Now Downloading: New Releases 02.05.08

I think a lot of folks immediately crossed Super Fat Tuesday off their release date calendar, as it's a date that's incredibly claustrophobic, as far as getting word out. I conducted my own caucus yesterday, and while none of the candidates impressed me like some from the past few weeks, I still must nominate the new releases from London's Hot Chip, Baltimore psych-rockers Dead Meadow, and Canadian folkie Basia Bulat.

Playlist: New Releases 02.05.08

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Album: Hot Chip - Made in the Dark

The Early Frontrunner:
Hot Chip made a name for themselves with 2006's The Warning, an album that nearly perfected their electronic-meets-indie-pop sound, taking center stage with the songs "Over and Over" and "And I Was A Boy From School." 2008 seemed like the year for them to make their run, and Made in the Dark certainly has enough inspirational moments to make that run. Advance single "Ready for the Floor" contains all that makes Hot Chip so endearing: synchopated rhythms, catchy chorus, and quirky turns. "One Pure Thought" has great lyrical turns backed by the kind of chorus that may have New Order thinking, "why didn't we do that?." Meanwhile, "We're Looking for Love" shows that they've now perfected the electro-indie pop ballad. And "Hold On" happily revisits the Talking Heads' Fear of Music white funk vibe that their sister band in NYC mined so well on last year's Sound of Silver. Unfortunately, too much of the album tries to do too much, especially kitchen sink of songs like "Shake a Fist" and "Bendable Posable," both of which are still fun songs... just seems at time to pander to the rave, the quirky and the pop sensibilities all at once. Just ask Mitt Romney... if you pander to too much, you might end up on the wrong end of Super Tuesday.

Free album stream from AOL

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Album: Dead Meadow - Old Growth

The Outsider:
After five albums over ten years, the psychedelica/stoner rock trio from the DC region seem like the Dennis Kucinich of this week's race, as they've stuck to their guns, winning over the kind of fans that will go to war with you -- but not enough to actually win said war. For Old Growth, they've softened their edge a bit -- there's no songs here that unmercifully pummel your eardrums -- instead expanding their sound to incorporate more of the sounds that inspire them. Like last month's contender Black Mountain, DM are influenced by original blues as well as Black Sabbath. Sure, the Sabbath still finds it's way through in obvious and not so obvious ways, but now there's room for an acoustic ramble like "Down Here," or the poppy jangle of "Keep on Walking," and the focused "I'm Gone"... all songs that in the past would've been dragged through to (dare I say 'tedious'?) lengths. True DM fans are probably fine with it either way, because when you've lit up, it's sometimes hard to tell when they've moved on to another song anyway.

Download: "What Needs to Be" [mp3]

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Album: Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling

The Populist:
Oh, My Darling is kind of like a politician's speech, in that the opening is so crucial, and can hook you in, even when it ends up betraying the rest of what follows. Ok, I've stretched the political metaphors such that their translucent at best, but bare with me on this one. The Canadian songstress' opening song "Before I Knew" is a tremendous song, opening with a ukelele and a sing-songy verse ala Kimya Dawson, with handclaps and gospel-like background vocals. But just as you're ready to sing "hallaluea!" the song ends, leaving you wondering if anyone got the license plate on that feather-light bus that just ran you over. "I Was a Daughter" follows, and you're thinking you've discovered a new favorite. But "December," the fourth song, the feeling starts to sink a bit, and then the wheels just seem to come off that feather-light bus, and much of the core of the album is exposed as well executed MOR folk songs. Bulat's distinctive voice, which at first floats along with the songs, takes on too much work, having to often carry a weak song while also competing with the extra orchestration added to mask said weakness (see "Little One.") All in all, it's not a bad debut, falls just short of winning over this voter.

Download: "In the Night" [mp3]

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More on the radar this week
School Of Language - Sea From Shore (Field Music's David Brewis - the album I wish I'd written about here)
Jason Collett - Here's to Being Here / Free album stream from AOL
Sons & Daughters - This Gift / Free album stream from AOL
Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off Lavender Bridge / Free album stream from AOL
Bob Mould - District Line / Free album stream from AOL
Die! Die! Die! - Promises, Promises
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Music From The Motion Picture The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Kelley Stoltz - Circular Sounds
Sheryl Crow - Detours
Horrorpops - Kiss Kiss Kill Kill
Air Traffic - Fractured Life / Free album stream from AOL
Say Hi - The Wishes and the Glitch
Lenny Kravitz - It Is Time For A Love Revolution
k.d. lang - Watershed
The Loved Ones - Build & Burn / Free album stream from AOL
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static / Free album stream from AOL

tags: music, album review, hot chip, basia bulat, dead meadow, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody

Get out your hip boots

By the second episode, when both reporter Scott and Detective McNulty were both weaving their respective yarns, it seemed like only a matter of time until these two fabulists would team up for some monumental bullshit. Three episodes later, and these lies have finally intersected, with Templeton using his 'talent' to steal some of the limelight from Alma's reporting on McNulty's biting serial killer. By faking a phone call from a payphone to his cell, Scott plays right into McNulty and Lester's wiretap scheme, and the look on his face when McNulty says they got a call from the killer as well was priceless.

The wiretap is setup on Marlo's cell phone number, obtained via Herc's employment to Levy, Marlo's lawyer. While it's nice to think that Herc delivers it because he can't help but be police, it's more likely that he just wants to get back at Marlo for stealing his camera. Marlo gets the phone from by Season 2's Spiros, who 'overcame his grief' over Joe and moved on. Poor Joe only gets a brief eulogy from Spiros, and then minor mention in a city desk rundown of the day's homicides (as Joseph Stewart, along with Nathanial Manns, who appears to be Hungry Man). Someone mentioned recently that Marlo is a bit like WalMart, squeezing out the small shops and then bypassing regional distributers entirely, making for an interesting business metaphor. Only instead of undercutting them, Marlo just cuts them. The game's the game, though, right?

Cue Omar and Donnie staking out the setup that Chris has set up for our favorite stick-up artist. Our heroes are clueless as to what's in store for them -- perhaps if they'd listened a little closer to the songs playing on the radio. Each song referenced something desirable that wasn't really there, whether it's "Just My Imagination" or a mirage like "Gypsy Woman," they both try to tell Omar he's walking into a trap -- a trap that required a houdini-like escape, flying out the window from the fifth floor of a building. Dude's like Batman or something.

Meanwhile, McNutty's downward spiral brings hits home, and the excellent Callie Thorne, as his ex-wife Elena makes her first appearance. Their boys Sean and Michael apparently like themselves a little Dead Meadow, the B'more psychedelic rockers. They're listening to "Beyond The Fields We Know" from 2006's self-titled release, but the band's latest and greatest, Old Growth, is out this week on Matador. Since the time line here is a few months in the future, if the McNulty boys were true fans, wouldn't they be zoning out their dad's "what's wrong with The Ramones?" question to this latest album?

Playlist: The Wire - Ep 505
1. "In Time" - Sly & the Family Stone - Cutty and Dukie talk at the gym
2. "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" - Tears for Fears - Mcnulty meets Alma and Scott in bar
3. "Just Out Of Reach" - Joe Tex - Omar and Donnie wait in car
4. "Party Like A Rock Star" - Shop Boyz - Marlo's crew talk at the rim shop
5. "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" - The Temptations - Omar and Donnie still waiting
6. "Beyond The Fields We Know" - Dead Meadow - The McNulty boys at home
7. "My Girl Has Gone" - Smokey Robinson - Omar and Donnie still waiting
8. "Gypsy Woman" - The Impressions - Omar and Donnie still waiting
HBO track and scene info

Previously: Succession (Episode 5.04)