News
What's New 7-3-20
Premiering 11 new studio performances and featuring original artwork created by his son Micah, First Rose Of Spring finds Willie working again with longtime friend and producer Buddy Cannon. Alongside new tunes, Willie pays musical tribute to a variety of pop and country songwriters and performers, including Toby Keith, Billy Joe Shaver and Pete Graves.
Interloper sees the band adding new layers to their lush and mesmerizing songwriting style while expanding on their most esoteric and thought-provoking themes. Holy Wave weaves together a contemplative tapestry that can serve as a road map for the diffident, a soundtrack to self-realization, or simply an invitation to escape.
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Grammy-award, multi-platinum artist Jill Scott's debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?. Limited Edition double LP pressed on blue vinyl. Jilly from Philly channels the feisty funk of Betty Davis’ “Nasty Gal” and the soft-lensed romance of Minnie Riperton’s “Perfect Angel.”
New Release Round-Up 07-03-20
Paul Weller’s 15th solo album, On Sunset, is a soul album. At the same time it’s an electronic album, an orchestral album, an album packed with classic pop songs and heart-tugging ballads, and an album filled with touches of experimentalism. It’s also an album that sees Weller taking a rare glance into the rear-view mirror as he speeds into the 2020s.
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Pure X - Pure X - Fire Talk Records
Pure X is the last band, has always been the last band. In 38 minutes, Pure X weave a culmination, all the delays and distortion, the grinding mortar of touring, the low-tide pulling them out from a cult band, to a legacy band, it’s here, understood and forgiven.
Willie Nelson - First Rose Of Spring - Sony Legacy
A new studio album from the time-defying legend who has won Grammys for his last two albums (2019’s Ride Me Back Home just won Best Solo Country Performance and 2018’s My Way won Best Traditional Pop Album). While his last few albums have focused on facing the reality of mortality and crying or laughing in its face, this one is focused much more on celebrating the now and embracing life, love and friends & family. The album includes new songs written by Willie Nelson and long time producer Buddy Cannon combined with new songs written by Chris Stapleton and Toby Keith plus a handful of classic songs that Willie interprets his way, all performed with an amazing band of Nashville gunslingers.
Stu Larsen has no fixed residence...all he owns is a suitcase. You can find him in his native Australia, in Spain, Japan or South America before he picks up and leaves for his next destination. The Queensland, Australia-born singer-songwriter, and narrator packed up his life in a suitcase and has circled the globe on a near twelve-year and five-continent international trip. He has chronicled this journey through his music, including his newest full-length album Marigold.
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Holy Wave - Interloper - Reverberation Appreciation
Holy Wave is a band of multi-instrumentalists from Austin, TX. Originally from El Paso, the band’s sound has evolved into a unique blend of sun baked surf-psychedelia. Holy Wave creates a brand of psych that brings to mind fellow Texans like The 13th Floor Elevators and modern contemporaries like The Black Angels and Night Beats, dyed in carefully constructed noise with an attention to detail echoing the work of influences like My Bloody Valentine and Spectrum.
UPCOMING RELEASES
Following the success of the 2019 debut release, The Gereg features viral rock hits "Wolf Totem" and "Yuve Yuve Yu", with additional features from Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach and Danny Case of From Ashes To New, whose version of "Yuve Yuve Yu" reached top 10 at rock radio. Hailing from Mongolia, The Hu are unlike any other rock band in the world, introducing their new style of music they call "hunnu rock" - from the Mongolian root word for human being, "hu". Since their release, the band has been #1 on the Billboard World Albums Chart, #1 on the Top New Artist Albums, and Top 5 Globally on Hard Rock Music Album Charts (US, Canada, UK, and more). They have toured the world extensively, with sold out shows in Europe, the UK, and the United States. The deluxe CD includes the full album, as well as 3 acoustic tracks and 3 featured versions.
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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.
What's New 6-26-20
Haim regularly push themselves out of their comfort zones, experimenting with glitchy electronics, slatherings of sax, and dubby syncopation (“Another Try”, which feels like a sparkier sibling to Lana Del Rey’s cover of Sublime’s ‘Doin’ Time’). Between all of the new, though, the sisters are still experts at deploying irresistible rock, like the rousing, shout-a-long brilliance of “The Steps.”
Grey Daze, Chester Bennington’s pre-Linkin Park outfit, had just reformed before the untimely death of Bennington in 2017. Amends feature’s remastered vocals from one of rock’s most recognizable voices. It’s an origin story and a deeply intimate full circle moment among friends and fans. Featuring multiple guests from contemporaries such as Korn, Helmet, Bush, and Breaking Benjamin.
Corb Lund embraces his rich and rustic western heritage with a style that’s unique, honest and resolute, while touching on a range of cowboy themes — from rough-and-tumble tales of lawless frontier saloons, to the somber realities of running a modern family ranch. It’s a classic sound with a twist, something of a rarity these days, but one that evokes the spirit of the American West, past and present.
Monovision is Grammy Award-winning artist Ray LaMontagne’s eighth studio album. The 10 new tracks see Ray not only writing and producing but also add on duties of engineering as well as performing all the instrument. The guitar-driven single, “Strong Enough,” features Ray’s signature raspy vocals his fans have come to love.
The legendary dancehall singer’s 13th studio album - his first since Grammy-winning Before the Dawn in 2010. Banton says of the album, “[it] comprises 20 tracks. Why? Because it’s 2020... 2020 has a deeper understanding in my mind. It resonates with a clear vision and seeing things for what it is. After a 10-year absence, we try to give the people some music for that missing time.“
Like A House On Fire is an album that shows the group's continuity of a more straight forward and melodic hard rock sound, as established on their previous self-titled fifth album, while also shifting into different genres. It’s also yet another Asking Alexandria album that will divide opinion. And, once again, the band themselves are unlikely to care.
Color of Noize reflects a melting pot of influence and experience with jazz flow, hip-hop groove, soulful depth, spiritual uplift, and creative fire — but the concept is best described in more abstract terms. As Hodge lays it out, “It’s the contrast, it’s the beauty, it’s the chaos, it’s the freedom — all of that.”
New Release Round-Up 06-26-20
HAIM - Women In Music Pt. III - Sony
Women In Music Pt. III is the third studio album by American band HAIM. Released through Columbia Records. It was produced by Danielle HAIM, Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid, and was preceded by the singles 'Summer Girl', 'Now I'm in It' and 'Hallelujah'.
Corb Lund embraces his rich and rustic western heritage with a style that’s unique, honest and resolute, while touching on a range of cowboy themes — from rough-and-tumble tales of lawless frontier saloons, to the sombre realities of running a modern family ranch. As a descendant of many generations of rodeo contestants and ranchers, he sings about a life that he and his ancestors have lived themselves, paired with his quick-witted, wry observations of today’s world. As a result of his heritage and the ten years he spent touring the world with his indie rock band, Corb’s writing resonates emphatically with rural and urban audiences alike. It’s a classic sound with a twist, something of a rarity these days, but one that evokes the spirit of the American West, past and present. Corb Lund’s 11th studio album, Agricultural Tragic, finally puts a name to the genre he’s been embodying all of these years.
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Grey Daze - Amends - Loma Vista
Prior to his untimely passing, Chester personally announced a 2017 Grey Daze reunion on social media. As he never got the chance to launch the reunion himself, his bandmates, friends, family, and various collaborators stepped up to give the music the second chance it deserved, finishing what the late singer started. The musicians—longtime members Sean Dowdell [drums, backing vocals] and Mace Beyers [bass] as well as Cristin Davis [guitar] recruited in 2017—curated eleven tracks from their catalog and rerecorded the music in 2019 to accompany Chester’s original vocals, which comprised many unheard takes from the vault. Released by Tom Whalley’s Loma Vista Recordings and produced by Jay Baumgardner, the result illuminates the prophetic power of an icon on the cusp of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most significant revolutions and deepens his already venerable legacy in the process.
The Rolling Stones - Living In A Ghost Town [Limited Edition 10in Orange Single] - Interscope Records
Limited orange colored ten-inch vinyl pressing. Following the band's Global Citizen performance, The Rolling Stones have released a new song, "Living In A Ghost Town". This is the band's first new material in eight years. The track was written by Mick and Keith which was created/recorded in Los Angeles and London while in isolation. An official music video showcasing empty cities around the world premiered recently.
Khruangbin - Mordechai - Dead Oceans
Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. But on its third album, it’s finally speaking out loud. Mordechai features vocals prominently on nearly every song, a first for the mostly instrumental band. It’s a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin’s transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that’s always defined it. And it all started with them coming home.
![Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Mothers 1970 [4CD Box Set]](/Photo/418463433920 "Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Mothers 1970 [4CD Box Set]")
![Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Mothers 1970 [4CD Box Set]](/Photo/418463433921:215 "Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Mothers 1970 [4CD Box Set]")
Frank Zappa & The Mothers -"The Mothers 1970" - A 4-CD collection commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Mothers with 70 unreleased tracks. Personnel includes Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan (Flo & Eddie), George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons and Aynsley Dunbar. Featuring unheard studio sessions from Trident Studios in London England with engineer Roy Thomas Baker, and historical live performances mostly captured by Zappa's own tape recorder. Clam Shell Box with 4 discs, booklet and a button.
![Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Mothers 1970 [4CD Box Set]](/Photo/418463150985:120 "Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Mothers 1970 [4CD Box Set]")
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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.
Read more...What's New 6-19-20
Although the album directs itself at the failures of people to love and be loved, it also seeks to restore justice and attain blissful union. Its arc crests through the dark towards the light and learns how to dance with the dizzying rhythms of the heart. The songs bubble, sustain, dissolve, expand, retract.
Guitarists Mitch Galbraith says of the new album, “It’s pushing forward into the unknown.” An unknown that consists of 70's guitar rock, country and western, old school funk and synth-heavy new wave to create a deeply contemplative and atmospheric odyssey reminiscent of music legends including Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd.
One of the most important musical influences of the 20th century, Peggy Lee wrote over 200 songs, recorded over 1,100 masters, and had over 100 chart hits throughout her seven-decade career. As a salute to the music legend, and celebrating her landmark 100th birthday, comes a brand new career-spanning collection, Ultimate Peggy Lee.
What's New 6-12-20
Ambrose Akinmusire follows his acclaimed, genre-busting best-of-2018 manifesto Origami Harvest with another visionary statement on his new album on the tender spot of every calloused moment, which finds the trumpeter examining blackness on an uncompromising set of modern jazz laced with a heavy feeling of the blues.
Growing out of Jones’ acclaimed singles series, the unreleased songs unexpectedly congealed into an album of tremendous depth and beauty. Featuring a range of collaborators from Brian Blade to Jeff Tweedy, Pick Me Up Off The Floor is connected by the sly groove of her piano trios, lyrics that confront loss and portend hope, and a mood that leans into darkness before ultimately finding the light.
The highly anticipated new album, which marks his return to creating music after a four year hiatus from his previous album Phase, was self-produced with additional production by Jacknife Lee, James Flannigan and Brett Cox. The album compiles all four individual volumes of Love, Death & Dancing, kicking off with lead single "Time."
Hailed as an “Americana prodigy” by Rolling Stone and one of the “teenagers shaping pop” by The New Yorker, Brue has always been an artist seemingly wise beyond his years. But on Crash Test Kid he often gets at the heart of a matter or melody with just a simple but insightful turn of phrase or cleverly-picked guitar.
What's New
In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Frank Sinatra's Nice 'n' Easy, the album will be remastered and released on June 5th. Features the original 12 tracks like "The Nearness of You", as well as full sessions of "I've Got A Crush on You" and "Nice 'n' Easy" that include previously unreleased alternate takes and reveals Sinatra studio chatter.
For years, Trixie Mattel has broken boundaries not only for drag performers in the music world but also for LGBTQ+ artists in the genres of country, folk and Americana. Barbara is laid out to reflect a vintage, plugged-in late 60s/early 70s vibe. It hearkens back to the introspective folk that took Trixie to the top of the charts (for her second album One Stone) with quieter country-tinged songs.
After years spent looking out at landscapes and loved ones and an increasingly unstable world, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have turned their gaze inward, to their individual pasts and the places that inform them, on their second full-length, Sideways to New Italy.
Sports Team, a band of six singular characters who have been variously described as one of the most raucous, electrifying and chaotic acts in the UK release their debut album Deep Down Happy. The highly anticipated record, is their first release on the legendary Island Records label.
A NOTE ABOUT RECORD STORE DAY 2020
Due to the current circumstances RSD 2020 has once again had to adapt and here is the latest information from Record Store Day:
Since 2008, Record Store Day has grown into the world’s largest single-day music event, shining a light on the culture of the indie record store across the globe. In 2020, that world is different, so Record Store Day will be too. RSD is now scheduled to be celebrated with special, properly distanced release dates on Saturdays in August, September and October.
Record Store Day will look very different this year, but supporting indie record stores may be more important than ever. We don't know what sort of rules will be in place, or what sort of gatherings people will be in the mood for this year, so we're focusing on the music and getting the really great titles on the RSD Official List this year into the stores and into your hands, in the most financially and socially responsible way.
The titles on the RSD 2020 Official List, launched on March 5th, will be released at participating record stores on one of these three RSD Drops: August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th. The new version of The List, with newly assigned RSD Drops dates will launch on June 1 so check back here for a look at when you'll be able to pick up the titles on your RSD 2020 wishlist at your local record store.