DE LA SOUL – 3 Feet High And Rising CD/LP/CASS [Reissue/1989] (Chrysalis)
3 Feet High And Rising is the debut studio album by hip-hop trio de la Soul and was released on March 3, 1989. It marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. Critically, as well as commercially, the album was a success. It contains the singles, “Me Myself and I”, “The Magic Number”, “Buddy”, and “Eye Know”. [Aside from standard black, two colorways are available: yellow and magenta.]

BILL CALLAHAN – YTILAER LP (Drag City)
Released last year on CD, now available on vinyl. From the beautiful to the jarring, intrepid explorer Callahan charts a passage through all kinds of territory, pitting dreams of dreams against dreams of reality. When he makes it back to us, his old friends ‘n acquaintances, we are reminded how much of a world it can be out there – and in here as well, where we live every day.

RON GALLO – Foreground Music CD/LP (Kill Rock Stars)
The title of Ron Gallo’s fourth album, Foreground Music, might also be a suitable name for his own genre. In simplest terms it is the opposite of background music – unavoidable, urgent, in your face – Gallo’s consistent theme is to confront, disrupt and sometimes even confuse people into a sense of awareness. The intention is to steer away from apathy and self-empower by focusing on what we can control and make light of in a world designed to take it away. The guitar is less an instrument and more of a primal noise machine. This record is a challenge to everything and everyone, including his own self, who is holding back the progress of humanity (especially in America) into a more open, empathetic, and collective unit – the words delivered with a punkish tenacity and lining even the heaviest topics with an ever-present sense of humor. It covers the full spectrum of emotion. [A limited-edition orange color vinyl pressing is available.]

NAS – King’s Disease II LP (Mass Appeal)
Limited Red and Orange colored pressing. Following the Grammy Award winning album, King’s Disease, the king returns to his throne with the second coming, King’s Disease II. The star-studded project offers tacit game on life, love, and loss, uplifting through action and lived experience in a way only Nas can.

SLOWTHAI – UGLY LP (Method)
Ugly is Slowthai pulling himself apart and exposing his anxieties of the last couple of years, an acronym for U Gotta Love Yourself. This new album may show a side that people haven’t heard before, but he sees it as the fullest picture yet. Recorded in producer Dan Carey’s studio alongside frequent collaborator Kwes Darko, Ugly is a combination of musicians including Jockstrap’s Taylor Skye, Beabadoobee guitarist Jacob Bugden, and on the woozy title track, his friends Fontaines D.C.

PHOENIX – Alpha Zulu LP (Glassnote)
Released last year on CD, now available on vinyl! Indie exclusive colored version available.

CHISEL – Set You Free LP [Reissue/1997] (Numero)
In late 1996 Chisel decamped from their native D.C. to Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room. The power trio of Ted Leo, Chris Norborg, and John Dugan teamed with engineer Nicolas Vernhes and came away with Set You Free, a remarkable, but largely overlooked, classic of the era. Originally issued on the venerable Gern Blandsten imprint, the album presaged the turn of the century ’60s rock revival, providing a counterpoint to second-wave emo. This deluxe 25th anniversary remastered edition supplements the original’s 17-song track list with five period alternates and rarities, plus a booklet of lyrics, photos, and an essay by Jes Skolnik. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is available.]

SOL MESSIAH – God Cmplx (Instrumental Version) (Rhymesayers)
Multicolor purple w/ light blue & orange pressing. On GOD CMPLX, Sol Messiah connects with some of the finest MCs in the game to create an impressive collection of Hip Hop music that’s both innovative and inspiring. Featuring guest performances from KXNG Crooked, Sa-Roc, Evidence, Locksmith, Slug (Atmosphere), Aesop Rock, Murs, Baba Zumbi (Zion I), Che Noir, Lyric Jones and many more, GOD CMPLX is a powerful and engaging project serving as a testament to Sol Messiah’s skills both as a producer as well a visionary.

KENDRA MORRIS – Babble CD/LP (Karma Chief)
The word “babble” brings two things to mind: A person pouring out their thoughts with reckless abandon, or a gentle sound coming from water cascading over rocks as it flows past. In the case of this reissue from Kendra Morris, Babble is a sublime melding of these two meanings. The original release in 2016 came in the form of a self-released EP. A fan cult favorite: it has now grown to include three additional tracks: “Playing Games”, “Dial Back” and “Ride On”.

ENVY – Seimei 10” (Temporary Residence)
Purple color vinyl pressing. New EP from the Japanese hardcore/post-hardcore/screamo band.

IVY – Apartment Life LP [Reissue/1997] (Bar/None)
White color vinyl pressing. “Ivy trades in unabashed pop melodies, a concept so far out it’s in” SPIN. “Ivy put the fizz in cocktail culture” Rolling Stone. Originally released in 1997, Ivy’s second album is a true gem. Apartment Life includes guest stars: Dean Wareham (Luna), Stan Demeski (Luna, Feelies), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Chris Collingwood & Jody Porter (Fountains Of Wayne) and Alan “Mr. Fabulous” Rubin (The Blues Brothers).

DON CHERRY – Hear & Now LP [Reissue/1977] (Real Gone)
Don Cherry was an American jazz trumpeter. He is the father of Nena Cherry. Cherry was also a pioneer in world fusion music in the 1960s & 1970s. Hear & Now was recorded in 1976 and released on the Atlantic label the following year.

TRASH CAN SINATRAS – A Happy Pocket LP [Reissue/1995] (Last Night Glasgow)
Trashcan Sinatras glorious third album “A Happy Pocket” now remastered and re-released for the first time since 1996. The album was recorded at the band’s own 24 track studio, Shabby Road Studios

BOTTLE ROCKETS – 24 Hours A Day LP [Reissue/1997] (Real Gone)
Color vinyl pressing. Bottle Rockets leader Brian Henneman worked as Uncle Tupelo’s guitar tech for a couple of years before forming an alt-country band that rivaled his former boss’s. Released in Atlantic in 1997, 24 Hours A Day represented The Bottle Rockets’ chance at the big time; its their sole major label release, and they pulled out all the stops, hiring former Del Lord Eric “Roscoe” Ambel to produce and revisiting “Indianapolis”, the song that got Henneman a record deal back in the early ’90s. Alas, the record failed to break through commercially yet is a wonderful example of hard-driving, honest, tuneful, rock ‘n’ roll.

WIZ KHALIFA – Full Court Press LP (Diggers Factory)
Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA and Girl Talk have released their collaborative LP Full Court Press. The product of over a decade-long friendship among the artists, the new album is a timeless and upbeat rap record. On the project’s lead single, March’s “Put You On,” the group drops bars about the come-up of their respective careers. Leading up to the release, they shared more songs and accompanying music videos, including a visual for the party track “Ain’t No Fun” directed by kee and Bawwse. “Collaborating with Girl Talk, Big K.R.I.T., and Smoke DZA on this album has been a long time coming,” Khalifa said.

XIU XIU – Ignore Grief CD/LP (Polyvinyl)
Xiu Xiu has spent twenty years grappling with how to process, to be empathetic towards, to disobey and to reorganize horror. Ignore Grief is a record of halves. Angela Seo sings on half of the record. Jamie Stewart sings on half of the record. Half of it is real. Half of it is imaginary. The real songs attempt to turn the worst life has offered to five people the band is connected with into some kind of desperate shape that does something, anything, other than grind and brutalize their hearts and memory within these stunningly horrendous experiences. The imaginary songs are an expansion and abstract exploration of the early rock and roll “Teen Tragedy” genre as jumping off point to decontaminate the band’s own overwhelming emotions in knowing and living with what has happened to these five people. [A limited-edition silver color vinyl pressing is available.]

MNDSGN – Rare Pleasure LP (Stones Throw)
Gold color vinyl pressing. As Mndsgn’s first approach to a traditional studio album, Rare Pleasure weaves itself in many forms as the album’s evolving theme, blending root stylings of R&B, soundtrack/theme-music, psychedelia, and jazz into a sonically rich score of self-actualization. The title itself, Rare Pleasure is an appreciation of sharing life, inward reflection, and the gift of joyful catharsis in the face of inevitable discord. As Mndsgn describes it, “We are beings living this human life that’s only going to happen this way once and only once, every moment infused with a magical impermanence, a rarity.”

SOUTH SIDE MOVEMENT – The South Side Movement LP [Reissue/1973] (Real Gone)
Limited clearwater blue color vinyl pressing. This 1973 gem is another obscure ’70s soul-funk album released on a small independent label that has gone on to become a crate-digging favorite and a huge inspiration to modern-day hip hop artists and beyond.

WATCHOUSE – Blindfaller CD/LP [Reissue/2016] (Yep Roc)
WATCHHOUSE – Such Jubilee CD/LP [Reissue] (Yep Roc)
Color vinyl reissues (purple and orange, respectively). Lean in to the Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) albums Such Jubilee and Blindfaller, and it’s bound to happen. You’ll suddenly pick up on the power and devastation lurking in their quietude, the doom hiding beneath their unvarnished beauty. You’ll hear the way it magnifies the intimacy at the heart of the North Carolina duo’s music, as if they created their own musical language as they recorded them.

ODDISEE – The Beauty in All [Reissue/2013] LP (Mello Music Group)
Oddisee’s finest instrumental album to date. A Hiphop, Electro-Soul classic.

SUBHUMANS – EP-LP LP [Reissue/1985] (Pirates Press)
SUBHUMANS – From the Cradle to the Grave LP [Reissue/1983] (Pirates Press)
SUBHUMANS – Time Flies + Rats  [Reissue/1990] (Pirates Press)
SUBHUMANS – 29:29 Split Vision LP [Reissue/1986] (Pirates Press)
SUBHUMANS – The Day the Country Died LP [Reissue/1983] (Pirates Press)
SUBHUMANS – Worlds Apart LP [Reissue/1685] (Pirates Press)

KALI UCHIS – Red Moon In Venus LP (Geffen)
Grammy-winning artist Kali Uchis returns for the first time since 2020 with her third studio album, Red Moon In Venus. Uchis went into the recording process intending to create an album that felt timeless, one that can be enjoyed any time and any place and will remain meaningful throughout the years to her and her fans. Red Moon In Venus floats between soul, R&B, pop, música urbana and more experimental textures. The result is an album that, as Uchis has come to perfect throughout her catalog, transcends genre or classification, a pure reflection of her soul.

MACKLEMORE – Ben CD/LP (Bendo)
Multi-platinum and Grammy-winning rapper Macklemore follows-up 2017’s Gemini with his third solo studio album Ben, which includes the raw and personal single “Faithful” featuring NLE Choppa. Macklemore said, “I wrote ‘Faithful’ after a 2020 relapse that brought me back to a familiar darkness I naively thought I had escaped. It’s a personal song for me, reflecting on my struggles with addiction. As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be clean, and yet the disease I have is always present, it always follows me. The record explores the presence of addiction in every facet of my life, and how pervasive and insidious it can be.” [An indie store exclusive vinyl edition featuring an alternate cover is available.]

COMING NEXT WEEK
WAR AND TREATY – Lover’s Game CD/LP
FEVER RAY – Radical Romantics CD
SLEAFORD MODS – UK Grim CD/LP
ALI FARKA TOURE – Voyageur CD/LP
SHANA CLEVELAND – Manzanita CD
LONNIE HOLLEY – Oh Me Oh My CD/LP
THRICE – Illusion Of Safety 20th Anniv LP
UNWOUND – Self Titled LP reissue
AESOP ROCK – Bazooka Tooth LP reissue
AESOP ROCK – None Shall Pass LP reissue
BETHS – Jump Rope Gazers LP
CAKE – Prolonging The Magic LP
HEARTBREAKERS – Yonkers Demo LP
DANIEL JOHNSTON – Songs Of Pain LP
NUDE PARTY – Rides On LP
RILO KILEY – Takes Offs and Landings LP reissue
FRANKIE ROSE- Love As Projection LP
MDOU MOCTAR – Niger EP Vol 1+2 LP
SMILE – Europe Live Recordings LP
SILK SONIC – Evening With Silk Sonic LP reissue