Tunes - Now Hear This! - May 2019

Bear's Den
So that you might hear me
Rounder

Acclaimed U.K. band Bear's Den's third album, So That You Might Hear Me was recorded in Seattle with producer Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty). The album pairs melancholic melodies with tasteful electronics, anthemic choruses, and deeply personal lyrics about the desire and difficulties about truly being honest with someone you love.

Drugdealer
Raw Honey
Mexican Summer

On Raw Honey, Drugdealer colors modern existential conundrums with lush arrangements, memetic melodies, and a vulnerable tunefulness that tries to make sense of self-doubt and connected loneliness in our shared simulacra. In other words, it�s 70s AM Gold for 21st century dread. And it�s glorious. Think Todd Rundgren, Carol King, Jellyfish, and Philip K. Dick.

Altin Gun
Gece
ATO Records

On Gece, Dutch psych rockers Altin G�n radically reimagine an entire tradition of Turkish psychedelia. The electric saz (a three-string lute) and voice of Erdin� Ecevit are urgent and distinctive, while Merve Daşdemir sings with the mesmerizing power of Grace Slick. This is a band both committed to its sources and excitedly transforming them. For fans of Goat and Dungen.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Fishing for Fishies
ATO Records

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard return with their 14th album in 7 years, Fishing for Fishies. From the outback country of the title track, the easy listening of "The Bird Song," and the party funk of "Plastic Boogie," to �Real's Not Real" � what The Carpenters might have sounded like had they existed entirely on vegemite and weed � it's a world where the rustic meets the robotic.

Barrie
Happy to Here
Winspear/Secretly Distribution

Inclusivity is at the heart of Brooklyn five-piece Barrie. Happy To Be Here features a multidimensional take on classic pop sounds � like a group that's daydreaming but firmly there with one another. Happy To Be Here offers snapshots of Barrie coming together in the city, after having lived all over the globe � and that geography comes together as a funky, floaty whole.

Tank & The Bangas
Green Balloon
Verve Label Group

Green Balloon represents a musical evolution for Tank and The Bangas � who have been blowing up since finding a new audience based on their NPR Tiny Desk Concert. "Green Balloon is a sister to Think Tank," says Tarriona "Tank" Ball. "We never say: that sounded too blues-y, that sounded too country, that's too hip-hop. It's just that's what this feels like, so let's push that feeling to its completion, make it feel good."

Andrea Bocelli
S�
Verve Label Group

Andrea Bocelli, the most beloved tenor in the world, returns to his roots with S� � an intimate collection of powerful, emotional songs featuring interpolations of classical themes (Bach and Massenet), and an all-encompassing celebration of love, family, faith, and hope. Produced by Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Lou Reed).

Sophie Auster
Next Time
BMG

Relinquishing inhibition and apprehension fosters creativity in its purest form. By letting go, an artist invariably flourishes. Sophie Auster embodies this phenomenon. The New York singer/songwriter leverages the freedom to soulfully speak her mind over swaths acoustic guitar, piano, and horns. A smoky, jazzy vibe dominates, but songs like �My Baby� are pure pop. Think Suzanne Vega meets Diana Krall (and a touch of Karen Carpenter).

anderson .paak
ventura
12 tone

Just three short months after the release of Oxnard, Anderson .Pakk is back with Oxnard. Both albums were created at the same time, but are two different chapters of the same story. �Growing up in Oxnard gave me the grit and the church to find this voice of mine,� says .Pakk. �One town over I went further and found my depth.� Andre 3000, Brandy, Pharrell, and freakin� Smokey Robinson are among the guests.

Daniel Norgren
Wooh Dang
Superpuma Records

The experience of Daniel Norgren's music is marked by connection: the artist to the band, the audience to the music, and the body to the soul. An intertwining of analog instrumentation, live performance, and rural field recordings � recorded live on a 16-track analogue rig � Wooh Dang is rife with a deeply hopeful creative intention. It's red blooded, alive, and coursing with equal parts adrenaline and serotonin. A masterpiece of atmosphere and soul � like Talk Talk meets Exile on Main Street.

DADDY LONG LEGS
Lowdown Ways
Yep Roc Records

Lowdown Ways � the latest album from Daddy Long Legs � features 12 original compositions with songwriting contributions from JD McPherson. A new direction from their first two studio albums, Lowdown Ways widens their sonic horizons with field hollers, gospel, Cajun, and Mississippi Hill Music, coupled with their renowned supercharged, harp-driven R&B bangers. While influenced by the likes of Son House, Captain Beefheart, Howlin� Wolf, MC5, and Dr. Feelgood, their sound is pure punk.

Pet Shop Boys
Inner Sanctum
x2 Recordings

Inner Sanctum is a new live document of legendary synthpop heroes, Pet Shop Boys. Staged by designer Es Devlin and choreographer/director Lynne Page, the show was filmed by director David Barnard and filmed at London�s Royal Opera House during a sold-out run last summer. The full-length film on DVD and Blu-ray is accompanied by two CDs of the complete audio of the live show plus a bonus feature of PSB live at Rock in Rio in 2017.

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes
End of Suffering
International Death Cult

Forget everything you know about Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. End Of Suffering pulsates with ideas, energy and � crucially � tunes. �Kitty Sucker� � where Frank leers �I�m a punk rock renegade/A Tattooed motherfu**er dripping lust for decade� is designed to create mosh pit mayhem, while �Tyrant Lizard King� is even more vicious � the musical equivalent of a bloodthirsty knife-fight on the set of �Peaky Blinders.� Embracing space and cultivating menace � it�s Frank�s punkiest record yet.

The Beta Machine
Intruder
UMe

The Beta Machine's Matt McJunkins and Jeff Friedl are well known for their roles in A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Eagles of Death Metal. They�re well-regarded musicians individually, but their undeniable chemistry has made them a package deal. The two quietly stowed away ideas that didn�t make sense for their other gigs. But when enough material demanded to be heard, they became the ones to call upon other musicians so they could unleash their debut, Intruder.

Professor Longhair
Live On The Queen Mary
Capitol

Originally released in 1978, Professor Longhair's Live on the Queen Mary documents a legendary performance from the Venus and Mars album release party thrown by Paul and Linda McCartney in 1975. Recorded March 24, 1975 on its titular cruise ship, while docked in Long Beach, CA, this recording is a prime example of the work of an artist whose influence in New Orleans music was felt by such fellow greats as Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John.

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The National
I Am Easy to Find
4AD

In September 2017, Los Angeles-based filmmaker Mike Mills emailed Matt Berninger to introduce himself and see if the band was interested in working on... something. In very short order, the most ambitious project of the National's nearly 20-year career was born. The result is I Am Easy to Find, a 24-minute film by Mills, and I Am Easy to Find, a 68-minute album by the National. The movie was composed like a piece of music; the music was assembled like a film, by a film director. The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately side-staged in favor of a variety of female voices, including Gail And Dorsey, Sharon Van Etten, and Lisa Hannigan. It is quite simply the National as you�ve never heard them before.

Big Thief
U.F.O.F.
4AD

U.F.O.F. is the highly anticipated third record by Big Thief � the follow-up to 2017�s excellent, Capacity, which deservedly found its way on many a best-of list. U.F.O.F. was recorded��rural western Washington at Bear Creek Studios� large cabin-like room. The raw material came quickly. Some songs were written on tour, they were relaxed and ripe for experimentation. Some songs were written only hours before recording and stretched out instantly. Others were explored in search of perfected moments of dynamic feedback and spiritual, rhythmic togetherness. "Making friends with the unknown... All my songs are about this," says Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals). "If the nature of life is change and impermanence, I'd rather be uncomfortably awake in that truth than lost in denial." Indeed.

Local Native
Violet Street
Loma Vista

Local Natives' fourth studio album and follow-up to 2016's Sunlit Youthfinds the Silver Lake, Los Angeles outfit asking the existential question, "With all of the chaos in the world, where do you find your shelter?" That theme is encapsulated in the expansive-yet-airtight (suffocating?) single "When Am I Gonna Lose You," which Taylor Rice (vocals, guitar) describes as, "Me diving into murky emotions of anxiety and doubt in the middle of love and joy." Elsewhere, songs like �Caf� Amarillo� and �Tap Dance� have more room to breathe � especially the latter: a dizzy hybrid of Grizzly Bear and Eno�s Another Green World. Violet Street's modern production, lush guitars and iridescent harmonies add up to a perfectly blissful and paranoiac pop record.

The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a national level organization comprised of the best independent record stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995 with the goal of uniting like minded independent store owners, giving them a more powerful voice in the music industry. The stores that make up CIMS are all very different, but we share the same desires � to be the heart of our communities, to super-serve our customers, to support and develop artists, and to share our love of music.

For more information about CIMS and the stores in our organization, please visit cimsmusic.com or find us through social media with the #cimsmusic hashtag. And please remember to always shop local by supporting your neighborhood record store.