20 New Records You’ll Want on Your Shelf
New releases, blind buys, reissues worth the hype, and the long-awaited return of a holy grail box set.
Happy Friday from The Wax Museum! I’m back with more vinyl temptations and zero financial advice. The vinyl gods have been generous lately, raining down all sorts of physical ambrosia. Here’s what I’ve been enjoying, what’s on deck, and what’s worth pre-ordering before it vanishes.
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Vinyl Releases Out Today
caroline - caroline 2
Get Vinyl: Blue (Signed) | Red | Black
Let’s start with the record I’m most excited about today: caroline 2, the appropriately named second album from UK eight-piece caroline. Fellow countrymen Black Country, New Road are an easy comparison, but caroline leans harder into post-rock textures, avant-folk, and ambient collage. The result is sprawling, disorienting, yet entirely captivating.
I’m surprised the limited blue vinyl variant with the band signed insert is still up for grabs as of this writing. With the love this album’s getting already, it won’t stay in stock much longer.
Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled by Turtles
Get Vinyl: Sunflare
We’ve got another self-explanatory album title on our hands: With Trampled by Turtles finds Low’s Alan Sparhawk teaming up with fellow Duluth-ers Trampled by Turtles for an intriguing collaboration. Alan’s signature slow-burning sorrow meets the band’s warm, bluegrass embrace — a pairing that, on paper, shouldn’t work this well, yet absolutely does.
Following the 2022 passing of Sparhawk’s wife and longtime bandmate Mimi Parker, Trampled by Turtles brought him on tour, offering comfort through music. That chemistry spills into these songs of loss and resilience. Sparhawk’s voice is raw and unadorned, especially on “Not Broken,” a highlight that tricks the ear into thinking Mimi is still singing, only to find out it’s his daughter, Hollis. A beautiful collaboration and an even better tribute.
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary)
Get Vinyl: Blue and White (Sold Out) | Violet | Black
We’re not done with the waterworks today. Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell 10th anniversary reissue is here with multiple colorways, a 40 page art book, and seven unreleased tracks, including a stunning 14 minute version of “Fourth of July” that’s worth the price of admission alone.
Eyes Wide Shut Soundtrack
Get Vinyl: Green
Rhino’s dropped two killer soundtrack reissues today, both on colored wax: Ry Cooder’s lonesome slide guitar score for Paris, Texas, and the eerie, unforgettable Eyes Wide Shut soundtrack by Jocelyn Pook. The latter’s long overdue — the recent Mondo pressing has been pushing $150 on the resale market.
Now I finally have the perfect soundtrack for my next velvet-masked, Illuminati sex ritual.
Essential Albums from May
Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars
Get Vinyl: Colored (Sold Out) | Black
Now I want to touch on my four favorite albums from this month, none better than The Scholars, Car Seat Headrest’s first album in five years. No other record this year has squeezed more dopamine out of my brain. It’s a full-blown rock opera: theatrical, ambitious, and weird in all the right ways. Think Ziggy Stardust by way of American Idiot.
Will Toledo treats each song like a character stepping into the spotlight, balancing narrative sweep with standalone bangers. And for the first time, this feels like a band effort, not just a bedroom project. It’s the kind of album that unfolds in layers, gets better on repeat listens, and stands tall next to Teens of Denial as their best work.
Home is Where - Hunting Season
Get Vinyl: Green, Purple, Brown | Splatter | Green
With Hunting Season, their third album, Home Is Where has solidified their spot as one of my favorite bands working today. Every release is an event, every tour stop is appointment viewing.
Back in 2023, I gave The Whaler the prestigious Waxy for Best Concept Album — it explored the psychic fallout of a world where every day feels like 9/11. Hunting Season might top it. 13 songs, each told from the perspective of a different Elvis impersonator dying in a 13 car flaming pileup.
Bea McDonald remains unmatched when it comes to turning visuals into blunt-force poetry. Look at these visceral lyrics from “bike week,” a spiritual sequel to The Whaler’s “daytona 500”:
Bike week is coming
Flesh and leather scraped from asphalt
I am reminded of my
Father grilling burgers
On the Fourth of July
And the ambulance lights flashing
Were like fireworks
It’s screamo with southern rock muscle, country twang, and lyrics that hit like roadside wreckage.
Erika de Casier - Lifetime
Get Vinyl: Black
Erika de Casier’s Lifetime arrived without a rollout, a label, or a single guest feature. Just a quiet flex and some of the most beautifully low-stakes pop you’ll hear this year. After two solid but polished 4AD albums, she’s back in full command, self-producing a hazy swirl of trip-hop and '90s R&B that splits the difference between Velvet Rope Janet and Ray of Light Madonna. Think boom-bap drums, aqueous synths, and floaty, sensual vocals. It’s music for after the party — gorgeous, moody, and built to loop.
Alien Boy - You Wanna Fade?
Get Vinyl: Smokey Clear | Baby Blue
Portland’s Alien Boy have been at it for a decade now, but You Wanna Fade? is the best they’ve ever sounded. The wall of sound is huge — three guitars swirling around Sonia Weber’s wistful, heart-on-sleeve vocals, layered with synths, drum machines, and just enough shoegaze haze to keep things dreamy. Think Dookie-era Green Day if they collab’d with My Bloody Valentine. Produced by Jack Shirley, the album strikes that sweet spot between raw and polished.
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Blind Buys
Turnstile - Never Enough
Get Vinyl: A ton of colorways
Release Date: June 6
The next five albums are my current blind buys, records that shouldn’t disappoint.
Next Friday sees the return of Baltimore’s Turnstile, who are sitting comfortably at the top of the hardcore punk mountain. Their highly acclaimed Glow On dropped four years ago, and they’ve been honing their signature sound on the road ever since. They debuted Never Enough live for the first time at a free show in Baltimore, and the video of the event — a nonstop flood of stage-divers and sweat-drenched euphoria — is one of the coolest filmed performances I’ve ever seen.
Hotline TNT - Raspberry Moon
Get Vinyl: Celestial Cardinal | Ruby Brambleseed | Sapphire Slush | Black
Release Date: June 20
Hotline TNT’s Cartwheel landed high on my Best Albums of 2023 list, so I’m stoked to hear they’re calling their upcoming LP Raspberry Moon their “best album yet” and the “next phase of New American Shoegaze.” Lead single “Julia’s War” is already one of my favorite songs of the year — fuzzed-out, soaring, and full of feeling.
I grabbed the celestial cardinal variant, which is only available at about ten record stores. Check Hotline TNT’s Instagram for the full list.
Forth Wanderers - The Longer This Goes On
Get Vinyl: Milky Clear
Release Date: July 18th
Well, this was a surprise I didn’t see coming. I discovered Forth Wanderers last year during my Album a Day project, and it was love at first listen. The second the album ended, I queued up the rest of their discography — which, at around 75 minutes, you can devour in one sitting. It felt like I stumbled onto a new favorite band… only to find out they’d already broken up. So when they recently announced The Longer This Goes On, their first album in seven years and their Sub Pop debut, I was floored, and instantly began counting down the days.
The Swell Season - Forward
Get Vinyl: Ivory (Signed Postcard) | White Marbled
Release Date: June 13
If you’re a fan of the film Once, you know how big of a deal this reunion is. After a brief run of shows, The Swell Season are officially back with Forward — their first album in 16 years. What began as a plan to write a few songs for the tour turned into a full collection of new material, with Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová trading lead vocals across eight sure-to-be beautifully tracks.
The Cure - Mixes of a Lost World
Get Vinyl: 2 LP | 3 LP
Release Date: June 13
Perhaps the biggest surprise of last year was The Cure’s triumphant return with their first album in 16 years — and it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Mixes of a Lost World is a new remix collection conceived and compiled by Robert Smith, featuring reworks of Songs of a Lost World by Four Tet, Paul Oakenfold, Mogwai, and more. Even better, all record royalties from this release will benefit War Child, supporting children affected by conflict in over a dozen countries.
Upcoming Reissues
Takanaka Masayoshi Colored Reissues
Get Vinyl: All of Me | Brasilian Skies | Jolly Jive | Takanaka | An Insatiable High | Super Takanaka Live!
What a time to be alive — we’re finally getting a full worldwide reissue of Takanaka Masayoshi’s discography, and it’s all on colored wax.
Last year, I included the jazz guitarist’s greatest hits collection All of Me as one of my personal grails, writing:
Many have said you don't go looking for this album, rather it finds you when you’re ready. I say to that, I hope this vinyl deems me worthy and finds me sooner rather than later.
Well, it found me — and now it’ll live on my shelf.
Also here’s a fun easter egg: if you play “STAR WARS SAMBA” on Spotify, the desktop play bar turns into a lightsaber.
The Beatles - In Mono
Get Vinyl: Box Set
Well, look what dropped yesterday. For the first time in a decade, The Beatles In Mono box set is back — 14 albums, each in its original mono mix, plus a gorgeous 12" x 12" hardcover book. This is the way the band intended their music to be heard.
Just this week, some poor sucker paid $1,750 for a used copy, and now it’s back at retail for $545. It’s been flickering in and out of stock over the last 24 hours, but word is they pressed a ton to meet demand. Be sure to follow my vinyl drop project Vinyl on Sale to get notified of restocks.
Hey friends, thanks for tuning in! I’d love to hear what you’ve currently spinning; drop your favs in the comments or reply to this email.
I send out this newsletter once a week. For those looking for up-to-the-second vinyl news, drops, and deals, follow Vinyl on Sale, the Internet’s #1 vinyl resource!
Happy collecting, and catch you all next week!
that caroline 2 lp is insanely great. maybe the lp of the year for me so far.
Oh wow, that Turnstile vinyl is so fun/pretty... tempting...