Melancholy saloon crooner GUY GARVEY and his Manchester mates in ELBOW are back -- and with a little extra pep in their step. (Well... relatively-speaking.)
Almost a-year-to-the-day after releasing their last CD, THE MEANING OF 8, Minneapolis' eclectic CLOUD CULT will be dropping the next one on April 8. You can purchase it right [HERE], right now, for a right reasonable $10.
Rumor has it that the Scottish/American alt-rock collective GARBAGE will begin work on their fifth LP later this year. One guesses that the world will greet this news with little more than lukewarm enthusiasm, considering the rather tepid critical and commercial response to the band's last two efforts.
Left-click [HERE] to download the BEST OF FEBRUARY 2008 mix.
They're from Austin, not Milwaukee -- so right there you've got to wonder about their trustworthiness....
Tunesmith extraordinaire ANDREAS MAGNUSSON of PINTO isn't slowing down after releasing last fall's full-length HOOK ME UP. The e-mail accompanying his brand-spankin'-newest single "The Dream is Over" tells us with a wink & a nudge: 
DEVOTCHKA's new album, A MAD AND FAITHFUL TELLING, will hit the streets -- metaphorically-speaking -- on March 18.
k.d. lang on myspace.
From the LP TO VENUS AND BACK, 1999 >>>
[A sudden and unexpected death in the family is preventing me from writing a proper introduction to today's selections. This next week is likely to be somewhat erratic as well, but I'll do my best to keep the music coming....]
Left-click [HERE] to download the Best of 2006, Vol. 1.
I first heard of the Bermuda-born singer-songwriter HEATHER NOVA around 1994. If memory serves, her song "Walk This World" received airplay on some of the alternative radio stations of the day and even found its way onto MTV. The track appeared on the album OYSTER, which, in retrospect, kind of bridged the distance between SARAH McLACHLAN-styled silky-sweetness and ALANIS MORISSETTE-styled aggro-angst. Also in retrospect -- to these ears, at least -- the LP sounds just a little bit dated today.
Seattle's GRAND ARCHIVES are led by former BAND OF HORSES guitarist MAT BROOKE. Their self-titled debut LP was released by SUB POP yesterday. 
L.A. trio BIIRDIE released their second album, CATHERINE AVENUE, in January. The word "whimsical" gets bandied about with them. Yeah, maybe, I guess. "Who Were You Thinkin' Of" is an irrepressible little singalong. Accusations of infidelity have never sounded so darned perky. "Petals," on the other hand, is just plain pretty -- coming to full, final blossom on the "ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh" outro.
With his former MOLDY PEACHES partner KIMYA DAWSON currently riding high with the "Juno" soundtrack, ADAM GREEN is back to say, "Hey, what about me, bitches?"
ROCKY VOTOLATO