Two corporate brands are looking to snuggle up with taste-making young consumers with new CDs. Toyota's Scion line has always been serious about its factory-installed sound systems, and now its audio/visual department has teamed with five hip record labels - Ninja Tune, Vice, Light in the Attic, Greensleeves, and Strictly Rhythm Records - for a series of pumping remix discs. Letting each label's stable of artists cut loose on a label-mate's work, highlights include knob-twisting from Modeselektor, Max Glazer & Federation of Sound, and Holy Ghost.
Urban Outfitters is the only place to find Free Yr Radio, a 14-track CD that raises money for a dozen hip noncommercial radio stations across the country. Featuring B sides and rare in-the-studio sessions, participants include Dinosuar Jr., Grizzly Bear, Klaxons. Man Man, Sonic Youth, Rogue Wave, and Tapes 'N Tapes.
A few more long-lost gems are getting crossed off the "someday, someday, please on CD" wish list. This coming Tuesday Nonesuch Records is reissuing David Byrne's 1985 theatrical collaboration with Robert Wilson, The Knee Plays. Augmented with eight previously unreleased instrumentals, a bonus DVD features the music set to 400 black-and-white photographs shot at 30-second intervals during the original live performances.
Also getting a much-needed digital labor of love is Wounded Bird Records' reissue of two early-1980s gems from Ellen Foley, a talented studio vocalist who befriended The Clash and appears on its Sandinista! album. With bonus tracks on each, 1981's Spirit of St. Louis (produced by then-boyfriend Mick Jones) and 1983's Another Breath are pop delights, quite strange for American ears that know her best from her role on television's Night Court.
If you can't pop for Rhino Records' $199.98 Joy Division audiophile-vinyl box set from the label's wonderful "Handmade" arm, this coming Tuesday brings affordable, expanded CD reissues of the band's debut, Unknown Pleasures (from 1979), and its follow-up, Closer (1980). Each features a second disc of rare live material. Also being released is the soundtrack to the new Joy Division bio-pic, Control, featuring selections from Iggy Pop, Roxy Music, Velvet Underground, and a cover of "Shadowplay" by The Killers. One sour note, surely spinning Ian Curtis in his Manchester grave: Rhino.com has announced the release of a ringtone for the band's signature hit "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Paolo Nutini tonight, Carrie Underwood on Monday, and The Sex Pistols on Tuesday; The Late Show with David Letterman welcomes Faith Hill on Thursday, Ron Wood on Monday, and Slash on Tuesday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Seether on Monday and Dweezil Zappa on Tuesday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson presents Good Charlotte on Monday overnight; and The Ellen DeGeneres Show gets chatty with Kid Rock on Thursday and the Jonas Brothers on Friday.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, October 30:
30 Days of Night - original motion picture soundtrack (Ipecac) featuring a score by Brian Reitzell, formerly banging the drums in Redd Kross and Air
Carrie Akre - Last the Evening (Loveless) new from the Hammerbox and Goodness vocalist
Nicole Atkins & the Sea - Neptune City (Columbia) finding an audience through her exposure in a recent American Express commercial and much critical gushing
Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold (Warner Bros.)
Backstreet Boys - Unbreakable (Jive) all new
Ian Ball - Who Goes There (Dispensary Records) solo album from Gomez vocalist and songwriter, on his new artist-owned label
The Beatles - Help (Apple Corps/EMI) updated two-DVD reissue of the 1965 film housed in a 60-page book
Jeff Austin Black - Human (Rainman) recently heard on an episode of CSI: Miami
Blues Traveler - Cover Yourself (C3 Records) new twists on fan-chosen songs from the band's catalog; with guest G. Love on "Just for Me"
Boboflex - Tales from a Dirt Town (TVT) high-octane metallic crunch from the mountains of West Virginia
Buck 65 - Situation (Strange Famous Records) showcased on Sage Francis' boutique label, this is the sixth release from the Nova Scotia hip-hop thinker, creating a concept album based on events that took place in 1957
Greyson Capps - Songbones (Hyena) limited release of these somber sessions from 2002
The Color Fred - Bend to Break (Equal Vision) new from Taking Back Sunday guitarist Fred Mascherino
Ray Davies - Working Man's Café (V2) import-only new album from The Kinks' co-founder
The Eagles - Long Road Out of Eden (Eagles Recordings) only available at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club
Einsturzende Neubauten - Alles Wider Offen (Potomak/Ryko) the title translates to "all open again"
Enter Shikari - Take to the Skies (Ambush Reality/Tiny Evil) stateside issue of this Kerrang! magazine favorite
Hanger 18 - Sweep the Leg (Definitive Jux) crazy delicious "flow-etry" from an unlikely button-down trio
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer (Vanguard) in his first solo work in more than 20 years, The Band's drummer is joined by Buddy and Julie Miller
Richard Lloyd - The Radiant Monkey (Parasol) new from the Television guitarist, featuring cover art by famed punk cartoonist John Holstrom
Luna Halo - Luna Halo (American) featuring the group's King of Queens television-show theme, "Kings & Queens"
Oasis - Lord Don't Slow Me Down (Black Dog Films) DVD release of this 1995 tour documentary, featuring audio commentary and fan-generated footage
OTEP - The Ascension (Koch) touring soon with Hellyeah and Bloodsimple, and featuring guitarist Greg Tribbett as co-writer on three songs
Chase Pagan - Oh, Musica! (Militia Group) featuring guests Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction and Manny Carrero of Saves the Day
Puscifer - V Is for Vagina (Puscifer Entertainment) Maynard James Keenan's new project outside of Tool promises a classic R&B excursion with "secret" guests Devo, Milla Jovovich, Jonny Polonsky, and Lisa Germano
Queen - Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid (Hollywood/Eagle Vision) available as a two-CD or two-DVD set, these live concerts from 1981 and 1985 show the band in their finest glory
Saves the Day - Under the Boards (Vagrant) CD and DVD
Sightings - Through the Panama (Load/Ecstatic Peace) produced by Andrew WK
Britney Spears - Blackout (Jive)
Subtle - Yell & Ice (Lex Records) remix collection of songs from the band's For Hero: For Fool album, featuring members of Wolf Parade, Why?, and TV on the Radio
Taking Back Sunday - Notes from the Past (Victory) retrospective collection featuring two B sides
Ana Ternheim - Ana Ternheim (Decca) six-song CD EP from the stunning Swedish singer/songwriter, slipping in a seductive cover of David Bowie's "China Girl"
Thursday - Kill the House Lights (Victory) DVD filmed in December
The Wonder Years - Get Stoked on It! (No Sleep Records) from Philadelphia
various artists - Yo! Indie Rock Raps (Immortal) taking a new wrap on rap and hip-hop hits, young rockers show off their guilty pleasures in this covers compilation, highlighted by My American Heart showing their "California Love" for Tupac, The Maine pitching white-boy whoo in their coo through Akon's "I Want to Love You," and the Hot Rod Circuit sippin' on Snoop Dogg's "Gin & Juice"
