February 3, 2006
New Releases: Feb. 7, 2006
Posted by Stacy Chandler at February 3, 2006 6:28 AMThat sound you hear? It's the sound of me rubbing my little mitts together in anticipation of the bounty of CD releases coming at us next week. Hoo lordy! There's nothing I can say that will be better than this list alone, so I'll get right to it:
New releases for Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006:
Beth Orton -- Comfort of Strangers (Astralwerks)
Sarah Harmer -- I'm a Mountain (Zoe)
If you're Canadian, you've had your crack at this for months. But since Sarah Harmer apparently hates America and freedom, we Yanks have had to wait 'til now to hear this one.
Yonder Mountain String Band -- Mountain Tracks, Vol. 4 (Mega Force)
Live tracks from different shows throughout 2005
Marty Stuart -- Live from the Ryman (Universal South)
Marty, good lord! Slow down, sugar! You are overwhelming us with awesomeness.
The Mammals -- Departure (Signature)
Belle & Sebastian -- Life Pursuit (Matador)
Hamell on Trial -- Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs (Righteous Babe)
Hem -- No Word from Tom (Nettwerk)
Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers -- Pandelirium (Yep Roc)
This is a band I don't know much about, but I'm gonna have to change that. Their Web site alone is enough to make me love them, and the fact that they get an assist on this album from The Reverend Horton Heat don't take away from that none.
Shannon McNally -- North American Ghost Music (Back Porch)
Another artist I don't (yet) know much about, but considering she's now touring with Son Volt and has previously toured with Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, and Rufus Wainwright, she gets an automatic in from me.
The String Cheese Incident -- On The Road (Sci Fidelity)
Four -- count 'em, four! -- simultaneous releases from the Cheese. And because these are live discs (the whole On The Road series is billed as a travelogue) from a jamgrass band, each of the four releases has three CDs. Wow.
And as if those weren't enough to get your motor runnin' toward the nearest indie record store, there's a couple of shit-hot soundtracks out Tuesday, too:
various artists -- Transamerica [soundtrack] (Nettwerk)
OK, first of all, why is it that when I searched Amazon's music store for "Transamerica" I got this CD ... and two Dolly Parton CDs? Miss Dolly's not on this soundtrack, but a lot of good people are. I speak of Old Crow Medicine Show (twice!), Larry Sparks, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Heather Myles, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Lucinda Williams.
various artists -- Elizabethtown, Vol. 2 [soundtrack] (RCA)
I'm unclear as to what's up with this soundtrack -- were these songs, like the ones on the first soundtrack, actually heard in the movie? Or is this an "inspired by" situation? Someone who's seen the movie let us know, would you? Wherever they come from, the songs on this disc are equally as excellent as the selection on the first, and largely from the same artists. You've got your Ryan Adams (twice!), Tom Petty, Nancy Wilson, Patty Griffin ... with added bonuses including Rachael Yamagata and Kathleen Edwards.
So yeah. Shooo-wheee. I know where most of this month's paycheck is going ...
For what (little) it's worth, I really like the Shack*Shakers (bought their last one) and Shannon McNally (bought her last two).
Posted by: Sean at February 3, 2006 7:18 AMYes, I'm pretty sure all of the Vol 2 songs were in the movie.
FWIW, I thought the movie was disjointed, poorly acted and written by someone who has never actually experienced either living in a small town or working for a large company - both of which are central to the movie's plot. Its a shame too because the premise had a lot of promise. There is this road trip scene that takes up the last 15 minutes of the movie where all of these songs are played in tiny snippets. I think that Mr. Crowe made a mix tape and then wrote a generic script in order to (attempt to) connect all of the songs.
I shouldn't complain too much, though. I'm glad to see that he kept the music at least somewhat in the Americana vein.
Posted by: James at February 3, 2006 8:33 AMPlease forgive Sarah. 'I'm A Mountain' is a good album and I didn't like 'All of Our Names' that much (my distaste for 'Almost' intensified as my husband played that album on repeat - endlessly).
Posted by: Margaret at February 3, 2006 10:52 AMAaahhh! Stacy! You forgot the Avett Brothers new release "Four Thieves Gone!" We gotta include that one! ;-) It freakin' rocks!
Posted by: larry at February 3, 2006 11:50 PMAh shit, I did! That's a terrible omission, and I apologize. I blame ... somebody ... for not listing it on any of the MANY collective music sites I look at for releases. And I blame myself for not better researching that nagging feeling I had while making the list that I was was forgetting something. We mentioned it in the podcast, for chrissakes. *forehead slap*
As for Sarah Harmer, awwww, I can't stay mad at Sarah Harmer. I loved "All of Our Names" -- and my favorite song on it was "Almost" -- so it'll be interesting to see how I like the new one. :)
Posted by: stacy at February 5, 2006 7:48 AMYou'll love Sarah's new album. I believe it more than makes up for her last one. It's very organic and rootsy. Sorta like Songs for Clem, but with more instruments.
I don't know if I missed it, but did you folks mention Rosanne Cash's new album, Black Cadillac? It's a fine piece of work.
That, and I've been enjoying Cat Power's latest, The Greatest. She recorded it with a Memphis band backing her. Good stuff, though it's not really "Americana."
"Black Cadillac" I *did* mention, for the Jan. 24 release list. I was a bad monkey, though, and waited a couple weeks to order it, so now it is somewhere on the planet wending its way to me by mail -- and dammit I want it now now now! I hear it's really great.
I listened to Cat Power the other day in a Tokyo Tower Records, really dug it. Woulda bought it on the spot, but, eeesh, $25 ...
Posted by: stacy at February 6, 2006 9:22 AM
