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Pre-order Julien Baker

Julien Baker’s Turn Out The Lights is out Oct. 27th on CD, LP and indie exclusive clear color vinyl.

Charles Bradley R.I.P.

Friend of Amoeba, Charles Bradley has passed on. There was no one like him. Check out this 2013 Hollywood performance

Desert Daze Contest

Enter to win VIP weekend passes to see Iggy Pop, Spiritualized & many more in Joshua Tree Oct.12-15.

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Comic Book BOGO Sale at Our Stores on 9/25

In honor of National Comic Book Day, all used comic books & graphic novels $5.99 and under are buy one, get one free on Monday, September 25th. Offer not... View

New Music We Like Book is Out Now

The Fall 2017 book of staff recommendations is available now. Pick it up for free in our stores or order one online. View

Mill Valley Film Festival October 5-15

Join us for two music documentaries, “On The Sly: In Search of the Family Stone” and “Third Mind Blues,” screening during the 40th annual festival. View

Litquake Literary Festival in San Francisco October 6-14

Amoeba co-presents Loudon Wainwright III with Chuck Prophet at the Swedish American Hall and Harlem of the West: San Francisco's Jazzy Fillmore at Doc's Lab. View

We Make House Calls

Do you have a large CD or LP collection you want to sell? We’ll come to you! We also consider trips out of state for truly special larger collections. View

Tickets For Sale at Amoeba Hollywood

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Upcoming Shows

Algiers Green Room Session

Watch Algiers perform their unique blend of post-punk, soul, and gospel in the Amoeba Hollywood green room.

REVOLUTIONS: Second Hand Sounds with DJ Guillermo

September 30th 2pm - San Francisco

Jon Langford

October 3rd 6pm - Hollywood

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Music We Like

Great Deals on Handpicked Titles!

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Against all odds, new-wave greats New Order have returned for a 10th studio album that lives up to the band’s formidable past. From the first notes of shimmering first single “Restless,” it’s clear we’re dealing with the classic New Order sound, as the band returns to the more electronic (and current, frankly) sound of their late-’80s and early-’90s work. The way “Singularity” builds from moody Joy Division-esque post-punk into danceable hi-NRG synths will have fans thanking the heavens for the return of original keyboardist Gillian Gilbert. “Plastic” introduces some retro house synths (but at this point, what is retro anyway, as this sound still gets floated around everywhere) and adds some gleefully silly lyrics (“It’s official, you’re fantastic” goes the refrain). “Tutti Frutti’s” glittering synths combine nicely with Bernard Sumner’s weary vocals in a style reminiscent of one of their greatest hits, “True Faith.” The track’s killer disco bassline more than proves Tom Chapman’s mettle (in the absence of original bassist Peter Hook), which continues into the housey “People on the High Line.” A few guest appearances add to the proceedings—Iggy Pop delivers a Tom Waits-ish spoken word over the coldwave beat of “Stray Dog,” and La Roux’s Elly Jackson adds vibrant backup vocals to several tracks. By focusing on consistency, the band doesn’t come off like it’s trying too hard on Music Complete . Instead, the album exists perfectly within the band’s legendary catalog.

Roll With The Punches (CD)

Van Morrison

First, it has to be mentioned that Van Morrison is 72 and still cranking out albums with workhorse consistency. Roll With The Punches follows last year’s Keep Me Singing and is the 37th studio album in the legendary Irish troubadour’s career. On this love letter to the blues, Morrison blends original compositions with covers of blues classics by T-Bone Walker, Mose Allison, and Sam Cooke, among others. As can be ascertained by the choice of source material, the album is very much a homecoming, stylistically speaking. Minus the sleek production, “Transformation” would easily slot onto M oondance or Tupelo Honey . “Ordinary People” would also fit neatly within that same era…because that’s when it was written. A solid collection of tunes that fit Morrison’s voice like a glove, as well as a worthy album in an absolutely legendary career.

Silver Eye (LP)

Goldfrapp

Goldfrapp’s Silver Eye is a refreshing return to the icy cool, ‘80s inspired synth pop sound the duo perfected on Supernature and Black Cherry . The record is cinematic, glamorous, and darkly romantic — in short, it’s everything you want a Goldfrapp record to be. “Anymore” is a propulsive paean to love and lust, “Systemagic” fits right into the currently ultra cool industrial scene, and “Ocean” is a sweeping, introspective, and haunting closer. Listeners will want to get lost in this moody disco dream.

(V) (CD)

The Bronx

Along with Weezer, The Bronx has got to be one of the few bands to have released at least 3 self-titled albums. For their fifth, they follow in Led Zeppelin’s footsteps and go the classic Roman numeral route. Punk rock stalwarts for years, V proves The Bronx is just as aggressive as ever with tunes like “Sore Throat,” which earns its title on a two-and-a-half minute blast of hardcore fury. However, these boys still know how to write a hook, and following in the footsteps of their previous two self-titled releases (which found the group embracing more midtempo, melodic pastures), songs like “Two Birds” exemplify The Bronx’s proficiency in creating rowdy, inebriated, and catchy rock ‘n roll in the vein of KISS or New York Dolls. Matt Caughthran screams his way through these tunes, seemingly challenging any younger punk rock upstarts to try and outdo them. Sore throat, indeed.

Electric Trim (CD)

Lee Ranaldo

Former Sonic Youth guitarist (and the hip, underrated choice for your favorite songwriter of that particular ensemble) releases a new solo album on his old label, Mute Records, the home of Sonic Youth pre-Geffen era. Electric Trim is pure, unfiltered Lee Ranaldo: his noisy affectations cloaking a genuine adulation of '60s psychedelia and his Joni Mitchell-influenced lyrical style, full of imagery and yearning emotion. Featuring shared vocal duties with Sharon Von Etten, and with author Jonathan Lethem helping pen these distinctively literate songs.

Dedicated To Bobby Jameson (CD)

Ariel Pink

Ariel Pink has been recording music since the late '90s, finding cult success when his early, lo-fi homemade albums were issued on Animal Collective’s burgeoning Paw Tracks label. These early releases presented a warped sonic palette that became Ariel’s trademark, including beat-boxed drum sounds, primitive synths galore, and an undeniable pop genius that incorporated the chintziest aspects of '60s, '70s, and '80s throwaway music into a unique sound unlike any other. In 2010, he released his breakout record, Before Today , which featured an upgrade to a full band and proper recording budget, and subsequently became a critical darling as well as polarizing persona in the greater indie world. These past seven years have found Ariel having achieved some of the fame and validation he thought he always wanted, and he dedicates his latest record in title to someone who spent most of his life chasing after the same thing. Bobby Jameson was a little known '60s folky singer-songwriter dubbed “Mayor of the Sunset Strip” for his perpetual participation in the curfew riots, who briefly brushed with fame before falling victim to bad management, drug addiction, and homelessness. Dedicated to Bobby Jameson is, in many ways, a throwback to Ariel’s earlier days: it's his first album to be largely self-recorded since the 2000s and carries with it many of the musical idiosyncrasies that had been (only somewhat) polished over on his past three records for 4AD. The title track, in particular, is classic Pink, featuring an overload of synth-strings and crammed with pop hooks that sound like they’ve been left out in the sun too long. Along with the dark bedroom funk of “Death Patrol,”it could easily fit onto early masterpieces such as House Arrest or The Doldrums . Elsewhere, “Feels Like Heaven” pays homage to Ariel’s self-professed favorite band The Cure, with a winking title and stargazing chorus. Other tributes come in the way of “Bubblegum Dreams,” which quotes the Vaselines on a song as buoyant and catchy as its name would suggest, or the ambient goth trash of “Time To Live,” which gloriously steals the melody from “Video Killed The Radio Song” on a song about living…or dying. It’s all the same, dude. “Santa’s In The Closet” affects a vocal style that lands somewhere between Paul Roland and Rozz Williams over lyrics that are more literal than you might think. At the album’s finale, Ariel tackles two of the few genres that have mostly eluded his omnivorous tendencies: folk-pop and quiet storm on “Do Yourself A Favor” and “Acting,” respectively, the latter featuring a collaboration with fellow Angeleno music wizard Dam Funk. These brilliant songs all loosely fit behind the legacy of a man who constantly sought the recognition he deserved, delivered from the vantage of another who reached it and thought “now what?” Dedicated to Bobby Jameson is the correct answer.

Greatest Hits Live (CD)

Steve Winwood

Without the weight of a name like McCartney or Dylan, Steve Winwood, nevertheless, rules the baby boomers. From the '60s to the '80s the dude was everywhere, putting out hits with a litany of different ensembles. He had early, mod-era success with Spencer Davis Group's “Gimme Some Loving” and “I’m A Man”; worked with Clapton in the short lived supergroup Blind Faith, producing at least one bonafide classic in “Can’t Find My Way Home”; and purveyed his own pastoral proggy-ness in '70s favorites Traffic, best known for “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” before ditching pseudonyms altogether for a well-manicured solo career in the '80s. Greatest Hits Live compiles all these essential tunes onto one deluxe collection, pulling from Winwood’s personal archive of previously unreleased performances on a 23-song anthology of his most enduring tunes.

Okovi (CD)

Zola Jesus

Okovi , the sixth full-length from the classically-trained goth diva Zola Jesus, is a fully-realized gem of an album. Operatic, moving, and cathartic, the collection of songs nods back to her earlier, grittier post-punk work while further evolving the grand, sweeping sound she has developed over the past decade. The effect is transcendent, a compelling juxtaposition between the depths of tragedy and the relentless desire for life. On previous albums, Zola had flirted with the structures and buoyant chords of pop; here she mostly eschews those tactics in favor of a darker, more symphonic sound. A cohesive, haunting album from one of the most distinctive, powerful voices in underground music.

Strange Peace (CD)

METZ

The Toronto-based trio’s third full-length album is an artful hammer swing to the status quo. Recorded in Chicago, live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini, Strange Peace is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before.

Every Country's Sun (CD)

Mogwai

Everyone’s favorite Scottish post-rockers and Blur-haters are back with their 9th studio album! Produced by indie superhero David Fridmann, Every Country’s Sun is a record of loud, distorted drums, cool electronic textures, and frenzied guitar work. While much of the songs here follow the time-honored Mogwai template that the band has honed since 1997, the record also features a true rarity amongst their catalogue: a vocal track. In fact, “Party in the Dark” doesn’t just feature lead vocals from guitarist Stuart Braithwaite, but is an honest-to-god pop tune, complete with Slowdive-like synth strings yearning alongside New Order rhythms, all drenched in cavernous amounts of echo. For a band that has always marched to the beat of their own drum, this brief slice of shoegaze heaven illustrates the continued evolution of their unique sound, and dials back their somewhat thorny reputation. In a way, it’s songs like “Party,” alongside more traditional cuts such as “Battered at a Scramble,” that make Every Country’s Sun the perfect entry point into Mogwai’s storied career. The band condenses their past and predicts their future on a group of 11 tunes that could be played by absolutely no one else.

Door Girl (CD)

Shilpa Ray

Shilpa Ray's Door Girl is a New York punk record in the grand tradition of New York punk records. Ray's latest raucous, lively collection of songs traffics in the grit and glamour of the Velvet Underground, the raw energy of the New York Dolls, and the infectious melodies of Blondie. It's a no-holds barred, take-no-prisoners account of living in the city as a woman in these strange days. When so much punk has been toned down into melodic sing-alongs and radio-friendly teen hits, it's a blessing to have Shilpa Ray still at it, making rough-and-tumble rock 'n' roll music with fire in her heart.

The Amulet (CD)

Circa Survive

Is that emotional prog you’ve got there? Proggy-emo? On Circa Survive’s 6th studio LP, the strangled angst and boisterous volume that has been the hallmark of their sound for the past decade is mostly intact. Delayed, distorted guitars along with impassioned, wailing vocals are still at the heart of The Amulet ’s 10 tracks. However, this time around the mood is a bit more contemplative and conceptual, with softer instrumental passages and far more singing than outright screaming. The progressive rock element is heavily felt with shifting tempos, flashy guitar heroics, and songs with titles like “Premonition of the Hex,” “Rites of Investiture” or, hell, the title track. Long a staple of the post-hardcore/emo scene along with contemporaries Thrice and Saosin, Circa Survive prove they don’t lack for ambition on a release that nudges them away from their aforementioned peers and is closer in approach to that of technical prog wizards such as Mew or Coheed and Cambria. An adventurous exercise in space age rock.