The latest from Will Butler, Charlie XCX, Cults, Deftones and more

It’s Friday and that means… new releases! We’ve got a load of recent new vinyl releases in stock and ready for you to take for a spin. The latest from Deftones, The Weeknd, Cults, Will Butler, Charlie XCX and so many more, check out the full list below. After the new releases we have a huge list of restocks and additions so you’ll be sure to find something for the weekend.

Let’s get to the new stuff!

Will Butler – Generations

In the five years since Will Butler released his debut album, “Policy”, he’s toured the world both solo and as a member of Arcade Fire, released the “Friday Night” live album, recorded and released Arcade Fire’s international #1 album “Everything Now”, earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, hosted a series of touring town halls on local issues (police contracts, prison reform, municipal paid sick leave, voting rights), and spent time raising his three children. He also found the time and inspiration to write and record a new album, “Generations”. While the songs on “Generations” contain their fair share of dread and regret, there is ultimately a lightness that shines through Butler’s music. The band’s electricity is palpable throughout “Generations”, with the bulk of the new songs having been worked out live. “Generations” opens a dialogue with the world. It posits answers – and deals with those answers being refuted. Ultimately, it navigates the conversation as a way to find the truth… or at least a way forward.

Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now

Over the course of her trailblazing career, Charli XCX has earned critical acclaim for her forward-thinking musical output and refreshing entrepreneurial spirit that has seen her carve her own lane on the global pop circuit. A singer, songwriter, video director, documentary maker, radio host and record label boss, Charli’s story is one of an artist continuing to succeed without compromise.

Cults – Host

Cults were deep into the process of recording their fourth full-length LP when singer Madeline Follin let a secret slip. At the time, it seemed inconsequential, just a passing comment amongst friends, but in the end, it would prove to be a monumental revelation, one that would change the acclaimed New York duo forever. What followed was a radical reimagining, both of the band’s sound and its dynamic, and the result is Cults’ utterly mesmerizing new album, ‘Host’. Written more collaboratively than ever before and recorded primarily with live instruments for the first time, the collection marks the start of a bold new chapter for the band, one fueled by an ever-deepening trust and a boundless appetite for growth and experimentation. The songs here are deceptively charming, with lush, airy arrangements that belie their dark, weighty lyrics, and the production is rich and multifaceted to match, blending retro and futuristic palettes into a spellbinding swirl of high-def indie rock and lo-fi bedroom pop. Four albums in and the duo is still discovering fresh layers and possibility within their creative relationship, a bond which grows richer and more rewarding by the day.

Deftones – Ohms

Recorded at Henson Studios and Trainwreck Studios, Ohms is an other-worldly body of work meticulously crafted by the 5 piece band. It is a magnificent tour de force and their first album in 4 years since the critically acclaimed Gore LP in 2016. The band, which includes Chino Moreno, Frank Delgado, Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham, and Sergio Vega, has produced a dense LP with every member firing on all cylinders. The album also boasts a familiar collaborator in veteran producer and engineer Terry Date, who worked on 1995’s Adrenaline, 1997’s Around the Fur and 2000’s White Pony. All of the above assembles and sets the stage to deliver Ohms; 10 tracks of raw escapism and unparalleled grooves that have made Deftones’ sound singular for over two decades.

Matt Mays – Dog City

“I put out a new record on a whim. Its called ‘Dog City’. It’s 13 songs written through the eyes of a rescue dog. The songs are about pure freedom, love, contentment, companionship and all the stuff in between. I wrote every note and lyric over the last 6 weeks in confinement in my cold garage and a few other empty spaces *Except for the Stooges cover. I laughed a lot and cried a lot. It’s been an emotional time obviously and I needed to get away from the news. It was more Important to me to get it out RIGHT NOW -so It’s scrappy, Barely mixed, not mastered and not even on a label. Not a soul heard it except me until I released it yesterday am. I Just made the songs and put’em out. I just needed too. I did the cover at 5:30 am yesterday morning a half hour before release. It was all so much fun. It’s a summer record so please turn it up and smile with your tongues out like a dog. Welcome to Dog City folks ‘Where everyone gets thrown a bone’.”

Run The Jewels – RTJ 4

Released in June 2020 as American cities were rupturing in response to police brutality, the fourth album by rap duo Run The Jewels uses the righteous indignation of hip-hop’s past to confront a combustible present. Returning with a meaner boom and pound than ever before, rappers Killer Mike and EL-P speak venom to power, taking aim at killer cops, warmongers, the surveillance state, the prison-industrial complex, and the rungs of modern capitalism. The duo has always been loyal to hip-hop’s core tenets while forging its noisy cutting edge, but RTJ4 is especially lithe in a way that should appeal to vintage heads—full of hyperkinetic braggadocio and beats that sound like sci-fi remakes of Public Enemy’s Apocalypse 91. Until the final two tracks there’s no turn-down, no mercy, and nothing that sounds like any rap being made today. The only guest hook comes from Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples on “pulling the pin,” a reflective song that connects the depression prevalent in modern rap to the structural forces that cause it.

The Weeknd – After Hours

The Weeknd has dropped his fourth studio album, After Hours, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2016’s Starboy.

The R&B star shared the first single ‘Heartless’ back in November, what seems like a lifetime ago, notching his fourth No.1 single. He quickly followed up the success with ‘Blinding Lights’, which earned him his first No.1 UK single.

The singer also shared two visuals for both singles, along with a five-minute short film titled ‘After Hours’. All of the visuals shared the same seedy, 70s noir aesthetic, like Martin Scorsese’s After Hours meets Taxi Driver. Whether he’s tripping on acid on the Las Vegas strip or driving around downtown Los Angeles late-night, The Weeknd has created a new, sinister character for this new album cycle.
With his dark glasses, leather driving gloves and broken nose, the Weeknd has adopted a specific persona that’s a far cry from the seductive crooner of his previous projects. In the middle of his album rollout, late night TV appearances, and 67-date global tour that still stands, a global pandemic broke out, with COVID-19 complete changing the way artists can release, perform and promote a new album. As Abel told his fans in a Thursday afternoon press statement, “Let the music heal us all during these dark times”.

Restocks and Additions

Here’s the huge list of restocks and additions to the new vinyl selection here at Backbeat.

Against Me – As The Eternal Cowboy
Against Me – Reinventing Axl Rose
Alice In Chains – Jar Of Flies/Sap
Aphex Twin – Richard D. James Album
Apple, Fiona – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Beatles, The – Magical Mystery Tour
Beatles, The – Revolver
Beatles, The – Rubber Soul
Beatles, The – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Bonamassa, Joe – You & Me
Breeders – Pod
Cohen, Leonard – Songs of Leonard Cohen
Davis, Miles – Kind Of Blue
Del Rey, Lana – Born to Die
Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
Drake, Nick – Pink Moon
Dylan, Bob – Highway 61 Revisited
Eilish, Billie – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go
Eminem – Slim Shady
Eno, Brian – Another Green World
Ford, Frazey – U Kin B the Sun
Godspeed You Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists
Green Day – Insomniac
Harmer, Sarah – Are You Gone
Iggy Pop – Lust for Life
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King
King Crimson – Larks Tongues in Aspic
King Crimson – Red
Lamar, Kendrick – To Pimp a Butterfly
Leadbelly – American Epic: The Best Of
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
Modest Mouse – The Moon And Antarctica
NOFX / Frank Turner – West Coast Vs. Wessex
Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory
Offspring – Smash
Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
Petty, Tom & The Heartbreakers – Full Moon Fever
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Poison – Open Up and Say… Aah!
Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet
Primus – Pork Soda
Primus – Sailing The Seas Of Cheese
Pulp – His N Hers
Quebec, Ike – Blue and Sentimental
Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
Rage Against The Machine – Evil Empire
Rage Against The Machine – Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine – The Battle Of Los Angeles
Ramones – Road To Ruin
Reed, Lou – Transformer
Rush – Hemispheres
Rush – Moving Pictures
Rush – Permanent Waves
Satriani, Joe – Surfing With the Alien
Simon, Paul – Graceland
Slint – Spiderland
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Soundtrack – Avengers : Endgames
Soundtrack – Baby Driver
Soundtrack – Baby Driver Volume 2
Soundtrack – Beauty & The Beast (Songs From) (Picture Disc)
Soundtrack – Breakfast Club
Soundtrack – Frozen 2: The Songs
Soundtrack – The Mission (Ennio Morricone)
Stone Roses, The – The Stone Roses
Styles, Harry – Fine Line
System Of A Down – System Of A Down
System Of A Down – Toxicity
Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
TLC – Crazysexycool
Traveling Wilburys, The – The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
Traveling Wilburys, The – The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3
Withers, Bill – Just As I Am

See you soon.