Record label’s are feeling especially generous this week, releasing some of the most anticipated albums of 2010. Austin’s Shearwater once again encapsulates nature’s fragile beauty with The Golden Archipelago, the third panel in a trilogy which includes 2008′s brilliant Rook and 2006’s Palo Santo. While staying within the three-album theme of environmental decay and human’s cataclysmic impact on the natural world, The Golden Archipelago is soaked in starkness and mysticism which only life on an island can foster. Known for her labyrinthine lyrics and harmonious harp, Joanna Newsom releases over two hours of her most ambitious and borderless music to date with the 3-CD magnus opus, Have One On Me. Manchester bedroom-pop project LoneLady (Julie Campbell) celebrates her Warp Record debut with Nerve Up. With the help of My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab producer Guy Fixsen, the post-punk Nerve Up swims in aggressive guitar pluck and clack/clatter percussion.
Seattle’s own Past Lives’ new record Tapestry of Webs reflects the quartet’s maturity, showcasing their inner chaotic cores without going off the deep end. Between Tapestry’s slow pop burn and 80s underground mod, you’d never suspect three-forths of the members are from screamo-punk/metal Blood Brothers. Fellow Seattle band Post Harbor released their second album They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them: an epic dance between soft and loud, lumnious and overcast. Johnny Cash’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave features the final recordings of the American legend before his death in September 2003. The sixth and final installment of the American Recordings album series will be released on February 26, what would have been the 78th birthday of the Man in Black. Other worth noting releases are Clem Snide’s The Meat of Life, Balmorhea Constellations, Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate’s Ali & Toumani and Holly Miranda’s The Magician’s Private Library.
For more new music check out Largehearted Boy’s list before heading on over to your local record shop.
from Old Crows/Young Cardinals on Vagrant Records
Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate – Kala Djula
from Ali & Toumani on Nonesuch
April Smith and the Great Picture Show – Colors (MP3)
from Songs for a Sinking Ship on Little Roscoe Records
Balmorhea – Bowsprit (MP3)
from Constellations on Western Vinyl
Brian Jonestown Massacre – Detka!Detka!Detka!
from Who Killed Sgt Pepper on A. Records
Efterklang – Modern Drift (MP3)
from Magic Chairs on 4AD
Elaine Lachica – Rapture (MP3)
from I Think I Can See the Ocean on Stunning Models on Display
Electric President – The Violent Blue
from Violent Blue on Fake Four Inc.
Eluvium – The Motion Makes Me Last (MP3)
from Similies on Temporary Residence Ltd
Holly Miranda – Waves (MP3)
from The Magician’s Private Library on XL
Holy Fiction - Iron Eyes (MP3)
from Hours From It on Nile Music
Jack Rose – Woodpiles (MP3)
from Luck In the Valley on Thrill Jockey
Joanna Newsom – Kingfisher (MP3)
from Have One On Me on Drag City
Johnny Cash - Ain’t No Grave
from American VI: Ain’t No Grave on American Recordings/Lost Highway
Joy Kills Sorrow - Kill My Sorrow (MP3)
from Darkness Sure Becomes This City on Signature Sounds
LoneLady – Intuition (MP3)
from Nerve Up on Warp Records
Michael Yonkers - Lovely Gold (MP3)
from Lovely Gold on Drag City
Past Lives - Deep In The Valley (MP3)
from Tapestry of Webs on Suicide Squeeze
Picastro – Twilight Parting (MP3)
from Become Secret on Monotreme Records
Plimsouls – Zero Hour (MP3)
from Live Beg Borrow & Steal: October 31, 1981, Whiskey on Alive Records
Quasi - Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler (MP3)
from American Gong on Kill Rock Stars
Post Harbor - Caves, Hollow Trees and Other Dwellings (MP3)
from They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them on Burning Building Recordings
Rob Swift – Rabia 2nd Movement
from The Architect on Ipecac Recordings
Rocky Votolato – Red River (MP3)
from True Devotion on Barsuk
Sambassadeur – Stranded (MP3)
from European on Labrador Sweden
Shearwater – Black Eyes (MP3)
from The Golden Archipeligo on Matador Records
The Stance - Jenny Jitters (MP3)
from I Left Love Behind a Long Time Ago on Just Friends Records
Shout Out Louds – Walls (MP3)
from Work on Merge
Superions – Who Threw That Ham at Me
from Superions EP on Happy Happy Birthday to Me
Was (Not Was) – Walk the Dinosaur
from Pick of the Litter 1980-2010 on Micro Werks
We Are Wolves – Blue (MP3)
from Invisible Violence on +1 Records
White Hills - Dead (MP3)
from White Hills on Thrill Jockey
Xiu Xiu – Gray Death (MP3)
from Dear God, I Hate Myself on Kill Rock Stars
Zeus – Marching Through Your Head (MP3)
from Say Us on Arts and Crafts
One Comment
Joanna Newsom’s “Kingfisher” isn’t working, was it pulled?