In celebration of the release of 7, the excellent seventh studio album from Baltimore’s best, the dream pop duo Beach House, we’re counting off the band’s albums in a totally subjective, completely biased way. Pick up 7 when it comes out on Friday, May 11 or pre-order it now on CD, LP or cassette, and let us know what you think — is Teen Dream better than Bloom? Is Devotion totally underrated? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

8. B-Sides & Rarities (2017) Sure, it’s not a true Beach House album, but this B-sides and rarities album is strong enough to warrant inclusion. It’s a strong listen on its own merit, including “Equal Mind,” a song that could’ve easily been a single were it included on Depression Cherry or Thank Your Lucky Stars. Continue reading...

Madonna celebrates her 58^th birthday Tuesday, Aug. 16,  and to celebrate, we’re putting all Madonna items on sale at our stores! Get 20% off anything Madonna — music, DVDs, T-shirts, mugs, posters and more — in-store only on Aug. 16. (Discount not valid online.)

If you're at Amoeba Hollywood be sure to enter for your chance to win Madonna goodies, including an American Life messenger bag, test pressings, vinyl and more!

Plus, Amoeba San Francisco is keeping the party going with a special Madonna DJ set starting at 4 p.m. Direct from Hollywood, DJs Nikki Finn and Benderico will get you into the groove from 4-6 p.m., spinning all the classics, rare mixes and B-sides by the one and only Madonna! It's free and all-ages, of course.

Check out our list of our favorite Madonna albums below, as picked by Amoeba’s Billy Gil, Brad Schelden, and Brent James.

10. Evita [OST] Continue reading...

Marissa Nadler – Strangers

Marissa Nadler’s latest is one of her best yet, adding a little warmth to her haunting rendition of goth-Americana. Whether she’s playing vague with evocative line, as in “Divers of the Dust” (“the waves were screaming/city streets/you look out the window to see/seven lines of stunted trees”), or singing directly, as in “Katie I Know” (“it’s hard to know when to let go/cause I can bury this heart of mine”), Nadler’s words and voice cut deep. Musically, Strangers is a blend of old and new sounds, but the mixture works. “Hungry Is the Ghost” effuses spectral beauty, with slowcore guitars and swelling cosmic sounds, balancing out a song like “Skyscraper,” which is full of spare acoustics and medieval flutes. Though the feel is wintry as per her usual style, “All the Colours of the Dark” is actually one of the sweetest sounding songs Nadler has put to tape, full of genteel fingerpicking, Southern sounding strings and layered organ and piano. Wading through the album’s melancholia, which is pleasurable in its own way, it gives way to the sighing steel guitars of the title track, as well as perhaps her best song yet, “Janie in Love,” in which her swooping, birdsong voice calls out in shudder-inducing beauty, “you’re a natural disaster, and I am watching you blow up everything, you touch and the earth will crumble.” Though bleak, Nadler’s previous albums have never been short of stunning. This time, the music offers not just commiseration but light at the end of the tunnel.

The last First Fridays of the season happens June 3 at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, featuring indie-rock bands HEALTH and YACHT. Amoeba is proud to be a sponsor, and we’ll be on hand with goodies and $20 gift certificates for $10 (limit two per customer).

Tickets for the event are on sale now for $20. Being that this is one of the most high-profile First Fridays this year, you’ll want to get your tickets early!

Headlining the show are L.A. noise-pop band HEALTH, who  rose from the breeding grounds of the scene surrounding The Smell in the ’00s and gained notoriety through various remixes of their songs, including “Crimewave,” as included on Crystal Castles’ first album. The band also scored the video game Max Payne 3. Their latest album, Death Magic, is their most palatable yet, taking their chaotic aesthetic to festival-stage proportions. Watch the hedonistic “New Coke” video below.

Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow

Philly hardcore dudes Nothing dive deep into the shoegaze pool on their latest. Tired of Tomorrow hits hard, with cymbals crashing into textured walls of guitar on opener “Fever Queen.” Their grounding in hardcore gives added oomph to dreamy power-pop tunes like “Vertigo Flowers.” Songs like “A.C.D.” and “Curse of the Sun” recall the best of heavy ’90s alt-rock (pre nu-metal), reminiscent of bands like Helmet and Smashing Pumpkins. Nothing are very indebted in particular to Slowdive and Chapterhouse, but they’re in on the joke — one song is even called “Nineteen Ninety Heaven.” And with touches of violin and piano on ballads like “Everyone Is Happy,” or the Morricone riff and desert sway of “The Dead Are Dumb,” Nothing’s second album is varied and balanced. While some bands remain allergic to distortion since the ’90s, Tired of Tomorrow is a big, fuzzy embrace of distorted anthems.