|
 |
| |
 |
|
CD/DVD: $16.98
|
Alkaline Trio
Remains
The band released the following statement about Remains:
"Alkaline Trio has never been the kind of band that rests on its laurels. So quite often - in the midst of the torrent of recording albums and touring to support them - we will book into a studio and record some more. This has given us the opportunity to be a part of a lot of great compilations and split albums over the years, all of which are collected here."
"These sessions ended up being released throughout the years by a multitude of record labels - again, a chance for us to spread our wings a bit. When we didn't have new compositions to record, we'd grab something out of our record collections - offerings for the altars of our idols. It's been about five years since the last collection of oddities was released (the self-titled album on Asian Man records), and we've stockpiled enough random material to fill a few discs. These truly are the remains of the last half-decade."
Remains is a 22-song compilation spanning the amazing career of Alkaline Trio. It's a gathering of rare tracks, b-sides, and split EP songs they've recorded since their inception 10 years ago. For many of the true, hardcore Trio fans, this is a must own. And for those just finding out about Alkaline Trio, this will be a great way to look back and see how the band has grown both as song-writers and as lyricists.
The DVD portion of the package will give fans a peek behind the Alkaline Trio curtain. Having taken a videographer with them on their last few tours, the band has captured hundreds of hours of backstage, behind-the-scenes, and live footage. This is the first DVD of its kind by the Trio! The DVD also contains music videos and some "making of the video" segments. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Vagrant
Genre/Style: Pop Punk
MP3 Myspace
|
CD: $13.98
|
Lily Allen
Alright, Still
This is the domestic version of Lily Allen's newest album.
The 21-year-old Lily Allen, pronounced by NME "the archetypal singer-songwriter for the iPod generation," took Britain by storm in summer 2006 with her debut album Alright, Still rocketing onto the U.K. Album chart at No. 2 and her first U.K. single, "Smile," topping the U.K. Airplay chart for six weeks in a row. Now she's set her sights on America--and early reports indicate she won't exactly be flying under the radar here either. "She symbolizes a new blogging-age, middle-class girl: cockily ambitious, skeptical yet enthusiastic, technically savvy, musically open, obsessed with public expression and ready to fight back," said The New York Times in a feature on Lily.
Allen was born in Hammersmith, a borough in Greater London, and grew up all over London – Shepherds Bush, Bloomsbury, Islington. "I went to 13 different schools so I never had time to make enduring friendships. Music became a lifeline to me. I listened to punk, ska and reggae, courtesy of my parents' record collections," she says, which explains why, in addition to numerous up-and-coming dance artists, she counts The Specials, T. Rex, The Slits, and Blondie as favorites.
"I got expelled from various schools and was sent to boarding school as they thought it would be a restraining influence, but I ran away when I was 14," she recalls. "It was obvious I didn't like authority." Although she dropped out of school, Allen continued to have a voracious appetite for books and music. "I always felt I couldn't articulate my feelings as much as I wanted to. Books and music helped me do that," she says. "I started to feel like I could have a voice."
Lily's incisive lyrical observations belie her years. "With the kind of music I do you have to be direct and quite literal," she says. "I don't play an instrument, which really makes me focus on the vocal melody, and the lyrics are incredibly important to me. I don’t want to be part of a scene – the whole idea of that makes me feel sick – and most of the music I listen to is by outsider figures, which is where I feel happiest."
There was a little old lady who was walking down the road She was struggling with bags from Tesco There were people in the city having lunch in the park I believe that is called alfresco Then a kid came along to offer a hand But before she had time to accept it Hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead 'Cause he's got all her jewelry and wallet (from "LDN")
In November 2005, Allen started posting tracks on her MySpace site to see what fans thought of them. "Since then it's gone mad," she says. (Her songs have received over five million total plays to date.) "The online support I got for my music grew quickly, then the next thrill was hearing it on the radio. The reaction has been so positive it’s left me reeling a bit. But I'm happy and I know the songs can live up to people's expectations."
And indeed they have. "Through and through, it sounds like part Millie Small, part Gwen Stefani, part Blondie, without ever really sounding much like anything other than Allen's own mash-up of cool," said Rolling Stone. The New Yorker has praised her "delightful, ska-inflected songs" and Pitchfork said "Alright, Still isn't anything else but a fantastic success. Not only does Allen deliver on the musical promise hinted at in her MySpace demos, she also acquits herself as a genuine personality with wit and attitude to spare."
Allen's cheeky, street-smart observations imbue Alright, Still with an unerringly modern female point-of-view. On "Smile," Lily admits to feeling guilty – but not that guilty – for feeling good when an ex-boyfriend cries because she won't give it another go. Perhaps he shouldn't have slept with her neighbor. On "Knock 'Em Out," a lame pick-up line is met with a litany of bogus reasons (ranging from various sexually transmitted diseases to a house fire) why "it's not gonna happen/not in a million years." And while the chorus of "LDN" brims with unabashed affection for London, the verses are a deft social commentary exposing the warts of a town intent on keeping up appearances. Cynicism and a sunny outlook aren't mutually exclusive in Allen's world, which goes a long way towards explaining her unbridled confidence and contagious joie de vivre. The world is still her oyster – even if it was dredged from murky waters. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Capitol / EMI
Genre/Style: Lounge / Jazz / Pop
MP3 Myspace
|
CD: $7.98
|
Beirut
Lon Gisland
The sleeper hit of 2006, Beirut's Gulag Orkestar came out of nowhere to sell tens of thousands of copies in a matter of months and wound up on countless critics' year-end lists. As a stopgap before recording a new full-length in Fall 2007 -- and as a way to capture some current songs being performed at shows -- the eight-member band checked into Sea Side Studios in Brooklyn to record Lon Gisland.
These are the first studio recordings made by the entire group, and a sampling of the most recent songs by orkestar leader Zach Condon. Lon Gisland features four new tunes and a full band reworking of Gulag's "Scenic World." The five-song EP was initially released with the European edition of Gulag Orkestar (4AD) and as a limited edition, one-sided vinyl 12-inch by Chouette. The Ba Da Bing edition is in a highly collectible digipak format. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label:Vagrant
Genre/Style: Pop Punk
MP3 Myspace
|
CD:$14.98$9.98
LP:$12.98
|
Busdriver
Roadkill Overcoat
Busdriver is that rare artist who brings so much flair and originality to his music that he s transformed a whole genre with his intricate assault of complex rhymes and vocal delivery. On this release, he delivers synth-laden, post-techno hooks and indie-pop moves provided by underground heroes, Boom Bip and DJ Nobody. He strings together pop culture reference points, cryptic wordplay, and gallant wit, with a wide musical palette of pop grandeur, psychedelic hip-hop, and minimal beats, capturing listeners with his most undeniably catchy release yet. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Epitaph
Genre/Style: Hip Hop
MP3 Myspace
|
CD: $14.98
|
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Some Loud Thunder
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah decided not to wait the perfunctory two years in between records to release their sophomore effort "Some Loud Thunder," but to to release it as soon as it was ready. Eager to prove there's more to the band than just a business story, "Some Loud Thunder" demonstrates just how far this band has come since the release of their debut. This is not CYHSY Part II - this is a departure record, a record that will stand the test of time and critics alike. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Self Released
Genre/Style: Rock / Pop
MP3 Myspace
|
CD: $15.98
|
Deerhunter
Cryptograms
Cryptograms is the second full-length offering from Deerhunter, and their first for Kranky. The album took almost two years to finish and was the product of emotional, physical, and financial strain on the group. The result is an album that finds the band shifting from discordant catharsis, and forming a sonic identity that completely expresses the place from which they have arrived. The album functions in part as a study in duality and the concept of the same experiences seen from two angles, present and past. The most obvious manifestation of this is in the chronological sequencing. The first half of the album was recorded first unsuccessfully in 2005. These recordings were a blur at best, wordless and bordering on psychological atrophy. The sessions failed to provide anything tangible, and were racked with technical and personal problems, including out-of-tune pianos, panic attacks, and a tape machine that seemed to fail to capture the full spectrum of ambience the band was exploring. The band returned home, having failed, and considered giving up. The idea arose to give it one last shot and exactly one year from the date of the recording of their first self-titled LP at a small studio in rural GA, they returned to that same studio and plugged in. The session resulted in the first half of the record which was recorded in one day and completely filled the reel of tape they brought with them. Cryptograms' first side begins with an introduction leading to the title track, and ends with the tape literally spinning off the end of the reel in the middle of a drone layered with bells and accordion ("Red Ink"). The second half of the record, also recorded in one day, in the November of 2005, represents the band in an entirely different state. "Spring Hall Convert" opens with the line, "...so I woke up..." and introduces a set of focused psyche-pop songs fixating on adolescence, illness, and failing connections. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Kranky
Genre/Style: Psychedelic / Experimental / Rock
MP3 Cryptograms
|
2CD: $13.98
LP: $10.98
|
The Early Years
Self-Titled
The chilling, psychedelia drenched self titled debut from UK band The Early Years is a dense mix of the trio's influences ranging from Spiritualized, Mogwai, Televison, Neu and Tortoise. A sound that lies somewhere between their joint love for ambient noise, motorik beats, drones, feedback, harmony and melody.-CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Beggars Banquet
Genre/Style: Brit Pop
MP3 Myspace
|
CD: $16.98
|
Hella
There's No 666 In Outer Space
2007 will be the year of Hella. The California-based group's first release for Ipecac, There’s No 666 in Outer Space, sees longtime Hella members Zach Hill (drums) and Spencer Seim (guitar) joined by an extended line-up. Zach considers the rebirth to be "Easily the best thing we've done under the moniker, for sure."
Hella's re-birth? Zach certainly believes so. "It's a whole different story. It's the most concentrated effort we've ever made. We're perceiving it as - in a non-religious fashion - basically being born again. We're definitely handling this like it's the first record we've ever made. It's not some experiment or project. Musically, it's obvious how it differs from the others. I think it's different in everything - different in spirit, different musically, different people.”
Hella, a champion of the duo set-up (after all, all of their releases up to this point consisted of just Hill and Seim), say the limited line-up was done out of necessity. Spencer explains “We only started playing as a two piece because we couldn't make it work with everybody.” Zach adds “When we initially started Hella, we had an idea that it was going to be a full band, and it didn't happen that way, so we just started out playing as a two piece. It just kind of snowballed, and ended up being a duo for years - but we kept in the back of our minds that we wanted to follow through with our original vision of eventually doing a full band.”
Interestingly, two of the new members aren’t new faces to either Spencer or Zach, as both guitarist Josh Hill (Zach's cousin) and bassist Carson McWhirter were in a pre-Hella band alongside the aforementioned duo. However, when finding a singer led to a dead end, the quartet went their separate ways, and the two-man version of Hella was launched. But upon recently finding Nevada City-based butcher-come-singer Aaron Ross, Spencer and Zach knew that the time was right for a multi-member Hella line-up.
Rest assured, the addition of new members has certainly not taken away from the group’s precision sound - it only expands on it. “It's definitely a bit different, just because we need to keep our parts very interesting and play them the way we want to play. But also leave room for everybody. It's different also because maybe one of the other guys will come to practice and have a few parts, and we'll just start learning their parts - when in the past, we'd been used to either Zach or I would have a part, put them together, and they'd work somehow. Having other input as far parts and song structures is a new thing - not having to rely on either Zach or I, which is really nice,” Spencer remarks.
Although the majority of the album’s songs were freshly penned last year, four highlights - "World Series," "The Ungratefull Dead," "Friends Don't Let Friends Win," and "The Things That People Do When They Think No One's Looking” – were unfinished tracks that were holdovers from the aforementioned earlier Seim-Hill-Hill-McWhirter band. Spencer clarifies the process, “Getting this record together was about updating the songs we wrote a while ago, and just writing all together. It came together really smoothly, I think that we all play super well together - it was meant to happen, I just think it took a few years for everybody to be in the right head space to do it.”
While the album’s mysterious title will be interpreted in different ways, Zach – who came up with the title – sheds some light. “It means what it says - it's putting things in perspective as far as, you can relate it to anything - the cycle of how things get carried away and how the 'mob mentality' happens. When you can put it in a different light, how ridiculous it all seems - how petty and miniscule everything is, in the concept of the universe or space. How things evolve into such a massive brainwash - whether you're a right wing conservative or an anarchist - all these ideas that don't exist anywhere else.”
Despite being off the road for the majority of 2006, the new-look group hopes to make up for lost time, by spending most of the year touring in support of There’s No 666 in Outer Space. Zach concludes, “Everybody that's playing with us now, we're all under the impression that will be playing with us for a long time. This is basically 'our band' now.” -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Ipecac
Genre/Style: Experimental / Math Rock
MP3 Myspace
|
CD: $18.98
|
Norah Jones
Not Too Late
On January 30, 2007, Norah Jones will release her third and most personal statement to-date. With Not Too Late, Norah’s songwriting takes center stage, allowing for a much more complete picture of Norah herself, her personality, her humor, her mind.
Many of the musicians on Not Too Late will be familiar to Norah’s fans, including guitarists Jesse Harris, Adam Levy, Robbie McIntosh, and Kevin Breit, drummer Andy Borger, and singer Daru Oda, with many special guests lending their talents as well, from M. Ward to jazz organist Larry Goldings to Kronos Quartet cellist Jeff Ziegler.
Not Too Late further establishes Norah Jones as a timeless artist with a distinctive sound, loyal and expanding fanbase, and a level of artistry that will continue to grow and delight listeners for years to come. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label:Blue Note
Genre/Style: Pop / Soul
MP3 Album Sampler
|
CD: $4.98
LP: $8.98
|
Lavender Diamond
Self-Titled
LA's Lavender Diamond, led by the shining charismatic spirit-waif Becky Stark, release their astonishing debut EP 'The Cavalry Of Light' on Matador this January. The EP leads off with the glorious anthem and live favorite "You Broke My Heart," a series of vocal and piano crescendos that burns itself into your brain with its rawness and simplicity. Stark's gorgeous, classically trained vocals (we are talking about an enormously powerful female larynx here) are the most immediately gripping aspect of Lavender Diamond, but the simple, pretty riffs and affecting world-wisdom of the lyrics combine to create something entirely new. A little bit folk, a little bit children's music, a little bit protest anthem, this music is like nothing you've ever heard before. The mystical artwork of drummer Ron Rege Jr. also a well-known LA cartoonist, seals the deal. Limited-edition vinyl in special matte-stock cover, 180-gram vinyl. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Matador
Genre/Style: Folk / Pop
MP3 You Broke My Heart
|
CD: $4.98
|
Love of Diagrams
Self-Titled
Melbourne's Love Of Diagrams have been making their mark on the Australian music scene since 2003, with two frenetic, angular EPs, a 7" and an album on the Unstable Ape label. Now after two trips to the US and Europe (including combustible performances at SXSW last March), they have signed to Matador to release their US debut. This 4-song minimalist pre-album artifact includes a cover of "Cool," the early-80s club hit by Athens, GA legends Pylon. The band's sound reflects the experimentation of No Wave and the immediacy and off-kilter tunefulness of classic UK post-punk. Their stripped-down guitar-bass-drums racket and call-and-response vocals emit a wonderfully controlled urgency. This EP is a strictly limited-edition die-cut digpak with a top-cap, printed in a dayglo pantone ink. Two songs are NOT on the upcoming album, Mosaic, produced by Bob Weston (Shellac, Mission Of Burma) and scheduled for release on Matador on April 10. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Matador
Genre/Style: Art Rock / Post Punk
MP3 No Way Out
|
CD:$14.98
|
Lymbyc Systym
Love Your Abuser
PLAYING THE BOOT MARCH 2nd w/ RELAY
Drawing inspiration from groups like Tortoise, Explosions in the Sky, and Four Tet, the duos compositions cleverly combine catchy melodies, dynamic rhythms, and intricate laptop programming that form melodic and cohesive tracks blurring the borders between post-rock, indie-rock, and folktronica. As the opening act for Album Leaf, Mice Parade and a slew of other national acts who have traveled the Southwest in recent years, the Bell brothers have developed a truly impressive live show. From their self-released debut, Carved By Glaciers, to their current Mush release, Lymbyc Systym have quickly carved out a place in the bustling underground music scene. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Mush
Genre/Style: Electro Pop / Instrumental
MP3 Truth Skull
|
CD:$14.98$9.98
|
Xavier Rudd
Food in the Belly
Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Xavier Rudd is a one of a kind artist with a clear vision, personality, and an independent attitude. An established artist in his native Australia and his second home, Canada, Rudd’s debut for Anti, Food in the Belly is his 6th record. His extensive travels as a surfer has both shaped and help spread his music. Taking the voice of classic singer/songwriters (he’s a professed Paul Simon fan) as template, he’s imprinted his influences from traveling all over the world and exploring other cultures into a style which is unique, fresh and vital. His original live performances have helped him build an international reputation… literally with his own hands and feet. From his bare soles on a wooden resonator box to the breath humming in his yidakis (didgeridoos), his work resonates from the ground up and the inside out. Xavier Rudd has developed one of the most passionate and rapidly spreading grassroots audiences of recent times and his original live performances has won him what others take a lifetime of marketing schemes to accomplish: a rabid fan base, media recognition and sold out shows across Europe. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: ANTI
Genre/Style: Pop
MP3 Energy Song
|
CD: $17.98
|
Various Artists
Endless Highway: The Music of the Band
It's been 30 years since "The Last Waltz".. and the music lives on. This is the first-ever allstar celebration of one of rock's legendary groups-The Band! Featuring My Morning Jacket, Jack Johnson, Gomez, Death Cab For Cutie, Guster, and many more! -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: 429
Genre/Style: Rock / Compilation
MP3 Album Sample
|
CD:$14.98$9.98
|
Youth Group
Casino Twilight Dogs
Slated for release on January 30, 2007, Casino Twlight Dogs, produced by Wayne Connolly (The Vines, You Am I), and mixed by Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Guided By Voices), is the follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed Skeleton Jar, and comes at a particularly exciting time for Youth Group.
The band achieved platinum sales and an Australian #1 single in March 2006 with “Forever Young”, a cover of an Alphaville track that was a staple on The O.C. last spring before playing Coachella and undertaking a hugely successful support slot on Coldplay’s trek down under.
Casino Twilight Dogs, which was recorded live-to-tape wherever possible, debuted at #10 upon its July release in Australia. And for Youth Group – which consists of frontman/guitarist Toby Martin, drummer Danny Allen, guitarist Cameron Emerson-Elliott and former The Vines bassist Patrick Matthews – the disc was an opportunity to experiment.
Case in point is “Catching & Killing,” which started from a riff and a title by Cameron and drum loops he had made from records by The Stone Roses and Arab Strap. From there, Martin says, “I tried to write some words from the title. The lyrics began as a cut-up of Australian Shooter magazine and ended up as a drunken free-form rant in the studio. We cobbled together a version from about 30 takes.”
Also counting “On A String,” a song inspired by The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, “Let It Go,” a track inspired by Youth Group’s first-ever U.S. travels in support of Skeleton Jar, and the 2005 L.A. mudslide-homage “The Destruction of Laurel Canyon,” the inventive disc refuses to disappoint. Just ask Australia’s infamous radio station Triple J, which recently wrote, “Mainstream success has been a while coming for this Sydney band,” adding, “Singer Toby Martin channels some classic influences like The Byrds and Bob Dylan in many of these new songs.” Elsewhere, Drum Media declared, "It's one of the year's best albums, no question."
And with “Start Today Tomorrow,” Toby says the outfit found its finest moment. Calling it, “a paean to idleness,” Martin says the song – which boasts a beautiful string arrangement and bass courtesy of L.A. session legend Carol (Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Ronnettes) Kaye – “came from a phone conversation. Jane my girlfriend was putting something off and said, ‘maybe I’ll just start today tomorrow’. I wanted it to sound like a rainy day that never begins. It only ends.” -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Anti
Genre/Style: Pop / Rock
MP3 Dead Zoo
|
CD: $15.98
|
Zozobra
Harmonic Tremors
Taking its name from the 50-foot effigy burned every year by a hysterical mob during the Fiestas De Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Zozobra is the brainchild of Cave In/Old Man Gloom bassist Caleb Scofield. Harmonic Tremors deftly traverses the far-flung fields of transcendental space rock and explosive dirge metal with alternately snarling and oscillating riffery, crippling bass quakes, and apocalyptic proclamations hurled end over end toward the cosmic unconsciousness. -CP
Release Date: 01/30/07
Label: Hydra Head
Genre/Style: Metal
MP3 Myspace
|
|
|
