New Release Tuesday (on a Wednesday)

I have an unusual relationship with Devendra Banhart. There are times where I absolutely love him and think he’s genius; there are also times where his voice completely grates my nerves and I can’t shut it off fast enough. What causes my manic reaction to his music is anyone’s guess, but either way he’s a truly unique artist. His latest record is out today, titled What Will We Be. It’s his first record with major label Warner Bros, so it will be interesting to see if there’s been any sort of artistic compromise involved in the switch.

As he is on Warner, there are unfortunately no downloads to be found. But you can stream a number of songs over on his Myspace or stream it on Imeem. ‘Baby’ is probably the most straightforward and accessible song I’ve ever heard him release, honestly.

TOUR DATES:
November
16 Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
17 Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
19 Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
20 Boston, MA – Berklee
22 New York, NY – Town Hall
24 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
25 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
27 Toronto, Ontario – Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Talked about this one a bit last week, but yesterday marked the release of the debut full-length from 60s sugarpop obsessives The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. I’ve been going back and forth as to whether an entire album of their saccharin-fueled party tunes might make me keel over, clutching my stomach in pain. I can’t really make up my mind because I haven’t heard the entire thing, but I quite liked the EP (an admittedly short 4 songs). Either way, they definitely know how to make a killer single.

TOUR DATES:
11/12: New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/14: New York, NY @ Tribeca Grand, GBH Party

My first introduction to Tegan & Sara was in an NME article somewhere around the release of their second LP, This Business of Art in 2000. Actually, on second thought it might have been a Spin article. Either way, the description in the review intrigued me enough, and I soldiered down to the local record store to find a copy. They didn’t have one, so I had to special order it. That basically amounted to some kind of ‘luxury tax’, really, and a few weeks later I had my album.

I mention this not for nostalgia’s sake, but rather to point out how much things change in very short periods of time. Does anyone buy a record now without first ‘previewing’ it online? Back then we had listening stations, but even then it was usually limited to 6 CDs picked out by the store clerks – that or it was just a random assortment of 6 new releases. I imagine the thought of buying a record without first hearing it is pretty foreign to most current internet users of a certain age.

But to tie this all back to Tegan & Sara – oh what a difference a decade makes. Those first records showed promise without question, but they were also a bit difficult to take in one sitting. I could usually make it through roughly 3 songs before I needed to switch to something else. The songwriting and arrangements have matured considerably since those days, and each record seems to improve on the last. I haven’t heard the entirety of Sainthood, but the few I have head – ‘Nightwatch’ and ‘The Cure’ – sound quite good. You can definitely hear the shift in production values from early records like If It Was You, but it fits nicely beside more recent records like The Con.

Tegan & Sara – Walking With A Ghost

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – known to most as the duo/couple from the beautiful ‘Once’ – have released their third album as The Swell Season, titled Strict Joy. It’s a surprisingly breezy and uptempo record for the most part, especially when compared with the delicate, sparse melodies that defined their previous collaboration on the soundtrack to ‘Once’. Of course, they couldn’t exactly write joyous singalongs for a movie all about love’s frustrations and complications, could they? I think I expected a downer record, especially after hearing that their real-life relationship had ended, so the tone probably surprised me more than it normally would have. It’s a really gorgeous record, and if you head over to Spinner they have the entire LP up for streaming (as well as most of the others I’ve mentioned in this update). I’d recommend ‘The Rain’.

Tags: devendra banhart, tegan & sara, the asteroids galaxy tour, the swell season