Staff Picks
Lindsay – Youth Lagoon and Jenny Lewis
Caleb – Bala Desejo
Dario –  Lightning Dust and Dudu Tassa /Jonny Greenwood
Zach – Squid, King Krule and Youth Lagoon
Kimber – Lightning Dust

King Krule – Space Heavy CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)
Written from 2020 to 2022 in between London and Liverpool, Space Heavy took shape over the course of Archy Marshall’s commutes between the two cities where he was splitting his time. Befitting an album quite literally written on the commute between the two places he called home, Archy found himself fascinated by the notion of “the space between” – the space haunted by dreams of love, touching a narrative of lost connection, losing people and situations to the guillotine of the universe. Space Heavy, indeed. The result is an album that inhabits the deepest reaches of the subterranean sonic world that Archy has constructed over the course of his career as King Krule. [An indie store exclusive clear vinyl pressing is available.]

Jenny Lewis – Joy’All CD/2xLP/Cassette (Blue Note)
Jenny Lewis’ fifth solo album Joy’All finds the singer-songwriter embarking on a new era, in a new town – and on a new label, as she joins the iconic roster of Blue Note/Capitol Records. While Joy’All pulls from a bounty of sonic inspiration – from classic soul to ‘90s R&B, as well as country and classic singer-songwriter records – the album’s rich, intimate and warm live sound is the hallmark of eight-time Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb. Recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, Joy’All includes the new single “Psychos” and the previously released single “Puppy And A Truck”. [An indie store exclusive green color vinyl pressing is available.]

Janelle Monáe – The Age Of Pleasure CD/LP (Atlantic)
A groundbreaking, genre-blurring singer, songwriter, producer, and performer, Janelle Monáe’s inventive style melds a refined pop sensibility with an extraordinary postmodern mash-up of soul, funk, and rock ‘n’ roll. The Grammy Award-winner follows-up 2018’s critically acclaimed Dirty Computer with the highly anticipated 2023 album The Age Of Pleasure, which comes introduced by the shimmering singles “Float” and “Lipstick Lover”. Monáe explained to Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe that, “All the songs were written from such an honest space. So I hope that people feel that when they listen to the music, that they feel that when they come and, you know, counter with me when I’m around, I definitely have had an opportunity to evolve and grow and to tap into the things that bring me pleasure, the things that perhaps I should rethink and rework.” [An indie store exclusive orange color vinyl pressing is available.]

Squid – O Monolith CD/LP+MP3 (Warp)
Teeming with melodic epiphanies and layered sounds, Squid’s second album O Monolith is a musical evocation of environment, domesticity, and self-made folklore. Like its predecessor, 2021’s critically acclaimed album Bright Green Field, it is dense and full of tricks – but also warmer and more characterful, with a meandering, questioning nature. A sense of open conversation is cultivated: this is unmistakably music made by friends, but it’s not exclusionary – they’re inviting you in to listen with them. Expansive, evocative and hugely varied, O Monolith retains Squid’s restless, enigmatic spirit, but it still holds surprises for those familiar with Bright Green Field. It’s a reflection of the outsized progression of a band always looking to the future. Like its namesake, O Monolith is vast and strange, alive with endless possible interpretations of its inner mysteries. [A limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing is available.]

Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit – Weathervanes CD/2xLP (Thirty Tigers)
New album from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, tackling issues such as gun violence, the opioid crisis, and women’s rights all through Isbell’s signature songwriting lens. Weathervanes is a collection of grown-up songs: Songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive. Weathervanes features the rolling thunder of Isbell’s fearsome 400 Unit, who’ve earned a place in the rock ‘n’ roll cosmos alongside the greatest backing ensembles, as powerful and essential to the storytelling as The E Street Band or The Wailers. [Indie store exclusive CD and vinyl versions are available.]

Christine and The Queens – Paranoia, Angels, True Love CD/3xCD/LP/3xLP (Because Music)
French singer/songwriter Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier aka Christine and The Queens presents his new album Paranoia, Angels, True Love which includes the single “To Be Honest” and guest appearances from Madonna and 070 Shake. Speaking about the album, Chris said: “This new record is the second part of an operatic gesture that also encompassed 2022’s Redcar les adorables étoiles. Taking inspiration from the glorious dramaturgy of Tony Kushner’s iconic play, Angels In America, Redcar felt colorful and absurd like Prior sent to his insane dream-space. The follow-up Paranoia, Angels, True Love is a key towards heart-opening transformation, a prayer towards the self – the one that breathes through all the loves it is made of. Prior’s real agony in Angels In America is a deep, painful becoming, a shedding of all waters and memories, that then allows angels to immerse deep too, and offer back profound, narrative-altering love – a rest in true love.” [Single disc CD and vinyl versions include 9 new songs. The deluxe triple-disc CD and vinyl edition feature 20 new songs.]

This Is The Kit – Careful Of Your Keepers CD/LP+MP3 (Rough Trade)
Singer-songwriter and composer, Kate Stables returns with a wondrous new This Is The Kit album, Careful Of Your Keepers, that chronicles a world of mistakes and mishaps, cruel circumstances, and universe-driven surprises. It’s a record that embraces the concept of “outrospection” – the idea that you get to know oneself by developing relationships and empathic thinking with others – and brings the Paris-based, UK born bandleader’s signature ability to move swiftly between cryptic poetry to honest inquisition to the fore. Guiding the ship through changing seas is producer Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), who deftly enhances the innate shared language that Stables has with her band, capturing beautiful instrumental performances while leaving the space required for her robust, silken voice to lead. The music here is daring and soft, cutting and warm, a wild feat of complexity and combined dispositions. [An indie store exclusive green color vinyl pressing is available.]

Youth Lagoon – Heaven Is A Junkyard CD/LP (Fat Possum)
With whispers of country, Heaven Is A Junkyard is mutant Americana in a world of love, drugs, storytelling, and miracles – held together by Trevor Powers’ voice and an upright piano. “If a lyric wasn’t right, a song wasn’t right,” says Powers, who scrapped two-and-a-half albums worth of material because it ‘wasn’t honest.’ Heaven Is A Junkyard is about all of us. It’s stories of brothers leaving for war, drunk fathers learning to hug, mothers falling in love, neighbors stealing mail, cowboys doing drugs, friends skipping school, me crying in the bathtub, dogs catching rabbits, and children playing in tall grass,” says Powers. Throughout the album, he stitches together a lyrical style that feels both punk and western. Recorded in six weeks with co-producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Adele, Gil Scott-Heron), Heaven Is a Junkyard is a work of absolute devotion. A portrait of the God-haunted American West. And a reminder that there is always love in the tall grass. [A limited-edition clear vinyl pressing is available.]

My Morning Jacket – MMJ Live Vol. 3: Bonnaroo 2004 2xLP (ATO)
My Morning Jacket, touring behind It Still Moves, took the stage at Bonnaroo on a scorching day in the summer of 2004. Ominous dark clouds rolled in early in the performance. “I’ll never forget it,” reflected Jim James, “We’re playing, and the sky just rips open and rain starts pouring down. People are losing their minds… Everybody is petrified that we’re going to get electrocuted, but it was such a transcendent moment that we just didn’t care.” It would become one of the festival’s most iconic sets. [Two limited-edition pressings are available: indie store exclusive “Thunderdome Edition” clear; and coke bottle green.]

The Dead Milkmen – Quaker City Quiet Pills CD (The Giving Groove)
Brand new release from Philadelphia’s one and only The Dead Milkmen.

Jayda G – Guy CD/LP+MP3 (Ninja Tune)
Jayda G, the Grammy-nominated writer, producer, DJ, environmental toxicologist, campaigner, and broadcaster, returns with her new full length album Guy. Co-produced with Jack Peñate (who has previously worked with the likes of SAULT, David Byrne and Adele), with contributions from Lisa-Kaindé Diaz (of Ibeyi), Ed Thomas (Stormzy, Nia Archives, Jorja Smith) and more. The album brings Jayda’s own voice and words more prominently into focus than ever before, across 13 tracks that draw on her house, disco, R&B and soul roots while emphasizing her pop songwriting sensibilities, interspersed with archival recordings of her late father, the eponymous William Richard Guy. [An eco-mix color vinyl pressing is available.]

Lightning Dust – Nostalgia Killer CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
Sticky with unresolved, living feelings, walls of synths and bass lines rise to chill-inducing heights, while maintaining space around Amber Webber’s singular voice as she sings of romantic warfare like some kind of cosmic Stevie Nicks, on an album that sounds arena-ready and devastatingly intimate all at once. [A limited-edition ‘cosmic amber’ color vinyl pressing is available.]

Dudu Tassa / Jonny Greenwood – Jarak Qaribak CD/LP (World Circuit)
Celebrated singer, musician and producer Dudu Tassa teams up with award-winning composer and guitarist Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead, The Smile) for a new album Jarak Qaribak (Arabic for ‘Your Friend Is Your Neighbour’), bringing together vocalists and musicians from throughout the Middle East for a very special album of cross-border collaborations.

Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental CD/LP+MP3 (Mexican Summer)
Time Ain’t Accidental is the sound of a woman running into life and art head-on, on her own terms, for the first time in a while. Blending the vocal power and emotional immediacy of mainstream country with the honest transmissions of writers like Townes Van Zandt and Terry Allen, the album’s reckoning with loss, isolation and personal reclamation signals a tectonic shift for Williamson: from someone who once made herself small to a woman emboldened by her power as an individual. [An indie store exclusive pink color vinyl pressing is available.]

Alkaline Trio – Good Mourning [Reissue/2003] 2×10″ (Vagrant)
Vinyl reissue of the Chicago alt-punk band’s fourth album.

Bala Desejo – Sim Sim Sim LP (Mr Bongo)
Sim Sim Sim is the Latin Grammy award-winning debut album from Bala Desejo. A band who are at the forefront of Rio de Janeiro’s artistic renaissance, they channel influences of Brazilian ‘60s Tropicália, ‘70s psychedelia and MPB to create a nostalgic, yet joyfully, avant-garde sound. The band is comprised of four distinct characters, each one an incredible talent and each with impressive credentials in the Brazilian Independent music scene. Central to the resurgent Rio de Janeiro musical community, the quartet of Dora Morelenbaum, Julia Mestre, Lucas Nunes and Zé Ibarra thrive in a group dynamic. They formed Bala Desejo to play collaboratively for a festival date in 2021, but when that show became a victim of pandemic shutdowns the idea for an album project materialized. [A limited-edition red color vinyl pressing is available.]

Curren$y – The Drive In Theatre Part 2 2xLP (Jet Life)
Smokey clear vinyl pressing. The next installment in the cult fan favorite series features appearances from Rob49, Fendi P, Dash, URA, Blü, I’sis, Premo Rice, and Jade Angelle, and sees production from Kino Beats, Trauma Tone, Harry Fraud, Cookin Soul, and more. In traditional form, Curren$y skates over smooth, jazz-infused beats and delivers a perfect album to put on and let play out while relaxing or working.

Death Cab For Cutie – Asphalt Meadows (Acoustic) LP (Barsuk)
Death Cab For Cutie went back into the studio in December 2022 with the goal of reinterpreting their latest record Asphalt Meadows with the most minimal arrangements possible and presenting the songs in their rawest, most intimate forms. Now, they’re proud to announce the acoustic album version of Asphalt Meadows. The album also includes one of the band’s favorite songs “The Plan” by Low as a tribute to the late Mimi Parker.

Freddie Gibbs – $oul $old $eparately LP (WB)
A lot of people don’t realize that Freddie has been in the game for over a decade and came in on the same Freshman XXL cover as Meek Mill, Nipsey Hussle etc… Yet he was the only one with no major label backing or artist affiliation and his partnership with Warner is his very first solo major label deal. With that being said, he feels as if he has made it thus far in his career without compromising his morals, creative integrity and principles all while resisting temptations… Hence the title $oul $old $eparately or $$$. [An indie store exclusive yellow color vinyl pressing is available.] 

Hank III – Lovesick Broke & Driftin’ [Reissue/2002] LP (Curb)
Limited colored vinyl pressing. Lovesick, Broke & Driftin’ is the second studio album by country music artist Hank Williams III. Hank III has stated that he considers this album as his real solo debut and despises his previous album, Risin’ Outlaw.

Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III [Reissue/2008] 2xLP (Republic)
Lil Wayne’s classic 8x platinum album, Tha Carter III, is celebrating its 15th anniversary with this double-LP standard black vinyl reissue. Released in 2008, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 selling over 1 million copies in its first week. It features the multi platinum singles “Lollipop (feat. Static Major)”, “A Milli”, “Got Money (feat. T-Pain)”, and “Mrs. Officer (feat. Bobby Valentino & Kidd Kidd)”.

Love And Rockets – Hot Trip To Heaven [Reissue/1994] 2xLP (Beggars Banquet)
Love And Rockets – Sweet F.A. [Reissue/1996] 2xLP (Beggars Banquet)
Love And Rockets is the seminal, groundbreaking trio of Daniel Ash (vocals and guitar), David J (vocals and bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums). They formed in 1985 after the first split of their band Bauhaus. Love and Rockets provided a clean slate and an opportunity to plumb the depths of imagination and influences. The band’s fifth album Hot Trip To Heaven was strikingly different from anything previous, and has a diverse range of influences from twisted lounge jazz to ambient trance. Rick Rubin guided Love and Rockets to a return to more guitar- based songs for 1996’s Sweet F.A.

Mono – My Story, The Buraku Story (Original Soundtrack) LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
Following their recent experiments with electronic textures infused into their trademark dynamic rock compositions, My Story, The Buraku Story finds Mono at their most understated and elegiac. The songs that make up My Story, The Buraku Story are largely built around piano, strings, synths, and choral vocal loops. As one might expect from Mono, the arrangements are masterworks of understated execution with oversized emotional resonance. By far Mono’s most delicate album, it is a fitting document of the band’s first-ever full-length film soundtrack. [A limited-edition red color pressing is available.]

Tears For Fears – The Hurting [Reissue/1983] LP (Mercury)
Tears For Fears debut album The Hurting was released on March 7, 1983, and peaked at #1 on the UK albums chart in its second week of release. It reached platinum status in January 1985 and contains three Top 5 U.K. singles – “Mad World”, “Change”, and “Pale Shelter”. This LP has been mastered at Abbey Road Studios and cut at half-speed for superior quality.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
J COLE – Born Sinner CD/LP
DEER TICK – Emotional Contracts CD/LP
GOV’T MULE – Peace Like A Power CD/LP
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO – Omnichord Real Book CD/LP
DRIVE BY TRUCKERS – Complete Dirty South CD/LP
HAND HABITS – Sugar The Bruise CD/LP
THE HEAVY – Amen CD/LP
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – In Times New Roman CD/LP
LITTLE SIMZ – No Thank You CD/LP
SON VOLT – Day Of The Doug CD/LP
BONNY DOON – Let There Be Music CD/LP
BORIS + UNIFORM – Bright New Disease CD/LP
BRIGHT EYES – Cassadaga CD/LP reissue
BRIGHT EYES – Cassadaga Companion LP
BRIGHT EYES – Noise Floor CD/LP reissue
BRIGHT EYES – Noise Floor LP companion
BRIGHT EYES – People’s Key CD/LP reissue
BRIGHT EYES – People’s Key LP companion
SUNSET RUBDOWN – Snakes Got A Leg LP
MIKE WATT – Hyphenated Man LP reissue
FRED AGAIN / BRIAN ENO – Secret Life CD/LP
MAC DEMARCO – Five Easy Hot Dogs LP
JFA – Last Ride LP