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Music Releases 06-02-23

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But Here We Are is the new album from Foo Fighters, and marks the bands return after a year of staggering losses, personal introspection and bittersweet remembrances. A brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured recently, But Here We Are is a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family. Courageous, damaged and unflinchingly authentic, the album opens with “Rescued,” the first of 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between.

But Here We Are is in nearly equal measure the 11th Foo Fighters album and the first chapter of the band’s new life. Sonically channeling the naiveté of Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut, informed by decades of maturity and depth, But Here We Are is the sound of brothers finding refuge in the music that brought them together in the first place 28 years ago, a process that was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life. 

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Avenged Sevenfold’s new album, Life Is But A Dream is a timeless work of art that blurs genres. Best served as a whole and consumed en masse to truly appreciate its musical breadth and sonic depth, it marks their boldest statement and most revolutionary work to date. Written and recorded over the span of 4 years, it was produced by Joe Barresi and Avenged Sevenfold in Los Angeles and mixed by Andy Wallace in the Poconos, PA. Inspired by Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the album is a journey through an existential crisis; a very personal exploration into the meaning, purpose and value of human existence with the anxiety of death always looming. Immerse into this experience…

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Brooklyn bedroom-pop trailblazers Beach Fossils' new album Bunny is a triumphant return for one of the 2010s most influential NYC bands. Bunny is a precise blend of the luscious dream-pop atmospheres they notoriously honed on their earliest projects, the post-punk vigor expressed on Clash The Truth, and the warm sophisticated songwriting of Somersault. Composer Dustin Payseur peppers the album equally with descriptions of the joy of fatherhood and the existential pleasure of smoking cigarettes out of a car window with friends -- Bunny features Beach Fossils' most personal lyrics to-date.

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Lucky For You is Bully's most close-to-the-bone album yet. It's an album that's searing and unmistakably marked by it's creator's experiences, while still retaining the massive sound that Alicia Bognanno has become known for over the last decade. Her fourth album draws from personal pain and the universal struggle that is existing, learning, and moving on-and it's all soundtracked by Bognanno's rock-solid melodic sensibilities and a widescreen sound that's impossible to pin down when it comes to the textures explored. These ten songs are simply the most irresistible Bognanno's put to tape yet, making Lucky For You her greatest triumph to date in a career already packed with them. Work on Lucky For You began last year, when Bognanno brought some in-progress demos to producer J.T. Daly in his Nashville studio to see if they could strike creative kismet. "Authenticity is always on my mind, without even knowing it," she explains while discussing their recording process together. "It was g
New Vinyl: $24.98
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Little Broken Hearts [Deluxe Edition 3 LP] - Norah Jones defied expectations with her 5th studio album Little Broken Hearts, a striking collaboration with Danger Mouse that arrived a decade after her debut Come Away With Me, prompting SPIN to call it "the 2nd essential record of Norah Jones' career." Deluxe Edition features an expanded 31-track set curated by Jones with rare bonus tracks, alternate versions, remixes, and a previously unreleased live version of the album recorded for Austin City Limits in 2012.
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An indie pop duo whose music has a cool retro vibe buoyed by smooth melodies, a naturalistic sound, and warm harmonies, Purr is a collaboration between songwriters, musicians, and longtime friends Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen. The two previously worked together as Jack + Eliza, but while that project emphasized spare and stripped-down accompaniment, Purr’s recordings feature a fuller sound with a larger palette of instrumental flavors that often references ‘60s pop. Purr introduced themselves to the world with a 2018 single, “Bad Advice” b/w “Painted Memory,” that showed off their talents as both writers and vocalists, and they further refined their style on their first full-length album, 2020’s Like New and continue that on forthcoming album Who Is Afraid Of Blue?

To make it, the duo teamed up with their close friend, producer Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty, The Killers), whom they worked with on ‘Like New.’ They went to his North Hollywood studio, a small building behind his home. This was during Omicron, so they kept recording small, just the three of them in a room for most of the time. Programmed drums on an 808, that kind of thing. While they recorded, they screened movies. Ranging from Barbara Loden’s Wanda, to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, to Dr. Strange and The Avengers. It all provided texture to the songs. Like making a score. “It’s a really hermetic record,” says Staffen, “which ended up feeling really special.”

Sonically, Who Is Afraid Of Blue? isn’t beholden by genre. It is an omnivorous record—you can hear glimmers of Aimee Mann, Radiohead, the Cocteau Twins which is fitting because Blue is in some ways a record of their process of falling in love with music all over again.

Who Is Afraid Of Blue? also exists lightly in conversation with a short novel Callahan wrote (forthcoming via Catapult, 2024), an auto-fiction document of a woman losing her hearing. And all of it comes back to those Newman works: Purr makes music that functions like those large-scale paintings so very saturated with color. Blue is a vast record, with lyrics that bend towards abstraction. But make no mistake: in that abstraction there is intense clarity. Blue is blue: a color, a feeling, a signifier, a way of looking at the world.

New Vinyl: $23.98 Video
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A collection of unreleased songs from Kenny Rogers' archives that tells the story of the love, life, loss and faith between Kenny and his wife, Wanda, and their two children. The album features the long sought after "Goodbye" written by Lionel Richie, interpretations of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and "I Wish It Would Rain" originally recorded by The Temptations, and "Tell Me That You Love Me" a lost duet between Kenny and Dolly Parton.

New Vinyl: $27.98 Video
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Closing Time foreshadows the distinctly lyrical storytelling and original blending of jazz, blues, and folk styles that would come to be associated with Waits. It is on this debut album that Waits performs enduring classics of his career “Ol’ 55” (famously covered by the Eagles), the heartbreaking “Martha” and the gentle acoustic folk of “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You”. Reissued for the first time as a double LP to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the landmark debut with newly half speed mastering at Abbey Road Studios.

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Regular Jacket with Matte Varnish, Heavyweight 180g Clear Vinyl.. There is no Neil Frances. OK, sort of. Neil Frances is not a solo artist, it's the name of a duo comprised of Sydney-born Jordan Feller and Southern California native Marc Gilfry. To help you remember that Neil Frances is not a person, the duo has named it's debut LP There Is no Neil Frances. Neil Frances' signature sound is beat-driven pop infused with a more organic warmth than most modern music. Putting special emphasis on their enthralling live sets-the group quickly developed a reputation as a must-see stage artist opening for SG Lewis, Jungle, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The band explains, "Our new album is about self-realization and becoming the person that you dream of. The concept is that we are insects on earth who ascend into outer space to become divas at a galactic ball." The album features both GRAE and Benny Sings.
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Shadow Kingdom presents Dylan performing revelatory 21st century versions of songs from his storied back catalog – including fan favorites like “Forever Young” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” and deep catalog gems like “Queen Jane Approximately” and “Wicked Messenger.” Originally reinterpreted for an exclusive streaming film event, which aired in July 2021, Shadow Kingdom will now be available on vinyl, CD, and streaming platforms for the first time.  The album's setlist includes 13 original songs handpicked by Dylan for his Shadow Kingdom performance plus the closing instrumental, "Sierra's Theme."

New Vinyl: $34.98

Movie Releases 06-06-23

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TULSA KING follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a “crew” from a group of unlikely characters, to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet. This Season 1 release includes all 9 episodes with over 90 minutes of content that goes behind the scenes with the cast and crew in 6 never before seen making of featurettes.

Special Features:

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND: GENESIS

CARPE D.M.: STALLONE

MERCY AND MALICE: THE CAST

HABERDASHERY: COSTUME DESIGN

OUTTHINK YOUR ENEMY: STUNTS

THE HERE AND NOW: ON LOCATION IN TULSA

PLUS, BEHIND THE STORY FOR EVERY EPISODE!

creen; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English (SDH); featurette.

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