Golden Years is the latest record from Whigs frontman, Parker Gispert. Golden Years is the follow up release to 2018’s critically acclaimed, Sunlight Tonight. Much like Sunlight Tonight, Golden Years finds Gispert embracing introspective, personal lyrics that also delve into the current social divide while at the same time writing lyrics meant to encourage the listener to get up, have fun and enjoy rock and roll. Musically, the nine-song effort finds Gispert embracing his roots with the familiar sound of the raw and jangly southern-garage rave-ups that his band, The Whigs came to be known for. Golden Years was recorded at Haptown Studios in Nashville, TN with producer Roger Moutenot (Lambchop, Yo La Tengo, Tennis) at the helm.

Recorded live on September 15, 1981, Live At Gilley's captures Kris Kristofferson at a time in his career where he and his band were firing on all cylinders. Kristofferson was with a full band out of the road that featured Stephen Bruton, Donnie Fritts and Billy Swan. On this night, the band stopped by Gilley's Honkytonk in Pasadena, Texas to deliver a one in a lifetime performance featuring the hits, "Me And Bobby McGee", "The Pilgrim" and "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down."

Brotherkenzie is the solo output from Minneapolis producer and songwriter Nathan Stocker – and, through the project, lives in the shadows, operating on the outskirts of the music industry, something he’s grown increasingly less interested in as he ages. Brotherkenzie’s music is a chasm carved from honesty and earnestness, the result teetering between catchiness and pop, but with sharp edges.

On the cover of Nathan, Stocker is about to be enveloped by an enormous black box in a deadened Minnesotan sprawl, framed by the eeriness of placid blue skies, the suggestion of a cold wind. It’s like a snapshot of calm caught in a moment before something bad happens, but you don’t know quite what that bad is yet. The looming black mass is a physical manifestation of narcissism – and Nathan is an exhaustive exploration of that. It’s an artifact of what happens when you listen to, and obey, your demons. A final look-a-round at the dirt you’ve known your whole life before descending to the eternal what-have-you.

The record is a re-introduction to Stocker’s solo output as brotherkenzie; his last release, 2020’s BIG WHAT closed the first chapter of the project, while Nathan explores the afterlife of a creative death. The 12 songs collected here are intended to signify a new brotherkenzie era: one embracing sex and heathen ideals. Even the title vies for blasphemy; Stocker’s attempt to divorce his first name from its loaded religious meaning and instead take ownership of it. It’d be easy to say it’s in response to Stocker’s deeply religious upbringing, but that’s too simple – instead, it’s an exercise in “what if’s?,” leaning into the dark side, interested in exploring what it means to be satanic without ever mentioning a devil – or any type of God, or religion – by name. Instead, Stocker wonders what happens when you die and are reborn as a demon. When you operate without goodness in mind. Is that a mode for something true? Even if it’s evil?

 

Stocker wrote these songs from March to November of 2020. It was isolating in the usual ways for that time, of course, but he was also juggling a number of relationships that were unhealthy for a myriad of reasons. He was stuck in a cycle, unable to escape, and every time he sat down the self-loathing and demons came out. Here he examines that self-destructive tenderness, observant of the way he was then but not fraught over it. Instead, he’s like a documentarian of trying times; of what it feels like to grow a new epidermis instead.

Twisting and contorting the English language to fit the meter and his every whim, Lupe Fiasco uses his superb lyrical skill to process the changing world in which he lives. Drawing connections between the concrete and spiritual in his hometown of Chicago, Lupe announces DRILL MUSIC IN ZION, his next album. The product of a burst of thoughtful spontaneity, Lupe created the new album over a short period, diving into a folder of beats sent by his longtime producer Soundtrakk and emerging with a fully-realized album in just three days. “Soundtrakk is the swordmaker, I’m the samurai," says Lupe. "He’s the mechanic, and I’m the driver.” Armed with Soundtrakk's soulful sounds, Lupe creates a focused statement that reflects on the past and paves a way forward, preaching strength through mindfulness and self-sustaining community. DRILL MUSIC IN ZION arrives digitally on June 24th via 1st & 15th/Thirty Tigers. The physical release is set for August 26 (CD, Black Vinyl, and Indie-retail exclusive blue vinyl).

His first new album since 2018's DROGAS WAVE, DRILL MUSIC IN ZION marks the start of another chapter in Lupe's illustrious career. The proud Chicago native has already had a busy 2022, marked with sold out shows, new music, and much more. Lupe recently closed out his "Food & Liquor Tour," a series of performances in which he plays his debut album in full. He paid tribute to his hometown in the reflective, self-produced "100 Chicagos," and dug into the archives to share "Hustlaz," a previously-unreleased song originally recorded before the release of the now-classic debut album Food & Liquor. Beyond music, Lupe continues to focus on the community organizations he founded, including We Are M.U.R.A.L, The Neighborhood Start-Up Fund, Society of Spoken Art, and his cross-cultural content venture, Studio SV.

This album was created in Los Angeles and London and is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world. A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilisation of the global order all informed Will Of The People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened. This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next. - Matt Bellamy

PRE PLEASURE, the beautiful new full-length album from Australian native Julia Jacklin, finds the musician at her absolute peak, delivering ten of the most personal, raw, and devastating songs of her career. Featuring stand-outs such as "Lydia Wears A Cross," "Love, Try Not To Let Go," and the driving "I Was Neon," the album is a clear portrayal of Jacklin's captivating strength as a lyricist, and her undeniable talents as one of the most gifted songwriters of the decade.

Bleed Out is all pent-up energy and explosion, executed by a bunch of friends who were mainly happy to be in a room together making loud noises. In January 2021, just weeks after Darnielle had started writing, his bandmates Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster joined him at a studio in the woods near his home in Chapel Hill. Everything was finished inside a week.

Physical Thrills, Silversun Pickups’ sixth studio album and the follow-up to 2019’s Widow’s Weeds, is produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Foo Fighters) and mixed by Billy Bush. Physical Thrills spans through an eclectic mix of distorted synths, pop-tinged danceable tunes, pared-down ballads, and a collection of “dream shanties” melodies that are all interconnected with each other into a cohesive body of work. Features “Scared Together” and “Alone on a Hill.”

'Fairy Rust', the new album from Wombo contemplates the spaces in-between, a meeting of the physicality of the land with the fluidity of the imagination, to uncanny effect. Across twelve tracks, sharpened guitar work, distorted freakouts and downtempo musings weave together a tapestry of sound that's both intoxicating and effortless. Where one minute it's all deadpan post-punk energy, and the next Stereolab on a mountain top. The music functions as their own localized language that feels uniquely out-of-body. Conceived over the course of the last two years, the record is steeped in its own time warp of escapism, and influenced by fairy tales like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson that blend surreal situations with the mundane. Flirting with prog, pop and effervescent post-punk, Wombo's forward-thinking approach set them apart as one of the most exciting up-and-coming bands right now. Mixed by Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper, Lala Lala) & Mastered by Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Snail Mail, Pottery).

VIVA LAS VENGEANCE shows a change in process for frontman/songwriter Brendon Urie, having cut everything live to tape in Los Angeles alongside his friends and production partners, Jake Sinclair and Mike Viola. The cinematic musical journey is about the fine line between taking advantage of your youth, seizing the day and burning out. The songs take an introspective look into his relationship with his decade plus career including growing up in Las Vegas, love, and fame.

2022 release from the enigmatic world music collective. Heilung comment in their own words: "Drif means "gathering". A throng of people, a horde, a crowd, a pack. In symbiosis with the album title, Drif consists of a flock, a collection, a gathering, a collage of songs, that much like little flames were seeking towards each other, to join, to bond, to create, and be greater together. This album has very clearly dictated it's own path. Our attempts to tame it was repeatedly fruitless and once we came to this realization, the creative flow surged forward with immense force. So much so that sometimes it felt like the songs wrote themselves. All the songs on Drif have their own stories. They have each their place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilizations."

Chaos in Bloom, arriving August 12th, 2022 via Warner Records. Marking the first album of their career to be produced by frontman John Rzeznik, the record finds the band at the top of their game and continuing to constantly evolve just as they have for nearly four decades together. Consisting of 10 tracks, Chaos in Bloom is an album of biting sarcasm, stadium-ready choruses, and the type of spear-sharp songwriting that’s led them to becoming one of the most influential alternative rock groups of all time.

While Chaos in Bloom isn’t necessarily an album borne out by the pandemic, many of the tracks reflect on all of the things in daily life that became amplified while everyone was isolated from one another and sequestered at home. “Chaos in Bloom reminded us how special this whole thing is and to cherish the relationships that we have together,” says Rzeznik about the album. “Where we’ve been, and where we’re going.” Oscillating from personal reflections on the state of the world to societal commentaries, the songs on the album grapple with observations about our dystopian modernity while searching for optimism and pushing for a more empathetic world. “I’ve been trying to have a relationship with the bigger picture,” adds bassist and songwriter Robby Takac, “and refining happiness and what it means from that perspective.”

To record the album, Rzeznik and Takac retreated to Dreamland Studios just outside Woodstock, New York during the pandemic. An environment as remote as it is rich with historic rock music roots, the location proved to be the perfect setting for clearing the noise and creating such a record, which carries a true live quality that the band captured by blending vintage instruments and gear with new-age recording processes and techniques.

Smash cut to Kiwi Jr.'s third album, Chopper, overseen by trusted pilot Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs) on storied Sub Pop Records. Turning nocturnal with necks mock turtle, our Local Kiwi Jr. Takes neon flight off the digital cliff - like The Monkees starring in Blade Runner; like Michael Mann directs Encino Man. Ten songs with synth shimmer, zen gongs with yard strimmer. The signs along the highway read "LESS BAR, MORE NOIR AHEAD." Ah, those late summer, Joe Strummer, Home on the Range Rover Blues. There's a melancholy to all forms of flight, and the view out the Chopper is as hazy as it gets: mission-oriented, both stealth and self-realized. This album is decidedly (yet almost secretly) anti-patio-sunscreen-Beach Boys bachelor cruise sing-a-long. Sure, these songs let a little light through the blinds, but they sting insomnia, corrupt mayors, Kennedy Curses, sex tapes, and deer rifles. Chopper is the bird's eye view of the big event - a real nighttime character of oil stain, film grain, search light, night flight. It is muscular and fragile; loud yet quiet: both an observer and somehow the observed spectacle itself. What was slack in the slacker phase, got tauter, with lacquer glaze. Slick gloss, rightened wrongs; murdered boss, promoted pawns. With Boeckner transmitting high-voltage shocks upon every reach for a familiar instrument, Kiwi Jr. #expands the palette with string machine song, synthesizered oblong, and Dentyne Classic Menthol vocals from area soprano Dorothea Paas (US Girls, Badge Epoch Ensemble) like the missing piece all along. Kiwi Jr. #brings the Chopper to a new space, demilitarizing the technology just like flasks, aviators, and cargo shorts. Graceful in the air above, but when the Chopper lands, there's chaos on the ground. Kiwi Jr. #shout, "Look Out!" When it gets close, it'll blow the hat right off of your head.Hold onto your hats, Babies.Kiwi Jr. #is Jeremy Gaudet vocals and guitar, Brian Murphy guitar, Mike Walker bass, Brohan Moore drums, and everybody played a little bit of keyboard.

Collective Soul's long-awaited 2022 album release VIBRATING sends the band's artistic spirit into the next stratosphere. All ten songs that comprise VIBRATING positively pulsate with the boundless energy that has been Collective Soul's aural calling card for going on three full decades. From the propulsively gnarly kiss-off of "Cut the Cord" to the reflective midtempo jangle of "Take" to the heart-wrenching reality check of "Rule No. 1" - replete with a soaring string section, no less! - to the choir-backed emotional crossroads of "Where Do I Go," VIBRATING contains 42 minutes of irrefutable sonic evidence of a band wholly uninterested in sitting still. "I think we're on a roll," observes Ed Roland, Collective Soul's frontman and chief songwriter. "We're not afraid to stretch the boundaries - but we do know how to stay in our lane when we need to. Sometimes, though, we just have to go faster." The many good vibrations embedded within the deep-rooted grooves of VIBRATING await your endless enjoyment. -Mike Mettler, official Soulographer

2022 release. As many artists have experienced, the past two years hit the entire music and culture industry hard. But My Sleeping Karma - they have truly faced the abyss. Formed almost 20 years ago as a strong bond of best friends with a steady line-up ever since, the band has amassed an incredibly successful back catalogue of five highly acclaimed records and a live album in 2017, as well as extensive touring performances at sold-out venues and prestigious festivals that have marked them as one of the most well-respected instrumental post- and hypnotic rock bands within the heavy music community. Closing a seven-year gap since their latest studio album, Moksha, My Sleeping Karma release their most emotional, deepest, darkest record to date, inspired by tragic events. The album, Atma - the logical successor to Moksha - describes the (absolute) self, the indestructible, eternal essence of the spirit, and is often translated as the "soul". Sickness, death, and existential fear had brought the band to a point in music and life at which they were close to parting ways. But their will to survive has been recorded on Atma, a record the band wasn't even sure would see the light of day when they started working on it back in 2017, and if it did, would've never been for industry sales, fame or success.

Following Momma's beloved 2020 LP Two of Me, which introduced the world to the symbiotic writing style and profound creative intuition of founders Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten, the band's third studio album Household Name reveals an exciting new chapter marked by both personal and artistic growth. Mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Emily Lazar, the album is a tightly-stitched collection that is magnetic and dynamic, and also marks their debut for Polyvinyl Record Co./Lucky Number-who signed Momma in the midst of the pandemic.Bygone heroes helped inspire a lyrical theme throughout Household Name: the rise and fall of the rock star, and the tropes and tribulations that come with that arc. The theme allowed the group to celebrate (and, in some cases, directly reference) icons like Nirvana, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and the Breeders' Kim Deal, while weaving in their own perspective and experiences. Standouts like "Medicine," which The Line of Best Fit described as an "addictive alt-rock tonic," and "Speeding 72" showcase the band's knack for developing hooky guitar lines paired with an intricate, yet boisterous rhythm section. The album perfects a balance of heavy riffs, deep emotions, inviting sonic production, and a lighthearted, wry sense of humor, creating a singular lane for Momma in today's world of alt rock. In addition to a full US tour supporting Snail Mail and recent club dates with Wet Leg, and Greer, Momma have been featured in outlets such as DIY, NPR, Stereogum, and Rolling Stone, who featured them as 2020's "Artist You Need To Know.""One of nouveau grunge's best-kept secrets." - Guitar World Magazine"Over toppling drums and gripping guitar riffs, "Medicine" reveals that Momma have tightened their songwriting craft." - FLOOD"It's a fun juxtaposition, and a feeling many can relate to. Wanting to be around someone so much that it's a craving when they're absent is presented here without frills. It's a sound that suits Momma well." - Consequence