Public-radio tastemaker KCRW from Santa Monica, California, is back with its sixth collection of live performances from its studios.
Produced by show host Nic Harcourt, Sounds Eclectic: The Next One is a tribute to the new voices that have found themselves as darlings of the radio station early on in their careers. Highlights include The Ting Tings' go-go hopping "Fruit Machine," Goldspot's haunting "Time Bomb," Architecture in Helsinki's pan steel synth of "Heart It Races," and other exclusives from Seawolf, Bat for Lashes, Spoon, and The Shins. Available only as a membership premium or on Amazon.com, the CD is virtually label-less - using Amazon's new CreateSpace, a print-on-demand CD service. Sony, BMG, and EMI have reportedly signed on to someday offer hundreds of out-of-print albums this way, by uploading the master files and artwork to CreateSpace, and letting the burning, printing, and shipping all originate at Amazon. If you've been searching for copies of Cake's Motorcade of Generosity, Joe Strummer's Earthquake Weather, or the Hatari! soundtrack by Henry Mancini, you can find these once again through CreateSpace.
Old school new-wavers, art-damage miscreants, and art-rock geezers can wonder where the years have gone, celebrating the 70th birthday of Suicide co-founder Alan Vega this year. Blast First Records' newest boutique label, Blast First Petite, has pronounced this the summer of Vega with a box set and a monthly series of digital downloads and 10-inch vinyl singles. Thirteen complete concerts are documented in the six-CD box, Suicide 1977-1978. Curious about what other artists might bow down to the duo's feral synthesizer attack? The second edition of the singles series has just been released, each featuring a Suicide rarity and two cover versions - this month by The Horrors and Nik Void, following last month's debut with Bruce Springsteen and Beat the Devil. Up ahead are covers by Peaches, Vincent Gallo, Primal Scream, Lydia Lunch, The Klaxons, and Julian Cope. Don't look for these singles to last long on store shelves, as each vinyl pressing is limited to only a few thousand copies.
Television Alert
The Late Show with David Letterman presents Nas tonight; The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Low Vs. Diamond tonight, Missy Higgins on Thursday, Chuck Berry on Friday, and Ingrid Michaelson on Monday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Lykke Li on Thursday and Ra Ra Riot on Tuesday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson features Billy Bob Thornton & the Boxmasters tonight and Priscilla Ahn on Monday overnight; and Jimmy Kimmel Live offers up Lady Antebellum this evening, Staind on Thursday, Glen Campbell on Friday, and Judas Priest on Tuesday.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, September 2
Apollo Sunshine - Shall Noise Upon (Headless Heroes) a layered, inner-space masterpiece shimmering, twinkling, and pulsating like a stoned afternoon in the park
Brimstone Howl - We Came in Peace (Alive) produced by Jim Diamond; the Nebraska band opens for the re-formed Electric Prunes next month
The Chemical Brothers - Brotherhood (Astralwerks) hits anthology with a second disc of 10 experimental "Electronic Battle Weapons" and guests the Flaming Lips, Spank Rock, and Noel Gallagher; also available in a two-LP vinyl edition
Dreadful Yawns - Take Shape (Exit Stencil Recordings) fourth album from the psychedelic Cleveland ensemble
Giant Sand - Provisions (Yep Roc) backed by a Danish three-piece, Howie Gelb returns with guests Isobel Campbell, Neko Case, and M. Ward
Hatebreed - Live Dominance (Koch) DVD featuring the entire Detroit concert stop on the Supremacy Tour, and packed with bonus goodies
Donnie Klang - Just a Rolling Stone (Bad Boy Records) debut from the winner of P. Diddy's fourth season of Making the Band
Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk & the Electronic Revolution (Sexy Intellectual/MVD) documentary DVD
Laibach - Volk Dead in Trbovlje (Mute) touring North America late next month; this concert DVD was filmed in the band's hometown of Trbovlje, Slovenia
Mad Juana - Bruja on the Corner (Acetate) all new from Sami Yaffa, formerly of Hanoi Rocks and currently handling bass duties for the New York Dolls; this wild and old-timey New Orleans jazz collective features vocalist Karmen Guy
Michael Lington - Heat (Nu Groove) featuring a cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" with American Idol's Ace Young
New Kids on the Block - The Block (Interscope) with guests Akon, Ne-Yo, and Pussycat Dolls
Prima Donna - After Hours (Acetate) glam-era saxophone-fueled retro rock
The Residents - The Bunny Boy (Santa Dog Records) 19 twisted new ditties in the vein of earlier work like The Commercial Album and Duck Stab
The Smithereens - B-Sides the Beatles (Koch) featuring cool cover art by Mad magazine's Jack Davis and covering a dozen Beatles' B sides, including "Thank You Girl," "If I Fell" and "There's a Place"
Southside Johnny & La Bamba's Big Band - Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits (Leroy Records) featuring a duet with Waits on his own "Walk Away & Start Over Again," this smoky, lush, dreamy collection of jazz interpretations is kept on the beat with drummer Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg of The Max Weinberg 7
Underoath - Lost in the Sound of Separation (Solid State) available as a standard CD, a "special edition" with a bonus DVD, and as a limited edition of 5,000 twin, saw-blade-shaped 10-inch vinyl EPs in a five-panel fold-out sleeve, hand-numbered and signed by the band
UNKLE - End Times ... Stories for Film (Surrender All) featuring the track "Trouble in Paradise" as used in the BMW television ad campaign and music from Spike Jonze's Fully Flared skate video; guests Josh Homme, Black Mountain, and Joel Cadbury of South collaborate on this collection of material influenced by the moving image
Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun (Capitol) with narrative tracks by Van Dyke Parks
various artists - Acoustic Arabia (Putumayo) mellow-breeze collection of musicians from North Africa and the Middle East
various artists - Calypsoul 70 (Strut) subtitled Caribbean Soul & Calypso Crossover 1969-1979, this 20-track collection gets funky with Trinidad's steel pan drums and Latin rhythms
various artists - You Heard It Here First (Ace) import-only collection of original songs before they became a hit by someone else, including Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love," Mark James' "Suspicious Minds," and Johnny Darrell's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town"
