The Long Ear

What's New 6-28-24

Imagine Dragons
Interscope

LOOM represents the pinnacle of their artistic journey of self-discovery and marks the best body of work Imagine Dragons ever made. It’s the perfect balance between the classic sounds that have made them superstars and the freshness that brought them joy in the studio. Featuring 9 brand new tracks including hit single “Eyes Closed”, this signifies new beginnings on the horizon – the excitement for a new day, moments yet to come.

Local Natives
Loma Vista

Smooth keyboard washes, subtly propulsive rhythms, and restrained guitar provide a lush backdrop for the band’s signature vocal collages as their sixth full-length, But I’ll Wait For You, evokes the sounds of a broken heart, trying to cling on to the tiniest glimmer of hope that a relationship can still be salvaged.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Stax/Concord

South of Here reckons with a lifetime of pain and trauma and transforms it into a stirring and soul-baring rumination on love, loss, hope and resolve. the new album blends both sides of his immense talent: emotionally potent, vivid storytelling and the rugged, R&B revivalism that has powered the band to world-wide acclaim over the past decade.

Johnny Cash
UMG Nashville

Johnny Cash recorded an album’s worth of self-penned songs in 1993. Shortly thereafter, he released the American Recordings albums and re-established himself as one of the world’s greatest songwriters, introducing him to a new generation of fans. Songwriter’s unreleased 11 songs have been updated and produced by his son John Carter Cash and co-producer David Ferguson.

Camila Cabello
Interscope

Neither hit single ‘”I Luv It” nor follow-up single “He Knows”, a clattering collab with Lil Nas X, quite signposts the overall vibe of Cabello’s fourth album. C,XOXO is a laconic, off-kilter pop record filled with quirky earworms. It’s a new sound for Cabello that heightens the music’s intriguing, trippy sheen.

Previous Industries
Merge

Themed around the undead trademarks of defunct retail chains, Previous Industries expand the idea into a full-length meditation on middle age, memory, and the parallel histories of commercial hip-hop and brick-and-mortar business. It’s ’90s nostalgia gone off to the point of fizzy fermentation, filled with verse after verse of peak rap performances full of insight, humor, and sophisticated wordplay.

Boulevards
Normaltown Records

Taking notes from rare funk records and blaxploitation, Carolina Funk is a throwback album that builds up the aura of Boulevards (Jamil Rashad) with greasy funk, smooth soul stylings, and cinematic scope while offering universal lyrics of love and confidence. It’s raw, it’s muddy, it’s infectious hooks and endless fun(k).

Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Reprise

Early Daze is a collection of rare and unreleased studio recordings by Neil Young with Crazy Horse. The 10 songs were all recorded in 1969 with the same line-up that played on the Live at the Fillmore East album. Only one track on the album has been previously released and none of the 10 tracks have been released on vinyl before.

200 Stab Wounds
Metal Blade

A brutal slab of old school death metal with a contemporary edge, Manual Manic Procedures may well be the album that puts classic gore-themed ferocity back into the metal community’s collective consciousness. The songs are not safe for work – perhaps unsafe most anywhere. But that’s its dark charm in a world where even heavy music can play it too safely.

Nothing More
Better Noise Music

Where 2022’s Spirits was ethereal, focusing on the soul, mental health, and existential questions, Carnal serves as its darker counterpart, delving into the physical and primal aspects of the human experience. A testament to Nothing More’s growth and musical talent, the album features respected artists, experimental sounds, fostering a deeply cathartic experience.

Lupe Fiasco
Thirty Tigers

Samurai finds Lupe delighting in the simple pleasures of assembling assonant syllables into playful and poignant narratives, as he always has. It’s smooth, yet cerebral, brimming with ideas, but always radiating Lupe’s pure love for the art of emceeing and committing himself as a servant of the rap game.

Marsha Ambrosius
Interscope

Marsha Ambrosius is a GRAMMY-nominated, critically acclaimed singer-songwriter who is gearing up for her highly anticipated album, Casablanco. Executive produced by Dr. Dre, Casablanco is a combined mix of R&B, jazz and hip-hop which blends in a fulfilling and nostalgic soundscape that’ll have the listeners wanting more.

Still Woozy
Interscope

One of the most inventive and multifaceted new voices in the alt-pop world, Still Woozy returns with his sophomore album, Loveseat. Over dreamy guitar licks and driving beats, the Northern California native crafts a patchwork soundscape of psychedelia, pop hooks, and lyrics dosed in magical realism.

Wade Bowen
Thirty Tigers

Wade Bowen just gets it done. There's a reason his quarter century plus career is stronger than ever this far down the road. The songs. With his latest record, Flyin', Bowen steps behind the producer's console and injects his new group of songs with as much Tom Petty as George Strait.

Washed Out
Sub Pop

Notes From a Quiet Life is the new album by chillwave pioneer Washed Out. It is filled with the lush, sun-baked electronic pop that has won over legions of fans since 2009. It was recorded by Washed Out's Ernest Greene at his home studio, mixed by Nathan Boddy and David Wrench, and mastered in the UK at Metropolis.

Lake Street Dive
Fantasy

Good Together is an eclectic set of genre-bending songs that could only have come from popular music’s most agile and compelling outliers. Fusing pop, R&B, soul and jazz, Lake Street Dive: Rachael Price (vocals), Bridget Kearney (bass), Mike Calabrese (drums), Akie Bermiss (keyboards), and James Cornelison (guitar), have created the most confident and accomplished recording of their career.

gracie abrams
Interscope

Gracie's growth as a songwriter and vocalist is showcased in her most extroverted album yet, as she continues to work with longtime collaborator Aaron Dessner (The National). This album was written with the urgency with which you run home to detail every moment of a night to your friend, with her live experiences over the past year having deeply shaped the identity of this album.

Kehlani
Atlantic

In Kehlani’s words: “A crash, in any form, is the peak height of the moment. It isn’t the anxiety of the before, or the lament after. It is the ever so imperative present. A space with no reminisce, no remorse, and no afterthought. CRASH IS HERE. At my most free, most fun, most loud, most fueled, so far.”

Rich Ruth
Third Man

Rich Ruth makes wholly immersive instrumental songs that thread the line between gleefully adventurous and calmingly meditative. The results, which combine spiritual jazz, synth-infused post-rock, and cosmic ambient, often beguile but always soar with a palpable immediacy. His new album Water Still Flows is both his heaviest and his most cathartic.

Shaboozey
Empire

The Nigerian American artist's second album offers a full-on barrage of post-genre possibilities, epitomizing not a one-hit wonder but a songwriter who has found both his mode and his moment at the exact same time. Where I’ve Been… is a showcase for a modern American approach that continues to leave genres behind.

Jim Lauderdale
Sky Crunch Records

Jim Lauderdale is a true constant living in a ten-year town, steadily delivering solid country and Americana music each time he puts out a new album or steps up to a microphone. He’s one of the last true country troubadours, and on My Favorite Place, he continues his Americana story with reliability and grace.

Hermanos Gutierrez
Easy Eye Sound

Sonido Cósmico embarks on a sonic exploration that defies the conventional boundaries of instrumental music. Produced by Dan Auerbach, the collection is a richly textured tapestry, interwoven with the intricate threads of Latin rhythms and ephemeral atmospherics: each track a vignette, a carefully crafted narrative without words, where the brothers' transcendent guitars speak in a language all their own.

Lindsey Stirling
Concord

The seventh studio album from acclaimed musician Lindsey Stirling celebrates the delicate, yet beautiful, nature of duality – the inner battle of fearlessness and self-doubt we all experience. Exploring two distinct styles of music for each side of the album, Duality evokes a sense of magic; encouraging the listener to acknowledge the struggle but to always believe in the limitless version of themselves.

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs
BMG

Mike Campbell made his bones as the lead guitarist for one of the great working bands in rock & roll (The Heartbreakers), so it should come as no surprise that the Dirty Knobs are hitting a groove three albums into their career. Ultimately, they’re about having a good time, all the time-- a dynamic that this record achieves.

Aaliyah
Empire

Originally released in 2001, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Cited by critics as one of the best R&B records of its time, Aaliyah is a reflection of herself as both a young adult and matured vocalist. Standout tracks include "We Need A Resolution," "More Than A Woman," and "Rock The Boat.

The Story So Far
Pure Noise Records

The Story So Far’s debut album, Under Soil and Dirt, dazzled listeners in 2011, sparking a new wave of pop-punk. Three further successful releases soon followed. While the band has evolved beyond their high-school heated rage, their energetic and raw musicianship, as well as their unconventional melodic cadence, remain audible on their first album in six years.

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