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The Best Vinyl Releases Of May 2024

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vinyl feat
Uproxx

Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.

Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of the best vinyl releases of May below.

Justice — Hyperdrama

Justice Hyperdrama vinyl
Ed Banger Records/Because Music

Justice had one of the month’s best new albums with Hyperdrama, which includes features from Miguel and Tame Impala. The 2-LP release (a double black 140g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve) bears on the front its striking cover art, an organic spin on their classic cross imagery.

Get it here.

Modest Mouse — Good News For People Who Love Bad News: 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition

Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News: 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition
Legacy Recordings

Good news: Good News For People Who Love Bad News is 20 years old now and Modest Mouse is celebrating by reissuing the album. The release has new cover art and the vinyl edition specifically is pressed on baby pink and spring green vinyl and five new remixes by folks like Dan The Automator and Jacknife Lee.

Get it here.

DIIV — Frog In Boiling Water

DIIV Frog In Boiling Water vinyl
Fantasy

DIIV recently told Uproxx of their new album, “For a lot of people, that is part of what they fell in love with with the first two albums — this rich, dreamy atmosphere that is very feelings-forward. Rather than this song has an amazing bridge and an amazing chorus. A lot of times with the earlier songs, sometimes there wasn’t even a chorus, but it didn’t really matter because the song felt so good to listen to. I feel like the new album has an element of that which makes it feel more comprehensive in our catalog.”

The 180 gram red ECO pressing is limited to 500 copies and still available, but we can’t imagine that will be the case for long.

Get it here.

Black Sabbath — Black Sabbath (Reissue)

Rhino

Will we hear from Black Sabbath again? Maybe! Either way, we’ll always have their music, and now their self-titled debut album is on vinyl once again via Rhino’s High Fidelity series, which is limited to 5000 copies of 180-gram vinyl pressing.

Get it here.

Devo — Freedom Of Choice (Reissue)

Rhino

Also from the same Rhino series, which boasts Kevin Gray as personally overseeing the pressings, 1980’s Freedom Of Choice is an essential for any collection for two predominant reasons: It’s the album with “Whip It,” and it’s the album that saw Devo introduce their now-iconic energy dome hats. This reissue is a special edition of a special album: it’s a AAA cut from the original stereo master tapes, it comes with exclusive notes from album producer Robert Margouleff, and, like the Sabbath release, only 5,000 numbered copies are being pressed.

Get it here.

I Saw The TV Glow — The Original Soundtrack

I Saw The TV Glow vinyl
A24 Music

The highly anticipated A24 horror film I Saw The TV Glow came out this month, and it has quite the soundtrack, too, featuring Phoebe Bridgers, Caroline Polachek, Bartees Strange, and more. The vinyl edition is even better, as it comes with a vinyl exclusive cover of The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” by Snail Mail (who has an acting role in the movie, by the way). It’s also one of the best movies of the year, so be sure to check it out while it is still in theaters.

Get it here.

Above The Rim (The Soundtrack)

Above The Rim Soundtrack vinyl
gamma./Death Row Records

The Above The Rim soundtrack was one of the more iconic R&B- and hip-hop-oriented OSTs of the ’90s, and now that it’s 30 years old, it has gotten a fresh reissue. Like the cassette edition before it, this rerelease includes tracks that were from from the CD version, including a pair of Tupac songs.

Get it here.

Sylvan Esso — Sylvan Esso (10th Anniversary Edition)

Sylvan Esso (10 Year Anniversary Edition)
Psychic Hotline

Sylvan Esso has marked a decade of their self-titled debut album with a deluxe edition. Goodies include a cover of Porches’ “The Cosmos,” “Jamie’s Song” (which debuted in 2015), and new remixes by J Rocc, Rick Wade, Helado Negro, Dntel, Hercules And Love Affair, and Charles Spearin. There are a number of vinyl editions available, including one that’s only available from record stores in North Carolina.

Get it here.

Bob Marley & The Wailers — Exodus (Reissue)

Bob Marley & The Wailers Exodus (Reissue)
Island/UMe

Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1997 album Exodus is iconic and spawned some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Jamming,” “One Love/People Get Ready,” and “Three Little Birds.” In celebration of the recent Bob Marley: One Love biopic, the album has been re-released, including an exclusive 10-inch LP of rare bonus tracks.

Get it here.

Pete Townshend — All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (Reissue) and White City (A Novel) (Reissue)

pete townshend vinyl
Atco Records

Pete Townshend followed 1980’s Empty Glass (the “Let My Love Open The Door” album) with a pair of solo albums that have now been reissued. Both projects received a half-speed mastering by longtime The Who engineer Jon Astley.

Get it here.

Indie Artists Detail How Much Money They Made (Or Lost) Playing SXSW In 2022

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South By Southwest SXSW Sign 2022
Getty Image

This year’s South By Southwest festival just wrapped up a few days ago, and like usual, it was a chance for up-and-coming artists to play some shows and get their names out there. That said, while SXSW is great for those reasons, it’s really more of a marketing opportunity for artists than it is a money-making venture. Now, following the festival, some artists who performed are revealing how much money they managed to earn (or lose) during the week.

Asheville, North Carolina group Wednesday kicked off the conversation by sharing a list of their earnings and expenses for SXSW this year. To summarize, they made $2,084, had $2,182.39 in expenses, and walked away with a loss of $98.39. They noted, “Just for transparencies sake & cause I feel comfortable posting this: here is why it is so hard for bands to go to SX !! This is b4 paying 10% $ to the booking agent and not including food expenses. Combination of staying in COVID safe places and gas prices is p devastating.”

In subsequent tweets, they continued:

“& we are technically a band that is ‘doing very well’ at the moment!! It’s even harder for bands who are more in the DIY side of things who went to SX. I ain’t complaining abt doing my dream job, but do wanna show why being paid fairly from streaming would make a difference.

Also wanna add SX is a special circumstance and we had a gr8 time! Regardless we did get COVID and lost money. A reminder that music is simply an industry that is very inaccessible to people without a safety net of time/money. Very relieved that we are close to being able to live off our music cause working in retail and doing music full time was not sustainable for me forever. Def a good idea as always to support any bands that are struggling rn if you’re a fan and have the means!”

This prompted other performers to chime in with how they fared, like Secretly Canadian artist Le Ren, who replied, “I just did my calcs and my band m8 and I are walking away with a cool $300 each (CAD so around $230 USD).” Philadelphia group The Stone Eye noted, “Ya’ll gotta do some DoorDash/instacart on your days off. We payed for our 3 night, $70 a night stay in Raleigh that way.”

That perspective got some mixed reactions. Colin Caulfield of Diiv replied, “Horrible advice. A day off almost always = a long drive.” Drew Kennedy responded, “Respect.” Remember Sports (formerly Sports) added, not specifically of The Stone Eye’s tweet but in general, “Unbelievable how much useless unsolicited advice has appeared in these comments lmao at y’all.”

Other users wondered why merch sales weren’t included in Wednesday’s figures and the band responded. “The only place we sold merch at SX was a house show. There’s not a ton of opportunity to sell merch at showcases cause the schedules are so packed they want you in and out.”

Later, the band concluded in a tweet thread:

“Here’s the last thing I’m gonna say about the SX tweet. Touring the cheapest way isn’t always touring the ‘right’ way if it makes it unsustainable for you physically/mentally. Two bands were at the Airbnb for 5 days. We played 7 shows total, got paid for 1.

For the bands that say the numbers make you afraid to tour: the point was to highlight how inaccessible being a musician has become. I hope its easier for more people to be touring musicians if they want to in the future! But it’ll take a rethinking of how we engage with music.. Through streaming or whatever.

We’ve been touring for 5 years, working/being in school when we’re home and barely breaking even. If there was anyway we could make it easier for people to live off of music, imagine how much more music we’d be able to listen to!! I’m not gonna engage with any comments on here for my own sake… but idk that’s all I got to say about it.”