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Tue. February 21.2006 6:00 AM EST |
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New Releases: Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab For Cutie, Dilated Peoples & MoreAlso due Tuesday are new releases by Mastodon, Nick Cave, Eels, Lashes, Elbow and Destroyer. by Kurt Orzeck |
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Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not (Domino) |
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Arctic Breeze: The British music press is no stranger to hyperbole, but after topping the charts and picking up a key Brit Award (for Best British Breakthrough Act) in their homeland, the Arctic Monkeys could be on to something. The
Diddy on Their Minds: In what could be one of the weakest disses ever recorded — if you could even call it that — Dilated Peoples take one of Diddy's famous lines ("Don't worry if I write rhymes/ I write checks") and turn it into — don't look! — "Don't worry if I write checks/ I write rhymes." Whichever way they're facing on "Back Again," the good-natured Peeps — who featured Kanye West on their 2004 single "This Way" — get a few lay-ups by Talib Kweli and a bunch of underground talent: Dr. Greenthumb, Defari, Capleton and Krondon. Wicked World: Stumble across the Wicked Wisdom Web site and you probably wouldn't guess the band is Jada Pinkett Smith's metal project, for which she is apparently going by the name Jada Koren. But judging from the track list of the Wicked's self-named debut, there's little doubt as to who this record's about: "Something Inside of Me," "Bleed All Over Me," "Set Me Free" and "Don't Hate Me." (Also feeling wicked this week is Bird York, whose 12-track Wicked Little High features her "In the Deep" contribution to "Crash.") Hello William: So what's William Orbit been up to since producing Blur's Think Tank in 2003? Well, cultivating some Depeche Mode archival releases, but also fine-tuning his first solo record since 2000's Pieces in a Modern Style. His new one, Hello Waveforms, features Tricky's brother Finley Quaye — Orbit produced his Much More Than Much Love — plus the Sugababes and his old Strange Cargo pal, Laurie Meyer. Let's hold off on the astronomical puns this time around, people. Unrepentantly Indie: Death Cab for Cutie's hop from career-long label Barsuk to major label Atlantic for last year's Plans helped generate that many more radio spins of "Soul Meets Body." But Chris Walla & Co. are going covert again for The John Byrd EP, which cobbles together live cuts from the band's Transatlanticism tour. Gaining them a few extra indie-cred points, Death Cab tack on an unreleased cover of Sebadoh's "Brand New Love." Not to be confused with Sebadoh's Jason Loewenstein is Tim Loewen, who plays bass on the new Destroyer album, Destroyer's Rubies. New Pornographer contributor Dan Bejar expands his side project into a full ensemble this time around, turning to Mayo Thompson of Red Krayola and saxophone player Scott Morgan on tracks like "A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point," "Priest's Knees" and "Sick Priest Learns to Last Forever." Identity Crisis: An album of songs sung by '80s action-star/cyborg Robocop might come across as rather, uh, one-note, but luckily there's Nuremberg, Germany's Robocop Kraus to take up the mantle. The man-machine would probably have trouble understanding one track in particular on They Think They Are the Robocop Kraus: "You Don't Have To Shout" revolves around Mathias Rust, who flew took off in a plane in Hamburg and landed in Communist Moscow — smack-dab in the middle of the Red Square — at age 19. Back to cases of mistaken identity, that's not Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" who's putting out The Day the River Sang. It's the John Stewart of your parents' (or grandparents') generation, the Kingston Trio guy. One standout track is "New Orleans," on which Stewart reminisces about the Katrina catastrophe amid a spare piano. And speaking of veteran musicians paying tribute to the Crescent City, Kinks leader Ray Davies provides a similar reflection on "The Tourist," which is centered around his home in New Orleans. Heavy on the Visuals: As the tension builds over the major-label debut by metal's latest and greatest hope, Atlanta's Mastodon, their former label, Relapse, has been emptying out the archives. Call of the Mastodon, issued earlier this month, huddled together the band's earliest recordings, while this week's "The Workhorse Chronicles" DVD has a startling 30 tracks (the band's only put out two albums so far) and loads of interview material. Eels also dump a bundle of tracks onto Live at Town Hall, for which E is backed with a string quartet and two multi-instrumentalists. The concert release comes as a digipak or as a standalone DVD with additional songs, four short docs and more. Elbow are also feeling the video bug: A limited edition of their Leaders of the Free World comes with a bonus DVD, and they're distinguishing the special package with an olive-green cover. But while many are transforming audio content to video this week, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Bad Seeds, Dirty Three) head in the opposite direction with their soundtrack to "The Proposition." Cave wrote the screenplay to the Australian indie flick, which stars Guy Pearce and Emily Watson; the funereal musical accompaniment features a lot of tribal drumming and extended drones. Cracker Vs. Cracker: One, two, three, four, Virgin and Cooking Vinyl declare a Cracker war. The major label — which released Cracker's first four albums — wants fans to get Get on With It: The Best of Cracker. Virgin advertises the "first single-disc compilation of their best songs," which has the original versions of classics like "Euro-Trash Girl" and "Low," as being "produced in collaboration with the band!" Cooking Vinyl, however — they who put out a 2002 Cracker live record — say Greatest Hits Redux is "the officially sanctioned greatest-hits package," even though the songs themselves are re-recordings. To make matters worse, the track lists are nearly identical ... who said a little competition wasn't good for the marketplace? Song Titles of the Week: "Engrish Bread," "Push the Eagle's Stomach" and "Fishstick Gumbo" from Man Man's Six Demon Bag New Releases:
Notable Reissues and Archival Material:
February 28:
March 7:
March 14:
This report is from MTV News. |
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Arctic Monkeys |
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Death Cab For Cutie |
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Dilated Peoples |
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Mastodon |
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Nick Cave |
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eels |
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Elbow |
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Destroyer |
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Wicked Wisdom |
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Spice Girls Sweeten Their Hits; Plus Magnetic Fields, John Legend, Eels And More, In New Releases |
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Eels' E Lets Us See Him At His Worst |
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New Releases: Amerie, Bruce Springsteen, New Order, Dresden Dolls & More |
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