Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Now Downloading: New Releases 03.09.10

Damn you week of March 9 new releases.... why must you have so many noteworthy so as to make me choose just a couple. Because there are so many, I'm profiling more and giving less space to each as a result. There's a greatest hits release from the newly reunited Pavement; the Danger Mouse/James Mercer collaboration debut Broken Bells; along with new releases from Ted Leo, Liars and a crazy interpretation of Orpheus from Anais Mitchell. Other new releases I would have profiled nearly any other week include ones from Gorillaz, The Besnard Lakes, Frightened Rabbits, Jason Collett, Miles Kurosky (ex-Beulah), White Hinterland, jj, Titus Andronicus, The Morning Benders, The Whigs, Free Energy and the subject of Heavy Metal in Baghdad, Acrassicauda.

Playlist: New Releases 03.09.10


Pavement - Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Pavement - Quaranatine the Past The Best of PavementWhile the band of the 1990's only released five albums and a handful of EPs and never technically had any hits (save "Cut Your Hair," which was at least a hit in circles I traveled), Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement gives the (correct) impression of a much deeper career. You'd be hard pressed to pick a better track list for the band. I"m sure there's a song or two that some wish were on here, but it's hard to argue with early cuts like "Box Elder" and b-sides like "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence".

Free AOL Album Stream
Download: Pavement - "Gold Soundz" [mp3]


Broken Bells - Broken Bells
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Broken Bells - Broken BellsIt makes sense that Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and James Mercer (The Shins) hit it off, given their mutual admiration of sixties pop. References abound to The Zombies, Love, Pet Sounds and even famed Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. The two sound comfortable together -- perhaps too comfortable.

Free AOL Album Stream


Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist BricksIt may be Ted Leo's Matador debut, but it's still the same old brainy-angsty-power-pop-meets-punk sound that he's been crafting since he began in the mid-nineties. If you're a fan already, you already know you love it. As an introduction to TL&TP, it's a fine first impression.

Free AOL Album Stream
Download: "The Mighty Sparrow" / "Even Heroes Have to Die" [mp3]


Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Anais Mitchell - HadestownMitchell created this "folk opera" based on the old Greek myth of Orpheus rescuing Eurydice, bringing it up to modern times. The music and lyrics are fine enough, but throw in the cast, and it moves into the you have to hear it category. Hadestown features Mitchell as Eurydice, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) as Orpheus, Ani DiFranco as Persephone, Greg Brown as Hades, Ben Knox Miller (The Low Anthem) as Hermes, and the Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel, and Tanya) as the Fates.

Free AOL album stream


Liars - Sisterworld
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Liars - SisterworldAn album from Liars requires a certain length of time to sit in your head before it opens up and lets you in. After taking up residence in Berlin (Drums Not Dead) and Salem (They Were Wrong, So We Drowned), Sisterworld is the product of Los Angeles, albeit, a paranoid and colder version of the city than many might recognize. The band has fine-tuned their tribal and creepy take on the rock genre, but are still light years from mass appeal -- something that's never seemed to be in their interest. Upon first listen, it'd be hard to convince the listener that the album has a 'catchy' bone in its body, but after living with it for a month, I can attest that the bones are there. Just have to pick away at the meat for awhile... so only approach with great patience.

Free AOL album stream


More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night / Free AOL album stream / "Albatross" [mp3]
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor / Free AOL album stream / "A More Perfect Union" [mp3]
Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Jason Collett - Rat a Tat Tat / Free AOL album stream
Miles Kurosky - The Desert of Shallow Effects / Free AOL album stream
White Hinterland - Kairos / Free AOL album stream / "No Logic", "Icarus" [mp3]
The Whigs - In the Dark
jj - no 3 / "Let's Go" [mp3]
Lawrence Arabia - Chant Darling / Free AOL album stream
The Knife - Tomorrow, In a Year / Free AOL album stream
Aloha - Home Acres / Free AOL album stream
The Morning Benders - Big Echo / Free AOL album stream
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach / Free AOL album stream
Black Rebel Motorycycle Club - Beat the Devil's Tattoo / Free AOL album stream
Josh Rouse - El Turista / Free AOL album stream
Free Energy - Free Energy / Free AOL album stream
Alberta Cross - Broken Side of Time / Free AOL album stream
The Steel Wheels - Red Wing
Acrassicauda - Only The Dead See The End Of The War / "Garden of Stones" [mp3]
Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - Greatest Hits

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