Jordan Rakei – What We Call Life CD (Ninja Tune)
Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and songwriter Jordan Rakei is back with his fourth studio album. What We Call Life is his most vulnerable and intimate album to date, lyrically and sonically. While the heart of the record will be familiar to fans of his neo-soul and hip-hop-infused work, here Rakei dives deeper into his sound world, merging electronic with acoustic, and rugged grooves with ambient atmospheres, to create something richer, more detailed, and more textural than before. Recommended if you like Arlo Parks, Hiatus Kaiyote, Loyle Carner and Tom Misch.

The Rugged Nuggets – Odds & Ends CD/LP (Colemine)
Recorded in the San Fernando Valley, just a stone’s throw away from the infamous Van Nuys Blvd. cruising scene, it’s no wonder from the debut long player from The Rugged Nuggets hits hard and demands to be turned up loud with the windows rolled down. Delivering west-coast cool at its finest. With swooning strings, breezy guitars and tough as nails drums, Odds & Ends epitomizes a mellow vibe, but is undeniably cool.

Sufjan Stevens – Convocations 5xCD/5xLP (Asthmatic Kitty)
Convocations moves like a two-and-a-half-hour requiem mass for our present times of difficulty, it’s 49 tracks allowing for all these feelings to be felt. The album is divided into five sonic cycles, each replicating a different stage of mourning. Meditations work toward acceptance and resolution, of coming to terms with the day’s news even if it stings. The subsequent Lamentations slink, sputter, and sometimes grind, as sadness transmutes to anger and back again. The rhythmic drift and glitchy strata of Revelations allow for confusion and catharsis, of asking just why the world or the heavens have wronged us. With its bright tones, occasional sweeps of strings, and scrambled voices, Celebrations offers furtive bits of fondness, though the nostalgia is never far removed from the news that prompted it. The final nine Incantations are lessons for those of us who remain, gorgeous and galvanizing reminders that our time here is as limited as the possibilities for how we spend it are infinite. Convocations occasionally soothes and sometimes hurts; when it’s done, you’re left with a renewed sense of wonder for being here at all.

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine – A Beginner’s Mind CD/LP (Asthmatic Kitty)
It’s been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture (impossible and absurd). But what about singing about movies? Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine have paired up for a collaborative project that does just that. A Beginner’s Mind is their debut album that contains 14 songs (loosely) based on (mostly) popular films. The source material is highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically effervescent-Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes.

Billy Strings – Renewal CD (Rounder)
One of the top emerging artists across all genres of music, Billy Strings has made his most ambitious album to date with Renewal, a 16-song collection that effortlessly positions him as a singular talent-one who reveres the history of the acoustic music that inspired him, while pushing it forward into new spaces and audiences through his incredible live shows. [Vinyl edition due October 8.]

Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir – I Shall Wear A Crown 5xLP (Numero)
A Civil Rights activist who marched alongside Jesse Jackson, preacher for Earth Wind & Fire, Stax recording artist, Family Feud contestant, Stephen Curry soundtracker, high school dropout, and Kanye samplee, Pastor T. L. Barrett stuffed a dozen lives into one. His signature 1971 spiritual soul jam “Like A Ship” has transcended its humble South Side Chicago beginnings, rediscovered by Leon Bridges and Beck and described by Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood as “The most euphoric celebratory music that makes you want to jump around the house and explode with joy.” This box is the definitive statement on Barrett’s two decades of recordings, 49 tracks spread across five LPs, including Like A Ship, Do Not Pass Me By Volume 1 & 2, I Found The Answer, plus a bonus album of singles and sermons, a 10,000 word blow-by-blow, and illustrated discography.

Pixies – Trompe Le Monde [Reissue/1991] LP (4AD)
Limited-edition green color vinyl pressing. 1991’s Trompe Le Monde served as the Pixies’ fifth and last studio album for 23 years. Boasting a bigger, vaguely psychedelic sound – thanks in part to Captain Beefheart keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman – this underrated set was by turns anthemic (space/time travel saga “Planet Of Sound”), explosive (The Jesus & Mary Chain cover “Head On”), sardonic (“U-Mass”, “Subbacultcha”) and oddly poignant (“The Sad Punk”).

Ada Lea – One Hand On the Steering Wheel The Other Sewing A Garden CD (Saddle Creek)
One Hand On The Steering Wheel the Other Sewing A Garden is the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs; on the other, it’s a book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Many of the songs on one hand came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos. The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song.

Seam – Headsparks [Reissue/1992] LP (Numero)
In the wake of Bitch Magnet and current of Superchunk, Sooyoung Park and Mac McCaughan formed a raw version of Seam in the summer of ’91. With bassist Lexi Mitchell, the trio banged out an album and two singles worth of shambolic dream pop in the sweltering Chapel Hill heat. Ten songs of talk-whispered vocals, sloshing guitar solos, scattered snare rolls, Velocity Girl’s Sarah Shannon, and the original version of Codeine’s slowcore classic “New Year’s”.

Elliott Smith ‎– Elliott Smith [Reissue/1995] LP+MP3 (Kill Rock Stars)
25th Anniversary remastered audio.

SUUNS – The Witness LP (Joyful Noise)
Limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing. As a band who has been around for thirteen years and toured all corners of the world, there comes a point when the veil of mystique must be fully lifted. Up until now, experimental rockers SUUNS has reveled in mystery like a silhouette disappearing into the mist, releasing albums that rest comfortably in ambiguity, detachment and innuendo. But lately, the band appears to be more comfortable coming clean with their own inner workings. That newfound sense of ease is undeniable on SUUNS’ fifth full-length album The Witness.

Laura Veirs ‎– Carbon Glacier [Reissue/2004] LP (Raven Marching Band)
Laura Veirs ‎– Year Of The Meteors [Reissue/2005] LP (Raven Marching Band)
Laura Veirs ‎– My Echo [Reissue/2020] LP (Raven Marching Band)
Limited color vinyl pressings of Portland singer-songwriter’s fourth, fifth and most recent albums.

Isis – Oceanic (colored reissue) LP (Ipecac)
Isis – Panopticon (colored reissue) LP (Ipecac)
Both records have been re-cut for vinyl by Matt Colton and will be limited to pressings of 3,000.

Various Artists – Habibi Funk 2 LP (Habibi Funk)
Habibi Funk is dedicated to re-releasing a style of music that historically never existed as a musical genre. We use the term to describe a certain sound that we like from the countries of the Arab world. The songs we chose were created in places quite far from another and under very different circumstances. Some were written and recorded during war times, others in exile. Despite the differences, we think there is a musical connection between them. Essentially, we are interested in the musical endeavors, in which artists from the Arab world mixed local and regional influences with musical interests that came from outside of the region. Even though the name suggests it’s all about funk music, our focus is more than just that. Often these influences might be inspired from Western popular music such as soul, pop and rock but it’s not limited to that either. Some of our favorite records are best described as Arabic zouk (a genre originating from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe) like Mallek Mohamed’s music, Algerian coladera (a popular musical style from the Cape Verdean islands) or Lebanese AOR, which means the process of musical influences displayed on this compilation was much more versatile than just taking Western music as a blueprint and translating it with a local accent. The compilation features 15 different artists. Some you might already know thru Habibi Funk’s releases like Fadoul, Ahmed Malek, Dalton or Al Massrieen, while others are meant as an introduction to artists like Kamal Keila, Sharhabeel Ahmed, Attarazat Addahabia & Mallek Mohamed who will all release full length albums on Habibi Funk in 2018.

Fitz and the Tantrums – Pickin Up The Pieces LP (Dangerbird)
Limited edition colored reissue.

Marc Ribot – Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus LP (Virtual Label)
Long before Marc Ribot made a name for himself as a pioneering force in NYC’s downtown music scene, and as guitarist for luminaries like Tom Waits, Wilson Pickett and The Lounge Lizards, he began his guitar studies as a teenager with close family friend, the Father of Haitian classical guitar, Frantz Casséus. In 1946, Frantz came to NYC from his native Port-au-Prince, Haiti with the ambition to compose a distinctly Haitian classical guitar music, to fuse the European classical tradition with Haitian folk elements as Heitor Villa-Lobos had done with his native Brazil’s and as Béla Bartók had done with Hungarian folk songs. His three recordings, Haitian Folks Songs (1953), Haitian Dances (1954) and Haitiana (1969) were released on Folkway Recordings (and since reissued by Smithsonian Folkways) and his compositions have been covered by artists worldwide including the song “Merci bon dieu” by Harry Belafonte.In effort to preserve Frantz’s musical legacy, Marc edited a collection of Casseus’ solo guitar compositions, and performed those same pieces on his 1993 album Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus. This remastered and expanded edition, with three additional bonus tracks recorded in 2020, marks the first time Marc’s interpretations of this work is available on vinyl. Also available again on CD

Queers – Reverberation LP (Cleopatra)
The first ever covers album from one of the finest and longest lasting American punk bands around today, The Queers! Take a trip with Joe Queer and company through some of rock’s earliest songs like The Beach Boys’ “Be True To Your School,” “Love Potion #9,” “Deadman’s Curve,” “The Kids Are Alright,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” and lots more – all filtered through the unique pop-punk aesthetic that’s all the Queers’ own! Will be available on digipak CD and on colored vinyl with original artwork and a full-color printed inner sleeve! Available on limited edition colored vinyl. 

The Charlatans UK – Charlatans LP (Beggars Banquet)

Double marbled yellow colored vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. The Charlatans is the fourth album by the British alternative rock band, originally released in 1995. It went to the top of the UK Albums Chart the same year. Available on limited edition colored vinyl.

Jesse Malin – Sad And Beautiful World CD (Wicked Cool)
NYC-based alternative/Americana singer-songwriter Jesse Malin follows up 2019’s Sunset Kids with Sad And Beautiful World which takes its name from a line in Jim Jarmusch’s 1986 cult-classic Down By Law. The 18-track collection was largely produced by Malin’s long-time guitarist Derek Cruz and Geoff Sanoff with Sunset Kids producers Lucinda Williams and Tom Overby helming “Backstabbers” and “The Way We Used To Roll”. [Vinyl edition due October 8.]