The first wave of new music in December, which includes some live albums and much-anticipated releases along with the usual. 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 …
Allman Brothers Band, S.U.N.Y. at Stonybrook [Live 9/19/71] (Peach Records)
Amy Winehouse, Lioness: Hidden Treasures (Universal Motown Republic Group)
A posthumous album of previously unreleased tracks, alternate versions of existing tracks, and brand new compositions produced by Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi from the many recordings the songstress made before, during, and after the release of Frank and Back To Black.
Bassnectar, Divergent Spectrum (Ingrooves)
The Black Keys, El Camino (Nonesuch)
The Ohio blues/garage rock outfit follows-up their 2010 Grammy-winning Brothers with a seventh full-length a little over a year later. Danger Mouse returns to produce the entire doggone thing, ala 2008's Attack and Release, and El Camino has earned rather glowing press thus far; Spin called the record "irresistibly gaudy" and "catchier, glitzier, ballsier" (with an 8/10 rating) while Entertainment Weekly gave the record an "A—" and wrote that "El Camino trades the soulful stylings of Brothers for harder-driving, faster-riffing rock & roll." Even Pitchfork.com is jumping on the bandwagon with a 7.4/10 rating: "The riffs are glam-nasty, the lyrics sublimely knuckleheaded, the basslines nimble and bombastic, the mood frivolous and fun and unabashedly corny." Check out the video and first single "Lonely Boy" after the jump, along with the rest of this week's new releases.
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2011.