power derives from abandon. Both its turmoils and its pleasures take root in the body, letting individual consciousness dissolve into the thick of the beat.
Please note new street date: June 24. There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned to a place that's already wrapped inside you but obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it's also a gift, because once it's opened, once you're inside of it, it can show you the truth. Zola Jesus's new album, "Arkhon", finds new ways of loosing this submerged, stalled pain. "Arkhon" sees Zola Jesus's first collaboration with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Mandy soundtrack, Candyman soundtrack) and with drummer and percussionist Matt Chamberlain, whose prior work appears on albums by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Through these turns, Arkhon reveals itself as an album whose power derives from abandon. Both its turmoils and its pleasures take root in the body, letting individual consciousness dissolve into the thick of the beat.
July 1 street date. Solo debut by Naima Bock, formerly of London band Goat Girl. The roots of Naima's music are far reaching. Born in Glastonbury to a Brazilian father and a Greek mother, Naima spent her early childhood in Brazil before eventually returning to England. This heritage combines with more recent pursuits in Naima's music. From the Brazilian standards that the family listened to while driving to the beach, to the European folk traditions she tapped into on her own, and the pursuits that interest her today, Naima's music draws from family, the earth and music handed down through generations. Naima's debut album "Giant Palm" is undoubtedly infused with the Brazilian music of her youth and regular family visits. Recorded with the help of over 30 musicians (including Josh Cohen on synth/electronics) by Dan Carey of Speedy Wunderground at his studio space, the songs on "Giant Palm" represent a snapshot of a specific feeling, of brief moments in Naima's life that make up a larger whole. The expansive yet delicate arrangements highlight Naima’s love for the collectivist values of traditional folk music, in which songs belong to everyone, and singing can take on countless forms without the need to exactly replicate something.
July 1 street date. Solo debut by Naima Bock, formerly of London band Goat Girl. The roots of Naima's music are far reaching. Born in Glastonbury to a Brazilian father and a Greek mother, Naima spent her early childhood in Brazil before eventually returning to England. This heritage combines with more recent pursuits in Naima's music. From the Brazilian standards that the family listened to while driving to the beach, to the European folk traditions she tapped into on her own, and the pursuits that interest her today, Naima's music draws from family, the earth and music handed down through generations. Naima's debut album "Giant Palm" is undoubtedly infused with the Brazilian music of her youth and regular family visits. Recorded with the help of over 30 musicians (including Josh Cohen on synth/electronics) by Dan Carey of Speedy Wunderground at his studio space, the songs on "Giant Palm" represent a snapshot of a specific feeling, of brief moments in Naima's life that make up a larger whole. The expansive yet delicate arrangements highlight Naima’s love for the collectivist values of traditional folk music, in which songs belong to everyone, and singing can take on countless forms without the need to exactly replicate something.
July 1 street date. Recorded in Berlin and remotely between 2020 and 2021, The Brian Jonestowm Massacre returns with their 19th full-length studio album. "Fire Doesn't Grow On Trees" is the beginning of a thrilling new phase for Newcombe and his band. Joining him in the studio and remotely for this album were Ricky Maymi (guitars), Ryan Carlson Van Kriedt (keyboards), Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar), Hallberg Daði Hallbergsson (bass), and Uri Rennert (drums). The band are on a 34 date tour in North America with Mercury Rev at the moment, with festival appearances at Levitation in Angers, France in June, Elevation in Graz, Austria in July & NOX ORAE in Switzerland in August.
July 1 street date. Composers Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers ("The Witch", "The Lighthouse") asked them to create the score for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film "The Northman". They needed to make a score that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking era period piece and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film. While arranging the score the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in leftfield electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies.
July 1 street date. Composers Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers ("The Witch", "The Lighthouse") asked them to create the score for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film "The Northman". They needed to make a score that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking era period piece and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film. While arranging the score the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in leftfield electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies.
July 1 street date. Composers Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers ("The Witch", "The Lighthouse") asked them to create the score for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film "The Northman". They needed to make a score that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking era period piece and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film. While arranging the score the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in leftfield electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies.
July 1 street date. Composers Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers ("The Witch", "The Lighthouse") asked them to create the score for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film "The Northman". They needed to make a score that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking era period piece and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film. While arranging the score the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in leftfield electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies. Limited red vinyl edition.
July 1 street date. Robin Pecknold brings light to the bleakest of winters with Fleet Foxes' ‘A Very Lonely Solstice,’ a 13-track career spanning collection recorded in December 2020, at Brooklyn, NY's St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church. The recording was originally broadcasted as a live-stream event on the winter solstice of 2020, just days after New York declared a state of emergency tightening restrictions again in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. Pecknold describes the set as "me by myself on the longest night of the year... honoring the loneliness of 2020 with a nylon string and some songs new and old". Fans worldwide tuned in while quarantined at home, finding solace and a sense of community in a period of extreme isolation. Much of ‘A Very Lonely Solstice’ showcases a solo focus on Pecknold who offers up acoustic arrangements of fan-favourite songs spanning Fleet Foxes' catalogue. Selections cover all four of the band's studio albums along with a cover of Nina Simone's "In The Morning" and a rearrangement of the traditional "Silver Dagger".
July 1 street date. Robin Pecknold brings light to the bleakest of winters with Fleet Foxes' ‘A Very Lonely Solstice,’ a 13-track career spanning collection recorded in December 2020, at Brooklyn, NY's St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church. The recording was originally broadcasted as a live-stream event on the winter solstice of 2020, just days after New York declared a state of emergency tightening restrictions again in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. Pecknold describes the set as "me by myself on the longest night of the year... honoring the loneliness of 2020 with a nylon string and some songs new and old". Fans worldwide tuned in while quarantined at home, finding solace and a sense of community in a period of extreme isolation. Much of ‘A Very Lonely Solstice’ showcases a solo focus on Pecknold who offers up acoustic arrangements of fan-favourite songs spanning Fleet Foxes' catalogue. Selections cover all four of the band's studio albums along with a cover of Nina Simone's "In The Morning" and a rearrangement of the traditional "Silver Dagger".
July 1 street date. Robin Pecknold brings light to the bleakest of winters with Fleet Foxes' ‘A Very Lonely Solstice,’ a 13-track career spanning collection recorded in December 2020, at Brooklyn, NY's St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church. The recording was originally broadcasted as a live-stream event on the winter solstice of 2020, just days after New York declared a state of emergency tightening restrictions again in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. Pecknold describes the set as "me by myself on the longest night of the year... honoring the loneliness of 2020 with a nylon string and some songs new and old". Fans worldwide tuned in while quarantined at home, finding solace and a sense of community in a period of extreme isolation. Much of ‘A Very Lonely Solstice’ showcases a solo focus on Pecknold who offers up acoustic arrangements of fan-favourite songs spanning Fleet Foxes' catalogue. Selections cover all four of the band's studio albums along with a cover of Nina Simone's "In The Morning" and a rearrangement of the traditional "Silver Dagger".
July 1 street date. By the time "Exposure" had been released in June 1979, Robert Fripp had already embarked on one of the most unconventional tours to support a new record that had ever been undertaken; record shops, offices, public spaces, canteens, planetariums and, later, some conventional venues and theatres. Accompanied by a tour manager, a Les Paul guitar, a pedalboard, and two Revox tape recorders were packed into a car and they crisscrossed their way across Europe and America. This was, in part, a response to record label Polydor/EG management's allocation of a mere $10k as a marketing budget. The original side two of this album was given over to the next phase of Fripp's Drive To 1981. Sometimes referred to as Discotronics, Fripp intended to create a bespoke meeting place between Frippertronics' repetitious loops and a pulsating four-to-the-floor beat. With bassist Busta Cherry Jones and drummer Paul Duskin, the trio laid down a taut minimalist groove against Frippertronics loops lifted from the solo tour earlier in the year. The trio line-up was augmented by David Byrne as guest vocalist on the title track. Two additional tracks feature the 1985 issued "God Save the King", originally released as part of a compilation CD that also featured League of Gentlemen material and the "Music on Hold" jam/track that was discovered as part of the archive work for the "Exposures" multi-disc boxed set. Unavailable for decades in any format, the album makes an appropriate return to the record shop racks - one of the points of origin for the guitar loops that underpin the recording.
July 1 street date. By the time "Exposure" had been released in June 1979, Robert Fripp had already embarked on one of the most unconventional tours to support a new record that had ever been undertaken; record shops, offices, public spaces, canteens, planetariums and, later, some conventional venues and theatres. Accompanied by a tour manager, a Les Paul guitar, a pedalboard, and two Revox tape recorders were packed into a car and they crisscrossed their way across Europe and America. This was, in part, a response to record label Polydor/EG management's allocation of a mere $10k as a marketing budget. The original side two of this album was given over to the next phase of Fripp's Drive To 1981. Sometimes referred to as Discotronics, Fripp intended to create a bespoke meeting place between Frippertronics' repetitious loops and a pulsating four-to-the-floor beat. With bassist Busta Cherry Jones and drummer Paul Duskin, the trio laid down a taut minimalist groove against Frippertronics loops lifted from the solo tour earlier in the year. The trio line-up was augmented by David Byrne as guest vocalist on the title track. Unavailable for decades on vinyl, the album makes an appropriate return to the record shop racks - one of the points of origin for the guitar loops that underpin the recording.
July 1 street date. "Let The Power Fall" is the only full album of Frippertronics released during the original vinyl era and within two years of the original tour of shops/offices/restaurants et al that acted as venues for the concerts. Speaking to Melody Maker's Lynden Barber in 1981, Fripp argued that Frippertronics gave him a way of working that put him in intimate contact with an audience, something that had been increasingly impossible in the conventional band set-up. Released in April 1981 just weeks after the sole album by The League of Gentlemen, "Let The Power Fall" was the final solo album by Robert Fripp of that period, with the band that would become the next incarnation of King Crimson preparing to enter Basing Street studios in May. Unavailable in any format for many years, the CD reissue also features three additional tracks discovered as part of the archive work for the Exposures multi-disc boxed set - a single edit of 1984 and two mixes of another track given the same name at the time of mixing and all three previously unreleased on individual CD.
July 1 street date. "Let The Power Fall" is the only full album of Frippertronics released during the original vinyl era and within two years of the original tour of shops/offices/restaurants et al that acted as venues for the concerts. Speaking to Melody Maker's Lynden Barber in 1981, Fripp argued that Frippertronics gave him a way of working that put him in intimate contact with an audience, something that had been increasingly impossible in the conventional band set-up. Released in April 1981 just weeks after the sole album by The League of Gentlemen, "Let The Power Fall" was the final solo album by Robert Fripp of that period, with the band that would become the next incarnation of King Crimson preparing to enter Basing Street studios in May. As the album has been unavailable in any format for many years and is very long (in vinyl terms) on both sides, this release is ideally suited to audiophile grade vinyl and has been long-awaited by fans.
July 1 street date. The fourth release in Fu Manchu's 30th anniversary vinyl reissue series is a new vinyl specific remaster of the band's debut album, "No One Rides For Free. These songs are the only recordings of the band's line-up of Scott Hill (vocals/ guitar), Mark Abshire (bass), Eddie Glass (guitar), and Ruben Romano (drums). The 8 song collection was recorded on April 16 and 17, 1993 at Sandbox Studios in LA, produced by the band along with Brant Bjork. This reissue was remastered by Carl Saff for optimum fidelity. The limited edition 1,000 unit CD run also features the updated art and a digital specific remaster.
July 1 street date. The fourth release in Fu Manchu's 30th anniversary vinyl reissue series is a new vinyl specific remaster of the band's debut album, "No One Rides For Free. These songs are the only recordings of the band's line-up of Scott Hill (vocals/ guitar), Mark Abshire (bass), Eddie Glass (guitar), and Ruben Romano (drums). The 8 song collection was recorded on April 16 and 17, 1993 at Sandbox Studios in LA, produced by the band along with Brant Bjork. This reissue was remastered by Carl Saff for optimum fidelity. This limited edition 2000 unit LP run is pressed on red vinyl with white splatter and the newly designed gatefold package includes never before seen photos of the band and flyers from the shows of the era.
July 1 street date. Sub Pop debut by Preservation Hall Jazz Band member and 89-year-old clarinet and saxophone legend Charlie Gabriel. This is Charlie's first album as a bandleader. He has played with Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Cab Calloway drummer J.C Heard, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, and many more. While Charlie has faced plenty of challenges nursing his gift for more than 78 years, none likely rank with last winter's passing of his brother and last living sibling, Leonard, lost to COVID-19. For the first time ever, Gabriel put down his horn, filling his days and weeks instead with dark reflection, a stubborn despondency broken now and then by regular chess matches in the studio kitchen of Hall leader Ben Jae, working overtime to bring his friend some light. One such afternoon also included Joshua Starkman, sitting off in a corner playing his guitar and half-watching the chess from a distance. When Charlie returned the next day, he brought his saxophone. That day was to be the first session for "89", almost entirely the work of Gabriel, Jae and Starkman, recorded mostly right there, in the kitchen, by Matt Aguiluz. "89" includes six standards and three newer pieces on which Gabriel is a writer. The record also marks Charlie's return to his first instrument, clarinet, on many of the tracks.
July 1 street date. Sub Pop debut by Preservation Hall Jazz Band member and 89-year-old clarinet and saxophone legend Charlie Gabriel. This is Charlie's first album as a bandleader. He has played with Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Cab Calloway drummer J.C Heard, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, and many more. While Charlie has faced plenty of challenges nursing his gift for more than 78 years, none likely rank with last winter's passing of his brother and last living sibling, Leonard, lost to COVID-19. For the first time ever, Gabriel put down his horn, filling his days and weeks instead with dark reflection, a stubborn despondency broken now and then by regular chess matches in the studio kitchen of Hall leader Ben Jae, working overtime to bring his friend some light. One such afternoon also included Joshua Starkman, sitting off in a corner playing his guitar and half-watching the chess from a distance. When Charlie returned the next day, he brought his saxophone. That day was to be the first session for "89", almost entirely the work of Gabriel, Jae and Starkman, recorded mostly right there, in the kitchen, by Matt Aguiluz. "89" includes six standards and three newer pieces on which Gabriel is a writer. The record also marks Charlie's return to his first instrument, clarinet, on many of the tracks.
Please note new street date: July 1. Here is a collection of recordings by Kathy Yaeji Lee, originally released as a pair of EPs on March 31 and November 3 of 2017, remastered for a belated vinyl edition for the first time. A lot has been said and repeated about the interiority of this club music - how the joyful tremor of the "Raingurl" refrain holds hands with such soft and doubtful verses. How special it is that house music so of New York can contain storytelling cultivated so far away. That repetition is born of people all over the world going out, and staying in, with this music as a compass; songs that define so many late night hangs for crews of friends, singalongs in DJ booths, contemplative 5am walks home from the club. Yaeji wrote this music while going out nearly every night of the week to DJ and support her own NYC community of friends at their turns behind the decks. These tracks originated from explorations in dancefloor anonymity, growing from seeds planted by sharing her first musical experiments online.
Please note new street date: July 1. Here is a collection of recordings by Kathy Yaeji Lee, originally released as a pair of EPs on March 31 and November 3 of 2017, remastered for a belated vinyl edition for the first time. A lot has been said and repeated about the interiority of this club music - how the joyful tremor of the "Raingurl" refrain holds hands with such soft and doubtful verses. How special it is that house music so of New York can contain storytelling cultivated so far away. That repetition is born of people all over the world going out, and staying in, with this music as a compass; songs that define so many late night hangs for crews of friends, singalongs in DJ booths, contemplative 5am walks home from the club. Yaeji wrote this music while going out nearly every night of the week to DJ and support her own NYC community of friends at their turns behind the decks. These tracks originated from explorations in dancefloor anonymity, growing from seeds planted by sharing her first musical experiments online.
July 8 street date. First time available on vinyl in 30 years! Originally released in 1986, "Cold Snap" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Traditional Blues Recording" category. The album features some of Albert Collins' most popular tracks like "I Ain't Drunk", "Lights Are On But Nobody's Home", and "Too Many Dirty Dishes". The Master of the Telecaster's last Alligator release, and his favourite, "Cold Snap" finds him backed by a hand-picked all-star band featuring organist Jimmy McGriff and guitarist Mel Brown, plus the Uptown Horns. All tracks remastered. "Cold Snap" has sold over 100,000 units in the U.S.
July 8 street date. Under the name Delicate Steve, guitarist extrodinaire Steve Marion has spent the better part of the last decade establishing himself as one of the most wildly innovative and widely revered players in the game. He's recorded with Paul Simon, been sampled by Kanye West, toured in the Black Keys, and released four critically acclaimed albums of genre-bending instrumental music. Written and recorded on a white 1966 Fender Stratocaster that reignited his love for the instrument, Delicate Steve's warm and captivating new album, "After Hours", marks a first for Marion, an earnest, easygoing collection that revels in the simple joys of plugging in and playing. The songs are sweet and breezy here, pairing vintage soul grooves with mesmerizing, wordless melodies, and Marion's production work is subtle and restrained, stepping back in all the right places to let the album's masterful performances speak for themselves."After Hours" is a dreamy, introspective album built for late night comedowns and deep dive soul searching; a cinematic, escapist fantasy for the wee hours of the morning that draws on everything from Bill Withers and Sly Stone to Pharoah Sanders and Salvador Dali as it explores memory and nostalgia, instinct and intuition, serenity and transcendence.
July 8 street date. Under the name Delicate Steve, guitarist extrodinaire Steve Marion has spent the better part of the last decade establishing himself as one of the most wildly innovative and widely revered players in the game. He's recorded with Paul Simon, been sampled by Kanye West, toured in the Black Keys, and released four critically acclaimed albums of genre-bending instrumental music. Written and recorded on a white 1966 Fender Stratocaster that reignited his love for the instrument, Delicate Steve's warm and captivating new album, "After Hours", marks a first for Marion, an earnest, easygoing collection that revels in the simple joys of plugging in and playing. The songs are sweet and breezy here, pairing vintage soul grooves with mesmerizing, wordless melodies, and Marion's production work is subtle and restrained, stepping back in all the right places to let the album's masterful performances speak for themselves."After Hours" is a dreamy, introspective album built for late night comedowns and deep dive soul searching; a cinematic, escapist fantasy for the wee hours of the morning that draws on everything from Bill Withers and Sly Stone to Pharoah Sanders and Salvador Dali as it explores memory and nostalgia, instinct and intuition, serenity and transcendence.
July 8 street date. First time available on vinyl in 30 years! "3rd Degree" is a 1986 album by Johnny Winter, and the final one of the trilogy he made for Alligator Records. Features fan favorites like "Mojo Boogie", "Evil On My Mind", and "Shake Your Moneymaker". On three of the album's tracks, Johnny reunites with the rhythm section from his first three albums; drummer Uncle John "Red" Turner and bassist Tommy Shannon (later in Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble). Two more tracks feature special guest Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack on piano. All tracks remastered.
July 8 street date. Wormrot return with their most stunning work to date!, following on from 2016's critically acclaimed album "Voices". On their fourth album "Hiss", the Singaporean trio features the same line up as "Voices" with Arif (vocals) Rasyid (guitar) and Vijesh (drums) and is without doubt their most ambitious and creative work to date. Having already made their mark as one of Grindcore's biggest names, Wormrot are intent on bringing Grindcore back to the masses with a sonically stunning record of wildly unhinged and downright feral noise.
July 8 street date. Wormrot return with their most stunning work to date!, following on from 2016's critically acclaimed album "Voices". On their fourth album "Hiss", the Singaporean trio features the same line up as "Voices" with Arif (vocals) Rasyid (guitar) and Vijesh (drums) and is without doubt their most ambitious and creative work to date. Having already made their mark as one of Grindcore's biggest names, Wormrot are intent on bringing Grindcore back to the masses with a sonically stunning record of wildly unhinged and downright feral noise.
July 15 street date. London three piece black midi present their third album, "Hellfire". Written in isolation in 2021 almost immediately after its predecessor, black midi pick up right where they left off. Building on the melodic and harmonic elements of "Cavalcade", and expanding on the brutality and intensity of their debut ("Schlagenheim"), "Hellfire" is their most thematically cohesive and intentional album yet. As lead-singer Geordie describes it: "if "Cavalcade" was a drama, "Hellfire" is like an epic action film" that delves into overlapping themes of pain, loss and anguish. But as always, the type of music black midi play isn't as important as its quality, and whatever you think about their music isn't as important as how you feel about it.
July 15 street date. London three piece black midi present their third album, "Hellfire". Written in isolation in 2021 almost immediately after its predecessor, black midi pick up right where they left off. Building on the melodic and harmonic elements of "Cavalcade", and expanding on the brutality and intensity of their debut ("Schlagenheim"), "Hellfire" is their most thematically cohesive and intentional album yet. As lead-singer Geordie describes it: "if "Cavalcade" was a drama, "Hellfire" is like an epic action film" that delves into overlapping themes of pain, loss and anguish. But as always, the type of music black midi play isn't as important as its quality, and whatever you think about their music isn't as important as how you feel about it.
July 15 street date. London three piece black midi present their third album, "Hellfire". Written in isolation in 2021 almost immediately after its predecessor, black midi pick up right where they left off. Building on the melodic and harmonic elements of "Cavalcade", and expanding on the brutality and intensity of their debut ("Schlagenheim"), "Hellfire" is their most thematically cohesive and intentional album yet. As lead-singer Geordie describes it: "if "Cavalcade" was a drama, "Hellfire" is like an epic action film" that delves into overlapping themes of pain, loss and anguish. But as always, the type of music black midi play isn't as important as its quality, and whatever you think about their music isn't as important as how you feel about it.
May 27 street date (CD)/July 15 street date (LP). It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. Originally released in 2000, "Fevers And Mirrors" is the second album from Bright Eyes.
May 27 street date (CD)/July 15 street date (LP). It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Conor Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. Originally released in 1998, "Letting Off The Happiness" is the debut album from Bright Eyes.
July 15 street date. Interpol's 7th LP "The Other Side of Make-Believe" breaks fresh ground for the group: parallel to exploring the sinister undercurrents of contemporary life, their new songs are imbued with pastoral longing and newfound grace. Daniel Kessler's serpentine guitar arrangements crest skywards, Samuel Fogarino shatters his percussive precision into strange metres, while Paul Banks' sonorous voice exudes a vulnerability that is likely to catch most long-term fans of the band off guard. After all, says Banks, "there's always a seventh time for a first impression". On "The Other Side of Make-Believe", the band's deep interpersonal understanding means each member respects the other's respective strengths more than ever, letting Interpol's elemental qualities shine through. Ever the paradox, they have weathered nearly seven albums' and several line-ups' better than anyone might have predicted, never letting their sense of purpose or dedication escape. A quarter-century into their lifespan, Interpol are all fired up again.
July 15 street date. Interpol's 7th LP "The Other Side of Make-Believe" breaks fresh ground for the group: parallel to exploring the sinister undercurrents of contemporary life, their new songs are imbued with pastoral longing and newfound grace. Daniel Kessler's serpentine guitar arrangements crest skywards, Samuel Fogarino shatters his percussive precision into strange metres, while Paul Banks' sonorous voice exudes a vulnerability that is likely to catch most long-term fans of the band off guard. After all, says Banks, "there's always a seventh time for a first impression". On "The Other Side of Make-Believe", the band's deep interpersonal understanding means each member respects the other's respective strengths more than ever, letting Interpol's elemental qualities shine through. Ever the paradox, they have weathered nearly seven albums' and several line-ups' better than anyone might have predicted, never letting their sense of purpose or dedication escape. A quarter-century into their lifespan, Interpol are all fired up again.
July 15 street date. Interpol's 7th LP "The Other Side of Make-Believe" breaks fresh ground for the group: parallel to exploring the sinister undercurrents of contemporary life, their new songs are imbued with pastoral longing and newfound grace. Daniel Kessler's serpentine guitar arrangements crest skywards, Samuel Fogarino shatters his percussive precision into strange metres, while Paul Banks' sonorous voice exudes a vulnerability that is likely to catch most long-term fans of the band off guard. After all, says Banks, "there's always a seventh time for a first impression". On "The Other Side of Make-Believe", the band's deep interpersonal understanding means each member respects the other's respective strengths more than ever, letting Interpol's elemental qualities shine through. Ever the paradox, they have weathered nearly seven albums' and several line-ups' better than anyone might have predicted, never letting their sense of purpose or dedication escape. A quarter-century into their lifespan, Interpol are all fired up again.
July 15 street date. Since the start of 2019, Spencer Krug has posted a new song to his Patreon page every month. The songs on the aptly named "Twenty Twenty Twenty Twenty One" are selected from those posted throughout 2020 and 2021. They've been remixed and remastered into a single album, one laced with the vague sense of anxiety the world provided for so many of us during that time, but also made while Krug entered into the chaotic, blissful fog of parenthood, and so contains a necessary dose of optimism. While no stranger to self-producing, 2020 and 2021 found Krug diving deeper than ever into the possibilities of his home setup, and therein refining a distinct blend of richly analog-acoustic and unabashedly artificial sounds. This self-aware and apparently self-pleasing juxtaposition is the texture making up a lot of the album, adorned with Krug's half-baked confessionalist poetry; ill-informed takes and recluse-revelations sung out from within his cave-ish Vancouver Island backyard studio.
July 15 street date. Originally released in 1993, Matador Records is reissuing Pavement's "Westing (By Musket And Sextant)" for the first time. Compiling their early material from 1989-1993, the 23 track album showcases the formative years of Pavement before the breakthrough success of their debut. "Westing (By Musket And Sextant)" includes songs from their first 3 EP's, ("Slay Tracks: 1933-1969", "Demolition Plot J-7", and "Perfect Sound Forever") along with the "Summer Babe" single and 2 extra compilation tracks. The new pressing coincides with the recent release of the "Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal" 4xLP box set and the 30th anniversary edition of "Slanted And Enchanted".
July 15 street date. Originally released in 1993, Matador Records is reissuing Pavement's "Westing (By Musket And Sextant)" for the first time. Compiling their early material from 1989-1993, the 23 track album showcases the formative years of Pavement before the breakthrough success of their debut. "Westing (By Musket And Sextant)" includes songs from their first 3 EP's, ("Slay Tracks: 1933-1969", "Demolition Plot J-7", and "Perfect Sound Forever") along with the "Summer Babe" single and 2 extra compilation tracks. The new pressing coincides with the recent release of the "Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal" 4xLP box set and the 30th anniversary edition of "Slanted And Enchanted".
Please note new street date for LP: July 15. It's hard not to hear "The Great Awakening", Shearwater's first album in five years, as the record the band has been striving toward for years. It's a journey into the unknown, embracing sorrow and joy, beauty and terror. Over the past five years, bandleader Jonathan Meiburg has stretched out in all directions. Musically, he staged a reconstruction of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy for WNYC's New Sounds, issuing a set of instrumental albums on Bandcamp, and forming a new band - Loma, who released two albums for Sub Pop - with Texan producer/engineer Dan Duszynski and singer Emily Cross. With Duszynski as a fellow performer and co-producer, "The Great Awakening" evolved through the long months of 2020 and 2021, emerging as a meditation on hope amid hopelessness, and the freedoms to be found (or dreamed about) in isolation. Several Shearwater veterans returned, including keyboardist and arranger Emily Lee and drummer Josh Halpern, but the rock gestures of 2015's Jet Plane And Oxbow" fell away: "The Great Awakening" is a soulful and immersive travelog of grand atmospheres and intimate landscapes, decorated with field recordings from Meiburg's travels and anchored by his closely-recorded voice, more otherworldly and urgent than ever.
July 15 street date. In the spring of 2020, Ben Cook (aka Young Governor, Young Guv, or just Guv) was holed up in the New Mexico high desert, his U.S. tour having been abruptly Covid-cancelled during a southwest swing. In a place he never expected to be, under circumstances no one could have predicted, and in the face of physical isolation, emotional desolation, and existential dread, Ben created "GUV III & IV", a collection of songs dedicated and testifying to the eternal healing power of love - how to find it in the world, in others, and most importantly, in himself.
July 22 street date. "Forgiveness" is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curiosity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for "What Chaos Is Imaginary", Harmony and Avery each wrote their "Forgiveness" songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, "Forgiveness" reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of "indie rock", challenging any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.
July 22 street date. "Forgiveness" is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curiosity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for "What Chaos Is Imaginary", Harmony and Avery each wrote their "Forgiveness" songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, "Forgiveness" reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of "indie rock", challenging any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.
July 22 street date. "Forgiveness" is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curiosity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for "What Chaos Is Imaginary", Harmony and Avery each wrote their "Forgiveness" songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, "Forgiveness" reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of "indie rock", challenging any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.
July 22 street date. "Hello, Hi": welcome in to a new room to play the styles and feels that lie under Ty Segall's fingers, easing fresh air into acoustic space with an assortment of love songs flowering in righteous unconsciousness. Plaintive and wistful, but unafraid. Like rain washing away yesterday, "Hello, Hi" pushes open the door, inviting the new to pass through all the old shades and degrees of hot and cold. Dark paths turn off abruptly into absurd darkness, then wind back through the broken rocks, ecstatic again. Absurdity again. It happens everyday. "Hello, Hi" is expansively rendered by Ty, mostly by himself, at home. Ty's acoustic and electric guitars and vocal harmonies layer self upon self, forming a spiny backbone for the album. Textures at once gentle and dissonant root the songs as they make their move: melodic arcs convulsing in doubt and bliss and rage. "Hello, Hi" is Ty's most relaxed and complete production to date, an ebb-and flow fusion of words and music offering abstraction and acceptance as it wrestles itself through a fucked-up time.
July 22 street date. "Hello, Hi": welcome in to a new room to play the styles and feels that lie under Ty Segall's fingers, easing fresh air into acoustic space with an assortment of love songs flowering in righteous unconsciousness. Plaintive and wistful, but unafraid. Like rain washing away yesterday, "Hello, Hi" pushes open the door, inviting the new to pass through all the old shades and degrees of hot and cold. Dark paths turn off abruptly into absurd darkness, then wind back through the broken rocks, ecstatic again. Absurdity again. It happens everyday. "Hello, Hi" is expansively rendered by Ty, mostly by himself, at home. Ty's acoustic and electric guitars and vocal harmonies layer self upon self, forming a spiny backbone for the album. Textures at once gentle and dissonant root the songs as they make their move: melodic arcs convulsing in doubt and bliss and rage. "Hello, Hi" is Ty's most relaxed and complete production to date, an ebb-and flow fusion of words and music offering abstraction and acceptance as it wrestles itself through a fucked-up time.
July 22 street date. "Hello, Hi": welcome in to a new room to play the styles and feels that lie under Ty Segall's fingers, easing fresh air into acoustic space with an assortment of love songs flowering in righteous unconsciousness. Plaintive and wistful, but unafraid. Like rain washing away yesterday, "Hello, Hi" pushes open the door, inviting the new to pass through all the old shades and degrees of hot and cold. Dark paths turn off abruptly into absurd darkness, then wind back through the broken rocks, ecstatic again. Absurdity again. It happens everyday. "Hello, Hi" is expansively rendered by Ty, mostly by himself, at home. Ty's acoustic and electric guitars and vocal harmonies layer self upon self, forming a spiny backbone for the album. Textures at once gentle and dissonant root the songs as they make their move: melodic arcs convulsing in doubt and bliss and rage. "Hello, Hi" is Ty's most relaxed and complete production to date, an ebb-and flow fusion of words and music offering abstraction and acceptance as it wrestles itself through a fucked-up time.
July 29 street date. "Remedy" is Basement Jaxx's joyous debut album from 1999. It was one of the most assured, propulsive full-lengths the dance world had seen since Daft Punk's "Homework". A set of incredibly diverse tracks, "Remedy" is indebted to the raw American house of Todd Terry and Masters at Work, and even shares a penchant for Latin vibes (especially on the horn-driven "Bingo Bango" and the opener, "Rendez-Vu", which trades a bit of salsa wiggle with infectious vocoderized disco). The double LP "Remedy" reissue arrives July 29th on golden vinyl.
July 29 street date. Named after their infamous Brixton club night, Basement Jaxx's second album "Rooty" saw the duo continue to push the boundaries of pop and club music. The album mixes classic house with generous lashings of punk, funk, R&B, jazz, hip hop, 2-step and pop songcraft in a mad genre crash that works like a charm. It features the massive tracks "Where's Your Head At", "Romeo" and "Do Your Thing". The "Rooty" double LP reissue arrives July 29th with 2 uniquely coloured LP's, 1 disc pressed on pink vinyl and the other on bright blue.
July 29 street date. Against the backdrop of Asbury Park, NJ rock and punk history comes Beach Rats. With a membership that includes four impossible-to-avoid New Jersey punk stalwarts including Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Ari Katz (Lifetime), Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls) and rounded out by Danny Windas, akd "Dubs" on drums. Beach Rats play a brand of hardcore/punk that stays true to their members' roots while creating something completely fresh and urgent. "It's a mix of the Jersey Shore thing and a bunch of guys that can endlessly create 80s hardcore riffs because we were there", states Bryan Kienlan. "You're gonna get authentic punk and hardcore from Beach Rats because we are all from the 80s. It's literally taking it back to some of our biggest influences like Negative Approach and Poison Idea, And of course, Minor Threat".
July 29 street date. Against the backdrop of Asbury Park, NJ rock and punk history comes Beach Rats. With a membership that includes four impossible-to-avoid New Jersey punk stalwarts including Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Ari Katz (Lifetime), Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls) and rounded out by Danny Windas, akd "Dubs" on drums. Beach Rats play a brand of hardcore/punk that stays true to their members' roots while creating something completely fresh and urgent. "It's a mix of the Jersey Shore thing and a bunch of guys that can endlessly create 80s hardcore riffs because we were there", states Bryan Kienlan. "You're gonna get authentic punk and hardcore from Beach Rats because we are all from the 80s. It's literally taking it back to some of our biggest influences like Negative Approach and Poison Idea, And of course, Minor Threat".
July 29 street date. Against the backdrop of Asbury Park, NJ rock and punk history comes Beach Rats. With a membership that includes four impossible-to-avoid New Jersey punk stalwarts including Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Ari Katz (Lifetime), Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls) and rounded out by Danny Windas, akd "Dubs" on drums. Beach Rats play a brand of hardcore/punk that stays true to their members' roots while creating something completely fresh and urgent. "It's a mix of the Jersey Shore thing and a bunch of guys that can endlessly create 80s hardcore riffs because we were there", states Bryan Kienlan. "You're gonna get authentic punk and hardcore from Beach Rats because we are all from the 80s. It's literally taking it back to some of our biggest influences like Negative Approach and Poison Idea, And of course, Minor Threat".
July 29 street date. Friendship's Merge debut, "Love the Stranger", moves like a country record skipping in just the right spot, leaving its fellow travelers longing for a place they've only visited in their dreams. Guitarist Peter Gill, drummer Michael Cormier-O'Leary, bassist Jon Samuels, and hawkeyed balladeer Dan Wriggins map out the group's particular, breathtaking landscape and invite the listener to share in its glory. "Love the Stranger"'s invitation is all the more wondrous because its characters have clearly been hurt before. Wide awake, vulnerable, and gimmickless, Friendship won't hesitate to confide in us, or even ask for help when the moment calls. The record's images craft a symbolic language of high and low Americana, both evocative and consistently accessible. Spending time with "Love the Stranger" creates a community - one in which the window between the listener and the musicmaker shatters in full, until all that remains are the fragments you decide to pick up together.
July 29 street date. Friendship's Merge debut, "Love the Stranger", moves like a country record skipping in just the right spot, leaving its fellow travelers longing for a place they've only visited in their dreams. Guitarist Peter Gill, drummer Michael Cormier-O'Leary, bassist Jon Samuels, and hawkeyed balladeer Dan Wriggins map out the group's particular, breathtaking landscape and invite the listener to share in its glory. "Love the Stranger"'s invitation is all the more wondrous because its characters have clearly been hurt before. Wide awake, vulnerable, and gimmickless, Friendship won't hesitate to confide in us, or even ask for help when the moment calls. The record's images craft a symbolic language of high and low Americana, both evocative and consistently accessible. Spending time with "Love the Stranger" creates a community - one in which the window between the listener and the musicmaker shatters in full, until all that remains are the fragments you decide to pick up together.
July 29 street date. Friendship's Merge debut, "Love the Stranger", moves like a country record skipping in just the right spot, leaving its fellow travelers longing for a place they've only visited in their dreams. Guitarist Peter Gill, drummer Michael Cormier-O'Leary, bassist Jon Samuels, and hawkeyed balladeer Dan Wriggins map out the group's particular, breathtaking landscape and invite the listener to share in its glory. "Love the Stranger"'s invitation is all the more wondrous because its characters have clearly been hurt before. Wide awake, vulnerable, and gimmickless, Friendship won't hesitate to confide in us, or even ask for help when the moment calls. The record's images craft a symbolic language of high and low Americana, both evocative and consistently accessible. Spending time with "Love the Stranger" creates a community - one in which the window between the listener and the musicmaker shatters in full, until all that remains are the fragments you decide to pick up together.
July 29 street date. New Jersey indie rockers Yo La Tengo had already been slowly growing into their sound for over a decade by the 1997 release of their revelational eighth album, "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One". Now, 25 years later, this "stone cold classic" (Rolling Stone) by "the greatest band in the universe" (Pitchfork) is getting reissue treatment on translucent yellow vinyl as part of Matador's 2022 Revisionist History catalogue campaign. Featuring their eclectic blend of folk, rock, shoegaze, electronic, and what can be widely termed experimental, "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One" subtly shifts moods with their wide curious palette of stylistic exploration. For the album's 25th anniversary, Yo La Tengo expanded the double-LP to include a smorgasbord of unearthed live takes from a 1997 Peel Session, as well as remixes of ‘Autumn Sweater’. Though the band turned in standout albums before and after, this fan-favourite announced itself as their definitive master statement.
August 5 street date. Art Moore make vivid, heartbreaking short stories. Each song on the newly formed band's self-titled debut album is its own individual universe of bittersweet feeling: a brief snapshot of a moment in time that captures the fragility and occasional impossibility of human connection. These songs are deft character studies, zeroing in on shy beginners, jilted friends and friendly exes, chronicling minute moments - road trips, casual dates, games of truth or dare - with rich detail and subtle wit. Featuring the inimitable songwriting of beloved Oakland luminary Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts set in sharp relief against lush production from Ezra Furman collaborators Sam Durkes and Trevor Brooks, it's a quietly wondrous record - a set of songs that sketch out the struggle and beauty of coping with everyday life. These are songs about tiny, unspoken feelings rendered on a grand scale, moments that often get brushed aside given the weight that they should be.
August 5 street date. Art Moore make vivid, heartbreaking short stories. Each song on the newly formed band's self-titled debut album is its own individual universe of bittersweet feeling: a brief snapshot of a moment in time that captures the fragility and occasional impossibility of human connection. These songs are deft character studies, zeroing in on shy beginners, jilted friends and friendly exes, chronicling minute moments - road trips, casual dates, games of truth or dare - with rich detail and subtle wit. Featuring the inimitable songwriting of beloved Oakland luminary Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts set in sharp relief against lush production from Ezra Furman collaborators Sam Durkes and Trevor Brooks, it's a quietly wondrous record - a set of songs that sketch out the struggle and beauty of coping with everyday life. These are songs about tiny, unspoken feelings rendered on a grand scale, moments that often get brushed aside given the weight that they should be.
August 5 street date. After three studio albums and over a decade deep into the music game, The Interrupters deliver their new album, "In The Wild". This 14-track opus is the real deal; it's a story of survival, a story of resilience, by a band being bold and rejecting the easy impulses of simply repeating what's worked before. Together during lockdown, Aimee Interrupter, partner and guitarist Kevin Bivona, and his younger twin brothers, Jesse (drums) and Justin (bass), decided to put idle hands to work. After building a home studio in their garage together, Kevin stepped up and took charge of production duties to become "the accountable one" this time around. The record took shape in an unforced and organic fashion, and the recording process was evidently a fun one, which is reflected in the sound of the album, gliding across a spectrum of breathless punk rock, doo-wop, gospel, dancehall, and the band’s customary nods to the lineage of two-tone.
August 5 street date. After three studio albums and over a decade deep into the music game, The Interrupters deliver their new album, "In The Wild". This 14-track opus is the real deal; it's a story of survival, a story of resilience, by a band being bold and rejecting the easy impulses of simply repeating what's worked before. Together during lockdown, Aimee Interrupter, partner and guitarist Kevin Bivona, and his younger twin brothers, Jesse (drums) and Justin (bass), decided to put idle hands to work. After building a home studio in their garage together, Kevin stepped up and took charge of production duties to become "the accountable one" this time around. The record took shape in an unforced and organic fashion, and the recording process was evidently a fun one, which is reflected in the sound of the album, gliding across a spectrum of breathless punk rock, doo-wop, gospel, dancehall, and the band’s customary nods to the lineage of two-tone.
August 5 street date. After three studio albums and over a decade deep into the music game, The Interrupters deliver their new album, "In The Wild". This 14-track opus is the real deal; it's a story of survival, a story of resilience, by a band being bold and rejecting the easy impulses of simply repeating what's worked before. Together during lockdown, Aimee Interrupter, partner and guitarist Kevin Bivona, and his younger twin brothers, Jesse (drums) and Justin (bass), decided to put idle hands to work. After building a home studio in their garage together, Kevin stepped up and took charge of production duties to become "the accountable one" this time around. The record took shape in an unforced and organic fashion, and the recording process was evidently a fun one, which is reflected in the sound of the album, gliding across a spectrum of breathless punk rock, doo-wop, gospel, dancehall, and the band’s customary nods to the lineage of two-tone.
August 12 street date. This year we celebrate 30 years of Pavement's debut full-length, "Slanted and Enchanted". First released by Matador Records on April 20, 1992, it remains a truly monumental album - one that defined/ruined a generation and a genre, depending on who you ask. To mark the occasion the iconic album is going to be reissued on limited red/white/black splattered vinyl. In their own way, Pavement changed the face of 1990s rock just as much as Nirvana, at least for those with an ear closer to the ground of the indie scene. In fact, they virtually defined the indie scene for that decade, and "Slanted and Enchanted" was the non-anthem of slacker rock. For years after its release, every hip indie band seemed to imitate their Fall-influenced, off-kilter sound and post-functional, obscurantist lyrical approach. Pavement are set to bring their unique brand of indie-rock back for 2 nights at Toronto's Massey Hall this September.
February 11 street date. Please note that the LP street date is currently TBA (likely summer 2022). A great punk album is one that makes you think, feel and want to mosh simultaneously. Escape From The Zoo has struck the perfect balance between all three on their new album "Countin' Cards". It's something that the band - the louder, faster, punk project that Days N' Daze's Jesse Sendejas co-founded with his wife Veronica - has always done, but never quite to this extent. Much of that is down to the circumstances that led up to the recording of these songs - most obviously a global pandemic that allowed for intense self-reflection. This period of isolation coincided with Sendejas getting sober, so not only do the songs that make up "Countin' Cards" offer up deep and poignant existential questions about life - as well as the social and political constructs that surround and consume it - but they’re also a reflection of Sendejas' newfound clarity and the path he's now trying to take. The result is nine songs that are earnest expressions of everyday struggle and existence. What this record does incredibly well is offer a sense of optimistic realism - or, perhaps, realistic optimism - both on a personal level and a more universal one.
Please note: new street date is TBA. Kero Kero Bonito are a London-based experimental pop trio, comprised of bilingual Anglo-Japanese singer Sarah and producers Gus and Jamie. Having previously made college radio indie and viral Casio megahits, the six track "Civilisation" mini-album compiles the "lost world junk pop" of the band's "Civilisation I" and "Civilisation II" EP's. "Civilisation" was inspired by the art pop lineage of artists like Kate Bush, David Sylvian and Peter Gabriel, with a sonic palette informed by Warp's "Artificial Intelligence" series, homemade New Age music and early digital synth experiments. It was created entirely with dusty old musical hardware and uses both ancient musical tropes (pentatonic scales, minimalist repetition) and contemporary songwriting techniques to summon an out-of-time atmosphere that spans the past, present and future simultaneously. The songs tackle widescreen themes like psychological warfare (on the mystical polyrhythmic funk of "Battle Lines"), ancient mythology (on the energetic, melancholy synth-pop of "The Princess and the Clock") and the resurrection of the dead (on "Well Rested", the record's 7-minute psychedelic house closer).
Please note: new street date is September 10. Kero Kero Bonito are a London-based experimental pop trio, comprised of bilingual Anglo-Japanese singer Sarah and producers Gus and Jamie. Having previously made college radio indie and viral Casio megahits, the six track "Civilisation" mini-album compiles the "lost world junk pop" of the band's "Civilisation I" and "Civilisation II" EP's. "Civilisation" was inspired by the art pop lineage of artists like Kate Bush, David Sylvian and Peter Gabriel, with a sonic palette informed by Warp's "Artificial Intelligence" series, homemade New Age music and early digital synth experiments. It was created entirely with dusty old musical hardware and uses both ancient musical tropes (pentatonic scales, minimalist repetition) and contemporary songwriting techniques to summon an out-of-time atmosphere that spans the past, present and future simultaneously. The songs tackle widescreen themes like psychological warfare (on the mystical polyrhythmic funk of "Battle Lines"), ancient mythology (on the energetic, melancholy synth-pop of "The Princess and the Clock") and the resurrection of the dead (on "Well Rested", the record's 7-minute psychedelic house closer).
September 24 street date. Less than two years after its predecessor's release, A Pale Horse Named Death are poised to unveil their fourth full-length album, "Infernum In Terra". Sal Abruscato's latest collection of crestfallen anthems showcases a bold and adventurous new upgrade for APHND's trademark sound, with greater subtleties and depths but also some of the heaviest, gnarliest riffs the band have ever unleashed. Combined with a production that fills the room with sparkling clarity and choking gloom, "Infernum In Terra" will satisfy every last one of the New Yorkers' fans, while expanding Abruscato's singular vision beyond all expectation. New songs like "Cast Out From The Sky" and visceral and epic first single "Reflections Of The Dead" are, of course, sodden with misery and emotional turmoil, but previous albums' myopic approach has been rejected here. Instead, "Infernum In Terra" makes intermittent concessions to a more outward-looking perspective, enabling A Pale Horse Named Death to pass through fresh thematic territory.
September 24 street date. Less than two years after its predecessor's release, A Pale Horse Named Death are poised to unveil their fourth full-length album, "Infernum In Terra". Sal Abruscato's latest collection of crestfallen anthems showcases a bold and adventurous new upgrade for APHND's trademark sound, with greater subtleties and depths but also some of the heaviest, gnarliest riffs the band have ever unleashed. Combined with a production that fills the room with sparkling clarity and choking gloom, "Infernum In Terra" will satisfy every last one of the New Yorkers' fans, while expanding Abruscato's singular vision beyond all expectation. New songs like "Cast Out From The Sky" and visceral and epic first single "Reflections Of The Dead" are, of course, sodden with misery and emotional turmoil, but previous albums' myopic approach has been rejected here. Instead, "Infernum In Terra" makes intermittent concessions to a more outward-looking perspective, enabling A Pale Horse Named Death to pass through fresh thematic territory.
November 26 street date. For her Christmas album, Lee Aaron and her band have put together a collection of tracks that showcase Aaron's unique vocal range of rockers, blues and jazz-oriented material. Thus, the album features established favorites like Darlene Love's "Baby Please Come Home," Slade's "'Merry Christmas Everybody'" and a raucous cover of Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph." But also obscure tracks like The Eels' "Everything Is Gonna Be Cool This Christmas" and The Sonics' punky "Don't Believe In Christmas," Over The Rhine's blues-tinged "All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue," an accapella version of Joni Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum," and a jazzy arrangement of Louis Armstrong's "Zat You Santa Claus." And to top it off, a rockin' cover of "It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas" by the Pet Shop Boys. "Making a Christmas album became a passion project, not only to keep my band family together this year, but we also wanted to make something as a gift for our fans to lift their spirits during these difficult times," explains Lee Aaron.
July 23 street date. Lee Aaron, the metal queen herself, is back with her new album "Radio On!". On 12 brand new songs, the exceptional singer shows herself from her strongest side and fulfils all expectations that one can have of a great rock album. Just like the numerous FM stations that once ruled the airwaves, "Radio On!" is an album packed with classic, melodic rock hooks, nasty guitar riffs, big harmonies and inspired songwriting. Lee Aaron combines these qualities through catchy, soaring melodies carried by her unique, versatile voice. "Radio On!" is an album of non-stop versatile melodic rock at its best.
June 11 street date. "Big Colors is the soundtrack to a movie from 1984 that exists only in my soul. It's a cliché inside a watercolor painting of neon blue smoke rising up off summer streets in the night. It's the most New York California album I could cut loose from my musical soul, and for me as both a guitar player and songwriter, this is the zenith point dream time. While I won't be able to match this album for its depth and broad color forms in the future, this is the sound of my soul and a door to a place I'll be returning to again. The treasures in our past are the shamanic visions of the future when the destination is dream zone 3000. This is that. I'm only dreaming in Big Colors now" - Ryan Adams. Vinyl edition coming later this year.
March 19 street date (CD) / May 14 (LP). Ryan Adams' first album in three years, "Wednesdays", is purely raw, vulnerable, and honest. The music takes you on a deep dive exploring the complex heart of Ryan Adams, through a journey of love, pain, and heartbreak. The album so effortlessly creates an immediate connection with anyone who has ever experienced love lost - the type of love that haunts you in quiet places of your mind. While the lyrics walk you through the vast emotional layers of grief, they also remind you of the rich memories of a love that will forever remain a part of you.
Please note new street date for LP: May 14. Ryan Adams' first album in three years, "Wednesdays", is purely raw, vulnerable, and honest. The music takes you on a deep dive exploring the complex heart of Ryan Adams, through a journey of love, pain, and heartbreak. The album so effortlessly creates an immediate connection with anyone who has ever experienced love lost - the type of love that haunts you in quiet places of your mind. While the lyrics walk you through the vast emotional layers of grief, they also remind you of the rich memories of a love that will forever remain a part of you.
Please note new street date: May 15. "Perception is/as/of Deception" is an anxiety fueled cyclone of pandemonium that only ADULT. would know how to harness. The album was given life in a temporary space the duo created by painting their windowless basement entirely black, with the sole intention to deprive their senses, question their perceptions, and witness the resulting ramifications. With over 23 years and a sprawling discography left in their wake, Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus have spent their entire career as ADULT. obscuring any defined genre or style. With a history as uncanny as ADULT., the pieces making up "Perception is/as/of Deception" might be perceived as their most punk-infused and introspective work to date. The elements of frustration and apprehension that have consistently woven throughout their material are at full mast, although augmented by a strident and more "head-on" approach.
Please note new street date: May 15. "Perception is/as/of Deception" is an anxiety fueled cyclone of pandemonium that only ADULT. would know how to harness. The album was given life in a temporary space the duo created by painting their windowless basement entirely black, with the sole intention to deprive their senses, question their perceptions, and witness the resulting ramifications. With over 23 years and a sprawling discography left in their wake, Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus have spent their entire career as ADULT. obscuring any defined genre or style. With a history as uncanny as ADULT., the pieces making up "Perception is/as/of Deception" might be perceived as their most punk-infused and introspective work to date. The elements of frustration and apprehension that have consistently woven throughout their material are at full mast, although augmented by a strident and more "head-on" approach.
December 10 street date. Aeon Station's "Observatory" is an epic statement more than a decade in the making, with miles of timeless melodies and the kind of overpowering songwriting that will reaffirm your belief in life itself. Longtime Wrens member Kevin Whelan's first solo album draws heavily from the perseverance of the soul, resulting in rock music possessing an infectious and inspiring sonic uplift. If you're familiar with Whelan's past work, these ten tracks bear a certain and unmistakable familiarity - but they also mark an exciting new chapter in Whelan's musical career, as he steps out with more vulnerability than ever before. Whelan's scope of musical vision on "Observatory" is wide open and free with possibilities - at once recalling the reflective wisdom of Bruce Springsteen, Broken Social Scene's huge anthemic burn, and the Wrens' own pulsing-with-life take on rock music. First vinyl pressing on cloudy blue vinyl.
December 10 street date. Aeon Station's "Observatory" is an epic statement more than a decade in the making, with miles of timeless melodies and the kind of overpowering songwriting that will reaffirm your belief in life itself. Longtime Wrens member Kevin Whelan's first solo album draws heavily from the perseverance of the soul, resulting in rock music possessing an infectious and inspiring sonic uplift. If you're familiar with Whelan's past work, these ten tracks bear a certain and unmistakable familiarity - but they also mark an exciting new chapter in Whelan's musical career, as he steps out with more vulnerability than ever before. Whelan's scope of musical vision on "Observatory" is wide open and free with possibilities - at once recalling the reflective wisdom of Bruce Springsteen, Broken Social Scene's huge anthemic burn, and the Wrens' own pulsing-with-life take on rock music. First vinyl pressing on cloudy blue vinyl.
July 16 street date. The explosion of indie Hip Hop labels in the early 1990s resulted in an ongoing snowball effect that started to shift the narrative around an artist's need to sign to a major label. Coincidentally, quality home recording equipment was also becoming more easily accessible and, with the rising popularity of CD-R technology, this allowed artists to write, record, and manufacture their own albums right at home. "Appleseed" was a highly celebrated and influential release from that era, cementing Aesop Rock as a new face whose talent could not be denied. The album explores creative concepts with inventive writing and stripped-down yet melodic and melancholic production. Finally, 21 years after its debut, "Appleseed" officially returns, now available on all digital platforms, as well as on vinyl for the first time!
July 16 street date. The explosion of indie Hip Hop labels in the early 1990s resulted in an ongoing snowball effect that started to shift the narrative around an artist's need to sign to a major label. Coincidentally, quality home recording equipment was also becoming more easily accessible and, with the rising popularity of CD-R technology, this allowed artists to write, record, and manufacture their own albums right at home. "Appleseed" was a highly celebrated and influential release from that era, cementing Aesop Rock as a new face whose talent could not be denied. The album explores creative concepts with inventive writing and stripped-down yet melodic and melancholic production. Finally, 21 years after its debut, "Appleseed" officially returns, now available on all digital platforms, as well as on vinyl for the first time!
November 12 street date. When Aesop Rock debuted in the late 1990s with "Music For Earthworms" and "Appleseed", Blockhead was also a part of the process, not only as a producer, but also helping coordinate sales of the CDRs to hungry Hip Hop fans. Blockhead and Aesop continued to collaborate, creating an impressive list of songs along the way, including two of Aesop's most popular songs to date; "Daylight" and "None Shall Pass". In recent years, Blockhead has contributed production, as well as remixes, to many of Aesop's solo releases and group projects, and Aesop has made a handful of guest features on Blockhead's solo projects, but in all that time, Aesop and Block have never done a full album together, until now! "Garbology" came together over the course of the pandemic, as well as in the midst of Aesop processing the loss of a close friend in January of 2020, resulting in a period of time of feeling uncreative. "Garbology" encapsulates the soundtrack of current times, capturing a snapshot of Aes and Block expressing a means of entertaining themselves in the midst of less social interactions than usual.
November 12 street date. When Aesop Rock debuted in the late 1990s with "Music For Earthworms" and "Appleseed", Blockhead was also a part of the process, not only as a producer, but also helping coordinate sales of the CDRs to hungry Hip Hop fans. Blockhead and Aesop continued to collaborate, creating an impressive list of songs along the way, including two of Aesop's most popular songs to date; "Daylight" and "None Shall Pass". In recent years, Blockhead has contributed production, as well as remixes, to many of Aesop's solo releases and group projects, and Aesop has made a handful of guest features on Blockhead's solo projects, but in all that time, Aesop and Block have never done a full album together, until now! "Garbology" came together over the course of the pandemic, as well as in the midst of Aesop processing the loss of a close friend in January of 2020, resulting in a period of time of feeling uncreative. "Garbology" encapsulates the soundtrack of current times, capturing a snapshot of Aes and Block expressing a means of entertaining themselves in the midst of less social interactions than usual.
August 13 street date. Lydia Ainsworth's latest album "Sparkles & Debris" reflects her usual composer's mindset and instinct for idiosyncratic melodies and structures. It also marks a departure from the more solitary creative process that her previous releases were born from. The record blends live drums, guitars and bass with her signature vast electronic landscapes, samples, programming, and voice to create the record's sonic tapestry. "Longing seems to be a major theme running through my songs on this album", says Ainsworth. "Whether that is longing in love, longing to be free from oppression, or longing for the muse of inspiration to make an appearance. I have included some spells and charms in there as well that have proven effective, if any ofmy listeners want to use them for help with their own desires".
August 13 street date. Lydia Ainsworth's latest album "Sparkles & Debris" reflects her usual composer's mindset and instinct for idiosyncratic melodies and structures. It also marks a departure from the more solitary creative process that her previous releases were born from. The record blends live drums, guitars and bass with her signature vast electronic landscapes, samples, programming, and voice to create the record's sonic tapestry. "Longing seems to be a major theme running through my songs on this album", says Ainsworth. "Whether that is longing in love, longing to be free from oppression, or longing for the muse of inspiration to make an appearance. I have included some spells and charms in there as well that have proven effective, if any ofmy listeners want to use them for help with their own desires".
November 12 street date. "The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows" was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. This last year has seen Damon Albarn return to music in lockdown and develop the work to 11 tracks which further explore themes of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth. The result is a panoramic collection of songs with Albarn as storyteller. The album title is taken from a John Clare poem "Love and Memory". Albarn says "I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist". In a career of perpetual musical shifts and exploration, the record uncovers yet more ground, finding expansive orchestral arrangements nestling with intimate melodies, discordance brushing up against infectious majesty, all set to some of Albarn's most arresting vocal performances to date. Much like the beauty and chaos of the natural world it soundtracks, "The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows" vividly documents the emotional ebb and flow of the human condition, in all its extremes, serving as a soul enriching document for our times.
November 12 street date. "The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows" was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. This last year has seen Damon Albarn return to music in lockdown and develop the work to 11 tracks which further explore themes of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth. The result is a panoramic collection of songs with Albarn as storyteller. The album title is taken from a John Clare poem "Love and Memory". Albarn says "I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist". In a career of perpetual musical shifts and exploration, the record uncovers yet more ground, finding expansive orchestral arrangements nestling with intimate melodies, discordance brushing up against infectious majesty, all set to some of Albarn's most arresting vocal performances to date. Much like the beauty and chaos of the natural world it soundtracks, "The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows" vividly documents the emotional ebb and flow of the human condition, in all its extremes, serving as a soul enriching document for our times.
November 12 street date. "The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows" was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. This last year has seen Damon Albarn return to music in lockdown and develop the work to 11 tracks which further explore themes of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth. The result is a panoramic collection of songs with Albarn as storyteller. The album title is taken from a John Clare poem "Love and Memory". Albarn says "I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist". In a career of perpetual musical shifts and exploration, the record uncovers yet more ground, finding expansive orchestral arrangements nestling with intimate melodies, discordance brushing up against infectious majesty, all set to some of Albarn's most arresting vocal performances to date. Much like the beauty and chaos of the natural world it soundtracks, "The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows" vividly documents the emotional ebb and flow of the human condition, in all its extremes, serving as a soul enriching document for our times.
April 23 street date. Alfa Mist is one of the driving forces behind a young and vibrant scene of UK musicians who've taken on jazz as their musical narrative. On his new album "Bring Backs" the producer, self-taught pianist and rapper takes us on a sonic trip back to his beat-making past on the streets of East London, through the depth and musicality he discovered composing and playing jazz. 2017 saw the release of Alfa's breakthrough record, "Antiphon" and the 2019 album "Structuralism" were both self-released on his Sekito label. His latest endeavour, 2021's "Bring Backs", sees Alfa taking on new challenges. The record marks his first release for the label Anti and is also the most detailed exploration of his upbringing in musical form.
April 23 street date. Alfa Mist is one of the driving forces behind a young and vibrant scene of UK musicians who've taken on jazz as their musical narrative. On his new album "Bring Backs" the producer, self-taught pianist and rapper takes us on a sonic trip back to his beat-making past on the streets of East London, through the depth and musicality he discovered composing and playing jazz. 2017 saw the release of Alfa's breakthrough record, "Antiphon" and the 2019 album "Structuralism" were both self-released on his Sekito label. His latest endeavour, 2021's "Bring Backs", sees Alfa taking on new challenges. The record marks his first release for the label Anti and is also the most detailed exploration of his upbringing in musical form.
May 6 street date. On his manifold fourth album, acclaimed songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen contemplates kinship - the ways sex and violence stitch and sever the ties of family, faith, and society - with skewering satire and affection alike. 1983's "Bloodlines" compiles thematically related but disparate recordings from miscellaneous sources both theatrical and historical: two songs written for plays; two full-band reprises of selections from "Juarez"; the irreverent hellfire-hitchhiker-on-highway ballad "Gimme a Ride to Heaven Boy" (featuring Joe Ely); and the poignant eponymous ode to the arteries of ancestry and landscape (the debut recording of eight-year-old Natalie Maines, later covered by Lucinda Williams). This first-ever vinyl reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, includes a gatefold jacket and inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate artwork and photos by Allen and friends; an insert with lyrics and original notes; and a high-res download code.
May 6 street date. On his manifold fourth album, acclaimed songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen contemplates kinship - the ways sex and violence stitch and sever the ties of family, faith, and society - with skewering satire and affection alike. 1983's "Bloodlines" compiles thematically related but disparate recordings from miscellaneous sources both theatrical and historical: two songs written for plays; two full-band reprises of selections from "Juarez"; the irreverent hellfire-hitchhiker-on-highway ballad "Gimme a Ride to Heaven Boy" (featuring Joe Ely); and the poignant eponymous ode to the arteries of ancestry and landscape (the debut recording of eight-year-old Natalie Maines, later covered by Lucinda Williams). This first-ever vinyl reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, includes a gatefold jacket and inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate artwork and photos by Allen and friends; an insert with lyrics and original notes; and a high-res download code.
May 6 street date. Recorded exactly two years after acclaimed visual artist and songwriter Terry Allen's masterpiece "Lubbock (on everything)", the feral follow-up "Smokin The Dummy" is less conceptually focused but more sonically and stylistically unified than its predecessor - it's also rougher and rowdier, wilder and more wired, and altogether more menacingly rock and roll. The first album by Allen to share top billing with the Panhandle Mystery Band, here featuring Jesse Taylor on blistering lead guitar alongside the Maines brothers and Richard Bowden, "Smokin The Dummy" documents a ferocious new band in fully telepathic, tornado-fueled flight, refining its caliber, increasing its range, and never looking down. This first-ever vinyl reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, includes a gatefold jacket and inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate art and photos by Terry and Jo Harvey Allen; an insert with lyrics, original notes, Terry's letter to H.C. Westermann about the songs, and a high-res download code.
May 6 street date. Recorded exactly two years after acclaimed visual artist and songwriter Terry Allen's masterpiece "Lubbock (on everything)", the feral follow-up "Smokin The Dummy" is less conceptually focused but more sonically and stylistically unified than its predecessor - it's also rougher and rowdier, wilder and more wired, and altogether more menacingly rock and roll. The first album by Allen to share top billing with the Panhandle Mystery Band, here featuring Jesse Taylor on blistering lead guitar alongside the Maines brothers and Richard Bowden, "Smokin The Dummy" documents a ferocious new band in fully telepathic, tornado-fueled flight, refining its caliber, increasing its range, and never looking down. This first-ever vinyl reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, includes a gatefold jacket and inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate art and photos by Terry and Jo Harvey Allen; an insert with lyrics, original notes, Terry's letter to H.C. Westermann about the songs, and a high-res download code.
January 24 street date. "A true legend and a hero. I love Terry's music so much" - Kurt Vile. Iconic and iconoclastic Texan songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen's heartbreaking, hilarious new album, his first set of new songs since 2013's "Bottom Of The World", features the full Panhandle Mystery Band, including co-producer Charlie Sexton (Dylan, Bowie, Blaze), Shannon McNally, and Jo Harvey Allen; mainstays Bukka Allen, Richard Bowden, and Lloyd Maines; and co-writes with Joe Ely and Dave Alvin. The connections to Melville's masterpiece are metaphorical and allusive, as elusive as the White Whale. The masterly spiritual successor to "Lubbock (on everything)", "Just Like Moby Dick" casts its net wide for wild stories, depicting, among other monstrous things, Houdini in existential crisis, the death of the last stripper in town, bloodthirsty pirates, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a vampire-infested circus, mudslides and burning mobile homes, and all manner of tragicomic disasters, abandonments, betrayals, bad memories, failures, and fare-thee-wells. The deluxe tip-on gatefold 2xLP package features lyrics, color labels, high-res Bandcamp download code, three sides of music, and a fourth-side vinyl etching artwork by Allen.
January 24 street date. "A true legend and a hero. I love Terry's music so much" - Kurt Vile. Iconic and iconoclastic Texan songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen's heartbreaking, hilarious new album, his first set of new songs since 2013's "Bottom Of The World", features the full Panhandle Mystery Band, including co-producer Charlie Sexton (Dylan, Bowie, Blaze), Shannon McNally, and Jo Harvey Allen; mainstays Bukka Allen, Richard Bowden, and Lloyd Maines; and co-writes with Joe Ely and Dave Alvin. The connections to Melville's masterpiece are metaphorical and allusive, as elusive as the White Whale. The masterly spiritual successor to "Lubbock (on everything)", "Just Like Moby Dick" casts its net wide for wild stories, depicting, among other monstrous things, Houdini in existential crisis, the death of the last stripper in town, bloodthirsty pirates, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a vampire-infested circus, mudslides and burning mobile homes, and all manner of tragicomic disasters, abandonments, betrayals, bad memories, failures, and fare-thee-wells. The deluxe tip-on gatefold 2xLP package features lyrics, color labels, high-res Bandcamp download code, three sides of music, and a fourth-side vinyl etching artwork by Allen.
CD available now (lower price)/LP street date June 10. There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when Bernard Allison returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, "Highs & Lows", everything felt right with the world. For 56 years, music has been Bernard Allison's essence. As the youngest son of the much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison, he was a bluesman from birth, naturally drawn to this ancient music that seemed to heal deep wounds, and held spellbound by early encounters with heavyweights like Muddy Waters, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor.
February 11 street date. Looking at Dan Andriano's catalog, one might assume that making new music is old hat for the veteran vocalist, songwriter, bassist and primary member of the beloved Chicago punk outfit Alkaline Trio. Decades into his prolific career, though, Andriano is just as in love with the process as he was in those early days of sweaty clubs and cramped vans. On his new Epitaph Records album, "Dear Darkness", that unceasing passion is evident on this solo, self-produced project (which follows his 2015 release "Party Adjacent"), finding Andriano venturing into deeply personal lyrical territory while also pushing the limits of just what his unclassifiable sound can be.
February 11 street date. Looking at Dan Andriano's catalog, one might assume that making new music is old hat for the veteran vocalist, songwriter, bassist and primary member of the beloved Chicago punk outfit Alkaline Trio. Decades into his prolific career, though, Andriano is just as in love with the process as he was in those early days of sweaty clubs and cramped vans. On his new Epitaph Records album, "Dear Darkness", that unceasing passion is evident on this solo, self-produced project (which follows his 2015 release "Party Adjacent"), finding Andriano venturing into deeply personal lyrical territory while also pushing the limits of just what his unclassifiable sound can be.
July 23 street date. When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson - better known simply as Anika - quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art - or simply tried to live through - the recent global pandemic. Given that it has been 11 years since the release of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite "Anika", the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. Recorded at a time when literally everyone in the world was being forced to take stock, rethink, and reimagine their own place in the cosmos of things, Anika provides the wisened perspective of an outsider. It's a perspective that is not lost on the British ex-pat and former political journalist. Despite the subject matter and the circumstances around its creation, "Change" itself is ultimately a treatise on optimism.
July 23 street date. When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson - better known simply as Anika - quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art - or simply tried to live through - the recent global pandemic. Given that it has been 11 years since the release of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite "Anika", the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. Recorded at a time when literally everyone in the world was being forced to take stock, rethink, and reimagine their own place in the cosmos of things, Anika provides the wisened perspective of an outsider. It's a perspective that is not lost on the British ex-pat and former political journalist. Despite the subject matter and the circumstances around its creation, "Change" itself is ultimately a treatise on optimism.
July 23 street date. When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson - better known simply as Anika - quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art - or simply tried to live through - the recent global pandemic. Given that it has been 11 years since the release of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite "Anika", the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. Recorded at a time when literally everyone in the world was being forced to take stock, rethink, and reimagine their own place in the cosmos of things, Anika provides the wisened perspective of an outsider. It's a perspective that is not lost on the British ex-pat and former political journalist. Despite the subject matter and the circumstances around its creation, "Change" itself is ultimately a treatise on optimism.
July 23 street date. When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson - better known simply as Anika - quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art - or simply tried to live through - the recent global pandemic. Given that it has been 11 years since the release of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite "Anika", the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. Recorded at a time when literally everyone in the world was being forced to take stock, rethink, and reimagine their own place in the cosmos of things, Anika provides the wisened perspective of an outsider. It's a perspective that is not lost on the British ex-pat and former political journalist. Despite the subject matter and the circumstances around its creation, "Change" itself is ultimately a treatise on optimism.
March 26 street date. "Green To Gold" is the much-anticipated new album from New York based Indie/Folk band The Antlers. Perhaps what distinguishes "Green To Gold" from the rest of The Antlers' canon is its, well, sunniness. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, "Green To Gold" is the band's first new music in nearly seven years, and easily their most luminous to date. The brighter outlook emerged, paradoxically, after a succession of ominous events. In 2015, Silberman suffered with an auditory condition that made touring near impossible and he retreated to the quiet of upstate New York to heal. His return in 2017 with a solo album was short lived when he was diagnosed with lesions on his vocal chords, which required surgery and again a quiet rest and recovery period. Singer and primary songwriter Peter Silberman explains. "I took these health obstacles as a sign that I should change course for a little while. I hadn't made a full stop like that since The Antlers began. I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older. It doesn't make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I'm sure our audience does too. "Green To Gold" is about this idea of gradual change".
March 26 street date. "Green To Gold" is the much-anticipated new album from New York based Indie/Folk band The Antlers. Perhaps what distinguishes "Green To Gold" from the rest of The Antlers' canon is its, well, sunniness. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, "Green To Gold" is the band's first new music in nearly seven years, and easily their most luminous to date. The brighter outlook emerged, paradoxically, after a succession of ominous events. In 2015, Silberman suffered with an auditory condition that made touring near impossible and he retreated to the quiet of upstate New York to heal. His return in 2017 with a solo album was short lived when he was diagnosed with lesions on his vocal chords, which required surgery and again a quiet rest and recovery period. Singer and primary songwriter Peter Silberman explains. "I took these health obstacles as a sign that I should change course for a little while. I hadn't made a full stop like that since The Antlers began. I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older. It doesn't make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I'm sure our audience does too. "Green To Gold" is about this idea of gradual change".
March 26 street date. "Green To Gold" is the much-anticipated new album from New York based Indie/Folk band The Antlers. Perhaps what distinguishes "Green To Gold" from the rest of The Antlers' canon is its, well, sunniness. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, "Green To Gold" is the band's first new music in nearly seven years, and easily their most luminous to date. The brighter outlook emerged, paradoxically, after a succession of ominous events. In 2015, Silberman suffered with an auditory condition that made touring near impossible and he retreated to the quiet of upstate New York to heal. His return in 2017 with a solo album was short lived when he was diagnosed with lesions on his vocal chords, which required surgery and again a quiet rest and recovery period. Singer and primary songwriter Peter Silberman explains. "I took these health obstacles as a sign that I should change course for a little while. I hadn't made a full stop like that since The Antlers began. I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older. It doesn't make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I'm sure our audience does too. "Green To Gold" is about this idea of gradual change".
February 26 street date. Architects are back with their ninth studio album "For Those That Wish To Exist". The band have confirmed their ascent to the very upper echelons of British heavy music. Few bands, of this modern era or any other, can match the quintet's ability to blend uncompromising heaviness with razor-sharp melodic musicianship. A versatile metal group based out of Brighton, England, Architects employ a lethal combination of breakdown-heavy guitars, melodic vocals and symphonic-ambient post-metal. That sonic delivery is conducted from a platform built on veganism and environmental activism.
February 26 street date. Architects are back with their ninth studio album "For Those That Wish To Exist". The band have confirmed their ascent to the very upper echelons of British heavy music. Few bands, of this modern era or any other, can match the quintet's ability to blend uncompromising heaviness with razor-sharp melodic musicianship. A versatile metal group based out of Brighton, England, Architects employ a lethal combination of breakdown-heavy guitars, melodic vocals and symphonic-ambient post-metal. That sonic delivery is conducted from a platform built on veganism and environmental activism.
March 25 street date. Architects' new album captures a historic live stream performance event at the iconic Abbey Road studios: spiritual home to legends like The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Dubbed "For Those That Wish To Exist at Abbey Road", the album features a reimagined orchestral version of their masterpiece album "For Those That Wish To Exist", backed by their friends in the Parallax Orchestra, the well-respected UK based orchestra made up of some of England's best and most versatile classical musicians, arranged and written by Simon Dobson, Parallax Orchestra's conductor and a three times British Composer award (BASCA) winner for his compositions. Vocalist Sam Carter speaks to the cultural importance of Abbey Road Studios: "It's such an important part of music in not only the U.K. but all across the world. Some of the biggest and most important records of all time were recorded there. It's such a joy to even be allowed into the building, let alone to record there. It's a very special place; I still can't quite believe we were able to create there".
March 25 street date. Architects' new album captures a historic live stream performance event at the iconic Abbey Road studios: spiritual home to legends like The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Dubbed "For Those That Wish To Exist at Abbey Road", the album features a reimagined orchestral version of their masterpiece album "For Those That Wish To Exist", backed by their friends in the Parallax Orchestra, the well-respected UK based orchestra made up of some of England's best and most versatile classical musicians, arranged and written by Simon Dobson, Parallax Orchestra's conductor and a three times British Composer award (BASCA) winner for his compositions. Vocalist Sam Carter speaks to the cultural importance of Abbey Road Studios: "It's such an important part of music in not only the U.K. but all across the world. Some of the biggest and most important records of all time were recorded there. It's such a joy to even be allowed into the building, let alone to record there. It's a very special place; I still can't quite believe we were able to create there".
March 25 street date. Architects' new album captures a historic live stream performance event at the iconic Abbey Road studios: spiritual home to legends like The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Dubbed "For Those That Wish To Exist at Abbey Road", the album features a reimagined orchestral version of their masterpiece album "For Those That Wish To Exist", backed by their friends in the Parallax Orchestra, the well-respected UK based orchestra made up of some of England's best and most versatile classical musicians, arranged and written by Simon Dobson, Parallax Orchestra's conductor and a three times British Composer award (BASCA) winner for his compositions. Vocalist Sam Carter speaks to the cultural importance of Abbey Road Studios: "It's such an important part of music in not only the U.K. but all across the world. Some of the biggest and most important records of all time were recorded there. It's such a joy to even be allowed into the building, let alone to record there. It's a very special place; I still can't quite believe we were able to create there".
November 6 street date. The pioneering electronic composer Mort Garson ("Mother Earth's Plantasia") takes on supernatural phenomena with lush synth grooves on "The Unexplained", his only release under the name Ataraxia. Subtitled "Electronic Musical Impressions of the Occult", the album explores tarot, astral projection, seances, and more with Garson's signature Moog synthesizer serving as the listener's tour guide to the paranormal. The exploratory, whimsical spirit of its creator is evident throughout the release, but it also takes its subject matter seriously, making it essential for anyone interested in musical conjurations of the occult. This remastered edition marks the first official reissue of the album since its initial 1975 release, and it includes all the original liner notes.
November 6 street date. The pioneering electronic composer Mort Garson ("Mother Earth's Plantasia") takes on supernatural phenomena with lush synth grooves on "The Unexplained", his only release under the name Ataraxia. Subtitled "Electronic Musical Impressions of the Occult", the album explores tarot, astral projection, seances, and more with Garson's signature Moog synthesizer serving as the listener's tour guide to the paranormal. The exploratory, whimsical spirit of its creator is evident throughout the release, but it also takes its subject matter seriously, making it essential for anyone interested in musical conjurations of the occult. This remastered edition marks the first official reissue of the album since its initial 1975 release, and it includes all the original liner notes.
October 22 street date. "Overcast!" marked the start of a storied career that still shows no signs of slowing. While Slug and original co-member Spawn's rhyme patterns and wordplay may have hinted at some of their influences, their creative songwriting and inventive concepts, paired with Ant's brooding and melodic production, made the album stand apart from its predecessors. Although widely considered an underground classic, the full-length "Overcast!" album was never pressed on vinyl until a limited edition pressing celebrating the album's 20th anniversary in 2017. Now re-packaged and produced for wider distribution, fans everywhere can add this re-mastered masterpiece to their collection. Celebrate Atmosphere's legacy of creative expression with the album that started it all!
October 22 street date. Atmosphere have distinguished themselves from their peers by creating albums encompassing the entire spectrum of human emotion while tethering each piece to a central aural aesthetic. 2011's "The Family Sign" took this philosophy to new realms of solidarity with Slug metaphorically touching on themes of fatherhood, loss, love, disappointment and jubilation, and tailoring them to an instrumental framework that draws emotion out of the listener, skillfully composed by producer Ant. "The Family Sign" was evidence that hip-hop wields the ultimate potential to address and convey life's virtues and shortcomings. Finally, repackaged and repressed on 2xLP vinyl, just in time for its 10th anniversary, the album features two bonus tracks, "Millenium Dodo 2" and "Cut You Down", not available on the original version, plus an exclusive 7-inch vinyl inside, featuring two additional tracks from the same recording sessions, "By Your Side" and "Bar Food".
May 15 street date. For over 20 years, Atmosphere have pursued the underbelly of what it means to be human with a rabid curiosity. Ant's dusky production has provided the pulse for Slug's evolving and matter-of-fact pen. As Slug transitioned from throwing-up-in-the-backseat-raps to holding-hands-when-you-cross-the-street-raps, Ant has grown to be a master of crate digging and unearthing the humanity of a drum loop. Thriving at the intersection of guttural and self-effacing, Atmosphere will go down as some of America's best archivists. On "Whenever", the duo continue to move in lockstep. Within the minutiae lie clues they're still struggling with mortality and the need to protect emotional energy, as on previous releases, but there's a quiet romanticism now, with Slug sounding - reluctantly - in love with life. And no other producer can pull truths out of a rapper like Ant fishes the blues out of Slug. The album breathes in the way only Slug and Ant could summon a collective breath. On "Whenever", the duo inhale panic and exhale greatness.
May 15 street date. For over 20 years, Atmosphere have pursued the underbelly of what it means to be human with a rabid curiosity. Ant's dusky production has provided the pulse for Slug's evolving and matter-of-fact pen. As Slug transitioned from throwing-up-in-the-backseat-raps to holding-hands-when-you-cross-the-street-raps, Ant has grown to be a master of crate digging and unearthing the humanity of a drum loop. Thriving at the intersection of guttural and self-effacing, Atmosphere will go down as some of America's best archivists. On "Whenever", the duo continue to move in lockstep. Within the minutiae lie clues they're still struggling with mortality and the need to protect emotional energy, as on previous releases, but there's a quiet romanticism now, with Slug sounding - reluctantly - in love with life. And no other producer can pull truths out of a rapper like Ant fishes the blues out of Slug. The album breathes in the way only Slug and Ant could summon a collective breath. On "Whenever", the duo inhale panic and exhale greatness.
October 8 street date. Following their last release, "The Day Before Halloween" - an imaginative, distorted-synth-driven concept album - Atmosphere returns with a refreshing new project, simply titled "WORD?". Steering back toward their signature sound, the album further highlights producer Ant's undeniable talents as the project leans into the classic boom-bap aesthetic, bringing a unique energy out of Slug's wisdom, wit and delivery. From onset, "WORD?" proves to be every bit an exercise in refining and advancing their craft as it is a harkening to earlier work. That is, while their releases have grown more broodingly cinematic, and increasingly concerned with the human condition and mortality, "WORD?" manages to reintroduce moments of levity and lightheartedness throughout, an approach seldom heard on their albums of late. Ultimately, "WORD?" pairs the breadth of Atmosphere's talents with the beauty of their growth, all while showing they still have a lot of fun in the process and don't mind letting the listener in on the fun as well.
October 8 street date. Following their last release, "The Day Before Halloween" - an imaginative, distorted-synth-driven concept album - Atmosphere returns with a refreshing new project, simply titled "WORD?". Steering back toward their signature sound, the album further highlights producer Ant's undeniable talents as the project leans into the classic boom-bap aesthetic, bringing a unique energy out of Slug's wisdom, wit and delivery. From onset, "WORD?" proves to be every bit an exercise in refining and advancing their craft as it is a harkening to earlier work. That is, while their releases have grown more broodingly cinematic, and increasingly concerned with the human condition and mortality, "WORD?" manages to reintroduce moments of levity and lightheartedness throughout, an approach seldom heard on their albums of late. Ultimately, "WORD?" pairs the breadth of Atmosphere's talents with the beauty of their growth, all while showing they still have a lot of fun in the process and don't mind letting the listener in on the fun as well.
October 22 street date. After being out of print for years, Atmosphere's fifth studio album, "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having", returns on vinyl. Following the breakthrough success of their fourth album, "Seven's Travels", the group returned in 2005, showing impressive growth and inventiveness in their new compositions. Citing inspirations from a list of less-than-expected sources, including Tom Waits, Mark Lanegan, Shawn Phillips, Spoon, The Mars Volta, alopecia, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, The Beauty Pill, infected wisdom teeth, Craig Finn, TV On The Radio, Australia, and I-94 East, among others, the album pushed boundaries without overreaching.
June 3 street date. AWOLNATION's upcoming album "My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers And Me" is a fiercely collaborative and celebratory project. It's an eclectic collection of masterfully crafted and carefully curated covers, with each track featuring at least one acclaimed musical artist. It includes epic re-imaginings of classics like "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, "Take a Chance on Me" by Abba, and "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil; and features collaborations with artists like Portugal the Man, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Jewel, Beck, Taylor Hanson, and more.
June 3 street date. AWOLNATION's upcoming album "My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers And Me" is a fiercely collaborative and celebratory project. It's an eclectic collection of masterfully crafted and carefully curated covers, with each track featuring at least one acclaimed musical artist. It includes epic re-imaginings of classics like "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, "Take a Chance on Me" by Abba, and "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil; and features collaborations with artists like Portugal the Man, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Jewel, Beck, Taylor Hanson, and more.
July 16 street date. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, have amassed a cult following around the globe. With a slew of classic 7" singles and two critically acclaimed full length albums, they set a high bar for themselves, one they clearly intend on pushing even higher with this new offering. On their third album, aptly titled "Expansions", BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Covering songs that span genres and range from mega hits to album cuts, they make them their own with their unique approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago. By the time the album is through Bacao has taken the listener on a journey that spans a myriad of energies, tempos, and moods while somehow managing to keep it all under one umbrella.
July 16 street date. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, have amassed a cult following around the globe. With a slew of classic 7" singles and two critically acclaimed full length albums, they set a high bar for themselves, one they clearly intend on pushing even higher with this new offering. On their third album, aptly titled "Expansions", BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Covering songs that span genres and range from mega hits to album cuts, they make them their own with their unique approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago. By the time the album is through Bacao has taken the listener on a journey that spans a myriad of energies, tempos, and moods while somehow managing to keep it all under one umbrella.
July 16 street date. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, have amassed a cult following around the globe. With a slew of classic 7" singles and two critically acclaimed full length albums, they set a high bar for themselves, one they clearly intend on pushing even higher with this new offering. On their third album, aptly titled "Expansions", BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Covering songs that span genres and range from mega hits to album cuts, they make them their own with their unique approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago. By the time the album is through Bacao has taken the listener on a journey that spans a myriad of energies, tempos, and moods while somehow managing to keep it all under one umbrella.
Please note new street date: June 11. "Bad Brains" is the self-titled debut studio album recorded by American hardcore punk/reggae band Bad Brains. Recorded in 1981 and released on (then) cassette-only label ROIR on February 5, 1982, many fans refer to it as "The Yellow Tape" because of its yellow packaging. Though Bad Brains had recorded the 16 song "Black Dots" album in 1979 and the 5-song "Omega Sessions" EP in 1980, the ROIR cassette was the band's first release of anything longer than a single. This reissue marks the second release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
Please note new street date: June 11. "Bad Brains" is the self-titled debut studio album recorded by American hardcore punk/reggae band Bad Brains. Recorded in 1981 and released on (then) cassette-only label ROIR on February 5, 1982, many fans refer to it as "The Yellow Tape" because of its yellow packaging. Though Bad Brains had recorded the 16 song "Black Dots" album in 1979 and the 5-song "Omega Sessions" EP in 1980, the ROIR cassette was the band's first release of anything longer than a single. This reissue marks the second release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
Please note new street date: June 11. "Bad Brains" is the self-titled debut studio album recorded by American hardcore punk/reggae band Bad Brains. Recorded in 1981 and released on (then) cassette-only label ROIR on February 5, 1982, many fans refer to it as "The Yellow Tape" because of its yellow packaging. Though Bad Brains had recorded the 16 song "Black Dots" album in 1979 and the 5-song "Omega Sessions" EP in 1980, the ROIR cassette was the band's first release of anything longer than a single. This reissue marks the second release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
July 30 street date. "I And I Survive" is a 1982 EP by Bad Brains, released on the heels of their iconic self-titled debut album. The four tracks come from the "Rock for Light" sessions, and were produced by Ric Ocasek. The release was previously out of print for nearly four decades. This reissue marks the third release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
February 18 street date. "Quickness" is the fourth full-length studio album by Bad Brains, originally released by Caroline Records in 1989. At the time of its release, it was the band's best selling album and also landed them a featured MTV music video for the opening track, "Soul Craft". This reissue marks the fifth release in the Bad Brains remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing. Available on LP, CD, and cassette.
February 18 street date. "Quickness" is the fourth full-length studio album by Bad Brains, originally released by Caroline Records in 1989. At the time of its release, it was the band's best selling album and also landed them a featured MTV music video for the opening track, "Soul Craft". This reissue marks the fifth release in the Bad Brains remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing. Available on LP, CD, and cassette.
February 18 street date. "Quickness" is the fourth full-length studio album by Bad Brains, originally released by Caroline Records in 1989. At the time of its release, it was the band's best selling album and also landed them a featured MTV music video for the opening track, "Soul Craft". This reissue marks the fifth release in the Bad Brains remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing. Available on LP, CD, and cassette.
Please note new street date: October 8. "Rock For Light" is the second full-length album by Bad Brains, released in 1983. It was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Org Music are proud to present the original mix of the album, for the first time in decades, as the band originally intended. Most fans will be more familiar with the 1991 reissue, which was remixed by Ocasek and bass player Darryl Jenifer. In addition to new mixes, that version used an altered track order. This reissue marks the fourth release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
Please note new street date: October 8. "Rock For Light" is the second full-length album by Bad Brains, released in 1983. It was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Org Music are proud to present the original mix of the album, for the first time in decades, as the band originally intended. Most fans will be more familiar with the 1991 reissue, which was remixed by Ocasek and bass player Darryl Jenifer. In addition to new mixes, that version used an altered track order. This reissue marks the fourth release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
Please note new street date: October 8. "Rock For Light" is the second full-length album by Bad Brains, released in 1983. It was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Org Music are proud to present the original mix of the album, for the first time in decades, as the band originally intended. Most fans will be more familiar with the 1991 reissue, which was remixed by Ocasek and bass player Darryl Jenifer. In addition to new mixes, that version used an altered track order. This reissue marks the fourth release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing.
Please note new street date: November 5. Yellow vinyl edition exclusively available to independent shops. "Rock For Light" is the second full-length album by Bad Brains, released in 1983. It was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Org Music are proud to present the original mix of the album, for the first time in decades, as the band originally intended. Most fans will be more familiar with the 1991 reissue, which was remixed by Ocasek and bass player Darryl Jenifer. In addition to new mixes, that version used an altered track order. This reissue marks the fourth release in the remaster campaign, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. In coordination with the band, Org Music has overseen the restoration and remastering of the iconic Bad Brains' recordings. The audio was mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing. Limited to 1000 copies.
June 19 street date. Bad Cop/Bad Cop has done angry. The band's 2017 full-length, "Warriors", was recorded in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. The message the band is sending this time around on their third full-length album "The Ride" is less about wagging your finger at others, or giving the middle one to the Man, than it is about self-love and acceptance. That positivity fuels many of the album's tracks. This self-love is tasking the listener with putting a fix on the problems at hand and finding it in themselves to create the life that they want. Singer Stacey Dee speaks from experience. In 2018 she was hospitalized twice for different ailments, then discovered she had stage one breast cancer at the end of the year. Fortunately it was highly treatable, but the experience was life-altering. Dee captures it with brutal frankness on "Breastless", whose bright melodies belie the struggle described in the lyrics. The perspective behind "The Ride" lends it an undeniable maturity, without losing its power. The album boasts all of the elements of Bad Cop/Bad Cop's sound: big guitars, lock-step bass and drums, intricate vocal harmonies, and plenty of attitude. The only difference this time is the attitude is encouraging, not raging.
June 19 street date. Bad Cop/Bad Cop has done angry. The band's 2017 full-length, "Warriors", was recorded in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. The message the band is sending this time around on their third full-length album "The Ride" is less about wagging your finger at others, or giving the middle one to the Man, than it is about self-love and acceptance. That positivity fuels many of the album's tracks. This self-love is tasking the listener with putting a fix on the problems at hand and finding it in themselves to create the life that they want. Singer Stacey Dee speaks from experience. In 2018 she was hospitalized twice for different ailments, then discovered she had stage one breast cancer at the end of the year. Fortunately it was highly treatable, but the experience was life-altering. Dee captures it with brutal frankness on "Breastless", whose bright melodies belie the struggle described in the lyrics. The perspective behind "The Ride" lends it an undeniable maturity, without losing its power. The album boasts all of the elements of Bad Cop/Bad Cop's sound: big guitars, lock-step bass and drums, intricate vocal harmonies, and plenty of attitude. The only difference this time is the attitude is encouraging, not raging.
January 28 street date. Bad Suns sound - dreamy 1980s pastiche flanked by Stratocasters through cranked Vox amps, pulsing synths, and palpable rhythmic energy - that endeared listeners to the band in the first place, and their fourth LP, "Apocalypse Whenever", uses that musical foundation as the jumping-off point for their next evolution. Conceived as "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't yet exist", the 13-track album, helmed by longtime producer Eric Palmquist (MUTEMATH, Thrice) at his Palmquist Studios and the band's North Hollywood rehearsal spot, is more conceptually rigorous than anything they've ever attempted - but no less compelling or accessible. Their disparate influences don't just offer "Apocalypse Whenever" an expanded palette of sonic choices to color Bad Suns' airtight hooks - they help give the songs an emotional complexity that works on a multitude of levels depending on how listeners choose to receive them.
January 28 street date. Bad Suns sound - dreamy 1980s pastiche flanked by Stratocasters through cranked Vox amps, pulsing synths, and palpable rhythmic energy - that endeared listeners to the band in the first place, and their fourth LP, "Apocalypse Whenever", uses that musical foundation as the jumping-off point for their next evolution. Conceived as "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't yet exist", the 13-track album, helmed by longtime producer Eric Palmquist (MUTEMATH, Thrice) at his Palmquist Studios and the band's North Hollywood rehearsal spot, is more conceptually rigorous than anything they've ever attempted - but no less compelling or accessible. Their disparate influences don't just offer "Apocalypse Whenever" an expanded palette of sonic choices to color Bad Suns' airtight hooks - they help give the songs an emotional complexity that works on a multitude of levels depending on how listeners choose to receive them.
January 28 street date. Bad Suns sound - dreamy 1980s pastiche flanked by Stratocasters through cranked Vox amps, pulsing synths, and palpable rhythmic energy - that endeared listeners to the band in the first place, and their fourth LP, "Apocalypse Whenever", uses that musical foundation as the jumping-off point for their next evolution. Conceived as "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't yet exist", the 13-track album, helmed by longtime producer Eric Palmquist (MUTEMATH, Thrice) at his Palmquist Studios and the band's North Hollywood rehearsal spot, is more conceptually rigorous than anything they've ever attempted - but no less compelling or accessible. Their disparate influences don't just offer "Apocalypse Whenever" an expanded palette of sonic choices to color Bad Suns' airtight hooks - they help give the songs an emotional complexity that works on a multitude of levels depending on how listeners choose to receive them.
October 8 street date. Canadian ensemble BADBADNOTGOOD made their name by crossing genres. Instead of working within traditional jazz standards, the classically-trained group sidestepped them and drew from hip hop and other contemporary genres to create a unique sound rooted in Black American music. Yet, their latest album and first for XL Recordings, "Talk Memory", sees the band take a different tact: paying homage to the musicians, composers, innovators and influences that first informed their work. With "Talk Memory", the trio of Alexander Sowinski (drums), Chester Hansen (bass) and Leland Whitty (guitar/ woodwinds), return to their beginnings. Following years of touring, the band paused to refresh and look at their history and experiences. Rather than improvising and developing tracks on the road, this time around that gestation process happened in the studio with a bevy of musicians walking through the doors on equal footing. As a result, the album is an aural odyssey about collective balance and harmony, with all the sense of psychedelic narrative that entails.
February 12 street date. Bailter Space's "Wammo" is back in print for the first time since the album's release 25 years ago. The LP is pressed onto limited transparent orange vinyl and features newly remastered audio from the original session reels. Formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1987 as Nelsh Bailter Space, the band's musical family tree touches on some of the nation's most revered weirdo luminaries - including Flying Nun mainstays like the Skeptics, the Clean, and the Gordons. Bailter Space embraced chaos, but celebrated precision, finding melody amid networks of brooding noise and feedback. After relocating to New York City, the band - who by then included Alister Parker, John Halvorsen, and Brent McLachlan - arrived on Matador in time for the US release of "Robot World" (1993). "Wammo" was the trio's third and final full-length with the label (their fifth album overall) and was among its most tuneful efforts (relatively speaking!). At the time, music scribes were a bit puzzled by the record's "accessibility". In the rear view, though, we can recognize "Wammo" for the perfectly melancholy and drone-laced brain-zap that it is.
February 26 street date. Julien Baker will release her third studio album, "Little Oblivions", on February 26 via Matador Records. Her first full length since 2017's "Turn Out The Lights", "Little Oblivions" was recorded in Memphis, TN between December 2019 and January 2020. The record weaves together unflinching autobiography with assimilated experience and hard won observations from the past few years, taking Baker's capacity for storytelling to new heights. It also marks a sonic shift, with the songwriter's intimate piano and guitar arrangements newly enriched by bass, drums, keyboards, banjo, and mandolin with nearly all of the instruments performed by Baker.
February 26 street date. Julien Baker will release her third studio album, "Little Oblivions", on February 26 via Matador Records. Her first full length since 2017's "Turn Out The Lights", "Little Oblivions" was recorded in Memphis, TN between December 2019 and January 2020. The record weaves together unflinching autobiography with assimilated experience and hard won observations from the past few years, taking Baker's capacity for storytelling to new heights. It also marks a sonic shift, with the songwriter's intimate piano and guitar arrangements newly enriched by bass, drums, keyboards, banjo, and mandolin with nearly all of the instruments performed by Baker. Please note: limited edition yellow vinyl is now sold out.
August 13 street date. "Refuge" is a meditation collaboration from Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson. Last spring, Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson started to make a record that was like nothing they had made before - an ambient album that would be both a haven from a suddenly terrified world and a heartfelt musical dialogue between two artists who have been friends and collaborators for over two decades. Noah, whose production and mixing credits include Joanna Newsom and the Strokes, came on board as co-producer of Devendra's 2005 album "Cripple Crow" and they have been working together ever since. As Devendra and Noah got to know each other, they realised that they had a similar history in the New Age subculture of the 1980s: a world of meditation, Eastern music, the Bhagavad Gita and The Whole Earth Catalog. "Refuge" is an album of profound meditative beauty which offers the listener a much-needed sense of peace and renewal.
August 13 street date. "Refuge" is a meditation collaboration from Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson. Last spring, Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson started to make a record that was like nothing they had made before - an ambient album that would be both a haven from a suddenly terrified world and a heartfelt musical dialogue between two artists who have been friends and collaborators for over two decades. Noah, whose production and mixing credits include Joanna Newsom and the Strokes, came on board as co-producer of Devendra's 2005 album "Cripple Crow" and they have been working together ever since. As Devendra and Noah got to know each other, they realised that they had a similar history in the New Age subculture of the 1980s: a world of meditation, Eastern music, the Bhagavad Gita and The Whole Earth Catalog. "Refuge" is an album of profound meditative beauty which offers the listener a much-needed sense of peace and renewal.
August 13 street date. "Refuge" is a meditation collaboration from Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson. Last spring, Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson started to make a record that was like nothing they had made before - an ambient album that would be both a haven from a suddenly terrified world and a heartfelt musical dialogue between two artists who have been friends and collaborators for over two decades. Noah, whose production and mixing credits include Joanna Newsom and the Strokes, came on board as co-producer of Devendra's 2005 album "Cripple Crow" and they have been working together ever since. As Devendra and Noah got to know each other, they realised that they had a similar history in the New Age subculture of the 1980s: a world of meditation, Eastern music, the Bhagavad Gita and The Whole Earth Catalog. "Refuge" is an album of profound meditative beauty which offers the listener a much-needed sense of peace and renewal.
Please note new street date: December 10. 25th anniversary edition of Bardo Pond's long out-of-print second album and label debut, "Amanita" - newly remastered 2xLP reissue limited to 100 copies for Canada on purple vinyl. Formed in 1991, the Philadelphia-based quintet have spent some thirty years mapping guitar music's outer limits dialing into extremes of noise, chaos, and harmony in free-form compositions that now unfurl across 12 full-length records and a near-limitless body of EPs, cassettes, and CD-Rs. Recorded by the lineup of John Gibbons (guitar), Michael Gibbons (guitar), Isobel Sollenberger (voice, flute), Clint Takeda (bass), and Joe Culver (drums), "Amanita" is the place where the band's spontaneous collective creativity blazed into maturity. Even within the heady subcultural micro-verse of 90s underground zoner-music, the Fishtown-basement-dwelling quintet's vision of "psychedelia" was singular in its heaviness.
May 28 street date. After decades on the road and the never-ending hustle of life as an artist, Lou Barlow has tapped into a new confidence in the chaos. On his new solo album, "Reason To Live", he has come to an understanding of that swirl rather than trying to contain it. As a long-time indie legend, Barlow has found a life akin to a middle-class musician. And yet rather than settle into a comfortable malaise or yearn for the open road, Barlow's strengthened urgency finds a way to merge the two instincts. "Reason To Live" is shambolic and grand yet intimate and doting, warmly acoustic and crackling with grit. By folding the many facets of his life into one package, "Reason To Live" radiates with a renewed balance and calm.
May 28 street date. After decades on the road and the never-ending hustle of life as an artist, Lou Barlow has tapped into a new confidence in the chaos. On his new solo album, "Reason To Live", he has come to an understanding of that swirl rather than trying to contain it. As a long-time indie legend, Barlow has found a life akin to a middle-class musician. And yet rather than settle into a comfortable malaise or yearn for the open road, Barlow's strengthened urgency finds a way to merge the two instincts. "Reason To Live" is shambolic and grand yet intimate and doting, warmly acoustic and crackling with grit. By folding the many facets of his life into one package, "Reason To Live" radiates with a renewed balance and calm.
May 28 street date. After decades on the road and the never-ending hustle of life as an artist, Lou Barlow has tapped into a new confidence in the chaos. On his new solo album, "Reason To Live", he has come to an understanding of that swirl rather than trying to contain it. As a long-time indie legend, Barlow has found a life akin to a middle-class musician. And yet rather than settle into a comfortable malaise or yearn for the open road, Barlow's strengthened urgency finds a way to merge the two instincts. "Reason To Live" is shambolic and grand yet intimate and doting, warmly acoustic and crackling with grit. By folding the many facets of his life into one package, "Reason To Live" radiates with a renewed balance and calm.
Please note new street date: March 18. "Don't Go Throwing Roses In My Grave" is the first solo record by beloved frontman of The Menzingers, Gregor Barnett. Devoted Menzingers fans will love its electrified Americana riffs, yearning melodies, driving beats and indelible lyrical imagery. The Philadelphia based singer/songwriter is telling his stories with a folkier style then he does in The Menzingers, but his stories are just as moving and compelling.
Please note new street date: March 18. "Don't Go Throwing Roses In My Grave" is the first solo record by beloved frontman of The Menzingers, Gregor Barnett. Devoted Menzingers fans will love its electrified Americana riffs, yearning melodies, driving beats and indelible lyrical imagery. The Philadelphia based singer/songwriter is telling his stories with a folkier style then he does in The Menzingers, but his stories are just as moving and compelling.
Please note new street date: March 18. "Don't Go Throwing Roses In My Grave" is the first solo record by beloved frontman of The Menzingers, Gregor Barnett. Devoted Menzingers fans will love its electrified Americana riffs, yearning melodies, driving beats and indelible lyrical imagery. The Philadelphia based singer/songwriter is telling his stories with a folkier style then he does in The Menzingers, but his stories are just as moving and compelling.
January 21 street date. For more than 20 years, Brad Barr has been counting the number 216. It's a magical, mystical number that has appeared everywhere for him - from clocks and license plates to Ouija boards and receipts - and now it's also sewn the fabric of a new album, like the 216 stitches on an officially-certified Major League baseball. The front man for the Barr Brothers has set aside his band and his microphone and even his sheets of lyrics - picking up his instrument for a solo guitar album that ripples with immediacy, vulnerability, and the spell of six-cubed. The album had its origins in a commission, landing just before the arrival of the Pandemic: an invitation to compose for New York City's acclaimed off-Broadway All For One Theater. The theatre's founder, Michael Wolk, knew "The Fall Apartment" and sought a set of similar instrumental tracks for on- and off-stage use. "It felt like a gift," Barr recalls - as the world shut down and touring stopped, as Barr sought a sound he could explore all by himself, in this strange intermission.
LP and CD in stock now. Jennah Barry's long-awaited sophomore release!! (new single hiit #5 on CBC Top 20. Confirmed coverage from Mojo, Popmatters, Exclaim! & many more!!) - Hailing from the coastal haven of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Jennah Barry is one of Atlantic Canada’s surest sirens. Her undeniable, rosewater voice sets a mood wherein even the hardest truths seem palatable. Moving effortlessly between folk, country and soft rock motifs, Barry’s music, last heard on her instantly classic debut Young Men, sets her at the forefront of a tradition of women making music as strong as it is sentimental. "Hazy and calm and entirely entrancing" - The Line of Best Fit // "Barry has an unsettling ability to capture the warmth of an evening (possibly seaside) while slowly cracking into that cozy façade with the tap-tap of insistent heartbreak." - CBC Music
November 13 street date. William Basinski's reputation as the foremost producer of profound meditations on death and decay has long been established, but on his new album, "Lamentations", he transforms operatic tragedy into abyssal beauty. More than any other work since "The Disintegration Loops", there is an ominous grief throughout the album, and that sense of loss lingers like an emotional vapor. Captured and constructed from tape loops and studies from Basinski's archives - dating back to 1979 - "Lamentations" is over forty years of mournful sighs meticulously crafted into songs. They are shaped by the inevitable passage of time and the indisputable collapsing of space - and their collective resonance is infinite and eternal.
August 29 RECORD STORE DAY DROP. BAYSIDE has always focused on creating songs that are relevant to people who want substance, rather than being relegated to one genre. With Interrobang, the band has put together an eclectic, inspiring, and bold collection of songs. Raneri shares, “Love it or hate it, we wanted the record to invoke something in people. We said with this record we either wanted to create something great or fall on our faces. Negative or positive, we just didn’t want the record to be ‘fine.’” While many bands would coast on their past success, BAYSIDE rejects the premise and proves with Interrobang, that the best is yet to come. This 7” is a record store day exclusive with Bayside’s song “Heaven,” off of their latest album “Interrobang,” b/w an unreleased acoustic version. For Fans Of: Alkaline Trio, The Menzingers, Taking Back Sunday
November 19 street date. Inspired by a love of artists such as Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker and Vince Guaraldi, Dustin Payseur reimagines some of his greatest hits from the Beach Fossils catalog alongside a group of formally trained jazz musicians. A rich and mellow mix of piano, saxophone, upright bass and brushed drums explore the contours of familiar songs, soaring Payseur's melancholic harmonies to new heights.
November 19 street date. Inspired by a love of artists such as Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker and Vince Guaraldi, Dustin Payseur reimagines some of his greatest hits from the Beach Fossils catalog alongside a group of formally trained jazz musicians. A rich and mellow mix of piano, saxophone, upright bass and brushed drums explore the contours of familiar songs, soaring Payseur's melancholic harmonies to new heights.
Please note new street date: January 14. Inspired by a love of artists such as Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker and Vince Guaraldi, Dustin Payseur reimagines some of his greatest hits from the Beach Fossils catalog alongside a group of formally trained jazz musicians. A rich and mellow mix of piano, saxophone, upright bass and brushed drums explore the contours of familiar songs, soaring Payseur's melancholic harmonies to new heights.
February 18 street date. Black vinyl "silver edition" packaged in wide-spine jacket with poster and custom dust sleeves. First new album since 2018 from the standard-bearers of modern atmospheric indie-pop. "Once Twice Melody" is the 8th studio album by Beach House. It is a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in 4 chapters. Across these songs, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. In addition to new sounds, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners may associate with previous Beach House records remain present throughout many of the compositions. Beach House's audience has tripled recently due to massive online exposure: "Space Song" (from 2015's "Depression Cherry") was in two separate TikTok memes, while "Silver Soul" (from 2010's "Teen Dream") was sampled by Kendrick Lamar and subsequently got tons of exposure on TikTok.
February 18 street date. Black vinyl "silver edition" packaged in wide-spine jacket with poster and custom dust sleeves. First new album since 2018 from the standard-bearers of modern atmospheric indie-pop. "Once Twice Melody" is the 8th studio album by Beach House. It is a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in 4 chapters. Across these songs, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. In addition to new sounds, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners may associate with previous Beach House records remain present throughout many of the compositions. Beach House's audience has tripled recently due to massive online exposure: "Space Song" (from 2015's "Depression Cherry") was in two separate TikTok memes, while "Silver Soul" (from 2010's "Teen Dream") was sampled by Kendrick Lamar and subsequently got tons of exposure on TikTok.
February 18 street date. "Gold edition". Gold and clear vinyl LPs in separate jackets with custom dust sleeves, two posters, and book, all enclosed in a hinged box. First new album since 2018 from the standard-bearers of modern atmospheric indie-pop. "Once Twice Melody" is the 8th studio album by Beach House. It is a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in 4 chapters. Across these songs, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. In addition to new sounds, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners may associate with previous Beach House records remain present throughout many of the compositions. Beach House's audience has tripled recently due to massive online exposure: "Space Song" (from 2015's "Depression Cherry") was in two separate TikTok memes, while "Silver Soul" (from 2010's "Teen Dream") was sampled by Kendrick Lamar and subsequently got tons of exposure on TikTok.
February 18 street date. Black vinyl "silver edition" packaged in wide-spine jacket with poster and custom dust sleeves. First new album since 2018 from the standard-bearers of modern atmospheric indie-pop. "Once Twice Melody" is the 8th studio album by Beach House. It is a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in 4 chapters. Across these songs, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. In addition to new sounds, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners may associate with previous Beach House records remain present throughout many of the compositions. Beach House's audience has tripled recently due to massive online exposure: "Space Song" (from 2015's "Depression Cherry") was in two separate TikTok memes, while "Silver Soul" (from 2010's "Teen Dream") was sampled by Kendrick Lamar and subsequently got tons of exposure on TikTok.
Please note new street date: April 1. "Artifacts" began humbly as a means of compiling a few early Beirut EPs for a proper physical release. However, as Zach Condon explains in the album's excellent liner notes, reconnecting with old recordings through fresh ears turned a simple reissue project into something much more expansive. "When the decision came to re-release this collection, I found myself digging through hard drives looking for something extra to add to the compilation. What started as a few extra unreleased tracks from my formative recording years quickly grew into an entire extra records-worth of music from my past, and a larger project of remixing and remastering everything I found for good measure". "Artifacts" is a phylogenetic tree. A double LP's worth of music that traces the evolution of Beirut from a 14-year old Condon's first attempts at bringing the music he heard in his mind to life, to the fully formed Beirut we know today.
Please note new street date: April 1. "Artifacts" began humbly as a means of compiling a few early Beirut EPs for a proper physical release. However, as Zach Condon explains in the album's excellent liner notes, reconnecting with old recordings through fresh ears turned a simple reissue project into something much more expansive. "When the decision came to re-release this collection, I found myself digging through hard drives looking for something extra to add to the compilation. What started as a few extra unreleased tracks from my formative recording years quickly grew into an entire extra records-worth of music from my past, and a larger project of remixing and remastering everything I found for good measure". "Artifacts" is a phylogenetic tree. A double LP's worth of music that traces the evolution of Beirut from a 14-year old Condon's first attempts at bringing the music he heard in his mind to life, to the fully formed Beirut we know today.
July 10 street date. The debut collaboration album from doom metal giants Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin (the solo folk project of singer/songwriter Erik Moggridge), under the moniker of Stygian Bough is a culmination of the work of both artists as witnessed previously on Bell Witch's three full length albums, where Moggrdige has contributed guest vocals. With each succeeding Bell Witch release, one has seen Moggridge's involvement with the band developing, growing and getting more elaborate. This release, produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Wolves In The Throne Room, Anna Von Hausswolff), follows up Bell Witch's colossal "Mirror Reaper" opus with Moggrdige actually being involved in the creative and writing process with the band duo of Dylan Desmond (bass/vocals) and Jesse Shreibman (drums/synthesizers/vocals). Not only does Stygian Bough expand and broaden this alliance between the artists, but with Aerial Ruin contributing to the songwriting of this dedicated collaboration and incorporating his signature and alluring style of emotionally-driven folk, along with taking the lead vocal position, adding to the band's caliber of unearthly towering doom, this album becomes its own singular, unparalleled doom metal entity.
July 10 street date. The debut collaboration album from doom metal giants Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin (the solo folk project of singer/songwriter Erik Moggridge), under the moniker of Stygian Bough is a culmination of the work of both artists as witnessed previously on Bell Witch's three full length albums, where Moggrdige has contributed guest vocals. With each succeeding Bell Witch release, one has seen Moggridge's involvement with the band developing, growing and getting more elaborate. This release, produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Wolves In The Throne Room, Anna Von Hausswolff), follows up Bell Witch's colossal "Mirror Reaper" opus with Moggrdige actually being involved in the creative and writing process with the band duo of Dylan Desmond (bass/vocals) and Jesse Shreibman (drums/synthesizers/vocals). Not only does Stygian Bough expand and broaden this alliance between the artists, but with Aerial Ruin contributing to the songwriting of this dedicated collaboration and incorporating his signature and alluring style of emotionally-driven folk, along with taking the lead vocal position, adding to the band's caliber of unearthly towering doom, this album becomes its own singular, unparalleled doom metal entity.
May 6 street date. "A Bit of Previous" is the ninth studio album by Belle and Sebastian and their first full-length in seven years. So what is a "A Bit of Previous"? It's a bit of everything, and a lot of what makes Belle and Sebastian so special and enduring. It's a band with humour, irreverence, lyrical exactitude and musical bravado tackling the insight, experience and responsibility that comes with getting older. It's a classic Belle and Sebastian album full of melodies that won’t leave your head, and lyrics will that make you smile, ponder and reflect. "A Bit of Previous" was self-produced and recorded by Belle and Sebastian (with contributions from Brian McNeill, Matt Wiggins, Kevin Burleigh and Shawn Everett) in their native Glasgow, and their most hands-on effort since "The Boy With The Arab Strap". The result is one the most diverse and thrilling entries in the band's catalogue. "A Bit of Previous" is Belle and Sebastian once again asserting themselves as an infallible source of energy and fun.
May 6 street date. "A Bit of Previous" is the ninth studio album by Belle and Sebastian and their first full-length in seven years. So what is a "A Bit of Previous"? It's a bit of everything, and a lot of what makes Belle and Sebastian so special and enduring. It's a band with humour, irreverence, lyrical exactitude and musical bravado tackling the insight, experience and responsibility that comes with getting older. It's a classic Belle and Sebastian album full of melodies that won’t leave your head, and lyrics will that make you smile, ponder and reflect. "A Bit of Previous" was self-produced and recorded by Belle and Sebastian (with contributions from Brian McNeill, Matt Wiggins, Kevin Burleigh and Shawn Everett) in their native Glasgow, and their most hands-on effort since "The Boy With The Arab Strap". The result is one the most diverse and thrilling entries in the band's catalogue. "A Bit of Previous" is Belle and Sebastian once again asserting themselves as an infallible source of energy and fun.
May 6 street date. "A Bit of Previous" is the ninth studio album by Belle and Sebastian and their first full-length in seven years. So what is a "A Bit of Previous"? It's a bit of everything, and a lot of what makes Belle and Sebastian so special and enduring. It's a band with humour, irreverence, lyrical exactitude and musical bravado tackling the insight, experience and responsibility that comes with getting older. It's a classic Belle and Sebastian album full of melodies that won’t leave your head, and lyrics will that make you smile, ponder and reflect. "A Bit of Previous" was self-produced and recorded by Belle and Sebastian (with contributions from Brian McNeill, Matt Wiggins, Kevin Burleigh and Shawn Everett) in their native Glasgow, and their most hands-on effort since "The Boy With The Arab Strap". The result is one the most diverse and thrilling entries in the band's catalogue. "A Bit of Previous" is Belle and Sebastian once again asserting themselves as an infallible source of energy and fun.
May 6 street date. "A Bit of Previous" is the ninth studio album by Belle and Sebastian and their first full-length in seven years. So what is a "A Bit of Previous"? It's a bit of everything, and a lot of what makes Belle and Sebastian so special and enduring. It's a band with humour, irreverence, lyrical exactitude and musical bravado tackling the insight, experience and responsibility that comes with getting older. It's a classic Belle and Sebastian album full of melodies that won’t leave your head, and lyrics will that make you smile, ponder and reflect. "A Bit of Previous" was self-produced and recorded by Belle and Sebastian (with contributions from Brian McNeill, Matt Wiggins, Kevin Burleigh and Shawn Everett) in their native Glasgow, and their most hands-on effort since "The Boy With The Arab Strap". The result is one the most diverse and thrilling entries in the band's catalogue. "A Bit of Previous" is Belle and Sebastian once again asserting themselves as an infallible source of energy and fun.
December 11 street date. "What To Look For In Summer" is a live double album gathering choice selections from Belle And Sebastian's 2019 world tour. Neither a retrospective nor a back-door greatest-hits, "What To Look For In Summer" is the sound of a band that's always moving forward, a picture of Belle and Sebastian in 2019 that gives equal weight to early days ("My Wandering Days Are Over", "Seeing Other People") and recent years.
December 11 street date. "What To Look For In Summer" is a live double album gathering choice selections from Belle And Sebastian's 2019 world tour. Neither a retrospective nor a back-door greatest-hits, "What To Look For In Summer" is the sound of a band that's always moving forward, a picture of Belle and Sebastian in 2019 that gives equal weight to early days ("My Wandering Days Are Over", "Seeing Other People") and recent years.
January 14 street date. Vinyl reissue of Belvedere's "The Revenge Of The Fifth", originally released in 2016 via Bird Attack Records. "The Revenge Of The Fifth" picked up where the Calgary band's previous release "Fast Forward Eats The Tape" left off. Twelve tracks of melodic punk - fast and furious. The album featured a notable progression in its songwriting. The balancing act between raising families and holding steady jobs, and touring the world for 20 years can be heard in many of the lyrics. An expression of hope is found in "The Revenge Of The Fifth" which hinges on the idea that we’re all ultimately responsible for taking care of the human race and the planet; and to stop looking to a higher power for forgiveness or answers.
December 17 street date (CD)/April 15 street date (LP). Chuck Berry, the songwriter and guitarist now known worldwide as the Father of Rock & Roll, came from humble beginnings. After an evening in 1996 spent reminiscing about his storied career with his longtime friend Joe Edwards, owner of St. Louis restaurant and venue Blueberry Hill, Berry fulfilled the dream of music lovers everywhere; he started a live residency that spanned 209 shows at the 340-person capacity club. The club became a modern-day Mecca for rock fans, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the legend perform up close and personal. "Live From Blueberry Hill" compiles some of Berry's greatest hits from this epic run of shows played alongside his fantastic band - including his son Charles Berry Jr. and daughter Ingrid Berry.
April 15 street date (LP) / CD available now. Chuck Berry, the songwriter and guitarist now known worldwide as the Father of Rock & Roll, came from humble beginnings. After an evening in 1996 spent reminiscing about his storied career with his longtime friend Joe Edwards, owner of St. Louis restaurant and venue Blueberry Hill, Berry fulfilled the dream of music lovers everywhere; he started a live residency that spanned 209 shows at the 340-person capacity club. The club became a modern-day Mecca for rock fans, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the legend perform up close and personal. "Live From Blueberry Hill" compiles some of Berry's greatest hits from this epic run of shows played alongside his fantastic band - including his son Charles Berry Jr. and daughter Ingrid Berry.
January 29 street date. "The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings" is the group's sixth album and the first on Flemish Eye. After 2016's "A Coliseum Complex Museum" - which saw Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas attempting shorter, less sprawling songs - the Besnards and their label decided it was time to go their separate ways; with that decision came a question of whether to even continue the project at all. What use is a band with an instinct for long, tectonic tunes - rock songs with chthonic heft and ethereal grace, 5 or 10 or 18 minutes long? How do you sell that in an age of bite-sized streaming? How do you make it relevant? Despite all its grandeur, "...The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings" honours the very essence of punk rock: the notion that a band need only be relevant to itself. At last the Besnard Lakes have crafted a continuous long-form suite: nine tracks that could be listened together as one, overflowing with melody and harmony, drone and dazzle, the group's own unique weather. In late 2020, as the world burns, there might be nothing less trendy than an hour-long psych-rock epic by a band of Canadian grandmasters. Then again, there might be nothing we need more.
January 29 street date. "The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings" is the group's sixth album and the first on Flemish Eye. After 2016's "A Coliseum Complex Museum" - which saw Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas attempting shorter, less sprawling songs - the Besnards and their label decided it was time to go their separate ways; with that decision came a question of whether to even continue the project at all. What use is a band with an instinct for long, tectonic tunes - rock songs with chthonic heft and ethereal grace, 5 or 10 or 18 minutes long? How do you sell that in an age of bite-sized streaming? How do you make it relevant? Despite all its grandeur, "...The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings" honours the very essence of punk rock: the notion that a band need only be relevant to itself. At last the Besnard Lakes have crafted a continuous long-form suite: nine tracks that could be listened together as one, overflowing with melody and harmony, drone and dazzle, the group's own unique weather. In late 2020, as the world burns, there might be nothing less trendy than an hour-long psych-rock epic by a band of Canadian grandmasters. Then again, there might be nothing we need more.
Please note new street date: April 16 (LP) / April 30 (CD). Hot on the heels of five viral video singles, "Tea Party Revenge Porn", the first full album since 2014 by Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine, is finally here! This is very strong stuff. Hear the inimitable Mr. B skewer the place the country has put itself in like no one else would - or could - as he and The Guantanamo School Of Medicine capture the full power of their live shows on disc as never before. Only so many artists have a track record of lyrics this good, and back it up with music as good or better. So as germs and police riots rage, there's no better primal scream therapy than a long-awaited new Jello Biafra album.
Please note new street date: April 16 (LP) / April 30 (CD). Hot on the heels of five viral video singles, "Tea Party Revenge Porn", the first full album since 2014 by Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine, is finally here! This is very strong stuff. Hear the inimitable Mr. B skewer the place the country has put itself in like no one else would - or could - as he and The Guantanamo School Of Medicine capture the full power of their live shows on disc as never before. Only so many artists have a track record of lyrics this good, and back it up with music as good or better. So as germs and police riots rage, there's no better primal scream therapy than a long-awaited new Jello Biafra album.
August 27 street date. Ever since childhood, learning to play various instruments in a suburban Cincinnati basement alongside his brother Bryce, Aaron Dessner has consistently sought an emotional outlet and deep human connection through music - be it as a primary songwriter in The National, a founder and architect of beloved collaboration-driven music festivals, or collaborator on two critically acclaimed and chart-topping Taylor Swift albums recorded in complete pandemic-era isolation, among many other projects. On Big Red Machine's "How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?," the second album from Dessner's ever-morphing project with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, many of Dessner's previous collaborators and friends show up, continuing the reciprocal exchange of ideas that has come to define his creative community. Songs feature guest vocals and writing contributions from artist friends including Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Ben Howard and This Is The Kit, Naeem, Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova "This is all music I generated, but it is interesting to hear how different people relate to it, or how different voices collide with it," Dessner says. "That's what makes it special. With everyone that's on this record, there's an openness, a creative generosity and an emotional quality that connects it all together".
August 27 street date. Ever since childhood, learning to play various instruments in a suburban Cincinnati basement alongside his brother Bryce, Aaron Dessner has consistently sought an emotional outlet and deep human connection through music - be it as a primary songwriter in The National, a founder and architect of beloved collaboration-driven music festivals, or collaborator on two critically acclaimed and chart-topping Taylor Swift albums recorded in complete pandemic-era isolation, among many other projects. On Big Red Machine's "How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?," the second album from Dessner's ever-morphing project with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, many of Dessner's previous collaborators and friends show up, continuing the reciprocal exchange of ideas that has come to define his creative community. Songs feature guest vocals and writing contributions from artist friends including Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Ben Howard and This Is The Kit, Naeem, Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova "This is all music I generated, but it is interesting to hear how different people relate to it, or how different voices collide with it," Dessner says. "That's what makes it special. With everyone that's on this record, there's an openness, a creative generosity and an emotional quality that connects it all together".
August 27 street date. Ever since childhood, learning to play various instruments in a suburban Cincinnati basement alongside his brother Bryce, Aaron Dessner has consistently sought an emotional outlet and deep human connection through music - be it as a primary songwriter in The National, a founder and architect of beloved collaboration-driven music festivals, or collaborator on two critically acclaimed and chart-topping Taylor Swift albums recorded in complete pandemic-era isolation, among many other projects. On Big Red Machine's "How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?," the second album from Dessner's ever-morphing project with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, many of Dessner's previous collaborators and friends show up, continuing the reciprocal exchange of ideas that has come to define his creative community. Songs feature guest vocals and writing contributions from artist friends including Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Ben Howard and This Is The Kit, Naeem, Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova "This is all music I generated, but it is interesting to hear how different people relate to it, or how different voices collide with it," Dessner says. "That's what makes it special. With everyone that's on this record, there's an openness, a creative generosity and an emotional quality that connects it all together".
August 27 street date. Ever since childhood, learning to play various instruments in a suburban Cincinnati basement alongside his brother Bryce, Aaron Dessner has consistently sought an emotional outlet and deep human connection through music - be it as a primary songwriter in The National, a founder and architect of beloved collaboration-driven music festivals, or collaborator on two critically acclaimed and chart-topping Taylor Swift albums recorded in complete pandemic-era isolation, among many other projects. On Big Red Machine's "How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?," the second album from Dessner's ever-morphing project with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, many of Dessner's previous collaborators and friends show up, continuing the reciprocal exchange of ideas that has come to define his creative community. Songs feature guest vocals and writing contributions from artist friends including Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Ben Howard and This Is The Kit, Naeem, Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova "This is all music I generated, but it is interesting to hear how different people relate to it, or how different voices collide with it," Dessner says. "That's what makes it special. With everyone that's on this record, there's an openness, a creative generosity and an emotional quality that connects it all together".
February 11 street date. "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You" is a sprawling double-LP exploring the deepest elements and possibilities of Big Thief. To truly dig into all that the music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia desired in 2020, the band decided to write and record a rambling account of growth as individuals, musicians, and chosen family over 4 distinct recording sessions. They spent 5 months in creation, coming out with 45 completed songs. The most resonant of this material was edited down into the 20 tracks that make up "DNWMIBIY", a fluid and adventurous listen. All 4 of these sessions, in their varied states of fidelity, style, and mood, when viewed together as one album seem to stand for a more honest, zoomed-out picture of lived experience than would be possible on a traditional, 12 song record. This was exactly what the band hoped would be the outcome of this kind of massive experiment. The attempt to capture something deeper, wider, and full of mystery, points to the inherent spirit of Big Thief. To support the new release Big Thief will be attempting to steer the dragon in Montreal (Olympia - April 18th) and Toronto (Massey Hall - April 19th).
February 11 street date. "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You" is a sprawling double-LP exploring the deepest elements and possibilities of Big Thief. To truly dig into all that the music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia desired in 2020, the band decided to write and record a rambling account of growth as individuals, musicians, and chosen family over 4 distinct recording sessions. They spent 5 months in creation, coming out with 45 completed songs. The most resonant of this material was edited down into the 20 tracks that make up "DNWMIBIY", a fluid and adventurous listen. All 4 of these sessions, in their varied states of fidelity, style, and mood, when viewed together as one album seem to stand for a more honest, zoomed-out picture of lived experience than would be possible on a traditional, 12 song record. This was exactly what the band hoped would be the outcome of this kind of massive experiment. The attempt to capture something deeper, wider, and full of mystery, points to the inherent spirit of Big Thief. To support the new release Big Thief will be attempting to steer the dragon in Montreal (Olympia - April 18th) and Toronto (Massey Hall - April 19th).
February 11 street date. "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You" is a sprawling double-LP exploring the deepest elements and possibilities of Big Thief. To truly dig into all that the music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia desired in 2020, the band decided to write and record a rambling account of growth as individuals, musicians, and chosen family over 4 distinct recording sessions. They spent 5 months in creation, coming out with 45 completed songs. The most resonant of this material was edited down into the 20 tracks that make up "DNWMIBIY", a fluid and adventurous listen. All 4 of these sessions, in their varied states of fidelity, style, and mood, when viewed together as one album seem to stand for a more honest, zoomed-out picture of lived experience than would be possible on a traditional, 12 song record. This was exactly what the band hoped would be the outcome of this kind of massive experiment. The attempt to capture something deeper, wider, and full of mystery, points to the inherent spirit of Big Thief. To support the new release Big Thief will be attempting to steer the dragon in Montreal (Olympia - April 18th) and Toronto (Massey Hall - April 19th).
July 17 street date. Bing & Ruth, the ever-evolving project helmed by New York composer David Moore, has announced the release of "Species", which will be released on 17 July. "Species" is an exploration of the sonic possibilities of the Farfisa organ, aided only by a clarinet and double bass. "I suppose what interested me the most in putting this together was the concept of trance and what can happen to the listener by submitting to the wave of the thing," Moore explains. "Species", and the transcendental state it embodies, was inspired by two recent loves of Moore's: the desert and long-distance running. Bing & Ruth have had to postpone their previously scheduled Spring/Summer tour. Canadian dates will now take place on September 1st (Toronto - Brothers Dressler) and September 2nd (Montreal - La Sala Rossa).
July 17 street date. Bing & Ruth, the ever-evolving project helmed by New York composer David Moore, has announced the release of "Species", which will be released on 17 July. "Species" is an exploration of the sonic possibilities of the Farfisa organ, aided only by a clarinet and double bass. "I suppose what interested me the most in putting this together was the concept of trance and what can happen to the listener by submitting to the wave of the thing," Moore explains. "Species", and the transcendental state it embodies, was inspired by two recent loves of Moore's: the desert and long-distance running. Bing & Ruth have had to postpone their previously scheduled Spring/Summer tour. Canadian dates will now take place on September 1st (Toronto - Brothers Dressler) and September 2nd (Montreal - La Sala Rossa).
Available now. Nominated for 2022 Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. Winner of Blues Music Awards for Album Of The Year and Traditional Blues Album Of The Year. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvin Bishop and Grammy-winning harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite join forces for a fun and historic collaboration of front porch blues. Among the most famous bluesmen in the world, with over five decades each of recording and performing, Elvin and Charlie have scanned over 600,000 units combined, despite over two dozen of their releases coming before the advent of Soundscan.
April 23 street date. RECORD STORE DAY release. First time on vinyl in North America for this 2001 release. 180g 2LP clear with black, smoke and emerald marble coloured vinyl. Includes download card.
November 26 street date. Everything about Black Label Society begins with the riff. A dedicated disciple of Zeppelin, Sabbath, and Deep Purple, Zakk Wylde looks to the massive guitar hooks in classics like "Whole Lotta Love," "Into the Void," and "Smoke On the Water" as guiding lights. "The main ingredient in any Black Label soup is the riff," says the larger-than-life frontman. Black Label Society builds their music on this simple truth, truth as self-evident on "Back In Black" as on the dozen songs comprising "Doom Crew Inc.", the eleventh album from the dependable stalwarts. "Doom Crew Inc." is both a tribute to the band's "first to bleed, last to leave" road crew and a salute to the legion whose support, stretching back to 1998, rivals that of the KISS Army. The Black Label Society biker-style battle vest "kutte" is as ubiquitous at hard rock and metal shows as a black t-shirt.
November 26 street date. Everything about Black Label Society begins with the riff. A dedicated disciple of Zeppelin, Sabbath, and Deep Purple, Zakk Wylde looks to the massive guitar hooks in classics like "Whole Lotta Love," "Into the Void," and "Smoke On the Water" as guiding lights. "The main ingredient in any Black Label soup is the riff," says the larger-than-life frontman. Black Label Society builds their music on this simple truth, truth as self-evident on "Back In Black" as on the dozen songs comprising "Doom Crew Inc.", the eleventh album from the dependable stalwarts. "Doom Crew Inc." is both a tribute to the band's "first to bleed, last to leave" road crew and a salute to the legion whose support, stretching back to 1998, rivals that of the KISS Army. The Black Label Society biker-style battle vest "kutte" is as ubiquitous at hard rock and metal shows as a black t-shirt. Indie retail exclusive color vinyl variant: clear & black ice with grey and white splatter.
January 24 street date. It's country music but not as we know it which begs the question: have these Bad Kids of 21st Century rock 'n' roll finally grown up on their ninth studio album? ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ continues to flick the middle finger to one and all. This ain't another gaggle of bearded southern sons fleeing their collective suburban upbringings and collegiate music education. There aren't the usual clichés about drinking, honky tonks, and heartbreak. These are, after all, the same Black Lips who rescued the waning garage punk subgenre. They also dug contemporary hip-hop and punk and actualized themselves. Like so many dramatic moments in the Black Lips career, ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ was born out of crisis. The band's stylistic evolution through decades of prolific touring and recording took them where no garage punk band had gone before - huge venues, network television shows, and major music festivals. Here Black Lips are at their grimiest, most dangerous and equipped with the best collection of songs since the aughts. They roll on with an unapologetic southern-fried twang, pacing the beast, every now and then dropping a psycho howl into the rubber room madness lurking underneath the truckstop fireworks. This ain't your granny's country album. And conversely this ain't your mama's Black Lips!
January 24 street date. It's country music but not as we know it which begs the question: have these Bad Kids of 21st Century rock 'n' roll finally grown up on their ninth studio album? ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ continues to flick the middle finger to one and all. This ain't another gaggle of bearded southern sons fleeing their collective suburban upbringings and collegiate music education. There aren't the usual clichés about drinking, honky tonks, and heartbreak. These are, after all, the same Black Lips who rescued the waning garage punk subgenre. They also dug contemporary hip-hop and punk and actualized themselves. Like so many dramatic moments in the Black Lips career, ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ was born out of crisis. The band's stylistic evolution through decades of prolific touring and recording took them where no garage punk band had gone before - huge venues, network television shows, and major music festivals. Here Black Lips are at their grimiest, most dangerous and equipped with the best collection of songs since the aughts. They roll on with an unapologetic southern-fried twang, pacing the beast, every now and then dropping a psycho howl into the rubber room madness lurking underneath the truckstop fireworks. This ain't your granny's country album. And conversely this ain't your mama's Black Lips!
January 24 street date. Limited deluxe red vinyl edition, with a die cut spot gloss sleeve and poster - available exclusively to indie shops. It's country music but not as we know it which begs the question: have these Bad Kids of 21st Century rock 'n' roll finally grown up on their ninth studio album? ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ continues to flick the middle finger to one and all. This ain't another gaggle of bearded southern sons fleeing their collective suburban upbringings and collegiate music education. There aren't the usual clichés about drinking, honky tonks, and heartbreak. These are, after all, the same Black Lips who rescued the waning garage punk subgenre. They also dug contemporary hip-hop and punk and actualized themselves. Like so many dramatic moments in the Black Lips career, ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ was born out of crisis. The band's stylistic evolution through decades of prolific touring and recording took them where no garage punk band had gone before - huge venues, network television shows, and major music festivals. Here Black Lips are at their grimiest, most dangerous and equipped with the best collection of songs since the aughts. They roll on with an unapologetic southern-fried twang, pacing the beast, every now and then dropping a psycho howl into the rubber room madness lurking underneath the truckstop fireworks. This ain't your granny's country album. And conversely this ain't your mama's Black Lips!
October 22 street date. On "Fast Idol", Black Marble reaches back through time to connect with the forgotten bedroom kids of the analogue era, the halcyon days of icy hooks and warbly synths. Harmonies are piped in across the expanse of space, and lyrics capture conversations that seem to come from another room, repeat an accusation overheard, or speak as if in sleep of interpersonal struggles distilled down to one subconscious phrase. At the same time, percussive elements feel forward and cut through the mix with toms counting off the measures like a lost tribe broadcasting through the bass and tops of a basement club soundsystem. Melodies roll with the fizz and charm of Jacno and phrases repeated are electric torchlight ballads sung after hours in William Gibson's San Francisco. Emerging from the early 2000s New York synth scene, Black Marble carried on the tradition of early synthwave pioneers like Martin Dupont and Modern Art who repurposed synths once reserved for expensive studios and stadium rock superstars. Seeking to channel this spirit, Black Marble recalls the gauzy tape wow and flutter of The Membranes and the warbling VCO of Futurisk, carrying on a sound that seeks to channel the future while imprinting residue of the past.
October 22 street date. On "Fast Idol", Black Marble reaches back through time to connect with the forgotten bedroom kids of the analogue era, the halcyon days of icy hooks and warbly synths. Harmonies are piped in across the expanse of space, and lyrics capture conversations that seem to come from another room, repeat an accusation overheard, or speak as if in sleep of interpersonal struggles distilled down to one subconscious phrase. At the same time, percussive elements feel forward and cut through the mix with toms counting off the measures like a lost tribe broadcasting through the bass and tops of a basement club soundsystem. Melodies roll with the fizz and charm of Jacno and phrases repeated are electric torchlight ballads sung after hours in William Gibson's San Francisco. Emerging from the early 2000s New York synth scene, Black Marble carried on the tradition of early synthwave pioneers like Martin Dupont and Modern Art who repurposed synths once reserved for expensive studios and stadium rock superstars. Seeking to channel this spirit, Black Marble recalls the gauzy tape wow and flutter of The Membranes and the warbling VCO of Futurisk, carrying on a sound that seeks to channel the future while imprinting residue of the past.
October 22 street date. On "Fast Idol", Black Marble reaches back through time to connect with the forgotten bedroom kids of the analogue era, the halcyon days of icy hooks and warbly synths. Harmonies are piped in across the expanse of space, and lyrics capture conversations that seem to come from another room, repeat an accusation overheard, or speak as if in sleep of interpersonal struggles distilled down to one subconscious phrase. At the same time, percussive elements feel forward and cut through the mix with toms counting off the measures like a lost tribe broadcasting through the bass and tops of a basement club soundsystem. Melodies roll with the fizz and charm of Jacno and phrases repeated are electric torchlight ballads sung after hours in William Gibson's San Francisco. Emerging from the early 2000s New York synth scene, Black Marble carried on the tradition of early synthwave pioneers like Martin Dupont and Modern Art who repurposed synths once reserved for expensive studios and stadium rock superstars. Seeking to channel this spirit, Black Marble recalls the gauzy tape wow and flutter of The Membranes and the warbling VCO of Futurisk, carrying on a sound that seeks to channel the future while imprinting residue of the past.
October 22 street date. On "Fast Idol", Black Marble reaches back through time to connect with the forgotten bedroom kids of the analogue era, the halcyon days of icy hooks and warbly synths. Harmonies are piped in across the expanse of space, and lyrics capture conversations that seem to come from another room, repeat an accusation overheard, or speak as if in sleep of interpersonal struggles distilled down to one subconscious phrase. At the same time, percussive elements feel forward and cut through the mix with toms counting off the measures like a lost tribe broadcasting through the bass and tops of a basement club soundsystem. Melodies roll with the fizz and charm of Jacno and phrases repeated are electric torchlight ballads sung after hours in William Gibson's San Francisco. Emerging from the early 2000s New York synth scene, Black Marble carried on the tradition of early synthwave pioneers like Martin Dupont and Modern Art who repurposed synths once reserved for expensive studios and stadium rock superstars. Seeking to channel this spirit, Black Marble recalls the gauzy tape wow and flutter of The Membranes and the warbling VCO of Futurisk, carrying on a sound that seeks to channel the future while imprinting residue of the past.
February 28 street date. Black Market Brass' sophomore record, "Undying Thirst", is a noxious brew of diesel and bleach; a special long-player full of wasteoid rippers for skullduggerous hover-bike gangs peddling fugazi relics and snake oil tinctures. Hellacious guitars, nitrous-charged percussion, a brass section harsher than paint-thinner, and a special batch of short-circuited electronics and synthesizers will leave your head buzzing into the 31st century. Blasting "Undying Thirst" from your home speaker system is like going over a waterfall in a rusted out oil barrel, long after the sun has boiled the falls dry. RIYL Antibalas or The Budos Band.
February 28 street date. Black Market Brass' sophomore record, "Undying Thirst", is a noxious brew of diesel and bleach; a special long-player full of wasteoid rippers for skullduggerous hover-bike gangs peddling fugazi relics and snake oil tinctures. Hellacious guitars, nitrous-charged percussion, a brass section harsher than paint-thinner, and a special batch of short-circuited electronics and synthesizers will leave your head buzzing into the 31st century. Blasting "Undying Thirst" from your home speaker system is like going over a waterfall in a rusted out oil barrel, long after the sun has boiled the falls dry. RIYL Antibalas or The Budos Band.
May 28 street date. "Cavalcade" is a dynamic, hellacious, and inventive follow-up to 2019's widely-praised "Schlagenheim". It scales beautiful new heights, pulling widely from a plethora of genres and influences, reaching ever upwards from an already lofty base of early achievements. black midi - Geordie Greep (guitar, primary vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals), and Morgan Simpson (drums) - picture "Cavalcade" as a line of larger than life figures, from a cult leader fallen on hard times and an ancient corpse found in a diamond mine to legendary cabaret singer Marlene Dietrich, strolling seductively past them. "When you're listening, you can imagine all the characters form a sort of cavalcade. Each tells their story one by one and as each track ends they overtake you, replaced by the next in line," comments Picton. With original band member guitarist/vocalist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin taking time away from the group to focus on his mental health, black midi chose to augment their sound on "Cavalcade", rather than replicate it, with saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi and keyboard player Seth Evans.
May 28 street date. "Cavalcade" is a dynamic, hellacious, and inventive follow-up to 2019's widely-praised "Schlagenheim". It scales beautiful new heights, pulling widely from a plethora of genres and influences, reaching ever upwards from an already lofty base of early achievements. black midi - Geordie Greep (guitar, primary vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals), and Morgan Simpson (drums) - picture "Cavalcade" as a line of larger than life figures, from a cult leader fallen on hard times and an ancient corpse found in a diamond mine to legendary cabaret singer Marlene Dietrich, strolling seductively past them. "When you're listening, you can imagine all the characters form a sort of cavalcade. Each tells their story one by one and as each track ends they overtake you, replaced by the next in line," comments Picton. With original band member guitarist/vocalist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin taking time away from the group to focus on his mental health, black midi chose to augment their sound on "Cavalcade", rather than replicate it, with saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi and keyboard player Seth Evans.
July 16 street date. Karen Black was boundless. An actor, singer, screenwriter, poet, and unyielding creative spirit, she was a prominent figure in the American New Wave, portraying a host of tender and labyrinthine women on screen. Her ability to submerge herself in each role marked her as a skilled character actor, one that translated into a real and imperfect person, not a polished emblem of Hollywood. And in her best-suited and most vulnerable performances, she sang. Amid her meteoric rise, Black also wrote and recorded a host of original songs, many with two of the era's most prestigious producers, Bones Howe and Elliot Mazer. Co-produced by Cass McCombs and meticulously restored from the original tapes (including six of Howe's recordings), Karen Black's "Dreaming of You (1971-1976)" gathers for the first time the best of her recordings: 15 tracks that are a holistic depiction of her dreamy, introspective and earnest musical identity. Recalling the everywoman quality of Judy Collins and the quiet mystery of Billie Holiday, Black largely sings over simple acoustic guitar strumming, her voice a beacon amid tales of fantasy and heartache. Her range swings from fluttering highs to earthen lows, with a distinctiveness that evokes the enduring quality of early Asylum Records.
February 26 street date. "In Ferneaux" explores pain in motion, building audio-spatial chambers of experience and memory. Using an archive of field recordings from a decade of global travels, isolation gave Blanck Mass an opportunity to make connections in a moment when being together is impossible. The record is divided into two long-form journeys that gather the memories of being with now-distant others through the composition of a nostalgic travelogue. The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations. These scenes alternate with the building up and releasing of great aural tension, intensities that emerge from the trauma of a personal grieving process which has perhaps embraced its rage moment. With "In Ferneaux", Blanck Mass wrangles the immanent materials of the here-and-now to build a sense of transcendence. Here, the uncanny angelic hymn sits comfortably beside the dirge. The misery and blessing are one.
February 26 street date. "In Ferneaux" explores pain in motion, building audio-spatial chambers of experience and memory. Using an archive of field recordings from a decade of global travels, isolation gave Blanck Mass an opportunity to make connections in a moment when being together is impossible. The record is divided into two long-form journeys that gather the memories of being with now-distant others through the composition of a nostalgic travelogue. The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations. These scenes alternate with the building up and releasing of great aural tension, intensities that emerge from the trauma of a personal grieving process which has perhaps embraced its rage moment. With "In Ferneaux", Blanck Mass wrangles the immanent materials of the here-and-now to build a sense of transcendence. Here, the uncanny angelic hymn sits comfortably beside the dirge. The misery and blessing are one.
February 19 street date. The cover art for "iii", the upcoming EP from Canadian art-rock band Blessed, depicts a wall of wooden blocks, all different shapes, jumbled messily and precariously high against a softly-coloured background. It's an image that captures Blessed at their most essential: experimental, asymmetrical, and interdependent, all the more remarkable for their marriage of those three qualities. The EP's four tracks expand on Blessed's already-idiosyncratic vision: cavernous post-punk electronics and measured drum work pave under guitarwork that trips and sways from chiming and sunny, to serrated and snarling, to frigid and stiff. Vocalist Drew Riekman's lithe tenor flickers in and out across tracks, an extra texture rather than a spotlit focus. Rather than aim for one uniform mix, the band pursued four separate ones: Corin Roddick (Purity Ring), John McEntire (Tortoise), Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck), and Riekman. The result is four tracks with distinctly different palettes and trajectories.
February 19 street date. The cover art for "iii", the upcoming EP from Canadian art-rock band Blessed, depicts a wall of wooden blocks, all different shapes, jumbled messily and precariously high against a softly-coloured background. It's an image that captures Blessed at their most essential: experimental, asymmetrical, and interdependent, all the more remarkable for their marriage of those three qualities. The EP's four tracks expand on Blessed's already-idiosyncratic vision: cavernous post-punk electronics and measured drum work pave under guitarwork that trips and sways from chiming and sunny, to serrated and snarling, to frigid and stiff. Vocalist Drew Riekman's lithe tenor flickers in and out across tracks, an extra texture rather than a spotlit focus. Rather than aim for one uniform mix, the band pursued four separate ones: Corin Roddick (Purity Ring), John McEntire (Tortoise), Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck), and Riekman. The result is four tracks with distinctly different palettes and trajectories.
July 9 street date. Feral art rock from the gritty depths of 1990s Manhattan. Japanese-Italian guitar symphonies for 120 Minutes refugees and Keith Haring enthusiasts alike. Blonde Redhead's self-titled 1995 debut, in print as a definitive single LP for the first time since - ever. "These songs combine a raw need, a ready access to neediness, with seemingly incongruous cinematic changes reminiscent of 1960s Italian pop music and movie scores. They switch between emotional grandeur and eye scratching immediacy" - Arto Lindsay.
July 9 street date. Art-house kosmische from the battered basements of pre-9/11 New York. Polyrhythmic screamo for underemployed Gen-Xers and trust fund weed dealers alike. "La Mia Vita Violenta", Blonde Redhead's 1995 sophomore effort, in print as a definitive single LP for the first time since - ever. "These songs combine a raw need, a ready access to neediness, with seemingly incongruous cinematic changes reminiscent of 1960s Italian pop music and movie scores. They switch between emotional grandeur and eye scratching immediacy" - Arto Lindsay.
Please note street date is July 31. (Legendary Montreal-based wildman of rock and roll and R & B has worked with Jon Spencer, King Khan, the 5678’s and Deke Dickerson!!) For nearly twenty years, Bloodshot Bill has shouted, snorted, cooed and crooned his way through the wild shadowland of primitive rock and roll, touring the world and collaborated with heavyweights like Jon Spencer, King Khan, the 5678’s and Deke Dickerson. Seventeen albums and over two dozen singles later, this unstoppable Montrealeño has not slowed his manic touring and recording schedule one whit. He’s a seminal punk, a true wildman who blazes his own path to honky tonk hell with a bottomless repertoire of desperate rock and roll and insatiable R&B. That means he knows a lotta songs—not that he doesn’t wear pants. But on the right night, who knows! This spring, Bloodshot Bill will release his eighteenth album, Get Loose Or Get Lost, his second for Memphis’ Goner Records. He will be touring everywhere, continuing his twenty-year rampage with a new record and a new slew of shows—do not miss it!
Please note street date is July 31. (Legendary Montreal-based wildman of rock and roll and R & B has worked with Jon Spencer, King Khan, the 5678’s and Deke Dickerson!!) For nearly twenty years, Bloodshot Bill has shouted, snorted, cooed and crooned his way through the wild shadowland of primitive rock and roll, touring the world and collaborated with heavyweights like Jon Spencer, King Khan, the 5678’s and Deke Dickerson. Seventeen albums and over two dozen singles later, this unstoppable Montrealeño has not slowed his manic touring and recording schedule one whit. He’s a seminal punk, a true wildman who blazes his own path to honky tonk hell with a bottomless repertoire of desperate rock and roll and insatiable R&B. That means he knows a lotta songs—not that he doesn’t wear pants. But on the right night, who knows! This spring, Bloodshot Bill will release his eighteenth album, Get Loose Or Get Lost, his second for Memphis’ Goner Records. He will be touring everywhere, continuing his twenty-year rampage with a new record and a new slew of shows—do not miss it!
September 24 street date. Long out of print on vinyl since its 1997 release. The Blue Stingrays' story starts in '59...the band formed that summer and created a new sound. that sound was surf music. Like those who roamed the globe for the perfect wave, The Blue Stingrays nailed the perfect sound when their twang rang 'round the world. A singular devotion to surf guitar music became a way of life for them and they considered it to be the only artform profound enough to truly express the passion in man's soul. THE FACTS in 2021: Upon its original release, the members of Blue Stingrays were touted as iconic yet anonymous surf rock pioneers. Now, after decades of whispers and speculation, the identities of these mysterious musicians have been officially confirmed as guitarist Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers/Fleetwood Mac/The Dirty Knobs), bassist Ron Blair (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers) and drummer Randall Marsh (Mudcrutch).
September 24 street date. Long out of print on vinyl since its 1997 release - first time on coloured vinyl. The Blue Stingrays' story starts in '59...the band formed that summer and created a new sound. that sound was surf music. Like those who roamed the globe for the perfect wave, The Blue Stingrays nailed the perfect sound when their twang rang 'round the world. A singular devotion to surf guitar music became a way of life for them and they considered it to be the only artform profound enough to truly express the passion in man's soul. THE FACTS in 2021: Upon its original release, the members of Blue Stingrays were touted as iconic yet anonymous surf rock pioneers. Now, after decades of whispers and speculation, the identities of these mysterious musicians have been officially confirmed as guitarist Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers/Fleetwood Mac/The Dirty Knobs), bassist Ron Blair (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers) and drummer Randall Marsh (Mudcrutch).
March 19 street date. Sophomore album from the Windsor duo who were nominated for a 2020 Juno for Breakthrough Group Of The Year. When Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier formed The Blue Stones, they were facing uncertainty about who they were and where they were going. But they did know they wanted to make music together, and so they did, writing songs over time and eventually releasing their debut album "Black Holes" in 2018. As confident and self-assured as they are, that record was very much about the pair finding themselves, both musically and existentially, and deciding to pursue the rock 'n' roll dream by jumping into a black hole of the unknown instead of choosing a more ordinary life-path. The band drew the attention of producer, Paul Meany - the creative force behind alternative rock band Mutemath, and who recently worked with Twenty One Pilots, producing their fifth album, "Trench". Working with Meany didn't just lead to The Blue Stones exploring - and creating - music in a different way than they had before, but it also led Jafar to approach and tackle lyrics in an entirely new light. Combined with the band's nuanced and layered approach to their sound, it makes these songs resonate with a powerful emotional intensity.
March 19 street date. Sophomore album from the Windsor duo who were nominated for a 2020 Juno for Breakthrough Group Of The Year. When Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier formed The Blue Stones, they were facing uncertainty about who they were and where they were going. But they did know they wanted to make music together, and so they did, writing songs over time and eventually releasing their debut album "Black Holes" in 2018. As confident and self-assured as they are, that record was very much about the pair finding themselves, both musically and existentially, and deciding to pursue the rock 'n' roll dream by jumping into a black hole of the unknown instead of choosing a more ordinary life-path. The band drew the attention of producer, Paul Meany - the creative force behind alternative rock band Mutemath, and who recently worked with Twenty One Pilots, producing their fifth album, "Trench". Working with Meany didn't just lead to The Blue Stones exploring - and creating - music in a different way than they had before, but it also led Jafar to approach and tackle lyrics in an entirely new light. Combined with the band's nuanced and layered approach to their sound, it makes these songs resonate with a powerful emotional intensity.
November 5 street date. 10 year anniversary edition of "Adventures In Counter Culture", which has been out of print on vinyl since 2013. First trained in his church choir, Print played in R&B bands in high school and later developed a reputation as a standout rapper. On "Adventures in Counter Culture", he experiments with the synths, keyboards, and drum machines that connected the musical dots of those early days. When he sat down to work on this sophomore effort, Print began with the dark, soulful and sample heavy hip hop of the early 90s, but soon found himself hitting a creative wall. What shook him loose was a new mission: to create an album that encompassed every facet of music he knew, blurring genre lines and bringing it back home as one cohesive listening experience. The more he worked to pair new found interest in rock and electronic music with his love of hip hop, the more he was able to break down that creative barrier. This edition comes packaged in a 12" gatefold jacket with matte UV and spot-gloss finish, housing custom blue and purple coloured vinyl, and includes a 24-page zine and a digital download card.
October 22 street date. New album from Dean Blunt. "The songs here are among the most beautiful and hypnotic in Blunt’s vast catalog - "Black Metal 2" is a hushed and disarmingly gorgeous record" - Bandcamp. "Serene, orchestral, folk-pop jangle", "One of our most anticipated releases of 2021" - FADER. "A brief but thrilling project from the mercurial artist". "It is the clearest Dean Blunt has ever sounded and one of his most thrilling releases to date" - Pitchfork 8.1/10.
October 22 street date. New album from Dean Blunt. "The songs here are among the most beautiful and hypnotic in Blunt’s vast catalog - "Black Metal 2" is a hushed and disarmingly gorgeous record" - Bandcamp. "Serene, orchestral, folk-pop jangle", "One of our most anticipated releases of 2021" - FADER. "A brief but thrilling project from the mercurial artist". "It is the clearest Dean Blunt has ever sounded and one of his most thrilling releases to date" - Pitchfork 8.1/10.
Please note new street date: September 24. "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2" includes nearly every single musical morsel from seasons 7 through 9. This 90-song smorgasbord will feature the Belcher family as well as the show's numerous recurring and special guests. This includes actors, comedians, and musicians Adam Driver, Tiany Haddish, Jenny Slate, Daveed Diggs, Max Greenfield, Toddrick Hall, Aparna Nancherla, and Matt Berninger (of the National). For fans of the show, enjoying the music of Bob's Burgers on its own is both an irresistible to-go bag and ultimately a world unto itself. Lose yourself in the strangely epic disco celebration "Hot Pants Rain Dance", sing along with the musical theater gem, "The Wedding Is My Warzone", or do whatever you're gonna do to "Sexy Little Tiger", but don't miss "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2".
Please note new street date for CD: August 27. "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2" includes nearly every single musical morsel from seasons 7 through 9. This 90-song smorgasbord will feature the Belcher family as well as the show's numerous recurring and special guests. This includes actors, comedians, and musicians Adam Driver, Tiany Haddish, Jenny Slate, Daveed Diggs, Max Greenfield, Toddrick Hall, Aparna Nancherla, and Matt Berninger (of the National). For fans of the show, enjoying the music of Bob's Burgers on its own is both an irresistible to-go bag and ultimately a world unto itself. Lose yourself in the strangely epic disco celebration "Hot Pants Rain Dance", sing along with the musical theater gem, "The Wedding Is My Warzone", or do whatever you're gonna do to "Sexy Little Tiger", but don't miss "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2".
Please note new street date: September 24. "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2" includes nearly every single musical morsel from seasons 7 through 9. This 90-song smorgasbord will feature the Belcher family as well as the show's numerous recurring and special guests. This includes actors, comedians, and musicians Adam Driver, Tiany Haddish, Jenny Slate, Daveed Diggs, Max Greenfield, Toddrick Hall, Aparna Nancherla, and Matt Berninger (of the National). For fans of the show, enjoying the music of Bob's Burgers on its own is both an irresistible to-go bag and ultimately a world unto itself. Lose yourself in the strangely epic disco celebration "Hot Pants Rain Dance", sing along with the musical theater gem, "The Wedding Is My Warzone", or do whatever you're gonna do to "Sexy Little Tiger", but don't miss "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2". The 3 LP box set edition includes a box containing a rigid book-style LP jacket with lyric book, 62-page softcover song book, two posters, die-cut colourform clings, and custom dust sleeves.
Please note new street date: September 24. "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2" includes nearly every single musical morsel from seasons 7 through 9. This 90-song smorgasbord will feature the Belcher family as well as the show's numerous recurring and special guests. This includes actors, comedians, and musicians Adam Driver, Tiany Haddish, Jenny Slate, Daveed Diggs, Max Greenfield, Toddrick Hall, Aparna Nancherla, and Matt Berninger (of the National). For fans of the show, enjoying the music of Bob's Burgers on its own is both an irresistible to-go bag and ultimately a world unto itself. Lose yourself in the strangely epic disco celebration "Hot Pants Rain Dance", sing along with the musical theater gem, "The Wedding Is My Warzone", or do whatever you're gonna do to "Sexy Little Tiger", but don't miss "The Bob's Burgers Music Album Vol. 2".
March 13 street date. Where The Bombpops had a "Fear Of Missing Out" on their 2017 debut full-length, their highly anticipated follow up shows what happens when you're too involved - with booze, bad situations, and behavior that's unsustainable at best and destructive at worst. It's right there in the title - "Death In Venice Beach" - an allusion to Thomas Mann's celebrated novella about the price of an artistic life. What draws The Bombpops hasn't changed on their newest effort: highly melodic punk with big guitars, vocal harmonies, and the SoCal sound that inspired the quartet to pick up instruments. But the more light-hearted skate punk of "Fear Of Missing Out" has a serrated edge on "Death In Venice Beach", as they explore darker themes drawing from real life experiences leading up to and during the making of the album.
March 13 street date. Where The Bombpops had a "Fear Of Missing Out" on their 2017 debut full-length, their highly anticipated follow up shows what happens when you're too involved - with booze, bad situations, and behavior that's unsustainable at best and destructive at worst. It's right there in the title - "Death In Venice Beach" - an allusion to Thomas Mann's celebrated novella about the price of an artistic life. What draws The Bombpops hasn't changed on their newest effort: highly melodic punk with big guitars, vocal harmonies, and the SoCal sound that inspired the quartet to pick up instruments. But the more light-hearted skate punk of "Fear Of Missing Out" has a serrated edge on "Death In Venice Beach", as they explore darker themes drawing from real life experiences leading up to and during the making of the album.
March 27 street date. Bon Iver's "Blood Bank" EP was originally released in early 2009, hot on the heels of the beloved album "For Emma, Forever Ago". The EP was a harbinger of a new sound for Bon Iver: a movement away from the acoustic guitar-led instrumentation of the debut and the beginning of an exploration into the experimental sounds that have evolved but defined Bon Iver ever since. The reissue of this seminal EP is coupled with brand new live renditions of all the EP tracks, all recorded at various venues in 2018.
March 25 street date. Last June marked the ten year anniversary of the worldwide release of Bon Iver's highly acclaimed sophomore release "Bon Iver, Bon Iver". To commemorate the occasion, the band and Jagjaguwar will release a limited edition reissue of the influential album. This edition features five songs from Bon Iver's beautiful AIR Studios session, which captures the grand spirit of "Bon Iver, Bon Iver" and distills it into sharper focus, as Justin Vernon and Sean Carey perform the songs as a duo, on grand pianos and vocals only. The physical release of "Bon Iver, Bon Iver (10th anniversary edition)" features a blind embossed version of the original cover art and an intimate personal essay from long-time fan Phoebe Bridgers recalling how the "massive, sprawling, unbelievably complex" album brings about both yearning for yesterday, contentment for the present, and
collective hope for the future. The album's iconic cover art has been reimagined to a minimal white-on-white, with a white LP to match.
March 25 street date. Last June marked the ten year anniversary of the worldwide release of Bon Iver's highly acclaimed sophomore release "Bon Iver, Bon Iver". To commemorate the occasion, the band and Jagjaguwar will release a limited edition reissue of the influential album. This edition features five songs from Bon Iver's beautiful AIR Studios session, which captures the grand spirit of "Bon Iver, Bon Iver" and distills it into sharper focus, as Justin Vernon and Sean Carey perform the songs as a duo, on grand pianos and vocals only. The physical release of "Bon Iver, Bon Iver (10th anniversary edition)" features a blind embossed version of the original cover art and an intimate personal essay from long-time fan Phoebe Bridgers recalling how the "massive, sprawling, unbelievably complex" album brings about both yearning for yesterday, contentment for the present, and collective hope for the future. The album's iconic cover art has been reimagined to a minimal white-on-white, with a white LP to match.
January 24 street date. The timeless qualities of traditional tunes can carry us across oceans and eons, linking us not only to the past but to each other as well. It was under the banner of those eternal connections that the trio of Bonny Light Horseman came together. From festival fields and a German art hub to a snowy upstate studio and everywhere in between, the astral folk outfit - comprised of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats, The Shins), and Josh Kaufman (The National, Bob Weir) - is mixing the ancient, mystical medium of transatlantic traditional folk music with a contemporary, collective brush. The resulting album, "Bonny Light Horseman", is an elusive kind of sonic event: a bottled blend of lightning and synergy that will excite fans of multiple genres, eras, and ages.
January 24 street date. The timeless qualities of traditional tunes can carry us across oceans and eons, linking us not only to the past but to each other as well. It was under the banner of those eternal connections that the trio of Bonny Light Horseman came together. From festival fields and a German art hub to a snowy upstate studio and everywhere in between, the astral folk outfit - comprised of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats, The Shins), and Josh Kaufman (The National, Bob Weir) - is mixing the ancient, mystical medium of transatlantic traditional folk music with a contemporary, collective brush. The resulting album, "Bonny Light Horseman", is an elusive kind of sonic event: a bottled blend of lightning and synergy that will excite fans of multiple genres, eras, and ages.
Please note new street date: August 14. In an emotional musical journey, Booker T explores new takes on the songs that make up the fabric of his musical identity. Largely mirroring the chapter titles from his forthcoming memoir "Time Is Tight", "Note By Note" serves as a musical companion. Stax staples like "Cause I Love You" and "These Arms Of Mine" are woven into defining musical moments from Booker's journey after Stax, when he produced and recorded with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson and Carlos Santana. Booker T & The MG's fans will enjoy a new ending to the song "Time Is Tight", a Romanesque coda that has been played live yet never recorded. The album culminates with new original music, highlighting the soaring guitar and vocals of Booker's son and collaborator Teddy Jones. Booker T is a 4 time Grammy Award winner (including the Lifetime Achievement Award), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and arguably the most famous Hammond B3 player in history.
Please note new street date: August 14. Orange vinyl pressing of this late 2019 release. In an emotional musical journey, Booker T explores new takes on the songs that make up the fabric of his musical identity. Largely mirroring the chapter titles from his forthcoming memoir "Time Is Tight", "Note By Note" serves as a musical companion. Stax staples like "Cause I Love You" and "These Arms Of Mine" are woven into defining musical moments from Booker's journey after Stax, when he produced and recorded with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson and Carlos Santana. Booker T & The MG's fans will enjoy a new ending to the song "Time Is Tight", a Romanesque coda that has been played live yet never recorded. The album culminates with new original music, highlighting the soaring guitar and vocals of Booker's son and collaborator Teddy Jones. Booker T is a 4 time Grammy Award winner (including the Lifetime Achievement Award), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and arguably the most famous Hammond B3 player in history.
January 21 street date. In an effort to sublimate the negative energy surrounding everyone in 2020, legendary Japanese post-rock band Boris focused all of their energy creatively and turned out the most extreme album of their long and widely celebrated career, "NO". The band self-released the album, desiring to get it out as quickly as possible but intentionally called the final track on the album "Interlude" with anticipation of a follow-up. The follow-up comes with "W", the band's debut album for their new label Sacred Bones Records. In contrast to the extreme sounds found on "NO", this new album whispers into the listener's ear with a trembling hazy sound meant to awaken sensation. On all of "W" Wata carries the lead vocal duties. In general the styles on the album range from noise to new age, as is typical with one of our generation's most dynamic and adventurous bands, but there is thread of melodic deliberation through each song that successfully accomplishes the band’s goal of eliciting deep sensation. Be it through epic sludgey riffs, angelic vocal reverberations or the seduction of their off-kilter percussion, Boris will have you fully under their spell.
January 21 street date. In an effort to sublimate the negative energy surrounding everyone in 2020, legendary Japanese post-rock band Boris focused all of their energy creatively and turned out the most extreme album of their long and widely celebrated career, "NO". The band self-released the album, desiring to get it out as quickly as possible but intentionally called the final track on the album "Interlude" with anticipation of a follow-up. The follow-up comes with "W", the band's debut album for their new label Sacred Bones Records. In contrast to the extreme sounds found on "NO", this new album whispers into the listener's ear with a trembling hazy sound meant to awaken sensation. On all of "W" Wata carries the lead vocal duties. In general the styles on the album range from noise to new age, as is typical with one of our generation's most dynamic and adventurous bands, but there is thread of melodic deliberation through each song that successfully accomplishes the band’s goal of eliciting deep sensation. Be it through epic sludgey riffs, angelic vocal reverberations or the seduction of their off-kilter percussion, Boris will have you fully under their spell.
January 21 street date. In an effort to sublimate the negative energy surrounding everyone in 2020, legendary Japanese post-rock band Boris focused all of their energy creatively and turned out the most extreme album of their long and widely celebrated career, "NO". The band self-released the album, desiring to get it out as quickly as possible but intentionally called the final track on the album "Interlude" with anticipation of a follow-up. The follow-up comes with "W", the band's debut album for their new label Sacred Bones Records. In contrast to the extreme sounds found on "NO", this new album whispers into the listener's ear with a trembling hazy sound meant to awaken sensation. On all of "W" Wata carries the lead vocal duties. In general the styles on the album range from noise to new age, as is typical with one of our generation's most dynamic and adventurous bands, but there is thread of melodic deliberation through each song that successfully accomplishes the band’s goal of eliciting deep sensation. Be it through epic sludgey riffs, angelic vocal reverberations or the seduction of their off-kilter percussion, Boris will have you fully under their spell.
January 21 street date. In an effort to sublimate the negative energy surrounding everyone in 2020, legendary Japanese post-rock band Boris focused all of their energy creatively and turned out the most extreme album of their long and widely celebrated career, "NO". The band self-released the album, desiring to get it out as quickly as possible but intentionally called the final track on the album "Interlude" with anticipation of a follow-up. The follow-up comes with "W", the band's debut album for their new label Sacred Bones Records. In contrast to the extreme sounds found on "NO", this new album whispers into the listener's ear with a trembling hazy sound meant to awaken sensation. On all of "W" Wata carries the lead vocal duties. In general the styles on the album range from noise to new age, as is typical with one of our generation's most dynamic and adventurous bands, but there is thread of melodic deliberation through each song that successfully accomplishes the band’s goal of eliciting deep sensation. Be it through epic sludgey riffs, angelic vocal reverberations or the seduction of their off-kilter percussion, Boris will have you fully under their spell.
April 30 street date. "becalmyounglovers" is as much a return as it is a farewell. Phil Moore's first Bowerbirds album since 2012 is an artifact of transition, a domino effect of doors closing and Moore stumbling headfirst into the uncertainty of what comes after a life fundamentally changes. Like a polaroid slowly swimming into focus, "becalmyounglovers" reconciles the memories of yourself in relation to another person, and then what's unearthed when you're left to face your identity alone - and which one of those selves is true? Written and recorded mainly in an isolated cabin hand built by Moore and his ex-partner, out in Siler City, North Carolina, "becalmyounglovers" chronicles a long-term relationship's death rattle, inevitable breakup, and its immediate aftermath - and Moore's getting to understand himself better in the process. These songs don't trudge through upheaval - instead, they float, still sanguine and light in the face of plans gone awry.
April 30 street date. "becalmyounglovers" is as much a return as it is a farewell. Phil Moore's first Bowerbirds album since 2012 is an artifact of transition, a domino effect of doors closing and Moore stumbling headfirst into the uncertainty of what comes after a life fundamentally changes. Like a polaroid slowly swimming into focus, "becalmyounglovers" reconciles the memories of yourself in relation to another person, and then what's unearthed when you're left to face your identity alone - and which one of those selves is true? Written and recorded mainly in an isolated cabin hand built by Moore and his ex-partner, out in Siler City, North Carolina, "becalmyounglovers" chronicles a long-term relationship's death rattle, inevitable breakup, and its immediate aftermath - and Moore's getting to understand himself better in the process. These songs don't trudge through upheaval - instead, they float, still sanguine and light in the face of plans gone awry.
Please note new street date for vinyl: October 22 / October 1 for CD. On "Wayfinder", the follow-up to the acclaimed 2019 album "Free Company", Oakland-based songwriter Taylor Vick, under her songwriting moniker Boy Scouts, chases down life's queries to the very edge of the horizon. This is an album that's not afraid to track down what it all means - how life unspools around the monoliths of love and death, the heavy knots of even quotidian conflict, the task of carrying your own suffering with you day after day, the challenge of meeting other people out here in the tangled expanse of living. In a warm, expansive style that recalls the raw punctures of Lucinda Williams and Alex G, Vick once again shows herself to be a fearless seeker shedding light on the unanswerable. Vick's true superpower is her voice. Strands of slide guitar, organ, and strings ring under her affable, expressive voice, bolstering layers and layers of harmony. There is something so honest about her songs, they feel like a late-night therapy session with your best friend.
Please note new street date for vinyl: October 22 / October 1 for CD. On "Wayfinder", the follow-up to the acclaimed 2019 album "Free Company", Oakland-based songwriter Taylor Vick, under her songwriting moniker Boy Scouts, chases down life's queries to the very edge of the horizon. This is an album that's not afraid to track down what it all means - how life unspools around the monoliths of love and death, the heavy knots of even quotidian conflict, the task of carrying your own suffering with you day after day, the challenge of meeting other people out here in the tangled expanse of living. In a warm, expansive style that recalls the raw punctures of Lucinda Williams and Alex G, Vick once again shows herself to be a fearless seeker shedding light on the unanswerable. Vick's true superpower is her voice. Strands of slide guitar, organ, and strings ring under her affable, expressive voice, bolstering layers and layers of harmony. There is something so honest about her songs, they feel like a late-night therapy session with your best friend.
Please note new street date for vinyl: October 22 / October 1 for CD. On "Wayfinder", the follow-up to the acclaimed 2019 album "Free Company", Oakland-based songwriter Taylor Vick, under her songwriting moniker Boy Scouts, chases down life's queries to the very edge of the horizon. This is an album that's not afraid to track down what it all means - how life unspools around the monoliths of love and death, the heavy knots of even quotidian conflict, the task of carrying your own suffering with you day after day, the challenge of meeting other people out here in the tangled expanse of living. In a warm, expansive style that recalls the raw punctures of Lucinda Williams and Alex G, Vick once again shows herself to be a fearless seeker shedding light on the unanswerable. Vick's true superpower is her voice. Strands of slide guitar, organ, and strings ring under her affable, expressive voice, bolstering layers and layers of harmony. There is something so honest about her songs, they feel like a late-night therapy session with your best friend.
August 20 street date. "Artvertisement" is Darrin Bradbury's third album and second release for ANTI-, following his critically acclaimed 2019 LP "Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs". Bradbury wrote "Artvertisement" while touring in support of "Talking Dogs", and recorded the album at in March of 2020 over the strange, anxious handful of days between Nashville's devastating March 3rd tornado and the start of the COVID-19 shutdown. The title "Artvertisement" was inspired by Bradbury's difficult experiences navigating the polished, often soulless Nashville music industry, where record label executives would laud his songwriting - some going so far as to call him a genius - but ultimately turn him away because his music wasn't commercial. While music is still his primary focus, Bradbury has leaned into working on visual art, which, like his music, draws out both the darkness and the humor of the everyday.
August 20 street date. "Artvertisement" is Darrin Bradbury's third album and second release for ANTI-, following his critically acclaimed 2019 LP "Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs". Bradbury wrote "Artvertisement" while touring in support of "Talking Dogs", and recorded the album at in March of 2020 over the strange, anxious handful of days between Nashville's devastating March 3rd tornado and the start of the COVID-19 shutdown. The title "Artvertisement" was inspired by Bradbury's difficult experiences navigating the polished, often soulless Nashville music industry, where record label executives would laud his songwriting - some going so far as to call him a genius - but ultimately turn him away because his music wasn't commercial. While music is still his primary focus, Bradbury has leaned into working on visual art, which, like his music, draws out both the darkness and the humor of the everyday.
June 18 street date. Limited 10th anniversary edition of the album that put them on the map, Braids'’ debut LP "Native Speaker". Original designer Marc Rimmer re-worked the LP packaging with a high gloss record cover and a brand new lyric sleeve complemented by eye-popping coloured vinyl. An astonishingly accomplished debut from a young band, "Native Speaker" laid out some of Braids' core interests, including a meticulous attention to sonic detail and a rhythmic curiosity. As their later discography would reveal, this debut also set the course for a great deal of growth, change, and an ever-evolving sonic identity. Meticulously produced by the band, Native Speaker emerges as an extremely potent concoction of playful, lavishly orchestrated, and deeply cinematic pieces - all without a sample in sight. The album oscillates between textural density and heavenly spaciousness to construct an unforgettable pop tune.
December 10 street date. Bria is an intimate and incisive labour of love from multi-instrumentalists Bria Salmena and Duncan Hay Jennings, who have toured for years as members of Toronto four-piece FRIGS, whose 2018 debut "Basic Behaviour" was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize. Making a mark in diverse genres from country to punk, both play as permanent members of Orville Peck’s band. Catapulted by a deep sense of dread and confusion in the depths of 2020, Salmena decided to forgo writing her own music. "I wanted to listen for what might reflect my life back to me", she says, "six tracks that could be my mirror". The result is a pointillistic knockout of an EP that weaves a landscape both luscious and a little rogue; showing us exactly what good songs can do. "Cuntry Covers Vol. 1" houses it all: well-worn favourites and lesser-known gems from Karen Dalton, John Cale, Waylon Jennings, The Walker Brothers, Lucinda Williams, and Mistress Mary. First vinyl pressing is on opaque light blue vinyl.
December 10 street date. Bria is an intimate and incisive labour of love from multi-instrumentalists Bria Salmena and Duncan Hay Jennings, who have toured for years as members of Toronto four-piece FRIGS, whose 2018 debut "Basic Behaviour" was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize. Making a mark in diverse genres from country to punk, both play as permanent members of Orville Peck’s band. Catapulted by a deep sense of dread and confusion in the depths of 2020, Salmena decided to forgo writing her own music. "I wanted to listen for what might reflect my life back to me", she says, "six tracks that could be my mirror". The result is a pointillistic knockout of an EP that weaves a landscape both luscious and a little rogue; showing us exactly what good songs can do. "Cuntry Covers Vol. 1" houses it all: well-worn favourites and lesser-known gems from Karen Dalton, John Cale, Waylon Jennings, The Walker Brothers, Lucinda Williams, and Mistress Mary. First vinyl pressing is on opaque light blue vinyl.
December 10 street date. Bria is an intimate and incisive labour of love from multi-instrumentalists Bria Salmena and Duncan Hay Jennings, who have toured for years as members of Toronto four-piece FRIGS, whose 2018 debut "Basic Behaviour" was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize. Making a mark in diverse genres from country to punk, both play as permanent members of Orville Peck’s band. Catapulted by a deep sense of dread and confusion in the depths of 2020, Salmena decided to forgo writing her own music. "I wanted to listen for what might reflect my life back to me", she says, "six tracks that could be my mirror". The result is a pointillistic knockout of an EP that weaves a landscape both luscious and a little rogue; showing us exactly what good songs can do. "Cuntry Covers Vol. 1" houses it all: well-worn favourites and lesser-known gems from Karen Dalton, John Cale, Waylon Jennings, The Walker Brothers, Lucinda Williams, and Mistress Mary. First vinyl pressing is on opaque light blue vinyl.
June 19 street date. The arrival of "Punisher" cements Phoebe Bridgers as one of the most clever, tender and prolific songwriters of our era. Bridgers is the rare artist with enough humor to deconstruct her own meteoric rise. She doesn't write love songs as much as songs about the impact love can have on our lives, personalities, and priorities. "Punisher", her fourth release and second solo album, is concerned with that subject. To say she writes about heartbreak is to undersell her blue wisdom, to say she writes about pain erases all the strange joy her music emanates. Repeatedly praised by publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, Pitchfork, The Fader, The Los Angeles Times and countless others. On "Punisher", Bridgers pulls together a formidable crew of guests, including the Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Christian Lee Hutson and Conor Oberst as well as Nathaniel Walcott (of Bright Eyes), Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Jenny Lee Lindberg (of Warpaint), Blake Mills and Jim Keltner as well as her longtime bandmates Marshall Vore (drums), Harrison Whitford (guitar), Emily Retsas (bass) and Nick White (keys).
June 19 street date. The arrival of "Punisher" cements Phoebe Bridgers as one of the most clever, tender and prolific songwriters of our era. Bridgers is the rare artist with enough humor to deconstruct her own meteoric rise. She doesn't write love songs as much as songs about the impact love can have on our lives, personalities, and priorities. "Punisher", her fourth release and second solo album, is concerned with that subject. To say she writes about heartbreak is to undersell her blue wisdom, to say she writes about pain erases all the strange joy her music emanates. Repeatedly praised by publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, Pitchfork, The Fader, The Los Angeles Times and countless others. On "Punisher", Bridgers pulls together a formidable crew of guests, including the Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Christian Lee Hutson and Conor Oberst as well as Nathaniel Walcott (of Bright Eyes), Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Jenny Lee Lindberg (of Warpaint), Blake Mills and Jim Keltner as well as her longtime bandmates Marshall Vore (drums), Harrison Whitford (guitar), Emily Retsas (bass) and Nick White (keys).
August 21 street date. Sometimes it feels like you hear a Bright Eyes song with your whole body. From Conor Oberst's early recordings in an Omaha basement in 1995 all the way up to 2020, Bright Eyes' music tries to unravel the impossible tangles of dissent: personal and political, external and internal. It's a study of the beauty in unsteadiness in all its forms - in a voice, beliefs, love, identity, and what fills up the spaces in-between. And in so many ways, it's just about searching for a way through. 2020 is full of significant anniversaries for Bright Eyes. "Fevers And Mirrors" was released 20 years ago this May, while "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" both turned 15 in January. And while 2020 is a year of milestones for the band, it's also the year Bright Eyes returns, newly signed to Dead Oceans. Amidst the current overwhelming uncertainty and upheaval of global and personal worlds, Bright Eyes reunited under the moniker as both an escape from, and a confrontation of, trying times. Getting the band back together felt right, and necessary, and the friendship at the core of the band has been a longtime pillar of Bright Eyes' output. For Bright Eyes, this long-awaited re-emergence feels like coming home.
August 21 street date. Sometimes it feels like you hear a Bright Eyes song with your whole body. From Conor Oberst's early recordings in an Omaha basement in 1995 all the way up to 2020, Bright Eyes' music tries to unravel the impossible tangles of dissent: personal and political, external and internal. It's a study of the beauty in unsteadiness in all its forms - in a voice, beliefs, love, identity, and what fills up the spaces in-between. And in so many ways, it's just about searching for a way through. 2020 is full of significant anniversaries for Bright Eyes. "Fevers And Mirrors" was released 20 years ago this May, while "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" both turned 15 in January. And while 2020 is a year of milestones for the band, it's also the year Bright Eyes returns, newly signed to Dead Oceans. Amidst the current overwhelming uncertainty and upheaval of global and personal worlds, Bright Eyes reunited under the moniker as both an escape from, and a confrontation of, trying times. Getting the band back together felt right, and necessary, and the friendship at the core of the band has been a longtime pillar of Bright Eyes' output. For Bright Eyes, this long-awaited re-emergence feels like coming home.
August 21 street date. Sometimes it feels like you hear a Bright Eyes song with your whole body. From Conor Oberst's early recordings in an Omaha basement in 1995 all the way up to 2020, Bright Eyes' music tries to unravel the impossible tangles of dissent: personal and political, external and internal. It's a study of the beauty in unsteadiness in all its forms - in a voice, beliefs, love, identity, and what fills up the spaces in-between. And in so many ways, it's just about searching for a way through. 2020 is full of significant anniversaries for Bright Eyes. "Fevers And Mirrors" was released 20 years ago this May, while "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" both turned 15 in January. And while 2020 is a year of milestones for the band, it's also the year Bright Eyes returns, newly signed to Dead Oceans. Amidst the current overwhelming uncertainty and upheaval of global and personal worlds, Bright Eyes reunited under the moniker as both an escape from, and a confrontation of, trying times. Getting the band back together felt right, and necessary, and the friendship at the core of the band has been a longtime pillar of Bright Eyes' output. For Bright Eyes, this long-awaited re-emergence feels like coming home.
March 20 street date. Brownout's legendary status as a "Funk Powerhouse" (Stereogum) is a reputation well deserved. The band of musicians have an impressive resumé performing with Prince, GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, Bernie Worrell, and accolades from Ozzy Osbourne for their "Brownout Presents: Brown Sabbath" project. The Austin 9-piece is back with their first full length album of original music in over 8 years. The album, aptly titled "Berlin Sessions" was produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos and is the first with lead singer Alex Marrero, whom they originally collaborated with on their wildly successful "Brown Sabbath" records. "Berlin Sessions" finds the group merging a multitude of styles, from rock to psych and of course the Latin Funk and Breakbeat on which they have built their sixteen-year career and reputation as Austin's premier party-starters.
Please note new street date for LP: November 12 / CD available now. Originally released in 1992, Brutal Truth's "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" was produced by the legendary Colin Richardson and is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential grindcore records of all time. Reissued for the first time ever with "Full Dynamic Audio", this release is a must have for any fan of Grindcore.
Please note new street date for LP: January 7 / CD available now. Originally released in 1992, Brutal Truth's "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" was produced by the legendary Colin Richardson and is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential grindcore records of all time. Reissued for the first time ever with "Full Dynamic Audio", this release is a must have for any fan of Grindcore.
Please note new street date: April 1 (CD) / May 6 (LP). Introducing "The Garden": a STRINGS ALBUM and a RETROSPECTIVE from a room in Montreal with the windows open, and the wind moving, and the leaves changing, and a spring-coloured secret on the tip of Basia Bulat's tongue. The band made it in a pandemic. Bulat and her old friend Mark Lawson, with whom she recorded the Polaris- and Juno-nominated album "Tall Tall Shadow". Bulat and her husband, Legal Vertigo's Andy Woods. Bulat and her friends Ben Whiteley, Zou Zou Robidoux, Jen Thiessen, John Corban, and Tomo Newton, four fifths of whom form a string quartet, because did we mention this is a STRINGS ALBUM? Not a greatest hits but a re-configuration: a chance to record anew some songs that Bulat didn't fully understand when she originally composed them, five or ten or fifteen years ago. "The Garden" gathers fourteen string arrangements by three different arrangers (Owen Pallett, Paul Frith, and Zou Zou Robidoux), revisiting material from all five of Bulat's studio albums.
Please note new street date: May 6 (LP) / April 1 (CD). Introducing "The Garden": a STRINGS ALBUM and a RETROSPECTIVE from a room in Montreal with the windows open, and the wind moving, and the leaves changing, and a spring-coloured secret on the tip of Basia Bulat's tongue. The band made it in a pandemic. Bulat and her old friend Mark Lawson, with whom she recorded the Polaris- and Juno-nominated album "Tall Tall Shadow". Bulat and her husband, Legal Vertigo's Andy Woods. Bulat and her friends Ben Whiteley, Zou Zou Robidoux, Jen Thiessen, John Corban, and Tomo Newton, four fifths of whom form a string quartet, because did we mention this is a STRINGS ALBUM? Not a greatest hits but a re-configuration: a chance to record anew some songs that Bulat didn't fully understand when she originally composed them, five or ten or fifteen years ago. "The Garden" gathers fourteen string arrangements by three different arrangers (Owen Pallett, Paul Frith, and Zou Zou Robidoux), revisiting material from all five of Bulat's studio albums.
Please note new street date: May 15. When Anna Burch introduced herself on her 2018 debut "Quit The Curse", it was with a concentrated wash of energetic, serotonin-boosting pop. Two years later, Burch's follow up "If You're Dreaming" takes us down a different path than its predecessor, shedding some nervous energy in favor of a deeper exploration of an internal world. "If You're Dreaming" was tracked with producer Sam Evian in his home studio in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. The end goal was to present not just an assortment of new songs, but craft an album that moved dynamically through an interconnected emotional arc. With recurring themes of isolation, weariness and longing, these songs deliver that emotional arc with a delicate but uncompromising execution. Even at its most introverted, "If You're Dreaming" is always warm and present. Daring and clear-headed, these songs cut deeper in their subtleties. "If You're Dreaming" moves with intention, taking its time revealing new layers of sophistication and growth in Burch's always charming songcraft.
Please note new street date: May 15. When Anna Burch introduced herself on her 2018 debut "Quit The Curse", it was with a concentrated wash of energetic, serotonin-boosting pop. Two years later, Burch's follow up "If You're Dreaming" takes us down a different path than its predecessor, shedding some nervous energy in favor of a deeper exploration of an internal world. "If You're Dreaming" was tracked with producer Sam Evian in his home studio in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. The end goal was to present not just an assortment of new songs, but craft an album that moved dynamically through an interconnected emotional arc. With recurring themes of isolation, weariness and longing, these songs deliver that emotional arc with a delicate but uncompromising execution. Even at its most introverted, "If You're Dreaming" is always warm and present. Daring and clear-headed, these songs cut deeper in their subtleties. "If You're Dreaming" moves with intention, taking its time revealing new layers of sophistication and growth in Burch's always charming songcraft.
Please note new street date: May 15. When Anna Burch introduced herself on her 2018 debut "Quit The Curse", it was with a concentrated wash of energetic, serotonin-boosting pop. Two years later, Burch's follow up "If You're Dreaming" takes us down a different path than its predecessor, shedding some nervous energy in favor of a deeper exploration of an internal world. "If You're Dreaming" was tracked with producer Sam Evian in his home studio in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. The end goal was to present not just an assortment of new songs, but craft an album that moved dynamically through an interconnected emotional arc. With recurring themes of isolation, weariness and longing, these songs deliver that emotional arc with a delicate but uncompromising execution. Even at its most introverted, "If You're Dreaming" is always warm and present. Daring and clear-headed, these songs cut deeper in their subtleties. "If You're Dreaming" moves with intention, taking its time revealing new layers of sophistication and growth in Burch's always charming songcraft.
July 23 street date. "Romantic Images", Molly Burch's third album, marks a distinct evolution for Burch, both emotionally and sonically. Recorded in Denver with Tennis's Alaina Moore and Pat Riley producing, the collection celebrates the timeless delights of a well-crafted pop song, flirting with Blondie, Madonna, and even Mariah Carey as it forges a joyful soundtrack to liberation and self-discovery. Burch deliberately worked with more women collaborators than ever before on the album, and the results are transcendent, reveling in the passion and the power of the divine feminine. The collection prioritizes ecstasy and escape, and Burch's commitment to collective catharsis in her lifted, airy delivery manages to exude both thoughtful introspection and carefree abandon all at once. The shadow still lurks on the album, to be sure, but the light ultimately wins, and the result is an intoxicating collection all about coming into our truest selves.
July 23 street date. "Romantic Images", Molly Burch's third album, marks a distinct evolution for Burch, both emotionally and sonically. Recorded in Denver with Tennis's Alaina Moore and Pat Riley producing, the collection celebrates the timeless delights of a well-crafted pop song, flirting with Blondie, Madonna, and even Mariah Carey as it forges a joyful soundtrack to liberation and self-discovery. Burch deliberately worked with more women collaborators than ever before on the album, and the results are transcendent, reveling in the passion and the power of the divine feminine. The collection prioritizes ecstasy and escape, and Burch's commitment to collective catharsis in her lifted, airy delivery manages to exude both thoughtful introspection and carefree abandon all at once. The shadow still lurks on the album, to be sure, but the light ultimately wins, and the result is an intoxicating collection all about coming into our truest selves.
January 28 street date. "Antidawn" reduces Burial's music to just the vapours. The record explores an interzone between dislocated, patchwork songwriting and eerie, open-world game-space ambience. In the resulting no man's land, lyrics take precedence over song, lonely phrases colour the haze, a stark and fragmented structure makes time slow down. "Antidawn" seems to tell a story of a wintertime city, and something beckoning you to follow it into the night. The result is both comforting and disturbing, producing a quiet and uncanny glow against the cold. Sometimes, as it enters "a bad place", it takes your breath away. And time just stops.
January 28 street date. "Antidawn" reduces Burial's music to just the vapours. The record explores an interzone between dislocated, patchwork songwriting and eerie, open-world game-space ambience. In the resulting no man's land, lyrics take precedence over song, lonely phrases colour the haze, a stark and fragmented structure makes time slow down. "Antidawn" seems to tell a story of a wintertime city, and something beckoning you to follow it into the night. The result is both comforting and disturbing, producing a quiet and uncanny glow against the cold. Sometimes, as it enters "a bad place", it takes your breath away. And time just stops.
Please note new street date: May 21. ‘Chemz’ is hooky, rushy and loved-up - both an unhinged premonition of unleashed post-pandemic joy, and a demonic flashback to past ecstasies in a hardcore style perfected in the UK. ‘Chemz’ is a 12 minute rave monster that has ingested several tracks and incorporated them into its distended body. At the other end of the Burial bi-polar spectrum, ‘Dolphinz’ is a desolate oceanic love letter to our underwater friends.
August 28 street date. This 3 CD SoulMusic Records' set celebrates the recordings that Solomon Burke made for the legendary Atlantic Records label between 1960 and 1968. Solomon is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest soul singers to emerge during the genre's golden days. He signed to Atlantic before "soul music" became a bona fide sub-genre of African-American music and it was Solomon who helped define this new movement and he was, in fact, one of the first artists to use "soul" to describe his music. He would eventually be known the world over as ‘The King of Rock and Soul’. His Atlantic recordings are presented in chronological order of recording across the three discs and each session is identified by date, location and all the musicians present are identified (where known). This celebratory definitive collection includes the content of all six of the LPs released during Solomon's tenure with Atlantic plus all non-album tracks for a total of 79 soulful cuts.
June 25 street date. "I Be Trying" might be the title of the new record from two-time GRAMMY nominee Cedric Burnside, but it's also a mission statement in an era when plenty of us have discovered what "the blues" really means. Recorded over three days at Royal Studios in Memphis (the home studio of Al Green and Hi Records in the 60s and 70s), this album is the ultimate statement of purpose for a critically acclaimed artist who has proudly carried the mantle of Mississippi Hill Country blues around the world. Over thirteen tracks, Burnside delivers his bruised but unfettered truth over blistering guitar and deep pocket drums - a sound birthed in his soul but developed and perfected on the road. But no matter how far he travels, the righteous sound he makes could only come from one place. Produced by second-generation Memphis soul trailblazer Boo Mitchell and featuring guest appearances from Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and Zac Cockrell (Brittany Howard), "I Be Trying" takes the sound that Burnside learned from his grandfather, blues legend R.L. Burnside, and reinterprets it into a modern, bold Black American sound that expands the sonic landscape while respecting and honouring its roots.
Please note new street date for LP: July 23 / June 25 for CD. "I Be Trying" might be the title of the new record from two-time GRAMMY nominee Cedric Burnside, but it's also a mission statement in an era when plenty of us have discovered what "the blues" really means. Recorded over three days at Royal Studios in Memphis (the home studio of Al Green and Hi Records in the 60s and 70s), this album is the ultimate statement of purpose for a critically acclaimed artist who has proudly carried the mantle of Mississippi Hill Country blues around the world. Over thirteen tracks, Burnside delivers his bruised but unfettered truth over blistering guitar and deep pocket drums - a sound birthed in his soul but developed and perfected on the road. But no matter how far he travels, the righteous sound he makes could only come from one place. Produced by second-generation Memphis soul trailblazer Boo Mitchell and featuring guest appearances from Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and Zac Cockrell (Brittany Howard), "I Be Trying" takes the sound that Burnside learned from his grandfather, blues legend R.L. Burnside, and reinterprets it into a modern, bold Black American sound that expands the sonic landscape while respecting and honouring its roots.
September 25 street date. In the five years since Will Butler released his debut album, "Policy", he's toured the world both solo and as a member of Arcade Fire, released the "Friday Night" live album, recorded and released Arcade Fire's international #1 album "Everything Now", earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, hosted a series of touring town halls on local issues (police contracts, prison reform, municipal paid sick leave, voting rights), and spent time raising his three children. He also found the time and inspiration to write and record a new album, "Generations". While the songs on "Generations" contain their fair share of dread and regret, there is ultimately a lightness that shines through Butler's music. The band's electricity is palpable throughout "Generations", with the bulk of the new songs having been worked out live. "Generations" opens a dialogue with the world. It posits answers - and deals with those answers being refuted. Ultimately, it navigates the conversation as a way to find the truth... or at least a way forward.
September 25 street date. In the five years since Will Butler released his debut album, "Policy", he's toured the world both solo and as a member of Arcade Fire, released the "Friday Night" live album, recorded and released Arcade Fire's international #1 album "Everything Now", earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, hosted a series of touring town halls on local issues (police contracts, prison reform, municipal paid sick leave, voting rights), and spent time raising his three children. He also found the time and inspiration to write and record a new album, "Generations". While the songs on "Generations" contain their fair share of dread and regret, there is ultimately a lightness that shines through Butler's music. The band's electricity is palpable throughout "Generations", with the bulk of the new songs having been worked out live. "Generations" opens a dialogue with the world. It posits answers - and deals with those answers being refuted. Ultimately, it navigates the conversation as a way to find the truth... or at least a way forward.
September 25 street date. In the five years since Will Butler released his debut album, "Policy", he's toured the world both solo and as a member of Arcade Fire, released the "Friday Night" live album, recorded and released Arcade Fire's international #1 album "Everything Now", earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, hosted a series of touring town halls on local issues (police contracts, prison reform, municipal paid sick leave, voting rights), and spent time raising his three children. He also found the time and inspiration to write and record a new album, "Generations". While the songs on "Generations" contain their fair share of dread and regret, there is ultimately a lightness that shines through Butler's music. The band's electricity is palpable throughout "Generations", with the bulk of the new songs having been worked out live. "Generations" opens a dialogue with the world. It posits answers - and deals with those answers being refuted. Ultimately, it navigates the conversation as a way to find the truth... or at least a way forward.
November 19 street date. Buzz Brass inspired dreams with this new opus, "Christmas". The quintet takes the listener out of the familiar with this majestic, elegant and refined arrangements to highlight the holiday season. The male vocal quartet Quartom joins as guest artists in "Noël canadien" and "The 12 Days of Christmas". The ensemble's latest volume, "Inspirations", has been hailed as proof of their "testament to the ensemble's sensational embouchure" by the prestigious Gramophone magazine. Buzz Cuivres nous fait rêver avec ce nouvel opus, "Noël". Le quintette nous transporte dans un univers festif avec des arrangements majestueux, élégants et raffinés afin de souligner la période des fêtes. Le quatuor de voix d'hommes Quartom se joint comme artistes invités dans "Noël canadien" et "The 12 Days of Christmas". Le dernier volume de l'ensemble, "Inspirations", a été considéré comme étant une preuve de la «maîtrise sensationnelle de leur instrument» selon le prestigieux magazine Gramophone.
Please note new street date: February 26. Join Buzzcocks as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band's formation in front of a ravenous London audience. Recorded in December 2006, and never before released on vinyl, ‘30’ captures the band on excellent form, performing twentyeight songs from across their back catalogue, including their seminal late 70s hits and highlights from the rest of their career. Still wired, still buzzing with punk energy and still playing loud, fast and unapologetically, this is the sound of a band on unstoppable form, led, as ever, by the inimitable combination of Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle. Limited to 1000 copies, this red vinyl edition promises to be a must-have for die-hards and collectors, and a brilliant primer for those not yet in the know.
Please note new street date: June 12. Buzzcocks require no introduction (but you're getting one anyway!). Pivotal to the punk and post-punk DIY movements, the group, led by frontman Pete Shelley and co-conspirator Steve Diggle, brought an essential pop sensibility and sartorial style to the late 1970s and early 1980s. Having disbanded in 1981, the band re-grouped in 1989 and continue to write, record and perform to this day, despite the saddening and untimely loss of Pete Shelley in 2018. This handsome box set captures the eight albums and numerous singles the band produced with Shelley during a 23 year period, alongside previously unheard rarities, demos and outtakes. Packed with remarkable music, including excellent re-visits of much of their best loved material on ‘A Different Compilation’, ‘Sell You Everything’ showcases a longevity and a hunger rarely seen in a band now into their forty-second year.
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The Digest 
Weird Nightmare
