Now Downloading: New Releases 09.25.07

I'm afraid my new release posts are getting the short end of my attention span of late, with all the writing demands that have come my way via Film.com. It's a big day for 'New Folk' and I'm going to take the (still not very) easy way out here and refer to my post yesterday on new releases from Jose Gonzalez and Devendra Banhart, while focusing here releases from Iron & Wine, Two Gallants, and the solo debut from A.A. Bondy. There's folk then just that, though, there's more traditional folk from Joni Mitchell, and AA Bondy, and the US release of (somewhat folk-y) Loney, Dear's 2006 album Sologne (entered erroneously in Rhapsody,) one of my faves from last year (#24).

Playlist: New Releases 09.25.07

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Album: Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

Sam Beam has been hinting at the coming expansion of sound for Iron & Wine, with the EPs Woman King and his collaboration with Calexico, In the Reins. Both from 2005, the recordings were a few rows up from the minimal lo-fi sounds of the excellent first two albums, utilizing a whole band and new experiments with sound. The Shepherd's Dog is a fully realized album, with intricate attention to detail in how the songs fit together, and I'm always a sucker for that kind of thing. There's a richness here that Beam has shied away from, but always seemed ready to do in the near future. There's a Hammond organ here, a vibraphone there, backwards guitars, African rhythms ("House by the Sea ,") even vocal effects ("Carousel"). It would be a shocking change in less delicate hands, but Beam knows the sounds he wants you to experience, and it's a revelatory experience.

Download: "Innocent Bones" (Sub Pop)
Download: "Boy With a Coin" (Sub Pop)

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Album: Two Gallants - Two Gallants

Like Liars previously, Two Gallants have curiously decided to go the self-titled route several releases into their career. Two Gallants continue their Grapes of Wrath tales of Americana, making a more focused disc then last year's somewhat disappointing What the Toll Tells. Their debut, The Throes, is still the album to get, but TG is a welcome return to the depth of that debut.

Download: "The Hand That Held Me Down" (Saddle Creek)

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Album: A.A. Bondy - American Hearts

This one has been out for a month alreadIt's hard to believe this is the artists formerly known as Scott Bondy, the frontman for the rocking band Verbena. Here he takes a sort of Ryan Adams turn, or better yet, for those that remember, a Gerald Collier right-turn from his days of rocking in Best Kissers in the World. It's got a Dylan Freewheellin' vibe to it, and the album is a welcome respite from a lot of noise that's in my head right now.

Free album stream from AOL

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More going (or already in) the Sansa
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature (Free album stream from AOL)
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (Free album stream from AOL)
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
The Cave Singers - Invitation Songs (Free album stream from AOL)
Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War (Free album stream from AOL)
Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
Tiny Masters of Today - Bang Bang Boom Cake
Múm - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy
Loney, Dear - Sologne
Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River (Free album stream from AOL)
Nellie McKay - Obligatory Villagers
Georgie James - Places
Matt Pond PA - Last Light (Free album stream from AOL)
Damon and Naomi - Within These Walls
The Bird and the Bee - Please Clap Your Hands (EP)
Joni Mitchell - Shine (Free album stream from AOL)
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters (Free album stream from AOL)
Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks (Free album stream from AOL)
Office - A Night at the Ritz
Small Sins - Mood Swings (Free album stream from AOL)
Metalocalypse: Dethklok - The Dethalbum

tags: music, album review, thurston moore, the go team, kevin drew, bss, les savy fav, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody