July Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:
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July Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:
Joe Bonamassa – Now Serving: Royal Tea: Live From The Ryman CD (J&R Adventures)
Blues-rock superstar Joe Bonamassa set out to perform his brand-new music for fans amidst a global entertainment shutdown. This led to an incredible live concert at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. This special show includes songs from his latest studio album, Royal Tea, which was inspired by his British guitar heroes Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Cream. Joe also performs a few songs from his debut album, A New Day Yesterday, which helped launch his illustrious career. [Vinyl edition due July 9.]
Danny Elfman – Big Mess CD/2xLP (ANTI-)
Danny Elfman delivers his first solo album in thirty-seven years, titled Big Mess. Clocking in at 18 tracks, the sprawling, ambitious double album finds the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer breaking bold new ground as both a writer and a performer, drawing on a dystopian palette of distorted electric guitars, industrial synthesizers and orchestra in an effort to exorcise the demons brought about by four years of creeping fascism and civil rot. The songs on Big Mess combine both harmonically complex arrangements and simple high energy driving music with biting, acerbic wit as they reckon with the chaos and confusion of the modern world. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Garbage – No Gods No Masters CD/2xCD/LP (Infectious Music/BMG)
Garbage – Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig – return with a new studio album, No Gods No Masters. “This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content,” says Manson. “The seven virtues. The seven sorrows and the seven deadly sins. It was our way of trying to make sense of how f**king nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in. It’s the record we felt that we had to make at this time.” Lead single “The Men Who Rule the World” is an incendiary indictment and call to arms, a typically powerful sonic display that sets the tone for the searing new record. A critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world, the track is a forceful protest song and a clear statement of intent from a band who still believe in the power of dissent. [A limited-edition green color vinyl pressing, and deluxe CD version are also available.]
Julian Lage – Squint CD/LP (Blue Note)
Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation, Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique and a spirit of infinite possibility. After notable Blue Note appearances on The Nels Cline 4’s Currents, Constellations (2018) and Charles Lloyd’s 8: Kindred Spirits (2020), the acclaimed Grammy-nominated artist makes his own Blue Note debut with Squint. Produced by Margaret Glaspy and Armand Hirsch, the dynamic 11-song set featuring nine originals showcases both Lage’s remarkable songcraft and adventurous sense of improvisation which takes flight in the company of his trusted trio with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus).
Mammoth WVH – Mammoth WVH CD/2xLP (Kartel Music Group)
Mammoth WVH is the debut, self-titled album by the band created by Wolfgang Van Halen. This collection includes “Distance” plus “Don’t Back Down”, “Epiphany”, “Mammoth” and more. At the beginning of 2015, Wolf broke ground on what would become Mammoth WVH with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Alter Bridge, Slash) behind the board. Wolf began to embrace his voice, inspired by everyone from his father, the late Eddie Van Halen, to bands like AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, and Jimmy Eat World. In addition to writing and singing every song on the self-title debut album, remarkably Wolfgang plays every instrument. “The name Mammoth is really special to me.” says Wolf. “Not only was it the name of Van Halen before it became Van Halen, but my father was also the lead singer. Ever since my dad told me this, I always thought that when I grew up, I’d call my own band Mammoth, because I loved the name so much.” [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is also available.]
Marina – Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land CD (Atlantic)
On Marina’s new 10-track project, Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land, major themes range from the impending climate crisis doom, wealth disparity, gender and racial inequality to choosing yourself in a relationship. The new album is self-written and sees Marina (Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Lambrini Diamandis) co-producing six tracks for the first time alongside James Flannigan (Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa) and Jenn Decilveo. The album was preceded by the release of three singles “Man’s World”, “Purge The Poison”, and the title track “Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land”. Vogue acclaimed “Since her idiosyncratic Family Jewels debuted in 2010, the singer-songwriter has attained one of pop’s most devoted followings…. ‘Man’s World’ advances her sound further, while retaining the ethereal hooks that have sustained Diamandis as one of the most consistently innovative acts in alt-pop.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda – In The Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2xCD (Atlantic)
The creator of Hamilton and the director of Crazy Rich Asians invite you to a cinematic event, where the streets are made of music and little dreams become big… In The Heights. Lights up on Washington Heights…The scent of a cafecito caliente hangs in the air just outside of the 181st Street subway stop, where a kaleidoscope of dreams rallies this vibrant and tight-knit community. At the intersection of it all is the likeable, magnetic bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines and sings about a better life. In The Heights fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience. [Vinyl edition due July 9.]
Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real – A Few Stars Apart CD/LP (Fantasy)
A Few Stars Apart is a testament to finding a human connection: between close family and friends, as well as one’s own heart. Helmed by Grammy Award winning producer Dave Cobb, the album was inspired by the stillness Lukas Nelson found while riding out the beginning of the pandemic with his family in Texas and was recorded with the full band live on eight-track tape over three weeks at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A. The eleven songs reveal what it means to come home again, to be still, and to find community – and yourself. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
The Oak Ridge Boys – Front Porch Singin’ CD/LP (Lightning Rod)
Grammy Award-winning and Country Music Hall of Fame members, The Oak Ridge Boys deliver their fourth collaboration with super producer, Dave Cobb. Recorded during the pandemic, it was imperative to create a project that offers up just what the lead single details: love, light, and healing. The quartet continue to connect us all through their heartfelt lyrics and uncluttered vocals. While preparing this album, they chose some of their favorite classics as well as a couple of new ones that offer a familiar feeling to every listener. Front Porch Singin’ draws optimism to both the present and the future while showcasing many of the simple things in life that may have been taken for granted until recently.
Jim Ward – Daggers CD/LP (Dine Alone)
“I tend to exist in the darker parts of the psyche,” Jim Ward admits. “That’s where I’ve always been.” And yet what makes the musician so unique and downright compelling is how exactly at the moment when the world joins him in the darkness – take, for example, the ultra-challenging year that was 2020 – it’s then Ward is able to claw his way back into the light. “All I was doing was basically meditating with a guitar,” Ward says of how every night during the pandemic, armed with a guitar as well as a bit of time and purpose, this prolific musician was able to churn out several riotous riffs that ultimately transformed into one of his most personal and profound albums to date. “I’ve always used music as an outlet for anxiety and frustration,” notes Ward, who has played in a slew of monumental bands, from the iconic post-hardcore band At The Drive-In to Sparta, as well his alt-country project, Sleepercar. In fact, it’s this healing power of music Ward offers, that led him to Daggers, the lauded musician’s new solo record.
CDs + Vinyl:
Anaal Nathrakh – The Codex Necro [Reissue/2001] CD/LP (Metal Blade)
Anaal Nathrakh – Total F**king Necro [Reissue/2002] CD/LP (Metal Blade)
CD and green color vinyl reissues of the extreme metal band’s first album and a compilation of demos.
Action/Adventure – Pulling Focus CD (Pure Noise)
There’s a big pop punk revival happening right now, and one of the genre’s most promising newer bands is Chicago’s Action/Adventure. Their new album Pulling Focus is unabashedly catchy, glossy pop punk with a hardcore/emo edge in the vein of early 2000s Drive-Thru Records or early 2010s stuff like The Wonder Years. [Vinyl edition due July 2.]
AFI – Bodies CD (Rise)
California-based rock band AFI are back with their eleventh album, Bodies. The long-standing quartet – comprised of singer Davey Havok, guitarist- keyboardist Jade Puget, bassist Hunter Burgan and drummer Adam Carson – known for their unshakeable connection with their audience is a testament to the band’s knack for reinvention, renewal, and exploration, anchored by an unblemished authenticity. A place in rock ‘n’ roll history assured by magical musical androgyny, both post-modern and timeless, AFI remains guided by the flames of determination that defined their first ten albums and are sure to drive the next ten and beyond. [Vinyl edition due July 16.]
Rachel Baiman – Cycles CD/LP (Signature Sounds)
An acclaimed songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Rachel Baiman has emerged as a fearless voice of the American female experience. At times heartbreaking, at times celebratory, her new album Cycles reflects a lot of life experienced in a relatively short amount of time and a desire to hold fast to the people we love in the wake of uncertainty.
Black Sabbath – Sabotage: Super Deluxe [Reissue/1975] 4xCD/4xLP+7” (Rhino)
Black Sabbath was embroiled in a protracted legal battle with its former manager in 1975 when the band started recording its sixth studio album, Sabotage. The group felt sabotaged at every turn – hence the album’s title – but that feeling helped fuel the intensity of the new music they were making. In spite of the distractions, the band created one of the most dynamic – and underappreciated – albums of its legendary career. Sabotage: Super Deluxe Edition introduces 16 live tracks (13 of which are previously unreleased) that were recorded in 1975 during the quartet’s US tour for the album. The performances include songs that span the group’s career, from the title track to its 1970 debut Black Sabbath to “Spiral Architect” and “Sabbra Cadabra” from its previous album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973). Sabotage is represented as well with live takes of “Hole In The Sky” and “Megalomania”.
Blitzkrieg – Theatre Of The Damned [Reissue/2017] CD/LP (Mighty Music/SPV)
You simply cannot talk about New Wave Of British Heavy Metal without mentioning Blitzkrieg.
Joe Bonamassa – Now Serving: Royal Tea: Live From The Ryman CD (J&R Adventures)
Blues-rock superstar Joe Bonamassa set out to perform his brand-new music for fans amidst a global entertainment shutdown. This led to an incredible live concert at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. This special show includes songs from his latest studio album, Royal Tea, which was inspired by his British guitar heroes Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Cream. Joe also performs a few songs from his debut album, A New Day Yesterday, which helped launch his illustrious career. [Vinyl edition due July 9.]
Brother Against Brother – Brother Against Brother CD (Frontiers)
In the same spirit of the well-received Allen/Lande project, which featured a pairing of powerhouse vocalists Russell Allen and Jorn Lande, new duets project Brother Against Brother is comprised of two stunning Brazilian vocalists, Renan Zonta (Electric Mob) and Nando Fernandes (Sinistra). Here they deliver a brilliant, exciting melodic metal duets album on their self-titled debut.
Butcher Brown – Camden Session CD (Gearbox)
Camden Session is a snapshot of Butcher Brown’s explosive energy, groove-heavy sequences, and unrivalled togetherness. Their playing is modern and innovative, yet contains rich echoes of Weather Report, Return to Forever, early Earth Wind and Fire, and Zappa. [Vinyl edition due July 30.]
Doug Carn – Infinite Eyes [Reissue/1971] CD/LP (Real Gone Music)
Keyboardist Doug Carn’s 1971 debut record for Black Jazz introduced his stylistic wrinkle of adding lyrics to jazz classics like John Coltrane’s “Acknowlegement (A Love Supreme)”, Horace Silver’s “Peace”, and Wayne Shorter’s title track, all sung by the gorgeous, thrilling voice of his wife Jean Carn.
Alessandro Cortini – Scuro Chiaro CD/LP (Mute)
Scuro Chiaro comes from a place that delights in the affirmation of life’s constant variations, simultaneously presenting both bewilderment and vulnerability with its somber hues and pulsing, synthetic surfaces. For Alessandro Cortini, this is best captured in “Chiaroscuro”, a track whose waning hook draws us in to a sublime eruption of near-dissonant guitar. “It represents the record, where I was and where I am emotionally,” he reveals. “It’s to do with the conscious decision about trying to be positive; of striving for happiness while accepting the fact that happiness is not all positive.” [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Crypta – Echoes Of The Soul CD/LP (Napalm)
A raging sonic monster in a class of its own from the Brazilian/Dutch death metal unit.
Jordan Davis – Buy Dirt CDEP (MCA Nashville)
New eight track EP. The title track features country megastar Luke Bryan.
Dan DeChellis – Breathe In CD (Deko Music)
A genre-defying performer, dedicated educator, and omnivorous listener, Dan DeChellis has lived his musical vision for over 40 years, leveraging strict classical training into deep-dive explorations of modern classical improvisation, free improvisation, jazz, rock, and ambient music. For fans of Brad Mehldau, Bobo Stenson, and George Winston.
Def Leppard – The CD Boxset: Volume Three 6xCD (Rhino)
Def Leppard – The Vinyl Boxset: Volume Three 9xLP (Rhino)
The third in four volumes of the band’s complete recorded output, these box sets contain all of the recordings from the band in the 2000s and features the original packaging. Housed in rigid boxes, the sets also contain a hard-backed book with rare photos. [Stand-alone vinyl editions of X, Yeah, and Songs From The Sparkle Lounge are also available this week.]
The Devils – Beast Must Regret Nothing CD/LP (GDM/Goodfellas)
Third album from The Devils and produced by Jim Diamond, musician and producer for two iconic bands from Detroit, The Dirtbombs and The White Stripes. The record features Mark Lanegan and Chilean multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes (Queens Of The Stone Age, Spinnerette, Ten Commandos, The Desert Sessions).
Indigo De Souza – I Love My Mom [Reissue/2018] CD/LP+MP3 (Saddle Creek)
Indigo de Souza’s I Love My Mom, her debut LP initially released in 2018, is a collection of the best songs she’d written in the few years that preceded it, recorded quickly and breathlessly and thrown out into the world. Consisting of ten songs, the album feels both raw and unabashed. Indigo pulled a band together for the first time and was quickly encouraged to commit her songs to tape. Recorded at her friend’s house, they played almost everything live in just a few days, and released the record naturally, with little fanfare. That the record quickly took on a life of its own, deeply resonating with those who heard it, is a testament to Indigo’s songwriting.
Raheem DeVaughn – Lovesick CD (Mello Music Group)
Lovesick is a collaboration between the 3x Grammy-nominated singer Raheem DeVaughn and the legendary hip-hop producer, Apollo Brown, best known for making hip-hop so grimy that it permanently lodges in your lungs and underneath your fingernails. It is a work of startling beauty, a blend of modern R&B, classic soul, and guttural funk that recalls Smokey Robinson, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye. [Vinyl edition due July 30.]
Dennis DeYoung – 26 East, Vol 2 CD/LP (Frontiers)
Former Styx founding member Dennis DeYoung is back with the second volume of his fond farewell to recorded music, 26 East, Vol 2. As with the preceding volume, 26 East, Vol. 2 once again hints strongly at DeYoung’s rock roots with Styx.
Distant – Aeons Of Oblivion CD/LP (Unique Leaders)
A hellish hour of punishing downtempo deathcore.
Micky Dolenz – Micky Dolenz Puts You To Sleep and Broadway Micky [Reissue/1991/1994] CD (Friday Music)
Two solo albums from the Monkees vocalist reissued on a single CD.
Kaktus Einarsson – Kick The Ladder CD/LP (One Little Independent)
Kaktus Einarsson has led a remarkable musical life. Born and raised in Reykjavík, Iceland, he was part of experimental electronic act Ghostigital and rock band Fufanu. Having honed his understanding of songwriting, recording, and production, his debut solo album Kick The Ladder is the culmination of his experience in contemporary classical and pop music, bridging the two sides of his work.
Danny Elfman – Big Mess CD/2xLP (ANTI-)
Danny Elfman delivers his first solo album in thirty-seven years, titled Big Mess. Clocking in at 18 tracks, the sprawling, ambitious double album finds the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer breaking bold new ground as both a writer and a performer, drawing on a dystopian palette of distorted electric guitars, industrial synthesizers and orchestra in an effort to exorcise the demons brought about by four years of creeping fascism and civil rot. The songs on Big Mess combine both harmonically complex arrangements and simple high energy driving music with biting, acerbic wit as they reckon with the chaos and confusion of the modern world. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Fanfare 1970-1997 [Reissue/2017] 18xCD+3xLP+2×7”+Blu-ray Audio (BMG)
This lavish and comprehensive career-spanning box set mixes familiar content (classic albums on CD) with less familiar fare, including newly remastered versions of late period albums (Love Beach, Black Moon and In The Hot Seat) and a quartet of CDs featuring previously unreleased live performances (mastered by Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham). The multi-media package includes 18 CDs and five pieces of vinyl (the triple LP Live In Italy album and two 7” singles). The Blu-ray audio includes 5.1 surround mixes of four albums, plus hi-res stereo mixes and bonus tracks. Also included are a host of nostalgic memorabilia artefacts: replica tour programs, a poster, a brochure, a 40-page hardcover book which takes you through ELP’s career, album-by-album, and more.
Evil – Evil’s Message [Reissue/1984] CD/LP (Mighty Music)
Evil – Ride To Hell CD/LP (Mighty Music)
Classic, headbanging, fist-pumping ‘80s heavy metal.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021) CD/2xCD (Sour Mash)
The new release from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021), celebrates 10 years since the inception of NGHFB. This double album, curated and compiled entirely by Noel, includes tracks from the three albums (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Chasing Yesterday and Who Built The Moon?) and the three acclaimed EPs (Black Star Dancing, This Is The Place and Blue Moon Rising) – plus two previously unreleased tracks including the brand new single “We’re On Our Way Now”. [Standard double-vinyl and a deluxe vinyl box set editions due June 25.]
Garbage – No Gods No Masters CD/2xCD/LP (Infectious Music/BMG)
Garbage – Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig – return with a new studio album, No Gods No Masters. “This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content,” says Manson. “The seven virtues. The seven sorrows and the seven deadly sins. It was our way of trying to make sense of how f**king nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in. It’s the record we felt that we had to make at this time.” Lead single “The Men Who Rule the World” is an incendiary indictment and call to arms, a typically powerful sonic display that sets the tone for the searing new record. A critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world, the track is a forceful protest song and a clear statement of intent from a band who still believe in the power of dissent. [A limited-edition green color vinyl pressing, and deluxe CD version are also available.]
Paul Gilbert – Werewolves Of Portland CD/LP (Players Club)
New solo album from the guitarist extraordinaire – his 16th overall. [A limited-edition red color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Go Ahead And Die – Go Ahead And Die CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)
[A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.] Debut album from a band featuring Igor Amadeus Cavalera, his father, extreme metal icon, and Soulfly band leader Max Cavalera, and Zach Coleman, madman behind blistering Black Curse and the critically acclaimed Khemmis.
Green Jelly – Garbage Band Kids CD/LP (Cleopatra)
New album from the punk rock pranksters. Includes guest musical performances by members of Trailer Park Boys, Suicidal Tendencies, Fishbone, The Dwarves, Piledriver, Hacksaw Jim Duggin, Kittie and others plus special cameos by Weird Al Yankovic and Wink Martindale. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Hammer King – Hammer King CD (Napalm)
Celebrating the truest of heavy metal in the tradition of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Pfalzgraf Luitpold, Hammer King keeps it heavy with speedy riffs, energic grooves and fist-pumping choruses.
InnerSiege – The Fury Of Ages CD/LP (Qumran)
InnerSiege hails from Peoria, IL USA and considers itself in the melodic/power/heavy metal genre. Reviewers have said they sound like early Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Dream Evil, Hammerfall, Primal Fear and FireWind. [A limited-edition green color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Islands – Islomania CD/LP (Royal Mountain)
Over the course of ten groove-heavy songs, Islomania flits from the ridiculous to the sublime. On the surface, these songs are all blissful hedonism, tracing the reckless abandon of a progressively wild Friday night. [A limited-edition green color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Ixtahuele – Dharmaland CD/LP (Subliminal Sounds)
Eden Ahbez’s Dharmaland, arranged and performed by Ixtahuele, is the first-ever recording of this long-lost masterwork by the original hippie composer. Resurrected from Ahbez’s unrecorded sheet music, c. 1961-63, Ixtahuele has woven an enchanted tapestry of mystic exotica and experimental pop that re-establishes the songwriter as a forefather of psychedelic music and brings his work into the present.
Kiss – Kiss Off The Soundboard: Tokyo 2001 2xCD/3xLP (UMe)
Off The Soundboard is the new official ‘bootleg’ live series for Kiss. Starting the series is their epic performance at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on March 13, 2001. This show comes from the band’s vault of soundboard recordings, and features Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Ace Frehley.
Lily Konigsberg – The Best Of Lily Konigsberg So Far CD/LP (Wharf Cat)
One third of egalitarian art-punk outfit Palberta, the Brooklyn-born and-based Lily Konigsberg has occupied her time with music since her early childhood. A musical omnibus, The Best Of Lily Konigsberg So Far is the first widely distributed Lily Konigsberg physical release as well as the first vinyl treatment for the EPs Good Time Now and 4 Picture Tear. The collection loosely parallels the melancholic narrative behind the latter, where a mental break triggered Konigsberg’s depersonalized sense of her past self. For fans of Liz Phair, K Records, Sebadoh and more.
Julian Lage – Squint CD/LP (Blue Note)
Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation, Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique and a spirit of infinite possibility. After notable Blue Note appearances on The Nels Cline 4’s Currents, Constellations (2018) and Charles Lloyd’s 8: Kindred Spirits (2020), the acclaimed Grammy-nominated artist makes his own Blue Note debut with Squint. Produced by Margaret Glaspy and Armand Hirsch, the dynamic 11-song set featuring nine originals showcases both Lage’s remarkable songcraft and adventurous sense of improvisation which takes flight in the company of his trusted trio with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus).
Mammoth WVH – Mammoth WVH CD/2xLP (Kartel Music Group)
Mammoth WVH is the debut, self-titled album by the band created by Wolfgang Van Halen. This collection includes “Distance” plus “Don’t Back Down”, “Epiphany”, “Mammoth” and more. At the beginning of 2015, Wolf broke ground on what would become Mammoth WVH with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Alter Bridge, Slash) behind the board. Wolf began to embrace his voice, inspired by everyone from his father, the late Eddie Van Halen, to bands like AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, and Jimmy Eat World. In addition to writing and singing every song on the self-title debut album, remarkably Wolfgang plays every instrument. “The name Mammoth is really special to me.” says Wolf. “Not only was it the name of Van Halen before it became Van Halen, but my father was also the lead singer. Ever since my dad told me this, I always thought that when I grew up, I’d call my own band Mammoth, because I loved the name so much.” [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is also available.]
Marina – Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land CD (Atlantic)
On Marina’s new 10-track project, Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land, major themes range from the impending climate crisis doom, wealth disparity, gender and racial inequality to choosing yourself in a relationship. The new album is self-written and sees Marina (Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Lambrini Diamandis) co-producing six tracks for the first time alongside James Flannigan (Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa) and Jenn Decilveo. The album was preceded by the release of three singles “Man’s World”, “Purge The Poison”, and the title track “Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land”. Vogue acclaimed “Since her idiosyncratic Family Jewels debuted in 2010, the singer-songwriter has attained one of pop’s most devoted followings…. ‘Man’s World’ advances her sound further, while retaining the ethereal hooks that have sustained Diamandis as one of the most consistently innovative acts in alt-pop.”
Maroon 5 – Jordi CD (Interscope)
The eagerly awaited album from Maroon 5, Jordi, is the band’s first since the critically acclaimed Red Pill Blues. The album includes the hit single “Beautiful Mistakes” ft. Megan Thee Stallion as well as fan favorites “Memories” and “Nobody’s Love”.
Brad Mehldau & Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – Variations On A Melancholy Theme CD (Interscope)
Speaking to the combination of classical form with jazz harmonies in Variations On A Melancholy Theme’s musical language, Mehldau wrote, “I imagine it as if Brahms woke up one day and had the blues.” Mehldau continues, “The theme itself has a wistful character, perhaps a feeling of resignation. There is some sense of finality and ending to it when heard for the first time already. So, as I composed, a narrative challenge emerged; namely, how to embark on a story that begins with a conclusion. While the theme evokes melancholy, I let it be used as a springboard for other happy, wild, violent, and reckless emotions as the variations progress.”
Charles Mingus – Mingus At Carnegie Hall [Reissue/1974] 2xCD (Rhino)
With jazz music on the wane commercially back in 1974, Atlantic Records decided to release Mingus At Carnegie Hall with just two encore songs featuring guest artists Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles McPherson, and John Handy. But lo and behold, discovered among the many rows of tapes at the Warner Vaults, were several analog reels containing 74 minutes of previously unreleased live performances of the Charles Mingus Group featuring Don Pullen, Jon Faddis, George Adams, Hamiet Bluiett and Dannie Richmond at Carnegie Hall on January 19, 1974. After almost 50 years, jazz fans will get the special opportunity to hear the complete concert as it was originally played and in the correct sequence, by this ground-breaking group of musicians. [Vinyl edition due July 16.]
Lin-Manuel Miranda – In The Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2xCD (Atlantic)
The creator of Hamilton and the director of Crazy Rich Asians invite you to a cinematic event, where the streets are made of music and little dreams become big… In The Heights. Lights up on Washington Heights…The scent of a cafecito caliente hangs in the air just outside of the 181st Street subway stop, where a kaleidoscope of dreams rallies this vibrant and tight-knit community. At the intersection of it all is the likeable, magnetic bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines and sings about a better life. In The Heights fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience. [Vinyl edition due July 9.]
Charnett Moffett – New Love CD (Motéma Music)
Internationally acclaimed bassist-composer and bandleader Charnett Moffett further refines a virtuosic sound on New Love, his seventh leader release for Motéma Music, and his 17th album to date. An exploratory and vibrant follow-up to his 2018 recording Bright New Day, the album expresses Moffett’s deeply personal permutations of love and an embracing of change as part of life’s progression.
Kip Moore – Wild World CD/2xLP (MCA Nashville)
Deluxe Edition includes the 13 previously released tracks from Kip Moore’s Wild World album in addition to four new tracks: “Don’t Go Changing”, “Midnight Slow Dance”, “How High”, and “Man’s Gotta Do”.
Mountain Tamer – Mountain Tamer Live In The Mojave Desert Volume 5 CD/LP (CDWA)
Live In The Mojave Desert is a livestream desert rock concert series created deep in the deep sand and huge boulders of some insanely beautiful California wilderness, inspired by Pink Floyd’s Live At Pompeii.
Negative Space – Hard, Heavy, Mean & Evil… [Reissue/1970] CD/LP (Sundazed)
Negative Space’s lone 1970 album is an impossibly rare private press treasure and one of the missing links connecting Blue Cheer to Black Sabbath, and is full of roaring guitar, pounding drums, and vocals reverberating with angst fueled frustration. [A limited-edition green color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real – A Few Stars Apart CD/LP (Fantasy)
A Few Stars Apart is a testament to finding a human connection: between close family and friends, as well as one’s own heart. Helmed by Grammy Award winning producer Dave Cobb, the album was inspired by the stillness Lukas Nelson found while riding out the beginning of the pandemic with his family in Texas and was recorded with the full band live on eight-track tape over three weeks at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A. The eleven songs reveal what it means to come home again, to be still, and to find community – and yourself. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
The Oak Ridge Boys – Front Porch Singin’ CD/LP (Lightning Rod)
Grammy Award-winning and Country Music Hall of Fame members, The Oak Ridge Boys deliver their fourth collaboration with super producer, Dave Cobb. Recorded during the pandemic, it was imperative to create a project that offers up just what the lead single details: love, light, and healing. The quartet continue to connect us all through their heartfelt lyrics and uncluttered vocals. While preparing this album, they chose some of their favorite classics as well as a couple of new ones that offer a familiar feeling to every listener. Front Porch Singin’ draws optimism to both the present and the future while showcasing many of the simple things in life that may have been taken for granted until recently.
Dustin O’Halloran – Silfur CD/2xLP (Deutsche Grammophon)
On Silfur, O’Halloran explores his art’s relationship with time in uncommon, thought-provoking fashion. All but two of its 15 pieces are new recordings of previous works – four also feature additional string arrangements – yet, thanks to a schedule as busy as his music is often quiet, a lot has changed in 10 years. Silfur captures the magic of this era, with O’Halloran’s elegant candor and unusual restraint showcased in a subtle but startling new light.
One Desire – One Night Only – Live In Helsinki CD/2xLP (Frontiers)
The first live album from the Finnish AOR/hard rock band.
Palette Knife – Ponderosa Snake House & The Chamber Of Bullshit CD (Take This To Heart)
Ponderosa Snake House & The Chamber Of Bullshit finds Palette Knife navigating the woes and wins of twenty-something Midwest life with acrobatic energy. Much of this comes from Licata’s guitar playbook that dips into everything from tapping solos to thunderous power chords, but this scholarship borrows from the past five years of emo-rock to forge something entirely its own.
Penfriend – Exotic Monsters CD/LP (My Big Sister)
The debut Penfriend record, Exotic Monsters, builds on songwriter/polymath Laura Kidd’s accomplished ear for melody and ambitious production style, marrying disparate influences from Tanya Donelly, Juliana Hatfield and Nevermind-era Nirvana to the gritty tension of Nine Inch Nails and Puscifer and synth soundscapes of Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears and Sylvan Esso. Written and recorded in solitary confinement during the drawn-out, tumultuous Brexit nightmare and well on into the Covid-19 pandemic, Exotic Monsters mirrors our dystopian world, posing questions and offering comfort, hope and a friendly shoulder to lean on. Drawing more from her wide-ranging reading list than her favorite bands, Laura deals with the grueling emotional matters of 21st-century life with honesty, grace and warmth, using fragments of prose from Ursula Le Guin, Barbara Kingsolver, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood and Mark Westmoquette as jumping-off points.
Pessimist – Blood For The Gods [Reissue/1999] CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Expanded reissue of the death metal band’s sophomore album. Unforgiving blast beats, lightning-fast picking, and dark melodies define the record’s brutal prowess.
Portugal. The Man – Oregon City Sessions CD/2xLP (Approaching AIRballoons)
Archival release from the Alaskan indie rock/psychedelic rock band – a snapshot of young raw talent before they won awards, before they sold millions of records, before they headlined festivals. Just a couple kids from Alaska wanting to travel the world and play music.
Jesse Royal – Royal CD (Easy Star)
Modern reggae featuring socially conscious lyricism and a classic style. [Vinyl edition due July 16.]
Sammy Sadler – 1989 CD (BFD)
1989 is a trip down memory lane and accentuates the sounds of a time when Sadler was making his debut as a newcomer on the Nashville music scene, until an assassination plot commonly known as the Murder On Music Row brought his music career to a halt. Sadler teamed up with several country hitmakers from the late ‘80s on this album, most notably a duet with Shenandoah’s Marty Raybon for a fresh take on the upbeat “The Church On Cumberland Road”. He also duets with country soul stylist T. Graham Brown for a revitalized re-recording of “Darlene”, and recruited Larry Stewart of Restless Heart to reimagine “The Bluest Eyes In Texas”.
Scientists – Negativity CD/LP (In The Red)
The Scientists’ powerful brand of deranged swamp-rock returns with a vengeance as In the Red Records unleashes Negativity, an all-new magnum opus featuring the first new full-length album by the Australian band’s penultimate line-up in thirty-five years.
Skyzoo – All The Brilliant Things CD (Mello Music Group)
Skyzoo is one of the most consistent artists in rap. Growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and South Jamaica, Queens, the New York City C was heavily influenced by The Notirious B.I.G. who lived one block away. [Vinyl edition due July 30.]
Sleater-Kinney – Path Of Wellness CD/LP (Mom + Pop Music)
Sleater-Kinney’s follow-up to 2019’s The Center Won’t Hold is their first record to be recorded without Janet Weiss since the drummer joined the group in 1996. To round out the new record, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein invited local Portland musicians to the studio. It is also their first self-produced album. A limited-edition black opaque vinyl pressing is also available.]
Spiritualized – Pure Phase [Reissue/1995] CD (Fat Possum)
Spiritualized’s second album, Pure Phase, showcases both a more symphonic sound as well as a dreamy rock grandeur. Think of Brian Wilson and La Monte Young recording together, and you’ll have a good idea of the Spiritualized totality. Pure Phase is both beautiful and innovative; more than just psychedelic, it’s celestial. [Vinyl edition due July 2.]
Stoner – Stoner Live In The Mojave Desert Volume 4 CD/LP (CDWA)
Live In The Mojave Desert is a livestream desert rock concert series created deep in the deep sand and huge boulders of some insanely beautiful California wilderness, inspired by Pink Floyd’s Live At Pompeii.
Quinn Sullivan – Wide Awake CD (Provogue)
A rare artist who’s always sounded older than his years, Sullivan has been touring the world since he was 11 years old. Having developed genuinely jaw-dropping skills as a guitar player, Sullivan has evolved into the singer-songwriter genre while effectively highlighting his guitar mastery.
Terra Odium – Ne Plus Ultra CD (Frontiers)
Terra Odium is a new progressive metal act comprised primarily of well-known musicians from the Norwegian metal scene.
Traffic – The Last Great Traffic Jam CD (Wincraft)
Traffic’s live album The Last Great Traffic Jam was recorded on their 1994 reunion tour supporting Far From Home.
Twice – Taste Of Love [TASTE Version] CD (JYP Ent./Republic)
Twice – Taste Of Love [FALLEN Version] CD (JYP Ent./Republic)
Twice – Taste Of Love [IN LOVE Version] CD (JYP Ent./Republic)
10th mini album from the K-pop girl group, filled with brand new style tracks and Summer vibes.
Sharon Van Etten – epic 10 CD/2xLP (Ba Da Bing!)
Expanded reissue of the singer-songwriter’s second studio album. The double album includes the original record and an LP of covers featuring Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Big Red Machine, Courtney Barnett with Vagabon, and more. [A limited-edition white color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Ved Buens Ende – Those Who Caress The Pale [Reissue/1994] CD/LP (Soulseller)
The early ‘90s Norwegian black metal band’s 1994 demo Those Who Caress The Pale (originally released on cassette only) has had a cult status for many years. This reissue includes bonus tracks and liner notes by all three members.
Jim Ward – Daggers CD/LP (Dine Alone)
“I tend to exist in the darker parts of the psyche,” Jim Ward admits. “That’s where I’ve always been.” And yet what makes the musician so unique and downright compelling is how exactly at the moment when the world joins him in the darkness – take, for example, the ultra-challenging year that was 2020 – it’s then Ward is able to claw his way back into the light. “All I was doing was basically meditating with a guitar,” Ward says of how every night during the pandemic, armed with a guitar as well as a bit of time and purpose, this prolific musician was able to churn out several riotous riffs that ultimately transformed into one of his most personal and profound albums to date. “I’ve always used music as an outlet for anxiety and frustration,” notes Ward, who has played in a slew of monumental bands, from the iconic post-hardcore band At The Drive-In to Sparta, as well his alt-country project, Sleepercar. In fact, it’s this healing power of music Ward offers, that led him to Daggers, the lauded musician’s new solo record.
Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?: The Platinum Pleasure Edition CD/2xLP (Interscope)
What’s Your Pleasure?: The Platinum Pleasure Edition is Ware’s deluxe offering of her sensational 2020 record. Featuring six new bonus tracks, this edition still bears the cohesive, complementary songwriting, killer grooves and flawless production of the original version, but only serves to heighten the rich and powerful soul of tracks like “Please”, “0208” featuring synth-pop visionary Kindness, the Endless Remix of “Adore You” and more.
White Moth Black Butterfly – The Cost Of Dreaming CD/LP (Kscope)
This contemporary pop project with progressive and experimental music at its heart, created by Daniel Tompkins (TesseracT), features a team of songwriters and producers based worldwide, all at the height of their own scenes. Collaborating with Tompkins are New-Delhi based Skyharbor songwriter and producer Keshav Dhar; US-based producer and string arranger Randy Slaugh (Devin Townsend, Architects & Periphery), drummer Mac Christensen and vocalist/lyricist Jordan Turner.
Steve Winwood – About Time [Reissue/2003] 2xCD (Wincraft)
Steve Winwood – Nine Lives [Reissue/2008] CD (Wincraft)
An expanded double CD reissue of the English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s (The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith) eighth studio album and single disc reissue of his ninth.
Wristmeetrazor – Replica Of A Strange Love CD (Prosthetic)
A nihilistic plunge headfirst into an intoxicating mix of death, sin, and romance. [Vinyl edition due July 30.]
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Earthless – Earthless Live In The Mojave Desert Volume 1 Blu-ray (CDWA)
Nebula – Nebula Live In The Mojave Desert Volume 2 Blu-ray (CDWA)
Live In The Mojave Desert is a livestream desert rock concert film series created deep in the deep sand and huge boulders of some insanely beautiful California wilderness, inspired by Pink Floyd’s Live At Pompeii.
Mr. Bungle – The Night They Came Home DVD+CD/Blu-ray+CD (Ipecac)
On October 31, 2020, Mr. Bungle did a special Halloween livestream featuring performances of songs from their album, The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo, along with cover songs. The Night They Came Home features the livestream along with official music videos, behind-the-scenes bonus features and celebrity guest cameos.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
2 Chainz – So Help Me God! LP (Def Jam)
Boasting a wide range of star-studded features ranging from Lil Uzi, NBA Youngboy, Mulatto, Brent Faiyaz, plus key collaborators Lil Wayne, Kanye West & Rick Ross, 2 Chainz delivers his classic quotable bars across the album’s 15 tracks.
3 Doors Down – The Better Life (20th Anniversary) 3xLP (Republic)
20th anniversary box set celebrating the debut album from 3 Doors Down, featuring “Kryptonite, Be Like That” and more. Box includes The Better Life on double-LP black vinyl and a green vinyl LP of the never-released original demos album, The Escatapwa Sessions. The package also includes a unique lithograph poster and liner notes with images and notes from the band.
Acid Mammoth – Acid Mammoth [Reissue/2017] LP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Acid Mammoth – Under Acid Hoof [Reissue/2020] LP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Acid Mammoth – Caravan [Reissue/2020] LP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Limited color vinyl reissues of the Greek doom metal band’s first three albums.
The Album Leaf – OST LP (Eastern Glow Recordings)
A collection of film works, features the full score of original music composed by Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf for the feature documentary, Ovarian Psycos. The 2016 film explores the origins of a women’s Latinx bicycle brigade in East Los Angeles, directed by Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle.
Alternative TV – Vibing Up The Senile Man (Part One) [Reissue/1979] LP (Spittle)
Vinyl reissue of the second studio album by the English rock band. On Vibing Up The Senile Man (Part One), the band followed an even more experimental and avant-garde approach than on The Image Has Cracked (1978).
The Archies – Sugar Sugar [Reissue/1968] 7” (Cleopatra)
Limited pink color vinyl pressing of the bubblegum pop hit backed with “Bang Shang-A-Lang”.
Artery – One Afternoon In A Hot Air Balloon [Reissue/1983] LP (Spittle)
Vinyl reissue of the second album from the wholly original cult Sheffield post punk band. Artery somehow replaced the somber post-punk of the debut with a stream of melancholic pop paeans influenced by British folk and certain ballroom dances, with a spectral keyboard sound worth killing for.
Bad Brains – Bad Brains [Reissue/1981] LP (ORG Music)
Vinyl reissue of the debut studio album by the hardcore punk/reggae band.
Pastor T.L. Barrett and The Youth For Christ Choir – Do Not Pass Me By Vol. 1 LP (Numero)
The final album in Pastor T.L. Barrett’s 1970s four-part suite of gospel funk LPs, Do Not Pass Me By finds the fiery preacher getting spaced out on God’s love. Accompanied by his Youth For Christ Choir, the eight-song record is buoyed by the seven-minute opus “Father Stretch My Hands”, later sampled by Kanye West on 2016’s The Life Of Pablo.
Bliss – Bliss [Reissue/1969] LP (Outsider)
Vinyl reissue of a semi-legendary psychedelic proto-hard rock album from 1969, recorded by an underground power trio from Arizona, returns to vinyl.
Anne Clark – Synaesthesia – Anne Clark Classics Reworked 2xLP (Flying Dolphin Administration)
Limited-edition white color vinyl pressing. 2020 turned out to be a very unsettling year for Anne Clark. It was supposed to be a triumphant anniversary of her career including a big birthday and a big tour. It ended up with no tour at all and a cancer diagnosis. Support came in from many artists and musicians and so the idea of a remix project was born.
Clearbody – One More Day LP (Smart Punk)
Debut album from the from North Carolina shoegaze/emo/indie rock trio.
Confusional Quartet – Confusional Quartet [Reissue/1980] LP (Italian Records)
Confusional Quartet is one of the most recognized Italian bands in the so-called new wave era, a period ranging from the late ‘70s to the mid- ‘80s. Formed in 1978, they had quite enthusiastic consent during their activity, playing a mixture of instrumental, avant-garde, experimental rock.
Jim Croce – Lost Time In A Bottle 2xLP (Cleopatra)
Limited gold color vinyl pressing. A career overview in rarities from the legendary folk singer. Contains versions of all his greatest hit songs including “Time In A Bottle”, “Operator”, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and “I Got A Name” and also includes a previously unreleased concert from 1964.
Daughters – Canada Songs [Reissue/2004] LP (Robotic Empire)
Last pressed in 2004, Daughter’s debut album, Canada Songs, is once again available on vinyl. This pressing features color vinyl and a printed inner sleeve with lyrics. Daughters burst forth, middle fingers flying, with a debut album of ultra-brutal, grind-influenced, screaming chaos. Combining thunderous drums with inhumanly fast blasts of squealing high-pitched guitars, manic screams, noise, and huge breakdowns, the band delivers a form of heavy music that is simply crushing.
Lowell Davidson Trio – Lowell Davidson Trio [Reissue/1965] LP (ESP-Disk’ Ltd)
On Ornette Coleman’s recommendation, ESP-Disk’ owner Bernard Stollman signed up pianist Lowell Davidson (then majoring in biochemistry at Harvard) for Lowell Davidson Trio without having heard him play. Davidson came to New York and got to work with the elite rhythm section of drummer Milford Graves and bassist Gary Peacock, both stalwarts of the ESP catalog. The interplay among the members of the trio is dazzling, but in all ways the pianist is the star of the album.
Dead Boys – Young, Loud And Snotty [Reissue/1977] LP (Jackpot)
Limited yellow color vinyl with red streaks. The Dead Boys from Cleveland, relocated to New York to become one of the first US punk bands. Originally signed to Sire Records, the Dead Boys were notorious for their edgy attitude and songs. After frequent shows at CBGBs, Hilly Kristal the club owner became their manager. The Dead Boys debut studio album – Young, Loud And Snotty was recorded and released in 1977, produced by the legendary Genya Ravan and quickly became one of the definitive US punk rock albums.
Def Leppard – X [Reissue/2002] LP (Mercury)
Def Leppard – Yeah! [Reissue/2006] 2xLP (Mercury)
Def Leppard – Songs From The Sparkle Lounge [Reissue/2008] LP (Mercury)
Stand-alone vinyl reissues of three albums included in The Vinyl Boxset: Volume Three (also released this week).
Dornenreich – Her Von Welken Nächten [Reissue/2001] (Prophecy)
Dorennreich – Du Wilde Liebe Sei LP (Prophecy)
Dornenreich has developed a far wider musical horizon on the following seven albums with the progressing inclusion of acoustic instruments and elements derived from folklore and classical music as major contributing factors.
Dr. Feelgood – Singles: The U.A. Years+ 2xLP (Rhino/Parlophone)
Although Dr. Feelgood was formed in 1971 they didn’t release their first single until 1974, and issued their debut album, Down By The Jetty, the following year. They were known as one of the defining bands in the so-called pub rock movement in the UK and bashed out some seriously bad-ass British R&B. The 1989 Liberty Records collection Singles: The U.A. Years is an encyclopedia of Dr. Feelgood’s greatest moments for the United Artists label from 1976-1986 which not only saw the band’s biggest commercial successes but also some of their most influential moments.
The Durutti Column – Dry [Reissue/1991] LP (Spittle)
The Durutti Column – Red Shoes [Reissue/1992] LP (Spittle)
The Durutti Column – Sex And Death [Reissue/1994] LP (Spittle)
Durutti Column are still one of the most sought-after band of the English post-punk. Since their first album The Return Of Durutti Column (released on Factory in 1980), the guitarist, pianist and composer Vini Reilly has published a series of remarkable albums that filled the gap between new wave and ambient music.
Roope Eronen – Inflatable World LP (Pacific City Sound)
Roope Eronen, of the famed Finnish space rock band Avarus, expands on his brand of emotive space lounge.
Floatie – Voyage Out LP (Exploding In Sound)
Limited green color vinyl pressing. Floatie is both exceptionally tight and radiantly enjoyable; the efforts of friends making music with dear friends. Voyage Out, is worth every moment waited, an album that’s as expansive as it is repetitive and as weird as it is inescapable. Floatie take a visionary approach toward creating music that can feel both tangled and hypnotic, challenging and comforting, all at the same time.
Free Music Quintet – Free Music 1 And 2 [Reissue/1968] LP (ESP-Disk’ Ltd)
Dutch drummer Pierre Courbois, an early adaptor of free jazz, had previously appeared on ESP-Disk with Gunter Hampel (Music from Europe) in 1968 and that same year recorded this album in a farmhouse (as shown on the front cover) in the village of Weslum, home of group member Erwin Somer.
French Montana – CB5 LP (Montana Ent LLC)
With an undeniably lengthy resume, French Montana releases the next entry in the popular Coke Boys series, CB5. The album boasts an impressive 19 songs, featuring a star-studded lineup including the likes of Pop Smoke, Jack Harlow, Benny The Butcher, A$AP Rocky, & Curren$y.
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi – They’re Calling Me Home LP (Nonesuch)
Now available on vinyl. Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, who both live in Ireland when they aren’t on tour, have been there since March 2020 due to the pandemic. The two expats found themselves drawn to the music of their native and adoptive countries of America, Italy, and Ireland during lockdown. Exploring the emotions brought up by the moment, Giddens and Turrisi decamped to Hellfire, a small studio on a working farm outside of Dublin, to record these songs over six days. The result is They’re Calling Me Home, a twelve-track album that speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a tragic reality for so many during the COVID-19 crisis. The minstrel banjo, accordion and frame drums that have become characteristic of the pair’s sound are well represented on the album, but it’s the viola and cello banjo combination that captures unexpected emotion and intensity.
Goalie’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick – Ways Of Hearing LP (Count Your Lucky Stars)
The Goalie’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick hail from the City of Brotherly Love, better known as Philadelphia. They boast six members (sometimes seven, if you believe their Facebook page), decorated with strings, keys, guitars, and drums. Dual vocalists weave enchanting lines over a lush landscape of sound that feels like a score of a movie.
Grave Digger – The Grave Digger [Reissue/2001] LP (Metalville)
Green & blue marbled color vinyl pressing of a good heavy metal album with great production and a brilliant guitar sound.
Hospital Bracelet – South Loop Summer LP (Counter Intuitive)
Hospital Bracelet was first introduced to the world with a short and simple acoustic record dropped with little fanfare into the Bandcamp ecosphere in 2019. That record, Neutrality Acoustic, was quickly passed around in online DIY circles, amassing a dedicated following and turning singer/guitarist Eric Christopher into a rising star in the Chicago emo scene. Now, freshly signed to emo favorite label Counter Intuitive Records and following some unfortunate COVID delays, the band’s true debut, South Loop Summer, is finally here.
Inflabitan – Intrinsic LP (Soulseller)
Inflabitan, named after its founding member, started as a one-man band in the early ‘90s and was part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. After two demos and a single the project went into hiatus until now. Inflabitan’s new material is best described as a mix between thrash, death and black metal. [A limited-edition grey color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Insecure Men – Insecure Men LP (Fat Possum)
Limited edition green color vinyl pressing. In many ways Insecure Men – the band led by the fiercely talented songwriter and musician Saul Adamczewski and his schoolmate and stabilizing influence, Ben Romans-Hopcraft – are the polar opposite of the Fat White Family. Whereas sleaze-mired, country-influenced, drug-crazed garage punks the Fat Whites are a celebration of everything that is wrong in life, Insecure Men, who blend exotica, easy listening, lounge and timeless pop music, are, by comparison at least, the last word in wholesomeness.
Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise [Reissue/2011] 2xLP (Circus Company)
10th anniversary vinyl reissue of the debut studio album by the American-Chilean musician. By anyone’s estimations his arrival into the electronic music sphere has been unavoidable, receiving comparisons to Villalobos and AFX from The Guardian, providing one of Resident Advisor’s most adventurous mixes to date and practically having Panorama Bar, Fabric and Bar25 eating out of his hands – all before he’d turned 20.
Quincy Jones – The Dude [Reissue/1981] LP (A&M)
40th Anniversary reissue, remastered and available for the first time in a gatefold jacket with a foil finish on standard black vinyl.
The Marcus King Band – Soul Insight [Reissue/2014] LP (Evil Teen)
Limited green color vinyl LP pressing. Featuring riff-driven rockers and big burnished tones – as well as a distinctive acoustic side – Marcus King’s debut album, Soul Insight, revealed the Greenville, SC-based guitar phenom and songwriter, performer, arranger and producer to the world at large. With King’s singing slide resonator guitar and voice building to explosive crescendos, the album echoes the influence of his own guitar heroes including Warren Haynes, his Allman Brothers Band foil Derek Trucks and Jimi Hendrix as well as soul influences Marvin Gaye, Ray Lamontagne, Gary Clark Jr. and others.
Jim McCulloch – When I Mean What I Say 10” (Violette)
Over three decades as the unassuming but pivotal figure behind some of Scotland’s most iconic pop, Jim McCulloch steps out of the shadows and onto center stage with his debut solo album. Lush and textured, delicate and intriguing, When I Mean What I Say is immersed in the melodic tapestries of Laurel Canyon but rooted in Jim’s life in his hometown of Glasgow. Written in Donegal’s wild Atlantic coast and recorded pre-Lockdown in Glasgow’s downtown Gorbals district, the warmth of the album’s classic pop and its lyrical openness transports the listener to an emotional and harmonic timelessness far from 2020’s claustrophobia.
Mark Morrison – Return Of The Mack [Reissue/1996] LP (Atlantic)
Mark Morrison’s ground-breaking R&B album reissued on purple color vinyl.
Mathias Modica – Sonic Rohstoff LP (Kryptox)
Sonic Rohstoff is a journey through abstract downtempo vibes, lofi jazz and futuristic electronica.
Róisín Murphy – Crooked Machine LP (Skint)
Skint presents a reinterpretation of Róisín Murphy’s hugely successful and critically acclaimed 2020 LP Róisín Machine by producer Crooked Man aka DJ Parrot. If Róisín Machine was the big night out… this is the afterparty where things get darker and more twisted. Like the original album it is segued as a continuous listening experience. When Róisín Machine was in the making you would often have three or four versions of a track suddenly drop into your inbox. All different, all brilliant… so the idea of Parrot doing his own version of the LP was always in the cards.
Jack Nitzche – Lonely Surfer [Reissue/1963] LP (Honeypie)
Jack Nitzsche, a close collaborator of master producer Phil Spector, was an American musician, arranger and film music composer who worked extensively as keyboard player with high caliber rock stars like the Rolling Stones and Neil Young, among others. The Lonely Surfer, originally released on Reprise Records in 1963, was the first album under his own name. An all- instrumental mix of surf aesthetic and eclectic orchestral arrangements featuring great west coast-based studio musicians such as guitarist Tommy Tedesco, drummer Hal Blaine, and pianist Leon Russell.
Of Montreal – The Sunlandic Twins [Reissue/2005] 2xLP (Polyvinyl)
Red/orange swirl color vinyl pressing. Of Montreal’s seminal record, The Sunlandic Twins, arrived in April of 2005 as the follow-up to their breakthrough album, Satanic Panic In The Attic. To celebrate 15 years since its illustrious release, this brand-new edition features a redesigned gatefold jacket interior and five additional bonus tracks on side D to round out this superlative 23-song double-LP.
Oh Sees – The Chapel, SF 10.2.19 2xLP (Silver Current)
The Oh Sees at the peak of their prog obsession, super jammed out and totally dominating. The Chapel, SF 10.2.19 is a 53 minute, beautifully recorded, hi-fidelity live explosion of orc puke and kraut-gone-punk rock dominance by one of the rippingest bands of the 21st century. Two record set on limited edition cosmic black ice color vinyl with side D etching and faithfully (re)created TMOQ-style bootleg album art.
Van Dyke Parks & Verónica Valerio – Van Dyke Parks Orchestrates Vernica Valerio: Only In America LP (Modern Recordings)
This record is a Chamber-music suite of songs of the Yucatan, featuring the poetry of Verónica Valerio and orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks. Starting with a new arrangement of Agustin Lara’s classic “Veracruz”, the album transports us to a place of pyramids and pre-Columbian history following that place and time with three originals by Verónica Valerio called “Cielito Lindo”, “The Flight Of The Guacamaya”, and “Camino A Casa”.
Wilson Pickett – The Best Of Wilson Pickett: Volume Two [Reissue/1971] LP (Friday Music)
One of the most popular singers of the ’60s, Wilson Pickett helped introduce the aggressive, rhythmic style of soul music. Aided immeasurably by the excellent studio bands backing him at the Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama, Pickett scored a series of timeless R&B and pop hits throughout his substantial career.
Porter Ricks – Biokinetics [Reissue/1996] 2xLP (Mille Plateaux)
Mille Plateaux present a reissue of Porter Ricks’ Biokinetics, originally released in 1996. Techno isn’t a genre that has birthed many consistent albums, and the dub techno subgenre even less so, but one indisputable classic is Porter Ricks’ debut Biokinetics. Originally issued on the legendary Basic Channel sub-label Chain Reaction in 1996 following a trio of 12s, Biokinetics was the first of the label’s album releases, and still stands as it’s crowning achievement.
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – The Singles 2xLP+7” (Spittle)
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry were one of the most successful independent bands of the ‘80s with their dark and often manic rhythms. For the first time ever, this 27-track double album collects all their singles on Red Rhino and Beggars Banquet/Situation Two on vinyl.
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – ‘Live’ Bullet [Reissue/1976] 2xLP (Captiol)
Considered to be one of the best live albums of all-time, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s ‘Live’ Bullet was captured at Cobo Hall in Detroit, MI, in September 1975.
The Shins – Oh, Inverted World [Reissue/2001] 2xLP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Oh, Inverted World, the earth-shattering, indie-rock-redefining 2001 debut album by The Shins, is presented here in its finest form, dressed up all nice for its 20th birthday. The classic tunes get new life by way of a full remastering job under band leader James Mercer’s watchful eye, the art is given a little extra zest via a die-cut jacket and a classy inner sleeve, and the package is rounded off with a big ol’ booklet with vintage photos, handwritten lyrics, and more.
Sonsombre – Revival LP (Cleopatra)
New album from classic goth revivalists. Pressed on black and white marbled color vinyl.
St. Lenox – Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for our Tumultuous Times LP (Don Giovanni)
Limited cloudy clear vinyl pressing. Andrew Choi is one of the most unique and powerful singer-songwriters working right now, and Ten Songs Of Worship And Praise For Our Tumultuous Times is the proof. Choi’s fourth album as St. Lenox is at turns lush and raw, with gorgeous and impressionistic instrumentation orbiting around his forceful, intense vocals and the autofictional words that they carry. This is music struck with the uncertainty and passion of faith – an album about religion, belief, and locating the self amid such weighty and intangible concepts.
Daniel Tompkins – Ruins LP (Kscope)
May 2019 saw TesseracT’s lead vocalist and songwriter release his debut solo album Castles, his first foray into a more pop rock electronic sound. Ruins sees Daniel Tompkins rework Castles. The lyrical and conceptual side still represents the same ideas as Castles, but with more aggression musically, showcasing a truer and darker tone.
Valdaudr – Drapsdalen LP (Soulseller)
Limited silver color vinyl pressing. Time-travel to the glorious ‘90s Norwegian black metal era with the epic debut album of Valdaudr entitled Drapsdalen. Valdaudr’s roots go back to the black metal project Cobolt 60, which was initiated by guitarist Død (Blood Red Throne, Satyricon) back in 2000. Though the music is a continuation of Cobolt 60, Valdaudr is something different as new vocalist Vald (also known from his works with Blood Red Throne) has a totally different vocal style and even puts on some clean vocals here and there. It’s still old school and primitive black metal, but with some folk elements and epic themes.
Steve Von Till – A Deep Voiceless Wilderness LP (Neurot)
Steve Von Till – Harvestman – 23 Untitled Poems 12” (Neurot)
Steve Von Till has made a life’s work out of seeking the elemental. With a solo discography that stretches back more than two decades, he has toiled in a shadow realm, peeling back layers of reality in a never-ending search for true meaning and raw emotion. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness strips back the veil even further. An achingly beautiful ambient work with neo-classical leanings, the album is a hallucinatory and elegant rumination on our disconnect from the natural world, each other, and ultimately ourselves. Harvestman – 23 Untitled Poems is a spoken-word mini-album released in conjunction with his first book of poetry.
Wipers – Wipers (aka Wipers Tour 1984) LP (Jackpot)
Limited-edition pink color vinyl pressing. Wipers Tour 1984 features tracks from the first three Wipers albums. Recorded live on tour in February – March 1984, the set was originally released on cassette by Greg Sage and on vinyl on Enigma Records in 1985 and contains three songs unavailable anywhere else.
Xeper – Ad Numen Satanae LP (Soulseller)
Fourth Italian black metal project. [A limited-edition clear vinyl pressing is also available.]
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