Tyler Ramsey – For The Morning CD/LP (Concord)
Tyler Ramsey, the former Band of Horses co-writer and lead guitarist, delivers the exquisite new solo album, For The Morning. Inspired by the lush, deep green and stunning landscape of his home in the mountains outside of Asheville, NC, Ramsey threads rock, country and folk into a rich, new branch of American roots music all his own. “This album came about in the midst of a lot of change,” explains Ramsey. “The birth of my daughter, a move to the country, and the steady realization that I needed to switch the road I was on in my life as a musician and songwriter. I tried to express and balance images of life as a constantly traveling and touring musician with the more connected life I live at home and the time I spend hiking in the mountains where I live.” For The Morning connects the listener to this setting with dexterous guitar fingerpicking, radiant acoustic piano, affecting pedal steel and gorgeous languid vocals.

Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
The phantom zone, the parallax, the upside down – there is a rich cultural history of exploring in-between places. Through her latest, Titanic Rising, Weyes Blood aka Natalie Mering, has designed her own universe to soulfully navigate life’s mysteries. Maneuvering through a space-time continuum, she plays the role of melodic, sometimes melancholic, anthropologist. Tellingly, Mering classifies Titanic Rising as the Kinks meet WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya. The latter captures the album’s willful expansiveness (“You can tell there’s not a guy pulling the strings in Enya’s studio,” she notes, admiringly). The former relays her imperative to connect with listeners. “The clarity of Bob Seger is unmistakable. I’m a big fan of conversational songwriting,” she adds. “I just try to do that in a way that uses abstract imagery as well.”

Datura4 – Blessed Is The Boogie CD/LP (Alive)
Fronted by Aussie legend Dom Mariani, who came to prominence on the music scene in the 1980s with legendary garage rock combo The Stems, and later went on to form revered power pop outfits DM3 and The Someloves, Datura4 is Mariani’s return to his blues and heads-down, full-tilt boogie roots. Blessed Is The Boogie is ten new songs that build on Datura4’s guitars to infinity approach of Hairy Mountain (2016) and the hard rocking, progressive blues and psychedelic stylings of debut LP Demon Blues (2015).

Lee Fields & The Expressions – It Rains Love CD/LP (Big Crown)
Traditional soul sensibilities are as much an homage to the old as to the new. Some of the songs sound like they could belong to any of the last four decades without it feeling like a throwback, while others are ‘60s soul through and through. Lyrically, Lee runs the gamut from gushing admonishments of love to politically charged calls to action, from proclamations of God’s existence to love letters written to his wife.

Lady Lamb – Even In The Tremor CD/LP (Ba Da Bing!)
Even In The Tremor marks Aly Spaltro aka Lady Lamb’s latest full-length album following 2015’s After and it’s a remarkable achievement because, among other things, it’s the first time in her career that Spaltro is singing explicitly about herself. “It’s a very human record with flaws, much beauty, too many words, and just great music, albeit music with nary a chorus to be heard. The songs are very linear, with several melodies (often quite lovely) that are stitched together into the momentum of the music.” – Soundblab

PUP – Morbid Stuff CD/LP (BMG Rights Management)
Morbid Stuff features 11 new songs that ooze passion, emotion and raw energy. This album captures the chaotically catchy, visceral sound that has already made PUP punk rock torchbearers and critical favorites.

Son Lux ‎– At War With Walls And Mazes [Reissue/2008] CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
Son Lux ‎– We Are Rising [Reissue/2011] CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
Ryan Lott’s first two releases as Son Lux, At War With Walls And Mazes and We Are Rising, document a compelling musician finding a distinctive creative voice, while making strikingly original music along the way. In the last few years, Son Lux has shifted from Lott’s singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. But Lott’s initial Son Lux recordings still point toward an exciting musical future.

Sonny And The Sunsets – Hairdressers From Heaven CD/LP (Rocks In Your Head)
After last year’s streamlined solo album, San Francisco’s favorite son returns with Hairdressers From Heaven, the first Sunsets album since 2016. Produced by James Mercer and Yuuki Matthews of The Shins, Hairdressers From Heaven is also the first on Sonny’s new Rocks In Your Head Records label. The album’s first clipping, ‘A Bigger Picture’, is pure Sonny & The Sunsets—a sunbaked pallet of instrumentation and voices carrying along an evocative tale both playful and scathing.” – Aquarium Drunkard

David Bowie – Spying Through A Keyhole 4×7” (Rhino/Parlophone)
7″ vinyl singles box set of nine previously unreleased mono recordings from the era during which Space Oddity was first conceived.

Greeley Estates – No Rain, No Rainbow [Reissue/2010] LP (Tragic Hero)
Greeley Estates is an American metalcore band from Arizona. Formed in 2002, the band has released five full-length studio albums and four EPs.

The Murlocs – Manic Candid Episode LP (ATO)
Five fellas with roots firmly placed in their own blown-out, distorted demented dance party brand of soulful R&B.

New Order – Movement: Definitive Edition LP+2xCD+DVD (Rhino/WB)
The Movement Definitive Edition boxed set includes the vinyl LP with its original iconic sleeve designed by Peter Saville, original album CD in replica mini album sleeve, a bonus CD of previously unreleased tracks, DVD of live shows and TV appearances plus hard backed book all housed in a lift off lid box.

Richard Swift – Dressed Up For The Letdown [Reissue/2007] LP (Secretly Canadian)
Richard Swift – Ground Trouble Jaw / Walt Wolfman [Reissue/2008/2011] LP (Secretly Canadian)
Richard Swift – Atlantic Ocean [Reissue/2009] LP (Secretly Canadian)
Meticulously arranged and gorgeously recorded (including a session at Chicago’s famed Wilco Loft), Atlantic Ocean is an immaculate kiss off. It’s a cheeky – if not wholly acrimonious – takedown of music industry artifice and hipster culture vapidity. Across the entire album, Swift is burning bridges and the exposing trolls underneath. Alongside 2007’s Dressed Up For The Letdown and 2018’s posthumous The Hex, The Atlantic Ocean completes his triumvirate of meta-pop masterpieces. Two of his EPs – Ground Trouble (2008) and Walt Wolfman (2011) have also been reissued – now available on a single LP.

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
400+ RSD 2019 TITLES and………………….
BUDOS BAND – V CD/LP
DAMIEN JURADO – In The Shape Of A Storm CD/LP
BAND OF SKULLS – Love Is All You Love CD/LP
BIBIO – Ribbons CD/LP
CHEMICAL BROTHERS – No Geography CD/LP
BILL FRISSELL + THOMAS MORGAN – Epistrophy CD
NORAH JONES – Begin Again CD/LP
CHAI – Punk CD/LP
FRIGHTS – Live At The Observatory CD/LP
GLEN HANSARD – This Wild Willing CD/LP
SHOVELS AND ROPE – Big Blood CD/LP
SUN KIL MOON – I Also Want To Die In New Orleans CD
SUNN 0))) – Life Metal CD
X – More Fun In The New World CD/LP reissue
X – Under The Big Black Sun CD/LP reissue
X – Wild Gift CD/LP reissue
ANDERSON.PAAK – Ventura CD
ELI PAPERBOY REED – 99 Cent Dreams CD/LP
ALLEN TOUSSAINT – Artist Producer Songwriter CD
JOHN PAUL WHITE – Hurting Kind CD/LP
BIG BUSINESS – The Beast You Are CD/LP
CULTS – Offing B-sides and Remixes 12″
CHRIS FORSYTH – All Time Present CD/LP
PET SHOP BOYS – Agenda 12″
JONATHAN RICHMAN – RA CD/LP
SCIENTISTS – 9H20.s102 LP
SILKWORM – Italian Platinum LP
XXXTENTACION – Skins LP
ODONIS ODONIS – Reaction LP
GHOSTWORLD – Soundtrack LP
NIRVANA – Live at the Paramount LP
ROSIE FLORES – Simple Case Of The Blues LP
WIDESPREAD PANIC – Till The Medicine Takes LP boxset