Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Downey To Lubbock CD/LP+MP3 (Yep Roc)
A collection that takes on a diverse range of American music spanning nearly one hundred years. Along with ten covers, Alvin wrote two originals for the record: the autobiographical title cut and the fantastical “Billy The Kid and Geronimo.” The latter sees the duo trade verses as their folk heroes have a prescient bar room debate on morality, oppression and injustice. Elsewhere, they explore the musical pipeline between their home states, taking on the work of Lightnin’ Hopkins, Brownie McGhee and Johnny “Guitar” Watson.

Nicki Bluhm – To Rise You Gotta Fall CD/LP (Compass)
After nearly a decade spent with the Gramblers, recent high-profile collaborations (Phil Lesh, Infamous StringDusters, Ryan Adams), and a split from her husband and musical mentor, vocalist and songwriter Nicki Bluhm is stepping out on her own with her new album. Recorded in Memphis, TN at legendary Sam Phillips Recording, Bluhm brought in producer Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell), for these live band, analog sessions.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Something Else CD/LP (A. Recordings)
Something Else is the first full-length offering from The Brian Jonestown Massacre in 2018. A self-titled full-length album is to follow in the fall of 2018. The style is less experimental and returns to a more traditional sound of the band. [White colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Neko Case – Hell-On CD/2xLP (ANTI-)
An indelible collection of colorful, enigmatic storytelling that features some of her most daring, through-composed arrangements to date, Hell-On is rife with withering self-critique, muted reflection, anthemic affirmation and the beloved singer/songwriter’s unique poetic sensibility. Neko enlisted Bjorn Yttling of (Peter Bjorn & John) to co-produce six tracks with her in Stockholm, Sweden where she mixed the twelve-track album with Lasse Mårtén. Hell-On features performances by Beth Ditto, Mark Lanegan, k.d. Lang, AC Newman, Eric Bachmann, Kelly Hogan, Doug Gillard, Laura Veirs, Joey Burns and many more. “Neko Case’s eighth solo album is her most conceptually diverse… The Lynchian atmospherics are at an all-time high, as is her creative ambition. Following a tragic house fire and some deeply disturbing personal legal dramas, Case’s first self-produced album is one of her finest.” – The Line Of Best Fit

Richard Edwards – Verdugo CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
Margot and the Nuclear So ans So’s Richard Edwards felt almost human when he returned to Los Angeles to record songs for what became Verdugo. It’s the follow-up to the Indiana singer’s 2017 album Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, a beautiful, personal release that was deeply unpleasant to make. Not only was he afflicted at the time by an intestinal ailment that often left him unable to stand, let alone sing, his marriage fell apart midway through making the album. If Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset ended up being a record about letting go, Verdugo is the album where Edwards pulls himself up. Also, it showcases his new way of singing: Edwards’ chronic pain meant finding a vocal approach that didn’t make him feel sick. His new style deepens the air of melancholy on the atmospheric “Strange,” takes on a wistful cast on “Beekeeper” over subtle drums and distinctive guitar and is lifted aloft on a soaring blend of guitars, drums and backing vocals on “Minefield.” “They kind of disappear in this weird sky sonically now, because of this range,” he says. “They don’t feel rooted anymore, they fly all over, and that falsetto – if you’re looking at it as a picture, it goes higher up in the room than it used to.”

Sam Evian – You, Forever CD/LP+MP3 (Saddle Creek)
You, Forever is the second studio album from Sam Evian, the project of New York-based musician, songwriter, and producer Sam Owens. Fueled by a desire to escape from the glow of screens and to embrace a sense of limitation, Owens developed a new set of instrumental songs written and recorded on a four-track cassette recorder in his parents’ house in North Carolina. Inspired by these limiting techniques, Owens borrowed an eight-track reel-to-reel tape recorder from a friend, rented a house in Upstate New York, and took his band there to record the new album in July of 2017. That sensibility is both practice and theory on You, Forever. Dreamy album opener “IDGAF” provides suitable exposition with its notion of embracing one’s passions and pursuing one’s goals no matter the impositions in their path. “Health Machine” is a crunchy, slow-burning but deliberate stomper glowing with warm electric guitar noodling, saxophone wailing, and Owens’ reverb-laden lyrics that he says detail an abstract version of how he relates to his own physical form. The song was the last recorded in the summer session, with Owens playing acoustic guitar through a heavily distorted microphone.

Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Written largely in New York between the summer of 2016 and winter of 2017, Josh Tillman’s fourth Father John Misty LP, God’s Favorite Customer reflects on the experience of being caught between the vertigo of heartbreak and the manic throes of freedom. The album reveals a bittersweetness and directness in Tillman’s songwriting, without sacrificing any of his wit or taste for the absurd. Together, these are songs that demand to know either real love or what comes after, and as the album progresses, that entreaty leads to discovering the latter’s true stakes.

The Flaming Lips – Greatest Hits 1 3xCD (WB)
This is the first time The Lips have presented singles from Transmissions From The Satellite Heart (1993), Clouds Taste Metallic (1995), The Soft Bulletin (1999), Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002), At War With The Mystics (2006), Embryonic (2009) and their current album Oczy Mlody (2017). [Single-disc vinyl edition is comprised of eleven tracks. The triple-CD version significantly expands the concept of their “hits” and gathers some of their best-loved album tracks from the aforementioned albums plus deep cuts from their WBR album debut, Hit To Death In The Future Head (1992), along with music from Zaireeka (1997), The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends (2012) and The Terror (2013). Also includes a generous hatful of international single B-sides, studio outtakes and several previously unreleased tracks.]

Ghost – Prequelle CD/LP/LP+7” (Loma Vista/Concord)
Grammy Award-winning rock band Ghost unleash their highly anticipated fourth sacred psalm, Prequelle. Previous efforts have dealt with broad themes like impending doom (Opus Eponymous, 2010), the antichrist and the Inquisition (Infesstimum, 2013), humanism and avarice (Meliora, 2015), Prequelle delves into the plague, the apocalypse, and dark ages. It’s a snapshot of the world in which we currently live, brought to life through an emotive, enlightening, and riveting body of songs. In an interesting twist in the Ghost saga, Cardinal Copia takes over vocal duties here, introduced by the epic lead single “Rats.” [CD is available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe includes lenticular cover and two bonus tracks. Limited clear vinyl pressing with a bonus 7” featuring covers of the Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s A Sin” and Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche” also available.]

Ben Howard – Noonday Dreams CD (Republic)
New album from British singer-songwriter. Thus far in his career, Howard has earned an Ivor Novello Award nomination, the UK’s most prestigious songwriting accolade, in addition to two Brit Awards in 2012 for British Breakthrough and British Solo Male Artist.

Joan Of Arc – 1984 CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
Remarkably, so much of the cluttered sound of earlier Joan of Arc LPs has largely fallen away on 1984, as has Tim Kinsella’s voice. At first it’s genuinely shocking. But the songs here are a revelation, as profound and plainspoken as parables. (Just caught your eyeroll.)

Lump – Lump CD (Dead Oceans)
Lump was born of good timing and predestined compatibility. It began one night in mid-June 2016, when Mike Lindsay – founding member of Tunng and Throws, and a prolific, Mercury prize-winning producer – was introduced to Grammy-nominated, Brit award-winning singer-songwriter Laura Marling. On meeting, Lindsay and Marling discovered they had long been admirers of each other’s work. Lindsay had been busy for some months composing an intricate, ambitious new sound cycle. His compositional style had evolved over the course of years of musical experimentation with Tunng, and during his time spent producing other people’s records while living in Iceland. He had arrived at a remarkably visual, colorful sound – a heady blend of wonked-out guitars, Moog synths and pattering drums, set against droning, coiling clouds of flutes and voices. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Morcheeba – Blaze Away CD/LP (Fly Agaric)
The British trip-hop pioneers return with their first new album in over five years.

Oneohtrix Point Never – Age Of CD/LP+MP3 (Warp)
A tapestry of disparate musical histories – early music, country and folk balladry, melodic pop, computer music and much, much more.

Natalie Prass – The Future And The Past CD (ATO)
Natalie Prass had her new album written, her band ready, the recording studio booked. Then the 2016 election happened, and out of her despair and disappointment in those results came an impulse she could not ignore: she rewrote the album to reflect these swirling emotions. The result is The Future And The Past, a stunning snapshot of a musician in a state of personal rediscovery and surging femininity. The celebratory and defiant collection also signals a significant artistic leap for Prass on the heels of her 2015 breakthrough debut. It finds Prass tapping into deep, dancey grooves that glisten with ‘80s pop and ‘90s R&B, nestled alongside quivering, lushly orchestrated ballads. “Short Court Style” dials the tempo into the aforementioned ‘90s R&B territory, punctuated by handclaps, sampled “woos,” and a Dr. Dre-esque whistling synth line. Lyrically she wields a sharp knife as well on the love torn “Lost” and the empowering feminist anthem “Sisters”. [Vinyl edition due July 8.]

Pete Yorn/Scarlett Johansson – Apart CDEP/12” (Capitol)
The Apart EP marks the duo of Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson’s first collaboration since their 2009 album, Break Up. Ushered in by the shimmering lead single “Bad Dreams,” the EP features four brand new recordings and a new version of “Tomorrow,” a song that originally appeared on Yorn’s last album, 2016’s Arranging Time.

The Coathangers – Live LP (Suicide Squeeze)
In their thirteen years of existence, Atlanta, GA’s garage punks The Coathangers have cranked out five full-lengths and over a dozen singles, splits, and EPs. And while every Coathangers record has captured their buoyant turbulence and jagged euphoria, there’s always some degree of magic that gets lost when bands go into the studio. Whatever the source of that magic, The Coathangers have always wrangled a replication of that sweaty and sticky live feeling, but the time had come to properly document it. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Dave Matthews Band – Under The Table And Dreaming [Reissue/1994] 2xLP (RCA)
Dave Matthews Band’s 1994 major label debut Under The Table And Dreaming introduced the Virginia-based quintet to a national audience with an alternative, folk-tinged approach to pop/rock music that resonated in a post-grunge world. Back in-print on vinyl.

The Neighborhood – The Neighborhood 2xLP+MP3 (Sony)
Released last March on CD – now available on vinyl. Eponymous third album from the critically acclaimed L.A. based alternative rock band.

Now, Now – Saved LP (Trans)
Minneapolis duo Now, Now return with their long awaited follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2012 album Threads. Boasting the most direct songwriting and transparent lyrics the band have ever written by a mile, the record comes preceded by a pair of well received singles including “SGL”, which landed at No. 1 and No. 7 on “Best Songs of 2017” lists for Idolator and NPR Music respectively, and “Yours”, on which Pitchfork say Now, Now accomplished “a hallmark of a great pop song,” on account of “its ability to inflate the most unassuming feelings into towering sound.”

Damien Rice – O [2002] 2xLP (WB)
An expanded double-LP version of Damien Rice’s 2002 album. This is the first time O will be available on vinyl and this extended 16-track edition includes four additional recordings: “The Professor & La Fille Danse” and “Moody Mooday,” which were both originally B-sides to the “The Blower’s Daughter”; “Lonelily,” which appeared also appeared alongside the track “Moody Mooday” as a limited edition 7″ single in 2004; and “Woman Like A Man,” which was recorded live in a session at Galway Bay FM and was the lead track for the song’s single release.