rivercityrecordshop

EMPIRE, the nation's leading independent record label, recently teamed up with the NBA 2K video game to provide the soundtrack for Season 2 of it's series in October 2024. The soundtrack was a natural pairing of the two iconic Bay Area based companies to push culture forward through music, sports, and gaming. The 2 LP Box set, which includes music from the likes of Larry June, Key Glock, Money Man, LUCKI, Asake & Central Cee, 310babii and more is housed in a premium box with glossy, hardwood floor print on the outside, and a basketball textured inner box will also include a mini-satin championship banner, a custom basketball keychain, and virtual currency for in-game purchases.

“Powerhouse Duo” (TODAY) The War And Treaty return with their new album Plus One. The album includes "Can I Get An Amen", "Leads Me Home, "Stealing A Kiss", "Called You By Your Name" and “Carried Away” "Every song on this album deals with some aspects of him and some aspects of her and some aspects of us. The ideal of sharing space with someone can be challenging no matter how short or long. We’ve had moments of doubt, moments of clarity, moments of regret and moments of solid faith." - Michael and Tanya

Short n’ Sweet showcases the scintillating spirit of Sabrina Carpenter, the pocket-sized popstar with a larger than life artistic presence. One gold album & multiple platinum singles later, it’s no wonder that “Espresso,” the debut single from the forthcoming album, has it all: lyrics that make you giggle and blush and songwriting that makes you wish you’d thought of it first. Deluxe Edition CD featuring 5 bonus tracks with 24-page booklet included.

The Velveteers bring a visceral energy to their explosive sophomore album, A Million Knives, loaded with blistering rock anthems infused with melodic indie songwriting. With GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Dan Auerbach at the helm, the Boulder, CO trio encapsulates the raw, forceful, and profoundly heavy power of their live performances and laser-focuses a spotlight on tightly crafted songs as they carve out their own distinctive niche.

Live Mind, is the first live album from rock supergroup, The Third Mind. With over an hour of performances, Live Mind was overseen and curated by Don Boles, Will Golden and Brett Brock from shows in February and March 2024 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Ventura Music Hall in Ventura, CA, and The Kessler Theater in Dallas, TX. Produced by Dave Alvin and Victor Krummenacher, the album was mixed and mastered by Craig Parker Adams at Winslow Court, Los Angeles, CA.

Colin McCann, Brian Gossman, and Eric Fiscus periodically return to the grid from the remote mountains of Northern California to document their evo/involution as Vulture Feather. Touring the states throughout much of 2024, they brought the sharpened machine back to Tim Green's Louder Studios to capture their second album, It Will Be Like Now.In literary terms, the record is a work of man versus nature, except man and nature are both secret identities of a third, unnamed thing. Tears and the ocean and death are the main characters, and the initiated may get the sense that these too, belong to the absolute. It all ultimately resolves as a terrifying and beautiful love story. Sonically speaking, It Will Be Like Now reports from a place where PiL and Jah Wobble never parted ways, where Johnny Marr righted the ship, where songs only need one part: the good part.The heads will know McCann and Gossman from their time in the prehistoric Don Martin Three (recently re-issued catalog by Numero Group) and later, Wilderness (Jagjaguwar). While prior efforts are beside the point, this is undeniably the sound of people who have been making music together for 25+ years. Glistening as much as howling, the guitar and vocals function as duet, delivering The Only Story Ever Told over a concise and thunderous rhythm section. It's the sound emulating from everywhere, all the time, through thick carpets of clouds, reverberating off canyon walls, through troubled waters, and finally to your devices, your ears, your heart, if you choose to hear it.

Live Mind, is the first live album from rock supergroup, The Third Mind. With over an hour of performances, Live Mind was overseen and curated by Don Boles, Will Golden and Brett Brock from shows in February and March 2024 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Ventura Music Hall in Ventura, CA, and The Kessler Theater in Dallas, TX. Produced by Dave Alvin and Victor Krummenacher, the album was mixed and mastered by Craig Parker Adams at Winslow Court, Los Angeles, CA.

After several wildly popular singles out on Penrose Records, alongside labelmates Thee Sacred Souls, The Altons gear up to release their debut album on Daptone Records. With lead vocals shared between Adriana Flores and Brian Ponce the interplay between their unique timbres brings a romantic quality to the music that is absent in many of today's soul offerings. Steeped with moody ballads, soulful, tejano-kissed duets and Bond theme psychedelia–Heartache in Room 14 is poised to be the "must have" album of 2025.

Horror Bartees Strange - Bartees Strange was raised on fear. His family used scary stories to teach life lessons, and at an early age, Strange started using scary movies to practice being strong. - Follow-up album to Farm to Table, which was released to much critical acclaim earning best-of nods from the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone and NPR Music - Co-produced with Jack Antonoff

Good Morning release their eighth record, The Accident, on vinyl in early 2025. Featuring the duo of Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair, Good Morning entered ‘album eight’ mode under the guise of studio time booked without pre- prepared songs, resulting in jamming together – “something that we’ve spent the better part of our adult lives avoiding,” they explain. Written and recorded wholly together in one shared space and exclusively digital thanks to a broken eight track tape machine. Indie Exclusive.

“Pausa” & “Play” were previously released digitally-only, this LP is available for the first time. Includes the hits “Tiburones,” “Recuerdo,” “A Veces Bien Y A Veces Mal,” Otra Noche en L.A.” and many others.  On White & Grey vinyl.

Califone - The Villager's Companion (Indie Exclusive Firework Shimmer Vinyl) - VINYL LP

Like a passenger riding shotgun on a road trip, The Villagers Companion offers its own unique perspective and story to tell. Featuring tracks recorded alongside last year's acclaimed villagers, TVC captures the miles between the start and destination-the faded gas station pit stops, the plastic saint statue stuck to the dashboard for safe travels or luck. It embodies the essence of the journey without the burden of driving-the experience of the ride itself.

The album takes us through the heart of Califone's magic: reverb-drenched piano chords, electronic whirs, and layers of experimental noise. Guided by Tim Rutili's abstract, fragmented lyrics-both strange and familiar-delivered through his warm, well-worn vocals, it creates an experience as evocative as it is haunting. Often passing through what seem to be the spaces between radio frequencies, the stations never meant to be heard. Crackles of static, feedback loops, and fleeting signals bloom into meditative moments, with each sound given space to breathe, unravel, and shimmer in slow decay. The result resonates deeply, transforming what might be noise into something profound, hypnotic, and totally immersive.

As with villagers, Rutili and company continue to explore what it means to get lost while surrounded by modern technology. Like a ghost in a machine or a whispered prayer stuck in a telephone line, Califone adds soul-be it damned or saved. And they do so with the kind of transformative magic granted perhaps only to artists a quarter of a century into their craft. The kind that turns a photograph into a tableau, or any darkened space with a microphone into a makeshift confessional. A song into a hymn, and a hymn into a soundtrack to a life.

Califone - The Villager's Companion (Indie Exclusive Firework Shimmer Vinyl)

Double vinyl LP pressing.

Brighton Queer Punks Lambrini Girls are a force to be reckoned with and their debut EP ‘You’re Welcome’ showcases all the ferocity and power of punks who won’t give up until everyone is listening. Their brand of satirical, angry punk is laced with ferocity, power and a hell of a lot of fun all while calling out male abusers in the music scene. They’ve seen huge support from BBC Radio 1 and 6 (Iggy Pop announced Lambrini Girls are his new favourite band), championed by the likes of Jack Saunders and Steve Lamacq, NME who claimed the band as their top 100 newcomers in 2023, Kerrang!, Rolling Stone, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash, Vanity Fair, Dork, Gigwise, Spotify and Apple Music and more. In Jan 2024 the duo graced the cover of Kerrang! Magazine alongside heroes Sleater Kinny. Lambrini Girls have supported the likes of Iggy Pop, Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Pigs x7 and played over 100 shows and festivals over the summer of 2023 including 2000 Trees Festival, Printemps De Bourges, The Great Escape, Truck Festival, Primavera Madrid and more. They were also nominated for the Rolling Stone Rising Artist Award. In Summer 2024 the band are due to play some of the biggest shows of their career: at Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds Festival, Green Man Festival and a headline show at Scala in London. They'll also be making their first trip stateside, support Amyl and the Sniffers across the USA as well as shows on their own, ending the year with a bang with two shows at Alexandra Palace supporting Bristol Punks Idles.

Alessia Cara - "Love & Hyperbole" / Grammy Award-winning Canadian pop star Alessia Cara releases her 4th studio album, Love & Hyperbole. Alessia has amassed over 12.5B streams across her career and has also secured the #1 spot at U.S. Pop Radio across 3 different singles!

Betty Carter - "Out There with Betty Carter (Verve By Request Series)" [180gram Heavy LP] Originally released through Peacock Records in 1958 after her stint with the Lionel Hampton's band, Out There is a snapshot and early gem in Betty Carter's broad career. Supported by a quality cast including Benny Golson (tenor saxophone), Wynton Kelly (piano) and Kenny Dorham (trumpet) among others, Carter glides through standards such as "Something Wonderful" as well as her first-penned track "I Can't Help It," which would go on to become a performance staple. Verve By Request Series features 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Third Man in Detroit. Verve Label Group; Verve; Jazz; Catalog [180gram LP]

Yuval Cohen Quartet - "Winter Poems" Soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen's debut for ECM captures him charting innovative paths through eight originals in graceful interplay with his freshly formed quartet. Pianist Tom Oren, bassist Alon Near and drummer Alon Benjamini are longtime acquaintances of Yuval's who are not only outstanding instrumentalists themselves, but share a deep, intuitive understanding for the leader's musical language and improvisational approach. "I'm very fortunate to be able to play with these young guys," says Yuval. "I've known them for a long time - they're three beautiful souls and talents with whom I had a great time shaping this music together." Throughout the album, Cohen demonstrates his understanding of chamber jazz dynamics and explores a broad range of influences to lyrical and contemplative, but also energetic and uplifting results. Verve Label Group; ECM; Jazz.

Willy and the Poor Boys was released in November 1969 to wide critical acclaim and commercial success. The LP includes one of the most enduring protest songs, “Fortunate Son,” as well as quintessential CCR tracks like “Down on the Corner” and “Midnight Special.” The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was also included in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” Now available on color vinyl.

In January 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival kicked off their most productive and successful year by putting out Bayou Country, the first of three LPs to come out that year. Bayou Country found the band coming into their own and honing their trademark sound. The LP contains hit singles "Proud Mary" and "Born on the Bayou," plus a cover of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly." Now available on color vinyl.

Cosmo's Factory was first released in 1970 at the peak of Creedence's prolific career. Includes the Billboard Top 10 hits “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” “Travelin’ Band,” “Run Though the Jungle,” “Up Around The Bend,” “Looking Out My Back Door” and “Long as I Can See The Light” as well as the enduring favorites, “As Long as I See The Light” and the remarkable cover of Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine." Now available on color vinyl.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s self-titled 1968 debut album introduced the world to the band’s signature swamp rock sound, blending blues, rock, and a touch of Southern grit. Featuring standout tracks like "Porterville," the band’s iconic rendition of Dale Hawkins’ "Suzie Q," plus their haunting cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ "I Put a Spell on You." This record laid the foundation for CCR's future success and cemented their place in rock history. Now available on color vinyl.

Released in the summer of ‘69, Green River was Creedence Clearwater Revival’s third studio album, and their first No. 1. It features hit singles “Bad Moon Rising” and “Green River” (both reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100), plus fan-favorite “Lodi." Included in Rolling Stone’s 2003 “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list, it captures CCR’s swamp rock sound with gritty guitars, John Fogerty’s iconic vocals, and storytelling steeped in Americana. Now pressed on color vinyl.

The final studio album from America's greatest rock ‘n’ roll band; first released in 1972. Highlights include a cover of “Hello Mary Lou,” as well as the Fogerty-penned rocker “Sweet Hitch-Hiker”—a Top Ten hit in the US, Australia, Canada, and across Europe. The poignant “Someday Never Comes" marked the group’s final single. Now available on color vinyl.

Pendulum, the penultimate studio album from America’s greatest rock 'n' roll band, was released in 1970 at the height of Creedence Clearwater Revival's prolific career. Featuring the timeless hits "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" and "Hey Tonight," the album captures CCR's swamp rock roots while pushing creative boundaries, solidifying their legacy. The album was certified Gold in 1970 and Platinum in 1990. Now available on color vinyl.

María Dueñas - "Paganini: 24 Caprices" [2 CD] María Dueñas finds the perfect balance between artistry and technique as she tackles an icon of the repertoire for her second Deutsche Grammophon album. Having earned rave reviews and a 2024 OPUS KLASSIK Young Talent of the Year award for her DG debut, Beethoven and Beyond, the Spanish violinist now turns to Paganini's legendary 24 Caprices. She couples these with a selection of later works inspired by Paganini, presenting music by composers ranging from Berlioz to Gabriela Ortiz. Dueñas is joined in chamber pieces by Boris Kuschnir, pianists Itamar Golan and Alexander Malofeev and guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre, and in orchestral caprices by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Mihhail Gerts. 2 CD Digipak.