June Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:
No social media program titles released this week.
June Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage (Goliath) CD/LP
Carnage is a new album by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, recorded over a period of weeks during lockdown. Although the pair have composed and recorded many soundtracks together, and Warren is a long-term member of The Bad Seeds, this is the first time they have released an entire album of new songs as a duo. Cave describes the album as, “a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe.” “Making Carnage was an accelerated process of intense creativity,” adds Ellis, “the eight songs were there in one form or another within the first two and a half days.”
Nils Frahm – Tripping With Nils Frahm CD/LP+MP3 (Erased Tapes)
When Nils Frahm kicked off his world tour at Funkhaus Berlin in January 2018 to bring his highly acclaimed studio album All Melody to the stage, an ambitious journey was just to begin. In December 2018, Nils Frahm eventually returned to Funkhaus Berlin to host another set of four shows Tripping With Nils Frahm is an illustration of Nils’ lauded ability as a composer and passionate live artist as well as the enchanting atmosphere of his captivating, and already legendary Funkhaus shows: An extraordinary musical trip – rare and exclusive, close and intimate, bringing a unique concert experience to the screen and wax.
Amy Helm – What The Flood Leaves Behind CD/LP (Renew)
Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Amy Helm’s third album, What The Flood Leaves Behind, is her most autobiographical yet, both in content and creation. These 10 songs represent a gathering of ideas and experiences, friends and collaborators. Yet, the album also marks a landing – a pause for the traveling musician and mother of two young boys who was seeking clarity in her calling and career. After making multiple albums and performing in far-flung places, Helm returned home to Woodstock’s Levon Helm Studios just before the pandemic to record What The Flood Leaves Behind and reclaim a sense of self. An impressive group of friends and collaborators joins Helm on the album. With musical polyglot Josh Kaufman (whose credits range from Taylor Swift’s Folklore to the Grammy-nominated Bonny Light Horseman and Bob Weir) producing and contributing on piano, guitar, and mandolin, the record brings Helm’s powerful, emotive vocals to the forefront of the album. The songs themselves reflect Helm’s inner strength and personal growth.
Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey – Our Back Pages CD/LP (Omnivore)
Our Back Pages is an album of dB’s music re-imagined by the band’s Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey. The collection featuring new acoustic versions of some of the duo’s favorite dB’s songs.
Stamey explains “Over the years, Peter and I have evolved acoustic versions of a number of our songs from our days together in The dB’s. While working on a duo project in my studio a decade ago we took some time to lay down some of these arrangements which are often quite different from the normal electric presentations. We are both always more concerned with making new music than with looking back so it stayed in the archives. But it seemed like the time was right, so we finally completed and mixed it all over the last two weeks just for this. We’d like to offer it now as a small contribution a little bit of light in these dark days.”
Amythyst Kiah – Wary + Strange CD/LP (Rounder)
Wary + Strange marks the glorious collision of two vastly different worlds: the iconoclastic alt-rock that first sparked her musical passion, and the roots/old-time-music scene where Amythyst Kiah found breakout success in recent years. The collection – featuring 11 songs all written or co-written by the artist – finds Amythyst redrawing the lines of roots music, and then coloring completely outside of them with a collision of styles that is fearless, iconoclastic and exhilarating. Expanding on the role she staked out in Our Native Daughters – the Grammy-nominated, all-women-of-color supergroup she co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell – Amythyst’s writing on Wary + Strange is raw yet nuanced, as she expresses grief, alienation, and ultimately the hard-won triumph of total self-acceptance.
Rebelution – In The Moment CD (Easy Star)
Recorded remotely in the midst of the pandemic, In The Moment is deliberate and wide-ranging, infusing the quartet’s soulful, exhilarating brand of modern reggae with addictive pop hooks, alt-rock grit, and hip-hop grooves. The performances are bold and self-assured, and the production is equally ambitious, drawing on swirling reverb and trippy delay to create an immersive sonic universe that’s both futuristic and vintage all at once. Strip away the intoxicating atmospherics, though, and what remains is a work of profound reflection, a probing, revelatory meditation that balances joy and introspection in equal measure as the band contemplates the meaning of time and how to spend what precious little we have. [Vinyl edition due July 2.]
Rosie Tucker – Sucker Supreme CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Rosie Tucker is a dynamic creative force. Sucker Supreme, the L.A.-based singer/songwriter’s third full-length effort, is a coming-of-age album aching with self-discovery, self-definition, and self-redefinition. Nowhere is this self-exploration more poignant than on lead single “Habanero”, a song about waiting for a transformation that isn’t coming. [An indie store exclusive limited-edition vinyl pressing is available.]
CDs + Vinyl:
Marina Allen – Candlepower CD/LP (Fire)
Marina Allen glides on angelic highs, surfing the husky deep; she is one of the great new voices of her generation. Writing songs that carry notes from other realms; these are kitchen table tales about love and fear, the capturing of the wild heart, sketching the breaking of dawn, bringing real life back to life. Every song on her stunning debut album Candlepower is a tick box of influences, asides, inspirations, quickfire theories, storylines and melodic progressions that galvanize a chemical reaction for each dramatic scene that unfolds on this genre-traversing seven song epic.
Allman Brothers Band – Bear’s Sonic Journals: Fillmore East, February 1970 Deluxe Edition 3xCD (Allman Brothers Band)
A completely newly transferred and mastered presentation of live music from The Allman Brothers Band’s three shows at the Fillmore East on February 11th, 13th and 14th, 1970. The Grateful Dead’ legendary soundman, Owsley Stanley aka Bear, captured these shows on his Sonic Journals – his working diary recordings that are known for their uncanny ability to recreate the sonic landscape of the venue, placing the listener’s ears in the audience at the show.
Allustrium – A Monument To Silence CD (Unique Leader)
With intense, technical riffs and soulful ear-bending solos, Alustrium creates a unique style of death metal. [Vinyl edition due August 20.]
Anarkhon – Phantasmagorical Personification Of The Death Temple CD (Debemur Morti Productions)
A killer compendium of cryptic, Lovecraftian old school death metal.
Ashe – Ashlyn CD (Mom + Pop Music)
Ashe’s debut album Ashlyn includes 14 songs which she describes as “… deeply reflective and honest, full of stories of my experiences with fear and pain and turning those hard things into joy and independence.” [Vinyl edition due August 27.]
Breeze Brewin – Hindsight CD/LP (Matic)
Hindsight captures the magic of what happens when an artist sticks with what they love and shares it with the rest of the world. The 13 tracks epitomize why Breeze has been such an essential voice since he entered the scene. He delivers tack-sharp criticisms of former president Donald Trump (“Devil’s Advocate”) and the music industry (“The Application”), talks his sh*t like only he can do (“Translate It”), and gets deeply personal about friendships (“The Uninvited”) and being a teacher as a person of color (“Taking Notes”).
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage (Goliath) CD/LP
Carnage is a new album by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, recorded over a period of weeks during lockdown. Although the pair have composed and recorded many soundtracks together, and Warren is a long-term member of The Bad Seeds, this is the first time they have released an entire album of new songs as a duo. Cave describes the album as, “a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe.” “Making Carnage was an accelerated process of intense creativity,” adds Ellis, “the eight songs were there in one form or another within the first two and a half days.”
Don Cherry – The Summer House Sessions 2xCD/2xLP (Blank Forms)
During the summer of 1968, saxophonist and recording engineer Göran Freese – who later recorded Don Cherry’s classic Organic Music Society and Eternal Now LPs – invited Don, members of his two working bands, and a Turkish drummer to his summer house in Kummelnäs, just outside of Stockholm, for a series of rehearsals and jam sessions that put the prior months’ workshops into practice. Long relegated to the status of a mysterious footnote in Don’s sessionography, tapes from this session, as well as one professionally mixed tape intended for release, were recently found in the vaults of the Swedish Jazz Archive, and the lost Summer House Sessions are finally available over 50 years after they were recorded.
Don Cherry/Nana Vasconcelos – Organic Music Theatre Festival de Chateauvallon CD/2xLP (Blank Forms)
A life-affirming, multicultural patchwork of borrowed tunes suffused with the hallowed aura of Don’s extensive global travels, the performance documents the moment he publicly jettisoned his identity as a jazz musician, and represents the start of his communal mystical period, later crystallized in recordings such as “Organic Music Society”, “Relativity Suite”, “Brown Rice”, and the soundtrack for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain.
Steve Cole – Some + Mirrors CD (Artistry Music)
With an unusual amount of time on his hands during a year of lockdown, saxophonist/composer Steve Cole found himself pondering the difference between our authentic selves and the illusions we project to others. On his new album, Smoke + Mirrors, Cole offers up an intimately personal reflection of his own true self, free of trickery or sleight of hand.
Day Of The Beast – Indisputably Carnivorous CD (Prosthetic)
Virginia based death/thrash metal obsessed with horror, demonology, the occult, and the extinction of humans, The Day of the Beast’s fourth album is blackened riff-heavy death metal at its most extreme. [Vinyl edition due August 13.]
Evolfo – Site Out Of Mind CD/LP (Royal Mountain)
New album from the Brooklyn-based pysch rockers.
Rory Feek – Gentle Man CD (Gaither Music Group)
Debut solo album from Grammy-award-winning artist Rory Feek (of Joey + Rory) and the first he’s recorded since losing his wife and collaborator in 2016 to cancer. On Gentle Man, Rory tells stories about everyday small-town life, heartbreak, healing, and salvation. Guests include Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Allison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Sharon White, Sonya Isaacs, and Ben Isaacs.
Nils Frahm – Tripping With Nils Frahm CD/LP+MP3 (Erased Tapes)
When Nils Frahm kicked off his world tour at Funkhaus Berlin in January 2018 to bring his highly acclaimed studio album All Melody to the stage, an ambitious journey was just to begin. In December 2018, Nils Frahm eventually returned to Funkhaus Berlin to host another set of four shows Tripping With Nils Frahm is an illustration of Nils’ lauded ability as a composer and passionate live artist as well as the enchanting atmosphere of his captivating, and already legendary Funkhaus shows: An extraordinary musical trip – rare and exclusive, close and intimate, bringing a unique concert experience to the screen and wax.
Konstantia Gourzi – Anájikon CD (ECM)
Anájikon, the second ECM album by Athens-born/Munich-based Konstantia Gourzi, incorporates her chamber and orchestral music of the past decade. The composer also conducts the Lucerne Academy Orchestra here. Gourzi is particularly concerned with making connections between the arts, which also relates to the question of her own artistic identity and the influence of her origins. In Gourzi’s sound language, elements of different musical traditions repeatedly merge, and
East/West enter a dialogue.
Heavy Temple – Lupi Amoris CD/LP (Magnetic Eye)
As progressive as Baroness but unselfconscious, as heavy as Fu Manchu but more adventurous, this Philadelphia trio throw every lever in the riff-metal machine, yet also wield lyrical concepts that register on literary levels. [A limited-edition turquoise color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Helloween – Helloween CD (Nuclear Blast)
New release by the German metal band and their seven-member lineup. [Vinyl edition due July 16.]
Amy Helm – What The Flood Leaves Behind CD/LP (Renew)
Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Amy Helm’s third album, What The Flood Leaves Behind, is her most autobiographical yet, both in content and creation. These 10 songs represent a gathering of ideas and experiences, friends and collaborators. Yet, the album also marks a landing – a pause for the traveling musician and mother of two young boys who was seeking clarity in her calling and career. After making multiple albums and performing in far-flung places, Helm returned home to Woodstock’s Levon Helm Studios just before the pandemic to record What The Flood Leaves Behind and reclaim a sense of self. An impressive group of friends and collaborators joins Helm on the album. With musical polyglot Josh Kaufman (whose credits range from Taylor Swift’s Folklore to the Grammy-nominated Bonny Light Horseman and Bob Weir) producing and contributing on piano, guitar, and mandolin, the record brings Helm’s powerful, emotive vocals to the forefront of the album. The songs themselves reflect Helm’s inner strength and personal growth.
Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey – Our Back Pages CD/LP (Omnivore)
Our Back Pages is an album of dB’s music re-imagined by the band’s Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey. The collection featuring new acoustic versions of some of the duo’s favorite dB’s songs.
Stamey explains “Over the years, Peter and I have evolved acoustic versions of a number of our songs from our days together in The dB’s. While working on a duo project in my studio a decade ago we took some time to lay down some of these arrangements which are often quite different from the normal electric presentations. We are both always more concerned with making new music than with looking back so it stayed in the archives. But it seemed like the time was right, so we finally completed and mixed it all over the last two weeks just for this. We’d like to offer it now as a small contribution a little bit of light in these dark days.”
HorrorPops – Live At The Wiltern CD/2xLP (Cleopatra)
The first-ever live album from the psychobilly band. [A stand-alone Blu-ray and DVD edition is also available.]
Andrew Hung – Devastations CD/LP (Lex)
Hung’s second album Devastations is the ecstatic cry of color found between light and dark. The album documents a transitional period in Hung’s life; a stepping out from the shadows. Hung explores the deepest recesses of his psyche and in doing so finds himself reconciling the light and dark within. Underlying the propulsive beats and prisms of noise is a melodic tenderness that weaves throughout the album; an offering hand emerging from a turbulent sky.
Mississippi John Hurt – Mr. Hurt Goes To Washington CD (Sunset Blvd.)
In July of 1963, the Library of Congress was able to induce Mississippi John Hurt to come to the Coolidge Auditorium in DC and record dozens of songs as the crowning achievement of his legacy. Mississippi John Hurt sang with a warmth and reflective quality that made him sound like no other blues singer in the world, and these Library of Congress Recordings showcase his gospel-influenced style beautifully.
James – All The Colours Of You CD/2xLP (Missing Piece)
All The Colours Of You is James’ sixteenth studio album and first with Grammy-winning producer Jacknife Lee. It’s a widescreen LP that takes the band into new sonic territory – from lo-fi electronica to Can-like motorik Krautrock – while remaining unmistakably James. Tim Booth explains that working with Jacknife has “made us more accessible and we didn’t realize we weren’t accessible.” To Jacknife it sounds “spontaneous” and “fresh out of the box.” James co-founder and bass player Jim Glennie simply calls the music “massive.” It’s the sound of one of Britain’s best bands deconstructed and reassembled by one of the world’s most renowned producers.
Jasper The Vinyl Junkie – Vinyl Junkie Thangs CD/3xLP+7” (BBE)
A bumper collection of effortlessly cool, eclectic grooves for heads and feet. Featuring sounds from all-time music heroes like Fred Wesley, The Fatback Band and D-Train’s Hubert Eaves alongside lesser-known artists like Exile One, Ashantis and Funkshone, Jasper takes Vinyl Junkie Thangs above and beyond the norm for this type of collection by also including a smattering of contemporary edits, remixes and new creations.
K.C. Jones – Queen Of The In Between CD/LP (KC Jones Music)
K.C. Jones moves so effortlessly between genres, traditions, and musical concepts that it’s clear she was born with an insatiable artistic curiosity. From her deeply musical Appalachian and old-time roots, she grew into a prominent figure of the vibrant Lafayette, Louisiana music scene, learning Cajun French and writing and singing songs in dual languages with progressive Cajun bands like Grammy-nominated Feufollet and T’Monde along the way. Queen Of The In Between, her long-awaited debut solo record, knits together everything from classic country to psychedelic rock to contemporary indie roots singer-songwriters.
Katatonia – Night Is The New Day [Reissue/2009] CD+DVD (Peaceville)
Expanded reissue of the goth rock band’s eighth album featuring B-sides, remixes, live tracks, a 5.1 surround mix on DVD audio, hi res audio, and two promo videos.
Amythyst Kiah – Wary + Strange CD/LP (Rounder)
Wary + Strange marks the glorious collision of two vastly different worlds: the iconoclastic alt-rock that first sparked her musical passion, and the roots/old-time-music scene where Amythyst Kiah found breakout success in recent years. The collection – featuring 11 songs all written or co-written by the artist – finds Amythyst redrawing the lines of roots music, and then coloring completely outside of them with a collision of styles that is fearless, iconoclastic and exhilarating. Expanding on the role she staked out in Our Native Daughters – the Grammy-nominated, all-women-of-color supergroup she co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell – Amythyst’s writing on Wary + Strange is raw yet nuanced, as she expresses grief, alienation, and ultimately the hard-won triumph of total self-acceptance.
Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon III: The Chosen CD (Republic)
The seventh studio album by rapper Kid Cudi is the final installment of his Man On The Moon trilogy of albums (which includes 2009’s Man On The Moon: The End Of Day and 2010’s Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager). The 18-track affair was produced mainly by Cudi himself and Dot da Genius, along with Plain Pat, Emile Haynie and Mike Dean, all of whom contributed to the previous two Man on the Moon albums. Guest vocalists include Phoebe Bridgers, Pop Smoke, Skepta and Trippie Redd.
Angélique Kidjo – Mother Nature CD (Verve)
On Angelique Kidjo’s album Mother Nature, the four-time Grammy Award-winning luminary joins forces with many of her musical progeny, including some of the most captivating young creators of West African music, Afrobeat, Afro-pop, dancehall, hip-hop, and alt-R&B. The result is a truly visionary body of work, rooted in a deep understanding of musical tradition yet endlessly forward-thinking and inventive. [Vinyl edition due December 3.]
Legendary Pink Dots – Live At Lounge Ax 2xCD (Rustblade)
An archival live performance from the apocalyptic neofolk band. [Regular and deluxe vinyl + CD box set editions due July 2.]
Oh! The Horror – 1692 CD (Majik Ninja)
Oh! The Horror brings their second full-length record with more rap-infused hard rock tracks ready for rock radio! Featuring the singles, Dead Inside, Strange, and Eat Me Alive feat. Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens.
Rebelution – In The Moment CD (Easy Star)
Recorded remotely in the midst of the pandemic, In The Moment is deliberate and wide-ranging, infusing the quartet’s soulful, exhilarating brand of modern reggae with addictive pop hooks, alt-rock grit, and hip-hop grooves. The performances are bold and self-assured, and the production is equally ambitious, drawing on swirling reverb and trippy delay to create an immersive sonic universe that’s both futuristic and vintage all at once. Strip away the intoxicating atmospherics, though, and what remains is a work of profound reflection, a probing, revelatory meditation that balances joy and introspection in equal measure as the band contemplates the meaning of time and how to spend what precious little we have. [Vinyl edition due July 2.]
Saga – Saga [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (earMUSIC)
Saga – Images At Twilight [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (earMUSIC)
Saga – Silent Knight [Reissue/1980] CD/LP (earMUSIC)
As a band that had progressive elements naturally implanted into their music, the 1978 release of Saga’s debut came amidst the war cries of punk. Yet they managed to survive the onslaught, often by adding a contemporary edge to their music. They may have been influenced by fellow Canadians Rush, but there were also hints of Helix or even Triumph that would become part of their sound, and they would go on to create some dazzling albums.
Seventeen – 8th Mini Album `Your Choice’ [BESIDE version] CD (Pledis Entertainment)
Seventeen – 8th Mini Album `Your Choice’ [ONE SIDE version] CD (Pledis Entertainment)
Seventeen – 8th Mini Album `Your Choice’ [OTHER SIDE version] CD (Pledis Entertainment)
New release from the K-Pop sensations in a trio of collectable configurations.
Squarepusher – Feed Me Weird Things [Reissue/1996] CD/2xLP+10” (Warp)
Squarepusher’s sonic masterpiece and debut mind-melter of an LP Feed Me Weird Things has been reissued on CD and vinyl and includes two extra tracks which were first released on the B-side of the Squarepusher Plays… EP and later featured on the original Japanese release of this album. [A limited-edition clear vinyl pressing is also available.]
Styx – Crash Of The Crown CD/LP (UMe)
Styx created a unique sound through their subtle combination of hard rock, prog rock and a healthy understanding of what makes a power ballad, powerful. A new era of hope, survival, and prosperity comes calling on Styx’s new magnum opus, Crash Of The Crown, the band’s first studio album since 2017’s The Mission. Though the 15-track album takes a hard look at some inherently dark subjects, the prevalent light at the end of the tunnel eventually becomes each song’s focal point – a persistent fervor to keep moving forward and achieve the greater good. Drummer Todd Sucherman told Audio Ink Radio that the new material touches on the band’s “progressive side with always a big, heavy emphasis on melody and lyrics.”
Thy Kingdom Will Burn – Thy Kingdom Will Burn CD (Scarlet)
Melodic death metal from Finland.
Timo Tolkki’s Avalon – The Enigma Birth CD/2xLP (Frontiers)
Timo Tolkki once again connected with Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere, Archon Angel, Sweet Oblivion) to craft The Enigma Birth. As with previous Avalon albums it features an absolutely awesome cast of vocalists including James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Jake E. (Amaranthe, Cyrha), Marina La Torraca (Phantom Elite, Exit Eden), Brittney Hayes (Unleash The Archers), Raphael Mendes (Icon Of Sin), Fabio Lione (Rhapsody, Angra, Eternal Idol), Caterina Nix (Chaos Magic), and YouTube vocal star Pellek. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Rosie Tucker – Sucker Supreme CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Rosie Tucker is a dynamic creative force. Sucker Supreme, the L.A.-based singer/songwriter’s third full-length effort, is a coming-of-age album aching with self-discovery, self-definition, and self-redefinition. Nowhere is this self-exploration more poignant than on lead single “Habanero”, a song about waiting for a transformation that isn’t coming. [An indie store exclusive limited-edition vinyl pressing is available.]
Various Artists – The Trojan Story [Reissue/1971] CD (Trojan)
Overseen by Trojan’s Rob Bell, who put together the original comp, and musician Rusty Zinn, The Trojan Story reissue also comes with an illustrated 50-page booklet featuring new liner notes by Bell and Zinn. [Vinyl edition due July 9.]
Frank Zappa – Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show 2xCD/4xLP (Zappa Records)
The first posthumous archival release from the 1988 touring band focuses on the historical last show Frank Zappa ever played in the U.S. The live concert material is taken from Uniondale, NY; Providence, RI and Towson, MD newly remixed from the 48-track digital master tapes. It features the first official release of “The Beatles Medley” along with over 25 unreleased performances and liner notes by FZ’s drummer, Chad Wackerman and Vaultmeister, Joe Travers.
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Joe Bonamassa – Now Serving: Royal Tea: Live From The Ryman DVD/Blu-ray (J&R Adventures)
Stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions now available. 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
HorrorPops – Live At The Wiltern Blu-ray+DVD (Cleopatra)
The first-ever live release from the psychobilly band.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
Accept – Too Mean To Die 2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
Limited-edition glow-in-the-dark color vinyl pressing of the heavy metal band’s 26th album and their fifth featuring vocalist Mark Tornillo.
Assorted Orchids – Assorted Orchids LP (Whale Watch)
White color vinyl pressing. Assorted Orchids’ self-titled debut album consists entirely of steel and nylon- stringed acoustic guitar inspired by the ornate and intricate yet rhythmic and pulsating fingerpicking patterns of Mississippi John Hurt, Donovan, and Nick Drake.
Natik Awayez – Manbarani LP (Sublime Frequencies)
Unique contemporary Arabic folk music sounding unfrozen and released from another time, Natik Awayez has created a pure, expressive sound breaking free like a bundle of torn, faded oracles spreading far and wide across the empty spaces. Rhythmic percussive arrangements by Khaled Yassine are the foundation for oud, violin, buzuq, and Awayez’s lush voice, which floats atop the instrumentation like a series of prayers baking deep inside the ovens of sadness and despair, only to manifest as inspiration for the soul’s navigation towards redemption.
Blackfoot – Strikes [Reissue/1981] LP (Friday Music)
180gm audiophile red color vinyl reissue of the platinum-certified third full-length album by the heavy Southern rock band.
Blue Lab Beats – We Will Rise LP (Blue Note)
Blue Lab Beats has been taking jazz into the stratosphere with a futuristic melting pot fueled by hip-hop, Afrobeat and electronica. They represent a generation inspired by not only the forebearers of jazz but also the pioneers of hip-hop’s golden age where musicality was a primary principle.
Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth LP (Prosthetic)
Limited-edition color vinyl pressing. Recorded in June 2020 whilst the United States of America teemed with discordance and conflict under the heat of a sweltering summer and a tyrannical leader, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth evolved into a document of its surroundings, a product of its environment. At Blackheart Sound in Manchester, New Hampshire the two members of Body Void worked with producer Eric Sauter, to process their feelings – both those that had been long festering, and those which were new and raw – into the four tracks that comprise the album.
Mike Casey – Law Of Attraction (The Originals) LP (Mike Casey)
A versatile, thematic album crossing styles and exploring hip hop fusion, odd meter funk, spiritual jazz and post-bop.
Cavetown – Lemon Boy [Reissue/2018] LP (Many Hats Distribution)
Limited-edition red color vinyl pressing. The son of a professional flautist and Cambridge University’s director of music, Robin Skinner – who’s performed under the name Cavetown since 2013 – has musical talent literally embedded in his DNA. At age 14, he started posting original songs and covers on YouTube alongside daily musings and behind-the-scenes vignettes, creating a barrier-free connection with his fans as they saw themselves in his music. His whole-hearted optimism and honest songwriting are reflected in effortless melodies about yearning to make sense of life.
Crack The Sky – Crack The Attic (Best Of Crack The Sky) 2xLP (Renaissance)
Crack Attic is a compilation of songs from the first five studio albums by Crack The Sky. It draws most heavily from their 1975 debut and 1976 follow-up, with more than half of the tracks here taken from those two releases.
Crumbsuckers – Life Of Dreams [Reissue/1985] LP (Red Music Legacy)
Limited color vinyl reissue of the crossover thrash band’s debut album.
Decapitated – The First Damned [Reissue/2000] LP (Nuclear Blast)
Limited red and black splatter color vinyl reissue of the demo compilation by the Polish technical death metal band.
The Frank Derrick Total Experience – You Betcha! [Reissue/1974] LP (Tidal Waves)
If you enjoy uplifting and hard-swinging jazz, slightly mysterious at times (bordering on the spiritual), lots of funky/soul influences and bouncing energetic grooves… then this is a highly recommended gem for your record collection (and a must-have for seekers of rare grooves).
Deströyer 666 – Cold Steel…For An Iron Age [Reissue/2002] LP (Season Of Mist)
With their debut album Unchain The Wolves (1997), Australian warmongers Deströyer 666 quickly gained international acclaim. The band followed it up with the even stronger Phoenix Rising (2000), which saw the band relocating to Europe in order to satisfy the soaring demand for touring and festival shows.
De’Wayne – Stains LP (Hopeless)
Limited-edition red color vinyl pressing. Starting in Houston and moving to Los Angeles De’Wayne is an alternative artist who is just as inspired by punk acts like The Stooges as he is hip-hop artists like Andre 3000. His debut album Stains covers personal topics like sex, politics, and his pride and struggles growing up as black man in the United States.
Dirty Art Club – FMTI LP (Paxico)
Dirty Art Club’s songs can be atmospheric, or fanciful, and full of humor, with stacked vocal loops and swelling keyboards, sudden changes in tone, style or melodic configuration, and a lightness that belies the intensity required to compose the individual album tracks which form their records.
D.R.I. – Four Of A Kind [Reissue/1988] LP (Metal Blade)
D.R.I. – Thrash Zone [Reissue/1988] LP (Metal Blade)
Limited color vinyl reissues of the of the aggressive, hardcore/punk thrash band’s fourth and fifth albums.
Eastern Rebellion – Eastern Rebellion [Reissue/1976] LP (Tidal Waves)
Limited 180gm clear vinyl pressing. In 1975, four legends teamed up and gave birth to one of the best rhythm groups of the 1970s… four musicians that had played music at the highest level all their lives and gained their status as both stand-alone artists and important sidemen. Each of them had participated in many of jazz’s great moments and all four shared the ability, documented on many albums, to inspire their fellow musicians to even greater heights. In 1975, the Eastern Rebellion collective was born.
Foghat – Stone Blue [Reissue/1978] LP (Friday Music)
180gm audiophile blue color vinyl pressing. Progenitors of blues-rock bliss, Foghat’s quartet of guitarists Lonesome Dave Peverett and Rod Price, bassist Craig MacGregor and drummer Roger Earl were as tight as any rock band before or since. Produced by the great Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix and Kiss), 1978’s melodic and soulful Stone Blue finds the band balancing their blues-rock power with a more commercial minded approach.
Aretha Franklin – I Knew You Were Waiting: The Best Of Aretha Franklin 1980-2014 2xLP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
A collection of Aretha’s greatest hits from 1980-2014, including her versions of songs with George Benson, Eurythmics, George Michael, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Michael McDonald and C+C Music Factory.
Garoad – Passenger LP (Ship To Shore Phone Co.)
Bringing city pop sensibilities into the modern age and smoothly mixing it with electronica, Garoad (aka Michael Kelly) creates five groove-laden pieces that wouldn’t sound amiss on an ‘80s jazz fusion compilation album or even in a newly-released contemporary Japanese role-playing game.
Getting The Fear – Death Is Bigger 1984-85 LP (Dais)
Getting The Fear was formed by The Southern Death Cult rhythm section of Barry Jepson, David ‘Buzz’ Burrows, and Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi, joined by Temple Ov Psychic Youth associate Paul ‘Bee’ Hampshire on vocals. Galvanized by Margaret Thatcher’s iron fist austerity policies and the cultural liberation of punk, the group blazed to creative fruition, quickly landing a lucrative deal with RCA. [A limited-edition bone white color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Giveon – When It’s All Said And Done… Take Time LP (Epic)
The Grammy-nominated singing sensation’s debut EP was met with critical acclaim, as everyone from Billboard to NPR recognized this rising star’s reach. His EP When It’s All Said And Done, picked up where Take Time left off, detailing the peaks and valleys of a love story gone awry. This album combines the two limited edition EPs into a single package with an extra track.
Guru Guru – Hinten LP (Cleopatra)
Limited purple and orange color vinyl pressing of the landmark 1970 debut album from the krautrock pioneers.
Dagar Gyil Ensemble Of Lawra – Dagara LP (Sublime Frequencies)
Field recordings of Lobi traditional xylophone (gyil) music recorded by Hisham Mayet on location in Ghana’s Upper West Region, West Africa in 2019.
Half Moon Run – Inwards & Onwards 10”+MP3 (Glassnote)
Half Moon Run is a Canadian indie rock band based in Montreal, Quebec. The group is known for their heavy use of layered percussion, group vocal harmonies, and for playing multiple instruments during live performances.
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands LP (Season Of Mist)
Deluxe blue color vinyl pressing of the technical death metal juggernaut’s seventh album.
Iggy and The Stooges – Jesus Loves The Stooges LP (Cleopatra)
Limited gold and black splatter color vinyl pressing. A collection of rare studio recordings.
The Interrupters – Live In Tokyo! LP (Hellcat)
Los Angeles based alt-rock quartet The Interrupters release their first-ever live album Live In Tokyo! With a set list that captures the live power that made them one of the busiest touring bands in the world, Live In Tokyo! features fan favorite songs from their three Hellcat Records albums including hit tracks such as “She’s Kerosene”, “Gave You Everything”, “Take Back The Power” and “Bad Guy”. [CD edition due July 9.]
Milt Jackson & Ray Charles – Soul Brothers [Reissue/1958] LP (Atlantic)
Mono vinyl reissue. Soul Brothers offers the rare opportunity to hear this meeting between jazz giant and vibes pioneer, Milt Jackson, and the godfather of R&B and one of the greatest musicians of all time, Ray Charles.
Joecephus and The George Jonestown Massacre – Heirs Of The Dog: A Tribute To Hair Of The Dog LP (Saustex Media)
The third in a series of charity-oriented tribute albums by Memphis-based band Joecephus and The George Jonestown Massacre. This album is their take on Nazareth’s iconic and career-making, best-selling double-platinum Hair Of The Dog.
Ayron Jones – Child Of The State LP (Varvatos)
Guitarist/singer Ayron Jones is the new sound of Seattle. The gritty, genre-blending artist is an amalgam of the city’s rich history. Child Of The State is Jones’ anticipated debut. As he ascends in the rock world, he continues to break barriers.
Howard Jones – The 12” Album [Reissue/1984] LP (Cherry Red)
Translucent red vinyl pressing of the new wave/synth pop producer’s 1984 remix album.
Kansas – Point Of Know Return: Live & Beyond 3xLP+2xCD (Inside Out Music)
22 songs selected from 12 shows recorded in 2019 and 2020 during the legendary progressive rockers’ Point Of Know Return Anniversary Tour.
Koralle & Kuranes – Beat Kiosk LP (Melting Pot Music)
The third album by Italian beatmaker Koralle is collaborative project with fellow Italian beatsmith Kuranes. 19 jazz-induced instrumentals with an Italian touch.
Lambchop – Showtunes LP+MP3 (Merge)
In late 2019, Kurt Wagner was experimenting with something new, something that would eventually reveal itself as Lambchop’s Showtunes. By taking simple guitar tracks and converting them into MIDI piano tracks, “Suddenly I discovered I could ‘play’ the piano,” he says. “It was a revelation that from those conversions, I was able to manipulate each note and add, subtract, arrange the chords and melody into a form that didn’t have any of the limitations I had with my previous methods of writing with a guitar.” Removing these limitations led to a surprising new sound, something akin to show tunes but with edges sanded down and viewed through Kurt’s own specific lens.
The Lounge Society – Silk For The Starving 12” (PIAS America)
Hailing from the surprising West Yorkshire musical hot spot of Hebden Bridge, The Lounge Society is a teenage quartet, birthed out of the same Calder sound that has given the world The Orielles and WH Lung among others. Their debut EP, Silk For The Starving crackles with the type of listless, nervous energy that comes when you’re teenager who has been denied all the simple pleasures in life, and robbed of a precious summer that you’ll never get back.
Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath – Melodies Record Club #001: Four Tet Selects LP (Melodies Int’l)
“London-based reissue label Melodies International, run by Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd) and Mafalda, have just launched their Melodies Record Club series featuring ‘mini compilations’ in a twelve-inch format selected by notable DJs and artists. The series kicks off with a bang, with highly-acclaimed and innovative producer and DJ Four Tet (aka Kieran Hebden) selecting two peak-time jazz dance classics that he used to spin regularly at the now legendary Plastic People nightclub in London.” – The Beat Caffeine
Merzbow / Prurient – Black Crows Cyborg LP (Hospital Productions)
Black Crows Cyborg pits the noise titans at their quietest and most concentrated in contrasting sides of pure noise magick. [A limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing is also available.]
My Dying Bride – Evinta [Reissue/2011] 2xLP (Peaceville)
First-time vinyl pressing. Hailed as one of the most instrumental and influential forces in doom metal since their inception in 1990, UK’s My Dying Bride has forged an illustrious career through a flawless discography of immaculately crafted, haunting art. 2011’s Evinta contains re-worked melodies and themes from the band’s extensive back catalogue molded into epic, flowing symphonic compositions, incorporating specially recorded vocals and passages from Aaron Stainthorpe and French Opera singer Lucie Roche.
Jeb Loy Nichols – Jeb Loy LP (Timmion)
10 shining examples of rootsy modern R&B that fuse together southern soul, folk music and world class balladry. [CD edition due June 25.]
Nickelman – Mangoes LP (Urbnet)
Japanese beat maker Yuki Kitano’s commitment to music began when he was thirteen, crediting skateboarding culture as his intro to the sound of hip-hop. Better known as Nickelman, he started making beats with a MPC2000XL and later in 2008 established the independent record label deepconstructionrecords in his home city of Osaka. His new album, Mangoes, is full of fine beats and will certainly attract hip hop junkies and vinyl diggers around the world.
Numenorean – Home [Reissue/2016] LP (Season Of Mist)
Red color vinyl pressing of the black metal band’s debut album.
The Obsessed – The Church Within [Reissue/1994] LP (Red Music Legacy)
Biker metal, doom metal, stoner metal… whatever metal subgenre you want to fit him into, Scott Wino Weinrich has been at the forefront of it. The unmistakable rasp of his lead vocals and thick, fuzzy Gibson guitar tone have spearheaded bands ranging from Saint Vitus to Spirit Caravan to Probot, but for many his crowning achievement (and most accessible one) was The Church Within, the last album he made with his first band, The Obsessed, for Columbia in 1994.
Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Sound System – Super Ape Returns To Conquer LP (Echo Beach)
Limited color vinyl pressing. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry uses a modern sound system to revisit his classic Black Ark album that defined Jamaican dub music in the ‘70s, reincarnating the magic for the sound system generation.
Phish – LP On LP 01 (Ruby Waves 7/14/19) LP (Jemp)
Phish – LP On LP 02 (Waves 5/26/11) LP (Jemp)
Two live sets on color vinyl. Ruby Waves was recorded at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI. Waves was recorded at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY during Phish’s tech rehearsal.
Procol Harum – Grand Hotel [Reissue/1973] LP (Esoteric Antenna)
Grand Hotel is the sixth studio album by Procol Harum. Released in 1973, it signaled a change of direction for the band. Although the band had gone through significant personnel changes in previous years, the band would enter its most stable phase with this line up.
The Selector – Too Much Pressure [Reissue/1980] 2xLP+7” (Chrysalis)
Vinyl reissue of the first album by the British ska band. Includes the bonus 7” single “On My Radio”.
Jonathan Scales Fourchestra – Pillar LP (Ropeadope)
Jonathan Scales is one of the most innovative steel pannists on the planet and is redefining and challenging traditional expectations of his signature instrument. In his hands, the sonic palette of an instrument often associated with cruise ships and tropical resorts is radically expanded to mimic the role of horns, piano, vibraphone or marimba due to his stunning, virtuosic technique. Scales’ mesmerizing compositions have captivated listeners and elevated him to the status of a true composer, forging new territory in the medium of instrumental music.
Septicflesh – Communion LP (Season Of Mist)
Septicflesh – The Great Mass LP (Season Of Mist)
Limited-edition color vinyl pressings. In 2008 Greek death metal legends Septicflesh returned from a five-year hiatus with Communion, a true monster of an album. 2011’s The Great Mass is a symphonic masterpiece that constitutes a quantum leap in the art of amalgamating orchestral music with heavy metal.
Sly & Robbie – Red Hills Road 12” (Taxi)
Sly & Robbie have been at the vanguard of innovation in Jamaican music for 40+ years. Often imitated, never equaled, rather than bemoan copycats, they just forge ahead, not looking back. “On Red Hills Road”, they continue to show the rest of the world how it’s done: catchy danceable beats courtesy of Sly and lines heavy as lead bass thanks to Robbie.
The Specials – Ghost Town [Reissue/1981] 7”/12” (Chrysalis)
Half-speed master. The Specials are one of the defining bands of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s along with Jerry Dammers iconic label Two Tone Records. They combined Jamaican ska and Rocksteady mixed with the energy of punk and launched a whole Ska Revival which paved the way for fellow likeminded bands Madness, The Beat and The Selecter to release their first singles.
Sugar Candy Mountain – Impression LP (ORG Music)
Sugar Candy Mountain gallops seamlessly from tripped out Tropicália, Shuggie Otis-inspired grooves, kaleidoscopic psych jams, classic ‘70s reverie, and nods to krautrock without ever skipping a beat. Impression is a carousel ride through time with the Bonnie & Clyde of psych-pop, where classic meets contemporary.
Devin Townsend – Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live In Leeds 2xLP (Century Media)
Devin Townsend brings to you the Devolution Series: a grouping of oddities and interesting material that he would like people to hear, but that aren’t necessarily a ‘major release’. The series will include all the quarantine songs and concerts, as well as various live shows from the past few years. The first release, Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live In Leeds, is a remixed and remastered version of the Live In Leeds show that was originally included on the Empath: Ultimate Edition as a video asset.
Rian Treanor – Obstacle Scattering 12” (Planet Mu)
Rian Treanor’s Obstacle Scattering EP arrives in a flurry of disorienting rhythmic bursts and de-purposed rave hallmarks. The four-track EP follows the Yorkshire producer’s acclaimed File Under UK Metaplasm, an album that welded elements from the UK’s sprawling dance music history with genre-breaking sounds from further afield. Here, Rian goes straight for the jugular with four tracks assembled specifically for the dancefloor.
True Loves – Sunday Afternoon LP (Color Red)
Blue marbled color vinyl. Sunday Afternoon by the Seattle-based instrumental soul group True Loves is as sweet and carefree as the imagery provoked by its very title. The soul outfit’s sophomore LP provides a soundtrack for a block party that summons the entire neighborhood.
Undeath – Lesions Of A Different Kind LP (Prosthetic)
Limited-edition picture disc vinyl pressing. “Skull crushing death metal reigns supreme; if the blood-spattered glory of Carcass is your (body) bag, if the headbang-inducing brutality of Cannibal Corpse is too much for you to resist, then Undeath have served up a feast for you. Lesions Of A Different Kind is the sound of three lifetimes of subterranean sickness and death metal worship coalescing in a severe brain-bludgeoning unlike anything you’ve heard before.” For fans of Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Deicide, Suffocation, Obituary, Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death, Grave, Dismember, Sanguisugabogg, and Frozen Soul.
Zapp & Roger – All The Greatest Hits [Reissue/1993] 2xLP (Rhino)
Double color vinyl LP pressing. Zapp & Roger’s first greatest hits compilation from their first four albums, originally released on Reprise in 1993. Includes “More Bounce To The Ounce” sampled by The Notorious B.I.G., and “Computer Love” sampled by 2Pac.
Don Zilla – Ekizikiza Mubwengula LP (Hakuna Kulala)
A labyrinthine album that weaves freewheeling dance sub-genres into a bejeweled tapestry.
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