News
New Release Round-Up 03-29-24
STILL LISTENING TO...
Odetta Hartman - TRANSGRESSIVE
New York singer-songwriter Odetta Hartman's 2015 debut mini-LP 222 and 2018's Old Rockhounds Never Die, saw her touring her unique performance style - part Jack White rock and roll folk blues, part electronic experimentations - with the likes of Let's Eat Grandma, Cosmo Sheldrake and Skullcrusher. Odetta's long-awaited second album, Swansongs, showcases her strongest set of songs to date. Another fever dream of a record, it includes the experimental pop of "Goldilocks", the dramatic string lead "Dr No." and her radical re-working of the traditional "Motherless Child"; first made famous by her namesake Odetta. Equally inspired by AG Cook's Apple and New Orleans traditional jazz, the musical mixology of these songs spans various genres of folk, americana, pop, punk, soul, ambient and spiritual. Lyrically, it tenders the tension of two truths in opposition through it's inquisition of the interplay between fear and desire. Dichotomy is at the heart of this deep exploration into shadow work, mythological musings, healing frequencies, eclectic expressions, and the art of sculpted sound. Swansongs is a dynamic and powerful reflection of love and ambition; hopeful, energetic and at times chaotic but always captivating.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Shabazz Palaces - Robed In Rareness [Ruby LP]
Sum 41 - Heaven :x: Hell [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Quad w/Blue Splatter 2LP]
Serpentwithfeet - GRIP [Clear LP]
Sheryl Crow - Evolution [Color LP]
Chastity Belt - Live Laugh Love [Cloudy LP]
Alejandro Escovedo - Echo Dancing [Gold 2LP]
Ride - Interplay [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Blue 2LP]
Aaron Lewis - The Hill [Coke Bottle Clear LP]
CNTS - Thoughts & Prayers [Orange LP]
Shabazz Palaces - Exotic Birds Of Prey [Translucent White LP]
Johnny Lytle - People & Love [LP]
Chicano Batman - Notebook Fantasy [Clear LP]
Ron Carter, Mal Waldron, Eric Dolphy - Where? [Original Jazz Classics Series LP]
Coffins - Sinister Oath [Oxblood LP]
j-hope (BTS) - HOPE ON THE STREET VOL.1 [VER.1 PRELUDE]
j-hope (BTS) - HOPE ON THE STREET VOL.1 [VER.2 INTERLUDE]
Catfish And The Bottlemen - Showtime [White 7]
Blu DeTiger - All I Ever Want Is Everything
For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.UPCOMING RELEASES
Phosphorescent - Revelator - Verve
Now Hear This! – April 2024
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What's New 3-22-24
One of the brightest young luminaries in roots music today, Sierra Ferrell brings a dose of beautifully strange magic to everything she touches. On her new album Trail Of Flowers, Ferrell expands her sound while deepening the urgency of her songs, often revealing a wealth of wisdom within her wildly imaginative storytelling.
Through her signature brand of pop on In Search Of…, Fletcher shares the different realizations, ego deaths, personal rebirths that encompass what it means to be on a true soul search. She shows both the beauty and brutality of what it means to be a human being on an ever-evolving quest back to one's own heart.
From the trap-metal inspired beats and crushing metalcore riffing that opens the album’s title track to the disquieting melodies of elegiac closer “Helena Drive”, Hollywood Suicide is a perfect snapshot of an artist finding himself, crawling from his own personal wreckage against a crumbling, mythical Californian milieu.
Change The Game marks a new chapter for Jinks as he is new self-managed with his own completely-independent team. Jinks puts forth his signature outlaw country sound throughout while showcasing artistic maturity as he delves into sobriety, the realities of life on the road and the need for redemption and accountability.
All My Friends is inspired by women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th amendment. The music is expansive with orchestral arrangements, choral vocals and a variety of instruments that create a sonic soundscape beyond anything Aoife has done in the past. Featuring Anaïs Mitchell, Sierra Hull, and the San Francisco Girls Choir.
On Bright Future, Lenker, a songwriter known for turns of phrase and currents of rhyme, says it plainly, "you have my heart // i want it back." Admirers of Adrianne's solo music and Big Thief will find her reliable talent captured in stunning, magnetic clarity– her vocal flights at times outwitting gravity, then landing, guiding along an earthly path.
With a wide-open recording approach, this is Evian’s best album to date: a cathartic rock record that melds power pop, iridescent guitar, raucous psychedelia, and Sam’s now sought-after grooves. The music is both fresh and familiar, sonically inspired by his penchant for early 70s production and propelled by a free-spirited process, as well as his urge to let go.
A profound exploration of existential paradoxes and cosmic fear, Unextinct weaves a narrative tapestry of technical death metal, where the divine horror of numinous life intersects with humanity's futile sovereignty. This is not just music; it's a philosophical inquiry set to the relentless cadence of death metal, inviting us to ponder the "Mysterium Tremendum" of life itself.
Renowned for their masterful, unparalleled and lightning-fast signature guitar solos that influenced a whole genre, and epic compositions that expand the boundaries of extreme power metal, Dragonforce explore a wider range of varying musical styles than ever before, evolving their sound throughout Warp Speed Warriors.
There’s something about growing up in punk and DIY spaces that puts collaboration in Boeckner’s blood. Composed of a collection of intimately familiar elements, Boeckner! elicits the same thrill of young passion and discovery. It’s a jet-powered chase through a tech-noir cityscape—fueled by a dream and that special someone in the passenger seat.
Some may say the project has been several tumultuous years in the making, but we argue it's arriving at just the right time. The Black Crowes are biting back with the angst of words left unsaid reveling in stripped, bare-boned rock & roll. No gloss, no glitter, just rhythm and blues at it's very best - gritty, loud, and in your face.
With over thirty years of active, nefarious service under their spikes and bulletbelts, Necrophobic are undisputed legends of the death and black metal scene. On their 10th studio album, In the Twilight Grey, the Swedish metal masters are taking an even deeper plunge into the shadowy abyss with more monstrously dramatic and destructive tunes.
Midnight bring their own hook-laden blend of Motörhead, Venom, speed metal, street punk, and a tinge of black metal to give it that extra taste of evil. If you like barked vocals, catchy riffs, and d-beat drums, hop in! As the band so perfectly put it on the opening track of their 2020 album, Rebirth by Blasphemy: “Fucking speed and darkness!!!”
Written with a no-limit mindset, where creativity and known genre rituals were given equal footing, Fragments of the Ageless is not just a definitive death metal showpiece, but an evolution of the genre going deeper, darker and to the edges of brutality . Death metal’s not dead. It’s never been deadlier!
On their full-length debut, Friko sustain the combustible energy of their break-out single “Crimson To Chrome,” merging elements of post-punk, chamber-pop and experimental rock, magnifying their music’s exhilarating power with a barrage of spirited ensemble vocals. Poetic, explosive, and sublimely raw in feeling.
New Release Round-Up 03-22-24
Fletcher - In Search Of The Antidote - Fletcher/Snapback Entertainment
FLETCHER returns with her sophomore album In Search Of The Antidote, detailing the journey of finding the antidote in life and the many forms it can take. Through singles like “Eras Of Us”, “Lead Me On” and more, FLETCHER shares the different realizations, ego deaths & personal rebirths, and more, that encompass what it means to be on a true soul search, and all the ups and downs that come with it. She bares all, showing both the beauty and brutality of what it means to be a human being on an ever-evolving quest back to one's own heart.
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood - Anti
One of the hardest working singer-songwriters in the game is named Katie Crutchfield. She was born in Alabama, grew up near Waxahatchee Creek. Skipped town and struck out on her own as Waxahatchee. That was over a decade ago. Crutchfield says she never knew the road would lead her here, but after six critically acclaimed albums, she's never felt more confident in herself as an artist. While her sound has evolved from lo-fi folk to lush alt-tinged country, her voice has always remained the same. Honest and close, poetic with Southern lilting. Much like Carson McCullers's Mick Kelly, determined in her desires and convictions, ready to tell whoever will listen.
And after years of being sober and stable in Kansas City - after years of sacrificing herself to her work and the road - Crutchfield has arrived at her most potent songwriting yet. On her new album, Tigers Blood, Crutchfield emerges as a powerhouse - an ethnologist of the self - forever dedicated to revisiting her wins and losses. But now she's arriving at revelations and she ain't holding them back. Produced by Brad Cook, the album features MJ Lenderman, Phil Cook, and Spencer Tweedy.
Aoife O'Donovan - All My Friends - Yep Roc Records
LP pressed on Opaque Yellow vinyl and includes an autographed insert! The follow-up to Aoife O'Donovan's 3x Grammy nominated album, Age of Apathy, All My Friends is based around a collection of songs Aoife wrote, inspired by women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th amendment. The music is expansive with orchestral arrangements, choral vocals and a variety of instruments that create a sonic soundscape beyond anything Aoife has done in the past. Special guests include Anaïs Mitchell, Sierra Hull, The Westerlies, The Knights and the San Francisco Girls Choir.
Charlie Parr - Little Sun - SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS
Over the last couple of decades, Charlie Parr has crisscrossed the world on tour more times than one can count. He also has released over a dozen albums of his songs, acclaimed for their poetic simplicity. Little Sun, his most ambitious album to date, was recorded with Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, My Morning Jacket) and features Parr augmenting his raw and affecting songs with stunning full-band arrangements. The remarkable backing band here includes Marisa Anderson, Victor Krummenacher, Andrew Borger, and Asher Fulero. Masterfully channeling the philosophical and transcendental qualities of the blues, Parr takes us on a journey through the winding streets of his imagination.
Gary Clark Jr. - JPEG RAW - Warner
Gary Clark Jr.’s forthcoming album entitled JPEG RAW, his fourth studio release,
marks a grand step in his musical evolution…. A powerful and expansive artistic statement.
While retaining the deep and true resonance of his blues foundations and guitar virtuosity with subtlety yet conviction, he reaches well beyond this time.
The emphasis here is on song and studio craft without losing the rawness of his young legend. (Rolling Stone Magazine called him, The Chosen One).
The music is dense and adventurous with a more cohesive synthesis of his eclectic musical palette. Hip samples, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Boy Williamson decorate flourishes of African, World Music, even Jazz while merging with blues , rock, R&B and rap; familiar areas he has ventured before, this time with more unity forging a fresh new style. Clark’s lyrics are pointed, deeply personal, outspoken and socially conscious with occasional forays into rap and spoken word from Clark himself. The sonics are immersive verging on modern groove-oriented psychedelia with hip-hop driven beats in verses giving way to anthemic choruses, rich with power-chording and wide fuzz riffage.
Songs like “Maktub”, “JPEG RAW”, “This Is Who We Are”, “Hyperwave” and the epic 10-minute Habits, break fresh ground defying categorization in the ever corporatized, predictable “alt” music world. The co-written Stevie Wonder duet, “What About The Children” feels like an immediate classic that could have lived on Innervisions or Talking Book if not for Clark’s fuzzed out riff and hip-hop pocket.
Clark has always had swagger and sex in his sound and very dangerous hands when wielding 6 strings. JPEG RAW is all of that and breaks new ground that is both thrilling and inspiring on every level.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Tipper - Forward Escape [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition 2LP]
Leaves' Eyes - Myths Of Fate [Limited Edition Blue/Black Splatter LP]
Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun [Limited Edition 3LP]
Palaye Royale - Boom Boom Room (Side A) [RSD Essential Indie Colorway Bone + Transparent Purple w/Black + White Splatter 2LP]
Logic1000 - Mother [2LP]
The Staves - All Now [LP]
Cody Jinks - Change The Game [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Mineral 2LP]
Misfits - Collection 1 [RSD Essential Glow-In-The-Dark LP]
Keith Hudson - Pick A Dub [RSD Essential Black Ice 2LP]
Yellowman - Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt [RSD Essential Lemonade LP]
The Osborne Brothers - From Rocky Top to Muddy Bottom [RSD Essential Indie Colorway Denim Blue LP]
Alphaville, German Film Orchestra Babelsberg, and Andreas Köhler - A Night At The Philharmonie Berlin [2CD/DVD]
USA Nails - Feel Worse [Limited Edition White LP]
Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Calder Red 2LP]
LXVNDR x Tachichi - Found Money [LP]
Bright & Black - The Album [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Black/White Splatter 2 LP]
Sam Evian - Plunge [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clearwater Blue LP]
Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies [LP]
Thee Sinseers - Sinseerly Yours - Turquoise [Colored Vinyl]
The Rose - DUAL [Red LP]
Bendigo Fletcher - Two Things At Once [Indie Exclusive Baby Pink LP]
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Glasgow Eyes [Deluxe Clear 2LP]
Tyla - TYLA [LP]
Junior Marvin - Happy Family
Dylan Gossett - No Better Time [EP]
Kenny Chesney - Born
Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future [Colored Vinyl] [Indie Exclusive]
Shakira - Mujeres Ya No Lloran [Clear Vinyl]
& More .....
What's New 3-15-24
Rolling acoustic guitars, puffy clouds of strings and synth, warm bass punctuations, layered harmonies, moments of Celtic melody and plenty of room for Musgraves’ silvery vocals. On Deeper Well, the songstress surveys her life and priorities, recognizing what feeds her, drains her and even examines the childhood she’s left behind on her way to now.
Higher Power strobes with brilliance and fervent energy throughout, succeeding as a real-time journey traversing themes of loss, frustration, betrayal and near defeat while accenting Stapp’s quintessential vocal delivery. It’s 10 unforgettable tracks of radio-ready anthems, introspective ballads, undeniable metal bangers and heavy rock triumphs.
With collaborations with Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Lil Yachty, Tierra has become a force to be reckoned with. On her highly anticipated debut album, World Wide Whack, Tierra collaborates with fellow Philly native, conceptual artist, Alex Da Corte, on the visuals, artwork and creative elements of this album.
Recorded around Lloyd’s 85th birthday concert, this majestic body of work presents 15 Lloyd originals, new and reimagined. The double-album finds one of the most significant musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries still at the peak of his powers. Featuring legendary saxophonist joined by pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade.




















