STAFF PICKS
Looking for new music? These are some of our favorite albums from the past and present.
Scone Cash Players
Blast Furnace! [Indie Exclusive] Flamingo Pink [Colored Vinyl] (Pnk)
Vinyl: $27.99 Buy
Flock' is the record that Jane Weaver always wanted to make, the most genuine version of herself, complete with unpretentious Day-Glo pop sensibilities, wit, kindness, humour and glamour. A consciously positive vision for negative times, a brooding and ethereal creation. The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented. Still prevalent are the cosmic sounds, but 'Flock' is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favour of writing pop music. Produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980's Russian Aerobics records and Australian Punk. Amongst this broadcast of glistening sounds is 'The Revolution Of Super Visions', an untelevised Mothership connection, with Prince floating by as he plays scratchy guitar; it also features a funky
Nonesuch Records releases Ghost Song, the label debut of singer/songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant, on March 4, 2021. Ghost Song features a diverse mix of seven originals and five interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. Salvant says, “It’s unlike anything I’ve done before—it’s getting closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator. I’m embracing my weirdness!” Cécile McLorin Salvant plays four shows at SFJAZZ in February and two nights featuring the music of Ghost Song at Jazz at Lincoln Center in May.
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio
Cold As Weiss [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear w/Blue LP]
Vinyl: $24.99 Buy
Over the course of the last five years, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio have established themselves as the world's premier funky organ trio.
The organ trio, along with founder and manager Amy Novo, continues to devise the perfect blend of raw, passionate music and engaging industry practices.
Through a firm partnership with label Colemine Records, the trio has garnered Billboard charting albums, sold out shows, tens of thousands of albums sold, and millions of streams. Lofty accomplishments for an instrumental organ trio. Now, with permanent drummer Dan Weiss behind the kit, DLO3 is proud to present Cold As Weiss, their third studio album to date that finds them tighter than ever, and continuing to push funky instrumental music to a new generation of fans.
On Monday May 9th we kick off our next black midi campaign for the band's sophomore album Hellfire, with the single & Gustaf Holtenäs ("Slow") directed video "Welcome To Hell". Hellfire will be out on July 15th. The album was written in London 2021 and produced by Marta Salogni and black midi, with additional production from Max Goulding. Artwork was created by David Rudnick (who's done the artwork for all previous black midi albums as well), using AI technology into which he fed lyrics from the album to generate imagery which was then printed, cut up and reconfigured into a detailed and complex collage.
No band can quite build their own universe like black midi. Hellfire, their third album and second in two years sees the London three piece at their most direct. "Welcome To Hell" tells the story of a debauched soldier's excess and military discharge, soundtracked by funky guitar sections, driving horns and a progressively snarling vocal. Premiered by Steve Lamacq on 6 Music. 2022 live dates incl Coachella, Glastonbury, Somerset House, more to be announced.
All the Rage is a fire starter wrapped in pink cream. The record is a multicourse meal with pulsing
dance beats, heavy guitar riffage and the nimble inter-
weaving vocals of the three musicians. The result is a
worthy successor to their first record, It's The Tips!
Their sophomore album features a gaudy pink cake brought to life by the talented Boise cake artist Sugar Librarian on its
When Porridge Radio’s Dana Margolin, one of the most vital new voices in rock, began to consider the themes of her new album, three vivid words began to emerge: joy, fear and endlessness. The artwork of the band’s third full-length, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, is a surreal image that evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life in recent times. “To me, the feelings of joy, fear and endlesses coexist together,” says Dana. “You’re never just happy or unhappy.”
Following Every Bad’s release in 2020, Margolin was quickly becoming regarded as one of the most magnetic band leaders around. But if Every Bad established Dana’s bravery in laying herself bare, her band’s third record takes that to anthemic new heights. While there are moments of guttural release, she also finds soft power on songs. “I used to think I had to be loud to be heard,” she admits, “but now I’m definitely less afraid of being gentle.”
The band’s first new single, ‘Back To The Radio’, sets out their stall, a lurching call to arms that contrasts Dana’s lyrics of panic and closing herself off. This song is just one of example in WDBLTTS that explores something that has long been an important part of Porridge Radio’s process: playfulness. “I think the album needed to have that balance,” Dana explains.
Balance: that’s the word the album seems to be eternally striving for – joy, fear and endlessness in harmony but also self-acceptance. Dana is more aware of how she’s creating a persona as her star continues to rise, and how she’s singing personal songs that now belong to other people which gives her purpose. She says, “I wrote these songs for myself, but I think everyone wants to feel like what they’re doing is useful in some way. I’m ready to embrace it all now, whatever happens.
2020's A Hero's Death saw Fontaines D.C. land a #2 album in the UK, receive nominations at the GRAMMYs, BRITs and Ivor Novello Awards, and sell out London's iconic Alexandra Palace. Now the band return with their third record in as many years: Skinty Fia. Used colloquially as an expletive, the title roughly translates from the Irish language into English as 'the damnation of the deer'; the spelling crassly anglicized, and its meaning diluted through generations. Part bittersweet romance, part darkly political triumph - the songs ultimately form a long-distance love letter, one that laments an increasingly privatized culture in danger of going the way of the extinct Irish giant deer.

Maxist Love Disco Ensemble
Mlde [Indie Exclusive] Red [Colored Vinyl] [Limited Edition] (Red) [Indie Exclusive]
Vinyl: $34.99 Buy
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
The Alien Coast [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Gold Nugget LP]
Vinyl: $25.99 Buy
A fever dream in sonic form, The Alien Coast is the first album St. Paul & The Broken Bones recorded in their hometown of Birmingham. Produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Drive-By Truckers, Margo Price) - the bands fourth full-length is a dizzying convergence of rock & roll and R&B, psychedelia and stoner metal, gospel and jazz-funk. At turns explosive, elegant, and thrillingly unhinged - it makes for a majestic backdrop to the groups visceral exploration of the strangest dimensions of the human psyche.
Yard Act formed in Leeds in September 2019 when Ryan Needham found himself temporarily living in James Smith's spare bedroom. Settling into a system of programming, looping and layering, the alchemy between the two created a base from which to build their complex and ever expanding narrative world. 'Ryan is a vibe guy, whereas I overthink everything,' laughs Smith. 'It's been the greatest creative partnership I've ever had. When you find a groove that works, it just kind of looks after itself.' With just three hometown shows under their belt, world events intervened. But rather than letting the pandemic derail them Yard Act set up their own imprint, Zen F.C. and across the course of 2020 and into early 2021 released four increasingly coruscating, hilariously dark singles. Now expanded to a four-piece, joined by Sam Shjipstone (guitar) and Jay Russell (drums), they've announced their debut album 'The Overload', set for release on 7th January 2022. Their inherent wit has been sharpened down into something that speaks to the times we live in, creating a statement of intent that survives on nuance, that manages to poke fun at society without punching down from a place of left-wing superiority or right-wing anger. The Overload is a political record, but in the same way that all great observations of human nature are ' a messy, complex, knowingly hypocritical snapshot of our current state of play.
Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present. Whether it is her Haitian heritage or her adopted home of New Orleans, she — a bilingual multi-instrumentalist and alumna of Grammy award-winning African-American string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops — has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. McCalla has produced a multi-disciplinary music, dance and theatre work, Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever, which follows her personal journey as she uncovers the history of Radio Haiti, the first radio station in Haiti to report news in Haitian Kreyol - the voice of the people. Through this juxtaposition of voices - the personal and political, the anecdotal and the journalistic - McCalla gives expression to the enduring spirit of Haiti’s marginalized poor in the face of several centuries of political oppression. Performances of the theatre work are currently scheduled in New Orleans and Philadelphia with more to be announced in soon. The process of creating Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever included listening to countless archival recordings of interviews by Radio Haiti’s journalists, and McCalla specifically wrote “Fort Dimanche” after listening to a testimonial interview that Michele Montas - the prominent former journalist and station director at Radio Haiti - had conducted with a survivor of Duvalier’s political prison. In the interview, the man outlined his living conditions, the daily terror and torture that these political prisoners were subjected to and the events that led to his arrest. This album is a soundtrack of sorts to the theatre piece, featuring the songs that Leyla McCalla wrote and performs in this work.
Black Country, New Road will release the second album, 'Ants From Up There' on February 4th via Ninja Tune. Following on almost exactly a year to the day from the release of their acclaimed debut 'For the first time', the band have harnessed the momentum from that record and run full pelt into their second, with 'Ants From Up There' managing to strike a skilful balance between feeling like a bold stylistic overhaul of what came before, as well as a natural progression.
Their debut 'For the first time' is a certain 2021 Album of the Year, having received ecstatic reviews from publications including as NPR, Stereogum, Pitchfork, The FADER, CRACK, Uncut, The Quietus, Loud & Quiet, The Face, Paste, The Needle Drop, DIY, NME, CLASH and fans alike, as well as recently being shortlisted for the UK's prestigious Mercury Music Prize. The album made a significant dent on the UK Albums Chart where it landed at #4 in its first week, as well as breaking into multiple Billboard Charts including Top Album Sales (#50), Current Album Sales (#26), Tastemaker Albums (#4), Heatseeker Albums (#15) and Emerging Artists (#22).
'For the first time' melded klezmer, post-rock, indie and an often intense spoken word delivery. On 'Ants From Up There' they have expanded on this unique concoction to create a singular sonic middle ground that traverses classical minimalism, indie-folk, pop, alt rock and a distinct tone that is already unique to the band.
The Beach Boys “Sail On Sailor“ collection celebrates the landmark 1972 albums “Carl And The Passions” and “Holland.” Includes extensive liner notes and the original “Mount Vernon and Fairway” 7inch EP from Holland, unavailable on vinyl since the 1970s. Both albums are fully remastered.