• What's New 1-14-22

  

  The Lumineers

  Brightside

  Dulatone

  Coming off the success of their darkly cinematic third record III, Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites' latest work is their most spontaneous and joyous yet, featuring their ever-more-sophisticated songwriting and arranging and production from longtime producer and friend Simone Felice. Touching on themes of love and American life, the album features the foot-stomping, anthemic, arena-filling sound the band has become beloved for worldwide.

  

  Bonobo

  Fragments

  Ninja Tune

  It’s no surprise that while being Simon Green’s most emotionally intense record, Fragments is also his masterpiece. The album features Jamila Woods, Joji, Kadhja Bonet, Jordan Rakei, O’Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Born first out of fragments of ideas and experimentation, the album ultimately was fused together in a burst of creativity fueled by both collaboration and Green’s escape into the wild.

  

  Jamestown Revival

  Young Man

  Jamestown Revival Recordings

  Young Man is their first project without electric guitars, with the emphasis instead on skillful songwriting, flawless harmony, and intricate fingerpicking. Sonically the album draws on inspirations such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, yet there’s also a dusty Western feel, similar to a Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt album where the detailed backdrop and acoustic arrangements convey the story as eloquently as the lyrics do.

  

  Tkay Maidza

  Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3

  4AD

  ARIA & BET nominated artist, Tkay Maidza has announced the highly anticipated follow up to 2020’s breakout Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2, which earned the #1 Best EP of the Year nod from The Needle Drop. Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 completes Tkay’s trilogy and will feature another round of eight plush, laid-back songs that effortlessly mix pop, rap, R&B, and reggae.

  

  Elvis Costello

  The Boy Named If

  Capitol

  The Boy Named If is an album of urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, stinging guitar solos, and a quick step to the rhythm. Costello says, “The full title of this record is ‘The Boy Named If (And Other Children’s Stories).’ ‘IF’ is a nickname for your imaginary friend; your secret self, the one who knows everything you deny, the one you blame for the shattered crockery and the hearts you break, even your own.”

  

  Cat Power

  Covers

  Domino

  From Billie Holiday to Iggy Pop, Chan Marshall reaches back to songs that have affected her from childhood to the present, connecting each with a deeply personal memory. Alongside covers of rock-and-roll icons, Marshall brings her inimitable vocal power and elegant arrangements to songs by contemporary artists, capturing the defiance of Dead Man’s Bones’ “Pa Pa Power” and the dreaminess of Lana Del Rey’s “A White Mustang.”

  

  Knocked Looser

  A Tear In The Fabric Of Life

  Pure Noise

  A Tear In The Fabric Of Life is a balancing act: a mid-length EP with grand ambitions and scope, one full of new sonic elements and a cohesive aesthetic that hangs onto the band’s trademark anthemic delivery. The songs speak to each other in a language that’s equal parts Phil Spector and death metal while balancing the tension between technical mastery and catchiness. This is Knocked Loose, distilled, and taking a leap.

  
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• New Release Round-Up 01-21-22

  

  John Mellencamp - Strictly A One-Eyed Jack - Republic
  John Mellencamp's 25th studio album, Strictly A One-Eyed Jack, is released this week on Republic Records. The album was written and produced by Mellencamp, recorded at his Belmont Mall Studios in Indiana, and recorded/mixed by GRAMMY-award winner David Leonard. It features a number of longtime band members including Andy York, Dane Clark, Mike Wanchic, Troye Kinnett, and more. It also features three collaborations with Bruce Springsteen including the landmark duet “Wasted Days.”
  
  

  

  Greensky Bluegrass - Stress Dreams - Big Blue Zoo Records
  For two decades now, Greensky Bluegrass has been building an empire, brick by brick. Their eighth studio release, Stress Dreams was produced by Dominic Davis (Jack White) and Grammy winning engineer/producer Glenn Brown amidst the 2020 pandemic. It follows their 2019 release, All for Money, which landed on the Top 100 at the Billboard Albums Chart, Top 20 at Independent Albums and Current Country Albums, Top 10 at Americana/Folk Albums Top 5 at Heatseekers, and #1 at Bluegrass Albums. Greensky is widely known for their dazzling live performances and relentless touring schedule. As with traditional bluegrass, the band writes about their own contemporary day-to-day happenings, emotions, and experiences in the modern world. Their die-hard fans pack out venues across the country. They travel in droves and sell out multiple-night show runs at iconic venues like Red Rocks and The Ryman.  
  
    

  ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
  
  Years & Years - Night Call
  Billy Talent - Crisis Of Faith
  Ghost - Hunter's Moon [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Blood Red Vinyl Single]
  Keb' Mo' - Good To Be...
  Penny & Sparrow - Olly Olly
  SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE - THE DOOR [Limited Edition Cloudy Teal Vinyl]
  SYML - Sacred Spaces [Limited Edition Gold LP]
  Aoife O'Donovan - Age Of Apathy
  Miles Kane - Change The Show
  Various Artists - Annie Live! Original Soundtrack of the Live Television Event on NBC
  Fun Lovin' Criminals - Come Find Yourself: 25th Anniversary Edition [2LP]
  Boris - W
  Walker Hayes - Country Stuff The Album
  El Camino Acid - Sunset Motel
  Various Artists - Urban Cowboy [SYEOR 2022 Limited Edition Opaque Blue 2LP]
  Ramones - Rocket To Russia [SYEOR 2022 Limited Edition Clear LP]
  Quincy Jones - $ (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [SYEOR 2022 Limited Edition Mint Green LP]
  Bad Company - Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy: The Very Best Of Bad Company [SYEOR 2022 Limited Edition Clear 2LP]
  Various Artists - Blade Runner Black Lotus (Original Television Soundtrack)
  Bomba Estereo - Deja
  King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Butterfly 3001 [Indie Exclusive limited Edition 2 LP]
  
  
  & More .....
  

  For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.
  
  

  UPCOMING RELEASES

  

  The Weeknd - Dawn FM - XO Records
  Dawn FM is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd. The album is narrated by Jim Carrey, and features guest appearances from Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne. The production was handled by The Weeknd himself alongside Oneohtrix Point Never-who produced the majority of the tracks-as well as Max Martin, Oscar Holter, Calvin Harris, and Swedish House Mafia, among others. The album serves as a follow-up to The Weeknd's fourth studio album, After Hours (2020).
  
  

  

  Bad Suns - Apocalypse Whenever - Epitaph
  Bad Suns sound - dreamy '80s pastiche flanked by Stratocasters through cranked Vox amps, pulsing synths, and palpable rhythmic energy - that endeared listeners to the band in the first place, and their fourth LP, Apocalypse Whenever, uses that musical foundation as the jumping-off point for their next evolution. Conceived as "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't yet exist," the 13-track album, helmed by longtime producer Eric Palmquist (MUTEMATH, Thrice) at his Palmquist Studios and the band's North Hollywood rehearsal spot, is more conceptually rigorous than anything they've ever attempted - but no less compelling or accessible. "We also knew we wanted the album to have a through-line, a story from beginning to end," frontman Christo Bowman explains, so the band did what any good directors would: They assembled a mood board, filtering their neo-noir version of Los Angeles through the dreamlike haziness of author Haruki Murakami, the futuristic flair of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Blade Runner, and the lifted cinematography of Spike Jonze's HER. These disparate influences don't just offer APOCALYPSE WHENEVER an expanded palette of sonic choices to color Bad Sun's airtight hooks - they help give the songs an emotional complexity that works on a multitude of levels depending on how listeners choose to receive them.
  
  

  

  Eels - Extreme Witchcraft - E Works / PIAS
  Eels have had one of the most consistently acclaimed careers in music. The ever-changing project of principal singer/songwriter E (Mark Oliver Everett), Eels have released thirteen studio albums since their 1996 debut, Beautiful Freak. During the height of the pandemic lockdown in early 2021, E got an out of the blue message from Mark Romanek, director of the first Eels video, "Novocaine For the Soul". It triggered him to reach out to John Parish, who was in between numerous projects and immediately got to work in his HonorSound studio in Bristol and began sending ideas to E. "I'd sneak out of bed at 4 in the morning to hear the latest thing John had sent, and try to add my part to it and get it back to him quickly before my 4 year old son woke up," E says. The resulting album is Extreme Witchcraft.  
  
    

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