Bird Show - s/t (Kranky)

Written and performed by Ben Vida (Town & Country, Singer) with Gregg Davis, Robert Lowe and Michael Zerang, recorded in Chicago, IL and Burlington, VT 2007-08. Ben Vida handles quite a few instruments on his own on this jaw-dropping release; Hammond XB-2, microKorg, Moog Voyager, Gibson SG, Berinbau, Shona Mbira, Slit Drum, Pan Pipes, Shakers, Vietnamese Jaw Harp, Tambourines, Ride Cymbal, Congas, Wood Flute, Ring Modulator, Elephant Bells, Violin, Qraqeb, Zither, Voice, Ten String Harp, Frame Drum, Finger Cymbals, Triangle and probably more!

Coldplay - LP Reissues (Capitol)

Bright, shiny new represses of the first three Coldplay albums. 2000's debut Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head from 2002 and X&Y from 2005. Get em before they're gone again!

Rodney Crowell - Sex & Gasoline (Yep Roc)

Crowell bounded onto the music landscape in 1988 with the Top 40 crossover album Diamonds and Dirt, which produced an astonishing 5 number one singles and a Grammy Award for the single "After All This Time." As part of Emmylou Harris' original Hot Band, Crowell's musical pedigree is unquestionable, at one time even earning him the right to remake Johnny Cash's singular "I Walk the Line" with Cash himself singing Rodney's reworked melody. For the new material Crowell and Henry brought in some of music's most skilled sidemen. Sex & Gasoline was produced by the legendary Joe Henry and contains what Crowell says are, "some of the best performances I've given to date." Coming October 2nd at the Bluebird!

Giant Sand - Provisions (Yep Roc)

Giant Sand is a mood, says Howe Gelb. The creative force behind the extended family that has comprised Giant Sand over the years speaks of happy accidents and musical auras that arise to inspire the soundscape that is Giant Sand. The musical family tree of the Tucson, AZ group is long and illustrious, spawning bands like Calexico and The Friends of Dean Martinez. Gelb has steadily amassed a prolific catalog of Giant Sand and solo material that spans the wealth of southwestern roots and lo-fi. The new LP is cinematic Americana at its most aching, an album of tremolo soaked guitars, moody piano and secrets whispered over desert winds. Recorded partly in Tucson and Denmark, this version of Giant Sand is comprised of Danish musicians and features talented friends such as Neko Case, M. Ward and Isobell Campbell.

Willem Maker - Stars Fell On (Fat Possum)

Poetic garage-rock-and-blues ... pastoral portraits of rebirth and renewal in the isolation of rural life with a style that suggests influences from Charlie Patton to Crazy Horse ... songs about transformation and living a life outside the lines ... certainly encourages comparisons to the garage-rock of the White Stripes or the Black Keys, [but] the lyrics dispense with the familiar riffing on the blues form. Willem Maker presents garage-rock with a self-referential modernist poet as lyricist. - No Depression.

My Morning Jacket - [LP Reissues 2] (ATO)

Part 2 of the My Morning Jacket LP Reissue campaign. After the earlier re-release of The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn, we now have 2003's It Still Moves, the live Acoustic Citsuoca EP from 2004, and Z from 2005. Get em while they're hot!

Nightmares on Wax - Thought So... (Warp)

The venerable Nightmares On Wax return with Thought So..., a sun-drenched collection of dub and heavy drums arriving just in time to wrap up summer madness. After paving the way for soul-minded beat-smiths like Madlib and Flying Lotus, this latest LP is another important step in an already iconic career. Buoyant and supremely catchy, Thought So... is another skillful combo of advanced production and vintage groove. In short, the record gives fans everything they have come to expect from Nightmares On Wax.

P is for Panda - Mixtape Vol 1 (Hopeless)

Super budget priced compilation from this new label. Featuring Gasoline Heart, Andy Shauf, Discover America, Damion Suomi, Mike Dunn and The Kings of New England, Pasadena and J.R. Rund and The Hold Up. What have you got to lose?

Radiohead - LP Reissues (Capitol)

The time is here - people have been aching for these for a looong time. The first six albums - Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief. Kid A and Amnesiac are even recreated in their original 2x10" format. Nice!

The Residents - The Bunny Boy (Santa Dog)

With The Bunny Boy, The Residents have created another off beat pop gem. A sonic roller coaster in the style of Duck Stab, The Commercial Album and Demons Dance Alone, the album features 19 fast paced songs. Obsession, insanity and the coming Apocalypse.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - s/t (Say Hey)

On his self-titled debut, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson enlists all-star help in friends Chris Taylor and Chris Bear of Grizzly Bear and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio. But he isn't overshadowed by these more accomplished musicians; instead, Robinson has a style and flair all his own. His emotive, at times tormented rock rides on the clamor of discordant guitar jabs, tinny drums, and pained singing. - NPR

Carrie Rodriguez - She Ain't Me (Manhattan)

Carrie's sophomore release still showcases her intimate croon, but this classically trained singer/songwriter has just begun flexing her artistic muscles. She Ain't Me is an expectation-confounding statement from Carrie, who notes, "Because I took some chances, wrote with some new people and actually co-wrote most of the songs on the album, it's very different." For She Ain't Me, the Austin-born, Berklee-trained violinist-turned-fiddler teamed with producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Patti Smith, Kaki King) and wrote with Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, as well as Mary Gauthier, Dan Wilson, and Jim Boquist. The album also features a guest vocal appearance by Lucinda Williams.

The Rumble Strips - Girls and Weather (Gigantic)

The Rumble Strips' debut full length sees the Devonshire 4-piece bringing their unique blend of brass-led ska, soul and indie into the mainstream. Relatively image-free, they carry nostalgia for an England of yore where boys could carry conkers in their coat pockets, sip at shandy on special occasions and be happy with their lot, without crossing over into the realm of novelty. Their reliance on thrifty rhythmic foundations, strong vocals and chipper horn arrangements originally places them somewhere between The Housemartins, Madness and Dexy's Midnight Runners, whilst also charging through a kind of frantic, ruffled songwriting.

Teenage Jesus & The Jerks / Beirut Slump - Shut Up & Bleed (Atavistic)

Fantastic archival release from Atavistic Records collecting rare, live and unreleased material from the No Wave flagship band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Featuring artist/writer/musician/provocateur Lydia Lunch. Parallel to Teenage Jesus, Lunch formed Beirut Slump, a short-lived unit that released one single and recorded an album's worth of material, which are also included on this remarkable collection.

Tussle - Cream Cuts (Smalltown Supersound)

Cream Cuts finds Tussle expanding upon it's own unique mix of drums, bass & electronics, at times echoing the elasticity & straight forward live approach of their debut, Kling Klang, but with more color & complexity, while also integrating the psychedelic pulsating pound heard on Telescope Mind. Moving above & beyond their first two releases, Tussle map out worlds upon worlds on Cream Cuts, riding songs from creation to destruction to rebirth. The unconventional production techniques & talent for capturing intimate performances integrate with Tussle's krauty exploration of rhythm leading to the bands most epic, experimental yet holistic release to date. Check em out live next week at Bluebird!

UNKLE - End Titles: Stories for Film (Surrender All)

The fifth album from the dance-rock crossover heroes, comes almost exactly a year after their last album War Stories and as the title suggests is a collection of cinematic pieces "inspired by the moving image", some of which have actually featured in films. Intersperses short string interludes and moments of gorgeous ambient warmth with driving, rock-influenced anthems such as they recorded on War Stories. Stories For Film features collaborations with Josh Homme [Queens Of The Stone Age], Gavin Clark [Clayhill], Joel Cadbury [South], Philip Sheppard, Black Mountain and Abel Ferrara.

T.K. Webb & The Visions - Ancestor (Kemado)

TK Webb's second solo LP, 2006's Phantom Parade, was dubbed by Rolling Stone Magazine as a 4-star, oddly gripping effort. Joining Webb in the new band on second guitar is Brian Hale (ex-Love As Laughter), Nic Gonzales (The Comas, Love As Laughter, Blood on the Wall) on drums, and Jordan Gable rounding out the line up on bass. This new cast helps take TK's acoustic visions and plugs them in through the Marshall, making for a heavier, more cohesive listen than Webb's previous work. Ancestor speaks of modern day paranoia, love, and a host of other human emotions many of us face in our day-to-day, making for not only an amazingly heavy, but also a sincerely beautiful recording. TK Webb is the undiscovered blues genius of the east village - The Fader.

Wee - You Can Fly On My Aeroplane (*)

The second in a trilogy of Columbus, Ohio soul albums to be issued on Numero's Asterisk imprint comes from the twisted pen and mind of Norman Whiteside. His lone album, under the pseudonym Wee, is firmly ensconced in Innervisions-era Stevie Wonder, with nary a trace of his work as a writer for Bill Moss' Capsoul label a few years prior. Smooth, sexy, and synthy, You Can Fly On My Aeroplane is a peerless sprawling psychedelic soul concept album. The original nine song LP has been expanded to nineteen, including seven previously unreleased panty soakers. Lovers rejoice.

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun (Capitol)

A musical love letter from Southern California, That Lucky Old Sun continues the awe-inspiring concept album journey that Brian Wilson first began with The Beach Boys' 1966 classic, Pet Sounds & has continued to evolve during his solo career, highlighted by his 2004 critically-acclaimed Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. The four transitional narratives, co-written with Van Dyke Parks and spoken by Wilson, offer cameos on life and the heartbeat of Los Angeles which propels the album's musical story. Limited Edition CD/DVD features exclusive "making of" with bonus video content. Free bonus 45 w/ purchase!

Also Released This Week (but not necc in stock, ask us!)

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds [LP reissue] (Capitol)
Broadfield Marchers - The Inevitable Continuing (Rainbow Quartz)
Carcass - Swansong (Earache)
Chemical Brothers - Brotherhood (Astralwerks)
Dungen - Satt Att Se LP (Mexican Summer)
Expo 70 - Black Ohms (Bela Lectam)
Hollywood Undead - Swan Songs (A&M)
Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve [reissue] (Nuclear Blast)
Nachtmystium - Worldfall LP (Mexican Summer)
New Kids on the Block - The Block (Interscope)
Opeth - LP Reissues (Koch)
Paper Route - Are We All Forgotten (Low Altitude)
A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms [LP reissue] (Capitol)
Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope (Lovitt)
Soft Machine - Alive in Paris 1970 DVD (Koch)
The Three Sounds - Soul Symphony [reissue] (Blue Note)
Toxic Holocaust - An Overdose of Death (Relapse)
Underoath - Lost In The Sound Of Separation (Tooth & Nail)
The Verve - Forth LP (MRI)
Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - s/t (Stiff)
Young Jeezy - The Recession (Def Jam)
VA - Slimewave: Goregrind Series (Relapse)