1. Mosquito, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2. Lawn Boy, Phish
3. Love Has Come For You, Steve Martin & Edie Brickell
4. Everybody Loves Sausages, Melvins
5. World from the Side of the Moon, Phillip Phillips
6. The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
7. Boys & Girls, Alabama Shakes
8. Comedown Machine, The Strokes
9. Stories Don’t End, Dawes
10. Indigo Meadow, The Black Angels
11. Such Hot Blood, Airborne Toxic Event
12. The Terror, Flaming Lips
13. Low Highway, Steve Earle & the Dukes
14. Babel, Mumford & Sons
15. To Be Loved, Michael Buble
16. Give Up (10th Anniversary), The Postal Service
17. English Little League, Guided by Voices
18. Neighbors, Now Now
19. Untamed Beast, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside
20. Hands That Thieve, Streetlight Manifesto
NEW DVD/BLU-RAY: 'HISTORY OF THE EAGLES'
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Although rock stars complaining about the rigors of being on the road is nothing new, much of “History of the Eagles” is a more advanced rumination on the grueling labor that goes into sustaining a successful band. When they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1998, Henley told the audience that he felt the band should get the award “Not for being famous, but for doing the work.”
“History of the Eagles” is also an interesting reminder of an old-fashioned music industry: the untold millions that could be made from actual record sales; the royalties picked clean by vultures; the troubles success could bring; the lawsuits filed against David Geffen (who graciously submits to an interview here); the fights with producers; the limitless cocaine; Walsh’s famously destroyed hotel rooms. All of it great fun and not quite the same in today’s pop-star realm.
THE VINYL WORD: THEE OH SEES 'FLOATING COFFIN'
![12 Jacket (5mm Spine) [GD30OBH5]](http://therecordexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/Thee-Oh-Sees-Floating-Coffin-200x200.jpeg)
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Thee Oh Sees dropped another heady psych joint with Floating Coffin. It stitches psychotic school dance vibes among the surf garage in a hurried splendor. And the songs are kinda long! Which rules!
This record marks a maturity milestone for the band. They played tight and cohesively on Putrifiers II. They were good. But with Coffin they are damn good. Here we hear them shooting off in a billion different directions, creating this eclectic collection that covers fast, slow, dreamy, frenzied—all loud.
“Minotaur” plays a beautiful example in bookending. Solemn cello leads the nihilistic jam in and out, padding the dusty guitar nicely. John Dwyer’s otherworldly vocals prescribe, “Men get sick / Of their work / Each and every day / There is no cure / Except to stay / Stay home today / And go to the beach instead.” A bed of gliding female vocals help it coast a little more sweetly. It’s nonchalant wanderlust expertly packaged in fuzz and sarcasm.
“Night Crawler” was a surprising twist, employing some spacey electronics. It hints at the likely endless chest of audio treats Dwyer’s been hoarding. I hope to hear the group further explore this ballsy guitar/bleeping combo in future recordings.
Coffin is an easy, spring-appropriate listen. Something about Thee Oh Sees always sighs warm air. This album does that, too, but with hurriedly-spiked punch heavy on its breath. Drink up, Johnny. –Paste
AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT 'SUCH HOT BLOOD' & OTHER NEW CD RECOMMENDATIONS
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The Airborne Toxic Event continue to make unabashedly stratospheric rock ’n’ roll on their third album, Such Hot Blood. Like their brethren in The Killers, The Airborne Toxic Event make no attempts to hide their Bruce Springsteen-inspired, stadium-bound ambitions, and thus their music is allowed to be as grandiose as possible, which is not to say it’s without nuance. Sure, “Safe” has U2-sized grandeur on its mind, but it gets there via traded-off male/female verses, chugging acoustic guitars and looping, slowly building violins before achieving that climactic chorus four minutes in. “The Storm” allows frontman Mikel Jollett to really belt over a stately arrangement, displaying an ability to appeal to fans of emotional acoustic-rock bands like Mumford & Sons. “The Secret,” meanwhile, makes its choral hook the main attraction, even as Jollett tears apart his voice to get there. They’ve got stars in their eyes, but you couldn’t accuse The Airborne Toxic Event of not putting their hearts on the line on the impactful Such Hot Blood. –Amoeba Music
NEW RELEASE OF THE WEEK: IGGY & THE STOOGES 'READY TO DIE'
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How many second chances does Iggy Pop get? The singing Stooge nabs another with this robust studio resurrection of his alliance with guitarist James Williamson, the axis behind the Stooges’ 1973 lethal-glam classic, Raw Power, and the battered jewels on the 1977 Pop-Williamson set, Kill City. Ready to Die more resembles the latter, not just in the lower acoustic gear of “Unfriendly World” and “The Departed,” a homage to the late Stooge Ron Asheton, but in the meaty brawling-Stones thrust of “Burn,” “Job,” “Gun” and the lascivious “DD’s.” Iggy is, as you can tell, in blunt fuck-you and just-try-to-kill-me form – the reason, of course, he gets all these chances. –Rolling Stone