David Byrne – American Utopia CD/LP (Nonesuch)
American Utopia is the former Talking Heads singer’s first solo LP in 14 years. “If a brain in a jar could observe the world, make sense of it and churn it into a batch of songs, it would make the album American Utopia. This brilliantly analytical album is from David Byrne — an American treasure, an artistic thinker and creator responsible, in part, for the some of the most memorable and distinctive music of the past 40 years. American Utopia’s origins began with tracks from Brian Eno and it grew and morphed from there, bringing in other collaborators and musicians, including producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, King Krule, Adele), producer Patrick Dillett (Nile Rogers, Sufjan Stevens,) drummer Joey Waronker (Atoms for Peace, Beck), Isaiah Barr on sax (Onyx Collective) Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) on mellotron, Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) on keys and electronics, singer and pianist Sampha and Brian Eno on keys, brass, whistling, robot rhythm guitar and more. The music is intense, it’s playful and quite memorable. In a world filled with millions of songs about personal problems and love gone right or wrong, I’m thrilled to have a record that opens my eyes and widens my perceptions and helps me stop and make some sense of this inexplicable, mind-bending world of ours.” – NPR

Editors – Violence CD/LP+MP3 (PIAS America)
Violence is the sixth album from English rockers Editors. It was produced by Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts, Florence & The Machine, Frightened Rabbit) and Editors, with additional production from Benjamin John Power (Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons), and mixing by Cenzo Townshend. The muscular and dynamic collection is ushered in by lead single “Magazine” which the band describes as “a pointed finger aimed at those in power…some corrupt politician or businessman…a character, and a tongue in cheek poke at the empty posturing and playing to the masses of the power hungry.” [Limited Deluxe red colored vinyl pressing with bonus tracks also available. Ltd edition tote bag free with purchase!!]

Erasure – World Beyond CD (Mute)
Following on from the release of World Be Gone in May of 2017, Erasure release this companion piece. World Beyond is a completely re-recorded version of World Be Gone featuring classical interpretations of the tracks. Late last year, Andy Bell traveled to Brussels to re-record the album with The Echo Collective, a Belgian based classical music ensemble who have worked with A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Stars Of The Lid, Jóhann Jóhannsson and more. At the crossroads between the three classic re orchestrations of The Two-Ring Circus (1987) and the intimate acoustic formula of Union Street (2006), this album is entirely instrumented by The Echo Collective with violin, viola cello, piano, harp, vibraphone and glockenspiel. [Vinyl edition due April 20.]

Albert Hammond Jr. – Francis Trouble CD/LP (Red Bull)
Albert Hammond Jr’s fourth solo album Francis Trouble explores a deeply personal topic – the stillborn death of his twin brother, Francis, and the lingering effects that event has had in his life and music. Taking a page from Bowie, Hammond Jr says: “What the music says may be serious, but as a medium it should not be questioned, analyzed or taken too seriously. I think it should be tarted up, made into a character, a parody of itself. The music is the mask the message wears and I, the performer, am the message.” Working within this mentality, Hammond Jr. created Francis Trouble, an homage to both the death of his twin and his own birth, as well as the complexities of identity that arise because of their intermingling. The number 36 became especially relevant, as he had learned more of Francis’s story at that age, and because he was born on the 9th day of the 4th month of the year. Significantly, the album is exactly 36 minutes long.

Jimi Hendrix – Both Sides Of The Sky CD/2xLP (Sony Legacy)
Both Sides Of The Sky is the third volume in a trilogy of albums intended to present the best and most significant unissued studio recordings remaining in the music legend’s archive beginning with Valleys Of Neptune (2010) and followed by People, Hell and Angels (2013). This dynamic third release completes the spectacular recording event in epic fashion with 13 studio recordings made between January 1968 and February 1970, 10 of which have never been released. Hendrix’s desire to push the boundaries of blues music can be heard throughout and Both Sides Of The Sky additionally highlights his mastery of studio production and increasing use of these facilities as a proving ground for new sounds, material, and techniques. Many of the album’s tracks were recorded by the trio that would come to be known as Band of Gypsys: Jimi on guitar/vocals, Billy Cox on bass, and Buddy Miles on drums. For their first-ever recording session on April 22, 1969, Hendrix turned to their shared musical root, delta blues. Their previously unreleased, uptempo reworking of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” opens the album and sets the tempo for what follows.

Brad Mehldau – After Bach CD (Nonesuch)
After Bach comprises the pianist/composer’s recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an “After Bach” piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate.

Ministry – AmeriKKKant CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)
14th album by the industrial metal band. [Limited red/black swirl and white/grey swirl colored vinyl pressings also available.]

Nap Eyes – I’m Bad Now CD/LP (Paradise Of Bachelors)
Acclaimed Canadians Nap Eyes return with their ambitious, allusive third album that achieves a new sonic clarity, depth, and range to match their effortless melodies and extraordinary writing. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

The Neighbourhood – The Neighbourhood CD (Sony)
Eponymous third album from the critically acclaimed L.A. based alternative rock band.

Of Montreal – White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
“Love and paranoia go hand in hand for singer-songwriter Kevin Barnes on Of Montreal’s White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. The Athens, Georgia-based musician has often paired verbose examination of his own mental health with oblique psychedelic pop, and he’s cited the creative process as a means for coping with his depression, most directly on 2012’s exhausting Paralytic Stalks. Unease with our increasingly digital world has gradually worked its way into Barnes’s songwriting in recent years as well, and White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood cranks up his fear of a simulated reality to Philip K. Dickian levels of dread. Drawing inspiration from ’80s-era extended dance mixes, Barnes structures the album as six lengthy tracks, each with two divergent movements woven together with churning electronic or saxophone-fueled interludes.” – Slant Magazine [Limited edition colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Oneida – Romance CD/2xLP (Joyful Noise)
Six years after the release of A List Of The Burning Mountains, Brooklyn, NY”s Oneida release their newest studio creation, a record marked by wild eclecticism, even for a group known for its shape-shifting nature. Recorded over several years in various locales, the eleven songs on Romance are built around deeply developed long-arc rhythm/phase concepts, noise, yearning, blind guitar rage, longing, the lurch of dying electronics, and a multi-modal embrace of human fallibility and artifice.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – Tearing At The Seams CD/2xLP/2xLP+7”+MP3 (Stax)
A staggering album of rock ‘n’ soul music propelled by driving rhythms, blazing horn play, and Rateliff’s rowdy, soul drenched vocals. From anguished sorrow to ecstatic heights, Rateliff’s expressive tenor is unvarnished on the record’s tender R&B ballads and nitro-fueled rave-ups. [Deluxe 180gm 45rpm vinyl edition with exclusive photo book and special 7″ and Deluxe CD edition featuring two bonus tracks are also available.]

Suicidal Tendencies – Get Your Fight On CD/LP (Suicidal)
This new Suicidal Tendencies 10-song EP is the second release for the band with Dave Lombardo on drums (Dead Cross, Slayer, Phantomas, GripInc), Ra Diaz on bass and Jeff Pogan on guitars and anticipates a full-length album coming this summer. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Anna von Hausswolff – Dead Magic CD/LP+MP3 (City Slang)
With the stately sound of Copenhagen’s Marmorkirken church organ as its center piece, Dead Magic calls upon an unlikely array of influences and inspirations – including Yma, Sumac, Sunn O))), Gyorgi Ligeti, Swans and Nils Frahm.

Tom Waits – Closing Time [Reissue/1973] CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
Digitally remastered reissue of Tom Waits’ 1973 debut record. Closing Time foreshadows the distinctly lyrical storytelling and original blending of jazz, blues and folk styles that would come to be associated with him. [180gm vinyl pressing also available.]

A Perfect Circle – The Doomed b/w Disillusioned 10” (BMG Rights Management)
Limited edition 10” featuring two new tracks, “The Doomed” and “Disillusioned”, from the band’s upcoming new album. Includes dual groove technology and screen-printed B-side.

The Promise Ring – 30° Everywhere [Reissue/1996] LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Vinyl reissue of the influential Milwaukee emo/indie rock band’s 1996 debut. The Promise Ring were formed in 1995 in Milwaukee by guitarist Jason Gnewikow, drummer Dan Didier and bassist Scott Beschta. The band was eventually rounded out by frontman Davey von Bohlen, who at the time was a new enlistee into Midwest darlings Cap’n Jazz but gave The Promise Ring their crucial missing piece. In 1996, the group signed with Jade Tree and released their debut, 30° Everywhere: a powerful introduction that distilled the spirit and vigor of some of the members’ punk and hardcore backgrounds and spit-shined it with von Bohlen’s tastefully angsty melodicism. Limited clear pressing also available.