Indie Exclusive Releases
Sylvan Esso -"WITH" : In November 2019 Sylvan Esso staged a unique new tour called WITH. Through seven shows in four select cities, the group presented their music like never-before; collaborating with some of their favorite musicians to create an experience that was totally memorable. The sold-out shows took place in iconic venues like LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall, NYC's Beacon Theatre, Nashville's Ryman Auditorium and ended in their hometown at the Durham Performing Arts Center. Indie Exclusive Double LP
Free Love thrives on collaborative frisson—two people pushing one another into new territories with the shared assurance of knowing they’re in good company, a sort of trust fall in reverse. Yes, these 10 songs are some of Sylvan Esso’s most direct. And most delicate. And most intricate. And most urgent. Free Love carries the confidence of two people delighted to be all those things, together, at once. LP pressed on Sky Blue Vinyl.
COLOR LP: S&M2, the live set from Metallica & The San Francisco Symphony is the concert event of the year! S&M2 features 20 songs (over 2.5 hours of music) from the two-night event that opened San Francisco’s new Chase Center, with many Metallica fan favorites and 2 unique classical songs chosen by San Francisco Symphony Musical Director Michael Tilson Thomas. S&M2 has newly re-mixed and remastered audio for a whole new sound from the original theatrical run in October 2019. Four marbled orange LPs with a 16-page 12x12 booklet featuring photos by Anton Cobijn. Download card included. Exclusive to independent retail and Metallica.com.
Metallica and San Francisco Symphony’s September 6 & 8, 2019 S&M2 concerts were historic on multiple levels: They served as the grand opening of San Francisco’s Chase Center, reunited the band and Symphony for the first time since the 1999 performances captured on the Grammy-winning S&M album, and featured the first-ever symphonic renditions of songs written and released since those original S&M shows.
The sold out shows were rapturously received by the 40,000 fans who traveled from nearly 70 countries, as well as the media: Rolling Stone raved “the group proved that anything was possible,” Variety noted an atmosphere “buzzing with excitement,” while the Mercury News witnessed "a concert that fans will be talking about for decades to come,” and Consequence of Sound hailed "a true celebration of Metallica and their musical prowess.”
The fifth studio album from Baroness, Gold & Grey, is out on June 14th via the band's own label, Abraxan Hymns.
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The legendary So-Cal punk group The Offspring return with their 10th album (and first new offering since 2008), the blistering and triumphant Let The Bad Times Roll. Produced by Bob Rock, the group describes the album as "the most cathartic thing we've done. The messages might be dark, but at the end what's left is that communication is important, working through feelings is important and most of all, hope is important."
Jake Shears
Last Man Dancing [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Orange Marble LP]
Vinyl: $35.98 PREORDER
On Last Man Dancing, Jake Shears turns his lifelong love affair with club culture into his most ambitious pop music to date. The album was brought to vivid life by Jake Shears and a close crew of collaborators, including head-turning features from Kylie Minogue, Jane Fonda, Iggy Pop, Amber Martin, and a pre-Renaissance turn from the iconic Big Freedia.
The group went back to the basics (and the basement) for WAKE UP, SUNSHINE. Throughout 2019, the four musicians—Alex Gaskarth [vocals, guitar], Jack Barakat [guitar, vocals], Zack Merrick [bass, vocals], and Rian Dawson [drums]—congregated together in Nashville at Rian’s studio and at a Palm Springs rental house. Face-to-face, they wrote and recorded the 15-song affair joined by co-writer, producer, and collaborator Zakk Cervini.
Deluxe double vinyl LP pressing. 2020 release from the alt-rock band led by singer/songwriter Mark Everett (AKA E). Earth to Dora is the follow-up to the band's 2018 release The Deconstruction.

THE ICONIC GARY NUMAN is set to release his brand new album Intruder on May 21st. Intruder is Numan’s 18th solo studio album and follows 2017’s Savage: Songs From A Broken World, which became his highest charting set in almost forty years when it debuted at #2 on the Official Albums Chart. That commercial success was complemented with wide-reaching critical acclaim from Mojo, The Quietus, Rolling Stone and more. Whereas Savage depicted earth as a barren wasteland in which humanity and culture had been largely crushed by the effects of global warming, Intruder presents a fresh but complementary narrative. It’s a philosophical examination of a potential future apocalypse: the planet can only survive by purging its inhabitants. Numan explains: “‘Intruder’ looks at climate change from the planet’s point of view. If Earth could speak, and feel things the way we do, what would it say? How would it feel? The songs, for the most part, attempt to be that voice, or at least try to express what I believe the earth must feel at the moment. The planet sees us as its children now grown into callous selfishness, with a total disregard for it’s well being. It feels betrayed, hurt and ravaged. Disillusioned and heartbroken it is now fighting back. Essentially, it considers human kind to be a virus attacking the planet. Climate change is the undeniable sign of the Earth saying enough is enough, and finally doing what it needs to do to get rid of us, and explaining why it feels it has to do it.”
Debut album from Paul McCartney. Apart from wife Linda's vocal contributions, McCartney performed the entire album by himself, playing every instrument. Including the monumental track 'Maybe I'm Amazed,' the album held the number one position for three weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart and peaked at number 2 in Britain. Now reissued on 180g vinyl with included download card to complete your collection.
Recorded at Ardent Studios and released in 1972, the album has gone on to become one of the most influential and iconic debut albums of all time. This 50th-anniversary edition is pressed on 180-gram metallic gold with purple smoke vinyl and features all-analog mastering by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. The album has been included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, with the song “Thirteen” featured in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Moby’s eclectic career has cast him in the roles of electronic dance music pioneer, singer and songwriter, producer, activist, and restaurateur, but for his latest venture he presents his music in a whole new light.
Together with Deutsche Grammophon, he is releasing an album of his best known tracks in stunning new arrangements for classical instruments – featuring Moby himself and a stellar lineup of collaborators from across the musical spectrum.
Always a daring and imaginative thinker, Moby’s first classical collaboration happened in October 2018, when he performed a selection of his songs alongside the LA Phil and conductor and friend Gustavo Dudamel. This was the inspiration for the current project, which features not only full orchestral versions but new electronic arrangements, as well as sophisticated smaller-scale acoustic interpretations.
The 14-track album includes classic Moby songs like “Porcelain”, “Why Does My Heart”, and “Extreme Ways” in innovative new versions, featuring eye-catching collaborations including both Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Víkingur Ólafsson on “Porcelain”; Gregory Porter and Amythyst Kiah on “Natural Blues”; and Kris Kristofferson as well as original vocalist Mark Lanegan on “The Lonely Night”. The album concludes with a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes”.

Smashing Pumpkins
ATUM [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition 4LP w/ Exclusive Inserts]
Vinyl: $79.98 PREORDER
The indie variant includes three exclusive screen-printed inserts, each inspired by the three acts of ATUM.

A heady cocktail of dub rhythms, island vibes and his own sweetly melodic topline, The irony is that Letts hadn’t really intended to make music of his own. Conceived during Covid down time and produced by Gaudi with a bunch of bass lines provided by Youth (The Orb/Killing Joke) that kick-started the whole thing.
The album is chockfull of guest vocalists including Terry Hall, Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, The Slits' Hollie Cook, Zoe Devlin Love and Honor Letts, aka Letts’ second youngest daughter.
+++ (Crosses)
PERMANENT.RADIANT EP [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Neon Green Vinyl]
Vinyl: $21.98 PREORDER
“PERMANENT.RADIANT is the newest EP from the darkly cinematic duo ††† (Crosses) featuring Chino Moreno of Deftones on vocals and Shaun Lopez on production and instrumentation. This project features the previously released singles “Vivien” and “Sensation,” along with the once exclusive vinyl track “Day One.” Eerie synth arrangements and pulsating percussion culminate in a lush, sprawling soundscape captured throughout this collection of songs. Chino Moreno's lyrics and vocal textures combined with Shaun Lopez's immersive production and sound design create a world that will likely transport anyone who listens to places both familiar and new.
Dinosaur Jr.
Sweep It Into Space [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Purple Ripple LP]
Vinyl: $24.98 Buy
On limited Translucent Purple Ripple vinyl. Here is Sweep It Into Space, the fifth new studio album cut by Dinosaur Jr.. during the 13th year of their rebirth. Originally scheduled for issue in mid 2020, this record's temporal trajectory was thwarted by the coming of the Plague. But it would take more than a mere Plague to tamp down the exquisite fury of this trio when they are fully dialed-in. And Sweep It Into Space is a masterpiece of zoned dialing. Recorded, as usual, at Amherst's Biquiteen, the sessions for Sweep It Into Space began in the late Autumn of 2019, following a West Coast/South East tour. The only extra musician used this time with Kurt Vile. Indeed, Sweep It Into Space is a very cool album. As is typical, Lou Barlow writes and sings two of the album's dozen tunes and Murph's pure-Flinstonian drumming drives the record like a go cart from Hell. Lou's songs here are as elegant as always. But there are very few moments where you wouldn't know you were hearing Dinosaur Jr. In blindfolded needle drop. They have a signature sound as sure as the Stooges or Sonic Youth or Discharge ever did. They continue to expand their personal universe with Sweep It Into Space, without ever losing their central core.
Produced by Sean Ono Lennon and mixed by Dave Fridmann (Beach House, Spoon, The Flaming Lips) , Temples fourth full-length album takes place in an impossibly utopic island dreamed up by the four band members. With its resplendent collage of psychedelia, krautrock and time-bending dream-pop, Exotico brings that world to life in crystalline detail, all while exploring an entire spectrum of existential themes: impermanence, mortality, our connection with nature and the wild immensity of the mind.
72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”
-James Hetfield
The explosion of indie Hip Hop labels in the early 90s resulted in an ongoing snowball effect that started to shift the narrative around an artist’s need to sign to a major label. Coincidentally, quality home recording equipment was also becoming more easily accessible and, with the rising popularity of CD-R technology, this allowed artists to write, record, and manufacture their own albums right at home.
Appleseed was a highly celebrated and influential release from that era, cementing Aesop Rock as a new face whose talent could not be denied. The album explores creative concepts with inventive writing and stripped-down yet melodic and melancholic production. Six out of the eight songs were produced byAesop Rock, with OmegaOne producing “Sick Friend” and longtime collaborator Blockhead handling “1000 Deaths”, and the project’s sole guest lyricist was Doseone.
The DIY process was followed in every aspect, as Aesop himself recalls, “I did the Appleseed hand style while working at Tepper Galleries in NYC. The cover was made at Kinko’s. The first Appleseed CD’s were CD-R’s I duped at home and sold from my backpack at an MF DOOM show at Brownies, which was right below my apartment at the time. I continued to sell hand to hand inNY, while Blockhead started fielding some mail orders from a young internet. People would send us cash or a check, and he’d cut the covers out and mail them off.“
The two of them were able to move a couple thousand CDs that way before turning their attention to newer projects, particularly Float in Aesop’s case. As a result, Appleseed went out of print for many years before resurfacing as a merch item on tour. However, in all that time it was only available on CD, directly from Aesop.
Finally, 21 years after its debut, Appleseed officially returns, now available on vinyl for the first time!
The Wood Brothers
Heart is the Hero [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear LP]
Vinyl: $23.98 PREORDER
The Wood Brothers have learned to trust their hearts. For the better part of two decades, they've cemented their reputation as freethinking songwriters, road warriors, and community builders, creating a catalog of diverse music and a loyal audience who’ve grown alongside them through the years. That evolution continues with Heart is the Hero, the band's eighth studio album. Recorded analog to 16-track tape, this latest effort finds its three creators embracing the chemistry of their acclaimed live shows by capturing their performances in real-time direct from the studio floor with nary a computer in sight. An acoustic-driven album that electrifies, Heart is the Hero is stocked with songs that target not only the heart, but the head and hips, too.
"We love records that come from the era of less tracks and more care," explains co-founder Oliver Wood. "When you use a computer during the tracking process, you have an infinite number of tracks at your disposal, which implies that nothing is permanent, and everything can be fixed. Tape gives you limitations that force you to be creative and intentional. You don't look at the music on a screen; you listen to it, and you learn to focus on the feeling of the performance.”
Throughout Heart is the Hero, those performances are matched by the visceral storytelling and songwriting chops that have turned The Wood Brothers into Grammy-nominated leaders of American roots music, even as their music reaches far beyond the genre's borders. The stripped-down swagger of "Pilgrim'' underscores Oliver's reminder to slow down and experience each moment as an interactive observer, rather than a passive tourist. A similar theme anchors “Between the Beats," where Oliver draws upon a meditation technique — maintaining one's focus on the space between heartbeats — to reach a new level of presence. The gentle sway of country soul gem “Rollin’ On,” featuring horns by Matt Glassmeyer and Roy Agee, expounds on the time-honored tradition of love as the guiding light through darkness, while ”Mean Man World" finds Chris Wood singing about his responsibilities as a father whose young daughter is poised to inherit an uncertain future. "Line Those Pockets'' is a universal call for mercy and understanding over materialism. "Everybody's just trying to be happy, so put your money away; line those pockets with grace," the band sings in three-part harmony during the song's chorus, which emphasizes compassion over cash as the world's true currency. Together, these songs offer a snapshot of a spirited, independent-minded group at the peak of its powers, always pushing forward and seeking to evolve beyond what’s come before.
"There's still acoustic guitar, upright bass, and percussion on this album — things people use all the time — but we're always thinking, 'How can we make this sound like us, but not like something we've already done?'" Oliver says. "Sometimes, the only way to do that is to get weird.”
That sense of exploration pumps its way through Heart is the Hero like lifeblood. Arriving on the heels of 2019's Live at The Fillmore, 2020's Kingdom In My Mind, and Oliver Wood's solo album Always Smilin' — all of which were released on Honey Jar Records, the band's independent label— Heart is the Hero is bold, bright, and singularly creative, a fully realized collective effort ultimately greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps that's to be expected from a group whose willingness to experiment has earned acclaim from Rolling Stone and NPR, as well as an annual touring schedule of sold-out music halls and theaters on both sides of the Atlantic. Ask The Wood Brothers, though, and they'll tell you to expect the unexpected.
"We are never satisfied if we are not searching for new musical recipes," says Jano Rix, nodding to the uncharted territory that Heart is the Hero covers. Chris Wood agrees, adding, "We are one of those bands that isn't easily categorized. We know what our strengths are, but we can’t help but push the envelope, as well. It’s too much fun."
AFI are leaders, not followers. A collective in a perpetual state of creative evolution as fluid as the evocative figures contorting on the cover of Bodies, their newest collection of songs. The record is a snapshot of unrelenting artists in motion, unconcerned with compromise or outside demands.
AFI's unshakeable connection with their audience is a testament to the band's knack for reinvention, renewal, and exploration, anchored by an unblemished authenticity. AFI songs are embedded in the spiritual DNA of a legion of supporters and Bodies is further demonstration of AFI's unwavering commitment to artistic exploration, a dark conjuration of an uncapturable muse.
The band initially summoned a steady subcultural groundswell in the mid-90s, devoid of careerist ambitions. The band first made music as teenaged misfits in an obscure Northern California town, steadily assembling a dense catalog over the years marked by its diversity and authenticity. Davey Havok, Adam Carson, Hunter Burgan and Jade Puget keep their eyes fixed on the present and future, ensuring their position as a uniquely vibrant artistic force remains steadfast and strong.
Like similarly artistically-minded iconic bands, AFI's ever-evolving identity has kept their sound, themes, and overall image fresh. A place in rock n' roll history assured by magical musical androgyny, both post-modern and timeless, AFI remains guided by the flames of authenticity and determination that defined their first ten albums and are sure to drive the next ten and beyond.
After seven years, Daughter are back – a generational band with well over 1 billion streams across three records. Since their debut in 2013, Elena Tonra’s intimate, crushingly honest lyrics have been a lifeline for the band’s fans, whilst also finding a gateway to the likes of alternative giants Phoebe Bridgers and Bon Iver. ‘Be On Your Way’ is warmly optimistic in tone, finding a lightness in Tonra’s poetry, whilst still desperately evoking an emotional resonance unmatched in the alternative space.