While the city of Toledo is preparing for the weekend’s festivities at the Old West End festival, we’re being inundated with some absolutely phenomenal new releases! Some great summer jams with the new King Tuff and Lemonade as well as some great late night listening with the new Sigur Ros!

1) King Tuff – Bad Thing (off their new album, King Tuff)

King Tuff took us by surprise years ago with their debut, Is Dead, and they haven’t slowed down since. Fantastic pop hooks that catch you immediately and some of that noisy garage rock that we all love around here. For fans of Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin and Jay Reatard!

2) Fran Capitanelli – My Favorite Jeans (off his album, Kave Talk)

While including this title does go a bit against the title new release playlist, this album has been played non-stop in here for the last six or so months. An absolutely fantastic rock album that brings to mind 70′s power pop and even newer bands like the Secret Machines. Incredibly strong songwriting and guitar chops that are undeniable. Absolutely essential Summer listening!

3) Sun Kil Moon – Sunshine in Chicago (off his album, Among the Leaves)

Mark Kozelek is back again with a new album. Gone are the eight minute long songs and he’s now tapping into a more light-hearted side of songwriting, with even a mix of humor in some of the songs. This album does follow in the footsteps of his last album, Admiral Fell Promises, in that it’s a solo effort with no backing musicians. Wonderful rainy day album.

4) Lemonade – Neptune (off their new album, Diver)

Not only do we have a band with quite possibly the most refreshing name, we also have some top notch Summer tunes! Bringing to mind El Guincho, Toro Y Moi, and Washed Out, Lemonade’s songs bring forth more of a throwback R&B feel.

5) Broken Water – Underground (off their new album, Tempest)

Admittedly, we knew nothing of Broken Water until this album. We hadn’t read much press, hadn’t heard a tune, and went into it with completely fresh ears. That combination made for one of the most pleasant surprises in awhile. Their noisy nature will certainly bring comparisons to My Bloody Valentine but fans of Sonic Youth are the ones that should take note.

6) Marissa Nadler – The Wrecking Ball Company (off her new album, The Sister)

Marissa has been a store favorite ever since her album, Ballads of Living and Dying, got the reissue treatment by Mexican Summer. That album completely floored us and she hasn’t slowed down since. As a matter of fact, this might be her best album since Ballads… came out in 2004. Hushed folk that will be in right up your alley if you got the last Meg Baird album.

7) The Walkmen – Heaven (off their new album, Heaven)

Here’s the thing: So long as you aren’t buying an album of the Walkmen covering Harry Nilsson’s Pussy Cats, you aren’t going to be disappointed. That doesn’t change with the new album Heaven. Absolute indie-rock bliss.

8) Sigur Rós – Ekki Múkk (off their new album, Valtari)

Sigur Rós are a whole different sort of bliss. If you aren’t familiar with this Icelandic four piece, it might be next to impossible to describe their sound without listening. Their stretch of albums from 2000 – 2005 are still considered some of the best albums of this young century. Their concerts have been compared to religious experiences. Their new album does nothing to dispel the notion that they have been one of the best bands of the past 15 years.

We haven’t been able to pump out a New Release Playlist in awhile, which is a shame because 2012 has been off to an INSANE start as far as new music. Well, we’re hoping to make up for it by highlighting seven great new releases that came out today!

1) Bright Moments – Tourists (off their new album, The Natives)

Kelly Pratt is Bright Moments. He is the multi-instrumentalist whose trumpet sparks across so many of Beirut’s songs and whose harmonizing vocals is a central component to the band’s robust live performances. He has also shouldered everything from flugelhorn to flute to bring Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible to life, and was part of the horn section that LCD Soundsystem used during its sunset days.

2) Field Music – A New Town (off their new album Plumb)

Largely abandoning the classic songwriting conventions embraced on 2010’s Measure, Field Music remodel the modular, fragmented style of their first two albums — only now it’s shot through with the surreal abstractions of 20th-century film music, from Bernstein to Willy Wonka.

3) Damien Jurado – Maraqopa (off his new album Maraqopa)

Strummed desert blues quickly bursts open into an Eddie Hazel-worthy supernova shred session, all of it swirling in tinny-psych and Echoplex’ed howls.

4) Archers of Loaf – Harnessed in Slums (off the reissue of Vee Vee)

Remastered by Bob Weston and featuring new liner notes by Magnet magazine editor Eric Miller. CD version includes sixteen bonus tracks and new cover art re-imagined by graphic artist Jay Ryan, while the vinyl version is pressed on green wax. “[Their] punk schtick is all over the map, steeped in countrified classic rock and gleeful noise, with Crazy Horse and the Grateful Dead no less equal predecessors than The Dead Boys and The Clash… Never blank, never afraid to bleed.” — Spin

5) Frankie Rose – Know Me (off her new album Interstellar)

Sophomore album from former member of Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Crystal Stilts. Takes a step forward into widescreen pop territory, bringing to mind mid-’80s artists like The Smiths and New Order.

6) Grimes – Vowels = Space & Time (off her new album Visions)

An artistic byproduct of the first post-internet generation. “…sounds like a pop star from a distant planet — distant enough that ‘pop star’ is an unfamiliar concept there, but close enough to intercept earthly radio signals and press some bootlegs of Maria Carey’s #1′s” — Pitchfork

7) Lambchop – Gone Tomorrow (off their new album Mr. M)

As on past records, many of the songs are framed with lush strings, and there’s a restrained undercurrent of distortion and discord. The core of the music remains the cyclical picking of Wagner’s guitar and the soft, warm croaking of his voice. Vinyl version features bonus tracks.

Just like before, if you are already signed up with Spotify, go ahead and click the Spotify logo below to hear this volume of the New Release Playlist! If you aren’t signed up, the link below will take you to the sign up. Let us know what you think and if you’d like to see future playlists!

Well we’re back with a pretty darn good release week this week. The countdown to Christmas is getting smaller and smaller with Thanksgiving just around the corner. Some great albums this week by Los Campesinos, Sigur Ros, Childish Gambino, Nathan Salsburg, amongst many others! What others you ask…

Well this week we have seven tracks from seven albums that you absolutely need to check out:

1) Crystal Stilts – Dark Eyes (off their new EP, Radiant Door)

Crystal Stilts put out one of our favorite albums this year with their full length, In Love With Oblivion. Naturally they decided to follow it up with an EP this year on one of our favorite labels, Sacred Bones! This EP sees them fade into the background a bit with some more laid back cuts but this is by no means something that should be ignored. Absolutely essential!

2) Caveman – A Country’s King of Dreams (off their new album Coco Beware)

Caveman were just touring with one of our favorite bands, the War on Drugs, which is essentially enough for us to recommend them but these dudes have put out quite the crafty album here! Reverb drenched pop tunes that has garnered comparisons to Grizzly Bear and the Flaming Lips. Not bad company to keep!

3) Odonis Odonis – Hollandaze (off their new album Hollandaze)

Odonis Odonis took us by surprise here. Just an absolutely solid album of songs that don’t want to be pigeonholed into one single genre. Shoegaze production with surf record riffs, this album has as much in common with A Place to Bury Strangers as it does the Ventures!

4) Korallreven – Honey Mine (off their debut album An Album By)

There is no reason why this album shouldn’t just absolutely blow up. Hailing from Sweden, Korallreven is making the sort of dreamy pop music that their country is becoming quite revered for. Comparable to jj, Radio Dept(with which half of this duo used to be a part of), and Panda Bear. Excellent.

5) Carter Tanton – Murderous Joy (off his new album Freeclouds)

Like Caveman, Carter Tanton was also just tourmates with the War on Drugs! Their sound is quite a bit different though, which Carter taking more of a singer/songwriter approach with an appreciation of 4AD. Featuring a duet with Marissa Nadler, this album is certainly as well rounded of an album you are bound to find this year!

6) Goldmund – Shenandoah (off his new album All Will Prosper)

Goldmund have been a personal favorite for quite some time now. Having released two classic full length records on the Type Records label, Keith Kenniff returns as Goldmund to release, All Will Prosper, an album of traditional Civil War era songs. Made up just mostly just solo piano with very little accompaniment throughout the album, this album is an excellent album for the Fall!

7) Steve Hauschildt – Already Replaced (off his debut album Tragedy & Geometry)

Steve Hauschildt is one third of the Cleveland, OH group Emeralds. While the other two thirds of Emeralds have released countless solo albums, Hauschildt has remained as sort of the wild card of the group until now. His debut, Tragedy & Geometry is an absolutely gorgeous synthesizer suite. Post-kosmiche brilliance.

Just like before, if you are already signed up with Spotify, go ahead and click the Spotify logo below to hear this volume of the New Release Playlist! If you aren’t signed up, the link below will take you to the sign up. Let us know what you think and if you’d like to see future playlists!

Week two and we’ve got a new playlist for y’all! This release week is absolutely monster, with new albums by Tom Waits, She & Him, Justice, Coldplay, Surfer Blood, Deer Tick and plenty more. The playlist will certainly touch on a couple of those big releases but we wanted to highlight a lot of the great new releases this week you might not have heard yet!

This week we have nine tracks and quite a bit of variety:

1) El Rego – Hessa (off their Self-Titled album)

If you picked up any of Analog Africa’s fantastic compilations(African Scream Contest, Legends of Benin, etc) then you need to have this. 12 tracks of pure African soul, these tracks, recorded in the ’60s and ’70s, will have you dancing in absolutely no time!

2) JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound – I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (off their new album Want More)

The soul and funk continues with JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound! Their new album Want More is catching a lot of ears when we play it in the store but what most people notice is their excellent cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Don’t think they are a one trick pony though as this album is a thoroughly great time.

3) Tom Waits – Bad As Me (off his new album Bad As Me)

I am not really sure I need to even write anything here. IT’S TOM WAITS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. The legend grows and continues to churn out more excellent stories on this album.

4) Dirty Projectors + Björk – On and Every Onward (off their bizarrely wonderful album Mount Wittenberg Orca)

Here is a collaboration that I would have never thought of but then you see their names together and you think “that makes perfect sense.” This album also sounds exactly like you’d think…fantastic.

5) Surfer Blood – Miranda (off their new EP Tarot Classics)

We absolutely loved Surfer Blood’s debut album Astro Coast. It might possibly have been one of the most played albums in the store for the year 2010. This EP picks up where they left off and certainly isn’t going to let anyone down.

6) Deer Tick – Miss K (off their new album Divine Providence)

I went and saw Deer Tick play at Mickey Finns here in Toledo last year and was pretty taken back by their performance. I’d never spent enough time with them before then and they certainly made a new fan that night. Their new album takes a lot from their live performance and is a raucous and raw album built on a foundation of Springsteen, Tom Petty and even Nirvana.

7) honeyhoney – Ohio (off their new album Billy Jack)

honeyhoney took us for a bit of a surprise. This isn’t their first album but to be honest, it’s the first we’d heard of them. I can assure you, they have our attention now as this album is one of the better alt-country albums we’ve heard that hasn’t had the words “Bloodshot Records” on the back of it in a long time.

8) A Classic Education – Forever Boy (off their debut album Call It Blazing)

A Classic Education’s debut album has made quite an impression over here. Just a fantastic indie rock record that brings to mind some fantastic bands: Galaxie 500, Velvet Underground, Wedding Present, Smiths.

9) Christina Vantzou – Homemade Mountains (off her debut album No. 1)

While this may be Christina Vantzou’s debut album, it certainly isn’t her first, having cut her teeth as a duo with Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid called Dead Texan. That album is 7 years old now and we’re finally hearing something new from Christina. Her label, Kranky, describes it as “neo-classical minimalism.” We’d describe it is “absolutely gorgeous.”

Just like last week, if you are already signed up with Spotify, go ahead and click the Spotify logo below to hear this volume of the New Release Playlist! If you aren’t signed up, the link below will take you to the sign up. Let us know what you think and if you’d like to see future playlists!

As time went by, constantly writing a Record of the Week became increasingly more difficult with work load increasing and time to do said work decreasing. Thing is, we have the itch to spread the gospel of great new releases in some way, shape or form and can’t sit idly by!

Having said that, we noticed A LOT of you using Spotify recently. We decided what best way to spread the gospel than through means y’all are already using! So we’re here to introduce to you, our New Release Playlist! Every week, we’ll be compiling a playlist of our favorite tracks from our favorite new releases that week. We’ll be sharing it through Facebook, Twitter, and of course right here on our website.

We’ve got seven tracks this week that we’ve been liking a whole lot:

1) Gauntlet Hair – Top Bunk (off their Self-Titled album)

If you liked Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion, you’ll love this. Adventurous indie-pop out of Denver, CO.

2) M83 – Midnight City (off their new album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming)

M83 finally follow up their critically acclaimed Saturdays = Youth, with a very ambitious double album. Unabashed 80′s John Hughes soundtrack worshiping has continued!

3) Real Estate – It’s Real (off their new album Days)

We can’t stress how excited we were for this album to finally come out. The wait was absolutely worth it. Another picture perfect album by these New Jersey beach bums. Breezy indie rock just in time for…well what’s supposed to be the worst Winter on record.

4) Rob Crow – Sophistructure (off his new album He Thinks He’s People)

Rob Crow is much more recognized as half of the fantastic band Pinback. What most people don’t know is, he churns out equally solid albums by himself! His new album is more of what he does best: Crazy catchy songs that are short and sweet, all killer, no filler.

5) My Brightest Diamond – Reaching Through to the Other Side (off her new album All Things Will Unwind)

Since her last album, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, Shara Worden has guest starred on about a billion other albums(Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens), moved to Detroit, and built up quite a name for performing alias, My Brightest Diamond. Her new album continues her exploration into a cinematic baroque sound that you won’t hear replicated anywhere else.

6) Psychic Ills – Mind Daze (off their new album Hazed Dream)

Psychic Ills have recently signed to one of our favorite labels(Sacred Bones) and this week sees their first record for the label, Hazed Dream. It’s a rather apropo title as this album is a hazy, drugged out psychedelic jaunt out into the desert. Absolutely essential for fans of Wooden Shjips.

7) Moholy-Nagy – Seagulls (off their debut album Like Mirage)

Moholy-Nagy are a new three piece consisting of three members of Tarentel. That statement might not excite anyone as much as it excites me. These three have put together an album inspired by 1970′s Kosmiche(ie, Popul Vuh, Tangerine Dream) and it’s absolutely fantastic.

If you are already signed up with Spotify, go ahead and click the Spotify logo below to hear this volume of the New Release Playlist! If you aren’t signed up, the link below will take you to the sign up. Let us know what you think and if you’d like to see future playlists!