The audio + video release of Mr. Bungle's 2020 livestream event, The Night They Came Home. Includes performances of songs from their album, The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo, along with cover songs, official music videos, behind-the-scenes bonus features and celebrity guest cameos. This version of Mr. Bungle is original members Mike Patton, Trey Spruance and Trevor Dunn, joined by Scott Ian of Anthrax and Dave Lombardo of Slayer/Dead Cross.

Written, recorded, and completed during lockdown, CARNAGE is the first studio album from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis outside of the Bad Seeds and their many soundtrack collaborations.

The eight song project - developed amidst the downtime of a long, anxious, global emergency - showcases Cave & Ellis’ typical sonic and lyrical adventurism and stands as a quintessential record for these uncertain times.

CARNAGE is shot through with moments of distilled beauty and resonating with an almost defiant sense of hope. In Cave's own words, it is "a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe."

Mammoth WVH is the debut, self-titled album of Mammoth WVH – the band created by Wolfgang Van Halen. This collection includes the chart topping new single, "Distance” plus “Don’t Back Down,” “Epiphany,” “Mammoth” and more.

At the beginning of 2015, Wolf broke ground on what would become Mammoth WVH with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette [Alter Bridge, Slash] behind the board. Wolf began to embrace his voice, inspired by everyone from his father, to bands like AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, TOOL, and Jimmy Eat World. In addition to writing and singing every song on the self-title debut album, remarkably Wolfgang plays every instrument.

“The name Mammoth is really special to me.” says Wolf. “Not only was it the name of Van Halen before it became Van Halen, but my father was also the lead singer. Ever since my dad told me this, I always thought that when I grew up, I’d call my own band Mammoth, because I loved the name so much.”

Pink Floyd's 1975 multi-platinum masterpiece, Wish You Were Here, is brought to life once again with an all-star line-up of rock/metal royalty performing the album in it's entirety!Includes performances by keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, Deep Purple's Ian Paice, Rock Hall nominee Todd Rundgren, ex-Queensrÿche vocalist Geoff Tate, guitar god Joe Satriani, Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie, spacebass super genius Bootsy Collins, The Damned's Rat Scabies, PiL's Jah Wobble and lots more!Will be supported with a full scale publicity campaign including a pro-shot music video for "Have A Cigar!"Available as a 6 panel deluxe digipak and gorgeous gatefold vinyl in a variety of colors!

Taylor Swift has announced her ninth studio album, evermore; folklore's sister record. These songs were created with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB and Justin Vernon. The deluxe physical edition will include two bonus tracks.

Sleater-Kinney's 10th studio album was recorded in Portland, Oregon during the summer of 2020 ' against a backdrop of social unrest, devastating wildfires, and a raging pandemic. It's music for an imagined togetherness. This marks the first Sleater-Kinney album produced by the band members themselves.

La Face de Pendule à Coucou [EP] is an all-Francophone collection of songs from his 2020 release, Hey Clockface. The EP features 2 lead singles: “No Flag” (Parlé) featuring Iggy Pop and “Revolution #49” (Parlé) featuring Isabelle Adjani. Also included is the first commissioned remix by the French collective Tshegue, as well help from longtime collaborator Steve Nieve. Plus, French psychoanalyst/writer/producer Muriel Teodori, and French artist AJUQ. Neon Coral 12” LP. Indie Exclusive.

Nancy Wilson has recorded 16 albums and sold over 35 million albums worldwide with her band, Heart. Within that history-making career, You and Me represents something special, as it is Nancy Wilson’s very first solo studio album.

You and Me was primarily recorded in Wilson’s California home studio, working with band members and special guests remotely. Most of the tracks are originals, but Wilson decided to include a handful of covers by a few of her favorites, including her moving version of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising,” a female perspective of Pearl Jam’s “Daughter,” a stirring turn of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” featuring Sammy Hagar, and an ethereal cover of the Cranberries “Dreams,” featuring Liv Warfield from Nancy’s previous band Roadcase Royale. The album also includes Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, and Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins on a new track, “Party at the Angel Ballroom.”

The title track and first single “You and Me” highlights the intimate feel of the album. Like all the legendary music she’s created with Heart, “You and Me” is an emotional, intimate conversation between a musician and an audience.

Angel Dream is a special reimagining of the album She’s The One to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its original release. This also brings to a close the celebration of Tom Petty’s masterpiece Wildflowers, as most of the songs on this album were recorded during the same time period.  She’s The One included some songs that were left off the original Wildflowers album, recently included in the Wildflowers & All The Rest re-issue. To take the place of those songs, four previously unreleased songs have been added here – two Petty originals (“105 Degrees” and “One of Life’s Little Mysteries”), a cover of JJ Cale’s “Thirteen Days”, and the instrumental “French Disconnection”.  An extended version of “Supernatural Radio” is also included. The album has been remixed & remastered and brand new cover art commissioned – emphasizing that this is a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album, rather than a soundtrack album.

A new era of hope, survival, and prosperity comes calling on STYX's Magnum Opus, Crash of the Crown, the band's first studio album since 2017's The Mission. Though the 15-track album takes a hard look at some inherently dark subjects, the prevalent light at the end of the tunnel eventually becomes each song's focal point - a persistent fervor to keep moving forward and achieve the greater good. Featuring "Crash of the Crown," "Reveries" & more, available on black vinyl.

Limited Indies Exclusive Signed Edition! Demon Records presents Distortion: 2008-2019, the third in a series of four expansive vinyl box sets chronicling the solo career of legendary American musician Bob Mould. Bob Mould's career began in 1979 with the iconic underground punk group Hüsker Dü before forming the beloved alternative rock band Sugar and releasing numerous critically acclaimed solo albums. Volume three in this new series covers the period 2008-2019 and contains many of Bob Mould's most celebrated recordings including Silver Age (2012), Patch The Sky (2016), and Sunshine Rock (2019). 7 LPs including - 6 studio albums -District Line (2008), Life And Times (2009), Silver Age (2012), Beauty & Ruin (2014), Patch The Sky (2016), and Sunshine Rock (2019). Each album is presented with brand new artwork designed by illustrator Simon Marchner and pressed on 140g clear vinyl with unique splatter effects. Bonus LP Distortion Plus: 2008-2019 which features Mould's collaborations with Foo Fighters and Butch Walker plus the 2019 single 'I Don't Mind'. Pressed on clear vinyl with an etched B-side. Mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering in Boston. Plus a 28-page companion booklet featuring: liner notes by journalist Keith Cameron; contributions from J Mascis and Shirley Manson; lyrics and memorabilia.

Also Available: 

Vol.1: Distortion: 1989-1995 [8LP Box Set] 
Vol.2: Distortion: 1996-2007 [Signed 140-Gram Clear Splatter Vinyl] 
Vol.3: Distortion: 2008-2019 [Signed 140-Gram Clear Splatter Vinyl] 
Vol.4: Distortion: Live [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Signed 140-Gram Clear Splatter 8LP Box Set] 

Considered to be one of the best live albums of all time, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s ‘Live’ Bullet was captured at Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI, in September 1975. The album was released April 12, 1976, and helped to supercharge Bob Seger’s career. To mark the 45th anniversary, the album has been remastered and will be released in its original 2LP format in both black and color vinyl.

Stage Fright is the third studio album by Canadian American group the Band, released on August 17, 1970. Engineered by Todd Rundgren and Glyn Johns, it features two of the group's best-known songs, "The Shape I'm In" and "Stage Fright", both of which showcased inspired lead vocal performances (by Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, respectively) and became staples in the group's live shows. Product Suite • Super Deluxe Box • 5.1 surround and hi-res stereo mix of album (by Bob Clearmountain) + new bonus tracks + previously unreleased Royal Albert Hall (1970) performance on Blu-ray • CD of new stereo mix album + new bonus tracks and unreleased Calgary hotel demo tracks CD of the Royal Albert Hall performance (stereo) • LP of main album new stereo mix (180gram, 33rpm) • 7” reproduction of original “Time To Kill” b/w “The Shape I’m In” Capitol single (Spanish pressing) Photo booklet with new notes by Robbie Robertson and a reprinting of the original 1970 Robert Hilburn Los Angeles Times album review

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and ZZ Top frontman, Billy F Gibbons wants to take you on a desert trip. Hardware is Billy's third release as a solo artist. He compiled a group of a-listers including Matt Sorum (dr), Austin Hanks (gtr) and headed into the California desert to record in Pioneertown. Hardware features the guitar prowess and vocals that have made Billy a legend but it also shows Billy stretching his music landscape past the place where the road ends.

Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)—the latest offering of Tom Petty music, curated with help from his loving family, bandmates and collaborators—will be released on April 16 via Warner Records. The tracks, which were previously released on the limited-edition Super Deluxe 9-LP version of 2020’s Wildflowers & All The Rest, will now be available on limited edition gold vinyl for indie retail, and CD.  A black vinyl release will follow on May 7.

Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) features 16 studio recordings of alternate takes, long cuts and jam versions of Wildflowers songs as Tom, band members and co-producer Rick Rubin worked to finalize the album in 1994. The release offers fans further deep access into the writing and recording of Wildflowers, as well as realizing the full vision of the project as Tom had always intended.

The collection was produced by Tom’s longtime engineer and co-producer Ryan Ulyate who listened to 245 reels of 24-track tape, revealing Tom and his collaborators’ evolutionary process, and finding the group willing to do whatever it took to discover the essence and magic in the material.

AFI are leaders, not followers. A collective in a perpetual state of creative evolution as fluid as the evocative figures contorting on the cover of Bodies, their newest collection of songs. The record is a snapshot of unrelenting artists in motion, unconcerned with compromise or outside demands.

AFI's unshakeable connection with their audience is a testament to the band's knack for reinvention, renewal, and exploration, anchored by an unblemished authenticity. AFI songs are embedded in the spiritual DNA of a legion of supporters and Bodies is further demonstration of AFI's unwavering commitment to artistic exploration, a dark conjuration of an uncapturable muse.

The band initially summoned a steady subcultural groundswell in the mid-90s, devoid of careerist ambitions. The band first made music as teenaged misfits in an obscure Northern California town, steadily assembling a dense catalog over the years marked by its diversity and authenticity. Davey Havok, Adam Carson, Hunter Burgan and Jade Puget keep their eyes fixed on the present and future, ensuring their position as a uniquely vibrant artistic force remains steadfast and strong.

Like similarly artistically-minded iconic bands, AFI's ever-evolving identity has kept their sound, themes, and overall image fresh. A place in rock n' roll history assured by magical musical androgyny, both post-modern and timeless, AFI remains guided by the flames of authenticity and determination that defined their first ten albums and are sure to drive the next ten and beyond.

R.E.M.’s first and breakthrough single “Radio Free Europe” was initially released by a small Atlanta-based record label, Hib-Tone Records. Produced by Mitch Easter, the original recording of the single had different mixes by Easter and by label-owner Johnny Hibbert. Although the band preferred Easter’s mix, Hibbert chose his version for the 1981 limited pressing 45RPM single, which is now a coveted collector’s item, packaged in a black and white sleeve featuring original photography by Michael Stipe.

“Radio Free Europe” was later re-recorded for the band’s first album release on major record label I.R.S. Records and went on to land the band their chart debut, peaking at #78 on the Billboard Hot 100. That album, Murmur, went on to reach #36 on the album chart and set the band steadfastly on the path to college radio domination and critical acclaim. The band’s 1988 compilation album, Eponymous, included what was called the Original Hib-Tone single, but what was in fact Easter’s original mix, not Hibbert’s.

This limited edition 7” pressing represents the first ever re-release of the original Hib-Tone recording of “Radio Free Europe” and comes housed in a replica sleeve.

Hailed upon its release last year as "vital and comfortable taking new chances” (Rolling Stone) and “cheery, resilient, forever looking forward” (The New Yorker), Paul McCartney’s McCartney III, which topped album charts across the world, is now literally moving into the future in the form of McCartney III Imagined.  Personally curated by Paul, McCartney III Imagined features an A-List assortment of friends, fans and brand new acquaintances, each covering and/or reimagining their favorite McCartney III moments in their own signature styles. The result is a kaleidoscopic reinterpretation of an album Rolling Stone accurately tagged “an inspiration to us all”—one that serves as an extension of the instantly beloved McCartney III while standing on its own as brilliant and adventurous milestone in the McCartney discography.

Formed in L.A.’s South Bay in 1978, DESCENDENTS began as a power trio featuring bassist Tony Lombardo, drummer Bill Stevenson, and guitarist Frank Navetta (d. 2008). The band recruited vocalist Milo Aukerman in 1980 and began establishing themselves as major players in the Southern California Punk movement. Over the years, the band has sustained a potent chemistry and shared vision, further cementing them as punk legends.

In 2002, the original four-piece lineup — Frank Navetta, Tony Lombardo, Bill Stevenson, and Milo Aukerman — got back into the studio to finally record their first-ever songs. The songs were written by the band from 1977 through 1980, before recording the Fat EP (1981) and the Milo Goes to College LP (1982). Put simply, this is the DESCENDENTS’ earliest material, representing a “lost” pre-MGTC album. Most of these songs have not been heard—until now.

Every element of DESCENDENTS’ genre-creating sound is here: Stevenson’s hyper-caffeinated surf-beats, Lombardo’s intrepid bass, Navetta’s crunching attack, Aukerman’s impassioned, infinitely relatable singing—and all those great melodies and harmonies.

The defining blues voice of his generation releases the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to his Grammy-nominated debut, 2019's Kingfish. 662 (the area code of his Clarksdale stomping grounds) is a powerful and personal album, a fiery coming-of-age record. The lyrics reflect Ingram's newfound maturity and how your roots inspire where you're heading. Musically, the record delivers a heaping helping of the deep, visceral Ingram guitar magic his fans love, fueling a combustible mix of molten blues rock, down home shuffles and soulful grooves.

Electric Smoke 2LP. Exclusive Superman cover. Includes collective character trading card (1 of 10), 11x22 fold-out poster. Gatefold.

To accompany the unrestrained awesomeness of DC’s Dark Nights: Death Metal comic series, executive producer/composer Tyler Bates (Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick) presents the Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack. Directly inspired by the comic series’ storyline, the diverse soundtrack illuminates the darkest corners of each DC character’s psyche.

Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying, you know it when you hear it.

And you always hear it with The Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylan-led act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and purposeful bands – a unit dedicated to and continually honing a sound that meshes timeless songwriting and storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern musical attack. That signature style has been present through the decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s Bringing Down the Horse as well as more recent and exploratory fare like 2012’s Glad All Over.

But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from the group with whom he first made his mark, the Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,” he says simply. That life’s work continues with Exit Wounds, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since Glad All Over.

Exit Wounds, which, true to its title, is an ode to people – individual and collective – that have, to put it mildly, been through some stuff. 

“I think everybody – no matter what side of the aisle you’re on – wherever we’re going to next, we're all taking a lot of exit wounds with us,” Dylan says. “Nobody is the same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what Exit Wounds signifies. And it's not meant to be negative at all. It just means that wherever you’re headed, even if it’s to a better place, you leave people and things behind, and you think about those people and those things and you carry them with you. Those are your exit wounds. And right now, we’re all swimming in them.”

With her musical project Half Waif, Nandi Rose dives deep into the waters of artistic expression by layering evocative vocals and synths to create a powerful form of pop music. On Mythopoetics, Rose ex- plores a full spectrum of sounds that sparkle with memorable hooks, otherworldly production and uplifting grooves. “This is the record I’ve been trying to make for 10 years,” Rose says.

Previous albums The Caretaker (2020) and Lavender (2018) garnered acclaim for their compelling journeys through solitude, desire and the search for independence. Half Waif declares a new chapter on Mytho- poetics, a collection of 12 new songs – mythical stories that transcend time, each sung with a glorious contralto wrapped up in synths and electronic percussion, and her lyrical piano serving as the backbone. It is an essential reminder that we have the power to shape the stories we tell and the myths we make of our lives. This is music that you feel.

1 CD, 1 Limited Edition Poster (2 versions), 1 Photo Book (2 versions), 2 Lyric Cards, 1 Photo Card (1 of 8 each random), 1 Instant Photo Card, 1 Graphic Sticker (2 versions), 1 Folded Message Card (1 of 7 each random), 1 Photo Stand (2 versions). All sales count towards the Korean Hanteo and Gaon charts. Sales will not count toward the US Billboard charts.  

Celebrating 20 years of the Academy Award winning film by Cameron Crowe, the Grammy® winning Almost Famous soundtrack is reissued as a deluxe 2CD with 35 songs from the film including Stillwater, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, and many more. Unreleased songs: “Tiny Dancer (Almost Famous Version)” with Elton John & cast and the unique mix & edit for The Who’s “Amazing Journey / Sparks (Almost Famous Version).” Newly expanded artwork includes unreleased photos and an introduction by Cameron Crowe.

Oliver Wood is a testament to slow and steady wins the race. Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, he relocated to Atlanta in his early twenties to pursue a career in music. Gaining a reputation over a ten year period as one of the premier working musicians on the local Georgia music scene, he was invited to join blues legend Tinsley Ellis’ road band. From there, Oliver would form his own group, King Johnson, who’d build a loyal regional following. When opening for his brother Chris’ band, Medeski Martin & Wood, he was invited to sit in, which instantly reminded them of the deep musical bond they shared. Soon thereafter, The Wood Brothers were born. They’ve since gone on to release seven studio albums, perform high profile shows from Red Rocks to Bonnaroo and earn a Grammy Award-nomination.

Until the release of “Soul Of This Town” and “The Battle Is Over," in 2020, Oliver had never stepped out under his own name as a solo artist. 'Always Smilin'' is a strong opening statement from Oliver as a solo artist, and one that sets him apart as an accomplished singer and songwriter outside of his day job with The Wood Brothers.

Almost 50 years after the sessions that would make them an “accidental Texas supergroup” (Rolling Stone), The Flatlanders have returned with Treasure of Love, their first new album in more than a decade. Completed during COVID-19 lockdowns with the help of longtime friend and collaborator Lloyd Maines, the record finds the iconic trio of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock in classic form, serving up a rollicking collection of twang-fueled, harmony-laden performances full of wry humor and raw heartbreak. While a few songs here are never-before-heard originals, the vast majority of the tracklist consists of tunes the band picked up during their half-century together, some stretching as far back as the group’s earliest performances in the honkytonks around Lubbock, TX, where you might have spotted Willie Nelson or Townes Van Zandt in the audience.

Largely ignored by press and radio, the initial incarnation of The Flatlanders lasted only a few years before disbanding in 1973. In the decades to come, however, Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock would all go on to considerable success as solo artists, and with the 1990 reissue of their long lost debut, The Flatlanders finally received their due. Critics hailed them as visionaries and craftsmen of the highest caliber (The New York Times dubbed their first LP a “founding document of the alternative country movement”), and the trio would spend the next 30 years collaborating and touring on and off again to widespread acclaim.

Originally conceived as a medium for Chicago-based multi-media artist/activist Damon Locks’s sample-based sound collage work, Black Monument Ensemble (BME) has evolved from a solo mission into a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work with common goals of joy, compassion, and intention. A genuinely multi-generational collective, ages of BME members range from 9 to 52 years old; members include instrumentalists and fellow IARC recording artists Angel Bat Dawid and Ben LaMar Gay. Their debut album Where Future Unfolds was released in 2019 by International Anthem glowing praise; landing at #3 on Bandcamp’s “Best Albums of the Year,” #25 on WIRE Magazine’s “Best Albums of 2019,” and being repeatedly dubbed “The Best Album of 2019” by BBC/Worldwide radio titan Gilles Peterson.

Locks & BME’s new album NOW was created in the final throes of Summer 2020, following months of pandemic-induced fear & isolation, the explosion of social unrest, struggle & violence in the streets, and as the certain presence of a new reality had fully settled in. Set up safely in the garden behind Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, the music was recorded in only a few takes, capturing the first times members of BME had ever played or sang the tunes. For Locks, the impetus was more about getting together to commune and make art than it was about producing an album. In his words: “It was about offering a new thought. It was about resisting the darkness. It was about expressing possibility. It was about asking the question, ‘Since the future has unfolded and taken a new and dangerous shape... what happens NOW?’”

Comprised of Naomi “Nai Palm” Saalfield (guitar, vocals), Paul Bender (bass), Simon Mavin (keys), and Perrin Moss (drums), the twice-Grammy-nominated group Hiatus Kaiyote returns to announce their new album Mood Valiant via Brainfeeder Records / Ninja Tune.

The new project comes after the band has been sampled on songs by The Carters (Beyonce & Jay-Z), Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Chance The Rapper, and Drake — with whom Nai Palm collaborated with on Scorpion.

The band travelled to Rio de Janeiro in late-2019 to work on the album with legendary Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai, which led to the infectious lead single “Get Sun” (feat. Arthur Verocai).

The album was a six year journey, but is more of a hustle than a hiatus — it is an act of love, of courage, of brother-and-sisterhood, of altered perspective.

“Hiatus Kaiyote’s music stretches and bends every parameter.” - Jon Pareles / The New York Times

Yves Jarvis and Romy Lightman are a pair of idiosyncratic and restlessly creative artists. In the past decade, Jarvis’s ever-expanding swatch have earned international acclaim, while Lightman’s twin-sister-led band Tasseomancy has transfixed listeners since the late 2000s. The Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band marks the duo’s first collaboration, slingshotting both musicians out of their comfort zones into spellbinding territories of lysergic folk and impressionistic rock.

Banned was recorded in the tranquil environment of the Tree Museum, an outdoor art gallery in rural Ontario, Canada, hosting residencies for contemporary sculptors over the past 20 years. The pair credit its 200 acres of natural spaces intermingling with human-made creations as the fuel for their unfettered process. Recorded over two weeks in a free-flowing stream of improvisation, the album finds Lightman on synthesizer with Jarvis on drums and guitar, as their voices weave together into an electrified pastoral tapestry.

For both musicians, the creation offered a chance to challenge themselves: Jarvis defying his solitary practice to record with another person, while open jams provided Lightman an alternative to her preference for thoroughly composed songwriting. “This album is a loose manifesto in our shared vision for a way of being,” says Lightman. “It’s about our relationship and the dynamics in that. There’s an epicness to it and tension at times. It’s like the ways particles collide. There’s an alchemical aspect to it with these base components slamming together.”

Gary Allan will be releasing a brand new album of all new material on June 25th. This is Gary's first studio album in over 8 years. Overall, Allan's nine studio and greatest hits albums have produced 26 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, including the number one hits "Man to Man", "Tough Little Boys" (both 2003), "Nothing On but the Radio" (2004), and "Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)" (2013). Seven more of his singles have reached the Top 10 on this chart as well: his debut single "Her Man", "It Would Be You" (both at #7), "Right Where I Need to Be" (at #5), "The One" (at #3), "Best I Ever Had" (a cover of a Vertical Horizon song) (at #7), "Life Ain't Always Beautiful" (at #4), and "Watching Airplanes" (#2).

The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians and music industry workers who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. That life is hard is true, and yet we're graced with gifts that make it easier. One of those gifts is Joey Spampinato. The singer, songwriter and bassist was co-founder of NRBQ, a rock quartet who released their first album in 1969 and whose genre-defying music inspired a generation of music fans and especially other musicians. Many of those musicians answered the call from Kami Lyle, and producer Sheldon Gomberg when they contacted them about recording one of Joey's songs for an album to help raise funds for Joey when it was revealed he was battling cancer. The result is Sweet Relief - A tribute to Joey Spampinato, an inspired album of songs written by Joey and recorded by an astounding group of musicians who are all generously donating their proceeds from these previously unreleased recordings to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to support Joey and other struggling musicians. For more information about Sweet Relief Musicians Fund visit https://www. Sweetrelief. org/

Nonesuch Records releases an album of songs written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part. The musicians, who have known each other since their student days, were presented with three days of gratis studio time and decided to experiment with ideas they had begun putting to tape during the sessions for their January 2021 Nonesuch release Narrow Sea. With Shaw on vocals and Sō—Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting—filling out this new band, they developed songs in the studio, with lyrics inspired by their own wide-ranging interests: James Joyce, the Sacred Harp hymn book, a poem by Anne Carson, the Bible’s Book of Ruth, the American roots tune “I’ll Fly Away,” and the pop perfection of ABBA, among others. The album is co-produced by Shaw, Sō Percussion, and the Grammy Award–winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift).

Johannes Wallmann’s Elegy for an Undiscovered Species is the pianist’s ninth album and his most ambitious effort to date: a full-length album of new music for jazz quintet and string orchestra. The 19-piece ensemble is fronted by two returning collaborators of Wallmann’s, New York trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, and powered by a rhythm tandem of drummer Allison Miller and bassist Nick Moran. Two years in the making, the album was recorded at the Hamel Music Center in Madison in late February 2020 – just prior to the Covid shutdown – and will be released June 25, 2021.

Sucker Supreme is the third album from Rosie Tucker, and first for Epitaph Records. It is a coming of age album that aches with self-discovery, self-definition, and self-redefinition. Sucker Supreme is also just the right follow-up to where their last album, 2019’s Never Not Never Not Never Not, left off: still playfully observed, still sneakily political, still indebted to folk singers of the past – but also much, much bigger, brighter, louder and noisier than anything Tucker has dared before. It delivers mightily on an ambitious M.O.: to be relentlessly catchy and muscular and noisy but also beautiful; be achingly sad and searching, but never too far away from funny, either; and to spotlight Tucker’s empathetic, yearning vocals on top of it all. It takes a unique group of people to make an album that leaps out of the speakers at you like this one. Sucker Supreme is the first record made by Tucker’s current touring band: drummer Jessy Reed, guitarist Jess Kallen, and bassist Wolfy, who also occupied the producer’s chair. It’s a group of people as eager to share their long-dead folk music heroes as they are to pay homage to their still-kicking pop-punk heartthrobs.

The term “Front Porch Singin’” may actually be a metaphor for many creative and conceptual musical ideas. But, for us, this title has become more of an attitude than anything else. What if the four of us were sitting on a porch together and someone begins to sing a favorite old Gospel song, like “Swing Down Chariot,” or a country and Western standard like “Red River Valley,” and everyone else just joined in? That is what happened at RCA Studio A. But, as usual under producer Dave Cobb’s leadership, this album turned into so much more. The Front Porch Singin’ attitude remained prevalent throughout, as songwriters, musicians, Dave and all four of us kept coming to the table with terrific creative ideas to enhance our Front Porch experience.

This project is quite honestly one of the most heartfelt albums we have ever recorded. Perhaps it is because we recorded these songs in the middle of a raging pandemic that changed the face of America and obviously took a huge toll on those of us in the music business. It was a bit strange to social-distance from each other in the studio, but we believe it drew us all closer and, in doing so, we may have inadvertently recorded the perfect project for this time period. These songs, whether new or old, reflect a certain optimism and a deep-seated faith that God will work all of this out as we move forward. “Life is beautiful,” as one song says. We must embrace it and celebrate it with all of our being.

Join us on The Front Porch and, if it is God’s will… Let’s keep on SINGIN’.

—The Oak Ridge Boys

Big Mess marks Elfman’s first solo collection in more than thirty years, but it’s no return to form. Clocking in at 18 tracks, the sprawling, ambitious double album finds the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer breaking bold new ground as both a writer and a performer, drawing on a dystopian palette of distorted electric guitars, industrial synthesizers and orchestra in an effort to exorcise the demons brought about by four years of creeping fascism and civil rot.
The songs here call to mind everything from Nine Inch Nails, to David Bowie to XTC at times, balancing dense, harmonically complex arrangements with biting, acerbic wit as they reckon with the chaos and confusion of the modern world. Elfman wrote almost all of the record during quarantine, and while the anger, frustration, and isolation of it all is palpable in his delivery, Big Mess is about more than simply blowing off steam. In making the space to truly sit with his emotions and write without limitations, Elfman achieved a kind of artistic liberation on the record that had been eluding him for decades, rediscovering his voice and reinventing himself all at once in the process.
Born and raised in southern California, Elfman began his career as part of a surrealist, avant-garde musical theater troupe known as The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo. The group would eventually morph into the critically acclaimed rock band Oingo Boingo, whose high-energy performances and genre-bending sound garnered them a fanatically devoted cult following in the 1980s and ’90s. Among the group’s early fans was fledgling director Tim Burton and Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman), who enlisted Elfman to score their first feature film, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. The collaboration would prove to be the start of a long and fruitful partnership for Elfman and Burton, with Elfman going on to score a string of iconic Burton features like Batman, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. To date, Elfman has scored more than 100 films.

On June 15th 2014, Jason Isbell reunited onstage with former Drive By Truckers bandmates Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley for a special round-style night in Muscle Shoals Music. The setlist includes acoustic versions of Isbell-era Truckers gems including “Heathens,” “Decoration Day” and “Zip City” as well as post-Isbell Truckers tracks like “Space City” and solo Isbell faves such as “Cover Me Up.” The set opens and closes with a pair of classic Hood-sung numbers, 2004′s “Tornadoes” and 2001′s “Let There Be Rock.”  

Atreyu ushered in a new movement in heavy music. They've broken into the Top 10 in the Billboard 200 more than once; 2 of their albums are certified gold. Yet, 2 decades since the release of their first album, Atreyu is just getting started. Baptize is a definitive work for a new era. Atreyu recorded Baptize w/ producer John Feldmann. Guests include Jacoby Shaddix & Travis Barker. Songs like "Warrior," "Catastrophe," & "Save Us" are massive. Blue LP. Gatefold Jacket.

Nowhere Generation’s unabashedly outspoken 11 songs explore the tight bonds and the distances we share, the struggles of everyday life, our personal failings and triumphs, as well as how the social and economic decks can be stacked against us. But Nowhere Generation also hints at the reclamation of ourselves, a call to resurrect who we are at our core, who we want to be and what we want to do with our lives, despite the rampant weaponizing of our culture. As lyricist Tim McIlrath wrote on “The Numbers”:  …these cold nights are almost unbearable, but purpose keeps us warm.

Nowhere Generation was recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado under the tutelage of Jason Livermore, Andrew Berlin, Chris Beeble and long-time producer/engineer Bill Stevenson (Black Flag, The Descendents) who has worked with the band on nearly all of their acclaimed releases since their sophomore effort, 2003’s Revolutions Per Minute, and is often described as Rise Against’s fifth member.

"Listening to the story of Canadian duo cleopatrick is a bit like hearing the plot of the best, most righteously validating coming-of-age film never made. Two friends meet aged four in Hicksville, Nowheretown (real name: Cobourg, Ontario, population 19,000), grow up completely inseparable, form a band and, against numerous obstacles, blossom into a genuine, global underground sensation. There are heroes and villains, highs and lows and, crucially, some of the most poetic plot twists that could seem almost too perfect, were they not completely true.

Take the story of 2017 breakthrough track ‘hometown’ for example. “It’s one of the craziest, most ironic things that’s ever happened,” begins vocalist and guitarist Luke Gruntz. “I was going to college because I was too scared to put all my chips in the band pile, and that’s what ‘hometown’ is about: it’s a song about feeling like we’re doing all this stuff and we’re working so hard and we’re just never going to be heard. It’s literally a song about people probably never hearing our songs. And then by some act of the universe, that song ended up unlocking all the doors for us.”

Today, cleopatrick has logged 77 million streams and counting - all from an increasingly dedicated fanbase who’ve found the duo, completed by drummer Ian Fraser, their own way: no major label, no big budget, just two best pals knuckling down, cementing a unique sonic alchemy and filling a space of honest, empathetic yet undeniably heavy-hitting rock music that they’d been searching for themselves for years. Between multiple sold out tours in Canada, the US and the UK/EU and appearances at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and Reading/Leeds, the pair have been crafting BUMMER: a debut album that sees cleopatrick harness all the magic they’ve been brewing over their two-decade friendship and funnel it into a record that aims to reinvigorate the rock landscape from the ground up. Taking the ethos of their New Rock Mafia collective - a group of friends and fellow bands, united in making a more inclusive, equality-driven space in rock music - and imbuing it with the sonic ambition and ferocity of a record designed to be played hard and loud, it’s an album about two friends, who’ve been with each other since the formative first steps that adorn ‘BUMMER’’s heartwarming cover image and made something that’s a testament to the power of sticking to your guns."

Liz Phair brashly but effortlessly drops lyrical nuggets into her melody-driven, lo-fi songs. It makes for a devastating back catalogue; from the peerless Exile In Guyville to Whip-Smart, Whitechocolatespaceegg to the self-titled Liz Phair, each of her records acts as another timely klaxon call for a generation not prepared to sit back nor shut up. It's a career that's heralded her Grammy Award nominations, a spot on Rolling Stone's albums of all-time list, and decades of critical acclaim that has inspired and influenced some of the brightest new faces of yesterday and today, veering from cult icon to mainstream concern. Over a decade since her last record was released, Liz Phair now returns with another bagful of fireworks already fizzing to be let off in the shape of new album Soberish. Liz maintains the sass that propelled her to become such a critical darling, and that innate ear for melody and razor sharp way with words." Hey Lou" is the record's opening gambit, a mischievous ode to Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, and Liz's jaunty lament back into our ears. Welcome back Miss Phair, we've missed you.

Poté (Sylvern Mathurin) is St. Lucian-born, London-bred and Paris based, electronic artist, due to release his forthcoming album “A Tenacious Tale Of Her” on Bonobo’s label OUTLIER this summer.

With an impressive, unique sound, his new album is written as a theatrical play, a theme which also leans into the creative direction behind his record. The first single ‘Young Lies’, features musician and singer, songwriter, Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz.

Poté has formally created remixes for the likes of Gorillaz’ ‘Trans’ and Little Dragon’s ‘Hold On’. His previous releases include debut digital album “Spiral, My Love” released in 2018 on Benji B’'s Deviation Music imprint followed by “Waters of Praslin” EP in 2019. This year he put out EP “Rose” in January along with latest single ‘Pearls’ in August on his own label Versicolor.

Playing live, he has supported Bonobo on tour in Europe as well as singer and drummer Georgia for six dates in the UK.

Poté has seen support across many different outlets from Clash album review (8/10), Clash Track of The Day, Mixmag album review (print edition), Mixmag All Points East streamed solo live show from in London, Mixmag The Lab LDN, DJ Mag mix, XLR8R, Dummy single premiere, Beat Culture and more.