Down in the Valley and Electric Fetus are celebrating a combined 100 years in business. That’s 100 years of puttin’ it to your ears! We’re all in this together, and we’re thrilled to have Trampled By Turtles help us celebrate.

Over the past several years, boundary-pushing bluegrass/folk-rock band Trampled By Turtles has built a following around their unique covers. Sigourney Fever sees them adding their own flair to some of their favorite tracks, from Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” to Faces’ “Ooh La La.”

The EP is available as a limited edition 12” in celebration of Down in the Valley and Electric Fetus’ combined 100 year anniversary. Only available at those two stores, the one-time pressing includes a special animated engraving on the b-side.

If credibility were currency, FAKE NAMES’ wealth would be off the charts. Composed of Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty), Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace), Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, The [International] Noise Conspiracy), Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and the newest member Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring), the band is a veritable post-hardcore dream team.

However instead of rehashing the past, Expendables is a reinvention that sees the band dialing back the distortion and leaning into the melodies. The result pairs their unparalleled pedigree with a pop sensibility that’s slightly unexpected and wholly satisfying. “For our
last record [2019’s FAKE NAMES]the general influences were 70’s U.K. punk and power-pop; but it wound up with a little classic rock vibe as well, like the Vibrators meets Aerosmith. We never saw that coming!” , Baker explains.

For Expendables the band enlisted producer Adam “Atom” Greenspan (IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Baker explains, “The pop influences are a little more out front on this one and the production really helps it shine. It sounds more direct, more urgent.” Expendables is the latest exchange in a musical conversation that spans four decades. Baker aptly refers to the lineup of FAKE NAMES as a “mutual admiration society” and says that once the five members got in the same room together, it felt as if they had already been in the band together for years.

Endless Summer Vacation is the eagerly anticipated new album from recording artist, songwriter, and trailblazer Miley Cyrus. This collection is Miley’s eighth studio album, and the follow up to 2020’s album, Plastic Hearts. 2023 finds Miley the strongest and most confident she’s ever been, with the music and imagery of Endless Summer Vacation serving as a reflection of that. Recorded in Los Angeles and produced with Kid Harpoon, Greg Kurstin, Mike WiLL Made-It and Tyler Johnson, Miley describes the album as her love letter to LA.

4 LP Super Deluxe Collector’s Boxset featuring 40 new acoustic and reimagined recordings from the U2 catalog, produced and compiled by The Edge and arranged into individual band member volumes. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a stunning mat laminated slipcase with bespoke debossing, this limited and numbered boxset includes new lyrics by Bono, exclusive photos by Anton Corbijn and liner notes from The Edge.

Dierks Bentley will release his 10th studio album on Capitol Records Nashville on February 24, 2022. The brand-new album will include 14 songs and features duets with Ashley McBryde and Billy Strings. His latest hit single, “Gold,” is currently rising on the Country charts. Dierks has sold over 10M albums worldwide and garnered over 4.2B streams. He has 21 #1 songs, 3 CMA Awards, 14 GRAMMY nominations and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Everything but the Girl return in 2023 with the new album Fuse, after a 24-year hiatus. Written and produced by Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn over the spring-summer of 2021, Fuse is a modern take on the lustrous electronic soul the band first pioneered in the mid-90s. Thorn's affecting and richly textured voice is once again up front in Watt's glimmering landscape of sub-bass, sharp beats, half-lit synths and empty space, and as before, the result is the sound of a band comfortable with being both sonically contemporary, yet agelessly themselves.

Cruel Country–Wilco’s universally-acclaimed 12th studio album will be available for the first time on vinyl and in a standard retail CD format via dBpm Records on January 20th. The double-disc packages are comprised of 21 Country Music inspired tracks, recorded at the band’s Chicago studio–The Loft.

Originally released in May 2022 (digital only) and in a limited “pre-release” CD edition for the June RSD drop, lead tracks “Falling Apart (Right Now)” and “Tired Of Taking It Out On You” have already become staples on non-commercial, public and AAA radio. Cruel Country songs and graphics have been featured throughout the band’s June European tour and August/September/October North American tour.

A new music video for “A Lifetime To Find” will be released in conjunction with the pre-order announcement.

Bandleader Jeff Tweedy has commented a length on the concept and recording process of Cruel Country in numerous podcasts, online interviews and print articles:

“There have been elements of Country Music in everything we’ve ever done. We’ve never been particularly comfortable with accepting that definition, the idea that I was making Country Music. But now, having been around the block a few times, we’re finding it exhilarating to free ourselves within the form, and embrace the simple limitation of calling the music we’re making Country.”

Jon Pareles in The New York Times wrote: “Wilco makes an understated magnum opus. Its tone is naturalistic and understated; the album was recorded largely with Wilco playing live in the studio as a six-man band, quietly savoring the chance to make music together after pandemic isolation.”

Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone wrote: “Their latest is a beautifully rootsy album with a broken sense of patriotic concern.” ****

Tagged in multiple publications’ mid-summer Best of Albums of 2022 (so far) Lists including
Variety, Rolling Stone, Spin, Uproxx and Paste.

“The plan was to start driving north and not go home to Los Angeles until I was done with a record,” Five Easy Hot Dogs is a collection of instrumental recordings from Mac’s time on the road. “Kind of like being on tour, except there weren’t any shows and I’d just be burning money.” All of the songs on Five Easy Hot Dogs were recorded and mixed in the corresponding city from each song title and the tracklisting reflects the chronological order in which the songs were produced.

Describing their first three albums as a trilogy that is now complete, Meath and Sanborn see No Rules Sandy as the beginning of a new period, with songs that are “wilder and stranger and more cathartic than the band used to be,” as Nick Sanborn puts it. “It feels like who we actually are,” Amelia Meath adds. “It just feels like us. We’re not trying to fit into the mold, just happily being our freak selves.”

“Lovage” is defined as “an herb that is said to be a benefit for relieving abdominal pains due to gastrointestinal gas…also touted to reduce flatulence when consumed as a tea.” But when placed in the able hands of sonic mastermind Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, recording under the guise of musical lothario Nathaniel Merriweather, the result is a concept album of “music to make love to your old lady by.” With the help of collaborators such as Mike Patton (vocals), Jennifer Charles (vocals) and Kid Koala (turntables), Merriweather serves as your personal guide to the sensual side of life, painting a satirical, darkly funny portrait of love and sex with left-field hip-hop and instrumentals as only he can do.

One can't speak of California's famed desert rock movement without mentioning the visionary producer/musician Chris Goss. The so-called Godfather of the Joshua Tree-centered scene, Goss has produced famed and acclaimed albums by groups like Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Kyuss, Screaming Trees, and numerous others. Before he was known as a renowned producer though, he was the singer/guitarist and only consistent member of one of the most influential-yet-forgotten hard rock groups of all time: Masters of Reality. Masters Of Reality (Whose name was appropriately taken from a Black Sabbath song) had the distinction of being the only group signed to two different hip-hop labels of historical note: Def Jam and Delicious Vinyl. Originally label mates with Public Enemy and Slayer, Masters Of Reality's self-titled debut album was released by Def American in 1988. Two years later, Delicious Vinyl founders Matt Dike and Mike Ross, huge Masters fans, bought the band's contract from Rick Rubin and re-released the album with new cover artwork to renewed acclaim and commercial success. So many years later, Masters Of Reality's debut still feels like a hard-hitting breath of fresh air in a modern landscape of over-produced rock music

Following the global success of the unstoppable single “Unholy” featuring pop diva Kim Petras, Sam Smith will be releasing their fourth studio album, Gloria, on January 27, 2023. The 13-track record will be Sam’s boldest statement yet and comes off the back of an undeniable run of success with the lead single from the album.

Recorded and largely self-produced in Nashville with the help of close friend and engineer Jeremy Ferguson, Asking for a Ride finds the Louisville band taking a more direct and in-your-face approach, prioritizing the collection’s raw energy and its ability to translate live through ripping and nervy compositions. It’s White Reaper at their most exciting - dialing up the chrome-plated riffs and monster hooks – a welcome reminder of just how much fun rock music can be. “We ask ourselves: ‘Does it sound good when we play it in the room together?’ And if it does, those are the songs we want to pursue,” vocalist/guitarist Tony Esposito noted. Guitarist Hunter Thompson concurred: “We started to recognize how we operate best as a band.”

The latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy's highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series takes a fresh look at Time Out of Mind, Dylan's mid-career masterpiece, celebrating the album and its enduring impact 25 years after its original release on September 30, 1997. Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol.17 follows the evolution of songs written for the album, from intimate early incarnations in the previously unreleased 1996 Teatro sessions through incandescent live renditions showcasing Dylan and his touring ensemble channeling the songs on-stage from 1998-2001.

Disc one premieres 2022 mixes, by Michael H. Brauer, of the eleven original recordings on Time Out of Mind, sounding more like how the songs came across when the musicians originally played them in the room.

Discs two and three are comprised of rare outtakes and alternate versions of songs written for Time Out of Mind including four original Dylan compositions--"Dreamin' of You," "Red River Shore," "Mississippi" (later re-recorded for "Love & Theft" in 2001) and "Marchin' to the City"--not included on the canonical 1997 tracklist. A fifth unreleased performance, Dylan's interpretation of "The Water is Wide," a traditional folk song of Scottish origin (and spiritual precursor of "Highlands," Time Out of Mind's epic closer) opens Disc Two.

Disc four presents songs from Time Out of Mind in a series of spectacular live performances from 1998-2001. All tracks on disc four are previously unavailable with the exception of "Make You Feel My Love" (May 21, 1998, Los Angeles).

As a bonus for fans, disc five brings together studio recordings of the four Dylan songs omitted from the original Time Out of Mind track list as well as exemplary live performances of "Cold Irons Bound" and "Tryin' To Get To Heaven." The twelve tracks on disc five were previously available on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs.

Indie Exclusive Blue Edition, comes w/exclusive flexi disc ft. cover of Yeah Yeah Yeahs Maps

There’s a line on Honey, the latest album from Nashville-via-NYC songwriter Samia, about Aspen Grove, a collection of 40,000 trees in the plains of North America, all connected by a single expansive root system. There’s no stronger metaphor for the audience the 25-year-old empathy engine has been generating since she began releasing music seven years ago. Her songs, her fans, her friends: one enormous, interconnected ecosystem. Honey, comprised of eleven new moments of catharsis, is by and for that organism. Set for release on January 23rd 2023 via Grand Jury Music, the album was recorded at North Carolina studio Betty’s –- owned and operated by Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sandborn and Amelia Meath, frequent touring partners of Samia’s. It was produced by Caleb Wright, part of the team that helmed Samia’s breakthrough 2020 debut The Baby, and a founding member of one of Samia’s favorite bands, The Happy Children. It features some of her nearest and dearest friends: Christian Lee Hutson, Briston Maroney, Jake Luppen, Raffaella. Its songs were surreptitiously road tested for her devotees while opening for Lucy Dacus, Courtney Barnett, and more. The end result is what Samia calls simply “a real community record.”

Nimrod, Green Day’s fifth studio album, was originally released on October 14 1997. The Billboard Top 10 LP declared “Green Days best!” by Kerrang was driven by the hit singles “Hitchin’ A Ride”, “Redundant”, “Nice Guys Finish Last” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” the latter of which has sold 5 million copies in the US alone.  The song was written as a spiteful ballad and has evolved into the soundtrack of everyone’s seminal life moments; even being featured in the Seinfeld series finale.  The album has sold over 3 million copies in the US (triple platinum) and has been certified multi-platinum, platinum, or gold in several other countries, including the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia and Spain.

This 25^th Anniversary Edition includes the original album, one disc of previously unreleased Nimrod demos, and a live set from Philadelphia recorded one month after Nimrod was released. 

The 14 track demos disc includes two unreleased Green Day tracks (“You Irritate Me” and “Tre Polka”), plus a cover of the classic Elvis Costello song “Allison” (previously unreleased).

The live album was recorded at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia on November 14 1997. The 20-song set includes several songs from Nimrod, plus fan favorites from their previous albums and singles. 

Replica of Rare limited edition cassette, previously only available via mail order in 1994. Featuring four instrumentals taken from the 'Wish' sessions, recorded at the Manor Winter 1991. Strictly Limited to 3500 copies worldwide.

Tyler Hubbard will be releasing his debut solo album on January 27^th. With 19 No. 1 singles on country radio, countless awards, and sold-out tours, Tyler Hubbard has already had a remarkable career as a songwriter and as one half of multi-platinum duo Florida Georgia Line. Now, Hubbard is embarking on a solo career with his debut solo album Tyler Hubbard. The 18-track album includes his hit single “5 Foot 9” and the songs “Dancin’ In The Country” and “Small Town Me”. The self-titled project was produced by Hubbard and Jordan Schmidt with Hubbard writing on all of the tracks.  This Double LP will be special Cobalt Blue Vinyl.

While his formative years were spent listening to everything from Yes to Photek, Scott Hansen didn’t get his hands on an actual guitar or drum machine until he left his native Sacramento for San Francisco in 1995. “Encountering this whole new world at 20 years old was a profound experience,” says Hansen, better known by his musical pseudonym Tycho and as the graphic artist ISO50. “At the time, I was just learning the processes of design and music; both felt very similar, and have flowed back and forth for me ever since.”

As seamless as his two creative outlets have been, nearly a decade passed before the release of Hansen’s first proper Tycho LP, Sunrise Projector (later expanded and reissued under the title Past Is Prologue). And while three striking singles have emerged since then, the sum of all those sepia-toned parts is nowhere near the double-exposed soundscapes of Dive. The product of a prolonged break from IS050’s design work and blog, it pays tribute to Tycho’s prismatic past (the dense, guitar-guided turning points of “Daydream” and “Adrift”) but spends most of its time pointing to the project’s not-so-distant future.

Five-time GRAMMY® award winning and multi-platinum selling icon, Shania Twain, announces her new album, Queen Of Me, out February 3, 2023 on Republic Nashville, a division of Republic Records. Her sixth original full-length album, Queen Of Me, is the superstar's most triumphant-feeling body of work; an album about standing in your own power and worshipping yourself. Its lead single “Waking Up Dreaming” was co-written and produced with BTS hitmaker David Stewart.

In 1969, an up-and-coming band called Ghost, fronted by Papa Nihil, played at the Whisky A Go-Go to celebrate their first release on Galaxy Records. For the 50th-anniversary, they released Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, a 7” single featuring “Kiss The Go-Goat” and “Mary On A Cross,” which promptly sold out. Now, “Mary On A Cross” has become a viral social media moment and a streaming phenomenon. It’s a moment that calls for a new, never-before pressing of the 7” single on purple vinyl.

Four times BRIT nominated, RAYE is one of the most streamed artists in the world with over 2.3 billion streams of her music. She has a double-platinum, four platinum, two gold and three silver singles to her name. She is also indisputably one of the UK's premier songwriters. Her songs have amassed over 3 billion streams, having written for some of the world's biggest artists including: John Legend, Ellie Goulding, Khalid, David Guetta, Diplo, and Beyonce. In 2019 she was awarded The BMI Impact Award in recognition of her 'ground-breaking artistry, creative vision and impact on the future of music.

During the summer of 2021, her cries of frustration for not being able to release her album were heard worldwide, leading to a mutual separation from her label and allowing her to carve her own path. Having made her public tirade, followed by her personal 'declaration of independence', Raye in effect has obligated herself to deliver the ground-breaking first album that her 2019 BMI award prophesied. In 2022 she was nominated for the Ivors Songwriter of the year, landed R1 Brits List, made her debut solo TV performance on Jools Holland and made the face of Spotify's November Equal campaign. On February 3rd, 2023, RAYE will release her debut My 21st Century Blues. This is RAYE part two. It's RAYE on her own terms. -It's the RAYE of old, but reloaded. These are songs made by RAYE, for RAYE, but within that they're for everyone who has faced and overcome adversity. They're also anthems for other women in the industry, or stuck in a cycle of misogyny.

RAYE / MY 21ST CENTURY BLUES

We’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of the debut album from legendary hip-hop collective The Pharcyde with this exclusive RSD Essential 2-LP set of Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, pressed on clear with yellow + purple splatter vinyl.

Originally released in 1992 through the iconic Delicious Vinyl, this RIAA Gold-certified album was featured as one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

This album features the singles “Passin’ Me By” “Ya Mama” and “Pack the Pipe”, and is a must-have for any West Coast hip-hop fan.

Get Up Sequences Part 2 is The Go! Team’s new album due on 3 February 2023, the follow up to 2020’s Get Up Sequences Part 1. Part 2 is the big, bold, brother to Part 1 with the anti amped and upped. The Go! Team, band leader Ian Parton, MC / rapper Ninja, guitarist / vocalist Nia Radical, bass player Adam and multi instrumentalist Sam Dook, have taken scissors to the technique, slamming noise rock into soda fountain soul and jump ready rhymes. It’s a school’s out, Friday free for all in the me frequency. The album features contributions from Detroit rapper IndigoYag (Divebomb), Benin’s The Star Feminine Band (Look Away, Look Away and The Me Frequency), Hilarie Bratset (drummer in Apples in Stereo) as well as Tokyo duo Lucie Too, French artists Tapeworms and Freschard, Indian singer Neha Hatwar and Brooklyn rapper Nitty Scott.

Pierce The Veil US Billboard 200 Top 20 album Collide With The Sky will be pressed on three brand new vinyl colors. The album is RIAA certified Gold and features the singles “King For A Day,” “Bulls In The Bronx” and “Hell Above”.

Pierce The Veil debuted atop Billboard’s Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, and Hard Rock Albums charts twice – first with Collide with the Sky (2012) and its follow-up, Misadventures (2016). A decade after its release, the already platinum “King for a Day” shot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Streaming chart, driven by the viral #KingForADay hashtag on TikTok. Even with two gold singles; a gold album; 2022 could be their biggest year. Because this is the year of The Jaws of Life.

Pierce the Veil - "Misadventures" Pierce the Veil's fourth studio album, Misadventures, reached #4 on the Billboard 200 when it was released in 2016. The album features the singles "The Divine Zero," "Texas Is Forever," "and "Circles." Limited Edition Indie Exclusive Silver with Red Splatter LP.

Paramore are back with their first new music since 2017. The beloved Nashville-based trio of Zac Farro, Hayley Williams& Taylor Yorkhave returned from their hiatus -and the global pandemic -with “This Is Why”, one of the best songs of their already impressive repertoire. In what’s widely recognized as one of the most exciting musical returns of the year, the band have also announced the release of their long awaited sixth studio album, This is Why, for February 10th 2023. Recorded in Los Angeles, California with long-time collaborator Carlos de la Garza, the album features 10 new Paramore songs with cover art shot by Zachary Gray.

Entering back into a world -and cultural landscape -very different from the one they last participated in, Paramore have returned with a song about exactly that. “This Is Why” is a deliciously infectious Paramore ear-worm for the post-truth world. Of the song, Williams says, “This Is Why was the very last song we wrote for the album. To be honest, I was so tired of writing lyrics but Taylor convinced Zac and I both that we should work on this last idea. What came out of it was the title track for the whole album. It summarizes the plethora of ridiculous emotions, the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022, having survived even just the last 3 or 4 years. You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying planet, that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something.”

When Paramore revealed they were recording together in January 2022 the response from music fans around the world was immediate and celebratory. In the time since the Grammy-winning, RIAA-certified multi-Platinum band released their last album, After Laughter-and Hayley Williams unveiled two lauded solo albums -Paramore have become more popular than ever.  Over the last few years Paramore’s influence and popularity has snowballed, as the age of streaming organically propelled them into a position as one of the world’s biggest, most culturally compelling rock bands. For the band, who formed as teenagers in Tennessee, their 20 year trajectory has seen them grow from youthful outsiders to bone-fide pop culture icons, permeating the musical landscape by inspiring a new generation of musical talent.

Andy Shauf’s songs unfold like short fiction: they’re densely layered with colorful characters and a rich emotional depth. On his new studio album Norm, Andy Shauf’s songwriting veers decidedly more oblique, hinting at sinister happenings and dark motivations. The result: an intoxicating collection of mellifluous melodies and beguiling lyrics. Levitating, synth-laden atmospherics drive Shauf’s storytelling on ‘Norm,’ mixed by Neal Pogue (Tyler, the Creator).

In 2016, The Party catapulted Andy Shauf to indie notoriety, followed by 2020’s The Neon Skyline which landed Andy Shauf performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and CBS This Morning: Saturday, a Polaris Prize nomination, and mentions on several best-of lists — among them, a track on Barack Obama’s playlist and praise from Pitch- fork, The Atlantic, Esquire, Stereogum, and more.

We want to write a big album—something suited for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward.

To keep ourselves from falling into old habits, we use instruments and gear that are new to us. We work alone and Patrick engineers. The sounds he creates are as foundational as any part he writes. We resist the urge to over edit or do too many takes. Unlike previous albums which have been more wall of sound, we make a point not to overpower my voice with a dense mix.

We name the album Pollen. It is about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice. It is me in a fragile state; sometimes inhabited freely, sometimes reacted against. It is striving to remain in a moment without slipping into dread. It is about the way I can be undone by a very small thing."

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.

New England rock band Four Year Strong have announced a re-recorded version of "Enemy of the World” complete with an updated depiction of the album art. The album originally came out over 10 years ago and was a breakout record for the band. Now it sees new production and 4 extra b-sides. "We decided to re record EOTW first and foremost to be as cool as Taylor Swift, but secondly because we wanted to be able to repress the vinyl and offer it to fans that haven’t been able to get it since the record came out." says Alan Day. He continues "It was really interesting to revisit all of the songs down to every detail, getting to kind of relive it in a way. We recorded the drums with Will Putney (who worked on the original EOTW as a engineer), did the rest by ourselves at Dan's house, and then had Will work his magic on it and mix and master it. We had just worked with Will for the first time since 2010 on our new album Brain Pain, and figured it would be perfect to work with Will as he knows FYS old and new more than anyone. So give it a listen, come out to the tour, and party like it’s 2010 again."

Forty Below Records releases Weight of the World, the new album by award-winning Blues and Roots musician Joe Louis Walker. A Blues Hall of Fame inductee and six-time Blues Music Award winner, NPR described Walker as "a legendary boundary-pushing icon of modern blues." His 2015 release, Everyone Wants a Piece, was nominated for the Contemporary Blues Grammy. In addition, Walker dueted with B.B. King on his Grammy Award-winning Blues Summit album and played guitar on James Cotton's Grammy-winning album Deep in the Blues. Recorded with Producer Eric Corne (John Mayall, Walter Trout, Sugaray Rayford), Weight of the World showcases the depth of Walker's influences and the prowess with which he commands different genres; be it Soul, "The Weight of the World," "Is it a Matter of Time," "Don't Walk Out That Door," Gospel, "Hello, it's the Blues," Funk, "Count Your Chickens," New Orleans 2nd line, "Waking Up the Dead," Indie Blues "Root Down," Rock N Roll, "Blue Mirror," Contemporary Blues, "Bed of Roses," or Jazz, "You Got Me Whipped."It's a compelling album that displays a master at the height of his game. They say Roots musicians age like fine wine, which certainly rings true with Walker. Weight of the World is a resounding statement and quite possibly the beginning of the greatest chapter of a storied career.

Jordan Davis - Bluebird Days - CD

It would be difficult to find a band that is more self-aware than longtime touring band Lucero. Since forming in Memphis in the late 90’s, Lucero’s base musical hallmarks have remained similar to the band’s initial sound established with their first record The Attic Tapes. In the history of their expansive discography, Lucero has evolved and embraced everything from southern rock to Stax-inspired Memphis soul, whilst simultaneously maintaining their distinctive sonic foundations. Years later, dedicated fans of the group still flock to hear the band’s punchy driving rhythms, punk-rooted guitar licks, and lyrics that evoke the whiskey drenched sentimentality of Americana singer-songwriters.

For their twelfth record, Should’ve Learned by Now, Lucero drew on a lot of work from their past. Literally. By adapting songs and guitar parts that had been left over from the group’s previous two albums, Lucero was able to construct one of its most comprehensive works to date.

“I had a particular sound I was looking for on each record and there was no room for any goofy rock & roll or cute witticisms or even simply upbeat songs.” Said primary lyricist and frontman, Ben Nichols. “But now finally, it was time to revisit all of that stuff and get it out in the world. That’s how we got to the appropriately-for-us-titled album Should’ve Learned by Now. The album is basically about how we know we are fuckups and I guess we are ok with that.”

Produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer, Matt Ross-Spang, the album is a punchy, rock and roll record that utilizes the more mature production stylings the group developed over time, and combines it with the first-person introspectiveness that the band is known and loved for.

From its original Ben Nichols-designed cover art to its credits, the album is a reflection of a band that knows itself. Should’ve Learned by Now bridges the gap musically between “old Lucero” and “new Lucero” in a manner which affixes the band’s position as the perfect intersection of punk initiative with hard-earned artistry. It’s an album that recognizes the past in its sound and content, but leaves the door wide open to the future and for the lessons still in store.

On her transcendent new record, Workin' On A World, Iris DeMent faces the modern world — as it is right now — with its climate catastrophe, pandemic illness, and epidemic of violence and social injustice — and not only asks us how we can keep working towards a better world, but implores us to love each other, despite our very different ways of seeing.