Indie Exclusive Releases
The Head And The Heart
Every Shade of Blue [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Transparent Orange Crush 2LP]
From the anthemic “Virginia (Wind In The Night),” an ode to Russell’s native state to which he’s recently relocated (“If it was solely up to me, I’d live her for the rest of my life,” he says), to the minimal but momentous “Tiebreaker,” Every Shade of Blue showcases The Head and the Heart’s unique ability to dip its toes into a variety of musical genres. It’s the band’s knack for supreme melody, however, that remains a constant. And it’s why many of the songs on Every Shade of Blue, including the slow-rolling title track, “Every Shade of Blue,” which Russell says has “a Sinatra vibe,” are undeniable pop-radio missiles. The band’s ability to create music that appeals to listeners’ common denominator, Russell says, is something he not only won’t shy away from but is immensely proud of.
Flocked blacklight glow in the dark cover jacket, discobag and neon magenta vinyl.
When two artists as esteemed & talented as Apollo Brown & Stalley come together, they shine, even in the dark. “Blacklight” represents the combination of two titans of hip-hop, both largely recognized as legends in their own right while also being overlooked by some when the discussions of “best alive” come up.
Detroit underground rap staple Quelle Chris will be releasing his new album "Deathfame" on 12/2. It features appearances by Navy Blue, Pink Siifu, Denmark Vessey, Cavalier, J Jig Cicero, and Moruf, and was largely produced by Quelle Chris himself, with contributions from Chris Keys on multiple tracks and Knxwledge on one track.
Dr. John
Things Happen That Way [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Garden District Green LP + Bonus 7in]
Vinyl: $25.98 PREORDER
Throughout his six-decade long career, Dr. John embodied a near-mythic multitude of musical identities: Global Ambassador of New Orleans funk and jazz and R&B, visionary bluesman, rock and roll innovator, and a massively revered high priest of psychedelic voodoo.
Things Happen That Way, his final studio album, adds another dimension to his musicality: a lifelong affinity for country & western. It's a glorious farewell from one of the most essential figures in music history.
Skid Row
The Gang's All Here [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Black, Red, White Splatter LP]
Vinyl: $32.98 PREORDER
Skid Row are out to reclaim their turf as kings of hard rock and proclaim, “The Gang’s All Here”!
“The Gang’s All Here” is an oath to joy triumphant, bursting with euphoric energy that makes us hunger for more. It is the logical next-generation leap of the band’s trademark sound which stomps out new ground with singer Erik Grönwall (formerly of H.E.A.T, one of the best frontmen of this or any hard rock era) joining the family.
Produced by Nick Raskulinecz, long-time fan and much in-demand producer (Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Evanescence), Skid Row are ablaze. They are re-energized, picking up exactly where they left us wanting more, kicking their sound way up to modern hard rock royalty.
Action Bronson
Cocodrillo Turbo [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Ultra Clear LP]
Vinyl: $25.98 PREORDER
It’s impossible to describe Action Bronson in a way he hasn’t already thought of. First and foremost though, Action Bronson is a principled MC, a Queens legend respected for his idiosyncratic pen and vivid raps, now a decade into his career and still deepening his skillset. “TRUST WHEN I SAY IT AIN’T SAFE FOR ANY OF THESE ANIMALS THE ANCIENT APEX PREDATOR IS BACK ON THE PROWL.” – ACTION BRONSON
Various Artists
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2 [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition LP]
Even real places become imaginary when they are so far out of reach. Named for an idyllic island near Ibiza off the coast of Spain, Formentera is a place that, for Metric, only existed on a page in a “dream destinations” travel book that lay open on a desk in the new recording studio that guitarist Jimmy Shaw built in 2020, in a rural hamlet north of Toronto. This is the setting where the band’s eighth album took shape. Shaw brought on Synthetica collaborator Liam O’Neil as well as longtime friend Gus van Go (The Stills) to co-engineer and co-produce with him. When the border opened, Metric bassist Joshua Winstead and drummer Joules Scott Key came in from the U.S to record, adding live energy and sonic depth to complete the Metric sound.
The result is a conceptual arc that progresses from tension and turmoil to dance-floor abandon, beginning with the edgy ten-minute album opener “Doomscroller,” and progressing through a color wheel of emotions, from determined perseverance on “What Feels Like Eternity” to self-emancipation in full orchestral bloom on the title track as Haines poses the question, “Why not just let go?” There’s a sense of resolution in the very matter-of-fact, deceptively catchy “False Dichotomy,” and the album ends on a melancholy high with “Paths in the Sky,” a love song to lifelong friendship, a thematic companion track to “All Comes Crashing,” an end-of-days banger and the first single.
“This is what we’re all thinking about,” Haines says. “So let’s address it, let’s have this whole expansive emotional experience that can feel collective instead of all going through it alone.”
Shygirl is a multidisciplinary artist from the East London club scene. She has finished her first major body of work, her debut album entitled, Nymph. Written and produced by Shygirl, alongside long-term collaborator Sega Bodega, it features additional production by Mura Masa, Bloodpop, Danny L Harle, and Noah Goldstein among others. The 12-track album is a stunningly innovative and diverse collection of songs exploring themes of friendship, community, escapism, love, and loss. Indie Exclusive Translucent Blue LP.
Dr. John
Things Happen That Way [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition CD + Bonus Track]
CD: $14.98 PREORDER
Throughout his six-decade long career, Dr. John embodied a near-mythic multitude of musical identities: Global Ambassador of New Orleans funk and jazz and R&B, visionary bluesman, rock and roll innovator, and a massively revered high priest of psychedelic voodoo.
Things Happen That Way, his final studio album, adds another dimension to his musicality: a lifelong affinity for country & western. It's a glorious farewell from one of the most essential figures in music history.
Death Cab for Cutie
Asphalt Meadows [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Pink LP]
Vinyl: $28.98 PREORDER
Anticipated new album from platinum-selling indie greats Death Cab for Cutie coming late this summer!
8x GRAMMY® Award-nominated rock band Death Cab for Cutie return today with “Roman Candles,” the first track off their highly-anticipated tenth studio album Asphalt Meadows. The new track from the indie rock veterans – now in their 25th year as a band – arrives with an official lyric video designed by Juliet Bryant (Justin Vernon, Japanese Breakfast, Laura Jane Grace) – watch here.
As with the forthcoming album in its entirety, “Roman Candles” was produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Wallows).
Of the inspiration for the song, the band shares: “‘Roman Candles’ is about the crippling, existential dread that goes hand in hand with living in a nervous city on a dying planet. And that the only way to be in the moment is to let it all go.” The track was born from co-founder, lead vocalist, and guitarist Benjamin Gibbard’s determination to create something succinct, loud, and strikingly direct. He shares: “The lyrics were cobbled from a couple of different songs dealing with my general sense of anxiety; the feeling that the fabric that weaves a functioning society together was crumbling during the pandemic.”
Tell All Your Friends is the groundbreaking debut album from Long Island’s Taking Back Sunday. Boasting the hit singles “Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team),” “Great Romances of the 20th Century” and “You’re So Last Summer,” the album is highly acclaimed and has influenced artists of all sizes and genres over the last 20 years. This 20th Anniversary Edition 2-disc album includes a bonus 10” featuring four previously unreleased demos.
Stray From The Path
Euthanasia [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Opaque Light Pink LP]
Vinyl: $20.98 PREORDER
The Heartbreakers
L.A.M.F. - The Found '77 Masters [RSD Essential Neon Pink & White LP]
A recently-found copy master of the original 1977 Track Records tape, without mud! This classic punk album, recorded in London by the NYC band featuring two New York Dolls, was always controversial - and not just for the acronym. On release in 1977 on Track Records, it was widely condemned in the press for having a "muddy mix" - later discovered to be a mastering fault. When Track went bust the following year, manager Leee Black Childers burgled the office and liberated the tapes - he found everything except the master tape.
Subsequent releases were remixes or compiled from outtake mixes - the latter "lost '77 mixes" in 1994 being the version commonly known since. Meanwhile, fans found the 1977 cassette version didn't have the infamous "mud", neither did certain European vinyl matrixes.
In 2020 a chance meeting led to Danny Secunda's archives. Danny was an old-school music biz pioneer who understood punk. He became a Track Records director and the Heartbreakers L.A.M.F. co-producer. In amongst his tape box archive were two with no artist name, marked "Copy Master 12.7.77". They turned out to be a crystal-clear "L.A.M.F.", just as the band and producers intended it.
Sadly, none of the Heartbreakers lived to hear of the discovery. In 2020 the Heartbreakers co-lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Walter passed away, the last of the Heartbreakers "L.A.M.F." line-up. First released as a much-in-demand RSD release in 2021, it now returns for its 45th Anniversary as a 'Record Store Day Essentials' release. A limited-edition in neon pink and white vinyl. With inner bag and notes by Simon Wright, and a new RSDE obi-strip.
Namir Blade will have a new release called Metropolis on 6/24 via Mello Music Group. Namir Blade was recently featured in the NBA2k22 game. Also named #1 Hiphop artist by Nashville Scene Weekly Paper. Namir wrote the NPR Nashville Affiliate WXNP theme song. There is production featured on Joell Ortiz (Slaughterhouse) album with CyHi the Prynce.
YUNGBLUD is the self-titled third album by 24-year-old singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist YUNGBLUD (Dominic Harrison). Following the success of 2018’s 21st Century Liability and 2020’s weird!, his third record is simply titled YUNGBLUD: it’s a reclamation of his own narrative and the consolidation of his artistic identity. YUNGBLUD is out September 2, 2022. Indie Exclusive Pink LP.
Steve Earle & The Dukes
JERRY JEFF [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear LP]
Vinyl: $31.98 PREORDER
Steve Earle has been creating intimate and personal music for well over four decades now. His songwriting has wound itself along a path from Texas to Tennessee and his education came in the form of learning from the best. 2009’s Grammy-nominated record, TOWNES, was a tribute to his dear friend and mentor, Townes Van Zandt. Ten years later Earle released, GUY. An album concentrated on paying homage to the late Guy Clark and the indelible friendship that they had formed in stories told through song. 2022 welcomes the release of JERRY JEFF. A 10-song collection of songs written by the gypsy songman, Jerry Jeff Walker. Featuring hits like, “Mr. Bojangles” and “Gettin’ By”, Earle & The Dukes honor the late Texan by amplifying the concept and sound of each song with a full-band recording.
This album was created in Los Angeles and London and is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world. A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilisation of the global order all informed Will Of The People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened. This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.
25-year-old GRAMMY-nominated artist Marcus King prepares to release his new album, Young Blood, produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys via Rick Rubin's American Recordings/Republic Records. He has toured with The Marcus King Band for over 10 years, as well as tours with Chris Stapleton, Greta Van Fleet, and Nathanial Rateliff. He’s released 3 LPs with The Marcus King Band before his GRAMMY-nominated 2021 solo debut LP, El Dorado. Indie Exclusive Yellow LP.
Lupe Fiasco
DRILL MUSIC IN ZION [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Opaque Blue 2LP]
Vinyl: $28.98 PREORDER
Twisting and contorting the English language to fit the meter and his every whim, Lupe Fiasco uses his superb lyrical skill to process the changing world in which he lives. Drawing connections between the concrete and spiritual in his hometown of Chicago, Lupe announces DRILL MUSIC IN ZION, his next album. The product of a burst of thoughtful spontaneity, Lupe created the new album over a short period, diving into a folder of beats sent by his longtime producer Soundtrakk and emerging with a fully-realized album in just three days. “Soundtrakk is the swordmaker, I’m the samurai," says Lupe. "He’s the mechanic, and I’m the driver.” Armed with Soundtrakk's soulful sounds, Lupe creates a focused statement that reflects on the past and paves a way forward, preaching strength through mindfulness and self-sustaining community. DRILL MUSIC IN ZION arrives digitally on June 24th via 1st & 15th/Thirty Tigers. The physical release is set for August 26 (CD, Black Vinyl, and Indie-retail exclusive blue vinyl).
His first new album since 2018's DROGAS WAVE, DRILL MUSIC IN ZION marks the start of another chapter in Lupe's illustrious career. The proud Chicago native has already had a busy 2022, marked with sold out shows, new music, and much more. Lupe recently closed out his "Food & Liquor Tour," a series of performances in which he plays his debut album in full. He paid tribute to his hometown in the reflective, self-produced "100 Chicagos," and dug into the archives to share "Hustlaz," a previously-unreleased song originally recorded before the release of the now-classic debut album Food & Liquor. Beyond music, Lupe continues to focus on the community organizations he founded, including We Are M.U.R.A.L, The Neighborhood Start-Up Fund, Society of Spoken Art, and his cross-cultural content venture, Studio SV.
Oddisee
People Hear What They See [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Bowlero Storm Edition LP]
Vinyl: $26.98 PREORDER
"This album is about influence, inspiration, perception & reality. Every song was written in an outside environment, so that I could observe the subjects that would become my subject matter. All too often in Hip Hop, reality is limited to that of the artists own, actual experiences. People Hear What They See is my attempt to liberate the MC from those constraints & allow reality to be penned other than my own. Listening to congressmen & lawyers converse on the steps of the supreme court inspired 'American Greed', Watching a couple argue over the phone in a bar inspired 'Maybes'. By having a visual representation of my subject matter, my hopes are that the listener will see them through the worlds & melodies of my songs."
American Aquarium
Chicamacomico [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Green w/ Black Smoke LP]
Vinyl: $24.98 PREORDER
The Old North State is tattooed on the bones of front man BJ Barham, who has never lived more than two hours from his hometown in Reidsville. But, more so, what better to represent an album about loss than a place built to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers? Song as a sort of salvation is something Barham hopes this album can do for the band’s established and growing fanbase. Sometimes when we’re drowning, music keeps us afloat.
“When these massive life changes happen, we feel like we are the only ones facing these problems,” Barham said. “I hope this album serves as a salve to anyone who has experienced this sort of loss over the last few years. I hope it makes them feel a little less isolated and disconnected. I want them to know that someone out there is going through the exact same shit and that they are not alone.”
With tracks tackling personal loss—the loss of his mother and grandmother, the loss of a child, the loss of youth and time and the creative spark that drives him—Chicamacomico feels stripped down and bare-boned in its instrumentation compared to earlier records. The orchestration is dialed back leaving the lyrics to stand naked front and center. It’s reminiscent of Rockingham, Barham’s 2016 solo album, and this may be in part a result of producer Brad Cook, who produced both albums as well as the band’s 2015 record Wolves. But it’s likely more a sign of the maturing sound and expanding scope of a songwriter now fully comfortable and confident in his own skin.
“When you are young, you want to play everything loud and fast and I think that comes, at least in part, from uncertainty. I hadn't fully found my voice back in those early days so the louder and faster the songs were the less chance someone could actually hear what I was saying. I'm not afraid of the lyrics sitting way out front anymore because I am confident in the songwriting. The band can still cut loose and take over a song, but they aren't expected to do all the heavy lifting these days.”
Few songwriters swing the hammer as hard and precise as Barham and it is a testament to the humility and trust of his bandmates that they take the back seat and allow his storytelling to drive us home. With a heavy tour the rest of the year and a backlist of brass-knuckled bangers, each will surely have their fair share of time at the wheel.
But as for this record, be thankful for the subtlety, for the stillness and for the quiet. For ten songs, Chicamacomico will hold your head above water.
Experimental psych-punk institutionOnediareturns with Success, the band’s most guitar-centric, rocking album in decades. Long straddling the gray area between the NYC punk/psych/rock community and the art/experimental world, the music of Oneidais celebrated for its mix of abstract, atmo-spheric sounds and pulsing, hammering anthems. Successfinds the band getting to the core of what makes minimal rock music so good - songs pared back to beat and melody with a limited number of guitar chords. If a song or two gets ripped in half later by a corrosive guitar solo, well, what did you expect? This is Oneida
Rich Ruth
I Survived, It's Over [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Opaque Light Blue LP]
Vinyl: $21.98 PREORDER
The Interrupters
In The Wild [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Opaque Aqua Blue LP]
Vinyl: $25.98 PREORDER
After three studio albums and over a decade deep into the music game, THE INTERRUPTERS deliver their new album, In The Wild. This 14-track opus is the real deal; it’s a story of survival, a story of resilience, by a band being bold and rejecting the easy impulses of simply repeating what’s worked before. Together during lockdown, Aimee Interrupter, partner and guitarist Kevin Bivona, and his younger twin brothers, Jesse (drums) and Justin (bass), decided to put idle hands to work. After building a home studio in their garage together, Kevin stepped up and took charge of production duties to become “the accountable one” this time around. The record took shape in an unforced and organic fashion, and the recording process was evidently a fun one, which is reflected in the sound of the album, gliding across a spectrum of breathless punk rock, doo-wop, gospel, dancehall, and the band’s customary nods to the lineage of two-tone. It’s further evidenced in the uplifting spirit and the glittering rollcall of guests (Tim Armstrong, Rhoda Dakar, Hepcat, The Skints) involved too. Thanks to the cocoon of the intimate environment they’d built and relaxed working practices, the results made for the most personal Interrupters album to date, as well as being the one all four feel most connected to.
The follow-up to their 2018 breakthrough album, Fight The Good Fight, which spawned multiple singles including “She’s Kerosene”, with over 50 Million streams to date. This smash-hit sent the band to the top of the radio charts and across the globe, playing live with everyone from Dropkick Murphys to Green Day. It was Spring 2020 as they were headed out on an 8-week Hella Mega stadium tour in support of Green Day, Weezer, and Fall Out Boy, when like the rest of the world, the band’s plans went kaput. The forced time at home gave them a period of much-needed rest, followed by an injection of creative energy that led the band to write over 80 songs, curate a live album and documentary film about their lives and their first trip to Japan. THE INTERRUPTERS will be back on the road starting this Spring, co- heading with Flogging Molly and touring through the remainder of 2022 and beyond.
Rx is the debut from ROLE MODEL, aka Tucker Pillsbury. Here, he continues to explore his pop sensibilities while playing with themes of love, healing, religion, & ultimately the power of a woman. He assembles, disassembles & reassembles different vibes, sounds & emotions into his work. One moment, he’s crooning about his crush’s earrings over crunchy chords. The next, he’s spitting bars about staying home. Either way, the intimacy of his songwriting beckons connection. Indie White LP.
Art Moore make vivid, heartbreaking short stories. Each song on the newly formed band’s self-titled debut album is its own individual universe of bittersweet feeling: a brief snapshot of a moment in time that captures the fragility and occasional impossibility of human connection. These songs are deft character studies, zeroing in on shy beginners, jilted friends and friendly exes, chronicling minute moments—road trips, casual dates, games of truth or dare—with rich detail and subtle wit. Featuring the inimitable songwriting of beloved Oakland luminary Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts set in sharp relief against lush production from Ezra Furman collaborators Sam Durkes and Trevor Brooks, it’s a quietly wondrous record — a set of songs that sketch out the struggle and beauty of coping with everyday life. These are songs about tiny, unspoken feelings rendered on a grand scale, moments that often get brushed aside given the weight that they should be. Across these ten stories, Vick, Brooks and Durkes
are unsparing in their focus but remarkably generous in their artistry — three pairs of steady, even hands crafting one fine, precious object.
Earthling, the third studio album from Eddie Vedder, features the singles “Long Way,” “The Haves,” and “Brother The Cloud.” In addition, the album features collaborations with music legends including Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Chad Smith, Andrew Watt, and Josh Klinghoffer. Available from Seattle Surf/Republic Records. Indie Exclusive translucent blue/black marble vinyl in a gatefold jacket with lyric booklet.
Maggie Rogers
Surrender [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Tangerine Orange LP]
Vinyl: $23.98 PREORDER
GRAMMY® Award- nominated artist/producer/songwriter Maggie Rogers new album, Surrender, will be released via Capitol Records on July 29. Co-produced Kid Harpoon (Florence + the Machine, Harry Styles) and Rogers, Surrender is the follow-up to Heard It in a Past Life,Rogers’ massively beloved 2019 debut album, which entered Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 1 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Praised by the likes of NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, TIME Magazine, and many others, Heard It in a Past Life landed Rogers a nomination for Best New Artist and went on to amass over one billion combined global streams.
Whiskey Myers
Tornillo [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Iridescent Copper 2LP]
Vinyl: $29.98 PREORDER
Now, after spending 21 days isolated at the 2,300-acre Sonic Ranch studio deep in the heart of their native Texas, just miles from the U.S./Mexico border, the Gold-certified renegades have doubled down on what they do best: sharing honest truths with no-holds-barred instrumentation, letting the self-produced music speak for itself. Yet with Tornillo, named for the border town that is home to the pecan orchard-filled recording complex and set for release on July 29 via their own Wiggy Thump Records with distribution by Thirty Tigers, the six-piece band has taken their solid decade-plus foundation and pushed themself to further explore new sonic landscapes.
“It’s going to have a little bit different sound,” lead singer Cody Cannon shared recently with Outsider. “It’s still Whiskey Myers at its core, but it’s kind of fresh… We did a lot of bass and horns on this one, which is something we’ve always wanted to do. Just being fans of all that old music and Motown stuff, and a lot of the stuff coming out of Muscle Shoals, old rock and roll.
“We’re going to bend [genre] even more, I think, with this new record,” he continued. “It’s all over the place. But that’s fun, right? I hate the whole ‘Put it in a box. You gotta be this.’ … That’s not art to me. I love the idea of just doing, really, whatever you feel. It comes out a certain way because that’s just how it comes out. Whiskey Myers never really tried to be a certain way. It’s just how we are. So I think that’s really the whole thing about music, or the beauty about music; it’s just that freedom to create.”
Tornillo as a whole does exactly that, drawing as much inspiration from Nirvana as from Waylon Jennings – even adding the legendary McCrary Sisters’ gospel influence to the project on background vocals. With Cannon leading the way on songwriting, the album also features writes from lead guitarist John Jeffers and fellow bandmembers Jamey Gleaves and Tony Kent, as well as rising singer/songwriter Aaron Raitiere (Anderson East, Oak Ridge Boys, A Star is Born).
Fans will have the chance to hear the new music live on the 40-date Tornillo Tour, launching April 29 in Worcester, Mass. and running through August. Tickets to all headlining dates are on sale to the general public Thursday, Feb, 23 at 10 a.m. local time via WhiskeyMyers.com.
Formed in 2012 out of a mutual love of metallic hardcore but despair at its lack of ambition, Ithaca exist to challenge everything you thought about what a band that makes heavy music should look and sound like. A glitter-covered nailbomb, Ithaca seamlessly blend the brutality of Relapse Records metalcore with blackgaze, 90s industrial metal, 70s prog and even tinges of 80s power pop. Their influences stretch beyond the musical - this album comes with a clear vision and aesthetic: drawing from members’ different ancestral heritage, queer/non-conforming identities and iconic figures in avant-garde, new wave and post punk culture. Their upcoming second album ‘They Fear Us’ is the sound of a band healing from trauma - standing in their own, unapologetic voice. Furious and wildly inventive while also being more coherent and accessible, this album will introduce Ithaca to a wider audience than they’ve ever had before. To quote the band - ‘those who oppose us; your sins will catch up to you. You will fear us’.
TWO ORIGINAL ALBUMS IN ONE COMMEMORATIVE LP SET. DISCO4 :: PART I (2020) plus the new album DISCO4 :: PART II, which sees HEALTH showcasing a new range and ambitiousness through collaborations with the likes of industrial rock icons Nine Inch Nails, metal institution Lamb of God, internet savant Poppy, indie rock mainstays The Neighbourhood, French techno brutalist Perturbator, and more.
Being in a band is like being in a marriage: sometimes it’s magical, sometimes it’s unbearably challenging. To reinvigorate that marriage, Deap Vally have made their third album a genre-bending experiment with new collaborators and instrumentation that push the limits of what has previously defined the duo - Marriage is their musical Rumspringa, if you will. The album sees Julie and Lindsey break free of the rigid creative constraints within which they previously existed (two members, two instruments, two voices) and invite in collaborators such as KT Tunstall, Peaches, Jennie Vee and jennylee, as well as a range of producers including Allen Salmon, Josiah Mazzaschi and Harvey Mason Jr.
Malcolm Middleton
A Brighter Beat: 15th Anniversary Edition [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear LP]
Vinyl: $34.98 PREORDER
Originally released in 2007, Malcolm Middleton’s third solo album (and first for Full Time Hobby) is being made available on vinyl once more for its 15th anniversary. Only ever released on black vinyl in limited numbers around the original release, this updated version has been re-cut to optimize sound quality and pressed on clear vinyl.
Against the backdrop of Asbury Park , NJ rock and punk history comes BEACH RATS. With a membership that includes four impossible-to-avoid New Jersey punk stalwarts including Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Ari Katz (Lifetime), Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls) and rounded out by Danny Windas, AKA “Dubs” on drums . BEACH RATS play a brand of hardcore/punk that stays true to their members’ roots while creating something completely fresh and urgent.“I had moved to Asbury Park,” recounts guitarist Brian Baker. “And it turned out that Pete [Steinkopf] and Bryan [Kienlan] from the Bouncing Souls were sniffing around and had the idea to do a fun side-band with Ari Katz from Lifetime. They had recently played together at a memorial for Dave Franklin [Vision frontman, R.I.P.] and had a blast. That was the foundation of it. Like most of my career, I walked into a pre-existing situation, ready to go. They were talking about it and I was immediately like, ’I want to be in a band! Bands are great, let’s go!”
The common denominator for BEACH RATS for was simple. “It’s a mix of the Jersey Shore thing and a bunch of guys that can endlessly create 80’s hardcore riffs because we were there,” states Bryan Kienlan. “You’re gonna get authentic punk and hardcore from BEACH RATS because we are all from the 80’s. It’s literally taking it back to some of our biggest influences like Negative Approach and Poison Idea, And of course, Minor Threat.”
Revelators Sound System
Revelators [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Opaque Yellow LP]
Vinyl: $24.98 PREORDER
Revelators Sound System is the collaborative musical project of MC Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) and Cameron Ralston. Recorded throughout 2020 and 2021, largely at Taylor's home in Durham, NC and Richmond, Virginia's Spacebombstudio, where Ralston serves as the house bassist, the album is a deep meditation on community that caroms from root-down avant-funk and spiritual groove to solitary cosmic minimalism and twinkling dubby ambience. Importantly—most importantly—Revelators is deeply emotional record, the running soundtrack to a world in confusion.
“Grieving,” with its trunk-rattling double drums and searing electric Clavinet, imagines a rhythmic meeting of The Meters, post-Bitches Brew Miles and Can before dissolving into a smoky, time-smeared coda that is a direct descendent of Lee 'Scratch' Perry's headiest Black Ark productions, while “Collected Water” is a mournful, pointillistic improvisation between Taylor's drifting guitar loops, Ralston's loping double bass, and the melodic dancing between Daniel Clarke's chiming piano figures, J.C. Kuhl's insistent saxophone and Reggie Pace's subtle, circular percussion. “Bury the Bell” is a shimmering, Alice Coltrane-inspired piece for guitar, clarinet and orchestra that spins off into stardust. The album concludes with “George the Revelator,” a lush devotional epic built atop the on-the-one drumming of J.T. Batesthat shakes and rolls with psychic, psychedelic fervor.
Revelators is a testament to the telepathic and soulful musical interplay between Taylor and Ralston. “We only ever talked about what emotion we were going for,” Ralston recalls. “We never talked about gearor fidelity.” Taylor echoes this sentiment, elaborating, “This record is about grief. Grief, and whatever comes after. We were looking for a way to communicate that musically.”
Hooveriii
A Round Of Applause [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Bone inside Ocean Blue with Bone Splatter LP]
Vinyl: $23.98 PREORDER
Since 2020, internal clocks have had to be readjusted with the pace of life ebbing and flowing. For Los Angeles psych-rock sextet Hooveriii (pronounced "Hoover Three") that adjustment seeped its way into their songwriting and ultimately their forthcoming album, A Round of Applause.
The record cherrypicks from an array of genres — pop, girl-group ditties, synth-ish keyboards and funk —but the end result is a cohesive long-player with songs that revolve around the Spanish Inquisition (“Stone Man”); or follow “the legendary Peruvians who run long distances in the Andes Mountains (“The Runner”). “I let my imagination run wild,” Hoover said. Elsewhere on A Round of Applause, the Hooveriii frontman finally recorded a song, “The Pearl,” that he wrote in 2017. “It sounds like a Harry Nilsson jingle like to me, a fantasy song,” he continued. “It's more like a nursery rhyme than a song with an important message. You know, it's just like keeping things fun. … Nilsson didn’t take everything so fucking seriously. We want to avoid that self-seriousness. We're a bunch of goofy musicians.”
Forgiveness is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curi- osity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for What Chaos Is Imaginary, Harmony and Avery each wrote their Forgiveness songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, Forgiveness reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of “indie rock,” challeng- ing any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. “Faultline” the albums first single, is an effective introduction to the world of Forgiveness; the notion of straddling a fault line feels somewhat indicative of Forgiveness on the whole. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.To support their vision of a sound at the intersection of Holly- wood futurism and post-grunge sincerity, Girlpool enlisted help from pro- ducer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick).
ODESZA
The Last Goodbye [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Crystal Clear 2LP + 12in Art Card]
Vinyl: $34.98 PREORDER
ODESZA return after four years with their new album "The Last Goodbye" available on crystal clear LP, indie exclusive version crystal clear LP with limited edition print, standard CD, deluxe CD with a patch and stickers, and transparent green cassette. Symphonic, vast, and emotionally stirring, 'The Last Goodbye' is set to be the GRAMMY-nominated duo's most ambitious album to date. A project rife with brightness and emotion, nostalgic yet rooted in the present, it serves as a sweeping sonic experience that speaks to themes of connection, reminiscence and the impact we impart on one another. It's a vivid celebration of the people and moments that have left fingerprints on our existence, echoing throughout the record. "The Last Goodbye" features collaborations with Låpsley, Ólafur Arnalds, Julianna Barwick, The Knocks, Bettye LaVette, Izzy Bizu, MARO, and Charlie Houston. With over 5 billion total streams, ODESZA have masterfully reemerged to remind the world what has made the duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight cornerstones of the modern electronic landscape. Their last album 'A Moment Apart' was not only a commercial success (going gold and debuting at no. 3 on the Billboard 200), but it also earned critical acclaim including two GRAMMY nominations and praise from the likes of NPR, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Complex, Consequence and more. The duo has cultivated a diehard fanbase of massive proportions: known for their groundbreaking, awe-inspiring and immersive live performance, that reached 2.85m+ fans over the course of their 'A Moment Apart' tour. They also have had headline performances at the likes of Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot & more, as well as performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan, and launched their own music festival SUNDARA in Riviera Maya, Mexico in 2019.
Amythyst Kiah
Live At The Earnest Tube [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Vinyl Single]
Vinyl: $13.98 PREORDER
Limited edition live performance of Amythyst Kiah’s “Wild Turkey” and “Firewater” cut direct to disc.
John Moreland doesn’t have the answers, and he’s not sure anyone does. But he’s still curious, basking in the comfort of a question, and along the way, those of us listening feel moved to ask our own. “I don’t ever want to sound like I have answers, because I don’t,” he says. “These songs are all questions. Everything I write is just trying to figure stuff out.”
Moreland is discussing his new album Birds in the Ceiling, a nine-song collection that offers the most comprehensive insight into the thoughts and sounds swimming around in his head to date. A compelling blend of acoustic folk and avant-garde pop playfulness, Birds in the Ceiling lives confidently in a space of its own, enriched by tradition but never encumbered by it. The songwriting that has stunned fans and critics alike since 2015’s High on Tulsa Heat remains potent, while the sonic evolution that unfolds on the record feels like a natural expansion of 2020’s acclaimed LP5.
The New Yorker, Pitchfork, Fresh Air, Paste, GQ, and others have embraced Moreland’s meditative songs, while performances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS This Morning, NPR Tiny Desk Concert, and more have introduced Moreland to millions. And yet, while the Tulsa-based Moreland is grateful for the respect and musical conversation he’s now having with people around the world, he is also more focused on the idea of just talking to one person––or even himself. “Through the years, I’ve felt like I’m increasingly talking to myself in my songs, more and more,” he says. “Maybe in the past, I wasn’t aware of it, but now, I am. I think doing that has helped me be less hard on myself, which makes you more generous and compassionate in general.”
That helps explain why even if Moreland is reaching out to someone else, there is no judgment. “I’m in the same boat with whoever I’m talking to,” Moreland says.
Moreland’s songs do feel intimate––like overheard conversations or solitary meditations. “I want to talk one-on-one to someone in a song,” he says. “I don’t want to address a group, really, because I think that’s when it’s easy to start pontificating––and it gets less honest.”
On Birds in the Ceiling, Moreland’s singing contributes to the feelings of hushed intimacy. Wielding a warm, sandpaper soul voice, Moreland got used to singing loudly as he began playing in bars, fighting to be heard over chattering crowds. “When I first started singing, I was very self-conscious about it,” he says. “I think I tried to affect my voice more. Singing loud could be a security blanket sometimes. On the new album, on a lot of the songs I was definitely making a conscious effort to sing quieter––almost whisper.”
Produced by Matt Pence and Moreland, Birds in the Ceiling is dynamic: a folk record that refuses to stay in its lane. It’s the second album for Pence with Moreland, who sees the former––a Denton, Texas-based engineer, producer, and drummer––as an ideal musical partner. “We have a lot of the same influences, and I have been really influenced by his bands,” Moreland says. “It feels really effortless.”
Letting things just be what they are is a powerful guiding force for Moreland, determining not just how he interacts with others, but how he treats himself. “When you remove boundaries and instead of holding back parts of yourself––when you say, ‘Okay, I’m going to put all of me into this,’” Moreland says, "You end up making music that nobody else could make.”
Birds in the Ceiling is available at local record stores on CD, Vinyl, and an Indie-Exclusive Blue Vinyl on July 22.
Dawes
Misadventures of Doomscroller [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Blood Orange LP]
Vinyl: $24.98 PREORDER
She & Him
Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Lemonade Translucent LP]
Vinyl: $25.98 PREORDER
She & Him’s seventh studio album is a loving, LP-length tribute to one of the greatest living American songwriters and singers, Brian Wilson. Melt Away - A Tribute to Brian Wilson finds Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward diving deep into the legendary artist’s extensive songbook, offering fascinating and delectable new spins on time-honored classics and overlooked gems alike. These fourteen covers are infused with the familiar magic that She & Him fans know and love, offering a new window into Wilson’s iconic catalog.
Arlo McKinley
This Mess We're In [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Marbled Opaque Orange LP]
Vinyl: $23.98 PREORDER
In 2019, Arlo McKinley played a show at the High Watt in Nashville. While he had years of such gigs on the DIY singer-songwriter circuit behind him, this night was different. In the audience was one of his musical heroes, John Prine. When they met briefly beforehand, Prine, who never gave praise lightly, told Arlo he was a fan.
McKinley recalls, “Just that moment, if that's where it ended, it would've been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me, something I remembered forever.”
But it didn't end there. Shortly after, he was signed to Oh Boy Records, Prine's indie label. Arlo came into 2020 with the momentum of a new album on deck - his first with a producer and a street team - and an international tour booked. Then things took a strange turn for the world..
As McKinley visualizes the year ahead, he's optimistic that touring will be easier , and that he'll get to play Europe for the first time this summer. When asked what he hopes listeners will get from This Mess We're In, he says, “I hope they can identify with things they're too ashamed to talk about or feel. There's such a stigma that goes along with things like addiction and mental health. I just want them to know that I go through all of that stuff too. I would just like to make them feel a little less alone. At least for the 47 minutes of the album, you can remove yourself from the world and just let everything disappear for a bit.”
Even real places become imaginary when they are so far out of reach. Named for an idyllic island near Ibiza off the coast of Spain, Formentera is a place that, for Metric, only existed on a page in a “dream destinations” travel book that lay open on a desk in the new recording studio that guitarist Jimmy Shaw built in 2020, in a rural hamlet north of Toronto. This is the setting where the band’s eighth album took shape. Shaw brought on Synthetica collaborator Liam O’Neil as well as longtime friend Gus van Go (The Stills) to co-engineer and co-produce with him. When the border opened, Metric bassist Joshua Winstead and drummer Joules Scott Key came in from the U.S to record, adding live energy and sonic depth to complete the Metric sound.
The result is a conceptual arc that progresses from tension and turmoil to dance-floor abandon, beginning with the edgy ten-minute album opener “Doomscroller,” and progressing through a color wheel of emotions, from determined perseverance on “What Feels Like Eternity” to self-emancipation in full orchestral bloom on the title track as Haines poses the question, “Why not just let go?” There’s a sense of resolution in the very matter-of-fact, deceptively catchy “False Dichotomy,” and the album ends on a melancholy high with “Paths in the Sky,” a love song to lifelong friendship, a thematic companion track to “All Comes Crashing,” an end-of-days banger and the first single.
“This is what we’re all thinking about,” Haines says. “So let’s address it, let’s have this whole expansive emotional experience that can feel collective instead of all going through it alone.”
The Deslondes
Ways & Means [Indie Exclusive limited Edition Autographed LP]
Vinyl: $26.98 PREORDER
The Deslondes are a five-piece band from New Orleans. The band splits up songwriting and lead vocal duties among its five members, continuing its democratic ethos and musical versatility. Multiple members have released solo recordings between their sophomore release, Hurry Home (2016) and their latest release Ways & Means but throughout the time between albums the Deslondes continued to build on their inventive take on New Orleans country and R&B. Ways & Means finds the band leaning on the country-folk of their debut along with the sometimes-psychedelic, electrified gospel-soul sound of Hurry Home. The sound will continue to draw comparisons to the country-funkiness of The Band, Link Wray and others but Ways & Means is the sound of a band that understands the history of American music, while embracing their own contemporary approach.
Izaak Opatz
Extra Medium [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Extra Medium Cheddar LP]
Vinyl: $23.98 PREORDER
Like many of his favorite songwriters (John Hartford, Lucinda Williams, Jeff Tweedy), Izaak Opatz is an ungulate in life’s winter pasture, chewing on and metabolizing disappointment, heartbreak, and the other tough stuff into enjoyable musical carbohydrates. A compulsive metaphorager (and inveterate wordplayboy), Opatz breaks it all down with enzymes of wry humor, thoughtful simile and close observation - a therapeutic process of narrativizing his own life that, almost as a byproduct, turns out savory nuggets of literate, confessional pop.
Fleet Foxes
A Very Lonely Solstice [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear 2LP]
Vinyl: $27.98 PREORDER
Robin Pecknold brings light to the bleakest of winters with Fleet Foxes’ ‘A Very Lonely Solstice,’ a 13-track career spanning collection recorded in December 2020, at Brooklyn, NY’s St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church.
Now being released for the first time on vinyl, CD and digital formats, ‘A Very Lonely Solstice’ captures a poignant moment in time. The recording was originally broadcasted as a live-stream event on the winter solstice of 2020, just days after New York declared a state of emergency tightening restrictions again in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. Pecknold describes the set as “me by myself on the longest night of the year... honoring the loneliness of 2020 with a nylon string and some songs new and old.” Fans worldwide tuned in while quarantined at home, finding solace and a sense of community in a period of extreme isolation.
Much of ‘A Very Lonely Solstice’ showcases a solo focus on Pecknold who offers up acoustic arrangements of fan-favorite songs spanning Fleet Foxes’ catalog. Selections cover all four of the band’s studio albums, including their 2008 self-titled debut album (“Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”) to 2011’s Helplessness Blues (“Blue Spotted Tail”) and 2017’s Crack-Up (“If You Need To, Keep Time On Me”), all the way to their latest release, Shore. Resistance Revival Chorus joins Pecknold on Shore tracks “Wading In Waist-High Water” and “Can I Believe You.” Also featured: a cover of Nina Simone’s “In The Morning” and a rearrangement of the traditional “Silver Dagger.”
Noah Gundersen returns with his much anticipated new album, ‘A Pillar of Salt’ out October 8th ahead of a US headline tour kicking off October 9th. The project is a return to form for Gundersen, coupling heartfelt lyrics with his signature understated vocal performance. Featuring singles “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Atlantis,” a stunning duet with Phoebe Bridgers, fans old and new will be celebrating this triumphant piece of art.
Various Artists
Minions: The Rise Of Gru [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Gru Blue 2 LP]
Vinyl: $39.98 PREORDER
The original soundtrack to Minions: The Rise of Gru promises another exciting installment in the Minions franchise. Produced by Jack Antonoff and filled to the brim with a star-studded list of artists, you can expect a very funky listening experience. Indie Exclusive Gru Blue 2 LP.
Jack Johnson
Meet The Moonlight [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Milky Clear LP]
Vinyl: $29.98 PREORDER
Meet The Moonlight, Johnson's eighth studio LP and first full-length release in five years, was produced by Blake Mills (Alabama Shakes, Perfume Genius, Jim James) and recorded in Los Angeles and Hawaii. The creation process marks a major artistic milestone from past work, taking shape from a one-on-one collaboration with Mills and unveiled an intimate and highly experimental process that involved embedding Johnson's elegantly stripped-back arrangements with enchanting sonic details.
Porcupine Tree
Closure / Continuation [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition White 2LP]
Vinyl: $29.98 PREORDER
Porcupine Tree have made their comeback today with a new single "Harridan". This will be off their new album "CLOSURE/CONTINUATION" which hits stores on 6/24. The band last released an album in 2009 (‘The Incident’). They released ten albums between 1992’s ‘On The Sunday of Life’ and 2009’s ‘The Incident’ before entering a hiatus after their biggest live show to date at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2010. The band is composed of Steven Wilson, Richard Barbieri and Gavin Harrison.
Never before on vinyl - original cover art by the legendary Mear One. Featuring Oddisee (4 tracks), Apollo Brown (2 tracks), Roc Marciano, Black Milk, Georgia Anne Muldrow, !llmind and more.
Hollie Cook
Happy Hour [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Peak Orchid & Tangerine LP]
Vinyl: $20.98 PREORDER
Soccer Mommy
Sometimes, Forever [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Pink/Black Splatter LP]
Vinyl: $24.98 PREORDER
Sometimes, Forever, the immersive and compulsively replayable new Soccer Mommy full-length, cements Sophie Allison’s status as one of the most gifted songwriters making rock music right now. The album finds Sophie broadening the borders of her aesthetic without abandoning the unsparing lyricism and addictive melodies that made earlier songs so easy to obsess over. To support her vision Sophie enlisted producer Daniel Lopatin, whose recent credits include the Uncut Gems movie score and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM.
These Arms Are Snakes
Oxeneers Or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Orange LP]
Vinyl: $25.98 PREORDER
Oxeneers or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home is, in many ways, the completion of the promise made with the potential of This is Meant to Hurt You. The hooks are thicker, the guitars bigger and the songs are a simply stunning culmination of a years hard work and dedication. The album sparkles with a tight, visceral momentum, both angular and infectious. This is the record These Arms Are Snakes set out to make, a confident testimonial, a vicious revision, and a true confrontation in every sense of the word. Reissued on vinyl for the first time since 2004!
These Arms Are Snakes
Easter [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Blue LP]
Vinyl: $25.98 PREORDER
These Arms Are Snakes second full length for Jade Tree finds the Seattle foursome towing a proverbial line between paradox, hostility and a caustic blend of post-hard/math core. Retaining the definitive tension and angular force of earlier These Arms Are Snakes efforts, Easter is the year-long culmination of a more structured yet experimental song writing process for the band. Recorded at Red Room Recording in Seattle by These Arms Are Snakes’ drummer Chris Common, Easter explores the relationship between suspect animism, impending otherworldly doom and the ethereal battle between virtue and ruin. More than anything from These Arms Are Snakes’ back catalog, Easter was meant to hurt you. New vinyl reissued for the first time since 2008!