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Stone Temple Pilots
Perdida
RHI
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| Stone Temple Pilots' 2018 album with new singer Jeff Gutt was unexpectedly great. Now STP has embarked on a new sonic adventure with Perdida – the band's first-ever acoustic album. It's 10 deeply personal songs (Perdida is Spanish for "loss") weave introspective lyrics with unexpected instruments and arrangements – taking listeners on an emotional and musical journey through letting go and starting over. |
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Brandy Clark
Your Life Is A Record
Warner Records
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| Six-time Grammy Winner Brandy Clark has a black belt in classic country. Factor in James Taylor, Carole King, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Randy Newman, and Clark's X-factor lies in the soul sustenance from the radio and records she heard growing up. From the Dusty in Memphis flourishes of "Love is a Fire" to the minor-key memories in "Bad Car," the lush slink of "Can We Be Strangers," to the falter and dignity of "Apologies", Your Life is a Record finds Clark truly embracing "the grown up stuff." Another winner. |
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Mac Miller
Circles
Warner Records
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| Circles is the sixth and final studio album by the late Mac Miller. Conceived as a sister album to 2018's Grammy-nominated Swimming, the album was completed with the assistance of Jon Brion, with whom Miller worked on Swimming and had been working together on Circles. While sonically distinctly different than its predecessor, Circles features many of the hallmarks for which Swimming was critically-acclaimed upon its release. The biggest surprise? An inspired cover of Arthur Lee's 1972 single "Everybody's Gotta Live." |
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Mandy Moore
Silver Landings
Verve
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| Mandy Moore's seventh effort overall and first new album in 10 years, Silver Landings – both the album and the title cut – are emblematic of the journey she's been through in the past decade, what it took to get to the point of re-embracing this part of her life, and the expectations therein. A breezy California record, Silver Landings was recorded live to tape and prominently features her husband Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley). |
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Shabaka and the Ancestors
We Are Send Here By History
Verve
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| We Are Sent Here By History is the sophomore album – and, fittingly, the first for legendary jazz label, Impulse! – by spiritual jazz revivalists Shabaka & the Ancestors. "We Are Sent Here by History is a meditation on the fact of our coming extinction as a species," Says Shabaka Hutchings. "It is a reflection from the ruins, from the burning." The more urgent, unrelenting and darker feel of the album reflects its social commentary set in the context of ancient traditions, with a mixture of African and Afro-Caribbean musical history. You need this. |
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Agnes Obel
Myopia
Blue Note
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| Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel is one of the most independent and original artists in contemporary music. Myopia finds Obel taking full advantage of her home studio – experimenting with processing, warping and pitching down vocals, strings, piano, celesta and lutheal piano – finding ways to melt these elements together to become one and twisting them in a way that you feel at home within the sound she conjures throughout the record. For lovers of Kate Bush and Arvo Pärt. |
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The Homesick
The Big Excercise
Sub Pop
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| The Big Exercise, the second album by Dutch band The Homesick, finds the group keenly second-guessing their core chemistry as a live unit, imbuing their angular post-punk workouts with baroque elements such as piano, acoustic guitar, percussion, and even clarinet. "It's the opposite of trying to translate recorded music to the stage," guitarist Elias Elgersma comments. "We were already playing these songs live for quite some time, so for this album, we wanted to unlock the potential of these songs further in the studio." Very, very cool. |
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Esmé Patterson
There Will Come Soft Rains
BMG
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| Esmé Patterson is folk-rock singer/songwriter who began as a member of the Denver, CO folk-pop septet, Paper Bird. Now she returns with her long-awaited fourth solo album, There Will Come Soft Rains, which was produced by the Captain & Tennille of indie, Tennis (aka Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore). Named after a story from Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, There Will Come Soft Rains finds Patterson adding synthesizers and dream-pop arrangements to the mix with stunning results. |
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Huey Lewis
Weather
BMG
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| Weather, the new album from Huey Lewis and The News, evokes the superlative eras of Sports and Fore!, while dropping a hint of country into the mix ("One Of The Boys" was intended for Willie Nelson). Not even a battle with Ménière's disease (which could keep him from ever singing again) can stop Lewis from reflecting on mortality with a rasp as uninhibited, witty, and confident as ever. "You've got to look on the bright side and stay creative," he says. "After all, I'm deaf, not dead." |
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Hollywood Undead
New Empire Vol. 1
BMG
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| New Empire Vol. 1 is the sixth full-length studio album from Hollywood Undead. New Empire finds the band embracing a hard rock sound. "This album is our attempt at reimagining Hollywood Undead," explains Johnny 3 Tears (vocals, bass guitar). "Our goal from the outset was to make music that stands alone from our other albums, yet seamlessly fits with what we've made before. Building upon the old to create a new sound and a New Empire." |
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Purr
Like New
ANTI- Records
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| Purr is the new project from New York City born-and-raised songwriters Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen. Despite that Empire state of mind, the duo – who had previously captured attention releasing deft, stripped down, warm-toned pysch-pop as Jack and Eliza – sound as if they've switched coasts with Like New. Here, Purr builds upon an ageless, classic sound that at once looks at the past while leaning into the future, with Staffen's and Callahan's harmonies humming front-and-center. Lovely stuff. |
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Christopher Paul Stelling
Best Of Luck
ANTI- Records
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| Impassioned singer, virtuosic guitar picker, and hardcore troubadour Christopher Paul Stelling is back with Best of Luck. The album was produced by Ben Harper, who says he instantly recognized a kindred spirit in Stelling's virtuosic finger picking and soulful delivery. "It was like finding a John Fahey or Leo Kottke that was a really great singer," says Harper. "I really believe this record is the intersection where folk and soul meet." Throughout Best of Luck, discontent and self-doubt are transformed into messages of resilience and hope. So be open to receiving them – Stelling deserves an audience commiserate with his talent and heart. |
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LISTEN HERE
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LISTEN HERE
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Lauv
~how i'm feeling~
Lauv/AWAL
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| Lauv has been long been a songwriter (Charlie XCX, Celine Dion, and Demi Lovato have sung his tunes) and producer, but eventually he was writing songs that only felt right with his own voice. His new album, ~how i'm feeling~, takes this journey of self-discovery even further: "~how i'm feeling~ is about embracing personality and all its different aspects," says Lauv. "I created six different characters represented by purple (existential Lauv), blue (hopeless romantic Lauv), green (goofy Lauv), yellow (positive Lauv), orange (fuckboy Lauv) and red (spicy Lauv™), all of which make up my identity. While my last project was focused on one aspect of my life, ~how i'm feeling~ is the first time I'm embracing all the parts that make me who I am." |
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Best Coast
Always Tomorrow
Concord
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| Always Tomorrow – the new album by Best Coast – finds the duo of Bethany Cosentino and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno crafting its most eloquent and reflective album to date. Ostensibly inspired by "The 70s," it's the following decade that really shines through via breezy keyboards and an apparent Joan Jett influence. But the biggest anachronisms lie in the lyrics: Always Tomorrow is less about excess than it is straightening out. "This album is about leaving the darkness for the light, but still understanding that nothing is ever going to be perfect," Cosentino said. "Closing one chapter and moving onto the next even when you have no idea what is on the other side. Acceptance. It's about taking a gigantic leap of faith." |
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Soccer Mommy
color theory
Loma Vista
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| For Sophie Allison – aka Soccer Mommy – color theory confronts the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued the 22-year-old artist since pre-pubescence, presenting listeners with an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait. color theory's melodies shimmer on the surface, but reveal an unsettling darkness with each listen. "I wanted the experience of listening to color theory to feel like finding a dusty old cassette tape that has become messed up over time, because that's what this album is: an expression of all the things that have slowly degraded me personally," Allison explains. "The production warps, the guitar solos occasionally glitch, the melodies can be poppy and deceptively cheerful. To me, it sounds like the music of my childhood distressed and, in some instances, decaying." |
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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.
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