New Releases & Staff Picks - 2/21/25

STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Youth Lagoon 
Dario – Cindy Lee and Orions Belte 
Kimber – Youth Lagoon and Sonny Rollins reissue 
Jake – Cindy Lee
Zach – Murder Capital, Cap'n Jazz reissue, Sunny War
Ash – Aphex Twin reissue 

CINDY LEE - Diamond Jubilee CD/LP (W.25th)
Universally praised, shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, and already hailed by Pitchfork as the 3rd best album of the 2020s, anticipation and conversation around the record has been high. Cindy Lee is the performance and songwriting vehicle of Patrick Flegel (who previously fronted influential indie group Women). Over several albums, Flegel has combined delicate melodies and sheer beauty with moments of experimentation. With Diamond Jubilee, Flegel's undeniable songcraft comes to the foreground, embracing a more instant connection and accessibility. Timeless tales of love and longing, surrounded by sticky hooks, take the listener on an unforgettable journey.

YOUTH LAGOON - Rarely Do I Dream CD/LP (Fat Possum)
Youth Lagoon's 5th album, Rarely Do I Dream, is the most comprehensive and audacious album to date. It's a treasure trove of home movies, twangy fuzz guitars, sun-bleached synths, classical pianos, blown-out drums, and Powers' spellbinding melodies, all which feel like an old photograph that's been reanimated in a strange and distant future. - Rooted in love and childhood memoir, Rarely Do I Dream is a triumph of American gothic imagination - where storybook innocence dissolves into a radioactive billow of teenage drifters, drug-addled hustlers, and old-world folklore. Drifting between propulsive electronica and hallucinatory rock songs, Powers' singular voice always glows front and center as the neon road sign pointing home.

GLIXEN -  Quiet Pleasures EP (Wichita)
CD now, LP 3/7. Hometown shoegaze group Glixen gets signed to one of our favorite labels, Wichita! We're very excited for big things ahead. Arriving as a standout group in the current American shoegaze renaissance, Phoenix four-piece Glixen transcend all expectations of what the genre should currently look and sound like. The band creates a profoundly heavy sonic experience with their music, paying respects to their predecessors but resulting in something completely modern. An amalgamation of influences like Björk, My Bloody Valentine, Godflesh, t.A.T.u, and Hum, their sound crawls with intensity and introspection to contrast lead singer Aislinn Ritchie’s lulling vocals.

PATTERSON HOOD - Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams CD/LP (ATO)
Patterson Hood's first solo record in over a decade was born out of a friendship with producer Chris Funk (The Decemberists). The pair would often perform together for fun and during Hood's solo tours, making far-off plans to make a record together. They eventually went into Jackpot Studios in Portland, Oregon. Many of the songs were composed on piano marking a bigger departure from his work with Drive-By Truckers than prior solo efforts. Guest appearances from: Waxahatchee, Wednesday and Lydia Loveless.

FRED AGAIN - Ten Days LP (East West)
Limited white colored vinyl. Fred Again's album, Ten Days, follows his successful Actual Life series and features a collection of tracks inspired by ten significant days in his life over the past year. Fred Again has described these songs as reflections on "small, quiet, intimate moments," with some capturing intensely joyful experiences and others representing more challenging emotions. The album includes collaborations with a variety of artists, such as Anderson.Paak, Sampha, Skrillex, Four Tet, and Emmylou Harris, among others.

CAP'N JAZZ - Burritos, Inspiration Point LP (30th anniv) (Polyvinyl)
White vinyl w/ download card in standard jacket. In 1991, four kids from the suburbs of Chicago, IL formed Cap'n Jazz, arguably one of the most influential rock bands of the last 30 years. Those kids, brothers Tim & Mike Kinsella, Victor Villarreal, and Sam Zurick, were joined by Davey von Bohlen in 1994 and recorded their only full-length album before calling it quits - Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped on, and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over - often referred to as Shmap'n Shmazz. Originally released on the Man With Gun label, the album quickly fell out of print after the band's breakup, with the songs eventually making their way to the Analphabetapolothology compilation, released in 1998 via Jade Tree Records.

JOAN SHELLEY - Mood Ring EP (No Quarter)
Joan Shelley has been quiet since the release of her 2022 album The Spur, a career highpoint and her fifth full-length album over an incredibly fertile and busy eight-year period. She returns with the Mood Ring EP, her first new music in almost three years. The full set of 5 songs bookends a period of immense personal change for Shelley: the birth of her daughter, and moving from the place where she was raised in rural Kentucky. She finished mixing these songs at Louisville studio End of an Ear with the U-Haul parked and waiting, and listened to the mixes on the drive to her new home. This 1-sided 12" is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. Pressed on clear vinyl with a side-B etching.

BASIA BULAT - Basia's Palace CD/LP (Secret City)
Reuniting with co-producer Mark Lawson, she found herself moving through a dreamworld of whispers, synths and early Eurovision tunes, Cohen’s I’m Your Man and Air’s Moon Safari, her great uncle’s gauzy Maryla Rodowicz LPs. The result feels like an album that was concealed behind the backings of Bulat’s childhood photos.

SUN RA - Prophet LP (Modern Harmonic)
Featuring what may be his only recordings on the Prophet keyboard, these once lost performances expand the omniverse of Ra across a stellar set of lengthy cuts! All recorded in a single day and finally making their terrestrial debut, pressed on yellow vinyl and packaged with a Prophet keyboard brochure plus notes from Ranthropologist Brother Cleve!

SUNNY WAR - Armageddon In A Summer Dress CD/LP (New West)
Sunny War, also known as Sydney Ward, found inspiration for her latest album Armageddon In A Summer Dress while living in her late father's 100-year-old house in Chattanooga, TN. She initially thought the house was haunted. Eerie sounds and visions led her to write the song "Ghosts." However, she later discovered that hallucinations were caused by gas leaks, shifting her understanding of those experiences but not her artistic focus. Armageddon In A Summer Dress explores themes of memory, loss, and the ghosts of past selves. After the success of her 2022 album, Anarchist Gospel, Sunny spent more time touring with artists like Bonnie Raitt and Mitski. To avoid falling back into past struggles with alcohol, she channeled her energy into music, crafting intricate demos and experimenting with sound. This process involved shifting from acoustic to electric guitar, aiming for a fuller band sound.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - Dream Requiem LP (Warner)
Rufus Wainwright's Dream Requiem is an extremely prestigious project, the result of a commission from major cultural institutions in the US, UK, and Europe. This world premiere recording features a new composition by the legendary, Grammy-nominated musician, who has collaborated with the who's who of the pop music world. With narration by Meryl Streep, the project will be followed by a worldwide tour starting in January 2025. Written during the pandemic, it's a requiem "for the people we have lost in this crisis, for the past from which we are cut off and for the future to which we do not yet know how to connect, a Requiem for human contact, solidarity and the human voice that have all become dangerous and contagious"; It's also a reflection on environmental collapse and the increase in the number of natural disasters. The text of Dream Requiem weaves together words from the Latin Mass for the Dead - as used by his hero Verdi - with Lord Byron's apocalyptic poem 'Darkness', written after the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 and which brought about "the year without summer".

ODDISEE - Mental Liberation 2LP box (Mello Music)
One of Oddisee & Mello Music Group's first records together, Mental Liberation has been remastered by Joe Hutchinson and features all new artwork. This is the first time the full album has ever been available on vinyl and includes bonus tracks. The upbeat album from DC producer/emcee Oddisee features Hassaan Mackey, Bilal Salaam, J-Live, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Rapper Big Pooh, and Black Milk among others.

SERGE GAINSBOURG - L'etonnant LP (Parole)
Reissue. L'Étonnant is the third studio album by French musician Serge Gainsbourg, released in 1961.

APHEX TWIN - Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 LP (Warp)
Back in print on LP! "Aphex Twin returns with an intricate and melodic addition to his discography. The machines co-opted in production are as complex as the Weirdcore artwork, layering signature sombre ambient chords with intricate drum programming. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f marks Aphex Twin’s official and celebrated return to augment our current reality." - Warp Records

ORIONS BELTE - Mint LP (Jansen)
Colored repress. Their debut album Mint is founded on old traditions but still feels new, and you'll have to look for a long time to find anything like it. Texas band Khruangbin may be the best comparison as per today, but Orions Belte really belongs in their own galaxy.

SONNY ROLLINS - Volume 1 (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition)  (Blue Note)
After Sonny Rollins' first Blue Note appearance with Bud Powell in 1949, the saxophonist returned to make his label debut as a leader in 1956. Volume 1 was classic Rollins, with hard-swinging originals plus a tender ballad that showcase his robust sound and limitless improvisational creativity. Featuring a quintet including Donald Byrd, Wynton Kelly, Gene Ramey and Max Roach. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mono, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. 

DEXTER GORDON - Our Man In Paris (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition) LP (Blue Note)
Dexter Gordon's 1963 album Our Man In Paris was his first dispatch from Europe and is also symbolically considered to be the last bebop album. The saxophonist assembled a quartet with bebop legends (and fellow expats) Bud Powell on piano, Kenny Clarke on drums, along with the French bassist Pierre Michelot, to record this all-time classic at CBS Studios in Paris. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. 

TED LUCAS - Ted Lucas LP (Third Man)
This self-titled work published album by singer-songwriter and master guitarist Ted Lucas has achieved an almost mystical reputation among aficionados and collectors. Ted Lucas is a seamless marriage of moody odes and raga style instrumentals regarded by many to be, simply put, the greatest private press folk/psych album ever recorded. Lucas was a fixture in the Detroit rock scene of the sixties and seventies. His first band, The Spike Drivers, was one of the very first true psych bands, the Motor City's answer to Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds. Following that band's collapse, Lucas paid bills doing session work with Motown. And there he recorded, in 1972, the demo for Warner Brothers which would become Ted Lucas, released in two private editions in 1975 and known informally to friends and family as The OM Album, after Lucas' own label.

MURDER CAPITAL - Blindness CD/LP (Human Season)
Blindness is the vividly realised, clear-sighted ambitious new album from Irish rock band The Murder Capital. The sound of a band firing on all cylinders that bristles with energy yet intimate and simultaneously expansive. Eleven songs that don't hang about in terms of grabbing the listener.

SILVERSTEIN - Antibloom LP (Unfd)
Opaque magenta vinyl. 2025 is a milestone year for Silverstein. The post-hardcore giants will not only be celebrating 25 years as a band, but also the release of their ambitious two-part 11th studio album project - the first part titled Antibloomwill be released on February 21, 2025. In May of 2024, the band headed to Joshua Tree, CA to fully indulge themselves in the solitude of the desert and begin studio work on their new album. They found themselves so deeply inspired by the atmosphere that they ended up with more songs than could fit on one piece of music - thus birthing the double album concept.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE - This Consequence LP (Metal Blade)
This Consequence, a masterfully executed record that captures the band's signature sound all the while leveling up on teeth-baring tracks like "Forever Aligned, " "I Believe, " and "Collusion.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
DARKSIDE - Nothing CD/LP
MDOU MOCTAR - Tears Of Injustice CD/LP
PANDA BEAR - Sinister Grift CD/LP
DEVIL MAKES THREE - Spirits CD/LP
CURE - Songs Of A Live World LP
ICHIKO AOBA - Luminescent Creatures CD/LP
ARCHITECTS - The Sky, The Earth + All Between CD/LP
DEEP SEA DIVER - Billboard Heart CD/LP
DROP NINETEENS - 1991 CD/LP
ECCO2K - E LP
FREE THROW - Those Days Are Gone LP 10 Yr Anniv LP
ORACLE SISTERS - Divinations CD/LP
YO LA TENGO - Old Joy LP
OKONSKI - Entrance Music CD/LP
ALOE BLACC - Stand Together CD/LP
BANKS - Off With Her Head LP
CHARLI XCX - Brat and It's Completely Different LP (green)
ELECTRIC SIX - Fire CD/LP (21st anniv)
OASIS - Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants LP reissue
LOLA YOUNG - This Wasn't Meant For You Anyway CD/LP