Artist: |
Title: |
Label: |
Accept |
“Blind Rage” (Hear here; MP3) |
(Nuclear Blast) |
Bad Case of Big Mouth (easycore band from Harrison, N.J.) |
“Straight Up Bad Luck” (Hear here; MP3) |
(Eulogy Recordings) |
Bahamas (Ontario-based musician Afie Jurvanen) |
“Bahamas Is Alfie” (producer: Bahamas; first single: “All the Time”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Brushfire / Republic) |
Liam Bailey (U.K. soul/rock singer) |
“Definitely Now” (producers: Salaam Remi, Bailey; first single: “On My Mind”; Hear here; MP3) |
(Flying Buddha – Remi’s label) |
Beach Day |
“Native Echoes” (producer: Jim Diamond; first single: “All My Friends Were Punks”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Kanine) |
Big Engine |
“Shot Like a Rocket” (Hear here; MP3) |
(Pavement Music) |
Elvin Bishop |
“Can’t Even Do Wrong Right” (Mickey Thomas sings lead on “Let Your Woman Have Her Way,” his first collaboration with Bishop since 1976’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”; guest: Charlie Musselwhite; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Alligator) |
Bishop Allen (Brooklyn indie-pop group) |
“Lights Out” (first single: “Start Again”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Dead Oceans) |
Benjamin Booker (New Orleans-based singer-songwriter) |
“Benjamin Booker” (producer: Andrija Tokic; Hear here; See here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(ATO) |
Chuck Brown & The Chuck Brown Band |
“Beautiful Life” (the Godfather of Go-Go’s final album, recorded before his death in May 2012; guests: Wale, Faith Evans, Raheem DeVaughn, Sugar Bear, etc.; Hear/read here; MP3) |
(Raw Venture) |
Buckcherry |
“Fuck” (six-song EP; Hear here) |
(F-Bomb) |
Danielia Cotton |
“The Real Book” (her first album of covers; producer: Kevin Salem; guests: Amy Helm, Tracy Bonham, Rachel Yamagata; Hear here) |
(Cottontown) |
Rocco DeLuca |
“Rocco DeLuca” (producer: Daniel Lanois; first single: “Colors of the Cold”; Hear here; Read here; MP3) |
(429) |
Dirty Loops |
“Loopified” (first single: “Hit Me”; Hear here; See here; MP3) |
(Verve) |
Colton Dixon (season 11 “American Idol” finalist) |
“Anchor” (producers: David Garcia, Red Decibel; first single: “More of You”; Hear here; MP3) |
(Sparrow) |
Dr. John |
“Ske-Dat-De-Dat … The Spirit of Satch” (a tribute to Louis Armstrong; guests: Bonnie Raitt, Ledisi, Blind Boys of Alabama, Anthony Hamilton, The McCrary Sisters, Shemekia Copeland, Terence Blanchard, Arturo Sandoval, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, etc.; Hear here; Read here; MP3) |
(Concord) |
Electric Würms (prog-rock side project featuring The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne, backed by Nashville psychedelic rock band Linear Downfall) |
“Musik, Die Shwer Zu Twerk” (first single: a cover of Yes’ “Heart of the Sunrise”; Hear here; Vinyl) |
(Warner) |
Enuff Z’Nuff |
“Covered in Gold” (14 cover songs; Hear here; MP3) |
(Cleopatra) |
Orenda Fink (former Azure Ray singer) |
“Blue Dream” (producers: Ben Brodin, Todd Fink; new single: “You Can Be Loved”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Saddle Creek) |
Ruthie Foster |
“Promise of a Brand New Day” (producer: Meshell Ndegeocello; guests: Doyle Bramhall II, Toshi Reagon; Hear here; MP3) |
(Blue Corn Music) |
Roddy Frame (former Aztec Camera frontman) |
“Seven Dials” (his first solo album in eight years was released in the U.K. in May; producers: Frame, Sebastian Lewsley; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(AED – Edwyn Collins’ label) |
Ace Frehley |
“Space Invader” (includes a cover of “The Joker”; Hear here; Read here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(eOne Music) |
Bebel Gilberto |
“Tudo!” (producer: Mario C.; Hear here; MP3) |
(Portrait / Sony Music Masterworks) |
Christian Gregory (British soul revivalist) |
“Count On You” (four-song EP, co-written with Michael Kiwanuka; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Movement / Fat Possum) |
Euge Groove |
“Got 2 Be Groovin” (guests: Elliot Yamin, Chanel Haynes; Hear here; MP3) |
(Shanachie) |
Paul Hardcastle |
“Moovin & Groovin” (disco-flavored album; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Trippin N’ Rhythm) |
Imogen Heap |
“Sparks” (Hear here; Read here; Deluxe edition; MP3) |
(RCA) |
Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas |
“Secret Evil” (producer: Milo Froideval; first single: “Tired Oak”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Instant – producer Richard Gottehrer’s label) |
Sarah Jaffe (Texas singer-songwriter) |
“Don’t Disconnect” (producer: Midlake’s McKenzie Smith; Hear here; See here; MP3) |
(Kirtland) |
Jars of Clay |
“20” (acoustic versions of 20 songs chosen by fans, to help the band celebrate its 20th anniversary; Hear here) |
(+180) |
JJ (Swedish band) |
“V” (Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Secretly Canadian / Sincerely Yours) |
Wiz Khalifa |
“Blacc Hollywood” (first single: “We Dem Boyz”; Hear here; MP3; MP3 Deluxe Edition) |
(Rostrum / Atlantic) |
Kimbra |
“The Golden Echo” (the track “As You Are” features a string arrangement by Van Dyke Parks; producers: Kimbra, Rich Costey; guests: John Legend, Muse’s Matt Bellamy, John JR Robinson, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Dirty Projector’s Dave Longstreth, Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Bilal; first single: “90s Music”; Hear here; See here; Vinyl; MP3; MP3 Deluxe Edition) |
(Warner) |
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Queen of J-pop) |
“Pika Pika Fantajin” (producer: Yasutaka Nakata; first single: “Kira Kira Killer”; Hear here; See here; MP3) |
(Warner) |
The Last Internationale (NYC indie rock band) |
“We Will Reign” (producer: Brendan O’Brien; first single: “Killing Fields”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Epic) |
The Magic Numbers |
“Alias” (their first album since 2010; producer: guitarist-vocalist Romeo Stodart; first single: “Shot in the Dark”; Hear here; Read here; Vinyl) |
(U.K. – Caroline, Aug. 18) |
Mud Morganfield & Kim Wilson |
“For Pops: A Tribute To Muddy Waters” (Morganfield is the son of Waters, and Wilson is the frontman of the Fabulous Thunderbirds) |
(Severn) |
Neal Morse |
“Songs From November” (producer: Morse; Hear here) |
(Metal Blade) |
Laura Mvula |
“Laura Mvula With Metropole Orkest” (52-piece orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios; Hear here; See here; MP3) |
(RCA) |
Chase Rice |
“Ignite the Night” (Hear here; MP3) |
(Dack Janiels / Columbia) |
Roadkill Ghost Choir (indie folk-rock band from De Land, Fla.) |
“In Tongues” (producer: Doug Boehm; first single: “A Blow to the Head”; Hear here; MP3) |
(Greatest Hiss / Wolfbomb Productions) |
Smokey Robinson |
“Smokey & Friends” (all-star duets album; guests: Elton John, James Taylor, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, etc.; Hear here; Read here; MP3) |
(Verve) |
Selah |
“You Amaze Us” (first single: “You Amaze Us”; Hear here; MP3) |
(Curb) |
Sleeping Bag |
“Deep Sleep” (Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Joyful Noise Recordings) |
Ray Stevens |
“Gospel Collection (Volume One)” (Hear here) |
(Gaither Music Group / Universal) |
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones (Chicago-style blues band) |
“Living Tear To Tear” (Hear here) |
(Severn) |
Paul Thorn (Americana artist) |
“Too Blessed to Be Stressed” (Hear here; Read here; MP3) |
(Perpetual Obscurity) |
Randy Travis |
“Influence Vol. 2: The Man I Am” (Hear here; MP3) |
(Warner) |
Twin Atlantic |
“Great Divide” (producers: Gil Norton, Jacknife Lee; Hear here; Read here; MP3) |
(Red Bull) |
Midge Ure |
“Fragile” (first single: “Become”; Hear here; Vinyl; MP3) |
(Hypertension) |
Various artists |
“If I Stay: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (featuring songs by Beck, Sonic Youth, Odessa, Tom Odell, Willamette Stone, etc.; MP3) |
(WaterTower Music) |
Various artists |
“Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited” (Americana artists re-imagine and update Cash’s 1964 concept album “Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian”; producer: Joe Henry; contributors: Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Bill Miller, etc.; Hear here; MP3) |
(Sony Music Masterworks) |
Various artists |
“VH1 Love & Hip Hop: Music From the Series” (MP3) |
(Def Jam) |