Amoeba Music

Beth Orton is one of our great talents. If you need a reminder, look no further than The Ground Above . Urgent, unflinching, and emotionally intense, these brilliant and sometimes brutal songs have a clear familiarity with grief and loss and survival. But that's not the whole story. There's a resilience, defiance, and joy embedded in these tracks. This is jazzy, folksy, slow burn indie rock with a downbeat bent and an eye toward the light.

Broken Social Scene return with their first album in over a decade, Remember the Humans . The band sounds just as fantastic as you recall, with some moments that go straight to the heart and some lush, richly layered melodies. Collaborators include Hannah Georgas, Lisa Lobsinger, and Feist. Instrumentation includes horns, guitars, electronics, and voice. It's a gorgeous, dizzying album...the kind you'll fall in love with on first spin and return to again and again.

Kelsey Lu's new album So Help Me God is the type of album you listen to with mouth agape, awed by the beauty and creativity. Co-produced by Lu, Jack Antonoff and Yves Rothman, this is Lu's long-awaited followup to 2019's debut Blood . Enchanting, otherworldly, and emotionally complex, the album calls to mind heavy-hitters like Bjork, Sade, and Kate Bush. Lu's voice keens with longing, strings rise to a fever pitch, tones border on the angelic before distorting. Experimental songs move into alt-pop territory and ease into quiet storm style R&B. Featuring contributions from Sampha, Kamasi Washington and Kim Gordon.

alt-J frontman JJerome87's first solo effort is magical. The Canyon is experimental and entrancing indie, with elements of folk, blues, gospel. There's a cinematic quality to these songs, a dreamy California vibe that gets a little weird every once in a while. Cool, creative, and intoxicating, The Canyon is an album that feels like a world all its own.

Hania Rani's soundtrack for Sentimental Value is contemplative, understated, and moving. It's a lovely companion piece to the film but it's also a pleasure on its own. Recorded in the Oslo home that figures prominently in the film, Rani and her sound engineer made field recordings on location, capturing the sound of objects and furniture and generally soaking up the atmosphere of the place. A couple of the piano pieces were recorded in the house. A remarkable, intuitive, deeply human modern classical recording with ambient and electronic elements.

Some live recordings are a document of a great performance. Some get close to capturing the spirit of an artist's live show and the give-and-take with the audience. And some go beyond that, to make you desperately wish you had been there. Sierra Ferrell Live at Third Man Record s is just such a record. Ferrell makes bluegrass and country music that sounds as timeless and exciting as the classics...then she throws in a dash of gypsy jazz, tango, or calypso. This live session is gripping, a thrill ride powered by Ferrell's inimitable voice and eclectic, intriguing songcraft.

5x Grammy-nominated alto saxophonist/composer Lakecia Benjamin has released her sixth studio album, We Dream . The project features her frequent collaborators Oscar Pérez and Miki Hayama on piano and Elias Bailey on bass, as well as a slew of guests like Terence Blanchard and Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Tiaranna "Tank" Ball, and Black Thought. Conceived as "a bright light in a dark space," We Dream reflects on our difficult times with a sense of resilience and hope, fusing jazz, R&B, funk, soul, and more with spoken word poetry. Tracks like "Flamekeeper" (with pianist Hiromi) are alive and thrilling with a post-bop spirit, while "Right Now" (with vocals by Bilal and Kassa Overall) is soulful with a dreamy, cosmic groove. We Dream serves up much needed positivity, imagination, and passion.

Metallica's 1997 Reload album is the latest in their discography to get remastered and reissued. Heavy, dark, and a modern classic, the album features singles "The Memory Remains," "The Unforgiven II," and "Fuel" – but really, this is an Album with a capital "A," something meant to be listened to from end-to-end, something immersive and powerful as a whole.

Physics Universal Love Language (PULL) is a bold, innovative left-of-center pop album from Syrian-Armenian-American singer and producer KÁRYYN. This is an album about big emotions, life-changing moments, and grandiose sounds. Strings, modular synths, and qanun performances by Syrian musician Maya Youssef set the tone for the lyrical focus on the courage it takes to love, surrender, let go, and emerge. A transcendent, bigger-than-life album that stands out as one of the year's best.

Modest Mouse's An Eraser And A Maze is a masterpiece. Written in the wake of founding member and drummer Jeremiah Green's death, the album is richly layered and beautiful. "Picking Dragons’ Pockets" is bright and kaleidoscopic, with pleasingly upbeat melodies taking unexpected turns to reveal added depth. "Third Side of the Moon" is poignant and lovely, a snapshot of ordinary life fractured and stamped forever with the moment one learns of the death of a friend. The choruses are among the band's best: they're unforgettable earworms, whether the songs are melancholy or exuberant in nature. A must hear.

Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways is a look back into history, a celebration, and an education. Out on vinyl for the first time, the album runs the gamut from ballads to boogies to saucy innuendo-laced songs. The Delta,St.Louis, Southwest, Piedmont, and Chicago styles of blues are all here, as are the legendary artists that came to call the Folkways label home in mid-century America. Lightnin' Hopkins, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Elizabeth Cotten, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Memphis Slim are just a handful of the powerhouses on this iconic release. Featuring notes by musician, professor, author and folklorist Dr. Barry Lee Pearson.

From all the way back in 1994 comes a new reissue of Scarface's classic The Diary . Remastered and with the original artwork restored by designer Mr. Krum, this latest edition is in honor of Rap-A-Lot Records' 40th Anniversary. Acclaimed tracks like "No Tears" and "I Seen a Man Die" led to the album's platinum status; the addition of previously unreleased bonus song "Ease Up Now" make this reissue a must-hear. Powerful, unforgettable, and legendary.