Out This Week 1/11/11

Release date 1/11/11: the second coolest binary date of the year (right after 11/11/11), and the first real week of new albums this year. What does 2011 hold? 50 more weeks remain, full of highly anticipated releases from the likes of Radiohead, PJ Harvey, My Morning Jacket, Iron & Wine... and even The Wrens? Although there are likely to be many more great albums wait on, you’ll no doubt find enough on this week’s list of new releases to send you packing to your nearest record shop today... where, for example, you’ll find the latest from British Sea Power, who despite a few experimental excursions, are still going strong with their recognizable brand of dark post-punk anthems. Minneapolis band Tapes ‘N Tapes, early indie sensations in the rise of music blog credibility, have weathered whatever tempests lied along the way and have returned with their third album (once again self-released) in six years, at least partially returning to the quirky yet often raucous rockers that originally led bloggers to hail them as the second coming of the Pixies. You’ll also find the long-lived psych band Bardo Pond coming in with their eighth album. The much longer-lived British art-punk band Wire also returns, this time with their 10th studio album since 1977. Red Barked Tree proves that things don’t always mellow out with age.

Other releases include the latest from the goofy alterna-rena-rock band Cake, a promising debut from Scottish indie folk band Broken Records, a new collection from the “The Taildragger” T-Model Ford accompanied by local band GravelRoad, and the first official solo album from Yo Majesty’s Shunda K. There’s plenty more to be found on record shelves this week, so be sure to check Largehearted Boy’s list and the samples below before heading out.