If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Street Date - 2/17/09

BJORK- DULL FLAME OF DESIRE

On this new release, Bjork is joined by Antony without his Johnsons for a recording that features lyrics taken from a translation of a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev. In related news, the Cattle Egret and the Eastern Screech Owl have no real plans to record together.





ROBYN HITCHCOCK- GOODNIGHT OSLO

Never was a fan of Robyn's, but I respected him as songwriter, as so many do. Yet after seeing him preening as a wedding entertainer in that elitist crap of a film "Rachel Getting Married," I don't think I could ever listen to a note of his again. This new record on Yep Roc may be fantastic, but thanks to screenwriter Jenny Lumet, I've lost all interest in Hitchcock, not to mention weddings and Connecticut. (Although I really had no interest in Connecticut before the film.)






JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT- SELF TITLED

One time Drive By Trucker releases his follow-up to the critically acclaimed debut "Sirens Of The Ditch." The 400 Unit delivers another fine set of rock and soul with a little southern twang for flavor. Recorded in Muscle Shoals, Isbell's hometown, the record grooves along nicely from rave up rockers like "Good," to the Gram Parsons' influenced "Cigarettes & Wine" to the Otis inspired "The Blue." Great stuff.





TOMMY KEENE- IN THE LATE BRIGHT

Power pop cult hero, Tommy Keene, releases his first new record in three years. Nothing quite hit home for me like his two eighties' releases "Songs From The Film" and "Based On Happy Times," the latter featuring the pop classic When Our Vows Break," a duet sung with and co-written by Jules Shear, but Keene's always been solid enough to keep me interested.



ANNIE LENNOX - THE COLLECTION

Amazon says, "In a career that spans over 26 years, no other British female artist has achieved so much." Yet all Sony/BMG could offer for a whopping $18.98 list price is 12 tracks, plus two newly recorded tunes. For $22.98 you could buy the deluxe version that comes with a DVD, as well. In 2009, this seems pointless and expensive.




MISHKA- ABOVE THE BONES

New chill-out reggae from a man with a voice somewhere between Bob Marley and Sam Cooke, highly recommended by my West Coast, teenage cousin, and he knows his chill-out reggae.







GURF MORLIX- LAST EXIT TO HAPPYLAND

Austin legend Gurf Morlix lightens the mood a bit with his 5th solo release. Here's a bit of what Amazon had to say:

Tempting as it may be, don't just judge Gurf Morlix by the company he keeps, even if it does provide a fine starting point: eminent musical artists like Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Warren Zevon, Ian McLagan, Patty Griffin, Robert Earl Keen, Michael Penn, Buddy Miller, Mary Gauthier, Tom Russell, Jim Lauderdale and Slaid Cleaves, to name but a few. Instead, listen to Last Exit to Happyland, his fifth solo album, and understand why his blue-ribbon associations as a producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist have led Morlix to a similar level of excellence as a singer, songwriter and artist in his own right.. As with all that Morlix has produced and played over the years, every note and creative touch ultimately serves the songs. And his trademark grit, soulfulness and authenticity suffuse the album, representing the "muddy," as Morlix calls the junction where the varied strains of American roots music meet and mingle, at its truest and finest. Last Exit to Happyland is peopled with characters "headed to reckoning day," as Morlix sings in the propulsive opener, "One More Second." The swampy bomp of "Walkin' to New Orleans" finds a Crescent City resident heading home into the deadly wind and rain of Hurricane Katrina, while the haunting country-blues "Crossroads" reveals new wrinkles in Robert Johnson's fateful meeting with the devil. Whether it's longtime lovers at the "End of the Line," a traveler on a "Hard Road" or an outcast who laments "I Got Nothin'," Morlix captures their emotional essence. "Drums From New Orleans" takes listeners back to the radio signals that inspired Morlix as a youngster, and he pays tribute to his late friend and musical cohort Blaze Foley also the subject of Williams' "Drunken Angel" on "Music You Mighta Made," which echoes Foley's musical and songwriting style. On "She's a River," a beloved woman becomes a wonder of nature. And the stark "Voice of Midnight" examines life's final moments in a perfect grace note to a collection of songs that compares favorably to any other created by the many artists who have called on Morlix to help them make the most of the their music.


You're welcome.





MORRISSEY- YEARS OF REFUSAL


9th solo album from Mr. Cranky Pants, "Years Of Refusal" has been called his "strongest." (By Morrissey)






M. WARD- HOLD TIME

Singer-songwriter and new guitar hero Matt Ward, follows his smash project with the terminally cute Zooey Deschanel (She & Him) with a new collection of songs that includes a duet with Lucinda Williams, two with Miss Deschanel, and a cover of the Frank Sinatra penned love song for Ava (Gardner, not Cherry) "I'm A Fool To Want You."



I'd like to leave you with something that is not only a sure sign of the apocalypse, but something that made me laugh until I cried.

This is Hatebeak, a death metal band, whose lead singer is a parrot.

Enjoy!