Parquet Courts - Wide Awake (Rough Trade)

Parquet Courts' 5th full length album is an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There's also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that's testament to the group's restless spirit. In part, this may be attributed to the fact that it's produced by Danger Mouse, but it's also simply a triumph of their songwriter's art. Deluxe LP comes w/ full sized booklets of Andrew Savage's art.

Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel (Mom + Pop)

Courtney is known for mixing witty observations with unflinching self-assessment - and although all of the clever turns of phrase and an eye for story telling are still here; this new collection of songs see a more serious and outwardly tone capturing the current social landscape yet still retaining moments of intimacy and warmth. Deluxe CD w/ expanded booklet and red LP pressing available with free tote bag, while they last!

Ray LaMontagne - Part of the Light (RCA)

"Feels in part like an especially sprawling entry from the heyday of 70s singer songwriters whose imaginations extended far beyond coffeehouse crooning. It takes all of 45 seconds for the album's opener to conjure a flood of reference points: a strummed guitar that brings to mind Nick Drake, a tabla, a rich and searching voice that meets at the midpoint between Iron and Wine and My Morning Jacket. But the song soon coheres into something of LaMontagne's own: a warm and intoxicating, psych-infused journey that settles the mind while expanding it at the same time." - NPR

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Sparkle Hard (Matador)

The challenge with album #7 is one that any successful band with integrity faces: how to safeguard that legacy and hold on to their identity without rehashing old ground (unthinkable), and also say something meaningful while (crucially) having fun doing it? It's light 'n' breezy, head-down heavy, audacious, melancholic and reflective, goodtime and bodacious, and it pulls off the smartest trick: it's both unmistakeably The Jicks and - due to the introduction of some unexpected flourishes (Auto-Tune! A fiddle! Guest vocalist Kim Gordon! One seven-minute song with an acoustic folk intro!) - The Jicks refashioned.

Wax Chattels - s/t (Captured Tracks)

Guitarless Guitar Music. The trio doesn't have a guitar player, but their overwhelming sound and energy create an atmosphere akin to a traditional power trio. They create hypnotic, frenetic music that's rhythmically complex and sinister. There's heavily treated keyboards, unrestrained bass lines and punishing drums. And, it's loud. The opening of the one-chord tour de force "Concrete" begins in a downright jarring place, ending in a Krautrock-via-Suicide crescendo. Recalling the other side of Kiwi underground rock history - one that's less sunny, less jangly - this new act demands your attention. Playing Bloomington this summer, watch out!

Bombino - Deran (PTKF)

Bombino is an internationally acclaimed Tuareg guitarist and singer-songwriter from Agadez, Niger. His music frequently addresses Tuareg geopolitical concerns and is sung in the Tuareg language of Tamasheq. This album (recorded in Casablanca, Morocco) sees a return to his African roots while still pioneering and exploring a new style of Tuareg music which he affectionately calls 'Tuareggae' - a sunny blend of Tuareg blues/rock, reggae one-drop and bounce.

Matthew Sweet - Tomorrow's Daughter (MRI)

Matthew Sweet wrote and did most of the recording for the dozen songs on the set, while making last year's expansive Tomorrow Forever. "It's really, like, a deeper dive into the sessions that made Tomorrow Forever," says the Nebraska-based Sweet.

VA - Too Slow To Disco: Brasil (How Do You Are)

Too Slow to Disco take a dive into an often-overlooked side of Brazilian music: Brazilian soul, funk and AOR. The compiler of this Too Slow to Disco release, a giant of musical endeavor, is the young nephew of Brazil's legendary soul icon Tim Maia, the "Colossus of Rio", as he's known: Ed Motta. He's now fifteen albums into a career that hops from genre to genre, perhaps one of the savviest music makers and curators out there. He is a refined practitioner of jazz, funk, soul, AOR, and much else besides, having worked with everyone from Gilles Peterson to Roy Ayers, 4Hero, Seu Jorge, Patrice Rushen, Greg Phillinganes, Bo Diddley, Incognito, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and many other insanely talented musos.

Michael Rault - Its A New Day Tonight (Wick/Daptone)

Rault's new album has the loose-limbed feel of a lost album by 70s bands that bridged the gap between folk rock's open-hearted strumming and power pop's crisp, melody-forward confections. Wings, Badfinger, Big Star, 10cc- yet possesses an energy shot through with 21st century optimism. The album was recorded by Wayne Gordon at Daptone Studios in Brooklyn NY.

Gas - Rausch (Kompakt)

Like last year's Narkopop, Rausch is a different kind of Gas record from the classic albums, and one that seeks out a different relationship with the listener. It's imposing and dense, and even its prettiest moments have a sinister tint. And yet it has the eerie, enveloping stillness of Gas's best music. As Rausch shows, Voigt is still finding inspiration in his childhood memories and those old forests, subtly changing the way we see and hear them each time. - Resident Advisor

Ziggy Marley - Rebellion Rises (Tuff Gong)

Fully written, recorded and produced by Marley, this passionate and indelible collection of music encourages people to stand together in activism through love. "The better side of humanity, cannot let the side of humanity that push negativity and hatred be more willing," Marley explained in a recent interview. "It cannot happen. It's a battle of wills. We've got to have more will." Autographed CDs available while they last!

Nedelle Torrisi - Only for You (Frenchkiss)

From her previous solo albums to her work with Cryptacize (her band with Chris Cohen) - she has always contained a 90s-R&B sensibility. Only For You has hints of some of her heroes: Sade and Minnie Riperton, as well as modern artists like Solange, The Weeknd, and Bruno Mars. And while her influences might peer through, it is at the same time her sound alone. Cassette version via Flannelgraph.

TT [Warpaint] - LoveLaws (Caroline)

Debut solo album from TT, also known as Theresa Wayman, vocalist and guitarist of Warpaint. She's a one-woman band here: she plays bass, guitar, and synth on the album, and she programmed the drum beats on most of the tracks. She also had a little help from Warpaint bandmates Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass) and Stella Mozgawa (drums). She also co-produced the album with her brother Ivan.

Remember Sports - Slow Buzz (Father/Daughter)

Slow Buzz centers around a break up and comes at a crossroads for the band. The record is the first release under Remember Sports, a moniker that functions as both a question and a command, which foreshadows all of the deeply personal emotions Carmen experiences at the painful end of a good relationship. Her writing is diaristic and intimate; hearing this record is a strange amalgam of both melancholy and joy. Brazen and energetic as ever, its a paradox. It celebrates both the sanctity and joy of friendship in the same heartbeat as the grief attached to moving on from something difficult and nostalgic. Live at the Bishop on July 1!

Also New This Week

Ash - Islands (Liberator)
Joe Bonamassa - British Blues Explosion Live (J&R)
The Breeders - LP reissues (4AD)
Solomon Burke - Best of Atlantic Soul 1962-65 (Run Out Groove)
Burnt Ones - Last Draft in Different Rooms (Medium Sound)
Jennifer Castle - Angels of Death (Paradise of Bachelors)
The Coke Dares - Fake Lake Demos [tape] (Third Uncle)
Matt Costa - Santa Rosa Fangs (Dangerbird)
Family of the Year - Goodbye Sunshine (WB)
Five Finger Death Punch - And Justice for None (Prospect Park)
Frog Eyes - Violet Psalms (Palmetto)
Gas - Rausch (Kompakt)
Jonny Greenwood - Bodysong [reissue] (XL)
Rachel Grimes - Doctor from India (Temporary Residence)
John Wesley Harding - Greatest Other People's Hits (Omnivore)
Mary Lattimore - Hundreds of Days (Ghostly)
Colin Macleod - Bloodlines (BMG)
Paul McCartney / Wings - LP reissues (Capitol)
Brad Mehldau - Seymour Reads the Constitution (Nonesuch)
Pink Floyd - Pulse / Relics [LP reissues] (Legacy)
Quiet Slang - Everything Matters But No One Is Listening (Polyvinyl)
Otis Redding - LP reissues (Atlantic)
Ike Reilly - Crooked Love (Rock Ridge)
The Sidekicks - Happiness Hours (Epitaph)
Venetian Snares + Daniel Lanois - s/t (Timesig)
Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance (Dead Oceans)
Wet Tuna - Livin the Die LP (Feeding Tube)
Kelly Willis - Back Being Blue (Premium)