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New Release Round-Up 05-17-24
Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT - Darkroom/Interscope Records
Billie Eilish’s third studio album, "HIT ME HARD AND SOFT", released via Darkroom/Interscope Records is her most daring body of work to date, a diverse yet cohesive collection of songs— ideally listened to in its entirety from beginning to end—does exactly as the album title suggests; hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically, while bending genres and defying trends along the way. With the help of her brother and sole collaborator, FINNEAS, the pair wrote, recorded, and produced the album together in their hometown of Los Angeles. This album comes on the heels of her two massively successful albums “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO?" and "Happier Than Ever" and works to further develop the world of Billie Eilish.
Luke Grimes - Luke Grimes - Mercury Nashville
Luke Grimes self-titled debut album on Mercury Nashville features 13 tracks, including “Burn,” “Hold On,” and “Oh Ohio.” Known for his role as Kayce Dutton on the hit television series Yellowstone, Grimes has been making music for years. He closed out 2023 with a sold-out tour after playing fairs and festivals around the country, including
Stagecoach, Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival, Under The Big Sky Festival, and more. Grimes grew up playing music in church as the son of a Pentecostal pastor. His father also laid the foundation for the music he loves, introducing him to the works of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Indie Exclusive
Clear LP. Limited Edition.
Various Artists - NOW K-Pop 2024 - NOW
Possibly the most long-awaited NOW album since NOW That’s What I Call Music released it’s first album in 1998, NOW That’s What I Call K-Pop will be available May 17th.
NOW That’s What I Call K-Pop, a first of its kind curation for K-Pop, featuring 20 top hits from major current K-Pop favorites – the full tracklist is below.
NOW That’s What I Call K-Pop is available in CD digipack, black vinyl
CD and vinyl editions each include photo cards for all 20 featured artists, a photocard envelope to hold them, and a photo spread of many carefully curated images of the artist
Zayn - ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS [Forest Green/Neon Splatter 2 LP]
Cage The Elephant - Neon Pill [Indie Exclusive Milky Clear LP]
The Avett Brothers - The Avett Brothers [Indie Exclusive Light Blue LP]
Modest Mouse - Good news For People Who Love Bad News (Deluxe Edition)
Pink Floyd - Animals (2018 Remix) [Audio Blu-ray w/Dolby Atmos Mix]
Hampton Hawes - For Real! [Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series LP]
Cold Hart - Pretty In The Dark [LP]
Bright Light Bright Light - Enjoy Youth [Pink LP]
Joe Bonamassa - Live At The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra [2 LP]
ISOBEL CAMPBELL - Bow to Love [Solid Yellow LP]
Guster - Ooh La La [Mint Green LP]
Ghostly Kisses - Darkroom [LP]
Sasha Alex Sloan - Me Again [LP]
Better Than Ezra - Super Magick [LP]
Night Sins - A Silver Blade in the Shadow [Green and Black Marble LP]
Hollywood Vampires - Rise [CD]
Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation: Live Amsterdam 07/11/22
Stephen Sondheim / Cast Recording - Here We Are (Original Cast Recording) [LP]
Oppressor - Solstice Of Oppression
Blitzen Trapper - 100's Of 1000's, Millions Of Billions (Blue)
Collective Soul - Here To Eternity
Ana Egge - Sharing In The Spirit [Limited Edition]
For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.UPCOMING RELEASES
What's New 5-10-24
This record is a song cycle about the process of grief, moving thru the traditional five stages of Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance and welcoming the pain that accompanies each stage. Rather than deflecting or bottling it up, facing the pain head-on allows us to be more human with ourselves and each other. There's also mandolin, handclaps and whoops.
Woven from the threads of devastating loss – the sudden passing of Shannon's fianceé – this record unfolds as the Clams' most introspective to date. With Dan Auerbach's production, the album delves deep into themes of heartache and healing, and showcases the band's trademark wry psychedelia, energetic nostalgia, and flourishes of retro beauty.
There’s no ceiling for hardcore in 2024, but there’s a center to what Knocked Loose do that will never change: uncompromising heaviness, both sonically and thematically. What is evolving is their drive to find new ways to convey that heaviness, and add tasteful variety that only highlights their undiminished ferocity.
While working 12-hour days farming, LaFarge began dreaming up a kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of mambo, tropicália, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. “The songs that naturally come to me are upbeat and make you wanna dance,” says LaFarge. “I used to think of my music in dark blue, but now I see it in technicolor.”
The former Skid Row frontman powers back with pummelling, Bach-to-basics heap of heavy rock fun. Given that Judas Priest just released one of the best albums in their 50-year career, Sebastian Bach will be hoping that seniority is the new youth (gone wild). There isn’t anything particularly new here, but what he does he still does mighty well.
This 28-track setlist shows the breadth and brilliance of Queen’s songwriting. It mixes ‘70s classics with fan-favorite deep cuts and album tracks (“Keep Yourself Alive,” “Dragon Attack,” “I’m In Love With My Car,” “Sheer Heart Attack”), as well as two songs (“Flash,” “The Hero”) which are exclusive to the audio-only formats. Limited Edition
For the first time the reflections and meditations of Amen Dunes are turned from himself and sharply towards the world. A drastic turn musically and thematically, rooted in the electronic music of raves and of rap music he grew up with, Death Jokes plays like a scathing electronic essay on America's culture of violence, dominance, and destructive individualism.
Remembrance serves as a moving final document of the profound creative and personal rapport of banjoist Béla Fleck and pianist Chick Corea. It’s also a crucial addendum to Corea’s legacy, featuring three previously unreleased Corea compositions as well as five short free improvisations, or impromptus, that Fleck has infused with written music.
The indie-rock trio went off the grid in New Mexico, got stranded in Montana, and returned home to Chicago to make Poetry, an LP filled with pain and joy and everything in between. It's not a stretch to preemptively label it 2024's record of the summer for the alternative crowd. It's fun, it’s fresh, it’s vibes for days.
As the title suggests, it’s a document of one of this era’s great rock n’ roll bands cutting loose, trying new things, and, yes, having some fun. The band harkens back to their gritty origins while simultaneously finding new gears. It’s the sound of a band freed from any expectations, and the album the band says they’ve always wanted to make.
10th anniversary of the seismic shifting album. Named one of Rolling Stone’s “Greatest Country Albums of All Time” in 2022. The New York Times called it, “one of the most jolting country albums in recent memory.” The new special edition features a fully reimagined album cover, pressed on 180g vinyl with an “old style” tip-on jacket.
New Release Round-Up 05-10-24
Out this week:
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (10 Year Anniversary) - HIGH TOP MOUNTAIN RECORDS
Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is the second studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson. The album was produced and engineered by Dave Cobb and was released on May 13, 2014, through High Top Mountain/Thirty Tigers.
'Metamodern Sounds in Country Music' 10 Year Anniversary Edition, to be released May 10, 2024, features fully reimagined album artwork for the CD and vinyl release. The limited edition vinyl variant is packaged in an "old-style" tip-on gatefold jacket and pressed on 180g black vinyl.
Still Listening to...
Def Leppard - Pyromania (40th Anniversary) - MERCURY
Pyromania (40th Anniversary) [Deluxe 2 LP] - Def Leppard's 40th anniversary reissue of Pyromania has been expanded to a 2-LP set on 180g black vinyl with unheard demos and live tracks from the era. Originally released in 1983, Pyromania launched the band into rock legend status, selling over 10 million copies. Featuring global hit singles "Photograph," "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)" and "Rock of Ages." In tribute to this milestone, this deluxe edition has been executive produced by lead singer Joe Elliott and Ronan McHugh with mastering by Andy Pearce.
dad sports - I Am Just A Boy Leave Me Alone!!! [LP]
Stephan Moccio - Legends, Myths and Lavender [LP]
Sonic Universe - It Is What It Is [LP]
Unwed Sailor - Underwater Over There [LP]
Kings Of Leon - Can We Please Have Fun [Indie Exclusive Apple LP]
Keane - Hopes And Fears (20th Anniversary Edition) [3 CD]
Les Savy Fav - OUI, LSF [Indie Exclusive Bloodshot LP]
Bjork - Fossora [Colored Vinyl] (Grn) [Indie Exclusive]
How To Dress Well - I Am Toward You [CLOUDY ORANGE LP]
Brian Kelley - Tennessee Truth [Gold Nugget LP]
Julius Asal - Scriabin - Scarlatti [CD]
Like Moths To Flames - The Cycles of Trying to Cope [Light Blue LP]
Rainbow Kitten Surprise - Love Hate Music Box [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Milky Clear]
Joe Cuba Sextet - Vagabundeando! Hangin' Out [LP]
Sebastian Bach - Child Within The Man [Indie Exclusive 2 Light Blue LP]
The Beaches - Blame My Ex [Indie Exclusive Transparent blue LP]
Bela Fleck and Chick Corea - Remembrance [LP]
Jimi Hendrix - First Rays Of The New Rising Sun [2 LP]
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music (Anniversary Edition)
For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.UPCOMING RELEASES
What's New 5-3-24
Cyan Blue finds Wilson crafting a smoothly woven tapestry of her eternal influences; thumping gospel piano, warm soul basslines, atmospheric electronics, and penetrating R&B melodies. Yet, it rings in a new era for Wilson, one in which she's embracing collaboration and newfound creative openness tinged with a reflection on youthful innocence.
Infused with the energy of Dua's hometown, London, the attitude of the album embodies the rawness, honesty, confidence and freedom of `90s Britpop. Radical Optimism transports its listener to a dreamy pop world rich in musicality, lyrically unapologetic and sonically liberating. Find the pure joy of having clarity in situations that once seemed impossible to face.
As Nenni swerves between lush melodies and jaunty ditties, steely sentiments and intimate words, she maps an album that is honest and feisty, a little messy but never off course. Drive & Cry is a freshly sharpened display of the artist's already singular talents, marking another vintage-sheened opus for the road.
Washington creates a playground and invites friends (George Clinton, D Smoke, Andre 3000, Thundercat) to be themselves. Fearless Movement is an unabashed, cross-country, transgenerational manifestation and celebration of Black American music, pushing it forward from a deep love of its past not just in the spirit of community but in its actual presence.
A triumphant return to Turner’s indie roots, Undefeated showcases his undiminished zeal and raw musical power. This album, passionately self-produced at his home studio on Mersea Island, represents a creative renaissance for Turner, embracing the spirit of independence with his steadfast band, The Sleeping Souls.
Record number six from the superstar musician follows 2022’s rock-heavy Coping Mechanism and the previous year’s pop-punk-leaning lately I feel EVERYTHING, this time with another genre switch. With appearances from St. Vincent and Jon Baptiste, emotions spill as Smith veers toward a new alternative and jazz tinged direction.
Lauded experimental death metal band Dååth has emerged from its 13-year hiatus with a monstrously heavy but beautifully orchestrated album that will haunt anybody fortunate enough to hear it. Band founder/guitarist Eyal Levi has overseen an overhaul of the lineup, though importantly Dååth still features force-of-nature vocalist Sean Zatorsky.
While there is no denying the progressive metal heritage that permeates their music, Wheel has a musical identify that is unequivocally distinctive. Fans of bands like Porcupine Tree, Opeth, and yes, Tool, will all find something to love here, but Wheel clearly transcends these comparisons while avoiding the self-indulgence that often plagues progressive music.
Now Hear This! – May 2024
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