Featured Releases
Lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey describes the album as “an angry, old blue lament which finds its salvation in family, friends, the band and new life.” It is a record that lyrically takes in moments of deep personal loss whilst reflecting its times by confronting head-on the spectres of injustice and division not just in the UK but across the world. It is a record that could only have been made in the 21st Century.
Selections From The Vault features tracks taken from Steve Miller’s career spanning deluxe 3 CD + DVD box set, Welcome To The Vault. The clear vinyl 1LP edition features 8 tracks, all of which are previously unreleased. Highlights include Rock’n MeAlternate Version 1, Crossroads Live and Fly Like An EagleAlternate Version, plus Steve Miller’s version of Love Is Strange, which has never appeared on a release until now.
This Limited Edition Freddie Mercury solo career hard slipcase box set includes 3CDs, DVD/Blu-ray, 120-page hardback book featuring rare photos of Freddie + quotes, Poster + Postcard.
Iconic. Incomparable. Irreplaceable. But never, ever boring. Freddie Mercury's spirit is every bit as central to the fabric of popular music today as it was during his unforgettable lifetime. Now comes a unique release to showcase the full range of his musical talents and passions, and their indelible imprint on the worlds of pop, opera and far beyond.
Down ‘n’ Outz Joe Elliott’s side project away from Def Leppard release their brand new Studio album This Is How We Roll. The band is founded and fronted by Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and backed by members of The Quireboys, Wayward Sons and Vixen. This album made up of original songs all written by Joe Elliott (bar a cover of the Tubes White Punks on Dope is the band’s first album since the Further adventures of was released in 2014. The album produced by Joe and long time Def Leppard engineer Ronan McHugh is the first to contain new songs (the previous albums were as mentioned cover versions) and sees the band channeling a very 70’s feels over 11 new songs and one cover version.
“It's like a coming-of-age crisis,” says Daniel Shultz about Out of the Blue, the messy and melodic debut album from his band, Dan Luke and The Raid. “It’s about being in that space in your 20s where you’re trying to get your shit together and figure things out in life. You’re dealing with your problems”—the singer, songwriter and guitarist pauses—“even as you’re going out and partying and getting into trouble all the time.”
Shultz and his Dan Luke & The Raid band mates know a thing or two about the last part of that equation, as evidenced by the songs and subject matter on Out of the Blue. Throughout the album’s 10 tracks, people are passed out on curbs under neon signs (“Black Cat Heavy Metal”), breaking hearts over rolled-up dollar bills (“Exoskeleton”), leaving baggies lying in passenger seats (“Money Mouth”) and faking smiles and feeling ashamed (“Golden Age”). Legs are bleeding, faces are numb and Shultz declares his band to be the “diamond kings of smut.” All the while, the music throbs and pulses and twitches and buzzes with the energy and enthusiasm and inexperience of youth, bursting with harsh, distorted guitar chords, blown-out synths squiggles and hopped-up rhythms—as well as, on occasion, moments of stunning and sincere melodic beauty.
With the weight and experience of events that have been at times joyful and sad, poignant and puerile, triumphant and tragic, Dan Luke and The Raid continue to carve out their future, one musical moment at a time. “What we want to do is create music, and create music in a way where people feel something,” Shultz says. “And when we see that happening it’s an amazing thing.”
US exclusive LP pressing on Forest green/tan mix with red and yellow splatter colored vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with fold out poster + Animated Zoetrope Labels
PETRA was written, produced, and performed by acclaimed multi-instrumentalist/ songwriter Anthony LaMarca, also known for his role as guitarist in The War On Drugs. Like so many Midwestern musicians before him, LaMarca left his beloved hometown of Youngstown, OH for Brooklyn but returned in 2014 and began work as The Building, often joined by his brother Angelo (guitar) and wife Megan (cello) on a series of EPs and albums – including 2017’s acclaimed RECONCILIATION – released via Peppermint Records.
PETRA – which shares its name with the LaMarcas’ beloved German Shepherd – is a bare-boned, often brutally blunt, new work from a gifted musician-songwriter forced by fate to confront life’s hardest truths and consequences. LaMarca had just begun recording at Youngstown’s Peppermint Productions – a vintage studio facility best known for producing everything from polka superstar Frank Yankovic to the Judge Judy theme song – when a spell of intense back pain led to his being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Originally, LaMarca was diagnosed in the middle of making Reconciliation. He immediately started treatment, which brought the disease into complete remission. His disease relapsed last year while in the middle of making PETRA." The experience inspired a second meaning to the album’s title, the acronym P-E-T-R-A, or “Peace’s Eternal Truth Renews All.” Moreover, LaMarca’s physical struggle has resulted in the most powerful work of The Building’s still-growing canon, a vivid series of deeply personal songs such as “Purifer” and the LP-opening “Transformed,” made even more impactful through strikingly simple arrangements and raw, heartfelt performance.
Wilco
Ode To Joy [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Pink LP]
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Ode to Joy - the 11th studio album from the pioneering Chicago rock band Wilco - will be released Oct. 4 via dBpm Records. The album features 11 new songs written and produced by Jeff Tweedy and recorded by Wilco at the bands' own Chicago studio dubbed The Loft.
The descent into darkness is a trope we find time again across history, literature and film. But there's also an abyss above. There's a winding white staircase that goes ever upward into the great unknown - each step, each turn, requiring a greater boldness and confidence than the one before. This is the journey on which we find Angel Olsen. Olsen's artistic beginnings as a collaborator shifted seamlessly to her magnificent, cryptic-to-cosmic solo work, and then she formed bands to play her songs, and her stages and audiences grew exponentially. But all along, Olsen was more concerned with a different kind of path, and on her vulnerable, Big Mood new album, All Mirrors, we can see her taking an introspective deep dive towards internal destinations and revelations. In the process of making this album, she found a new sound and voice, a blast of fury mixed with hard won self-acceptance. "In every way -from the making of it, to the words, to how I feel moving forward- this record is about owning up to your darkest side," Olsen said. "Finding the capacity for new love and trusting change, even when you feel like a stranger. This is a record about facing yourself and learning to forgive what you see. It is about losing empathy, trust, love for destructive people. It is about walking away from the noise and realizing that you can have solitude and peace in your own thoughts, that your thoughts alone can be just as valid, if not more."
The Avett Brothers have announced a new album called Closer Than Together. The band’s tenth full-length to date arrives October 4th via American/Republic Records.
In a lengthy mission statement announcing the album’s release, Seth Avett said the band “didn’t make a record that was meant to comment on the sociopolitical landscape that we live in. We did, however, make an album that is obviously informed by what is happening now on a grander scale all around us… because we are a part of it and it is a part of us. Closer Than Together is a record of obvious American origin – a creation that fittingly could only come about through hard work, measured freedom, awe-inspiring landscapes, and perfectly flawed individualism.
“The Avett Brothers will probably never make a sociopolitical record,” Avett added. “But if we did, it might sound something like this.”
Philadelphia-based punk band, The Menzingers are set to release their sixth studio album, Hello Exile. Produced by Will Yip (Title Fight, Quicksand), the album is the follow-up to the band’s 2017 critically acclaimed release After The Party.
Since forming as teenagers in 2006, The Menzingers have shown their strength as rough-and-tumble storytellers, turning out songs equally rooted in frenetic energy and lifelike detail. On their new album Hello Exile, the band take their lyrical narrative to a whole new level and share their reflections on moments from the past and present: high-school hellraising, troubled relationships, aging and alcohol and political ennui. And while their songs often reveal certain painful truths, Hello Exile ultimately maintains the irre- pressible spirit that’s always defined the band.
The Menzingers are: singer/guitarists Greg Barnett and Tom May, bassist Eric Keen, and drummer Joe Godino.
SuperM's 1st mini album, ‘SuperM’ will be released. “M” stands for MATRIX & MASTER, implies the "Super" synergy of the members. The album features total 5 songs, filled with music and performance highlighting their dance, vocal, and rap skills. The album includes 1 booklet (80p), 1 folded group poster (initial print only), and 1 random card (total 14 types). This is an official release from SM Entertainment and Capitol Records, and will count towards Billboard and Gaon charts.
'A forgotten roll of film was found. Shot before the turn of the century, the photographs resonate with music. The images inspired an accompanying soundtrack. The music is full of stories. The songs and stories originate in two neighboring rural counties. The cast of characters includes four families of Mississippi musicians, three generations deep, and a photographer from Texas.' - Luther Dickinson In 2017, Wyatt McSpadden found an old roll of film and tracked down members of North Mississippi Allstars to share his forgotten photographs. The images were so profound and so beautiful that they would come to inspire the latest recording, Up And Rolling. The images inspired the band to ask, 'What did the music sound like that night in 96? What does Mississippi music sound like now? What would ideally be on the push button AM/FM radio as we drove thru the hills?' The North Mississippi Allstars would return to the famous Zebra Ranch to record Up And Rolling, inspired by Wyatt's images. They gathered together, trimmed back the wisteria, and swept out the converted barn recording studio. The fired up the tube amps and old computers and began conjuring up modern Mississippi music, ancient and futuristic all at once. Telling it how it was and how they think it should be. Up And Rolling is modern Mississippi. Transcending time and space, the music reaches out into the dark of night like the wisteria vine, looking for free hearted souls to latch onto and wedge into the foundation of hate, slowly tearing down walls a generation at a time.
The music Kacy and Clayton make is inextricable from where they grew up. They sing about the kind of people you'd find in Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan (population very few.) The hills, barns and remoteness of the area are in these songs, with a bittersweet acknowledgement that this music has taken them far from home. Carrying On follows the international acclaim for their previous records Strange Country (which Q magazine called, A beautiful album that nudges a classic past into a brave future.) and 2017's The Sirens Song (described by Uncut as Ageless and beguiling. A classic record for this or any other time.) Their sound is equal parts homespun, coming from a family and community where playing music is an ever present part of social gatherings, and the rare country, blues and English folk rock these second cousins obsess over and collect. For Carrying On, Clayton cites as influences: Bobbie Gentry's Delta Sweete, Hoyt Axton's My Griffin Is Gone, Cajun fiddle music, and the steel guitar of Ralph Mooney who played on many of the records that defined the Bakersfield country music scene of the 1950s. Sixties psych has also woven its way into these new songs Having toured almost nonstop for the last two years, Carrying On was conceived and honed on the road and recorded immediately after a jaunt across Western Canada, the songs having been tried and tested before audiences each night. The album was produced once again by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame, at his Loft studio in Chicago.
Beloved singer-songwriter Joshua Radin returns with his new album "Here, Right Now" produced by Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Andrew Bird) proving once again that love and the complications surrounding it to be his songwriting forté.
Beastie Boys
Ill Communication [Limited Edition Silver Metallic 2LP]
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Ill Communication is the fourth studio album by the Beastie Boys. It was released on May 31, 1994 by Grand Royal Records. Co-produced by Beastie Boys and Mario C and featuring the singles Sabotage, Get It Together, Sure Shot, and Root Down. Pressed on Limited Edition 180-Gram Silver Metallic vinyl.
Paul's Boutique is the second studio album from the Beastie Boys. Released on July 25, 1989, on Capitol Records, it was produced by the Dust Brothers and features the singles Hey Ladies and Shadrach. Pressed on Limited Edition 180-Gram Translucent Violet vinyl and spread across 2LP’s for the first time ever.
The Root Down EP from Beastie Boys was released on May 23, 1995. The first three tracks are variations of the track "Root Down", and the remaining seven tracks were recorded "live in Europe, winter 1995". Pressed on 4 random colored Limited Edition 180-Gram vinyl (Red, Orange, Green, or Blue).
Beastie Boys
To The 5 Boroughs [Limited Edition Blue 2LP]
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To the 5 Boroughs is the sixth studio album by the Beastie Boys. The album was released on June 15, 2004 internationally, and debuted #1 on the Billboard 200. Featuring the singles Ch-Check It Out, Triple Trouble, Right Right Now Now, and An Open Letter To NYC. Pressed on Limited Edition 180-Gram Blue Vinyl.
“Daily Battles” was written by Thom Yorke (Radiohead, Atoms For Peace) for “Motherless Brooklyn” the film directed, written by, produced by and starring Edward Norton. The film features two versions of the song, each performed by musical icons of modern music. Thom Yorke along with Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Atoms For Peace) performs a sparse and emotionally stunning version of the song. The other version of “Daily Battles” was arranged and performed by jazz trumpet icon Wynton Marsalis, who, along with his hand-picked quintet of heavy-hitter-jazzstalwarts delivers an instant jazz standard version of the song that conjures images of the 1950’sera gin-soaked Harlem jazz club seen in the film.
This limited edition Deluxe vinyl box set features all 40 tracks from the Super Deluxe collection on three 180-gram vinyl LPs. The album’s new stereo mix LP is packaged in a faithfully replicated sleeve, with the two Sessions LPs paired in their own jacket, presented with a four-page insert in a lift-top box. Giles Martin, working with Sam Okell, from the original eight-track session tapes, was guided by the album’s original mix supervised by his father, George Martin.
Genre-bending band Whiskey Myers have played nearly 2,000 live shows since their emergence in 2008 and have sold out more than 115 headlining shows in the last year alone. As Esquire proclaims, "Whiskey Myers are the real damn deal." USA Today describes the band led by frontman Cody Cannon as "a riff-heavy blend of Southern rock and gritty country that has earned comparisons to the Allman Brothers Band and Led Zeppelin," with Rolling Stone noting "it's the seminal combination of twang and crunchy rock & roll guitars that hits a perfect sweet spot." Their most recent album, Mud, reached No. 1 on the iTunes country chart with single "Stone" hitting Top 10 all genre and their fifth studio album, which they self-produced for the first time, is set for release this fall. Whiskey Myers was featured in Paramount Network's new Kevin Costner hit show "Yellowstone" with synced songs throughout season one as well as an appearance by the band in episode four as part of the storyline, with the band set to return with additional synced songs in season two.
What happens when a nation that was born to run, and to rev engines into the wild frontier, runs into the full stop that is our current social and political climate? The answer, my friend, is somewhere “In the Morse Code of Brake Lights,” as The New Pornographers would have it on their eighth album. There’s a deep climatic unease running through these 11 tracks that’s matched only by the sheer musical glee with which the band addresses the prevailing mood of the moment. It’s an album in which foreboding and bliss somehow go hand in hand—mixing founder A.C. Newman’s nearly symphonic levels of pop arrangement and harmony with a careening quality that feels unsafe at any speed (to quote the famous Ralph Nader phrase that the opening track also borrows).
Like a personal fantasy, Tove Lo invites you close enough to see, hear, and feel the moment just before it evaporates back into the ether once more. In 2018, she officially relocated to Los Angeles and dove headfirst into creating her fourth full-length, Sunshine Kitty. It represented a new season for Tove marked by a reclamation of confidence, hard-earned wisdom, more time, and a nascent romance. It starts with the confident and catchy single “Glad He’s Gone.”
Platinum-selling artist Jon Pardi announced his highly-anticipated new album, tour and single titled Heartache Medication. Set for release on September 27, Pardi's upcoming album, Heartache Medication, includes the album's lead single and title track Co-written by Pardi, Barry Dean and Natalie Hemby, Pardi revealed the new single showcases a taste of what is to come on the next record exclusively to the Associated Press, noting the songs lift you up. They put you in a higher place. "The single 'Heartache Medication' has an 80's George Strait 'Fool Hearted Memory' feel to it, and is something people can dance to, said Pardi. That's something I really wanted for this album. There really are no sad songs on this record-it covers a range of subjects, but is ultimately about moving on, and having a good time. Recognized for his "state-of-the-art blend of traditional instrumentation and progressive grooves that points to country's future (Rolling Stone) and as a leader among a growing number of artists bringing back fiddle, steel and twang while still finding ways to freshen the sound (People), Pardi again serves as a co-producer on the new album, Heartache Medication. Heartache Medication is the follow up to Pardi's co-produced Platinum-selling breakthrough #1 album California Sunrise, which featured Multi-Platinum, chart-topping hits including Dirt on My Boots, Head Over Boots, Heartache on the Dancefloor and Night Shift." The CMA and ACM Award-winner also revealed plans for his HEARTACHE MEDICATION TOUR
Chart-topping alternative band Boy & Bear's fourth studio album Suck on Light is a triumphant return after lead singer Dave Hosking's battle with illness and eventual recovery. The album follows his excruciating journey and the beauty that came on the other side. Produced by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, Cage the Elephant, Black Keys).
In 1964, the National Film Board of Canada asked John Coltrane to record the soundtrack for a French-language film titled “Le chat dans le sac” (“The Cat in the Bag”). In June of that year, Coltrane’s ‘Classic Quartet’ entered Rudy Van Gelder’s studio and recorded five previously-recorded Coltrane originals. For many years, viewers of the film who recognized the music thought that they were listening to the original recordings, though in fact they were new and had never been heard.
Black Pumas has announced their highly anticipated debut album set for release on June 21. The band is led by the creative partnership between Grammy Award-winning guitarist / producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Burton is a relative newcomer who arrived in Austin in 2015 after busking his way across the country from Los Angeles, while Quesada has a storied reputation for playing in bands like Grupo Fantasma and Brownout.
After the two connected via friends in the Austin scene, they began to collaborate on a new sound that transmutes soul into something idiosyncratically modern. Reminiscent of Ghostface Killah and Motown in equal measure, this original sound ensured that Black Pumas’ weekly residency at C-Boys quickly became “the hottest party in town” (Austin-American Statesman).
Composed and assembled over the course of several years, Jaime is a highly personal album release combining Brittany’s unmistakable voice with peerless, visionary and fearless songwriting. Brittany has constructed an assemblage of songs which bend the framework of what we know from her previous work with Alabama Shakes and endeavors with Thunderbitch and Bermuda Triangle, music which wholly sits in a new terrain of sound bolstered by an incredible band of musicians including Zac Cockrell of the Shakes, drummer Nate Smith and the one and only Robert Glasper.
‘Cause and Effect’ is Keane’s 5th studio album. Their 4 previous albums have all entered the UK charts at number 1 and accumulated sales of over 13m worldwide and 2.6 billion streams. The birth of this new album came as something of a surprise even to the band. Singer Tom Chaplin had released two successful solo albums but missed his old sparring partner Tim Rice-Oxley. Written by Keane and produced by David Kosten and the band themselves, the album features 11 new songs recorded in London.
On his new album, ‘Ideal Man,’ Andrew Combs worked with producer/engineer Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Benjamin Booker)to achieve a more raw, direct sound. The collection was captured live in Cohen’s Brooklyn studio, with compact arrangements fueled by taut, elastic grooves. While Combs may be best known as a singer/songwriter in the classic 1970’s Laurel Canyon sense, he proves the true versatility of his work here, often setting his acoustic aside in favor of atmospheric synthesizers and distorted electric guitars. Combs worked with some of his favorite writers on the album, including Dylan LeBlanc, Jeff Trott, Joe Henry, and Kenny Childers, but the stories he tells here are deeply personal and remarkably vulnerable.
A sense of danger and violence underlies the entire record, much as it does the entire country, but it only serves to make the moments of beauty and connection here that much more poignant. Life is short and the clock is ticking. Andrew Combs doesn’t plan to waste a second.
Sinematic is an enthralling set of songs that explore the darker corridors of human nature. The 13 song collection, is his first since 2011’s How To Become Clairvoyant and themes sprang from his recent film scoring for Martin Scorsese’s organized crime pic, The Irishman and his forthcoming documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band. The album features guest stars such as Van Morrison, Glen Hansard, and many more.
Darrin Bradbury
Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs [LP]
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Darrin Bradbury writes about the way things really are in America – a singular perspective shaped by a natural gift for storytelling and a sly sense of humor. A self-described folk satirist who has toured the country for more than a decade, Bradbury collects his oddball observations in his newest album, Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs. Bradbury grew up in New Jersey with an early interest in performing, partly because of his mother’s career as a circus clown. At the age of 7, he felt certain that he would either become a songwriter or a cartoonist. He learned to play guitar as a vessel to tell his stories. By the age of 18, he’d discovered Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, and Paul Simon, and decided to hit the road. At 25, he moved to Nashville, to try making it as a songwriter. For three months, he slept in his car in a Walmart parking lot, and developed a local following by playing open mic nights. With a handful of self-funded EPs and albums, Bradbury steadily cultivated a national audience by touring constantly. Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs is Bradbury’s first release for ANTI- Records. - Album Produced by Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids - Featured players on this album include a “who’s who” of Nashville players including Margo Price (featured vocal on “The Trouble With Time” ) , Kenneth Pattengale (vocals, mellotron), Jeremy Ivey (bass, piano), Alex Munoz (guitar, lap steel, vocals) and Dillion Napier (drums).
Hiss Golden Messenger
Terms of Surrender [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Peak Vinyl]
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Single LP on coke-bottle clear vinyl in same packaging as standard LP. Includes foldout poster inserts (22.75” x 33”) & a coupon for full download. Ltd Edition. Indie Only.
Describing the Durham-basedHiss Golden Messengeris like trying to grasp a forgotten word: It’s always on the tip of your tongue, but hard to speak. Songwriter and bandleader M.C. Taylor’s music is at once familiar, yet impossible to categorize: Elements from the American songbook—the steady, churning acoustic guitar and mandolin, the gospel emotion, the eerie steel guitar tracings, the bobbing and weaving organ and electric piano—provide the bedrock for Taylor’s existential ruminations about parenthood, joy, hope, and loneliness—our delicate, tightrope balance of dark and light—that offer fully engaged contemporary commentary on the present. And then there’s an indescribable spirit and movement: Hiss Golden Messenger’s music grooves. There’s nothing else quite like it.
Prince
The VERSACE Experience: PRELUDE 2 GOLD [LP]
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Released ahead of 1995's The Gold Experience, the first album credited to Prince's infamously unpronounceable symbol, The VERSACE Experience (PRELUDE 2 GOLD) was a gift to attendees of the designer's collection at Fashion Week in Paris. Produced at the time as only a very limited edition promotional cassette, it featured remixed versions of future favorites ""Pussy Control,"" ""Gold"" and ""Eye Hate U"" as well as rare and commercially unreleased selections by The New Power Generation and Prince's jazz-fusion project Madhouse. The rare promotional cassette went on to be incredibly sought after, with one copy setting a record as the highest priced cassette ever sold, fetching over $4,000.
Emancipation was as expansive an album as anything Prince had ever release. A triple album constituting exactly three hours of music, Emancipation found Prince celebrating the release of music solely on his terms. ""This is my most important record,"" he proclaimed upon its release. ""I'm free, and my music is free."" Much like Paisley Park, the recording complex in which Prince created Emancipation, the album represents the incredible variety of his influences and moods. Romance and family are key themes (""Somebody's Somebody,"" ""The Holy River,"" ""The Love We Make""), reflecting his recent marriage to back-up dancer and muse Mayte Garcia that year. Elsewhere, Prince reflects on technology (""My Computer"") and sex (""In This Bed <0> Scream""), and offers new, upbeat grooves (""Face Down,"" ""Jam Of The Year"") as well as four unique covers (Bonnie Raitt's ""I Can't Make You Love Me,"" the Philly soul classics ""Betcha By Golly Wow"" and ""La, La, La Means I Love U,"" Joan Osborne's then-recent rock hit ""One Of Us"").
Released in July 1996, Chaos and Disorder came with a rare disclaimed penned by Prince (then known as the unpronounceable love symbol): Originally intended 4 private use only, this compilation serves as the last original material recorded by [The Artist] 4 Warner Bros. Records. Princes contentious relationship with the label was at its lowest point, and this recorda taut 39 minutes of dexterous guitar and simple but addictive pop melodieswas a crucial final link in the chains that kept him from releasing the music the way he wanted. Any internal turmoil was not represented in tracks like Dinner With Delores (a minor U.K. hit) and the rollicking title track, a staple of his live shows. Someone told me that Van Halen did their first record in a week, Prince told the Los Angeles Times of the albums quick creation. Thats what we were going forspontaneity, seeing how fast and hard we could thrash it out.
Attempting to designate a musical category for Geraint Watkins is not without its challenges, but the perspicacious Nick Lowe once observed that he could be filed as "the missing link between Paulo Conte and Howlin' Wolf."
For so many years, a keystone of the bands of Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Dave Edmunds and countless more, Geraint Watkins is also a revered creator of his own sublime music, much of which has already been perfectly captured in a handful of solo albums.
For Rush Of Blood, Watkins found a new and unlikely collaborator in Simon Ratcliffe of The Basement Jaxx to push his boundaries even further. This unique aggregation-aided by some master musicians-has produced what will surely come to be regarded as his finest solo project yet.
The concept of STARSET is a multimedia experience with a cinematic rock band at the center. The narrative, branding and music driving the new campaign is fully integrated and is set in a near future and centered around showcasing the positive and negative effects of technology on society - futuristic on one side, post-apocalyptic on the other. Think Tron meets Mad Max. They’re harnessing the power of their rabid core fan base and influencer supporters to hack traditional forms of music promotion and do something truly innovative, as appealing for the Comicon crowd wanting to deep dive into the story as casual listeners.
Post Malone stirs a mix of genres into his own sonic sound that’s both intoxicating and invigorating. His RIAA 3x Platinum certified debut album, Stoney, led the genre-bending Dallas, TX artist to his first Top 10 Billboard 200 and first #1 R&B/Hip-Hop Album while being the “#1 Debut Hip-Hop Artist of 2016”. 2019 has been packed with one milestone and achievement after another for Post Malone including “Congratulations” being certified Diamond by the RIAA.
The Highwomen are a cleverly named new supergroup comprising country and roots rock stars Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby. After a few months of teasers and a soft debut at April’s Loretta Lynn tribute, they’re making their official introduction to the world.
The group has announced its self-titled debut album, out in September and produced by Dave Cobb, the Nashville mainstay who always seems to be behind the boards for these types of projects. (He’s also produced recent albums by Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Lori McKenna, Ashley Monroe… you get the idea.) The album features 12 songs written by various combinations of the core members plus some notable collaborators like Isbell, McKenna, Miranda Lambert, and Ray LaMontagne. It features guest appearances from Isbell, Cobb, Sheryl Crow, Yola, the Hanseroth twins, Chris Powell, and Peter Levin.
2019 release. Guaxe is a musical duo that was formed spontaneously after the encounter of two Brazilian psych rockers Dino Almeida (Boogarins) and Pedro Bonifrate (Supercordas). Both members have guested on each others' recordings and had shared the stage at a few festivals together before Supercordas' dissolution in 2016. Over recent years, Dino has paid Bonifrate and his family many short visits to his home in Paraty in coastal Brazil. During these getaways, the Guaxe album was written and recorded - with 4-track machines, computers, cranky gear, 10-string guitars, children playing, and a rainforest full of lizards all around the house.
Also check out Dino Almeida's other band Boogarins who are currently on tour following the release of their recent album Sombrou Dúvida which is available now on CD & LP
Amadjar means ‘the unknown visitor’ in the language of Tamashek, the one who seeks hospitality and who’s condemned to an inner exile, within a territory or within himself. The story of Amadjar, the ninth Tinariwen album, begins at the end of 2018, at the Taragalte Festival of nomadic cultures in the Moroccan Sahara. After a concert and a sandstorm, Tinariwen hit the road and head for Mauritania, via southern Morocco, Western Sahara and the Atlantic coast. The destination is important but no more so than the journey itself. Tinariwen are joined by their French production team, who arrive in old camper van that’s been converted into a makeshift studio. The journey to Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, takes a dozen days or so. Every evening, the caravan stops to set up camp and the members of Tinariwen get to work under the stars – to prepare for the recording, talking things through, letting their guitar motifs, thoughts and long buried songs come. Then, during a final camp in the desert around Nouakchott that lasts about fifteen days, to an audience of scorpions, the band record their songs under large tent. In a few takes, without headphones or effects. The Mauritanian griotte Noura Mint Seymali and her guitarist husband, Jeiche Ould Chigaly, come to throw their musical tradition on the embers lit by Tinariwen – the curling vocals of Noura Mint Seymali on the song ‘Amalouna’ will become a highlight. This nomadic album, recorded in a natural setting, is as close as you can get to Tinariwen. And also, therefore, to the idea that things can evolve: bassist Eyadou plays a lot of acoustic guitar; percussionist Said tries his hand at new instruments; Abdallah exhumes songs that he’s never played on stage with Tinariwen. And that violin that appears on several songs and reminds you of the traditional imzad ; It’s actually played by Warren Ellis. The violinist in Nick Cave’s band is one of several western guests on the album. We also hear the mandolin and charango of Micah Nelson (son of the country music giant Willie Nelson, and Neil Young’s guitarist), and the guitars of Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O)))), Cass McCombs and Rodolphe Burger. The album is mixed by Joshua Vance Smith.
Melanie Martinez’s sophomore album, K-12, is another ambitious triumph for the artist. As with her debut album Cry Baby, K-12's music is a vibrant and singular melting pot of low-key hip-hop, soulful pop and indie-leaning electro. K-12's universe is an expansion of the one introduced in Cry Baby. Using lyrics rich with metaphor, songs address the struggle to find a place to belong —including within friendships, the physical world and romantically — even when fitting into society feels like an uphill battle.
i,i is Bon Iver's most expansive, joyful and generous album to date. If 'For Emma, Forever Ago was the crisp, heart-strung isolation of a northern Winter; Bon Iver the rise and whirr of burgeoning Spring; and '22, A Million', a blistering, crazy energy Summer record, i,i completes the cycle: a fall record; Autumn-colored, ruminative, steeped. The autumn of Bon Iver is a celebration of self acceptance and gratitude, bolstered by community and delivering the bounty of an infinite American music. The sales and accolades are well-known multiple Gold albums, multiple Grammys, chart-topping collaborations and festival headlines. But even more significantly, with each release Bon Iver quietly shifts the state of modern music. From the boundaries of folk, to the rules of autotune, to production work for others, Bon Iver s fingerprint finds its way across the mainstream every time. Vernon has always been a master collaborator, and on i,i that desire becomes maximal, with guests ranging from Moses Sumney and Bruce Hornsby to Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Here, the music and band, and themes, and creative space are bigger than ever.
Olivia Jean is back on the beat with her second full-length (and first self-produced) album, Night Owl, due out August 30, 2019 on Third Man Records. The album mines the shared spaces between bubblegum, beach pop undercurrents and fuzzed out garage a la B-52s and Dick Dale, lyrically diving headfirst into the frustrations of perfectionism, mental barriers, obsession and modern heartache. Unlike Bathtub Love Killings on which we found Olivia playing every instrument on the vast majority of the album, Night Owl is decidedly more collaborative, with a studio band of buddies backing up her up.
Night Owl is exactly what it sounds like: the wee-hour workings of an artist engrossed in a project, pushing against omnipresent forces of fear and judgment to do exactly what you’ve always wanted to do and be exactly what you’ve known you are. It's candy-coated and also bittersweet, fully aware and also full-hearted.
Various Artists
Country Music - A Film By Ken Burns (The Soundtrack) [Deluxe 5CD]
New CD: $74.98 Add to Cart
"If you write the truth and you're writing about your life, it's going to be country. It'll be country 'cause you're writing what's happening. And that's all a good song is." Loretta Lynn COUNTRY MUSIC, the eight-part, 16-hour film by Ken Burns, chronicles the creation of a truly American genre of music through the songs and stories of its greatest trailblazers. Country Music A Film By Ken Burns (The Soundtrack) includes more than 100 timeless classics as heard in the film, including songs by The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and many more. This deluxe 5CD set includes 68 pages of liner notes and rarely seen archival photos, documents and memorabilia.
Sombrou Dúvida is a question. A play on words in Boogarins’ native Brazilian Portuguese. It’s a contraction of “Sombra ou Dúvida”, the title track of the album, which translates as ‘Shadow or Doubt’. There might seem to be a darkness to the question, given that both choices aren’t exactly cheery. Yet, Dino, the smiling, Afro-donned singer of the group tells us that “shadow” refers to a feeling related to your comfort zone, whereas doubt is the uncertainty that hits people and leads them to follow their instincts. For fans of previous works by the band, Fernando Almeida’s songwriting and soaring vocals guide Sombrou Dúvida in a way that’s reminiscent of the Latin Grammy-nominated second album "Manual", which was a portrait of a live band exploring the professional recording studio for the first time. The new 10-song set builds on this premise while retaining many of the home-recorded electronic elements of Lá Vema Morte.
Also check out the new project Guaxe which features Dino Almeida of Boogarins and Pedro Bonifrate of Supercordas. Their debut album is available 9/6 on CD & LP
Taylor Swift brings her seventh studio new album, Lover which includes "ME!" featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco.
Seratones aptly named sophomore release POWER is described by poet and author Hannif Abdurraquib as a glorious, swelling album[a] sonic monument, and precise lyrical tapestry. AJ Haynes bends her gloriously malleable voice seamlessly around the temples of rock, and soul, and funk. All of them, unfurling in waves of keys, staccato percussion and wailing curves of guitar. Based in Shreveport, Louisiana, Haynes and founding members, drummer Jesse Gabriel and bassist Adam Davis, form the kind of laser-focused rhythm section that you only get from bandmates who've been playing together since they were teenagers. New members Tyran Coker (keys) and Travis Stewart (guitar) bring a fresh dynamic to the band with interstellar soundscapes and entrancing melodies, all while maintaining the emotional edge and intensity from their acclaimed proto-punk debut record Get Gone.vPOWER exemplifies a true strength in vulnerability, a kaleidoscopic view into Haynes passions, hopes, and worries: from her love of poetry to her advocacy for Reproductive Justice and racial equity. Hard-learned lessons from lovers and intimate friends. The struggles to adapt and overcome. POWER is as much a statement as it is a question, a semiotic exploration of sound and Soul.
GRAMMY Award-winning MCA Nashville country star Vince Gill announced today that his new album, Okie, will be released on August 23. Gill wrote or co-wrote all 12 songs on Okie. The album's title is taken from the once-derogatory term used to disparage migrants from Oklahoma to the nation's west coast during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression eras. A proud Oklahoman, Gill has appropriated this term on an album that embraces his roots and explores some of the most important issues of our time. I thought this was going to be a songwriter record, not a concept album, Gill says. It wound up being more information than I'd envisioned. A friend sent me an email saying, You could have only written this record after living a 60-year-plus life. He said, There's no struggle in these songs, just truth and your experience. Okie marks Gill's most recent solo album since 2016's Down To My Last Bad Habit and 2011's Guitar Slinger. In 2013, Gill partnered with famed steel guitarist Paul Franklin on Bakersfield as a tribute to the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. With 21 GRAMMY Awards to his credit. Gill has solidified his place as country music's most eloquent and impassioned champion. He is both a world-class musician and a wide-ranging songwriter whose compositions earned him entry into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Gill has also made appearances on over 1000 artists records. In 2017, Gill was invited to join the Eagles for their worldwide tour, and later this month he will again join the band for the European leg of their upcoming tour with stops in Antwerp, Belgium, Cologne, Germany and Amsterdam.
Over 75 years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this is OKLAHOMA! as you’ve never heard it before and reimagined for the 21st century. Stripped down to reveal the darker psychological truths at its core, Daniel Fish’s production tells a story of a community circling its wagons against an outsider, and the violence of the frontier that shaped America. Funny and sexy, dark and terrifying, “this is the OKLAHOMA! that was there all along” (New York Magazine).
“How does brokenness walk? Or move through the world?” says guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein about The Center Won’t Hold, Sleater-Kinney’s tenth studio album. “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person – ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness – in the middle of the chaos.” The Center Won’t Hold is Sleater-Kinney’s midnight record on the doomsday clock. After twenty-five years of legendary collaboration, rock’n’roll giants Brownstein, Corin Tucker, and Janet Weiss rise to meet the moment by digging deeper and sounding bigger than we’ve heard them yet. Here are intimate battle cries. Here are shattered songs for the shattered survivors. The Center Won’t Hold drops you into the world of catastrophe that touches on the election,” says guitarist/vocalist Tucker of the title track. “We’re not taking it easy on the audience. That song is meant to be really heavy and dark. And almost like a mission statement, at the end of that song, it’s like we’re finding our way out of that space by becoming a rock band.
Ride return with the 6th studio album of their career and their second since reforming in 2015 and signing to Wichita. As with their previous album, the highly acclaimed Weather Diaries, Erol Alkan was in the producers chair, whilst career-long collaborator Alan Moulder (with Caesar Edmunds) mixed the album. The albums title was inspired by one of the hobo code symbols once used by those who travelled the railroads of the US, and then found in the early artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The phrase clearly resonates with the current state of the world politically and environmentally. This Is Not A Safe Place is arguably the Ride album with the broadest sonic palette thus far. You can hear sounds and styles that span their entire catalogue but, both musically and lyrically, this is clearly an album made by a band who love being back together and who are at the very top of their game.
Five new songs not previously released along with five songs from the collection of singles released between November 2017 and March 2019
All songs produced by Josh Kaufman and engineered by D. James Goodwin. Formed in 2003, The Hold Steady have released six albums, numerous singles and played over 1000 shows during the past 16 years. The Brooklyn-based band, by way of the Midwest, has performed in all 50 states in the USA, and throughout Canada, the UK, Europe and Australia.
The Hold Steady began releasing two-song singles in November 2017 ahead of the sold-out weekend shows they do in select cities each year and have released five new singles (nine songs total) thru March 2019. The band will launch "Constructive Summer 2019" in August + September four weekends of US shows in Seattle, Chicago, Nashville and Boston.
Craig Finn: "I've been saying for a few years now - since Franz came back- that this six piece lineup of The Hold Steady is the best band we've ever been. The new songs recorded by this version of the band are super exciting to us. It's been a very fun and creative period for The Hold Steady.
Thrice celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their classic "Beggars" on striped colored vinyl and includes a bonus 7" with two rare b-side tracks, "Red Telephone" and "Answered," never before available on vinyl.
Old Salt Union
Where The Dogs Don't Bite [Limited Edition Orange LP]
New Vinyl: $21.98 Add to Cart
Old Salt Union once again enlisted GRAMMY-winning banjoist and Compass co-founder Alison Brown to produce the follow-up to their self-titled Compass Records debut. The resulting album, WHERE THE DOGS DON't BITE, builds on this non-traditional stringband's varied musical backgrounds for a wildly entertaining, eclectic batch of songs. The quintet Ryan Murphy (banjo), Justin Wallace (mandolin), John Brighton (violin), Jesse Farrar (primary vocalist and bassist) and newest member Graham Curry (guitar) have continued to hone and develop their sound through relentless touring, cultivating a steadfast fanbase drawn to their high-energy shows. Coming from varied musical backgrounds, Old Salt Union's collective melting pot of styles and musical vocabularies informs their fresh approach to modern string band music and has helped to carve a unique niche for this Belleville, Illinois roots outfit. Farrar, nephew of Son Volt's Jay Farrar, kicks off the album with "God You Don't Need,' a hook laden ode to a relationship gone bad set against a tapestry of strings and an eerily compelling banjo melody. Label mate Bobby Osborne guests on "Tells Me So,' a nod to the bluegrass side of the band's musical sensibilities featuring a lead vocal by mandolinist Justin Wallace. Violinist Brighton delivers the gypsy-tinged instrumental "Johann's Breakdown,' which pulls from jazz and classical progressions, and Wallace delivers the haunting title track, "Where The Dogs Don't Bite.' The dark, but heartfelt song features triple-layered guitar harmonies, stacked vocals and a group sing-along that recalls last call at a corner pub in the rust belt, a fitting closing to this musically diverse and compelling release.
Over the last decade, Drew Holcomb has established himself as one of Americana s freshest upstarts, building his following and critical appeal with every release, show, and entrepreneurial undertaking (like his curated Moon River Music Festival and Magnolia Record Club). For Holcomb, music is what helps us try to understand our place in a world full of equal parts chaos, confusion, love, and community, and Dragons is his reminder to all of us to keep fighting the good fight and to never give up. Produced by Cason Cooley (Ingrid Michelson, American Authors) Dragons features collaborations with Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Sean McConnell, and Zach Williams of The Lone Bellow.
On August 16th, 2019, Eilen Jewell will release Gypsy on Signature Sounds. Described as one of Americana's most intriguing and creative voices (American Songwriter), Jewell has written 11 new songs for Gypsy and is calling it her favorite album yet: new sounds, old sounds, electric guitar-driven rockers, classic country, and tender ballads. Gypsy continues to solidify Jewell's reputation as one of the most distinctive and potent voices in the Americana world today.
Tootsie's Original Broadway Cast Recording is now available from Decca Broadway. The album preserves David Yazbek's Tony-nominated score and the performances of the original Broadway cast, led by Tony nominee Santino Fontana as Michael Dorsey.
Third Man Records is excited to announce the release of ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969, a 50th anniversary celebration collecting 24 previously unheard songs by such blues legends as Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. The first ever release of music recorded live at the landmark event, ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 will be available in two individual 2x LP volumes, exclusively on 180 gram vinyl.
Third Man Records is excited to announce the release of ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969, a 50th anniversary celebration collecting 24 previously unheard songs by such blues legends as Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. The first ever release of music recorded live at the landmark event, ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 will be available in two individual 2x LP volumes, exclusively on 180 gram vinyl.
VOLBEAT emerged from Copenhagen in 2001. Since then, they’ve tirelessly clawed their way to hard rock’s upper echelon with endless touring and a string of six beloved full-length albums. Recently, their 2010 album Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, which features hit singles “A Warrior’s Call” and “Heaven Nor Hell,” received RIAA Gold Certification. 2013’s Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies bowed at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 upon release marking the highest U.S. chart entry for a Danish Act since 1997.
In the fall of 2018, pianist and bandleader Jon Batiste played a six-night residency at the historic Village Vanguard in downtown New York City. On August 2, Batiste will release selections from those nights entitled ‘Anatomy of Angels: Live at the Village Vanguard’ via Verve Records.
The selection for Anatomy of Angels is comprised mostly of Batiste’s own compositions, which range from bluesy (“Dusk Train To Doha”) to Coltrane-esque explorations (the titular track “Anatomy of Angels” and “Creative.”) In addition to his own works, Rachael Price from Lake Street Dive joins him for Ray Noble’s “The Very Thought Of You.” Batiste also arranged on one of the most famous works of his idol Thelonious Monk, “’Round Midnight.”
Crafting honestly poetic, passionate and powerful songs, Nashville-Indie duo, The Harmaleighs (composed of Haley Grant and Kaylee Jasperson) forthcoming project 'She Won’t Make Sense' is a concept album about mental illness (Mania, Depression and Anxiety) experienced by band member Haley Grant.
‘High Expectations’ is that rare record which feels both like a graduation and, also, just the beginning for Mabel. The twice-Brit-nominated singer and songwriter has already sold over 3 million singles in the UK (two platinum, three gold, and two silver), surpassed 1 billion streams, and sold out the likes of Brixton Academy. Across her formative singles and first long-form project, ‘Ivy To Roses’, Mabel has written with startling honesty on young love, identity, girl power, and mental health – knowing full-well that she would make her debut album only when she was ready. And on that road to her first record, Mabel’s music has become a soundtrack – for her impassioned young female fanbase, but also for herself – on how to turn those vulnerabilities into your advantages. Now poised to join the pantheon of international pop greats, her tireless energy, positivity and drive will never allow Mabel to settle for anything less than ‘High Expectations’. In 2019, watch Mabel meet them and keep reaching higher still.
Los Angeles Alternative band Grizfolk's new album Rarest Of Birds is an ode to Southern California classic rock with a 2019 spin. Dynamic, upbeat, and dreamy, "Believing" may be the best representation of the album.
Beginning with 2013's Tenboom, the staunchly DIY pair Penny & Sparrow released a series of critically lauded records that garnered comparisons to the hushed intimacy of Iron & Wine and the adventurous beauty of James Blake, building up a devoted fanbase along the way through relentless touring and word-of-mouth buzz. NPR praised the band s songwriting as a delicate dance between heartache and resolve, while The World Café raved that they ve steadily built a sound as attentive to detail as Simon & Garfunkel and as open to the present day as Bon Iver. Penny & Sparrow's magnificent sixth album Finch is titled as a nod to Charles Darwin, who developed his theory of evolution in part by studying the changes that manifested over time in groups of birds that moved to different islands across the Galapagos, and it's easy to see the connection. The album finds the band reckoning with a prolonged period of intense personal transformation, a profound awakening that altered their perceptions of masculinity, sex, religion, divorce, friendship, vanity, purpose, and, perhaps most importantly, self. Deeply vulnerable and boldly cinematic, the resulting songs blur the lines between indie-folk and alt-pop, with dense string arrangements and atmospheric production underpinning soaring melodies and airtight harmonies. It's a revelatory collection, both for the listener and the performers, one that s been a lifetime in the making.
