Billy Bob Thornton - Beautiful Door (New Door Records)
Angelina Jolie. Eating only orange food. Winning an Oscar for writing Sling Blade. Putting out lame records. These are a few of the things that Billy Bob has done. He was also in a cool flick that E from the Eels scored called Levity. You’d be more advised to check out the soundtrack to that film than to sit through Billy Bob’s talking-over-guitar attempt at 70s country rock.
Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton - What Is Free To A Good Home? EP (Last Gang Records)
A collection of left-overs from the full length CD Knives Have My Back, this is more a release to tide fans over until a new Metric record. It works if you dig Haines’ soft sultry vocals and the way she (enviously) tickles the ivories. Featuring a few new layers with some horns and Haines reciting a poem written by her dad.
Garbage - Absolute Garbage (Geffen)
So when Shirley Manson announced that the band would be taking a hiatus and followed that up with a greatest hits … you can bet that Garbage are realizing that the thrill is gone for them. But you can relive all the classics here! Also, it’s nice that they have included the soundtrack stuff (“#1 Crush” from Romeo & Juliet and to a lesser extent, their Bond theme) In a special edition, there is also a second disc with exclusive/hard to find remixes. So it’s not just the hits from their first records re-packaged, which is nice. Personally I liked all their material, right up until their last record Bleed Like Me. But sometimes bands just run their courses. Maybe now Butch Vig can get on to producing more than five records a decade?
Joy Division - Martin Hannet’s Personal Mixes (Interstate)
Sometimes a collection of basement tapes can be brilliant, or it can fall into the “superfan only” category. This one leads towards the latter, although all of Joy Division’s stuff was pretty great (and ahead of it’s time). As producer, Hannet would sometimes leave the tape machine running and we have some of those interesting conversations here. Mostly you will want this for the alt-mixes of “Heart & Soul” and “Passover”, but the multiple mixes of many of the tracks grows a bit tedious.
Prince - Planet Earth (Columbia)
Prince is awesome. Fuck you if you think otherwise. No one else stands under five feet, wails on guitar like that and rocks the purple. Yeah – this is another odd release from the Minnesotan Religious nut, but he’s Prince. He still rocks harder than you and has had more women than you. So there’s that.
Sebadoh - Freed Man (Domino)
For the first time, the debut tape from (arguably) the most important lo-fi band is available on CD. Following the successful re-release of III from last year, we finally have our hands on the first 52 tracks that Lou Barlow recorded after being ejected from Dinosaur Jr.
Silverchair - Young Modern (Eleven)
Silverchair don’t sound like they used to. Frogstomp? That was twelve years ago. This doesn’t even sound like Neon Ballroom stuff. This sounds like an entirely different band, and Daniel Johns has gone through his share of ups and downs these past few years. His vocal delivery is not so much angst ridden, but more aggressive. The guitars are loud yet still hold a pop sensibility. Enjoy it, because if you had written off this band when they didn’t make it up to you in the year 2000, let them make it up to you now.
Tegan & Sara - The Con (SIR)
A step in a new direction for the sisters Quin, we find them focusing less on pop but more on an overall idea of what an album is. Gone is the moog contribution from Matt Sharp and in his place (for semi-indie cred) sits Death Cab’s Chris Walla in the producer’s chair. What I’m mostly interested in though is this summer when they embark on tiny record store acoustic shows.
Two Hours Traffic - Little Jabs/"Jezebel" Video (Bumstead)
I’ve already given this record a review, but seeing as it comes out this week and they have a new video for the single “Jezebel”, I’ll discuss that. It is directed by Ron Mann (Rat Fink, Comic Book Confidential) who pays a nice homage to the Disney classic “That Darn Cat”. I also have a bit of a crush on the actress in the video, Maggie Crow. Watch for a new film about Chuck Klosterman from Mann sometime soon...
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP (Interscope)
Recorded in something like a day, these five new songs were previously un-available on disc (though three were available on their live DVD). What some may find a step back for the band, others will see as a raw example of what this band is: dirty, sexy and arty. And there isn’t a Goddamn thing wrong with that.
