EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL – Fuse CD/LP (Verve)
Everything but the Girl return in 2023 with the new album Fuse, after a 24-year hiatus. Written and produced by Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn over the spring-summer of 2021, Fuse is a modern take on the lustrous electronic soul the band first pioneered in the mid-90s. Thorn’s affecting and richly textured voice is once again up front in Watt’s glimmering landscape of sub-bass, sharp beats, half-lit synths and empty space, and as before, the result is the sound of a band comfortable with being both sonically contemporary, yet agelessly themselves. CD, black and colored vinyl available.

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA – In Between Thoughts … A New World CD/LP (ATO)
Guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have announced the follow-up to the GRAMMY-winning album Mettavolution. In Between Thoughts… A New World is the duo’s first full-length album in four years. It is a spontaneously composed, yet unified work which brings the same expansion of consciousness that inspired its creation. Self-produced in Ixtapa, Mexico, the album sees Rodrigo y Gabriela building on their original sound to include electronics and orchestral elements. Available on gold and bone colored vinyl.

RUN THE JEWELS – Cu4tro LP (BMG)
Run the Jewels has reimagined their hit album, RTJ4, through the prism of Latin America. Artists from 10 LATAM countries – producers, rappers, singers, musicians, programmers – participated in the creation of this hybrid, groundbreaking and forward-facing project. Available on black and yellow vinyl.

NATURAL LINES – Natural Lines CD/LP (Bella Union)
The Natural Lines, the artist formerly known as Matt Pond PA, takes a huge leap forward in his measured song-craft, melodic immediacy, collaborative detail and wryly questioning lyrics on this gorgeous album of intimate reflections from a relocated, renamed, revivified talent. Recorded with close collaborators and friends over a period that saw Pond make vital adjustments to his life, its stealth emergence reflects his desire to set a fresh pace for himself and come from somewhere new, somewhere more open. Now based in Kingston, New York, with his partner and wild dog Willa, Matt explains the album’s gestation thus. “It was something different from the start. I wanted to write as purely as I could. Instead of getting stuck in the ‘tour, write an album, release an album, tour’ cycle, which is not a natural way of writing or living, I wanted to write an album and when it was done I wanted to make sure it was done. I didn’t want this feeling of, ‘Oh, we didn’t have time’, or, ‘I don’t know whether I believe in the songs but it’s coming out anyway.’ I used to be always racing to the finish line, but I’m not anymore. Once I took control of my mind, I could see what I wanted to say more clearly. Instead of random floods of mania and panic, I felt like I was composed and composing. It has become as simple as reading the words of a sentence in the right order. As small as the pause before I hit ‘send’.” A development, you might say, conducted along the most natural of lines.”

CROSSES – Permanent.Radiant CD/LP (Warner)
PERMANENT. RADIANT is the newest EP from the darkly cinematic duo ††† (Crosses) featuring Chino Moreno of Deftones on vocals and Shaun Lopez on production and instrumentation. This project features the previously released singles “Vivien” and “Sensation,” along with the once exclusive vinyl track “Day One. ” Eerie synth arrangements and pulsating percussion culminate in a lush, sprawling soundscape captured throughout this collection of songs. Chino Moreno’s lyrics and vocal textures combined with Shaun Lopez’s immersive production and sound design create a world that will likely transport anyone who listens to places both familiar and new. Available on green and clear blue vinyl.

MARS VOLTA – Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon CD/LP (Clouds Hill)
After the successful worldwide release of the studio album The Mars Volta, the band also releases the album as an acoustic album. The harmonic album Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon. The Mars Volta plays a similar game: it is subtly subversive – endlessly inventive, but never at the cost of the song. Many of the same values that made The Mars Volta’s previous albums so ground-breaking, so acclaimed, are still present here, but they are employed in different, adroit ways. The Caribbean rhythms that powered their blistering earlier records still flourish across The Mars Volta – they aren’t the foreground now, but they ripple underneath each of these tracks. Similarly, the big rock moves and proggy complexities of their landmark releases have given way for more sonic subtlety, for immediacy and directness. But while The Mars Volta shies away from Grand Guignol flourishes, it remains a dark, powerful and affecting listen, mature and deeply satisfying in its restraint.

WHITE STRIPES – Elephant 20th Anniv LP (Third Man)
Originally released on April 1, 2003, Elephant is The White Stripes critically acclaimed fourth studio album. The 20th Anniversary 2LP vinyl is a red smoke & clear with red & black smoke color mix along with an alternative cover design.

ROSE CITY BAND – Garden Party CD/LP (Thrill Jockey)
On Garden Party, Rose City Band’s country psychedelic rock evokes the wide-open spaces of the American west and free spirits who call it home. Lead by acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Ripley Johnson, Rose City Band are some of the best players in contemporary rockRecorded largely at Center for Sound, Light, and Color Therapy in Portland and mixed by John McEntire, Garden Party features guest appearances by Moon Duo bandmates John Jeffrey on drums and Sanae Yamada on synths, as well as Rose City Band live performers Hasenberg on keyboards and Walker on pedal steel. With the musicians in his life in mind, Ripley’s porch has opened up for each player to step into.

SUBLIME – $5 At The Door CD/LP (Surfdog)
One of Sublime’s most bootlegged shows gets an official release! $5 At The Door (Live At Tressel Tavern, 1994). A fan-favorite concert featuring 26 tracks digitally restored and mastered. This show is raw, authentic and true Sublime. Available on CD and limited edition yellow vinyl.

EASY STAR ALL STARS – Ziggy Stardub LP (Easy Star)
The return of Easy Star All-Stars! Their first tribute album since 2012 is a complete reggae re-imagining of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The album features guest performances by Macy Gray, Steel Pulse, Fishbone, Alex Lifeson (Rush), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), The Skints, Mortimer, The Expanders, Samory I, Naomi Cowan, and many others.

DR DRE – Chronic LP (Interscope)
Double vinyl LP pressing. The Chronic is the debut studio album by the hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre, originally released in 1992. The Chronic was Dr. Dre’s first solo album after he departed the hip hop group N.W.A. It features many appearances by then-emerging American rapper Snoop Dogg, who used the album as a launch pad for his own solo career.

TIMBER TIMBRE – Cedar Shakes LP (Full Time Hobby)
Previously only available direct from the artist in limited quantities. Pressed to clear vinyl and limited to 1,500 copies. Cedar Shakes (2005) shows us the roots of Timber Timbre; often stark and unnerving, always cinematic and mysterious; a sound we’ve come to know and love on later albums.

JUJU – A Message From Mozambique LP (Strut)
Strut continue their in-depth work with Oneness Of Juju’s Plunky Branch with the first ever reissue of Juju’s powerful 1973 album for Strata-East, A Message From Mozambique.

WINDHAND – Windhand LP (Relapse)
Deluxe double violet colored vinyl LP pressing. Reissue of Windhand’s 2012 debut album, remastered by Jack Endino and featuring 5 unreleased tracks and all new artwork by Arik Roper.

SEAWOLF – Leaves In The River LP reissue (Dangerbird)
Limited yellow colored vinyl LP pressing. The songs of Sea Wolf’s first full-length effort, Leaves In The River are awash with longing for distant places visited, lived and loved, and are molded by the geography of his past – the long, winding descent from the Sierra foothills to the hazy shores of Barbary Coast, where Alex Brown Church has always gravitated. And, like the captain in the book, they are resilient, restive, and deceivingly sophisticated.

PEARL AND THE OYSTERS – Coast To Coast LP (Stones Throw)
Coast 2 Coast is French-American duo Pearl & The Oysters’ debut album for Stones Throw. Their new record is a magical field trip through Pearl and the Oysters’ universe: think colorful cocktails, ocean waves, and retro synthesizers played with a Powerglove! Blue wave color vinyl with artwork by celebrated illustrator Ardhira Putra.

JOSEPHINE FOSTER – Domestic Sphere LP (Fire)
For her austere new solo album, Domestic Sphere, Josephine Foster performs solely with her electric guitar and then subverts the usual range of her voice to embody other frequencies and sounds beyond the surface layer of the songs. She communes so completely with every sound on the record, with the past and the future, animals and insects and birds, those so tenderly dead, and those of us who are alive. Listening to the record is a transcendent experience.

J.T. IV  – The Future LP (Drag City)
Barely-heard in his lifetime (1961-2002) but hailed as an outsider hero of ur-punk since 2009’s Cosmic Lightning comp, J.T. IV strikes back! 15 unheard-of tracks found on an obscure cassette tape make the schizo split in his music – rabid rock n roll fantasy and cold-eyed acoustic introspection – an epic. The Future is J.T. IV’s mad magnum opus.

ST PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES – Angels In Science Fiction CD/LP (ATO)
When Paul Janeway learned he was going to be a father he decided to scribe his thoughts – joy, fear, confusion – as messages to his then-unborn daughter. Those letters became Angels in Science Fiction, the stunning fifth album from St. Paul & The Broken Bones. Produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price) at the legendary Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, it finds the band stretching further out, building on the shadowy psychedelia and intricate, experimental R&B of 2022’s The Alien Coast. Available on clear, and black and white vinyl.

BENNY SINGS – Young Hearts CD/LP (Stones Throw)
Benny Sings’ latest release Young Hearts is the successor to Benny’s 2021 Beat Tape II and his 2022 Santa Barbara EP. Young Hearts is a record created in collaboration with Benny Sings and producer Kenny Beats, with features from Remi Wolf.

LIARS – Sisterworld LP (Mute)
Sisterworld is the next album to be released in the Liars’ limited edition recycled color vinyl reissue series. Includes an 8 page booklet and audio download code. Originally released in 2010, Sisterworld is Liars’ fifth studio album.

DICK STUSSO – SP LP (Hardly Art)
Dick Stusso’s third album is a document of slow mental unraveling with a world in perpetual decay as its backdrop. With S.P., California-based singer and songwriter Nic Russo has created his most out-there and toothsome record to date, plunging his listeners into a strange and thrilling new world at every opportunity. S.P. is the first Dick Stusso record in four years. 

COMING NEXT WEEK