Our first new releases of 2012 come from Jason Urick, Rhyton, Imbogodom and Zomes.

Asa Osborne returns as Zomes with an LP of Improvisations Dusted says, "You could get lost in these sustained tones, sunk deep into their unchanging rumble…evoking a deep serenity and connection with the infinite."

Jason Urick's new album I Love You explores a world of sound left to the far reaches of outer space. Pitchfork's The Out Door called the album, "An early contender for best of 2012, for real."

Dave Shuford's new project Rhyton also features Jimy SeiTang (Psychic Ills) and Spencer Herbst (Messages, Matta Llama) on the self-titled LP. Formed while Shuford was developing his Greek-influenced solo album Arghiledes, he brought a selection of varied string instruments to the table, seeking to create a heavier electric syntax for mandolin, saz and baritone guitar.

Imbogodom's And They Turned Not When They Went sees Alexander Tucker and Daniel Beban return to the BBC's Bvsh Hovse for another nocturnal collection of pure analogue tape work.

TJ 20: NOT LOOKING BACK

In celebration of our twentieth year, Thrill Jockey will be putting out a lot of new albums by artists making their Thrill Jockey debuts. There will be no compilation album. No survey of what or where we have been. We will focus our energies on new albums by artists that we love; both old friends who continue to make us marvel and exciting new ones.

Thrill Jockey will release new music in 2012 by Man Forever, Mike Scheidt, Golden Retriever, kandodo, Golden Void, Plankton Wat and Jon Porras.

Go to the News Page for more details, and stay tuned for more information about other 20th anniversary tomfoolery (there will be lots we promise).

Luke Roberts and The Skull Defekts

Luke Roberts' debut album Big Bells & Dime Songs is an intimate and immediate experience. Songs about running, stumbling, falling, crashing, crying, spitting, fighting, sleeping, dancing, healing, bruising, the butterfly, crawling, creeping, building, flying, fording, gargling, just starting out, homecoming, claiming, calling, bridges, tunnels, planets, and the sun and money.

A native of Nashville and sometimes-resident of Brooklyn, Luke has a little hut in a barren field in the middle of Montana where he's spending the fall, before he returns to the east coast for tour dates later this year.

The Skull Defekts new EP "2013-3012" was recorded during the band's US tour earlier this year with Daniel Higgs and Zomes (Asa Osborne).

The A-side features three new tracks, and the B-side presents those songs played in reverse and reverse-cut, starting from the inner-most groove and playing out toward the edge of the record.

Future Islands and High Places

Future Islands new album On the Water is out now, and the band will be making a massive tour of the US in October, November and December.

Check out Mike Anderson's gorgeous black and white video for Future Islands' song "Give Us the Wind.

High Places show some Original Colors on their new album, also out now. They also have big tour plans, including dates in the US and Europe this fall.

High Places has also kept busy in the editing studio, making this new album preview video for Original Colors, and this video for "Sophia."

Wooden Shjips, Glenn Jones and Barn Owl

Wooden Shjips stand at the forefront of modern psychedelic rock and present their first album for Thrill Jockey. West is an epic journey to the edge and beyond, both transformative and transporting, melodic and boundless.

West is available on CD & LP; the LP includes the bonus "Phonograph" 7".

Glenn Jones is one of most respected guitarists in the American Primitive movement, and he's also making his Thrill Jockey debut with The Wanting.

Barn Owl returns with Lost in the Glare, their second album for Thrill Jockey, available on CD & LP.

Tunnels, Eternal Tapesty & Sun Araw

Tunnels is the solo project of Nicholas Bindeman, also known for his work in Eternal Tapestry. The Blackout is dirty, playful electronic pop, modern cold wave at it's finest, combining jagged guitars, glistening synths and a driving bass line with Nick's vocal work for some truly infectious dark pop, available on LP.

Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw's new collaborative album Night Gallery is also available now, on CD & LP.

Altered Zones calls it "one of the heaviest and most exciting collaborative projects of the year... they play off the other’s strengths in a focused show of dusty, monolithic, mystical desert drone.”

Sorry Bamba, White Hills, Pontiak & Barn Owl

White Hills' new record H-p1 expands on their explorations in ambience, noise, and space rock all led by guitarist Dave W.'s blistering guitar solos. It's their most angry record, a wake up call.

"Dave W. and crew conjure up a nightmare world of corporate domination and technological enslavement meant to mirror our own... Rarely has an album so narcotic felt so sobering." - AV Club

Sorry Bamba is one of the Mali's star musicians of the last 40 years. Our release, put together with Sorry's help by the guys from Extra Golden, collects his work from the 1970s with the Kanaga Orchestra of Mopti and the Regional Orchestra of Mopti, much of it legendary among collectors of fine vintage African LPs.

“A stunning compilation of Malian blues-rock... National orchestra music on this level rivals other state African bands, such as Guinea’s Bembeya Jazz and Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab.” - Global Beat Fusion/Huffington Post

Barn Owl's new EP Shadowland was recorded by Phil Manley in San Francisco, using monolithic stacks of tube amps and intense amounts of stereo delay. Waves of guitar soar over liquid synthesizers tones for a visceral meeting of light and dark. Barn Owl will also have a new LP out this fall.

"resonant moods and lasting tension that elude pre-existing musical boundaries"- Dusted

Pontiak has a created a soundtrack to the bold landscape of the American southwest on Comecrudos, Route 385 southbound from Marathon, TX to be precise. The brothers were captivated by the sprawling landscape, the immensity and complexity of the geology and the beauty.

"Few bands are able to move between moods and styles as flawlessly as Pontiak… Comecrudos is far more immersive than any EP has a right to be." - Tiny Mix Tapes

Liturgy, Mountains and The Sea and Cake

The Sea and Cake's new record, The Moonlight Butterfly, arrives in the middle of a wellspring of creativity for the band, including the band’s recent tour with Broken Social Scene and Sam Prekop's 2010 solo synth album, Old Punch Card.

Aquarium Drunkard says, "this new six-song album represents a perfect opportunity to get acquainted with the band as The Moonlight Butterfly encompasses a lot of their best work plus a few new twists and angles."

Liturgy is a self-described transcendental black metal band from Brooklyn. The highly technical musicianship and blindingly high intensity level present on their new album Aesthethica blur the boundaries of black metal, hardcore and experimental music.

"This is music that creates a new history. - NPR

Mountains is a duo of sonic explorers, traveling the lines between acoustic and electronic music and creating some of the most densely layered and blissful music crafted in recent memory.

Air Museum is the long awaited followup to their 2009 album Choral, and Mountains’ first to use an entierly analog process of sound manipulation.

"A fluffy and rejuvenating spiral of earthly and cosmic vibrations" - 1000timesYes