PlayARt - Bring Albums to Life
These albums are enhanced with PlayARt experiences, providing an Augmented Reality experience and taking your favorite albums to a new level using the PlayARt app for iOS and Android.
To learn more about PlayARt check the description of each album and visit PlayARt.ai.
Sometimes, the best place to begin is at the end. If you really want to dig deep into Illusory Walls, the fourth album by THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE, it definitely helps to do that. That’s because epic closer “Fewer Afraid”—all 19 minutes, 44 seconds of it—doesn’t just revisit the themes and ideas on the ten songs that precede it, but also offers a self-aware summary of the Connecticut band’s entire history. It’s the conclusion of all the stories within the record as well as a nod to all the lives that helped make them—little glimpses of everything that’s come before, on both a micro, immediate level, and a more universal one. “That song is a higher level look at my whole life and the whole world,” explains vocalist/guitarist David F. Bello, “as well as the album, our band and our discography. It places the band in the context of the rest of the world, as if we’re listening to everything that came before. It touches on all the themes of the previous songs, but there are also callbacks to songs
from earlier in our career. But in this song, they’re the object, not the subject—I’m talking about a world in which these things happen, not talking about these things happening.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the band—completed by Steven K. Buttery (drums and percussion), Joshua Cyr (bass/vocals) and Katie Dvorak (vocals/synth)—had nothing but time to realize the full extent of their musical and thematic aspirations. And so, four years on from lauded third album Always Foreign, they were able to make what is undoubtedly the band’s most ambitious and epic record to date. Written and recorded remotely—a first for the band—Illusory Walls takes on the weight of human existence while it’s buckling under the pressure of today’s near-dystopian society. Personal anxieties and political struggles collide with a series of portentous, apocalyptic and dramatic tunes, resulting in some of the darkest music the band has made since forming in 2009.
Genius, icon, trailblazer - he revolutionized music as head of the Beach Boys. Now, legend Brian Wilson retraces his steps and reimagines the most iconic songs from his back catalogue into their purest form, him alone at the piano. Featuring God Only Knows, Wouldn't it Be Nice, California Girls, Good Vibrations and many more on solo piano.
Hell on Church Street, Punch Brothers’ newest album, due January 14, 2022 on Nonesuch Records, is the band’s reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album Church Street Blues. The record features a collection of songs by Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Monroe, and others. Recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio in November 2020, during a time of great uncertainty, Hell on Church Street was intended as both its own work of art and a gift to Rice, who died that Christmas. Punch Brothers said of Tony Rice and Church Street Blues: “No record (or musician) has had a greater impact on us, and we felt compelled to cover it in its entirety, with the objective of interacting with it in the same spirit of respect-fueled adventure that Tony brought to each of its pre-existing songs.”
Norah Jones has been a warm voice of comfort and reassurance for nearly 20 years since her cozy 2002 debut, Come Away With Me. Now, the 9x GRAMMY-winning artist has made her first holiday album with I Dream Of Christmas, a collection of timeless seasonal favorites (“White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Christmas Time Is Here”) and profound new originals that explore the complicated emotions of the past year and our hopes that this holiday season will be full of joy and togetherness.
Introducing Jackson + Sellers and their debut album Breaking Point, on ANTI records. Jade Jackson and Aubrie Sellers, two rising stars who aligned during the pandemic to write one of the most compelling duo albums of the last decade.
Drawn together by instant chemistry, cosmic forces and their ability to write intuitive romantic breakup songs for each other, their album is a window into the dissolution of two different relationships and the formation of another: a perfect, platonic, creative union. United in their desire to write a record that reflected their expansive musical interest from 70s rock to raucous roots to indie pop, their LA written, Nashville recorded album is a masterclass in unexpected vocal harmonic convergence.
With Breaking Point, Jackson + Sellers will establish themselves as two individual artists who together, share a deep friendship, musical kinship and the ability to craft tight singular pop rock songs that will embed themselves in your ears for the rest of time.
Special edition of the album includes 6 photographs from the Barn sessions.
BARN, the new Neil Young/Crazy Horse album was recorded in a remote, restored, 19th century log barn. This musical family has played together for a half century, yet they continue creating new music. Neil and the Horse fans have long shouted for “more barn” and here it is… 10 new songs that capture the wild, rock and roll spirit, the idiosyncratic raw sound and the lyrical beauty that epitomizes a classic NYCH collaboration. The last song appeared on the last morning and was recorded just an hour later during a pounding hailstorm and during the full moon.
The album was recorded this summer over a handful of days. The ten new songs encompass all that Neil Young with Crazy Horse are known for, beautiful romantic acoustic ballads, powerhouse electric rockers and insightful rollicking tunes that stick with you.
Niko Bolas was parked adjacent to the barn, in an exquisite analog mobile recording truck, Le Mobile ready to capture and mix the album on the spot. Produced by The Volume Dealers – Neil Young and Niko Bolas, the album will be released on vinyl, CD, cassette and digitally. There will also be a deluxe edition that will include the LP, CD. and Blu-ray film.Special edition of the album includes 6 photographs from the Barn sessions.
A Sentimental Christmas With Nat King Cole And Friends: Cole Classics Reimagined [LP]
The new album 'A Sentimental Christmas with Nat King Cole and Friends: Cole Classics Re-imagined' weaves Nat’s unparalleled, beautifully restored vocals with new arrangements and contemporary artists creating beautiful sentimental duets of holiday classics. Taking its lead from the GRAMMY award-winning virtual duet of “Unforgettable,” by Natalie Cole with her father, this holiday album features brand new duets with John Legend, Kristen Chenoweth, Calum Scott, Gloria Estefan & Johnny Mathis.
SAVE FACE are a band who have always prided themselves on taking risks and the New Jersey band have doubled down on that sentiment with their sophomore album, Another Kill For The Highlight Reel.
Another Kill For The Highlight Reel, which features indelibly human performances, including a guest appearance from Thursday’s Geoff Rickly on “A.M. Gothic”. “There’s something about the New Jersey kinship [between Geoff and I] that really resonates with me,” Tyler Povanda explains. “New Jersey’s music scene is really something special.”
Musically, the album—which was produced by the Movielife’s Brett Romnes—sees Povanda taking influence from his Jersey brethren like Thursday but adds a theatrical twist. “‘GLITTER’ was the first song I wrote that ended up being on this album and it bridges the gap between Merci and Another Kill For The Highlight Reel, ” Povanda says. “I think that song serves as a cool sonic metaphor for the transformation of the band. I would say this album isn’t narrative in the same way as the last one, but it does feel much more immersive.”
Eels have had one of the most consistently acclaimed careers in music. The ever-changing project of principal singer/songwriter E (Mark Oliver Everett), Eels have released thirteen studio albums since their 1996 debut, Beautiful Freak. During the height of the pandemic lockdown in early 2021, E got an out of the blue message from Mark Romanek, director of the first Eels video, "Novocaine For the Soul". It triggered him to reach out to John Parish, who was in between numerous projects and immediately got to work in his HonorSound studio in Bristol and began sending ideas to E. "I'd sneak out of bed at 4 in the morning to hear the latest thing John had sent, and try to add my part to it and get it back to him quickly before my 4 year old son woke up," E says. The resulting album is Extreme Witchcraft.
Electric Cowboy: Born In Carolina Mud [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Red & Black Swirl LP]
Vinyl: $22.98 Buy
“I was born in the North Carolina mud,” says Jamil Rashad, better known as Boulevards, one of the most idiosyncratic artists making music in the Tarheel State. His fourth album, Electric Cowboy: Born in Carolina Mud, is caked in the soil where he grew up, mired in the muck of this place—not stuck but freed. Grounded in personal experience and haunted by personal demons, Electric Cowboy is an album that reaches out, that embraces the world, that mixes the confessional and the communal. But the dominant sound—the dominant mindset—is funk: gritty, warm, weird, charismatic. Rashad once again composed and recorded with Blake Rhein, guitarist for Durand Jones & the Indications, after they had worked so well together on 2020’s Brother! EP. They corralled an all-star team that included Adrian Quesada from the Grammy-nominated neo-soul act Black Pumas and Colin Croom from the Chicago indie-rock outfit Twin Peaks.
“On Electric Cowboy I wanted to make some modern funk that the kids would enjoy, but still have some soul elements and some punk elements. On the cover you see a black man on a horse running away from his demons. That’s me. You can hear it all in the songs – struggling with demons and still coming out on top of it all. That’s what funk is! You got some heavy, dark shit, but you also got some joyful compositions, funky basslines, dope harmonies, infectious hooks. So that’s me on the cover, the Electric Cowboy, slaying anything that comes in my path. I gotta keep riding, keep trucking, keep fighting, keep pushing.”
Give Me The Future [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Orange LP]
Vinyl: $41.99 Buy
Exclusive to Indie Retailers. Give Me The Future, Bastille's wildly-ambitious new album, is a tribute to tech times and a glimpse of what could be to come. Exploring both the opportunities of new technology and the dark side of lives lived online, it's as playful as it is thought-provoking, as dystopian as it is dancefloor-friendly and as electronic as Bastille have ever been. Executive produced by Ryan Tedder, Give Me The Future by Bastille will release on February 4, 2022. The following Bastille album will be released on 2/04/2022. The color of this vinyl is ORANGE.
All The Truth That I Can Tell [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Transparent Dark Blue & Green LP]
Vinyl: $31.99 Buy
Dashboard Confessional’s ninth studio album, All The Truth That I Can Tell, is both a remarkable renewal and fortunate step forward for the band’s songwriter, front man, and founder, Chris Carrabba. All The Truth That I Can Tell stands among Carrabba’s finest – a strikingly potent musical look at himself through a rediscovered keyhole, both an achievement of vision and a vital burst of artistic clarity; less like reading someone’s diary and more like reading their eyes.
All The Truth That I Can Tell is available exclusively at participating indie retailers on “Cold Night” transparent blue vinyl.
“I’m starting to realize that being an outlier and a weirdo––it doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” says Sarah Shook. Shook pauses, then adds with a grin, “It can be whatever you want it to be.”
Shook is home in North Carolina, talking about Nightroamer, the hotly anticipated new album from their band, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. Backed by white-knuckle playing from Eric Peterson on guitar, Aaron Oliva on upright bass, drummer Jack Foster, and Adam Kurtz on pedal steel, Shook has pulled from Hank Williams, Elliott Smith, the Sex Pistols, and Shook’s own inquisitive, open, outlying self to create pop-savvy, honky-tonk punk that’s both an escape and a reality check––a re-opened wound and a balm. Relationships and life-changing realizations are dissected with honesty and humor, three tight minutes at a time.
When Sarah Shook & The Disarmers released Sidelong four years ago, the irreverent quintet’s debut turned heads around the world. Then 2018’s follow-up Years hooked everyone from Rolling Stone to Vice. “This ain’t no country for hipsters or posers,” said No Depression. “It’s real, raw, mean-and-evil-bad-and-nasty bidness.” Then, the first two albums turned into a tease: The pandemic shut down the world, just as The Disarmers finished recording Nightroamer in Los Angeles. The band has had to sit on the album––until now.
Nightroamer is worth the wait. This is still a band whose recordings beg to be heard live, either in a punk-rock hole in the wall or honky-tonk roadhouse. Shook’s voice is crystalline––but boozy, too, with a cadence that sounds comfortable resting in the pocket before lagging, jumping, or cozying up to the offbeat. What initially may feel like a slip is actually a stroke––and listeners cannot get enough.
Produced by Pete Anderson, Nightroamer is the confident next step fans hoped The Disarmers could take. “I think this record is different than ones we’ve done in the past. It feels every bit as expansive as I wanted it to feel,” says Shook. “I didn’t want there to be a shocking, jarring difference, but I definitely wanted it to feel like things are opening up. It’s a bigger feeling experience.”
Asked what they hope listeners experience, Shook is clear. “Music is one of the ways we can connect to other people,” they say. “That’s my hope: That people feel seen and they feel connected to something that brings them a sense of peace.”
Fear Of The Dawn [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Astronomical Blue LP]
Fear of the Dawn is the fourth studio album from Jack White, founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded at White's Third Man Studio throughout 2021, mastered by Third Man Mastering, pressed to vinyl at Third Man Pressing, and released by Third Man Records. Pressed on limited astronomical blue vinyl, only available at independent record stores
Antique Glow: Expanded Edition [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Silver 2LP]
Third Man Records is proud to release the 20th anniversary expanded edition of Kelley Stoltz's defining album 'Antique Glow.' Originally self-released in miniscule vinyl-only quantities in 2001, 'Antique Glow' has served not only as a template for the length of Kelley Stoltz's twenty-plus year career, but has also served as a compass for other Anglophile, TASCAM 388 home recording acolytes.
Original copies featured Stoltz's clever, wry and fanciful hand-painted adornments overtop reclaimed thrift store LP jackets, Third Man's release here utilizes some of those original unused images for a die-cut sleeve that ultimately gives the listener six different possible album covers.
The songs are by and large masterpieces of bedroom pop magic. From the whispering 'Here Comes the Sun'-adjacent acoustic underpinnings of album opener 'Perpetual Night' through the fuzz-threaded leads of 'Are You Electric?' Stoltz's inspirations are impeccable and clear. Sixties Davies British Invasion through 80's British Bunnymen post-punk, with appropriate off-shoots into West Coast American pop-psych, Velvets-indebted hooliganism and Drake/CSNY acoustic attenuations, the end result is pure joy.
On the expanded version, standout tracks previously relegated to an Australian tour-only CD (like the breathlessly cinematic 'Old Pictures') see their first-ever vinyl and digital release while there's an additional 8 songs from the 'Antique Glow'-era seeing their first ever release in any format. The cutting room floor quality here is second-to-none, Stoltz clearly gifted with the curse of writing too many indelible songs, so the newly released 'Too Beck' (originally cast off by Kelley because he thought 'it sounded too much like Beck') and 'Umbrella' stand firm as some of the best, most timeless music Stoltz has ever released... a full two decades after he recorded them!
With all instruments and vocals performed by Stoltz, the singularity of vision here is impeccably clear and executed. Packaging: Die-cut direct-to-board LP jacket, printed inner sleeves, standard weight vinyl
Want to get a bead on Paul Cauthen?
Good freakin' luck -- especially on his third album, COUNTRY COMING DOWN.
COUNTRY COMING DOWN has been in motion awhile, actually. The title track, one of several co-writes with good Nashville pal Aaron Raitiere, has been around since before Cauthen's dark sophomore album ROOM 41. Its sense of campfire calm and "damn near off the map" idyll set a bar, for both music and lifestyle, that Cauthen aspired to, while the rest of the new album, recorded at Modern Electric Sound Recorders in Dallas with regular collaborators Beau Bedford (Texas Gentlemen) and Jason Burt (Medicine Man Revival), shows that Cauthen was able to get there without losing any of the playful "hot dog holly golly dagnabit" good-time spirit that rolls off his tongue like a tumbleweed in the west Texas panhandle.
If you want to know what COUNTRY COMING DOWN sounds like, tuck into the album's sonic array, an austere, sinewy attack that puts Cauthen's vocals dead center in the ride. "We've really unleashed Big Velvet in this situation, which I love," he says. Nowhere is that more true than "Country As Fuck," with a taut groove and loping gait tailor made for a 21st century honky tonk. Cauthen, Bedford and Burt play with that template throughout COUNTRY COMING DOWN, punctuating "Caught Me At a Good Time" with a sharp guitar solo, "High Heels" with a tasteful Wurlitzer break and the satiristic "Country Clubbin'" with a disco beat and chorus of female backing vocals.
His muse fully engaged, Cauthen is looking towards doing more of that in the future, with a few conceptual ideas up his sleeve about what he might do next. No matter what direction he takes, however, he won’t be abandoning that cabin in the hills or the "Country Clubbin'" life; Cauthen will just be adding more to the mix he's stirred together.
"It's just about looking at yourself in the mirror and knowing that what you've done to this day has been in good standing, with good morals and a good compass in life, driven the right way," he says. "Legacy is all we have -- that, and try to be a good person as well. If you get all that together, then you can do whatever the fuck you want and it'll be alright."
BBC Sessions [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Milky Clear 2LP]
ON SALE $39.98 Vinyl: $37.99 Buy
Between 1994 to 2001, Green Day would visit the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in London four times and record live sessions for Radio 1’s “Evening Show” and its popular DJ Steve Lamacq. This compilation documents those sessions, and includes many of the band’s hits including “When I Come Around”, “Basket Case”, “Brain Stew/Jaded” and “Minority”.
John Mellencamp’s 25th studio album, Strictly A One-Eyed Jack, is set for release 1/21/22 on Republic Records. The album was written and produced by Mellencamp, recorded at his Belmont Mall Studios in Indiana, and recorded/mixed by GRAMMY-award winner David Leonard. It features a number of longtime band members including Andy York, Dane Clark, Mike Wanchic, Troye Kinnett, and more. It also features three collaborations with Bruce Springsteen including the landmark duet “Wasted Days.”
For two decades now, Greensky Bluegrass has been building an empire, brick by brick. Their eighth studio release, Stress Dreams was produced by Dominic Davis (Jack White) and Grammy winning engineer/producer Glenn Brown amidst the 2020 pandemic. It follows their 2019 release, All for Money, which landed on the Top 100 at the Billboard Albums Chart, Top 20 at Independent Albums and Current Country Albums, Top 10 at Americana/Folk Albums Top 5 at Heatseekers, and #1 at Bluegrass Albums. Greensky is widely known for their dazzling live performances and relentless touring schedule. As with traditional bluegrass, the band writes about their own contemporary day-to-day happenings, emotions, and experiences in the modern world. Their die-hard fans pack out venues across the country. They travel in droves and sell out multiple-night show runs at iconic venues like Red Rocks and The Ryman.
Earthling, the new album from Eddie Vedder, includes the tracks "Long Way," "The Haves," and more. It was produced by Andrew Watt and features special guest artists.
The Tipping Point [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Grass Green LP + Litho Print]
Vinyl: $25.99 Buy
Some forty years into one of music’s most impactful partnerships, Tears For Fears have arrived together at The Tipping Point – the group’s ambitious, accomplished and surprising first new studio album in nearly two decades. An inspired song cycle that vividly recalls the depth and emotional force of the group’s earliest triumphs, The Tipping Point is the bold, beautiful and powerful sound of Tears For Fears finding themselves together all over again.
Once Twice Melody is the 8th studio album by Beach House. It is a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in 4 chapters. Across these songs, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. In addition to new sounds, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners may associate with previous Beach
House records remain present throughout many of the compositions.
Beach House is Victoria Legrand, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist, and Alex Scally, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. They write all of their songs together. Once Twice Melody is the first album produced entirely by the band. The live drums are by James Barone (same as their 2018 album, 7), and were recorded at Pachyderm studio in Minnesota and United Studio in Los Angeles. For the first time, a live string ensemble was used. Strings were arranged by David Campbell.
The writing and recording of Once Twice Melody began in 2018 and was completed in July of 2021. Most of the songs were created during this time, though a few date back over the previous 10 years. Most of the recording was done at Apple Orchard Studio in Baltimore. Once Twice Melody was mixed largely by Alan Moulder but a few tracks were also mixed by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer, and Dave Fridmann.
Priscilla Block draws listeners in with her unfiltered, relatable songwriting and catchy melodies. "I love writing about real-life experiences and the ups and downs that I've gone through," Priscilla says. "I don't sugarcoat anything, and I think that's the beauty of songwriting and being an artist. It's a little sass, a little trash and a little sad," she describes with a knowing wink as her catalog rolls easily from heartbreak to laughter. Features the Country radio hit, "Just About Over You."
Grammy Award-winning duo Bob Moses release their highly anticipated third album, The Silence in Between. The Silence in Between marks the Los Angeles-based band’s first release since signing to Astralwerks in a unique global partnership with Domino Recording Co. Love Brand New is one of the most anthemic moments on The Silence in Between, “Love Brand New” finds Vancouver-bred musicians / producers Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance tapping into their deep-rooted love for ’90s alt-rock and left-of-center dance music. Written with Michel Zitron and John Martin (a Swedish production duo known for their work with the likes of Avicii and Swedish House Mafia), the track encompasses a glorious collision of moody guitar tones, mercurial textures, and wildly propulsive beats as Bob Moses channel the dizzying euphoria of new romance.
As their boldest and most viscerally charged output to date, The Silence in Between amplifies the unbridled energy that’s made Bob Moses a repeat winner of Resident Advisor’s Best Live Act prize.
Like pausing a VHS tape, music freezes the frenetic motion of daily existence. Even if just for an instant, it calms the feedback loop of routine, engages respite, and provides perspective. Siphoning guitar transmissions and a dynamic vocal push-and-pull through a lens of cinematic production, Lo Moon deftly balance expansive soundscapes and eloquent songcraft. The Los Angeles based quartet—Matt Lowell, Crisanta Baker, Sam Stewart and Sterling Laws - ultimately use music to make sense of each day on their sophomore offering, A Modern Life [Strngr Recordings/Thirty Tigers].
“It’s about survival’’ observes Matt. “Navigating through all that’s thrown at us. Maintaining who we are and where we want to be. Music itself has been so powerful for us in our own survival, it can change everything in an instant. As a band, we’ve got a lot of reverence for it and strive for it. We don’t take it for granted.”
They never have either…
In 2016, Lo Moon materialized as a fan and critical favorite with the buzzing “Loveless.” It paved the way for their 2018 self-titled full-length, Lo Moon, which NPR hailed as ‘’shimmering, immersive and otherworldly. As intimate as it is anthemic’’. Meanwhile, Variety attested, “It possesses a rare balance of pop-inflected songwriting and dense atmospherics that hold each other in check rather than clashing.” Beyond acclaim from The New York Times, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Sunday Times, NME, Noisey and more, Billboard named them among “10 Rock & Alternative Artists to Watch.” Between amassing over 50 million streams, the band performed alongside The War On Drugs, Glass Animals, Phoenix, and Air in addition to gracing the bills of Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, SXSW, All Points East and more. The group also made their late-night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! followed by The Late Late Show With James Corden.
Following a tour with CHVRCHES, the musicians entered the studio with producer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick) to record what would become the next body of work. Various elements fell into place as they also officially added Sterling to the fold in the studio. Their old friend Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie), who co-produced their debut, eventually joined them for some of the finishing touches.
In the end, Lo Moon might just inspire you to enjoy A Modern Life a little more.
‘’The journey of making a record is always winding, every artist will tell you that. We found that all we needed was the connection to each other and the commitment to believe in the music and emotion in the four of us. Great art has the ability to transform, and transport and we know how powerful that can be. We hope this record does that for you and can’t wait to play it live. That will be the moment this journey feels truly complete.’’ says Matt.
Scheduled for release in April 2022, the 10-song sophomore full-length album showcases Kirke’s unselfconscious, country-twinged vocals alongside a brightly colored candy shop of glam-twang guitar riffs, department store tv commercial synth stylings, and swooping, lilting, unabashedly feminine background vocals. Lady For Sale channels a high-spirited insouciance that feels invigorating and familiar, decidedly more easy-going and fun-loving than what we’ve come to expect from its genre (and the world in general) in recent years. This is a party you’ll want to attend.
Minneapolis indie pop rebels Hippo Campus return with their third full-length, LP3, on February 4th. Their strongest and most complete work yet, LP3 is a freshly-inked portrait excavating young adulthood, identity and, more importantly, how that personal identity fits into a larger camaraderie.