NEW RELEASE for the week of Feb 12, 2021 PRIORITIES & HIGHLIGHTS >> Pre-Order Now! ADAMS, RYAN "Wednesdays (LP+7”)” (PAX AM) PAXAM006 CD/ LP March 19 street date. Ryan Adams' first album in three years, "Wednesdays", is purely raw, vulnerable, and honest. The music takes you on a deep dive exploring the complex heart of Ryan Adams, through a journey of love, pain, and heartbreak. The album so effortlessly creates an immediate connection with anyone who has ever experienced love lost - the type of love that haunts you in quiet places of your mind. While the lyrics walk you through the vast emotional layers of grief, they also remind you of the rich memories of a love that will forever remain a part of you. BENNY THE "Burden Of Proof" (GRISELDA) GRSD581 CD BUTCHER BENNY THE "Burden Of Proof" (GRISELDA) GRSD582 LP BUTCHER February 26 street date. There is no disputing that Benny The Butcher has arrived. With anticipation now at a fever pitch, Benny The Butcher puts a bow on his and Griselda's genre-shifting year with "Burden Of Proof"; an album that aligns the best rapper alive, with the hottest producer (Hit-Boy) of 2020. Mastered by Guru, "Burden Of Proof" is The Butcher's official level up. With "Burden Of Proof", Benny took his time and holed up in LA with Hit-Boy to craft a masterpiece; and the one producer methodology, though a somewhat new concept for Benny, aids the albums musical variance, depth and diversity. It's still gritty and vintage, but coupled with the melodic and anthemic production of Hit-Boy; Benny's Pyrex vision raps have never sounded more festival ready. BLUE STONES "Hidden Gems" (EONE) EMCCD28359 CD BLUE STONES "Hidden Gems (cotton (EONE) EMCLP28359 LP candy vinyl)" March 19 street date. Sophomore album from the Windsor duo whowere nominated for a 2020 Juno for Breakthrough Group Of The Year. When Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier formed The Blue Stones, they were facing uncertainty about who they were and where they were going. But they did know they wanted to make music together, and so they did, writing songs over time and eventually releasing their debut album "Black Holes" in 2018. As confident and self-assured as they are, that record was very much about the pair finding themselves, both musically and existentially, and deciding to pursue the rock 'n' roll dream by jumping into a black hole of the unknown instead of choosing a more ordinary life-path. The band drew the attention of producer, Paul Meany - the creative force behind alternative rock band Mutemath, and who recently worked with Twenty One Pilots, producing their fifth album, "Trench". Working with Meany didn't just lead to The Blue Stones exploring - and creating - music in a different way than they had before, but it also led Jafar to approach and tackle lyrics in an entirely new light. Combined with the band's nuanced and layered approach to their sound, it makes these songs resonate with a powerful emotional intensity. DRY CLEANING "New Long Leg" (4AD) 4AD0254LP LP DRY CLEANING "New Long Leg" (4AD) 4AD0254CD CD DRY CLEANING "New Long Leg (indie (4AD) 4AD0254LPE LP shop edition/yellow)" April 2 street date. Dry Cleaning, The South London group of Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) will release "New Long Leg" on 2 April. The 10-track long-player was recorded over two weeks last summer at Rockfield Studios in rural Wales with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding). Following on from their thrillingly taut 2019 EPs "Boundary Road Snacks And Drinks" and "Sweet Princess", "New Long Leg" is more ambitious and complex, with Shaw's spoken vocals tightly intertwined with the band's restless instrumentals. Dry Cleaning was formed by friends Tom Dowse, Nick Buxton and Lewis Maynard after a karaoke party in 2017 inspired a collaboration. They wrote instrumentally to begin with until six months later Florence Shaw, a visual artist, university lecturer and picture researcher by day - with no prior musical experience - turned up to a band rehearsal armed with reams of her own collected writing and a copy of Michael Bernard Loggins' "Fears Of Your Life" to read out over the music. Before long she was the group's front-person, contributing words of her own, and serving as the perfect foil to the band's music. FEMALE SPECIES "Tale Of My Lost Love" (NUMERO) NUM073 LP April 9 street date. This is the story of two sisters who nurtured a dream for half a century and never let it die. Vicki and Ronni Gossett launched their musical career as teenagers in Whittier, California in 1966. They called themselves The Female Species. Members came and went; their base of operations moved to Las Vegas, back to LA, and over to Nashville. Along the way their sound transformed from garage rock to lounge to country pop, the only constant being an innate mastery of hooks and harmony. These ladies had it. Along the way, they crossed paths with The Carpenters, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Judds, and seemingly half of the industry's power players, rebuffing all untoward advances, focused always on their craft. In the 1980s they became staff songwriters for music publishing companies in the hit-making business. "Tale Of My Lost Love is the whole story from beginning to end of two sisters who gave everything to their dream, yet never made a single record... until now. LANOIS, DANIEL "Heavy Sun" (EONE) EMCCD28392 CD April 2 street date. "Heavy Sun" is the soulful debut from Daniel Lanois and his invigorating new all-star band. Recorded in Los Angeles and Toronto, the album fuses classic gospel and modern electronics, mixing gritty, human textures with crisp, digital accents and lush, swirling atmospherics to create a sound that's at once warmly familiar and boldly unexpected. The arrangements here are spacious and dreamy, anchored by rich, righteous organ topped with airy falsetto and mesmerizing four-part harmony, and the writing is buoyant and soulful to match, tapping into the shared uncertainty of the human condition to offer hope, comfort, and connection at a time when all three run in desperately short supply. Lanois and his bandmates - guitarist/ vocalist Rocco DeLuca, organist/vocalist Johnny Shepherd, and bassist/vocalist Jim Wilson - showcase an undeniable chemistry and boundless appetite for sonic discovery that far surpasses the influence of any individual member. LEE, SOOK-YIN & "jooj two" (MINT) MRD192 CD ADAM LITOVITZ LEE, SOOK-YIN & "jooj two" (MINT) MRL192 LP ADAM LITOVITZ April 9 street date. An iconic Canadian media figure, Sook-Yin Lee is an award-winning filmmaker, musician, actor, visual artist and broadcaster who has immersed herself in myriad creative collaborations. Many of them were made with her life partner and frequent co-creator Adam Litovitz, including their 2015 ethereal electroacoustic album "jooj". Though Adam passed away in 2019, his work with Sook-Yin lives on with "jooj two", an unapologetic dive into playful art-pop and a document of a lost language between lovers. While financial difficulties and external pressures contributed to the end of their romantic relationship, Sook-Yin and Adam remained best friends and creative partners. As he was busy with a soundtrack for Netflix, Adam gave Sook-Yin his blessing to continue working on their second album without him. Increasingly, Adam struggled with anxiety and depression, compounded by a prescription drug dependency that exacerbated insomnia and pain. Tragically, he died by suicide June 16, 2019. With the assistance of mixer Steve Chahley (U.S. Girls, Badge Époque Ensemble, Darlene Shrugg) Sook-Yin completed the album and will share it with the world this spring. Despite the circumstances surrounding its completion, "jooj two" is a celebration of life, especially Adam's. MURPHY, PETER "Deep (clear vinyl/1989 (BEGGARS BBL107LPX LP release)" May 7 street date. Peter's third solo album saw him break wide open with his biggest hit "Cuts You Up", which is often included in lists of the greatest alternative singles. Propelling him into mainstream stardom, "Deep" also had two additional fantastic charting singles - "The Line Between the Devil's Teeth (And That Which Cannot Be Repeat)", and "A Strange Kind of Love". Again produced by Simon Rogers, the critically acclaimed album is still a fan favourite. MURPHY, PETER "Holy Smoke (BEGGARS BBL123LPX LP (clear/smoke/1992 release)" May 7 street date. The fourth Peter Murphy album "Holy Smoke" contained the single "The Sweetest Drop", which made it onto the modern rock charts. It was an elegant follow up to "Deep" with crisp production by Mike Thorne. As written in the original press release for the album, "you can’t pin down "Holy Smoke", it curls and eddies in white and blue swirls, drawing a series of patterns on the brain, but just when an image begins to come into focus, the music mutates into something hypnotically new". MURPHY, PETER "Cascade (2LP/scarlet (BEGGARS BBL175LPX LP vinyl/1995 release)" June 25 street date. His last solo album for Beggars, "Cascade" came after a time of change for Peter Murphy. He had dissolved his longtime backing band and moved to Turkey with his family. After a year of soul-searching and re-discovery, the songs flowed. He said "it confirmed my belief that writing - like painting or any art form - comes from a very silent place that's not dependent on outside stimulus. It was like rediscovering the initial innocence and purity that's there when you join your first band". The album was written with Paul Statham and produced by Pascal Gabriel.