cultureshockshop

Music Releases 04-11-25

Category Title
Quick View

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.

Jon Pardi - Honkytonk Hollywood [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Forest Green 2LP]
Video
Quick View
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.
Quick View

Magnolia Park

Vamp

Vinyl: $24.98 Buy

Magnolia Park doesn't do subtle. Since 2018, the Orlando quintet has fused punk, rock, pop, hip-hop, and metalcore into a genre-smashing whirlwind that's as thrilling live as it is on record. With viral Halloween mixtapes, their breakout debut Baku's Revenge, and tours alongside Simple Plan and Sum 41, they've cemented their spot as a must-see act at festivals like Welcome To Rockville, When We Were Young, Reading and Leeds.Magnolia Park, featuring vocalist Joshua Roberts, guitarists Tristan Torres and Freddie Criales, drummer Joe Horsham and bassist Vincent Ernst - are set to unleash their most ambitious effort yet: VAMP, a neo-gothic concept album diving deep into the dark, anime-inspired world of Nocturne Nexus. Think Star Wars meets Dracula, where rulers and rebels clash in a fight for the future.Recorded with top-tier producers like Andrew Wade and Zakk Cervini, VAMP is a sonic juggernaut - industrial undertones, colossal breakdowns, and vocalist Joshua Roberts' electrifying delivery. Magnolia Park has gone bold, heavy, and unforgettable. This is the album that will leave fans craving more.
Quick View

Bon Iver’s three-song collection SABLE, was a prologue mired in darkness, a controlled burn clearing the way for new possibilities. fABLE is the book that follows. Where SABLE, was a work of solitude, fABLE is an outstretched hand. Radiant, ornate pop music gleams around Vernon’s voice as he focuses on a new and beautiful era.

 
On every song, his eyes are locked with one specific person. It’s love, which means there’s an intense clarity, focus, and honesty within fABLE. It’s a portrait of a man flooded and over whelmed by that first meeting (“Everything Is Peaceful Love”). There’s a tableau defined by sex and irrepressible desire (“Walk Home”). This is someone filled with light and purpose seeing an entire future right in front of him: a partner, new memories, maybe a family. 
There’s something undeniably healing about infatuation. Cleaving to someone else can feel like light pouring in from a door that’s suddenly swung wide. But there’s a reason SABLE, is of a piece with fABLE; the shadow still rears its head in lighter times. Even when you’ve reached a new chapter, you’ll still find yourself back in your own foundational muck. A fable isn’t a fairy tale. There’s good stuff: unbridled joy and trips to Spain. But fables aren’t hinged on happy endings; they’re here to instill a lesson. 
As the album winds to a close, he acknowledges the need for patience and a commitment to put in the work. There’s a selfless rhythm required when you’re enmeshing yourself with another person. The song—and by extension the entire album—is a pledge. He’s ready to find that pace.
Quick View
RSD Essential 069 - One of the most influential albums of the 90s, featuring “Today,” “Disarm” and “Cherub Rock,” on exclusive Red Smoke 180 Gram Color Vinyl.
Quick View
The Crescent City’s chameleonic funk-rock-pop veterans Galactic reunite with the “Soul Queen of New Orleans” Irma Thomas for a full album of new music on Audience With the Queen, an uplifting joint-effort that shines new light on the Grammy-winning singer’s timeless sound. Now 84, Thomas has contributed era-defining hits to New Orleans’ R&B “Golden Age,” earned worldwide acclaim for her blues masterpiece After the Rain and remains among the city’s most celebrated gospel singers. With Galactic at her side across 8 high-energy, groove-laced originals and a dazzling revamp of Nancy Wilson’s “How Glad I Am,” Thomas sounds more vibrant than ever. This unique full-length LP featuring two of New Orleans’ most beloved music acts is a must-have for fans of any genre.
Quick View
Spin Doctors - "Face Full Of Cake" [White LP] Spin Doctors return with their first new album in 12 years and debut on Capitol Records. Face Full of Cake finds the band returning to that vintage Spin Doctors sound found on '90s favorites like "Little Miss Thing Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes." The album features the hard-hitting new single, "Still a Gorilla. EXPLICIT
Quick View
After six years of writing music, releasing singles, playing shows, and drilling down to the heart of what matters most, Leanna Crawford has finally readied her very first full album project, 'Still Waters.' Leanna began rolling this album out in 2022 with the release of "Before I Knew Jesus," "How Can You Not" and "Simple." These songs revealed a fresh look and a vulnerable sound for Leanna, that would grow to represent the body of work that would later become 'Still Waters.' She then went on to release "Make it Through", as timely social media posts using the lyrics "tough night, tough year / but I promise you, we're gonna make it through" resounded unanimously with fans, which led into and even greater reception of the title track "Still Waters (Psalm 23)" which has gone on to become the biggest song of Leanna's career thus far. Go on the journey of 'Still Waters' with Leanna as she reminds us that God is in every little thing, that He will help us make it through, and that His Word is true through every season of our lives.
Quick View
Produced by M. Ward, Owls, Omens, and Oracles is a transformative record featuring vocals from The Blind Boys of Alabama, and an excerpt from Valerie’s book Maps for the Modern World. This album is a full-circle moment, revisiting her indie roots while still pushing forward with an evolved sound. It centers on a joyful and spiritual outlook, celebrating growth and resilience - an album that is meant to inspire, heal, and unite people through shared emotions.
Quick View

Mamalarky

Hex Key

Vinyl: $23.98 Buy

Mamalarky thrive in the in-between, a tri-coastal outfit straddling Atlanta, Austin, and Los Angeles, crafting a sound that feels both meticulously constructed and effortlessly unspooled. Their brand of indie rock is delightfully askew-swirling psych flourishes meet wiry guitar tangents, all anchored by tender, off-kilter hooks that burrow deep. It's music that invites you into it's strange little universe, full of inside jokes and late-night musings turned into melodic gold.Their sophomore effort, Hex Key-marking their Epitaph Records debut-lands in April, with plenty of mileage ahead as they road-test new material. A spring tour includes a run with Hinds and a stop at Treefort Music Fest, where their shape-shifting sonics will no doubt translate into hypnotic, full-bodied chaos.Formed in Austin in 2016, Mamalarky's lineup has since scattered across time zones, but their chemistry remains unmistakable. Guitarist Livvy Bennett (formerly of Cherry Glazerr), keyboardist Michael Hunter (White Denim), drummer Dylan Hill, and bassist Noor Khan (Faye Webster's touring bassist) operate like a band that's spent years finishing each other's musical sentences. Their songwriting thrives on kinetic interplay-nimble and restless, yet always landing in some deeply satisfying pocket.While indie-pop might be the easiest tag to slap on them, Mamalarky dodge the genre's more predictable trappings. Instead of settling into breezy melancholy, they embrace complexity-knotty time signatures, rubbery basslines, and melodies that feel like they're winking at you. It's heady but never pretentious, the kind of music that rewards repeat listens, each spin revealing a new hidden corner.
Quick View
"Originally release in 1964 “Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown” is the 6th album from jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. It was recorded for an unreleased Peanuts TV special and includes the first recording of “Linus and Lucy” and other Peanuts favorites. This newly expanded 2CD edition is released to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Peanuts, and features the original album plus 11 unreleased outtakes, mastered and mixed by Paul Blakemore. Also included are new liner notes by Derrick Bang."
Quick View
Lord Huron - "Strange Trails (10th Anniversary Edition)" 10th Anniversary Edition of Lord Huron's seminal, multiplatinum album Strange Trails. Includes re-illustrated artwork and brand-new 20-page comic book, The Yawning Grave. Virgin Music; IMPERIAL; Alternative; Catalog Limited Edition 2 LP set on 180g vinyl, gatefold jacket, printed inner sleeves. EXPLICIT
Quick View

Dead Pioneers emerged as a dynamic extension of vocalist Gregg Deal's performance art, seamlessly blending music with critical cultural commentary. Rooted in the same themes of identity and resistance that define his visual work, the band's sound acts as a powerful platform for addressing the complexities of Indigenous experience.

'PO$T AMERICAN' is the band's second full-length album. Written in February and recorded in July, it preempts the 2024 American election but wraps up the fears and frustrations as eloquently and, crucially, humorously as the band's 2023 self-titled debut.

"Currently, we are amidst the gross existence of capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy and the many oppressive forces that have come to inform everything around us" says vocalist and songwriter Gregg Deal. "The title PO$T AMERICAN informs a collective disenfranchisement and disillusionment to the so-called American dream, while moving forward with hope of a desired designation of unity outside those that would use us for their own capitalistic power grab." The aural palate is broadly the same as the debut, but it feels expanded, stronger somehow: drawing on the confrontational writing of Rage Against The Machine, the unapologetic voice of Chuck D and Public Enemy, the storytelling of Johnny Cash, the evolution of IDLES, and punk stalwarts including Black Flag, Rollins Band and Dead Kennedys.

Overall the resulting feeling across the new album is one of cautious optimism: "Although we didn't expect the political relevance to become more relevant, we have no illusions to the American dream, or to where we seem to be going. But we have hope that we can get to a better place for people to have what they need." It is an album that speaks to and for this precise time and place; that perhaps could not exist at any other time. It is an album for now.

Quick View
The Mars Volta's ninth studio album represents a significant milestone for the band, which has been continually reinventing itself for more than 20 years. With Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio, they deliver an album that celebrates their roots, allowing them to reconnect with their origins. Fans are invited to embark on a musical journey.
Quick View

Kills Birds

Crave [Indie Exclusive LP]

Vinyl: $22.98 UNAVAILABLE
Fronted by Bosnian-Canadian filmmaker Nina Ljeti, “L.A.'s most electrifying new rock singer" -LA Times, Kills Birds are known for visceral & cathartic live performances, and have toured with Foo Fighters, Sleigh Bells & Viagra Boys. The Crave EP reaches beyond the post-punk & grunge influences of their earlier work, incorporating elements of dance, industrial rock, & nu-metal, pointing toward more melody-driven songwriting. Recorded with producer/mixer Aron Kobayashi Ritch (Momma, Been Stellar).
View More Results:

        
back to top