Maritime - Heresy & the Hotel Choir

Maritime - Heresy & the Hotel Choir
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More like 2006's We, The Vehicles and a lot less like their debut ep (that's a good thing), Heresy & the Hotel Choir sees Promise Ring's Davey (vocals) & Dan (drums) continuing their collaboration with the Dismemberment Plan's Eric Axelson (bass). They're getting good reviews in the places that seem to count...Pitchfork says "It's an album full of thwacking yet soft-edged rock percussion, marbled new wave synth embellishments, emphatically down-stroked rhythm guitars that retain the inveterate chugging of late-90s indie-emo, gleaming lead guitar hooks, and fey yet assertive vocals." They're currently out with Jimmy Eat World, you just missed seeing them in LA and OC, but if you jump in the car you can catch them in San Diego tonight or Vegas over the weekend.

Waking Ashland - The Well

Waking Ashland - The Well
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In the glorious wonderland of Southern California, Waking Ashland is synonymous with being a San Diego based “Piano Rock Band” with influences as disparate as Joe Jackson, Coldplay, Pixies, and Hüsker Dü – which should translate to you, Dear Record Lover, as a serious love of Ben Folds. Or does it? Bob Mould’s good pal, Lou Giordano, produced Waking Ashland’s breakthrough 2005 album, Composure, -- and on their new album, Wake, you can hear the Hüsker’s influence (along with Mr. Fold’s harmonies) on tracks like “Your Intentions” and “Change.” Pleasant So-Cal, Beach Boys-y vibes permeate Wake as well – something that Black Francis would certainly approve of (especially on the haunting “Sinking Is Swimming.” It’s all earnest, good and rocking – so check it out, why don’t ya?

Mother Mother - Touch Up

Mother Mother - Touch Up
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Mother Mother is a weird and wonderful band from Vancouver, Canada - another in a long line of Great White Northerners bent on taking the pop music crown away from The States. On Mother Mother's Touch Up, you'll find a collection of catchy songs encompassing a brand of post-modern pop music that defies formulaic approaches of contemporary songwriting. The genre promiscuity found on the album is held together by a signature sound of three unique voices that weave in and out of harmony and shared leads. Also vital to Mother Mother's music is its lyrical component, which describes in a wry, observational fashion the beautiful and beastly behavior of a socially inept world. Musically, the group is quite sharp, all having studied jazz and classical art forms. These traditional approaches combined with current pop and indie rock sensibilities make for a refreshing original sound, which is why Mother Mother is forging its own path in today's music scene. The live show is yet another component to the rising success of Mother Mother. With infectious stage chemistry and high energy, the five are able to recreate the essence of their recorded music while also bringing an element of spontaneity and abandon to each performance.

Mogwai - Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (Original Soundtrack)

Mogwai - Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
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You will be forgiven if you’re one of those people who refer to Scottish Post-Rock juggernaut Mogwai’s music as “cinematic.” It is instrumental (mostly), after all, and film scores (for the most part) are instrumental, so it all sort of falls into place. But though Mogwai’s music is often times pretty and slowly paced, it also (well, more often than not) explodes into gorgeous cacophony – a tendency that, depending on the kind of movie yr making – could really destroy an Oscar clip.

So for Zidane – A 21st Century Portrait (Which, believe it or not, is about the superstar former captain of French football, Zinedine Zidane) Mogwai scale back their bombast in favor of making music that is meant to be… er, well, cinematic. Zidane (the film) is meant to be a study of 90 minutes from the perspective of France’s favorite mid-fielder, so Mogwai create an air that’s atmospheric and tense. Zidane (the mid-fielder) says that when he plays he likes to imagine that he hears the referee’s clock ticking, so Mogwai more than oblige in creating a soundtrack that envelopes that pre-offense tranquility – making it a nice addition to an already sumptuous catalog.

O.A.R. - Live From Madison Square Garden

O.A.R. - Live From Madison Square Garden
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In the eleven years since their inception O.A.R. has sold over a million records and has played just as many shows. Okay… maybe not that many, but it’s been a lot. They are touring band that makes most jam bands look positively lazy. Like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, they were the first bands to get record deal that strictly involved distribution, giving them complete autonomy to have complete control over their musical destiny. Their star is large enough that they can be heard as the theme music of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and have even played the show a number of times. But O.A.R.’s real mark of popularity is how they’ve continually been able to sell out Madison Square Garden and rock the asses off 25,000 fans. Such an event has been captured on the band's appropriately titled CD/DVD, Live From Madison Square Garden. Sure, they’ve got a new album on the way, but Live From Madison Square Garden is what they do best. Check it out.

Test Your Reflex - The Burning Hour

Test Your Reflex - The Burning Hour
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The story of Test Your Reflex begins in the rehearsal rooms of a teen center in Thousand Oaks, California and will probably end somewhere on the dance floor, the radio dial or on a mix tape passed between two people looking for something new and special to bestow upon each other. Together this diverse lot trumps much of the macho banality of current rock with sweeping keys, textured guitars and cathartic ballads and more importantly bring the craft of songwriting back to the alternative pop world in explosive doses. From the dreamy opener “I’m Not Sorry” to the anthemic “I Am Alive,” and the impossibly infectious first single “Pieces of the Sun,” The Burning Hour is a sublime synthesis of the accessible with the unexpected. All eleven tracks cleverly showcase the depth of this record on which every song will be someone’s favorite. It’s an album for anyone looking to escape from sadness, boredom or the everyday and step into a danceable, hum-able, heartfelt daydream. It’s the pop life seen through new eyes. And now, it’s yours.

Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior

Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
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Richard Thompson is a consummate singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career stretches back to the late ’60s, when he was a founding member of the British folk-rock Fairport Convention. In the late ’70s, with his then-wife, Linda, he recorded Shoot Out the Lights, which regularly makes critics’ lists of the top ten records of all time. In the ’90s, he experienced another career renaissance with the album Rumor & Sigh and he remains an elder-statesman of alternative rock. And when he’s not making solo albums he’s collaborating with artists of every genre imaginable or writing film scores. To see Thompson perform solo acoustic is to see a true master at work – a masterful guitar player and storyteller who melds both sides of his brain as easily has he does his fingers and voice, or his heart and soul. So when the rare occasion to hear Thompson amplify his craft comes about, the listener should know that some magic is in store. Sweet Warrior, Thompson’s first electric album since 2003’s The Old Kit Bag, is a fiery collection of songs about loss and betrayal – two themes that are adequately intertwined in his critique of the Iraq war (from a soldier’s perspective”) entitled “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me.” Boo-ya!

Keren Ann - Keren Ann

Keren Ann - Keren Ann
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According to Wikipedia: “Keren Ann (born Keren Ann Zeidel in Caesarea, Israel, on March 10, 1974) is a recording artist / singer / songwriter / producer based largely in Paris, New York and Israel. She plays guitar, piano and clarinet and engineers and writes choir and musical arrangements. She is descended from Russian Jews on her father's side and is Javanese and Dutch on her mother's. She lived in Israel and in the Netherlands until the age of 11, when her family moved to France.” Don’t you feel boring? While no power I possess will make your life (or mine) more geographically exotic, I can wholeheartedly say that Keren Ann’s music will certainly make you feel cooler than you are (or may possibly be). . Like her sublime 2005 album, Nolita, Keren Ann makes music that’s atmospheric yet substantive – as if she’s creating a soundtrack for that oddly familiar place you’ve never been. This time around it’s an idyllic metropolis where Hope Sandoval could’ve sang on the third Velvet Underground record. Is it New York or Los Angles? Paris or New York? Who cares… Itinerancy never sounded so scrumptious.