d4vd’s debut album, WITHERED, is one of the most hotly anticipated albums of the year. It completes the story laid out in his 2023 EPs, Petals to Thorns and The Lost Petals, as he continues to articulate a relationship’s ricocheting emotions: the coruscating highs and bleak lows, all set to music that’s intimate, hook-heavy, and refreshingly direct. Created primarily on Bandlab, WITHERED brought d4vd back to the place his music journey began: his sister’s closet, alone with his iPhone. To finish the record, d4vd journeyed to London with a trusted crew of collaborators to create a cohesive, intimate record that’s meant to be listened to sequentially — the songs consumed like chapters — that spotlights his evolution as a deft and dynamic vocalist.

Produced by Gene Walker and mixed by Andy Wallace and Dan Malsch, GHOST’s sixth psalm, Skeletá, is its most unflinchingly introspective work to date. Where previous albums dealt largely with chronicling and/or observing outward facing subject matter—such as IMPERA’s meditations on the rise and fall of empires and its predecessor Prequelle’s evocations of the ravages of era-defining plagues—Skeletá’s lyrics render the distinct individual emotional vistas of each of its 10 songs in one-on-one fashion, at times as if in a dialogue with oneself in a mirror. The end result is a singular collection of timeless, universal sentiments, all filtered through a prism of a uniquely personal point of view.

Side A

1. Peacefield

2. Lachryma

3. Satanized

4. Guiding Lights

5. De Profundis Borealis

 

Side B

1. Cenotaph

2. Missilia Amori

3. Marks Of The Evil One

4. Umbra

5. Excelsis

Billy Idol Dream Into It [Indie Exclusive Purple LP] Dream Into It Billy Idol's ninth studio album and first full-length record in over ten years tells a rich and deeply personal tale of Billy's voyage from young punk rock dreamer to his reset as an MTV leather-gloved icon; then on to all his well-publicized hits highs lows overdoses and accidents; culminating with a devastatingly honest assessment of the price of fame and the wisdom accrued by getting your act together and embracing family. And even though Dream Into It tells a story it is also on a track-to-track level a completely satisfying old school/new school pumping rocking punk/pop odyssey as only Billy Idol and longtime guitarist/collaborator Steve Stevens can create with the able assistance of producer Tommy English and features with rock mavens Joan Jett and Alison Mosshart. Purple Vinyl-retail exclusive

Deluxe version of Kassi Ashton's long-awaited, full-length debut album, Made From The Dirt, now featuring 5 additional tracks, including "Sounds Like Somethin' I'd Say (feat. Parker McCollum)." Made From The Dirt not only showcases Kassi's one-of-a-kind signature style front and center, but it also tells her story so far. She holds nothing back on these ten tracks - from the knockout title track "Made From The Dirt" to the exhale of the finale "Juanita." Spiking her brand of country with rock 'n' roll spirit and unabashed vulnerability, she proudly wears her heart on her sleeve.

Florilegium, the debut album from songwriter Uwade, winds through genre, through death, break-ups, friendship, and failure. Here, she wanted to honor as much of herself as she could — her family and Nigerian heritage, her scholarly tendencies, her background in choirs, the literature that moves her, the melodies of artists like Fela Kuti, Yebba, and Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, who inspired her to start writing songs at the inception of her music-making. Cerebral and curious, each musical moment feels tactile, deliberate, and thoughtful — but also fresh, like something just discovered. A shimmering anthology that finds sweetness and light in sorrow, an amalgamation of disparate influences and recording sessions seamlessly fitting together through her expressive, expansive voice.

Justin Robinson and Rhiannon Giddens are two of the few people from the Black community caretaking Joe Thompson’s family tradition of fiddle and banjo music. For both, their Black banjo bodylands are primarily rooted in the North Carolina Piedmont, where Joe mentored them. The term “Black banjo bodylands” describes the deep connection between banjos, land, and the Black musicians who breathe life into them. Intimate engagements with place, nature, and community around this musical practice are essential to the tradition’s continuation. These bodylands constitute not just the individual player but the traditions, knowledge, and spirit handed down from their musical ancestors. On What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson simply chose to bring the places and people—even the season—with them. Heralded by the cawing of American crows, shot through with the round thrumming of periodical cicadas, these recordings represent the music exactly as it is: a particularly engaging piece of a particular place’s rich sonic ecosystem. Giddens and Robinson emphasize place, communication and collaboration in these sound offerings from the North Carolina Piedmont homes of Joe Thompson and Etta Baker and the historic Mill Prong House. This record is not about flashy arrangements, or displays of virtuosity for its own sake. It’s about the relaxed,understated flow that arises at the junction of long friendship, a sense of belonging, and monstrous technical proficiency. We make this music, we make it together, and we make it here. This record refuses to be removed.

Doechii - "Alligator Bites Never Heal" With her GRAMMY Award-winning mixtape "Alligator Bites Never Heal," rapper, singer and visionary artist Doechii delivers 19 tracks following the weekly "Swamp Session" installments that lit the internet on fire with eye-catching visuals and equally compelling bars. The Best Rap Album-winning project, featuring "DENIAL IS A RIVER" and "NISSAN ALTIMA," captures a rare talent in her rawest form yet giving listeners distinct windows into her one-of-a-kind artistry. EXPLICIT

It is with a certain sadness for his fans across mediums that Donald Glover has declared Bando Stone and the New World the last Childish Gambino album. The ostensible soundtrack to a feature-length movie of the same name, the hour-long project includes snippets of dialogue that hint at the film’s apocalyptic subject matter. The fact that the soundtrack is preceding the actual film is part of Glover’s strategy: He wants listeners to work to figure out what they’re listening to. “The soundtrack forces the audience to participate in a way that I don't feel like most things force you to participate,” he says. “It forces you to have an imagination. I already see people being like, 'This is very cinematic, this must be the part that... This feels like a credit sequence.' A lot of stuff feels flat because it's not asking you to participate. Art used to be you had to participate on some level and have some sort of thought process on it. You can't just be like, 'Oh, this is mid.'” Even without the benefit of the full visuals, these 17 tracks make for a satisfying swan song that synthesizes what came before with fresher ideas gleaned from the threshold of finality

Heartbreaker” that “kicks down the door of this next musical chapter” (American Songwriter) and the title track, “Honkytonk Hollywood.” 2 LP set on forest green color vinyl. Limited Edition. Available at Indie Retailers.

CLEOPATRICK’s sophomore album, FAKE MOON, is a daring leap into new territory for the Cobourg Ontario-based post-rock duo. It’s a record spanning time, influence, and sound, blending lo-fi intimacy with grand, expansive production. For Luke Gruntz and Ian Fraser, this album represents more than just a sonic shift – it’s a bold solidification of their ever-developing creative identity. “It’s the most real thing we could have made,” Luke shares. “I wanted to do something beautiful. It’s a struggle between control and surrender, individuality and belonging. It’s where we are now.” Returning refreshed from a creative breather, after the rigorous post-pandemic touring of debut LP BUMMER, the newest record on their own ‘Nowhere Special Recordings’ is a captivating collision of lo-fi grit, quiet introspection, and overt existentialism. Anchored in refusal of conformity, and captured with what can only be described as the audio equivalent to Playstation 1 graphics FAKE MOON navigates power, vulnerability, and the complexities of individual identity with both rawness and precision. Take ‘HEAT DEATH,’ a visceral opener born out of a corrupted demo session that required a painstaking, stem-by-stem rescue operation that Luke describes as “The will of a technocracy foiled by two humble men.” The song channels its own chaotic origins into a sovereign anthem of defiance, daring a universal authority to “take it from me, man.” FAKE MOON is CLEOPATRICK at their most adventurous. Look overhead and perhaps you’ll spot the orbiting influences of Radiohead’s experimental brilliance, the grounded surrealism of Dijon’s Absolutely, or the raw intimacy of favourites since highschool, Califone. “We’re just trusting our creative compass,” they say. “I actually tried to write BUMMER 2 at first – but it immediately felt as if I was putting on the costume of a 23 year old me. It wasn't coming out honest.” When it came to recording, the pair slowed the process and expanded their crew for the first time. Theyenlisted respected guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Haldeman and the expertise of producer Philip Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker/Hand Habits/Tomberlin). Hunkered down in Weinrobe’s Brooklyn studio, together they shaped the sound from an “as long as it feels good, it sounds good” approach, where the angular recordings from the pair’s instinctive style of throwing up mics and tracking on whatever device was closest formed its foundations. The lyrics on FAKE MOON are as textured and evocative as the album’s sonics, weaving narratives that feel simultaneously intimate and universal, radiating a tension between fragility and defiance, conspiracy and truth. “BAD GUY” wrestles with guilt, while “HAMMER,” written in a parked car during a Toronto heatwave, explores surrendering to authority for a fleeting sense of certainty. “SARAH” digs into the romance of collective identity, while “PLEASE” reflects on the magnetic pull of groupthink, with its robo-folk soundscape eventually degrading into a somber puddle of digital slush. The concepts and characters on FAKE MOON often manifest as something liminal and nonlinear – like snapshots of emotions or thoughts mid-process. “SOFTDRIVE” takes this even further, as the sprawling instrumental is pieced together from years of recovered demos, videos, and voice notes off a once-busted college hard drive. The result of which is a swirling audio collage that somehow possesses both the intensity of a space shuttle launch and the frictionless peace of a near earth orbit – mirroring the duality of the record itself. Nominated for Canada’s 2022 JUNO as “Breakthrough Group of the Year,” CLEOPATRICK have amassed over 100 million streams alongside multiple sell-out tours in the US, UK, and EU, performed at festivals Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Reading/Leeds, and supported Royal Blood on their US tour. With FAKE MOON, the duo ventures deeper inward, crafting a record that reasserts their artistic ability while holding true to themselves. “This album is one of the clearest steps forward we’ve ever taken,” they say. “We’re immensely proud of it, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone.