New Music Releases: March 1, 2011

Quite a few "local" releases this week...

Pick of the Week

Lucinda Williams: Blessed (Lost Highway) – Don Was produced. This is her best record in at least eight years. Lucinda’s married now and comes off a bit happier.

Other Releases That Caught My Eye

Alexander: Alexander (Vagrant) – Local alert. Lead singer Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros releases a solo album.

Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi (Domino) – Lots of British buzz for this one. She worked with PJ Harvey’s producer, Rob Ellis. Brian Eno’s come out as a fan.

The Baseball Project: Vol. 2 High and Inside (Yep Roc) – Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon are joined by guests Ira Kaplan, Craig Finn and Ben Gibbard. At the Echo on 3/31/11. Listen HERE

James Brown: Singles 10 - 1975 – 1979 (Hip-O) – Getting more into disco during this phase.

Davila 666: Tan Bajo (In the Red) – Puerto Rican garage rockers. At the Blue Star on 3/25/11.

Devotchka: 100 Lovers (Anti) – Eastern European influenced band. At the Music Box on 3/12/11. Listen HERE

Dum Dum Girls: He Gets Me High (Sub Pop) – Four song EP from the girl group loving girls. Features a cover of the Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.”

MP3: He Gets Me High

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic) – The Swede is once again produced by Bjorn Yttling (from Peter Bjorn and John) but moved to LA to write most of these songs. She’s influenced by David Lynch and Neil Young on this record.  At El Rey on 3/9/11.

Middle Brother: Middle Brother (Partisan) – The lead singers of Deer Tick, Delta Spirit and Dawes do an alt-country folk record.  At the Echo on 4/7/11. Listen HERE

MP3: Me Me Me

Buddy Miller: Majestic Silver Strings (New West) – Guests include Emmylou Harris, Chocolate Genius, Shawn Colvin and others.

Papercuts: Fading Parade (Sub Pop) – Fourth record from the indie pop guy (now band). This one gets pretty dream-poppy (produced by Thom Monahan). At the Satellite on 4/8/11.

MP3: Do What You Will

Rainbow Arabia: Boys & Diamonds (Kompakt) – Local alert. Danny (Wiskey Biscuit / Future Pigeon) and Tiffany Preston’s latest record apparently displays a great deal of growth. At the Echoplex on 3/25/11.

Rural Alberta Advantage: Departing (Saddle Creek) – At Coachella on 4/15/11. Listen HERE

Various Artists: Cartagena! (Soundway) – Tribute to the well regarded producer - Curro Feuntes & the Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Columbia 1962-1972.

Mike Watt: Hyphenated-Man (ORG Music) – Local alert. Bass legend. Minutmen and fIREHOSE. At the Echo on 3/11/11. Listen HERE

Updates on Local Bands

I haven't done one of these in a long time. Here's an update on local bands:

Division Day just announced a slew of new tour dates. Their new album, Visitation, comes out on Dangerbird on 8/18/09. It’s going to catch you off guard (in a very good way). Check out their Myspace page for some streams and tour dates. Buy tickets for their September 2nd show at Spaceland HERE. Go to their label site to download a free remix.

Speaking of Dangerbird, Sea Wolf have completed their sophomore album. White Water, White Bloom is set to be released on September 22nd. Pre-order the record and see a slew of tour dates HERE. Buy tickets for their Sept. 17th show at the Troubadour HERE. Looks like the previously announced Spaceland show has been replaced.

Lou Barlow’s got a new solo record, Goodnight Unknown, coming out on October 6th through Merge Records. In addition to playing with Dinosaur Jr., he’ll be the opener too. Check out the tour dates HERE. Buy tickets for the November 5th show at the House of Blues HERE. Download the first MP3: “Gravitate”

Warpaint recently signed with Manimal Vinyl with Exquisite Corpse set to be released on September 22, 2009. Download two MP3: Billie Holiday (Pitchfork gave the track a 7 out of 10)and MP3: Elephants. Josh Klinghoffer is now an official member of the band. You can catch them at Sunset Junction on August 22nd.

Speaking of Sunset Junction, the performance schedule is HERE. Other local bands on the bill are: Gran Ronde, Miss Derringer, War Tapes, Rumspringa, Nico Vega, The Submarines, Love Grenades, Nico Stai, Local Natives, Fool’s Gold, Night Horse and Mika Miko (or Mica Miko – as the SJ website spells it).

Miss Derringer have a new record, Winter Hill, out on Triple X. Pitchfork recently gave it a solid 7.7 out of 10.

Night Horse have three split 7” singles coming out this summer on Tee Pee Records (the first one is already out and the next one comes out 8/4/09). Download MP3: Choose Your Side

Fool’s Gold recently signed with IAMSOUND. Their debut, self-titled record comes out on September 29th. Download MP3: Surprise Hotel (Pitchfork recently gave it an 8 out of 10).

Luke Top, Fool’s Gold’s frontman, recently released a solo record. Friends came out via Slow Death Records. Download MP3: Friends

Members of Foreign Born are also a part of Fool’s Gold. Foreign Born’s new record, Person to Person, continues to get good reviews. It currently rates a 70 on Metacritic. MP3: Vacationing People and MP3: Early Warnings

Labelmates of Foreign Born (Secretly Canadian’s got a great roster), Music Go Music will release their debut full-length, Expressions, on October 6th. Download MP3: Warm In the Shadows

Bedmates of Foreign Born (at least a bedmate of the lead singer), Glasser also got a track review from Pitchfork. “Glad” received a 7 out of 10.

Princeton’s debut full-length, Cocoon of Love, comes out September 29th on Kanine Records. They’ll be opening a slew of shows for Ra Ra Riot to coincide with the release. Follow this link to Pitchfork to download the first single, “Calypso Gold”

Speaking of Pitchfork (as I have like 10 ten times in this roundup), they recently reviewed the new Fol Chen record. Read that HERE. Spin Magazine recently put together a Prince covers record for its subscribers. Fol Chen and Lavender Diamond were featured. Fol Chen is headed to Europe for a September tour. See the dates HERE.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are also touring Europe in support of their debut album, Up From Below. See the dates on their Myspace page. Download MP3: 40 Day Dream (Pitchfork gave the track a 6 out of 10)

Rainbow Arabia released some new music, Kabukimono, yesterday through Manimal Vinyl. Download MP3: Harlem Sunrise

And last, but not least, Aaron and Nikki from Amnion will be appearing on Penn & Teller: Bullshit! this weekend on Showtime. Those two are so nice and positive, they don’t deserve the mean-spiritedness of the show, but they’ve got a great attitude about it. Watch a clip HERE.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a million bands, sorry everybody……..