Good evening, good morning, good afternoon newsletter readers. Another Friday is here, and with it some fantastic records, including some refreshing check-ins from some longtime staff faves. Way back when the Los Angeles sunshine janglers ALLAH-LAS were first introduced to us in 2012, their bio said they all came together as clerks at the legendary Amoeba Records. If we weren't already sold by then, their debut album blew us away gently and immediately. The casual magic remains on 'Zuma 85', their fifth album, which keeps their playful surf-rock alluringly aloft. Canadian indie vets LAND OF TALK have provided energetic bursts of emotional balm over several classic albums now, but on 'Performances', frontwoman Elizabeth Powell takes things to a much mellower place, where her immediately recognizable voice has a little bit more room to relax and reflect. Brooklyn art-rock heroine L'RAIN has something to tell us on 'I Killed Your Dog', a so-called "anti-breakup record" about grief and growth that further expands her ingeniously layered jazzy, cathartic pop. Chicago guitarist Bill Mackay pairs up with Bitchin Bajas burgermeister Cooper Crain as BCMC on an album of Popol Vuh-ian freakscapes called 'Foreign Smokes', which really ought to come with a giant garish warning label telling you how sick its going to make you.

PINK FLOYD's 'The Dark Side Of The Moon', perhaps the most iconic rock album of all time, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a new gatefold vinyl edition that features an all-new remaster, and poster/sticker inserts. Booker T & the MG's guitarist STEVE CROPPER is a legendary sideman. If you don't believe it, just check out the dozens of dozens of misspellings of his name in his credits on discogs. His 1969 solo album 'With A Little Help From My Friends' is a masterpiece of Memphis soul. FLEETWOOD MAC's soaring slab of progressive blues-pop 'Mystery To Me' gets a much needed repress on limited color wax. As the Numero Group continues to comb through the Cuca Records vault, they keep finding gems like the complete unreleased demos of THE CHIEFTONES, a Tsimshian Nation group of guitar heroes who emerged out of the Edmonton, Alberta area before briefly setting down roots in the Driftless Region for awhile. The unheard tunes here on 'The New Smooth and Different Sound' range from the sock-hop guitar of Duane Eddy to more ceremonial numbers that explore their indigenous roots, and definitely present us with a fascinating new piece of the Wisconsin musical puzzle.

Red hot Oklahomie ZACH BRYAN continues his wild tear, delivering a fresh album of his raw and unfiltered rootsy country, joined this time by the War & Treaty, Kacey Musgraves, Sierra Ferrell and more. TROYE SIVAN's third album 'Something To Give Each Other' takes his energizing queer dance pop to new stratospheres. Released in the late 90s after he split the Squirrel Nut Zippers and headed to Chicago, ANDREW BIRD'S BOWL OF FIRE's classic first two records for Ryko have never been released on vinyl before. 'Thrills' and 'Oh! the Grandeur' each get deluxe color vinyl editions to mark the occasion to revisit some early brilliance from the veteran chameleonic musician.

Before she went solo to record some of the most hauntingly direct DIY bedroom pop to ever come out of the US, songwriter Linda Smith had a briefly-existing NYC indie band called THE WOODS, who released just one seven inch in 1985 before calling it quits. The little-heard songs on 'So Long Before Now' flesh out the story a little more, depicting a band that broke some ground in the big city: not many, or any, at that time featured female/male harmonies and a cello. THE CRANBERRIES' successful 1996 album 'To the Faithful Departed' gets expanded to a deluxe 2LP edition with the inclusion of demos. R.E.M.'s 'Automatic For The People' is back in print on yellow vinyl, while CYNDI LAUPER's 'She's So Unusual' returns to us on blue wax.

Anonymous UK progressive metallers SLEEP TOKEN reach new genre-blurring potency with 'This Place Will Become Your Tomb', in on limited clear/black wax. The Deftones' Chino Moreno's side project CROSSES comes back with a bang on 'Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.' Gothic hardcore legend's AFI's very, very out of print album 'Sing The Sorrow' gets a limited black/red color run for its 20th anniversary, and ASKING ALEXANDRIA's latest album 'Where Do We Go From Here?' finally lands on vinyl this week.

Explosive Ohio art-rockers BRAINIAC's hyperspazzy 1996 classic 'Hissing Prigs in Static Couture' would tragically become the band's swan song with the tragic passing of singer Tim Taylor the following year. It's back in print this week alongside another essential Touch & Go staple, the 2004 album 'Summer in Abaddon' by PINBACK, one of the greatest and still-most-underrated melodic pop bands to ever hit a stage. Lofi legend ALEX G's Duster obsession hit a serious high point on 2014's 'DSU', which is back in print this week along with the first Flying Nun LP from ALDOUS HARDING, an understated gem of graceful folk poise ala Meg Baird or early Cat Power.

Its been twenty five years since the Chicago jazz-plus entourage TORTOISE released the mighty 'TNT', an album that galvanized fans and polarized critics with its unusual cover art and boundlessly mixed tracks of rhythmic ecstasy. For awhile, this was the album that pretty much anyone into unusual new music had at the top of their pile, and Thrill Jockey aims to make it so once again with a lovely clear with black and blue swirl edition. The Verve By Request series delivers some serious under-the-radar heat this week. LA CLAVE's self-titled 1973 LP is pure latin soul fire, with touches of pop and perpetually chugging guaguanco styles. JOAO DONATO's 1970 banger 'A Bad Donato' distills MPB and funk into a masterful fitting room soundtrack. STAN GETZ takes on covers of Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach and the Beatles on the classic 'Marrakesh Express'.

The travails of the drug trade have never been rendered so poetically as on new records from BOLDY JAMES' 'Fair Exchange No Robbery' and STOVE GOD COOKS' 'Reasonable Drought', both of which get gorgeous new color vinyl pressings this week. The early BLADEE banger 'Eversince' gets a new printing, and we've got the incredible dark synth pop of LIGHT ASYLUM's lone 2012 album 'Light Asylum' back in print for the first time in years.

Korean dream pop group PARANNOUL channel Sweet Trip and Animal Collective on the lushly brilliant 'After The Magic', in on magenta wax. CULTS' 2013 album 'Static' is exceedingly rare on wax, until this new pressing. HOLLY HUMBERSTONE's latest chaotic alt-pop album 'Paint My Bedroom Black' is in with a alternate cover purple vinyl edition. I knew someone who tried doing that once; not really an advisable move. Last butt not least, we've got a new album from THE DRUMS!

A fabulous spread in the Used Vinyl Alert kicks off with beaucoup beauties from Fab Four. Serious Beatles collectors take note: we've got a slew of rare boots, solo records, Mobile Fidelity and other audiophile pressings, Japanese and European, and a whole lot of them are still sealed! The classics continue with nice ones from the Flying Burrito Brothers, Grateful Dead, Traveling Wilburys, Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, the Byrds, The Who, Leonard Cohen, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Tom Waits, the Allman Brothers, Neil Young, Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, Jethro Tull, Buddy Miles, Billy Joel, America, Bruce Springsteen, Hall & Oates, Elton John, Supertramp, Rush, the Eagles, Phil Collins, and Linda Ronstadt.

Heavy stuff is in from Metallica, AC/DC (rare ones!), Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, and the Misfits, plus new wave from House of Love, Culture Club, the Roches, House of Freaks, Squeeze, Talking Heads, U2, Violent Femmes, Eurythmics, the Clash, and the Nils.

More incredible jazz comes from David Axelrod, Cal Tjader, Lonnie Liston Smith, Stanley Turrentine, Thelonious Monk, Gabor Szabo, Harold Land, Jimmy Giuffre, and Paul Desmond.

A bowlful of soul is in from War, Marvin Gaye, Donna Summer, Jackie Wilson, Denise LaSalle, Freda Payne Booker T, the Stylistics, Stevie Wonder, the Detroit Emeralds, Earth Wind and Fire, Donny Hathaway, Prince, Al Green, Kool and the Gang, plus more nice ones from Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Willie Dixon, Magic Slim, Otis Spahn, and Lonnie Brooks.

An eclectic spread of recent gems as well, with selections from Beirut, Let’s Eat Grandma, Aesop Rock, Haim, Rage Against the Machine, Tegan and Sara, Ought, Ty Segall, Brand New, Girlpool, Panic at the Disco, Christine and the Queens, and Saint Vincent.

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