DENNY, MARTIN

Exotica (reissue Red Vinyl, Mono) Limited To 1000 Jackpot The late 50s albums by Martin Denny, the father of the "Exotica" movement, are available once again this time on limited color vinyl on Jackpot Records. Lounge/tiki records seem to have a resurgence every 10 years or so & after Numero released their excellent "Technicolor Paradise" compilation a few years back it seemed like people were ready to dig in again. There's a reason these records are considered classics so there's no time like the present to get loungey! RECOMMENDED! Available at: All Stores New LP $26.99 DENNY, MARTIN

Quiet Village (reissue Lime Vinyl) Limited To 1000 Jackpot The late 50s albums by Martin Denny, the father of the "Exotica" movement, are available once again this time on limited color vinyl on Jackpot Records. Lounge/tiki records seem to have a resurgence every 10 years or so & after Numero released their excellent "Technicolor Paradise" compilation a few years back it seemed like people were ready to dig in again. There's a reason these records are considered classics so there's no time like the present to get loungey! RECOMMENDED! Available at: All Stores New LP $26.99 DENNY, MARTIN

Hypnotique (reissue Blue Vinyl) Limited To 1000 Jackpot The late 50s albums by Martin Denny, the father of the "Exotica" movement, are available once again this time on limited color vinyl on Jackpot Records. Lounge/tiki records seem to have a resurgence every 10 years or so & after Numero released their excellent "Technicolor Paradise" compilation a few years back it seemed like people were ready to dig in again. There's a reason these records are considered classics so there's no time like the present to get loungey! RECOMMENDED! Available at: All Stores New LP $26.99 CRYPTIC SHIFT

Visitations From Enceladus (imp, W/ Poster) Blood Harvest CRYPTIC SHIFT is a self-proclaimed "astrodeath" band from the UK & this concept album about a young space traveller is one of the coolest metal albums we've heard in a long time. The album opens with a BONKERS 26 minute track with 6 sections. Similar to contemporary greats like BLOOD INCANTATION & TOMB MOLD, these guys are technical & proggy (complete with insane Jaco esque fretless bass) but these guys lean into the sci-fi themes even harder than BLOOD INCANTATION. Fans of 80s thrash legends VOIVOD, the above mentioned bands & VEKTOR will eat this up. One of the best metal records of 2020! Available at: Belmont and Milwaukee Ave New LP $23.99 CALLAHAN, BILL

Gold Record Drag City Just a little over a year after 2019's excellent "Shepard in a Sheepskin Vest", Bill Callahan is back with the aptly titled "Gold Record". This time around Bill brings in even more colorful instrumentation & an expanded musical vocabulary- with mariachi trumpets & guitars, even cowboy whistles shifting in & out of focus to a near psychedelic effect. Every song has a story to tell, with Callahan's free-wheelin' & wry vocals reminding us of the great storytellers like TERRY ALLEN & KRIS KRISTOFFERSON. The record also contains some 'gold' Callahan lyrics, including "it's almost beer-thirty", "...with eyes like honey-drunk bees", & of course the introductory line, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash". As always, on Drag City & recommended! Available at: All Stores New CD $13.99 ROLLING STONES

Goats Head Soup (2lp, 2020 Remaster) (deluxe Edition W/ Bonus Tracks) Interscope 2020 remix & half-speed master of of possibly the most under appreciated 'Stones albums, "Goats Head Soup" from 1973. Mick, Keef & the boys were always thought of as bad boys, especially compared to their rivals THE BEATLES, but we know now a lot of that was myth. But on this album the weariness of fame and the road, drug use, the fall-out of Altamont etc... seems to have creeped in & permeated these songs. There aren't a lot of outtakes for their albums usually but this one has a decent amount including a mostly unknown track with Jimmy Page called "Scarlet" which is just bonkers if you think about it. RECOMMENDED. Available at: All Stores New LP $33.99 NAUCKE, BRETT

Ems Hallucinations American Dreams The always reliable Chicago based experimental musician Brett Naucke recorded these pieces at his residency at the famed Stockholm Elektromusikstudion in 2019. Recorded on the legendary Buchla 200 series Analog synthesizer, Naucke has done a fantastic job of creating a heavy, electronic space for us to lose ourselves in during pandemic times. Available at: Milwaukee Ave and Loop New LP $17.99 OLSEN, ANGEL

Whole New Mess (clear Smoke Translucent) Jagjaguwar Though this might seem like a pandemic record, This record of stripped down versions of the "All Mirrors" songs was originally recorded at Phil Everum's (MICROPHONES/MT. EERIE) Unknown studio in Washington back in 2018. These versions were originally intended to be released side by side with "All Mirrors" but it sort of makes sense now that she decided to hold them back. Recently the Chicago ex-pat has discussed in interviews that she's backing away from some of the more visible aspects of being a "rock star" so a return to her more minimal songwriting style makes sense. We're just happy that she decided to release these amazing versions. RECOMMENDED OF COURSE! Available at: All Stores New LP $19.99 MICROPHONES

Microphones In 2020 (2lp) PW Elverum & Sun If you've been following Phil Elverum's life over the past few years then you know he's been through a lot. But now deep in 2020, we've ALL been through a lot & this record might help some of us deal with that. Elverum has re-started his adored MICROPHONES project with a 45 minute song. It starts with an acoustic riff that repeats for almost 8 minutes before he gets to singing. The song is like a short story about his life as a musician or a lengthy journal entry. Drums, distorted bass & guitar, piano, drones & various other instruments come in & out but mostly the song is based around the same acoustic riff. Lengthy conceptual songs like this can go very wrong but this definitely works. RECOMMENDED. Available at: All Stores New LP $21.99 MOLINA, JASON

Eight Gates Secretly Canadian In the mid 2000s, Jason Molina moved from the Midwest to London. He had already solidified himself as one of the best American songwriters of his generation & he started his first songs in England that would turn out to be his final recordings. Some songs seem fully formed & others are skeletons of songs, mostly acoustic based with his singing as strained & emotional as ever. It's amazing that this exists & it's great that we can all get to hear this. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Milwaukee Ave and Loop New LP $18.99 POLIZZE, MIKE

Long Lost Solace Find (transparent Blue Vinyl, Ltd.) Paradise of Bachelor "Long Lost Solace Find" is the debut solo album by Mike Polizze of PURLING HISS & BIRDS OF MAYA. With help from buds like Kurt Vile & WAR ON DRUGS engineer Jeff Zeigler, Polizze has now made his own classic Philly record. There's no way you can listen to a song like "Cheewawa" & not hum the melody to yourself for the rest of the day. Mellow acoustic rock that will appeal to KV, WAR ON DRUGS, Steve Gunn, AFGHAN WHIGS, & THE CHURCH will dig this. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Belmont and Loop New LP $19.99 GANSER

Just Look At That Sky (color Vinyl) Felte This is the 2nd album by the excellent Chicago band GANSER. Aggressive noise rock with snarling guitars, heavy bass & vocals that remind us of the great Ari Up of THE SLITS & KAREN O. Fans of TOUCH & GO, AM REP style noise rock will dig this for sure. Available at: Loop New LP $18.99 OHMME

Fantasize Your Ghost (color Vinyl) Joyful Noise The massively talented Chicago duo OHMME are back with their third album. Sima Cunningham & Macie Stewart are both fantastic guitarists, multi-instrumentalists & their vocal harmonies are truly impressive. Crisp & complex songs that almost veer into math rock territory at times. Fans of ST. VINCET, THE ROCHES, TALKING HEADS, FIERY FURNACES etc... will love this. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Milwaukee Ave and Loop New LP $20.99 BARWICK, JULIANNA

Healing Is A Miracle (ltd. First Press) (w/ Signed Art Print) Ninja Tune Four years since the release of "Will", JULIANA BARWICK returns for her first release on Ninja Tune. Featuring JONSI (of SIGUR ROS), MARY LATTIMORE and NOSAJ THING, "Healing Is A Miracle" continues to expand upon the use of looped samples and ambient textures that has been BARWICK's calling card. Densely layered vocals, beautiful string textures & crystalline synths make for an emotional journey. Think GROUPER, Bjork's "Vespertine" & even ENYA. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Milwaukee Ave New LP $23.99 BELL WITCH / AERIAL RUIN

Stygian Bough Vol. 1 (2lp, Color Vinyl) Profound Lore "Stygian Bough" is the collaboration between giants from the Pacific Northwest, doom metallers BELL WITCH & the solo acoustic guitar project of Erik Moggridge, AERIAL RUIN. The album start off with a dark acoustic piece & the evolves into heavy, progressive doom that BELL WITCH is now famous for. The album then alternates between those two styles in a truly epic fashion. The last BELL WITCH album "Mirror Reaper" is a good touchstone for this but "Stygian Bough" takes it to a new level for sure. RECOMMENDED. Available at: All Stores New LP $33.99 ELDER

Omens (2lp, Color Vinyl) Armageddon Label The band of U.S. ex pats now based in Berlin known as ELDER return with their 5th album. Melodic & progressive, metallic hard rock with some tasteful synth programming & soaring vocals. Fans of early MASTODON, TORCHE, BARONESS etc... will eat this up. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Belmont and Milwaukee Ave New LP $34.99 SKELETON

Skeleton (color Vinyl) 20 Buck Spin This is the debut album from the Austin, TX band SKELETON. Melodic but crushing metal that scratches so many itches for us. There are so many memorable riffs on here, tons of tempo changes & even some clean intros that would make James Hetfield blush. Things that come to mind are CRAFT's excellent "Fuck the Universe", later DARKTHRONE, MOTORHEAD, SLAYER etc...This is definitely going to be on our end of the year list. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Belmont and Milwaukee Ave New LP $22.99 COUNT OSSIE & THE MYSTIC REVELATION...

Grounation (3lp, Reissue) Of Rastafari Dub Store ESSENTIAL reissue of this classic Rastafarian record by the Jamaican drummer Count Ossie. Rastafarians were considered outcasts in Jamaica in the 50s when Ossie was getting his start but they gradually became accepted in the music scene. In 1973 Count Ossie released this incredible album of music dedicated to the Africans that were brought to Jamaica as slaves. Heavy & repetitive percussion & a almost improvisational jazz feel, this album will appeal to fans of 70s spiritual jazz like Eddie Gale, Chicago's own Philip Cohran & even the early Moondog records at times. RECOMMENDED. Available at: All Stores New LP $39.99 ARCA

Kick I XL ARCA is making a pretty serious statement with her 4th album "KiCk i." We loved the 2017 album & this time she brings in some big guns including Bjork, Rosalia & Sophie. The Venezuelan artist has made her most "mainstream" album yet, though if you know her other music you'll know that it's not going to a traditional "pop" album. Bombastic beats, quick edits & an overall pretty claustrophobic vibe, this is futurist music for troubled times. RECOMMENDED. Available at: All Stores New LP $24.99 SOUND

Physical World (reissue) Reminder The debut 7" by THE SOUND is available again for the first time in 40 years. After the band THE OUTSIDERS disbanded, the immensely talented Adrian Borland formed THE SOUND, a band that would go on to release a number of now classic albums. While THE SOUND did achieve some level of success, they never really caught on like they should have. Inspired by seeing JOY DIVISION live, Borland aspired to write melodic post-punk songs with intense & energetic live shows. There are some amazing live videos on Youtube that prove that they succeeded. Maybe someday more people will discover the greatness of THE SOUND but for now super fans like us are still scratching our heads wondering why they weren't one of the biggest bands of the 80s. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Belmont and Milwaukee Ave New 45 $8.99 MARGARET, GIA

Mia Gargaret Orindal After a recent tour, the Chicago musician Gia Margaret became ill & couldn't sing for about 6 months. During that time she began composing instrumental music to comfort herself while healing. Melodic synthesizer instrumental with some vocal samples that remind us of Juliana Barwick, BOARDS OF CANADA & Max Richter. Beautiful stuff. Available at: Belmont New LP $17.99 DYLAN, BOB

Rough & Rowdy Ways (2lp) (gold Vinyl, Indie Only) Columbia Who would have thought that a 16+ minute Bob Dylan song about the Kennedy assassination would be one of our favorite quarantine songs? Well here we are folks. Bob seems to have found the next level & this 2020 record has some truly inspired moments from the living legend. A great record that will certainly appear on many 2020 year end lists if we make it that far. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Loop New LP $33.99 YAEJI

What We Drew XL "What We Drew" is the fantastic album from the Korean-American artist Kathy Lee aka YAEJI. Alternating back & forth between Korean & English lyrics, Lee often quietly sings over lush & mellow beats & playful electronic production. Some of this feels like nerdier Awkwafina or Billie Eilish if she got into house music. It's all really fun, effortless & refreshing sounding. Available at: Milwaukee Ave New LP $22.99 CORIKY

Coriky Dischord This one couldn't have landed at a better time! CORIKY is a new trio from D.C. featuring Ian Mackaye on guitar, his partner Amy Farina on drums & Joe Lally on bass & there's a lot to like here. In a lot of ways this is exactly what you probably would imagine & we mean that in the best way possible. It's like a more stripped-down FUGAZI & simultaneously a more expanded EVENS. Joe Lally is just as important in driving this band & as he was in FUGAZI & his bass lines interact with the guitar & drums perfectly. Ian & Amy trade off & share vocals & their voices sound excellent together. This is the closest we'll get to a new FUGAZI record any time soon & it's simultaneously its own thing. We didn't realize how badly we needed a record like this until we heard. RECOMMENDED. Available at: Belmont and Loop New LP $13.99 AYLER, ALBERT

New Grass (third Man Reissue) Third Man Third Man gets into the jazz game with this reissue of the classic but often misunderstood 1969 album by saxophone legend Albert Ayler. A mix of his free jazz style with some groovy soul tunes, electric bass, spoken word passages, gospel inspired backing vocals & more. It's easy to imagine that this must have turned a lot of heads back in the day, especially some stuffy critics. RECOMMENDED. Available at: All Stores New LP $22.99