Featured New
Releases for
March 5, 2013
Chelsea Light Moving
Matador
The debut album of Thurston Moore's first rock-based material since Sonic Youth went on hiatus is huge, fun, and pleasantly confused.
Welcome Oblivion
Columbia
The first full-length from How to Destroy Angels finds former angry young man Trent Reznor growing old gracefully.
Nanobots
Idlewild Recordings
Sly and sophisticated, Nanobots riffs on They Might Be Giants' history while expanding on it.
Spring Break... Here to Party
Capitol
Luke Bryan's four spring break-themed EPs are gathered on this good-time collection.
Honky Tonk
Rounder
Honky Tonk finds Jay Farrar landing in the Bakersfield country territory of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, with nary an electric guitar in sight.
People, Hell and Angels
Experience Hendrix / Legacy / Sony Legacy
A collection of studio tracks recorded (mostly) in 1968-1969 as the Experience was coming to an end.
Exai
Warp
Booth and Brown's lengthy 11th album has too many unique standouts to be disregarded as merely another Autechre release.
Love from London
Yep Roc
Released just days after his 60th birthday, Love from London signals a return to the trippy psych-rock of Fegmania! and Globe of Frogs.
Naomi
Jagjaguwar
On their fourth album, this Seattle indie folk group expands on their rootsy sound with tropical basslines and an increased sense of hopefulness.
The Beast in Its Tracks
Pytheas Recordings
Josh Ritter manages to treat both parties with empathy on his seventh outing and first official breakup album.
The Blue Room
Decca / Emarcy
The singer successfully revisits songs from Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and interprets other songwriters through its lens.
The Stand-In
ATO
Caitlin Rose builds on 2010's Own Side Now, and delivers a strong collection of songs that poise themselves right at the junction of country and pop.
Invisible Life
Asthmatic Kitty
Invisible Life balances concise pop and dreamy reveries with the usual warmth and mystery of Roberto Carlos Lange's music.
Memphis
429 Records
On his first studio album in five years, Boz Scaggs pays tribute to a city, a studio, and a host of singers and songwriters in his own iconic way.
Hymnal
Kranky
The fourth Benoit Pioulard album delivers sublimely serene ambient folk inspired by European churches and religious iconography.
Like a Rose
Warner Bros.
Pistol Annie Ashley Monroe delivers a dynamite debut that feels simultaneously retro and modern.
Dirty Dynamite
The End / Sony Music
The Swiss hard rockers continue to show the old ways can be the best ways on their 17th album, Dirty Dynamite.
Untogether
Arbutus Records
The duo trades the free-flowing warmth of its earlier work for crisply elegant electro-pop on this impressive debut album.
![Album cover for This Is Marcus Canty [EP] by Marcus Canty](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0003775903/front/220/gbgJJS_TF0zlStqbu_hqVg4Q1ghY8VaPylnm7PwcKNY=.jpg)
This Is Marcus Canty [EP]
Epic
On his debut EP, the X Factor fourth-place finisher has charm to spare but is constricted by pop-oriented material.
Inheritance
Republic / Universal Music
The major-label debut from Chesapeake, Virginia-based indie folk outfit sounds like a born-again Avett Brothers fronted by a tamer Daniel Smith.
Solex Ahoy! The Sound Map of the Netherlands
Bronzerat Records / Series Aphonos
This subtly compelling audio portrait of Elisabeth Esselink's homeland emphasizes the versatility of her sampling skills.
In and Out of Weeks
Inkind / Propeller Records
The passionate vocals of Ingrid Håvik are the focal point of this dramatic slice of indie rock.
Ride on the Train
Alive / Alive Naturalsound Records
Ride on the Train is Hollis Brown's debut full-length, and it's a gem, full of memorable songs and a sharp, taut, and unembellished sound.
Character
The Leaf Label
On her third solo album, cellist and composer Julia Kent ambitiously reflects upon the sounds of life's chronology and those of the inner world.
Wondrous Bughouse
Fat Possum Records / Turnstile
Trevor Powers' second album is full of lush psychedelia that recalls the Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, and the Beatles at their trippiest.
Privilege (Abridged)
Splendor Records
The band augments its dazzling wordplay with synth pop, glam rock, chamber pop, and show tunes for its most listenable album yet.
Magnetic Heads
Family Vineyard
Collecting tracks from the band's first two cassette releases, these oddball obscuro-folk songs sound like a different entity entirely.
Originator
Swoon Moon Music
Jack White's touring pianist Brooke Waggoner makes a startling statement of purpose with The Originator.
Love
Earthology
On their ninth album, the Twin Cities' indie large ensemble deals with themes of joy and pain in a by-the-numbers epic style.
Free Reign II
Domino
This version of Clinic's most psychedelic album features Daniel Lopatin's even trippier mixes.
Between Places
Modular / Modular Recordings
Young Dreams' debut features the Norwegian band's mix of melodic, '60s-influenced baroque pop and synth-driven alt-rock.
Images du Futur
Secretly Canadian
Improving on their 2010 debut, this second effort from the Montreal art rockers has a dark brilliance, blending tense rock with airy synth textures.
Outroduction
Nightshoes Syndicate
Matt Pryor says farewell to his side project the New Amsterdams on their seventh and final album, Outroduction.
Wyoming
Fat Possum Records / Turnstile
The stellar second album by this guitar/drums duo hides the subtlety of dark lyrical themes beneath consistently strong alt country songwriting.
Woolen Men
Woodsist
Using the Wipers and Dead Moon as starting points, the Portland trio bashes out snappy mid-fi indie rock with an off-beat energy.
Down Side Up
Fat Wreck Chords
Down Side Up is Old Man Markley's second full-length album, and it roars into things right out of the gate, and then never lets up.
Disco Love, Vol. 3: Even More Rare Disco & Soul Uncovered
BBE
Superior to the first two volumes, this includes contributions from an Archies member, a saxophonist who recorded with a Beatle, and a disco giant.
Sudden Elevation
One Little Indian
The dreamy and delicate third outing from Icelandic singer/songwriter Ólöf Arnalds is also her first to be delivered entirely in English.
Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding
Concord
This is the way reissues should work in a perfect world, not just presenting old material, but also arranging it in a striking new manner.
Songs from the Rocky Horror Picture Show: Live in London
Concert Live
The psychedelic collective heads to London for a live performance of the cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Songways
ECM
The second gorgeous offering from this Italian trio builds upon the strengths of its debut and rebalances the traditional roles of the players.
Panagia
ECM
On his 20th ECM album, the artist explores Byzantine Christian prayers to feminine divinity and other works in a profound organic approach.
Stubborn Heart
MRI / One Little Indian
This moody, synth-heavy debut finds a perfect balance of soul-influenced melodicism and arty electronic music.
Bronze Age
Odessa
The band's sixth album is another unassuming country-psych-indie rock gem that is the equal of its best work.
Zia
Dorian Sono Luminus
A worthwhile exploration of the juncture where the intellectual medium of the string quartet meets the current enthusiasm for world traditions.
Marin Marais: Folies
Flora
This is perilously difficult, and viol players Philippe Pierlot and Rainer Zipperling acquit themselves very well.
Francis Poulenc: Stabat Mater; Les Biches
Hänssler Classic
Conductor Stéphane Denève is emerging as a major conductor of French repertory, and he does a superb job here with the diverse styles of these two works.
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 21
La Bottega Discantica
Accademia Hermans under Fabio Ciofini lays out broad, muscular themes, and van Oort matches it with big volume, sharp attacks, and heavy articulation throughout.
Frederic Mompou: Cançons & Danses
Columna Musica
This delightful release of songs and small piano pieces by Frederic Mompou, many of them never recorded before and none common, is commended.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Vol. 3
Coro
This strong release will appeal equally to serious lovers of Renaissance a cappella sacred music.