American Football has announced their new record, appropriately titled American Football (LP3), is out March 22, 2019 on Polyvinyl Records. This is the follow up to American Football (LP2), which was released back in 2016 and their first album since their self-titled debut in 1999. You can preorder the new record here on the platform/format of your choosing.

Check out the album art, track listing, and first single "Silhouettes" below.

Read our piece on the last record ahead of their performance in C-U back in 2016 here.

American Football (LP3)

1. Silhouettes (7:22)
2. Every Wave To Ever Rise (ft. Elizabeth Powell) (5:54)
3. Uncomfortably Numb (ft. Hayley Williams) (4:10)
4. Heir Apparent (5:53)
5. Doom In Full Bloom (7:49)
6. I Can’t Feel You (ft. Rachel Goswell) (4:47)
7. Mine To Miss (5:24)
8. Life Support (5:57)

UIUC creative Rell Shaw said he was doing something special for his birthday, and Monday he did, releasing his project, Breakthrough. The eight-song, 19-minute project sees Rell address a number of personal matters, weaving rhymes out of his insecurities and formulating his own sort of breakthrough out of them.

Check out Breakthrough for yourself on Spotify below and streaming on all platforms.

I've mentioned this local project, wingclipper, before in Seven Things, but as I'm taking a look at some local releases ahead of our year-end lists, I visited the project's latest release 新緑 [Fresh Green]. You should check it out. The production and orchestration involved here is top notch.

wingclipper is the project of Adam Porter, and he released this on Casette Store Day back in October. Porter mentioned the release was "inspired by the transition from Spring to Summer in Japan... the artwork and trak titles correlate with this theme."

Listen to it below, and look at the beautiful artwork that accompanies it as well.

1. モクセイ [sweet olive] 01:37
2. ヒノキノキ [hinoki cypress] 02:32
3. ヤナギ [willow] 02:26
4. カエデ [japanese maple] 02:13
5. サクラ [cherry blossom] 02:45
6. イチョウ [ginkgo] 01:05
7. ツブラジイ [chinquapin] 01:27
8. シキミ [star anise] 01:46
9. スギ杉 [japanese cedar] 01:26
10. カキノキ [persimmon] 02:03
11. クスノキ [camphor] 02:35
12. アカマツ [red pine] 01:24

As if releasing EP’s during a two-week stretch in May and June wasn’t an acceptable amount of new material to put out in a year, The Falbonauts have put out their new album, LSD & Heartache. The nine-track project spans a variety of sound and a theme of chaotic harmony reigns from track to track, as the group taps into a variety of sounds ranging from folk, to indie, to country-esque rock. Recorded, mixed and mastered in a variety of Illinois locations (which is only fitting when considering the range of sound), the group came up with a diverse project sure to leave an impression.

Post rock/ambient outfit Take Care are back with a new self-titled record, due out December 14th on Heirship Records. The double LP will be the final release on the Heirship label, and coincide with the Heirship Records Farewell Fest on December 15th at Canopy Club.

Read the announcement from labelmaster Isaac Arms:

Take Care began recording Take Care around the time I started this label. It’s very poetic that the double-album will be Heirship’s final release. This is the culmination of almost a decade of work from the four members (Luke Bergkoetter, drums; Nick Foreman, keys and vocals; Kyle Scott, guitar and bass; Mark Wyman, guitar and vocals) and as much time for me being a huge fan and then becoming good friends with these men. Now their live shows are few and far between, and the album’s sound inspired them to bring Brandon Beachum (of labelmates Marathon) on to play bass with them live.

The pre-order is live and I cannot recommend anything more than this collection of pieces. Each song has changes within it, key and tempo, feeling and meaning, and the four sides of the 2xLP take you on an absolutely crushing and beautiful journey. I am so honored to have been a part of this project and to help Take Care put this out into the world. This might be the last thing I write for this website, so I wanted it to be less of a press release and more of a journal entry, because on a personal note, working with these artists and this music literally changes who I am as a person, and through my mistakes and their generosity, I’ve grown and learned.

This music is something truly special, and is everything about what this label was supposed to be—a piece of Urbana-Champaign history, a snapshot of the music scene, something huge and emotional and brilliant and gorgeous and available on vinyl but also streaming in full for free so that it can exist out in the world because it deserves to be heard. Please buy it if you can. Please Share it with everyone you think will care, because I believe they will be better for it. I know I am.

sincerely,

-isaac arms.

Check out the album art, track listing, and announcement video below from Heirship Records' press release.

Take Care

1. We Are Going To Live Forever
2. Family Tree
3. Looking For Other People's Lost Pets
4. Maltese Falcon
5. Joy
6. Get Hit By A Car
7. Healers and Farmers

Elsinore is back with a new single and visual, titled simply, “O”. The Police and David Bowie-influenced pop sounds of Elsinore supply some nice late fall-time, first-snow musical accompaniment. The track comes as a taste of their currently untitled new project, which is set to drop early next year.

Feel free to check out their video for recent single "In & Out" afterward if you’re vibing with it.

Primitive Lights are a fairly new project in town, featuring Tim McGee, Brad Olson, Dave Pride, Andrew Davidson, and Eric Michael Fitts. They released their first bit of material back in June, and just a few days ago, they released their debut self-titled EP. You can stream that below.

1. Red Robe
2. UFO
3. Mama Papineau
4. Skeletone
5. Venus Meets the Sun
6. Funeral Attire
7. Seahorses

Earthholder is a metal/post-rock outfit which released their new record There Will Be a Future just before the holiday weekend on August 28th. This is their follow up to 2016's Don't Worry, We Feel It Too — and you can stream the new one below. Check out the album art, track listing, credits, and more below that.

There Will Be a Future

1. Reflect
2. Above Water / Under Current
3. The Castle, The Tower, I Am 
4. Pause 
5. Deconstruct: My Ghost Living: Reconstruct
6. Conscious 
7. The Moment I Thought I Was Infinite
8. There Will Be a Future
9. Forthcoming

All songs written by Earthholder

Earthholder is:
Drums - Blaine Wright
Bass - Orie Turnbull
Guitar - Denton Hird
Guitar/Keys - Jason Landis

Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Christian Arnold
Artwork by Barry Callahan

Crofton Coleman's project Melvin Knight has released his new record, Shades of Us, into the world. You should absolutely listen, it is quite good — Spotify and Apple Music are where you can find it.

Check out the track listing and album art below, and head back and watch the video for "Ice Cream". 

Shades of Us:

1. Intro
2. Ice Cream
3. Shades of Us
4. That's the Truth (interlude)
5. Butterfly Bed
6. Everything is Everything
7. Magic (interlude)
8. Promised Land
9. Paradise in Spring
10. Sandcastles

Experimental/post-rock trio Staghorn have released their new record, Wormwood III, which you can stream now. The album was written and recorded at Earth Analog studios, engineered by Aaron McAllister.

The single track spans nearly 23 minutes. The band is performing at Audiofeed Festival this week, and while you're at it, read our interview with them.

Although Special Death isn't a local project, Rat King Records is a local label, and Special Death features Kyle Lang of Easter. Easter lived a wonderful existence in Champaign-Urbana, and I posted a little while back about the lovely DEMONSTRATION on Easter.

Special Death just released a new 7'' on Rat King Records, and the label also is reissueing DEMONSTRATION on cassette.

Here's the video for "Night With A Friend" from the Special Death release:

Gazelle's Sunblown might be a record and a band you've never heard of, and that's OK. Adam Fein of Absinthe Blind and Jeff Dimpsey of Hum, Honcho Overload, and National Skyline made this record, and it came out 10 years ago this week — June 10th, 2008. Sunblown was released on Hidden Agenda, and rated as one of the best releases of the decade by the SP team back in 2009.

Stream the record below: