Twerps - Range Anxiety (Merge)

Formed in Melbourne in late 2008, Twerps enjoyed immediate success, releasing a series of vinyl singles and cassettes on various labels around the world. The release of their 2011 debut album led to appearances at SXSW and CMJ and tours with Real Estate, Mac DeMarco, and others. Bonus 7" with purchase! Playing at the Bishop April 10th!

NormanOak - Ancient Friends LP (Sygil)

New LP from former Impossible Shapes frontman Chris Barth. "With Ancient Friends, it's more about exploring outside of time towards ancient ways of looking at the world. I'm talking about pre-human worlds... worlds that were here before we were. A lot the writing for Ancient Friends was done before, during, and right after traveling in South America." His first with a new "heavier" sound and new backing/live band of Alex Mann (bass), Adam Sommer (drums), and Ryan Baker (guitar). Also features Aurora Dorey Alice and Tyler Damon.

Aphex Twin - Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2 EP (Warp)

Among plentiful praise, one of the main criticisms hurled at Aphex Twin's Syro when it arrived last year was that it sounded a bit straightforward, a bit safe. As if Richard D James - lest we forget, a man who once DJed using not vinyl, but a sheet of sandpaper - had, in his dotage, decided to give the people what they want. Well, rest assured, Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2 is not playing to the gallery. Billed as an EP, here are 13 tracks which suggest pretty much what the title implies: a room full of drums, cymbals, piano, pipe organ and various stringed instruments played not by human hands, but by signals zipping around circuit boards.

The Lone Bellow - Then Came the Morning (Descendant)

Then Came the Morning, the second album by the Southern-born, Brooklyn-based indie-folk trio, The Lone Bellow, opens with a crest of churchly piano, a patter of drums, and a fanfare of voices harmonizing like a sunrise. It's a powerful introduction, enormous and overwhelming, as Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin testify mightily to life's great struggles and joys, heralding the morning that dispels the dark night: "Then came the morning! It was bright, like the light that you kept from your smile!" Working with producer Aaron Dressner of the National, the Lone Bellow has created a sound that mixes folk sincerity, gospel fervor, even heavy metal thunder, but the heart of the band is harmony: three voices united in a lone bellow.

Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again (Drag City)

"Pratt's first album was intoxicating from start to finish - hushed, calm, fragile narratives shot through with glimmers of carefree California light. She'd recorded mostly at home, in quiet moments, and left some tunes alone for years before sharing them. The first thing to know about On Your Own Love Again is that it, too, is homemade. Pratt creates a series of dream-like miniatures that feel intimate and mystical-fantastical at the same time. With Pratt, you pay attention to just the words, and then the breaths that follow, the echoes, the wistful vapor trails receding into the distance. There are epic stories swirling around inside of that stuff, and they might not necessarily be the same stories she's telling in words." - NPR

Danny Kroha - Angels Watching Over Me (Third Man)

The founding member of THE GORIES tried his hand at the banjo, dulcimer, diddley bow, washtub bass, jug, and the result is a distinct step forward for gospel and folk as genres. Kroha has consistently pushed himself to reinvention, and has influenced countless imitators and poseurs along the way. Angels was recorded in a 100-year-old vacant house in Detroit, and features songs popularized by the likes of Son House, I.D. Stamper, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Brother Will Hairston. This is a decidedly different Danny than we've seen in his past projects with Demolition Doll Rods and Danny and the Darleans. "The numbers that bounce really bounce. The numbers that drone really drone."

Dodos - Individ (Polyvinyl)

For the Dodos "the best time to make a record is right after you've finished one" says vocalist and guitarist Meric Long. Having just wrapped up the sessions for their previous record Carrier, and fired up on the level of comfort achieved with brothers Jay and Ian Pellicci at Tiny Telephone studio, the duo immediately began laying to tape the batch of songs that would result in their latest and sixth record, entitled Individ.

The Punch Brothers - The Phosphorescent Blues (Nonesuch)

Chris Thile explains one of the ways the music on The Phosphorescent Blues reflects the band's view of modern life: "We often go to bars after shows or writing sessions, to be around other people for a little while. And I'd see people just like me on their phones, telling people they wish they were there, texting people who really are there. Then a song would come on that somebody likes and then they see that someone else does too and maybe they both sing it together and that moment is spiritual, some shared experience, and they are interacting in the flesh, with their fellow man. And that's communion. Many of the songs on this record dive into that: how do we cultivate beautiful, three-dimensional experiences with our fellow man in this day and age?"

Dengue Fever - The Deepest Lake (MRI)

Dengue Fever is in the vanguard of an emerging global pop sensibility, making music that's both familiar, yet eerily unique. With five full-length releases, the Los Angeles sextet blends the rhythms of 60s Cambodian Pop - heavily influenced by American surf, rock and early psychedelic garage bands - with their own eclectic mix of American and international styles.

Milo Greene - Control (Elektra)

Control was recorded earlier this year with producer Jesse Shatkin (Sia, Foster The People, Ellie Goulding) at his Highland Park, California home studio. The band also enlisted the help of legendary drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, Atoms For Peace), who shaped much of the album's complex rhythmic backdrop while also contributing drums to a number of tracks.

Amason - Sky City (Fairfax)

Amason are the collective talents of Swedes: Pontus Winnberg (Miike Snow), Gustav Ejstes (Dungen), Petter Winnberg (Little Marjorette), Amanda Bergman (Hajen, Idiot Wind), and Nils Tornqvist (Little Marjorette). They sing lyrics in both their native Swedish and in English. Bringing five busy people together and getting crafted songs down in a state of permanence is a mammoth undertaking in and of itself. But as the old adage goes, where there is a will, there is a way. And the Amason will, the Amason way, is celebrated and magnified and revolves around the power of music.

Tape & Vinyl & Print Zone

Bull Tongue Review - Vol 1 [zine]
Cal & the Calories (Lumps & the Dumpers) - Bastard in a Yellow Suit 7" (Total Punk)
Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand / King Shit & the Golden Boys [LP reissues] (Scat)
Lions - Soul Riot LP (Stones Throw)
Midnite Snaxxx - Don't Wake Me Up 7" (Total Punk)
Mild High Club - Windowpane 7" (Stones Throw)
Gabriel Garzon-Montano - Bishoune: Alma del Huila LP (Styles Upon Styles)
Nots - We Are Nots LP (Goner)
NRBQ - Interstellar 10" (Sundazed)
Ricked Wicky [Robert Pollard] - 3 x 7"s (GBV)
Screamers - Save the Masque 1978 [tape]
Girma Yifrashewa - Love & Peace LP (Unseen Worlds)

Also Released This Week

Jamie Cullum - Interlude (Island)
Jake Xerxes Fussell - s/t (Paradise of Bachelors)
Govt Mule feat. John Scofield - Sco-Mule (Evil Teen)
Kinks - Anthology 1964-1971 5CD (Sanctuary)
Mogwai - Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. EP (Rock Action)
Josh Ritter - Acoustic Live Vol 1: Somerville Theater (Pytheas)
John Tejada - Signs Under Test (Kompakt)
Bjorn Torske - Trobel / Nedi Myra (Smalltown Supersound)