For the Record
The Texas Gentlemen - Floor It!!! (Ltd. Ed. 140G Orange Green Magenta Striped 2XLP)
Pop on Floor It!!!, the new and second full-length effort from the Texas Gentlemen, and prepare your eardrums to be hit with everything from woozy, brass-fueled Dixieland-style jazz (“Veal Cutlass”), to slinky, chicken-scratch country funk (“Bare Maximum”) to lushly orchestrated pop-soul balladry (“Ain’t Nothin’ New”)—and that’s all in just the first 10 minutes of play time.While the Gentlemen’s sound is clearly steeped in the classic roots, rock and pop music of the ‘60s and ‘70s, there’s a dreamy (the lilting “Sing Me to Sleep”), spacey (“Skyway Streetcar”) and occasionally progressive (“Dark at the End of the Tunnel”) element to what they do that seems to detach the music from belonging to any particular place and time. Add in elements of funk, soul, country, r&b, southern rock, gospel and essentially any other style that catches their musically omnivorous ears; an expansive and detailed approach to arrangement that sees the songs adorned with all manner of horns, strings and heavenly background vocals (“Hard Road”) and you have a collection of tunes that is more than just a mere album. Rather, Floor It!!! is a rich and righteous ride.
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher (Ltd. Ed. Red & Swirly Vinyl)
Phoebe Bridgers doesn't write love songs as much as songs about the impact love can have on our lives, personalities, and priorities. Punisher, her fourth release and second solo album, is concerned with that subject. To say she writes about heartbreak is to undersell her blue wisdom, to say she writes about pain erases all the strange joy her music emanates. Bridgers pulls together a formidable crew of guests, including the Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Christian Lee Hutson and Conor Oberst as well as Nathaniel Walcott (of Bright Eyes), Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Jenny Lee Lindberg (of Warpaint), Blake Mills and Jim Keltner as well as her longtime bandmates Marshall Vore (drums), Harrison Whitford (guitar), Emily Retsas (bass) and Nick White (keys). The album was mixed by Mike Mogis, who also mixed Stranger In The Alps.
Van Halen - 1984 (Ltd. Ed. 180G)
Six years and five albums after their debut, Van Halen had become one of the biggest bands in world around the release of 1984, which includes a number of the band’s most legendary songs such as the #1 hit, "Jump", "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher". Mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums at Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios, was enlisted for this new version. In order to produce the original sound the band intended, Bellman cut straight from the quarter-inch tapes.
Norah Jones - Pick Me Up Off the Floor (Ltd. Ed. Black/White Vinyl)
Norah Jones' seventh solo studio album Pick Me Up Off The Floor features collaborators from Brian Blade to Jeff Tweedy, and grew out of her acclaimed singles series of the past two years as the songs she hadn't yet released unexpectedly congealed into an album of tremendous depth and beauty connected by the sly groove of her piano trios, lyrics that confront loss and portend hope, and a mood that leans into darkness before ultimately finding the light.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Reunions (Ltd. Ed. Creamsicle Vinyl)
"Reunions" JASON & THE 400 UNIT - His last album - 2017's "The Nashville Sound" - A #1 album on the Billboard Folk, Independent, Country and Rock albums charts, also received Best Americana Album at the Grammys, Album Of The Year At The Americana Honors & Awards and was nominated at the CMA Awards for Album Of The Year. Since then, he has collaborated on the soundtrack for A Star Is Born, the debut album by the Highwomen, and Sheryl Crow's latest album Threads. He also released a live album, Live From the Ryman.
Sammy Brue - Crash Test Kid (Ltd. Ed. Autographed Red/Yellow Splatter Vinyl)
“Music has just been a part of my life since I was very young—it's been like my football or my soccer,” says Sammy Brue. “I stopped going to school to do it. Because I thought, If I could put seven hours a day into music, imagine where it's going to take me…” Imagine, indeed. Since writing his first song at the age of 11, Brue has released three homespun EPs, his New West full-length debut, I Am Nice and a 2018 EP, Down with Desperation. In the process, the Ogden, Utah native has been hailed as an “Americana prodigy” by Rolling Stone and one of the “teenagers shaping pop” by The New Yorker. But these myriad accomplishments may have just been the setup for what is arguably his finest work to date, Crash Test Kid. Brue has always been an artist seemingly wise beyond his years, but on Crash Test Kid he often gets at the heart of a matter or melody with just a simple but insightful turn of phrase or cleverly-picked guitar.
Monophonics - It's Only Us (Ltd. Ed. Random Color Vinyl)
With a timeless sound that blends heavy soul and psych-rock, Monophonics have built a reputation over the past decade as one of the best live bands in the country. Led by singer Kelly Finnigan, the band of has drawn on their colorful history - both their experiences as veteran touring performers and as individuals growing up in the Bay Area - to create "It's Only Us," their fourth release since 2012. A reflection of what they see as the current state of the world, the record touches on difficult subjects such as broken relationships, mental health issues, gun violence and power struggles, all with an underlying message of unity, resilience and acceptance. The band's signature style of arrangement has been expanded with top-notch production and creative instrumentation to round out the Monophonics' trademark soul sound, while Finnigan's vocals are more powerful than ever. At times these tracks can feel classic, as familiar as an old song you grew up with, while simultaneously raising questions about the state of music in 2020 and what the future might hold. "It's Only Us" is the sound of a group continuing to grow as songwriters, musicians, performers and people - reflecting on where they've been, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the years to come.
Styx - Pieces of Eight (Ltd. Ed. Gray Vinyl)
PROG-ROCK at it's finest. This is a one-time pressing and only 1,000 units will be released worldwide. Styx's feisty, straight-forward brand of album rock is represented best by "Blue Collar Man" from 1978's Pieces of Eight, an invigorating keyboard and guitar rush - hard and heavy, yet curved by Tommy Shaw's emphasized vocals. The classic album also includes "Renegade." Led by the talents of Dennis DeYoung (vocals/keyboards), Tommy Shaw (vocals/guitar), and James J.Y. Young (vocals/guitar), Styx became one of the most successful FM/Arena Rock bands in the U.S. during the latter half of the '70s and into the early '80's. With brothers Chuck (bass/vocals) and John Panozzo (drums), the band ruled the airwaves for a decade before their split in '84. DeYoung's distinct vocals and pop oriented material worked well against Shaw's edgier material, garnering the band important airplay on FM and AM radio stations.