Across 18 songs presented in 4 chapters, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. Don’t you worry though, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners associate with Beach House remain.
Waterhouse’s debut album is a shimmering soft-pop opus that revels in its self-indulgence, and shines all the more for it. Led by her soulful delivery and musically arranged only ever as much as it needs to be, ethereal atmosphere-weaving is the star quality of I Can’t Let Go. It’s a mixtape of years that straddles the gorgeous and the gloomy sides.
After finding fame and success in the Kiwi comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, the writer, actor, comedian and musician attempts to shed the irony and comedy that he’s known for on his latest aptly named solo album. And like Jim Henson before him, who made a career of blending the silly with the sincere and the playful with the profound, McKenzie also connects rainbows to the ridiculous
Built To Spill continues its ongoing progression of switching up members, bringing in Brazilian lo-fi punk artist Le Almeida, and his long-time collaborator, Joăo Casaes, both of the psychedelic jazz rock band Oruă. The experimentation produces an album full of unique, vivid, and timeless sounds, from guitar-driven rock odes to REM and Dinosaur Jr to bluesy '60s-style anthems to dub-reggae-inspired instrumentation.
Lushly orchestrated and sweetly melodic, Chloë and The Next 20th Century (his first new material since 2018’s God’s Favorite Customer) sees Father John Misty combine his Honeybear-era sound with elements of 1920s-30s jazz and traditional pop to make something that sounds both familiar and fresh.
Just Like That..., the lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winner’s first new studio album in six years, is both one of the most heartfelt and most daring works in her storied 51-year recording career. Raitt’s always-expressive singing is more soulful and nuanced than ever, while her songwriting achieves new levels of craft and sophistication.
Symphonic, vast, and emotionally stirring, The Last Goodbye is a project rife with brightness and emotion, nostalgic yet rooted in the present, serving as a sweeping sonic experience that speaks to themes of connection, reminiscence and the impact we impart on one another. It's a vivid celebration of the people and moments that have left fingerprints on our existence, echoing throughout the record.
In a season of loss and isolation, Joan Shelley and Nathan Salsburg married and had their first child. Fittingly, her seventh solo LP is concerned with harmony: between lovers and warring impulses; polarized communities and man and nature. The Kentucky songwriter deepens the emotional landscape of her earthy, reflective folk music.
GRAMMY and Americana Award-winning singer/songwriter and violinist, Amanda Shires, has pushed the reset button with Take It Like a Man, a record that is so unlike anything she has ever recorded that you would be tempted to think it was her debut album instead of her seventh. Shires, brings forth a fearless confessional, showing the world what turning 40 looks like in 10 emotionally raw tracks.
Curry once again retools his sound, trading livewire energy for introspection and vulnerability while offering a glimpse into his roving mind. The world behind his eyes is presented as a hushed, penitent space. The beats are largely soft and uncluttered, full of neat drums, gossamer piano, and spectral vocals. It’s Curry being true to himself, making an album for him and no one else
This immersive and compulsively replayable new full-length cements Sophie Allison’s status as one of the most gifted songwriters making rock music right now. The album finds Sophie broadening the borders of her aesthetic without abandoning the unsparing lyricism and addictive melodies that made earlier songs so easy to obsess over. To support her vision Sophie enlisted producer Daniel Lopatin, whose recent credits include the Uncut Gems movie score and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM.
Ghost, one of the most esteemed and celebrated rock bands in the world today, return with their fifth psalm, Impera, fronted by the newly anointed Papa Emeritus IV. A dozen songs take on themes of isolation and demigod worship, as well as colonization of both space and mind. And all with the infectious hooky brand of rock their fans have grown accustomed.
The most focused and exciting White solo record yet, a precision-tooled digital reconfiguration of his rock bona fides. By splitting his 2022 albums into two distinct projects and saving his quieter material for Entering Heaven Alive, White has delivered his best release since 2012's Blunderbuss, and one of the most consistently exciting albums in his 25-year-career.
Released just three months after Fear Of The Dawn, the concluding part of White’s twin album collection showcases his often breathtaking artistry. Where Fear is coiled, nervy, and tense, an explosion of paranoia and dread, Entering Heaven Alive is quieter and contemplative. It feels of a piece with White's previous work, yet the ideas are synthesized and executed in fresh, inventive ways.
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.
