AIMS Music

Fun Machine: The Sequel is Lake Street Dive’s second set of distinctive cover songs. While 2012’s Fun Machine paid homage to their classic R&B, soul, and jazz roots, Fun Machine: The Sequel expands the aperture a wider, featuring selections ranging from R&B and pop favorites like Dionne Warwick’s “Anyone Who Had A Heart,” and The Pointer Sisters’ funky “Automatic,” to works by introspective singer-songwriters such as The Cranberries’ gorgeous “Linger,” Carole King’s classic “So Far Away,” Bonnie Raitt’s era-defining “Nick Of Time,” and Shania Twain’s pop-country anthem, “You’re Still The One.”

Live archive release. A first-ever official release of Donald Byrd's Live: Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux on what would have been the legendary trumpeter's 90th birthday. In July 1973, Blue Note Records headed to Switzerland to showcase several of the label's stars at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Live albums in the Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux series followed from Bobby Hutcherson, Ronnie Foster, Bobbi Humphrey and Marlena Shaw, but Byrd's remained unreleased, until now.

Deluxe Edition of My Morning Jacket's GRAMMY-nominated sixth studio record, Circuital, features the original album plus 10 unreleased demos. Rolling Stone wrote in 2011, "Circuital feels like the culmination of the sonic adventures that began with 'Z' - while also capturing the power and dynamics that have made MMJ one of the greatest live bands of their generation." 2 CD Softpak.

Provogue Records is proud to announce the 25th anniversary re-issue of Kenny Wayne Shepherd's highest selling album to date, 'Trouble Is...', which has been re-recorded for a new physical product run. The re-issue will be available on CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray, Earbook, and for the very first time, a 2LP vinyl configuration that wasn't part of the initial 1997 release. The initial run of 'Trouble Is...' sold 1 million copies, and was certified platinum in 1999. The album had 4 Top 10 hits including "Slow Ride", "Somehow, Somewhere, Someway", "Everything is Broken", and the No. 1 hit, "Blue On Black". Additionally, the song "Blue On Black" won the award for Rock Song of the Year at 1998 Billboard Music Awards.

Jorma Kaukonen (later of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) met a singer named Janis Joplin at a hootenanny in San Jose, California, in the fall of 1962. Over the following years, Janis would call on Jorma to accompany her at gigs. As they continued to play together, the Bay Area was changing musically and developing into the legendary San Francisco scene to which both Janis and Jorma would be integral. During a rehearsal for a show in North Beach, Jorma started his reel-to-reel machine to capture what they were working on. For decades, this recording was the stuff of legend, with inferior, multi-generational transfers making their way through select collector's circles. Now, for the very first time, it is available officially, with the blessing and cooperation of both the Janis Joplin Estate and Jorma Kaukonen. The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma's House contains this legendary recording, featuring Restoration and Mastering from acclaimed, Grammy®-winner Michael Graves. The tracks include Joplin on vocals, Kaukonen on guitar, and Jorma's wife Margareta typing away intermittently in the background. This may have just been a rehearsal, but it is so much more. Featuring Joplin originals, as well as blues classics, The Legendary Typewriter Tape is an intimate glimpse into two major artists at the beginnings of what would become highly influential careers. As Jorma says in his liner notes: "This is indeed a window into a simpler time when the music truly was everything."

From their earliest self-released EPs to 2021’s Cast-Iron Pansexual—the album that earned praise from Rolling Stone and American Songwriter for its examination of faith, sexual identity, and self-acceptance—Adeem the Artist has continued to build a following by blending Appalachian musical influences and poetic flair with a healthy dose of comedic instinct. 

"Humor has always been a part of my life," explains the Eastern Tennessee-based songwriter, citing comedians Andy Kaufman and Sarah Silverman as artistic influences in addition to musicians like John Prine and Blind Boy Fuller. Growing up, first in North Carolina and later in Syracuse, New York, Adeem quickly realized that with the right delivery, dark jokes could offer a socially acceptable way to open up about the tough stuff. "My parents are both from a lot of generational trauma, and I was born right at the heart of it,” they say. “Humor is just how we survived." 

Adeem’s twang-studded gospel represents a worldview too often excluded from modern country music, one that converts shame into celebration. It turns out, folks like the sound of embracing the parts of ourselves we’re told to bury—so much so that when Adeem turned to fans to support the follow-up album to Cast-Iron Pansexual, thousands obliged. Dubbing it a “redneck fundraiser,” the seventh-generation Carolinian raised the money to release White Trash Revelry by asking for one dollar at a time through social media. “With four quarters and a Venmo,” they joked, “baby, you can make this dream come true.” Adeem emerged from the fundraiser $15,000 later with a name for their new record label—Four Quarters Records—and the resolve to write an unapologetic next chapter.

White Trash Revelry delivers, tempering Adeem’s beloved comedic sensibilities with vulnerable moments and highly specific personal details. Tender strings and clear vocals on "Middle of a Heart" give way to nuanced storytelling about small-town rites of passage and mixed messages about love, violence, and honor. And "Heritage of Arrogance" tackles larger societal issues, struggling to reconcile open-minded intentions with the deeply flawed and historical narratives too often peddled by white Southerners. But the album’s namesake revelry is around every corner, too. 

"They play country songs in heaven, but in hell we play ‘em loud," they sing on the standout single “Going to Hell.” Regardless of your thoughts on the afterlife, Adeem sings with an easy-going charisma that makes it easy to want to follow them—to heaven, to hell, or to some raucous, welcoming party in between. 

Deluxe two CD edition of Brandi Carlile's 2021 album, In These Silent Days. Includes a bonus 10 track CD that contains acoustic versions of the album's tracks plus a cover of "Space Oddity". In These Silent Days was the follow-up to her 2018 album By The Way, I Forgive You, and she recorded it at Nashville's RCA Studio A with producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings. Tim Hanseroth (vocals, bass), Phil Hanseroth (vocals, guitar), Cobb (guitar, percussion), Jennings (piano, organ, synth), Chris Powell (drums, percussion), and Josh Neumann (strings) all appear on the album, and Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius make a guest appearance, adding backing vocals to "You And Me On The Rock."

The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was released in 2002 and is the band’s best-selling album, certified Gold in the US with over 700,000 albums sold. The album features one of the band’s most iconic songs - “Do You Realize??” - plus the singles Fight Test, Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell, and the title track. The 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition 6 CD box set includes the original album, two EPs from the era, B-sides, demos, remixes, radio sessions, two concerts, and other assorted rarities. There are 100 tracks on the CD box set, of which over 50 are previously unreleased.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers famously played 20 nights at the legendary Fillmore venue in San Francisco in 1997. 6 of the shows were professionally recorded and this release features some of the high points of the residency. The small venue allowed the band to vary their sets each night; they included re-arranged and distinctive versions of their hits, deep cuts, and many cover versions – paying tribute to the artists that Tom and the band had been influenced by. The 2 CD set includes 33 tracks, 18 of which are covers – 2 hours of music. The tri-fold board package includes a 16-page booklet with previously unseen photographs.

Simply put, Samara Joy is next. At just 22 years old, her Verve debut `Linger Awhile' shows that with a voice, tone, and phrasing that harkens back to the most legendary jazz vocalists, Samara belongs in the company of iconic labelmates from Ella Fitzgerald to Sarah Vaughan to Billie Holiday. Samara is remarkably savvy on TikTok and Instagram, fostering a community of devoted followers through fully organic means. She is poised to be a household name, synonymous with timeless jazz music.

Get Rollin’ is the 10^th studio album by iconic rock band NICKELBACK and their first in five years. Nickelback is the 11^th bestselling musical act of all time with over 50,000,000 units sold and the 2^nd bestselling “foreign” group in the U.S. of the 2000s, behind only The Beatles. Amongst all these accolades, they’ve also been named Billboard’s “Top Rock Group of the Decade”, and they have received a staggering nine Grammy Award nominations, three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People’s Choice Award, twelve JUNO Awards, seven MuchMusic Video Awards, and have been inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame (2007).

Electronic pop trailblazers, Röyksopp, deliver the third and final part to their expansive Profound Mysteries project, Profound Mysteries III. Berge and Brundtland describe Profound Mysteries as the biggest undertaking of Röyksopp's career. It both encapsulates the unique sound they've spent decades honing, and expands on it. It's a bold look to the future, and an homage to the artists, genres, and musical movements that first inspired them. It's a project they've spent their whole lives making (the oldest ideas date back to the early days of Röyksopp, literally using MIDI data first composed by the band when they were teenagers in the 1990s), and it's brand new. Working with a cast of global visual and musical collaborators they create an incredible 30 tracks, 30 artefacts, 30 visualizers and 30 films in 2022. The final installment brings together some of the most talented music artists in the world including Alison Goldfrapp, Pixx, Susanne Sundfør, Astrid S.

Four years after his last original music, English singer, songwriter and producer SOHN will return with his new record ‘Trust’. Off the back of an incredible history at DSPs with over 100 million streams, the album finds him further exploring a sound that first found success in the electronic and noir-pop spaces, and now explores deeper roots in folk structures and an aching, emotive balladry. Whilst still drawing on the influences that garnered such a rabid international audience, the album is an unequivocal statement of SOHN as an ambitious auteur beyond simple genre tags.

Late night TV, radio support and global sell-out tours coloured the previous two album cycles, but SOHN’s third studio album came from a massive shift in his perception and direction. Having spent five years writing, recording and toiling on a record that he no longer loved, he decided to start anew, from scratch. Missing community and friendship in life and the creative process, he realised he could no longer work alone as on previous albums – and took a leap of faith in starting to practise the giving and taking of trust with creative collaborators. The resulting record is the sound of SOHN realising who he is, and that he’s already home.

With a global tour on the horizon, including London’s iconic Roundhouse, and extensive promo and marketing campaigns promised, it feels like a vital new phase in SOHN’s development as a career musician. Ten years after first rising to prominence with viral hit ‘The Wheel’, ‘Trust’ represents an important step in further finding his true artistic voice and stepping out of his comfort zone.

After the success of her critically-acclaimed 2021 release Daddy’ s Country Gold, Melissa Carper, dubbed “HillBillie Holiday” by friend and collaborator Chris Scruggs, was eager to get back in the studio. With co-producers Andrija Tokic (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and Dennis Crouch (The Time Jumpers) behind the boards again at Tokic’s analog paradise The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, Carper assembled that same crew of magical music makers - plus a few more - to embark on her newest effort, Ramblin’ Soul, set for release November 18th via Thirty Tigers.

Carper’s deep, old-timey music roots were firmly planted as a child, playing upright bass and singing in her family’s traveling country band in rural Nebraska. Her love of country classics was cultivated as she laid beneath the console listening to her parents’ record collection. Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, and more became the soundtrack of her youth. When Carper’s father gifted her a collection of Jimmie Rodgers’ recordings, she began to find her voice and calling as a songwriter.

Carper attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a music scholarship, and spent much of her time in the music library, instinctively drawn to the great jazz classics and jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole. She also discovered Lead Belly, uncovering a deep well within when singing his songs. Carper stands firmly on the shoulders of American ramblers, crooners, and songsters - the building blocks of her musical foundation. In 2020, grappling with the loss of regular gigs, Carper and Patek moved to a friend’s farm near Austin, working in exchange for housing, organic vegetables, and fresh, country air. The simpler life afforded Carper the space and rejuvenation needed to channel her muse, and begin writing for her next album.

“I had a handful of songs about rambling around and living a free life that I wanted to weave through the album,” Carper recalls. “I wrote the title track driving back home to Texas, and it felt like the seeds of the next album were planted. I also knew I wanted Ramblin’ Soul to have a different feel than Daddy’s Country Gold, with more upbeat and diverse styles and grooves.” Ramblin’ Soul features a co-write with life long ramblin’ buddy and bandmate Gina Gallina, a song penned by friend and frequent collaborator Brennen Leigh; a reimagined classic from folk pioneer Odetta; and ten Carper originals. The album ventures into blues, early rock and roll, and old school soul, along with Carper’s signature styles of country, western swing, and jazz. Carper’s lifelong, steadfast listening has come to fruition in the songs on Ramblin’ Soul. Her childhood love of the family record collection planted the seeds of what is her own bountiful orchard today.

Everywhere you look these days, hyper tribalism has taken hold. Those in power continue to use fear and hate mongering to further empower themselves, continuing to try to turn us against one another. Pick a subject…any subject, and those who wield power will do all they can to make it a divisive issue, encouraging people to pick a side, insisting that their viewpoint is the only correct one. This record is a critique of this dangerous status quo we are living in. - Disturbed

Neil Young with Crazy Horse will release World Record on November 18, 2022. It's their second album of new studio recordings within the past 12 months. 

World Record is produced by Rick Rubin and Neil Young, and Neil is accompanied by his longtime band, Crazy Horse (Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Nils Lofgren). The album features 10 new Neil Young compositions (plus a short reprise of one song) and was mixed to analog tape at Rubin’s Shangri-la studios using a selection of vintage instruments and equipment. 

To optimize the audio quality, the vinyl format will be released as a 3-sided double album with an etching on side 4. There will also be a limited-edition version of the album pressed on clear vinyl available at indie retailers. 'World Record' will also be released on CD (2 CDs mirroring the track sequence of the double LP) and cassette. 

World Record contains ten songs, nine written during the last year about the events and condition of our world.

Technological agitation. Narcissism fatigue. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The celestial-influenced folk album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, and The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019's best.) While Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. "We're in a fully functional shit show," Mering says. "My heart is a glow stick that's been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness." And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody," a song about the interconnectivity of all beings, despite the fraying of society around us. "I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper-isolation kept coming up," Mering says. "Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal." Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like "Grapevine" chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge "God Turn Me into a Flower" serves as allegory about our collective hubris. "The Worst Is Done" is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. "Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order," she says. "These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment."

"As long as I can remember I wanted to make a record with my dad,” Billy Strings says. The dream to make a proper studio album is finally realized. Me and Dad, out November 18, is a collection of 14 classics that Billy and his dad, Terry Barber, know like the back of their hands. It's the music that made Billy the musician and human he is today. The album represents a lifelong goal finally achieved and a way for the Grammy-winning musician to honor the man who taught him how to play guitar.

The follow-up to her acclaimed holiday album Warmer In The Winter, this new collection of Christmas classics and mesmerizing original songs features Lindsey's signature violin across a number of instrumental tracks. Also, it includes collaborations with Frawley, David Archuleta, and Bonnie McKee. Indie Exclusive CD with Limited Edition Ornament.

Meechy Darko, an artist who has achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success as one-third of Brooklyn hip-hop group Flatbush Zombies, is well aware that the “crazy shit, crazy-colored hair and psychedelics” of his group are imprinted in the brains of many fans, but on his solo debut album Gothic Luxury (executive produced by Dot Da Genius) there is a through line of brutal honesty and catharsis which prove him to be one of the rawest and most candid rappers in the game.

Following the international success of his 2020 debut album, Walls, which has sold over 1.2 million copies, Louis Tomlinson is back with his new record, Faith In The Future. On his ambitious second effort, the 30-year-old has carefully created a collection of songs designed for the live environment while simultaneously taking his artistry to new heights.

On Faith In The Future, Tomlinson shows off his multi-faceted songwriting capabilities while still being distinctly authentic across the entirety of the genre-spanning record, which exudes confidence at every turn. Louis has never been more assured artistically, and he has every right to be after uncompromisingly expanding his wings and evolving on his head-turning new outing.

Billy Joe Shaver’s songs were stories of his life; they were real, and they were raw. Many artists have covered Billy Joe songs over the years. From Willie to Waylon to Elvis and Cash. Billy Joe’s influence on some of the greatest of artists is what inspired this project. Now, with Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver a whole new batch of artists and songwriters are taking their cut at one of the greatest songwriting catalogs of all time. This album is a testament to Billy Joe’s words and the deep impact they had on so many wonderful songwriters and performers. He’s a hero to so many, and New West is honored to pay homage to the legacy of Billy Joe Shaver. Just like the songs he left behind him, he’s gonna live forever now.

Formed in 2020 by members of My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria, Thursday, and Circa Survive. Past Lives is a boundary pushing, futuristic synthesis of post-hardcore, art-rock, and punk that quickly establishes L.S. Dunes as a commanding new arrival. The set was produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Circa Survive, Quicksand).

Grammy Award-winning band Phoenix returns with their next full length, Alpha Zulu, due out 11/4/2022. This follows their 2020 single "Identical,'' which went #1 at AAA radio, from the Motion Picture "On The Rocks". The project was recorded during the height of the pandemic in Paris, at the iconic Louvre museum. Phoenix are set to perform at festivals like Primavera Sound (Barcelona), We Love Green (Paris) and Austin City Limits (Texas) and will embark on a full headline tour in the US, UK, and EU in Sept 2022. The band has seen over 1.5B+ streams across their catalog, and have previously headlined Coachella, Governors Ball, Primavera Sound, Austin City Limits, and more. They've performed on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, amongst others.

2022 release from the country music a cappella quintet. Includes the single "What's Left of My Heart."

Since the band's inception in 1992, Built to Spill founder Doug Martsch intended his beloved band to be a collaborative project, an ever-evolving group of musicians making music and playing live together. "I wanted to switch the lineup for many reasons. Each time we finish a record I want the next one to sound totally different. It's fun to play with people who bring in new styles and ideas, " says Martsch. "And it's nice to be in a band with people who aren't sick of me yet." Following several albums and EPs on Pacific Northwest independent labels, including the indie-rock classic, There's Nothing Wrong With Love, released on Sub Pop offshoot Up Records in 1994, Martsch signed with Warner Brothers from 1995 to 2016. He and his rotating cast of cohorts recorded six more great albums during that time - Perfect From Now On, Keep It Like a Secret, Ancient Melodies of the Future, You In Reverse, Untethered Moon, There Is No Enemy. There was also a live album, and a solo record, Now You Know. While the band's impeccable recorded catalog is the entry point, Built to Spill live is an essential force of it's own: heavy, psychedelic, melodic, and visceral tunes blaring from amps that sound as if they're powered by Mack trucks. Now in 2022, Built to Spill returns with When the Wind Forgets Your Name, Martsch's unbelievably great new album (and his eighth full-length)... with a fresh new label. "I'm psyched: I've wanted to be on Sub Pop since I was a teenager. And I think I'm the first fifty year-old they've ever signed." (The rumors are true, we love quinquagenarians...). When the Wind Forgets Your Name continues expanding the Built to Spill universe in new and exciting ways. In 2018 Martsch's good fortune and keen intuition brought him together with Brazilian lo-fi punk artist and producer Le Almeida, and his long-time collaborator, Joao Casaes, both of the psychedelic jazz rock band, Orua. Martsch fell in love with their music the moment he heard it. So when he needed a new band for shows in Brazil, he asked them, and the partnership went so well Martsch, Almeida, and Casaes continued playing together throughout 2019, touring the US and Europe and ultimately recording the bass and drum tracks for When the Wind Forgets Your Name at Doug's rehearsal space in Boise. After Martsch tracked guitars and vocals, they group collaborated from afar to mix the album. What emerged is When the Wind Forgets Your Name, a complex and cohesive blend of the artists' distinct musical ideas. Alongside Built to Spill's poetic lyrics and themes, the experimentation and attention to detail produces an album full of unique, vivid, and timeless sounds, from guitar-driven rock odes to REM and Dinosaur Jr to bluesy '60s-style anthems to dub-reggae-inspired instrumentation. It may have taken us 30 years of obvious fandom and courtship, but on September 9, 2022, Sub Pop Records is unabashedly proud to finally release an excellent new album from Built to Spill: When the Wind Forgets Your Name. Sometimes persistence pays off.

Revealer is full of confessions, intimations, and hard truths. It's a warts-and-all self-portrait of a young artist who is full of doubt and uncertainty, yet bursting with exciting ideas about music and life; who has numerous GRAMMY nominations but still feels like she has far to go; who turns those misgivings into songs that are confident in their idiosyncrasies. It's a rumination on music as a vehicle for revelations, what's gained and what's lost when you put words to your innermost feelings.

GRAMMY and Americana Award-winning singer/songwriter and violinist, Amanda Shires, has pushed the reset button with Take It Like a Man, a record that is so unlike anything she has ever recorded that you would be tempted to think it was her debut album instead of her seventh. Shires, who also plays in The Highwomen, worked with producer Lawrence Rothman (Angel Olsen, Kim Gordon) to make a fearless confessional, showing the world what turning 40 looks like in 10 emotionally raw tracks.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with Endless Rooms, the Melbourne quintet's third album proper. Described by the band - comprised of Fran Keaney, Joe White, Marcel Tussie and brothers Tom Russo and Joe Russo - as them "Doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together", Endless Rooms stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF. While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush around 2hrs north of Melbourne built by the extended Russo family in the 1970s. There, it's 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there. The house also features on the album cover. For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duffy), creating their most naturalistic and expansive document yet. The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind. "It's almost an anti-concept album," say the band. "The 'endless rooms' of the title reflects our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities."

Lyle Lovett returns with his first new album in over 10 years,“12th of June”, due out on Verve Records May 13th, 2022. The album is a fantastic and eclectic collection of new original songs and beloved interpretations that will please existing fans as well as invite new ones. Immaculately recorded, it highlights the dynamics of Lyle and his Large Band– and their singular ability to shift from one genre to the next with uncanny grace and ability.  From beautiful acoustic ballads to swinging big band numbers, this record will remind listeners why Lyle is national musical treasure.

The story begins with Kevin Morby absentmindedly flipping through a box of old family photos in the basement of his childhood home in Kansas City. Just hours before, at a family dinner, his father had collapsed in front of him and had to be rushed to the hospital. That night Morby still felt the shock and fear lodged in his bones. So he gazed at the images until one of the pictures jumped out at him: his father as a young man, proud and strong and filled with confidence, posing on a lawn with his shirt off. This was in January of 2020. As the months went on and the world dramatically changed around him, Morby felt an eerie similarity between his feelings of that night and the atmosphere of those spring days. Fear, anxiety, hope and resilience all churning together. The themes began twisting in his mind. History, trauma and the grand fight against time. Having the courage to dream, even while knowing the tragedy that often awaits those who dare to dream. While his father regained his strength, Morby meditated on these ideas. And then, he headed to Memphis. He moved into the Peabody Hotel and spent his days paying tribute and genuflecting to the dreamers he admired. In the evening, he would return to his room and document his ideas on a makeshift recording set-up, with just his guitar and a microphone. The songs, elegiac in nature, befitting all he had seen, poured out of him. Produced by Sam Cohen (who also worked on Morby's Singing Saw and Oh My God), This Is A Photograph features musical contributions from longtime staples of Morby's live band, as well as old friends and new collaborators alike. If Oh My God saw Morby getting celestial and in constant motion and Sundowner was a study in localized intent, This Is A Photograph finds Morby making an Americana paean, a visceral life and death, blood on the canvas outpouring. As Morby reminds us early on, time is undefeated. So what do we do while we're still here? This is a photograph of that sense of yearning.

"I've got plenty of energy, it's my currency" sings Amy Taylor on the opening track of Comfort To Me, the latest from Amyl and The Sniffers. After their self-titled 2019 debut, the band conquered the world one club and festival at a time. Comfort To Me fully captures the chaotic energy of their unrelenting, jaw-dropping live show which The Guardian declared the "most exhilarating rock n' roll show I've seen in years." CD Softpak with 16 page booklet.

"Sharon Van Etten has always been the kind of artist who helps people make sense of the world around them, and her sixth album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, concerns itself with how we feel, mourn, and reclaim our agency when we think the world - or at least, our world - might be falling apart. How do we protect the things most precious to us from destructive forces beyond our control? How do we salvage something worthwhile when it seems all is lost? And if we can’t, or we don’t, have we loved as well as we could in the meantime? Did we try hard enough? In considering these questions and her own vulnerability in the face of them, Van Etten creates a stunning meditation on how life’s changes can be both terrifying and transformative. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong articulates the beauty and power that can be rescued from our wreckages. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is as much a reflection on how we manage the ending of metaphorical worlds as we do the ending of actual ones: the twin flames of terror and unrelenting love that light up with motherhood; navigating the demands of partnership when your responsibilities have changed; the loss of center and safety that can come with leaving home; how the ghosts of our past can appear without warning in our present; feeling helpless with the violence and racism in the world; and yes, what it means when a global viral outbreak forces us to relinquish control of the things that have always made us feel so human, and seek new forms of connection to replace them. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is intensely personal, exploring themes like motherhood, love, fear, what we can and can’t control, and what it means to be human in a world that is wracked by so much trauma. The track “Home To Me,” written about Van Etten’s son, uses the trademark “dark drums” of her previous work to invoke the sonic impression of a heartbeat. Synths grow in intensity, evoking the passing of time and the terror of what it means to have your child move inevitably toward independence, wanting to hold on to them tightly enough to protect them forever. In contrast, “Come Back” reflects on the desire to reconnect with a partner. Recalling all the optimism of love felt in its infancy, Van Etten begins with the plain beauty of just her voice and a guitar, building the arrangement alongside the call to “come back” to anyone who has lost their way, be it from another person or from themselves. Hovering between darkness and light, “Born” is an exploration of the self that exists when all other labels - mother, partner, friend - are stripped back. Unlike Van Etten’s previous albums, there will be no songs off the album released prior to the record coming out. The ten tracks on We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong are designed to be listened to in order, all at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told. This is, in itself, a subtle act of control, but in sharing these songs it remains an optimistic and generous one. There is darkness here but there is light too, and all of it is held together by Van Etten’s uncanny ability to both pierce the hearts of her listeners and make them whole again. Things are not dark, she reminds us, only darkish."

Bonnie Raitt is a singer, songwriter and guitarist whose unique style blends blues, R&B, rock, and pop. After 20 years as a cult favorite, she broke through to the top in the early 90s with her GRAMMY-award winning albums, Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw, which featured hits, “Something to Talk About” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” among others. Raitt’s widely acclaimed 2012 independent release Slipstream sold over a quarter-million copies, making it one of the top selling independent albums, and earned Raitt her 10th Grammy Award (Best Americana Album). In February 2016, Raitt released her highly anticipated 20th album, Dig In Deep (Redwing Records). On tour for much of 2017-2019, Raitt and her band performed in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada before touring as support for James Taylor in stadiums and arenas across the U.S., United Kingdom and Europe. As known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music, Raitt has long been involved with the environmental movement and continues to work on safe energy issues, environmental protection, social justice, human rights, and blues/music education.

Father John Misty returns with Chloë and The Next 20th Century, his fifth album and first new material since the release of God's Favorite Customer in 2018. Chloë and the Next 20th Century was written and recorded August through December 2020 and features arrangements by Drew Erickson. The album sees Father John Misty - aka Josh Tillman - and producer/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson resume their longtime collaboration, with Dave Cerminara returning as engineer and mixer. Basic tracks were recorded at Wilson's Five Star Studios with strings, brass and woodwinds recorded at United Recordings in a session featuring Dan Higgins and Wayne Bergeron, among others. Chloë and The Next 20th Century features the singles "Funny Girl," "Q4," "Goodbye Mr. Blue," and "Kiss Me (I Loved You)."