Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social Club (25th Anniversary Edition) 2xCD/2xLP+2xCD (World Circuit)
25th Anniversary edition featuring previously unheard tracks from the original 1996 recording sessions, previously unseen photos, and new liner notes. Buena Vista Social Club is both the name given to this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just seven days in 1996 in Havana’s 1950s vintage EGREM studios. The acclaim of the original album has elevated the artists (including Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González and Omara Portuondo) to superstar status, inspired an award-winning film by Wim Wenders, and has contributed to popularizing Cuba’s rich musical heritage. Produced by Ry Cooder, the timeless quality of the music and the sheer verve of the veteran performers have ensured that this will go down as one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century. [A deluxe box set edition featuring both the double-CD and double-vinyl editions plus a 40-page book is also available.]

Brandi Carlile – In These Silent Days CD/LP (New Elektra)
Brandi Carlile follows up 2018’s Grammy-winning By The Way, I Forgive You with the highly-anticipated new album In These Silent Days. The ten songs chronicle acceptance, faith, loss and love and channel icons like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Elton John and Joni Mitchell – the latter two who, by some sort of cosmic alignment of the stars, have turned out to be close friends in addition to being her biggest heroes and inspirations. Recorded once again at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A with producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings, the album features Carlile (vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Hanseroth (vocals, bass), Phil Hanseroth (vocals, guitar), Cobb (guitar, percussion) and Jennings (piano, organ, synth) as well as Chris Powell (drums, percussion), Josh Neumann (strings) and special guests Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius on backing vocals on the track “You And Me On The Rock”. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is available.]

Flying Lotus – Yasuke CD/LP+MP3 (Warp)
Flying Lotus follows the release of his sweeping epic Flamagra and his Producer of the Year Grammy nomination for Thundercat’s It Is What It Is, with an expansive original soundtrack for Netflix’s new anime series, Yasuke. Lotus is the executive producer and composer of Yasuke, which retells the story of feudal Japan’s first African samurai who served with Oda Nobunaga. The series is directed by LeSean Thomas, stars Lakeith Stanfield and features Takeshi Koike as its lead designer. Lotus’ score for Yasuke is an unforgettable titan in his musical canon, drawing enhanced influence from prior instrumental and vocal works alike, while looking towards the future uncompromisingly. The music lies heavily steeped within the legacy of jazz and electronic instrumentation, with select feature appearances by longtime friends and collaborators: Thundercat, Denzel Curry and Niki Randa. [A limited-edition red color vinyl pressing is also available.]

Strand Of Oaks – In Heaven CD/2xLP (Galacticana)
To say In Heaven is about conquering grief would be oversimplifying everything Tim Showalter has achieved on the eighth studio album from Strand Of Oaks. A stunning, hopeful reflection on love, loss, and enlightenment, In Heaven is a triumph in music making, and a preeminent addition to the Strand Of Oaks discography. Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) is featured on guitar throughout the record, while James Iha (The Smashing Pumpkins) contributed vocals and guitar for “Easter”. Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket, Roger Waters) provided keyboards, Cedric LeMoyne (Alanis Morrissette, Remy Zero) bass, Scott Moore violin, and Ratterman monstrous drums. Showalter also played a lot of synth on this record, which he hasn’t done since 2014’s Heal. With clean sounds, Jeff Lynne-esque acoustics, and sophisticated songwriting, he approached In Heaven in a more poised and pop-leaning way than his past releases. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is available.]

Various Artists – The Daptone Super Soul Revue Live! At The Apollo 2xCD/3xLP (Daptone)
Daptone celebrates 20 years of soulful music with the release of the 32-track The Daptone Super Soul Revue Live! At the Apollo. Performed and recorded over three nights in front of a sold-out crowd at the world-famous theater in Harlem, NY (December 4th-6th, 2014), this album brings the electrifying performances that helped put Daptone on the map directly to your living room. Featuring live sets from Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, Antibalas, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, Saun & Starr, The Sugarman 3, as well Daptone emcee, Binky Griptite, the album is lovingly dedicated to the memories of Sharon, Charles, Naomi and Cliff. [A translucent teal color vinyl pressing is also available.]

Neil Young – Carnegie Hall 1970 2xCD/2xLP (WB)
On December 4, 1970, Neil Young played two legendary solo acoustic shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The 23 songs on Carnegie Hall 1970 have been mixed from the original ¼ inch tapes by Young and Niko Bolas. This is the early show which has never been bootlegged or circulated and is the first release in Neil’s new Official Bootleg Series. “Listening to existing bootlegs, it seems that all the bootleggers got the second Carnegie Hall show,” Young shares. “There was one at 8:00 pm and one at midnight [about 27 hours later]. No one got that first one – the first time I walked onstage at Carnegie Hall, blowing my own 25-year-old mind…This one – Carnegie Hall, December 4th, 1970, is very special to me.”

Boy Scouts – Wayfinder CD (ANTI-)
On Wayfinder, the follow-up to the acclaimed 2019 album Free Company, Oakland-based songwriter Taylor Vick, under her songwriting moniker Boy Scouts, chases down life’s queries to the very edge of the horizon. This is an album that’s not afraid to track down what it all means – how life unspools around the monoliths of love and death, the heavy knots of even quotidian conflict, the task of carrying your own suffering with you day after day, the challenge of meeting other people out here in the tangled expanse of living. In a warm, expansive style that recalls the raw punctures of Lucinda Williams and Alex G, Vick once again shows herself to be a fearless seeker shedding light on the unanswerable. Vick’s true superpower is her voice. Strands of slide guitar, organ, and strings ring under her affable, expressive voice, bolstering layers and layers of harmony. There is something so honest about her songs, they feel like a late-night therapy session with your best friend. [Vinyl edition due October 22.]

Explosions In The Sky – Big Bend (An Original Soundtrack For Public Television) CD/2xLP+MP3 (Temporary Residence) In 2019, Explosions In The Sky was approached to craft the score to a new documentary about a place with which, as native Texans, they were very familiar: Big Bend National Park. That documentary, Big Bend: The Wild Frontier Of Texas, premiered on PBS in the United States as well as on a variety of networks in other countries in early 2021. The hour-long film intimately follows the lives of native animals amid expansive aerial views of the iconic desert landscape that makes up one of the grandest natural wonders in the world. The band set these sights to an inspired, melodic, and meaningful blend of acoustic guitar, slide guitar, strings, piano, bells, and drums that feels as alive and diverse–and vast and lonely – as the place it depicts.

Park Hye Jin – Before I Die Baby CD/LP (Ninja Tune)
The debut album from Park Hye Jin. Before I Die Baby was entirely written, produced and performed by the South Korean-born and now L.A.-based producer, rapper, singer, and DJ. Here she continues to expand her sonic palette, drawing on a range of influences that take in electronic, rap/hip-hop and downtempo sensibilities to present the most complete vision yet of her sound. [A limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing is also available.]

Pond – 9 CD (Spinning Top)
In Pond’s universe nothing stays still for long. Although no one who heard 2019’s Tasmania could possibly describe its pulsating psych-pop as straight, Pond wanted to try a more spontaneous way of working for their next record. Taking a leaf out of krautrock outliers Can’s book, at the start of 2020, Pond embarked on a series of totally off-the-cuff jam sessions from which songs and ideas could be pulled out. Hence their new album, 9. [Vinyl edition due October 29.]

Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Instrumentals JID009 CD/2xLP (Jazz Is Dead)
More than the previous eight Jazz Is Dead releases, Instrumentals JID009 delivers on Adrian and Ali’s original promise of showcasing the music made with their heroes, laying bare the inspired compositions created when different generations of musicians come together to collaborate in the studio. These 19 instrumental recordings encapsulate the spirit of the Jazz Is Dead concert and recording series, celebrating the African American art form known as jazz through improvisation, musical collaboration and authentic cross-generational and cross-cultural communication.

Chubby and The Gang – The Mutt’s Nuts LP+MP3 (Partisan)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl (a limited color pressing is also available). West London five-piece Chubby and The Gang are balanced by two energies – a casual “fuck it” on one side, an active “fuck off” on the other. For every moment of punk imperfection, there’s an intricate flurry of detail. For every enraged statement about modern life as war, there’s a lyric like “Hello heartbreak, my old friend” that catches you off guard. Made up of musicians from across the consistently thriving and criminally overlooked UK hardcore scene (ft. The Chisel, Big Cheese and more), Chubby and The Gang marinate its characteristic speed and sick-of-it-all energy in a mixture of ‘50s pop sounds. The result is a prickly take on the older, more melodic genres that punk derives from, chewing them up and spitting them out into something mangled but revitalized. [A translucent orange color and deluxe vinyl with 3-D glasses are available.]

Duster – 1975 [Reissue/1999] 12” (Numero)
Y2K prepper-rock for the underemployed. Tracked at home in 1999, the 1975 EP expands on Stratosphere’s slacker-positive dreamscape, with layers of guitars both clean and fuzzy, humming organ, and-gasp! – a drum machine. Needle down, candles on.

Hovvdy – True Love CD (Grand Jury)
Austin indie folk duo Hovvdy return with their fourth album, True Love. Recorded over the winter of 2020 in L.A. with Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver), the album is about growth and nostalgia. Both band members got married. One had a kid. They’ve found themselves individually away from the band but settling into their most creatively fertile moment as a duo. A nod to their roots and a reach for more, True Love maturely embraces the best of the duo’s hyper-genuine, chin-up qualities developed over the past seven years. Charlie and Will note: “This collection of songs feels to us like a return to form, writing and recording songs for ourselves and loved ones. Spending less energy consumed with how people may respond freed us up to put our efforts into creating an honest, heartfelt album that spans a range of sonic landscapes, yet feels like a singular breath.”

COMING NEXT WEEK!