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 | Sarah Miles
One
Rock Ridge Music |
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| Sarah Miles has garnered comparisons to a broad array of artists such as Mariah Carey, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, Diane Birch, and Carrie Underwood. She has gorgeously flowing dynamics as a singer, capable of euphoric skyward melodies and intimately fragile phrasing. Her songwriting is empowering, authentic, and stylistically touches upon folk, pop, and country. It’s an infectious blend of accessible songcraft and bold emotional candor. One, a sincerely crafted folk-pop project, inspired by the simple decision to follow her heart. It’s been a 3-year journey,” Sarah says. “I went through love, heartbreak, moved to New York City, went on the road, and explored collaborating with other songwriters. I’ve grown so much as a person and an artist. This is the opening ceremony for me-these are the most confident songs I’ve written.” |
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 | Volto!
Incitare
Fantasy/Concord
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| Musician friends like to jam… But when those friends happen to be members of Tool, Pigmy Love Circus and a mix of the most accomplished musicians around, who’ve played with the likes of Don Henley, Rick Springfield and Alice Cooper, you can expect the results to be out of the ordinary. Volto! delivers a hypnotic mix of experimental jazz, rock, fusion, prog and blues. Volto!’s radical fusion is impossible to classify. Guitarist John Ziegler cites influences such as Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis, but the band clearly draws heavily from the art rock, tribal, space jazz, metal genres. The music is rhythmic, driving and magnetic, thanks to the expert play of group members Danny Carey (drummer), Lance Morrison (bassist) and Jeff Babko (keyboardist). The album’s artwork will feature a piece from Danny’s art collection by the famous underground, psychedelic artist Rick Griffin, designed together with art contributions by Tool guitarist Adam Jones. |
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 | Russell Howard
City Heart +
Rock Ridge Music
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| Russell Howards’ debut EP, City Heart, had such a positive reception that Howard is releasing it in an expanded edition as City Heart +, and the new incarnation augments the EP with freshly recorded acoustic versions of the core tracks (each acoustic version will be paired with a video) and masterfully crafted bonus cuts (“Too Far” and “Find Me”) that showcase Howard’s artistic growth. His irresistible and intimate blend of indie, folk, and pop -- with a touch of honeyed 1960s soul colors for good measure -- shimmers with awe, melancholy, and steely optimism. “I wrote these songs at a time when I was playing colleges and traveling a lot,” says Howard. “The feeling of being far from home was setting in, but writing was really grounding. It’s like that saying ‘You play the blues to keep yourself from feeling the blues.’ I pulled myself up by writing this record.” |
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 | Buddy Guy
Rhythm & Blues
RCA
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| The new album from six-time Grammy Award winner and 2012 Kennedy Center Honoree, Buddy Guy, Rhythm & Blues, is a double-disc masterpiece features first time studio collaborations with A-list artists Kid Rock, Keith Urban, Gary Clark, Jr., Beth Hart and Aerosmith members Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. Replete with heartfelt vocals, straightforward lyrics and mesmerizing guitar licks, Rhythm & Blues not only exemplifies how blues continues to be the foundation of all genres of today's music, it also illustrates why Guy has been influential in the careers of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more. The Rhythm disc includes rhythm and blues-style blues with deep grooves, such as the Junior Wells' 1960 hit "Messin' With The Kid,” the touching "One Day Away,” and "What You're Gonna Do About Me," Guitar Slim's "Well I Done Got Over It" and more.The Blues disc taps into the genre's rich history with "Meet Me In Chicago," "I Could Die Happy," "Never Gonna Change" and "All That Makes Me Happy Is The Blues." |
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 | Wallpaper.
Ricky Reed Is Real
Epic |
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| Known for his dry-humored raps, hard-hitting beats, and absurdist world-view, Wallpaper. – AKA Ricky Reed -- is in the midst of a creative renaissance. Reed describes the sound of the Ricky Reed Is Real, which he recorded with engineer Drew Kapner at Larrabee Studios in North Hollywood, CA, as "fat, wide, and deep. At points, it sprawls like a neon jungle, and at other times, it's infinitely small and calm. Real 808 drum machines also give a new depth to that low, low end people know me for." But there’s more to Ricky Reed Is Real than bounce: "I knew I wanted to make a great blue-collar pop record of this generation," he says. "I wanted to tell my real story and deal with real shit," adding that exploring mortality is a recurrent theme. “If you are stuck at a dead-end job, or you know your friends are bringing you down, the time to act is now. You don't know how much time you've got left." Indeed. |
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 | Preservation Hall
Jazz Band
That's It!
Legacy
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| Preservation Hall Jazz Band and its music continue to evolve as they embrace tradition and history while inspiring a new generation of fans – including My Morning Jacket. The two groups first met a few years ago and also performed together on tour and in New Orleans. As their support for each other has grown, MMJ frontman Jim James decided to take on the role as co-producer with Ben Jaffe on what is the first release of original music from Preservation Hall Jazz Band, That’s It. With songs co-written with Dan Wilson, Chris Stapleton and the legendary Paul Williams (who’s back in the spotlight thanks to a great track on the latest Daft Punk album), That’s It features a fresh approach but still captures the classic feel of what has kept Preservation Hall Jazz Band relevant over the past 50 years. You need this. |
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 | The Wild Feathers
The Wild Feathers
Warner Bros |
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| Long before it got broken up into a million sub-genres, rock & roll was just rock & roll. Six strings, booming harmonies and the call of the open road. It’s a singularly American tradition that Nashville’s The Wild Feathers are full-force dedicated to not only preserving but also – more importantly - evolving. Their sound melds five unique voices, taking inspiration from across the musical spectrum – country, blues, folk and rock – and spinning it into a roaring web of warm, cosmic melodies with vintage roots and modern tones. The Wild Feathers are a rock band that feels impossibly fresh with the air of having been here all along. With their self-titled debut bluesy, hard rock tunes like “Backwoods Company” live effortlessly next to harmonic stunners like “Hard Wind” and slow, folky love songs like “Tall Boots.” Visually, they are united, too – playing shows standing in a line straight across the stage, as one. What they make is modern rock & roll, laced with nostalgia, built for the new millennium. What they are is The Wild Feathers. |
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 | Rudimental
Home
Big Beat / Atlantic |
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| Bursting out of London’s underground music scene with its thrilling world of pirate radio, crude DJ set ups, improvised studios, and bleeding edge beats come Rudimental (Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden, Amir Amor and Leon Rolle): A pioneering melting-pot collective who have taken the British music scene by storm, championed for their uncompromising approach to music-making whilst avoiding rigid classification. Taking a “traditional” songwriting approach as much as an electronic one in their music making, Rudimental mix live instrumentation (Hammond, Rhodes, horns, live bass etc.) with digital programming. Rudimental (so-named after the Rudiments book of piano exercises Kesi’s music teacher drilled him on as a child) write as a group pulling from one another’s strengths. The result of this sound-clash style is bubbling with energy, with thick, layered basslines, live instruments, and contagious hooks that both reflects London and translates outside the city. Once you’re fully engrossed in Home you’ll never want to leave. |
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 | Superhumanoids
Exhibitionists
Innovative Leisure |
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| In the summer of 2010, Superhumanoids was birthed under the hazy air and bright blue skies of Los Angeles – and Exhibitionists is the soundtrack to the last moments of dusk in LA. With swooning guitars, glimmering air, soaring melodies, the setting sun, and melting keyboards. Developed in the home studios of the Superhumanoids, Exhibitionists takes a completely hands on approach from the trio, with each synth and guitar sound being completely made from scratch. And just as the record takes those elements and brings them to life, the live performance of Exhibitionists only continues to further that distinction. Despite being wrapped in an electronic blanket, the trio unravels each songs core to take the listener on a journey that highlights the living R&B undertones and driving groove that brings to light the soul of the record. What is found in the sticky air of the city of angels is found here in Exhibitionists, to ease between the spaces of your body, make you dance, and bring you home. |
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Houndmouth knew each other from…around. Which, in this case, is New Albany, Indiana. Matt Myers and Zak Appleby had played in cover bands together for years, schooled in blues and classic rock and Motown, toughened by indifferent audiences and the clatter of empty bottles. Matt and Katie Toupin had worked as an acoustic duo for three years, when she wasn't on the road tending to a straight job. Katie and Shane Cody had gone to high school together, before Shane disappeared off to Chicago and New York to study audio engineering. In the beginning it was Shane and Matt who'd started knocking around at first, just drums and guitar, once Shane got home and free of a brief bluegrass flirtation. The rest happened in a tumble, Zak and Katie switching from guitars to bass and keyboards, respectively. Four months later, their homemade EP in hand, Houndmouth made the pilgrimage to South By Southwest. Their booking agent convinced Rough Trade's Geoff Travis to come have a listen. Of such things are dreams made. Months of conversation and a proper studio later, Houndmouth's debut album, From the Hills Below the City, emerged with a loose-limbed swing, anchored by a sturdy rhythm and a cagey melodic sensibility. Just listen: You’ll get it.
Houndmouth -
From The Hills Below The City
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The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a group of some of the best independent music stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995; its current membership is made up of 29 accounts that handle 47 stores in 21 states. Many of the accounts have been recognized by the music industry and their local communities for their outstanding dedication to customer service and developing artist support.
Each member is bound by its shared love of music, a reputation for great selection and customer service in its community, yet each CIMS account is as unique as the market it represents. Most importantly, CIMS member stores continually seek to challenge the jaded, color-by-numbers advertising and marketing of other retailers.
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