Aesop Rock – The Impossible Kid CD/2xLP+MP3 (Rhymesayers)

On his first new album since 2012’s Skelethon, Aesop continues finding new ways to improve on the skills that have made him one of the kings of indie hip-hop. His creative process now includes a newfound willingness to open up about his personal life, going deep on topics like depression, his sometimes rocky relationship with his family, and the turbulent handful of years that culminated in Aesop leaving his adopted home of San Francisco to live in a barn out in the woods, where he recorded the foundations of The Impossible Kid. There’s also moments of levity though, as he taps into the funny side of his persona that he suppressed during the period where being taken as a serious lyricist was more of a priority. [Limited pink/green neon vinyl in custom die cut jacket also available.]

The Boxer Rebellion – Ocean By Ocean CD/LP (Absentee)

The Boxer Rebellion is an international indie band formed in London, United Kingdom around 2001, consisting of Tennessee-native Nathan Nicholson (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Andrew Smith (lead guitar), and Englishmen Adam Harrison (bass guitar) and Piers Hewitt (drums).

“Despite a nearly three year break and a lineup change, The Boxer Rebellion have only gotten bigger and better with age, slowly and subtly transfiguringThe Bends-esque alternative of early albums Exits and Unions into the arena-ready sound of [Ocean By Ocean single] ‘Big Ideas.’ Over guitars that seem to bounce from wall to wall and gain strength with each echo, frontman Nathan Nicholson croons “I have big ideas for you and me”. His intent is nebulous: he could be speaking of a romantic partner or the newly rejuvenated band he shares the stage with.” – The Line Of Best Fit

Kyle Craft – Dolls Of Highland CD/2xLP+MP3/Cassette (Sub Pop)

Kyle Craft grew up in a tiny Louisiana town on the banks of the Mississippi, where he spent most of his time catching alligators and rattlesnakes instead of playing football or picking up the guitar. He’s not the product of a musical family, and bands never came through town. It was only a chance trip to K-Mart that gave him his first album, a David Bowie hits compilation that helped inspire him eventually to channel his innate feral energy into songwriting and rock and roll. That self-made talent drives every note ofDolls Of Highland, Craft’s exhilarating, fearless solo debut. “Like many artists from the South, Craft has a conflicted relationship with the region’s cultural duality, a topic he tackles on [Dolls Of Highland’s] ‘Lady Of The Ark.’ Shrouded in guitars and organ, he caustically wails, ‘Swing low, low sweet heathen / Swing for the wretch and the rock and roll kid,’ a line he says he wrote in response to the ‘shame, shame thing that ‘church folk’ tend to do so often,’ and which doesn’t sit well with Craft. ‘Roam this earth repeat it / All this sin until this wicked world makes sense in time,’ he defiantly growls near the song’s end. Craft’s roaming days may be done for now, but ‘Lady Of The Ark’ shows his music as wild-eyed and restless.” – NPR

John Doe – The Westerner CD/LP (Cool Rock)

John Doe calls his new album The Westerner his “psychedelic soul record from the Arizona desert.” The album features 10 new tracks from Doe with guest appearances from Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Cindy Wasserman of Dead Rock West and Tom Brosseau. The Westerner was produced by Howe Gelb (Neko Case, M. Ward), Dave Way (Fiona Apple) and Doe. The album’s artwork was designed by Shepard Fairey and Aaron Huey to support Native American rights via a campaign called Protect The Sacred, with additional photography by Jim Herrington. Of the album Doe says, “The Westerner is dedicated to Michael Blake, author of many books, including Dances With Wolves, who was a scholar and advocate for Native American rights. He was also one of my best friends for over 30 years. Michael taught me how to ride horses (we knocked each other off them several times) and we taught each other about writing, music and art. Many of these songs are about him or use him as the main character. His presence has been with me throughout the making of the record. It’s a wild, spread-out, desert-like life that we’ve lived.”

Brian Eno – The Ship CD/2xLP+MP3 (Warp)

The Ship is Brian Eno’s first solo record since 2012’s Grammy-nominatedLux. Originally conceived from experiments with three dimensional recording techniques and formed in two, interconnected parts, The Ship is almost as much musical novel as traditional album. Eno brings together beautiful songs, minimalist ambience, physical electronics, omniscient narratives and technical innovation into a single, cinematic suite. [Both CD and vinyl are available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe CD is packaged in a cloth bound case with a spot gloss cover and four art cards, while the Deluxe vinyl is a limited transparent edition.]

Horse Lords – Interventions CD/LP (Northern Spy)

“It’s tempting to call Horse Lords a math- or prog-rock band, and neither would be wrong. But both would be misleading. Even though there’s nerdy precision and structural complexity in this Baltimore quartet’s music, the overarching feeling is joyous. Their jagged figures and skilled repetitions all serve an experience, one that’s much more exhilarating than anything achievable through honing musical chops or solving numerical equations.OnInterventions, their third full-length, Horse Lords make the pointillist puzzle-pieces in their guitars, drums, electronics, and sax clearer than ever before. Yet what’s even more obvious is how blissfully those elements meld together.” — Pitchfork

The Jayhawks – Paging Mr. Proust CD/LP (Sham)

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity CD/LP+MP3 (ATO)

Coming only six months after the softer, folksy Paper Mache Dream Balloon,Nonagon Infinity finds King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard returning to form on this relentless psychedelic shred fest. “King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard have released four albums in less than two years; that lack of downtime might have resulted in an absence of transformative, life-altering experiences to insert into their lyrics, but these Australian psych-rock kooks have always been more about melody, frenzy and impact rather than compelling storytelling. There is a sense of urgency to this latest offering, as if last year’s fey and breezy LP Paper Mâché Dream Balloon acted as a process of blissed-out creative rehab. The rusty screech of ‘Robot Stop’ kickstarts the record before ‘Gamma Knife’ careens down a midnight motorway on a flame-streaked motorbike. ‘People Vultures’ is a satanic summoning, ‘Invisible Face’ indulges a gorgeously groovy wig-out, and a gnarly guitar rains down on the metal-spirited ‘Road Train,’ crashing this tight-knit chaos wagon of sound for good.Until somewhere around mid-August, anyway” – The Guardian. [Limited marble black/green vinyl also available.] FREE POSTER, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

Masters of the electric thumb piano, Kinshasa’s Konono No.1 have joined forces with Angolan-Portuguese producer Batida for a new album of bass-driven Afro-electro.

Britta Phillips – Luck Or Magic CD/LP+MP3 (Double Feature)

“Britta Phillips started off her career as the singing voice of Jem, the ’80s cartoon-fantasy pop star. Then she played bass in Luna. That’s a pretty wide swing! More recently, she’s been half of Dean & Britta with her husband, the former Galaxie 500 and Luna frontman Dean Wareham. (And since Luna reunited not long ago, maybe it’d make more sense to say they’re both still in Luna.) And for a few years, on and off, Phillips has been working on Luck Or Magic, her solo debut, which started off as a collaboration with the late dance producer Scott Hardkiss.” — Stereogum

Pity Sex – White Hot Moon CD/LP+MP3 (Run For Cover)

On their sophomore record, White Hot Moon, Michigan quartet Pity Sex take all of the elements that made its predecessor, Feast Of Love, so endearing and fine-tune them. The guitars still buzz and roar, but there’s a greater dynamic range. The heartbreaking “Plum” starts soft and tender, Britty Drake’s voice standing stark against a skeletal guitar, but it gets stormier as it goes on; the title track boasts the kind of grinding riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Dinosaur Jr. record. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]

Plants And Animals – Waltzed In From The Rumbling CD/LP (Secret City)

Plants And Animals are a Montreal-based trio that began playing together as kids, emerged on the international scene in 2008 and have developed a varied cult following ever since, built this on the shoulders of their self-produced records, their intense live show, or both—depending on who you ask. Waltzed In From The Rumbling follows 2012’s The End Of That, and is said to have been inspired by everything from Serge Gainsbourg, to J Dilla, to Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti. Contained within are touches of folk, rock, funk and more cinematic work. “Singer/guitarist Warren Spicer has recorded and mixed his band’s fourth full-length to near perfection. This cannot be overstated. Each instrument on Waltzed In From The Rumbling is so exactly in tune and at the optimum volume and placement in the speakers that it feels like each note is tangible. From the chop of the stereo-panned acoustic guitars to the gentle golf claps on last month’s single, ‘No Worries Gonna Find Us,’ to the train-brakes flute on ‘So Many Nights,’ to the string and horn arrangements that bring so much texture to this album, everything is in its right place. If that sounds like I’m referencing a different band, this is because Plants And Animals sound like a different band, namely a combination of turn-of-the-century Radiohead and turn-of-the-century Flaming Lips.” – Pitchfork

Rogue Wave – Delusions Of Grand Fur CD (Easy Sound)

Delusions Of Grand Fur marks the sixth album from Rogue Wave and is their first since 2013’s Nightingale Floors. Longtime bandmates Zach Rogue & Pat Spurgeon recorded and produced the album on their own at their home studio. Instead of recording demo versions that would evolve into a song, the band wrote and recorded these demo’s as the songs. The album is easily Rogue Wave’s least predictable, where ambient synth tones, mottled textures, and electronic beats stand in for the breezy, acoustic gems fans have long come to expect. Vinyl edition due May 13.

Rob Zombie – The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser CD/LP (UMe)

“Even in the worlds of metal and horror Rob Zombie is a divisive figure; praised as a dreadlocked visionary and lampooned as a horror hack. What prompts this reaction is that Zombie is the very definition of an auteur. In a career split between shock rock outrage and directing lurid ultra-violent movies, every release is unmistakably the product of a singular fevered mind. He’s the center of his own self-perpetuating micro-scene, the trashy electro-thrash anthems feeding into his gore-soaked grindhouse features, and vice versa. What most critics miss is the wicked gallows humor running through all Zombie’s best work. The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser is a pick and mix of Zombie staples: retro horror samples, industrial electronics, sound clips and grinding guitars.” – The List

Hammock – Everything And Nothing 2xLP (Hammock Music)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Hammock returns with their first full-length album since 2013s critically-acclaimed Oblivion Hymns. “Largely instrumental, with occasional (and often ethereal) male and female vocals used sparingly to complement the whole and magnify the human relevance, Everything And Nothing is a collection of rangy mood pieces. Musically and emotionally, it ebbs and flows with the kind of brooding atmospheric ambience that people like to call ‘post-rock.’ Conceptually, we are told, it’s about ‘enduring life’s trials and tribulations, and letting hope be the beacon to guide you through it.’ The sixteen tracks here represent personal struggle, taking the listener on a journey of doubt and change, hinting at oblivion but leaving us with hope and optimism.” –Über Röck

Khanate – Khanate [Reissue/2001] 2xLP (Hydra Head)

Khanate – Things Viral [Reissue/2003] 2xLP (Hydra Head)

Vinyl reissues of the(now-disbanded) drone metal band’s first two albums.Khanate was a drone metal supergroup that brought together James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, two members of the defunct band OLD, as well as Tim Wyskida of Blind Idiot God and Manbyrd) and Stephen O’Malley of Burning Witch and Sunn O))). Keeping some similarity to O’Malley’s previous band Burning Witch, Khanate produced songs that usually exceeded the 10-minute mark, characterized by extremely slow tempos, harsh layers of feedback and vocalist Alan Dubin’s torturous shrieking.

Johnny Thunders – In Cold Blood [Reissue/1983] LP (Easy Action)

The original In Cold Blood was a double vinyl affair that came out in 1983 while the outlaw guitarist was still breathing. It paired bare bones studio recordings by ex-Stones producer Jimmy Miller to a disc taken from a 1982 UK gig. This updated reissue adds a Rare Acoustic Session as the B-side.