New Releases - 11/19/21

Hitting The Racks

Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's

New Releases

Adele – 30 CD/2xLP (Columbia/Sony)

30 is the first new music from Adele since the release of her third studio album 25 in November 2015. The album was produced with former collaborators Greg Kurstin, Max Martin and Shellback and Tobias Jesso Jr., as well as new collaborators Inflo and Ludwig Goransson. Adele on the album: "I'm ready to finally put this album out. It was my ride or die throughout the most turbulent period of my life...I'd become so consumed by my own grief. I've painstakingly rebuilt my house and my heart since then and this album narrates it." The highly anticipated collection comes introduced by the sublime lead single "Easy On Me".

Hasaan Ibn Ali – Retrospect In Retirement Of Delay: The Solo Record 2xCD (Omnivore)

Pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali was a local Philadelphia legend who had an impact on John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner and many others. He took the larger jazz world by storm in 1965 when The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan was released on Atlantic Records. The label was so impressed, they set Ibn Ali up to record his own album later that year, but it was never mixed or released. Thirteen years later, the tapes went up in flames in a New Jersey warehouse. While the sessions were thought lost forever, copies were believed to exist. And they did! Once located and the audio restored, the acclaimed 2021 release of Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album finally saw the light of day. The 21 tracks on Retrospect In Retirement Of Delay: The Solo Recordings now reveal the intimate side of the Hasaan Ibn Ali story with poetic, imaginative, even breathtaking masterpieces that the world didn't know existed. And for the first time, hear the unique magic of jazz legend Hasaan Ibn Ali playing standards.

Benny the Butcher - The Plugs I Met 2 LP (Next Records)

Produced entirely by Harry Fraud, the Brooklyn bred producer describes The Plugs I Met 2 as “the story of a hustler who’s realized success but understands how fragile it is. Lyrically the album shows Benny reflecting on what he’s sacrificed to get here and what he’ll need to do to continue his rise to the top. With this project we set out to transport the listener into a world that was lush but still gritty, triumphant but still emotional and sonically diverse across the board. “I came in as an underdog, to filling out my position as one of the elite rhymers in the industry. Plugs 2 expands upon that mindset; the same confidence, same attitude, cocky, but I still have something to prove” Benny asserts.

Ryan Caraveo – Northend Sweetheart LP (Paradise Forever LLC)

Northend Sweetheart showcases Ryan's genre-fluidity while combining elements of alt/hip-hop, pop, and pop-punk. The Seattle-born artist has honed his ability to create catchy ear-candy without skipping his consistently thought-provoking lyrics. Ryan allows himself to be vulnerable on each song discussing topics of depression, identity, and love while creating laid back yet captivating music. Pressed with a stunning opaque sunburst color, this is Ryan's first vinyl release.

The Coathangers / L.A. Witch – One Way Or The Highway b/w Ghost On The Highway 7” (Suicide Squeeze)

Red & purple color vinyl. The Coathangers take on Blondie's "One Way Or Another", employing their trademark sweet-and-salty combination of scrappy punk and twee pop to highlight the song's spikey riffage and gritty soul while retaining its beguiling hooks. L.A. Witch cover The Gun Club's smoky punk blues with an exhilarating rendition of "Ghost On The Highway."

Cold War Kids – New Age Norms 3 LP (Cwktwo Corp.)

Neon green color vinyl. This third and final installment in Cold War Kids' New Age Norms series is the next chapter with the approach of taking apart the idea of what the band is and just trying to take the doors off a bit to see where it can go.

Converge – Bloodmoon: I CD (Epitaph)

Converge release their new album with Chelsea Wolfe, her frequent collaborator and bandmate Ben Chisholm, and Cave In's Stephen Brodsky. It's called Bloodmoon: I and was produced by Converge's Kurt Ballou, and the musicians began collaborating for the prospective project in 2016. "The project stretched my vocals in new ways," Wolfe said in a statement. "It's so different than what I normally sing over that I was able to open up and be vulnerable with my vocals." [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is due June 24.]

DED – School Of Thought CD (Suretone)

Second studio album by American nu metal band.

Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Noktvrn CD (Season Of Mist)

The state between wakefulness and sleep is known as hypnagogia. With their new album Noktvrn, progressive black metal force Der Weg Einer Freiheit delivers a sound that captures this unique, trance-like state within their extreme rubric. It is also the band's darkest and most emotional offering to date, ebbing and exploding like a manic-depressive episode with its extreme highs and lows. Noktvrn truly lives up to the band's moniker and offers true freedom through art. The album title is adapted from Frédéric Chopin's Nocturnes, his so-called "night pieces", which are among his other works very influential for the compositions on Noktvrn. [A gatefold vinyl pressing that includes an etched D-side etching and soft touch matt laminate is available for special order.]

Eagles Of Death Metal – EDOM Presents: A Boots Electric Christmas CDEP (Eagles Of Death Metal)

Eagles Of Death Metal arrive just in time for the holidays with six new recordings to fill your holiday spirit. "Just a few songs to warm your heart during Christmas time. I hope you like them. May Christmas bring peace to you all. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, I love you, and God bless you all." – Jesse Hughes

Embryo - Auf Auf LP (Madlib Invazion)

New album from the long-running German krautrock ensemble, now led by late founder Christian Burchard's daughter Marja, who grew up with the band and toured with them for years. Auf Auf ranges from the deep, free-form jazz of “Alphorn Prayer” to modal music from Afghanistan on “Baran” to psychedelic-tinged jazz-rock of the title track Joining Marja are those like Embryo veterans Bunka, on oud and guitar, and Karl Hector and the Malcouns/Whitefield Brothers/Poets of Rhythm producer and guitarist Jan Weissenfeldt and others, including important players on the global scene from Afghanistan and Morocco.

The Hawks – Obviously Five Believe LP (Easy Action)

When TV Eye, the Second City's Stooges-inspired garage punk band split, Daves Twist (drums) and Kusworth (guitar) and Paul Adams (guitar) approached Duffy (vocals) and Simon Colley (bass) from the first Duran Duran line-up to join their new project. So began Obviously Five Believers, who in turn became The Subterranean Hawks, before settling on The Hawks. Adored by most who saw them, they recorded constantly, spawning one highly collectable single, “Words Of Hope”. They lasted from '79 until Christmas '81 “falling apart in a myriad of acrimony,” as Duffy wrote in 1984.

Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World CD/LP/Cassette (Luminelle Recordings)

Entirely written, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by the duo of Mica Tenenbaum and Matt Lewin, Mercurial World proposes an abstract theory of time and explores the staggering "what ifs" that make up the human experience. Approaching reality as a construct allows Magdalena Bay to enact their own, one that is committed to nothing but expanding the possible. Even the album's sequencing hints at the eternal: the first track is titled "The End", the last is "The Beginning", forming a perfect loop when you listen to it straight through. "Matt, Matt, wake up!" Tenenbaum whispers on the introductory track. "I was thinking about how there's no true end to anything/ Everything comes from and goes to the same place: Nowhere." "Mercurial World has a lot of outsized themes on it, like destiny, death, and doing the impossible," Tenenbaum explains. "It's not exactly a concept album, but we love prog-rock, so we love a concept." [Limited-edition indie store exclusive yellow vinyl.]

Ben Lamar Gay – Open Arms To Open Us CD/LP (Nonesuch)

Across sixteen tracks Gay fluently interweaves jazz, blues, ballads, R&B, raga, new music, nursery rhyme, Tropicália, two-step, hip-hop and beyond in a beaming expression of his signature omni-genre "Pan-Americana" brew. Alongside his own sizable toolkit of instruments (cornet, keyboards, synthesizers, flutes, percussions), Gay surrounds himself with steady bandmates (including Tommaso Moretti on drums, Matthew Davis on tuba, and Rob Frye on woodwinds), while also shining the spotlight on female artists from his cast of regular collaborators.

Hand Habits – Fun House LP+MP3 (Saddle Creek)

Limited-edition indie store exclusive black & blue color vinyl pressing. Hand Habits, the project of Los Angeles-based musician Meg Duffy is back with their ambitious new album Fun House. Produced by Sasami Ashworth (SASAMI) and engineered by Kyle Thomas (King Tuff), the record was not intended as a reaction to the pandemic, but it was very much the result of taking a difficult, if much-needed, moment of pause. Emboldened by going into therapy and coaxed by Ashworth to push the songs into unexpected new shapes, the resulting music is more acutely personal and stylistically adventurous than anything you've heard from Hand Habits before. The push/pull of styles, paired with songs that move deftly between the present and past, give the record a wildly diverse, hall of mirrors quality that befits its name. Where previous Hand Habits records could be insular affairs, Fun House feels ebullient, lush, a fully realized conversation.

Helvetia – Essential Aliens CD/LP (Joyful Noise)

Helvetia is the solo project of Jason Albertini from Duster. Essential Aliens distills and simplifies the Helvetia sound. Reverb and delay are absent, replaced by warm fuzz and intimate room sounds. Progressions morph with stoner repetition and end in head scratch. Drums distort, muted bass lines prop up acoustic guitars blown out on a cassette four-track. Cheap electric guitars are barely in tune and recorded direct, almost painfully in your face. The songs are short blasts of psychedelic chill, unrooted by genre, a rummage around an alien radio dial. [Limited-edition clear vinyl.]

Jóhann Jóhannsson – Miner’s Hymns LP (Deutsche Grammophon)

The Miners' Hymns is a collaboration between American filmmaker Bill Morrison and Jóhann Jóhannsson who, with images and music, created a wordless documentary to depict the ill-fated mining community in Northeast England. The film is a timely reminder of choices that were made a generation ago regarding the role of labor in a corporate-based economy, the repercussions of which are still being felt today.

Mat Kerekes – Songs For Breanne 12” (Wax Bodega)

Orange splatter color vinyl. Songs For Breanne was written and recorded during isolation through the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recorded in Kerekes' home studio, the EP has connected with fans and become a favorite.

Kississippi – Mood Ring LP (Triple Crown)

Translucent red color vinyl and green/blue vinyl are available. Mood Ring, Zoe Reynold's second full length as Kississippi, is full of her trademark talent at channeling deadpan emotional observation into poignant musical metaphors. Kississippi comfortably filters pop grandeur, emo's deliberate rawness, and Nashville's studio largeness through a lens of punk camaraderie. Just like the album's title suggests, Reynolds writes through a spectrum of shifting emotions: elation blending into insecurity and back around into gorgeous awe.

The Ladies – They Mean US [Reissue/2006] LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)

The West coast's most versatile indie rock everyman and the world's most left-of-everything drummer joined forces to unite the disparate worlds of noise and pop on this stunningly addictive and efficient 2006 album. Rob Crow: co-creator of San Diego's sentimental pop superstars Pinback; leader of absurdist metal outfit Goblin Cock; former leader of Thingy and Heavy Vegetable; former member of Physics; accomplished solo performer. Zach Hill: one-half of the outlandish noise duo Hella; member of Deftones side-project Team Sleep; drummer for post-Marilyn Manson/A Perfect Circle stoner-rock combo Goon Moon; one third of the total sensory-overload that was Nervous Cop. They Mean US is one of the strongest and unique pop records of the last decade and a half. More adventurous than Pinback and more accessible than Hella, The Ladies proved to be the best of both worlds.

Ladyhawke – Time Flies CD (BMG)

Time Flies is an extraordinary collection that fuses intimate subject matter and upbeat guitar-led rock with irresistibly catchy electronic elements. Time Flies was produced with a host of incredible collaborators including, L.A. songwriter and producer Tommy English (K. Flay, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kacey Musgraves, Adam Lambert, Broods etc.), Auckland based Josh Fountain (Leisure, Benee), Jeremy Toy (Leonard Charles, She's So Rad), Sydney's Chris Stracey (Bag Raiders, Paloma Faith, Diplo. ) and Jono Sloan (Empire Of The Sun, PNAU). [Vinyl edition – including an indie store exclusive limited-edition orange color vinyl pressing – due February 25.]

LionLimb – Spiral Groove LP/Cassette (Bayonet)

Spiral Groove delivers us singer-songwriter Stewart Bronaugh at the height of his artistic powers both visually and sonically. This album is studded with stories of mortality, the challenges of addiction and sobriety, and the romance of a lifetime. Recovering from a seizure, Bronaugh's sudden awareness of the limits of his own body was a "psychedelic experience" that shifted his perspective wildly. No longer "bulletproof," Bronaugh splits himself wide open on Spiral Groove, encapsulating all our existential questions into tidy love songs. You'll find pianos, string quartets, slide guitar, buzzing synth lines, and plenty of room to breathe. Each song is like a painting you can disappear into, a somber and hopeful spell for life after the end of the world. [Limited edition sepia color vinyl.]

Lucifer – Lucifer IV LP (Century Media)

Lucifer was founded in 2014 in Berlin by The Oath front woman Johanna Sadonis with the group first consisting of Cathedral, Angel Witch and Ladytron members. Relentless touring and recording have turned Lucifer into an explosive live beast and a reliable source of timeless rock and roll.

Manchester Orchestra – Christmas Songs Vol. 1 LP (Loma Vista)

Released last week on CD – a limited-edition red color vinyl pressing is now available. A collection of eight holiday classics reimagined earnestly and passionately by beloved indie rock stalwarts Manchester Orchestra. Familiar, inclusive, and the essence of holiday spirit, regardless of one's beliefs: “Intro”, “Silent Night”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, White Christmas”, O Holy Night”, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, “Outro”.

Makaya McCraven – Deciphering The Message CD/LP (Blue Note)

Drummer, producer & beat scientist Makaya McCraven digs through the Blue Note vaults with this new remix project that puts a modern bounce on jazz classics by Art Blakey, Horace Silver, & more. McCraven's mastery of the loop is akin to hip-hop's most celebrated beatmakers like J Dilla & Madlib, both of whom have also remixed Blue Note tracks, but McCraven's unique approach also incorporates new recorded elements including his own drums, Joel Ross' vibraphone, Jeff Parker's guitar, & more.

Me And That Man – New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 2 CD/LP (Napalm Records)

Behemoth mastermind Adam "Nergal" Darski has signed a menacing pact with the devil once again, returning with dark folk/blues/Americana influenced solo project Me And That Man's third full-length studio album, New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 2. As a sequel to the project's previous record, New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1 (2020), the enthralling new offering follows the exciting path Nergal then set ablaze, once again featuring an abundance of heavy music icons – but this time, he takes it to a whole new level. Experience greats such as Gary Holt (Slayer, Exodus), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God), Myrkur, Devin Townsend, David Vincent, Doug Blair (W.A.S.P), Hank von Hell (Turbonegro) and Olve Abbath Eikemo (Immortal, Abbath) intertwining with the album's bewitching collection of occult anthems, marking another breathtaking symbiosis of unfiltered blues, gothic-laced folk, country essence and touch of evil you'll swear was either beamed straight out of hell or the most blackened of churches.

NEEDTOBREATHE – Into The Mystery LP (New Elektra)

After quietly composing and recording throughout the fall of 2020, Grammy-nominated rock band NEEDTOBREATHE return with their eighth full-length studio album, Into The Mystery which features guest appearances by Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Natalie Hemby and Carrie Underwood. Just as their critically acclaimed 2020 album Out Of Body impacted audiences, NEEDTOBREATHE capitalized on a rush of inspiration and rode the wave of creativity. Without telling a soul, the band decamped to a historic house-turned-recording studio in Columbia, TN to begin working on new music. Over the course of three weeks, they resided under one roof, laughed during meals, explored their surroundings, and recorded together with co-producer and engineer Konrad Snyder and special guests. Out of this de facto creative hub and "extended summer camp," they handcrafted an album reflective of the moment, yet independent of all expectations – even their own. [DVD edition due November 30.]

Willie Nelson – The Willie Nelson Family CD (Sony Legacy)

The Willie Nelson Family finds Willie joined in his Pedernales Studios by a host of his family members and extended family of long-time band members, performing songs that they have performed for much of their lives. Sister Bobbie, sons Lukas and Micah, and daughters Amy and Paula all contribute plus band members Mickey Raphael, Kevin Smith and Billy and Paul English. The album draws on deep Americana (including A.P. Carter's "Keep It On The Sunnyside" and the traditional hymn "In The Garden") while celebrating classic songwriting from Hank Williams ("I Saw The Light") and Kris Kristofferson ("Why Me") to George Harrison ("All Things Must Pass") and Willie Nelson (who penned half of the album's compositions). Willie's son Lukas (who fronts his own band, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real) sings lead vocals on two of the album's tracks.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raise The Roof CD/2xLP (Rounder)

Raise The Roof finds Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Robert Plant and 27x Grammy-winner Alison Krauss reunited after some fourteen years, following the historic success of their first collaboration Raising Sand (2007), which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, generated platinum sales, and earned six Grammy Awards including Album and Record of the Year. Like its predecessor, Raise The Roof was produced by T Bone Burnett, who worked with Plant and Krauss to expand their collaboration in thrilling new directions, accompanied by drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarists Marc Ribot, David Hidalgo, Bill Frisell, and Buddy Miller, bassists Dennis Crouch and Viktor Krauss, along with pedal steel guitarist Russ Pahl among others. [An indie store exclusive vinyl pressing featuring an alternate cover is also available.]

Justus Proffit – SpeedStar LP (Bar/None)

Justus Proffit grew up on a diet of indie music. His house was filled with gear and his parents made sure he knew the importance of TSOL and the Pixies alike. He joined his first band at 13 and started touring the country at 16. He has run an all-ages venue, has his own clothing line, released a string of Eps, and collaborated with great artists like Jay Som and Winter. Recorded in Phil Elverum's (The Microphones) iconic Anacortes studio, Justus Proffit's sophomore album, SpeedStar, is his most intimate work to date, stripping back the veneer of noise to reveal the meticulous songwriting that's made him a magnetic force.

Andy Shauf – Wilds CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)

Canadian musician Andy Shauf pens songs that explore universal truths through picaresque vignettes, from the colorful people-watching observations of 2016's The Party to the tale of a failed relationship explained over one night at a local watering hole on last year's The Neon Skyline. But Shauf has never exactly been held up as a confessional sort of songwriter, even though underneath the carefully plotted narratives and conceptual storylines, he's always been writing about himself. Wilds might change that. A collection of nine songs culled from around fifty tracks recorded by the prolific Shauf during the writing of The Neon Skyline and presented in a near-unfiltered form, the unstudied rawness of the songs on Wilds is a revealing look at Shauf's mindset during the time he was writing The Neon Skyline – what he calls "a glimpse into the window of how chaotic things were" – as well as a peek into the creative process behind a proper Andy Shauf studio album, a snapshot of how the multi-instrumentalist first begins building his songs into more ornately arranged final products. [Indie exclusive translucent blue vinyl.]

Ringo Starr – Change The World 10” (UMe)

Change The World, recorded at Ringo's Roccabella West, includes “Let's Change The World” (Joseph Williams/Steve Lukather) that delivers a welcome dose of hope and optimism, the reggae-infused “Just That Way” (Ringo Starr/Bruce Sugar,) the Country-esque “Coming Undone”, Starr's first collaboration with Linda Perry who wrote and plays on the track (also with Trombone Shorty,) and Ringo rocks his version of “Rock Around The Clock” revved up by the unmistakable Joe Walsh on guitar.

Sting – The Bridge CD/LP (A&M)

New release from the veteran singer/songwriter. Sting recorded the album over the last year with a coterie of trusted musicians beaming into his studio remotely. The list of musicians includes Dominic Miller, Branford Marsalis, Melissa Musique, Gene Noble, Josh Freese, Manu Katché, Jo Lawry, Fred Renaudin, Peter Tickell, Julian Sutton, Laila Biali, Gavin Brown, Shaggy, Donal Hodgson, Tony Lake and Martin Kierszenbaum. That easy sense of musical camaraderie, connection and kinship is on full display in the lead single “If It's Love”, an unabashed pop song lent wings by a whistled refrain, joyful handclaps, and uplifting brass and strings.

St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home LP (Loma Vista)

Warm grey color vinyl pressing of the fifth studio album by the St. Vincent, produced by pop producer and long-term collaborator Jack Antonoff and featuring the single “Pay Your Way In Pain”. “I was inspired by the classic records of the '70s. Stevie, Sly, Stones, Steely Dan, Chords, Groove. The days when sophisticated harmony and rhythm didn't sound heady - they just ‘sounded’ and felt good. Lots of guitar. But warm sounds, not distortion and chaos. Hopefully a turn nobody will see coming.”

Susto – Time In The Sun LP (New West)

Limited-edition indie-store exclusive translucent orange color vinyl edition. Time In The Sun is the fourth full-length album from Charleston, SC band Susto. The album was written and recorded during a lot of life changing events for lead writer-singer Justin Osborne. Like everyone around the world, Osborne was navigating the global issues felt from the pandemic while normal life continued with its own blessings and challenges. "We were navigating the global and national issues that everyone else was dealing with, but also I became a father and lost my father. There was a lot of contemplation going on in my brain, a lot of personal evolution going on in my life, and songwriting was my way of working through it all. The title Time In The Sun is meant to be a monument to my own human existence and also a tribute to the human experience in general. I wouldn't claim to understand what it means to be a human, from the countless different perspectives of the world, but I do have my own experience to reflect on and I want to be able to express and explain that in some way. I guess this album is an attempt at that. At the core though, it's just a collection of songs about my life and my feelings.”

Sharon Van Etten – Silent Night b/w Blue Christmas 7” (Jagjaguwar)

Clear blue color vinyl single. “Silent Night” was recorded in 2018 for the Holiday Short Film, The Letter by Eric Paschal Johnson and received a Vimeo Staff Pick Award and is now available on vinyl for the first time. The B-side is Van Etten's cover of the holiday classic "Blue Christmas," which was originally recorded for a benefit album called Do You EAR What I Ear in 2009 for the Association to Benefit Children, an outstanding New York-based service dedicated to permanently breaking the cycles of abuse, neglect, sickness and homelessness among disadvantaged children and their families.

Lucinda Williams – Lu's Jukebox Vol. 5: Have Yourself A Rockin' Little Christmas With Lucinda CD/LP (Highway 20)

While the first four installments of Lu's Jukebox found Williams tackling Tom Petty, southern soul, Bob Dylan, and ‘60s country classics, Lu's Jukebox Vol. 5 sees the Grammy-winner spreading a little Christmas cheer with takes on "Run Run Rudolph", "Merry Christmas, Baby", "Please Come Home For Christmas", and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" among others.

Reissues & From The Archives

Aesop Rock – Labor Days [Reissue/2001] 2xLP (Block Block Chop)

Limited color vinyl pressing of the third studio album by Aesop Rock, originally released by EL-P's Definitive Jux label in 2001. The 14-track double album is regarded as Aesop's definitive collection, featuring production work from Blockhead and Omega One and guest appearances from the likes of Illogic and C-Rayz-Walz. Dark dense beats and intricate rhyme flows weave in and out on this conceptual album about work.

Animals As Leaders – Animals As Leaders [Reissue/2009] 2xLP (Prosthetic)

Gatefold color vinyl reissue. When Tosin Abasi released his self-titled debut solo album under the moniker Animals as Leaders in 2009, few would have predicted the band's meteoric rise over the following years. Although Abasi earned acclaim as the lead guitarist in the Washington, D.C.-based metalcore act Reflux, it was still a long-shot that an instrumental album of progressive metal with jazz, electronic and ambient flourishes would develop anything more than a cult following. A collaboration between Abasi and Periphery's Misha Mansoor (who produced, mixed, mastered, engineered and programmed the album), Animals As Leaders' impact on modern metal cannot be overstated, as it somehow managed to be both genre-defying and genre-defining.

Armored Saint – Symbol Of Salvation: Live 2xLP (Metal Blade)

Recently released on CD – now available on limited-edition clear vinyl. New live release from the veteran metal band.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – The Big Beat [Reissue/1960] LP (Blue Note)

The timeless 1960 hard bop classic The Big Beat was the album that first introduced one of the greatest line-ups of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers to the jazz public with the legendary drummer and bandleader joined by trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. Shorter was the band's newest member, and it was immediately clear that his presence would steer the group's sound in a new more modern direction.

Donald Byrd ‎– Places And Spaces [Reissue/1975] LP (Blue Note)

Donald Byrd's 1975 fusion classic Places And Spaces was the culmination of the legendary trumpeter's vibrant latter Blue Note years. Byrd had begun recording for Blue Note in 1958, and over two decades evolved from a top-notch hard bop trumpeter into a pioneer of R&B/funk fusion, leading the label's own creative direction along a similar path. Byrd had begun to introduce elements of fusion to his music with his 1969 album Fancy Free and shadowed Miles Davis early-1970s moves with experimental sessions like Electric Byrd and Ethiopian Knights.

Cancer ‎– Death Shall Rise [Reissue/1991] LP (Peaceville)

This 30th anniversary edition of the UK death metal band’s sophomore album features a fresh audio master and is presented on 180-gram red vinyl with original layout.

Carcass – Surgical Steel [Reissue/2013] LP (Nuclear Blast)

Blue swirl with red splatter color vinyl reissue of the British death metal band’s sixth album.

Ray Charles – True Genius 2xLP (Tangerine)

Recently released as a six-CD box set – an abridged double-LP vinyl edition is now available. Ray Charles is both one of the most iconic artists of all time as well as one of the hardest to define by genre. At the beginning of his career, he was dubbed the Genius Of Soul for boldly combining traditional R&B with Gospel music and giving birth to Soul music. Yet this momentous musical accomplishment was just the beginning of a five-decade career in which he uniquely succeeded in virtually every genre. Ray's unique mastery of music allowed him to continue to explore all forms of music, freely floating between jazz, blues, pop, rock, soul and country while continuing to combine them in new, unprecedented ways.

Dying Fetus – Purification Through Violence [Reissue/1996] LP (Relapse)

25th Anniversary bone white color vinyl reissue. Dying Fetus made their full-length debut in 1996 with Purification Through Violence, an album that would contribute to the shaping and rise of early American death metal. 25 years later, it remains as abrasive and unrelenting as ever, proving to be a vital cornerstone of the Dying Fetus catalog.

Frozen Soul – Encased In Ice [Reissue/2019] 12” (Century Media)

After the huge success of their 2020 debut Crypt of Ice, Frozen Soul - the masters of ice-cold death metal - reissue of their 2019 original demo EP Encased in Ice which includes four previously unreleased bonus tracks.

Genesis – The Last Domino? 2xCD/4xLP (Atlantic)

Celebrating the return of Genesis and their 2021/2022 arena tour, The Last Domino? collection gathers the band's legendary hits with choice album cuts from their stunning career. [Vinyl shipped late and will arrive next week.]

Rosco Gordon – No Dark In America [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Dualtone Music Group)

Blues singer, songwriter, and pianist Rosco Gordon influenced countless artists throughout his career with his unique piano playing style, known as the Rosco Rhythm. His final album No Dark In America is a record filled with hope, sorrow, and joy, and throughout celebrates the power of human connection that music brings to life.

Grateful Dead – Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71 5xLP (Grateful Dead)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Complete, previously unreleased performance. One of the shortest-lived iterations of The Grateful Dead was the band that existed December 1971 through March 1972. Jerry, Bob, Phil, Bill, Pigpen, and Keith formed a formidable version of the Dead that only played a few shows together before Donna Jean joined as vocalist, and before Pigpen would depart the stage for good in June 1972. What this sextet lacked in quantity of shows it made up for with creativeness, power, and inspiration. When Pigpen rejoined the Dead on December 1, 1971, after a few months off during which Keith had joined as piano player, the band was now an unstoppably powerful live juggernaut it hadn't been since the height of the Primal Dead era in late 1968-1969. Widely considered one of the best shows from the Pigpen-Keith era of The Grateful Dead, Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71 has it all.

Bobbi Humphrey ‎– Fancy Dancer [Reissue/1975] LP (Blue Note)

Bobbi Humphrey was one of the most prominent stars on the Blue Note roster of the 1970s. The flutist debuted on the label in 1971 with Flute In¸ the first in a run of six creative and highly enjoyable albums. On her breakout 1973 album Blacks And Blues, Humphrey hooked up with the forward-thinking producer Larry Mizell to create a jazz-funk classic that expanded her audience. It proved to be a winning combination, and the two joined forces again on Satin Doll the following year. Their third and final collaboration would be on the great 1975 album Fancy Dancer. Humphrey's alluring flute dances through vibrant and ingenious arrangements by Larry and Fonce Mizell that skillfully wove together a broad range of influences from across the spectrum of black music.

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – L.W. Live In Australia LP (We Are Busy Bodies)

Live, bootlegger version of L.W. compiled from 2021 Australian performances. Mastered by Noah Mintz of Lacquer Channel Mastering. The album features a reverse groove and is pressed on clear vinyl.

Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary 2xCD/2xLP (UMe)

This Deluxe 45th Anniversary edition of Kiss’s fourth album – originally released in 1976. The set features the newly remastered album from Abbey Road Mastering Studios plus 16 bonus tracks - 14 unreleased – including the new “Beth” (Acoustic Mix). The double-LP edition has been half-speed mastered and features 12 bonus tracks – 10 unreleased. Each contain a 20-page booklet showcases unreleased and rare photos along with “The Story Of Destroyer” liner notes. [A super-deluxe edition featuring 15 demos from Paul Stanley's and Gene Simmons's personal archives - 9 of which are unreleased, additional studio outtakes, alternate versions / mixes and single edits, a ripping performance from the band's visit to Paris France at the L'Olympia on May 22, 1976, and Steve Wilson’s Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mix of the original studio album is available for special order.]

Lizzy Borden – Master Of Disguise [Reissue/1989] LP (Metal Blade)
Lizzy Borden – Deal With The Devil [Reissue/2000] LP (Metal Blade)

Limited-edition color vinyl pressings. Since 1983, the name Lizzy Borden has been synonymous with heavy metal music of the highest caliber.

Low Cut Connie – Tough Cookies: The Best Of The Quarantine Broadcasts 2xLP (Midcitizen)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Tough Cookies: The Best Of The Quarantine Broadcasts, pulls recordings from the band's twice-weekly livestream Tough Cookies which celebrates its one-year anniversary this month. The 23-track album consists of a small percentage of the 500+ covers Weiner has performed so far during the broadcasts.

Mingus ‎– The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady [Reissue/1963] LP (Verve)

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is without question Charles Mingus's magnum opus. Originally released on Impulse! in 1963, the album broke new ground in both genre-defying composition and innovative recording techniques. A six-part suite with dramatic shifts in mood and tempo, The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady features the three-way brass dialogue of trumpets, trombone and tuba, swooping reeds and awe-inspiring rhythm section.

Oasis – Knebworth 1996 2xCD/2xCD+DVD/3xLP (Big Brother)

2021 marks 25 years since Oasis' two iconic record-breaking live concerts at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire on August 10-11, 1996. The shows were both the pinnacle of the band's success and a landmark gathering for a generation of young people. Released alongside the cinema debut of the feature length documentary film of the event, Oasis Knebworth 1996 is the definitive live recording featuring a setlist packed with stone cold classics taken from across both nights of the concert, from the opening salvoes of "Columbia" and "Acquiesce", to "Champagne Supernova", "Don't Look Back In Anger", "Live Forever", an orchestra backed "I Am The Walrus", and of course the universally loved anthem "Wonderwall". [A limited-edition yellow color vinyl pressing is due January 14.]

Oddisee – The Good Fight [Reissue/2015] LP (Mello Music Group)

Limited clear color vinyl pressing. Imbued with love, honesty, and selflessness, 2015's The Good Fight is virtuosic in its musicality, direct in its language, and infinitely relatable. In a landscape overrun with abstract indulgence and shallow trend-chasers, the Prince George's County, Maryland artist has created a record that reminds you that it's music before it's hip-hop. For Oddisee, The Good Fight is about living fully as a musician without succumbing to the traps of hedonism, avarice, and materialism. It's music that yields an intangible feeling: the sacral sound of an organ whine, brass horns, or a cymbal crash. It's a meditation on our capacity to love and the bonds binding us together. It's our ambition and greed warring with our sense of propriety - a list of paradoxes we all face when living and striving.

Primal Scream – Live At Levitation LP (Reverberation Appreciation Society)

Pink w/ black splatter color vinyl. Primal Scream’s fusion of indie pop and dance broke down musical boundaries and changed the face of British pop music in the '90s, helping to push dance and techno into the rock mainstream. Their lasting influence is crystallized across nine tracks, on Live At Levitation. Recorded in 2015 at Levitation in front of underground rock fans from around the world, the LP marks the next release in The Reverberation Appreciation Society’s Live At Levitation series, which captures key moments in psychedelic rock history and live music in Austin, Texas - pulled from Levitation’s extensive archives.

R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi: 25th Anniversary Edition 2xCD+Blu-ray (Craft Recordings)

This double-CD edition features 13 B-sides and rarities plus a Blu-ray featuring hi-res and 5.1 Surround Sound audio, plus restored music videos including "Electrolite" and "E-Bow the Letter" packaged in a hardcover book. First released in September 1996, New Adventures In Hi-Fi endures as one of R.E.M.'s most acclaimed albums and stands as a favorite among band members and fans alike. Recorded at the height of their fame, it is R.E.M.'s final album with drummer and founding member Bill Berry, who left the group amicably the following year. Perhaps most remarkable, however, is that New Adventures in Hi-Fi found the band taking a unique creative approach: writing and recording much of the LP on the road, during their 1995 Monster tour. While writing new material on the road wasn't an unusual feat for R.E.M., New Adventures was unlike anything they had done before. As they embarked on tour, the band sought to create an abstract travelogue documenting every emotion and experience as it happened.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts 2xCD+Blu-ray/2xLP (Legacy)

The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were recorded at the September 1979 MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. They represent the highest quality and best recorded Bruce performances from an explosive and ascendant era of the E Street Band. Among the highlights are then-unreleased versions of "The River" and "Sherry Darling", live staples "Badlands", "Born To Run" and "Thunder Road", plus covers of Buddy Holly's "Rave On" and a version of Maurice Williams' "Stay" featuring special guests Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and Rosemary Butler. [The double-CD edition includes your choice of DVD or Blu-ray of the 13-song concert performance film, newly edited from original film footage, restored and remixed in HD.]

Horace Silver Quintet ‎– 6 Pieces Of Silver [Reissue/1956] LP (Blue Note)

With his 1956 album 6 Pieces of Silver, Silver struck gold with a sterling set of hard bop that introduced one of his greatest compositions, "Señor Blues". The indelible theme is one of five excellent Silver originals (plus the standard "For Heaven's Sake") performed by an ace quintet featuring Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Doug Watkins on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. Other highlights include the hard swinging opener "Cool Eyes", the stunning ballad "Shirl", the intricate stop-start rhythm of "Camouflage", and the beguiling Latin beat of "Enchantment".

Cat Stevens ‎– Teaser And The Firecat [Reissue/1971] CD/LP/2xCD/4xCD+Blu-ray+2xLP+7” (A&M)

50th Anniversary remastered edition of Yusuf/Cat Stevens landmark 1971 album – available as a single-disc CD and vinyl pressing, and in a couple of collectable configurations: The double-CD version features rare and previously released B-sides, demos, live performances, and TV/radio sessions and a 32-page booklet with lyrics, illustrations, and track annotations; The Deluxe four CD + Blu-ray edition includes the 50th Anniversary remaster of the album on CD/Blu-ray HD Audio completed at Abbey Road by the original producer, Paul Samwell-Smith, 41 previously unreleased demos, sessions, live tracks, and 21 unreleased TV performances, plus an illustrated 108-pg essay book, a 44-page replica of the original Teaser And The Firecat book; The Super Deluxe 8-disc edition includes everything from the Deluxe edition and adds an expanded-vinyl pressing and and a 7" single of "Moonshadow".

Kelley Stoltz – Antique Glow (Expanded Edition) 2xLP (Third Man)

20th anniversary expanded edition of Kelley Stoltz's defining album Antique Glow. Originally self-released in miniscule vinyl-only quantities in 2001, Antique Glow has served not only as a template for the length of Kelley Stoltz's twenty-plus year career but has also served as a compass for other Anglophile, TASCAM 388 home recording acolytes. Original copies featured Stoltz's clever, wry and fanciful hand-painted adornments overtop reclaimed thrift store LP jackets, Third Man's release here utilizes some of those original unused images for a die-cut sleeve that ultimately gives the listener six different possible album covers. The songs are by and large masterpieces of bedroom pop magic. [Indie store exclusive limited-edition silver vinyl.]

Sylvan Esso – What Now [Reissue/2017] LP (Loma Vista)

Limited blue smoke color vinyl pressing. Sylvan Esso's sophomore album, What Now, is the sound of a band truly fulfilling the potential and promise of their debut. Everything has evolved - the production is bolder, the vocals are more intense, the melodies are more infectious, and the songs shine that much brighter. What Now is an album of the finest songs this band has ever written- produced masterfully, sang fearlessly- to articulate our collective undercurrents of anxiety and joy.

Umphrey’s McGee – Mantis [Reissue/2009] LP (Nothing Too Fancy)

Pink color vinyl reissue of the sixth studio album by progressive rock band.

Various Artists [Coldcut] – @0 2xLP (Ahead Of Our Time)

@0 is a collection of ambient tracks - curated by Coldcut - to benefit mental health, featuring some incredible names in the ambient world including Sigur Rós, Julianna Barwick, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Suzanne Ciani, Laraaji, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, and many more. [CD edition due November 26.]