Daniel Bachman – The Morning Star CD/2xLP+MP3 (Three Lobed)
The Morning Star is the product of various change elements directing themselves at Daniel Bachman. First, the months following the recording and mixing of his 2016 self-titled album saw him physically move from his multi-year residence in the North Carolina Triangle area back to his native Virginia. Next was the 2016 American presidential election. While not an overtly political album, The Morning Star is truly an artist’s personal reflection on the chaotic days and nights in America following the revelation of that election’s results. Lastly, a focused period of listening, reflection, and space to come down off of a heavy few years of touring created a few changes in Bachman’s writing style that took him a period of time to truly feel comfortable with.

Bellini – Before The Day Has Gone CD/LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
Bellini’s gift for marrying melody and dissonance is as sharp as ever here – the band’s veteran rhythm section of Matthew Taylor and Alexis Fleisig anchoring Sacha Tilotta’s sinewy anti-riffs and vocalist/lyricist Giovanna Cacciola’s primal punk poetry. Bellini deliver passion and pain with the kind of pride and prowess one would expect from a band of their pedigree, and Before The Day Has Gone is their most dramatic and dizzying display of their two-decade career.

Deaf Wish – Lithium Zion CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Lithium Zion is the fifth full-length album from grisly Melbourne, Australia rock group Deaf Wish. Their previous efforts were recorded in makeshift studios – a wise choice for capturing the hazardous riffing, chemically-stained vocals and fiery rhythms conjured the group – but this step toward a slightly more professional sound only enhances their power. The record opens with “Easy”, a languid rocker in the rich Australian tradition of groups like X and The Scientists. From there it’s onto “FFS”, a moody downhill rocker sung by guitarist Sarah Hardiman that confirms Deaf Wish’s relation to fellow Sub Pop employees like Feedtime and Hot Snakes. “The Rat Is Back” is tense and epic; “Hitachi Jackhammer” pays a brief and noisy tribute to Hitachi’s second most notable device. Lithium Zion is a veritable buffet of garage-punk energy, post-punk pathos, sardonic wit and the fearlessness that comes with Aussie rock, a natural consequence for anyone living on a continent teeming with grapefruit-sized spiders and man-eating mosquito swarms.

Mary Halvorson – Maid With The Flaxen Hair CD (Tzadik)
Mary Halvorson is one of the most acclaimed guitarists of her generation—a virtuoso improviser, distinctive composer, arranger and a deep student of the jazz guitar. Here she joins forces with living legend Bill Frisell to pay tribute to Johnny Smith, a guitarist who has been a huge influence on them both. Featuring nine ballads associated with Smith, this is an essential CD of soulful guitar duets by two of the most beloved and original guitarists in modern jazz.

Cody Jinks – Lifers CD/LP (Rounder)
Eighth studio album from the country music singer-songwriter. Writing in Rolling Stone, Jon Freeman observed “Sturgill Simpson’s cosmic experiments have made him an upper-echelon entertainer, Jason Isbell’s poetic flair has labeled him a revered tunesmith and Whitey Morgan – with whom Jinks has toured – has injected a gritty Rust Belt pride into his sweaty live shows. But Jinks may be the most palatable of the lot, blending an innate knack for hooks with the DGAF attitude suited for a rebel,” while Saving Country Music’s Kyle Corneos declared “2018 will be the year of Cody Jinks in country.”

Phantastic Ferniture – Phantastic Ferniture CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
Phantastic Ferniture is the project of old friends Julia Jacklin, Elizabeth Hughes, Ryan K Brennan, and Tom Stephens, who wanted to shake the shackles of their meticulously crafted solo work to experience a second, giddy adolescence. That’s evident in the urgent garage-pop perfection of the band’s more spontaneous and less technical self-titled debut. [Limited edition colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Swans – Soundtracks For The Blind [Reissue/1996] 3xCD (Young God)
4LP version will be in next week! Digitally remastered and expanded edition of Swans’ last studio album prior to their 2010 reunion. This set features a repackage of the original digipak for the 1996 Atavistic release plus a bonus disc of the contemporaneous Die Tür Ist Zu EP (a German language version of some of the material from Soundtracks that also includes unique material).

Underworld & Iggy Pop – Teatime Dub Encounters CDEP/12” (Caroline)
While overseeing the soundtrack for T2 Trainspotting, Underworld’s Rick Smith arranged a meeting with Iggy Pop in a room at the Savoy Hotel on London’s Strand to discuss working on collaborative music for the film. The thread that had connected the artists previously was that Pop’s “Lust For Life” and Underworld’s “Born Slippy (Nuxx)” had both been in the original Trainspotting. The four-track EP Teatime Dub Encounters is the result of a few clandestine hotel room recording sessions that began in 2016, a few weeks after Underworld and Iggy Pop had each simultaneously released their last albums (Barbara, Barbara We Face A Shining Future and Post Pop Depression respectively). Teatime Dub Encounters is neither historical or a tribute to past work. It’s rather the work of artists in motion, engaged in a process that both bring to all of their work – one that uses spontaneity as a spur for creativity. [Limited clear vinyl pressing also available.]

Atmosphere – Sad Clown Bad Year (#9-#12 Collection) 2xLP+MP3 (Rhumesayers)
The Sad Clown series first started as a string of cassette tapes and CD-Rs for Atmosphere to sell on tour. Since its incarnation in 1999, the Sad Clown series has taken on a few forms, including rare four-track demos, live shows, a DVD, a mixtape, and a pair of 7” singles. In the summer of 2007, while simultaneously preparing for their then-upcoming album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Sh*t Gold, Atmosphere launched the next phase of the series, releasing Sad Clown Bad Summer Number 9, the first of four EP’s dedicated to the four seasons. Limited double half black and white colored vinyl LP pressing.

The Flaming Lips ‎– Hear It Is [Reissue/1986] LP (Rhino)
The Flaming Lips ‎– Oh My Gawd!!!…The Flaming Lips [Reissue/1987] LP (Rhino)
The Flaming Lips ‎– Telepathic Surgery [Reissue/1989] LP (Rhino)
Vinyl reissues of The Flaming Lips’ first three albums are now available.

Germs – (GI) [Reissue/1979] LP (Rhino)
Limited edition translucent blue vinyl edition. One of the leading bands of the ’70s Los Angeles punk scene, the Germs (Darby Crash, Pat Smear, Lorna Doom, and Don Bolles) only released one studio album before the untimely death of lead singer Crash at the age of 22.

Lera Lynn – Plays Well With Others LP (Single Lock)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Throughout her career a nearly decade-long run filled with three album releases, a career-shifting appearance and soundtrack for HBO’s True Detective, hundreds of shows on both sides of the Atlantic, and a sound encompassing everything from Americana to stark indie rock, Lera Lynn has balanced her fierce independence with a string of collaborations. For her fourth album, Plays Well With Others, she teamed up with eight different duet partners and seven co-writers. Plays Well With Others is a unique duets album one in which nearly every song is completely co-written and co-sung. Peter Bradley Adams, John Paul White, Dylan LeBlanc, Andrew Combs, Rodney Crowell, Shovels & Rope, JD McPherson, and Nicole Atkins all make appearances, working alongside Lynn not only to perform these songs, but to create them, too.

Murder By Death ‎– Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing [Reissue/2001] LP+MP3 (Bloodshot)
Murder By Death ‎– Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them? [Reissue/2003] LP+MP3
Murder By Death ‎– In Bocca Al Lupo [Reissue/2006] LP+MP3 (Bloodshot)
Murder By Death ‎– Red Of Tooth And Claw [Reissue/2008] LP+7”+MP3 (Bloodshot)
Murder By Death ‎– Good Morning, Magpie [Reissue/2010] LP+MP3 (Bloodshot)
Limited 180gm vinyl reissues of Murder By Death’s first five albums. The band’s name is derived from the 1976 Robert Moore film of the same title. Their current lineup consists of two founding members, Adam Turla and Sarah Balliet. Balliet plays cello for the band, an instrument that has been present consistently throughout their evolution. Murder by Death plays a range of music including instrumentals, rock and alt-country. The band uses cello (with an electric cello for live shows) to create a gothic sound with occasional Western references and nods to whiskey and the Devil.

The Promise Ring ‎– Very Emergency [Reissue/1999] LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Limited edition clear vinyl repress of The Promise Ring’s third album. Very Emergency saw the band continuing to explore the sounds they had started on their 1997 masterpiece Nothing Feels Good, a more pop – rock leaning when compared to their debut. The album is also their first, following the departure of bassist Scott Beschta (Magic Arrows) in 1998, with new bassist Scott Schoenbeck (who would later join Dashboard Confessional after TPR’s 2002 break-up).

Rex Orange County – Apricot Princess LP (Rex Orange County)
It’s been a pretty crazy 12 months for Rex Orange County – aka 19-year-old Alex O’Connor – from Haslemere, Surrey. After two guest slots on Tyler The Creator’s album Flower Boy, he’s played live with Frank Ocean and Skepta, all the while working on his debut album, Apricot Princess. The self-released record is full of sumptuous hooks, jazzy piano figures and musical left-turns that suggest a true original at work. Limited orange colored vinyl pressing.

Scientists – Weird Love [Reissue/1986] LP (Numero)
Unhinged Aussie grunge captured just as the Scientists were imploding/attempting to explode. Recorded over three days in February 1986, Weird Love is the band’s last ditch effort to bring their bad vibes to bedrooms the world over, a colossal failure and brilliant mistake that sounds best when blasting out of a 1982 Corolla’s blown Alpine tweeters.

Selector Dub Narcotic – Bounce It Out (Bounce It On Out) b/w Melodica Bounce 7” (K)
Selector Dub Narcotic splinters the party into fun-sized fragments of dance-tastics with “Bounce It Out (Bounce It On Out)” – the contemporary bubblegum stuck to the bottom of a trap house table-top. The incomparable Lord Nock provides crucial cuts on his extremely flexible wheels of steel. Melodica in hand, Selector Dub Narcotic (aka Calvin Johnson) has created a call-to-arms for those who’d rather don the dance shoes than rattle a saber; who’d rather dance than fight in the streets. Pour the tea and pass the ammunition – that being this, the latest volume in the K series of Dub Narcotic Disco Plate singles.

Kali Uchis – Isolation LP (Interscope)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The American Colombian’s debut album features an impressive cast of featured artists and collaborators. Jorja Smith, Damon Albarn, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Tyler, The Creator, Bootsy Collins, Steve Lacy, Two Inch Punch, BADBADNOTGOOD, and Thundercat.

U2 ‎– Achtung Baby [Reissue/1991] 2xLP+MP3 (Island)
U2 ‎– Zooropa [Reissue/1993] 2xLP+MP3 (Island)
U2 ‎– The Best Of 1980-1990 [Reissue/1998] 2xLP+MP3 (Island)
Remastered 180gm vinyl repress.

Kanye West – Ye LP (Def Jam)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. Kanye’s eighth album, Ye, features guest vocals by Ty Dolla Sign, PartyNextDoor, Kid Cudi, Jeremih and 070 Shake, among others. It is the second of five seven-track albums produced by West in what have been referred to as the “Wyoming Sessions”. West explained the album title, which is a diminutive of his own name commonly used in his songs, by stating: “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means ‘you’. So, I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from Kanye, which means “the only one,” to just Ye – just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”