Music Releases 07-22-22
Jack White
Entering Heaven Alive [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Detroit Denim Blue LP]
Vinyl: $27.99 Buy
Entering Heaven Alive is the fifth studio album from Jack White, founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded at White's Third Man Studio throughout 2021, mastered by Third Man Mastering, and released by Third Man Records.
As lockdown approached in 2020, Chicago-based singer Lili Trifilio was wrapping up a tour in support of Beach Bunny's debut album, Honeymoon. Suddenly, she found herself back at her parents' house, coping with her new reality. To deal, she retreated into sci-fi stories and her always-active imagination. She envisioned new places to travel in her mind, thus dreaming up big, bombastic pop sounds to construct Beach Bunny's highly anticipated sophomore album, Emotional Creature. Simultaneously about personal growth, Emotional Creature is a collection of highly relatable songs that capture the highs and lows of new relationships, the joys and vulnerabilities of letting someone in, the gut-wrenching realities of experiencing anxiety, leaving toxic relationships, and seeing yourself through the eyes of the one you love. These complex feelings are expertly contrasted with ultra-poppy melodies, anthemic choruses, and a slight punk edge. 'The songs have grown with me over time,' Trifilio explains. 'Some of them were written in various stages of life, and I think as we go through different experiences and hardships, you come out stronger. I've grown as a person, so the songwriting reflects that.' With its openhearted, vulnerable themes and progressive, hook-filled take on pop rock and pop punk, Emotional Creature only further cements Beach Bunny and Trifilio's well-earned reputation as a leading voice of their generation.
Dawes
Misadventures of Doomscroller [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Blood Orange LP]
The Kooks
10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear LP]
Vinyl: $32.99 Buy
The Kooks sixth studio album, 10 Tracks To Echo in the Dark is a fresh sounding, electronic-tinged evolution of their iconic sound.
Bob Marley with the Chineke! Orchestra reimagines some of Bob Marley’s most recognized and listened to songs with contemporary classical orchestration. The Chineke! Orchestra provides opportunities to a diverse range of up-and-coming and internationally respected classical musicians.
ODESZA
The Last Goodbye [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Crystal Clear 2LP + 12in Art Card]
Vinyl: $37.99 Buy
ODESZA return after four years with their new album "The Last Goodbye" available on crystal clear LP, indie exclusive version crystal clear LP with limited edition print, standard CD, deluxe CD with a patch and stickers, and transparent green cassette. Symphonic, vast, and emotionally stirring, 'The Last Goodbye' is set to be the GRAMMY-nominated duo's most ambitious album to date. A project rife with brightness and emotion, nostalgic yet rooted in the present, it serves as a sweeping sonic experience that speaks to themes of connection, reminiscence and the impact we impart on one another. It's a vivid celebration of the people and moments that have left fingerprints on our existence, echoing throughout the record. "The Last Goodbye" features collaborations with Låpsley, Ólafur Arnalds, Julianna Barwick, The Knocks, Bettye LaVette, Izzy Bizu, MARO, and Charlie Houston. With over 5 billion total streams, ODESZA have masterfully reemerged to remind the world what has made the duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight cornerstones of the modern electronic landscape. Their last album 'A Moment Apart' was not only a commercial success (going gold and debuting at no. 3 on the Billboard 200), but it also earned critical acclaim including two GRAMMY nominations and praise from the likes of NPR, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Complex, Consequence and more. The duo has cultivated a diehard fanbase of massive proportions: known for their groundbreaking, awe-inspiring and immersive live performance, that reached 2.85m+ fans over the course of their 'A Moment Apart' tour. They also have had headline performances at the likes of Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot & more, as well as performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan, and launched their own music festival SUNDARA in Riviera Maya, Mexico in 2019.
She & Him
Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Lemonade Translucent LP]
She & Him’s seventh studio album is a loving, LP-length tribute to one of the greatest living American songwriters and singers, Brian Wilson. Melt Away - A Tribute to Brian Wilson finds Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward diving deep into the legendary artist’s extensive songbook, offering fascinating and delectable new spins on time-honored classics and overlooked gems alike. These fourteen covers are infused with the familiar magic that She & Him fans know and love, offering a new window into Wilson’s iconic catalog.
Majid Jordan’s 3rd studio album, Wildest Dreams now officially available on vinyl, featuring the hit tracks “Waves of Blue” and "Stars Align" ft. Drake.
Riderless Horse is my first solo record, and it’s the first record my former partner, Kennan Gudjonsson, didn’t produce.
I haven’t made an album since 2010. I decided to stop pursuing music several years after my sixth record, Outlaster, because of unhappiness, overwhelming chaos, mental illness, and my tragically dysfunctional relationship with Kennan. Creating music had always been a positive outlet during difficult times, but eventually it became a source of absolute misery.
Riderless Horse documents the grief, but it also marks moments of empowerment and a real happiness in discovering my own capability. Steve Albini produced this record with me, and Greg Norman assisted. It was exactly the right environment to work on this record. We all had meals together, cried, laughed, and told stories. It was perfect. It made me realize how much I love writing, playing and recording music.
Terrible things happen. These were some terrible things. So, what to do – learn something valuable, connect with people, move the fuck out of that apartment, remember the humor, find the humor, tell the truth, and make a record. I made a record.
John Moreland doesn’t have the answers, and he’s not sure anyone does. But he’s still curious, basking in the comfort of a question, and along the way, those of us listening feel moved to ask our own. “I don’t ever want to sound like I have answers, because I don’t,” he says. “These songs are all questions. Everything I write is just trying to figure stuff out.”
Moreland is discussing his new album Birds in the Ceiling, a nine-song collection that offers the most comprehensive insight into the thoughts and sounds swimming around in his head to date. A compelling blend of acoustic folk and avant-garde pop playfulness, Birds in the Ceiling lives confidently in a space of its own, enriched by tradition but never encumbered by it. The songwriting that has stunned fans and critics alike since 2015’s High on Tulsa Heat remains potent, while the sonic evolution that unfolds on the record feels like a natural expansion of 2020’s acclaimed LP5.
The New Yorker, Pitchfork, Fresh Air, Paste, GQ, and others have embraced Moreland’s meditative songs, while performances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS This Morning, NPR Tiny Desk Concert, and more have introduced Moreland to millions. And yet, while the Tulsa-based Moreland is grateful for the respect and musical conversation he’s now having with people around the world, he is also more focused on the idea of just talking to one person––or even himself. “Through the years, I’ve felt like I’m increasingly talking to myself in my songs, more and more,” he says. “Maybe in the past, I wasn’t aware of it, but now, I am. I think doing that has helped me be less hard on myself, which makes you more generous and compassionate in general.”
That helps explain why even if Moreland is reaching out to someone else, there is no judgment. “I’m in the same boat with whoever I’m talking to,” Moreland says.
Moreland’s songs do feel intimate––like overheard conversations or solitary meditations. “I want to talk one-on-one to someone in a song,” he says. “I don’t want to address a group, really, because I think that’s when it’s easy to start pontificating––and it gets less honest.”
On Birds in the Ceiling, Moreland’s singing contributes to the feelings of hushed intimacy. Wielding a warm, sandpaper soul voice, Moreland got used to singing loudly as he began playing in bars, fighting to be heard over chattering crowds. “When I first started singing, I was very self-conscious about it,” he says. “I think I tried to affect my voice more. Singing loud could be a security blanket sometimes. On the new album, on a lot of the songs I was definitely making a conscious effort to sing quieter––almost whisper.”
Produced by Matt Pence and Moreland, Birds in the Ceiling is dynamic: a folk record that refuses to stay in its lane. It’s the second album for Pence with Moreland, who sees the former––a Denton, Texas-based engineer, producer, and drummer––as an ideal musical partner. “We have a lot of the same influences, and I have been really influenced by his bands,” Moreland says. “It feels really effortless.”
Letting things just be what they are is a powerful guiding force for Moreland, determining not just how he interacts with others, but how he treats himself. “When you remove boundaries and instead of holding back parts of yourself––when you say, ‘Okay, I’m going to put all of me into this,’” Moreland says, "You end up making music that nobody else could make.”
Birds in the Ceiling is available at local record stores on CD, Vinyl, and an Indie-Exclusive Blue Vinyl on July 22.
Neophobia is a meditative saga which, despite the name, radically embraces the aesthetics and methods of post-modernity. In between identical gamelan pieces, Chalk weaves an abrasive collage of sounds and musics that touch on peace punk, musique concrète, & American primitive. Neophobia explores the schizophrenia and horror of living in the contemporary era, and odyssey with an indeterminate point of departure or return.
Chalk is an amorphous musical project orchestrated by Barry Elkaninck (Institute, Blue Dolphin). While this is Barry’s “solo project” he regularly invites friends, other musicians and artists to accompany him. Under “Chalk” Barry has self-released 8 cassettes since 2015. While wildly ranging in recording techniques & approach, the cassettes have informed and culminated in the final sound present onNeophobia which is his first LP for Post Present Medium. Barry wrote and recorded Neophobiaindependently out of his home in Houston, TX on computers and tape machines.
Canadian cult songwriter Sean Nicholas Savage is renowned for his bitter sweet ballads, and beautifully raw live performances, his singing delicate and brave, full of energy and space. Each new record is an adventure in sensitivity and nuance.
Shine is a record about recapturing the will to live after a period of sadness and stagnancy, and the return to positivity and hope wrapped up in music that adds a sense of rhythmic guitar-based folk intimacy to Savage’s hallmark ebullient avant-pop.
Fantasy Gateway opens a new chapter for Cuco over the course of 12 songs which includes new single “Caution.” The sophomore album also contains features from Kacey Musgraves, Adriel Favela, DannyLux and Bratty.
First released in 1973, Lo Mato is filled with killer salsa grooves from beginning to end. Héctor Lavoe’s vocals are on point as he tells stories of the streets in poignant yet powerful lyrics. Highlights include mega-hits “El día de mi suerte,” “Calle luna calle sol” and “Todo tiene su final.” This ageless and inspired album is the fourth by the powerhouse salsa duo Colón & Lavoe to reach gold status. This reissue features lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl.
Nation of Heat | Revisited - After more than a decade of playing these songs in clubs across the US, putting one foot in front of the other, gaining a much greater musical education, they are recorded now as he had always wished they could have been. "Nation Of Heat" is now revisited with full production, featuring performances from Brandon Flowers of the Killers, Derry Deborja of Isbell's 400 Unit, Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket, and Courtney Hartman. "The songs on this EP are familiar to me, and other people like me, who have been Joe Pug fans from the very beginning. We have heard them over and over in our heads and in our hearts as we went about our lives for the dozen years that have passed since the original, solo acoustic version of NATION OF HEAT was released. I, for one, welcome this new more fully realized version of these songs because now, I have an excuse to turn them up and listen out loud again." Steve Earle NYC 12/21
Anthony Green (born April 15, 1982) is an American singer and musician from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He is currently the lead singer of Circa Survive, Saosin, and The Sound of Animals Fighting while also maintaining a solo career. He was previously in the bands Audience of One, Jeer at Rome, High and Driving, and Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer. Green is known for his distinctive, high vocal timbre. Boom. Done. is his sixth studio solo LP.
Robin Carolan & Sebastian Gainsborough
The Northman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Red 2LP]
Vinyl: $36.99 Buy
“Rob wanted the world of The Northman to feel harsh and uncomfortable, and for everything to feel like it was caked in mud and dry blood, so it was crucial for the score to mirror that.” Composers Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse) asked them to create the score for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film The Northman, releasing on April 22nd. They needed to make a score that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking era period piece and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous, sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film.
While arranging the score the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in left field electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. “Electronic music has almost limitless potential when it comes to making sounds and that’s obviously an incredible thing, but you can also go down the wormhole and get lost in it sometimes. There’s no risk of that happening when you only have a few primary instruments to draw upon.” Robin remarked.
They utilized traditional instruments such as the tagelharpa, langspil, kravik lyre, and säckpip to build the cinematic world of The Northman but they also took creative freedoms in adding instruments likes drums, which some academics believe wouldn’t have played a big part in Viking musical culture, simply due to the lack of archaeological evidence of actual drums. “One of the pieces we wrote was intended to emulate the sound of a bullroarer; an ancient instrument used in sacred rituals or in battle to intimidate enemies. It makes a really disorienting roaring vibrato sound and low frequencies capable of traveling insane distances.” Robin says when asked about one of the more unique aspects of the score. Everyone involved put so much effort into both their research and their creativity and this richness is evident in every track. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies.