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Bear Hands Fake Tunes Spensive Sounds |
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Bear Hands' auspicious new album Fake Tunes takes a deep dive into our twisted modern era. “Blue Lips," a song about listening to someone's problems over and over until it drains you completely, to the dreamy lilt of "Clean Up California," a song about finding salvation (or not) across state lines, Fake Tunes traces the anxiety of life and love in America today. |
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AURORA A Different Kind of Human, Step Glassnote |
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A Different Kind of Human: Step 2 is Aurora's third album, and one that forms the second part of last year's surprise release, the critically acclaimed Infections of A Different Kind. A more experimental album than its predecessors, it is a record that finds Aurora focusing on the ecological crisis and the consequences of the rampant individualism so prevalent in society. It is another hugely impressive, conceptual leap forward from the young artist and one that firmly consolidates Aurora as a creative force to be reckoned with! Features the singles "Animal" and "The Seed". |
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Cate Le Bon Reward Mexican Summer |
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It was on a mountainside in Cumbria that the first whispers of Cate Le Bon's fifth studio album poked their buds above the earth. "There's a strange romanticism to going a little bit crazy and playing the piano to yourself and singing into the night," she says, recounting the year living solitarily in the Lake District which gave way to Reward. Other instruments were added one-by-one, until the album found its way to completion. Unexpected and gorgeous. |
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Marina Love + Fear ATL |
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Love + Fear are two 8 song collections that are part of an album set – Mariana’s fourth full-length release. Love is filled with a longing to enjoy life ('Handmade Heaven') and a desire for unity ('To Be Human'). Fear explores subjects that have been a lot harder for me to work through and understand, such as purpose ('Life is Strange'), insecurity in love ('Believe in Love' and 'Soft to be Strong'), and major shifts in our social conscience regarding the systematic misogyny and sexual abuse. These ideas cross to showcase and explore the polarizing sides of human nature. |
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Southern Ave Keep On Concord Records |
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Keep On, the sophomore album boundary-breaking Memphis combo Southern Avenue, brilliantly captures Southern Avenue’s combustible chemistry, with the emotion-charged energy of such distinctive originals as “Whiskey Love,” “Savior,” “Too Good for You,” and ”We Are Not So Different” reflecting the players’ evolving talents as well as the influence of the extensive roadwork that they’ve invested in the band. The album was recorded at Memphis’ legendary Sam Phillips Recording, and counts seminal Stax Records artist William Bell among its guests. |
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The Heavy Son BMG |
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Five albums and over a decade into their career, most bands start to ease down. The Heavy have instead made Sons, as uplifting and urgent an album as you're likely to hear all year. Not wasting a note in its 10 full songs, Sons is a series of short, sharp shocks which doesn't let up from the opening defiant attack of "Heavy For You" until the last hurrah of redemptive closer "Burn Bright." In between, there's the film noir drama "Fighting For The Same Thing," irresistible disco "Put The Hurt On Me," "Simple Things'", the scuzzy glam-rock of "A Whole Lot Of Love," and "Better As One's" glorious call for unity. |
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James Taylor One Man Band Craft |
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James Taylor began his career in the late-‘60s with a guitar, a suitcase and a handful of original songs. On One Man Band - recorded live over several dates at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA in July 2007 - Taylor returned to this spirit and showcased material from the previous 40 years of his legendary career from "Something in the Way She Moves," "Carolina In My Mind," "Fire and Rain," right up to "Mean Old Man" and "My Traveling Star" from his then most recent release October Road. |
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Morrissey California Son BMG |
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After 2018's "heartfelt" (Rolling Stone) cover of Pretenders' "Back on the Chain Gang,” Morrissey unveils his highly-anticipated covers album California Son. The 12-track collection traverses the sonic landscape of the 60s and 70s, covering untouchable luminaries like Joni Mitchell, Dionne Warwick, and Bob Dylan while also delving into more obscure musicians of the time, such as early gay icon Jobriath and political activist Phil Ochs. Guests include Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Sameer Gadhia (Young the Giant). |
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L'Eclair Sauropoda Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records |
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L'Eclair's Sauropoda LP was recorded in an undisclosed location in the mountains over the course of two days in October 2018. The music was captured live in the studio, there are very few overdubs, and it's mega-organic. Think of it as a 2am YouTube rabbit-hole find, or that weird-looking soviet prog funk private press that you knew you should've bought the one time you came across it in the bins. In fact, it actually sounds more like a L'Eclair live show...blended with carefully-crafted dance floor grooves, last-minute studio fantasies, and fully-faded late night jams. |
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Luciano Pavarotti Pavarotti Music from the Motion Picture Verve Label Group |
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Fom the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years, Pavarotti is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award winner Ron Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of The Voice...The Man...The Legend. Luciano Pavarotti gave his life to the music and a voice to the world. This cinematic event features history-making performances, intimate interviews, and never-before-seen footage. |
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Lydia Ainsworth Phantom Forest Zombie Cat Records |
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On Phantom Forest, Lydia Ainsworth introduces a lush, complex dream world that she created and inhabits largely on her own. It's a beautiful, vast collection of art pop with hooks about the search for personal connections in the midst of apocalypse and technology. It's a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but can also exist on a purely emotional plane. Ainsworth wrote and performed everything aside from a re-imagined cover of Pink Floyd's "Green is the Color"; two other tracks are co-written with Survive's Kyle Dixon (Stranger Things), to which Ainsworth wrote melodies and added lyrics to his instrumentals. |
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Hollis Brown Ozone Park Mascot Label Group |
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Hollis Brown is a hardworking rock 'n' roll band that certainly lives up to the blue-collar legacy of their hometown of Queens, NY. The band has been releasing music since 2013, during which they issued an EP and two albums along with a tribute to the Velvet Underground's Loaded. As evidenced on their new album Ozone Park, there's a great deal of sophistication in the mix here as well, rich melodicism and advanced harmonics that allow Hollis Brown (named after the Bob Dylan song) to blend a wealth of influences into a distinctive sound. "I think with this record we wanted to make a statement," explains singer/guitarist Mike Montali. "Rock music can still be done in a modern way that is still as good as some of those acts from the past." |
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Richard Hawley Further BMG |
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For Richard Hawley’s eighth solo effort he wanted something that would capture the intention of moving forwards, but without jettisoning his past. "I really wanted to challenge myself to try to keep things relatively up-tempo and keep the songs to about three minutes long," Hawley says openly, "I was asking myself ‘Can you get your message across like a bullet?’” Hawley's challenge to himself means that Further is quite possibly his most forthright album to date, clocking in at under 40 minutes. The opening track and first single, the thunderous, Rickenbacker thrasher "Off My Mind," sets the album's direct tone. Other songs that display similar swagger include the glam stomp of "Alone," the outlaw tale that is "Galley Girl" and the album's centerpiece, the grungy "Is There A Pill." |
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Tommy James Alive Aura Records |
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“Alive started out as an acoustic album,” says Tommy James [of and The Shondells fame]. “But...little by little...I realized that there was no way I could interpret the songs acoustically so I gave into electricity! Some songs go back 30 or 40 years and some are brand new. For instance, there's a ballad version of ‘'I Think We're Alone Now’ that's very different than the original one. I'd also been thinking about a remake of 'Draggin' The Line' for a long time and felt that a rap version might be perfect. If there's one big theme it's that there's absolutely no theme.” |
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Stan Getz Getz at the Gate Verve |
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Getz At The Gate is a previously unreleased 1961 Stan Getz live recording from the historic Village Gate in New York City. The 16-track performance finds the tenor saxophone giant working in an all-star, rarely heard quartet with pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist John Neves and drummer Roy Haynes (aka ‘The Boston Band'). The show was professionally recorded with a view to possible commercial release but, after those plans were forgotten, the tape sat in the vaults for 58 years. The recording serves as a priceless document of a direction that Getz, ultimately, did not follow. Includes extensive liner notes by Boston jazz historian Bob Blumenthal. |
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LISTEN HERE |
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LISTEN HERE |
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The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus VA Abkco Records & Music |
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Filmed over two days in December 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus starred the '60s line-up of the Stones, complete with Brian Jones. The film was shelved in wake of Jones' departure and subsequent death and didn’t see a proper release until 1996. The Stones were joined by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono and The Dirty Mac – an impromptu supergroup featuring John Lennon, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), and Eric Clapton. This 2019 edition features a new mix and a slew of killer bonus material, including music by the late American concert pianist Julius Katchen, Taj Mahal, and The Dirty Mac performing The Beatles' "Revolution.” |
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Esperanza Spalding 12 Little Spells Concord Records |
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12 Little Spells arrives just one year after Exposure, in which 4x Grammy Award-winner Esperanza Spalding composed and recorded a new album entirely from scratch in just 77 hours – all while live-streaming every minute of the process to the world. Beginning on October 7th, 2018, Spalding has been unveiling her innovative new project 12 Little Spells by releasing a new spell – in the form of a new song with video – every day on via social media. The concept is a continuation of Spalding’s exploration of different ways to create, experience, and process music – particularly the healing powers of art and how music and the body interact. Each song is inspired by a different body part. |
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Bailen Thrilled to Be Here Fantasy |
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Gorgeous harmonies, striking arrangements and evocative songwriting introduce Bailen as an undeniable and welcome musical treasure. Bailen's otherworldly musicality springs from a very deep well – in fact, it's in their DNA. Raised in New York by their classically trained parents, fraternal twins Daniel (vocals/bass/synth/guitar), David (vocals/drums), and younger sister Julia Bailen (vocals/guitar), immersed themselves in the family's diverse record collection. The group's highly collaborative songs are formed by three very different individuals who were all inspired by literature and a love of language. The resulting confident, meticulous songcraft of Thrilled To Be Here is rooted in the young group's preternatural dexterity, insight and lyrical bite. Thrilled To Be Here was produced by Grammy-Award winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, The War on Drugs). |
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Silversun Pickups Widow's Weeds New Machine Recordings |
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Silversun Pickups have always considered its sonic density a source of pride. Its four studio albums revealing additional sonic gifts with each subsequent spin, and their fifth, Widow's Weeds, is no exception. While the band members agreed on the album's starting (the urgent synth-rocker "Neon Wound") and closing numbers (the throttling "We Are Chameleons"), they now admit that everything in between – including the sequencing – revealed itself in its own time. To make sense of these ideas, Silversun Pickups enlisted producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth) who, along with mixer Billy Bush, helped craft a confident, unrestrained album. Ultimately, Widow's Weeds is an album about rebirth and renewal – and it’ll make you fall in love with them all over again. |
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The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a national level organization comprised of the best independent record stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995 with the goal of uniting like minded independent store owners, giving them a more powerful voice in the music industry. The stores that make up CIMS are all very different, but we share the same desires – to be the heart of our communities, to super-serve our customers, to support and develop artists, and to share our love of music. For more information about CIMS and the stores in our organization, please visit cimsmusic.com or find us through social media with the #cimsmusic hashtag. And please remember to always shop local by supporting your neighborhood record store.
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