PREORDER UPCOMING RELEASES

To celebrate the good kid, m.A.A.d city 10-year anniversary, Kendrick Lamar brings us exclusive new offerings.
Available October 21, 2022. Indie Exclusive Milky Clear Translucent 2 LP.

The Beach Boys “Sail On Sailor“ collection celebrates the landmark 1972 albums “Carl And The Passions” and “Holland.” This 5LP set features a 38-page book with extensive liner notes, rare photos and more. The collection includes remastered versions of the original albums as well as a previously unreleased concert from Carnegie Hall recorded in 1972. It has 4 previously unreleased additional tracks and includes the original “Mount Vernon and Fairway” 7inch EP from Holland, unavailable on vinyl since the 1970s.

WILLOW's new album features "(maybe) it’s my fault," "hover like a GODDESS" and more. On tour with MGK and international festivals, plus appearances on NPR, SNL and more through 2022.

Magnetically energetic and eternally hopeful, Dayglow (the project of Austin, TX based Sloan Struble) excels in creating catchy, carefully crafted, effervescent indie pop. His home-recorded 2018 debut album Fuzzybrain featured the Platinum Certified single “Can I Call You Tonight?”, which went on to be hailed as 2020’s biggest independent alternative hit. Following up with his sophomore album Harmony House in 2021, Dayglow generated a mountain of indie buzz and critical acclaim anchored by lead single "Close To You". Now, after racking up over a billion streams and selling out headline tours around the world, Dayglow returns with his third album People In Motion. Fun and colorful, People In Motion meditates on the ideas of commitment, inner peace, and movement, while inviting the listener to the dance floor to leave the chaos and noise of our current culture behind.

Alvvays' third album, the nervy joyride that is the compulsively lovable Blue Rev, doesn't simply reassert what's always been great about Alvvays but instead reimagines it. They have, in part and sum, never been better. There are newly aggressive moments here-the gleeful and snarling guitar solo at the heart of opener "Pharmacist," or the explosive cacophony near the middle of "Many Mirrors." And there are some purely beautiful spans, too-the church- organ fantasia of "Fourth Figure," or the blue-skies bridge of "Belinda Says." But the power and magic of Blue Rev stems from Alvvays' ability to bridge ostensible binaries, to fuse elements that seem antithetical in single songs-cynicism and empathy, anger and play, clatter and melody, the soft and the steely. The luminous poser kiss-off of "Velveteen," the lovelorn confusion of "Tile by Tile," the panicked but somehow reassuring rush of "After the Earthquake."In October 2021, when they arrived at a Los Angeles studio with fellow Canadian Shawn Everett, he urged them to forget the careful planning they'd done and just play the stuff, straight to tape. On the second day, they ripped through Blue Rev front-to-back twice, pausing only 15 seconds between songs and only 30 minutes between full album takes. And then, as Everett has done on recent albums by The War on Drugs and Kacey Musgraves, he spent an obsessive amount of time alongside Alvvays filling in the cracks, roughing up the surfaces, and mixing the results. This hybridized approach allowed the band to harness each song's absolute core, then grace it with texture and depth.

Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros—consisting of Bobby Weir, Don Was, Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti—are set for the release of their second vinyl collection of recorded material, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado Vol. 2, October 7 on Third Man Records. “This was our first quick tour with The Wolfpack,” Weir says. “There’s a rawness to it that we’ll prolly never get again…”The album follows Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado, which was released this past February to critical acclaim.

Vol. 2 also features songs recorded live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Colorado in June, 2021—a documentation of their first live audience concerts in over a year due to the pandemic—featuring Greg Leisz on pedal steel, along with The Wolfpack: Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, Mads Tolling and Sheldon Brown.

Years before forming one of Nashville's most genre-bending bands, the members of Judah &the Lion grew up in separate corners of the U.S., listening to every type of music that came their way. They loved it all: the twang of folk, the beat of hip-hop, the drive of rock & roll, the punch of pop. Later, after college brought all four musicians to Tennessee, it only made sense to combine those different backgrounds # and different sounds # together. With their second full-length album, Folk Hop N Roll, the guys shine a light on the place where their influences overlap. It's a wide-ranging sound, with fuzz bass, hip-hop percussion, distorted banjo riffs, and super-sized melodies all stirred into the same mixing pot. There's no boundaries, says frontman Judah Akers, who shares the band's lineup with drummer Spencer Cross, mandolin player Brian Macdonald, and banjo wiz Nate Zuercher. We wanted to make something raw, something with attitude. We all grew up loving these hip-hop beats, so why not make an album that has the grit of Run DMC or Beastie Boys, along with all the folk instruments that we play?

Blood Money is etched. It’s scratched out in bold, dark lines, with marimba, trumpet, and bass clarinet and contains some songs of Tom Waits’ most memorable melodies. The songs are declarative, sardonic, unforgiving, musical dispatches, from the bottom of the heap. “Blood Money is flesh and bone, earthbound,” said Waits. “The songs are rooted in reality: jealousy, rage, the human meat wheel...They are more car- nal. I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth. I like songs to sound as though they’ve been aging in a barrel and distressed.”

In just a few years, Cuban-born, Nashville-based quintet Sweet Lizzy Project has gone from its members never having been in an arena, to mesmerizing an audience of 20,000 people opening for their idols, Heart and Joan Jett.  Along the way, the anthemic rock band earned a prime performance broadcast for PBS’s Havana Time Machine; an artist profile on NPR’s “Weekend Edition”; and a cover story in the Miami Herald. For its latest album, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata (Thirty Tigers), the band collaborated with major songwriters such as Blair Daly, Zac Maloy, and Sam Hollander for a triumphant and empowering collection of rock fused with an accessible pop structure and some of the everyday heart infused by Nashville’s country sound.

SLP’s sophomore American release, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata, is an artistic and personal milestone for the group. It is a concept album that loosely mirrors SLP’s journey to be artistically liberated against a stifling government regime, and the story unfolds with theatrical grandeur.  The album’s unique melding of ultra-hooky choruses with ethereal ambience and passionate vocals and lyrics recalls such diverse artists as Paramore, Muse, and Olivia Rodrigo.

Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata will be released in both English and Spanish, and Diaz explains: “It was hard to do this because words that sounded beautiful in English didn’t always translate in Spanish. It was a labor of love—we want our message to be universal—it was like having to write new songs with the same idea for the Spanish version.” The 11-song album is a sleekly modern rock record with explosive dynamics, ace musicianship, and powerful lyrics. Throughout, Diaz’s magnetism and conviction recalls the power and passion of late Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan.

It’s been something of a freedom fairytale for Sweet Lizzy Project, and one standout moment, so far, has been sharing the stage with Heart and Joan Jett. “As a Cuban girl, it was surreal playing with artists that you couldn’t readily listen to back home,” Diaz shares. “I was so proud of us, and I hope our story provides light and hope for others.” 

In just a few years, Cuban-born, Nashville-based quintet Sweet Lizzy Project has gone from its members never having been in an arena, to mesmerizing an audience of 20,000 people opening for their idols, Heart and Joan Jett.  Along the way, the anthemic rock band earned a prime performance broadcast for PBS’s Havana Time Machine; an artist profile on NPR’s “Weekend Edition”; and a cover story in the Miami Herald. For its latest album, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata (Thirty Tigers), the band collaborated with major songwriters such as Blair Daly, Zac Maloy, and Sam Hollander for a triumphant and empowering collection of rock fused with an accessible pop structure and some of the everyday heart infused by Nashville’s country sound.

SLP’s sophomore American release, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata, is an artistic and personal milestone for the group. It is a concept album that loosely mirrors SLP’s journey to be artistically liberated against a stifling government regime, and the story unfolds with theatrical grandeur.  The album’s unique melding of ultra-hooky choruses with ethereal ambience and passionate vocals and lyrics recalls such diverse artists as Paramore, Muse, and Olivia Rodrigo.

Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata will be released in both English and Spanish, and Diaz explains: “It was hard to do this because words that sounded beautiful in English didn’t always translate in Spanish. It was a labor of love—we want our message to be universal—it was like having to write new songs with the same idea for the Spanish version.” The 11-song album is a sleekly modern rock record with explosive dynamics, ace musicianship, and powerful lyrics. Throughout, Diaz’s magnetism and conviction recalls the power and passion of late Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan.

It’s been something of a freedom fairytale for Sweet Lizzy Project, and one standout moment, so far, has been sharing the stage with Heart and Joan Jett. “As a Cuban girl, it was surreal playing with artists that you couldn’t readily listen to back home,” Diaz shares. “I was so proud of us, and I hope our story provides light and hope for others.” 

It’s impossible to describe Action Bronson in a way he hasn’t already thought of. First and foremost though, Action Bronson is a principled MC, a Queens legend respected for his idiosyncratic pen and vivid raps, now a decade into his career and still deepening his skillset. “TRUST WHEN I SAY IT AIN’T SAFE FOR ANY OF THESE ANIMALS THE ANCIENT APEX PREDATOR IS BACK ON THE PROWL.” – ACTION BRONSON

Hitting play on the debut album from Plains, the duo composed of Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson, we're immediately teleported into a world of Southern sunsets, wide open spaces, and the unapologetic nature of Country music.Plains began out of Crutchfield's and Williamson's mutual love for each other's music and after trading albums (Saint Cloud and Sorceress, respectively) in early 2020. Feeling that it was time to have a separate project that could reflect a different side of her creative inspirations, Katie felt that Jess was the perfect fit for a collaboration, and they set off to create I Walked With You A Ways.Written between Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Marfa, the album was recorded in Durham, NC with collaborator and producer Brad Cook. The creative magic of only a few vocal takes, tracking with a band comprised of Spencer Tweedy and Phil Cook, gives the album a feel of fresh, on-the-spot conception. The trust and history of Crutchfield and Cook's collaborations (Saint Cloud, Great Thunder EP) set the tone for this new container of spontaneity and experimentation.And that's the thing about Country music, and what so much of this album nods to - from Waylon and Willie, to The Judds, The Chicks, Trio, and beyond - these are groups that are formed out of family and friendship, that lyrically take their listeners on a voyage of sorrow and hope. Crutchfield's sharp, honest edge of truth telling paired with Williamson's ability to paint the scene with candles, plains, sunsets, and small Texas towns is one of the strongest parts of this album.While Williamson sings "Texas in my rearview / Plains in my heart" and Crutchfield echoes "Got a heartbreak burn, take the quickest route / On this 4 lane highway I'll trace it in the clouds," the true gift of this album emerges. We're in the backseat with these two, truck windows open, wide open spaces in front of us. The feeling of being both a mess and unstoppable at our fingertips. May this album bring us all closer to ourselves and to each other.

When the world came to a halt, Jim Ward couldn’t stop moving. He’d just released a reunion album, Trust the River, as the frontman of Sparta when the pandemic hit, and as tour dates dried up, Ward returned to the studio. A year later, he debuted his raucous solo record Daggers and now he’s offering up yet another Sparta album to the world. 

The resulting collection of songs were entirely written on keys in what Ward considers an effort to stretch musical muscles he wouldn’t otherwise have had the expanse of time to indulge in. Boldly self-titled some 20-odd years into Sparta’s career, the album serves as a kind of reintroduction to the band, what Ward calls “a fresh slate.” 

He recorded the song at Red Bull Studios in Santa Monica, where for the first time in his long career, Ward had a state of the art recording space to himself, and an engineer able to help him enact his vision. The rest of the album was self-produced at Ward’s El Paso studio, Crowded Heart. 

Double 180gm white colored vinyl LP pressing housed in gatefold jacket. 2022 release. Three-time Grammy nominees and San Antonio, Texas-born quartet, Nothing More return with their highly awaited 7th album Spirits. The album features 13 songs with the band's most focused, adventurous, and intense music, uniting introspective philosophical lyrics with unapologetically massive anthems, including their in-your-face rock track "Turn It Up Like," their most recent Top 20 Billboard Active Rock radio single "Tired Of Winning" which is currently inside the Top 10. Since their emergence in 2003, Nothing More has earned rock radio chart history with #1 singles with both "This is the Time (Ballast)" and "Go To War" and already has seven Active Rock Radio Top-10 singles in their repertoire. "Spirits" further proves their expertise in the rock genre and beyond. It documents the tumultuous time the world experienced over the past two years capturing the desperation and isolation of lockdown, the spiral of substance abuse, the pain of broken relationships and survival in self-reliance while summarizing the overall story and mission of Nothing More: Reflect, Provoke, Inspire.

2022 release, the fourth album from the Australian psychedelic rock band.

Isokratisses (Greek for "women who sing the "iso" or "drone") is a vocal ensemble comprised of eight women who carry the ancient tradition of polyphonic songs from Epirus: a region in northern Greece and southern Albania. Born and reared in the Greek speaking villages around Deropoli and Politsani in Albania, the women of Isokratisses have sung these songs since childhood. The group ranges in age from 19 to 56 with some sisters in the group as well as an aunt. They were nurtured by this archaic music, listening and singing it with their family and friends. The songs were passed down from generation to generation. The group started its artistic activity in 2015, after the singer Anna Katsi took the initiative to encourage the younger members to perform regularly. The communal nature of polyphonic singing is a way of revitalizing an art that has declined in recent years and to reassert the primacy of female voices in the southern Balkans. Singing these songs builds an invisible bridge that connects the present with the past, the memories of childhood travel with the immediacy of daily life. On Oct 14, 2022, Third Man Records will release a full album of these solo polyphonic songs, with Grammy-winning producer Christopher King. "It is social music, woven into the fabric of poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised communities. Many of the songs are variations of mirologia (songs of fate, songs of morning) that used to be sung throughout the southern Balkans but have largely disappeared on an informal cultural level except for Epirus. Structurally, the songs are pentatonic (five notes with no semitones) and are composed of three or four distinct melodic voices that weave together in an organic yet unexpected way. The remaining members of the group provide the iso or “drone” that is the low tonic note of the melody." - Chris King

On August 26, 1971, the unrivaled original line-up of The Allman Brothers Band set up in A&R Studios in NYC and played a scorching 67 minute set to a studio audience - and it was broadcast live over WPLJ-FM. It was a classic 1971-era set - "Statesboro Blues, " "Trouble No More, " "Don't Keep Me Wonderin', " "Done Somebody Wrong, " "One Way Out, " "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, " "Stormy Monday, " "You Don't Love Me, " "Soul Serenade" and closing with "Hot 'Lanta." Bootleg recordings of the FM broadcast have been around for years, but this release has been re-mixed from the original multi-track studio recording and the sound is absolutely stunning! Gatefold 2LP-set.

A new studio album of songs written, recorded and produced by visionary musician and artist BRIAN ENO – featuring his vocals on 8 of the 10 recordings.

FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE is Eno’s first studio album in six years and features appearances from longstanding collaborators Leo Abrahams, Roger Eno and Peter Chilvers, alongside Cecily Eno, Clodagh Simonds, Darla Eno and Jon Hopkins.

The album includes studio recordings of “There Were Bells” and “Garden Of Stars,” compositions that Eno penned to perform as part of his first live performance in 11 years at the Acropolis back in August 2021, it also includes “Making Gardens Out Of Silence” that features as part of the ongoing Serpentine interdisciplinary program, BACK TO EARTH.

Taylor Swift’s new studio album Midnights is available everywhere on October 21st. It’s a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face - the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout Taylor’s life.

The universe feels real on The Turnpike Troubadours because the band resolved to let the album happen on it's own time. Moving out to the Prairie Sun recording complex in the desert country of Cotati, California, setting up in former chicken coops converted into studios, they metaphorically unplugged the clock and worked studiously through 12-hour sessions, wrapping up only when each story and every note rang true. There's "7 Oaks", recounting a life made desperate by poverty, made more vivid by an incongruous hoedown accompaniment. "Bossier City," focused on a sad mill worker who blows his pay regularly on gambling and booze.

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT THE UKRAINE HUMANITARIAN RELIEF FUND

Pink Floyd will release two physical versions of their first newly recorded music in over 25 years, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’. The single, which was initially released digitally in April in support of the people of Ukraine and was #1 in 29 countries, is available on 7” and CD single. Both formats feature a newly reworked version of ‘A Great Day For Freedom’ from the band’s 1994 album, The Division Bell. The track sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt, with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards and a lead vocal by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox. It also has vocal harmonies by Romany and David Gilmour

When the track was first recorded at the end of March, Andriy, who left his band’s US tour to return home and fight for his country, was in a hospital bed in Kyiv recovering from a shrapnel injury. Proceeds for the physical release and the ongoing digital proceeds will go to Ukraine humanitarian relief.

For this limited edition release, David Gilmour revisited The Division Bell track ‘A Great Day For Freedom’. He has reworked the song using the original tapes which, as well as David, feature Nick Mason on drums and Richard Wright on keyboards, along with backing vocals from Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine and Durga McBroom. The artwork for the track ‘The Sunflower Look’ features a painting of the national flower of Ukraine with a twist by the Cuban artist Yosan Leon. The cover is a direct reference to the woman who was seen around the world giving sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers and telling them to carry them in their pockets, so that when they die sunflowers will grow.

Limited green colored vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Includes poster. 2022 release. Rad Wings of Destiny is the first new album from California band Ugly Kid Joe since 2015's Uglier Than They Used Ta Be. For this album, Ugly Kid Joe teamed up with producer Mark Dodson, who was already responsible for the 1992 multiplatinum debut album America's Least Wanted.

ARCHITECTS have delivered their 10th studio album; an arena-ready opus entitled, 'the classic symptoms of a broken spirit', the follow up to their 2021 breakout album For Those That Wish To Exist, which hit #1 on the UK sales chart. Finding yourself with a UK Number One album and selling out arenas is enough for some to repeat a winning formula. Architects however, are forever moving forward. "It was definitely validating and felt really cool for like a day," recalls drummer, producer and songwriter Dan Searle of hitting the top spot with 'For Those That Wish To Exist'"For a lot of the bucket list things you reach in any career, there's a momentary gratification then you're like, 'What next?' You just move on. By the time the album came out, my head was already in the mindset of 'Broken Spirit'. That was where I was at." Searle notes how it was their albums 'Lost Forever/Lost Together', 'All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us', and 'Holy Hell' that really "cemented what the band was about" and "took them to a new level" as a rock powerhouse and leaders of the UK's metalcore scene - making it all the more "daunting" to reinvent themselves on the records that would follow. "I wanted to make this album with a different aesthetic. We were enjoying working with the synths and doing stuff that we hadn't done before." As a band who never stop writing, the kernels of the songs that make up 'the classic symptoms of a broken spirit' were already in progress before the ink had time to dry on the artwork of their last record. Architects were on a creative roll, and the record was born of that creative freedom. Produced by Dan Searle and guitarist Josh Middleton, with additional production from frontman Sam Carter at Decon's Middle Farm Studios and their own Brighton Electric Studios before being mixed by Zakk Cervini, the band were buoyed by finally being back in a room together after their last album was made mostly remotely due to COVID restrictions. The result was something altogether more "free, playful and spontaneous," Searle explains. Carter agrees: "This one feels more live, more exciting and more fun - it has that energy. We wanted it to be a lot more industrial and electronic. That was the main mission. They can sit side-by-side: Mr Electronic and Mr Organic."

Los Angeles based Afro-Latin funk band Jungle Fire's debut full-length album Tropicoso. With influences ranging from James Brown to Fela Kuti, Jungle Fire is a melting pot of Afro-Cuban rhythms, classic break-beats, tropical cumbia, and 70’s inspired West African funk, all layered with a uniquely Los Angeles grit. Jungle Fire has earned a reputation as a vibrant, passionate live band, known across LA for notoriously powerful concerts. 

Limited 180gm metallic gold colored vinyl LP pressing. 20th Anniversary Edition. "Alice" is the 14th studio album by Tom Waits, originally released in 2002. The album contains most songs written for the play Alice. The adaptation was directed by Robert Wilson, who Waits had previously worked with on the play The Black Rider, and originally set up at the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg in 1992. The play has since been performed in various theatres around the world.

From “Taxman” to “Tomorrow Never Knows,” The Beatles’ REVOLVER has been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and Sam Okell, and sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes with audio brought forth in stunning clarity with the help of cutting-edge technology developed by the award-winning sound team at Peter Jackson’s WingNutFilms Productions Ltd.  Now available on 180g vinyl.

2003 sophomore album from the acclaimed Alt-Rock/Blues duo.

Hand-selected by the band members from their personal music archives, Ladies And Gentelmen. The Bangles! is a 16-track collection of remastered '80s-era rarities, demos, live recordings and more, including The Bangles' debut single and all of the tracks from their self-titled EP-produced by legendary Ramones/Blondie producer Craig Leon-unavailable since its initial release on vinyl in 1982.

Encompassing the very first years of the band's development, from their earliest days as The Bangs to their incarnation as The Bangles, the tracks include performances by The Bangles' founding and current members-Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, and Vicki Peterson-as well as now-retired bassist Michael Steele, and the band's original bass player Annette Zilinskas.

"We're so pleased to give our fans and music lovers alike the chance to enjoy the early fruits of our labor. Some of these tracks have never seen the light of day," states Bangles drummer/singer Debbi Peterson. "We've wanted to make these songs available to a new audience for a long time," adds singer/guitarist Vicki Peterson. "We've thrown in a couple of live tracks, and even some of the first demos, all lovingly collected and re-mastered, so you no longer have to dig out a cassette player to hear them." Singer/guitarist Susanna Hoffs continues, "I feel a very special connection to our early recordings. The garage of my parents' house was our musical laboratory, and we took all the flavors of our favorite bands and mixed up a concoction of jangly guitars, McCartney-inspired bass parts, grooves powered by punk energy, and harmonies galore! These songs and recordings were our musical manifesto-all that mattered and inspired us, fueled by youthful energy, hope and blind ambition."

Produced by longtime collaborator Hit-Boy, Nas delivers Magic, the transcendent nine track album including "Wave Gods" feat. A$AP Rocky and DJ Premier. Magic follows-up the August 2021 release of Nas' Grammy nominated album, King's Disease II, and finds the hip-hop icon spitting bars about social media, fellow rappers, the rough past few years and the human condition.

The fourth studio album by rock legend Chris Isaak was originally released in 1993 and subsequently certified gold in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. Dedicated to the memory of sound consultant Louie Beeson, the album includes the titular track “San Francisco Days” in Isaak’s modern blues style, “Two Hearts”, “Can’t Do a Thing” and a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Solitary Man”. The lush, guitar-heavy record features James Calvin Wilsey, Rowland Salley, Danny Gatton, Jeff Watson and Tom Brumley.

Frank Ballard brings the party to Sun Records’ 70th Anniversary celebration with the newly remastered Rhythm Blues Party. Nicknamed “The Golden Voice,” he brings each track to life with his powerful vocals, backed by the Memphis-based Phillip Reynolds Band. Originally released in 1962 and last pressed on vinyl in 1981, Rhythm Blues Party features tracks written by Ballard, like the bluesy “I Just Can’t Help It,” the sultry “After Hours,” and the upbeat “You Gotta Learn to Rock & Roll.”

Inspired by Otis Redding and James Brown, Mickey Murray created his own groovy brand of Southern soul. His first hit, the horn-heavy “Shout Bamalama” brought him out of shoe shining obscurity and into soul stardom. Shout Bamalama and Other Super Soul Songs was originally released in 1967 and has been newly remastered to celebrate Sun Records’ 70th Anniversary. Mickey covers the full range of soul: get down with “Hit Record,” slow down with “Treat Him Right,” and rock to “East of Nowhere.”

One can't speak of California's famed desert rock movement without mentioning the visionary producer/musician Chris Goss. The so-called Godfather of the Joshua Tree-centered scene, Goss has produced famed and acclaimed albums by groups like Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Kyuss, Screaming Trees, and numerous others. Before he was known as a renowned producer though, he was the singer/guitarist and only consistent member of one of the most influential-yet-forgotten hard rock groups of all time: Masters of Reality. Masters Of Reality (Whose name was appropriately taken from a Black Sabbath song) had the distinction of being the only group signed to two different hip-hop labels of historical note: Def Jam and Delicious Vinyl. Originally label mates with Public Enemy and Slayer, Masters Of Reality's self-titled debut album was released by Def American in 1988. Two years later, Delicious Vinyl founders Matt Dike and Mike Ross, huge Masters fans, bought the band's contract from Rick Rubin and re-released the album with new cover artwork to renewed acclaim and commercial success. So many years later, Masters Of Reality's debut still feels like a hard-hitting breath of fresh air in a modern landscape of over-produced rock music