Amsterdam's BENNY SINGS returns with a bright, summer LP of slick 70s smooth soul & boogie with an updated instrumental palette. Think SHINTARO SAKAMOTO, MAYER HAWTHORNE, and MAC DeMARCO at his most soulful. On Stones Throw and RECOMMENDED.

Amsterdam's BENNY SINGS returns with a bright, summer LP of slick 70s smooth soul & boogie with an updated instrumental palette. Think SHINTARO SAKAMOTO, MAYER HAWTHORNE, and MAC DeMARCO at his most soulful. On Stones Throw and RECOMMENDED.

The legendary 2003 album by Portland's THE EXPLODING HEARTS has been expanded & remastered by Third Man for its 20 year anniversary. There are so many great songs on this with nods at 70s power pop, 80s punk ala BUZZCOCKS, UNDERTONES & THE CLASH while simultaneously sounding like nothing else in 2003. RECOMMENDED.

Produced by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics!

Chicago's Chicago-Reader-nominated Best Rock Band's 3rd LP of bubblegrunge pop

80'S HIT (& SASSON AD!) SAD SONGS SAY SO MUCH

A year after the cheerful, aptly titled LP "Sunshine Rock", BOB gets pissed off again with "Blue Hearts". This is some of the most overtly political music of MOULDs career, digging into the deepening unrest and divides within the United States that have come to the forefront in the last four years (and especially in 2020). And "Blue Hearts" also explores some of MOULD's past struggles, such as his time as a closeted gay man in the 1980s. Recorded at Chicago's Electrical Audio, this is yet another bracing, heavy record from the punk legend and comes obviously RECOMMENDED.

Classic psych/prog featuring PETER HAMMILL and including the side-long epic jam "Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers". Amazing...

Natalie Mering's 5th WEYES BLOOD album is yet another cosmic leap forward in her already excellent body of work. 'And In The Darkness' is every bit as epic in scope as 'Titanic Rising' and her songs still swell with echoes of 70's folk pop & AM Gold like NILSSON, CAROLE KING and THE CARPENTERS, but now it feels like Mering is fully assured in this style and ready to wield it like a superpower. The lush musicality is often in stark contrast to the lyrical content, which deals eloquently with feelings we all know too well from pandemic times - isolation, regret, and yearning to see a little light. The effect is thrillingly subversive & transformative, like a great magic trick. Special guests here include ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER, HAND HABITS' MEG DUFFY, and MARY LATTIMORE. This is an undeniable album of the year contender coming in under the wire. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!