Bibio - Silver Wilkinson (Warp)

The first new music in 2 years from one of Warp's most highly respected young artists. Bibio strived for what could be called a panoramic filmic sound. A combination of what he'd already learned from the past and what he still wanted to achieve. From this mixture of years of experience and exploration of new sounds results a meditative and mature album.

Classixx - Hanging Gardens (Innovative Leisure)

This California duo treats dance music in much the same way Instagram treats photos: The band's debut feels vibrant and vintage, unmistakably young and unnaturally nostalgic, all at the same time. It's a trick Michael David and Tyler Blake, both bred in the LA suburbs, have been mastering for a while now. The childhood friends started making music together more than 10 years ago, but were known more for golden hour remixes of other artists (Phoenix, Mayer Hawthorne) than for their own songwriting. That should change with Hanging Gardens, on which they filter French house through a smooth Yacht Rock lens. The vibe is so SoCal, it's hard to imagine listening to these songs in the dark.

Cleaners from Venus - Volume 2 (Captured Tracks)

The legendary lo-fi band Cleaners from Venus formed in the small town of Wivenhoe, southeast England at the turn of 80s by Martin Newell. He never cared much for any kind of musical rule book and broke new ground with music that garnered a cult following and a highly-influential sound that continues to inspire. These 4 albums span the next chapter in the unveiling of the entire discography from the band (1981-85). One album included here contains 12 unreleased songs, making it the first new release from the band in over 25 years, dubbed A Dawn Chorus: Early Cleaners and Beyond. This is a beautiful, 4xCD foldout wallet with booklet including album bios written by Newell himself and never-before-released photos. Individual LPs available soon.

The Features - s/t (BMG)

Since releasing The Beginning EP in 2003, Nashville's The Features have established themselves as one of the most exciting and imaginative bands working today. Falling somewhere in the middle between mainstream and hipster, their sound is an amalgamation of influences and inspirations - spanning elements of Krautrock, Indie, Psychedelia, and classic AOR.

Human Eye - 4: Into Unknown (Goner)

Timmy Vulgar (Clone Defects / Timmy's Organism) is at it again. Over the course of 4: Into Unknown, the listener rides along rising and falling cascades of fuzz. Mindless twist-and-jive anthems entice, but ultimately abandon false friends in psychedelic realms while remote melodies tickle and torment the cerebellum. In many ways, 4 presents longtime fans with a reverent re-education in Human Eye's style, as it pulls influences from way back- the epochal decades of the 1960s and 70s, when groovin was the law and the mind a nebulous thing. Full of Sabbath-esque sludge-bass, trash-incinerating guitars and blown-out organs, these songs convince any would-be afficionado that the throbbing heart of rock n roll, Detroit City, while currently on life support, can still produce.

Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - Black Pudding (Ipecac)

Lanegan, never one to shy away from unique collaborations, has previously worked with Isobel Campbell, Greg Dulli and as a member of Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age and Soulsavers. On this collaboration, Lanegan says: "Duke Garwood is one of my all time favorite artists - working with him has been one of the best experiences of my recording life." Lanegan and Garwood met a few years ago while playing on the same bill and Garwood was a frequent opener on Lanegan's recent European tour. Black Pudding was recorded at Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, California by Justin Smith (Tegan & Sara, The Hives) and mixed by his Queens of the Stone Age associate Alain Johannes.

Ben Lee - Welcome to the Work (Ingrooves)

Ben Lee has been living as a working musician for over half of his lifetime. Discovered at 14 by Thurston Moore and The Beastie Boys, Moore released Lee's first recorded work via his own label. Lee then went on to record for the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal imprint. In 2005, Ben released his album Awake Is The New Sleep which went Double Platinum in Australia, where the single went on to become the first ever independently released #1 radio song in Australian history. He returns with a sonic document of Lee's experiences with the medicinal plant Ayahuasca. The 10-track set is mediative, atmospheric, often times joyous yet sometimes dark and is Ben's most ambitious work to date.

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Vol 3: Skeletal Essences of Afro Funk (Analog Africa)

"One of the funkiest bands in the world." Starting in 2005, Analog Africa made several trips to Benin, where they dug up most of the orchestra's output recorded between 1969 and 1983: hundreds of vinyl records and a few master tapes, in a total of 500 songs. With all that material in hands and the astonishing richness of the group's material, choosing the songs proved to be a tough task. Therefore, it seems only natural that it has taken a few years for this 3rd volume to come out of the sonic treasure trove. Some of the songs presented here were recorded using a legendary piece of equipment - a Swiss-made Nagra reel-to-reel recorder and one or two microphones, in private houses or open-air gardens, mostly at night. One thing that immediately catches the attention listening to this compilation is the band's steamroller-like grooves employed by Gustave Bentho, the mythical bass master, and Leopold Yehouessi, the fantastic drummer - for many, Africa's funkiest rhythm sections.

Pure X - Crawling Up the Stairs (Acephale)

Crawling Up The Stairs is the second LP from Austin, Texas' Pure X. Made up of principal members Nate Grace, Jesse Jenkins and Austin Youngblood, they stay true to the dense sound they explored on their last album, Pleasure, but add twinkling atmospherics and a new clarity to their carefully cultivated, emotionally heavy songs.

Snowden - No One in Control (Serpents & Snakes)

Jordan Jeffares - the multi-talented mind behind Snowden - toiled for almost 6 years, pushing himself and his music ever closer to madness, and that hermetic intensity can be heard in each facet of the record, finely etched with the help of producer Bill Skibbe (John Spencer Blues Explosion, The Kills, Fiery Furnaces). From syrupy pulse beats to nihilistic euphoria, Snowden has crafted a vivid portrait of obsession and isolation, of gut-wrenching doubt and ultimate redemption. With its seamless integration of haunting melodies, rhythmic ingenuity, and deft songcraft, it sees Snowden's artistry and ambition ascending to untouched new heights.

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (XL)

Modern Vampires of the City is Vampire Weekend's 3rd album, and it is a bustling world of voices and visions from the death of Henry Hudson to the Orthodox girl falling in love at an uptown falafel shop, from Hannah Hunt tearing up the NY Times on a distant beach to the lethal chandelier of "Everlasting Arms," from the ardent yearning of "Don't Lie" to the harmonized voice of hope in "Young Lion". Modern Vampires of the City has a grandeur and romanticism evocative of the city where it was conceived. Limited edition white vinyl version available locally only at Landlocked!

Wild Nothing - Empty Estate EP (Captured Tracks)

Empty Estate is the follow-up EP to the critically acclaimed Nocturne, which received several year-end accolades including album of the year in Under The Radar and iTunes. The 7-song EP was recorded in Brooklyn at Gary s Electric by Al Carlson in January.

Tape & Vinyl Zone

Bass Drum of Death - Shattered Me 8" (Innovative Leisure)
Gene Clark - Two Sides To Every Story LP (High Noon)
Love - Black Beauty LP (High Noon)

Also Released This Week

Adult - The Way Things Fall (Ghostly)
Beacon - The Ways We Separate (Ghostly)
Dump (Yo La Tengo) - I Can Hear Music (Morr)
Dungeonesse - s/t (Secretly Canadian)
Eluvium - Nightmare Ending (Temporary Residence)
Handsome Family - Wilderness (CTD)
Head East - Raise a Little Hell (CME)
Jah Cure - World Cry (Sobe)
Glenn Jones - My Garden State (Thrill Jockey)
Micah Blue Smaldone - The Ring of the Rise (Immune)
Angel Olsen - Half Way Home (Jagjaguwar)
Pharmakon - Abandon (Sacred Bones)
REM - Green [deluxe reissue] (Rhino)
Saltland - I Thought It Was Us (Constellation)
Slightly Stoopid - Live at Robertos (Stoopid)
Small Black - Limits of Desire (Jagjaguwar)
Swamp Dogg - Gag A Maggot (Alive)
Chip Taylor - Block Out the Sirens (Train Wreck)
Irma Thomas - In Between Tears (Alive)
Var - No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers (Sacred Bones)
Wampire - Curiosity (Polyvinyl)
VA - Ethiopiques 28: Great Oromo Music (Ethiopiques)
VA - Kenya Special: Selected East African (Soundway)
VA - Mirror To The Soul Caribbean 1920-72 (Soul Jazz)