Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

Upon its release more than three decades ago, Exile On Main Street innovatively wove varying musical genres, instruments and even artists into a compelling rhythmic masterpiece. The original 18-track double-album was recorded in various stages at multiple locations, including Olympic Studios in London, Keith Richards' mansion Nellcote in France and in Los Angeles where the literal "Main Street" influenced the album title. These atypical circumstances surrounding the recording process greatly affected the album's outcome which was highly reflective and influenced by the sociopolitical turbulence that marked the late '60s and early '70s. The Stones nixed the influences of a flower-child era and directed their creative process with edgier, excessive, "more is more" approach of the '70s. Exile reveals a sprawling mix of genres with undertones of blues, country, R&B and gospel mixed with lyrics that fervently demand for release and liberation. $44

Massive Attack - Heligoland

Heligoland is the much anticipated fifth studio album from legendary trip-hop duo Massive Attack and the first new studio album since 2003's critically-acclaimed 100th Window. Heligoland features an all-star cast of guest vocals from Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Martina Topley-Bird, Guy Garvey and Tunde Adebimpe. Long time cohort Horace Andy makes a return alongside Massive Attack founding members Robert Del Naja (3D) and Grant Marshall (DADDY G). Damon also plays bass on `Flat Of The Blade' and keyboards on `Splitting The Atom' while Portishead's Adrian Utley plays guitar on `Saturday Come Slow'. The band also collaborated with DFA's Tim Goldsworthy on selected tracks. The cover artwork features an original image by Robert Del Naja. Over the last three years Robert Del Naja has written and produced soundtracks for a number of films and documentaries, including `Trouble In The Water', '44 Inch Chest', `In Prison My Whole Life' and `Gomorra', the latter for which he won the David Di Donatello Award for Best Song. Massive Attack also won the Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award at the Ivor Novello Awards. A deluxe three record set with the complete CD and booklet. $85

Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune

Twelve previously unreleased studio recordings. Features "Valleys Of Neptune," one of the most sought after of Hendrix's commercially unavailable recordings. Includes exciting 1969 arrangements of classic signature songs "Red House," "Fire" and "Stone Free." A welcome addition to the recently re-issued studio albums, "Are you Experienced", "Axis Bold as Love" and (at last) "Electric Ladyland". 2 LPs on 1280 gram vinyl. $44

Pavement - Quarantine the Past: Greatest Hits 1989 - 1999

This remastered Greatest Hits collection, chosen by the band, ranges from their Top 10 Modern Rock hit "Cut Your Hair" to nearly all their singles, some under-rated album tracks, three choice pre-Matador cuts and one obscure compilation track singing the praises of REM. $30

Gotan Project - Tango 3.0

Gotan Project's new album Tango 3.0 fluidly steps back on the dance floor where their last album 'Lunatico ' left off. Group members Philippe Cohen Solal,Christoph Mueller,and Eduardo Makaroff have constructed yet another beautiful melange of traditional Argentinean tango, dub, jazz and electronics. Tango 3.0's 11 tracks are at once seductive and propulsive. Deluxe release on 180 gram vinyl. $30

The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

Another release from White Stripes Jack White and friends. "Sea Of Cowards is a robust and vigorous second act, filled with primal, bone quaking rock rhythms and the same stellar urban blues and throbbing sleaze as its predecessor; but this time The Dead Weather push their sound even further, brilliantly building upon their raw chemistry to create the most vital sounding album you'll hear all year". $34

Peter Gabriel - "Scratch My Back"

Oh no we thought, not another old f...t running out of ideas but no!! Peter Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" album project is the first part of a series of song exchanges in which Gabriel and other leading artists reinterpret each other's songs. Numbers by such diverse writers as Regina Spektor, Radiohead, Paul Simon and David Bowie are featured. No guitars or drums just superb and sumptuous (at times) orchestral or chamber forces are used. Mostly it is guess the song as, if it were not for the lyrics, they are not only re-interpreted, but re-invented (re-written?). This will not be everyone's cup of Gabriel. It is dark at times - Simon's "Boy in the Bubble" goes from something rather jolly to a completely different place, but you do (at last) realise how interesting the lyrics are, or at least Gabriel makes them seem so. Full marks to John Metcalfe, who's arrangements and orchestrations are subtle and delicate and add to the sense of intimacy. Standouts are Lou Reed's "Power of the Heart", Arcade Fire's "My body is a Cage" and ... well all the other tracks, Give it a go, for without question this is a meisterwerk. On the Realworld Label ... our price $34

Angus & Juila Stone - Down the Way

Australian brother/sister duo Angus and Julia Stone return with the follow up to their 2009 critically acclaimed debut A Book Like This. This sophomore album gracefully navigates through 13 tracks, exploring themes of desire, lost love, self-discovery and beauty in the most unlikely of places. Down The Way was self-produced and recorded between England, New York and Australia--from an old sawmill on the riverbanks of Fowey, Cornwall to a studio in Brooklyn, to a water tank in Coolangatta to the streets of London and back to Queens. Stand out tracks include the Brad Albetta (Martha Wainwright) co-produced "and the boys," the dark and driving "Black Crow" and the rustic and dreamy "Big Jet Plane." $45

MGMT - Congratulations

Congratulations unlocks a new musical world whirling in its own space/time grid infused with hints of music from the past five decades. Produced by MGMT and Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, E.A.R., Spectrum), Congratulations features Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, MGMT's core duo, performing with Matt Asti (bass, backing vocals), Will Berman (drums, backing vocals), and James Richardson (guitar, backing vocals), the band's live line-up. Congratulations is the successor to MGMT's Oracular Spectacular, the 2008 debut album. Soulful and complex, Congratulations is a surprising and delightful quantum step forward in MGMT's ongoing pop revolution. $35

Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave

American VI: Ain't No Grave, is the sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings album series. As with the previous five albums in the American Recordings series, American VI was produced by Rick Rubin. American VI is deeply elegiac and spiritual, with each song its own piece of the puzzle of life's mysteries and challenges - the pursuit of salvation, the importance of friendships, the dream of peace, the power of faith, and the joys and adversities that entail simple survival. It is an achingly personal and intimate statement, as, from the end of the line, Johnny Cash looks back on a most extraordinary life. $24

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Gurrumul

2008 album from the former member of Yothu Yindi (and currently with Saltwater Band). Blind from birth, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is a powerhouse of musical creativity. His solo excursions highlight his amazing talent as a singer/songwriter/musician and his beautiful voice singing the songs of his Gumatj country. His solo performances are a rare treat and should not be missed. With the release of this his first solo album, Geoffrey highlights the tremendous talent and influence he has to offer Indigenous music in Australia, that can reverberate around the world. 2 LP Set on Skinnyfish. $48

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

What started as a brief recording session between Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck ended up to be the body of work that is IRM. Over the course of a year and a half of writing and recording together, Beck's role grew to encompass all aspects of the creative process. He worked seamlessly with Charlotte co writing the lyrics and produced and mixed the recording (This is the first time he has ever been so involved in another artist's work). Sonically, the album is a new direction for Charlotte Gainsbourg and her first in nearly four years. Beck's iconic and spacey production blends flawlessly with Charlotte's unique vocals and delivery. 2 LP Set. $45 (Highly recomended at Quality for it's mix of traditional French chanteuse(osity) and cutting edge wierdness - thanks Beck and Charlotte)

Muse - The Resistance

Following seven years of near solid touring, Muse escalated from being the biggest band in Teignmouth in 1997 to one of the biggest bands in Europe by 2004. With each successive album, they pushed the musical envelope with a fusion of progressive rock, electronica, and Radiohead-influenced experimentation, creating an emotive, passionate sound. Muse's reputation as one of the best live rock bands in the world is well deserved with their exhilirating live performances drewing critical acclaim, industry buzz, and a loyal and rabid fan base 1 LP Set at $49

Florence and the Machine - Lungs

2009 debut album from the hotly tipped UK outfit fonted by Florence Welch. Lungs, produced by Paul Epworth, James Ford and Steve Mackay, is an intoxicating mix of delicate fragility, dark humor and twisted Tim Burton style fairy-tales. From the live favourite 'You've Got The Love' to the raw Blues-tinged 'Girl With One Eye' to the beautifully painful 'Between Two Lungs', the album is crammed with crowd pleasers. Also boasting fresh tracks like new single 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', 'Drumming' - with its epic denseness, the terrifyingly brilliant 'Howl' and 'Hurricane Drunk' with it's paradoxical charms of heartbreak, love and loss, Lungs promises to leave us wanting more of the insanely captivating Florence Welch. $32

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

There is an unbelievable clarity of sound and vision to Veckatimest: vocals (a duty shared by all band members) are sharper and more complex, arrangements are tighter, production is more venturous and lyrics more affecting. Having opened the creative dialogue at such an early stage, Grizzly Bear was able to realize these 12 songs together as a band, making it their most collaboratively compositional album to date.
This yielded an unexpected mix of material that feels more confident, mature, focused and most of all, dynamic.Veckatimest is an album of the highest highs and lowest lows an unbelievably diverse collection of songs that celebrates the strength of each band member, and the power of the whole. It was well worth the wait. $32

Them Crooked Vultures

Yes, thus far this band has been an enigma wrapped in a mystery--save for the music Dave, Joshua and John have been very publicly playing.It sounds like the guy from Queens of the Stone Age singing and playing guitar with the bass player from Led Zeppelin and the drummer from Nirvana. To recap their various histories, Dave played drums with Joshua's Queens of the Stone Age on the 2002 classic Songs For The Deaf and on the first part of the tour supporting that record. John contributed to Dave's Foo Fighters' 2005 two-disc opus In Your Honor, contributing piano, mandolin and mellotron to the double album's quieter second half. John also conducted the orchestra for the Foo Fighters 2008 Grammy performance and, together with his former bandmate Jimmy Page, sat in with the Foos for encores of "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On" on the second night of the band's historic two-night stand at London's Wembley Stadium later that year. $34

Vampire Weekend - Contra

Like the first album, Contra was produced by keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and is the realization of a whole and unique musical vision that sees the band stretching out and adding new textures, instrumentation, and rhythms into their sound.Primarily recorded in New York with a springtime sojourn to Mexico, Contra feels altogether fresh, joyous, and like nothing else but is immediately recognizable as the sound of Vampire Weekend. $32

Nirvana - Live at Reading

NIRVANA'S LEGENDARY NEVER-BEFORE-RELEASED 1992 READING CONCERT Ranked #1 in Kerrang Magazine's "100 Gigs That Shook The World" and voted as "Nirvana's #1 Greatest Moment" by fans in an NME poll, Nirvana's historic August 30, 1992 headlining appearance at the UK's Reading Festival is one of the most bootlegged concerts in the annals of rock n roll. $44

John Mayer - Battle Studies

2009 studio album from the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter. Since the release of his hit album, Room For Squares, in 2001, Mayer has progressed from a sensitive acoustic-based performer into a full-fledged paparazzi-baiting superstar with acclaimed musical detours into Jazz, Blues and Folk. Battle Studies is yet another milestone for Mayer, containing some of his best work to date. Features the single 'Who Says'. $49

XX

The XX unique make-up is an inadvertent second nature marriage of 2009's urban/guitar tribes, in one corner fluttering new wave indebted reverberation, in the other, plumes of post-dubstep sub-bass and figuratively, their defining core of rich R&B vocal textures. The enveloping vocal partnership of Romy and Oliver is one that would've dropped-jaws in any decade this century, and set amidst a shivering soundscape of beats and plucks, their bedroom-reared concrete-soul is being justly heralded as the UK's most original and treasured alt. pop artifact of late. $36