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Now Hear This! - August 2026

(Optional) This text will appear in the inbox preview, but not the email body. Allison Russell In the Hour of Chaos Fantasty Buy Now Russell's third album is a healing record made in community, summoning friends from across the map to find small moments of joy in a chaotic 2026. Americana Highways calls it music where healing is 'taken from those who would cause harm.' Harpist Ahya Simone among many contributors. A generous, radiant statement. Green Day Nimrods Original Soundtrack Reprise Buy Now The long-awaited companion to the 1997 album's narrative mythology, Green Day's Reprise archive expanded to accommodate the visual world of Nimrod's original rollout. This supplemental release gives collectors and hardcore fans a deeper look at one of the band's most eclectic and beloved records. An essential document for the faithful. Show Me The Body Alone Together Loma Vista Buy Now Brooklyn post-hardcore outfit Show Me The Body's fourth Loma Vista album pairs Julian Cashwan Pratt's raw delivery with production that feels both urgent and expansive. One of the more genuinely political and sonically distinctive acts in contemporary punk, Alone Together gives fans exactly what makes them worth paying attention to. Green Pajamas When Fever Let Me Dream Label 51 Recordings Buy Now The long-running Seattle psych-folk outfit return with another collection of their signature hazy, melodic dream pop. For 40 years, the Green Pajamas have been quietly building one of the American underground's most consistently beautiful catalogs, and When Fever Let Me Dream belongs there comfortably. Essential listening for anyone who prizes melody over fashion. The Mountain Goats Days Thirty Tigers / Cadmean Dawn Buy Now Darnielle's latest release arrives nine months after Through This Fire. Days carries the intimacy of music made without pause for breath, and Darnielle writing quickly rarely means writing carelessly. Another chapter from one of indie folk's most essential voices, delivered with characteristic urgency. Rain Parade Home In Any Language Label 51 Buy Now Paisley Underground legends return via Label 51 with new material demonstrating their gift for shimmering, reverb-drenched psychedelic pop remains intact. Home In Any Language slots beautifully into the Rain Parade catalog and into the West Coast guitar-based dream pop tradition they helped create in the early 1980s. A welcome and genuine return. Little Big Town It's A Dying Art MCA Buy Now The veteran four-piece deliver what the title suggests: a record that honors craft over trend. It's A Dying Art leans into the harmonies, melodic sophistication, and emotional nuance that have defined the band across their remarkable 25-year career. For country music's devoted craft-conscious listeners, this is exactly the record they've been waiting for. Punch Brothers The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers Nonesuch Buy Now Punch Brothers' seventh Nonesuch album (first with fiddler Brittany Haas and first all-instrumental) was recorded at Guilford Sound, Vermont. Eight originals and three traditional arrangements. Mandolist Chris Thile: 'our deepest but also most joyful exploration of the American string band.' Without words, the music speaks a complete language. Margaret Glaspy I Am Both ATO Records Buy Now The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter pushes her guitar-forward indie rock into bolder territory on her third album. Glaspy writes with an emotional bluntness that sets her apart, and I Am Both channels that quality into her most fully realized arrangements yet. A significant and confident step from one of indie rock's most distinctive voices. Future Palace Resurgence Century Media Buy Now German symphonic and alternative metal act Future Palace deliver a resurgent album, pairing orchestral grandeur with contemporary metal production in a way that balances spectacle and substance. For listeners who want their metal cinematic without sacrificing force, Resurgence deliver both in generous supply. Michigander Over Before You Know It Thirty Tigers / Totally Normal Records Buy Now Flint, MI's Jason Singer releases cements his position as one of indie rock's most reliable purveyors of anthemic, guitar-driven pop. Over Before You Know It continues Michigander's run of big-hearted records with hooks that stick and production that suits the material. Improvement Movement Your Perfect Real Life ATO Records Buy Now Improvement Movement's ATO debut is a project that arrives with a knowing perspective on the performance of self-improvement in modern life. Sharp, melodic, and more layered than its premise might suggest, Your Perfect Real Life comes from an intriguing new voice worth watching. Old & In The Way Live at Sonoma State 11.4.73 Round Records Buy Now A previously unavailable November 1973 live tape from the legendary acoustic supergroup of Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements, and John Kahn. Essential for Garcia devotees and acoustic Americana fans. A genuinely revelatory document from a band that changed what bluegrass could mean. My Chemical Romance Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Deluxe Edition) Reprise Buy Now Reprise's deluxe expansion of MCR's 2010 concept album arrives to mark its 15th anniversary and the band's ongoing global return. The original record remains the band's most maximalist and narratively ambitious statement; the deluxe edition adds previously unreleased material that deepens the Killjoys mythology for the faithful. For the MCR universe, this is essential. LISTEN HERE LISTEN HERE The Strokes Reality Awaits RCA Buy Now Reality Awaits finds the Strokes doubling down on the maximalist detours of The New Abnormal, with Rick Rubin back behind the board and Julian Casablancas leaning hard into autotune and general weirdness. It's indulgent, swinging between tropical disco-rock and Radiohead-ish atmosphere. This a band unbothered in their 40s, and genuinely fun to watch. Gracie Abrams Buy Now From bedroom pop confessional to chart-topping songwriter, Abrams has built one of the most quietly compelling careers of her generation. The EPs minor and This Is What It Feels Like established her gift for raw, aching intimacy. Good Riddance, co-written with The National's Aaron Dessner, earned a Grammy nod and raised the stakes, while The Secret of Us delivered the breakthrough, cementing her as the real deal. Koe Wetzel The Night Champion World Tour Buy Now Texas country's most gloriously chaotic live act is taking his show global. Koe Wetzel's The Night Champion World Tour is a 45-date headlining run spanning the U.S., Canada, and Australia, timed to his new album of the same name. Wetzel put it simply: "I survived the night side of me. I'm coming out of it a champion." From dive bars to arenas, he's earned every bit of it. The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a national level organization comprised of the best independent record stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995 with the goal of uniting like minded independent store owners, giving them a more powerful voice in the music industry. The stores that make up CIMS are all very different, but we share the same desires – to be the heart of our communities, to super-serve our customers, to support and develop artists, and to share our love of music. For more information about CIMS and the stores in our organization, please visit cimsmusic.com or find us through social media with the #cimsmusic hashtag. And please remember to always shop local by supporting your neighborhood record store.

OUT THIS WEEK 8.28.26

HOT SELLERS:

Alabama Shakes - I Must Be Dreaming [Indie Exclusive Daydream Yellow]

Alicia Blue - Country Desire

Billy Strings - So Much For Goodbyes [Indie Exclusive Sun Core Yellow]

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Roots Rock Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon

Engelbert Humperdinck - Faithfully [Black/Purple Marble]

Everlast - Embers to Ashes [Indie Exclusive Clear Smoke]

Geese - 3D Country [Indie Exclusive Clear Red]

Geese - Projector [Indie Exclusive Opaque Orange]

In This Moment - Witch [Indie Exclusive]

Out 8.28 - Bob Marley & the Wailers - Roots Rock Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon

Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live at the Hammersmith Oden is a stunning, previously unreleased live album from Bob Marley, recorded over several nights during the Wailers’ residency at London's prestigious Hammersmith Odeon in June 1976, during their Rastaman Vibration tour. Booking the venue was an audacious move, but Bob had newfound stardom from the U.K. chart success of “No Woman, No Cry,” and an ecstatic crowd packed the place. Highlights include a transcendent title song, a rarely performed “Bend Down Low,” an extended version of “Crazy Baldhead,” and a 30-minute encore that incorporates a 12-minute “Get Up, Stand Up.” New liner notes by Marley associate Don Letts bring an eyewitness account to the experience. This 2LP set is pressed on 180g vinyl or also available as a 2 CD set.

Shop all available Bob Marley vinyl and CDs, including the newly released Roots Rock Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon
 

Out 8.28: Billy Strings - So Much For Goodbyes

3x Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Billy Strings releases his highly anticipated new album, So Much for Goodbyes on August 28. Produced by Strings and T Bone Burnett, the new 16-track project finds Strings channeling a deeply personal period into his most musically mature and reflective body of work to date. The record is accompanied by original artwork created by Strings' late mother, Debra Apostol.

Buy Billy Strings - So Much For Goodbyes

Out 8.28: Alabama Shakes - I Must Be Dreaming

I Must Be Dreaming is the first new album from Alabama Shakes in more than a decade. The album expands on 2015's album Sound & Color's unfettered exploration, leaning toward a viscerally charged form of psychedelic soul. Produced by Alabama Shakes and their repeat collaborator Shawn Everett, the album came to life at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio. While the album sustains their signature intensity, its songs often wander into more lush and otherworldly terrain, revealing a more exacting command of atmosphere and space.

Buy Alabama Shakes - I Must Be Dreaming