The thought of how an underground power/pop/punk band should exist in the aftermath of the Green Day Nineties was a proposal that hung heavy with apprehension, confusion and bewilderment. While a difficult construct to navigate, this is the unlikely Portland, Oregon setting we see the Exploding Hearts erupt from.

Drawing spiritual inspiration from the likes of the Buzzcocks, Undertones, and Nick Lowe, the attitude and implied delinquency of the Exploding Hearts was more in line with that of au courant Naughties Warped Tour line-ups. The band also considered themselves peers with the scuzzier side of “The” rock bands at the top of the 2000s. The intersection between Detroit garage punk, Goner Records and the shelves at Hot Topic is a seldom tread land, but it was fertile with potential.

With ten undeniable songs clocking in at just 28 minutes, the Hearts' indisputably essential Guitar Romantic operated as the punk rock equivalent of Ernest Hemingway’s writing: Nothing extraneous, simple, straightforward, to the point, deserving of no additional flourish or accoutrement, with every creative decision pushing forward the work as a whole. Arguably, perfect.

The album immediately felt strong. It felt classic. It felt…destined for bigger things. 

Yet barely three months after its domestic release, with momentum building and Lookout! Records sniffing around, band members Jeremy Gage,  Adam Cox and Matt Fitzgerald, all barely in their twenties, would die in a tragic van accident that ended the band.

The intervening two decades has found Guitar Romantic bubble up from a below-the-radar cult classic to a genuinely acknowledged and appreciated touchstone of its time. As years have carried on with the album rightfully landing on countless “Best of” lists, this record is somehow still ascending and growing.

With that in mind, the passing of Guitar Romantic co-writer “King” Louie Bankston in 2022 served as inspiration for Six to place the album with an appropriate and caring long-term home after years of planning to self-release. Six approached only one label - Third Man Records - who immediately agreed to take up the mantle of the record that was near and dear to their collective hearts.

Guitar Romantic (Expanded & Remastered) doesn’t just present the album with a sharp, spiffed up remastering. It also found original album producer Pat Kearns spinning the old reel to reel and archived DAT tapes for the first time in twenty years. This enabled Six to drop in nuggets like little snippets of pre-and-post-take studio dialogue amongst band members, adding audible life to a record that for too long has been overly-associated with death.

If that weren’t enough, the remastering uncovered the previously forgotten organ-heavy “King Louie Mix” of the fan favorite “I’m A Pretender.” Even more intriguing was the discovery of a completely unheard take of “So Bored", previously not even known to have been recorded at the Guitar Romantic sessions.  Of most excitement though is a remastered version of “Busy Signals” (a song originally released on a small-quantity 7-inch in January 2003).

All of these songs are included here, housed in a beautiful gatefold packaging and still all fitting on a single LP.

With plans to play a handful of select tribute shows across the US to honor the Guitar Romantic material, Terry Six continues to carry the torch for the Exploding Hearts and the countless fans who count this album as a quintessential touchstone.

Hailed by American Songwriter as “one of America’s most intriguing, creative, and idiosyncratic voices,” Eilen Jewell rises from the ashes on her captivating new album, Get Behind The Wheel, picking up the pieces of her shattered world and finding new purpose after watching her marriage, her band, and what felt like her entire career fall apart in a series of heartbreaking implosions. Co-produced by multi-instrumental wizard Will Kimbrough (Todd Snider, Hayes Carll), the 11-song collection pushes the acclaimed singer and songwriter’s trademark blend of vintage roots-noir into more psychedelic territory, with spacious, cinematic arrangements complementing her revelatory explorations of grief, loss, resilience, and redemption. The band’s performances are electrifying here, resulting in Jewell’s boldest album yet, a powerful work of artistic alchemy that transforms heartache into genuine creative rebirth.

Shadow Kingdom presents Dylan performing revelatory 21st century versions of songs from his storied back catalog – including fan favorites like “Forever Young” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” and deep catalog gems like “Queen Jane Approximately” and “Wicked Messenger.” Originally reinterpreted for an exclusive streaming film event, which aired in July 2021, Shadow Kingdom will now be available on vinyl, CD, and streaming platforms for the first time.  The album's setlist includes 13 original songs handpicked by Dylan for his Shadow Kingdom performance plus the closing instrumental, "Sierra's Theme."

Three-time Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams will release her highly anticipated new album Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart on June 30th (Highway 20 Records/Thirty Tigers). 2023 will be a special year for Williams: she turned 70 in January and on April 25th will release her long-awaited memoir Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You (Crown, a division of Penguin Random House LLC).

The last couple years have been challenging for Williams. In 2020, a tornado damaged her new home in Nashville, followed two weeks later by the beginning of the COVID lockdown. Later that November, Williams suffered a stroke that partially impaired some of her motor skills on the left side of her body, forcing her to learn to walk again and taking away her ability to play the guitar. Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart marks a triumphant return from one of our most revered artists and songwriters. Williams is in great form as heard on her new single “New York Comeback,” written by Williams, Tom Overby and Jesse Malin, with Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen on backing vocals.

Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart was produced by Williams, Overby and Ray Kennedy, who also engineered. The album includes guest backing vocals by Jeremy Ivey, Jesse Malin, Buddy Miller, Angel Olsen, Margo Price and Tommy Stinson.

GRAMMY Award-winning band Greta Van Fleet consists of three brothers – vocalist Josh Kiszka, guitarist Jake Kiszka and bassist/keyboardist Sam Kiszka – as well as drummer Danny Wagner. Together, they have performed across multiple continents, sold over 3.5 million records and 1 million tickets worldwide. Their much anticipated third studio album Starcatcher, produced by Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile), is set for release on July 21, 2023 on Lava/Republic Records. The album was recorded at RCA Studios in Nashville.

"In 2004 the Drive-By Truckers released what would become the best selling album in their illustrious catalog. The Dirty South is a concept album that examines the state of the South, and unveils the hypocrisy, irony, and tragedy that continues to exist. The album features live show staples like, “Tornadoes”, “Where The Devil Dont Stay” and “Puttin People On The Moon” as well as rarities like “Goode’s Field Road” and “Daddy’s Cup.”

The Complete Dirty South is a band-led rework of the original album. Principal member, Patterson Hood, took the reins and reimagined this record as it was originally intended. The complete version features resequenced audio, three additional tracks, four remixes along with updated vocals. The packaging comes with a perfect bound book featuring liner notes from Patterson Hood, track by track descriptions from Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell as well as never before seen photos along with updated artwork from the late Wes Freed.

“This ‘Director’s Cut’ is the way it was always intended to be heard” - Patterson Hood"

Public Image Ltd. (PiL) announce their 11th studio album and first album in 8 years, End of World. The band began writing and recording End of World in 2018, during their 40th anniversary tour. After The Great Pause, the band regrouped in the studio and “there was just this massive explosion of ideas,” Lydon says. The result finds PiL set to release 13 of the best tracks they have ever written.

Earlier this year, PiL released Hawaii, the most personal piece of songwriting and accompanying artwork that John Lydon has ever shared. The song is a love letter to John's wife of nearly 5 decades, Nora, who is living with Alzheimer’s. A pensive, personal yet universal love song that has resonated with many since its release in January, the song sees John reflecting on their lifetime well spent and in particular one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii. Celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2018, the band is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time. PiL’s music and vision has earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums. With a shifting line-up and unique sound - fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub – Lydon guided the band from their debut album First Issue in 1978 through to 1992’s That What Is Not, before a 17 year hiatus. Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively worldwide and releasing two critically acclaimed albums This is PiL in 2012 followed by their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now… in 2015, which peaked at number 29 in the official UK album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public.

“Several times, as I listened to M. Ward’s Supernatural Thing, I asked myself what year it was. Was it 1952, and was I listening to a track from the Harry Smith Anthology? Was it 1972, and was I eavesdropping on the recording session for After the Gold Rush? No, it’s 2023, and M. Ward is one of the special contemporary artists who invite such questions. Ward has clearly mastered the whole vocabulary of American popular music and made serious decisions about how to employ it for his own ends. What Ward shares with Harry Smith’s artists and Neil Young is a context of musical and human values: authenticity and intimacy. Supernatural Thing’s original songs sound freshly pulled from the ground, with a little earth sticking to them. Ward’s lyric delivery has that slight rawness the ear loves, and his voice has quiet dignity and great tenderness. Supernatural Thing is an open-hearted, inviting album. 

The album’s guest stars — First Aid Kit, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case, Jim James, others — enliven the album with surprises. On “Too Young to Die,” the women’s voices in First Aid Kit spread a light frosting over the melody, and their Beach Boys-like chorus on “Engine 5” makes the song sound like an instant hit. Eight of the album’s ten songs are Ward originals. There’s an unusual Bowie choice, “I Can’t Give Everything Away” from Blackstar, and a live rendition of Daniel Johnston’s ‘Story of an Artist.’” -By James Cushing

Both as a solo artist and as one-half of She & Him, M. Ward became one of the defining voices of the American indie landscape in the 2000s, earning fans and critical acclaim for his distinctive brand of breezy West Coast Americana which pulled from folk, country, blues, pop, and experimental indie rock elements. Ward established himself with warm, analog-minded releases like 2003’s Transfiguration of Vincent and 2006’s Post-War before joining forces with singer/actress Zooey Deschanel to form the highly successful indie pop duo She & Him in 2008. Over the following decade, Ward split his time between projects, releasing a 2009 album with indie supergroup Monsters of Folk, several high-profile albums with Deschanel including She & Him’s Columbia-issued 2014 set Classics, and critically acclaimed solo releases like 2009’s Hold Time, 2012’s A Wasteland Companion, and 2018’s What a Wonderful Industry. Ward kicked off the next decade with a deeply atmospheric set called Migration Stories and a Billie Holiday covers album Think of Spring most recently.

As Australian metal juggernauts Parkway Drive gear up for a world tour to commemorate their 20th anniversary as a band, Epitaph Records announces the release of the band’s debut EP from 2004, for the first time on vinyl. This expanded version of Don’t Close Your Eyes includes the original 8 tracks from the band’s first EP , with the addition of bonus tracks included from both their split album with I Killed the Prom Queen and from the compilation albums What We’ve Built and True Till Death, Volume I.

Hailing from the beachfront town of Byron Bay, Australia, Parkway Drive blasted out of their serene surroundings touting a volatile blend of intricate metal riffing, punishing breakdowns, and hardcore’s emotional tension. The band caught fire regionally with the chart-topping Horizons (2007) and Deep Blue (2010), then broke into the international market in 2012 with the arrival of Atlas. 2015’s Ire saw the group introduce clean singing into their oeuvre, and they continued to move toward a more melodic, though no less aggressive metal style on 2018’s Reverence and 2022’s Darker Still.

Parkway Drive continue to be a force of nature, 20 years in and still one of the top headliners in the Hard Music scene. Don’t Close Your Eyes revisits the band’s beginnings and their completest fans will be excited to finally have this album available on Vinyl.

GRAMMY-winning global superstar Kelly Clarkson is set to release her highly anticipated tenth studio album chemistry, arriving June 23rd, 2023. On her most personal album to date, these songs explore the arc of a relationship. About the album, Kelly says “having chemistry with someone is an incredible, and overwhelming, feeling. It’s like you have no choice in the matter. You are just drawn to each other. This can be good and bad. This album takes you down every path that chemistry could lead you down.”

But Here We Are is the new album from Foo Fighters, and marks the bands return after a year of staggering losses, personal introspection and bittersweet remembrances. A brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured recently, But Here We Are is a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family. Courageous, damaged and unflinchingly authentic, the album opens with “Rescued,” the first of 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between.

But Here We Are is in nearly equal measure the 11th Foo Fighters album and the first chapter of the band’s new life. Sonically channeling the naiveté of Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut, informed by decades of maturity and depth, But Here We Are is the sound of brothers finding refuge in the music that brought them together in the first place 28 years ago, a process that was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life. 

Wide-spine two-pocket Gatefold jacket, 2x Printed innersleeves. 2x Heavy 180g vinyl (1x "Sunset Burst", 1x "Cadillac Blue"). Australian indie folk rock band The Paper Kites release their highly anticipated sixth album - At The Roadhouse. The song and production background began when the band created a roadhouse in rural Australia, performing an unannounced month-long residency in the small Victorian town of Campbells Creek, whilst working on their sixth record. The atmosphere of the live performance is recreated with pedal steel and crooning vocals and harmonies. The song lyrics reminisce of a romance still as alive as a blue flame. "We had talked about this for years" Sam Bentley explains, "We were drawn to the idea of holding up in a town somewhere and playing the evenings as a house band. The Roadhouse became this place for us." Expanding their line-up, the five members of The Paper Kites recruited three extra musicians to make up their roadhouse band, including multi-instrumentalist Matt Dixon - who's weeping pedal steel features on the track - as well as Hannah Cameron and Chris Panousakis.

On the debut solo album from Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, the Los-Angeles based singer/songwriter takes close account of the endless catastrophes and upheavals of modern life, offering a high-minded and open-hearted response that makes room for compassion, imagination, and a radical sense of possibility.

No matter how drastically life may change, tomorrow wipes the slate clean and heralds a new beginning. All of the tumult dissolves into dawn, and everything starts over. SUSTO chronicle seasons of transformation within their distinct, diverse, and dynamic breed of rock ‘n’ roll enlivened in broad strokes of classic songwriting, storytelling and dalliances of sonic unpredictability. The band—led by frontman and songwriter Justin Osborne—explore change physically, emotionally, and spiritually on their fifth full-length LP, My Entire Life.

“It tells a story of one of the most intense transformations in my entire life,” says Justin. “It feels like closing one chapter and turning the page on the next. There are repercussions and ripples from change that will affect me forever. It’s essentially about my life and the pain and beauty in it."

Wild Creatures is a career retrospective album containing twenty-three of Neko Case’s most impactful tracks from her discography, and will now be available on CD and 2x LP.

With a career spanning over twenty years, she has famously collaborated with The New Pornographers and Case/Lang/Veirs in addition to releasing many critically acclaimed solo albums, including ‘Fox Confessor Brings The Flood’, ‘Middle Cyclone’ and most recently 2018’s ‘Hell-On’.

Gathering power year after year, Neko sings with the fierce abandon of a newborn infant crying in a basket in the woods. Since escaping the labels of country and Americana, the gorgeous train-whistle vocals of her early career sit submerged in her later style, where their ghost can appear any minute. When her voice jumps an octave, it’s almost visible, like sparks at night. “I never knew where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do with my voice,” she says, “but I just wanted to do it so bad.”

The Vinyl configurations include: 2 LPs with printed inner sleeves, in a Gate- fold jacket.

Deer Tick’s first new body of work since 2017, Emotional Contracts is their most collaborative to date, and sees all four members operating at peak songwriter power. Produced by Dave Fridmann, the 10-song set features guest musicians like Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and background vocals from Courtney Marie Andrews, Vanessa Carlton, Kam Franklin, Angela Miller, and Sheree Smith. Deer Tick’s ATO Records debut adds an even greater vitality to their feverish collection of timeless rock-and-roll.

Gag Order is an album that finds the GRAMMY-nominated pop star, Kesha, excavating the deepest recesses of her soul to date. The record, which Kesha has labeled “post-pop” and was produced by Rick Rubin, is a full-bodied collection that flows like a stream of conscious journey through the psychedelic dark depths of the human psyche followed by basking in the cleansing light when finally reaching the surface.

Bobbie Nelson’s musical career dates back to the 1940s. Naturally gifted on the piano, she played in churches, revival tents, concert halls and honky-tonks, eventually joining her brother Willie Nelson’s Family Band in the early ‘70s.   Amanda Shires says: "Much of my path seemed possible because I saw a woman working and making a career of music at a young age, and that woman was Bobbie Nelson.” Loving You is a collection of songs the duo have played and treasured their entire lives. 

An indie pop duo whose music has a cool retro vibe buoyed by smooth melodies, a naturalistic sound, and warm harmonies, Purr is a collaboration between songwriters, musicians, and longtime friends Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen. The two previously worked together as Jack + Eliza, but while that project emphasized spare and stripped-down accompaniment, Purr’s recordings feature a fuller sound with a larger palette of instrumental flavors that often references ‘60s pop. Purr introduced themselves to the world with a 2018 single, “Bad Advice” b/w “Painted Memory,” that showed off their talents as both writers and vocalists, and they further refined their style on their first full-length album, 2020’s Like New and continue that on forthcoming album Who Is Afraid Of Blue?

To make it, the duo teamed up with their close friend, producer Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty, The Killers), whom they worked with on ‘Like New.’ They went to his North Hollywood studio, a small building behind his home. This was during Omicron, so they kept recording small, just the three of them in a room for most of the time. Programmed drums on an 808, that kind of thing. While they recorded, they screened movies. Ranging from Barbara Loden’s Wanda, to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, to Dr. Strange and The Avengers. It all provided texture to the songs. Like making a score. “It’s a really hermetic record,” says Staffen, “which ended up feeling really special.”

Sonically, Who Is Afraid Of Blue? isn’t beholden by genre. It is an omnivorous record—you can hear glimmers of Aimee Mann, Radiohead, the Cocteau Twins which is fitting because Blue is in some ways a record of their process of falling in love with music all over again.

Who Is Afraid Of Blue? also exists lightly in conversation with a short novel Callahan wrote (forthcoming via Catapult, 2024), an auto-fiction document of a woman losing her hearing. And all of it comes back to those Newman works: Purr makes music that functions like those large-scale paintings so very saturated with color. Blue is a vast record, with lyrics that bend towards abstraction. But make no mistake: in that abstraction there is intense clarity. Blue is blue: a color, a feeling, a signifier, a way of looking at the world.

Throughout the ten tracks in their new album Let There Be Music, you can hear the spaciousness Bonny Doon allowed themselves since their 2018 sleeper cult-classic Longwave. Their latest musical journey is one that has big payoffs for devoted followers and undeniable rewards for anyone just stumbling across the band for the first time. After extensively touring Longwave by supporting Band of Horses, Snail Mail and Waxahatchee, Lennox and Colombo were invited by Katie Crutchfield to collaborate on Waxahatchee’s critically acclaimed album Saint Cloud. “The experience raised the ceiling on our imagination,” Colombo said.

Soon after, Colombo and Kmiecik, whose steady percussion and devotion to the songs creates a container for the indelible guitar lines, both entered a time of serious healing, Jake tending to complications of his Crohn’s disease and Bobby to a brain injury and undiagnosed Lyme disease. While these detours of doctors’ appointments and experimental care were taking place, the members of Bonny Doon were also playing on Waxahatachee’s Saint Cloud tour. These obstacles and commitments drew out the making of Let There Be Music for several additional years, and in the process, redefined the record as an achievement in perseverance for the band.

On their long-awaited third album, we get a glimpse into the pure joy of Bonny Doon. The album serves as less of one conceptual story, and each song as their own individual offerings of putting words to the ordinary experience of being alive. The band is at their most dynamic and the songwriting deftly explores new terrain. Let There Be Music is brimming with small truths - both profound and mundane, comforting and difficult - and we are invited to revel in them all.

Brad is Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, Regan Hagar of Satchel/Malfunkshun, Shawn Smith (Pigeonhed and Satchel) and Keith Lowe.

'In The Moment That You're Born' features 10 never released songs, and all the lyrics were solely written by the late Shawn Smith, exception made for Stars N’ You, (originally written by Andy Wood of Mother Love Bone and Malfunkshun for the Deep Six Compilation). Barrett Jones plays piano on "Meadow in Autumn", while Hans Teuber plays horns and keys on various other tracks. The album was self-produced by Brad, and recorded and mixed by Floyd Reitsma at Studio Litho in Seattle (except for "In The Moment That You're Born," which was mixed by Josh Evans). The artwork was cured and crafted by Regan Hagar with the addition of pictures taken by Lance Mercer.

With a career spanning over 40 years, musician, artist and activist John Mellencamp is releasing his 25th full-length studio album Orpheus Descending via Republic Records. It was recorded at his own Belmont Mall Studio and produced by Mellencamp. The album is one of the most personal to date for the outspoken artist as he continues to show that he’s one of the best songwriters of his generation, focusing on social issues with standout songs "Hey God" and "The Eyes of Portland.”

At long last, the classic Steely Dan catalog is back on vinyl. Led by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan released 7 albums from 1972-1980. The vinyl series continues with Countdown to Ecstasy, the band's sprawling 1973 sophomore LP with standouts such as "Bodhisattva," "Show Biz Kids" and "My Old School." 180-gram vinyl.

Charlie Watts “Anthology” is an affectionate retrospective and a reflection of just how frequently Watts was able to exercise his jazz muscles between Rolling Stones commitments to create a bespoke discography of his own. The Anthology includes an extended essay by Paul Sexton which documents Charlie Watt’s jazz career and the essential albums covered in the collection.