Playlist: New Releases 01.18.11
Smith Westerns - Dye it Blonde
Stream / Purchase [mp3]
We may only be three weeks into 2011, but Dye it Blonde is the album of the year (so far). With it's glam'd up power pop, these Chicago teens have channeled Bandwagonesque-era Teenage Fanclub by way of the Bay City Rollers for a sugar-rush collection of songs that even grow sweeter upon repeat listens. Nearly every song is a highlight of sorts, but the standout tracks are "Weekend," "Still New" and the tempo change-happy "Dance Away." Not much else to say except buy it. Smith Westerns - Imagine, Pt. 3 by Vicente P
Robert Pollard - Space City Kicks
Stream / Purchase [mp3]
The continuing long Guided By Voices reunion tour has done little to slow Uncle Bob. In fact, Robert Pollard has stepped up his prolific nature, with releases from several of his projects coming out in short time. His first of 2011 seems to map the entire catalogue of GBV, and only suffers in its inability to sit still. Bouncing between oddities, rockers and beautiful ballads, Space City Kicks contains some of Pollard's best work, and, quite possibly some of his worst. It's tracks like "I Wanna Be Your Man in the Moon" and "Touch Me In the Right Place at the Right Time" that more than make up for any misteps, though.Download: "Touch Me In the Right Place at the Right Time" [mp3]
Tennis - Cape Dory
Stream / Purchase [mp3]
Between Tennis, Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls, I'm thinking someone needs to make a trip to Halifax and get to work on reuniting Jale. This latest indie rock group to mine the girl groups of the late fifties/early sixties marries it with a narrative of the open sea and the look and feel of the late 70s. It's a jumble of nostalgia, to be sure, but the end result in sound is quite focused with solid songwriting. So focused, in fact, that before too long, the album starts to sound much the same, begging for some change of pace or a hint of dynamics. Free AOL Album Stream
More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
The Decemberists - The King Is Dead / Free AOL Album Stream / "January Hymn" [mp3]
Braids - Unlearn / Free AOL Album Stream
Fergus & Geronimo - Showroom of Compassion / "Powerful Lovin'" [mp3]
Disappears - Guider / "Superstition" [mp3]
Ponderosa - Moonlight Revival / "Old Gin Road [mp3]
Oh No Oh My - People Problems / Free AOL Album Stream
White Fence - Is Growing Faith
Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes / Free AOL Album Stream
White Lies - Ritual / Album streaming from White Lies site / "Bad Love" [mp3]
Greg Allman - Low Country Blues / Free AOL Album Stream
Dolorean - The Unfazed / Free AOL Album Stream
Eulogies - Tear the Fences Down / Free AOL Album Stream
Shilpa & Her Happy Hookers - Teenage and Torture / "Heaven in Stereo" [mp3]
Daniel Martin Moore - In the Cool of the Day / "Dark Road" [mp3]
Distractions - Dark Green Sea / "Invasion" [mp3]
Roomful of Blues - Hook, Line & Sinker
Pearl Jam - Live on Ten Legs
Serge Gainsbourg - La Claquer De mots (1958-1959)
REISSUES
The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall (REISSUE)
The Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass (Legacy Edition)
Ladytron - 604 [Bonus Tracks]
Ladytron - Light and Magic [Bonus Tracks]
Ladytron - Witching Hour [Bonus Tracks]
tags: music, album review, smith western, robert pollard, tennis, indie rock, new releases
4 comments:
A Flaming Lips EP, "Due To High Expectations...The Flaming Lips Are Providing Needles For Your Balloons", came out on Jan 4, not sure if you knew about it or not.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004GPJR7C/
Ah, a little googling tells me it was a digital reissue of a 1994 LP.
I was wondering if you got word of any of the music of Eurosonic.
It's a festival in my home town every year that is thé festival for 'new' European bands to break through.
A big part of the visitors are people from the music industry. I was wondering if it got any attention in the US.
I'd heard the name Eurosonic as some kind of music festival, but not much beyond that.
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