September Program Titles Released This Week:

Alice Cooper – A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris 2xCD/2xLP (earMUSIC)

Alice Cooper is known as one of rock’s greatest entertainers with a career spanning over 40 years. A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris – recorded during Alice’s recent 2017 European Tour – gives listeners the chance to witness one of these fine and legendary theatrical performances on record. Supported by his outstanding band, the ‘master of shock rock’ takes the audience on a thrilling journey through the darkness, performing big hits like “Poison”, “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” as well as the new classic “Paranoiac Personality” off of his latest studio album Paranormal. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Idles – Joy As An Act Of Resistance CD/LP (Partisan)

Joy As An Act of Resistance is the follow up to Bristol, UK five-piece Idles’ debut album Brutalism, self-released in 2017. Produced by Space and mixed by Adam Greenspan and Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Kate Bush, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), the 12-track collection takes aim at everything from toxic masculinity, nationalism, immigration, and class inequality – all while maintaining a visceral, infectious positivity. Singer Joe Talbot summarizes: “This album is an attempt to be vulnerable to our audience and to encourage vulnerability; a brave naked smile in this shitty new world. We have stripped back the songs and lyrics to our bare flesh to allow each other to breathe, to celebrate our differences, and act as an ode to communities and the individuals that forge them. Because without our community, we’d be nothing.” [Limited pink colored vinyl edition also available.]

Iron And Wine – The Weed Garden CDEP/12”+MP3 (Sub Pop)

Iron & Wine follow up their 2018 Grammy-nominated full-length Beast Epic with Weed Garden, a collection of material that began about three years ago. The six-song EP features songs that were part of the writing phase for Beast Epic but went unfinished. They were part of a larger narrative for principal songwriter Sam Beam, who ran out of time to get them where they needed to be for inclusion on Beast Epic. Weed Garden also includes the fan favorite “Waves Of Galveston”. While on tour last fall, the final pieces of material took shape and a sense of urgency prevailed in bringing these characters full circle. To resolution. To completion. In January, Beam and company hunkered down in Chicago at The Loft recording studio to capture these six songs. No more, no less.

The Kooks – Let’s Go Sunshine CD/2xLP (Lonely Cat/Awal Recordings)

The Kooks bold new long-player Let’s Go Sunshine distills their timeless sound into its purest form while pushing it forward into a more expansive and mature space. It’s a moving, energizing and timelessly melodic record that’s incisive in its portrait of modern British urban life. The heart and soul of the album lies in its hymns of lost innocence, fading relationships and the process of break-up and recovery. It’s the sound of an ambitious, confident band stepping out and making a statement with their definitive album. Let’s Go Sunshine sees the band cement their status as true bastions of British guitar pop and take their rightful place at the table next to the celebrated bands that influenced them in their infancy, over a decade ago. [Limited white colored vinyl pressing also available.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 31, 2018

September Program Titles Released This Week:

Alice In Chains – Rainier Fog CD/2xLP+MP3 (BMG)

Rainier Fog marks a few firsts for Alice In Chains. Not only is it their first album in five years but it also found the band recording in their hometown of Seattle for the first time in more than 20 years (reflected in its title). Rainier Fog was recorded at Studio X, the same facility where they tracked their 1995 self-titled LP (back when the studio was known as Bad Animals). The Rainier Fog recording process also saw the band spend time at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles and at the Nashville studio of producer Nick Raskulinecz. It is the third straight Alice In Chains album recorded with Raskulinecz and engineer Paul Figueroa and was mixed by Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool). Rainier Fog follows 2013’s Grammy nominated The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and is introduced by the grinding singles “The One You Know” and follow-up “So Far Under”.

Barstool Preachers – Grazie Governo CD/LP (Pirates Press)

Grazie Governo (Thank You Government) is the album that everyone angry and frustrated with the current political situation has been waiting for. The intelligent and passionate lyrics are backed by the unique, catchy, and creative songwriting that this band is becoming known for. It truly exemplifies the band’s incredible talents and creativity, and the energy and commitment that these UK upstarts are turning so many heads with. While drawing from influences spanning traditional ska, dub and reggae to harder in-your-face ska-punk, this battery of tunes never loses its focus, nor the bands unique sense of composure and approach. The message is clear and mature, timeless and 100% on-point; and the music will have everyone dancing & singing along.

The Devil Makes Three – Chains Are Broken CD/LP (New West)

The power of words isn’t lost on longstanding Americana triumvirate The Devil Makes Three – Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino, and Cooper McBean. For as much as they remain rooted in troubadour traditions of wandering folk, Delta blues, whiskey-soaked ragtime, and reckless rock ‘n’ roll, the band nods to the revolutionary unrest of author James Baldwin, the no-holds barred disillusionment of Ernest Hemingway, and Southern Gothic malaise of Flannery O’Connor. In that respect, their sixth full-length and first of original material since 2013, Chains Are Broken, resembles a dusty leather-bound book of short stories from some bygone era. As the band began writing ideas for the LP, they veered off the proverbial path creatively. Instead of their typical revolving cast of collaborators, The Devil Makes Three stuck to its signature power trio, with one addition. This time, they invited touring drummer Stefan Amidon to power the bulk of the percussion. Another first, they retreated to Sonic Ranch Studios in El Paso, TX a stone’s throw from the Mexican border to record with producer Ted Hutt (Dropkick Murphys). [Limited blue and cream colored vinyl LP pressing.]

DeVotchKa – This Night Falls Forever CD/2xLP (Concord)

For more than a decade, Denver, CO four-piece multi-instrumental/vocal ensemble DeVotchKa has melded its influences from Eastern European wedding bands to Norteno ballads into an authentic and totally original blend of popular music. The band’s haunting, romantic sound evokes timeless images and has proved particularly attractive to filmmakers, who have used DeVotchKa songs to score countless films and commercials, most famously Little Miss Sunshine, for which they received a Grammy nod. This Night Falls Forever is DeVotchKa’s most ambitious album to date with more detailed arrangements and an overall bigger sound. From the record’s first notes it’s clear that This Night Falls Forever is a heartrending look backwards and forwards at once – the sound of searching within.

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 24, 2018

September Program Titles Released This Week:

Black Tusk – TCBT CD/LP (Season Of Mist)

Black Tusk come storming back with their earth-shaking new album TCBT. This is the band’s most articulate sonic vision yet and delivers signature levels of Black Tusk aggression with their most developed songwriting to date. “Closed Eye”, “Burn The Stars”, “Agali” and “Scalped” are hands-down some of their finest tracks among a full album of killers. TCBT is a full-throated war cry and indispensable addition to their storied catalog. “For long-running Savannah sludge-riffers Black Tusk, the acronym ‘TCBT’ is not a new one. Despite the fact that 2018 marks the first time that TCBT has been used as an LP title, the term (and its associated tattoo) has been part of the band’s lexicon for as far back as memory serves — adorning their road cases as well as their bodies. (TCBT stands for “Taking Care of Black Tusk,” for the uninitiated.) Album track ‘Burn The Stars’ is a thrashy, mean-as-hell riffer punctuated by the alternating vocals of Andrew Fidler and James May. It’s a little less of a party vibe from previous outings, and a lot more serious and furious than we’ve become accustomed to, but that doesn’t mean the Savannah crew doesn’t pull it off and with style.” – Revolver

Blue October – I Hope You’re Happy CD (Up Down)

Blue October, the San Marcos, TX-based band known for shimmering rock songs and haunting lyrics, returns with their ninth studio album, I Hope You’re Happy which follows-up 2016’s acclaimed Home. The first Blue October release produced solely by frontman Justin Furstenfeld, the affecting 12-track collection features eleven beautifully crafted and performed songs that showcase the band at its creative peak and is introduced by the infectious and upbeat love letter to a former love, “I Hope You’re Happy”. [Vinyl edition due October 12.]

Death Cab For Cutie – Thank You For Today CD/LP/Cassette (Atlantic)

Thank You For Today is the sound of Death Cab For Cutie both expanding and refining; a band 20 years into its evolution, still uncovering new curves in its signatures, new sonic corners to explore. The Seattle band’s ninth studio album, recorded in L.A. with producer Rich Costey in late 2017 and early 2018, stands alongside classic albums like their 1998 debut Something About Airplanes and 2003’s masterful Transatlanticism as a definitive collection – 10 tracks that are by turns beautiful and dynamic and darkly anthemic and bittersweet. On songs such as the kinetic “Gold Rush”, “Northern Lights” and “You Moved Away” Ben Gibbard ruminates on the flux going on in his hometown and weaves a thread throughout the album about how interconnected geography is with memory, and how hard it can be to hold onto places, and to people, too.

The New Respects – Before The Sun Goes Down CD/LP (Credential)

Falling into a genre of their own, The New Respects mesh rock & roll, soul, and pop music with overlays of acoustic tones. Comprised of twins Zandy and Lexi Fitzgerald, brother Darius and their cousin Jasmine Mullen, the Nashville-based group is a true family affair, evidencing the undeniable soul and musical legacy that flows through the roots of their family tree. Debut full-length effort, Before The Sun Goes Down, follows-up their auspicious 2017 EP Here Comes Trouble and is introduced by the strutting lead single “Freedom”, produced by Theron Feemster (Demi Lovato, Ellie Goulding, Eminem, Sia).

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 17, 2018