In Stores Now 12/18

In Stores Now
12/18/2017
Dusty Henry

Seattle band Special Explosion release their second album, To Infinity, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "a softer, dreamier and more melodic take on the band's dynamic, '90s-steeped Northwest rock, combining jangly guitars, shape-shifting rhythms, emotive lyrics and shimmering pop melodies."

Belle and Sebastian returns with How To Solve Our Human Problems, Pt. 1, the first in a planned trio of EPs that "ranges from prog-tinged dance-pop and motorik post-punk to slow-burning folk-pop." My Morning Jacket's Jim James covers artists from Bob Dylan to Beach Boys on Tribute to 2, offering up "sweetly melancholy, mostly low-key and acoustic-oriented set of imaginatively arranged cover songs."

After seven years away, the Pharrell helmed N.E.R.D. makes their comeback with their fifth album, No One Ever Really Dies, which features tracks with Kendrick Lamar, Future, Gucci Mane, Rihanna, and M.I.A.. Legendary producer and ambient artist Brian Eno teams up with pianist Tom Rogerson with a new experimental album Finding Shore. And Charli XCX squeezes in one final mixtape before the end of the year with Pop2, which sees the pop star collaborating with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen and MØ.

  • Special Explosion – "Fire"
  • from To Infinity on Topshelf Records
  • N.E.R.D. – "1000"
  • from No_One Ever Really Dies on i am OTHER/Columbia
  • Brian Eno / Tom Rogerson – "Idea of Order at Kyson Point"
  • from Finding Shore on Dead Oceans
  • Belle and Sebastian – "We Were Beautiful"
  • from How To Solve Our Human Problems, Pt. 1 on Matador Records
  • Good Compny / Oddisee – "NNGE (Never Not Getting Enough)"
  • from Beneath the Surface on Mello Music Group
  • Chris Thile – "Elephant in the Room"
  • from Thanks for Listening on Nonesuch Records
  • Jim James – "The World is Falling Down"
  • from Tribute to 2 on ATO Records
  • Charli XCX – "I Got It (feat. Brooke Candy, CupcakKe and Pabllo Vittar)"
  • from Pop 2 on Asylum Records
  • BROCKHAMPTON – "RENTAL"
  • from Saturation III on Question Everything / Empire
  • Jeezy – "Bottles Up (feat. Puff Daddy)"
  • from Pressure on YJ Music/Def Jam
  • Boosie Badazz – "Webbie I Remember"
  • from BooPac on Atlantic Recording Corporation
  • Frank Turner – "I Am Disappeared"
  • from Songbook on Xtra Mile Recordings

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