New Releases for October 21, 2022
CDs + Vinyl:
Archers Of Loaf – Reason In Decline CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Reason In Decline, Archers Of Loaf’s first studio album since the 1998 release of White Trash Heroes, is no nostalgic, low-impact reboot. When they emerged from North Carolina’s ’90s indie-punk incubator, the Archers’ hurtling, sly, gloriously dissonant roar was a mythologized touchstone of slacker-era refusal. But this new LP is an entirely different noise.
Architects – The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit serves as Architects’ tenth studio album and follows-up 2021’s critically acclaimed For Those That Wish To Exist.
Arctic Monkeys – The Car CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
Arctic Monkeys’ cinematic seventh studio album, The Car, features ten new songs written by Alex Turner, produced by James Ford and recorded at Butley Priory, Suffolk, RAK Studios, London and La Frette, Paris. Following 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, The Car finds Arctic Monkeys running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape and contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Turner’s career. Turner told the Big Issue: “On this record [The Car], sci-fi is off the table. We are back to earth. I think we’ve got closer to a better version of a more dynamic overall sound with this record. The strings on this record come in and out of focus and that was a deliberate move and hopefully everything has its own space. There’s time the band comes to the front and then the strings come to the front.” [An indie store exclusive clear vinyl pressing is available.]
Babyface – Girls Night Out CD (Capitol)
Girls Night Out is a new compilation album from Babyface featuring some of today’s brightest and rising female R&B stars. The 12-track, Babyface-produced album is a sonic journey through love, heartbreak and all the emotions in between, featuring vocals from Babyface alongside special guests Ella Mai, Queen Naija, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, Doechii and more.
Bibio – Bib10 CD/LP+MP3 (Warp)
10th album from the British folktronica musician. Bibio takes us on an unexpected & delightful journey through oneiric worlds that drift from acid folk to soul-infused beats on Bib10.
Dry Cleaning – Stumpwork CD/LP+MP3 (4AD)
Less than 18 months after the release of their debut album New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning return with their sophomore album entitled Stumpwork. Furious indie-pop anthems combine across the record with psych and prog influences, demonstrating the wealth of influences the band feed off and their deep musicality. Surrealist lyrics are as ever at the forefront, but the new album gives greater opportunity to explore bugged out guitar jams, and immersive journeys touching on krautrock territory.
Exhumed – To The Dead CD/LP (Relapse)
Exhumed return from the depths with their macabre new album, To The Dead. The new album is the culmination of decades upon decades of nightmarish riffs, obliterating blast beats, and hellish screams from the very depths the band crawled out from.
Frankie Cosmos – Inner World Peace CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Frankie Cosmos’ fifth album Inner World Peace – which features “One Year Stand” and additional standouts “F.O.O.F.”, “Aftershook”, and “Empty Head”, – was co-produced with Nate Mendelsohn and Katie Von Schleicher at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, New York.
Inclination – Unaltered Perspective CD/LP (Pure Noise)
New release from the Louisville based straight edged hardcore band. [An indie store exclusive clear w/ silver, white, and black color vinyl pressing is available.]
Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (10th Anniversary Edition) CD/2xLP (Interscope)
Kendrick Lamar delivers a special 10th anniversary edition of his breakout 2012 release Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. The acclaimed major label debut saw the rapper crowned the “new King of the West Coast” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Billed as a “short film by Kendrick Lamar”, the concept album follows the story of Lamar’s teenage experiences in the drug-infested streets and gang lifestyle of his native Compton.
The Libertines – Up The Bracket [Reissue/2002] 2xCD/2xLP (Rough Trade)
Digitally remastered and expanded 20th anniversary edition. Up The Bracket arrived like a raging bull in a tired post-Britpop China shop and introduced the world to The Libertines, a new gang of London bohemians, whose ragged tunes, red military tunics, opiated poetry and ‘live now pay never’ lifestyle came to define the millennial angst of the early noughties.
Lou Reed – Words & Music, May 1965 CD/LP/2xLP+7” (Light In The Attic)
Capturing Reed in his formative years, this previously unreleased collection of songs penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a “poor man’s copyright”, remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years. Its contents embody some of the most vital, groundbreaking contributions to American popular music committed to tape in the 20th century. Through examination of these songs rooted firmly in the folk tradition, we clearly see Lou’s lasting influence on the development of modern American music – from punk to art-rock and everything in between. [A metallic silver color vinyl pressing, an indie store exclusive yellow color vinyl pressing, and a deluxe double-LP pressing with bonus 7” are available.]
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn – Pigments CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Pigments is a project about the power of self-expression through living art, through motion. It’s also a love letter to New Orleans, Louisiana. Not strictly classical, jazz, or ambient electronica but rather a body of “movements,” Pigments is an expressive soundscape that is an immersive passage through the city as seen through the eyes of a young Black girl with dreams to paint her future with the pigments given to her. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is available.]
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Modern Lovers ‘Live’ CD/LP (Omnivore)
While the US might not have caught on to the magic of Jonathan Richman, the UK certainly did. Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, Live features Jonathan & The Modern Lovers performing classics from their first two releases to an enthusiastic crowd (the eight-minute version of “Ice Cream Man” should inform that).
Simple Minds – Direction Of The Heart CD/LP (BMG)
Simple Minds’ eighteenth studio album Direction Of The Heart finds the band at their most confident and anthemic best and is an inspired celebration of life, most evident on the captivating lead single “Vision Thing”.
Taylor Swift – Midnights [Moonstone Blue Edition] CD/LP (Republic)
Taylor Swift – Midnights [Blood Moon Edition] CD/LP (Republic)
Taylor Swift – Midnights [Jade Green Edition] CD/LP (Republic)
Taylor Swift – Midnights [Mahogany Edition] CD/LP (Republic)
Taylor Swift’s 2022 studio album Midnights is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face – the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout Taylor’s life.
Tegan & Sara – Crybaby CD/LP (Mom + Pop)
Innovative, multi-platinum Canadian duo Tegan & Sara deliver their tenth studio album. Crybaby consists of songs about change, and never changing, and the nostalgia aching in both their bones.
Johnny Cash – With His Hot And Blue Guitar [Reissue/1957] LP (Sun)
All legends start somewhere, and With His Hot And Blue Guitar is where the legend of Johnny Cash began. Newly remastered in honor of Sun Records’ 70th Anniversary, Cash’s debut album was also the first LP issued by Sam Phillips on the legendary label. The Man In Black is backed by the Tennessee Two on classic Cash hits like “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Cry, Cry, Cry” and “I Walk The Line”.
Hazel Dickens And Alice Foster – Who’s That Knocking? And Other Bluegrass Music [Reissue/1965] LP (Smithsonian Folkways)
Hazel & Alice – Won’t You Come And Sing For Me? [Reissue/1973] LP (Smithsonian Folkways)
Initially released in 1965, Who’s That Knocking? is the first album by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. With this trailblazing record, Hazel and Alice shattered the glass ceiling of male-dominated bluegrass, which had typically relegated women to minor musical roles at best. Hazel and Alice’s hard-edged, soulful harmonies were firmly rooted in the older music traditions of the rural South. Their steadfast devotion to their powerful, driving style inspired generations of women in bluegrass, country music, and even punk. Won’t You Come And Sing For Me? is the duo’s second album
My Morning Jacket – JJM Live Vol. 2: Chicago 2021 3xLP (ATO)
Translucent orange color vinyl. The second release in My Morning Jacket’s MMJ Live series was recorded live at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago on November 11, 2021, and features a setlist of career highlights, including recent tracks “Love Love Love”, “Complex”, and “Never In The Real World”, to classics such as “Dondante”, “Mahgeetah”, and “Phone Went West”.
Origin – Chaosmos LP (Nuclear Blast)
Recently released on CD – now available vinyl. New album from the U.S. tech-death metal masters.
Queens Of The Stone Age – Queens Of The Stone Age LP (Matador)
The landmark debut album from Queens Of The Stone Age is back in print on vinyl for the first time in 10 years, restored to its original sequence with artwork by Frank Kozik. Featuring obi-strip designed by longtime collaborator Boneface and pressed on standard black vinyl.
