Even though there are less and less places to buy albums, with every Tuesday comes a fresh batch of new releases. We’ve already gone on and on about this week’s — and possibly this year’s — biggest release, U2’s No Line on the Horizon, so let’s focus on some of the other artists looking to coax the dollars out of your pocket this cold March 3rd:
First up, there’s Neko Case and her stellar fifth album Middle Cyclone, which earned a four-star rating from this here magazine. Joined by members of the New Pornographers, Calexico and Los Lobos, “the result is hypnotic alt-country twang, with reverb-slathered guitars ringing out over music-box plinks and moaning cellos,” writes Jody Rosen. If you’re looking for a female foil to all the Bono pouring out of your speakers, this is the album for you.
Rave-rockers the Prodigy are back with frontman Keith Flint for their first album since 1997 with Invaders Must Die. First “Smack My Bitch Up,” now they’re ready to smack your ears up with an album no one here really enjoyed that much, hence its one-and-a-half star review. “It’s all pummeling, vacuous rave noise — useful mainly for thrash dancing and scaring neighbors.” Perhaps your ears would prefer something else this week, like…
Wild Light’s Adult Nights. These New Hampshire guitar romantics have already opened for the Arcade Fire, and some of that Quebec band’s signature sound along with the “suave moping of Eighties Brit pop” is all over Wild Light’s debut. If you’re not convinced by our review, we’ll have much more on Wild Light in our Breaking item tomorrow.
As for the best of the rest, check out the albums below:
• Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At the Movies
• Bell X1 - Blue Lights on the Runway
• The Answer - Everyday Demons
