Batten down the hatches! As the good ship Strictly Discs steers its way towards Record Store Day, we've got a heaving pile of new releases to tell you about! The mighty METALLICA return this week with '72 Seasons', their first new studio album since 2016, and it is promising to please fans of all the band's eras. That takes awhile to do, seeing as this record is nearly 80 minutes long. While they last, we've got the limited midnight edition here for you. We'll be playing the album when we open and giving away some cool promo items! DAVID BOWIE's 'Aladdin Sane' celebrates a 50th with a fresh half-speed remaster; beloved folk songwriter THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH breaks a long hiatus with 'Henry St', in on red wax, and KACEY MUSGRAVES' major label debut 'Same Trailer Different Park' celebrates its 10th anniversary with a zoetrope picture disc edition, what makes pretty animations when it's spinning.

Some all time great jazz records get premium grade editions this week. The positively levitating 'The Awakening' by the AHMAD JAMAL TRIO is back in print via the Verve by Request series, as well as the narcotically sweet 'The Sorcerer' from the standard-bearer of cool, guitarist GABOR SZABO. Both of these come with the "pressed at Third Man" seal of approval, so these ought to match the quality of those recent Alice Coltrane pressings. The Jazz Dispensary label goes "top shelf" with heavy weight pressings of BERNARD PURDIE's 'Purdie Good!' and DAVID AXELROD's 'Heavy Axe'.

The refreshingly unencumbered FEIST returns with a great new album called 'Multitudes', just the sixth album of a lengthy career for an artist who always makes her performances count. Road warrior ANGEL OLSEN collects four orphaned tracks from the sessions for her last album on a new EP called 'Forever Means', on pink wax. Beloved Montreal folkie BASIA BULAT first made waves with her 2008 album 'Oh, My Darling', long out of print on wax until this week. Veteran pop songwriter NATALIE MERCHANT is back with 'Keep Your Courage'.

Hot off his instant classic collab with Danger Mouse, Roots emcee BLACK THOUGHT teams up with instrumental soul kings EL MICHELS AFFAIR on 'Glorious Game', in the shop on sky vinyl. We can't get enough of the laidback flow of San Fran rapper LARRY JUNE, his '22 album 'Spaceships On The Blade' is finally out in the physical world on some snappy orange and cream wax. THES ONE of legendary underground hip-hop duo People Under The Stairs pays tribute to his late partner in PUTS, Double K aka Mike Turner, on 'Farewell, My Friend'. FIREBOY DML delivers 'Playboy' on bone color wax.

Longtime indie genre-benders FRUIT BATS turn in a gorgeous, bucolic album of melodic folk rock on 'A River Running To Your Heart', hitting similar heights as recent records from The War on Drugs and Fleet Foxes. TEMPLES are back with 'Exotico', brilliant pop with that Tame Impala glow. Carolina Chocolate Drops guitarist DOM FLEMONS evolves his Americana sound on 'Traveling Wildfire', and we've got the debut album from Texas-Nigerian blues rocker ABRAHAM ALEXANDER, who has big guests like Mavis Staples and Gary Clark Jr in tow on the emotionally-resonant 'Sea/Sons'.

The world lost a singular musical treasure last month with the passing of Ethiopian pianist EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU in Jerusalem, which is fittingly the title of this collection of unreleased material we have now. In her century of life, Gebru inspired and trained generations of musicians, and slowly has found a dedicated audience here in the states. You may have even heard her in the Walmart holiday commercial last December, which was pretty unexpected. A few songs here feature Gebru's vocals, a rare thing indeed! Trumpeter DON CHERRY was at the peak of his organic music forays when he performed with esteemed French early-synthesist JEAN SCHWARZ for a live performance in Paris now captured on 'Roundtrip'; Nana Vasconcelos is also on hand for this truly ear-dazzling set. A first-wave member of the American new age underground, DON SLEPIAN hit a personal height with the narcotic 'Sea Of Bliss', back in print this week from Numero; the hypnotic folk duo XYLOURIS WHITE land on Drag City with 'The Forest In Me', a heady trip through miniature trad epics.

Lots of heavy bidness in this week: a killer new record from WHITE REAPER called 'Asking For A Ride', a bonecrunching LP of doomy hardcore from JESUS PIECE, plus essential reissues from CHIODOS, MOTORHEAD, and more.

The Promise Ring and the Get Up Kids tend to get remembered as the biggest melodic emo pop bands of their day, but I tend to nod to Champaign-Urbana's BRAID as the undisputed masters of the genre. Their angular songwriting and heart-pounding lyricism hit hardest on 'Frame and Canvas', which turns 25 this year with a fresh LP edition. It takes 4 LPs to capture all the songs from 8 MILE plus the many it inspired'; the whole shebang is back in print on wax this week. NEIL YOUNG dips back into the archives once again with a live recording from London 1973 called 'Somewhere Under The Rainbow', and the first ever official release of 'High Flyin' by THE DUCKS, the brief supergroup Neil led alongside members of Moby Grape in the late 70s.

Analog Africa does it again with a deep compilation of groovy cumbia called PERU SELVATICO, plus a limited edition slab of jungle disco from SONIDO VERDE DE MOYOBAMBA. A who's who of UK jazz and beyond (Nubya Garcia, Theon Cross, Shabaka Hutchings, etc) came together a few years ago for a series of concerts playing tribute to 'Bitches Brew', now collected on an album called LONDON BREW. Manchester jazz trio GOGO PENGUIN keep their great roll going with 'Everything Is Going To Be OK'.

Bedroom funkster TORO Y MOI's third album, 'Anything In Return', turns ten years old this week with an expanded color vinyl edition. Aussie synthwavers WHADYA WANT? cut one brilliant album in the mid-80s called 'Skippy Knows', back in print this week for fans of Devo and the Dark Entries catalog. Downtempo chill fuses with hip-hop and soul on the timeless 'Every Day' by THE CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA, which gets a deluxe red vinyl edition this week. Button-mashers of a particular generation may recall the sonic feast that was the soundtrack for 'Donkey Kong Country' for the Nintendo 64. Years gone by have confirmed this as one of the greatest video game soundtracks ever; an elaborately orchestrated world of jungly proto-vaporwave. For unclear reasons, it couldn't be reissued in its original form, so JAMMIN SAM MILLER has made an exact replica, using all the original synths.

This week's Used Vinyl drop offers a deep selection of drool-worthy titles across genres. Rock is coming in hot with loads of great titles that we rarely see in the used bins by Violent Femmes, Fleet Foxes, Tallest Man On Earth, Judas Priest, Gorillaz, Smashing Pumpkins, Black Sabbath, T. Rex, King Crimson, Kate Bush, Father John Misty, Led Zeppelin, and Whitesnake. We also have a great spread of classics from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, The Eagles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Sade, Cream, Paul McCartney, The Police, George Harrison, Phil Collins, Cream, and The Scorpions.

Jazz is just as impressively stacked with titles from Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Byrd, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Cecil Taylor, Hank Crawford, Wes Montgomery, Roy Eldridge, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Dizzy Gillespie, Chico Hamilton, Max Roach, David Grisman, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Fats Navaro, Johnny Dods, John Abercrombie, and Benny Golson.

We've got a healthy grip of Country favorites from Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Marty Robbins, Eddie Rabbitt, Tanya Tucker, Jessi Colter, and The Oak Ridge Boys.

Rounding things out for the week we've got a choice selection of Folk, Blues, Soul, International, Reggae, Punk, Hip-Hop, Experimental, and Soundtracks.

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

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