After spending much of the summer and fall of 2009 alternately touring the US with Death Cab for Cutie, headlining their own packed shows, and retreating to a country property in upstate New York to write and record, Ra Ra Riot have announced this summer's upcoming arrival of their new album the orchard. It's an incredibly self-assured step for the band, delivering both hook-laden pop jams like boy and the new-but-familiar-to-live-audiences too dramatic and ruminative slow-burns like the Anton Chekov/Kate Bush-inspired the orchard and album-closer keep it quiet.

Such a great band... there's a lot of room for your ear to roam on Mines. [8.2] - Pitchfork

Menomena, the acclaimed Portland, OR, based art-rock trio, have released their fourth full-length record, mines, and it's available now. In addition to the full-length album (available on CD, double LP, or digitally as MP3s or FLAC files), we also have a double seven-inch gatefold single with exclusive non-album tracks (limited to 1000 numbered copies — we have very few copies left, so order now!), two different posters (including the limited-edition hand-numbered glow-in-the-dark screen-printed poster, with design by Tyler Stout), and a new t-shirt.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back." The same holds true for fellow sons of the Prairie State, Maps & Atlases, who, despite a flurry of activity since their inception in 2006 are only now releasing their full-length debut. But it's been worth the wait: Not only is perch patchwork the Chicago quartet's first long player, it's also their first masterpiece — a beautiful suite of songs that should rightly place the band in indie rock's upper echelon.

A heavenly offering from Seattle's Zach Tillman ... When the Grim Reaper finally takes his swing and we scamper up that golden staircase to stand before St Peter we hope that the harp-strains that catch our ears are as beautiful as this debut. - NME

Lo-fi, high-octane. Tillman is a character on fire. - MOJO

Pearly Gate Music is an incredibly gifted gentleman by the name of Zach Tillman (although he records and usually plays live with a stylistic variety of full-band options), who makes beautiful, challenging, simple-yet-complicated songs structured around his extraordinary singing, vivid lyrics, and unusual melodic sense.

It is far from hyperbolic to enthusiastically assert that this album — Blunt Mechanic's first — is Ben Barnett's finest work to date. Considering the critically-acclaimed and cultishly-followed body of work he has amassed over the past 15 years recording as Kind of Like Spitting, one could be forgiven for dismissing that claim before having heard the onslaught of impeccably constructed songs, unstoppable, charming guitar hooks, heart-wrenching, moving, uplifting storytelling, brilliant turns of phrase and vocal/instrumental interplay that collectively define world record.

Death Cab for Cutie's the open door ep, a companion to 2008's full-length, narrow stairs, is available now on 180-gram vinyl. This Grammy-nominated EP features 4 new studio tracks plus a demo version of "Talking Bird".

Votolato captures both optimism and desperation with quiet dignity. - The Village Voice

Our good friend Rocky Votolato is a soft-spoken, very kind, hard-working father of two, born in rural Texas and raised in the Pacific Northwest indie scene (where he fronted the seminal rock band Waxwing and made a handful of solo albums before releasing his breakthrough record makers and acclaimed follow-up the brag and cuss on Barsuk). His new album, true devotion, is beautiful, introspective, intense and graceful.

A refreshing, unusual and diverting first record from two new talents, and one to recommend for jaded electro and indie fans who felt the New York scene had gone as far as it could with art-skronk. - The BBC

They craft the kind of catchy electronically-propelled pop that instantly hook fans of folks as disparate as the Postal Service, Boards of Canada, and Jay Dilla. - The Village Voice

Phantogram's music sounds like it's made by a band from the city. Electronic loops, hip-hop beats, shoegaze, soul, pop — each finds its way into their songs. Unexpectedly, the band doesn't live and work in a major urban center, but rather calls the town of Saratoga Springs, NY home. The town itself, however, isn't rural enough for their taste — they drive almost every day another 45 minutes into upstate farmland to a barn they call Harmony Lodge to write and record. Serving as their homemade studio, the barn is equipped with various samplers, tapes, records, synths, drums, and both percussive and stringed instruments, and it's there that Phantogram allows their natural surroundings and metropolitan influences to meld together creating beautiful, beat-driven dreamlike pop songs.

His most powerful and interesting album thus far. - Filter

No one writes better — or angrier — songs about God than David Bazan... Tales of alcoholism and spiritual doubt abound, but they're delivered with such pristine beauty... that [they] are bizarrely life-affirming. - The Village Voice

The best music of his career. - Alternative Press

Known for his work fronting the enigmatic rock band Pedro the Lion, David Bazan's emotionally charged narratives, eye for telling detail, and mournful voice have more in common with J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories" or Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood" than with the usual lyrical slant of popular music. Bazan is a gifted storyteller, weaving parables of spiritual conflict, suburban ennui, and personal surrender into magnetic, well-crafted songs. His debut solo full-length album is out now.

Ramona Falls is a trail leading to a shady glen where a spilling torrent of water appears 100 feet above, cascading down to the creek bed below. Ramona Falls is also Brent Knopf's first solo venture, although you probably know him already through his extensive musical resume as part of Menomena. His debut album, intuit, is just the latest example of the off-kilter brilliance that springs from Knopf's extraordinary musical mind, sometimes reminiscent of his Menomena work and sometimes heading out on other explorations, and featuring fittingly beautiful artwork by noted graphic novelist Theo Ellsworth.

The Oklahoma-based rock group excels at immaculately crafted songs, but also keeps a truckload of tinsel, chimes and other sparkly trimmings in tow at all times, designing entire houses of sound and then decorating them to the nines. - NPR

Starlight Mints are a group of beautiful pop mutants: five singular musical minds whose love for archetypal pop music and AM radio has provided, over the course of three previous acclaimed albums, a rock-solid foundation for a whole bunch of inspired uniqueness, all baked to perfection under the hot Oklahoma sun. Their new album, change remains, is available now.

Like a honeymoon sprinkled with Pacific mist. Spacious and spontaneous, Rose City is an endlessly tuneful bouquet of beauty. - Alternative Press

Viva Voce are back with rose city, an album they wrote, arranged, and recorded themselves all in one furious month — choosing not to deliberate over every little thing but living purely in the moment musically and lyrically. Immersing themselves in sonic experimentation, it was truly spontaneous and cathartic. The result is an angular, immediate record that pulses with the palpable urgency of a band yearning for a return to the vagabond life of the working, touring musician — a mode in which Viva Voce is truly at home.

Lovely in sound, but chilling in mood - the dark side of the new quiet. - National Public Radio

Andrew Kenny’s songwriting remains mesmerizing and cut with a twisted sense of nostalgia. Magnolia is easy, earthy, and undoubtedly Southern, like the dusky buzz of summer cicadas. - The Austin Chronicle

Barsuk is pleased to announce that magnolia, the debut LP from The Wooden Birds, is available nationally today. The Wooden Birds is the latest project of Andrew Kenny, a native Texan who after nearly six years in Brooklyn, NY has returned to beautiful Austin, TX. He's best known as the singer/songwriter behind mellow indie favorites the American Analog Set. Full of guitar-top drumming and beautiful harmonies, and anchored by Kenny’s percolating, vibey bass, magnolia rolls by like a float down an ambient indie-rock river on a lazy summer day.

This limited-edition 12" vinyl features four reinterpretations of tracks from Mates of State's 2008 release, re-arrange us, with contributions from noted remixologists DJ Sega, Flosstradamus, The Mae Shi, and RAC. Packaged in a classic DJ white sleeve, this 12" EP is limited to 1000 copies worldwide.

Filled with smart and charismatic songs. - Under The Radar

Say Hi is Eric Elbogen, who wrote and recorded his new album at his home studio over the course of 2008. He used to live in Brooklyn, NY, but moved to our hometown (Seattle, WA) in December of '06, and we're very glad he did, since it gave us the chance to spend time with him and get to know him better. He's a charming, thoughtful guy, and we're all rather crazy about his new album, oohs & aahs.

We now have Barsuk tote bags, made from durable cotton twill with reinforced handles. On sale for just $10!

We've decided to clear out the vaults: buy any poster from our shop at the regular price, and get 3 free promotional posters (randomly chosen from our poster archives). We have promo posters spanning all the way back to the early years, and we figure they'll look better on your walls than in a box in the warehouse.

Now you can drink your coffee, tea, or other beverage of choice in this classic white ceramic mug. Get yours today while supplies last!