New Releases - December 9, 2022

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

SZA - S.O.S. Watch: "Shirt" Watch: "Nobody Gets Me"

Other Full-Length Releases

Leland Whitty - Anyhow Watch: "Glass Moon" Listen: "Silver Rain"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls (Deluxe Edition) Listen: "Hold On" (Live at KCRW) Listen: "Always Alright" (Live at KCRW)

Artificial Intelligence 30th Anniversary Reissue Listen: Autechre - "Crystel" Listen: The Dice Man - "Polygon Window"

IDLES - Five Years of Brutalism Watch: "1049 GOTHO" Listen: "EXETER" (Live from BBC Introducing at Glastonbury)

My Morning Jacket - Circuital (Deluxe Edition) Listen: "Circuital" (First Band Demo) Listen: "Outta My System" (Puppet Demo)

Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork Reissue Listen: "…Like Clockwork" Listen: "I Sat By the Ocean"

Queens of the Stone Age - Villains Reissue Watch: "Feet Don’t Fail Me" Listen: "Villains of Circumstance"

Taken By Trees - Another Year Watch: "Say You Don’t Mind" Listen: "Caroline Good Bye"

New Music Friday - August 25, 2017

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

EMA - Exile in the Outer Ring This fourth album from Erika M. Anderson is written about the "outer ring", lower-income housing that has risen up around many large cities as the wealth has moved towards the center. Always socially- and politically-minded, Anderson sings about the poverty and lack of resources plaguing these areas. She works with Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Jacob Portrait on the record, which continues her streak of spectacular music. Watch: "Blood and Chalk" Watch: "Down and Out"

Filthy Friends - Invitation Filthy Friends is a band formed from members of Sleater-Kinney (Corin Tucker), Fastbacks (Kurt Bloch), R.E.M. (Peter Buck, Bill Rieflin), and The Young Fresh Fellows (Scott McCaughey). They formed in 2012 primarily to perform David Bowie covers, but have moved to their own material for their debut album together. Watch: "Despierta" Listen: "The Arrival"

Gordi - Reservoir Gordi is Sophie Payten, a musician from Sydney, Australia. She got her start a couple of years ago, getting attention from Australian radio stations Triple J and FBi before signing a record deal with (Bloomington, Indiana-based!) Jagjaguwar Records and releasing an EP, Clever Disguise, in May of last year. Reservoir is her debut full-length. Watch: "Bitter End" Watch: "On My Side"

Iron & Wine - Beast Epic Iron & Wine's last two albums, 2015's Sing Into My Mouth and 2016's Love Letter for Fire, were his first forays into full-length album collaborations, with Ben Bridwell and Jesca Hoop, respectively. This year, he's back as a solo artist for his sixth album. It is noted as a return to the artist's sound on his earliest work, with at least one critic comparing it to Our Endless Numbered Days, his second studio album. Watch: "Call It Dreaming" Watch: "Thomas County Law"

Queens of the Stone Age - Villains QotSA made a surprising (to me, at least) move for their seventh album, working with producer Mark Ronson. Ronson became known for his work with Amy Winehouse, as well as the groover he released in 2014 with Bruno Mars. It seems like a strange pairing, but one that allowed the band to greatly progress their sound. Villains isn't a huge departure from their past work, but does introduce a but of boogie to the mix. Listen: "The Evil Has Landed" Listen: "The Way You Used to Do"

Other Full-Length Releases

A$AP Mob - Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy Watch: "Feels So Good" Watch: "RAF" (featuring A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, & Quavo)

Action Bronson - Blue Chips 7000 Watch: "The Chairman’s Intent" Watch: "Let Me Breathe"

Baby in Vain - More Nothing Watch: "To Heaven and Back" Watch: "Lowlife"

Blank Range - Marooned with the Treasure Listen: "Ember in the Ash" Listen: "Opening Band"

CYMBALS - Light Your Mind Watch: "Decay" Listen: "Car Crash"

The Fresh & Onlys - Wolf Lie Down Watch: "One of a Kind" Watch: "Impossible Man"

Game Theory - Supercalifragile

A Giant Dog - Toy Watch: "Bendover" Listen: "Photograph"

Joseph Shabason - Aytche Watch: "Westmeath" Listen: "Aytche"

Liars - TCFC Watch: "Staring at Zero" Watch: "Cred Woes"

The Mynabirds - Be Here Now Watch: "Golden Age" Watch: "Cocoon"

Oh Sees - Orc Watch: "Night Expo" Listen: "The Static God"

Shock Machine - Shock Machine Watch: "Lost in the Mystery" Watch: "Open Up the Sky"

The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding Watch: "Pain" Watch: "Holding On"

Widowspeak - Expect the Best Watch: "Dog" Listen: "When I Tried"

Wiki - No Mountains in Manhattan Watch: "Mayor" Watch: "Pretty Bull"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

D’Angelo - Brown Sugar Reissue Listen: "Cruisin’" (Who’s Foolin’ Who Mix) Listen: "Brown Sugar" (Incognito Molasses Remix)

Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the RIngs 10-Year Anniversary Reissue Watch: "The Crystal Cat" Listen: "Big Milk"

Hand Habits - "Yr Heart" 7” Listen: "Yr Heart" Listen: "Carpenter’s Daughter"

King Krule - "Czech One" Watch: "Czech One"

Philia: Arists Rise Against Islamophobia Listen: The Dodos - "Mirror Flake" Listen: Hamilton Leithauser - "The Song with No Name"

Superchuck - Superchunk Reissue Watch: "Watery Hands"

Underworld - Beaucoup Fish Super Deluxe Edition Listen: "Jumbo" Listen: "Cups"

New Music Tuesday - 11/19/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe Disregard the misleading title of this album, it is neither a reissued or remastered version of an already existing record. Blood Orange (Dev Hynes) has been performing for eight years. He started his career as a member of Test Icicles, then began a solo career under the name Lightspeed Champion, which is when I became familiar with his work. He released his first record under the current name in 2011. Each project has had a unique sound; in Blood Orange, it's a throwback to 1980s R&B. Listen/Watch: "Time Will Tell"

Ejecta - Dominae Ejecta is the electronic project of Leanne Macomber and Joel Ford. Macomber has performed as a member of Neon Indian's band and Ford has done much production work with Daniel Lopatin. As such, both bring unique and varied perspectives on electronic music to their new project. It will be interesting to see how they bring it all together. Listen: "Afraid of the Dark"

Other New Releases

Kallisti - Arc of Fire EP Kallisti is the project of Canadian musician Chris d'Eon, who has released music under his own name since 2010. He partnered up with fellow Canadian Grimes for 2012's Darkbloom. Arc of Fire is his first release under this name and sees him taking a slight turn away from his previous styles. Listen/Watch: "Arc of Fire"

Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze: Deluxe Daze (Post Haze) Kurt Vile released his excellent fifth solo studio album earlier this year. The requisite deluxe edition features some additional tracks along with a bonus EP, It's a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared). Listen/Watch: "Never Run Away"

Lily Allen - "Hard Out Here" Lily Allen has been away for quite some time. She released her last full-length, It's Not Me, It's You, in 2009 and has spent the interim starting a family and considering ending her music career. Thank god she hasn't because she's back with a great new single. The song and its accompanying video take a jab at the expectations of young female pop stars. Listen/Watch: "Hard Out Here"

M83 - You and the Night Soundtrack What's the point of having a musician brother if you can't have him score your movies? That's exactly what director Yann Gonzalez did for his film You and the Night. Yann is the brother of musician M83 (Anthony Gonzalez), who contributed his talents to Yann's film. Listen: "L'inconnu"

Prince - "Da Bourgeoisie" Prince has been releasing a series of singles lately, many under the name 3rdeyegirl. It's not yet clear if these releases are leading up to a new album from the legendary artist, but he certainly is showing that he's still got it going on. Listen: "Da Bourgeoisie"

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Cologne Queens of the Stone Age released their latest album, ...Like Clockwork, in June of this year. This release is a short live EP with a name and artwork that harkens back to that album. The songs on the EP were recorded when the band performed at Cologne's Kulturkirche Köln in September. Listen: "Make It Wit Chu" (Live Acoustic)

Rockin' Legends Pay Tribute to Jack White Since he released his first album with The White Stripes back in 1999. Just about everything that he has done has turned to gold, from that first band to The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and then to his solo career. For this release, a number of legendary musicians have come together with covers of his songs. Included on the release are Bobby Vee, Los Straightjackets and Wanda Jackson. Listen: Wanda Jackson - "In the Cold Cold Night"

Yo La Tengo - Fade Deluxe Edition Another deluxe edition! This one from Yo La Tengo, who released Fade way back in January. This deluxe release added just one bonus track, "Oriole." Listen/Watch: "Is That Enough"

New Music Tuesday - 06/04/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Camera Obscura - Desire Lines Camera Obscura are yet another example of the incredible indie pop that comes out of Scotland. For their fifth full-length, they've enlisted such go-to guest vocalists as Neko Case and Jim James. Desire Lines promises to be yet another delivery of incredible pop from this band! Listen: "Fifth in Line to the Throne"

Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record Eleanor Friedberger made a name for herself with her brother Matthew as one-half of The Fiery Furnaces. Although her brother has been an active solo artist for about seven years, Eleanor released her first solo album, Last Summer, in 2011. It's been four years since the last Fiery Furnaces album; I'm not sure if the siblings' respective solo albums signal a break for them. Listen/Watch: "Stare at the Sun"

Future Bible Heroes - Partygoing Future Bible Heroes is one of many side projects of The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt. In stark contrast to the baroque pop sound of his main band, this project delivers a more electronic sound. In more than 16 years together, this is only the band's third album. Stephin Merritt is a busy enough man to warrant the gaps in releases, though. Listen: "Sadder Than the Moon"

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends Every time I think of Portugal. The Man the song "So American" gets stuck in my head. The opening track from their last album, In the Mountains in the Clouds, is easily my favorite song from the band. And so, I'm very confused on how I almost missed that they were releasing a new record! Although it was actually announced months ago, I only heard about it last week. Still, I'm pretty excited for some new music from these guys. Listen/Watch: "Evil Friends"

Quadron - Avalanche I kind of stumbled upon this Danish group recently, when I listened to the song "Better Off," which featured Kendrick Lamar. The lead singer, Coco O., was also recently featured on The Great Gatsby soundtrack. Their sound reminded me a bit of the indie soul of Jessie Ware. Are these two artists signaling a new trend in music? I certainly hope so! Listen: "Better Off"

Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork QOTSA work hard to keep driving, riff-filled hard rock alive, and they may be the best at it of any current bands. For this album, they teamed up with the visual artist Boneface for both the album artwork and a series of five music videos. Thanks to the visuals in those videos, this may be one of the creepiest albums to date. It's hard to listen without thinking of those terrifying characters! Listen/Watch: "My God Is the Sun"

Other New Releases

Future Bible Heroes - Memories of Love, Eternal Youth and Partygoing In addition to the new album up above, Future Bible Heroes is also re-releasing their first two albums, Memories of Love and Eternal Youth. So, if you're like me and hadn't taken the chance to check out this side project from Stephin Merritt, this seems the perfect opportunity to do it! Listen: "Lonely Days"

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County Stephen King may be best known for the numerous horror novels he has written, but he recently expanded his repertoire into musicals. Ghost Brothers was written with John Mellencamp. The soundtrack, released last week features tracks from Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case and Elvis Costello Listen: Elvis Costello - "That's Me"

Hodgy Beats Untitled 2 Hodgy Beats is a member of the hottest hip hop collective of the moment, Odd Future. Naturally, he's been featured on a number of other Odd Future releases, but has also released some in his own name. This is his second "Untitled" EP. Listen: "Years"