Staff Picks 
Kimber – Elliott Smith pre-order, PJ Harvey reissues
Lindsay – The Dears, Elliott Smith Fundraiser Pre-order
Dario –  The Sneaks, Dirty Projectors
Eric – The Killers

Bright Eyes – Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was CD/2xLP (Dead Oceans)
As a title, as a thesis, Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was functions on a global, apocalyptic level of anxiety that looms throughout the record. But on a personal level, it speaks to rooting around in the dirt of one’s memories, trying to find the preciousness that’s overgrown and unrecognizable. For Conor Oberst, coming back to Bright Eyes was a bit of that. A symbol of simpler times, vaguely nostalgic. And even though it wasn’t actually possible to go back to the way things were, even though there wasn’t an easy happy ending, there was a new reality left to work with. The band’s first album since 2011’s The People’s Key, Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was is enormous, caught in the profound in-between of grief and clarity – one arm wrestling it’s demons, the other gripping the hand of love, in spite of it.

Erasure – The Neon CD/LP (Mute)
English synth/pop duo Erasure (featuring Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) deliver their eighteenth studio album. The Neon is a place that lives in the imagination that we – you and me – put in the real world. It could be a night club, a shop, a city, a cafe, a country, a bedroom, a restaurant, any place at all. The album offers warmth and a brilliant brightness in our strange, silent times. It connects us to our pasts and our futures as it glistens with hope. It creates beautiful places where our imaginations can roam, bringing us together, twinkling and beaming. The Neon puts you and me in the real world again, now and forever, lit up and alive. [Limited orange colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Bully – Sugaregg CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Sugaregg roars from the speakers and jumpstarts both heart and mind. Like My Bloody Valentine after three double espressos, opener “Add It On” zooms heavenward within seconds, epitomizing band leader Alicia Bognanno’s newfound clarity of purpose, while the bass-driven melodies and propulsive beats of “Where To Start” and “Let You” are the musical equivalents of the sun piercing through a perpetually cloudy sky. A very old saying goes that no one saves us but ourselves. Recognizing and breaking free from the patterns impeding our forward progress can be transformative. Indeed, the third Bully album may not ever have come to fruition had Bognanno not navigated every kind of upheaval imaginable and completely overhauled her working process along the way. The artist admits that finding the proper treatment for bipolar 2 disorder radically altered her mindset, freeing her from a cycle of paranoia and insecurity about her work.

Cut Copy – Freeze, Melt CD/LP (Cutters)
Freeze, Melt is the sixth album from the Grammy-nominated Australian electronic/synth-pop band. Lead single “Love Is All We Share” earned praise from Rolling Stone (“meditative and immersive”), Stereogum (“hypnotic”) and Consequence Of Sound (“a fitting mood for the current state of the world”) among numerous other outlets.

The Front Bottoms – In Sickness & In Flames CD/LP (Fueled By Ramen)
Celebrating life and purging angst, In Sickness & In Flames finds The Front Bottoms pushing forward with positive and creative energy. Featuring the celebrated singles “Camouflage”(which The Fader called “a celebration of sorts for a band perennially on the fringes of a major breakthrough”) and “Everyone Blooms” (which UPROXX placed the latter in their ‘Best New Indie Music’ round-up). The twelve-song collection was produced by Mike Sapone and follows the band’s acclaimed 2017 LP Going Grey. “Earlier this year, we made a new album and decided to name it In Sickness & In Flames,” the band explains. “When we were writing the album and settling on the title, it meant something completely different to us. We could have never imagined where the world would be just six months later. In true TFB style this album has developed into something of its own that we no longer control the narrative of.” [Limited indie store exclusive vinyl pressing also available.]

Jeff Rosenstock – No Dream CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
The fourth full-length from Jeff Rosenstock comes at a time of unparalleled chaos and confusion, division and despair, the depths of which would have been impossible to predict when much of it was being written over the course of the last few years. And yet the record feels prescient, unexpectedly and uniquely suited for this moment. After building a devoted cult following with the acerbic ska-punk of the Arrogant Sons Of Bitches, the DIY heroics of Bomb The Music Industry!, and three increasingly celebrated solo albums, No Dream arrives with an entirely new set of expectations in an entirely new era. [Limited sea foam colored vinyl pressing also available.]

The Lemon Twigs – Songs For The General Public CD/LP+MP3 (4AD)
The D’Addario brothers return with their third Lemon Twigs album, Songs For The General Public – written, recorded and produced by the D’Addarios at their home studio in Long Island, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady in New York City. The prodigiously-talented sibling duo first emerged as The Lemon Twigs in 2016 with their debut LP Do Hollywood, whose show stopping melodies mined from every era of rock quickly earned fans in Elton John, Questlove, and Jack Antonoff. Go To School, the ambitious 15-track coming-of-age opus, followed in 2018 and solidified the band’s reputation for building grand walls of sound around an audacious concept.

Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes [Reissue/1995] LP+MP3 (Matador)
Limited 25th anniversary multicolored vinyl pressing – the first in Matador’s Revisionist History 2020 series.

PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me [Reissue/1993] LP (Island)
PJ Harvey ‎– 4-Track Demos [Reissue/1993] LP (Island)
Vinyl reissues of PJ Harvey’s first major label album (her second overall) and the accompanying album of demos – both released in the same year (1993). Rid Of Me features the singles “50ft Queenie” and “Man-Size”.

Old 97’s – Twelfth CD/LP (ATO)
27 years in, Old 97’s still features its original lineup – Rhett Miller, guitarist Ken Bethea, bassist Murry Hammond, and drummer Philip Peeples – and Twelfth is a testament to the band’s staying power. The album’s cover image of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach is both an homage to Miller’s childhood hero and a recognition that, in making their livings as musicians, the 97’s themselves have achieved their lifelong dreams. Loose and raw, the record is an ecstatic celebration of survival, a resounding ode to endurance and resilience from a veteran group that refuses to rest on their considerable laurels. While the resulting album boasts all the hallmarks of a classic Old 97’s record (sex and booze, laughter and tears, poetry and blasphemy), it also showcases a newfound perspective in its writing and craftsmanship, a maturity and appreciation that can only come with age and experience. Perhaps the band is growing up; maybe they’re just getting started. Either way, Old 97’s have never been happier to be alive. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

The Aquabats – Kooky Spooky In Stereo CD/LP (Gloopy)
The Aquabats energetic and eclectic sixth studio album (and first in nine years) features all of the variety, quirk and fist-pumping rock you can handle.

The Dears – Lovers Rock CD/LP (Dangerbird)
Montréal stalwarts The Dears (Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak) return with their eighth album. On Lovers Rock, Lightburn (vocals, guitar, “other”) and Yanchak (vocals, piano) are joined by longtime drummer Jeff “Looch” Luciani, who’s been in the fold since 2011’s Degeneration Street, and two holdovers from Lightburn’s solo record, Steve Raegele (guitar) and Rémi-Jean LeBlanc (bass). There’s also a string section, a cameo from fellow Montrealer Sam Roberts (who was also on No Cities Left), and saxophone from both Canadian Alex Francoeur and the E Street Band’s Jake Clemons (on the rattling “Stille Lost”).

Eno / Cale ‎– Wrong Way Up [Reissue/1990] CD/LP+MP3 (All Saints)
Eno / Wobble ‎– Spinner [Reissue/1995] CD/LP+MP3 (All Saints)
Digitally remastered and expanded editions. “Brian Eno and John Cale’s 1990 collaboration [Wrong Way Up] is an album of contention, contrasts, cycles, and pop songs so layered and euphoric it ranks among the best albums either artist has ever made” (Pitchfork). Eno’s 1995 collaboration with Public Image Limited bassist Jah Wobble, Spinner combines icy ambience with a kind of psycho-geographical funk.

Bebel Gilberto – Agora CD/LP (PIAS America)
World renowned and multi-Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Bebel Gilberto has been enchanting fans and critics worldwide since her solo debut release in 1986. She catapulted onto the global music scene in 1996 when she featured on the celebrated compilation Red Hot + Rio. She followed up with her breakout album, Tanto Tempo, positioning herself as one of the top-selling Brazilian artists since the 1960’s. She continued with a streak of critically-acclaimed albums on which she refined her sound and showcased her strengths as a composer. Her new album, Agora, which translates to “now”, chronicles the moment in time in Bebel’s life after a period of great change. It was produced by Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan Stevans, St. Vincent, Father John Misty, David Byrne, Martha Wainwright).

The Killers – Imploding The Mirage CD (Island)
The Killers return with their highly anticipated sixth studio album. Following-up 2017’s Wonderful, Wonderful, Imploding The Mirage features a brilliant array of collaborators including, Lindsey Buckingham, k.d. lang, Weyes Blood, Adam Granduciel (War On Drugs), Blake Mills, and Lucius. The Killers describe Imploding The Mirage as “the light after the dark; the overcoming of sadness and moving into celebration. It’s a record about eternal love, perseverance through hard times, and the strength gained from friendships and familial bonds whilst weathering a storm.” [Vinyl edition TBD.]

Dent May – Late Checkout CD/LP+MP3 (Carpark)
Bearing the torch of classic American songwriters that have inspired him like Harry Nilsson, Carole King and Randy Newman, May has gingerly cultivated his iPhone note scribbles and subconscious melodies into songs that could stand the test of time. Leaving the comfort of home-recording, May set out to elevate the production quality on Late Checkout while maintaining some intimacy through sparse arrangements. After writing and performing parts for a bulk of the instruments on the album, May filled out his orchestrations by inviting string players, a horn section, background vocalists, and a pair of auxiliary drummers to contribute. [Limited edition blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]

H.C. McEntire – Eno Axis CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
“Early rise, start the fire, till the rows, pass the tithes.” So starts H.C. McEntire’s sophomore release, Eno Axis. It’s a set of directions delivered with assurance and authority, reaching the listener without pretension almost as a sermon or spell. McEntire has always had one foot planted in the traditional country gospel roots of her upbringing while boldly wrestling with its complications, creating an Americana sound of her own.

Chuck Prophet – The Land That Time Forgot CD/LP (Yep Roc)
Prophet is a rock and roll star in a country that has forgotten that it needs rock and roll stars. America turns its popular musicians into celebrities (as if that’s what we need more of). Meanwhile, the true grit, write it like you live it and live it ’til it kills you musical artist exists in obscurity, kicking ass and taking names in small clubs every night while sweating blood over making records. Thankfully, we live in the same timeline as Chuck Prophet. Written mostly with longtime co-conspirator Kurt Lipschutz, The Land That Time Forgot finds the musician stepping out of his comfort zone (“two guitars, bass, and drums”). There’s a kind of folkish inevitability to it, lots of acoustic instruments, on top of the each other and side by side. But as much as folk music is the soil all music grows from, it never hurts to have a boiler room. So, there’s always a rhythm section shuffling under your feet here.

Sneaks – Happy Birthday CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Continuing the collaborative relationships from 2019’s Highway Hypnosis with mixing engineer Carlos Hernandez and legendary producer Jacknife Lee, Sneaks’ Eva Moolchan felt free to turn up the energy and explore more elaborate melodies than ever before. With astrological assertions alongside poetry filtered through a riot grrl spirit and set to thumping bass lines and infectious beats, Moolchan asks all of the questions but invites the listener to divine their own answers. Put on your headphones and let Sneaks lead you on an unforgettable journey of self-discovery that will keep you humming for days.

Dirty Projectors – Super João 12”+MP3 (Domino)
Super João is dedicated to João Gilberto, the Brazilian guitarist and singer who innovated Brazilian music in the late ’50s in part by transposing Afro-Caribbean drum patterns to the right (fingerpicking) hand of the guitar. Super João is about beautiful and surprising chord progressions, long-form melodies, and nylon string acoustic guitar.

COMING NEXT WEEK
ELLIOTT SMITH – Self Titled Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition CD/LP
COLTER WALL – Western Swing + Waltes + Other Punchy Songs CD/LP
ANGEL OLSEN – Whole New Mess CD/LP
MY MORNING JACKET – Waterfall II CD/LP
AVETT BROTHERS – Third Gleam CD/LP
DISCLOSURE – Energy CD/LP
WIDOWSPEAK – Plum CD/LP
JOHN CARPENTER – Skeleton / Unclean Spirit LP
MY MORNING JACKET – Z LP reissue
WEEKND – Afterhours LP
JOE HENDERSON – State of The Tenor Vol 1 LP