A week of madness concludes with fresh music, kicking off with a very overdue new album from the New Zealand mid-fi geniuses UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA, who in their decade-plus run have achieved a looming, legendary status in the popmosphere. Early tracks from this one sound very much of a piece with their classic albums 'II' and 'Multi-Love', plus a couple extra layers of gauzey varnish. Bedroom folk-pop hero LINDA SMITH has had a renaissance of late, as a few new generations have caught up with her prodigious, heart-pinging catalog. The Baltimore musician recently reconnected with an old friend from her 80s art school days named NANCY ANDREWS, and the two have done a lovely collaborative return to the music of their fleeting youth. Hong Kong's MUI ZYU makes an incredible splash with her solo debut 'Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century', a brilliant shot of noise-pop perfection that pulls wrinkled anthems out of wonky melodies, not too far off from the amazing NILUFER YANYA album, 'Painless', did last year. As luck would have it, that one is back in print for the first time in many months!

That pulsating feeling at the base of your left temple can mean only one thing: there's a new 100 GECS album out! We're still no closer to figuring out what a gec is, but there certainly are a lot more of them on '10,000 Gecs', the duo's much-anticipated second album of maximalist chance-taking, but it's sure to be zeitgeistily zestifying, and on limited white vinyl no less. If you've been squeamishly awaiting the new record from M83, you may want to skip its extra-eyeball-having cover altogether and go straight to the tunes, which are the overcharged emotional synth anthems we love from them.

The humble Dublin quartet known as U2 have looked back on their 14-album career and selected several dozen of their most abiding songs to reimagine in a stripped-down, mostly-acoustic approach on 'Songs of Surrender'. You'll hear hits like "One", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "Where The Streets Have No Name" in hushed, ceremonial setting. We have limited white vinyl of the 2LP edition, plus a deluxe 4CD and a 4LP edition that ups the tracklist to 40. Singer-songwriter DOUG PAISLEY's sound grows ever richer and more timeless on 'Say What You Like'; his songs hit with a subtle power like his fellow Canadian Bruce Cockburn. The late-career classic 'Life'll Kill Ya' by WARREN ZEVON has stayed hard to find on vinyl, and now we've got a new edition on "Smoking Skull" grey marble vinyl. Beloved Scottish indie band FRIGHTENED RABBIT's Atlantic debut 'Pedestrian Verse' turns ten years old this year with an expanded deluxe edition that adds 11 bonus tracks, additional lyric books, and colored vinyl.

As their era-defining psych-pop masterpiece 'Yoshimi' still reverberated around the globe in 2003, THE FLAMING LIPS let off two more mini-album gems that have remained CD-only since then. The band absolutely glows on 'Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell' and 'Fight Test', and now your turntable will as well, with two color editions that capture the band truly testing their limitlessness. STEVEN WILSON's 'The Raven That Refused to Sing' turns ten with a fresh vinyl pressing, and GHOST's majestic 'Ceremony and Devotion' is back in print on lemon colored wax.

A major highlight in a catalog full of them is HERBIE HANCOCK's 1964's masterpiece 'Empyrean Isles', which contains the lolling modal classic "Cantaloupe Island" that's still getting flipped to this day. This essential play comes back on the reliable Blue Note Classic series, alongside the sweeping 'Fuchsia Swing Song' from SAM RIVERS, alongside Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Archie Shepp joins CECIL TAYLOR on a 1961 Candid album that's one of his most approachable entries into his avant-garde methods.

New York indie poppers PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART hit an apex of gently crushing dream/distort on 2011's 'Belong', getting a fresh vinyl minting this week along with a newly remastered edition of THE ORB's cd-only ambient house gem from 2007, 'The Dream'. UK heroes FELT gently massaged the pop charts so repeatedly and thoroughly that it takes two compilation LPs to capture their 80s singles, and both come back this week with lovely restored artwork, on 'Bubblegum Perfume' and 'Gold Mine Trash'.

The late South African percussionist, guitarist, and bandleader Philip Tabane is likely one of the most significant local musicians in the world, known relatively little beyond the Cape Town jazz scene he helped nurture as early as the 60s. A pair of early rarities from his group MALOMBO are back in print this week via Strut, showcasing flute, guitar and percussion in a rousing folk style. The Soul Jazz essential STUDIO ONE FUNK is back in print on red wax, and we welcome a new LP pressing of the recent CASH BOX KINGS record.

The recent Marilyn Monroe biopic 'Blonde' was blessed with a lush soundtrack from NICK CAVE and WARREN ELLIS, full of some remarkably luminous moments. The Detroit weirdo-rock supergroup INFINITE RIVER convenes a righteous session of "lockdown ambient", including members of Slumber Party, His Name Is Alive, and the Detroit Cobras. American cassette culture pioneer and sound artist K. LEIMER returns with his first new work in several years, and we welcome back a classic dubwise soundscape from Chicago artist PAN AMERICAN, his 2006 album 'For Waiting, For Chasing'.

New England heavy legends ELDER keep evolving their majestic prog-metal sound with each pummeling new record; their latest is last year's 'Innate Passage', finally in stock on vinyl this week. The Finnish trio BEHERIT released perhaps the most immaculate example of extreme black metal with 1993's 'Drawing Down The Moon', back in print this week alongside a pair of strong-steeped space-sludge classics from OLD MAN GLOOM, in freshly trimmed editions.

This week's Used Vinyl drop is a digger's dream with truly something for everybody. We've got a deep selection across most genres with plenty of sought-after titles from well-known artists to the obscure.

The Jazz selection has great titles by artists like Eric Dolphy, Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Zoot Sims, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, King Cole Trio, Count Basie, Jean Luc Ponty, and Phil Woods.

Country is stacked with titles from Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb, Reba McEntire, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Rodriguez, Pete Drake, Bobby Bare, Ferlin Husky, Johnny Horton, Ricky Scaggs, Alabama, and Hugh X. Lewis.

As always we've got great rock titles from Stray Cats, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Genesis, Vanilla Fudge, Queen, and Van Halen. As well as scarcely seen titles from David Bowie, AC/DC, Def Leppard, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

Rounding things out for the week we've got plenty of Folk, Blues, Soul, Expiremental, Classical, Children's, and Soundtrack titles.

SAVE THE DATE - RECORD STORE DAY 2023 IS APRIL 22ND

Yes, we are still buying! Call Ron to schedule (608.213.3610).