Descendents - 9th & Walnut - Epitaph
Formed in L.A.’s South Bay in 1978, Descendents began as a power trio featuring bassist Tony Lombardo, drummer Bill Stevenson, and guitarist Frank Navetta (d. 2008). The band recruited vocalist Milo Aukerman in 1980 and began establishing themselves as major players in the Southern California Punk movement. Over the years, the band has sustained a potent chemistry and shared vision, further cementing them as punk legends.  In 2002, the original four-piece lineup — Frank Navetta, Tony Lombardo, Bill Stevenson, and Milo Aukerman — got back into the studio to finally record their first-ever songs. The songs were written by the band from 1977 through 1980, before recording the Fat EP (1981) and the Milo Goes to College LP (1982). Put simply, this is the DESCENDENTS’ earliest material, representing a “lost” pre-MGTC album. Most of these songs have not been heard—until now.  Every element of DESCENDENTS’ genre-creating sound is here: Stevenson’s hyper-caffeinated surf-beats, Lombardo’s intrepid bass, Navetta’s crunching attack, Aukerman’s impassioned, infinitely relatable singing—and all those great melodies and harmonies.

  

Rodney Crowell - Triage - RC1 Records
'Triage' offers a rare look inside of the songwriter. This album finds Rodney Crowell introspectively looking for answers and for healing, resulting in what he has called his most personal record yet.  This new collection of songs was written during the great political, environmental and economic upheaval that has marked recent years. The noise of that chaos encouraged Crowell to look inward for solace and answers. The result is this series of songs that contend with these themes, but approaches them from a place of healing, love and solution. That they are being released while we find ourselves walking through a global pandemic, is a gift of perfect timing.

  

Various Artists - Almost Famous: Soundtrack - Geffen
Celebrating 20 years of the Academy Award winning film by Cameron Crowe, the Grammy® winning Almost Famous soundtrack is reissued as a deluxe 2CD with 35 songs from the film including Stillwater, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, and many more. Unreleased songs: “Tiny Dancer (Almost Famous Version)” with Elton John & cast and the unique mix & edit for The Who’s “Amazing Journey / Sparks (Almost Famous Version).” Newly expanded artwork includes unreleased photos and an introduction by Cameron Crowe. Also Available: 2LP and coming 8/20: Super Deluxe 6LP and Super Deluxe 5CD

Half Waif - Mythopoetics - Anti
With her musical project Half Waif, Nandi Rose dives deep into the waters of artistic expression by layering evocative vocals and synths to create a powerful form of pop music. On Mythopoetics, Rose ex- plores a full spectrum of sounds that sparkle with memorable hooks, otherworldly production and uplifting grooves. “This is the record I’ve been trying to make for 10 years,” Rose says. Previous albums The Caretaker (2020) and Lavender (2018) garnered acclaim for their compelling journeys through solitude, desire and the search for independence. Half Waif declares a new chapter on Mytho- poetics, a collection of 12 new songs – mythical stories that transcend time, each sung with a glorious contralto wrapped up in synths and electronic percussion, and her lyrical piano serving as the backbone. It is an essential reminder that we have the power to shape the stories we tell and the myths we make of our lives. This is music that you feel.

  

The Flatlanders - Treasure of Love - Rock'em Records
Almost 50 years after the sessions that would make them an “accidental Texas supergroup” (Rolling Stone), The Flatlanders have returned with Treasure of Love, their first new album in more than a decade. Completed during COVID-19 lockdowns with the help of longtime friend and collaborator Lloyd Maines, the record finds the iconic trio of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock in classic form, serving up a rollicking collection of twang-fueled, harmony-laden performances full of wry humor and raw heartbreak. While a few songs here are never-before-heard originals, the vast majority of the tracklist consists of tunes the band picked up during their half-century together, some stretching as far back as the group’s earliest performances in the honkytonks around Lubbock, TX, where you might have spotted Willie Nelson or Townes Van Zandt in the audience.

  

Marco Vezzoso and Alessandro Collina - Italian Spirit In Japan - ITI Records
Marco Vezzoso and Alessandro Collina, the jazz duo that has conquered the countries of the Rising Sun! Italian Spirit In Japan collects 10 of the most beautiful songs of Italian music reinterpreted in a refined instrumental version for trumpet, piano, and percussion. The artists offer a skilful reinterpretation of unforgettable pieces, creating a generational bridge between pop music and jazz. This live version is also a tribute to the artistic partnership between Vezzoso and Collina, which began in Japan and reached China via Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In the 'Italian Spirit live' project we decided to invite the percussionist Andrea Marchesini. Andrea is a highly talented and experienced musician who, like us, loves contamination between genres. It was therefore easy for us to integrate Andrea's artistic vein, who adapted very well to our playing. Indeed, he did much more, enriching the pieces with rhythmic details, sometimes almost melodic, without ever being invasive. 

  

T. Hardy Morris - The Digital Age of Rome - New West Records
Heading into the spring of 2020, T. Hardy Morris had 12 demos that he thought would make-up his next album, then, everything changed.  The world took a break and so his plans to record did as well. As we all watched and waited out the storms; viral and societal, we seemed to wake up scrolling through a whole new century, a time Morris began to refer to as The Digital Age of Rome. He scrapped the demos and began a collection of songs in quarantine where the unprecedented times and topics were unavoidable. He wanted to document the era sonically and lyrically in some way. “I wanted it to sound like how the world felt to me in the second half of 2020. Uncomfortable and chaotic, dystopian but still beautiful.”  The Digital Age of Rome was recorded in a deserted downtown Athens, Ga. With long-time collaborator / producer Adam Landry.

  

Gary Allan - Ruthless - EMI Nashville
Gary Allan releases a brand new album of all new material this week. Ruthless is Gary's first studio album in over 8 years. Overall, Allan's nine studio and greatest hits albums have produced 26 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, including the number one hits "Man to Man", "Tough Little Boys" (both 2003), "Nothing On but the Radio" (2004), and "Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)" (2013). Seven more of his singles have reached the Top 10 on this chart as well: his debut single "Her Man", "It Would Be You" (both at #7), "Right Where I Need to Be" (at #5), "The One" (at #3), "Best I Ever Had" (a cover of a Vertical Horizon song) (at #7), "Life Ain't Always Beautiful" (at #4), and "Watching Airplanes" (#2).

  

Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band - Banned - Anti
Yves Jarvis and Romy Lightman are a pair of idiosyncratic and restlessly creative artists. In the past decade, Jarvis’s ever-expanding swatch have earned international acclaim, while Lightman’s twin-sister-led band Tasseomancy has transfixed listeners since the late 2000s. The Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band marks the duo’s first collaboration, slingshotting both musicians out of their comfort zones into spellbinding territories of lysergic folk and impressionistic rock. Banned was recorded in the tranquil environment of the Tree Museum, an outdoor art gallery in rural Ontario, Canada, hosting residencies for contemporary sculptors over the past 20 years. The pair credit its 200 acres of natural spaces intermingling with human-made creations as the fuel for their unfettered process. Recorded over two weeks in a free-flowing stream of improvisation, the album finds Lightman on synthesizer with Jarvis on drums and guitar, as their voices weave together into an electrified pastoral tapestry.

  

Vincent Neil Emerson - Vincent Neil Emerson - La Honda Records
Vincent Neil Emerson is a torchbearer of the Texas songwriter tradition. He channels the straightforward truth-telling and resonance of his songwriting heroes in Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Steve Earle into something fresh and distinctly his own. Where his 2019 debut Fried Chicken and Evil Women proved that he is one of the most reverent students of country and Western musical traditions, his follow-up LP, the masterful Rodney Crowell-produced Vincent Neil Emerson, which is out this week via La Honda Records/Thirty Tigers, is a brave step forward that solidifies his place as one of music's most compelling and emotionally clarifying storytellers. His songs are cathartic and bluntly honest, never mincing words or dancing around uncomfortable truths.