Rayland Baxter – Wide Awake CD/LP (ATO)
Rayland Baxter’s new album is a dream realized. Since he first started writing music, this roving rock ‘n’ roll philosopher dreamed of a space where he could devote every waking hour to creating. The hard-touring musician finally found it in the form of an abandoned rubber band factory in Franklin, KY, where he covered the windows, threw a mattress on the floor, and with guitar and piano in tow, spent three straight months writing. At night he would sit and listen to the sounds around him: coyotes, the howling wind, the faint prattle of the nightly TV news. The result of this isolation quest is Wide Awake, a 10-song collection that celebrates the best aspects of humanity and grasps at understanding the worst. The album runs the gamut from intensely personal to cutting social satire.

Between The Buried And Me – Automata II CD/LP (Sumerian)
Second installment of the new concept album Automata from the North Carolina prog-metal stayers, which follows March’s release of Automata I.

Body/Head – The Switch CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)
The way the duo of Kim Gordon and Bill Nace work together, you’d never know they spend so much time apart; on The Switch, their vision and focus feel truly unified. If Coming Apart was dark magic, The Switch works with light, though it never forgets that these approaches are two sides of the same coin, and that binaries—black/white, near/far, emotion/analysis, body/head—are made to be broken open, and that the truth of things is in the energy between

Jenn Champion – Single Rider CD/LP/Cassette (Hardly Art)
Fans of Jenn Champion (formerly “S”) have praised her open-hearted lyrics, expertly-deployed melancholia, technical skill, and willingness to forgo conventions, but mostly they’ve praised her for making albums they could cry to. With the release of Cool Choices in 2014, Champion made what many considered the best record of her career, and a lot of fans spilled tears to. On Single Rider, Champion brings with her all those skills and vulnerabilities, but it’s not a record for wallowing: it’s a record for intense eye contact on the dancefloor. “Sometimes you are sad and you just want to dance about it,” said Champion. “I realized the record I really wanted to make was more of a cross between Drake and Billy Joel than Blue Oyster Cult.” Despite the new direction in her sound, emotion cuts through on Single Rider in the classic Champion style, weaving simultaneously pleading-and-incensed vocals into anthemic pop songs.

Collections Of Colonies Of Bees – Hawaii CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
For two decades, Milwaukee’s Collections Of Colonies Of Bees has existed in various forms and incarnations, beginning with Chris Rosenau and Jon Mueller (who split time with post-rock band Pele). From there, the line-up grew and evolved. At one time, Nick Sanborn – currently in the spotlight as one-half of Sylvan Esso – counted himself as a member. At another, the group joined forces with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to release two albums under the moniker Volcano Choir. In fact, it was Vernon who proclaimed of his collaborators: “If the world was perfect, they would be as big as U2.” Never content to paint the soundscape twice, the previously instrumental Bees now come outfitted with vocalist Marielle Allschwang and a new full-length, Hawaii, that finds the Wisconsin-based ensemble harvesting the fertile intersection between experimental and pop to maximum effect.

Cowboy Junkies – All That Reckoning CD/LP (Latent)
We will see our stock in by early next week. While the music is characteristically easy to listen to, the songs on All That Reckoning are visceral and in true Junkies fashion, the gentleness is juxtaposed with rock that can be jarring. “It’s a deeper and a more complete record than we’ve ever done before,” says guitarist Michael Timmins. “We’ve always tried to make records that are relevant to who we are as people…These songs are about reckoning on a personal level and reckoning on a political level. So much is going on around us right now and nobody knows where it’s going to end up.”

Rodney Crowell – Acoustic Classics CD/LP (Rodney Crowell)
Grammy-winning roots troubadour Rodney Crowell offers up a re-distilled, acoustic presentation of 12 masterfully-crafted tunes from his 40-plus-year career in a truly intimate setting.

Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love CD/2xLP (Relapse)
Deafheaven’s new album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, finds them working with old friends again. The Jack Shirley-produced and Nick Steinhardt-art directed (of Touché Amoré) collection gets its title from Graham Greene’s novel The End Of The Affair, referencing a moment when someone is looking for love, in all of its imperfection and simple beauty. This sentiment is carried throughout the hazy, yearning romanticism of the record with song titles and words as sumptuous as the sounds around them. Clarke describes the composition of Ordinary Corrupt Human Love beginning with “small seeds of healing, repair, and rebirth,” and like each subsequent Deafheaven album, this record is, in fact, a revelation. Defeat has inspired some of our best art. If you survive something terrible, you surface on the other side, walk toward the light, and come back to life. If you’re an artist, this kind of new self-knowledge can lead to creating something universal and remembered, something eternal. While Deafheaven has managed to cross over this road in the past, they’ve nailed the feeling wholly with Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, a feeling that comes with experience and wisdom. [Limited Deluxe 180gm opaque blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Dirty Projectors – Lamp Lit Prose CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
We will see our stock in early next week. Dirty Projectors return with a new album that’s the yang to the yin of their eponymous 2017 effort. The songs signal a page turned for David Longstreth: hope instead of heartbreak, a restorative balance. Guitars have returned to the Dirty Projectors’ world, intricate and gorgeous vocal harmony too. It begins with “Right Now,” David singing, “there was silence in my heart, but now I’m striking up the band.” L.A. string group the Calder Quartet and The Brass Players of Los Angeles both appear on several songs while further collaborations come from the likes of HAIM, Syd, Robin Pecknold, Rostam Batmanglij, Amber Mark, Empress Of and Dear Nora. Lamp Lit Prose is a recommitment to the sounds and ideals of Dirty Projectors, embracing the band’s trademarks while pushing forward the sonic envelope. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Grateful Dead – Anthem Of The Sun [Reissue/1968] 2xCD/LP (Grateful Dead)
This 50th anniversary double-CD set includes two versions of the original album – one fully remastered from the original 1968 mix, and the other remastered from the more well-known 1971 mix. The second disc contains a previously unreleased complete live show recorded on October 22, 1967 at Winterland in San Francisco, CA. [Limited edition single picture disc vinyl edition of the remastered 1971 mix is also available.]

Jason Isbell – Sirens Of The Ditch [Reissue/2007] CD/2xLP (New West)
CD and vinyl reissue of the 2007 solo debut from guitarist/songwriter Jason Isbell (formerly of Drive By Truckers), expanded with four unreleased tracks from the original recording sessions. Sirens Of The Ditch is a diverse collection that incorporates elements of rock, blues and soul music into a heartfelt mix of songs that favor piano and pedal steel over buzzing guitars – although, don’t worry, there’s a fair share of overdriven amps as well. Co-produced by Isbell and Patterson Hood (DBT), it features Isbell singing lead vocals and playing guitar throughout, joined by Shonna Tucker (formerly of DBT) on bass and Brad Morgan (DBT) on drums. Several musicians pop in for cameos as well including Spooner Oldham and David Hood (Patterson’s father) on “Down In A Hole”, John Neff (formerly of DBT) on “Dress Blues” and Patterson himself guests on “Shotgun Wedding”. [Limited Deluxe 180gm clear vinyl pressing also available.]

The Jayhawks – Back Roads And Abandoned Motels CD/LP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Produced by Gary Louris, John Jackson and Ed Ackerson at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis, MN, The Jayhawks’ tenth studio album Back Roads And Abandoned Motels sets nine songs co-written by Louris with other artists alongside two of his latest compositions. Recorded in two vibrant sessions in 2017, it finds the current incarnation of group – Louris (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars), Marc Perlman (bass), Tim O’Reagan (vocals, drums, percussion), Karen Grotberg (vocals, piano, keyboards), John Jackson (mandolin, violin, acoustic guitar) – going for a lean, simple approach, at times reminiscent of the fabled Rainy Day Music era. Back Roads And Abandoned Motels expands the group’s repertoire with brand-new recordings of songs that frontman Gary Louris has co-written with other acts and also marks the debut of two of Gary’s latest songs, “Carry You To Safety” and “Leaving Detroit”.

Luluc – Sculptor CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
CDs have been recalled. This is avail on LP only at the moment. Sculptor can be consumed loud, because while Luluc’s music is at times masterful in its minimalism, it is anything but quiet in impact. A gripping quality certainly pulses through the band’s third album. Songwriter and vocalist Zoe Randell writes with more experimentation and possibility here and sonically, the band has also broadened their palette significantly. Multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer Steve Hassett mastered a spectrum of instruments to fully realize the album’s expansive and daring vision. Randell and Hassett did nearly all of the writing, recording, and producing themselves, but their vision is far from insular. Guest contributions are made by J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr), Aaron Dessner (The National, and producer of Passerby), Jim White of Dirty Three, Matt Eccles, and Dave Nelson.

Lydia – Liquor CD/LP (Red Music)
New release from the indie rock band from Gilbert, Arizona. Liquor sees Lydia maintaining their DIY punk spirit while exploring new sonic territory.

John Maus – Songs [Reissue/2006] CD/LP (Ribbon Music)
John Maus – Love Is Real [Reissue/2007] CD/LP (Ribbon Music)
John Maus – We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves [Reissue/2011] CD/LP (Ribbon Music)
Broadly cut from the synth pop cloth, enigmatic Austin, MN musician John Maus has fashioned the frosty minimalism of its fabric into a cloak of infinite meaning, genuine grace and absurdist humor over the course of five defining albums since 2006, most recently being 2017’s Screen Memories and 2018’s Addendum. Ribbon Music is pleased to present CD and heavyweight 180gm vinyl reissues of Maus’ long out-of-print first three full length albums – Songs (2006), Love Is Real (2007) and We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (2011) – with audio sourced from the original masters and lacquers cut at Abbey Road Mastering. Questing synthesizers, tensely strung bass lines and chasing drum machines provide the perfect backdrop for Maus’s deeply resonant reverb-drenched vocals.

The National – Boxer Live In Brussels CD (4AD)
To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their acclaimed album Boxer, The National chose to perform the record from beginning to end at a very special show in Brussels, Belgium on November 9th, 2017. Originally released on vinyl as a limited edition RSD 2018 exclusive.

Willie Nelson – Things To Remember: The Pamper Demos CD/2xLP (Real Gone Music)
For the series of sessions that laid the foundation for Willie Nelson’s career and thus changed the course of modern country music, these recordings have been treated pretty cavalierly over the years. The songs Willie recorded for Pamper during the early ‘60s remain among his most famous and includes tunes he still performs to this day. This collection collects 28 rare demos recorded during that historic era. [Limited red colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Alabama Shakes – Alabama Shakes – Boys and Girls: Platinum Edition LP (ATO)
Alabama Shakes’ 2012 Grammy-nominated 2012 debut reissued on colored vinyl in a brand-new reverse color package in celebration of its platinum certification.

Beak> – Beak> [Reissue/2009] 2xLP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
Beak> – >> [Reissue/2012] 2xLP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
To celebrate the addition of Bristol’s preeminent out-rock trio to the Temporary Residence family, the label has reissued Beak>’s first two albums on audiophile-quality double vinyl.

Fishbone ‎– The Reality Of My Surroundings [Reissue/1991] LP (Megaforce)
Combining equal parts of deep funk, high-energy punk, and frantic ska, the Los Angeles-based Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late ’80s. With their hyperactive, self-conscious diversity, goofy sense of humor, and sharp social commentary, the group gained a sizable cult following during the late ’80s, yet they were never able to earn a mainstream audience. The band’s third album, The Reality Of My Surroundings, didn’t depart from their reckless eclecticism; it refined it.

Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound Sessions LP (SideOneDummy)
Recently released on CD – now available on 180gm vinyl. The Gaslight Anthem celebrates 10 years of their seminal album, The ’59 Sound, with this collection of rare, unreleased, and alternate takes recorded during the album’s sessions. [Deluxe vinyl pressing in gatefold jacket in a gatefold sleeve also available.]

Good Old War – Only Way To Be Alone [Reissue/2008] LP+MP3 (Sargent House)
Limited 10th anniversary brown & yellow splatter colored vinyl pressing.

Morrissey – All The Young People Must Fall In Love (Bob Clearmountain Mix) b/w Rose Garden (Live At The Grand Ole Opry, Nashville) 7” (BMG Rights Management)
Fourth 7″ release from Low In High School.

Pedro The Lion ‎– The Only Reason I Feel Secure [Reissue/1999] LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
The Only Reason I Feel Secure is the second EP by Pedro The Lion. Originally released as a five-track EP in 1999 on Made In Mexico Records, it was reissued by Jade Tree records in 2001 with three bonus tracks which originally constituted the band’s first single – and appear only on the Jade Tree reissue. After a shifting lineup, Pedro The Lion eventually became a one-man outfit. That man is David Bazan. A Seattle native, Bazan cut his teeth playing in hardcore bands before forming Pedro in 1995, taking the band’s name from a character he made up for a possible children’s book. Under the moniker of Pedro The Lion, Bazan creates melodic pop in the vein of Bedhead, Hayden, and Sebadoh, with a lyrical focus on relationships — with both other people and God. In early 2006, Bazan retired the Pedro moniker to continue on with solo work under his own name. In December of 2017 Bazan announced that Pedro The Lion be reunited to make a new album and tour the world in 2018.