quote:

Originally posted by dubs:
I listened to Mark Lanegan's "Bubblegum" today for the first time in a while. Now I'm really excited about his album with Isobell Campbell.

Ayone know if this album- "Ballad of the Broken Seas"- has been set for a US release date yet? I've heard the EP Campbell & Lanegan released and have only seen a UK import for the full length on Feb 6.

I'm sure most of you saw this but Outkast set a date for the Idlewild soundtrack: Feb. 14th. Hope your respective significant others like Outkast.

I think Ballad of the Broken Seas is scheduled for March 7. There are four streaming tracks on the V2 Web site.

Also, a copy of Prefuse 73's Security Screenings came into my possession from a trusted source. It stinks. I really hope it's incomplete.

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:
I think Ballad of the Broken Seas is scheduled for March 7. There are four streaming tracks on the V2 Web site.

Hey thanks for that info! You're right, the V2 site lists the album as coming out March 7. The 4 streaming tracks are the same as on the EP. Great tunes!

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:
I think Ballad of the Broken Seas is scheduled for March 7. There are four streaming tracks on the V2 Web site.

Addendum: these aren't on V2 UK, which I went to first since it came up first on google. Just to save people time. But the UK version does have the first track from the new album available for download, which the US version does not have, I guess because the album comes out five weeks later here.

Question..

At first, the new Belle & Sebastian was listed as Feb 6th, UK only, US release TBA.

Now it's listed as Feb 7th, but the 'UK only' mark has been removed. Does that mean it's coming out Feb 7th in the US?

The Belle & Sebastian site has it's release for Feb 6 in the UK. Matador's site has the album listed as "in stores February 7, 2006". There's also an edition with a 6-song dvd bonus.

I'm excited about Yep Roc's reissuing of the Billy Bragg catalog, beginning with the first four records both individually and in a box set with bonus DVDs, in February. It will be nice to hear 'cleaned up' versions of those rough early tracks.

I'm not sure if there are any other Jason Molina (of Songs: Ohia fame) fans out there. And if not, then why not, you bunch of blacklegs? You are all welcome to come and join me in worship at the House of Molina!

He is probably one of my top five favorite artists going right now, and I recently received some news that made me so happy I had to dunk my head in ice cold water just to sober up again. Jason Molina will be releasing not one, not two, not 30, but three full length albums in 2006!

Check this story out: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheMeter/060113.html

One record will be a solo releases like Pyramid Electric Co, which, if you haven't heard it, is one of the most harrowing and awesome records you've never heard. The lyrics from Pyramid are something else...but I'll save that for another thread.

Another record will be the third release under the Magnolia Electric Co moniker, and will be called Nashville Blues. Let me tell you, I've heard the title song from that album performed live, and it is one of Molina's best and most accessible songs I've heard.

The third album is gonna be a collaboration between Molina and the former lead man from Camper Van Beethoven. I don't know what to expect from this one. I really don't know anything about Camper Van Beethoven. Can anybody give me some information about them?

And in other news from the article, Molina wants to collaborate with other Chicago artists soon, including---and this should tickle your fancy, Mark---Andrew Bird and Jeff Tweedy. An Andrew Bird/Jason Molina collaboration. Man, that's the kind of stuff that, if I were, during a dream, to go to bed and have a dream within that dream, that's the kind of stuff I would meta-dream about.

Well, a WAKING "dream" with Andrew Bird, Jeff Tweedy and David Lowery (CVB) would probably be more exciting to me, but you really need to catch up on CVB. I've been a fan since I saw them play at a San Jose, California Mexican Restaurant (!!) over 20 years ago. Their reunion album in 2004 was my #3 of that year.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Well, a WAKING "dream" with Andrew Bird, Jeff Tweedy and David Lowery (CVB) would probably be more exciting to me, but you really need to catch up on CVB. I've been a fan since I saw them play at a San Jose, California Mexican Restaurant (!!) over 20 years ago. Their reunion album in 2004 was my #3 of that year.

Mark and I once tried to kickstart some CVB talk here:

http://forums.metacritic.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/486...310037082#9310037082

but it didn't take.

Many people know David Lowery (CVB frontman) better as the lead singer of Cracker, who have had some decent sales in their career.

CVB gets lumped in as joke-rock sometimes because of their surrealistic, quirky lyricism...one of their best-known songs, "Take The Skinheads Bowling", features the lines: "I had a dream/I wanted to sleep next to plastic/I had a dream/I wanted to lick your knee." People don't quite know what to make of a band that squeezes European folk music, punk rock, American indie pop, Middle Eastern folk music, reggae, Southern rock, and hippie stoner music (among many, many others) into one oddball package.

I can't say for sure that you'd like them, RL, but I think there's a good chance.

Islands' Return to the Sea is awesome. Too bad it doesn't have an American release date.

Thanks for the info on CVB, pE. I may have to look into them. Sounds pretty interesting.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:
Thanks for the info on CVB, pE. I may have to look into them. Sounds pretty interesting.

If you're going to look into any CVB albums RL, I'd start with Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, which is probably the least jokey, most straightforward, and most cohesive album. Standout tracks include "Eye of Fatima", "One of These Days", and my personal favorite CVB song "She Divines Water" (although I still have a soft spot for "Take the Skinheads Bowling" from Telephone Free Landslide Victory).

What are Jenny Lewis and The Elected like, relative to Rilo Kiley?

Tuesday, let the Rilo Kiley-off commence.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobthespirit:
What are Jenny Lewis and The Elected like, relative to Rilo Kiley?

Tuesday, let the Rilo Kiley-off commence.

I've heard a few tracks off of both.

The Elected sounds a lot like Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn from last year. I like what I've heard so far.

Jenny Lewis' stuff is more sparse and a little more folky/countryish than Rilo Kiley. She also does a pretty faithful cover of the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care", which I always thought was a great song. Unfortunately, aside from introducing it to a bunch of indie kids who may not be familiar with the original, I don't think she really adds anything to it.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:

Jenny Lewis' stuff is more sparse and a little more folky/countryish than Rilo Kiley. She also does a pretty faithful cover of the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care", which I always thought was a great song. Unfortunately, aside from introducing it to a bunch of indie kids who may not be familiar with the original, I don't think she really adds anything to it.

As with anything by the Wilburys, I'd be more interested in any cover that takes something away from the original than adds to it, if you get what I'm saying.

quote:

Originally posted by dubs:
As with anything by the Wilburys, I'd be more interested in any cover that takes something away from the original than adds to it, if you get what I'm saying.

If you hear it, you'll kind of understand what I'm talking about-- it's the exact same instrumentation, played note for note. Lewis sings the George Harrison part and some other guy sings the Orbison/Dylan/Petty/Lynne parts. She just didn't do anything to it all. I think it would've been more interesting had she done a stripped down arrangement a la Cat Power or something.

I'm sure M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Ben Gibbard (the "indie kids" she introduced) had heard the song before they tried singing it. It's not exactly the same (although really close), a few words are changed, the drum beat is different, and the whole thing is sped up a bit. I like the cover a lot, there's nothing wrong with staying faithful to the original.

quote:

Originally posted by dano:
I'm sure M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Ben Gibbard (the "indie kids" she introduced) had heard the song before they tried singing it.

I was talking about kids buying her record, who may not be fans or even be aware of the orginal. I'm sure the above have heard the original.