Thursday , March 28 2024
Where is Eminem when we so desperately need him?

New Album Releases 04/14/09: Silversun Pickups, Death Cab for Cutie, John Doe & the Sadies, Derrick Gardner and The Jazz Prophets + 2

There is simply no way to sugarcoat it — it’s a pretty weak crop of new album releases we have submitted for your listening approval this week. With all due respect to the Silversun Pickups and John Doe, if the best we can do this spring are a band trying to revive nineties alternative rock, and the lead singer of a great eighties punk-rock band doing a country record — well, you get my drift.

Where is Eminem when we so desperately need him?

That said, let’s get to this week’s new offerings. There’s actually a fair amount of hipster buzz surrounding the Silversun Pickups, and I have to admit that for what they do, it’s actually done rather well. To say that this band worships at the altar of Smashing Pumpkins would be to understate things considerably. The good news is that on Swoon, they do it so well, you may just find yourself nostalgically pining for those old Birkenstocks of yours.

By contrast, former X-man John Doe eschews the straight-ahead punk of his most famous band, and heads straight towards the country with Country Club, a collaboration with Canadian roots rockers the Sadies, that is equal parts Nashville purdy and Bakersfield twangy.

Death Cab For Cutie are back this week with The Open Door EP, a companion piece to Narrow Stairs that includes four new songs, and an unreleased demo. Now here’s Pico with his latest jazz-tastic pick:

Pico’s Pick: Derrick Gardner and The Jazz Prophets + 2 – Echoes Of Ethnicity

The Art Blakey of today could very well be trumpeter Derrick Gardner, but this hard bop bandleader doesn’t replace great players with other great players, he adds them, instead. As an encore to last years superb A Ride To The Other Side, Gardner expands his septet to an octet with the addition of the talented Brad Leali (alto sax) and Jason Marshall (baritone sax). With this format, the Prophets gain the layered richness of a big band with the nimbleness of a small combo. As before, the arrangements are top-notch, the songwriting is tight and the re-imagining of covers creative (including a slow and slinky version of Aretha Franklin’s hit “Natural Woman”). There’s nothing but inspired jazzy goodness oozing from Echoes Of Ethnicity.

Here are all of this week’s new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:

John Doe & the Sadies
Country Club
Yep Roc
Alternative Country, Neo-Traditionalist Country

Grand Duchy
Petits Fours
Cooking Vinyl
Indie Rock

Metric
Fantasies
Metric/Last Gang
Indie Rock, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival

The Rakes
Klang
V2
New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Indie Rock, Punk Revival

Silversun Pickups
Swoon
Dangerbird
Alternative Pop/Rock

Roy Ayers Ubiquity
He’s Coming
Verve
Soul-Jazz, Instrumental Pop

Gato Barbieri
Chapter Two: Hasta Siempre
Impulse!
Latin Jazz, World Fusion, Free Jazz

Beck
One Foot in the Grave [Expanded Edition]
Geffen/K/Iliad
Indie Rock, Lo-Fi, Alternative Pop/Rock

Tony Bennett/Bill Evans
The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings
Fantasy
Standards, Ballads, Vocal Jazz, Modal Music, Show Tunes

Art Blakey
Soul Finger
Verve
Hard Bop

The Boy Least Likely To
The Law of the Playground
+1
Indie Pop

Bill Callahan
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Drag City
Indie Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter

Lars Danielsson
Tarantella
Act Music + Vision
Post-Bop, Modern Creative

Dennis DeYoung
One Hundred Years from Now
DEP
Adult Contemporary, Pop/Rock, Album Rock

Death Cab for Cutie
The Open Door EP
Atlantic
Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock

Arne Deforce
Morton Feldman: Patterns in a Chromatic Field
Aeon
Contemporary Chamber Music

Diamond Head
Am I Evil?: Anthology
Castle
New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock

Dntel
Early Works for Me If It Works for You II
Plug Research
Indie Electronic, Indie Rock

Fastball
Little White Lies
Mega Force
Pop Underground, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock

Ella Fitzgerald
Ella in Hollywood
Verve
Vocal Jazz, Traditional Pop, Standards, Ballads, American Popular Song

Buddy Guy
The Definitive Buddy
Shout! Factory
Electric Blues, Modern Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Chicago Blues, Chicago Blues

The Handsome Family
Honey Moon
Carrot Top
Neo-Traditional Folk, Alternative Country, Alternative Country-Rock, Indie Rock

Alex Harvey/Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Live at the BBC
Spectrum Audio
Glam Rock, Hard Rock, Album Rock

Angela Hewitt
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
Hyperion
Baroque Keyboard Music

The House of Love
Live at the BBC
Universal
Indie Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock, Noise Pop

Freddie Hubbard
The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard
Impulse!
Hard Bop

Ida Maria
Fortress Round My Heart
Mercury
Indie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter

Joe Jackson
At the BBC
Spectrum
Pop/Rock, New Wave, Punk

Keith Jarrett
Treasure Island
Impulse!
Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Bop, Standards

The Juan MacLean
The Future Will Come
Dfa
Left-Field House, Alternative Dance, Club/Dance, Neo-Electro

Life on Earth!
A Space Water Loop
Subliminal Sounds
Neo-Psychedelia

Medeski Martin & Wood
Radiolatians 2
Red Ink
Jam Bands, Post-Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Modern Creative, Soul-Jazz

The Mission UK
Live and Last
Eyes Wide Shut
Alternative Pop/Rock, College Rock, Goth Rock, Dance-Rock

The Monks
Black Monk Time
Infinite Zero/American
Garage Rock, Rock & Roll

The Monks
The Early: 1964-1965
Light in the Attic
Garage Rock, Rock & Roll

Lee Morgan
Lee-Way
Blue Note
Hard Bop

Mud
Rock On/As You Like It [Bonus Tracks]
Glam/7T’s
Glitter, Glam Rock, Hard Rock

Willie Nile
Places I Have Never Been [Bonus Tracks]
River House
Roots Rock, Rock & Roll, Americana

Noisettes
Wild Young Hearts
Mercury UK
Garage Rock Revival, Indie Rock

Anne Sofie von Otter
Bach
Archiv Production
Baroque Vocal Music

Andre Previn
André Previn: An 80th Birthday Celebration
RCA Red Seal
Modern & Contemporary Orchestral & Chamber Music

Maurice Steger
Venezia 1625
Harmonia Mundi
Renaissance & Baroque Music for Recorder

Papercuts
You Can Have What You Want
Gnomonsong
Indie Pop

Pomegranates
Everybody, Come Outside!
Lujo
Indie Rock

Prefuse 73
Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Warp
Left-Field Hip-Hop, IDM, Glitch, Experimental Techno

Simon & Garfunkel
Live 1969
Columbia/Legacy
Folk-Rock, AM Pop, Folk-Pop

Siouxsie & Banshees
Kiss in the Dreamhouse [Bonus Tracks]
Polydor UK/Ume
College Rock, Post-Punk, Alternative Pop/Rock, Goth Rock

Siouxsie and the Banshees
Nocturne
Geffen
Post-Punk, Alternative Pop/Rock, College Rock, Punk

Jill Sobule
California Years
Pinko
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock

Sun City Girls
Napoleon and Josephine: Singles, Vol. 2
Abduction
Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Cowpunk, College Rock

Telepathe
Dance Mother
Iamsound
Indie Rock

Trick Pony
The Best of Trick Pony
Warner Bros.
Contemporary Country, Neo-Traditionalist Country

Various Artists
Honey and Wine: Another Gerry Goffin and Carole King Song Collection
Ace
Brill Building Pop, Teen Idol, Surf, Early Pop/Rock, AM Pop, Rock & Roll, Folk-Rock, Doo Wop

Various Artists
New Rubble, Vol. 4: Utopia Daydream
Past & Present
Indie Rock, Alternative Folk, Alternative Pop/Rock

Johnny Varro featuring Ken Peplowski
Two Legends of Jazz
Arbors
Mainstream Jazz

Phil Woods
The Children’s Suite
Jazzed Media
Post-Bop

Yonlu
A Society in Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre
Luaka Bop
Indie Rock, Lo-Fi, Alternative Pop/Rock, Bossa Nova

About Glen Boyd

Glen Boyd is the author of Neil Young FAQ, released in May 2012 by Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard Publishing. He is a former BC Music Editor and current contributor, whose work has also appeared in SPIN, Ultimate Classic Rock, The Rocket, The Source and other publications. You can read more of Glen's work at the official Neil Young FAQ site. Follow Glen on Twitter and on Facebook.

Check Also

Cover Culture Decks Decoded

Book Review: ‘Culture Decks Decoded’ by Bretton Putter

Leaders of any high growth or startup company should read Bretton Putter's new book is 'Culture Decks Decoded.' It's a compelling guidebook on the need for company culture.