Now Hear This

Muse
The WOW! Signal
Warner Records

Muse's tenth album was launched into actual space for its announcement. Named after a 1977 astronomical radio burst, it explores cosmic mystery and humanity's place in the universe. RIFF Magazine rates it 10/10. Opener 'The Dark Forest' is gloriously over the top. Bellamy says it's the most personal Muse album in years.

Breakfield
Breakfield
Rounder

Breakfield's Rounder Records debut arrives backed by a label whose Americana, folk and roots catalog speaks for itself. A promising opening statement from an emerging roots act. Worth your time and well-suited to the label's long tradition of discovering essential American voices.

Devon Gilfillian
Time Will Tell
Concord/Fantasy

Gilfillian's third album was recorded live to tape at RCA Studio A, executive-produced by Neal H Pogue (OutKast, Tyler the Creator). Born from his father's heart attack and the collapse of a relationship, Time Will Tell is 12 songs of Philly soul meets Tennessee grit, with 'Glad to Be Here' as its country-soul centerpiece.

Miley Cyrus
Younger You b/w Younger You (featuring Lainey Wilson)
Hollywood Records

Cyrus debuted this at the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special; the duet version pairs her with Wilson, who spent her teens impersonating Montana at birthday parties. Two minutes of perfectly placed nostalgia with a backstory that makes it hit twice as hard. Available as a 7-inch single — both versions together.

Fai Laci
Elephant in the Room
Easy Eye Sound

Boston quintet Fai Laci's Dan Auerbach-produced debut blends punk urgency, glam stomp, and classic rock theatricality. Recorded at Easy Eye Sound in Nashville, it has the swagger usually reserved for third albums. Easy Eye calls it full of 'brazen rockers and bruised-heart ballads.'

Don Williams
Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes
Craft

A collection of never-before-heard recordings from Country legend Don “The Gentle Giant” Williams. The set—his latest and final album— offers rare look at Williams' voice and craft beyond his most familiar work. Uncovered by the artist’s family following his passing, these recordings have been carefully restored and remastered from the original tapes.

Turnover
Down On Earth
Unified

Turnover continue their streak of excellent indie-rock. Warm, melodic, and carrying the shoegaze undertow that defines their catalog, Down on Earth gives fans choruses that arrive when needed, vocals floating above the mix, and emotional weight that rewards repeat listens.

Lizzo
BITCH
Atlantic

Following intense public scrutiny, Lizzo delivers her most personal and lyrically cutting album. BITCH is 35 brisk minutes of pointed humor and raw nerve. Beats Per Minute calls her, 'a more capable writer of obsession than grand statements of self-worth' — and on this record she leans in hard.

Chris Stamey
Modernism
Flatiron Recordings

The dB's co-founder continues his singular late-career run. Stamey is one of the great unsung figures in American indie pop, and Modernism finds him writing things few others could. A quiet gem from a musician who has worked beautifully and mostly under the radar for five decades.

Placebo
Placebo RE:CREATED
Elevator Lady Ltd / Radiator Lady Ltd

RE:CREATED is a definitive celebration of the 30th anniversary of the band’s debut. Conceived as a "director’s cut," this project brings the record into the 21st century sonically, completing the album's vision while meticulously preserving its original integrity. It's a balance of modern evolution and preservation; a polished statement on the work that started it all.

The Locustz
Buzzkill
Label 51 Recordings

Label 51's newest signing makes a punchy entrance with Buzzkill, a debut that channels classic punk and alt-rock through a modern production lens. The record has a scrappy, live-band immediacy that suits the material. A solid opening statement from a band with something to prove and the chops to back it up.

Sublime
Until The Sun Explodes
Atlantic

Sublime returns with new material. The Long Beach band — now with Rome Ramirez fronting — delivers a ska-punk-reggae hybrid rooted in the original catalog's DNA. For the Sublime faithful, this is exactly what you've been waiting for.

Russ Tolman
Stray
Flatiron Recordings

Russ Tolman delivers yet another understated gem. He writes with a novelist's eye for detail and a guitarist's instinct for hooks. Stray captures him in fine form — an artist who has made quietly excellent records for four decades without quite the credit he deserves.

Josh Conway
Plum
Atlantic

Josh Conway brings warm, unhurried intimacy to his Atlantic debut. Plum is built around his gift for emotional resonance within compact, carefully crafted songs. A promising entry from a young singer-songwriter with a genuine point of view and the restraint to let the music speak for itself.

Kehlani
Kehlani
Atlantic

Kehlani's self-titled is a full creative reset — an artist reclaiming her name on her own terms. Emotionally raw, moving between R&B, neo-soul, and pop with ease. One of the more complete statements from an artist who has always been more interesting than her mainstream profile suggested.

Brie Stoner
Matador
Label 51

Stoner brings an art-song sensibility to roots-adjacent songwriting on Matador, finding emotional weight in restraint and understatement. An assured and genuinely distinctive voice — patient, interior, and quietly powerful. An indie debut worth tracking down and sitting with on a long afternoon.

American Aquarium
New Ways To Lose
Thirty Tigers / Losing Side Records

BJ Barham's 20th album in 20 years answers to nobody. Americana UK calls it Springsteen and Mellencamp country. On his own Losing Side Records via Thirty Tigers, New Ways to Lose is a songwriter at the top of his craft, writing for everyone who's been in the back of the room since the beginning.

Isaiah Rashad
It'S Been Awful
Warner Records

This marks the moment Isaiah Rashad fully becomes his own genre. The Top Dawg Entertainment visionary expands his sonic world beyond hip-hop into cosmic jazz, psychedelic guitar rock, Soulquarian neo-soul, and flashes of genre-blurring experimentation. Featuring SZA, Dominic Fike, and Julian Sintonia.

The Army, The Navy
Fake Brave Life
The Army, The Navy

The Army, the Navy release their own-label debut, bringing the Virginia indie-folk duo's melodic instincts to a self-produced framework. Fake Brave Life captures their gift for harmony and emotional transparency in an intimate setting. For fans of their catalog, it feels like a homecoming.

Bike Routes
Prairie
Blue Grape Music

This is the coming-of-age montage you never knew you needed. Warm synths, sparse guitar, and rich beats frame small-town memories, young love, and quiet triumphs with cinematic precision. David Osterhout weaves indie, emo, post-punk, and pop into something achingly familiar. It's a soundtrack for lives beautifully, ordinarily lived.

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Madonna

No one has reinvented themselves quite like The Material Girl. From the pop innocence of True Blue to the provocative heat of Erotica and Bedtime Stories, the spiritual awakening of Like a Prayer, the electronic transcendence of Ray of Light, and the celebratory retrospective of Finally Enough Love, The Immaculate Collection perhaps remains the ultimate proof that there has never been anyone else quite like her.

The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a national level organization comprised of the best independent record stores in America. CIMS was founded in 1995 with the goal of uniting like minded independent store owners, giving them a more powerful voice in the music industry. The stores that make up CIMS are all very different, but we share the same desires – to be the heart of our communities, to super-serve our customers, to support and develop artists, and to share our love of music.

For more information about CIMS and the stores in our organization, please visit cimsmusic.com or find us through social media with the #cimsmusic hashtag. And please remember to always shop local by supporting your neighborhood record store.