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Frankie Rose – Interstellar (Slumberland)
Please see my full review here.
La Sera – Sees the Light (Hardly Art)
Please see my full review here.
The Bats – Free All the Monsters (Flying Nun)
The latest album from New Zealand indie-pop greats The Bats was released late last year, but I only got a copy last week. Like the rest of their discography, it’s a beauty and it doesn’t stray at all from their winning formula. My favorite song here is The Go-Betweens-like “In the Subway”. If there’s a difference between this one and their last two (also fine) albums 2005’s At the National Grid and 2009’s The Guilty Office, this one seems more like a “classic” Bats album than the last few.
The Bats – Live at WFMU (Merge)
Not a new release, but an out-of-print gem from the early ’90s, this 7” features 4 live songs recorded on the venerable free-form radio station WFMU in 1993. Included are two songs from 1987’s Daddy’s Highway” (including a great version of “North by North” and a take on “Block of Wood’ as well), 1993 _Silverbeet tune “Sighting the Sound” and a great version of “Streets of Baltimore” (perhaps best known via the Gram Parsons version on his solo debut GP)
Lee Ranaldo – Between the Times & The Tides (Matador)
Ignore Pitchfork’s ridiculous 5.2 review. This is a fantastic record. It’s perhaps mellower than one would expect from the Sonic Youth guitarist, but the songs here are top-notch and rife with both political and personal commentary. If Sonic Youth’s indefinite status means more records like this and Thurston Moore‘s similarly great Demolished Thoughts from last year, I’m OK with that.
Penelope Houston – On Market Street (Devoted Ruins)
Although I’m a huge fan of The Avengers, I’m not that familiar with Penelope Houston’s solo stuff aside from a few releases. I need to change that ASAP as I really like this record. It takes a while to develop as the first half as a bit more MOR than I’d prefer, but the second half of this record (generally more understated and really showing off Penelope’s beautiful voice) is brilliant.
Beach House – “Lazuli”
The second released track from their forthcoming Bloom isn’t the stunner that “Myth” is, but it’s another fine track that really makes me look forward to the album itself.
Henry Rollins – Union Transfer (Philadelphia) – March 14, 2012
This was the umpteenth time I’ve seen Henry Rollins do a spoken word show and it’s always a fantastic show. This time around, he spoke about topics ranging from political concerns to his travels around the world (touching upon places as different as rural Kentucky and India) to particularly gruesome tales of touring with Black Flag in the ’80s.
Lifetime – Somewhere in the Swamps of Jersey (Jade Tree)
Although this was released in 2006, I hadn’t heard it until recently. Of course I’m familiar with most of this material as I’d heard their early 7“s and first Lp Background back when they came out in the early ’90s when Lifetime were one of many great bands in the New Brunswick, NJ hardcore punk scene and not the legends they are now. This 2 CD collection ups the ante greatly, though. Never satisfied with the original mix for either their 1st 7” or Background, it features a remixed and frankly much better sounding version of the latter (as well AS killer-sounding versions of the 2 7“s and some bonus demo tracks) with the mix done by bassist Dave Palaitis. It almost makes disc 2, featuring the original version of Background and some live tracks, moot. If you’re a fan, don’t miss disc 1, though!
Food – “Santa Maria”
This is the new band of Ed Crawford of Firehose and it also features Eric Vermilion from Gumball and Mike Quinlan from The Cynics. A 3 song EP with this track and two others will be out next month, but for now you can hear the track here.
