• What's New 2-26-21

  

  The Hold Steady

  Open Door Policy

  Positive Jams

  Open Door Policy is The Hold Steady's 8th full length studio album and the follow up to 2019's Thrashing Thru The Passion. Produced by Josh Kaufman (The National, Hiss Golden Messenger, Josh Ritter), this new release once again finds the 6-piece line up in peak form in what Craig Finn describes as "the best band we've ever been".

  

  Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians

  Hunter and The Star Dog

  Shuffle Records

  Despite the fact that it emerges in an era of struggle and strife, The Dog Star a remarkably uplifting effort sharing a decidedly modern sound, one rooted in a freewheeling pop approach. From the effusive opener, “Sleeve,” and the upbeat entry that follows, the half-spoken “Don’t Get in the Bed Dirty,” to the album’s riveting conclusion, “My Power,” the songs soar on the strength of their effusive arrangements and sparkling, shimmering melodies.

  

  Adrian Younge

  The American Negro

  Jazz Is Dead

  The American Negro is an unapologetic critique, detailing the systemic and malevolent psychology that afflicts people of color. This project dissects the chemistry behind blind racism, using music as the medium to restore dignity and self-worth to my people. It’s an insightful, provocative and inspiring experience and should land at the center of our ongoing reckoning with race, racism and the writing of the next chapter of American history.

  

  Willie Nelson

  That's Life

  Legacy

  Honoring the enduring inspiration of Frank Sinatra, That’s Life is Willie Nelson’s second album of classics made famous by The Chairman Of The Board. Nelson (who has penned a few standards himself) inhabits 11 more of the most treasured songs in the Great American Songbook including the title track, "Luck Be A Lady,” "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "I've Got You Under My Skin," and "I Won't Dance" (a duet featuring Diana Krall).

  

  Smerz

  Believer

  XL Recordings

  Norwegian duo Smerz release Believer, their much anticipated debut album that pushes the band far beyond their previous EP releases, 2017’s Okey and 2018’s Have Fun. The duo meld sonic touchstones from their youth, like musicals and classical music, with swirling, trance-indebted synth lines and hip-hop plus R&B vocals that is distinctly Smerz.

  

  Julien Baker

  Little Oblivions

  Matador

  Little Oblivions, her third, weaves together unflinching autobiography with assimilated experience and hard-won observations from the past few years, taking Baker’s capacity for storytelling to new heights. It also marks a sonic shift, with the songwriter’s intimate piano and guitar arrangements newly enriched by bass, drums, keyboards, banjo, and mandolin with nearly all of the instruments performed by Baker.

  

  Pinegrove

  Amperland, NY

  Rough Trade

  This collection features 21 brand new studio recordings captured up-state in the house where the band lived and recorded for 4 years. From acoustic versions to unique arrangements featuring piano, pedal steel and organ, Amperland, NY touches on notes of folk and progressive rock previously unheard on their studio albums. This will be an essential addition to the Pinegrove catalog and encompasses all of the earnest and ecstatic live energy the band is known for.

  

  Bones Owens

  Bones Owens

  Black Ranch Records

  The full-length debut from Bones Owens is both gloriously gritty and undeniably euphoric -- a bold departure from the moody Americana of his previous EPs. The Missouri-bred musician delivers a powerful sound deeply inspired by ’60s garage-rock, Hill Country blues, and the swampy roots-rock of bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival. A potent showcase for his formidable guitar work, Owens arrives as a full-tilt expression of his wildest impulses, all swinging rhythms, and swaggering riffs.

  

  Lucy Spraggan

  Choices

  Cooking Vinyl

  If you’ve followed Lucy’s journey from her days as a cheeky Brit singing about tea and toast on X-Factor, her ever-rising popularity should come as no surprise. However, while her career has gone from strength to strength, her personal life has not always been as rosy, and her sixth album reflects back on a troubled twelve months. From sobriety, heartbreak, mental health, to just being yourself, Choices lays it all out in this raw and deeply honest collection.

  
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• New Release Round-Up 02-26-21

  

  Glitterer - Life Is Not A Lesson - Glitterer
  Life Is Not A Lesson is Glitterer’s second full-length album, featuring Ned Russin, bassist/vocalist of seminal hardcore-punk band Title Fight. This time Ned has produced the record himself, notwithstanding some recording and performance help from his twin brother, Ben, and some other friends, as well as mixing and mastering by Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip). It may surprise you to hear that, irrespective of worldly doom and gloom, the new songs are even catchier and bigger-sounding than those from his 2019 release, Looking Through the Shades. With roomier drums and more electric-guitars-per-square-inch than ever, Life is Not a Lesson has a way of evoking an alternate-universe version of Guided By Voices, one with a hardcore-punk background. Life is Not a Lesson proves to be a rigorous reckoning with the life of the mind at a time when there’s not much life outside the mind.

  
     
  
  
  

  

  Architects - For Those That Wish To Exist - Epitaph
  Architects are back with their ninth studio album “For Those That Wish To Exist”. The band have confirmed their ascent to the very upper echelons of British heavy music. Few bands, of this modern era or any other, can match the quintet’s ability to blend uncompromising heavi-ness with razor-sharp melodic musicianship.  A versatile metal group based out of Brighton, England, Architects employ a lethal combination of breakdown-heavy guitars, melodic vocals and symphonic-ambient post-metal. That sonic delivery is conducted from a platform built on veganism and environmental activism.

  
     
  
  
  

  ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
  
  
  Bones Owens - Bones Owens  
  Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker: 30th Anniversary Edition  
  
  
  Alice Cooper - Detroit Stories [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Red 2LP]
  Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Way Down In The Rust Bucket
  Architects - For Those That Wish To Exist [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Summer Sky Wave LP]
  Altin Gun - Yol [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Purple LP]
  Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Yellow 2LP]
  PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
  PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - Demos
  Stereolab - Electrically Possessed (Switched On Volume 4)
  Julien Baker - Little Oblivions [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Yellow LP]
  Pinegrove - Amperland, NY
  Willie Nelson - That’s Life
  Wesley Schultz - Vignettes
  Smerz - Believer
  Melvins - Working With God [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Silver LP]
  Cloud Nothings - The Shadow I Remember
  Evergrey - Escape Of The Phoenix [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear Red 2LP]
  Maximo Park - Nature Always Wins
  NOFX - Single Album
  Steve Lukather - I Found The Sun Again
  Joseph Williams - Denizen Tenant
  Lil' Kim - The Notorious K.I.M. [Pink/Black Mix 2LP]
  Ray Charles - The Best Of Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years [Blue 2LP]
  Chaka Khan - Epiphany: The Best Of Chaka Khan [Burgundy LP]
  
  
  
  & More .....
  

  For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.
  
  

  UPCOMING RELEASES

  

  Adult Mom - Driver - Adult Mom
  Adult Mom began as the solo project of Stevie Knipe in a Purchase College dorm room in 2012, and now falls between the playful spectrum of solo project and collaborative band with beloved friends and musicians Olivia Battell and Allegra Eidinger. On Driver, Adult Mom’s third studio release, Stevie Knipe delves into the emotional space just beyond a coming-of-age, where the bills start to pile up and memories of college dorms are closer than those of high school parking lots. Like so many other twenty-somethings, Adult Mom’s third LP seeks to answer the age old question: what now? With an actualized sound, Adult Mom has arrived to soundtrack the queer rom-com they’ve been dreaming of since 2015. Driver incorporates an expert weaving of sonic textures ranging from synths and shakers to ‘00s-inspired guitar tones which convey a loving attention to detail.

  
     
  
  
  

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