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New Release Round-Up 10-21-22
Architects - The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit - Epitaph
Architects have delivered their 10th studio album; an arena-ready opus entitled, 'The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit', the follow up to their 2021 breakout album For Those That Wish To Exist, which hit #1 on the UK sales chart. Finding yourself with a UK Number One album and selling out arenas is enough for some to repeat a winning formula. Architects however, are forever moving forward. "It was definitely validating and felt really cool for like a day," recalls drummer, producer and songwriter Dan Searle of hitting the top spot with 'For Those That Wish To Exist'"For a lot of the bucket list things you reach in any career, there's a momentary gratification then you're like, 'What next?' You just move on. By the time the album came out, my head was already in the mindset of 'Broken Spirit'. That was where I was at." Searle notes how it was their albums 'Lost Forever/Lost Together', 'All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us', and 'Holy Hell' that really "cemented what the band was about" and "took them to a new level" as a rock powerhouse and leaders of the UK's metalcore scene - making it all the more "daunting" to reinvent themselves on the records that would follow. "I wanted to make this album with a different aesthetic. We were enjoying working with the synths and doing stuff that we hadn't done before." As a band who never stop writing, the kernels of the songs that make up 'the classic symptoms of a broken spirit' were already in progress before the ink had time to dry on the artwork of their last record. Architects were on a creative roll, and the record was born of that creative freedom. Produced by Dan Searle and guitarist Josh Middleton, with additional production from frontman Sam Carter at Decon's Middle Farm Studios and their own Brighton Electric Studios before being mixed by Zakk Cervini, the band were buoyed by finally being back in a room together after their last album was made mostly remotely due to COVID restrictions. The result was something altogether more "free, playful and spontaneous," Searle explains. Carter agrees: "This one feels more live, more exciting and more fun - it has that energy. We wanted it to be a lot more industrial and electronic. That was the main mission. They can sit side-by-side: Mr Electronic and Mr Organic."
Ugly Kid Joe - Rad Wings Of Destiny - Metalville
Rad Wings Of Destiny is the first new album from California band Ugly Kid Joe since 2015's Uglier Than They Used Ta Be. For this album, Ugly Kid Joe teamed up with producer Mark Dodson, who was already responsible for the 1992 multiplatinum debut album America's Least Wanted.
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city: 10th Anniversary Edition - Aftermath
To celebrate the good kid, m.A.A.d city 10-year anniversary, Kendrick Lamar brings us exclusive new offerings. Available on Indie Exclusive Milky Clear 2LP, 2LP, CD & Cassette
Babyface - Girls Night Out - Capitol
Girls Night Out is the new compilation album from Babyface featuring some of today’s brightest & rising female R&B stars. The 12-track, Babyface-produced album is a sonic journey through love, heartbreak and all the emotions in between, featuring vocals from Babyface alongside special guests Ella Mai, Queen Naija, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, Doechii & more. Girls Night Outbridges the classic and the current with Babyface’s timeless approach to music production, exemplifying artistry at its finest.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Arctic Monkeys - The Car [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Custard LP]
Taylor Swift - Midnights
Archers Of Loaf - Reason in Decline [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Peak LP]
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loneliest Time
Meghan Trainor - Takin’ It Back
Tegan and Sara - Crybaby
Pink Floyd - Hey Hey Rise Up [Limited Edition Vinyl Single]
Simple Minds - Direction Of The Heart [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Transparent Orange LP]
Turnpike Troubadours - The Turnpike Troubadours
The Devil Wears Prada - Color Decay [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Bone LP]
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers 'Live' [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Yellow LP]
My Morning Jacket - MMJ Live Vol. 2: Chicago 2021 [Translucent Orange 3 LP]
Sloan - Steady
Colter Wall - Western Swing & Waltzes And Other Punchy Songs [Limited Edition Pink LP]
Brutus - Unison Life [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Transparent Orange LP]
Inclination - Unaltered Perspective [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Silver/Clear/Gold Tr-stripe w/ White & Black Splatter LP]
Rubblebucket - Earth Worship [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition LP]
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Pigments [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Peak LP]
Stryper - The Final Battle [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Yellow Marble 2LP]
Norah Jones - I Dream Of Christmas: Deluxe [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Red 2 LP]
& More .....
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The Heavy Heavy - Life And Life Only EP - ATO Records
The Heavy Heavy are led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller. The Brighton, UK-based band create the kind of unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and space, sitting at the reverb-drenched collision of psychedelia and blues, acid rock and sunshine pop. As revealed on their gloriously hazy - and soon to be legendary - debut EP Life And Life Only, they breathe a wild new energy into sounds from decades ago, transcending eras with a hypnotic ease.
What's New 10-14-22
The Swedish pop star explores the intricacies of her femininity on her fifth album, Dirt Femme. “I believe masculine and feminine lives on a spectrum in all humans,” says Tove. There are so many more interesting nuances than most people want to accept. Songs on this album will contradict each other, will probably upset some of you, will make you want to dance, cry, fuck and drive your car really, really, fast.”
On their seventh album, the band pushes into some of its heaviest territory ever while also dialing in a return to the anthemic and memorable songwriting qualities that its earliest records exuded. From unrelenting rockers and mid-tempo melodic power ballads to all expansive and technically demanding progressive rockers. *Indie Exclusive Sun Yellow LP*
Producer Larry Klein pays tribute to his friend Leonard Cohen with an album that presents stunning new renditions of the legendary singer-songwriter's compositions performed by an extraordinary line-up of vocalists. The guest artists are backed by what Klein calls "a group of the most prescient and forward-looking musicians in the jazz world."
The first-ever career-spanning album from songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and visual artist Leonard Cohen. Comprised of 17 tracks from Cohen’s expansive career, this anthology features an unreleased and unforgettable live performance of “Hallelujah” from the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. Inspired by the documentary, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen a Journey, a Song.
Plains is Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) alongside singer-songwriter Jess Williamson, and the band’s foundation is their Southern backgrounds. Encouraging each other to plunge into these shared roots, they’ve grabbed country and shaken it. Frank and redemptive, It’s a journey of small Texas towns and wide open spaces. *Indie Exclusive Pink Clear LP*
Re-issue of the band’s 2009 beyond nu-metal album. The straight reggae of "I'll Be Ready," the bluesy rhythm of "It Can't Rain Everyday," and the (gasp!) acoustic ballad "Tell Me Why" show that this was not a memory piece or a tribute to harder days. When Angels and Serpents Dance represents the strength of one of Christian rock's greatest assets. *Limited Edition Gold LP*
Apocalypse Love is an album that emanates from a dive bar jukebox in the back of your mind; with a playlist that bends between tub thumping doom-glam, Plastic Ono singalongs, cocktail-shaken space age pop, Morricone reverberations and lo-fi outsider acoustic-punk, with mariachi horns, theremins, drum machines and harmonies filtering through the infectious melodies. *Limited Edition Violet LP*
Cry With Tears celebrates the communal nature of polyphonic singing, reasserting the primacy of female voices in the southern Balkans while revitalizing the art and connecting memories of childhood with the immediacy of daily life. Produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer, musicologist, archivist, and author Christopher C. King. *Indie Exclusive Maroon LP*
Lookman has untethered himself from any genre classifications on Ottoline. "I used to describe my music as postmodern blues," he says, "but these days I just describe it as lyrically-centred, genre-nonspecific music." Written during various lockdowns, the world's collective experience of isolation has informed large parts of the new album, thematically, but ironically it's his most collaborative to date.
Conjuring memories of first heartbreaks, small towns and cherished memories, Homecoming is the Texas band’s ninth studio album and marks their 20-year anniversary. The project is a renaissance for the band, keeping the sounds and traditions that have made them so beloved over the past two decades and delving into deeply personal topics sure to resonate with audiences around the world.
Twenty effortlessly straddles the divide between then and now, its songs casting a backwards glance at the days and years gone by, while also looking forward to the future. A collection of both brand new tracks and older ones written during the course of the band's life to date, the result is something of a paradox: this both is and isn't a new Early November record. *Indie Exclusive Pink & White Pinwheel LP*
New Release Round-Up 10-14-22
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Return of the Dream Canteen - Warner Records
2022 release, the 13th studio album from the alt-rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. "We went in search of ourselves as the band that we have somehow always been. Just for the fun of it we jammed and learned some old songs. Before long we started the mysterious process of building new songs. A beautiful bit of chemistry meddling that had befriended us hundreds of times along the way. Once we found that slip stream of sound and vision, we just kept mining. With time turned into an elastic waist band of oversized underwear, we had no reason to stop writing and rocking. It felt like a dream. When all was said and done, our moody love for each other and the magic of music had gifted us with more songs than we knew what to do with. Well we figured it out. 2 double albums released back to back. The second of which is easily as meaningful as the first or should that be reversed. 'Return of the Dream Canteen' is everything we are and ever dreamed of being. It's packed."
Various Artists - Here It Is: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen - Blue Note Records
Producer Larry Klein pays tribute to his friend Leonard Cohen with an album that presents stunning new renditions of the legendary singer-songwriter's compositions performed by an extraordinary line-up of vocalists. The guest artists are backed by what Klein calls "a group of the most prescient and forward-looking musicians in the jazz world." The album's 12 tracks offer a broad range of Cohen's songs drawn from his 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen through his final album, You Want It Darker.
Plains - I Walked With You A Ways - Anti
Hitting play on the debut album from Plains, the duo composed of Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson, we're immediately teleported into a world of Southern sunsets, wide open spaces, and the unapologetic nature of Country music. Plains began out of Crutchfield's and Williamson's mutual love for each other's music and after trading albums (Saint Cloud and Sorceress, respectively) in early 2020. Feeling that it was time to have a separate project that could reflect a different side of her creative inspirations, Katie felt that Jess was the perfect fit for a collaboration, and they set off to create I Walked With You A Ways. Written between Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Marfa, the album was recorded in Durham, NC with collaborator and producer Brad Cook. The creative magic of only a few vocal takes, tracking with a band comprised of Spencer Tweedy and Phil Cook, gives the album a feel of fresh, on-the-spot conception.
Ocean Alley - Low Altitude Living - Unified Music Group
Australia’s beloved psychedelic surf rock outfit Ocean Alley return with their fourth album Low Altitude Living. Includes the singles Home and Touch Back Down.
Nothing More - Spirits - Better Noise Music
Three-time Grammy nominees and San Antonio, Texas-born quartet, Nothing More return with their highly awaited 7th album Spirits. The album features 13 songs with the band's most focused, adventurous, and intense music, uniting introspective philosophical lyrics with unapologetically massive anthems, including their in-your-face rock track "Turn It Up Like."
Brian Eno - FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE - Deutsche Grammophon
A new studio album of songs written, recorded and produced by visionary musician and artist Brian Eno – featuring his vocals on 8 of the 10 recordings. FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE is Eno’s first studio album in six years and features appearances from longstanding collaborators Leo Abrahams, Roger Eno and Peter Chilvers, alongside Cecily Eno, Clodagh Simonds, Darla Eno and Jon Hopkins.
Isokratisses - Cry With Tears: Greek-Albanian Songs Of Many Voices - Third Man Vinyl
Isokratisses (Greek for "women who sing the "iso" or "drone") is a vocal ensemble comprised of eight women who carry the ancient tradition of polyphonic songs from Epirus: a region in northern Greece and southern Albania. Born and reared in the Greek speaking villages around Deropoli and Politsani in Albania, the women of Isokratisses have sung these songs since childhood. The group ranges in age from 19 to 56 with some sisters in the group as well as an aunt. They were nurtured by this archaic music, listening and singing it with their family and friends. The songs were passed down from generation to generation. The group started its artistic activity in 2015, after the singer Anna Katsi took the initiative to encourage the younger members to perform regularly. The communal nature of polyphonic singing is a way of revitalizing an art that has declined in recent years and to reassert the primacy of female voices in the southern Balkans. Singing these songs builds an invisible bridge that connects the present with the past, the memories of childhood travel with the immediacy of daily life. this week, Third Man Records release a full album of these solo polyphonic songs, with Grammy-winning producer Christopher King.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Sparta - Sparta
The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition White LP]
The Black Lips - Apocalypse Love
Dr. John - Things Happen That Way [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Garden District Green LP + Bonus 7in]
Skid Row - The Gang's All Here [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Black, Red, White Splatter LP]
The Early November - Twenty [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Baby Pink & White Pinwheel LP]
Ashe - Rae
Tove Lo - Dirt Femme
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah & Songs From His Albums
Kodaline - Our Roots Run Deep [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Translucent Ruby LP + Handwritten Set List]
Enumclaw - Save The Baby [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Butterbean LP]
Lightning Seeds - See You In The Stars [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Midnight Blue Smoky LP]
Todd Rundgren - Space Force
Sleeping With Sirens - Complete Collapse
Zella Day - Sunday In Heaven
Roy Orbison - King Of Hearts: 30th Anniversary [RSD Essential Indie Colorway Transparent Red LP]
Reba McEntire - My Chains Are Gone
Bill Callahan - YTI⅃AƎЯ
Alter Bridge - Pawns & Kings [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Sun Yellow LP]
Lorna Shore - Pain Remains [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition White LP]
Surprise Chef - Education & Recreation [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Clear Red LP]
Wildness - Resurrection [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition LP]
& More .....
What's New 10-7-22
Blue Rev captures Alvvays as they have always existed onstage: more urgent, more dense and noisier, cocooned in distorted guitars and smeared with synthesizers. There’s still the quiet pop and downtempo tunes, but this a brilliant and boisterous affair made for the sorely missed live setting. *Limited Edition Marbled Blue LP*
Under the Midnight Sun, with its smooth yet slashing swagger, is a return to The Cult’s original sound of the Post-Punk era. It’s a haunted plea for “a new language” couched in a reaffirmation of old glories. Those dark energies meld with the wisdom of age to create something fresh and powerful. *Indie Exclusive White LP*
Strange deals in elegantly volcanic indie rock, with a love of exultant hooks, and a soaring, soulful voice. There’s playfulness here, too, but the peak comes as he makes poetry of the big issues. Strange's earnestness is artful, and Farm To Table an uplifting triumph. *Indie Exclusive Yellow LP*
A Eulogy… feels like the pinnacle of this sort of hardcore, where innovation can afford to take a backseat to quaking, electrifying power when it’s carried out this well. It’s the best in its field, a dubbing which Counterparts shouldn’t be unfamiliar with, nor should they be expecting to lose anytime soon. *Indie Exclusive Orange/Red/Black Splatter LP*
Furious indie-pop anthems combine across the record with psych and prog influences, demonstrating the wealth of influences the band feed off and their deep musicality. Surrealist lyrics are as ever at the forefront, but the new album gives greater opportunity to explore bugged out guitar jams, and immersive journeys touching on krautrock territory.
For their first album as Gilla Band, (formerly Girl Band) the foursome has redrawn their own paradigm. Most Normal is like little you've heard before, a kaleidoscopic spectrum of noise put in service of broken pop songs, FX-strafed Avant-punk rollercoaster rides and passages of futurist dancefloor nihilism. Swans for the Black Midi generation.
Willow’s musical ambition has always been there, but here it’s matched by larger-than-life rock that borrows from multiple eras, creating something new. The emo-pop wild child’s idiosyncratic songwriting pairs with arena-headliner production, creating a soaring thrill ride, with the high drama of her lyrics and vocals matching the tumultuous music surrounding her.
47 minutes of the band’s trademark blend of death, black, thrash and sludge metal delivered with breathless intensity and an unrepentant bloodlust. Featuring the old school crossover flavored "Death From Above" with its guttural chorus, and the epic, chilling title track that is as haunting as it is heavy. Play it loud!
From the album’s frenetic opener, “In Extremis”, to the pensive, “Forest” and “Behind The Walls”, Digital Noise Alliance echoes Queensrÿche’s genre-defining albums while effortlessly moving from strength to strength. Immediate and thought-provoking. Quintessentially Queensrÿche. *Limited Edition Lilac 2xLP*
The undisputed harbinger of metal horror returns with a brand new slathering of terrifyingly grim and groovy anthems to get blood pumping and brains melting! Showcasing the band's 20-year career, Horrifier weaves a raucous blend of ballistic metal and macabre heavy rock that'll have new and diehard fans alike ascending from the depths.
The Wolf Bros’ (Weir, Don Was, Jay Land & Jeff Chimenti) second vinyl collection of recorded live material from Red Rocks show in June 2021. Featuring Greg Leisz on pedal steel, along with The Wolfpack: Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, Mads Tolling and Sheldon Brown. *Indie Exclusive Tie Dye LP*
Loose Future positions Andrews between Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen, a triumvirate of singer-songwriters finding new alleyways in and out of familiar territory. The 10 absorbing songs, perfectly warped like a heart that’s survived hurt, are testaments to remaining in motion. *Indie Exclusive Red LP*
Running the gamut of slacker sounds, bouncing between ’90s touchstones like Pavement and The Lemonheads, it’s the sort of record Beck might have made, if you swapped the hip-hop and delta blues of Odelay for midwestern emo and the sort of all-American indie that functions as “classic rock” for this cherubic cohort. *Indie Exclusive Green/Blue LP*
Town Mountain creates a collage of sound and scope within the same template of freedom found in the round-robin fashion of the musical institution that is The Band. Lines in the Levee is a bona fide workshop in their seamless blend of Americana, country, bluegrass and folk roots. *Indie Exclusive Orange LP*
Created as a celebration of Prine’s life and career, Vol. 2 features new renditions of some of Prine’s most beloved songs performed by Brandi Carlile, Tyler Childers, Iris DeMent, Emmylou Harris, Jason Isbell, Valerie June, Margo Price, Bonnie Raitt, Nathaniel Rateliff, Amanda Shires, Sturgill Simpson and John Paul White.
So much of Anywhere But Here could be the soundtrack to a 90s indie movie, but these songs stay in their own world; there is no drowning in influence here. Fueled by rapturous and disjointed guitar work and bittersweet lyricism, this record will easily be in the running for one of 2022’s best. *Indie Exclusive Opaque Seafoam LP*
New Release Round-Up 10-07-22
Dayglow - People In Motion - Dayglow, LLC
Magnetically energetic and eternally hopeful, Dayglow (the project of Austin, TX based Sloan Struble) excels in creating catchy, carefully crafted, effervescent indie pop. His home-recorded 2018 debut album Fuzzybrain featured the Platinum Certified single “Can I Call You Tonight?”, which went on to be hailed as 2020’s biggest independent alternative hit. Following up with his sophomore album Harmony House in 2021, Dayglow generated a mountain of indie buzz and critical acclaim anchored by lead single "Close To You". Now, after racking up over a billion streams and selling out headline tours around the world, Dayglow returns with his third album People In Motion. Fun and colorful, People In Motion meditates on the ideas of commitment, inner peace, and movement, while inviting the listener to the dance floor to leave the chaos and noise of our current culture behind.
Willow - COPINGMECHANISM - MSFTS / Roc Nation
Willow's new album features "(maybe) it’s my fault," "hover like a GODDESS" and more. On tour with MGK and international festivals, plus appearances on NPR, SNL and more through 2022.
Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros - Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado, Vol. 2 - Third Man Records
Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros—consisting of Bobby Weir, Don Was, Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti—release their second vinyl collection of recorded material, Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado, Vol. 2, via Third Man Records. “This was our first quick tour with The Wolfpack,” Weir says. “There’s a rawness to it that we’ll prolly never get again…”The album follows Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado, which was released this past February to critical acclaim. Vol. 2 also features songs recorded live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Colorado in June, 2021—a documentation of their first live audience concerts in over a year due to the pandemic—featuring Greg Leisz on pedal steel, along with The Wolfpack: Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, Mads Tolling and Sheldon Brown.
Alvvays - Blue Rev - Polyvinyl Records
Alvvays' third album, the nervy joyride that is the compulsively lovable Blue Rev, doesn't simply reassert what's always been great about Alvvays but instead reimagines it. They have, in part and sum, never been better. There are newly aggressive moments here-the gleeful and snarling guitar solo at the heart of opener "Pharmacist," or the explosive cacophony near the middle of "Many Mirrors." And there are some purely beautiful spans, too-the church- organ fantasia of "Fourth Figure," or the blue-skies bridge of "Belinda Says." But the power and magic of Blue Rev stems from Alvvays' ability to bridge ostensible binaries, to fuse elements that seem antithetical in single songs-cynicism and empathy, anger and play, clatter and melody, the soft and the steely.
Tom Waits - Blood Money: 20th Anniversary Edition - Anti
Blood Money is etched. It’s scratched out in bold, dark lines, with marimba, trumpet, and bass clarinet and contains some songs of Tom Waits’ most memorable melodies. The songs are declarative, sardonic, unforgiving, musical dispatches, from the bottom of the heap. “Blood Money is flesh and bone, earthbound,” said Waits. “The songs are rooted in reality: jealousy, rage, the human meat wheel...They are more car- nal. I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth. I like songs to sound as though they’ve been aging in a barrel and distressed.”
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Action Bronson - Cocodrillo Turbo [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Ultra Clear LP]
Courtney Marie Andrews - Loose Future [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Red LP]
Charlie Puth - CHARLIE
Various Artists - Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2 [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition LP]
Counterparts - A Eulogy For Those Still Here [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Neon Orange in Blood Red with Black splatter LP]
Lamb Of God - Omens
Joe P - Emily Can't Sing EP [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Vinyl]
Gayle - A Study Of The Human Experience Volume Two EP
THE BOBBY LEES - Bellevue
Patrick Watson - Better In The Shade
Oh Wonder - 22 Break / 22 Make
Beyonce - RENAISSANCE [Deluxe 2LP]
The Cult - Under The Midnight Sun [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition White LP]
Queensryche - Digital Noise Alliance
Bush - The Art of Survival
Will Sheff - Nothing Special [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Sky Blue LP]
Death Grips - No Love Deep Web [RSD Essential Coke Bottle Clear LP]
Venom - Black Metal [RSD Essential Indie Colorway Silver & Black Splatter 2LP]
Broken Bells - Into The Blue [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition Opaque Purple LP]
Thievery Corporation - Sounds From The Thievery Hi-Fi [RSD Essential Indie Colorway Orange 2LP]
Thievery Corporation - Mirror Conspiracy [RSD Essential Indie Colorway White 2LP]
Lindsey Stirling - Snow Waltz [Indie Exclusive Limited Edition CD + Ornament]
& More .....