David Bowie - Blackstar

New studio album from the mercurial music icon

"Surreal, haunting." — Rolling Stone

David Bowie returns with his 28th studio album Blackstar and first single of the same name. The album is Bowie's first since stunning the world in 2013 with the critically acclaimed The Next Day. Music from the album has been featured in the opening title credits and trailers for the new TV series "The Last Panthers." The series, also directed by Johan Renck, began airing across Europe in late-October and will premiere in the U.S. on SundanceTV in Spring 2016.

The seven-track album features contributions from Mark Guiliana, Jason Lindner, Donny McCaslin, Ben Monder, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, and Tedeschi Trucks Band's Tim Lefebvre.

This special die-cut vinyl LP package features a 180-gram heavyweight black vinyl LP housed in a special die-cut cover art gatefold jacket. Includes 16-page color booklet with special varnish. The LP package is a gatefold with die-cut star cover which you look through to see the vinyl.

"David Bowie has achieved the status of deity in our modern age. That's why the soon-to-be 69-year-old artist has almost completely removed himself from the public eye and refuses to give interviews. He doesn't have to. His position in the pantheon has long been secured. ... This has allowed him the kind of creative carte blanche that few other artists of his generation can lay claim to. Which is why when he announced that his latest album would be a suite of ribald, almost Kurt Weill-like pop tunes backed by a modern jazz quartet not only did no one cry foul, it instantly became one of the most anticipated releases of the new year.

"True to the tone of the record, Bowie is almost a spectre throughout Blackstar. His vocals are often doubled in tight harmonies, or given an alien-like echo that might as well be broadcasts from the beyond. He never sounds less than marvelous, through. After 45+ years of work, his voice has lost a little of its high end, but is possibly stronger. It's definitely capable of reaching more sinister aims on songs like "Whore" and "Girl Loves Me," and with a smattering of vibrato, he can unearth some still-rich wells of emotion. ... As he sings it, it doesn't come off as pleading or defiant. It's a simple statement of fact that, like this brilliant album, should be more than enough for fans to absorb and appreciate." — Paste Magazine, Jan. 5, 2016

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