Robert Pollard, the former captain of the starship Guided by Voices, is just as busy as a solo artist with two new albums next week, and hitting the halfway point in his monthly seven-inch-single series. Merge Records is behind all the wax love, as both the "pop" CD, Coast to Coast Carpet of Love, and the "rock" CD, Standard Gargoyle Decisions, will be available in a limited edition of 1,500 180-gram vinyl LPs. Pollard has been showing off a few cards from both decks for the past few months in his Happy Jack Rock Records Singles Series, issuing a 45-RPM single roughly every 30 days, featuring an A side from one of the two albums and a exclusive B-side bonus. This coming Tuesday, look around your local vinyl-proud record shop for this month's single, "Shadow Port," or last month's single, "Pill Gone Girl."
For all the questionable concoctions the CMH Records imprint has unleashed on the world in the past few years, next week's Bluegrass Interpretations of Stevie Ray Vaughan is a spicy, delicious delight, blazing through a dozen of his signature grooves as good ol' boy, blue-grease git-downs.
Television Alert:
The Late Show with David Letterman serves Iron & Wine on Friday and Kid Rock on Monday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien hosts Ani DiFranco this evening, Bloc Party on Thursday, Animal Collective on Friday, and Black Lips on Tuesday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson welcomes Diana Krall on Friday and Shout Out Louds on Monday overnight; Jimmy Kimmel Live boasts Nick Lowe this evening and Modest Mouse on Monday overnight; and Saturday Night Live's musical guest this weekend is Spoon. Look for the return of Annie Lennox to sparkle up the tube all week long, stopping by The View on Thursday morning, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday night, and Martha Stewart on Tuesday morning.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, October 9:
2 Days in Paris - original motion picture soundtrack (Dynamo/Locomotive) with music by Nouvelle Vague, The Roughtones, and The Witnesses
Patterson Barrett - I Must Be Dreaming (So' Fish Records) all new from the former Jerry Jeff Walker guitarist, featuring a cover of The Band's "Sleeping" and guests Buddy and Julie Miller
Buck Brothers - Me (Coach House/Back 2 Forward Records) sounding like they stepped off the Stiff Records label in 1981, and as heard on MTV's My Super Sweet 16, this UK quartet sums it up nicely with "Gorgeously Stupid" and "Yes, No, Stay, Go, Do, Don't, Will, Won't"
Vanessa Carlton - Heroes & Thieves (The Inc. Records) with guest Stevie Nicks
Josie Cotton - Invasion of the B-Girls (Scruffy) co-produced with Geza X and featuring Devo drummer David Kendrick, this sexy sashay to the grindhouse is a collection of songs from, and inspired by, the notorious "B movies" of Herschell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, and John Waters
The Cult - New York City (Instant Live) concert DVD filmed last year at The Fillmore
Cut Off Your Hands - Shaky Hands (IAMSOUND) six-song CD EP
Dead Kennedys - Milking the Sacred Cow (Manifesto) budget-priced greatest-hits collection
Deadstring Brothers - Silver Mountain (Bloodshot) glorious Southern-boogie bliss from Detroit featuring boy-girl vocalists and a cover of Leon Russell's "You Look Like the Devil," slipping in nicely on the shelf between the Rolling Stone's Beggar's Banquet and the Black Crowes' debut
Danny Diablo - Thugcore 4 Life (Suburban Noize) with guests Daddy X of Kottonmouth Kings and Skinhead Rob of the Transplants
Electric Six - I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master (Metropolis)
Enon - Grass Geysers ... Carbon Clouds (Touch & Go)
The Future Kings of Nowhere - The Future Kings of Nowhere (307 Knox)
Robert Hazard - Troubadour (Ryko) backed by bassist T-Bone Wolk and drummer Steve Holley, the fella who penned Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" returns with a mature new album
Will Hoge - Draw the Curtains (Rykodisc)
Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Master Takes & Singles (Columbia Legacy) 79 tracks spread over four CDs
Idlewild - Scottish Fiction: Best of 1997-2007 (Parlophone) import-only CD and DVD set
Information Society - Synthesizer (Dancing Ferret) their first new music in six years
Samantha James - Rise (Om) lush electronic chilled-out soul, in a perfect lost groove of Sade and Everything but the Girl
Kid Rock - Rock 'n Roll Jesus (Lava/Atlantic) featuring "New Orleans," co-written with David Allen Coe
The Kin - Rise & Fall (Defend Music)
Koop - Koop Islands (Atlantic) captivating new jazz from Sweden that seductively slips between Caribbean beaches and Euro casino fantasies
The Nils Landgren Funk Unit - License to Funk (ACT Music) new from the trombonist and funky bandleader known famously in Sweden as "Mr. Red Horn," featuring guest Ray Parker Jr. and covers of Fred Wesley's "House Party" and Quincy Jones' 1978 hit with Ashford & Simpson, "Stuff Like That"
Mac Lethal - 11:11 (Rhymesayers)
Roisin Murphy - "Let Me Know" (EMI) new import-only single from the former Moloko vocalist, with mixes by Mr. Cato, Joey Negro, and Paul Oakenfold
R. Carlos Nakai & Udi Bar-David - Voyagers (Canyon) flute meets cello in melodies that cross Native American, Arabic, and Jewish boundaries
Prints - Prints (Temporary Residence) bubblegum drifter electronica from the Sacramento duo
Puddle of Mudd - Famous (Geffen)
Riverside - Rapid Eye Movement (Inside Out)
Rockfour - Memories of the Never Happened (Cooking Vinyl) NPR calls them "Israel's answer to the Beatles"
Secret Oyster - Secret Oyster & Straight to the Krankenhaus (Laser's Edge) Danish jazz-fusion reissues from 1973 and 1976, featuring astonishing guitarist Claus Bohling
Sleeping People - Growing (Temporary Residence) cubic, tumbling instrumentals, featuring guest vocalist Rob Crow on the last track
The Slits - Return of the Giant Slits (Blast First) fantastic CD reissue of this 1981 follow up to their Cut debut, featuring a bonus disc of interviews and dub mixes and new cover art
Steriogram - This Is Not the Target Market (Rock Ridge) with guest Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke
Johnny Winter - Live Bootleg Series: Volume One (Friday Music) featuring a cover of the Rolling Stones' "It's All Over Now"
Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (Domino) broken into three acts, this beautiful, cinematic return features guests Paul Weller of The Jam, Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera, and Brian Eno
various artists - Chaos Revisited with Justin Martin (Buzzin' Fly) remixing tracks from Catz 'N Dogz, Tricky Disco, and Motorcitysoul
various artists - The Gift: A Tribute to Ian Tyson (Stony Plain) with cover contributions from Blue Rodeo, Amos Garrett, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and more
