Thanks to the
Bloggerpocalypse that occurred earlier this week, this nearly finished post was lost forever when Blogger reverted back,
jettisoning out over 30 hours worth of posts/comments. The work that was published has mostly been brought back, but, as in my case, drafts were lost or reverted back, losing all updates. Too bad, to, as this was a pretty deep week for releases, one that deserves attention. Between releases from
Okkervil River,
Man Man,
The Antlers,
Sloan,
Sam Roberts Band,
The Felice Brothers, Raphael Saadiq, Mountains, The Sea and Cake, The Lonely Island, Joan of Arc, Le Butcherettes, interesting-to-great returns from Urge Overkill, The Cars, Peter Case and Greg Brown along with (finally) the US release of Howe Gelb & a Band of Gypsies. Like I said, too impossible to ignore, so instead of just moving on and trying to get ahead of next week's, I'm recreating most of what I did earlier... abridged to say the least.
Playlist:
New Releases 05.10.11
Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
Stream /
Purchase [mp3]
Will Scheff, emboldened by his production and backing of the 2010 Roky Erickson collaboration (
True Love Cast Out All Evil), took the reigns for the first time in the studio for Okkervil River, and no expense was spared. Orchestras, guest musicians... the unemployment rate in Austin had to have had a decent dip during the recording. And while it's not as essential a release as the excellent
Black Sheep Boy, it's streets ahead of their past two releases.
Download:
"Wake and Be Fine" [mp3]
Man Man - Life Fantastic
Stream /
Purchase [mp3]
Philly's
Man Man gets reigned in a bit, recording for the first time with Saddle Creek producer a la casa Mike Mignola, and the result if their first album that didn't expand the sound of the one prior. But this is still a great Man Man album, and still has the manic gypsy barker delivery backing Honus Honus' dark and frightening lyrical magic.
"Life Fantastic" [mp3] (via
The Hype Machine)
The Antlers - Burst Apart
Stream /
Purchase [mp3]
We're not in a Cancer ward anymore (2009's breathtaking
Hospice), but frontman Peter Silberman's haunting falsetto is still devastating, even without the conceptual flourish.
"I Don't Want Love" [mp3] (via
The Hype Machine)
Sloan - Double Cross
Stream /
Purchase [mp3]
Sloan has been rockin' the good fight up North for 20 years now, and they released their best release (2006's
Never Here the End of It) late in their career. The
Abbey Roadish connection of songs (30 of them!) was a epic, and while
The Double Cross only clocks in around 33 minutes, there's a brilliant string of connected songs to start that for a moment makes you believe
NHTEOI take two is in session. It loses a little steam after that, but the boys from the great white North still bring it.
"Unkind" [mp3] (via
The Hype Machine)
More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
Howe Gelb & a Band of Gypsies - Alegrias /
"4 Door Maverick" [mp3]
Sam Roberts Band - Collider /
"Longitude" [mp3]
The Felice Brothers - Celebration, Florida
Urge Overkill - Rock&Roll Submarine
The Cars - Move Like This
The Lonely Island - Turtleneck & Chain
The Sea and Cake - The Moonlight Butterfly/
"Up on the North Shore" [mp3]
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Here We Go Dance - The January EP /
"Hands in the Sky" [mp3]
Mountains - Air Museum
Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
Booker T Jones - The Road From Memphis
Lee "Scratch" Perry - Rise Again
Joan of Arc - Life Like
The Shivers - More /
"Used to Be" [mp3]
Sleepy Vikings - They Will Find You Here
Antietam - Tenth Life
Le Butcherettes - Sin Sin Sin
Peter Case - The Case Files /
"Round Trip Stranger Blues" [mp3]
Psychedelic Horsesh*t - Laced
Greg Brown - Freak Flag
Wild Beasts - Smother
Hugo - Old Tyme Religion
Balkans - Balkans
Delay Trees - Delay Trees /
"Cassette 2012" [mp3]
Other Lives - Tamer Animals /
"For 12" [mp3]
COMPILATIONS
Randy Newman - The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2
REISSUEs
Laura Veirs - The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae
Holly Golightly & Dan Melchior - Desperate Little Town
tags: music, album review, okkervil river, man man, indie rock, new releases
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