New Releases & Staff Picks - 5/8/26

STAFF PICKS
 DARIO - Aldous Harding
ASH - Broken Social Scene 
 JAKE - By Storm and Mike / Earl Sweatshirt 
KIMBER - American Analog Set and His Name is Alive reissues
MARY - Hurray for the Riff Raff and Lykke Li 
ZACH - Broken Social Scene, By Storm, and Natalia Lafourcade 
DREW - His Name is Alive reissues
PAT- His Name Is Alive

BY STORM - My Ghosts Go Ghost CD/LP (Deadair) 
The rap duo By Storm, made up of Injury Reserve emcee RiTchie and producer Parker Corey debut their first album My Ghosts Go Ghost, out in records stores today on CD and LP.

SOCIAL DISTORTION - Born To Kill CD/LP (Epitaph)  
Orange County's Social Distortion returns with it's first album in 15 years with Born to Kill. Armed with 11 urgent songs, Mike Ness continues to build on the mystique that Social Distortion is more than just a punk band. Throughout the collection, Ness revisits the sounds of the 1970s, his formative adolescent years. For many, Born to Kill is a return to form, but instead, it's a continuation of the bar of excellence that Social Distortion and, in turn, Ness has long been praised for. Born to Kill is a body of work that will live long in the Social Distortion catalog. Songs like the rowdy title track that serves as the album's mission statement, along with the riff-laden 'Partners in Crime,’ the nostalgic 'The Way Things Were,' and rollicking ‘Tonight' are songs that fit in across any of Social Distortion's various eras. Now nearly five decades into it's career and with a remarkable catalog spanning nearly three generations, Social Distortion has no intention of slowing down any time soon.

BASEMENT - Wired CD/LP (Run For Cover)  
After years apart, BASEMENT have relinked for a new album that is bursting with renewed purpose. Wired is the UK-based band's fifth full-length album and first on Run For Cover Records in ten years. But it's more than that - it's the feeling of electricity that surges through these twelve songs like a current, and a statement on how interconnected these five individuals were while creating their most complete album to date. Since joining together with the modest goal playing shows around their hometown of Ipswich, Basement's consistent core - vocalist Andrew Fisher, bass player Duncan Stewart, drummer James Fisher, and guitarists Alex Henery and Ronan Crix - have had an enduring connection that's grown over nearly twenty years. Wired signals a return to what drove the band in those earliest days: creative freedom & connection.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE - Remember The Humans CD/LP (Arts & Crafts)  
Broken Social Scene's 6th LP Remember The Humans, the iconic Toronto band's first album since '17, is a return to family. Producer Dave Newfeld creates this document of a sprawling collective timelessly in flux: a groove familiar and new, rhythm thundering with the melodic interjections of it's many members.

ALDOUS HARDING - Train On The Island CD/LP  (4AD)  
New Zealand based musician and songwriter Aldous Harding's fifth album, Train on the Island, arrives on May 8. The 10-track record was co-produced with long-time collaborator John Parish (PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning, Sparklehorse) at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, where the pair recorded Harding's previous albums Party (2017), Designer (2019) and Warm Chris (2022). Musical contributions to the new recordings come from pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte; harpist Mali Llywelyn; synth artist Thomas Poli; drummer Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear); and Huw Evans (H. Hawkline), across bass, vocals, acoustic/electric guitar, and organ.

EARL SWEATSHIRT / MIKE & SURF GANG - POMPEII // UTILITY CD/LP (10K Records)  
POMPEII // UTILITY unites two kindred spirit rappers from opposite coasts within SURF GANG's world-building genius. Structured as a true double album - MIKE on one side, Earl on the other - POMPEII // UTILITY unfolds through a rotating cast of side quests and characters from within it's shared creative ecosystem. Jadasea, Anysia Kym, Niontay, Na-Kel Smith, and Lerado Khalil all make appearances, passing through the album's vast terrain, while behind the scenes, SURF GANG producers Harrison, EvilGiane, Elipropperr, and Flea Diamonds (with input from additional producers) wield the gritty, raspy, animated beats that build it's container.

WEEN - Quebec LP [Reissue/2003] (Rhino)  
Double red vinyl LP pressed at 45rpm. Is Quebec the best album from Ween? Opinions will vary, but it is certainly up there as one of the finest from the brothers Ween. A solemnly psychedelic album full of mournful laments, Quebec is the album that makes the most serious case for Dean and Gene Ween as two of the greatest living American songwriters. Long out of print, this new colored vinyl reissue of the original album sees it spread across 2LPs and cut at 45rpm for maximum sound quality. Featuring ‘Transdermal Celebration,’ ‘Chocolate Town,’ ‘Tried and True’ and more.

WEEN - White Pepper LP [Reissue/2000] (Rhino)  
White Pepper is hands down Ween at their most accessible. The album's title combines the Beatles White Album and Sgt. Pepper’s titles, hinting at what lies within. It's a genius only Ween could conjure up across White Pepper's twelve tracks. Long out of print, this new colored vinyl reissue of the original album is on green pepper vinyl. Featuring ‘Bananas and Blow,’ ‘Even If You Don’t,' ‘Stay Forever’ and more.

WEEN - Brown Box 10xCD Box Set (Rhino)  
The first career spanning complete studio albums box set from Ween. 10xCD set including: God Ween Satan: The Oneness, The Pod, Pure Guava, Chocolate and Cheese, 12 Golden Country Greats, The Mollusk, White Pepper, Quebec, Shinola, Vol. 1 and La Cucaracha. This collection includes many long out of print titles on CD as well as some of the finest American songwriting from the past 40 years. Punk is dead; long live Ween.

HIS NAME IS ALIVE - Livonia CD/LP [Reissue/1990] (4AD) 
HIS NAME IS ALIVE - Home Is In Your Head CD/LP [Reissue/1991] (4AD) 
HIS NAME IS ALIVE - Mouth By Mouth CD/LP [Reissue/1993] (4AD) 
CD/LP reissues of the 4AD releases from art rock project His Name Is Alive, freshly remastered in 2024.

CROZ BOYCE  - Croz Boyce CD/LP (Domino)
What if 40 minutes of instrumental music made by two friends passing files across state lines could capture the range of human experience, or at least a disproportionate chunk of it—worry and camaraderie, hope and frustration, tenderness and absurdity? That is the question that steadily emerges across the nine tracks of the self-titled debut from Croz Boyce, the duo of two musicians who have made some of the last quarter-century’s most inquisitive music, Dave Portner (Avey Tare) and Brian Weitz (Geologist) of Animal Collective. 

SAULT - Chapter 1 CD/LP (Forever Living)
Sault return and in fine form with Chapter 1 - their 13th album. The elusive collective led by producer Inflo unleash another masterpiece that features contributions from R&B singer Cleo Sol, singer-songwriter Jack Peñate, and legendary hitmakers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In a statement accompanying Chapter 1, the group noted that the album "moves with patience and belief. Rhythm, breath, and silence sit side by side, creating a space that is reflective yet charged. There is warmth and expectation. A sense that something is gathering."   

AMERICAN ANALOG SET - Destroy Destroy Destroy 6xLP Box (Numero)  
The complete studio recordings from The American Analog Set's second chapter. Destroy Destroy Destroy gathers the Texas slow-krauters Know By Heart, Promise Of Love, and Set Free LPs, Everything Ends In Spring EP, and an additional two discs of singles, B-sides, alternates and outtakes. Accompanying 36-page booklet is flooded with photos and handwritten scraps from the band's dreamy post-Y2K era. Punk as fuck, for real.

LEMON TWIGS - Look For Your Mind CD/LP (Captured Tracks)  
The Lemon Twigs' two previous Captured Tracks albums, A Dream Is All We Know (2024) and Everything Harmony (2023), certainly indicated something of a ground zero in their then five album career. “It was the beginning of making records that we would listen to ourselves,” says Michael D'Addario, the younger Twig brother, now aged 26. By the time of A Dream Is All We Know and the future Michael classic My Golden Years, The Lemon Twigs' new era had truly begun. And now comes the third Lemon Twigs album for Captured Tracks, Look For Your Mind!, which underneath it's poppy exterior contains an undercurrent of paranoia and suspicion. The Lemon Twigs sixth studio album may at first seem like a direct continuation of the previous two, but it is also a lot more, with nods to the earlier records, a new found collective spirit, and most importantly great songwriting.

MUNA - Dancing On The Wall CD/LP (Saddest Factory)  
Muna's journey has always been about holding space for the complex, messy, ecstatic realities of life, and with their fourth album, Dancing On The Wall, they've never been sharper, darker, or more exhilarating. Emerging from the sparkly, confetti-strewn heights of their 2022 self-titled record, Muna now channel the anxious, uncertain energy of living in a Los Angeles defined by political tension, environmental decay, and the quiet pressures of millennial precarity. The result is a record that feels both intimate and spectacular, a pop world built with teeth, wit, and emotional resonance, a soundtrack for hearts simultaneously on fire and observing the chaos around them.

LINDA PERRY - Let It Die Here CD/LP (Kill Rock Stars)  
Linda Perry’s Let It Die Here is a raw, spiritual reckoning, a journey through inherited pain, grief, and redemption. Across seventeen tracks that blend confessional poetry, cinematic rock, and vulnerable introspection, Perry confronts the ghosts of her past — mothers, lovers, and the darker corners of self. The record moves from the streetlight confessions of “Balboa Park” to the searing surrender of “Let It Die Here,” culminating in “Albatross,” a release from the weight she has carried her whole life. It is an album about release, letting go of guilt, embracing imperfection, and finding beauty in survival.

STEPHEN SANCHEZ - Love Love Love CD/LP (Mercury)  
The follow-up album to Stephen Sanchez's debut album Angel Face with the global smash, ‘Until I Found You,’ is finally here - Love, Love, Love! On the new record, Stephen muses about love in it's many forms - partners, friends, neighbors, and even strangers - brought to life by rich vocals and a technicolor pop sound. The title track epitomizes the album's themes, as Stephen proclaims the importance of showing love to others, even (and especially) when they may not be expressing the same.

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF - Live Forever CD/LP  (Nonesuch)  
Live Forever is the first live album by American band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Recorded during performances at Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago on July 17th-18th, 2025, the album was produced by Chicago-based musician Johnny Wilson. Spanning 14 songs, Live Forever presents The Past Is Still Alive in it's entirety, as well as a selection of Hurray for the Riff Raff's show-stopping, set-defining staples: decrying ICE on the poetic 'Precious Cargo' and The Navigator's anthemic 'Pa'lante'; the prescient digital age critique of 'Pyramid Scheme'; and ripping through a folk-rock rendition of Life on Earth's ‘Rhododendron'.

CAMERA OBSCURA - Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi LP [Reissue/2001] (Merge Records)   Debut album by Glasgow's Camera Obscura, celebrating 25 years in 2026. Never before available on vinyl in North America and long OOP in Europe. This anniversary LP reissue includes all twelve original tracks, contrary to the European pressing of 2001, which omitted 'Let's Go Bowling’ and ‘Shine Like a New Pen’ for a total of only ten tracks to wax. Band on tour in North America May 27 to June 5.

NATALIA LAFOURCADE - Un Canto Por Mexico Vol 1 LP [Reissue/2020] (Music on Vinyl )  
Un Canto por México, Vol. 1 is the eighth studio album by Natalia Lafourcade. The album was part of a project destined for the reconstruction of the Centro de Documentatión del Son Jarocho at Jáltipan de Morelos, a cultural building that was damaged after 2017 Puebla earthquake on 19 September 2017. Un Canto por México, Vol. 1 is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on translucent yellow coloured vinyl and includes two printed inner sleeves.

NATALIA LAFOURCADE - Un Canto Por Mexico Vol 2 LP [Reissue/2021] (Music on Vinyl )   Un Canto por México, Vol. 2 is Natalia Lafourcade's second album destined to the reconstruction of the Centro de Docementación del Son Jarocho. A cultural building that was damaged after the 2017 Puebla earthquake. The album features unique new interpretations of her earlier songs, as well as collaborations with artists such as Caetano Veloso and Silvana Estrada. Un Canto por México, Vol. 2 is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on crystal clear and black marbled vinyl and includes printed inner sleeves.

PUNCH - Punch LP [Reissue] (Ancient Grease)  
1970-1971 - Lost U.S. Heavy Psych, Unearthed At Last. From The Group Who Brought You The Proto-Metal Cult Classic, 'Deathhead', As Heard On Brown Acid* Newly unearthed material from New York proto-metal anomalies, Punch - a group who cut one highly collectable 45 in 1970 and then disappeared... until now* RIYL : (classic) Sir Lord Baltimore, The Stooges, Blue Cheer, May Blitz, Jerusalem, Edgar Broughton Group - (contemporary) Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Kadavar, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - World Is To Dig LP (Idlewild Recordings)  
They Might Be Giants' album The World Is to Dig, released via Idlewild Recordings, features 18 tracks including ‘Back in Los Angeles,’ ‘Wu-Tang,’ and ‘Sleep's Older Sister.’

UNWED SAILOR - High Remembrance LP (Current Taste)  
Formed in late 90s Seattle and currently based in Tulsa, Unwed Sailor craft a unique form of bass-led, instrumental pop with post-rock dynamics. For their eleventh album, High Remembrance, core members Johnathon Ford (bass, keys, guitar), Matt Putman (drums), and David Swatzell (guitar) embrace the bittersweet comforts of memory with shades of alt-rock grit, late 70s AM radio swagger, and rapturous New Wave abandon, among other touchstones that defy easy categorization.

RAPTURE - In The Grace Of Your Love LP [Reissue/2011] (DFA Records)  
Originally released in 2011 and ultimately the swan song of the band's core lineup, In the Grace Of Your Love marked a reset for The Rapture and a welcome return to DFA, the label that helped them make their instantly seminal debut, Echoes. The momentum and success of those years led to a major label roller coaster ride that dumped them right back where they started, scars to show but now free to push beyond the boundaries of expectation.

ISIS - In The Absence Of Truth LP [Reissue/2006] (Ipecac Recordings)  
Continuing in our series of ISIS reissues, In The Absence Of Truth is the band's 2006 release, remastered by James Plotkin. The 2LP 140gr Vinyl packaged in a tip-on gatefold jacket in two retail variants. The album expands upon the group's previous full-length, Panopticon, further exploring lead singer Aaron Turner's clean vocals (though his former techniques, which relied more on screaming and growling, are still present as well).

ISIS - Wavering Radiant LP [Reissue/2009] (Ipecac Recordings)  
Continuing in our series of ISIS reissues, Wavering Radiant is the band's final 2009 release, remastered by James Plotkin. The 2LP 140gr Vinyl packaged in a tip-on gatefold jacket in two retail variants. The album was produced by Joe Barresi, and the band split just over a year after it's release. The album continues Isis' history of lengthy songwriting, yet presents a slight departure from the soft-loud dynamics and post-metal aesthetic which characterized previous releases. It is widely considered the band's most accessible release in their catalog. Although the band has been defunct for over a decade, their impact on metal is still reverberating, and sales continue to make it one of Ipecac's top artists.

LYKKE LI - Afterparty LP  (Futures Music Group)  
Lykke Li's The Afterparty is a journey through the night, turning the collective feeling of hopelessness into a celebratory revenge. With hooky choruses, maximalist arrangements and apocalyptic bongos, The Afterparty asks the eternal question. It's 4am: can we have one last euphoric dance before the hangover crushes us? Featuring a limited vinyl with a transparent printed outer sleeve and exclusive stunning 20-page insert, it's as much a visual artifact as it is a sonic one.

BROTHER WALLACE - Electric Love CD/LP (ATO Records)  
Raised in the tiny rural town of West Point, GA - Brother Wallace is a true force of nature. A K-12 music teacher who began playing piano in church at age 11, Wallace teamed up with guitarist/producer Dan Taylor (The Heavy) in dreaming up a body of work built on his electrifying brand of soul music, mining inspiration from Sam Cooke, Little Richard & Johnnie Taylor among others. Recording in England at Real World Studios, Wallace emerged with Electric Love', his 13-song debut for ATO Records.

CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM - Great Parrot-Ox & The Golden Egg Of Empathy LP (ATO Records)  
The 3rd collaborative album between Les Claypool & Sean Ono Lennon (the previous sold over 150,000 combined) is an elaborate concept record reflecting on morality, the warnings of A.I., and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy. Told across 14 songs - which ooze with classic psychedelic / progressive rock stylings - and the accompanying comic book by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy is a peak for both The Claypool-Lennon Delirium and rock music at large.

DEAD MILKMEN - Big Lizzard In My Backyard LP [Reissue/1985] (Giving Groove )   Limited 'Bitchin' Camaro' red vinyl LP. Includes bonus track and digital download. The debut album that started it all back in 1985. Remastered and featuring classic hits such as "Tiny Town", "Dean's Dream", and, of course, "Bitchin' Camaro", this is the collection of songs that propelled the Milkmen onto the indie rock scene. Includes a download card with bonus tracks.

COMING NEXT WEEK
COLA- Cost Of Living Adjustment CD/LP
KEVIN MORBY - Little Wide Open CD/LP
ROSTAM - American Stories CD/LP
TANK & THE BANGAS - Last Balloon CD/LP
DON TOLLIVER - Octane CD/LP
JEFF PARKER & THE ETA IVTET - Happy Today CD/LP
JACK JOHNSON - Surfilmusic Ost CD/LP
DOVE ELLIS - Blizzard CD/LP
HIDING PLACES - Secret To Good Living LP
JESCA HOOP - Long Wave Home LP
SHAKEY GRAVES - Fondess Etc LP