New Releases & Staff Picks - 3/13/26

STAFF PICKS
 DARIO - Nala Sinephro and Gabor Szabo 
ASH - Nala Sinephro
 JAKE - Ninajirachi
KIMBER - Louder Than You Think
MARY - Jason Woodbury
ZACH - James Blake
DREW - Great Lakes Gospel comp 

KIM GORDON - Play Me CD/LP (Matador Records)  
Kim Gordon's third album, PLAY ME, is distilled and immediate, expanding Gordon's sonic palette to include more melodic beats and the motorik drive of krautrock. “We wanted the songs to be short,” Gordon says. “We wanted to do it really fast. It's more focused, and maybe more confident." The follow-up to 2024's Justin Raisen-produced, two-time Grammy-nominated The Collective processes, in her inimitable way, the collateral damage of the billionaire class: the demolition of democracy, technocratic end-times fascism, the A.I.-fueled chill-vibes flattening of culture - where dark humor voices the absurdity of modern life. Despite it's frequent outward gaze, PLAY ME is an interior record, one in which a heightened emotionality pulses through physical jams, rejecting definitive statements in favor of an inquisitiveness that keeps Gordon searching, ever in process.

JOHNNY BLUE SKIES & THE DARK CLOUDS - Mutiny After Midnight CD/LP (Atlantic)
Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds, along with the label High Top Mountain Records, have joined forces with Atlantic Music Group for the forthcoming release of Mutiny After Midnight. Arriving March 13, 2026, on physical formats only - the new album follows Johnny Blue Skies' 2024 debut, Passage Du Desir, and the venture marks the latest move in a career that will continue to defy industry stereotypes through a catalog of songs built on poetic songwriting, constant evolution, and the democratic brotherhood of a band.

CUT WORMS - Transmitter CD/LP (Jagjaguwar)  
Transmitter is Max Clarke's fourth full length record as Cut Worms. Produced by Jeff Tweedy at Wilco's Loft studio, Transmitter marks a deepening of Clarke's abilities and the convergence of two artists whose work searches for grace amid dislocation. These are places shaped by the myth of self-reliance, where people sold the idea of connection through technology have been reduced to quiet transmitters-data points bought and sold, manipulated and measured, their lives distorted through the very networks meant to unite them.

JAMES BLAKE - Trying Times CD/LP (Good Boy Records)  
English producer, songwriter, and musician James Blake returns with 'Trying Times', his seventh studio album and first fully independent release. Written between London and Los Angeles, the album confronts the turbulence of the last several years - global unrest, fractured discourse, and personal reckonings while searching for empathy, connection, and love amid chaos. Available on 2 LP Gatefold Vinyl and CD.

JASON WOODBURY - & The Night Bird Singing Quartet LP (Always Happening Records)
Songs about aliens, family, God, worry and relief, water and the desert… Jason P. Woodbury and the Night Bird Singing Quartet sweetly arrives like its namesake, an unexpected pre-dawn visit the Phoenix based musician, writer, and podcaster received one dark quiet night. Dazed and captivated by the unpredictable melodies floating outside of his window, the nighttime serenade reminded Woodbury of all the music that plays while the rest of the world sleeps.

NALA SINEPHRO - Smashing Machine O.S.T.  CD/LP (Warp Records)  
Composer Nala Sinephro presents The Smashing Machine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The film, directed and written by Benny Safdie, tells the story of prolific UFC fighter Mark Kerr.

SOPHS - Goldstar CD/LP (Rough Trade) 
The Sophs' honesty, flamingly intrusive thoughts, and genre-spreading caught the attention of Rough Trade founders Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee immediately. When Ramon sent a demo reel out to his favorite indies, he wasn't expecting any replies. But Travis and Lee were in his inbox the next day, asking if he'd hop on a call. Rough Trade heard the sort of creativity and variety - and don't expect me to act pretty sentiment - that could get The Sophs - including Ramon, Sam Yuh (keyboards), Austin Parker Jones (electric guitar), Seth Smades (acoustic guitar), Devin Russ (drums), and Cole Bobbitt (bass) - a slot on nearly any stage. They heard a five-song seed of their debut record Goldstar, out March 13th, 2026

DANIEL LOPATIN - Marty Supreme O.S.T. LP (A24 Music)  
2xLP - One Clear Vinyl & One Black Vinyl. Daniel Lopatin's (Oneohtrix Point Never) score for Marty Supreme pressed on transparent vinyl.

MDOU MOCTAR - Ilana (The Creator) LP [Reissue/2019] (Matador Records)  
Blistering and hypnotic, Ilana (The Creator) marked the beginning of a new chapter for Mdou Moctar. It is the Nigerien guitar hero's first album recorded with a live rock band and perfectly captures the heavy, psychedelic sound - part Tuareg desert blues, part ZZ Top - that the quartet had honed through endless touring and which would come to explosive fruition on Afrique Victime (2021) and Funeral For Justice (2024). Ilana was the first step and it's songs remain setlist standbys for the quartet's soaring performances.

BLACK CROWES - Pound Of Feathers CD (Silver Arrow Records)  
Fresh off the GRAMMY-nominated success of Happiness Bastards (2024), Chris and Rich Robinson wasted no time getting back to work. In early 2025, the brothers returned to Nashville to reunite with producer Jay Joyce and recapture the spark that powered their last record. This is the result. Reflective of their mood and expression, The Black Crowes have created a rock record that's loose and funky, dark and heavy, sensuous and jagged, Flesh and bone... A pound of feathers Or a pound of lead Look out below and mind your head.

ORA COGAN - Hard Hearted Woman LP (Sacred Bones)  
Ora Cogan's Music Is Alchemical: Part Instinct, Part Ritual, And Always Born From the edges where life feels sharpest. Hard Hearted Woman, her debut for Sacred Bones, arrives as a spell for anyone trying to stay wild in a world that keeps hardening. Mixing haunted folk, psych rock, and a shadowy strain of country, Cogan builds a realm where catharsis feels lush, mysterious and vital.

PUP - Megacity Madness (The Official Live Recordings) LP (Rise Records)  
Toronto alt-rock weirdos PUP spent a week in July 2025 performing a series of shows in Toronto. Starting the week at a house show and ending it at the venue History, the entire run was a sold-out sweat fest. This LP is the official live recordings taken from that show. Currently, these songs are not being released digitally and will only be available as part of this limited edition run pressed on multicolor splatter vinyl with insert.

NINAJIRACHI - I Love My Computer LP (Deadair)  
Half Blue / Half White Vinyl. Nina Wilson, better known as Ninajirachi, is a 26-year-old Australian electronic producer who released her debut album I Love My Computer in 2025 via NLV Records. A concept record built on her connection with her PC, swiping between genres of EDM, tech-house, speed garage, dubstep, and hyperpop. Between remixing Princess Nokia, Deadmau5 & The Neptunes, releasing on Nina Las Vegas' NLV Records and RL Grime's Sable Valley, Ninajirachi has performed at Lollapalooza, EDC, Laneway, Listen Out, Splendour, Falls Festival, and more and toured with Mallrat, Charli XCX, Porter Robinson and Cashmere Cat.

TATE MCRAE - So Close To What??? LP (RCA)  
The deluxe album from Tate McRae. Featuring 5 new songs including ‘TIT FOR TAT’

BRIGITTE CALLS ME BABY - Irreversible CD/LP (ATO Records)  
Brigitte Calls Me Baby's sophomore album, Irreversible perfectly captures their live energy and acclaimed songwriting. Produced by Yves & Lawrence Rothman (Blondshell, Yves Tumor), the album came to life amidst a relentless tour schedule including festivals (Lollapalooza) and shows with Morrissey, Muse & Last Dinner Party as well as sold-out headline shows across the US, UK & Europe. The result: a majestic suite of songs that burn bright, hit hard, and celebrate the drama of being alive.

LAMB OF GOD - Into Oblivion CD/LP (Epic)  
Vinyl LP pressing. Lamb of God's tenth album, Into Oblivion, sees them embracing their position as music veterans; Beholden to no one, with nothing to prove. Drawing from the tumultuous nature of the American political and cultural landscape, the band explores new sonic territory while simultaneously referencing their roots and doubling down on their signature groove. Into Oblivion is a blistering manifestation of decades of exploring, refining, and pioneering the metal of the 21st century.

JOE HENDERSON - Tetragon LP [Reissue/1968] (Craft Recordings)  
Tetragon is tenor saxophone virtuoso Joe Henderson's second album on the Milestone label, where he continued to develop his sound in the post-bop realm before venturing further into the spiritual jazz realm later in his career, joined by a world-class ensemble featuring Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Barron, Louis Hayes, and Don Friedman. This Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf reissue of Tetragon was cut from the original analog tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and comes packaged in a gatefold tip-on jacket.

GABOR SZABO - Spellbinder LP [Reissue/1966] (Impulse)  
Recorded in May 1966 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio - Spellbinder, released in 1966 on Impulse! Records, introduced Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo to a wider American audience with a set that blends modal jazz, Eastern European folk influences, and 1960s pop textures. The Verve Vault Series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180gram vinyl.

VARIOUS - Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History Of Gary Young & Pavement (Original Soundtrack) CD/LP (Independent Project Records)  
Louder Than You Think is an up-close cinematic walkabout through the life of Gary Young, the original (and highly unlikely) drummer of indie rock royalty Pavement. His booze and drugs-fueled antics (on-stage handstands, gifting vegetables to fans) and haphazard production methods (accidentally helping launch the lo-fi aesthetic) were both a driving force of the band's early rise and the cause of his eventual crash landing. Leaving a wake of joy and/or destruction at every turn, Gary teeters the thin line between free-form self-expression and chaotic self-destruction. Thirty years on with scoliosis, blood clots, and a shriveled liver, Gary continued drumming with no regrets.

WATERBABY - Memory Be A Blade LP (Sub Pop)
“I think I suffer heavy from limerence,” says Stockholm-born singer-songwriter waterbaby. Upon learning the term, she realized how much it resonated with the type of person she is, especially as an artist. “I’m extremely nostalgic. I ruminate, both good and bad. I romanticize. I can be very much stuck in the past, but it doesn’t feel like a sad way because I’m cherishing my history.” On Memory Be a Blade, the Stockholm, Sweden-born singer-songwriter’s second release on Sub Pop, the nostalgia runs deep. Her follow-up to 2023 EP Foam is darker, richer, and more personal than ever. She wanted her lyrics to dig deeper and evolve her writing forward, something she accomplishes stunningly across the eight-track project."

PHARAOH SANDERS - Elevation LP [Reissue/1974]  (Impulse)
The album is a spiritually resonant final Impulse! Studio statement that bridges the raw fire of earlier albums with a deeper, more spacious sound. The Verve Vault Series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180gram vinyl.

CONVERGE - Love Is Not Enough LP  (Deathwish Inc)  
Love Is Not Enough was recorded and mixed by Kurt Ballou at God City in Salem, Massachusetts, with engineering assistance from Zach Weeks. Jacob Bannon did the artwork and design, creating an image for each song and a commanding cover depicting a celestial witness to a world aflame. The album title itself says everything about the trials of today. Love Is Not Enough features no special guests, no studio trickery, no relentless massaging of human imperfection in trying to manufacture the perfect take.

NUDE PARTY - Look Whos Back LP (Alternate Side) 
Following the critical acclaim of their 2023 album Rides On, The Nude Party return with their fifth studio album, Look Who's Back, their first original music since 2023.

VARIOUS - Great Lakes Gospel: Detroit LP (Numero)  
Over the decades, Numero has excavated a metric ton of recordings from the depths of Detroit. From all manner of mini Motowns we've uncovered soul, R&B, funk, disco, boogie, and by nature of proximity-gospel. Previous examinations of the Revival and Big Mack labels turned up more than a few new apocryphal hymns, and Great Lakes Gospel Vol. 2 compiles a dozen curious church groups devotionally reaching towards the genres frayed edge. Get lost in ecstatic choir funk, pulpit rappin, direct-injection guitar solos, and the holy spirit, should it move you. Look around the room. You could start a church with this thing.

COMING NEXT WEEK
TINARIWEN - Hoggar CD/LP
WHITNEY JOHNSON, LIA KOHL, MACIE STEWART - Body Sound CD/LP
AVALON EMERSON - Written In To Changes LP
EL MICHELS AFFAIR - 24 Hr Instrumentals LP
GREEN-HOUSE - Hinterlands LP
ZACH BRYAN - With Heaven On Top CD/LP
LUKE COMBS - Way I Am CD/LP
BTS - Arirang CD
EDDIE PALMIERI - Vamonos Pa’l Monte LP REISSUE
ANNA CALVI - Is This All There Is EP
LADYTRON - Paradises CD/LP