Indie Exclusive Releases

The fictional band from the NBC series Parks & Recreation is finally getting their due with a new album set to arrive on Aug. 27. And to mark the 10th anniversary of their Pawnee reunion performance where they debuted "5,000 Candles in the Wind" after the death of town mascot Lil' Sebastian, a new video and digital release for the song has arrived.

Led by Andy Dwyer, who previously fronted A.D and the D Bags, The Andy Andy Andies, Andy Dwyer Experience, Angelsnack, Crackfinger, Death of a Scam Artist, Department of Homeland Obscurity, Everything Rhymes with Orange, Fiveskin, Flames for Flames, Fleetwood Mac Sexpants, Fourskin, God Hates Figs, Handrail Suicide, Jet Black Pope, Just The Tip, Malice in Chains, Muscle Confusion, Ninjadick, Nothing Rhymes with Blorange, Nothing Rhymes with Orange, Penis Pendulum, Possum Pendulum, Punch Face Champions, Puppy Pendulum, Radwagon, Razordick, Scrotation Marks, Tackleshaft, Teddy Bear Suicide, Threeskin, Two Doors Down and Scarecrow Boat, the group is finally issuing their debut album.

The buzz from Mouse Rat’s performances at Pawnee’s Snakehole Lounge led to Dualtone’s partnership with Entertainment 720 co-founder and Snakehole Lounge part owner Tom Haverford. “Any creative business coming out of Pawnee is tied to Haverford” said Dualtone President Paul Roper, “From Rent-a-Swag to Tommy Fresh cologne and Tom’s Bistro, not to mention his business ideas not yet formed like the scented phone, talking tissues, contact lenses that display text messages and the glitter-infused laundry detergent Sparkle Suds, partnering with Entertainment 720’s hype machine was essential. The man is an idea factory.”

Roper continues, “This is about the team as much as it is the music. Andy’s wife and manager April Ludgate Dwyer is a marketing genius. Selling CDs at the Parks and Recreation shoeshine stand for $18 each, $40 for the set?? I don’t know anyone else who could pull that off.”

Mouse Rat's The Awesome Album will feature guest turns by Duke Silver and Land Ho!. The album will be available via Dualtone in partnership with Entertainment 20.

Single LP on orange vinyl in same jacket as standard LP w/ plain-sleeve CD of bonus tracks & 24” x 24” folded poster insert. Full album download included. Ltd edition. Indie Only.

From Mac McCaughan of Superchunk: To write the songs for Here's to Shutting Up, we gathered in Jim's garage (he lived way out in the woods) a couple times a week for what seemed like months. We started from actual scratch with no demos or concepts, just playing instrumental music with our usual gear plus a Casio. We recorded the album in the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta at Zero Return, the studio built by Brian and Rob (aka Birdstuff and Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard) of Man or Astro-man? Brian Paulson came with us to produce it.Here's to Shutting Up was meant to be released on September 18, 2001. On September 11, the world changed. Our release date moved a couple weeks, but our tour dates remained and we flew to Japan in October. It was a WILD time to be traveling the world. Receptions ranged from "thank you for giving us something else to think about" to "why are you here?" We flew home from Japan and left for the UK the day the US started bombing Afghanistan. This was the climate, and the climate was not great for playing rock music.

“Devolution Series #2 - Galactic Quarantine” was recorded between July and September 2020 in various places around the world. Originally streamed on September 5th, 2020 on StageIt.com as a replacement show for the COVID affected “Empath Vol 2 European Tour” and various cancelled Summer festivals. The show features Devin on vocals and guitars, Samus Paulicelli III on drums, Wes Hauch on guitars and Diego Tejeida on keys.

On Fast Idol, LA-based Black Marble reaches back through time to connect with the forgotten bedroom kids of the analogue era, the halcyon days of icy hooks and warbly synths. Harmonies are piped in across the expanse of space, and lyrics capture conversations that seem to come from another room, repeat an accusation overheard, or speak as if in sleep of interpersonal struggles distilled down to one subconscious phrase. At the same time, percussive elements feel forward and cut through the mix with toms counting off the measures like a lost tribe broadcasting through the bass and tops of a basement club soundsystem. 

Melodies roll with the fizz and charm of Jacno and phrases repeated are electric torchlight ballads sung after hours in William Gibson’s San Francisco. ‘Somewhere’ opens in sombre herald, before dropping into a fast freeway tempo; the glassy synths and crisp beats cut through the anxious moods on ‘Bodies’ and ‘Try’ sits in a lineage with cult bands like Asylum Party. ‘The Garden’ is a journey through a post-apocalyptic cityscape, earthed by the pulse of a drum machine whereas ‘Ship To Shore’ could be a lost Oppenheimer Analysis B-side, and the album’s closer ‘Brighter and Bigger’ catches a sentiment like The Dadacomputer has learned to feel emotions. He captures the loneliness of Ray Bradbury’s atomic-era sci-fi and the apocalyptic but revolutionary spirit of Godard’s Sympathy for the Devil, as in ‘Preoccupation’, the beating heart of the album, which conjures ambivalent scenes of an empty world and the comfort to be found in a shared humanity.

Emerging from the early 2000s New York synth scene, Black Marble carried on the tradition of early synthwave pioneers like Martin Dupont and Modern Art who repurposed synths once reserved for expensive studios and stadium rock superstars. Seeking to channel this spirit, Black Marble recalls the gauzy tape wow and flutter of The Membranes and the warbling VCO of Futurisk, carrying on a sound that seeks to channel the future while imprinting residue of the past.

The Pretty Reckless’ fourth full-length album, 'Death By Rock And Roll,’ is proving to be the band’s most ambitious release yet. With earliest ideas for the album tracing back to 2017, Taylor Momsen and co had to write through the heartbreaking loss of Chris Cornell, who was one of frontwoman Taylor Momsen’s musical muses. Shortly after, producer and longtime collaborator Kato Khandwala passed in a motorcycle accident. Despite the setbacks, the group pushed through the tragedy to complete the record; as soon as the band released the titular first single, they were launched into the spotlight once again. “Death By Rock And Roll” became the band’s fifth #1 song at Active Rock radio, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a female-fronted band. The album also features the singles “And So It Went” (featuring Tom Morello), “Only Love Can Save Me Now (featuring Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil)” and “25.” 

The Record Company have outgrown the home recording of previous records and enlisted producer Dave Sardy (Fall Out Boy, A Perfect Circle, Modest Mouse) to work with them on their third studio album, Play Loud. The result is a sonic growth both in music and in songwriting, highlighting an ever-evolving band bringing rock back to the masses.

In December of 2020, The Wild Feathers hauled off to a pre-civil war built cabin in VanLeer, TN where the ideas and songs from Alvarado met for the very first time. In the past, the band typically liked to collect all the tunes they’ve written over the past year, brainstorm, conceptualize, and rehearse isolated in a cabin before heading into the studio. This time for their 4th studio album, they decided to bring the studio to the cabin. The guys spent a week jamming and creating while having the ability to capture the performances while they were fresh. Produced by the band, Alvarado is the truest representation of The Wild Feathers to date. No outside musicians, no outside opinions, just us playing our new songs in a room with the best mics they could find.

Back in September 2020, OSEES performed a blistering set out in the desert at Pappy & Harriet’s California, which aired on the LEVITATION Sessions streaming series.  Pressed on glorious 12" swirl colored vinyl, each record includes a bonus encore 7” with the final track from the show, "Block Of Ice" pressed on Milky-Clear vinyl.

"During this particularly hard year (2020), it was a pleasure to work with our good friends over at Levitation and Pappy and Harriet's to reach out to some of our fans, if only for a fleeting hour. This is the proper plastic that came from that evening. We are trying to keep some of our favorite haunts, dives, glorious old venues and bars open through this triail, as it's obvious the lizards that make up the current administration have no real interest in extending any realistic help to struggling businesses. Take care, be well and keep your eyes on the horizon." - John Dwyer

OSEES return for another blistering LEVITATION Session, this time from the depths of a cavernous Los Angeles factory. The performance features a fresh batch of tracks spanning over a decade of the band's expansive discography with a handful of never-before-played-live tunes & some new surprises and is presented in its entirety here, pressed on a glorious Double 12" vinyl LP!

“OSEES pine for our fans and friends out there in the world, so we have come together for another stream with the mighty Levitation. I personally got stoned and stuck my face into the muck of our past catalog to bob for some dusty tumescent gems. There will be some oldies, and some moldies and some surprises along the way. I’m quite happy with how this one turned out. Shot in an insane old factory warehouse in Los Angeles (it looks like a fight scene set from Point Blank or the John Wick trilogy :) If you had told me a year ago we'd be doing these streams now i would have thought you were crazy, but, egg on my face, and here we are. I’m so glad to have this little thing to share a moment with y’all until we can meet face to face on the field of battle again. Mastered by the Guru JJ Golden, it will hopefully turn some frowns inside out and upside down....grossssss” - John Dwyer

The 11 track studio album titled 'Time Flies' will be released by Mid Century Records under exclusive license to BMG. 

Time Flies, is an extraordinary collection that fuses intimate subject matter and upbeat guitar-led rock with irresistibly catchy electronic elements. In the half decade since her acclaimed 2016 album Wild Things, Pip has gone through a personal transformation. 

Pip has openly struggled with mental health, anxiety and depression for a long time and, after dealing with severe postnatal depression + a serious skin cancer condition which has thankfully seen a full recovery, was able to successfully procure the right balance of therapy & medication which is so individually specific. When she embarked on writing songs for this new record in 2019, there was a sense of freedom in the work. “I was feeling pretty grateful to be alive and making music, so I felt like I didn’t ‘care’ anymore - not in a bad way, I just stopped overthinking it.”

Time Flies was produced with a host of incredible collaborators including, LA songwriter and producer Tommy English (K.Flay, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kacey Musgraves, Adam Lambert, Broods etc), Auckland based Josh Fountain (Leisure, Benee),  Jeremy Toy (Leonard Charles, She’s So Rad) , Sydney's Chris Stracey (Bag Raiders, Paloma Faith, Diplo.) and  Jono Sloan (Empire Of The Sun, PNAU) 

Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin began their musical journey together over 10 years ago in a Miami after-school music program. Connecting through their shared music tastes, the two formed a band that endured until the two parted ways for college. Not long afterward, Tenenbaum and Lewin reconnected and formed what we now know as the indie-pop duo Magdalena Bay.

The duo released their EP truly moments before the pandemic pervaded through North America, bringing their tour to an abrupt end. Resiliency illustrated at its peak, Magdalena Bay dipped their heads into a focused timeline, coming out of the pandemic with their debut album, Mercurial World. Magdalena Bay peruses the sound of experimental pop, crafting a synthy world that shatters genres and bends time to the pair’s will, elevating their sound to match their philosophical reflections. Lewin shared, “We spend all of our time together, and in some ways Mercurial World is about that particular sense of madness in containment. We live together and make art together; this immerses you in our creative, insular universe.”

Billy Bragg will be releasing a pandemic blues LP on 10/8 via Cooking Vinyl. This is his 10th studio album. The Million Things That Never Happened was produced by Romeo Stodart and Dave Izumi at Echo Zoo studio in Eastbourne, England. Bragg wrote the entire album solo, aside from “Ten Mysterious Photos That Can’t Be Explained,” which he co-wrote with his son Jack Valero.

To emerge from a global pandemic with a renewed sense of situational awareness, hard won insight, and a new album is the kind of move we’ve come to expect from THRICE over the last twenty years. With Horizons/East, Dustin Kensrue and his bandmates address, with candor and courage, the fragile and awkward arrangements that pass for civilization, while inviting us to dwell more knowingly within our own lives. Without surrendering any of the energy and hard edge of their previous albums, they’ve given us a profoundly meditative work which serves as a musical summons to everyday attentiveness.

Since forming THRICE with guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge in 1998, Kensrue has never been one to back down from a mental fight. This mood is set by the opening synth-driven number “Color of the Sky,” which sounds well-suited to accompany the closing credits of the Stranger Things season finale. Think Flying Lotus giving way to Elbow and setting the listener down in a new dimension. A self-recorded effort, Horizons/East conveys a palpable sense of danger, determination, and possibility.

Natalie Hemby will be performing at the Newport Folk Festival on July 24. She won a GRAMMY for Country Song of the Year for “Crowded Table,” the song she wrote with Lori McKenna and performed as a member of The Highwomen. 180-gram Clear Smoke LP. Indie Exclusive.

Colors II - Between the Buried and Me - - Fourteen years after releasing their progressive metalcore masterpiece, Colors, Between the Buried and Me have returned with it's epic sequel, Colors II.

Why Do Birds Sing? is the 5th studio album from the textbook American cult band, Violent Femmes. It was their last studio album with original drummer, Victor DeLorenzo. Featuring the fan favorite “American Music,” which reached #2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Chart, as well as a cover of Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.” “The momentum of the song [“American Music”] and the album that spawned it provided a springboard for the band to bona fide cult status.” – Rolling Stone.

Brandi Carlile's new album, In These Silent Days, October 2021 via Low Country Sound/Elektra Records. It's the follow-up to her 2018 album By The Way, I Forgive You, and she recorded it at Nashville's RCA Studio A with producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings. Tim Hanseroth (vocals, bass), Phil Hanseroth (vocals, guitar), Cobb (guitar, percussion), Jennings (piano, organ, synth), Chris Powell (drums, percussion), and Josh Neumann (strings) all appear on the album, and Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius make a guest appearance, adding backing vocals to "You And Me On The Rock."

In Pond’s universe nothing stays still for long. Although no one who heard 2019’s “Tasmania” could possibly describe its pulsating psych - pop as straight, Pond wanted to try a more spontaneous way of working for their next record.

Taking a leaf out of krautrock outliers Can’s book, at the start of 2020, Pond embarked on a series of totally off-the-cuff jam sessions from which songs and ideas could be pulled out.

Given the pace at which ideas whizz past your head, it makes for a dizzying listen. Opener Song For Agnes explodes out the speakers like an intergalactic rock opera, running a synapse-tingling gauntlet through bubbling synth pop, 80s hair metal and blissed out saxophone before you know what’s hit you.

It’s an apposite curtain-raiser for an album that can encompass pounding techno (Human Touch), elastic hipped robo-funk (America’s Cup), tripped out motorik (Czech Locomotive) and acres more besides without even topping for breath. Take lead single Pink Lunettes, which opens up thumping like ESG eight hours into a session at Berghain before climbing aboard a gargantuan synthship and disappearing off over the horizon.

Lyrically, too, 9 takes Pond into uncharted territory. Allbrook’s songs here take a more impressionistic tack than before, resulting in both the hilarious one-liners within Human Touch’s gonzoid thrash (sample lyric: “she was jacking a car but she seemed quite nice so I let her use the toilet in my place”) and the social and environmental concerns of blissed out closer Toast, which addressed both last year’s bush fires and the appalling wealth divide in Allbrook’s childhood home in Western Australia.

Above all though, what you get from “9” is a sense of creative abandon and just plain fun. If it was only a fraction as enjoyable to make as it is to listen to then they must have been having a hoot.

To say In Heaven is about conquering grief would be oversimplifying everything Tim Showalter has achieved on the eighth studio album from Strand of Oaks. A stunning, hopeful reflection on love, loss, and enlightenment, In Heaven is a triumph in music making, and a preeminent addition to the Strand of Oaks discography.

In late 2018, Showalter’s wife, Sue, lost her mother in a car accident. Soon after, Stan, the cat they both adored, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Showalter quit drinking so he could take better care of his wife and help rebuild the life they shared. And within months, they decided to pack up and move across the country from Philadelphia to Austin, Texas. It was an irrational decision made at the height of a terrible time, but it’s one that shaped so much of what In Heaven is about.

In Heaven was recorded in October 2020 with Kevin Ratterman at Invisible Creature in Los Angeles. Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) is featured on guitar throughout the record, while James Iha (The Smashing Pumpkins) contributed vocals and guitar for “Easter.” Bo Koster (MMJ, Roger Waters) provided keyboards, Cedric LeMoyne (Alanis Morrissette, Remy Zero) bass, Scott Moore violin, and Ratterman monstrous drums. Showalter also played a lot of synth on this record, which he hasn’t done since 2014’s HEAL. With clean sounds, Jeff Lynne-esque acoustics, and sophisticated songwriting, he approached In Heaven in a more poised and pop-leaning way than his past releases.

“I wanted to strive for something greater than what I thought I was capable of.”

The result is something extraordinary, as Showalter has crafted a poignant narrative that transcends his personal experiences and achieves a universality rooted not only in loss but joy, celebration, and newfound strength. The gorgeous opener “Galacticana” finds him telling us “I don’t want to drag you down,” a reassurance that his intentions lie in uplifting. But there’s a duality present throughout In Heaven that is palpable, as felt on “Easter,” an exuberant pop anthem featuring jaunty guitar and ethereal vocals courtesy of Iha, that both celebrates Showalter’s new life and references his efforts to “stop the boat from sinking.” It’s a powerful sentiment echoed in slow burner “Hurry,” which showcases some exceptional shredding by Broemel, and beyond, as Showalter explores mortality and a heightened sense of his own existence, intensified by a world where he no longer uses alcohol to cope.

Pairing smart, imaginative lyrics and striking arrangements, tracks like “Carbon” and its magnificent violin stand out, as does “Sister Saturn” with its funky, sinuous groove, and the sublime “Horses at Night,” which features one of Showalter’s most exquisite melodies to date. There’s also a discernible current running through In Heaven of homage to some notable losses in music—John Prine, Jeff Buckley, and Jimi Hendrix all play a part—for In Heaven is about moving beyond sadness or anger to a state of gratitude that we ever had these people to begin with. And while every song provides some clue to Showalter’s personal heaven, the jubilant “Jimi and Stan” says it all, wherein Hendrix and his beloved cat Stan are hanging out, going to shows, and looking at stars together.

And as our musical odyssey ends in the warm embrace of “Under Heaven,” the weight of everything Showalter has manifested—the beauty, and the sadness, and the immensity of it all—hits with tremendous impact. But any sense of hopelessness or melancholy yields to a different feeling entirely, just as he intended. Perhaps we’re feeling stronger, more prepared for something. Or maybe it’s just a reminder: call your parents, text your friends, hug your pets. Listen to your favorite records. And think about what it means to be alive. 

Austin indie folk duo make their Grand Jury debut with True Love. Recorded over winter 2020 in LA with Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver, etc.). This album is about growth and nostalgia. Both band members got married. One had a kid. They’ve found themselves individually away from the band, but settling into their most creatively fertile moment as a duo. Artwork by Bradley Pinkerton (Harry Styles, The Weeknd, etc.).

John Prine's 2005 album, Fair & Square, available on LP from Oh Boy Records. Winner of the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Distant Populations, just the fourth full-length album of Quicksand’s career, comes as a comparatively swift follow-up to Interiors--which itself came a full 22 years after its predecessor, 1995’s Manic Compression. Critically lauded and deemed very much worth the wait, Interiors succeeded in reestablishing the band as the powerful and contemporary entity they had always been.

Distant Populations has a punchier, more up-tempo sound than its predecessor; its 11 songs are concise, carved sonic jewels boasting not a single wasted note; and its raw power, its gripping lyricism, leaps out from the very first listening. It is a striking step up for the band.

The songwriting itself had been no minor process: Following the release of Interiors, the band successfully toured around the world and in the process fully re-established their chemistry together. Looking forward to making the next album, the three of them—frontman/ guitarist Walter Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega, and drummer Alan Cage—had methodically recorded various soundchecks, improvisations, and show rehearsals, and compiled the results. “Eventually, when it came time to make a record,” Schreifels says, “we would just edit down to the ones that were most exciting to us all, and then refocus on them and see if we could recapture the magic from it.” 

There may be a final irony in the title of Distant Populations. Practically speaking, that’s precisely whom Quicksandrecorded it for: Listeners very far away. Not a single one of these songs has ever been played live onstage. The band has dates on hold for the fall, notes Schreifels, and fingers are crossed Quicksandwill be out there performing very soon. They will likely be the most memorable shows of the band’s career. 

Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has teamed up with solo artist and Savages vocalist Jehnny Beth to release the collaborative album Utopian Ashes, due July 2, 2021 via Third Man Records. The album is heralded by lead single "Remember We Were Lovers" alongside an official video by Douglas Hart (The Horrors, Paul Weller). 

I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico, is a contemporary tribute to the Velvets debut, with each of the album’s songs performed by one of the band’s noteworthy artistic descendants. Featured artists include Kurt Vile & the Violators, Sharon Van Etten, Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney, Michael Stipe, Matt Berninger of The National, Courtney Barnett, King Princess, Fontaines D.C. and more. Wide Spine Jacket. Indie Exclusive Yellow 2 LP.

With a list of credits from Kesha, Dolly Parton and Deer Tick, Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town, pedal steel savant Spencer Cullum is one of Nashville’s most in-demand session cats. That’s in addition to making up half of the space-country duo Steelism. Clearly he’s had little trouble fitting in since moving from his native London to Music City. Now, with a debut solo album that pays homage to the ’60s and ‘70s psych-pop, folk and proto prog heroes of his homeland, this Nashville sideman’s stepping out from the shadows into the spotlight. Along with a supporting cast of guitarist Sean Thompson and multi-instrumentalist Luke Reynolds, as well as singing and writing partners like Caitlin Rose, Andrew Combs and Erin Rae — he’s bringing a bit of Britain to TN.

Recorded in the San Fernando Valley just a stones throw away from the infamous Van Nuys Blvd. cruising scene, it’s no wonder from the debut long player from The Rugged Nuggets hits hard and demands to be turned up loud with the windows rolled down. Delivering west-coast cool at it’s finest. With swooning strings, breezy guitars and tough as nails drums, Odds & Ends epitomizes a mellow vibe, but is undeniably cool.

Mute are excited to announce the release of José González’s fourth studio album Local Valley, out September 17th on limited edition indie exclusive green vinyl, black vinyl, CD and digital formats.

Local Valley is a natural continuation of the styles that José has developed over the years both solo and with his band Junip. The album strikes a balance between stripped back arrangements—just Jose’s intimate vocal and exquisite nylon string guitar work—and tracks driven by groovy drum machine loops and other percussive elements.

With songs sung in English, Spanish and Swedish, Local Valley invites us to look beyond our tribal instincts and join together in a more harmonic state. The album explores our shared humanity and the scientific-based existential questions we face together on our quest to understand ourselves and our place in the cosmos.

José González has tallied over 1 billion streams, 150+ licensed TV, film, and video game uses, and has a major presence at radio stations around the globe. This year, he has been selected by National Geographic to be an Earth Day Ambassador alongside Willie Nelson, My Morning Jacket, Yo Yo Ma, and more.

The album cover and physical packaging of Local Valley showcases the beautiful hand drawn artwork of Swedish designer Hannele Fernström.

José plans to tour with Rufus Wainwright in the Fall of 2021.

The album cover you’re looking at might lead you to conclude Charley Crockett is on one hell of a roll. You wouldn’t be wrong. Ten records in six years is some kind of prolific. The latest, a double album, suggests the artist has some songs worth paying attention to. It’s clear that he’s invested as much time in the studio, recording storytelling songs, and making storytelling videos, as he has barnstorming around the United States and Europe playing live shows.

Not bad for a thirty-seven-year-old late bloomer.

Charley Crockett has been a fairly remarkable artist to follow. He’s got a sound. He’s got something to say. He has a look. And there’s a gauzy veil of mystery surrounding him suggesting he knows more than he’s letting on.

All those records in such a short amount of time have come with a “No Two Alike” guarantee, particularly the last three releases: the darkly prescient Welcome to Hard Times; the semi-autobiographical, hard-core country-roots The Valley; and 10 for Slim, his tribute of songs by the obscure and wholly authentic Texas honky-tonk maestro James Hand.

His voice is one-of-a-kind. His distinctive, plaintive vocals crack unapologetically with emotion, and he phrases his lines around the beat like a jazz singer, while he expounds upon personal relationships and the world beyond.

Now comes Charley’s tenth album in his six-year career. In the Crockett tradition, it is as ambitious and ground-breaking as each piece of recorded music he’s put out so far. And it’s not just an album. It’s a double album of Charley Crockett originals, each song going the distance to further define this singer-songwriter-performer-artist who came out of the proverbial nowhere.

Charley has endured the collapse of the recording industry, no money, petty crime, societal ennui, the Covid-19 pandemic, open heart surgery, one-night stands, long distance rides in a van, loud truck stops and diners serving stale lukewarm coffee to get to where he is now.

His reward – and yours – is this collection of Charley Crockett originals.

Sad, uplifting, hard, and sweet, complex and delicate all at once, his songs are like life its ownself, just like the songs’ creator: like nothing you’ve heard or seen before, a genuine Texas original.
JOE NICK PATOSKI 

Eternal Blue - Spiritbox - After being named among Exclaim!'s New Faves last year, Spiritbox have detailed their debut album. The Victoria, BC-based metal outfit will share Eternal Blue from Rise Records.

The 12-track Eternal Blue includes previously shared singles "Holy Roller," "Constance" and "Circle with Me." "Yellowjacket" boasts a feature from Architects' Sam Carter, while the latest to arrive from the LP, "Secret Garden," can be heard alongside a music video below.

Vocalist Courtney LaPlante said of the song: "I think this is the most scared I've been to put out a song... I want to continue to showcase the fluidity that is inherent in heavy music, and even though this is just one part of a full body of work that may not sound exactly like this song, it is a song that we love and are obsessed with. I celebrate variation."

LaPlante added of Eternal Blue, "I must say that although we never intended to wait so long to do this record, I think it did help the songs become stronger... We have had enough time to release the exact music we would like to put out into the world, with no need to compromise. Every single note and every single syllable is the music that we have always dreamed of making and we are very proud of it."

Get yo ass in the house, robot-- you cyber-spectre, you outhouse prime minis- ter, you hard-headed mirror ninja, snapping selfies, living in the pixelated seams between bursts the of flashing images, birthed in a pool of TV static and Tik Tok dust. BLACK ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AIR is here, not to save but to drown you. Heads better learn how to swim cause listen, this record is beat soup, hearty yet still minimal, a sonic mirage of prophetic soul that drop kicks your “chill beats to study to” Youtube playlist and hyper-intellectual rap podcasts into a hadron collider; it’s only black matter on the other side-- 13 mesmerizing tracks about memory and imprinting and the future, all of them wafting through untouched space like the ghostly cinders of a world on fire, unbound and uncharted, vast and stretching across the universe.

Moor Mother is a holographic figment of an Afrotopian dream, all at once god- dess and warrior, mystic and cyborg, griot and future time traveller, etching noisy pieces of reverie into our consciousness for decades now. But check it: on BLACK ENCYCLOPEDIA she’s joined by a wide-range of friends, collaborators and co-conspirators on a trip through the murky cosmos, navigating the black universe with stardust as currency. In these times, they’ll say, as they click and mash their way through the same inter-webs that seek to strangle them, BLACK ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AIR is just what we need: a post-everything, 12:01 on the doomsday clock, anti-trip hop type of situation. “We ain’t gotta fight no more,” they’ll say; the rest of us, we’ll put this record on and imagine again that it’s real.

Walkman showcases Bad Bad Hats'. Kerry (guitar/vo­cals), Chris (bass), and Con (drums) let their collective hair down on Walkman, bringing raucous and explosive riffs alongside witty lyrics. Though you might not notice from their indie rock exterior, Bad Bad Hats draws a heavy influence from classic pop songwriting that shines through in their hooky choruses and strong me­lodic sensibilities. Walkman is the group's fourth time working with producer Brett Bullion, including their previous two LPs, Psychic Reader and lightning Round, and the Wide Right EP. Bullion and the band use the studio as an instrument, resulting in their most polished work to date. 

Swan Song is the 5 th  studio album from Ohio based metalcore act The Plot In You. It is the follow up to the four piece’s 2018 Fearless Records debut Dispose and will be released on September 17.

On Slothrust’s latest album, bandleader Leah Wellbaum pushed herself to try and understand her own spirituality on a deeper level, putting a lens on the core wound of the human experience, the idea that we’re alone. With Parallel Timeline , Wellbaum explores the feeling of being trapped inside her own consciousness while simultaneously searching for a meaningful connection to the universe, and all the mysteries it contains.

Pokey LaFarge’s 7th studio solo album, In the Blossom of Their Shade, showcases the positivity of coming out of the darkness and into the light. When the 2020 global pandemic hit, LaFarge’s rigorous work ethic powered him through the potentially challenging creative period. As days became a couple months, songs blossomed from embryonic ideas into full-formed ones and he was ready to move on, which typified his mindset as a working artist. With this record LaFarge captures the thematic notion of being the perfect summer afternoon soundtrack...the type of music you want to listen to while having a cocktail with your significant other. It makes sense musically as well — LaFarge intentionally crafted songs that created space and have melodies that can glide throughout a composition that’s a far cry from the swing and blues-infused songs of his earlier work. LaFarge is an artist who refuses to rest on his laurels and compromise. He’s always motivated and ready to create. With In the Blossom of Their Shade the album is one of LaFarge’s strongest and most mature efforts to date.  

A Beautiful Life is the first new music from Heartless Bastards since 2015’s Restless Ones. The album was produced by Kevin Ratterman (Strand Of Oaks, Jim James, White Reaper). Album performers include Andrew Bird on “The River,” Greggory Clifford (White Denim) on drums, Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake) on keys, flute, clarinet; David Pulkingham (Patty Griffin) on guitar, Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket) on keys. The music is a melange of blues rock, rock and singer-songwriter which surround themes about self-love and awareness, mental health, the environment, and consumerism.

On her new album Faster, Samantha Fish joins forces with superproducer Martin Kierszenbaum (Lady Gaga, Sting) and imbues even more intensity into her electrifying brand of blues/rock-and-roll. With Fish accompanied by legendary drummer Josh Freese (Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, The Replacements), bassist Diego Navaira of The Last Bandoleros, and Hannah Brier on backing vocals, the result is a singular body of work both irresistibly galvanizing and emotionally raw.