New Releases & Staff Picks - 5/23/25

STAFF PICKS
 DARIO - Resavoir & Matt Gold and Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru
 ASH - Moskito
 JAKE - Florry, Thelonious Monk and Sophie reissues
 KIMBER - Marc Ribot, Stereolab, and Finback reissue
 MARY - Dandy Warhols and Thelonious Monk Reissues
 ZACH - Home is Where, Pachyman, and Stereolab

STEREOLAB - Instant Holograms On Metal Film CD/LP (Duophonic)  
Instant Holograms On Metal Film is the first Stereolab album in 15 years, featuring 13 new studio recordings. Played by Laetitia Sadier, Tim Gane, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson and Xavi Muñoz, with contributions from Cooper Crain and Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas, Ben LaMar Gay (composer/jazz multi instrumentalist), Holger Zapf (Cavern of Anti Matter), Marie Merlet (Monade) and Molly Read among others. The group will be playing live throughout 2025, with shows in Europe, North America, South America and the UK. The album follows Not Music released in 2010; remastered and expanded reissues of seven of their albums in 2019; and volumes 4 and 5 in the Switched On series appearing in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides LP [Reissue/2018]  (Future Classics)
Indie Exclusive violet colored reissue - Sophie's iconic Grammy-nominated debut album, released in 2018 before the artist tragically passed away in 2021. It was released to widespread critical acclaim and cemented Sophie as a pioneer.   

SPARKS - MAD!  CD/LP (Transgressive)
Sparks, brothers Ron and Russell Mael, are back with their 28th album MAD!, their first release with Transgressive Records. Most acts, by their seventh decade in the biz, would have slowed to a crawl, creakily playing their past hits on the heritage circuit and releasing nothing more than the occasional Greatest Hits collection. This is not the case for Sparks, who have triumphantly returned yet again, proving their resilience and relevance in a modern world with a fresh record and summer world tour to accompany it.

THESE NEW PURITANS - Crooked Wing CD/LP (Domino)  
Crooked Wing is These New Puritans' long-awaited fifth album—their first in six years. Produced by Jack Barnett and Bark Psychosis pioneer Graham Sutton and executive produced by George Barnett, it features an unpredictable lineup of collaborators, from Caroline Polachek to veteran jazz bassist Chris Laurence. The cult duo returns with one of 2025’s boldest and most immersive records, shifting from the brutal to the beautiful. Crooked Wing cements TNP’s status as visionaries—defying genre, rejecting convention, and delivering their most moving, powerful work yet.

MARC RIBOT - Map Of A Blue City CD/LP (New West)  
When she was a child, Marc Ribot’s daughter drew a map of a city in deep, rich, vivid blue. When he praised her blue map, she corrected him: It's not a blue map, but a map of a blue city. That distinction stuck with him and eventually inspired a curious song called “Map of a Blue City.” Map of a Blue City ruminates on what it means to be lost—the confusion and fear, of course, but also the excitement of so many undreamt-of possibilities. Its history is an odd map of its own, full of false starts, blind alleys, dead ends, and one inconceivable tragedy, all leading to what may be his definitive statement as an instrumentalist, as a songwriter, and even as a singer. While it’s not a singer-songwriter album, it is his first to center his plaintive, wise voice quite so prominently.

DENZEL CURRY - Imperial LP [Reissue/2017] (Loma Vista)
Limited gold colored vinyl LP pressing. Denzel Curry's 2017 release, Imperial, was both his finest work to date and his best received. The brief, breathless album showcases his near-peerless technical skill along with a newfound maturity in his songwriting. ‘I was going through a dark time,’ Curry says now of the time that birthed Imperial. So, he challenged himself to find a radical level of transparency. The whole theme of that tape is just being honest-exposing myself before anybody else does, talking about my past, talking about where I'm heading to.

HOME IS WHERE - Hunting Season LP (Wax Bodega)
Available on indie exclusive green Vinyl. Home Is Where is a renowned alt-emo band from Palm Coast, Florida. Hunting Season is their third full-length album, out May 23rd, 2025. It is the much-anticipated follow up to 2023's the whaler, which received praise from Pitchfork, Paste, Stereogum, and more.

EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU - Church of Kidane MehretCD/LP (Mississippi Records) 
Deeply resonant spiritual music transmitted via piano, organ, and harmonium by beloved composer and Ethiopian Orthodox nun Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru. Church of Kidane Mehret collects all the musical work from Emahoy’s 1972 private press album of the same name, alongside two additional unreleased piano recordings, exploring Emahoy’s take on “Ethiopian Church Music.” Recording herself in churches throughout Jerusalem, Emahoy engages directly with the Ethiopian Orthodox musical liturgy. For the first time, we hear Emahoy on harmonium and massive, droning pipe organ, alongside some of her most moving piano work.

BILLIE HOLIDAY - All Or Nothing At All LP [Reissue/1958] (Verve)
Recorded in five sessions over 1956/1957 and released in 1958, this 12-track affair is loaded with the classic standards from Berlin, Ellington, Gershwin and more. Though some claimed Billie Holiday was beyond her peak at this point, it was Miles Davis who countered that this was her most effective time with her deepest understanding and control of the repertoire she was performing. Her supporting cast on this album contributes to that as well, which included Barney Kessel (Guitar), Ben Webster (Tenor Sax), Sweets Edison (Trumpet), and Jimmy Rowles (Piano). Verve Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT - Martha Wainwright LP [Reissue/2005] (Pias)
Celebrating 20 years of Martha Wainwright and the stunning debut album that introduced the world to one of the most distinctive voices of her generation. For the first time ever on vinyl, this special anniversary edition is pressed on transparent vinyl, offering fans a fresh way to experience this landmark release. Featuring standout tracks like Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole and Factory, the album is a fearless statement of raw emotion and poetic songwriting. Across it's deeply personal and beautifully crafted songs, Wainwright's signature blend of folk, rock, and unfiltered lyricism shines.

CINDYTALK - Camouflage Heart LP [Reissue/1984] (Dais)
Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980s Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. Dais is proud to reissue Cindytalk's 1984 debut, Camouflage Heart, a fearless work that feels even more singular and prescient now forty-plus years beyond it's release.

DANDY WARHOLS - Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia LP [Reissue/2000] (Pias)   A modern classic, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is the breakthrough album from The Dandy Warhols, blending psych-rock, alt-pop, and a laid-back indie cool. Featuring the anthemic ‘Bohemian Like You,’ the hypnotic ‘Godless,’ and the driving energy of ‘Get Off,’ this record is packed with attitude, hooks, and hazy, effortless charm. Reissued on transparent blue vinyl, this 2LP edition brings new life to an album that defined an era.

PACHYMAN - Another Place LP (ATO)
Over four albums, Pachyman has proven himself a dedicated craftsman working in the lineage of dub reggae while mastering the methodology of masters like King Tubby and Scientist, using vintage gear, constructing glorious walls of sound, and developing an intuitive understanding of the power of repetition. With Another Place, he synthesizes the myriad scenes that have recontextualized dub, from the synth-pop of William Onyeabor and Yellow Magic Orchestra to Basic Channel's amniotic dub techno.

THELONIOUS MONK - Thelonious Himself LP [Reissue/1957] (Craft)
Released in 1957, Thelonious Himself is a solo album by Thelonious Monk. The only exception to this is the final track ‘Monk's Mood,’ where he is joined by John Coltrane and Wilbur Ware. The album was Monk's fourth on Riverside and was given a coveted 5 stars by DownBeat magazine. This new edition of the album is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series on 180-gram vinyl pressed at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes at Cohearent Audio and a Stoughton Tip-On Jacket.

THELONIOUS MONK - Brilliant Corners (Small Batch Series) - LP [Reissue/1957 (Craft)   Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners is a landmark title in the pianist's celebrated catalog. The 1957 album not only introduces several Monk originals, but also features an all-star lineup, including Sonny Rollins, Max Roach and Paul Chambers. Small Batch Series features lacquers cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI using Neotech's VR900 compound. This one-step lacquer process (as opposed to the standard three-step process) allows for the utmost level of musical detail, clarity and dynamics while reducing the amount of surface noise on the record. Each copy is individually numbered and encased in a foil-stamped, linen-wrapped slipcase featuring an acrylic inset of the original artwork. Housed in a reproduction of the album's original tip-on jacket from Riverside Records and protected by an archival-quality inner sleeve. New liner notes from Ashley Kahn completes the package.

PINBACK - Information Retrieved LP [Reissue/2012] (Temporary Residence)
On one hand, their fifth album, Information Retrieved, is the logical and accessible realization of a sound Pinback have been developing and refining for over a decade. However, that consistency that we've taken for granted is what makes Information Retrieved such a euphoric surprise; their finest and most fully realized album, a dozen years deep into a career that includes bona fide modern classics like ‘Good To Sea’ and ‘Summer In Abaddon.’ Simply put, this is better than we ever could have expected. They could have coasted on automatic pilot to another lauded album that likely would have made it onto plenty of year-end lists, but instead they shot the moon, and the result is a major triumph. It's the most complete and soulful Pinback album by a fair distance, the finest moment in the career of a band whose unfettered brilliance we've come to count on, but will never again take for granted.

RESAVOIR & MATT GOLD - Horizon LP (International Anthem) 
Horizon is a new collaborative album by Resavoir & Matt Gold. Across the 10 tracks the two Chicago-based producers combine their distinct sensibilities to create a hypnotic and inviting love letter to their shared admiration for ‘60s and ‘70s Brazilian music. Resavoir leading man Will Miller—the acclaimed trumpeter, composer, and producer who’s worked with SZA, Whitney, and more—makes room at the table for Gold—a seasoned multi-instrumentalist and accomplished guitarist who has collaborated with the likes of Makaya McCraven and Greg Ward—and the results are distinctly new for both of them. The sunny and expansive tunes on Horizon are as immersive as they are endlessly replayable, a dynamic and joyous body of work.

TESKEY BROTHERS - Run Home Slow -  LP [Reissue/2019] (Glassnote)
Having vaulted into the hearts of old-school music lovers everywhere with their raw soulful debut album, The Teskey Brothers have since toured extensively around the globe, mesmerizing audiences with their powerful live show. From the first notes of Josh Teskey's era-defining vocal to the jaw-dropping restraint of rhythm section Brendon Love (bass) and Liam Gough (drums), and the sheer wonder of Sam Teskey's guitar sorcery, you just know that you're witnessing something special.

FLORRY - Sounds Like… CD/LP (Dear Life)
On the winkingly titled Sounds Like... , the band's second full-length release via Dear Life, Florry is picking up right where they left off in 2023. Again upping the ante with a bigger, brighter, more abrasive sound that resembles something closer to Rolling Thunder Revue-era Bob Dylan than their humble DIY roots. Across ten tracks, the band wear their influences on their sleeve while carving out a space that is distinctly their own, blending raw honky-tonk grit and rich instrumental textures with the disarming sincerity and intimacy of the group's lo-fi beginnings. It's a record about searching-searching for home, for love, for meaning, and for a sound that captures it all.

HEADPHONES - Headphones (20th Anniversary Edition)- CD/LP (Suicide Squeeze)
In 2005, Headphones arrived as a seismic shift in David Bazan's already formidable canon a collection of synth-driven confessions that push the boundaries of narrative songwriting. Stripped down to it's barest essentials, the album finds Bazan and collaborators Tim Walsh and Frank Lenz constructing an audaciously raw soundscape: no guitars, just synthesizers, live drums, and Bazan's unmistakable vocals. Twenty years later, it remains a masterwork of emotional excavation and geopolitical reckoning, as relevant today as the day it was released. This 20th Anniversary edition, remastered by Christopher Colbert at National Freedom (The Walkmen, Richard Swift, Pedro the Lion), is housed in a gatefold jacket with expanded artwork by Grammy-nominated designer Jesse LeDoux, plus liner notes by writer and Belmont University Associate Professor David Dark.

MOSKITO - Idolar  CASS/LP (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
In the vibrant streets of Tembisa, South Africa, amidst the sprawling urbanity connecting Johannesburg and Pretoria, the story of Moskito began. Formed in 2001 by Mahlubi Shadow Radebe and the late Zwelakhe Malemon Mtshali, the group first emerged as a powerhouse of pantsula dancers. However, their undeniable passion for music soon led them down a new path one that would cement their place in Kwaito history. Spending countless hours on the street corners of their township, where they were born and raised, Shadow and Malemon danced and sang with an infectious energy that attracted crowds. It wasn't long before the duo decided to channel their talents into a Kwaito group, and after adding friends Petrick Iwane and Menzi Dlodlo, Moskito was born.

BARDO POND - Volume 4 & 5 LP (Fire)  
A double LP package from Bardo Pond, combining two of their super rare jam volumes on vinyl for the first time. A further edition in this celebrated series, ‘Volume 4’ and ‘Volume 5’ feature more freeform improvisational pieces from the hypnotic Philadelphia outfit. Capturing the raw essence of the band, whose fearless exploration blurs the lines between structure, chaos, melody and noise. Bardo Pond's music traverses space rock, acid rock, post-rock, shoegaze, noise, Krautrock and psychedelia.

JAMES FELICE - The Little Ones CD/LP (15 Passenger)
On The Little Ones, James joins the long lineage of winking American tearjerkers, the great crying-in-your-beer smart alecks like Warren Zevon, John Prine, or even Tom Waits. With a similar rollicking ease on keyboard instruments, Felice sidles up next to Dr. John and bears Randy Newman's torch, frequently squeezing the blood of a catchy chorus from the stone of an unlikely song subject. His sometimes wounded, side-of-the-mouth vocal delivery brings longtime collaborator Bright Eyes to mind.

MILITARIE GUN - Life Under The Sun - LP (Loma Vista)
Life Under The Sun strips back a selection of songs from Militarie Gun's breakout debut album, Life Under The Gun, putting Ian Shelton's intensely personal songwriting center stage. Along with the previously shared singles, ‘Never Fked Up Twice’, featuring Bully's Alicia Bognanno, and ‘Very High (Under The Sun)’, the EP includes the new single, ‘My Friends Are Having A Hard Time’, featuring Manchester Orchestra. Additionally, Life Under The Sun features Mannequin Pussy on a new version of ‘Will Logic' and includes a cover of the NOFX track, ‘Whoops I OD’d'. Available on red/yellow splatter color 12 vinyl. Limited Edition.

STEELDRIVERS - Outrun LP (Sun Records)
The SteelDrivers celebrate their 20th anniversary with their seventh studio album, Outrun, via Sun Records. The Nashville-based bluegrass band simultaneously defies the traditions of the bluegrass genre and redefines it for generations to come, expertly weaving in rock, soul, blues, and Americana. We wanted to create a record that felt timeless and musically connected to our past, and honor our founding member, Mike Henderson who passed away in 2023. The band self-produced at Playloud Studio.

AYA  - Hexed LP (Hyperdub)  
aya's incredibly inventive Hyperdub debut album im hole distilled the incisive sonic experimentation of her early run of releases, the tongue-in-cheek giggles of her DJ sets and radio show, and the identity-fluxing lyricism of her live shows into a delirious tug of war between pleasure and dysmorphia. The album was championed from all corners, 'Best New Music' in Pitchfork to Radio 6 DJ Maryanne Hobbs 'Album of the Year', followed by a run of incredible live shows which drew new listeners further into her world. hexed!, aya’s second album, confronts the desperation and dysfunction of addiction. Internalised phobias and suppressed traumas haunt the corridors and golden hours once romanticised on 2021’sim hole; daymares concealed by nocturnal afters-hopping and key bag circles. Opener ‘I am the pipe I hit myself with’ exposes the gray portrait secreted somewhere between the 8th and 9th floors of her previous record. ‘I used to say some shit for sure’, ‘I used to say it when I was me-less’. hexed! is about what happens when aya turns the lights on.

XMAL DEUTSCHLAND - Gift: The 4Ad Years -  CD/LP (4AD) 
The extraordinary impact Xmal Deutschland had upon British audiences in the early Eighties is difficult to convey forty years on. A spell was cast by the staccato rhythms, unmediated channels and mysterious (to us) language of their music, and by the vision and strength of the women involved. Their breakthrough support slot with Cocteau Twins and first two albums with 4AD dazzled and dug deep, speaking in tones and temperatures unlike any band before or since. “And at some point, it seemed to people we just... disappeared,” muses singer Anja Huwe. So this myth of Xmal Deutschland just got bigger and bigger over the years...  - Gift, which will fascinate newcomers just as it feeds the faithful, is brimming with presence. And if the word gift in German slyly relates to a kind of poison, nobody said this music was all sweetness and light. Even if its radiance resonates, four decades later. Xmal Deutschland's 4AD years were a bold and bewitching boomerang. The magic's back.

BECKIE BELL - In need of… LP [Reissue/1980] (Strut)  
Strut proudly reintroduces a sought after independent disco gem from the Topomic catalogue: Beckie Bell’s In Need Of…,reissued in full for the first time. Originally released in 1980, In Need Of... quickly became a cult classic of the French disco scene. After relocating from New York to Paris in the late 1970s, Bell carved out a unique space for her sound, blending the soulfulness of New York disco with the high energy sophistication of the European market.

THE SLUGS - A Song For Every Feeling LP (Related Records)
FROM THE BAND: "We are extremely proud and pleased to release our long-time-coming album A Song For Every Feeling - written the summer before we became a long-distance band. We have tried to include a song for more or less every feeling with themes growing into yourself and all the mess of being a person, with a healthy dose of signature Slugs tender chaotic fun.” Limited edition of 300. Full album plays on both sides of the record, so it's kind of like getting two records for the price of one.

NGO (TATSUYA NAKATANI) - Live In Ojai California LP (Weird Cry)
A 17 piece group in Ojai convenes as the Nakatani Gong Orchestra - equal parts workshop and performance group, the long running project from master percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani often appears in between nation wide jaunts which generally find him behind the drum kit proper (both solo and in collaboration with countless musicians from across the country and beyond).

COMING NEXT WEEK!
CAROLINE - Caroline 2 CD/LP
ALAN SPARHAWK - With Trampled By Turtles CD/LP/CASS
YUELE - Evangelic Girl Is A Gun CD/LP
FOXWARREN - 2 CD/LP
KENDRICK LAMAR - To Pimp A Butterfly 10th Anniversary Reissue
 MIKE - Showbiz CD/LP
TY SEGALL - Possession CD/LP
SUFJAN STEVENS - Carrie And Lowell 10th Anniversary Reissue
AESOP ROCK - Black Hole Superette CD/LP
RACHEL’S - Music For Egon Schiele 30th Anniversary Reissue
 MATT BERNINGER - Get Sunk CD/LP
CIVIC - Chrome Dipped CD/LP
GARBAGE - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light CD/LP
MT JOY - Hope We Have Fun CD/LP
IGLOOGHOST - Tidal Memory LP
WATCHHOUSE - Rituals CD/LP