Bro. Stephen - Baptist Girls (Crossroads of America)

Nearly two years of wandering the country and hopeful soul-searching have culminated in the debut full-length from Bro. Stephen. The feelings are clear, the lyrics are poetic, and the ghosts in the background are real... Primarily recorded in a converted chicken coop in rural Indiana, Baptist Girls is stark but hopeful; haunting but beautiful. The sounds of incidental rain and the crack of the wood-burning stove do much to inform the experience. Occasional help from Cheyenne Marie Mize (Yep Roc / Bonnie Prince Billy) certainly doesn't hurt, either!

Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (Carpark)

In the interval since the 2011 release of Cloud Nothings, Baldi toured widely and put a great deal of focus on his live show. After playing the same sets nightly for months on end, Baldi saw the rigidity of his early work, and he wanted to create arrangements that would allow for more improvisation and variability when played on the road. To accomplish this desired malleability, the entire band decamped to Chicago where the album was recorded with Steve Albini. Insetting out to do so, Baldi and co. have created an album that shows vast growth in a still very young band.

Madi Diaz - Plastic Moon (Small Horse)

The music reflects a lifelong attraction to song craft as well her deep-rooted affinity for contrasting types of music. One part pop music and one part organic Americana, the album is a hooky, confident collection of songs that is as heartbreaking in places as it is catchy in others, sometimes within the span of a single song.

Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full Eyes (Vagrant)

Solo album from the Hold Steady mainman. Produced by Mike McCarthy, the album features Finn backed by musicians Josh Block, Jesse Ebaugh, Ricky Ray Jackson, and Billy White. The album was recorded in Austin, Texas during the summer of 2011 and captures the raw excitement of Finn's songs, most of which were captured in no more than three takes.

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (Wichita)

Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg. The first single and title track to their sophomore album, The Lion's Roar, was recorded with producer Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk, Jenny Lewis) in Omaha, NE. The record sees the band exploring a bigger sound and more instrumentation than on their debut album The Big Black and the Blue, but maintains the signature storytelling and harmonies they have become renowned for.

Laura Gibson - La Grande (Barsuk)

La Grande is an album about journeys and transitions. The energy of the title track kicks off the record with a battering ram beat, hitting the ground like a herd of galloping horses. With the Tropicalia pulse, dirt-kicking distortion, whimsical woodwinds and heart murmur hooks on Lion/Lamb, and rail-jumping rhythms, majestic melodies and beyond-the-grave broadcasting of The Rushing Dark, La Grande plays like an imaginary film score. It's an album about strength and confidence- about the tension between wildness and domesticity and the courage required to embark upon either path, about asserting one's will rather than submitting - and it's a significant departure from her subtle meditations on frailty.

Gonjasufi - Muzzle (Warp)

Although short in length, MUZZLE is long on message - political, social and spiritual interpretations that define him as an artist. The albums down tempo strings, heartbreaking soul, reanimated hip-hop and crackling haunting vocal stylings are stitched as a running thread throughout each song like a patchwork quilt. It's a lonely journey that will take you through the innermost thoughts of Gonjasufi's darkest hours. He recorded and mixed it on his own in his home studio surrounded by his family and the stark contrast of the Mojave Desert. It's the way of dealing with the issues of modern man; oppressed by power, freedom of speech, living your life by a book, dealing with the MUZZLE that's firmly attached around your mouth.

The Ladybirds - Shimmy Shimmy Dang (self)

The Ladybirds masterfully balance a mean juggling act. The Louisville, KY-based 5-piece features ex-Btowners Jaxon Swain and Sarah Teeple, as well as Max Balliet (brother to Murder by Death's Sarah Balliet), Anthony Fossaluzza, and Brett Holsclaw. They articulately summon greasy garage rock and lush Spector pop sans kitsch or tribute act fluff. Their main influences are the years 1954 to 1973, when it was just about fun and swingin’ grooves, not the droll, heavy-handed, over-serious approach to songwriting oft employed in the contemporary American underground. The Ladybirds’ sophomore album, as demonstrated in the title, is truth in advertising. Flavors of surf, rockabilly, doo wop, and dusty retro bubblegum pop all take a front seat. Catch em Thursday at the Bishop w/ Whippoorwill!

Leila - U&I (Warp)

U&I is the fourth album from the avant garde electronic producer Leila. Also know for touring and engineering with Bjork, Leila's U&I follows up Blood Looms & Blooms, her well received 2008 release.

Cheyenne Marie Mize - We Don't Need (Yep Roc)

Louisville singer/violinist has been best known for her collaborations with fellow Kentuckian Will "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" Oldham while own fine 2010 solo album Before Lately was described here as "Americana folk, flickering torch ballads and spacious chamber pop of somber melancholy". New project plugs in and turns up the heat dramatically, moving from Lately's somber and spacious folk/pop toward the outskirts of edgy, occasionally frayed, indie pop. Playing live at the Bishop on February 9th!

Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy (Barsuk)

Nada Surf are in love with the way rock music can transport you to a new and wonderful place in a beguiling rush of beats, chords, hooks and words. And they do it 10 times over on their 6th album. Chris Shaw came in to record and produce. Shaw, who's made records with the likes of Bob Dylan, Super Furry Animals and Wilco had mixed Nada Surf's indie hit "Always Love," impressing the band with his quick and expert work, not to mention his sense of humor. The album springs from the notion of music as an alternative reality, and songs as things you can keep by your side for inspiration and support. Which is what makes Nada Surf a truly beloved band.

Plug - Back on Time (Ninja Tune)

In 1996 Blue Angel Recordings (later Blue Planet) an imprint of the legendary Rising High label released the Drum 'N' Bass for Papa album by Plug AKA West Country king of kitschtronica Luke Vibert. Fast fast forward 15 years and the news was met with much merriment and joy from the Ninjas when in early 2011 Luke Vibert said that he had just found some never heard before DATs dated "1995-98" and entitled "Plug". Now after years in hiding this long-lost material can finally be heard.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Area 52 (ATO)

Area 52 contains 9 of Rod and Gab's favorite songs from their own catalogue re-arranged and re-configured for a 13-piece Cuban orchestra comprised of some of Havana's finest young players, collectively known as C.U.B.A. This 2-disc set includes a 30-minute 'making-of' documentary on DVD.

John K. Samson - Provinial (Epitaph)

Since 1997, John K. Samson has written four albums with The Weakerthans. Provincial, Samson's first solo release began with a simple idea: to explore 4 different roads in Manitoba. Samson talked to relatives, friends and strangers; he visited archives, a tuberculosis sanatorium turned RV park, a forgotten cemetery. The result is this collection of evocative songs, an album that fits beside Springsteen's Nebraska, Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts Of The Great Highway, and Mountain Goats' Tallahassee.

Grace Woodroofe - Always Want (Modular)

Born in Perth, Australia, the indie-blues chanteuse's demo was placed in the capable hands of Ben Harper, by none other than the late Heath Ledger. Ben Harper quickly led her into the studio, and the debut album was born. She was recruited by Harper to open for his North American tour in 2009, and has played many a festival, including Byron Bay's own East Coast Blues and Roots Festival and Perth's Ellington Jazz Festival. With a deep, honeyed huskiness, Grace creates amazing tales of life, youth, love and death. She is wise beyond her years; with stage presence of a seasoned performer. In the words of Mr. Ben Harper himself, 'You are not going to believe this girl'.

VA - Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan 4CD (Amnesty Intl)

Four CD collection containing music from Johnny Cash w/ the Avett Brothers, Patti Smith, Pete Townsend, Ziggy Marley, My Morning Jacket, Gaslight Anthem, Diana Krall, Bettye LaVette, Tom Morello, Queens of the Stone Age, Adele, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Bryan Ferry, Carly Simon, Flogging Molly, Bad Religion, Sinead O'Connor, Kronos Quartet, Joe Perry, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Taj Mahal, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Franti, Lucinda Williams and LOTS MORE. Through Chimes of Freedom, Amnesty International seeks to enlist support for its fight against censorship and attacks on free speech - whether involving artists, writers, musicians, political activists or bloggers. In this campaign, AI is fighting for people such as the imprisoned Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo in China, a scholar and human rights defender imprisoned since 2009 for writing about corruption and criticizing China's political system.

The Vinyl Zone (get into the groove!)

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 1985-92 LP (AMB)
Apples in Stereo - Funtrick Noisemaker LP (Yep Roc)
Michael Chapman - Rainmaker LP (Light in the Attic)
Electric Blood - 7" (Spacecase)
Fun. - We Are Young (feat Janelle Monae) picture-disc 7" (Fueled by Ramen)
Imbogodom - And They Turned Not When They Went LP (Thrill Jockey)
Jesus & Mary Chain - Peel Sessions 2LP (SFRS)
Mark Lanegan - Gravediggers Song 7" (4AD)
MF Doom - Dime Box 7" (1/24)
Slowdive - Pygmalion LP [reissue] (Creation)
Zomes - Improvisations LP (Thrill Jockey)

Also Released This Week

Cardinal - Hymns (Fire)
Chairlift - Something (Columbia)
Joe Cocker - Hard Knocks (Savoy)
Karen Dalton - 1966 (Delmore)
The Doors - Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman DVD (Eagle Rock)
Foxy Shazam - The Church of Rock and Roll (Capitol)
Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline (Century Media)
Lamb of God - Resolution (Epic)
Ingrid Michaelson - Human Again (Mom & Pop)
Mighty Sparrow - Sparrowmania (Strut)
Pop 1280 - The Horror (Sacred Bones)
Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend (Secretly Canadian)
Rhyton - s/t (Thrill Jockey)
Skrillex - Bangarang EP (Atlantic)
U2 - From the Sky Down DVD (Island)
Jason Urick - I Love You (Thrill Jockey)
Kendl Winter - The Mechanics of Hovering Flight (K)
Wolf People - Tidings (Jagjaguwar)
VA - Impulse Jazz 2/1 [reissues] (Impulse)