Amoeba Music

The Beastie Boys’ multiplatinum 1992 album Check Your Head is noted for being less sample-heavy and bringing back live instruments, with Mike D on drums, Ad-Rock on guitar, and the late MCA on bass. Also significant for featuring Money Mark’s first appearance on keyboard with the group, the album reincorporated the Beastie Boys’ early punk influences into their sound and heightened their popularity in the ‘90s alternative scene. This year, Check Your Head celebrates its 30th anniversary with a grand slam of a reissue: A limited edition 4LP box set that includes the 2009 double LP remaster and two discs of B-sides, live tracks, and remixes. Time to dig in and enjoy!

A Very Lonely Solstice is the album version of Fleet Foxes’ December 20th, 2021 concert film of the same name. For fans of the band, it’s pure loveliness. Featuring Robin Pecknold (largely) alone with his acoustic guitar performing within the soaring interiors of Brooklyn’s St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, the songs convey a sense of both the solemn and the sacred. The Resistance Revival Chorus opens and closes the performance, the ethereal voices of the women and non-binary singers lending a timeless, ethereal contrast to Pecknold’s plaintive vocals. There’s a cover of The Bee Gees’ “In the Morning” and the traditional ballad “Silver Dagger” that add moments of sunshine-y pop and haunting English folkloric atmosphere. It’s a rare thing when a band’s live album is one of their finest recordings; A Very Lonely Solstice definitely deserves such a high ranking

Few recordings really capture the magic of the live experience. The applause sounds like it was pulled from a library of stock sounds, the energy between audience and performer feels depleted, if the listener even thinks of it all. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s The Daptone Super Soul Revue Live! At the Apollo. (You know if anyone was gonna do it right, it was gonna be Daptone!) Featuring dynamic, booty-shaking, foot-stomping performances from legendary Daptone artists like Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Antibalas, The Budos Band, The Sugarman 3, and so many more, the album was recorded over three nights in 2014 in front of a sold out crowd at The World Famous Theater in Harlem, NY. High-energy emcee Binky Griptite anchors the proceedings, bringing the fervor and the fever pitch of those nights into your very own home. Turn it up loud and get down! This is what live recordings are meant to sound like.

Jhené Aiko's third studio album Chilombo ranges from soul-searching sweetness to slinky R&B to down-and-dirty swaggering, all of which works with her hushed, sensual voice. There are plenty of '90s throwback R&B vibes here with updated production. "Born Tired" is a gently uplifting track with a lovely melody and "None of Your Concern" is reminiscent of something by Toni Braxton or her contemporaries, but with less melodrama. Then there's the highly explicit -- but sweetly sung -- "P*$$Y FAIRY," which features a video full of Aaliyah-style dancing.

Back in 2018, Arctic Monkeys performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London and admirably donated the proceeds to War Child, which supports children in conflict areas. Now the audio recording of that concert is available as a double album, also in support of the foundation, featuring a fun setlist that includes tracks from each of their six studio albums. The evolution over the years of this beloved British band's sound is encapsulated here with full rock-star energy, making this a must-have for fans, especially those that haven't made it to a show.

As Long As You Are, Future Island’s brand of New Wave Synth-Pop is as euphoric and uninhibitedly joyful as anything the band has done in their 14-year career. Full of bright melodies and heavenly choruses, the album looks to the past as well as the future, confronting old ghosts and embracing new hope. It’s an album about trust, honesty, redemption, and release, and also about allowing old wounds to heal and bringing painful chapters to a close.