Lil Wayne – Rebirth CD (Cash Money)
Crossover rock album from the self-proclaimed “greatest rapper of all time.” Features a guest appearance by Eminem. Also available as a deluxe edition which adds two bonus tracks.
Madlib – Medicine Show # 1: Before The Verdict CD (Madlib Medicine)
First installment in a 12 CD series from the rapper/producer — a full 17-track hip-hop album featuring “the OJ Simpson remixes” with Guilty Simpson.
Midlake – Courage Of Others CD/LP+MP3 (Bella Union)
Existing outside the plane of trends and even time, Midlake has once again conjured a novel world, but one that seems to have existed forever. Looms of intricately textured keyboards, flute, guitars and voice are woven into broad cloaks of sound, all riding the wave of songwriter Tim Smith’s sweeping vocals.
Whitefield Brothers – Earthology CD/LP (Now Again)
“The Whitefield Brothers are a down-and-dirty funk group that makes raw, organic funk using nothing but instruments and an Afro-Caribbean sense of rhythm.” — Allmusic.com
The Album Leaf – A Chorus Of Storytellers CD (Sub Pop)
For the first time in five albums, The Album Leaf recorded as a whole band. In the past, almost every instrument was performed by principal songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy LaValle. CD now — double-vinyl available next week.
Pierced Arrows – Descending Shadows CD/LP (VIce)
New from Portland-based trio comprised of legendary members Fred and Toody Cole of the seminal punk band Dead Moon.
Priestess – Prior To The Fire CD/2xLP (Tee Pee)
If you’ve ever seen Priestess in concert, you’ve probably noticed that the songs from the band’s debut album Hello Master have a lot more energy live than on the actual record. In contrast, Prior To The Fire is rowdier sounding, with a more progressive and jamming atmosphere closer to the Priestess live experience.
Toro Y Moi – Causers Of This CD (Carpark)
This multi-cultural juggernaut gathers up the best musical elements from around the globe: R&B, indie rock, electronic dance and psychedelia. Imagine Ulrich Schnauss meets Animal Collective on a mirror balled dancefloor.
Christina Aguilera – Keeps Gettin’ Better: A Decade Of Hits [Reissue] CD (RCA)
Best-of collection featuring 10 of her most popular, chart-topping hits, two brand new tracks, (“Keeps Gettin’ Better” and “Dynamit”) and two re-recorded remixes of the classic hits, “Genie In A Bottle” and “Beautiful.”
The Album Leaf – A Chorus Of Storytellers CD (Sub Pop)
For the first time in five albums, The Album Leaf recorded as a whole band. In the past, almost every instrument was performed by principal songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy LaValle. CD now — double-vinyl available next week.
Dave King – Indelicate CD (Sunnyside)
New from the Minneapolis-based drum wizard and founding member of the boundary pushing trios The Bad Plus and Happy Apple.
Knock Em Dead – Endless Struggle CD (Eulogy)
Debut album inspired by Sepultura, Slayer, All Out War, 100 Demons, and Napalm Death.
Bassekou Kouyate – Ba – I Speak Fela CD (Next Ambience)
Malian maestro is a virtuoso picker and musical visionary whose work blurs the lines between West African and American roots music. Bassekou’s instrument, the ngoni, is a spike lute, an ancestor of the banjo.
Malachai – Ugly Side Of Love CD (Domino)
Ugly Side Of Love sounds like a Jamaican garage rock band. At other times it sounds like Merseybeat if the beats were supplied by RZA. Or like Dick Dale surfing the River Severn.
Yo-Yo Ma – Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Op 49 Op 66 CD (Sony)
To commemorate the Mendelssohn bicentennial in 2009, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax, and violinist Itzhak Perlman collaborated together for the first time.
Monolake – Silence CD/2xLP (Monolake)
New album from the German minimal techno/producer/software engineer extraordinaire. Mastered with only analog technology.
Rhinoceros – They Are Coming For Me CD (Eulogy)
Rhinoceros are a Buffalo, NY straightedge band formed in May 2006 from the ashes of local Buffalo hardcore favorites Infamous and Xtothisdayx.
Santana Salvador – Keyboard City CD (Quannum)
Keyboard City marks Salvador’s departure into solo territory but features a collaboration with studio wizard Money Mark (Beastie Boys) and for the first in a series of remixes, GZA of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, rallied support around the album by featuring himself on remix of the title track.
Joe Satriani – Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock 2xCD (Epic)
Double-disc live set from the veteran guitarist depicts Satriani’s stirring May 2008 performance in Paris, France. Some of his most memorable songs, “Surfing With The Alien”, “Flying in a Blue Dream”, are matched with recent hits like “Super Colossal” and “I Just Wanna Rock.”
Skullflower – Strange Keys To Untune God’s Firmament 2xCD (Neurot)
New release from the British industrial/experimental band evokes Wagnerian sonic bombast, a Nietzchean worldview, and a warlike cry of rebellion against the false, encased in a whirlwind both psychotropic and psychoacoustic.
The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack CD/LP (Kemado)
A duo writing songs in California at the dawn of 2008 goes on to supporting The Breeders, Last Of The Shadow Puppets and Bloc Party as a quartet, and release two attention-grabbing singles that same year. They were the toast of CMJ in 2008 and South By Southwest in 2009, and then toured alongside Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, White Lies and Black Lips in 2009.
Soundtrack – Dear John OST CD (Relativity)
Features tracks by Joshua Radin/Schuyler Fisk, The Swell Season, Donovan Frankenreiter, Amanda Seyfried, Dan Wilson/Racheael Yamagata, Snow Patrol, Ozomatli, The Donkeys and more.
Through The Eyes Of The Dead – Skepsis CD (Prosthetic)
New release by one of the groups that pioneered the heavy and abrasive mixture of metal and hardcore.
Various Artists – Pop Ambient 2010 CD/2xLP+CD (Kompakt)
Landmark installment in Kompakt’s annual tour through the freshest facets of blisstronica. Features tracks by The Orb, Wolfgang Voigt, Thomas Fehlmann, Dettinger and more.
Vedera – Stages CD (Epic)
A stunning collection of dreamy pop/rock melodies which address such themes as loss, devotion, betrayal and love.
VoicesVoices – Origins CD (Manimal Vinyl)
Six-track concept album recorded by Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73). Herren pushes the signature guitar drone, percussive beats, and vocal looping of Nico Turner and Jenean Farris to a whole new level.
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe 2 CD/LP (Roadrunner)
Picks up where 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe left off.
Vinyl:
Kevin Barker – You & Me LP (Gnomonsong)
Vinyl version now available. Debut from favored collaborator and sideman for Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, and Antony & The Johnsons.
Black Belles – What Can I Do b/w Lies 7″ (Third Man)
They’re from Nashville, have four members and like hats. Third Man categorizes the band’s debut release as “a modern twist to a sound heavily rooted in the soul and garage rock of the ‘60s.”
Pepi Ginsberg – East Is East LP (Park The Van)
In East Is East, Pepi Ginsberg and her collaborators step into the golden hour of the day and embrace “The most ephemeral of seasons.” A mood and a time where we “know that change is coming in the form of a cool wind; we hold on until we let go.”
Wanda Jackson – You Know I’m No Good v/w Shakin’ All Over 7″ (Third Man)
The highly anticipated Jack White-produced single by rock & roll and country singing legend.
MV & EE – Home Comfort LP (Woodsist)
First ever all live LP of MV & EE material — limited to 550 copies.
Xiu Xiu/Parenthetical Girls – Smiths/Morrissey Split 7” (Upset The Rhythm)
Two like-minded experimental pop groups share a great deal of personal history and an unhealthy, often frustrating obsession with the works of one Steven Patrick Morrissey.
