New Music 2012 - Part 21 - Record Store Day 2012

One blog that I always follow is Too Much Music (is a good thing). 
Here's an item, a Record Store Day 2012 limited edition 7", that we came to discuss only very recently: It is, basically, Alex Turner's lyrical sensibilities filtered through Caitlin Rose's astonishing avidity for making cover versions her own.

Round 2: over to you Alex.

New Music 2011 goes Americana again.

This is something that is too good not to mention straight away. 
  

July 19 is the US release date for Stranger Me, the third studio album from Memphis, TN based singer songwriter Amy LaVere. It is, as were the preceeding ones, released by independent label Archer Records.

I have, quite literally, only just found out about it and currently know nothing more. I shall be equally surprised and disappointed if it has not been worth the wait since Anchors and Anvils (2008) and the amazing Died Of Love EP (2009).  I'll add more, and relevant links, asap but for now I just wanted to share the excitement!
It will be available, at least in the US, on vinyl too. Count me as being on-board. UK CD & d/l date is slated as July 4 and the track listing is as follows: 

• You Can't Keep Me
• Red Banks
• A Great Divide
• Often Happens
• Lucky Boy
• Tricky Heart
• Stranger Me
• Candle Mambo
• Cry My Eyes Out
• Let Yourself Go (Come on)

The album is produced by Craig Silvey whose recent production credits include 'The Suburbs' - Arcade Fire (2010) and 'Suck It And See' - Arctic Monkeys (2011).

Forget last week, it's spring now.

The title may be odd but for me it is something that has happened at about this time of year for several years now. In recent months, and while I was hardly short of new music that I wanted to hear, this time last week searching for new things was an effort of which I was faintly conscious. This week it isn't, it seems to be finding me, and perhaps because of that I'm finding things that sound fascinating almost by accident. You should see the list I now have and in time you probably will see at least some of it realised!

That said this week's UK #1 album looks a dead certainty as 'The Age of the Understatement' by The Last Shadow Puppets is hardly going to fail. It is a collaboration and side project for both key members, Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of The Rascals. If it does make #1 it will mean that the first three albums on which Turner has featured will all have gone to #1 on the week of release and make Domino Records justifiably proud; the label signed the Arctic Monkeys against competition from all the 'majors'. It deserves to succeed because, whatever the background of the collaborators and side projects like this can prove to be particularly dangerous territory, this one is remarkably good.

This is a temporary image and I'll add a better one as soon as I can not least because this album is available on 12" vinyl.

In the meantime, and if you have any interest in modern British folk, this is an absolute bargain. The cover looks cheap, it is hard to dispute that, but all thirteen tracks of the music most certainly are not. The price is perhaps the real shock.

It is £1.98 brand new from amazon.co.uk

This leaves the rest of my 'wanted list' to be dealt with later. That there are so many items in it is delightful prospect. Many are probably rather less than universally known but here are a few of them and they are mostly as yet unheard by me, and so of necessity mentioned without further comment, but suffice to say ennui seems almost unimaginable! Not all of these are 2008 releases, some have merely just become known to me or have now been mentioned to me so often that I feel I must be missing something. The first has not been officially released yet.

They are in no particular order:

Too Long Away - Emily Smith (2008)
Boxer - The National (2007)
Oracular Spectacular - MGMT (2008)
Circle - Uiscedwr (2006)
Little Amber Bottles - Blanche (2007)
Until Death Comes - Frida Hyvonen (2006)