Nov/Dec 2019

JD McPherson presents A Christmas Album, SOCKS. Featuring 11 original tracks written by JD McPherson and his friends. SOCKS is an album of Holidays songs sure to be standards while you are decorating the tree. Come get warm by the fire with songs such as , "All The Gifts I Need" and "Every Single Christmas." Or, burn the cookies to "SOCKS" and "Ugly Christmas Sweater." There is something for everyone on this record to enjoy whether you are in the Christmas spirit or if you just wanna say, "Bah Humbug".

uknowhatimsayin¿ marks a buoyant new chapter in Danny's career, a transitional and celebratory moment. His profile has grown since Atrocity and now armed with a cable TV show and a co-sign from one of rap's icons, we will look to solidify his positioning as a ubiquitous entertainer, independent rap hero, and one of the essential cultural voices of this era, while still retaining the edgy, maverick style that makes him a fan-favorite. The album is executive produced by Q-Tip, and features production by Q-Tip, JPEGMAFIA, Flying Lotus, Paul White, Standing on the Corner and more. 

Seven inch vinyl pressing of this single lifted from the alt-rock supergroup's 2019 album Help Us Stranger.

Only The Song Survives is the definitive collection of John Hiatt's musical output spanning two decades of releases on New West Records. The vast box set includes eleven albums, spread across fifteen long play records, all pressed on high quality 180g vinyl. Four releases - Crossing Muddy Waters (2000), The Tiki Bar Is Open (2001), Beneath This Gruff Exterior (2003) and Master Of Disaster (2005) - have been remastered for vinyl and pressed on wax for the very first time. The box set's 48-page book is autographed by John Hiatt and features rare photos, testimonials, essays and insights from many of Hiatt's co-conspirators throughout his career - from Ry Cooder, Steve Earle, Sonny Landreth, Patterson Hood, Luther Dickinson, Rodney Crowell, James McMurtry and more.

The 20th Anniversary of The Slim Shady LP is set to release on 3LP 180 gram vinyl and 2CD on 13th December, 2019 in an updated Expanded Edition including bonus tracks, rarities, a capella’s, freestyles, and instrumentals.

Originally released on 23rd February, 1999 The Slim Shady LP turned Eminem from an underground rapper into a high-profile celebrity. The album featured production from Dr. Dre, the Bass Brothers, and Eminem himself. The Slim Shady LP is his first album with a major label after his first album Infinite was released on an independent label in 1996. The majority of the album’s lyrical content is written from the perspective of the rapper’s alter ego Slim Shady, whom the rapper created on the Slim Shady EP (1997).

The Slim Shady LP went on to be certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.

The prophesy has come true! Tenacious D's Kyle Gass and Jack Black team up with Jack White on production to create a brand new one-sided single.

A1 “Don't Blow It, Kage" 

Sweden’s Opeth are preparing to release their most important record to date with “In Cauda Venenum”. Certainly, fans and critics will have their opinion, but few records in the Swedes’ oeuvre are as engaging, delicate, panoramic, intense, and musical as Opeth’s lucky thirteenth. Sporting a clever Travis Smith cover—replete with inside jokes and a nod to King Diamond—a masterful Park Studios (The Hellacopters, Graveyard) production, Opeth’s usual five-star musicianship, and lyrics entirely in Swedish, “In Cauda Venenum” raises the bar markedly. While a record in Swedish is a first—there’s also an English version—for frontman and founding member Mikael Åkerfeldt, the 10 songs on offer feel and sound completely natural. As if years of listening to and being a fan of Swedish rock and hard rock has paid off. In a way, Opeth have come home. But the Swedish lyrics of the primary edition of “In Cauda Venenum” shouldn’t distract from the quality presented in Opeth’s new songs, the lot of which sneak up and take control after repeated listens. “In Cauda Venenum” is like that, tricky in its complicated simplicity, resourceful in its ability to charm with delightful if wistful melodies. Really, it’s just Opeth being Opeth.

William Hooker has been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians and drummers of his generation, leading a variety of ensembles within the worlds of free jazz, experimental, and new music. Hooker’s prior collaborators range from avant garde jazz musicians to indie rock legends like Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. On his latest work, “Symphonie of Flowers”, Hooker weaves three sections into a whole, or a “symphonie” of sorts. As he says, “the piece begins and ends with the drum…my instrument. Its rhythm and variations of timbre are the stabilizing element.”

"In January 2019 I found myself stuck in a Chicago hotel room during the “Polar Vortex”. I was performing there with my duo Radnor & Lee over a few nights when temperatures dropped, leaving me unable to do much outside my hotel room for 4 days.

Chicago is a city that holds a special history for me, and I found myself spending a good chunk of time staring out my hotel window, reflecting on my first trip there in 1993 to record my debut solo album  Grandpaw Would at Idful Studios with Brad Wood. But more than the details of that trip, I was struck by how vividly memories started flooding back tome of being a 15 year old mega fan of music, and in particular, indie rock. I LIVED for the records that I loved and the bands who made them. I’m not sure you are ever a fan of bands the way you can be as a teenager. It’s pretty sacred.

I started re-listening to some of my favorite songs from that period in that hotel room, by the Beat Happening, Pavement, Fugazi, The Breeders, Guided by Voices. It struck me as crazy that these songs and the feelings that accompanied them were now over 25 years old. It started seeming odd to me that for some reason, indie rock hasn’t been canonized the same way ‘60s and ‘70s rock has. After all, Dinosaur Jr were my Led Zeppelin, Sonic Youth were my Grateful Dead and Built to Spill were my Steve Miller Band. These were my classics!

I always travel with my portable studio gear, and I immediately sat down and started learning and recording a collection of my favorite songs. I spent my 4 days of the 2019 Polar Vortex creating the blueprint for what would becomeQuarter Century Classix. When I got home to LA, I invited my friends Julianna Barwick, William Tyler and Mary Lattimore to my home studio to add their magic to my recordings as I knew they grew up in reverence of the same records I did. These three genius musicians became the “band” who you can hear framing these covers and I am eternally grateful for their talent and generosity. Later, Maria Taylor, Mike Watt, Petra Haden and Joey Waronker all showed up to play too.

To some people these songs are just footnotes in pop culture history. But to me, they are the essence my own personal history. I wanted to make this record a tribute to these bands, to these songs, and to the irreversible way music can touch and transform the life of a young person. I hope you enjoy

Quarter Century Classix. - Ben Lee

Maryland-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Nau is back with a fourth “solo” album, on the heels of his 2018 release, Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread. Nau, who previously fronted projects like Page France and Cotton Jones, is known for his unique blend of psychedelic folk, R&B, and indie rock music. On his latest effort, Less Ready To Go, Nau enlisted Scott McMicken (Dr. Dog) as a producer, along with collaborators Whitney McGraw, Andrew Dost (fun.), Zach Miller (Dr. Dog), Benny Yurco, and Seth Kauffman.

The Gathering Dawn is the debut solo album from Hollie Kenniff. The album, which is her first ambient proclamation, displays a sprawling looseness in sharp contrast to her works as one half of Mint Julep with husband Keith Kenniff (Helios, Goldmund). The Gathering Dawn wistfully utilizes glacial synths, blurred out guitars and Hollie's melancholic vocal plumes as a basis. The album finds Hollie effortlessly folding classic ambient motifs in with a minimal modernist brushstrokes.

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Allman Brothers debut album, New West Records is proud to present, Big Band of Brothers: A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band. This record is a true collection of big band jazz interpretations of Allman Brothers classics. The record features guest vocals by Marc Broussard and Ruthie Foster. Big Band of Brothers also features Jack Pearson on guitar, who has performed as a guest of the Allman Brothers Band on numerous occasions, and actually joined as a member of the band in 1997. Together with Dickey Betts, he completed the band's archetypal guitar duo for nearly 3 years. Wycliffe Gordon (of Jazz at Lincoln Center fame) is also featured as a soloist. Gordon is consistently ranked among leading trombone players in the Downbeat critics poll.

Imagine the mind’s farthest wanderings made physical, formed into worlds that represent our internal and external expressions. Mythologically speaking, people have been naming this duality for ages: utopia and dystopia, heaven and earth, Olympus and the underworld. Now imagine this concept distilled in an eleven track, thirty-six minute album, and you arrive at Arcadia, the latest offering by songstress Lily Kershaw. Weaving warmer analog sounds like organ, harpsichord and guitar with cinematic force, Arcadia is Kershaw’s most intimate release to date. But the strongest tool Kershaw wields is her voice, both in the simmering ferocity it carries and the poetry it speaks. Though the concept behind the record is epic to say the least, Kershaw is ultimately telling a story of acceptance, both of herself and the great mystery that is the universe

Over their career, Cold War Kids have fielded music’s seismic shifts while simultaneously sticking to their own game plan. Over the course of a dozen releases – including seven studio albums, multiple EPs, and a live album on majors and indies alike, non-stop tours and the festival circuit’s biggest stages, massive radio, sales & streaming successes, the band have become a major part of the modern landscape. Their new album New Age Norms 1, with lead single “Complainer” is the next chapter with the approach of taking apart the idea of what the band is and just trying to take the doors off a bit to see where it can go. 

FITTED is a new project from Wire members Graham Lewis and Matthew Simms, with Mike Watt (Minutemen, Stooges, fIREHOSE) and drummer Bob Lee (Fearless Leader, The Freeks). The group first convened after just one practice to perform at Wire’s DRILL festival in 2017 at The Echo in Los Angeles. On their debut album, First Fits, the freewheelin' pysch-pop powerhouse plows through six numbers over the course of 38 minutes, with Lewis and Watt trading lead vocal duties. The album will be available on LP, CD, and digital formats beginning November 8th.

The vinyl release features a deluxe package with a gatefold jacket and lyric insert.

Japanese Wallpaper is Gab Strum, Melbourne-based dream pop producer, songwriter and artist. Gab blends shimmery synths, downtempo beats, and electronic influences with introspective, coming of age song themes to craft his brand of indie pop. Glow is the debut album from Japanese Wallpaper about navigating the simultaneously beautiful and incredibly awkward phase that is one's late teens, growing up and trying to figure out your place in the world. Produced by Grammy-winning producer Ben H. Allen (Walk the Moon, Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Kaiser Chiefs, Cut Copy, Washed Out, Neon Indian),