February 24, 2009
New Releases

Featured Albums Black Lips 200 Million Thousand Vice On the Black Lips fifth studio album, 2009's 200 Million Thousand not much has changed on the surface. Maybe they are a little more together, more focused and tight, but they still have enough ramshackle swagger and loose as a goose sleaze to go around and have enough for seconds. They still pick the bones of garage rock clean, sounding like they should be leading off side two of a Back from the Grave comp or at the very least a highlight of a Pebbles volume. Garage Punk, Garage Rock Revival J.J. Cale Roll On Rounder While songwriter J.J. Cale has established himself as an elusive and even reluctant legend in popular music with his sporadic string of releases over the last 38 years, he's never drastically changed his approach. Cale is a workmanlike songwriter whose roots in blues, Okie folk, and roots rock music have been informing his tales of travel, nocturnal pleasure, and everyday life all the while. Even the acclaimed but spaced out Travel Log (which was Cale's equivalent to Neil Young's Trans) never managed to root his sound that far afield from its wellspring. 2009's Roll On, is more strange, laid-back grooves and road-weary tales of quark strangeness and charm from an inveterate master. Boogie Rock, Roots Rock, Blues-Rock Chris Isaak Mr. Lucky Wicked Game/Reprise Mr. Lucky is the first album Chris Isaak has released in seven years but it's hard to call it a comeback: it's been so long since Isaak had something approaching a crossover hit that it's hard to say that he's been away, that he has something to come back from -- he just appears every few years, such as in March of 2009, when Mr. Lucky appeared as part of a coordinated multimedia attack. In addition to this new album, Isaak has a new talk show on A&E -- like Elvis Costello's Spectacle but on basic cable. Given this bigger platform, it makes perfect sense that Mr. Lucky feels carefully considered: from its production to its construction, it's a deliberate attempt to modernize Isaak's retro obsessions without abandoning them. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock And Then There Were None Who Speaks for Planet Earth? Tooth & Nail New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Dance-Rock, Indie Electronic Laura Barrett Victory Garden Paper Bag Indie Pop, Indie Rock Diego Bernal For Corners Exponential Left-Field Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Joe Bonamassa The Ballad of John Henry J & R Adventures Blues-Rock, Modern Electric Blues Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments A Meal You Can Shake Hands with in the Dark Repertoire Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Soul Pete Brown & Piblokto! Things May Come and Things May Go But the Art School Dance Goes on Forever Repertoire Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Rock & Roll, Soul Pete Brown & Piblokto! Thousands on a Raft Repertoire Jazz-Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band Safe as Milk Buddha Proto-Punk, Psychedelic, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Blues-Rock, Experimental Rock Johnny Cash Original Sun Singles '55-'58 Sundazed Rock & Roll, Traditional Country, Rockabilly, Country-Pop Clem Snide Hungry Bird 429 Indie Rock, Alternative Country-Rock Company of Thieves Ordinary Riches Wind-Up Indie Rock Norman Connors Star Power Shanachie Smooth Jazz, Quiet Storm, Crossover Jazz, Urban Shemekia Copeland Never Going Back Telarc Modern Electric Blues, Soul-Blues Brian Dewan Ringing at the Speed of Prayer: Brian Dewan with the Liverpool Cathedral Bell Ringers Innova Romantic & Contemporary Arrangements for Bells & Tuned Stones John Fred & His Playboy Band With Glasses: The Very Best of John Fred and His Playboy Band Fuel 2000 Pop/Rock, Frat Rock, AM Pop, Blue-Eyed Soul Bill Frisell The Best of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1: Folk Songs Nonesuch Folk-Jazz Green River Ordinance Out of My Hands Virgin Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock Uri Gurvich The Storyteller Tzadik Avant-Garde Jazz, Progressive Jazz, Folk-Jazz, World Fusion Lightnin' Hopkins Blues from Dowling Street Fuel 2000 Electric Texas Blues, Electric Blues, Country Blues, Acoustic Texas Blues, Texas Blues Jonas Brothers Music from the 3D Concert Experience Hollywood Pop/Rock, Teen Pop K'naan Troubadour A&M/Octone Alternative Rap, Political Rap, Underground Rap Kinky Barracuda Kin-Kon/Nettwerk Alternative Dance, Rock en Español, Alternative Pop/Rock L'Arpeggiata Monteverdi: Teatro d'Amore Virgin Classics Baroque Vocal Music Lamb of God Wrath Epic Death Metal/Black Metal Jerry Lee Lewis Sun Singles Collection Sundazed Rock & Roll Kurt Masur Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8; Liszt: Wanderer-Fantasie Apex Romantic Orchestral Music Jackie McLean Bluesnik [RVG] Blue Note Hard Bop, Post-Bop Original Soundtrack Coraline Koch Original Score, Soundtracks Jake Owen Easy Does It RCA Neo-Traditionalist Country, Contemporary Country Pan-American White Bird Release Kranky Experimental Ambient, Dark Ambient, Post-Rock/Experimental, Electro-Acoustic Shawn Phillips At the BBC Hux Jazz-Rock, Folk-Rock, Soft Rock, Singer/Songwriter Django Reinhardt Postwar Recordings 1944-1953 JSP Continental Jazz, Gypsy, Bop, Swing Roberto Juan Rodriguez The First Basket Tzadik Jewish Music, Avant-Garde Jazz, Hebrew, Son, Rhumba, Klezmer, Latin Folk, Mambo, New York Salsa, Salsa, World Fusion Tom Rush What I Know Appleseed Contemporary Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Folk-Blues, Traditional Folk Daphna Sadeh and the Voyagers Reconciliation Tzadik Continental Jazz, World Fusion School Boy Humor School Boy Humor Vagrant Emo-Pop Screaming Blue Messiahs Live at the BBC Hux Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock Horace Silver The Tokyo Blues Blue Note Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz Various Artists Adventures in Sound: Schaeffer, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Varèse, Henry El Modern & Contemporary Electronic & Electro-Acoustic Music Various Artists Elliott Carter: A Nonesuch Retrospective [Box Set] Nonesuch Contemporary Vocal, Chamber & Orchestral Music Various Artists Singing Through the Hard Times: A Utah Phillips Celebration Righteous Babe Neo-Traditional Folk, Folksongs, Folk Revival Baby Face Willette Stop and Listen Blue Note Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz Tony Williams Spring Blue Note Post-Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz