January 2023, Dorset. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin. Not a setting typical for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink. “It's like a demon enters the room, whenever we get together”, writer, singer and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album Don’t Shy Away, Loma’s three members were cast around the globe and the band—not for the first time—entered a deep sleep. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in Don’t Shy Away’s central Texas heart, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, even being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered.

The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house—once a coffin-maker’s workshop—where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a padded coffin as a vocal booth. It was a turning point. They scrapped much of what they'd made, letting a new place set a new course. The one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber—surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one—and the sounds of Cross’s chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer’s brushes on a metal lampshade, the voices left on an ancient answering machine.

What emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we're all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. “I Swallowed A Stone” is like a nightmare with a happy ending; “How It Starts” and “Broken Doorbell” reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia. Though the record nods to the trio’s separate lives— a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances—the core of Loma's sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross's cool, clear voice.

Loma’s previous album, Don’t Shy Away, was galvanized by the unexpected encouragement and contributions of Brian Eno. This time, they found inspiration in another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent her a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson’s AI responded with two haunting poems. “We used parts of them in a few songs,” he says. “And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, ‘How will I live without a body?’ would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process.”

In the end, Loma’s efforts to reconnect with one another are the album's central focus: what do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? “Making this record tested us all,” says Duszynski. “I think that feeling was alchemized through the music.” Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. But maybe ‘relaxed’ isn’t the right word. It’s more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together.

TRACK LISTING

1. Please, Come In
2. Arrhythmia
3. Unbraiding
4. I Swallowed A Stone
5. How It Starts
6. Dark Trio
7. A Steady Mind
8. Pink Sky
9. Broken Doorbell
10. Affinity
11. Turnaround

Torchbearers of the Southern California band sound, Local Natives first drew attention in 2009 when their debut album, Gorilla manor, grabbed fans with its vibrant mix of kinetic, complex rhythms and soaring harmonies. The album drew praise for its enthusiastic balance of post-punk urgency and evocative lyricism. In 2013, the group expanded upon that sound, exploring a darker, more introspective aesthetic on their follow-up, Hummingbird (produced by Aaron Dessner of The National). Their third album, Sunlit Youth, arrived in the summer of 2016 via Infectious and Loma Vista Recordings. Its globe trotting writing process found the group experimenting with production techniques and expanding their palette of entrustments.

The classic studio setting is juxtaposed on Local Natives’ fourth full-length, Violet Street [Loma Vista Recordings] with modern production and visuals to form a timeless album. The band’s signature soaring 3-part harmonies are augmented by loops of tape, physically spliced and transformed by hand, the result of experimenting in the studio with producer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves, The War On Drugs). The band's fifth project Time Will Wait For No One [Loma Vista Recordings] serves as a harmonious return to their roots. Their sixth album, But I'll Wait For You, is a companion piece to the album prior to it. Local Natives are Kelcey Ayer, Nik Ewing, Matthew Frazier, Ryan Hahn, and Taylor Rice.

TRACK LISTING

01. Alpharetta
02. Throw It In The Fire
03. Neon Memory
04. Camera Shy
05. As Soon As You Arrive
06. Ending Credits
07. Raincoat
08. April
09. Walk Before You Run
10. But I'll Wait For You

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Sleater-Kinney's Little Rope is one of the finest, most delicately layered records in the bandís 30-year career. On the surface, Little Rope veers from spare to anthemic, catchy to deliberately hard-turning. But beneath that are perhaps the most complex and subtle arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney record. Following the critically acclaimed release of Little Rope, Sleater-Kinney present two special bonus tracks from the original recording session on RSD exclusive 7î.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

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5-song stripped-back EP featuring guest appearances from Manchester Orchestra, Bully, and Mannequin Pussy.

Chelsea Wolfe’s latest album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, is a rebirth in process. It’s about how such a moment connects to our past, our present, and our future. It’s a powerfully cathartic statement about cutting ties, as well as an important reminder that healing is cyclical and circular, and not a simple linear process. As Wolfe explains, “It’s a record about the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance. It’s a story of setting yourself free from situations and patterns that are holding you back, in order to become self-empowered. It’s an invitation to step into your authenticity.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've always been a fan of Chelsea Wolfe's music, stumbling across her 'Prayer For The Unborn' release on my scour of the Latitudes collection. It goes without saying that since that admittedly brilliant mashing of neo-folk, psychedelic and art-rock she's increased the scope of her writing and production tenfold. 'She Reaches Out...' is a mind-blowingly complex, but effortlessly smooth tapestry of chamber pop, gothic rock and electronic drone music.

TRACK LISTING

01. Whispers In The Echo Chamber
02. House Of Self Undoing
03. Everything Turns Blue
04. Tunnel Lights
05. The Liminal
06. Eyes Like Nightshade
07. Salt
08. Unseen World
09. Place In The Sun
10. Dusk 

Sleater-Kinney has announced their eleventh studio album, Little Rope, which will be released via Loma Vista Recordings. Recorded at Flora Recording and Playback in Portland, Oregon with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, Little Rope is a powerfully honest and soul-baring album by one of modern rock’s most vital bands.

Little Rope is one of the finest, most delicately layered records in Sleater-Kinney’s nearly 30-year career. To call the album flawless feels like an insult to its intent – it careens headfirst into flaw and brokenness – a meditation on what living in a world of perpetual crisis has done to us, and what we do to the world in return. On the surface, the album’s 10 songs veer from spare to anthemic, catchy to deliberately hard-turning. But beneath that are perhaps the most complex and subtle arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney record, and a lyrical and emotional compass pointed firmly in the direction of something both liberating and terrifying: the sense that the only way to gain control is to let it go.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Little Rope is by far the most emotionally intense Sleater-kinney outing to date, but it's on tracks like 'Hell' that SK really shine. Perfectly juxtaposing near-weightless arty post-punk with clashing, punky mayhem. A beautifully written, cathartic milestone for the band, and a great addition to any collection.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hell
2. Needlessly Wild
3. Say It Like You Mean It
4. Hunt You Down
5. Small Finds
6. Don’t Feel Right
7. Six Mistakes
8. Crusader
9. Dress Yourself
10. Untidy Creature

In 2007, HEALTH walked into a windowless, sweat-stained venue in downtown Los Angeles to record its debut album.

The band - then composed of singer/guitarist Jacob Duzsik, bassist John Famiglietti, drummer Benjamin Jared Miller and guitarist Jupiter Keyes - was locally renowned for its violent, fifteen-minute live sets. Its squalls of tribal drums, shredded guitar noise and eerily plaintive vocals sounded like nothing else in the city.

At the time, that rank Skid Row venue known as The Smell was becoming arguably the most influential DIY venue in the world. The scene around it would launch the band to international acclaim.

Crystal Castles remixed HEALTH’s single “Crimewave” on their own debut LP, becoming a breakout single for each act. (The group would continue that pattern on its lauded “HEALTH::DISCO” electronic remix series). Later that year, HEALTH opened for Nine Inch Nails on its “Lights in the Sky Tour,” refining its chaotic live set to command some of music’s biggest stages.

In 2009, they released their second LP “GET COLOR,” a significant step up in fidelity and ambition. The heaving single “DIE SLOW” became an underground hit and remains one of the band’s signature tracks. DIY bills soon turned into festival slots at Pitchfork Fest, Primavera Sound and other marquee events. Their second remix compilation included the single “USA BOYS,” recorded with Trent Reznor and Alan Moulder.

As they began a much-anticipated followup, however, an unexpected new project proved just as compelling. Rockstar Games, the creators of the “Grand Theft Auto” franchise (the most valuable media title in all of entertainment), approached them to score “Max Payne 3,” the latest installment of the noir action series.

The 2012 game re-imagined the very concept of a video game score, looping electronic drones and pulsing percussion into a bleak modern shooter. HEALTH’s video game work, including the “Max Payne” single “TEARS” and “Grand Theft Auto V’s” original cut “High Pressure Dave,” won over a generation of young musicians and gamers alike, and continues to influence both worlds.

In 2015, the band finally released “DEATH MAGIC,” its third LP, on the prestigious indie label Loma Vista Recordings. Years of work with producers Lars Stalfors (Lil Peep, St. Vincent), Andrew Dawson (Beyonce, Kanye West) and Haxan Cloak yielded the most precise and diverse album of their career, drawing on black metal, New Romance synth pop, beat music and industrial sounds alike.

HEALTH, now a three-piece after Keyes’ departure, played prime slots at Coachella, earned a lengthy profile in The New Yorker magazine, performed alongside acts as varied as The Neighbourhood and Deafheaven and covered New Order’s “Blue Monday” for the Charlize Theron action film “Atomic Blonde.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Psychonaut
2. Feel Nothing
3. God Botherer
4. Black Static
5. Loss Deluxe
6. NC-17
7. The Message
8. Rat Wars
9. Strange Days (1999)
10. Wrong Bag
11. Slaves Of Fear
12. Decimation 

The NME say “The latest and greatest band to emerge from the West Coast’s consistently-brilliant hardcore scene...Get in nice and early before it gets silly for this band.” Now Militarie Gun unleash their debut full-length, Life Under The Gun, an album almost impossible to describe without bouncing between contradictions. Is it abnormally aggressive pop music or is it unusually catchy hardcore? Is it deeply intellectual or is it satisfyingly primal? Is it a vulnerable attempt to unpack lifelong cycles of hurt, or is it a collection of world-beating, absurdist punk anthems? In the end, the answer is obvious: it’s all of it. It’s Militarie Gun. For fans of Idles, Turnstile, Cubby & The Gang, Bad Nerves, PUP, Drug Church, Zulu.

Five live reworkings of tracks from their Requiem album.
Features an etched B-side.

TRACK LISTING

1. Start The Healing (requiem Mass)
2. Lost In The Grandeur (requiem Mass)
3. Hopeless And Beaten (requiem Mass)
4. Worst Is On Its Way (requiem Mass)
5. Let The Dark Do The Rest (requiem Mass)

Relocating home to Zambia during the pandemic, Sampa sought to reconnect with a different side of herself, a side that is freer and closer in resemblance to the younger artistry she cultivated growing up in Africa. This process of discovery would become the gateway to revealing her highest version of self. Choosing to collaborate with creatives Rochelle Nembhard and Imraan Christian from South Africa, As Above, So Below introduces us to a 360 Sampa, unveiling her many sides for the first time. From the funny to the serious to the sensual, As Above is Sampa outside’s self, and So Below, is the Sampa within, together uniting to reveal the most authentic version of Sampa, without a mask, or role to play.

As Above, So Below is anchored by spoken word in Bemba. The record delves into Sampa’s memories of Africa, Africa’s relationship to the world and what womanhood in Africa means to the world. We are also introduced to the persona of Eve, the highest version of Sampa that speaks to all facets of her womanhood.

The musical styles of As Above, So Below reflect the hybridity of Sampa’s upbringing. Raised in Botswana (a different country to her birthplace in Zambia), and then going on to attend school in different countries again, Sampa picked up varied musical influences along the way. Each style has attached itself to her own musical encyclopedia, and finds a new mode for expression throughout the record.

TRACK LISTING

1. Shadows
2. Lane Ft. Denzel Curry
3. Never Forget Ft. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé
4. Mask On Ft. Joey Bada$$
5. BONA
6. Can I Live Ft. W.I.T.C.H
7. Imposter Syndrome Ft. James Sakala
8. Tilibobo
9. Lo Rain Ft. Mwanjé
10. IDGAF Ft. Kojey Radical
11. Let Me Be Great Ft Angélique Kidjo

Like all great competitive warriors, Action Bronson uses every perceived slight as fuel to be even better. The rare rapper to marry critical acclaim with a devoted, rabid following, Action Bronson isn’t anyone’s idea of an underdog. And yet, on his brilliant new album, Cocodrillo Turbo, he sets out to prove that his lingual versatility is stronger than it’s ever been, that age has only made him a better rapper, and that anyone still sleeping on him as one of the best MCs on the planet better wake the hell up.

“I don't feel like I'm given the fucking respect that I deserve,” Bronson explains. Cocodrillo Turbo is Bronson demanding that respect. He’s gotten in the reps, constantly refining his poetic flow and relying on the instincts he’s cultivated with over a decade in the game under his belt. Now, sit back and enjoy the show.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hound Dog
2. Tongpo
3. Estaciones
4. Jaws
5. Subzero
6. Turkish
7. Jaguar
8. Zambezi
9. Ninety One
10. Storm Of The Century

'Melt My Eyez See Your Future' arrives as Denzel Curry’s most mature and ambitious album to date. Recorded over the course of the pandemic, Denzel shows his growth as both an artist and person. Born from a wealth of influences, the tracks highlight his versality and broad tastes, taking in everything from drum’n’bass to trap. To support this vision and show the breadth of his artistry, Denzel has enlisted a wide range of collaborators and firmly plants his flag in the ground as one of the most groundbreaking rappers in the game.

Double CD comprising of Disco 4 pt1 and Disco 4 pt2. Three years after 'VOL.4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR', the L.A. trio's ferocious entry into the world of heavy music, HEALTH return with the second half of their 'DISCO4' series. A whole lot went to hell in the world in the meantime, forcing the band to re-invent how they wrote music together. For 'DISCO4 :: PART II' they cut it fast and mean, recruiting both legends and nascent contenders of heavy music and its many peripheral genres.

“Sometimes, Forever” refers to the idea that the good and bad are both temporary and always returning. Feelings of sorrow and emptiness will pass but they will always come back around, as will feelings of joy. This album explores many ups and downs. It moves from the high of love to hopelessness and disconnect. A frustrated loss of control over life and a disconnect from the self reoccur throughout the record, only to circle back to a willingness to let go and be free, whether through love (shotgun, with u) or blissful ignorance (don’t ask me). It’s a coexistence of light and dark, not only lyrically but tonally. Dan once called it the angels and demons record lol.

TRACK LISTING

01. Bones
02. With U
03. Unholy Affliction
04. Shotgun
05. Newdemo
06. Darkness Forever
07. Don’t Ask Me
08. Fire In The Driveway
09. Following Eyes
10. Feel It All The Time
11. Still

From Orpheus to Icarus, depths to heights, and the thresholds in between. I’m interested in the moment when something becomes something else, when somewhere becomes somewhere else. That membrane that separates inside from outside. Retreating as we do in to the underlands, to molt our plumage, to exorcise our inside problems and emerge like newborn foals shaking, naked, squinting in the light. Don’t you know that I’m an irrepressible optimist working with a fatal flaw? The ghost that refuses to appear in the clock across the hall. You can set the table and call to her, but she decides when to visit. So, we imbue objects with crazy power to forget that we’ve been abandoned at a truck stop on the Ohio turnpike. To forget that we took a scouring pad to the places where art, music and community thrive. Promise to resist until you die and never fall apart again. - ANDREW BIRD

Though the past three years have seen Andrew Bird busier than ever - between his acting debut in FX limited series Fargo, a long-awaited collaborative LP with Jimbo Mathus, an instant-classic Christmas record, a nonstop series of live streams, an original score for acclaimed PBS documentary Storm Lake, and more - “Atomized” picks up where he left off with 2019’s GRAMMY-nominated album, My Finest Work Yet.

This summer, Andrew Bird will debut the song live on his co-headline “Outside Problems” tour with Iron & Wine. From June through August, stretching from coast to coast, the extensive run will bring the two artists to more than 25 shows at such storied venues as Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, New York City’s Pier 17 and Colorado’s Red Rocks, as well as Chicago’s brand new Salt Shed and more listed below. Following a select number of appearances at Newport Folk Festival and Ravinia Festival in 2021, “Outside Problems” will mark Bird’s first full-band tour in nearly three years, featuring support from Allison Russell and Meshell Ndegeocello.

TRACK LISTING

1. Underlands
2. Lone Didion
3. Fixed Positions
4. Inside Problems
5. The Night Before Your Birthday
6. Make A Picture
7. Atomized
8. Faithless Ghost
9. Eight
10. Stop N’ Shop
11. Never Fall Apart

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The soundtrack accompaniment to the film of the same title, The Nowhere Inn. Features three original St. Vincent songs: ìNowhere Innî, ìPalm Desertî and ìWaveî. The Bill Benz-directed film features St. Vincent, Carrie Brownstein & was released Friday, 17th September in the US. Website: https://nowhereinn.movie

The Vernon Spring's sophomore album 'What's Going On' is a cathartic, powerful and timely response to Marvin Gaye's seminal 1971 album of the same name. The album is composed of a tapestry of field recordings, samples, and speech excerpts all woven around The Vernon Spring's central highly intimate muted piano performances.

TRACK LISTING

A1 What's Going On
A2 What's Happening Brother
A3 Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)
A4 To Be Human (Jazz Skit #1)
A5 Save The Children
A6 Somebody (Jazz Skit #2)
A7 Grow Up (Jazz Skit #3)
A8 God Is Love
B1 Mercy Mercy Me
B2 It's What I Could See (Jazz Skit #5)
B3 Right On
B4 Wholy Holy
B5 Dad's Records (Jazz Skit #5)
B6 Shot Down (Jazz Skit #6)
B7 Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

KORN changed the world with the release of their self-titled debut album. It was a record that would pioneer a genre, while the band’s enduring success points to a larger cultural moment. The FADER notes, “There was an unexpected opening in the pop landscape and KORN articulated a generational coming-of-angst for a claustrophobic, self-surveilled consciousness. KORN became the soundtrack for a generation’s arrival as a snarling, thrashing, systemically-restrained freak show.”

Since forming, KORN has sold 40 million albums worldwide, collected two GRAMMYS, toured the world countless times, and set many records in the process that will likely never be surpassed. Vocalist Jonathan Davis, guitarists James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch, bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, and drummer Ray Luzier, have continued to push the limits of the rock, alternative and metal genres, while remaining a pillar of influence for legions of fans and generations of artists around the globe.

The level of KORN’s reach transcends accolades and platinum certifications. They are “a genuine movement in a way bands cannot be now,” attests The Ringer. They represent a new archetype and radical innovation, their ability to transcend genre makes barriers seem irrelevant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Forgotten
2. Let The Dark Do The Rest
3. Start The Healing
4. Lost In The Grandeur
5. Disconnect
6. Hopeless And Beaten
7. Penance To Sorrow
8. My Confession
9. Worst Is On Its Way

Fifth studio album by the American musician, produced by pop producer and long-term collaborator Jack Antonoff and featuring the single 'Pay Your Way in Pain'. 'I was inspired by the classic records of the '70s. Stevie, Sly, Stones, Steely Dan, Chords, Groove. The days when sophisticated harmony and rhythm didn't sound heady - they just sounded, and felt good. Lots of guitar. But warm sounds, not distortion and chaos. Hopefully a turn nobody will see coming' - Annie Clark.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Daddy's Home' mixes Clark's keen, rawkous production aesthetic with an undeniable nod to 70's rock, and displays an ongoing mastery of her craft.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
01. Pay Your Way In Pain
02. Down And Out Downtown
03. Daddy’s Home
04. Live In The Dream
05. The Melting Of The Sun
06. Humming Interlude 1
07. The Laughing Man
08. Down
09. Humming Interlude 2
10. Somebody Like Me
11. My Baby Wants A Baby
12. …At The Holiday Party
13. Candy Darling
14. Humming Interlude 3

Vinyl Tracklisting:
The Interlude Tracks Are Not Credited On The Vinyl, Although The Interludes Do Still Appear On The Disc Itself
01. Pay Your Way In Pain
02. Down And Out Downtown
03. Daddy’s Home
04. Live In The Dream
05. The Melting Of The Sun
06. The Laughing Man
07. Down
08. Somebody Like Me
09. My Baby Wants A Baby
10. …At The Holiday Party
11. Candy Darling

"A Beautiful Revolution Pt 1" is an instant hip hop classic and call to action from the modern-day renaissance man - a GRAMMY-, Emmy-, and Oscar-winning artist, activist, actor, and two time New York Times Bestselling author. The LP features seven new songs and two new interludes that catch Common at a new prime in his career. With a core band that includes Robert Glasper (keys), Karriem Riggins (drums), Burniss Travis (bass), Isaiah Sharkey (guitar), and PJ (vocals), plus features from Black Thought and Lenny Kravitz, A Beautiful Revolution Pt 1 is music meant to “uplift, heal, and inspire listeners dealing with racial injustices as well as other social injustices,” says Common.

He continues: “A Beautiful Revolution Pt 1 is affirmation. It's recognition. It's elevation. It's music to go with a movement. Because the truth is, there is still so much work to do. Regardless of the outcome of the election, we need to make sure things do not return to the status quo. The intention of the music is to channel all of our pain and outrage into something productive, inspirational, and good. It’s to help lead a movement into our next phase of the work to be done.”

Our first taste of the project comes with the new single “Say Peace.” This shape-shifting sonic shuffle finds Common trading bars with Black Thought and PJ, as the music mirrors the illusory search for peace that we all pursue. On the new song, Common simply says: "I found my peace, my peace through making these albums.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Common providing the Funk/Hip Hop vibes from all angles with this slick new album ‘A Beautiful Revolution’, Common has always been an artist I’ve liked but this album has elevated him to one of my favourites. If you’re into Kaytranada, Madlib or Pan Amsterdam then this is right up your street.

TRACK LISTING

1. (A Beautiful Revolution) Intro
2. Fallin
3. Say Peace Featuring Black Thought
4. What Do You Say (Move It Baby) Featuring PJ
5. Courageous Featuring PJ
6. A Place In This World Featuring PJ
7. A Riot In My Mind Featuring Lenny Kravitz
8. Don't Forget Who You Are Featuring PJ
9. (A Beautiful Revolution) Outro

For Rhye’s Michael Milosh, the home is the center of creativity and community. It transcends conventional understandings of walls, stairs and hardwood floors. A culmination of a wayfarer’s journey, the home is a balm for a restless spirit, a place to simply be.

For much of his life, the Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has wandered, decamping in Toronto, Montreal, Thailand, the Netherlands, Germany and Los Angeles at varying times. Since the meteoric rise of Rhye’s 2013 debut “Woman”, he’s mostly lived on the road, playing between 50 and one hundred shows a year. But over the last couple of years something changed. On the heels of some major life changes, including a new relationship, Milosh yearned for a more permanent space. ‘It's this idea of creating a safe place that's not just conducive to creativity, but one that’s truly an anchor point from which to make art and be creative’ he says.

That longing was fulfilled in August of 2019 when Milosh and his partner Genevieve happened upon the perfect place in Topanga. It had been on and off the market for two years as the owner sought the perfect buyer, one who would carry on its creative tradition. ‘She did this ceremony somewhere on the property where she was trying to call in the right people, and apparently we came the next day,’ Milosh explained. ‘The right kind of home presented itself to us, and we presented ourselves to it. It was like a union between us and the home.’

Written throughout 2019 and early 2020, recorded at Milosh’s home studio, United Recording Studios and Revival at The Complex, and mixed by Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails, Interpol, My Bloody Valentine, U2, The Killers), “Home” is familiar in its synthesis of propulsive beats, orchestral flourishes, piano ruminations and sultry, gender-nonconforming vocals, but never have they sounded more cohesive or alive.

‘I'm always trying to always accomplish musical goals that are connected to the way I listened to and interact with music as a child,’ Milosh says. The sentiment also underscores a broader, less obvious, but no less important theme echoed through his new record: No matter where life takes us, we can always go home. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Rich, soulful grooves mix beautifully with perfectly played instruments and Milosh's smooth silken vox. It's a heady combination and falls in the dream zone between soul, synth-pop and groovy electronica. Beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Come In Closer
3. Beautiful
4. Safeword
5. Hold You Down
6. Need A Lover
7. Helpless
8. Black Rain
9. Sweetest Revenge
10. My Heart Bleeds
11. Fire
12. Holy
13. Outro

The release is a beautiful summary of Margo’s triumphant three-night run at The Ryman Auditorium in May 2018, and features guest appearances from Emmylou Harris, Jack White, and Sturgill Simpson.

A note from Margo: "Two years ago today I headlined the Ryman and it was something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. We did three nights in a row and recorded all of them. I am so excited that we are releasing it - the recordings are rough and the performances are raw, but there was a magic there and the band was on fire. We played unreleased songs, alternative album versions and lots of special guests. I hope it moves you."

TRACK LISTING

1. A Little Pain (Waltz Version)
2. Weekender (Funk Version)
3. Wild Women (feat. Emmylou Harris)
4. Ain’t Livin Long Like This (feat. Sturgill Simpson)
5. Revelations
6. Worthless Gold
7. Hurtin’ (On The Bottle) Medley
8. Proud Mary
9. All American Made
10. Honey, We Can’t Afford To Look This Cheap (feat. Jack White)
11. World’s Greatest Loser

On White Bronco, Action Bronson’s 2018 release, he rapped “my next album’s only for dolphins,” and the principled MC is nothing if not true to his word. A Queens legend, respected for his idiosyncratic pen and vivid raps, Action is a decade into his career and still deepening his skillset. “The dolphin is one of the most intelligent creatures ever created on whatever planet we're on,” Action explains. “They have their own way of communicating. They have nuance and intangibles like we do.” In a perfectly unusual analogy, he likens the aquatic mammal to the storied “five-tool” baseball player—that is, the extraordinary class of player who combines all elements of the game. “The only people who understand me are those five-tool players, those higher beings who are on the same telepathic wave as me.” Thus, Only for Dolphins, out on August TK.

Action keeps Only for Dolphins among family, working with producers and rappers he’s known for years. The Alchemist, Harry Fraud, Budgie, DJ Muggs, Samiyam, Daringer, and Tommy Mas provide crackling psychedelic soundscapes for Bronson’s unique tales.

His close friend Meyhem Lauren and Lauren’s brother Hologram are the only featured MCs. Bronson himself produced two of the songs, including the exuberant “Capoeira,” which kicks off the album with a saxophone solo. As much time as he spends on the wordplay and imagery, he’s dialed into the sonics too.

The first single “Latin Grammys” is a tribute to family. Produced by Tommy Mas, who produced all of Action’s 2011 debut project, Dr. Lecter, the beat for “Latin Grammys” is many years old. The file was originally labeled “Ozersky,” a nod to the beloved food writer Josh Ozersky, who tragically passed away in 2015. Ozersky and Action were close; in fact Ozersky was the first person to put Action on television via his show Ozersky TV. One day Action was going through old beats, saw the file, and knew he had to do something special in honor of his friend. Over a slinky brass and guitar loop, he raps with casual gusto about swim trunks stuffed with cash and black trench coats, Dolph Lundgren and Derek Jeter. “It’s Young Baklava, you know me,” he concludes.

Bronson is a collector—of experiences, of sounds, of culture. He’s especially happy with the Budgie-produced “Golden Eye,” a nod to the classic N64 shooter and to the resort in Jamaica; it samples a beautiful lovers rock track, which is a real point of pride for Action. “It’s a very specific UK subgenre,” he says, referring to the romantic reggae style that rose to prominence in London in the ‘70s. The flip gives “Golden Eye” a lush and sweet bed for Action to lovingly describe acrobatic sex and expensive rugs, wet with spilled wine.

To be a fan of Action is to be a fan of detail. Only for Dolphins is studded with remarkable specificity. On “Vega” he raps, “My alibi for the police is I was naked in Seattle”—a line only Action could come up. Befitting that attention to minutiae, Action hand-painted the album artwork, crafting, a figurative depiction of death and dolphins and gold coins.

“Congratulations” is the first word rapped on the album and it’s fitting to see this as the culmination of every skill Action has carefully honed over the last decade. He’s an insatiable and generous artist who wants to take the listener on a tour of his creativity. Welcome to his world. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Quick-witted with an incredible knack at storytelling, "Only For Dolphines" is perhaps his most fan-centric release to date: chronicling events and tales that his devotees will be familiar with, whilst dealing to the rest of us a hilariously stark social commentary full of phrases you'll be urban dictionary-ing till the middle of next week.

TRACK LISTING

1. Capoeira Ft. Yung Mehico
2. C12H16N2
3. Latin Grammys
4. Golden Eye
5. Mongolia Ft. Hologram & Meyhem Lauren
6. Vega
7. Splash
8. Sergio
9. Shredder
10. Cliff Hanger
11. Marcus Aurelius
12. Hard Target 

On December 26th, 2018, Emily Cross received an excited email from a friend: Brian Eno was talking about her band on BBC radio. “At first I didn’t think it was real,” she admits. But then she heard a recording: Eno was praising “Black Willow” from Loma’s self-titled debut. He said he’d had it on repeat.

 At the time, a second Loma album seemed unlikely. The band began as a serendipitous collaboration between Cross, the multi-talented musician and recording engineer Dan Duszynski, and Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg, who wanted to play a supporting role after years at the microphone. They’d capped a grueling tour with a standout performance on a packed beach at Sub Pop’s SPF 30 festival, in which Cross leapt into the crowd, and then into the sea, while the band carried on from the stage—an emotional peak that also felt like a natural ending. “It was the biggest audience we’d ever had,” she says. “We thought, why not stop here?”

Following the tour, Cross went to rural Mexico to work on visual art and a solo record, while Meiburg began a new Shearwater effort. But after a few months apart (and Eno’s encouraging words), the trio changed their minds and reconvened at Duszynski’s home in rural Texas, where they began to develop songs that would become Don’t Shy Away. Loma writes by consensus, and though Cross is always the singer, she, Duszynski and Meiburg often trade instruments.  Meiburg compares their process to using an ouija board and says the songs revealed themselves slowly, over many months. “Each of us is a very strong flavor,” he says, “but in Loma, nobody wears the crown, so we have to trust each other—and we end up in places none of us would have gone on our own. I think we all wanted to experience that again.” The album that emerged is gently spectacular—a vivid work whose light touch belies its timely themes of solitude, impermanence, and finding light in deep darkness. Stuck / beneath / a rock, Cross begins, as if noticing her predicament for the first time. Then she adds: I begin to see / the beauty in it. 
A series of guests contributed to the absorbing soundscapes of Don’t Shy Away, including touring members Emily Lee (piano, violin) and Matt Schuessler (bass), Flock of Dimes/Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, and a surprisingly bass-heavy horn section. 

And then there’s Brian Eno. Loma invited him to participate in the mantra-like “Homing,” which concludes the album and sent him stems to interact with in any way he liked. He never spoke directly with the band, but his completed mix arrived via e-mail late one night, without warning, and they gathered to listen in the converted bedroom Duszynski uses as a control room. “I was a little worried,” says Cross. “What if we didn’t like it?” But it was all they’d hoped for: minimal but enveloping, friendly but enigmatic, as much Loma as Eno—a perfect ending to an album about finding a new home inside an old one.  I am somewhere that you know, Cross sings, above a chorus of her bandmates’ blended voices. I am right behind your eyes. 

TRACK LISTING

1. I Fix My Gaze
2. Ocotillo
3. Half Silences
4. Elliptical Days
5. Given A Sign
6. Thorn
7. Breaking Waves Like A Stone
8. Blue Rainbow
9. Jenny
10. Don't Shy Away
11. Homing

What started out in LA with Jon Hill and was finished back in North Carolina at Sylvan Esso’s home studio, "Free Love" asks major questions about self-image, self-righteousness, friendship, romance, and environmental calamity with enough warmth, playfulness, and magnetism to make you consider an alternate reality. These are Sylvan Esso’s most nuanced and undeniable songs—bold enough to say how they feel, big enough to make you join in that feeling.

TRACK LISTING

1. What If
2. Ring
3. Ferris Wheel
4. Train
5. Numb
6. Free
7. Frequency
8. Runaway
9. Rooftop Dancing
10. Make It Easy

"Everybody wants to know / how I feel and what I think," Margo Price sings in her emotive, bittersweet twang, halfway through her third full-length record. On That's How Rumors Get Started, Price has committed her genre-bending rock-and-roll show to record for the first time, stretching out into sky-high soft-rock, burning psychedelic rock ballads, stomping road songs, and sprinkles of pop.

Twinkle Twinkle:
'Twinkle Twinkle' is an anti-nostalgia anthem of sorts, about the polarization of becoming a more well-known artist, and the wild ride that was Margo Price's last few years. It traces her trajectory: she gets by, gets high, racks up debt, can’t pay the rent, plays dives to stay alive. "If it don’t break you, it might just make you rich," she sings, with heroic sass.

In fact, the song was inspired by a back-stage encounter with Marty Stuart and the Superlatives at a music festival that was otherwise pretty bleak. (Price has played with Superlatives guitarist Kenny Vaughan over the years.) After the show, in Stuart’s trailer, while he tuned his guitars, he said to Price, “So, you and the band have been on the road a lot lately, do you all hate each other yet?” As Price recalls it: “I said, ‘No, well, I mean, our marriages are falling apart and our health’s deteriorating. But other than that, we’re great.’ And he looks at me, and he gets this gleam in his eye, and he says, ‘You wanted to be a star.. Twinkle twinkle.’”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of the most pivotal figures in the new country renaissance, Margo Price impressed us all with her 2016 LP 'Midwest Farmer's Daughter' and this new outing is only going to expand upon that reputation. Modern country songs, imbued with modern techniques but never forgetting the sense of historic legacy inherent in the genre. Superb.

TRACK LISTING

1. That's How Rumors Get Started
2. Letting Me Down (featuring Sturgill Simpson)
3. Twinkle Twinkle
4. Stone Me
5. Hey Child
6. Heartless Mind
7. What Happened To Our Love
8. Gone To Stay
9. Prisoner Of The Highway
10. I’d Die For You

Loma's enigmatic debut feels beautifully adrift in time and space.  It's an album that takes you to a place you've never been, with a rare confidence in the strength of its own vision. Though it was recorded off a dirt road in rural Texas, there's no hint of country here: from the first airy notes of "Who Is Speaking?" to the decaying choir of "Black Willow," Loma create a hypnotic world of their own, where rustling leaves, fuzzed-out basses, panting dogs, prepared pianos, and a wilderness of percussion form a backdrop for Emily Cross's translucent voice.  

She's a steady, clear-eyed presence throughout, even among the heart-pounding pulses of "Relay Runner", the skittering drums of "Dark Oscillations" and the galloping release of "Joy"; in sparer songs like "Shadow Relief" and the haunting "I Don't Want Children," she's a fearless ally, swimming calmly with you against a powerful undertow.
Loma is inviting but also beautifully self-contained, like a dream that stays with you all day. There's something here for lovers of Nina Nastasia or Broadcast, but also Linda Thompson, or The Silver Apples—even early Pink Floyd. But most of all, this arresting and mysterious album marks the arrival of a band whose first steps already feel timeless.  Loma was recorded by the group at Dandy Sounds Studios in Dripping Springs, Texas and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound. 

TRACK LISTING

Who Is Speaking?
Dark Oscillations
Joy
I Don’t Want Children
Relay Runner
White Glass
Sundogs
Jornada
Shadow Relief
Black Widow

St. Vincent’s highly anticipated new album - the culmination of years of writing, with songs crafted from voice memos, text messages, and snippets of melodies that came to Clark while traveling the globe. Special guests on the album include Thomas Bartlett on piano, Kamasi Washington on saxophone, Jenny Lewis on vocals, and beat production from Sounwave. Greg Leisz and Rich Hinman add pedal steel, and Tuck and Patti Andress contribute guitar and vocals respectively on select tracks.

TRACK LISTING

Hang On Me
Pills
Masseduction
Sugarboy
Los Ageless
Happy Birthday, Johnny
Savior
New York
Fear The Future
Young Lover
Dancing With A Ghost
Slow Disco
Smoking Section

* Compilation and liner notes by Alec Palao
* Fully remastered audio featuring rare and unissued cuts
* In-depth notes on artist and label history with rare ephemera items

From late 1964 until late 1968, Loma stood as the subsidiary of Warner Brothers Records aimed directly at the singles market. During its four year lifespan, the label released over 100 singles and a handful of albums, the vast majority of which reflected the collective taste of the men that guided Loma and thereby the evolution of a distinctive artform: soul music.

Viewed objectively, it would be incorrect to compare Loma to the other great R&B repositories of the mid-1960s. It was strictly an adjunct of a bigger label, a commercially-minded operation that threw product at the wall hoping for a hit to stick. But the choices made by those three main participants in charge of the Loma roster–Bob Krasnow, Russ Regan, and Jerry Ragovoy–have gone on to become cherished totems to legions of music aficionados around the globe, for whom chart statistics say little, while a simple 45 with a burnt yellow label can shake them to the very core. What was once regarded as failure has, in the years since, paradoxically become a story of soulful success.

Volume two of Loma: A Soul Music Love Affair focuses on the funkier, earthier side of the Loma catalog and is once again the result of several years of in-depth research into the vault. JJ Jackson and The Mighty Hannibal bring the boogaloo, Baby Lloyd and Lukas Lollipop offer up some deep soul, and the stratospheric pipes of Carl Hall make us wanna holler. There’s the grooving original of “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” by diva Lorraine Ellison, little-heard rarities from Larry Laster and Roy Redmond, obscure productions by James Brown and Solomon Burke, and a heartbreaking unissued cut by one-time Hendrix sideman Lonnie Youngblood.

With full historical notes on artist and label history and rare pieces of ephemera, Loma: A Soul Music Love Affair is a fresh and invigorating celebration of one of 60s soul’s most storied imprints.

TRACK LISTING

Side One:
1. The Mighty Hannibal - Get In The Groove
2. Carl Hall - You Don’t Know Nothing About Love
3. JJ Jackson - Come See Me (I’m Your Man)
4. Baby Lloyd - There’s Something On Your Mind (Part One)
5. Roy Redmond - Ain’t That Terrible
6. Walter Foster - Your Search Is Over
7. The Olympics - Rainin’ In My Heart
8. Lorraine Ellison - Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)

Side Two:
1. Carl Hall - The Dam Busted
2. Kell Osborne - You Can’t Outsmart A Woman
3. Lukas Lollipop - Don’t Hold On To Someone (Who Don’t Love You)
4. Larry Laster - Help Yourself
5. The Mighty Hannibal - Good Time
6. JJ Jackson - Too Late
7. Little Joe Cook - Don’t You Have Feelings
8. Lonnie Youngblood - Callin’

"A lot of geezers my age don't work out of their comfort zone anymore because once you become legendary you don't want people challenging you.”- Iggy Pop.

'Post Pop Depression' is the 17th Iggy Pop album, and a worthy addition to the 22 album legacy spawned with the immortal trilogy of The Stooges, Fun House and Raw Power, spanning massively influential solo outings including 1977’s opening 1-2 combo of The Idiot and Lust For Life, and 1990’s gold-certified Brick By Brick.

The first Iggy Pop album co-created with producer / guitarist / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / bandleader Homme, Post Pop Depression began with a succinctly worded text from Iggy to Joshua, and was realized in seclusion with Homme's enlisted aid of his Queens Of The Stone Age bandmate and Dead Weather-man Dean Fertitia and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders. Both became instantly integral in creating and shaping the Detroit meets Palm Desert by way of old Berlin vibe of Post Pop Depression: Interweaving with and augmenting even more superhuman than expected Iggy vocal performances and Homme's tapestry of guitar, bass, piano and backing vox, Fertitia's talent for wringing the most out of only the most essential notes worked in seamless tandem with Helders' pushing himself and his new bandmates to unforeseeable heights and depths.
The result would be a timeless work, one that sounds as if it's always been there, has existed before any of the musicians were even born-yet imbued with the ramshackle energy of a garage band that threw itself together yesterday.

"I wanted to be free," recalls Iggy of the earliest germ of the partnership with Homme that culminated in Post Pop Depression. "To be free, I needed to forget. To forget, I needed music. Josh had that in him, so I set out to provoke an encounter-first with a carefully worded text, followed by a deluge of writings all about me. No composer wants to write about nothing. He got revved up and we had a great big rumble in the desert USA.”

"This was to go where neither of us had gone before," adds Homme. "That was the agreement. And to go all the way."

Post Pop Depression is equal parts a dream come true for co-creator Homme as it is a record that defiantly takes its place in Iggy's storied discography alongside the twin towers of The Idiot and Lust For Life-two records and the mythic Berlin era of their creation canonized as much lyrically ("German Days") as sonically ("Sunday") on this new record. The album will be supported by a tour realizing Homme's ambition to assemble a live outfit worthy of both bringing the new album and doing justice to the gems and wreckage of the Ig's sprawling solo catalogue: The core band that recorded the album will be expanded by QOTSA's Troy Van Leeuwen and journeyman guitarist Matt Sweeney.

Post Pop Depression is a singular work that stands proudly alongside the best works of either of its principles, from The Stooges to Queens Of The Stone Age, bearing its creators' undeniable sonic DNA while sounding like nothing they've done before. It's a record that wouldn't exist without either Pop or Homme-and one that probably shouldn't in theory if you really think about it-but it does, and we and rock n roll are all the better for it.

TRACK LISTING

1) Break Into Your Heart
2) Gardenia
3) American Valhalla
4) In The Lobby
5) Sunday
6) Vulture
7) German Days
8) Chocolate Drops
9) Paraguay