Music Millennium - Now Hear This! - February 2018

Now Hear This

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Wrong Creatures
Vagrant Records

Wrong Creatures returns to the core of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's alchemy, yet plunges the knife in even further. From the Nick Cave-esque murder balladry of "Haunt" to the garage punk of "Little Thing Gone Wild," it runs the gamut allowing the band to flex every muscle in their armor.

Evidence
Weather Or Not
Rhymesayers

Weather or Not represents the fourth and final chapter in Grammy-winning producer / emcee Evidence's Weatherman series. The album features an all-star lineup of guests and friends, including Slug (Atmosphere), Rakaa (Dilated Peoples), Alchemist, Styles P, DJ Premier and Jonwayne. Available as a 2LP-set with metallic printed pockets and a 12-page photo booklet featuring exclusive work from famed photographer Stephen Vanasco.

Ron Gallo
Really Nice Guys (EP)
New West

Ron Gallo’s Really Nice Guys is a concept EP about supporting his acclaimed 2017 album, Heavy Meta. Really Nice Guys also serves as hilarious commentary on the music industry. It features songs about rough mixes, the inability of saying a band is bad (“they’re really nice guys!”), all of your friends asking to be put on the guest list for your show, etc. Talk about heavy meta… The songs are cool, too.

Babylon Berlin OST
Various Artists
BMG

Netflix’s Babylon Berlin, is based on Volker Kutscher’s book Der nasse Fisch and follows a police inspector caught up in a web of drugs, sex, political intrigue and murder in go-go Berlin as Germany teeters on the edge of Nazism. This soundtrack features the show’s original music composed by Johnny Klimek & Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run; Sense8) as well as tracks by The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, Moka Efti Orchestra, Tim Fischer & more.

Moon Taxi
Let The Record Play
RCA Records

Let The Record Play proves that alt-rock-five-piece Moon Taxi is the rare band that can address the temperature of our turbulent times while providing the musical escapism to match. Following the spirit of single "Two High," Let The Record Play lends itself as easily to your stereo as it will live. Blending great hooks and musicianship with thoughtful lyrics, Let The Record Play is gritty, edgy, topical, and hard-rocking all at once.

Caitlyn Smith
Starfire
Monument

Though she began her career as a performer, Caitlyn Smith has become one of Nashville’s most celebrated songwriters, with her compositions recorded by artists from Garth Brooks, to Dolly Parton, John Legend and Meghan Trainor. With Starfire, Smith has created a true portrait of an artist as a young woman, full of insight, revelation, and commitment to craft. Powerful and nuanced, the record marks the arrival of a true musical force.

Melody Gardot
Live In Europe
Verve

Recorded in concert at a series of venues across the continent between 2012 and 2016, the album finds the acclaimed, Pennsylvanian-born singer and her touring band in sparkling form, breathing new life into "Baby I'm A Fool," "My One And Only Thrill," "Les Etoiles" and "March For Mingus" and more. Live In Europe has been personally curated by Gardot herself and is also available on vinyl.

Marmozets
Knowing What You Know Now
Roadrunner

Named by Kerrang! as “the best young band in Britain” after two years of chaotic live performances, Knowing What You Know Now finds British hard rockers, Marmozets, pushing themselves harder than ever before in a wide range of unexpected new angles and directions. Songs like the pulse-quickening band favorite, “Major System Error,” and the stark, somber “Me & You,” reveal remarkable depth and power. Produced by Gil Norton (Pixies; Foo Fighters).

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First Aid Kid
Ruins
Columbia Records

Swedish duo First Aid Kit do high-and-lonesome better than any of their American counterparts. “Emmylou” from their 2012 breakthrough, The Lion’s Roar, was an early masterpiece that showed that sisters Klara (vocals/guitar) and Johanna Söderberg not only understood “Americana” but they could use the genre’s own mythology to subvert and, ultimately, transcend it (Their stunning harmonies are a plus). They’ve been cranking out amazing music ever since, and their latest, Ruins, is another expansion of their frontiers – resulting in some of their most ambitious music to date, both musically and emotionally. Ruins was produced by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists), and features contributions from R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Wilco's Glenn Kotche and Midlake's McKenzie Smith.

Childish Gambino
Awaken, My Love!
Glassnote

Donald Glover is best known as an award-winning writer and actor – but he’s always made time for making music under his nom de hip hop, Childish Gambino. But his latest album, Awaken, My Love! travels beyond beats, rhymes, and life – treading cosmic territory that inspired by future funkists both past and present including Funkadelic, The Isley Brothers, and Flying Lotus. Tracks like “Me and Your Mama” explode burst forth from hip hop towards Black Sabbath fuzz grooves and a sense of space that recalls the soul-space of What’s Going On or the Alabama Shakes’ sonic masterpiece, Sound & Color, while “Redbone” sounds like a would-be Dungeon Family classic.

Joe Perry
SWEETZERLAND MANIFESTO
Roman Records

Sweetzerland Manifesto marks Joe Perry's sixth solo album outside of his day job as guitarist / songwriter / producer of Aerosmith. Comprised of 10 new tracks, they were all written or co-written by Joe (along with the album's guest vocalists), except for a cover of "Eve of Destruction" which features Joe on lead vocals and Johnny Depp on drums. Highlights include "Aye, Aye, Aye," which Joe co-wrote with Robin Zander (Cheap Trick); three collaborations with David Johansen (New York Dolls), who sings "I Wanna Roll," "Haberdasher Blues," and "I'm Going Crazy"; and rock-and-roll survivor Terry Reid, who lights up "I'll Do Happiness," "Sick & Tired" and "Won't Let Me Go." Cover art courtesy of year “1991.”

The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a national level organization comprised of the best independent record stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995 with the goal of uniting like minded independent store owners, giving them a more powerful voice in the music industry. The stores that make up CIMS are all very different, but we share the same desires – to be the heart of our communities, to super-serve our customers, to support and develop artists, and to share our love of music.

For more information about CIMS and the stores in our organization, please visit cimsmusic.com or find us through social media with the #cimsmusic hashtag. And please remember to always shop local by supporting your neighborhood record store.