Angel Heart

This box set features the six albums Angel released on Neil Bogart’s legendary Casablanca Records label, in addition to a seventh disc that contains mono mixes, single edits, soundtrack contributions, and other rarities.

Light in the Attic Records (LITA) proudly announces The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed. The star-studded album celebrates the pioneering singer-songwriter’s enduring influence—as well as the timeless appeal of his songs—through performances by Reed’s closest friends and biggest fans, including Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Afghan Whigs, Bobby Rush, Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen, Mary Gauthier, and Automatic. Blending generation-defining hits (“I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Walk on the Wild Side,” “Perfect Day”) with lesser-known gems, the collection spans the artist’s five-decade-long career: from his earliest days with The Velvet Underground to his groundbreaking solo work.

Xiu Xiu already have a new album in the hopper: their Nina Simone tribute LP Nina, out December 2. Today, they've announced a new album of original material that's due in 2014. The follow-up to 2012's Always is called Angel Guts: Red Classroom, and it's out February 4 via Polyvinyl. (Update: It's out via Bella Union in the UK.) That's "Stupid in the Dark" above, along with the album cover.The title of the album comes from a 1979 Japanese erotic film. A press release says "Angel Guts: Red Classroom is the beginning of Xiu Xiu's descent from grayness into the deepest blackness endurable. It is the sound of Xiu Xiu's death." It adds, "The subject matter—racialized sex, double suicide, double penetration, criminality, fear of physical harm—is unsuitable for the faint of heart. But when the heart has stopped beating, only the soul remains to carry on."