Keeping up with the ever-mutating desires of the mobile set, two albums - a classic and a possible new classic - get special treatment as USB data devices this month. Recorded in exile and released in 1977, Bob Marley's Exodus holds the distinction of being the first "catalog" title to be issued as a memory stick, featuring bonus songs and video from London's Rainbow Theatre. Housed in a special carrying case, the edition of 4,000 copies is part of the album's 30th-anniversary celebration that also sees a new "hardback" version of the CD, a new pressing of the vinyl LP and original tour T-shirt, and a gorgeous 144-page book featuring rare photography and poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.
The White Stripes have created a magical 3,333 copies of their new album on USB Flash drive, featuring artwork of the duo that looks like it ought be in at the center of a series of Russian stacking dolls. Available in the Apple Lossless format, a flip of Jack's or Meg's "hat" reveals the USB. Don't look for these Icky Thump files to be a better deal than iTunes or your friendly neighborhood record store; your choice of boy or girl will set you back $57.50, or you can buy them as a bundled pair for $99.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Jesse Malin this evening and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus on Monday; The Late Show with David Letterman presents Bryan Ferry on Tuesday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts The Mooney Suzuki on Thursday and Rooney on Friday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson welcomes Goo Goo Dolls on Friday and Ben Kweller on Monday overnight; and The Henry Rollins Show on IFC gets chatty with Gene Simmons and features musical guest Queens of the Stone Age this weekend.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, June 26:
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change.
3 Inches of Blood - Fire Up the Blades (Roadrunner) nut-squeezin', horns-throwing metal majesty
Marc Almond - Stardom Road (Sanctuary) with guests Jools Holland, Antony of Antony & The Johnsons, and Sarah Cracknell of St. Etienne, this new collection of covers includes Petula Clark's "Happy Heart," Frank Sinatra's signature "Strangers in the Night," and T.Rex's "The London Boys"
Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated (Downtown) four-star, deliciously sly Brit-pout-pop twitching like a cross between The Auteurs and The Fall
AU - AU (Aagoo/Oedipus) homemade, free-form acid-folk roundabouts and piano chamber séances from Portland's Luke Wyland
Back Door Slam - Roll Away (Blix Street) featuring 20-year-old guitar phenomenon Davy Knowles, this is heavy, desert-sandstorm blues from a mighty Isle of Man trio, on tour next month with Rusted Root
Bad Brains - Build a Nation (Megaforce) all new from all the original membership, produced by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch
Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up (Capitol) all-new instrumentals with guests Money Mark and Afredo Ortiz; taking their retro hip-hop party on tour starting August 1 in Philadelphia
Popa Chubby - Electric Chubbyland Volume 1 & 2 (Blind Pig) two CDs in heavy homage to Hendrix
Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque (Capitol) "As far as the words are concerned it's a bit like an actor tackling Shakespeare," says the smooth Roxy Music vocalist about this new collection of Bob Dylan covers with guests Robin Trower and Brian Eno
Final Solutions - Songs by Solutions (Goner) twitchy tantrums taking their name from Pere Ubu's 1976 seven-inch single
Bob Frank & John Murry - World Without End (Evangeline) creepy murder ballads, produced by American Music Club's Tim Mooney
Adam Franklin - Bolts of Melody (Hi-Speed Soul) new solo album from the Swervedriver founder
Martin Gordon - The World Is Your Lobster (Radiant Future) confusingly delightful in this fourth part of his "mammal trilogy," the charming, witty power-pop star asks "What Would Jesus Drive?" and covers the Beatles on "Hey Bulldog" and Gilbert & Sullivan with "A Policeman's Lot Is Not a Happy One"
Gore Gore Girls - Get the Gore (Bloodshot) featuring bassist Carol Anne Schumacher of the Reigning Sound and Detroit Cobras, and the songwriting talents of Kim Fowley on "Pleasure Unit"
Guff - Symphony of Voices (Go Kart) sweetly acoustic in "Just Like It's Supposed to Be," and featuring backing vocalist Steve Perry of Journey on "I Can See It in Your Eyes"
Nick Lowe - At My Age (Yep Roc) with guest Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders
Mocean Worker - Cinco De MOWO! (Ryko) the perfect spicy soundtrack to a cool backyard barbecue, this baker's dozen of funky big-show struts and sexy grinds gets silky with jazz greats Herb Alpert and Marcus Miller; featuring two tracks with samples of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's mad flute flutterings
Erik Mongrain - Fates (MVD) debut from this phenomenal guitarist
Shane Nicholson - Faith & Science (Virt) featuring his wife, Kasey Chambers, and guest Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil, and an ice-cold cover of Tom Waits' "Big in Japan"
Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge 05/06 (Rhino) seven-CD box set
Pearlene - For Western Violence & Brief Sensuality (High and Dangerous) featuring an interpretation of the Dead Moon's "I Hate the Blues" that would be perfect for the opening credits of a spaghetti western, this northern-Kentucky boogie-blues machine was captured by the Afghan Whigs' John Curley
Duke Robillard - Duke Robillard's World Full of Blues (Stoney Plain) a blues guitarist's wet dream, this two-CD set winds up the player's player on a variety of his vintage axes, peppered with interesting cover selections from Tom Waits' "Low Side of the Road" and Bob Dylan's "Everything Is Broken" to James Cotton's "Slam Hammer" and Booker T.'s "Slim Jenkins Joint"
The Self Righteous Brothers - In Loving Memory of the Self Righteous Brothers (Black & Greene Records) quirky, cubic, freak-flag trio from Massachusetts, playfully unrolling bleating horns, acoustic side trips, and chipper toys-in-the-attic instrumentation
Spooky - Open (Spooky.UK) extra chilled with guest vocalists Julie Daske and Celestine Gordon, featuring a bonus disc of dub and ambient remixes
The Supersuckers - Live in Orange Co. (Mid-Fi) CD and DVD set featuring "Rock N Roll Records (Ain't Selling This Year)"
Kelly Willis - Translated from Love (Rykodisc) produced by Chuck Prophet, with a spin through Iggy Pop's "Success" that's heavy on the Vox organ
