...when the tissue paper layers of his songs build to sufficient thickness, it’s impossible not to be swept away, as evidenced by Blues Funeral.

Blues Funeral is the first album released under the name Mark Lanegan Band since 2004’s Bubblegum, but don’t think Lanegan hasn’t been busy. He has released albums with Isobel Campbell, The Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, and The Guttertwins, in addition to making numerous guest appearances in the meantime. Despite eight years and nine albums separating them, Blues Funeral follows logically from Bubblegum. Blues Funeral is the more cohesive of the two, yet rarely dips into monotony. Guest appearances by frequent collaborators, Josh Homme, Greg Dulli, and Jack Irons connect the album to Lanegan’s other projects.

Blues Funeral is best enjoyed in its entirety in a darkened room, through headphones, with a bourbon in hand. Throughout the whole, lyrics are placed front and center, where, like the Man in Black, Lanegan yearningly explores unwholesome themes with only a flickering hope of Christian redemption.

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It appears as though the idea with Stars was essentially to avoid over-thinking: seventh track "Looking Through", for example, was recorded the day after it was written. The result is an album that immediately sounds familiar, not because it's a retread but because Nada Surf have so aptly captured the shimmering, lovely essence of what makes them so enchanting in the first place. Opener "Clear Eye Clouded Mind" bursts with punchy, high energy guitars and (of course) flawless harmonies. I suspect it will be a highlight of live shows on their current tour and beyond. "When I Was Young" is no less than an indie-riffic masterpiece, slowly building into a heart-wrenching instant classic.

Though I didn't really need further convincing, Stars reaffirms Caws' place as perhaps the greatest writer of pop tunes in America (all due respect to Adam Schlesinger!). With Nada Surf, what you see hear is what you get. And in this instance, that's a beautiful thing.

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In a land where we are inundated by new music on a weekly, if not sometimes daily basis -- few things feel better than starting a nice, fresh playlist of tracks that have made the cut (in both the new-release new and new-to-me new ways). I like to organize mine by month, so at a moment's glance, I can see what's new when a friend is looking for something to woo her ear, or what to pull from for a DJ night. That first playlist in the first folder of the year holds special appeal for us over-organizing audiophiles, and while it's already starting to flesh out with some new-to-my-rotation tunes -- "For The One" / WATERS, "Goodness Gracious" / Heligoats, "The Dreamer" / Tallest Man On Earth -- one of the first outright new tracks of 2012 that's become stuck in my proverbial craw is Nada Surf's "When I Was Young".

Slated for release later this month, and undoubtedly one of the many songs the crowd will be set to swoon for when they take the stage at the Tractor on February 2nd, this song has the same kind of intimate-cum-cinematic appeal of Band of Horses' "Funeral" -- the kind of track you turn up because the opening strains start to pull at your heartstrings, and before you know it, you're thrown into this building, accelerating wall of indie-rock, while those signature vocals hold steady and soothing. If the rest of the album is anything like this, The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy will absolutely have a firm place in your top-ten list of 2012, local or otherwise. {band official} {preorder at Barsuk}

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There’s always a bit of melodrama involved when a indie singer/songwriter or emo type in his early 20s writes about his life-destroying breakup: Dudes, you’re in your twenties, you’re supposed to have a horrible romantic life. Things get a lot more devastating to listeners when the songwriter is White Town’s Jyoti Mishra, an indie-pop veteran in his mid-40s and he spends an entire album sorting through the wreckage of his personal and romantic life after a decade-plus marriage goes down the tubes on Monopole. It isn’t quarter-life odes to The One That Got Away, but lamenting the irreplaceable loss of The One. For a guy best known for his 1997 mega-hit “Your Woman,” it’s a startlingly direct look inside his personal life.

It’s not like Mishra hasn’t attempted to distract himself from his loneliness. He started (and dropped out of) sociology and creative writing programs at the University of Derby. He buckled down and Monopole as the second release from his own label, Bzangy Groink, handling virtually everything from song inception to fanzine-level press. Still, there are events that define a life, and it’s hard not to come away from Monopole, with its start-to-finish chronicle of his wrecked relationship, with the feeling that Mishra will never be able to truly put the past few years behind him.

TIG: After all the misery that’s helped inspire this album, does it feel like it’s behind you with the release of this album?

Jyoti Mishra: It’s been a weird process, as you know. It would have been a lot sooner, because the last album was 2006, 2007. With divorce stuff and my parents being ill, it’s been difficult to get a continued bit of time to keep working. It’s taken much longer than I would have liked. I’m not like through the thing of being through it yet. It’s still in the process. It’s not like it’s a past album yet. When it’s a past album, I’ll be able to draw on it. It still feels too current. Everything I’m singing about on it feels too now, you know?

Is that because you’re so involved in every aspect of it, handling all songwriting, performing, recording, album art and running the label, are you more immersed in the emotion tied into the songs?

JM: I think if I handed it off to anybody else, even down to the videos and stuff. I know it’s my own fault, because I’m too much of a control freak. I want everything to be right. It’s partially based on bad experiences before, which were a long time ago. I’m talking about EMI stuff. When you work really hard on something and get a graphic design back that’s just awful, it kind of puts you off to working with other people again. [Laughs] I know there’s probably great people out there that I could use, but I’ll just do it myself, even though I’m not really a graphic designer. I just knock up something that will do.

After having problems with other people in the past, do you get to the point where it’s just easier to do everything yourself than try to explain your ideas and struggle with other people?

JM: I’m not a trained graphic designer, so it’s always going to be worse if I do it myself, because I haven’t got that knowledge or craft, but it will be better than someone doing a botched job, like a slick botched job. The same with videos; I’ve already made a few short films. I’m not a filmmaker. I’m sure if I had the money and the ability to hand it over to a proper director, I’d get back the videos that were vector-edited and all that kind of stuff. But, A)  who can I find to do it, and B) I can’t afford it. It’s like you just do it yourself. It’s partially political, and partially no money.

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Autumn is upon us, and once again, we've found ourselves happily submerged in a sea of grey mornings at the local cafe with headphones on, poring through new releases and marking our calendars for upcoming shows. And in case you're in one of those spots where you had to put New Release Tuesday on the back burner for a bit, we'd love to help you catch up! Part one of two, this post features stuff we heart to the maxx that also has a live show coming up in November -- and PS, we've got tickets to give away for almost everything featured here! Read on:

Who: tUnE-yArDs, aka Merrill Garbus

What: new(ish) album from earlier this year, upcoming show, all-around awesomeness
Sounds Like: super-melodic, experimental freak-out tribal chanting over sweet beats + some very catchy sing-a-long-y vibes
More info at: http://tune-yards.com/
Playing: The Neptune on Sunday, November 20th

Short version? One of the stand-out small-stage acts at Sasquatch! 2010, plays huge venues now, not to be missed. Long version: tUnE-yArDs -- which is comprised mostly of a lady-genius named Merrill Garbus, along with some loops and accompanying musicians depending on where and when you catch her -- is not like any other band out there today. It's part crazy catchy beats, part tribal warpaint, part musical catch-and-release, and all amazing. 2009's Bird-Brains kicked our asses, and 2011's w h o k i l l took things to a whole 'nother level. Buy both albums and make sure you're front and center for her Neptune appearance later this month.

Who: We Were Promised Jetpacks

What: new album, upcoming show, mosh potential
Sounds Like: straight-up indie rock, big guitars, angst, Scottishness
More info at: http://wewerepromisedjetpacks.com
Playing: Neumos on Tuesday, November 15th

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It takes a lot of coordination to properly release a record these days. After you spend all that time writing and recording songs, there are shows and tours followed by buckets of time needed to coordinate with blogs, radio, friends, random contacts, twitter, and facebook to let everyone know you've got a record coming out. It's a lot and is the reason that I've always thought (and feared) that the best bands rarely get to see the light of day in the avalanche of media.

 

Last week, Bar None released a record that did more than just the usual. Emperor X's new album, Western Teleport, is a full album release with 40 b-sides (called nodes) that are being released on the internet via a GPS scavenger hunt.  I'm not sure if it's been discovered yet, but apparently a Western Teleport operative has hidden a node in Seattle and someone needs to find it to release it to the world.  The full explanation is on the Western Teleport website, which you'll need to read for yourself because this concept is so intense that I'm not sure I actually understand all the components that make it so cool.

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It's time once again to bring some good stuff to your attention! This list is compiled from purchased CDs and things grabbed from the Imaginary mailbag (Have I mentioned lately how much I love writing for TIG? Because I do. I truly, truly do).

The Drums - Portamento: Look, it's no secret that I've been in love with The Drums since I heard "Let's Go Surfing", but I wasn't prepared to be as blown away by their sophomore album as I was. I mean, seriously. From track 1 (the super-catchy "Book of Revelation") to track 12, this CD is pure perfection with the same bouncy, poppy beats of their self-titled debut -- somehow sounding familiar and brand new at the same time. Standouts: "Hard to Love", "Please Don't Leave" and "I Need a Doctor". Oh yeah, and they're playing October 12 at The Crocodile! (Guess who'll be in the front row?) 

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{Cataldo is playing Seattle Weekly's REVERB Festival this Saturday, 10/8 at 6pm} 

Initially, I was reminded of Hey Marseilles (an equally excellent band in which drummer Colin Richey does time) but that’s an oversimplification. Think Colin Meloy sans the prog rock and historical fetishes -- and you’re still not all the way there. The brainchild of Eric Anderson, Cataldo offers up an effortless blend of pop and folk immersed in elegant arrangements and radiant melodies. Thankfully, even when things get a bit simpler, the results are still fulfilling. On the masterful “Things You Need to Know” the proceedings are just as remarkable when Anderson’s voice is accompanied by a barely-there acoustic guitar. When the arrangement fleshes itself out past the three minute mark, the subtlety that reigned previously takes on even greater meaning.

The real jewel on the album is “Cash on the Barrel.” If there’s been a lovelier composition to release by a Northwest band in 2011, it’s been conveniently wiped from my memory. The keyboards gently echo across the speakers with nuance not unlike a Mike Mills piano part from some long lost outtake from REM’s Automatic for the People. When Anderson asserts “What is more infatuating than infatuation?", I dare you to keep your heart from falling to pieces. I, for one, contend that a song reaches elite status when I find myself unable to shut the hell up about it. So goes my relationship with this superb pop confection.

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Wild Flag is a quartet love affair smooshing Portland and D.C.-based warrior women together, combining the velvety and violent vocals/guitars of Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney), Mary Timony (Helium), and Rebecca Cole (The Minders) with the superb shuffle and stomp of mighty drummer Janet Weiss (S-K, Quasi, etc.).

Wild Flag is a rock album that needs to be in everyone's playlist this year, as it constantly excites and snuggles up to the listener with openly emotional attempts at romantic music-fandom bonding ("Romance"), twists and turns about feeling hot and cold with mysterious scratches ("Something Came Over Me"), whilst a whole lot of skittery guitars tweak and even psyche-chug above Weiss's skin-rattling fury. It's boss.

Sounding as fresh as a debut by a Go-Go's era femme-powered new wave band made up of grown-up punks, all of those great garage gal voices bringing to mind glories recent (e.g. The Woods, by S-K) throughout, but also the brutal, passionate art-pop rants of Lene Lovich ("Boom"), and even early 70s feminist rock ("Glass Tamourine"). Dub bass notes dangle with Elastica-sharp guitar tones ("Short Version"), and all out expansive American Patti Smith-esque rock anthems spill towards the end of the ten track full-lenth ("Race Horse," "Black Tiles").

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More than a great percentage of people I’ve met, I’m someone who likes things I can count on. This might explain everything from why I’ve worked only two jobs over the past decade to why I always pack my cigarettes exactly eight times. OK, “I’m nuts” might be a better explanation for the latter but I digress.

With all this in mind, Fountains of Wayne are, in many ways, the perfect band for someone like me. They figured out early on what they were good at and stuck to the script. When a new FoW record drops, you’re guaranteed to be treated to flawlessly constructed pop songs with tight yet exceedingly simple arrangements. They’re the most reliable three and a half minutes in rock n roll. Suffice to say, Sky Full of Holes continues in this vein.

That said, FoW’s fifth full length is hardly a carbon copy of their previous catalog. Most notably, they’ve dialed back the punchy electric guitar approach that has been something of a staple. Sky Full of Holes relies much more on mid-tempo, largely acoustic backdrops. About half way through, I found myself thinking a lot about The Get Up Kids.

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