The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth: Music And Songs CD/LP (WB)
The Flaming Lips’ fifteenth album King’s Mouth follows the band’s 2017 release, Oczy Mlody and sees the iconoclastic outfit once again tread uncharted territory. These 12 new originals are threaded together by cinematic narration courtesy of The Clash’s Mick Jones. Additionally, the music parallels front man Wayne Coyne’s immersive art installation of the same name. A true handcrafted marvel, it consists of a giant metallic head that welcomes spectators inside. Once inside of the foam month, an LED lightshow begins in tandem with music from the album. Now, the record doubles as the sonic companion to the exhibit and allows fans to experience the aural side at any time. Further expanding this multi-faceted world and detailing a fascinating creation myth, the accompanying literary tome, King’s Mouth: Immerse Heap Trip Fantasy Experience tells the story of the King’s Mouth through words and visuals by Coyne, adds yet another dimension to the project, which ranks among the band’s most ambitious thus far.

Brian Eno – Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks [Reissue/1983] CD/2xCD/2xLP (Capitol)
Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks was written, produced and performed by Brian Eno together with his brother Roger and Daniel Lanois. The music was originally recorded in 1983 for a landmark feature-length documentary, For All Mankind, directed by American journalist, film director and screenwriter, Al Reinert. In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, this remastered, extended edition of the album adds 11 new instrumental compositions reimagining the soundtrack to For All Mankind. [Single CD reissues also available.]

Generationals – Reader As Detective CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
From their inception, Generationals have existed at the convergence of classic style and contemporary technique. Students of an analog school actualized in a digital medium, Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner have always felt most comfortable reveling in this juxtaposition. Grounded in a catalog of infectious pop hooks that feel both familiar and radically new all at once, Generationals mastered their distinct voice as a means to widen the path before them. Reader As Detective, their new full-length album, weds vintage pop canon and modern pop production in a way this duo has proven incomparably adept. [Limited edition colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Keith Haring – Soul Jazz Records Presents: The World Of Keith Haring 2xCD/3xLP+MP3/3xLP+7”+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
The art of Keith Haring is today one of the most recognizable of any visual artists of his generation, defining 1980s New York during an intense period when downtown artists and musicians collaborated like never-before. Haring’s musical inspiration took in the punk/dance downtown sounds of clubs like The Mudd Club, underground disco at Larry Levans Paradise Garage, as well the early days of hip-hop and electro. The music here includes the work of many of Haring’s close friends, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yoko Ono, Larry Levan, John Sex and George Condo (The Girls), as well as healthy dose of rare disco, early electro and New York punk/dance tracks. [Deluxe vinyl edition adds a bonus 7”.]

L7 – Detroit LP (Easy Action)
Collection of rarities, cover versions, tracks only found on compilations or one -off split 7” singles, a rare radio session, plus a live gig in Detroit.

Quiet Temple – Quiet Temple CD/LP (Wichita)
An amorphous musical collective put together by Rich Machin and Duke Garwood, with a rolling cast of players assembled from the likes of Soulsavers, Spiritualized, Stereolab and Julian Cope. Recorded live over the course of a week, there was no splicing of takes, as that would have defeated the concept. The result is a potent and nuanced record that beguiles as much as it charms [which is also available separately on vinyl]..

Tuxedo – Tuxedo III CD/LP (Funk On Sight)
Tuxedo, Los Angeles-based recording artist Mayer Hawthorne and Seattle-based producer Jake One, has been steadily making a name for themselves over the past five years, standing at the forefront of a new wave of gangster boogie – one that owes as much to G-funk as P-funk. This is the territory of pre- and post-hydraulic low riders: a mélange of Cali boom-bap, analog synth bass and elegant disco that resonates truth and authenticity in an era where so many are faking the funk.

Thom Yorke – Anima CD/LP (XL)
Thom Yorke’s new solo album Anima was produced by Nigel Godrich. The album features 9 tracks, with an extra track exclusively on vinyl. “The third solo album from Thom Yorke is the first one that feels complete without his band behind him. It floats through the uneasy space between societal turmoil and internal monologue.” – Pitchfork (Best New Music)

Gorillaz – The Fall LP (WB)
Vinyl reissue of the fourth studio album by the British virtual band.

Kool Keith – Keith LP (Mellow Music)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. It’s been more than forty years since Kool Herc starting throwing parties in the South Bronx, and so you could forgive the casual fan for thinking that nearly every permutation of hip-hop has already been explored. But Keith, the new album from the iconic rapper Kool Keith and the master producer Psycho Les argues just the opposite: that what’s absurdly funny can also be sinister and strange, that the form can still be broken in new and radical ways.

Prince – Originals 2xLP/2xLP+CD (WB)
A 15-track album featuring 14 previously unreleased recordings that illuminate the vital, behind-the-scenes role Prince played in other artists’ careers. Several of the iconic songs found on Originals were considerable hits for the artists who recorded them. Sheila E.’s “The Glamorous Life” reached #1 on the dance charts in 1984, while the enormous success of “Manic Monday” propelled the single and its accompanying album, The Bangles’ Different Light, to the #2 spot on the pop charts.

Gov’t Mule – Bring On The Music – Live At The Capitol Theatre 2xCD/2xCD+2xDVD/Blu-ray (Mascot Label Group)
No two Gov’t Mule shows are alike, as the band draws on the more than 300 songs in their repertoire (and often a host of special guests) to create a unique experience each time. Bring On The Music – Live at The Capitol Theatre was recorded at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, on April 27th and 28th, 2018. The title is taken from Gov’t Mule’s song of the same name that touches upon the passing of time and appreciating life’s journey, is a nod to the band’s treasured relationship with their fans. The Capitol Theatre has been the backdrop of many unforgettable shows for the band and is one of Gov’t Mule’s favorite venues to play. Live At The Capitol Theatre is available in a variety of configurations: a 2xCD+2xDVD deluxe package (the CD and DVD feature entirely different track lists and includes bonus videos of “Soulshine” and “Traveling Tune”), two separate double-vinyl packages, digital, Blu-ray and a 2xCD package (featuring audio from the film). [Limited transparent purple (Vol.1) and blue (Vol.2) colored vinyl pressing are also available.]

Julia Shapiro – Perfect Version CD/LP (Hardly Art)
When Julia Shapiro flew home from a cancelled Chastity Belt tour in April 2018, everything in her life felt out of control. Dealing with health issues, freshly out of a relationship, and in the middle of an existential crisis, she realized halfway through a tour supporting her band’s third album I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone that she was going through too much to continue. Returning home to a newly empty Seattle one-bedroom apartment, Shapiro had wanted for a long time to learn how to record and mix her own music, and out of the uncertainty of the future of her music career and her health, she began to record the songs that would become Perfect Version. What she created in the space of ten songs is an intimate and beautifully self-aware examination of feeling lost in the life you’ve created for yourself. It’s an album of shimmering guitars and layered vocals that feels vast in the emotional depth it conveys and masterful in the way each song is intentionally crafted and recorded.

Hamell On Trial – Choochtown [Reissue/1999] CD (New West)
Even cult heroes have anniversaries to celebrate. New York folk-punk iconoclast Ed Hamell —mark the 20th anniversary of his Choochtown album with a remastered reissue bolstered with 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks. “20 Years! Wonderful to know that Choochtown still holds up, continues to roam the streets at midnight, spray painting slogans of rebellion on corporate store fronts … For those of you that champion the disenfranchised, the square pegs in the round holes, those gazing from the shores of sanity and witnessing the tides of hatred and fascism slithering closer to the sands, Bobby, Chooch, Nancy and all the gang down in Choochtown that refuse to be blown to the dusts of oblivion want to buy you a drink. They welcome you…”

HUNNY – Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. CD (ANTI-)
Produced by Grammy Award-winner Carlos de la Garza (Cherry Glazerr, Culture Abuse, Paramore), Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. came to life in November 2018 during the Woolsey Fire and Camp Fire that devastated 96,949 acres of land in Southern California. At one point, while members Jason Yarger (vocals), Jake Goldstein (guitar), and Joey Anderson (drums) were inside Kevin Grimmett’s (bass, keyboards) home demoing and writing, firefighters were in the backyard stopping the wildfire from encroaching onto the property. “They blocked off all the streets and we had to sneak into my place through this apartment structure,” Grimmet recalls. “Thankfully my house is still standing, and the hills are a bright green.” Inspired by their love for ‘80s new wave and ‘90s pop, Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. is an endless back-and-forth between heavy-hearted lyrics and bright-and-shiny melodies, lovesick confession, and addictively dancey rhythms. With the album centered on a narrative Yarger sums up as “I love you and I want to die,” HUNNY wrote most of the songs on acoustic guitar, deliberately channeling a raw vulnerability into every line.

Ada Lea – What We Say In Private CD/LP (Saddle Creek)
Montreal, Quebec-based musician Ada Lea is also a painter and visual artist, and traces of her many creative abilities run throughout her debut album What We Say In Private, a beautifully colorful collection of profound pop songs. To her, music and visual art are different vessels for communicating similar ideas. Ada Lea’s appreciation of female artists – including the writer Sylvia Plath, visual artists Frida Kahlo and Eva Hesse, and musicians Karen Dalton and Nina Simone – provides inspiration and guidance, informing her use of multiple art forms as tools for self-expression. Whether it’s creating music or art, “It’s a world that I can build around me and sit inside,” she says. Through all her work, Ada Lea explores the concept of womanhood as it feels and looks to her, as well as love and how it transforms over time. She doesn’t shy away from exploring uncomfortable and painful emotions, either.