The Weeknd has announced THE IDOL VOL.1 (MUSIC FROM THE HBO ORIGINAL SERIES), the soundtrack for his HBO Original series The Idol, which premieres June 4, 2023. The new series is co-created by Sam Levinson (HBO’s Euphoria), Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, and stars Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Lily- Rose Depp. The Idol premiered at this year’s annual Festival de Cannes in France as an Official Selection Out of Competition. The series will air on HBO and be available to stream on Max.

The Nashville, Tennessee, garage rock group were signed as teenagers to the prestigious XL in the UK and Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label in the US, with whom they released two widely acclaimed albums. They went on to tour with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Le Tigre etc and have been cited as influences for groups such as Paramore and Big Joanie.

Alt-pop icon Gus Dapperton’s vast and ambitious album Henge builds a new world – tugging the listeners between night and day, socializing and solitude. With  nearly 2 billion collective streams across his career – the Warwick, NY native constructed the album with the concept of entering an underworld as the sun goes down and trying to get home before dawn—or risk being stuck in a time loop. Sonically the album delivers a contemporary eclectic sprawl, at times landing between 80’s new-wave and 70’s funk. Collaborators include Cruel Santino, Ocean Vuong, and BENEE – who Dapperton reunites with musically following their double-platinum viral hit “Supalonely” which has amassed over 1 billion streams. Dapperton’s music maintains the intimacy that made his previous offerings so resonant – including singles Horizons, Wet Cement, and Don’t Let Me Down. 

10 Year Anniversary Edition of Sturgill Simpson's debut album High Top Mountain. The anniversary edition includes an "Old King Coal" blacked out album cover with a glossy embossed jacket, and is pressed on translucent black vinyl. Sturgill Simpson's authenticity stands out like an island of hope in a sea of tacky. Pure and uncompromising, devoid of gloss and fakery. High Top Mountain’s dozen instant classics evoke the sound of timeless country in its many guises and brings back the lyrical forthrightness and depth that permeated the music Simpson absorbed during his Kentucky childhood. Bonafide mountain hillbilly soul, as pure as you are going to find anywhere.

"In 2004 the Drive-By Truckers released what would become the best selling album in their illustrious catalog. The Dirty South is a concept album that examines the state of the South, and unveils the hypocrisy, irony, and tragedy that continues to exist. The album features live show staples like, “Tornadoes”, “Where The Devil Dont Stay” and “Puttin People On The Moon” as well as rarities like “Goode’s Field Road” and “Daddy’s Cup.”

The Complete Dirty South is a band-led rework of the original album. Principal member, Patterson Hood, took the reins and reimagined this record as it was originally intended. The complete version features resequenced audio, three additional tracks, four remixes along with updated vocals. The packaging comes with a perfect bound book featuring liner notes from Patterson Hood, track by track descriptions from Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell as well as never before seen photos along with updated artwork from the late Wes Freed.

“This ‘Director’s Cut’ is the way it was always intended to be heard” - Patterson Hood"

Throughout the ten tracks in their new album Let There Be Music, you can hear the spaciousness Bonny Doon allowed themselves since their 2018 sleeper cult-classic Longwave. Their latest musical journey is one that has big payoffs for devoted followers and undeniable rewards for anyone just stumbling across the band for the first time. After extensively touring Longwave by supporting Band of Horses, Snail Mail and Waxahatchee, Lennox and Colombo were invited by Katie Crutchfield to collaborate on Waxahatchee’s critically acclaimed album Saint Cloud. “The experience raised the ceiling on our imagination,” Colombo said.

Soon after, Colombo and Kmiecik, whose steady percussion and devotion to the songs creates a container for the indelible guitar lines, both entered a time of serious healing, Jake tending to complications of his Crohn’s disease and Bobby to a brain injury and undiagnosed Lyme disease. While these detours of doctors’ appointments and experimental care were taking place, the members of Bonny Doon were also playing on Waxahatachee’s Saint Cloud tour. These obstacles and commitments drew out the making of Let There Be Music for several additional years, and in the process, redefined the record as an achievement in perseverance for the band.

On their long-awaited third album, we get a glimpse into the pure joy of Bonny Doon. The album serves as less of one conceptual story, and each song as their own individual offerings of putting words to the ordinary experience of being alive. The band is at their most dynamic and the songwriting deftly explores new terrain. Let There Be Music is brimming with small truths - both profound and mundane, comforting and difficult - and we are invited to revel in them all.

Deer Tick’s first new body of work since 2017, Emotional Contracts is their most collaborative to date, and sees all four members operating at peak songwriter power. Produced by Dave Fridmann, the 10-song set features guest musicians like Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and background vocals from Courtney Marie Andrews, Vanessa Carlton, Kam Franklin, Angela Miller, and Sheree Smith. Deer Tick’s ATO Records debut adds an even greater vitality to their feverish collection of timeless rock-and-roll.

“Several times, as I listened to M. Ward’s Supernatural Thing, I asked myself what year it was. Was it 1952, and was I listening to a track from the Harry Smith Anthology? Was it 1972, and was I eavesdropping on the recording session for After the Gold Rush? No, it’s 2023, and M. Ward is one of the special contemporary artists who invite such questions. Ward has clearly mastered the whole vocabulary of American popular music and made serious decisions about how to employ it for his own ends. What Ward shares with Harry Smith’s artists and Neil Young is a context of musical and human values: authenticity and intimacy. Supernatural Thing’s original songs sound freshly pulled from the ground, with a little earth sticking to them. Ward’s lyric delivery has that slight rawness the ear loves, and his voice has quiet dignity and great tenderness. Supernatural Thing is an open-hearted, inviting album. 

The album’s guest stars — First Aid Kit, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case, Jim James, others — enliven the album with surprises. On “Too Young to Die,” the women’s voices in First Aid Kit spread a light frosting over the melody, and their Beach Boys-like chorus on “Engine 5” makes the song sound like an instant hit. Eight of the album’s ten songs are Ward originals. There’s an unusual Bowie choice, “I Can’t Give Everything Away” from Blackstar, and a live rendition of Daniel Johnston’s ‘Story of an Artist.’” -By James Cushing

Both as a solo artist and as one-half of She & Him, M. Ward became one of the defining voices of the American indie landscape in the 2000s, earning fans and critical acclaim for his distinctive brand of breezy West Coast Americana which pulled from folk, country, blues, pop, and experimental indie rock elements. Ward established himself with warm, analog-minded releases like 2003’s Transfiguration of Vincent and 2006’s Post-War before joining forces with singer/actress Zooey Deschanel to form the highly successful indie pop duo She & Him in 2008. Over the following decade, Ward split his time between projects, releasing a 2009 album with indie supergroup Monsters of Folk, several high-profile albums with Deschanel including She & Him’s Columbia-issued 2014 set Classics, and critically acclaimed solo releases like 2009’s Hold Time, 2012’s A Wasteland Companion, and 2018’s What a Wonderful Industry. Ward kicked off the next decade with a deeply atmospheric set called Migration Stories and a Billie Holiday covers album Think of Spring most recently.