Sam Amidon – But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted [Reissue/2006] CD/LP+MP3 (Omnivore)

Before Sam Amidon’s acclaimed albums for Nonesuch Records and Bedroom Community, he’d released a few on his own. After a collection of traditional Irish instrumentals, Amidon (as Samamidon) delivered his true “debut” But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted. Recorded in 2005 with longtime collaborator Thomas Bartlett (Mumford & Sons, Sufjan Stevens, The National, David Byrne), Vermont-born Amidon re-imagines traditional songs alongside covers as diverse as Mississippi John Hurt to Tears For Fears, and rearranges them into his own unique and mesmerizing compositions. (The CD reissue has been expanded with ten bonus tracks, while the single disc vinyl edition includes a download for the bonus tracks, and is pressed on translucent blue wax.)

Coldplay – A Head Full Of Dreams CD/2xLP+MP3 (Atlantic/Parlophone)

Coldplay’s seventh album features guests Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, Tove Lo and Merry Clayton, (the latter a prominent feature on the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”). In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Chris Martin described the new album as “the sound of us being free and happy and very grateful to be in our group.” The HQ-180gm vinyl edition is pressed on colored (one pink and one blue) wax.

Laddio Bolocko – Live & Unreleased 1997-2000 2xCD+DVD (No Quarter)

Laddio Bolocko was a band from New York City in the mid-‘90s who toured the US and Europe relentlessly during their four year run. Pitchfork wrote in 2003 that the group, “effortlessly converged at the service of drive and trance, occasionally jutting out unpredictably into harsher realms. Live, they were a powerhouse, and though their recorded history is brief, it demonstrates a remarkable range of expression, precision and raw power.” This set collects all unreleased material from the bands time living in a DUMBO (Brooklyn) rehearsal space and an abandoned ski lodge in the Catskill mountains, as well as live recordings from Slovenia. The DVD includes over two hours of footage shot on Super 8 film. Vinyl edition due January 22.

Lil BUB – Science & Magic: A Soundtrack to the Universe CD/LP (Joyful Noise)

“Lil BUB has had her paws in the music world for quite some time now. She’s tight with Steve Albini, produced a single for Kelley Deal, worked closely with David Yow, collaborated with Andrew W.K., spearheaded 50 Bands And A Cat (she’s the cat), been held by Jonathan Richman, has a song written for her by Kimya Dawson, was rapped about by Aesop Rock, enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Murder By Death, appeared in The Foo Fighters’ HBO documentary, Sonic Highways, was the July, 2014 cover story for SPIN Magazine, and appears on Run The Jewels’ Meow The Jewels record made up entirely of cat sounds. And now she’s finally ready to blow minds with the very first full length concept album written by a magical space cat, and it’s darn good.”

Johnny Marr – Adrenalin Baby: Johnny Marr Live CD/2xLP (New Voodoo)

Adrenalin Baby was recorded primarily at Marr’s Brixton Academy and Manchester Apollo shows during his Playland tour in support of The Messenger and Playland. In addition to material from his solo albums, Adrenalin Baby also features takes on The Smiths’ classics “The Headmaster Ritual,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” and “How Soon Is Now?.” The collection is completed by Electronic’s “Getting Away With It” and Johnny’s interpretation of “I Fought The Law.” (Vinyl edition pressed on pink wax.)

Modern Baseball – MoBo Presents: The Perfect Cast EP featuring Modern Baseball CDEP/12”    (Lame-O)

New six-song EP released in advance of their forthcoming album Holy Ghost (release date TBA). “Co-frontman Brendan Lukens opened up to Spin about his battle with depression and anxiety, which he writes about in his new songs. ‘The Waterboy Returns’ is one of their most melodically upbeat songs, yet features dark lyrics such as ‘Hey you, that’s no way out / You can’t find help in a bottle or a cut,’ which reflect Luken’s personal struggles. ‘The Thrash Particle’ is a slower track where Brendan opens up about heartbreak and reflects on expressing his feelings through songwriting within the actual lyrics. ‘You suggested I write a song about the first time we met / Well I don’t wanna remember there or then.’” – Brooklyn Vegan

Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy [Reissue/2005] 3xCD/3xLP+MP3 (Jagjaguwar)

Okkervil River’s third studio album, the iconic Black Sheep Boy, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, Jagjaguwar has released this special triple-disc set featuring the original 2005 LP, its companion compilation Black Sheep Boy Appendix, and There Swims A Swan, a collection of previously unreleased covers of Washington Phillips, Roscoe Holcomb, and many others.

Sunn O))) – Kannon CD/LP (Southern Lord)

Composed in the after-shadow of Sunn O)))’s most recent successes in immersive collaboration — the group having worked with Scott Walker on Soused, and Ulver onTerrestrials in 2013 and 2014 — and also from the broad and influential wake of their epitomic Monoliths & Dimensions, Kannon emerged both independently as a conceptual entity and with roots in the legacies of those projects, yet was fully realized years later in 2015. The album includes performances by long term allies and collaborators Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, and Steve Moore to name a few. At the core, the composition centers around the dynamic and intense guitar and bass interplay of Sunn O)))’s founders: Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson.

Alan Vega/Alex Chilton/Ben Vaughn – Cubist Blues [Reissue/1996] CD+MP3/2xLP+MP3 (Light In The Attic)

Alan Vega/Alex Chilton/Ben Vaughn – Cubist Blues: Live At Trans Musicales, Rennes, France, 7^th December 1996 2xLP+MP3 (Light In The Attic)

The unlikely union of Suicide’s Alan Vega, Big Star’s Alex Chilton, and singer-songwriter Ben Vaughn happened in December 1994 in a fog of cigarette smoke at two barely-lit, all-night improv sessions at Dessau Studios in New York. What transpired was the group’s only release, a brilliant album called Cubist Blues. Some kind of alchemy happened. The elements are disparate Vega, known for Suicide’s grinding, pre-industrial drone, Chilton for his ultra-melodic FM rock, and Vaughn for his outsider art. Put together, what came out was something totally unexpected, a long, mesmeric incantation built on Elvis-meets-Ian Curtis vocals, rockabilly guitar, growling synths, and metronomic drums. (CD version includes download card for Live At Trans Musicales, Rennes, France, 7th December 1996 – which is available separately on vinyl.)

BØRNS – Dopamine LP (Interscope)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Growing up in coastal Michigan, Garrett Borns moved from one inspiration to another. His first artistic love was visual arts and then came music thanks to an eccentric piano teacher. At the age of fifteen BØRNS attended the prestigious summer program at Interlochen Center for the Arts to study filmmaking while writing songs on the side with the music majors. Playing local gigs through high school and college, BØRNS ended up in a secluded treehouse home in the Los Angeles canyons where he wrote his debut Candy EP, a set that filters the singer s naturally moody, sensual sound through an explosion of sunlight, as he puts it.

Holy Sons – Decline Of The West Vol. I & II 2xLP (Partisan)

Emil Amos, world renowned as drummer of the experimental rock groups Om and Grails, has had an increasingly prolific, though relatively unknown, solo career under the moniker Holy Sons. Home recording over 1000 songs since the project’s inception in 1992, Decline represents a vital intersection of style and method in Emil Amos’ songwriting and production, combining his genre-hopping tendencies and no-rules mixing methods with the more hook-driven, straight-to-the-jugular phrasing that he has been honing for the last 15 years. Holy Sons’ minimalist avant-folk sound journeys through formats as varied as dub, church-hymn, slow-jam, tape-collage, and hip-hop beats ornamented with obtuse banjo-sitar runs, all performed with an inspired punk spirit.

Inventions – Blanket Waves 12” (Temporary Residence)

When Explosions In The Sky’s Mark T. Smith and Eluvium’s Matthew Cooper united as Inventions last year, the expectation was a sound that married Smith’s iconic, emotional compositions with Cooper’s introspective, occasionally noisy ambiance. For the most part, their debut album delivered on that promise. However, their quick follow-up, Maze Of Woods, exploded those sounds and smeared them into a rich, abstract space where comfort and confusion coexist. The duo’s individual identities dissolved into a fluid, ever-changing landscape of mechanical rhythms, vocal samples, and indeterminate instrumentation. It was uniquely haunting, and brilliantly executed. Blanket Wavescontinues in the direction charted on Maze Of Woods increasingly malleable, and even farther-reaching in its blurring of dream and reality.

Nirvana – Nirvana [Reissue/2002] 2xLP+MP3 (Geffen)

Originally released in 2002, Nirvana is a collection that features hits and fan favorites as well as the rare and previously unreleased studio version of “You Know You’re Right,” the last song the band ever recorded, available exclusively on this compilation. (Available in standard 150gm and HQ-200gm audiophile vinyl cut at 45rpm. Includes hi-res audio download.)