Announcing The Essentials Records Of The Month For February And March

First off, we want to remind you that if you sign up today, you can get our exclusive edition of Dirty Projectors’ landmark LP, Bitte Orca, on an expanded edition on clear vinyl with red and blue blobs. You can sign up here.

From there, we’re going to jump to March, since today brings the delightful news of a new Caroline Rose album, Superstar. Caroline has been a favorite of the VMP Staff since we heard her last album, LONER, in 2017. We featured that album in our store as an exclusive edition, Caroline played our VMP Rising showcase in 2018, and we featured her on the first season of Hi-Fives. Today, we’re psyched to announce that VMP Essentials members will receive an exclusive edition of Superstar as their March Record of the Month. Rose wrote, recorded and produced Superstar in her 10’x12’ home studio and on a portable rig she’d set up in green rooms while touring behind LONER. The album’s first track finds its protagonist the recipient of an accidental call from Hollywood’s glamorous Chateau Marmont hotel, which they take as a sign to leave everything behind and pursue their star-studded destiny. It’ll be available onneon pink vinyl with a 10”x 10” lyric and photo booklet. We can’t wait for you to hear it. You can watch the video for the first single, "Feel The Way I Want" below:

In between Dirty Projectors and Caroline Rose next month is a long-overdue reissue of the Roots’ Phrenology. The band’s 2002 album was recorded during the artistically fertile period of 1999-2002, when a group of black artists--who called themselves the Soulquarians--took over NYC studios and made expansive, genre-exploding albums. Phrenology is the follow up to 1999’s Things Fall Apart, and it’s on vinyl for the first time since 2002. New lacquers were cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from digital sources, and it’ll be available starting January 27 for Essentials members. We featured the band’s How I Got Over in our Rap & Hip-Hop subscription last year, and are excited to feature them here as well. You can listen to the album below.

You can sign up for Vinyl Me, Please Essentials here.