Austin’s Holy Wave releases Freaks of Nurture, their third album, recorded in their hometown with Erik Wofford (Explosions In The Sky, The Black Angels, My Morning Jacket). In Holy Wave tradition, Freaks of Nurture is reverb-heavy with plenty of psych influences, yet is more stripped down, harmonized and laced with hooks—a crystalline honing of the band’s sound.

via The Reverberation Appreciation Society

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Following their 2013 debut Wildewoman, Brooklyn band Lucius releases their second LP, Good Grief. The five-piece is led by Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, who often dress as highly-stylized twins, with Dan Molad, Peter Lalish and Andrew Burri. Good Grief was produced by Shawn Everett (Weezer, Alabama Shakes, Julian Casablancas) and proves catchy and dynamic from the start, underpinned by Wolfe and Laessig’s signature harmonization.

via Mom + Pop

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Lionlimb is the duo of Stewart Bronaugh and Joshua Jaeger, both members of Angel Olsen’s backing band who contributed to her beautiful 2014 album Burn Your Fire for No Witness. The duo is now releasing a debut of their own, Shoo, which is vibrantly infused with pop experiments from throughout the decades.

via Bayonet

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›› ISSUE Feature: Interview with Angel Olsen.

M. Ward returns with More Rain, his eighth solo album since his 1999 debut and an upbeat and ambitious follow-up to 2012’s A Wasteland Companion. Ward’s prolific career also includes five LPs with Zooey Deschanel as the duo She & Him and a 2009 album with the supergroup Monsters of Folk, which included friends Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes. More Rain proves a tenacious experiment and progression of M. Ward’s sound that maintains his introspective folk roots.

Originally conceived as a DIY doo-wop album layering Ward’s voice, More Rain developed in a few different directions due to the contributions of collaborators such as R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. In a press release, Ward comments on the intentionality and buoyancy of More Rain: “There must be a place in our brains that allows us to take a bird’s-eye view of humanity, and I think music is good at helping people—myself included—go to that place.”

via Merge Records

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New Zealand-born Marlon Williams’ evocative voice is the centerpiece of his self-titled solo debut. Williams returned to his family home from Melbourne, Australia to record with long-time producer Ben Edwards, who had previously worked with Williams and his former band The Unfaithful Ways, as well as on his three duo albums with Delaney Davidson. The result is a tribute to the quality of Williams’ songwriting, of which he says, “Each song is a character. I don’t really ever sing out of character. Even if it’s a very personal song, once it’s written it doesn’t belong to me.”

via Dead Oceans

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The latest in a long collaborative relationship, Jesu/Sun Kil Moon is the newest joint album from Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek and Jesu (moniker of Justin K. Broadrick). The tracklist includes titles such as “Last Night I Rocked The Room Like Elvis And Had Them Laughing Like Richard Pryor” and features appearances from venerable greats Will Oldham, Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse, and members of the bands Low and Slowdive.

A founding member of British metal band Godflesh, Broadrick has released his music under post-metal project Jesu since 2004. Kozelek recently released his seventh album with San Francisco-based Sun Kil Moon, Universal Themes. Together, their project stays close to Sun Kil Moon’s mellow instrumentation imbued with Kozelek’s digressive storytelling lyrics and warm baritone.

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Since the launch of his brand in 1975, Armani has challenged and shaped fashion history, becoming Italy’s most successful fashion designer and the regarded pioneer of red carpet fashion. His androgynous designs actively explore the modern confluence of identities and cultures, highlighting the strength of women while refining the delicate sensuality of men. Some of fashion’s greatest photographers, including Steven Meisel, Mario Testino and Annie Leibovitz, have produced Armani’s iconic menswear and womenswear campaigns and magazine spreads. Giorgio Armani: Radical Gender, written by Italian fashion journalist and television host Giusi Ferré, compiles the best of these images in a testament to Armani’s innovative and overarching presence through the decades.

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Julius Shulman photographed Los Angeles and its environs from the late 1930s through the 1980s, capturing a specific era of California Mid-century modern architecture and making it iconic. In Julius Sulman Los Angeles: The Birth of a Modern Metropolis, the photographer shares four decades of his renowned work—from his quintessential Los Angeles images, like the Stahl House or Chinese Theater, to lesser-known images from his personal archives including LA’s emerging neighborhoods, its surrounding deserts and mountains. This definitive collection, a collaboration with Shulman before his 2009 death, creates a living, evolving portrait of a burgeoning city and its variably dynamic and desolate neighborhoods, homes and landscapes. Author Sam Lubell expresses, “We began this book with Julius and are sad that he did not get to see it’s completion. Los Angeles was near and dear to him and he was excited to share these rare images.”

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