STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – King Hannah, John Moreland, Arooj Aftab
Dario – Arooj Aftab
Kimber – Buffalo Tom and Arooj Aftab
Jake – JPEGMAFIA reissues
Zach – King Hannah
Ash – Raul Gomez

MARIAS – Submarine CD/LP/CASS (Atlantic)
Submarine represents themes of solitude and exploration for The Marías, delving into the complexities of human emotion and what it means to choose solitude, and the pain and beauty so inextricably interwoven within it. New single “Run Your Mouth” is just the first introduction into the band’s immersive world inspired by this album. Submarine is a follow up to the band’s critically acclaimed GRAMMY-nominated debut album Cinema (2021), with lead single “Hush” going No.1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart. Known for delivering striking visuals that compliment their dreamlike songs, the band continues to create a unique and transformative experience for fans and audiences alike.

JOHN MORELAND – Visitor CD/LP (Old Omens)
“In 2023, during a year-long break from touring, in an attempt to regain my sanity, I stopped using a smart phone for 6 months, and wrote this album. I recorded it in my living room, with help from my wife, Pearl Rachinsky. I wanted to make a natural sounding folk-rock record. Simplicity and immediacy felt very important to the process, so I knocked out the tracking in about 10 days, playing every instrument on the album myself, save for one guitar solo (John Calvin Abney – The More You Say, The Less It Means), and Pearl contributed some bgv’s on one song (Ain’t Much I Can Do About It).”

RICHARD THOMPSON – Ship To Shore CD/LP (New West)
When Richard Thompson began writing songs for his latest album, Ship to Shore, he was instinctively drawn to his own musical roots, employing them in the service of fashioning a deep and diverse 12-track collection that pulls from various styles, genres and eras, but remains unmistakably Richard Thompson. There’s the rumbling, Motown-style rhythm that propels “Trust,” and the straightforward riff-rock of “Turnstile Casanova.” The drone-y “The Old Pack Mule,” an “old man’s song” that takes musical cues from 1600s-era European music, and “Life’s a Bloody Show,” an ode to “snake-oil salesmen and hucksters” that floats on a glammy, cabaret-like melody that’s “almost like a parody of a Noël Coward song, or something from Berlin in the 1920s,” Thompson says. “I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching out from there,” he says. “And I think of my base as being British traditional music, but there’s also Scottish music, there’s Irish music. There’s jazz, country and classical. As far as I’m concerned, once you establish your base you can reach out anywhere. It’ll still be you ringing through, wherever you decide to go musically.” 

HABIBI – Dreamachine CD/LP (Kill Rock Stars)
A cursory listen to Brooklyn indie act Habibi’s self-titled debut album would initially seem to suggest a straightforward punk approach to the classic girl group template. Front-loaded with sweetly catchy upbeat pop tracks like “I Got the Moves” and “Detroit Baby,” Habibi’s indie shimmy rhythms and reverb-heavy harmonies find the middle ground between the Shangri-Las and the Undertones in the same way the Vivian Girls did on their earliest work. The guitar lines are direct and no-frills, drummer Karen Isabel manages to play in a way that is equally powerful and understated, and the vocals are distant and eerie, whether delivered in a frantic rush solely by lead singer Rahill Jamalifard, as on spiky garage tracks like “Persepolis,” or in a dreamy cloud of harmony by multiple bandmembers. 

KING HANNAH – Big Swimmer CD/LP (City Slang)
Big Swimmer finds King Hannah on the other side of their first act with a newfound understanding of their sound, their strengths, their gratitude, and their vision for the future of the band’s music. This understanding has no doubt ushered the profound confidence heard in their new songs –Merrick’s voice soaring, Whittle’s guitar blazing – and the balance they have found while traversing the waters of the Atlantic, or the rock venues on either side of it anyhow. The album leaves your hairs standing on the back of your neck, between the at times prickly, and often heartening imagery of its storytelling. It’s very likely that when listening, you’ll find yourself daydreaming of a lake in summer and wanting to jump on in.

AROOJ AFTAB – Night Reign CD/LP (Verve)
“The night,” Arooj Aftab confesses, “is my biggest source of inspiration.” By trial or intuition, the award winning artist has come to understand that these still moments of cover uniquely enable healing, desire, shelter, love – each an essential element of life and living, of intimate relation to one another. Night Reign is a perfumed, public garden of renewal, peaking the senses with each composition, each turn of phrase, each modulation. Stepping away from, though never forgetting, the grief and loss that animated her award-winning track “Mohabbat” and album Vulture Prince (2021), on which she faced what can too quickly and easily be taken away, Aftab appears here with original music and in yet another form: as bard of everyday possibility, quietude and life-altering romance.

MAYA HAWKE – Chaos Angel CD/LP (Mom+Pop)
Maya Hawke is a musician, songwriter, actor and producer. She has released two lauded albums of music to date, Moss (2022) and Blush (2020), both of which showcase her natural gift for songwriting and storytelling, as well as a knack for striking visual presentation with sleeve designs of her own creation. Now 25 years old, Maya’s third album, Chaos Angel, takes the spare, viscerally honest songwriting she has made her name on and goes deeper and bolder. Both her most sonically sophisticated and thematically nuanced collection to date, it feels like a culmination. Across these 10 songs, Hawke catalogs upheavals, revelations, foibles, and broken promises, all while navigating the patterns we repeat while reaching towards growth, wandering astray, and finding our way back to some core understanding of ourselves. Chaos Angel is also a document of Hawke coming more fully into her own as a musician. More adventurous in the studio after her previous two albums, Hawke leaned into her ambition. Many of these tracks are still anchored by acoustic guitar and Hawke’s graceful yet conversational vocals, but their surroundings are more intricate and lush than ever before. She reconvened with longtime collaborators Benjamin Lazar Davis and Will Graefe, with Christian Lee Hutson serving as producer.

OMAR APOLLO – Friends LP reissue (Roonis)
Friends is the second EP by American singer-songwriter Omar Apollo, originally released in 2019. On the project, the first-generation Mexican-American singer fluidly channels elements of jazz, R&B, funk, alternative, soul and pop music through his own lens, cementing his stance as one of 2019’s breakout stars. After introducing himself in 2018 with his critically-acclaimed debut EP Stereo, Omar has continued to ascend as an undeniable talent to watch. Friends showcases the seamless versatility Omar carved out on previously-released singles “Friends,” “Ashamed,” and “Trouble,” culminating in a vibrant and thoughtful body of work.

BAT FOR LASHES – The Dream of Delphi CD/LP (Decca)
Bat for Lashes is known for her otherworldly albums with lead characters Laura, Daniel and The Bride. For the first time, Natasha writes about her personal experiences and the magical, sometimes melancholy, intimacy of early motherhood. [An Indie Exclusive Red LP is available] 

JPEGMAFIA – All My Heroes Are Cornballs [Reissue/2019] LP (Many Hats)
JPEGMAFIA – LP [Reissue/2021] (Many Hats)
JPEGMAFIA – Veteran [Reissue/2018] LP(Many Hats)
Limited colored vinyl reissues of JPEGMAFIA’s three most recent studio albums. 

R.E.M. – Fables Of Reconstruction [Reissue/1985] CD/LP (IRS)
R.E.M.’s third studio album, Fables of the Reconstruction, was originally released in 1985 and features such classics as “Driver 8,” “Can’t Get There From Here,” and “Life And How To Live It.” The gold-certified record has been faithfully restored on vinyl.

BUFFALO TOM – Jump Rope CD/LP (Music On Vinyl)
After six years, the American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom are back with their tenth full-length studio album, titled Jump Rope. During lockdown, the band kept on writing and sent each other ideas for arrangements and parts, which resulted in a sizable backlog of song ideas. A sort of direction made itself apparent from the ideas they were trading; most of the songs called for acoustic, quieter production. Eventually, emerging from their basements, they slowly got to actually working together on the songs in the same room, rehearsing quietly (especially for the super-loud Buffalo Tom), with acoustic guitar. After giving most of the songs a good amount of overdubs and a lot of electric guitars, the songs evolved into this beautiful and thrilling new Buffalo Tom album: Jump Rope.

CROWDED HOUSE – Gravity Stairs CD/LP (BMG)
Crowded House delivers Gravity Stairs, their new studio album. Produced by the band with Steven Schram, the 11-track long-player follows 2021’s Dreamers are Waiting and is the second with the current line-up of Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mitchell Froom and Neil’s sons Elroy and Liam Finn

EXODUS – British Disaster LP (Nuclear Blast)
Fabulous Disaster is the third studio album by American thrash metal band EXODUS, released on January 30, 1989.  Exodus toured for five months to promote the release of Fabulous Disaster and embarked on a month-long European tour with Nuclear Assault and Acid Reign. The band wrapped up the album tour, performing at The Fillmore in San Francisco on July 14, 1989, which was recorded for the band’s first live album Good Friendly Violent Fun and released two years later. However, things could have been different back then, because on the night of March 8, 1989 another show was recorded, a show that saw them destroy the stage of The Astoria in London! A night that went down in history and became legendary among Exodus and thrash metal fans worldwide! This recording has remained unheard and kept in the Exodus vaults until now! 35 years later this rager of a show will finally be released for the first time ever!

RAUL GOMEZ – Instrumental Raul Gomez LP (Mr Bongo)
For the next reissue in Mr Bongo’s Cuban Classics series, we look to Raúl Gómez’s entrancing 1977 Instrumental album. Presenting a unique blend of orchestral disco and jazz-funk, with Afro-Cuban flavors and soundtrack influences, it’s rich with drum breaks, energy and evolving compositions. A record that forever keeps you guessing, powered by an exemplary orchestra at the top of their game. Cuban composer and singer Raúl Gómez is most known for featuring in the groups Mirtha Y Raul and Los Bucaneros alongside producing the Cuban classic Los Reyes 73 album, amongst a whole host of other incredible productions over the years. Released on Cuba’s state-owned label Areito, Instrumental sees Gómez not only as an instrumentalist and author, but also as a producer and arranger.

LUCIUS – Wildewoman (The New Recordings) CD/LP (Fantasy)
Produced and mixed by Dan Molad, Wildewoman (The New Recordings) re-imagines and expands Lucius’ sparkling debut album, enhancing it’s instrumentation and deepening these remarkable songs. The new, 13-track set features friends Marcus Mumford on “Go Home (The New Recording),” and Devon Gilfillian on “Tempest (The New Recording).” The CD and vinyl version also features close friend and collaborator Brandi Carlile on the previously unreleased fan favorite “Housewarming (The New Recording).” CD Softpak

MESSER CHUPS – Dark Side Of Paradise LP (Hi-Tide Recordings)
Join Zombierella, Guitaracula & (introducing) Signor Mattia on their latest adventure to the Dark Side of Paradise – the all-new studio album from your favorite spooky-surf combo Messer Chups!

JACO PASTORIUS – Invitation [Reissue/1983] LP (Music On Vinyl)
Limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on red colored 180-gram audiophile vinyl. Invitation was the third album by Jaco Pastorius, originally released in 1983 while the bassist was a member of Weather Report. This is a live album recorded at various venues during a tour of Japan, featuring his Word of Mouth big band. While his debut album Jaco Pastorius showcased his eclectic and impressive skills on the electric bass, both Invitation and his previous album, Word of Mouth focused more on his ability to arrange for a larger band. This album features mostly numbers written by other artists. The exceptions are ‘Continuum’, from his debut album, and ‘Liberty City,’ from Word of Mouth, as well as ‘Reza,’ an original number bookending his version of John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. The band’s all-star cast included Randy Brecker, Bobby Mintzer, Toots Thielemans, Peter Erskine, Othello Molineaux and Don Alias.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY / NATHAN SALSBURG – Hear The Children Sing The Evidence LP
NX WORRIES – Why Lawd? CD/LP
PEGGY GOU – I Hear You CD/LP
EELS – Eels Time CD/LP
CHARLI XCX – Brat CD/LP
BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN – Keep Me On Your Mind / Set You Free CD/LP
BLOSSOM DEARIE – Great Women Of Song CD/LP
GOAT GIRL – Below The Waste CD/LP
UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS – Nell’ Ora Blu CD/LP
MAN MAN – Carrot On Strings CD/LP
PEDRO THE LION – Santa Cruz CD/LP/CASS
STRAND OF OAKS – Miracle Focus CD/LP
ACTRESS – Statik LP
TOPS – Picture Of You Staring LP (10th Anniv)
COLIN STETSON – All This I Do For Glory LP
MARGO GURYAN – Words + Music CD/LP
CURE – Japanese Whispers Cure Singles 82-83 LP reissue
FUTURE + METRO BOOMIN – We Still Don’t Trust You CD
ERIC CHENAUX TRIO – Delights Of My Life CD/LP
SOFTIES – Holiday In Rhode Island LP reissue
THOU – Umbilical LP
CHRIS ISAAK – Heart Shaped World LP
MURLOCS – Young Blindness LP
MURLOCS – Live At The Teragram Ballroom LP
CHARIZMA – Big Shots LP