The Bevis Frond – We’re Your Friends, Man CD/LP+MP3 (Fire)
“Docking alongside the Mothership Frond, with its insignia emblazoned with the legend We’re Your Friends, Man, you can hear a smattering of Hendrixonian guitar wafting through the cavernous recess of this vessel. You can hear a Love-like strum, a melancholy verse/chorus; you can hear proper songs with uplifting guitar salvos releasing the pressure on the thinking man’s pontifications on growing old, putting things in order and the sense of wonder of how we all got here. This is The Bevis Frond’s umpteenth mission, like Dark Star troopers they know the drill and in epic soundtrack proportions they clock in with just under 90 minutes of grown up angst, a semi-autobiographical romp from the director who has an eye for this; nothing short of a genius auteur. To the point, on the money; it’s dramatic, plucking at the heart-strings, spilling one liners, milking the past and crafting something completely new.”

Cardi B – Invasion Of Privacy CD/2xLP+MP3 (Atlantic)
Comprised of a contagious mix of street rap, Latin music and R&B buoyed by a stack of famous guest artists like Migos, Chance The Rapper, YG and SZA, the self-made 25-year old Bronx native not only asserts herself as a force to be reckoned with here but proves she’s a perfectly timed modern pop star with staying power in the process.

Coldplay – A Head Full Of Dreams: Live In São Paulo/ Live In Buenos Aires 2xCD/2xCD+2xDVD/3xLP+2xDVD (Atlantic)
The Live In Buenos Aires album was recorded on November 15, 2017 – the final night of the A Head Full Of Dreams Tour. The 24-track audio set marks the first time that a Coldplay concert has been released in its entirety. The accompanying two-hour concert film Live In São Paulo was filmed a week earlier on November 8, 2017. The combined live album/live concert film release – also known as “The Butterfly Package” – is completed by the new A Head Full Of Dreams documentary film, which charts Coldplay’s colorful 20 year history.

Generationals – State Dogs: Singles 2017-18 CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
Frustrated by the conventional approach of making albums, where new songs might not be released for six months or more after being recorded, Generationals – the duo of Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner – took a more immediate approach by releasing a slew of standalone tracks throughout 2017 and 2018. And now, for the first time, the nine singles the band unveiled digitally (along with an exclusive, previously unreleased tenth song) will receive a physical release as State Dogs: Singles 2017-18. Though the songs on this collection were conceived at various times over the past couple of years, they stand together as a testament to Generationals’ songwriting prowess and ability to craft infectious melodies at any given moment.

Hammock – Universalis CD (Hammock Music)
Nashville’s Hammock follows up 2017’s critically-acclaimed Mysterium with Universalis, the second installment of a planned three-album series. While Mysterium took listeners down a horizontal path that explored themes of death and grief, Universalis begins a vertical, upward movement back into the light. At times, Universalis rediscovers early influences like Low and Red House Painters, while also retaining Mysterium‘s deep ambient, neoclassical style.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – Live At KEXP! CD/LP (Colemine)
This session was released on vinyl for the first time for RSD 2018, marking the first full KEXP session ever to be pressed on vinyl. Now it’s available once again on black vinyl and CD.

LP – Heart To Mouth CD (Vagrant)
LP’s most personal offering to date, Heart To Mouth lives up to its name with the kind of unbridled, unfiltered, and undeniable song-craft that cemented her as a fan favorite. Of the record, she said, “When I get on the mic and start doing melodies, I can feel that direct line from my heart to my mouth. In the past, there was a city full of streets that needed my attention. Now, I feel like I have a major highway to communicate emotion from. Whether they’re sadder songs or big anthems, they all come from the same place.”

Redd Kross – Teen Babes From Monsanto [Reissue/1984] CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Redd Kross – Hot Issue [Reissue/2016] CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
CD and limited colored vinyl reissues of Redd Kross’s sophomore album and 2016 rarities collection.

Richard Swift – The Hex CD/LP (Secretly Canadian)
Richard Swift believed in and sought real beauty. And so, even at its most caustic and sardonic, his masterpiece swan song The Hex is beautiful. Conceived in pieces over the last several years and completed just the month before his passing, The Hex is the grand statement Swift acolytes have been a-wishin-and-a-hopin’ for all these years. After a career of sticking some of his finest songs on EPs and 45s, here are all his powers coalescing into a single, long-player statement.

Richard Swift – The Novelist / Walking Without Effort [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Secretly Canadian)
Richard Swift’s duo debuts, The Novelist and Walking Without Effort, are fraternal twins wrestling with same Big Questions in opposite ways – one toiling in a cinderblock basement slugging typewriter coffee; one lost on the Pacific Coast Highway, looking again and again for something in a sunset that just ain’t there. One’s wheezing through a crusty gramophone in some Artie Shaw air-conditioned nightmare; one’s gliding on the soft tape of an 8-Track, fat tears welling up behind those outlandish ’70s sunglasses. Taken together, they speak to Swift’s wild, preternatural shapeshifting ability, an auteur’s understanding of mood and place.

Bauhaus ‎– Best Of Bauhaus | Crackle [Reissue/1998] 2xLP (Beggars Banquet)
Celebrating 40 years of Bauhaus, Beggars Banquet offer up a colored double vinyl reissue of the band’s 1998 Best Of Bauhaus | Crackle which presents a 16-track selection of their finest works from across their revered catalog including fan favorites, covers, non-album singles and alternate versions.

Lauryn Hill ‎– MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 [Reissue/2002] 2xLP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Lauryn Hill is best known for being a member of The Fugees and for her critically acclaimed solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won numerous awards, broke several sales records and was listed by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest albums of all time.

The Hold Steady ‎– Stay Positive [Reissue/2880] 3xLP (Vagrant)
10th anniversary reissue on 3xLP triple gatefold with die cut jacket. Cut at 45rpm for audiophiles. Includes original album, rarities, plus three never before released tracks.

Los Straitjackets – Complete Christmas Songbook LP+MP3 (Yep Roc)
Compiles the entirety of two Los Straitjackets Christmas albums (2002’s ‘Tis the Season For Los Straitjackets and 2009’s limited edition Yuletide Beat), a limited edition 45 single (2011’s “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” b/w “Silver Bells”), a song from Yep Roc’s 2007 Oh Santa! Compilation, and the live version of “Linus & Lucy” from the band’s 2015 tour with Nick Lowe

Morrissey – Low In High School [Deluxe Edition] 2xLP (Etienne)
Deluxe expanded vinyl edition of Morrissey’s 2017 album includes his newly recorded cover of The Pretenders’ “Back On The Chain Gang,” five live B-sides from the recording session, three unreleased tracks, a limited edition lithographed photograph of Morrissey, and a rare version of a photo booth portrait taken when the legendary frontman was a student.

This Mortal Coil – It’ll End In Tears [Reissue/1984] LP (4AD)
This Mortal Coil – Filigree & Shadow [Reissue/1986] 2xLP (4AD)
This Mortal Coil – Blood [Reissue/1991] 2xLP (4AD)
Remastered from the original master tapes by band and 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell on 180gm vinyl with re-imagined artwork by Watts-Russell and Vaughan Oliver. The inspiration of Ivo Watts-Russell, This Mortal Coil emerged in the early-80s when the post-punk scene was splintering in exciting new ways and Ivo’s then-fledgling record label 4AD was in the thick of it all. This Mortal Coil were not a band per se, never performing live, rather a collaboration of musicians, with both Ivo and co-producer John Fryer the only constants while the cast rotated. Experimentation was rife over three albums, they produced a heady mix of original works, musical links and reinterpretations of impeccably curated songs; helping to introduce a new audience to the talents of a previous generation, including Big Star, Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, Spirit, Gene Clark, Dino Valenti, Rain Parade, Emmylou Harris, Syd Barrett and Colin Newman.

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
CHICANO BATMAN – Cycles Of Existential Rhyme/Joven 2CD
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE – Reverse of Rebirth In Universe CD/LP
SELLING – On Reflection CD/LP (Gold Panda + Simian Mobile Disco)
BABE RAINBOW – Double Rainbow LP
BETA BAND – Heroes To Zeros CD/LP
CHVRCHES – Hansa Session 12″
DECEMBERISTS – Traveling On CDEP/10″
DEPECHE MODE – Construction Time Again reissue LPBox
DEPECHE MODE – Some Great Reward reissue LPBox
PRIMUS – Animals Should Not Try And Act Like People LP reissue
PRIMUS – Antipop LP reissue
PRIMUS – Rhinoplasty LP reissue
LEE RANALDO – Electric Trim Live at Rough Trade LP
NEIL YOUNG – Songs For Judy LP
ATMOSPHERE – When Live Gives You Lemons LP reissue
ROBYN – Honey LP