Monster Music & Movies

Jason Isbell's songs are filled with ghosts. They're haunted by spirits both welcome and unwelcome, by the personal and historical legacies that make us who we are. Nowhere Is this more evident than on his 2013 breakthrough album Southeastern. Isbell offers confessions. reflections. and promises that contront and make communion with those who have come before and remain wIth us still. Its twelve tracks represent an extended meditation on the concept articulated by another celebrated southern storyteller, author William Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It isn't even past."

Ed Sheeran is releasing his new album Autumn Variations on September 29 through Gingerbread Man Records. The album has been produced by Aaron Dessner and features 14 new tracks.
 
“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded,” says Ed Sheeran.
 
“When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.”
 
“My dad and brother told me about a composer called Elgar, who composed ‘Enigma Variations’, where each of the 14 compositions were about a different one of his friends. This is what inspired me to make this album. When I recorded Subtract with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

Green Day’s third studio album Dookie was released in February 1994, and has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide, including 10 million in the US (RIAA Diamond certified). The album is an iconic punk-rock-pop masterpiece and one of the most influential and defining albums of the 1990’s. It spawned five hit singles that are still hugely popular songs: “Longview”, “Basket Case”, “Welcome to Paradise”, “When I Come Around”, and “She”.

Limited Edition Super Deluxe Box Sets (vinyl and CD) will be released on September 29, 2023, to celebrate the 30^th Anniversary of this landmark album.

In addition to the original album, the super deluxe box sets will include a wealth of rare and unreleased material. The legendary Woodstock ’94 performance is included – previously released as a very limited Record Store Day vinyl release. The 6 LPs (or 4 CDs) also feature 17 unreleased demos, 6 studio outtakes (3 unreleased), and a 17-track unreleased club show from Barcelona in 1994.

The deluxe vinyl box features the six LPs pressed on 6 different varieties of brown vinyl, plus a 36-page 12” x 12” book. The box also includes many fun memorabilia items inspired by the “Dookie” artwork: Doggie Poop Bags, Air-Freshener, Poster, Color-in litho, Button Set, Magnet Sheet, Postcard, Bumper Sticker and Paper Plane.

The CD box includes 4 CDs (the same audio content as the vinyl box), 48-page book, Button Set, Air-Freshener, Magnet and two stickers.

The Family Business compiles the Jonas Brothers’ hit singles together in one collection alongside two tracks from DNCE and four tracks from Nick Jonas’ solo albums. The release serves as a companion piece to their current live show dates (entitled “The Tour”) and their most recent studio release The Album which reached the top 3 in the USA and the UK upon release in May 2023. 2023 has been a busy year for the trio that has also included an appearance on Saturday Night Live, a sold-out residency on Broadway, tour dates at Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium, and a collaboration with TOMORROW X TOGETHER. In July, the recent Streamy Award winners announced an extension for “The Tour” with added dates in North America into December 2023, as well as shows in Australia, New Zealand and across Europe in 2024.

A first time to vinyl reissue treatment of HAIM’s chart-topping debut album Days Are Gone, in celebration of the 10th anniversary. Featuring the six singles, ‘Forever’, ‘Don’t Save Me’, ‘Falling’, ‘The Wire’, ‘If I Could Change Your Mind’ & ‘My Song 5’, the record hasn’t been reissued since its release in 2013. Housed in an entirely new package, the album features a track list compiled by the band of their favorite demos and remixes on transparent green vinyl. Also features an exclusive fold out poster.

Wilco’s thirteenth studio album, Cousin, was recorded in the band’s legendary Chicago studio – The Loft – over a period of two years. The ten new tracks are written by band leader Jeff Tweedy and feature musical performances by the longtime lineup of Nels Cline, Mikael Jorgensen, Glenn Kotche, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone and, of course, Tweedy on lead vocals.

After a short detour back into their country-influenced roots via last year’s Cruel Country double album, Cousin sees Wilco back in their more familiar progressive and experimental rock territory. Tweedy’s singular songwriting voice is in full evidence, with lyrics weaving across a variety of topics – from the iconoclastic to the introspective.

Adding a unique and new element to the recording process was the attachment of Welsh singer/songwriter Cate Le Bon as producer – the first time an outsider has been actively involved in a Wilco recording session for more than ten years, since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Le Bon brought her unique musical perspective to the band’s trademark sound and provided them with an inspiring new challenge to push their musical boundaries.

Djo – the critically acclaimed brainchild of multi-talented musician/actor Joe Keery – makes its long awaited return with the game-changing new album, DECIDE. A spellbinding collage of snaky pop hooks, neon melodies, and deeply personal singer-songwriter lyricism, the album melds high-tech songcraft with quick wit, irrepressible spirit, and an impressive breadth of vision that showcases glowing synths and big beats over the trippy guitars that defined 2019’s acclaimed debut, TWENTY TWENTY. Blissed-out bops like “Change” see Keery delving deep into a broad spectrum of eclectic influences, deconstructing hyperpop, euphoric psychedelia, spiky new wave, and symphonic 70’s rock into something utterly unique via dauntless melodies and technical innovation.

Twenty Twenty: Joe Keery, who you may also recognize from the show “Stranger Things,” began playing music in his teens after co-opting his sister’s guitar, but it was during his college years at DePaul University in Chicago that he formed his first band and began to seriously pursue music. That band was Post Animal, the heavy psych rock outfit that went on to release a self-titled EP and two subsequent albums via Polyvinyl. They also toured with artists like Twin Peaks, Wavves and Cage The Elephant and played a number of US festivals. In 2019, with no announcement or fanfare, Keery’s solo-project Djo was unveiled not with a single, but a lush, self-reflective, layered 12 track full-length album titled Twenty Twenty. “Joe Keery built a carnival. The resonance of each riff or beat is not new, but redesigned and reshaped into the beauty it is today. The face of psych or alternative mirrored through his own design, and it reveals a person who shouldn’t be underestimated,” said Rodeo Mag. Despite the album being released under the radar and without a label, fans found their way to it, and Twenty Twenty has now seen more than 200 million streams to date.

Steve Miller Band’s eighth studio album, The Joker, was a huge turning point for the band. Released in 1973, the platinum-certified record features the #1 title track which became a worldwide hit. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, this limited-edition gold vinyl pressing is available exclusively through indie retail stores.

Also Available 2CD, Super Deluxe Edition 3LP + 7in, Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Gold LP

At this point, it is almost impossible to say what makes for a classic Animal Collective album; the standard fluctuates with the weather, your temperament, whatever chemicals may or may not waft through your mind. But from start to finish, first listen to last, Isn’t It Now? absolutely lands as a classic, its mix of playfulness and earnestness, glittery pop and tessellated textures seeming to synthesize and update all that has ever made and still makes this band so compelling. It is experienced and wise, energized and young, the work of four people committed to finding the frontier of a beginner’s mind, together. Recorded, mixed and co-produced by Russell Elevado (D’Angelo, The Roots, Kamasi Washington).

Charley Crockett's latest full-length studio album 'The Man From Waco' saw the TX-based singer/songwriter reach new heights in both his artistic expression as well as his public recognition. On Nov 14th, 2022, Charley headed to Nashville, TN for his debut (and sold out) concert at the historic Nashville venue the Ryman Auditorium. These recordings capture the live energy and raw talent of one of modern music's best live performers.