Fresh Press Friday — new vinyl out this week

Sylvan Esso's Most Explosive Record, Bonobo's Possible Last Album, Jay-Z's Blueprint Turns 25

Plus Bloc Party's Trevor Horn-produced return and a stacked week of reissues from Funkadelic, Snow Patrol, and Gogol Bordello.

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A week of endings and landmarks: Bonobo may be closing the book on his traditional album format, Jay-Z's Blueprint hits a quarter-century as hip-hop's holy grail, and Sylvan Esso emerge from four years in the Chapel Hill woods with their rawest work yet.

Just Dropped

Sylvan Esso — Ow ∞ [LP]
Four years in the Chapel Hill woods, their longest writing process yet, yields Sylvan Esso's most immediate, explosive work. Built largely from Amelia Meath's first vocal takes, Ow ∞ is sinewy and punchy, a technicolor freefall where the songs claw their way out. Raw, human, and freakishly new.

Bonobo — Distance in Static [2LP]
Beautiful and banging. Bonobo's most expansive record, partly born at Neil Young's ranch studio, features Arooj Aftab, Joy Crookes, and Nilüfer Yanya, celebrates 25 years of his career, and quite possibly marks his last traditional album. Introspective composer meets club selector. Out September 11.

Bloc Party — Anatomy Of A Brief Romance [Red Vinyl]
Post-punk revival at their peak. A year-long romance dissected in brutal, intimate detail, produced by the legendary Trevor Horn. Buoyed by their biggest touring year in two decades, Kele and company reaffirm why they've stayed essential.

Jay-Z — The Blueprint (25th Anniversary) [Cobalt Blue Vinyl 2LP]
Hip-hop's holy grail at 25. Soul samples, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," and Eminem's "Renegade" — the album that turned Jay-Z from a great rapper into hip-hop's defining producer's-ear auteur. On cobalt blue vinyl.

Also New This Week

• Vince Guaraldi — It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown [Magnifying Glass Clear Vinyl] — Peanuts jazz debuts on wax, mystery solved.
• First Day Back — Forward [Ultra Clear Vinyl] — second-wave emo's torchbearers, Cap'n Jazz exasperation meets violin and harmonica.
• Richard Ashcroft — Live Vol 1 [Yellow Vinyl] — The Verve frontman's first live album, solo hits and Bittersweet Symphony era.
• Ibibio Sound Machine — Chopping Mountain [Green Smoke Vinyl] — afro-disco euphoria as resistance, the London collective's joyful sixth album.
• This Is Lorelei — The Singer in My Band [LP] — Nate Amos's first Matador road record, offbeat art-pop from an indie polymath.
• Jack McDuff — Sophisticated Funk [Brown Vinyl] — Hammond organ heat, soul-jazz grooves on 180g brown vinyl.
• Gogol Bordello — Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike [Frosted 2LP] — gypsy-punk chaos, Albini-produced, "Start Wearing Purple" 20 years on.
• Snow Patrol — Eyes Open (20th Anniversary) [Bone White 2LP] — "Chasing Cars" at 20, 8x platinum, now with rare B-sides and unreleased gems.
• The Hu — Hun [Ruby 140-Gram Vinyl] — Mongolian throat-singing meets modern metal, global rock like nothing else.
• Teenage Bottlerocket — Stay Rad [Tan Vinyl] — pop-punk's raddest lifers, breakneck melodies, silly and heartfelt in equal measure.
• Ezra Collective — Here Because Of Hope [White 2LP] — London's joyful jazz visionaries, Mercury winners trace the diaspora with Leona Lewis and more.
• Funkadelic — Maggot Brain [Armageddon Red Vinyl] — Eddie Hazel's cosmic guitar weeps, psychedelic funk's holy grail, all-analog.
• Force M.D.'s — Let Me Love You: The Greatest Hits [Blue Vinyl] — Staten Island's doo-wop-meets-hip-hop pioneers, "Tender Love" and R&B classics.
• Ruth B. — Peace To Make [White Vinyl] — the "Lost Boy" singer's rawest chapter, heartbreak to healing in dreamy folk-pop.
• Haruomi Hosono — Yours Sincerely [LP] — the YMO legend's late renaissance, psych-folk and avant-pop at 78, his first in seven years.

An electronic pioneer's possible farewell, a quarter-century of hip-hop's defining record, and a duo's rawest work in a decade. All out this week, get your orders in before they're gone.

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— Drowned World Records