Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard – One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur CD/CD+DVD/LP+DVD (Atlantic)
Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Son Volt frontman Jay Farrar team on this soundtrack to the documentary about the cult author. CD+DVD edition includes the documentary, while the deluxe CD+DVD edition adds a 40-page book and a copy of the novel.
Lyle Lovett – Natural Forces CD (Universal Nashville)
Natural Forces showcases Lyle’s unwavering songwriting alongside amazing songs from such Texas writers as Eric Taylor, Don Sanders, Tommy Elskes, David Ball, Vince Bell, Robert Earl Keen, and the legendary Townes Van Zandt.
Leonard Cohen – Live At the Isle Of Wight 1970 CD+DVD/2xLP (Columbia Legacy)
This CD+DVD package contains the new, beautiful film documentary by Lerner featuring interviews with fellow festival performers, as well as Cohen’s full performance on CD. Included are live versions of classic songs from the first two Leonard Cohen LPs: “So Long, Marianne,” “The Stranger Song,” “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye,” “Suzanne,” “Bird On The Wire,” “You Know Who I Am,” and “The Partisan” as well as spoken word and poetry.
Flight Of The Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky CD/LP (Sub Pop)
I Told You I Was Freaky is, among a great many other things, a genre-tripping tour de force and includes songs from the second series of their popular TV show.
Sufjan Stevens – The BQE CD+DVD/2xLP (Asthmatic Kitty)
A cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens expressway and the hula-hoop. Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy Of Music, The BQE was originally performed in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007. Comes as a CD+DVD package.
Atlas Sound – Logos CD/LP (Kranky)
Second solo album from Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox follows his stellar debut Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel from early 2008. Guest appearances by Noah Lennox (Animal Collective) and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab).
El Perro Del Mar – Love Is Not Pop CD/LP (The Control Group)
El Perro Del Mar’s third album is a conscious step away from 2008′s From The Valley To The Stars. The mindset is darker and the soundscape mysteriously groovy. Thus it is not by chance Sarah Assbring (aka El Perro Del Mar) chose to work together with Rasmus Hagg, the other half of the Swedish duo Studio, as a co-producer.
Irmin Schmidt – Filmmusik Anthology Volume 4 & 5 CD (Mute)
Collection of film music from the former keyboardist with the legendary German band Can.
1990s – Cookies CD (Rough Trade)
Reissue. A band with a considerable Scottish rock pedigree, the 1990s, in its former incarnation as the Yummy Fur, included future Franz Ferdinand members Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson. Although the trio, led by wiry vocalist/guitarist Jackie McKeown, shares some similar post-punk sensibilities with the dapper FF, the 1990s are more rooted in a cheeky Stones/Kinks aesthetic, a point hit home by the witty, raucous ”Cult Status.”
Bauhaus – In The Flat Field: Omnibus Edition 2xCD (4AD)
Remastered set includes In The Flat Field restored to its original sequence plus a second disc of the non-album singles, previously unreleased out-takes and alternative versions.
Bauhaus – Mask: Omnibus Edition 3xCD (Beggar’s Banquet)
Remastered set includes Mask, a second disc of the non-album singles, previously unreleased demos and alternative versions, plus a third disc featuring a newly mixed 1981 live show.
Sam Bush – Circles Around Me CD (Sugar Hill)
Sam Bush’s eighth solo album is an aurally inspiring mix of bluegrass favorites and complementary new songs. “I don’t know why, but it felt right at this moment in my life to go back and revisit some things that I’ve loved all my life, which is bluegrass and, unapologetically, newgrass,” says Bush.
Cartel – Cycles CD (Wind-Up)
New release from the Atlanta-based emo/alt-rockers.
Terri Clark – The Long Way Home CD (Capitol)
New album from the country singer/songwriter.
Converge – Axe To Fall CD (Epitaph)
With classic metal enjoying resurgence as bands like Mastodon introduce a new generation to the majestic riffage of Sabbath and Zeppelin, it is only right that one of the bands responsible for that resurgence, Converge, should offer up their most accessible album to date.
Cult – Love: Omnibus Edition 4xCD (Beggar’s Banquet)
Designed to cater for the more committed fan, the Omnibus Edition is presented as a limited edition four-disc box set with the CD’s housed in Japanese-style paper sleeves, reproducing the original vinyl cover art. Along with the James Brown liner notes, the 48 page book features unseen contact sheets from the album photo session and a chronology of contemporaneous quotes by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy that illuminate the status of the band at that point in their career.
Do Make Say Think – Other Truths CD/LP (Constellation)
Reissue of their self-released 1997 debut. A classic modern lounge album that also shreds, with widescreen breakbeat blissouts driven by punk-rock guitars. An exuberant debut, containing all the building blocks DMST has been transforming into sublime music architectures ever since.
Electric Six – Kill CD (Metropolis)
Electric Six attempts to reignite the successful formula of their first record Fire. With Fire in mind, Kill features big loud guitars and fuzz basses intertwined with the occasional R&B jam.
Espers – III CD/LP (Drag City)
New release from the neo-psychedelic folk trio. Vinyl edition features alternate artwork.
Flatt & Scruggs – Foggy Mountain Banjo CD (Collector’s Choice)
“One of the greatest albums in the annals of bluegrass music.” [Five Stars] — All Music Guide
Robert Francis – Before Nightfall CD (Atlantic)
”I know that for some musicians, writing songs is like therapy and the way they get their emotions out,” says Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Robert Francis. ”But for me it’s more than an outlet — it’s a way to keep me from completely losing my mind.” As NPR has noted about Francis’ modern take on timeless American rock: ”He has laid himself out in song and created some incredibly moving and beautiful musical moments.”
Fu Manchu – Signs Of Infinite Power CD (Century Media)
Over the last dozen years, the Southern California quartet has perfected the art of the riff, mastered the depth of the groove and sharpened the edge of the hook.
F##k Buttons – Tarot Sport CD/LP (ATP Recordings)
Sophomore album from the British experimental duo, produced by Andrew Weatherall. Tarot Sport is an album of unbound possibility and lucid cohesion; a cerebral pilgrimage that refines, crafts, explores and develops the experimental aesthetic of last year’s critically acclaimed debut, Street Horrrsing.
Get Back Guinozzi! – Carpet Madness CD (FatCat)
Debut album from France’s Get Back Guinozzi! is a brilliantly playful, summery hit of outsider pop. Infectiously quirky and breezy, with a strong French slant, Get Back Guinozzi! show a wide range of influences, taking in the likes of Talking Heads, The Feelies, The Smiths, early B-52′s, King Sunny Adé, Lee Perry, Ariel Pink, The Slits, The Cure, Animal Collective, Jonathan Richman, and Serge Gainsbourg.
Get Up Kids – Red Letter Day / Woodson CD (Doghouse)
Get Up Kids – Four Minute Mile CD (Doghouse)
Get Up Kids play melodic, pop-inflected emo. The influential group debuted in 1996 with a slew of 7”s. The Woodson EP and their debut full-length, Four Minute Mile were released in 1997.
Greg Giraldo – Midlife Vices CD (Comedy Central)
Recorded in front of a raucous hometown crowd in NYC, Giraldo laments America’s childhood obesity epidemic, explains why he takes umbrage with the term “happily married,” and shares his favorite “only in New York” moments.
Glass Ghost – Idol Omen CD (Western Vinyl)
It’s the pairing of Eliot Krimsky’s fragile and haunting falsetto with the group’s bottom-heavy, hip-hop influenced rhythm section that yields the crystalline world populated with ass-shakin’ beats found on this debut.
Grasstowne – Other Side Of Towne CD (Pinecastle)
Grasstowne’s follow-up to their award-winning debut The Road Headin’ Home.
Michael Jackson – The Remix Suite CD/LP (Motown)
Music industry’s top producers remix the best of Michael’s and the Jackson 5′s classic hits. Includes The Neptunes, Akon, Paul Oakenfold, Frankie Knuckles and many more
Kings Of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence CD/LP (Astralwerks)
Third album from the Norwegian pop/folk duo (Erik Boe and Erlend Øye). Declaration Of Dependence is the story of two people living two very different lives sensing that they are immensely more powerful together than apart. In that sense it is the most adult, the most mature record Kings Of Convenience have ever made.
Yusef Lateef – At The Cranbrook And Elsewhere CD (EL)
Reissue comprises the original album, recorded live at Cranbrook Academy Of Art on April 9 1958 and is augmented by brilliantly adventurous repertoire from sessions recorded in 1957. At The Cranbrook And Elsewhere involves such exotic instrumentation as the rebab, finger cymbals, the scraped gourd, castanets and the argool.
Lightning Bolt – Earthly Delights CD (Load)
Taking the lessons of extreme metal, marrying them to expansive and explosive song form and applying it to Olympic training methods — Earthly Delights has the sound of a ten piece band with a much tighter pay scale, matched with the sonics of military cartoons.
Maddox Brothers And Sister Rose – From Dancefloor To Devotion CD (Righteous)
A collection of Saturday night barn dance and Sunday morning religious hangovers from the amazing Maddox Brothers and Sister Rose. A 25 track set that shows both facets of this unique hillbilly outfit. Features 12 tracks of rockabilly-tinged exuberance including two solo sides from Rose.
Maps – Turning Of The Mind CD (Mute)
Previously import-only — now available domestically. Talking about the album, leader James Chapman explains, “Turning The Mind is essentially an album which explores themes related to the human mind and the way certain stimuli, particularly chemical, can affect the mind in different ways.” Blissed-out, lushly produced dance-pop.
Tim McGraw – Southern Voice CD (Curb)
New album includes the single “It’s A Business Doing Pleasure With You” — an up-tempo, tongue-in-cheek tale about the price paid for loving a woman who loves designer labels.
Loreena McKennitt – A Mediterranean Odyssey 2xCD (Quinlan Road)
A Mediterranean Odyssey combines new live performances of audience favorites from her 2009 Mediterranean Tour with a collection of previously released studio recordings.
Coco Montoya – The Essential Coco Montoya CD (Blind Pig)
Presents tracks from the modern blues guitarist’s initial solo recordings released by Blind Pig in the mid-‘90s.
MoZella – Belle Isle CD (Motown)
Detroit-bred singer-songwriter MoZella seamlessly blends pop, soul, and jazz into her carefully crafted tales of life and love. Her charismatic vocals and charming personality have earned her the reputation as a fresh alternative to formulaic pop artists.
Naam – Naam CD (Tee Pee)
Naam manifests a signature brand of super-sonic and ultimately mesmerizing heavy psychedelia. Trance-like and punishing at times, this trio of psychonauts molds elements of classic psychedelia and prog with modern elements of jam-heavy bliss and apocalyptic amplitude.
Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague 3 CD/LP (Peace Frog)
The third album from the French band that conquered the world with bossa nova covers of punk and new wave classics. Features guest vocals from Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Ian McCulloch (Echo & The Bunnymen), Barry Adamson (Magazine) and Terry Hall (The Specials/Fun Boy Three).
Old Canes – Feral Harmonic CD/LP+MP3 (Saddle Creek)
Old Canes’ second album is bold and loud, presenting folk and traditional music melded with new ideas, crafted with new intensity, and with the rulebook of contemporary recording thrown out the window.
OOIOO – Armonico Hewa CD/LP (Thrill Jockey)
OOIOO is an all-female outfit headed by Yoshimi, a founding member of Japanese experimental psych innovators Boredoms. Armonico Hewa is a mind-melting combination of stylistic reference points that can only be described as some kind of tribal psychedelia that is oddly spiritual and alarmingly urgent.
Alec Ounsworth – Mo Beauty CD (Anti)
Mo Beauty is the debut solo release from celebrated singer/songwriter Alec Ounsworth, who earned acclaim with his band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Doomsday CDEP/12” (XL)
Elvis Perkins puts on his very own carnival of American eclecticism on his latest offering. The fast and slow renditions of the title track make for apt and compelling bookends, while “Stay Zombie Stay” and “Stop Drop Rock And Roll’ provide a rocking anchor to this strong, albeit brief, effort.
Pixies – Minotaur 5xCD+6xDVD+6xBlu-ray (Artist In Residence)
Minotaur is curated by legendary graphic designer Vaughan Oliver with photographer Simon Larbalestier. Includes all five Pixies’ studio albums (Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova, and Trompe le Monde) in the following formats: 24k gold plated CDs; Blu-ray audio mastered for 5.1 surround sound and 2 channel stereo at 24/192; DVD mastered for 5.1 surround sound and 2 channel stereo at 24/96. Unreleased Pixies 1991 live performance from Brixton, on both Blu-ray and DVD, mastered for 5.1 surround sound at 24/192 and 24/96, respectively. All discs are housed in a custom designed folio. Also includes a 54-page book.
Rammstein – Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da CD (Vagrant)
New album from the German industrial rockers — available in two editions: Regular and Deluxe. Deluxe edition contains five bonus tracks.
Otis Redding – The Best: See + Hear CD+DVD (Shout! Factory)
Contains his greatest hits for Stax/Volt and a 12-track DVD featuring nine classic Otis Redding performances from 1967, as well as performances by Booker T & The MG’s and Sam & Dave.
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Summer Of Fear CD (Saddle Creek)
As acclaimed as Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson’s debut was when it finally received a proper pressing in 2008, the effort was meant to be a glorified demo. Summer Of Fear is what happened six months later, as life alternated between darkness and light, and spare bedroom songs blossomed into speaker-popping arrangements of sweeping strings, honking horns, and chords that cut so deeply they’re bound to leave a mark. Produced by TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone.
Russian Circles – Geneva CD (Suicide Squeeze)
Geneva is a linear, ruthlessly gorgeous album. There’s barely a breath between tracks, but there’s a rhyme and reason to its every nuance; no tangent is allowed to branch off without careful analysis of where it may lead.
Timothy B. Schmit – Expando CD (Lost Highway)
New album from the celebrated bass player from the Eagles and Poco. Includes contributions by: The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Graham Nash, Dwight Yoakam, Kid Rock, Keb’ `Mo, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Van Dyke Parks, Greg Leisz, and Gary Burton.
The Slits – Trapped Animal CD/2xLP+CD (Narnack)
The first full-length release from The Slits in over 25 years! The Slits became a part of the punk pantheon with songs that even today continue to be meditations on alienation and angst.
Soil – Picture Perfect CD (Bieler Bros.)
New album from Chicago-based alternative metal ensemble.
Soundtrack – Twilight Saga: New Moon CD (Atlantic)
Original soundtrack to the forthcoming sequel. Features tracks from Death Cab For Cutie, Thom Yorke, Anya Marina, The Killers, Muse, Bon Iver and St. Vincent, Sea Wolf, Editors and many others.
Star F##king Hipsters – Never Rest In Peace CD/LP (Alternative Tentacles)
New release from this punk outfit originally started as a side project for Leftover Crack vocalist Stza. Never Rest in Peace melodic punk and metal with the token ska tune (featuring a guest appearance from Citizen Fish and Subhumans personnel).
Theory Of A Deadman – Scars & Souvenirs CD+DVD (Roadrunner)
Special edition of their 2008 album adds eight bonus tracks and a DVD featuring ten music videos from the bands past three albums as well as behind the scenes footage and more.
This Time Next Year – Road Maps And Heart Attacks CD (Equal Vision)
Anthemic, catchy, pop/punk songs are the band’s specialty.
Various Artists (Radio Slave) – Fabric 48 CD (Fabric)
On Fabric 48, like any Radio Slave production, the devil is in the details. Unlike a typical DJ mix that crams as much as possible into a relentlessly full track list, Radio Slave strips back and grooves with only 13 productions, each as incandescent and hypnotic as the next. This is no quick-fix mix — Fabric 48 slow-burns each beat and sizzles with a crisp sense of timelessness.
Various Artists (Snow Patrol) – Late Night Tales CD (Late Night Tales)
Latest installment in the Late Night Tales mix series. Features an exclusive new recording from Snow Patrol — a beautiful cover version of INXS’s “New Sensation.”
Veils – Nux Vomica CD (Rough Trade)
Reissue of the 1996 album by this New Zealand alternative pop band.
White Denim – Fits CD/LP (Downtown)
“Not ones to dwell on their success, White Denim are back with their second album, and it’s another mixed bag of treats, freak outs and riffs. Aiming to baffle and enthrall throughout, the Texan trio achieve their goals with blinding results. From the psychotropic ‘Radio Milk How Can You Stand It’ by way of the Stooges-esque ‘Say What You Want’ all the way to surf-pop ‘Everybody Somebody’ White Denim create something akin to a satanic mix-tape or a wildly progressive radio station committed to CD.” — itsgettingboringbythesea.com
Richard Youngs – Under Stellar Streams CD (Jagjaguwar)
Richard Youngs’ latest solo work is a collection of neo-druid hymns and chants for the minutiae of home life and fatherhood poetic transcendence through repetition and a focus on the (seemingly) micro. Once again proving himself a master of minimalist composition, Youngs also takes leaps forward as a lyricist on Under Stellar Stream, reminiscent of the list incantations of Allen Ginsberg.
Vinyl:
Akron/Family – River 7″ (Dead Oceans)
Second single from Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free. “River” delivers Ali Farka Toure-like guitar work, but this song is all about the infectious vocal melody. Features an exclusive non-album B-side, the lovely “Morning On Michigan Avenue (Thinking of Old Friends).”
Bats – Don’t You Rise 7″ (Slumberland)
EP from legendary New Zealand indie pop band, featuring four songs from 1998-2003. They stand tall alongside contemporaries The Clean and The Chills as linchpins of the Flying Nun label and the Dunedin/Christchurch scene.
Graham Nash – Songs For Beginners LP (Atlantic)
Reissue of his 1971 solo debut on HQ-180 vinyl.
Frankie Rose – Thee Only One 7″ (Slumberland)
Debut solo single from founding member and songwriter for Vivian Girls and current member of Crystal Stilts. Two tracks of surf-tinged pop and spectral psychedelia that recall ’60s girl-group sounds and ’80s / ’90s noise-pop.
Black Heart Procession – Six 2xLP (Temporary Residence)
Rosanne Cash – The List LP (Angel)
Immortal – All Shall Fall LP (Nuclear Blast)
Islands – Vapours LP (Anti)
Jonsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps LP (XL)
Rain Machine – Rain Machine LP (Anti)
Xx – Xx LP (XL)
Recently released on CD — these titles are now available on vinyl.
