Now Downloading: New Releases 02.12.08

It's a snoozer of a week for releases, and I have a hard time believing it's in fear of the special 25th Anniversary deluxe edition of Thriller, which is a pointless exercise boasting of only a previously unreleased (and forgettable) ballad. Of the few 'braving' the thriller night, there's the latest from British Sea Power, a Flat Duo Jets documentary soundtrack and a new single from this up and coming band called R.E.M.

Playlist: New Releases 02.12.08

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Album: British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

Like M.I.A.'s Kala, British Sea Power recorded this album all over the world, namely Czech Republic, Montreal and Cornwall, England. BSP enlists the production talents of Jarvis Cocker, and while in Montreal, Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire) and Efrim Menuck (God Speed You Black Emperor,) making for a diverse sound. It's rich and textured, with more post-punk elements -- a return to their great debut from 2003, The Decline of British Sea Power. Songs liked "No Lucifer" and "A Trip Out" are revved up fist-pumping anthems, while opener "All In It" and the great "Waving Flags" have a bit of Arcade Fire's "come to Jesus" moments, perhaps explaining the need for Bilerman's presence. It's an album that doesn't always work, but while reaching for something tremendous, Do You Like Rock Music? still pleases despite failing to reach it's intended height.

Free album stream from AOL
Download: "Waving Flags"

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Album: R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious (Single)

This song accomplishes what would normally be a given for a band, in that it sounds like the band. But R.E.M. has sort of worked around the margins of their idiom for years now, and you have to go back twelve years to find their last true album pushing single (1996's "Electrolite," from New Adventures in Hi-Fi). "Supernatural Superserious" is more a return to "What's the Frequency Kenneth" than it is peak-era R.E.M., but it's still a welcome thing, even if the song itself is standard Peter Buck hook 101.

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Next week's albums streaming for free on AOL:
Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

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More on the radar this week
Flat Duo Jets - Two Headed Cow (Soundtrack to documentary on the band)
The Heavy Circles - The Heavy Circles / Free album stream from AOL
Chris Joss - Teraphonic Overdubs / Free album stream from AOL
Doug Hoekstra - Blooming Roses
Supreme Beings of Leisure - 11i
Indian Jewelry - We Are the Wild Beast
Idiot Pilot - Wolves
The Puppini Sisters - The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo
The Two Man Gentlemen Band - Heavy Petting
Widespread Panic - Free Somehow / Free album stream from AOL
Shoot 'Em Up (Music From the Motion Picture)
REISSUES:
Michael Jackson - Thriller 25 Deluxe Edition
Flo & Eddie - The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie / Flo & Eddie
Japancakes - Down the Elements
Japancakes - If I Could See Dallas
Japancakes - The Sleepy Strange

tags: music, album review, rem, british sea power, flat duo jets, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody