Following his triumphant performances at the 2022 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Danny Elfman delivers Bigger.Messier., an ambitious double-album collection of remixed and reimagined tracks from his highly acclaimed Big Mess album. This sprawling, 23 track collection (available on 2 LP or 2 CD) features tracks reworked by some of the most groundbreaking and subversive artists around today. Bigger.Messier. views the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composers songs through the lens of luminaries from diverse sides of the music business, including Trent Reznor, Iggy Pop, Squarepusher, and Ghostemane. Elfman once again has achieved a kind of artistic liberation on the record that had been eluding him for decades, and connecting him to brand new audience. Born and raised in southern California, Elfman began his career as part of a surrealist, avant-garde musical theater troupe known as The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo. The group would eventually morph into the critically acclaimed rock band Oingo Boingo, whose high-energy performances and genre-bending sound garnered them a fanatically devoted cult following in the 1980s and ’90s. Among the group’s early fans was fledgling director Tim Burton and Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman), who enlisted Elfman to score their first feature film, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. The collaboration would prove to be the start of a long and fruitful partnership for Elfman and Burton, with Elfman going on to score a string of iconic Burton features like Batman, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. To date, Elfman has scored more than 100 films.

Chaos in Bloom, arriving August 12th, 2022 via Warner Records. Marking the first album of their career to be produced by frontman John Rzeznik, the record finds the band at the top of their game and continuing to constantly evolve just as they have for nearly four decades together. Consisting of 10 tracks, Chaos in Bloom is an album of biting sarcasm, stadium-ready choruses, and the type of spear-sharp songwriting that’s led them to becoming one of the most influential alternative rock groups of all time.

While Chaos in Bloom isn’t necessarily an album borne out by the pandemic, many of the tracks reflect on all of the things in daily life that became amplified while everyone was isolated from one another and sequestered at home. “Chaos in Bloom reminded us how special this whole thing is and to cherish the relationships that we have together,” says Rzeznik about the album. “Where we’ve been, and where we’re going.” Oscillating from personal reflections on the state of the world to societal commentaries, the songs on the album grapple with observations about our dystopian modernity while searching for optimism and pushing for a more empathetic world. “I’ve been trying to have a relationship with the bigger picture,” adds bassist and songwriter Robby Takac, “and refining happiness and what it means from that perspective.”

To record the album, Rzeznik and Takac retreated to Dreamland Studios just outside Woodstock, New York during the pandemic. An environment as remote as it is rich with historic rock music roots, the location proved to be the perfect setting for clearing the noise and creating such a record, which carries a true live quality that the band captured by blending vintage instruments and gear with new-age recording processes and techniques.

On her new album No Regular Dog, singer/songwriter/guitarist Kelsey Waldon shares a gritty and glorious portrait of living in devotion to your deepest dreams: the brutal self-doubt and unending sacrifice, hard-won wisdom and sudden moments of unimaginable transcendence. Revealing her supreme gift for spinning harsh truths into songs that soothe and brighten the soul, the Kentucky-bred artist ultimately makes an unassailable case for boldly following your heart—a sentiment perfectly encapsulated in No Regular Dog’s raw and radiant title track.

The legendary BORIS celebrate a 30 year career as one of experimental music's most forward-thinking, heavy, and innovative bands with the new album Heavy Rocks (2022). Continuing their series of Heavy Rocks records, BORIS once again channels the classic proto-metal sounds of the 70s into something all new. The album, 10 pulse-pounding tracks, highlight the very trajectory of BORIS and their storied career - from the driving, fuzzed out Rock N' Roll opener "She is Burning", to the punk, raucous "My Name is Blank", BORIS are heavier than ever before. "Question 1" is just kickass - D-beats give way to a doomed, spaced out and heavier-than-anything guitar wailing and feedback, before diving back into their Metal, sending the listener into a complete frenzy. This is unmistakably BORIS, and this is the band at the height of their powers.

Propelled by constant evolution in its 18 years touring, the band welcomes a musical rebirth, leaning heavily on enigmatically stoic songwriting in lieu of the affable saccharine. Longtime listeners can expect an elevated presentation of Twiddle's trademark sound, delicately orbiting the worlds of funk, jazz, rock, reggae, and bluegrass. 

The fifth full-length studio album from Vermont quartet Twiddle, Every Last Leaf is a bold exploration of the cyclical nature of life. 

Forgiveness is the brand new full-length Girlpool album, which finds the duo embracing weirdo-pop decadence without sacrificing the poetic curi- osity that has always made their music so absorbing. Just like they did for What Chaos Is Imaginary, Harmony and Avery each wrote their Forgiveness songs separately, then came together to decide how to present them in a style that felt representative of what excites and inspires them now. This time, the process resulted in their slickest and most ambitious music to date, filled with idiosyncratic and provocative gestures that simultaneously support and complicate the emotionally intricate material. With its unique blend of introspective earworms and surreal party music, Forgiveness reaches beyond the loosely sketched parameters of “indie rock,” challeng- ing any preconceived notions of what a Girlpool album can or should be. “Faultline” the albums first single, is an effective introduction to the world of Forgiveness; the notion of straddling a fault line feels somewhat indicative of Forgiveness on the whole. These songs investigate the always-shifting boundaries between a number of elementally human concepts: pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.To support their vision of a sound at the intersection of Holly- wood futurism and post-grunge sincerity, Girlpool enlisted help from pro- ducer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick).

For Executive Meeting begins with an elegy for the radical, tragic Pop Art titan Barney Bubbles and ends with a revved-up cover of Rosanne Cash’s peerless “Seven Year Ache.” Throughout the ten songs in-between, Elizabeth Nelson weaves together stories about figures like Steve Cropper, P.G. Wodehouse, and Doug Yule, laments the loss of David Berman and Adam Schlesinger, and duets with Patterson Hood from the Drive-By Truckers on an infectious tribute to John Prine. 

Loaded with vivid detail and memorable riffs, it proves what in-the-know critics have been saying for years: Elizabeth Nelson is one of our best songwriters.

Twenty years and some 4,000 shows into his career, the name Wade Bowen has become synonymous with Texas country music – and for good reason. An artistic descendant of American icons like Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen and more, Bowen is another link in a Texan chain of roots-rock poets stretching back more than 50 years – but his ambition never ended at the state line.

“I will carry that flag proudly,” Bowen says of his well earned Red-Dirt distinction. “But I’ve always said I’m not a ‘Texas artist,’ I’m an artist from Texas, and I think there’s a difference.”

Indeed, Bowen has showed the world that difference since 2001 – by going big on integrity.

Seen as one of the genre’s finest and most authentic modern voices, Bowen’s approach stays rooted in tradition, but also stands on the creative cutting edge. His focus remains on writing unique songs with a literary quality, and shifting his sonic territory to match his life. And while the hard-touring troubadour is constantly breaking new ground, his course was set early on.

Day-Glo (Based on a True Story) [Limited Edition Fluro Green Vinyl] - Mute is excited to announce Erasure's new album Day-Glo (Based On A True Story), out August 12th on limited edition fluorescent green vinyl, CD, and digital formats. An unexpected album, featuring 10 brand new songs, each track created using elements from The Neon universe. Familiar but unexpected, the songs bear little resemblance to the original album, although echoes of The Neon can be heard from time to time. The album is an alternative look at Vince and Andy's world, and marks the closure of this chapter of The Neon. Vinyl includes large format 4 page booklet. CD includes 16 page poster booklet.

Limited blue colored vinyl LP pressing. 2022 release from the Scottish musician, his first artist album since the lauded 2015 release of Lantern. Includes the singles "Cry Sugar - Megamix," and "Bicstan."

Jc Sanford, most known for his edgy original compositions on previous projects like Pyramid Scheme and Keratoconus, puts forth his second jazz standards recording as a leader with Imminent Standards Trio, Vol. 2, a year after releasing Vol. 1. The album includes tunes from Monk, Ornette, Dexter and even Stevie Wonder and comes across like a hard swinging blowing session, featuring Sanford on trombone with bassist Charlie Lincoln and drummer Abinnet Berhanu.

Vandoliers are a uniquely Texas band, distilling the Lone Star State’s vast and diverse musical identity into a raucous, breakneck vibe that’s all their own. After spending much of the last three years furiously writing and recording music, this Dallas-Fort Worth six-piece is back with The Vandoliers, a new album that proves these rowdy, rollicking country punks are tighter, more cohesive and more sonically compelling than ever.

Collective Soul's long-awaited 2022 album release VIBRATING sends the band's artistic spirit into the next stratosphere. All ten songs that comprise VIBRATING positively pulsate with the boundless energy that has been Collective Soul's aural calling card for going on three full decades. From the propulsively gnarly kiss-off of "Cut the Cord" to the reflective midtempo jangle of "Take" to the heart-wrenching reality check of "Rule No. 1" - replete with a soaring string section, no less! - to the choir-backed emotional crossroads of "Where Do I Go," VIBRATING contains 42 minutes of irrefutable sonic evidence of a band wholly uninterested in sitting still. "I think we're on a roll," observes Ed Roland, Collective Soul's frontman and chief songwriter. "We're not afraid to stretch the boundaries - but we do know how to stay in our lane when we need to. Sometimes, though, we just have to go faster." The many good vibrations embedded within the deep-rooted grooves of VIBRATING await your endless enjoyment. -Mike Mettler, official Soulographer

Smash cut to Kiwi Jr.'s third album, Chopper, overseen by trusted pilot Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs) on storied Sub Pop Records. Turning nocturnal with necks mock turtle, our Local Kiwi Jr. Takes neon flight off the digital cliff - like The Monkees starring in Blade Runner; like Michael Mann directs Encino Man. Ten songs with synth shimmer, zen gongs with yard strimmer. The signs along the highway read "LESS BAR, MORE NOIR AHEAD." Ah, those late summer, Joe Strummer, Home on the Range Rover Blues. There's a melancholy to all forms of flight, and the view out the Chopper is as hazy as it gets: mission-oriented, both stealth and self-realized. This album is decidedly (yet almost secretly) anti-patio-sunscreen-Beach Boys bachelor cruise sing-a-long. Sure, these songs let a little light through the blinds, but they sting insomnia, corrupt mayors, Kennedy Curses, sex tapes, and deer rifles. Chopper is the bird's eye view of the big event - a real nighttime character of oil stain, film grain, search light, night flight. It is muscular and fragile; loud yet quiet: both an observer and somehow the observed spectacle itself. What was slack in the slacker phase, got tauter, with lacquer glaze. Slick gloss, rightened wrongs; murdered boss, promoted pawns. With Boeckner transmitting high-voltage shocks upon every reach for a familiar instrument, Kiwi Jr. #expands the palette with string machine song, synthesizered oblong, and Dentyne Classic Menthol vocals from area soprano Dorothea Paas (US Girls, Badge Epoch Ensemble) like the missing piece all along. Kiwi Jr. #brings the Chopper to a new space, demilitarizing the technology just like flasks, aviators, and cargo shorts. Graceful in the air above, but when the Chopper lands, there's chaos on the ground. Kiwi Jr. #shout, "Look Out!" When it gets close, it'll blow the hat right off of your head.Hold onto your hats, Babies.Kiwi Jr. #is Jeremy Gaudet vocals and guitar, Brian Murphy guitar, Mike Walker bass, Brohan Moore drums, and everybody played a little bit of keyboard.

2022 release, the eighth album from Hollywood Undead.

On 8/5 Frontiers will be releasing the six album from the long-running melodic rock project Sunstorm. It is the second album to feature new vocalist Ronnie Romero, who replaced Joe Lynn Turner on the last album "Afterlife". Romero also sings for Rainbow, Lords Of Black, Vandenberg and The Ferrymen. The album was written and product by Alessandro Del Vecchio (Revolution Saints, Hardline, JORN).

Two CD + DVD edition. Live release from German prog metal masters Vanden Plas. Live & Immortal is a special addition to the storied catalog of Vanden Plas as, aside from the The Seraphic Live Works, a live recording of their revered 70 minute performance at Progpower USA 2011, it is the band's first complete show to be released on long-form video. Recorded December 30, 2016 in their hometown of Kaiserslautern, Germany, Vanden Plas put forth an epic performance in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The bulk of the setlist is based on the two Chronicles Of The Immortals albums (2013 and 2014, respectively) and additionally, includes tracks that have never been played live before, like the atmospheric "Scarlet Flower Fields" and "The Final Murder", which reveals itself to be a captivating 11 minute monster. Fans can also expect all-time favorites from the band's repertoire like "Holes In The Sky", "Iodic Rain", "Postcard To God", and "Christ 0".

KIDZ BOP Ultimate Playlist is packed full of today’s biggest pop hits sung by kid for kids! The all-new album from the #1 kids music brand features “Stay,” “Bad Habits,” “Fancy Like,” and many more of the songs kids love that parents can feel good about! From the living room to center stage and everywhere in between, KIDZ BOP Ultimate Playlist is the perfect soundtrack for family fun!

The soundtrack to Downton Abbey: A New Era features music by Emmy Award-winner composer John Lunn with vocals by Cherise. The much-anticipated cinematic return of Julian Fellowes's global phenomenon reunites the beloved cast as they go on a grand journey to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the Dowager Countess’ newly inherited villa.

Back in 2016, producer Seth Applebaum released two EPs that marked the inauguration of the band Ghost Funk Orchestra. 'Night Walker' and 'Death Waltz' were conceived as one-man-band, reel-to-reel tape recorded experiments that would bring together elements of all the sounds that Seth most adored at the time: tape-saturated drums, gratuitous spring reverb, surfy guitar, Latin-style percussion, odd time signatures, and Spanish-language female vocals. Initially released only in the digital domain and on a short run of cassette tapes, these two EPs that defined the early era of GFO are now finally available together on a single LP via Colemine Records. The tracks have been lovingly remastered by Doug Krebs. We invite you to take a dive into the humble beginnings of a project that has continued to grow, shape shift, and accrue new and exciting sounds for it's sonic palette.