New Releases & Staff Picks - 8/8/25

STAFF PICKS
 DARIO - Songs: Ohia
ASH - Osees
JAKE - Teethe and Osees
KIMBER - Galaxie 500
MARY - Magdalena Bay
 ZACH - Ada Lea and Teethe
DREW - Osees

ETHEL CAIN - Willoughby Tucker I'll Always Love You CD/LP/CASS (Daughter of Cain)
Florida-born multimedia artist Ethel Cain returns with her sophomore album Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You. A prequel to the critically acclaimed Preacher's Daughter, the new album recounts the story of Ethel's first love, Willoughby Tucker, and their humid, laden romance. Hayden Anhedonia, the creative force behind the entire Ethel Cain project, has spent the past several years assembling the album in her home studios from Coraopolis, PA to Tallahassee, FL, all the while selling out tours and playing festivals worldwide, cementing herself as a singular artistic voice on the rise.

BLACK KEYS - No Rain No Flowers CD/LP (Warner Records)
Collaborating with iconic songwriters such as Rick Nowels, Daniel Tashian and legendary keys player Scott Storch, the GRAMMY winning Ohio band craft their most ambitious and adventurous album yet, braiding together the pair's sprawling, eclectic musical influence.

CHARLEY CROCKETT - Dollar A Day CD/LP (Island)  
Dollar A Day is the new album from country artist Charley Crockett. The second installment in The Sagebrush Trilogy, the album sees Charley reunite with co-producer Shooter Jennings for 15 electrifying new recordings. Like it's predecessor Lonesome Drifter, Dollar A Day was recorded at the fabled Sunset Sound Studio 3 in Hollywood. In Charley's words, With Lonesome Drifter, it felt like we opened the portal. With Dollar A Day, we stepped through and came out the other side.

ADA LEA - when i paint my masterpiece CD/LP (Saddle Creek)
After years of touring, Alexandra Levy (Ada Lea) felt a need for community and renewal. when i paint my masterpiece was largely recorded in rural Ontario in the waning weeks of 2023, and its harmonies and arrangements link back to a golden era of Canadian folk music. The band recorded the album largely live and acoustic in one room, off the grid in both senses, loose but in control and without a click in sight.   

TEETHE - Magic Of The Sale CD/LP (Winspear) 
Teethe re-emerges with Magic Of The Sale, a soft but steely full-length album where the Texas band's four distinct songwriters, singers, and artists ask a series of interlocked questions about what it means to build a life in a time of shared collapse. The result is a sad and beautiful self-built world of Southern slowcore, where four people turn toward one another and drift forward, together..

SONGS: OHIA - Impala LP (Secretly Canadian)
Impala, the fabled second Songs: Ohia full-length, originally released in 1998 and long out-of-print, will enjoy a vinyl reissue by Secretly Canadian this August. This release includes the addition of a remastered demo of 'Tess' originally captured during recording sessions for Impala.

OSEES  - Abomination Revealed At Last  CD/LP (Deathgod)
"It feels like it's all lighting off. A lot of fodder in today's world for an artist. Too easily humans forget their humanity. Forgiveness is a dead science. Empathy is viewed as a weakness by cretins. Easier to hate rather than love. Fear and greed have dug their bloody hands into everything. At least now we know who you are. We see you. We defy you. People are under duress. Recognize this abomination. Oppose the oppressor. F*** the fascists and their enablers. F*** the war mongers. Good luck out there. ACAB. " -Osees The twelve tracks on ABOMINATION REVEALED AT LAST are a hypnotic, maniacal, and propulsive attack on the senses-a fitting reaction to a world suffering from genocide, environmental collapse, state-sanctioned violence, progressing technocracy, and more.

FONTAINES D.C. - Romance LP+7” (XL Recordings)  
Fontaines D.C. release a limited edition expanded version of their award winning Romance on turquoise vinyl, including a bonus black 7” single featuring the new songs ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ and ‘Before You I Just Forget’.

WOMBO - Danger In Fives LP (Fire Talk )  
Wombo’s third album, Danger in Fives, isn’t a reintroduction; it’s a reminder. Throughout Danger in Fives, Wombo — the Louisville-bred three-piece of Sydney Chadwick (bass/vocals), Cameron Lowe (guitar), and Joel Taylor (drums) — not only enhance their formula, but routinely perfect it. The 11 tracks on Danger in Fives fine tune Wombo’s enchanting alchemy while firmly pushing the band into new territory.

MAJESTIC ARROWS  - The Magic of the Majestic Arrows LP [Reissue/1973] (Numero) 
The rarest Chicago sweet soul LP, back in print for the first time in half a century. Dreamed up in the basement of his Bronzeville harem/headquarters, Arrow Brown's peerless The Magic of The Majestic Arrows album was the by-product of years operating at the fringe of Chicago's storied Record Row. Issued on his own Bandit imprint, the LP is a string-laden fantasia straddling the street corner doo-wop of the '50s and the Me Decade's studio excess. Backed by the Chosen Few and the Scott Brothers, arranged by Benjamin Wright, sung by Brown's 17-year-old daughter Tridia and Moroccos falsetto Larry Brown, and drawn by The Wind's Eugene Phillips, the album is an outsider D.I.Y. soul genie awaiting the rub of a phonographic needle to reveal its immortal sorcery. Be careful what you wish for.

GRACIE ABRAMS - Minor CD/LP [Reissue/2020]  (Interscope)
Five years after it's original release, Gracie Abrams revisits her debut project minor with a special anniversary edition. The seven-song project spotlights her signature lyricism and mesmerizing vocals, featuring Abrams's acclaimed singles ’21,’ ‘I miss you, I'm sorry,’ ‘minor' and ‘Long Sleeves.’

BEACH BUNNY - Tunnel Vision LP (Beach Bunny Music) 
Tunnel Vision, the third LP from Chicago indie band, Beach Bunny, finds them getting back to basics. Rocked by the pandemic, singer/songwriter Lili Trifilio, dealt with a lengthy bout of writer's block for the first time in the lead up to recording. As she regained her confidence, she turned inward to write about the quarter life crisis she was experiencing and the existential challenges her friends were facing. Trifilio's incisive lyrics and buoyant vocals are complimented by undeniably catchy guitar-based hooks, making it clear that Tunnel Vision is a modern power pop classic.

ANAMANAGUCHI - Anyway LP (Polyvinyl)  
Last summer, after living across the country from each other for several years, the four members of Anamanaguchi decided to try something new. Their label Polyvinyl had rescued the famed American Football house from potential destruction, so the band took the opportunity to move in and write together. Over the course of a month, Anamanaguchi - pioneers of hyper-melodic 8-bit rock, whose extraordinary ascent has led them to topping charts with virtual pop star Hatsune Miku and scoring Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game and Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - flipped their typically meticulous digital process on it's head. Anyway, the result, is the most personal record of their career. And it's a rock record for the ages. Recorded straight to tape by Grammy-winning rock producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Sleater-Kinney), Anyway united the members around live instruments and lyrics sung by everybody in the band. As Anamanaguchi has always been an instrumental band, the decision to sing suddenly confronted them with the question of what the band's voice would ultimately be. They explore this newfound power in every song, making it their most emotionally resonant work yet.

FIELD MEDIC - Surrender Instead LP (ALTERNATE SIDE)  
surrender instead is everything a Field Medic fan could want and everything a Field Medic agnostic could need as a convincing sampler. The album returns to each checkpoint in Sullivan's career thus far, documenting a twenty-something musician becoming a thirty-something musician-an artist settling into what life exists just beyond the pale and oft-daunting demands of songcraft. This music does not adhere to one shape, and Sullivan is acutely aware of his own lore. He does not avoid well-trodden ground, but this is not the patchwork of old material that Floral Prince was near the dawn of this decade. These songs spawn from a never-finished nexus that hems the Field Medic universe together.

DANIEL JOHNSTON - Love Lives Forever BBC SESSIONS 2003-2011 LP (Trussed Recordings)  
Daniel Johnston's legacy is legendary. The quintessential DIY artist started his career in Austin, TX whilst hawking cassettes from his day job at McDonald's. The rest, as they say, is history and fans of US alternative music from the 1980s onwards know about his work and the people he went on to inspire. Love Lives Forever is a project inspired by BBC Radio 6 Music's Marc Riley; the tracks have been licensed from the BBC and approved by Daniel's family, management and charity. The sessions were spread across an eight-year period with two sessions for Rob Da Bank and three with Marc Riley (both of whom are executive producers of this album). A few bootleg recordings of these sessions have been available across the years but now they have been lovingly mastered and cut by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios in London. Daniel was a lifelong fan of The Beatles and the overwhelming consensus from those who knew him was that he would be so proud and excited to have his music mastered above the legendary Studio 2 at Abbey Road. This project's objective is to celebrate Daniel's musical legacy, rather than explore further his well-documented mental health problems. However, profits from the album will go to Daniel's Hi, How Are You Project based in Austin.

VARIOUS - Verve Remixed LP (Verve)  
Now back on vinyl for the first time in 20 years, with the series' inaugural project Verve Remixed, we hear what happens when Masters at Work meet Nina Simone, and Zihan & Kamien take on Billie Holiday. Experience the interpretations of renowned remixers with this refreshed physical format. Verve Remixed debuted in 2002, it's [Galaxy 2 LP]

JON BRION - Punch Drunk Love LP (Mondo Music) 
Mondo Music, in collaboration with Nonesuch Records and Rhino Entertainment Company, are proud to present the 20th anniversary vinyl re-issue of the soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love. Featuring the groundbreaking score by Jon Brion and original artwork by Greg Ruth, the album is available on 140 gram vinyl.

MAGDALENA BAY - Mini Mix Vol 1-3 LP (Luminelle)  
Magdalena Bay is now famous for their sweeping, high-concept pop epics Mercurial World and Imaginal Disk, but it was the duo's charming, self-proclaimed "mini songs" that first captured our hearts and imaginations back in 2019. Mica and Matt traversed more of pop music's history and conjured more brilliant ideas and undeniable hooks in these sub-two-minute bangers than the average pop group musters in their entire career. The duo then compiled these irresistible tiny tracks into immaculately sequenced "mini mixes" that rank among the most beloved releases of the 2020s, and a beguiling prequel to the pop dominance that was to come from Mag Bay.

GALAXIE 500  - CBGB 12.13.88 LP (Silver Current)  
After a storied first year as a band releasing and touring behind their critically acclaimed debut album Today, Galaxie 500 closed out 1988 with a quintessential performance at New York City's famed CBGB with every bit of their signature intimacy and autumnal bombast on display. The unusual bill which also included Sonic Youth, B.A.L.L. and Unsane was a benefit show for the zine shop See Hear. Captured here in a raw but inspired board mix by Kramer and restored and mastered from the analog source by Alan Douches at West West Side Music, CBGB 12.13.88 is a live snapshot of a Galaxie fully formed, punctuating the end of their first chapter while poised to step into their next with On Fire the following year.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
CASS MCCOMBS - Interior Live Oak CD/LP
PILE - Sunshine & Balance Beams CASS/LP
MARISSA NADLER - New Radiations CD/LP
EVIDENCE - Unlearning Vol 2 LP
SHAKI TAVI - Minor Slip LP
STEVE GUNN - Music For Writers LP
CRANBERRIES - No Need To Argue LP Reissue
MOLLY TUTTLE - So Long Little Miss Sunshine CD/LP
BRETT MCKENZIE - Freak Out City LP
AVENGED SEVENFOLD - City Of Evil LP Reissue
ALISON GOLDFRAPP - Flux CD/LP
JANE REMOVER - Revegeseekerz LP
CLOUD NOTHINGS - Life Is Only One Event LP