After several very quiet weeks (well outside of AC/DC and Metallica anyway), the floodgates have opened. We've got so much new stuff to talk about this week that we barely have the space to cover it all. So let's get this party started, shall we?
The ever prolific Ryan Adams and his Cardinals have another one out, and Josh Hathaway will be along in just a few to give you the lowdown on that. In the meantime, we've got a little something for everybody, be it goth, country, metal, R&B or whatever your new music lovin' little hearts desire.
For those who enjoy their hair color and fingernails as black as their coffee, The Cure have a brand new one called 4:13 Dream. Robert Smith and his merry band of goth-popsters are back with their most radio friendly set of songs in quite some time on this one.
The Eagles of Death Metal (a.k.a. Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme) once again go heavy on the riffage on Heart On, but have also expanded their musical horizons enough to even include a ballad here. But if that's not heavy enough for you, there's always Cradle of Filth, whose new metal opus carries the appropriately Halloween-ish title, Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder.
Indie and alt-rock fans have two reasons to celebrate this week as both Snow Patrol and Kaiser Chiefs are back with new albums. Pink's new Funhouse is said to carry a divorce theme (the singer is newly separated from her husband).
Toby Keith says that just because he once made a record called "Shock'n Y'all," That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy on his new one. John Legend comes fresh off of his recent gig for Obama with Springsteen and Billy Joel on his new Evolver. Providing this week's dose of holiday greetings are Loreena McKennitt and Brian McKnight.
After taking last week off, Mark Saleski is all tanned, rested, and ready to get back down to business. His pick this week is some typically oddball instrumental jazz sort of thing that is...well, typically Saleski. First, here's Josh Hathaway to talk about Ryan Adams.
It's the most wonderful time of the year...
We've had winners from Oasis, Dave Carter, AC/DC, and we're just getting warmed up. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals are back with a new album and this one is destined to get serious playback. I've not heard anything from Cardinology yet, but Adams has been playing much of the album on his tour in advance of the record's release. RA records can be exercises in frustration, but 2007's Easy Tiger was a solid listen with a couple of stunning moments. I have a good feeling about Cardinology.
Article comments
1 - Pico
Bloc Party's new CD is the pick of the week. Album cover-wise, anyway.
2 - Josh Hathaway
Just got my RA disc and I'm about to start listening.
3 - Jordan Richardson
Looking forward to Eagles of Death Metal and hearing Squarepusher's latest. Should be a pretty cool week.
4 - Jordan Richardson
Oh, and The Fame is finally out from Lady GaGa. I reviewed that back in August(they wanted me to!) and I maintain that it's one of the best dance-pop albums of the year.
5 - Tom Johnson
Definitely picking up Ryan Adams ("the last album under my name!" - we'll see how long that lasts) today, maybe the Squarepusher, thanks to Mark pointing it out because I completely overlooked it coming out. (Truthfully, I may just download the FLACs for Squarepusher from Bleep.com and save $5-6 if the packaging looks as minimal as theirs have been lately. Getting tired of buying folded over cardboard.)
6 - zingzing
mark, if you like squarepusher for its jazz sensibility, you should check out red snapper. electronica in some sense (mostly because it's on warp), but also jazz-influenced and hip-hop influenced... dunno if they're the greatest thing ever, but they are interesting from that perspective. that said, i've read a lot of good stuff about this squarepusher. methinks i might steal it.