Fiction Family, Reunion (Rock Ridge Music)
Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite, Get Up! (Stax/Concord)
Two blues-rooted musicians from different generations originally introduced by another great, John Lee Hooker, and who have been friends for upwards of 15 years finally team up for this album, described as "a piercing song-cycle of struggle and heart." Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Harper, his 12th studio album. Musselwhite discusses how Muddy Waters helped kick-start his career as a musician in the Danny Clinch-shot video below, which also features a sneak peek of album closer, "All That Matters Now."
Hey Ocean!, Is (Nettwerk)
The History Of Apple Pie, Out Of View (Marshall Teller Records)
Indians, Somewhere Else (4AD)
Kris Kristofferson, Feeling Mortal (KK Records)
Lady Lazarus, All My Love (self-release)
La Big Vic, Cold War (Underwater Peoples)
Local Natives, Hummingbird (Frenchkiss)
The highly anticipated sophomore follow-up to Local Natives' fantastic 2009 debut, Gorilla Manor, has already earned a fatty 8.1 rating from Pitchfork.com. Hummingbird finds them minus a member (bassist Andy Hamm left in 2011, leaving Local Natives as a quartet filled out by Aaron Dessner on the record). "You and I" below.
Her first album of (non) children's music since 2004's The Way It Really Is.
Lost Animals, Ex Tropical (Hardly Art)
Mice Parade, Candela (Fat Cat)
ON AN ON, Give In (Roll Call Records)
Pearl Necklace, Soft Opening (Smalltown Supersound)
Radar Bros., Eight (Merge)
Rock Candy Funk Party, We Want To Groove (J&R Adventures)
The new 70s/80s funk-jazz throwback project featuring Tal Bergman, Joe Bonamassa, Ron DeJesus, Mike Merritt, and Renato Neto.
Emmy Rossum, Sentimental Journey (Warner Bros.)
The Ruby Suns, Christopher (Sub Pop)
Skinny Lister, Forge and Flagon (Side One Dummy)
Sonny Smith, 100 Records: Vol. 3 (Polyvinyl)
The third and final installment in Smith's ambitious "100 Records Project" showcases a multitude of fictional bands that Smith invented and then wrote songs for during 2010.
Tall Firs, Out Of It And Into It (Frenchkiss Label Group / ATP Recordings)
Tegan and Sara, Heartthrob (Reprise)
Canadian sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin are now in their 30s and trying out a more pop-hooky sound in their seventh studio album and first record of new material in four years, which is produced by Greg Kurstin (Kelly Clarkson, Ke$sha).
Tomahawk, Oddfellows (Ipecac Recordings)
The second album from the tribal/experimental hard rock outfit featuring Mike Patton (Faith No More) on lead vocals with guitarist Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), drummer John Stanier (Battles, Helmet) and bassist Trevor Dunn (Melvins Lite, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn). Video of "Stoneletter" below.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Texas Flood 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition (Sony Legacy)
An expanded two-disc edition of the debut album by the American blues rock threesome. Disc one includes the original album in its entirety with the bonus track "Tin Pan Alley" (aka "Roughest Place in Town"); disco two features a previously unavailable hour-long set of the band live at Ripley's Music Hall in Philadelphia recorded on October 20, 1983 for a WMMR broadcast.
Wake Owl, Wild Country EP (Vagrant)
Allison Weiss, Making It Up (No Sleep Records)
Western Medications, The Painted World EP (Jefferey Drag Records)
Charlie Wilson, Love, Charlie (RCA)
Charlie Winston, Running Still (Real World)
The velvety-voiced singer-songwriter from the UK has a lushly-composed lightly brassy soulful-groove folk rocking sound that is vastly under-appreciated in the U.S. Check out his video for "Hello Alone" below, the first single off his most recent LP, which hits us more than a year after its original release overseas.
Yellow Red Sparks, Yellow Red Sparks (Org Music)
Just when you thought no other albums could come out in January, the last wave unleashes a boatload of new music. Info and links for the ones you want to know about most below, plus some other ones you may not 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.
Amor de Dias, The House at Sea (Merge)
Ashanti, BraveHeart (eOne Music)
Bleeding Rainbow, Yeah Right (Kanine)
Blue Sky Riders, Finally Home (3Dream Records)
Aimee Bobruk, /ba.’brook/ (self-release)
Buke And Gase, General Dome (Brassland)
The two-piece experimental rock/punk-something musical outfit who play their own self-made instruments (Aron Sanchez wields a guitar-bass hybrid or "gase," while vocalist Arone Dyer plays a six-string made from a baritone ukulele, a "buke") re-located to upstate New York from Brooklyn to record their second full-length issued on The National's artist-run indie label, Brassland. Title track below.
Eric Burdon, Til Your River Runs Dry (ABKCO Records)
Destiny's Child, Love Songs (Sony Legacy)
A greatest hits compilation of romantic ballads by DC out a few weeks before Valentine's Day.
Colton Dixon, A Messenger (Sparrow)
Ducktails, The Flower Lane (Domino)
Musician-songwriter Matthew Mondanile — who self-produces ambient psychedelic pop music as Ducktails — brought on other collaborators for the first time ever on his fourth LP. Among them, the record's co-producer and engineer Al Carlson (Peaking Lights, Oneohtrix Point Never), guest musicians and singers like Madeline Follin (of Cults), Sam Mehran (of Outer Limits) and Jessa Farkas (of Future Shuttle), along with members of Mondanile's other band, Real Estate, and members of Big Troubles, who also serve as Mondanile's live band for performances. Listen to the title track after the jump ...
