Another bigger wave of new releases by some big names and smaller important ones. I've included info and links for the ones you want to know about most below, plus some other ones you may never have heard of (but should know), with audio & video for your listening and viewing pleasure. Click here to check out releases that dropped over the past few months …
Air, Le Voyage Dans La Lune (Astralwerks)
The classy French electro duo were commissioned to compose music to go with a painstakingly restored color print of Georges Méliès' 1902 film, A Trip To The Moon (Le Voyage Dans La Lune). Both the early sci-fi film and Air's soundtrack were premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival; the album (out today) is more of a companion piece to the film than an actual score.You can still listen to the album today at NPR.
Archer Black, Forgiveness Is a Weapon (Post Planetary)
Band of Skulls, Sweet Sour (Vagrant)
An iTunes exclusive release… physical album out 2/14.
Dierks Bentley, Home (Capitol Nashville)
Big James and the Chicago Playboys, The Big Payback (Blind Pig)
Big Sir, Before Gardens After Gardens (Rodriguez Lopez Productions)
The project of singer/composer Lisa Papineau (whose lent her pipes to records by Air and M83, among others) and bassist/composer Juan Alderete (of The Mars Volta). This is their third album. Listen to lead-off track "Regions" below and stream the album in its entirety at AOL Spinner today.
Blondes, Blondes (RVNG Intl.)
The electro duo (Sam Haar and Zach Steinman) release their self-titled debut; check out "Wine" below.
V V Brown, Lollipops & Politics (Capitol/EMI)
The British odd pop songstress otherwise known as Vanessa Brown issues her second full-length studio LP. Check out her video "Children" with guest Chiddy Ban after the jump along with the rest of this week's new releases….
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.