STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Unwound and Emiliana Torrini
Dario – Pond and Lana Del Rabies
Kimber – Menahan Street Band
Jake – Unwound and Sufjan Stevens reissue 
Zach – Sam Morton and The Shacks
Ash – Spiritualized reissue

Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans [Reissue/2004] LP (Asthmatic Kitty)
The follow-up to 2003’s Michigan, Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans was originally released March 2004. At the time the Guardian dubbed it “a record of remarkable delicacy,” and Billboard called it a “constantly moving, subtly beautiful experience.” And in the twenty years since its release, Seven Swans has cemented its place as a seminal album in Sufjan’s catalog. Available on silver vinyl, with a flexi disc containing extra tracks!

Unwound – A Single History: 1991-2001 [Reissue/1999] LP (Numero)
An expanded and remastered 25th anniversary edition of the mythical Olympia, Washington, trio’s out of print singles and compilation tracks, A Single History 1991-2001 gathers odds and ends from across Unwound’s first decade. From their earliest post-hardcore squeals on “Crab Nebula” to the dub-inspired death march of “Behold The Salt,” this 23-track double LP fills in the distorted gaps of their initial seven album run. [Indie Exclusive white vinyl is available]

Spiritualized – Songs In A&E [Reissue/2008] CD/LP (Fat Possum)
Songs in A&E is the sixth studio album by English rock band Spiritualized and is their first since 2003’s Amazing Grace. The album was originally released in 2008. This reissue features alternate artwork.

 

 

Emiliana Torrini – Miss Flower CD/LP (Groenland Records)
Known for her ethereal voice and eclectic musical style, Torrini gained international recognition with her album Love in the Time of Science in 1999. In 2024 Emiliana Torrini returns with her fulminant new album Miss Flower.

 

Islands – What Occurs CD/LP (Elf)
What Occurs is Islands’ 10th album. It was recorded, mixed and mastered entirely on Vancouver Island, the birthplace of Islands’ songwriter Nick Thorburn and his first record made on the island. The album functions like a collection of short stories, each song telling a different tale: A man steals a billionaire’s painting, (“David Geffen’s Jackson Pollock”), a woman is terrified of intimacy but great at dancing (“Arachnophobia”), and a lovelorn loser does everything wrong (“Drown A Fish”). [A gold color vinyl pressing is available.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sade – Diamond Life [Reissue/1984] LP (Epic)
Sade – Promise [Reissue/1985] LP (Epic)
Sade – Stronger Than Pride [Reissue/1988] LP (Epic)
180gm half-speed mastered vinyl reissues of the British soul/smooth jazz artist’s first three albums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Queens Of The Stone Age – Queens Of The Stone Age [Reissue/1998] CD/2xLP (Matador)
Reissue of the digitally remastered and expanded edition of Queens of the Stone Age’s legendary 1998 debut album.

 

 

 

Sam Morton – Daffodils & Dirt CD/LP (XL)
SAM MORTON – the musical duo comprising singer, songwriter and acclaimed BAFTA award winning actor and director Samantha Morton, and music producer and artist Richard Russell (Everything is Recorded). Daffodils & Dirt is a biographical brooding, poetic first statement of songs, couched in unsettling and raw musical storytelling with Richard Russell production. Entering the musical space with collaborators; Jack Penate, Laura Groves, Alabaster DePlume and Ali Campbell (UB40). SAM MORTON has had early support from Lauren Laverne BBC 6 Music, Boomkat and The Guardian. As collaborations go, you couldn’t ask for something more unforeseeable or more sublime, and it speaks not only to Morton’s bravery and the unerring quality of Russell’s instinct, but to their individual artistry, and to the creative sparks that fly between them when they’re together, something Pierre Guyotat once described as “the duel with beauty, which is the writing of a work.”

Passion Pit – Manners [Reissue/2009] LP (French Kiss)
The debut album by Passion Pit, Manners, is back in-print, available in lavender and orange for its 15th Anniversary. Remastered for vinyl with a full gatefold jacket that displays alternative artwork only previously available on the CD.

 

 

Kool Keith – Feature Magnetic LP (Mello Music)
Tricolor canary cake vinyl. In a world full of cheesecake rappers, one man has assembled a phenomenal team to bring you madness. The original originator, ultramagnetic, high-wire rap legend Kool Keith brings a star-studded album to the fore. Feature Magnetic highlights MF DOOM, Slug of Atmosphere, Mac Mall, Necro, Craig G, Dirt Nasty, Ras Kass and more.

The Story So Far – I Want To Disappear CD/LP (Pure Noise)
Produced by Jon Markson (Drug Church, KOYO), The Story So Far’s fifth album features the previously released single “Big Blind” alongside nine brand new tracks. I Want To Disappear comes nearly six years after the band’s previous album Proper Dose, which debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200 chart. [An indie store exclusive orange splatter color vinyl pressing is available.]

Pond – Stung! CD/LP (Spinning Top)
Pond is one of the most versatile, inquisitive, and accomplished bands of the psychedelic rock vanguard. Stung! delivers some of Pond’s most glorious rock songs ever and some of their least rock moments, all psychedelic drapery or funk enthusiasm. There are so many reasons to cry and so many reasons to marvel. Can’t they all, Pond suggests with Stung!, be reasons to sing? [An indie store exclusive “bee” splatter color vinyl pressing is available.]

Kehlani – Crash CD/LP (Atlantic)
In Kehlani’s words: “A crash, in any form, is the peak height of the moment. It isn’t the anxiety of the before, or the lament after. It is the ever so imperative present. A space with no reminisce, no remorse, and no afterthought. CRASH IS HERE. At my most free, most fun, most loud, most fueled, so far.” [available on black and indie exclusive blue vinyl.]

Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore  – TexiCali CD/LP (Yep Roc)
TexiCali, the new album from Grammy winner Dave Alvin and Grammy nominee Jimmie Dale Gilmore, continues to bridge the distance between the two troubadours’ respective home bases of California (Alvin) and Texas (Gilmore). The geographic theme reflects Alvin’s repeated journeys to record in Central Texas with Gilmore and the Austin-based backing band that has toured with the duo for the past few years. As Alvin puts it in the liner notes, those road trips informed the music they made on TexiCali. The 11 songs on this double LP also connect their shared fondness for a broad range of American music forms. Gilmore is primarily known for left-of-center country music, while Alvin’s compass points largely toward old-school blues. But there’s a lot of ground to cover beyond those foundations, and both artists also are well-known for transcending genre limitations. So it’s not surprising that they’ve spiked TexiCali with cosmic folk narratives, deep R&B grooves and even swinging reggae rhythms. 

La Dispute – Here, Hear IV LP (Many Hats)
On sky blue and mint green colored vinyl. Here, Hear is an ongoing creative series born in 2007 to deepen understanding of themes and ideas present in proper album releases through added musical and lyrical context for listeners interested in small peeks behind the songwriting curtain. The end results are songs written and recorded layer by layer, member by member, all around a central suggestion or restriction, discussed at length on Patreon and via recorded podcast conversations dissecting the experience.

Gracie Abrams – The Secret Of Us CD/LP (Interscope)
Gracie Abrams returns with her sophomore album, The Secret Of Us. This is Gracie’s most expansive body of work both sonically and narratively. Coming off the heels of her hugely successful debut Good Riddance, Gracie shows us how much she has accomplished in one short year. Gracie’s growth as a songwriter and vocalist is showcased in her most extroverted album yet, as she continues to work with longtime collaborator Aaron Dessner. A portion of these songs were also written with Gracie’s best friend, Audrey Hobert. This album was written with the urgency with which you run home to detail every moment of a night to your friend, with her live experiences over the past year having deeply shaped the identity of this album. [A yellow vinyl pressing is available.]

Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin [Reissue/2010] LP (French Kiss)
Super limited blue reissue. Les Savy Fav have been underground indie-rock darlings for forever. This is as much a consequence of singer Tim Harrington’s eccentric onstage antics as their DIY ethos – all but one of their albums have been released on bassist Syd Butler’s Frenchkiss Records. After a decade and a half, which includes a year-long hiatus, the five-piece released a fifth studio album in 2010, Root For Ruin, which came complete with the Fugazi-inspired post-hardcore quirks of previous LSF offerings.

British Sea Power – The Decline Of British Sea Power [Reissue/2003] LP (Golden Chariot)
Released on the band’s own Golden Chariot Records label comes this lovingly rendered reissue of The Decline Of British Sea Power, the band’s debut album, originally released in June 2003 to huge critical acclaim and available now on yellow color vinyl for the first time.

 

Linda Thompson – Proxy Music CD/LP+MP3 (Storysound)
The revered British singer/songwriter Linda Thompson’s latest project is a rather unique proposition. On the aptly named Proxy Music, Thompson shares 11 previously unrecorded, original songs that have been recorded by members of her family, long-time friends, and admirers.

 

Lake Street Dive – Good Together CD/LP (Fantasy)
Produced by Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow), Lake Street Dive’s new album Good Together is an eclectic set of genre-bending songs that could only have come from popular music’s most agile and compelling outliers. Fusing pop, R&B, soul and jazz, Lake Street Dive have created the most confident and accomplished recording of their career. [An indie store exclusive translucent light blue vinyl LP is available.]

The Shacks – Big Crown Vaults Vol. 2 LP (Big Crown)
When Big Crown was brand new The Shacks were one of the first bands signed. Shannon was still 17, so they had to wait until her eighteenth birthday to sign the contract. Their introduction to the world was a feature on an El Michels Affair track “Strange Boy” and it did not take long for them to catch on from there. Next was the B side of that El Michels Affair 45 “No Surprise” and the momentum kept going for them.The Shacks got invited to tour the US and Europe with Chicano Batman and Khruangbin. It was during one of those runs that the Apple ad happened. Their cover of “This Strange Effect,” got placed in a global ad campaign and the director insisted that Shannon star in the spot. That ad ran on every major TV network in the US, playing during the Superbowl, SNL, and every other high profile thing airing during that time. Then they rolled it out across the globe amassing something to the tune of a billion views. As fate would have it though, before the next album was finished, things fell apart for the band. Choosing to part ways in 2020 for good, Shannon and Max set out on different paths to pursue separate careers and leave The Shacks behind. During the heyday for them when they were not on the road they were recording and they were very prolific in their output. A lot of those songs never saw the light of day. Here on Big Crown Vaults Vol. 2 are some of the best of those unreleased tracks and some things that never saw a vinyl pressing together for the fans to enjoy. The Shacks catalog of music is incredible and will be here forever for us to enjoy. 

Menahan Street Band – Tropical Man 12” (Diamond West)
It’s the origin story for a Samba Super Hero: Rogȇ, a mild-mannered sambista is accidentally exposed to intense levels of funk and transforms into… “Tropical Man.” The song isn’t his first collaboration with Tommy “TNT” Brenneck, the producer behind Budos Band, Charles Bradley, Molly Lewis, and Menahan Street and more, but it’s the perfect introduction to the Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist. Building off of last year’s Curyman, Rogȇ’s international debut on Diamond West Records, the Tropical Man 12″ EP documents one insane night in the studio with the Menahan Street Band as they unlock a previously unreachable hybrid of samba and soul music. 

Kate Nash – 9 Sad Symphonies CD/LP (Kill Rock Stars)
Kate Nash’s new album 9 Sad Symphonies is her first signed to the legendary Kill Rock Stars label. The album was produced and mixed by Grammy winning Danish producer Frederik Thaae (K Flay, Jada, Crown The Empire). Marking a new chapter in Kate’s illustrious career, the album’s lyrical scope is both deeply personal and achingly relatable, while its orchestral arrangements and melodies draw from Kate’s experience in the world of musical theater. [A baby pink color vinyl pressing is available.]

Sumac –The Healer CD/LP (Thrill Jockey)
On The Healer, the new full length from Northwest-based trio SUMAC consisting of guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner, bassist Brian Cook, and drummer Nick Yacyshyn, the group deepens its multi-faceted exploration into the parallel experiences of creation and destruction. Over the course of 4 tracks in 76 minutes, SUMAC presents a sequence of shifting movements which undergo a constant process of expansion, contraction, corruption and regrowth.

Lana Del Rabies – Shadow World LP (Deathbound Arc)
Originally released in 2018, first time on vinyl. Phoenix, AZ based drone / rhythmic noise / industrial artist Lana Del Rabies’s third studio album Shadow World sees a wide vinyl release for the first time. 

 

Aaron Dilloway / John Cage – Rozart Mix LP (Hanson)
Aaron Dilloway takes on John Cage’s influential 1965 tape collage Rozart Mix, enlisting Robert Turman and John Wiese, plus friends, to play back 88 tape loops spooled around several floors of the John Cage Trust building in New York. The resulting 6 hour performance, played on 12 individually amplified reel-to-reel machines, is here edited down to a fractious 30 minute madness, fully unhinged – even by Dilloway’s standards.

Lankum – Live in Dublin LP (Rough Trade)
Recorded across three sold out nights at Dublin’s Vicar Street, following the release of their fourth studio album False Lankum, Live in Dublin features Lankum performing songs from across their catalog including ‘The Rocky Road To Dublin’, which up until now has never been officially released.

 

The Decemberists – Her Majesty The Decemberists [Reissue/2003] (Kill Rock Stars)
Limited color reissue of the band’s second full length record. 

 

 

 

COMING NEXT WEEK!
WASHED OUT – Notes From A Quiet Life CD/LP
AARON FRAZER – Into The Blue LP
DURAND JONES –  Witchoo 7″
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – Merriweather Post Pavilion LP reissue
ISOBEL CAMPBELL – Bow To Love LP
CAN – Live In Aston 1977 LP
DIRTY THREE – Love Changes Everything CD/LP
HOMESHAKE – Horsie LP
SML – Small Medium Large LP
HANK MOBLEY w/DONALD BYRD LP
BEYONCE – Cowboy Carter Official LP
JOHNNY CASH – Songwriter LP
PREFUSE 73 – New Strategies For Modern Crime Vol 1 + 2 LP
IMAGINE DRAGONS – Looms CD/LP
FELICE BROTHERS – Valley Of Abandoned Songs CD/LP
JXDN –  When The Music Stops LP
LOCAL NATIVES – But I’ll Wait For You CD/LP
NATHANIEL RATELIFF + THE NIGHT SWEATS – South Of Here CD/LP
NEIL YOUNG – Early Daze CD/LP
OMAR APOLLO – God Said No CD/LP
LUPE FIASCO – Samurai CD/LP
HIATUS KAIYOTE – Love Heart CD/LP
FOLK IMPLOSION – Walk Thru Me CD/LP
LOMA – How Will I Live Without A Body CD/LP
MOUNTAIN GOATS – Coroner’s Gambit LP reissue
SHUDDER TO THINK – 1987 LP
WORSE CASE SCENARIO – Studies In Pessimism LP