Lots of goodies waiting for you at the record store this week, so let's get right to it.
First up, Charlotte's excellently over-the-top emo-core Between The Buried And Me are back with The Great Misdirect. To be honest with you, BTBAM are about the only band I truly like in this genre. Melding Tommy Rogers fiery growl to instrumentation that draws from such places as punk and prog for an invigorating technicolor soup of guitar licks so hot, they probably actually can be heard by the dead. Judging by the few tracks the band has up on its MySpace, the new one will continue these tricks and make for a pretty entertaining listen.
Hard-edged instrumental rock doesn't come any better than Pelican, and the band is back with a new effort that's making a lot of buzz. I've been listening to it for the last couple days, and, let me tell you, the buzz is well deserved. Steely and sturdy while still lashing out with instrumental chops, What We All Come To Need is fifty minutes of pummeling rock force that any metal head or indie kid would be remiss to pass up. And with gorgeous ending tune that actually has lyrics (and beautiful ones at that), WWACTN should be able to satisfy all you word people out there too. Oh and the whole thing is streaming on Pelican's MySpace.
Last but not least, lovably inebriated garage rocker Chuck Prophet returns with his own personal take on America's current crisis. With Let Freedom Ring!, Chuck lays down a litany of just preachy enough blues rock in a Mexico City studio, taking pock shots at his country from across the border that has caused it so much controversy in recent years. It's a cool concept and from the tracks I've heard, Chuck and his band have the instrumental chops to make this South of the Border Exiles On Mainstreet thing work.
Also interesting that I missed this week: the soundtrack for Micheal Jackson's final concert film (slash shameless money grab by his estate) "This Is It" as well as new Devandra Banhart and Tegan and Sara. Jeeze, that's quite a lot of interesting goodies. Hope you all got some dough from the folks over Fall Break.
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