Outside the Heard

	Biffy Clyro Ellipsis (Explicit) Warner Bros.

For their latest album, Scottish pop-proggers Biffy Clyro cite influences as diverse as Tears For Fears' Songs From The Big Chair, DJ Arca, and Deafheaven. Singer / guitarist Simon Neil says Ellipsis as "more of a punch to the nose than a big cuddle," but you’ll find it’s contrarian nature – and inescapable posi-vibes – alluring all the same.

	Drowners On Desire Frenchkiss Records

Drowners play post-punk in the tradition of Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, and early Cure – music that's caustic and catchy without ever giving up the security of the shadows. That goes for everything from the call-and-response chords of "Conversations With Myself" and pressure-cooked choruses of "Cruel Ways" to the mangled drum machines, muffled synths, and lean Kraut loop of "Trust the Tension." On Desire is a neo-goth masterpiece.

	Clams Casino 32 Levels Columbia

32 Levels is the long-awaited new album from Clams Casino. The new album features 12 original tracks with features from an impressive cast of collaborators, including Vince Staples, Kelela, Sam Herring (Future Islands), Joe Newman (alt-j) and more. The album also includes his first ever collaboration between A$AP Rocky and Lil B, on "Be Somebody." Includes instrumental versions of every track on the album.

	Charlie Hunter Everybody Has A Plan Until They Get Punched In The Mouth GroundUP

Since 1993, Charlie Hunter’s mindboggling guitar technique has garnered him a global fanbase, critical acclaim, and collaborations with some of the most prestigious names in jazz and pop. Here, Hunter returns to his quartet to perform 10 all-new Blues, Rock, Jazz and Latin-flavored songs – all recorded 100% live in a studio in Hudson, New York, while performing simultaneous bass, rhythm and solo magic on his custom 7-string electric guitar.

	Lucy Woodward Til They Bang On The Door GroundUP

The latest from Award-winning singer / songwriter Lucy Woodward, Til They Bang On The Door, is rich in depth, electric energy, and, of course, her indomitable voice. Alongside Woodward’s original material are classics by Nina Simone (“Be My Husband”), and tunes made famous by the likes of Ruth Brown (“I Don’t Know”) and Frank Sinatra [“The World We Knew (Over and Over)].

	Miroslav Vitous Music From Weather Report ECM Records

The great Miroslav Vitous returns once more to the music of Weather Report – the group he co-founded with Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter in 1970. It’s the improvisational freedom of the early Weather Report that most interests Vitous, and he abides by their old rallying call everyone solos yet no one solos. Interspersed along the way are three new blues tunes from Vitous’ pen. The band, btw, is energetic and daring, juxtaposing fast tempos and rhythmically free pulses, with Miroslav’s bass playing sometimes sounding like a third horn.

	Field Mouse Episodic Topshelf Records

If 2014’s Hold Still Life was the fruition of Field Mouse’s evolution from a fiery two-piece into a fully-fledged band, then new album Episodic is the letting go. Written through a twelve month period which delivered sudden family illness and a deteriorating relationship, Episodic is fashioned from ten feverish bouts of guitar-pop led by Rachel Browne’s fearsome and fearless vocals and a vibrant musical concoction of scuzz, space, and pure pop.

	Bat For Lashes The Bride WB

The Bride follows the story of a woman whose fiancé has been killed in a crash while en route to their wedding. The Bride flees the scene to take the honeymoon trip alone, resulting in a dark meditation on love, loss, grief, and celebration. Written as the soundtrack for a feature length film in mind, The Bride is Bat For Lashes most ambitious work to date.

	The Shelters The Shelters WB

The Shelters’ full-length debut is a blast of Southern Californian rock and roll from a four-piece like they used to make them, when the factory was still up and running. Co-produced by Tom Petty, this album comes at you from behind, nothing you were expecting. He gave The Shelters the keys to his home studio and showed them a few things. One listen to their single "Rebel Heart," or any one of the other eleven songs on their debut, and you'll know they pulled it off.

	Billy Talent Afraid of Heghts The End

Since the release of their self-titled debut in 2003, Billy Talent has sold nearly one million albums in Canada alone and nearly 3 million albums sold internationally. The band’s latest Afraid of Heights sounds like a populist Green Day gone glam punk: “This record is about struggle, both within ourselves and within the society we live," says the band. " It’s about love and loss and life… but more importantly it’s about the power of ROCK ’N' ROLL.”

	Creative Adult Fear of Life Run For Cover

Creative Adult’s sophomore full-length, Fear of Life, finds the band peeling back some of their chaotic, fuzzed out psychedelia in favor of a newfound sense of melody. Taking cues from The Cure and Oasis, jangly and melodic guitar lines weave their way through smoky, atmospheric west coast post punk. Recorded with Jack Shirley at his Atomic Garden studio, Fear of Life is Creative Adult at its best – with just the right amount of polish to help guide through the hypnotic layers of sonic haze.

	Matthew and the Atlas Temple Communion

Bringing together the naked emotion of Sufjan Stevens and the melancholy of Bear's Den, Temple is a cathartic expression of Matthew Hegarty's – AKA Matthew and The Atlas – own feelings and fears, bound together by an honesty that makes it bracingly easy to connect to. Temple came to life in a mere three months: Sketched out first in Hegarty's UK home studio and ultimately constructed in Nashville with Brian Holl and Eric Hillman – AKA electronic folk act turned production duo, Foreign Fields.

	Ghoul Dungeon Bastards Tankcrimes

Creepsylvania’s favorite hooded, cannibal splatter-thrashers, Ghoul, are back with their fifth studio album, fittingly titled Dungeon Bastards. This eleven-track audio abduction was recorded and mixed by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City), and comes adorned in the ghoulightful graphics of Mark W. Richards of Heavy Hand Illustration (Pig Destroyer, The Black Dahlia Murder, Toke, Black Fast). With Dungeon Bastards, the metal punk mani-axe in GHOUL will rip your flesh with speed and riffs… before eating it. Available on slime green and blood red vinyl!

	Waterstrider Nowhere Now 30th Century/Columbia

Waterstrider is a spectacular tightrope act. The group's debut, Nowhere Now, embraces a wide range of styles and sounds, all the while balancing them with precision and elegance: Zeppelin-sized riffs, shimmering hooks and, at the album's heart, Nate Salman's falsetto. It's Salman's voice that unifies Nowhere Now. On "Redwood" it provides a counterpoint to the thundering toms, while "Passing Ships" finds him effortlessly riding a slinky R&B groove. You may have trouble labeling Waterstrider, but falling in love with these songs is much easier.

The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a group of some of the best independent music stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995; its current membership is made up of 29 accounts that handle 47 stores in 21 states. Many of the accounts have been recognized by the music industry and their local communities for their outstanding dedication to customer service and developing artist support.

Each member is bound by its shared love of music, a reputation for great selection and customer service in its community, yet each CIMS account is as unique as the market it represents. Most importantly, CIMS member stores continually seek to challenge the jaded, color-by-numbers advertising and marketing of other retailers.