Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:

Melissa Aldana – 12 Stars CD (Blue Note)

Grammy-nominated saxophonist and composer Melissa Aldana joins the Blue Note Records family with the release of 12 Stars, her debut album as a leader for the legendary label following her appearance on the acclaimed 2020 album by the collective Artemis. The Brooklyn-based tenor player from Santiago, Chile has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader, as well as her deeply meditative interpretation of language and vocabulary. 12 Stars grapples with concepts of childrearing, familial forgiveness, acceptance, and self-love, and was inspired by her deep interest in tarot. [Vinyl edition due April 8.]

Band Of Horses – Things Are Great CD/LP (BMG)

Band Of Horses return with their sixth album and first in over half a decade. Things Are Great marks a return to their earlier work and the kind of raw ethos that lies at the heart of Band Of Horses. Founder Ben Bridwell produced or co-produced all 10 tracks – most of which were written pre-pandemic. Past collaborators Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips), Dave Sardy and engineer Wolfgang “Wolfie” Zimmerman also all make contributions here. [An indie store exclusive translucent rust color vinyl pressing is available.]

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs – External Combustion CD (BMG)

For Mike Campbell, External Combustion – the second album by his first band as a leader, The Dirty Knobs – is proof that lightning can strike twice. The follow-up to their 2020 debut Wreckless Abandon beats a new set of odds and jumps ahead in vision and drive, proving the first record was no one-shot deal. Campbell experienced all the above and more with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – riding shotgun with his friend and captain as lead guitarist, co-producer, and, at times, co-writer – when he met guitarist Jason Sinay at a session in Los Angeles in 2000. Once Lance Morrison joined in on bass and Matt Laug on drums, that turned into The Dirty Knobs, named after a faulty amp dial. [Vinyl edition due April 1.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for March 4, 2022

Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:

Blood Incantation – Timewave Zero CD/CD+Blu-ray/2xLP+MP3 (Century Media)

Spawned in 2011, Blood Incantation has spent the past decade establishing a reputation for creating powerful atmospheric death metal with progressive elements, while gradually incorporating more psychedelic and ambient components with each new release. Epitomizing their cosmic essence and experimental nature, Timewave Zero reveals an alternate dimension for experiencing the mind-bending songwriting of Blood Incantation´s dense otherworldly sonic landscapes – beyond the limitations of genre and free to travel among the stars. Echoes of Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Lustmord, Popol Vuh and Dead Can Dance synthesize in an archaic planetarium soundtrack, taking the listener on a cinematic journey. [A deluxe digipak CD edition featuring a Blu-ray of album tracks “Io” and “Ea”.]

Dashboard Confessional – All The Truth That I Can Tell CD/LP/Cassette (Hidden Note)

Dashboard Confessional’s ninth studio album, All The Truth That I Can Tell, is both a remarkable renewal and fortunate step forward for the band’s songwriter, front man, and founder, Chris Carrabba. All The Truth That I Can Tell stands among Carrabba’s finest – a strikingly potent musical look at himself through a rediscovered keyhole, both an achievement of vision and a vital burst of artistic clarity; less like reading someone’s diary and more like reading their eyes. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive dark blue/green color vinyl pressing is available.]

Early Eyes – Look Alive! CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)

It’s a foreboding time to make pop music. But like a sunbeam peering through a haze of wildfire smoke, Early Eyes have somehow persevered through dashed dreams, fractured relationships, historic social justice uprisings in their own hometown, and a society tearing apart at the seams to make an album that is both responsive to the chaos and wearily optimistic. Look Alive! vibrates with angst, punctuated by computerized glitches and disintegrating threads of abandoned melodies that echo in the distance before roaring back to life.

[Read more…] about New Releases for February 25, 2022

Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:

Gregor Barnett – Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave CD (Epitaph)

Gregor Barnett, guitarist/co-vocalist for The Menzingers, delivers his debut release Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave. Written and recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave is a sonic departure from Barnett’s more punk-leaning work with The Menzingers, drawing on the gritty, off-kilter Americana of Tom Waits or Warren Zevon as it faces down loss and doubt in search of relief and redemption. “It was this perfect storm,” says Barnett. “The band couldn’t tour, I was going through a really difficult time, and I was stuck at home watching my family struggle with illness and death and hardship. The only thing I could do was write my way through it.” [Vinyl editions – including a limited-edition indie store exclusive clear w/ black smoke color vinyl pressing – due 3/18/22.]

Beach House – Once Twice Melody CD/LP/2xLP+MP3/2xCassette (Sub Pop)

Once Twice Melody is the eighth studio album by Beach House, a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in four 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. [Two vinyl editions are available: Silver Edition and Gold Edition. The Silver Edition. The Silver Edition is comprised of two black vinyl LPs housed in a wide-spine jacket with poster and custom inner sleeves. The Gold Edition features two color vinyl LPs housed in separate jackets with custom inner sleeves plus two posters and a book, all enclosed in a hinged box.]

Bitch – Bitchcraft CD/LP+MP3 (Kill Rock Stars)

Bitchcraft was born in a move from New York City, where Bitch had lived for 15 years, to a log cabin in the woods. There was all the time in the world to make art, and it was there, in the cabin, that Bitch began to write some of the songs that would appear on Bitchcraft. “It gave me space to think about the biggest version of myself that I could be,” she says of those early days in the cabin. The songs she wrote were a departure from anything she’d ever written before, and she began to craft huge pop tracks with the help of her trusty violin. Then, she moved to L.A. and Bitchcraft began to shapeshift again. The resulting record is one that is full of glorious pop tracks that go in unexpected directions. Bitchcraft is like Joni Mitchell set to a click track, it’s queer Cyndi Lauper. It’s neon pink, in your face, ready to hex you with its brilliance. It’s an unbelievably fun record that is extremely capable of breaking your heart a little bit. It also makes you think about the state of the world, about evil politicians, about what it means to exist as a woman, and how to find joy along the way. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is available.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for February 18, 2022