A Week of Leaks

What a week for leaks!

The festivities started on Sunday with a solid slab of gritty country rock with Lucero's 1372 Overton Park. Killer horns give their trademark buzzsaw sound some added punch. Loving it so far.

A.A. Bondy was up the next morning, killing it with a richer, warmer sound on his second release When The Devil's Loose. Sounds like he's been listening to some LaMontagne records mixed in with all that Whiskeytown. Good shit.

The Mountain Goats get weird(er) with a Bible-based set called The Life of The World To Come. John Darnielle refuses to say he's converted, only that he's "learned some things." One of them is how to write a great goddamn song, Jesus or no. (Incidentally, no.) He's clearly continuing the direction he was headed with last year's exceptional Heretic Pride.

[As if this wasn't enough of an embarassment of riches, I actually paid for some Roadside Graves - their latest, My Son's Home - via Amazon's mp3 setup. (For the record, I am forever done with iTunes after they thumbed their noses at me way back when, as I tried to decipher their DRM blockade. They were not just unhelpful, but cagey and evasive. Guess I DO have some other options, motherfuckers.) Incidentally, this Roadside Graves album also kicks ass.]

The Avett Brothers have had me wanting badly for months, like a war bride or a Republican Governor, but this morning I got to scratch that itch. I And Love and You finally leaked, and it's ridiculous. I had already pre-ordered the album, now simply enjoying some pre-release quality time. They are tete-a-tete already with Wilco for album of the year.

Then this afternoon, a surprise: Port O'Brien's Threadbare popped its head out of the weeds, another killer get. Last year's album was a favorite, and this one is already making me smile. Freak-folk the way it's supposed to be played, without a dressing gown or a Rollie Fingers mustache in sight.

[Still spinning, hard, at the Trout household: Trainwreck Riders' mind-bending The Perch. Fucking retarded. This will take the enamel off your teeth, the shellac off your deck. Buy it now.]

Unreal week of music already, and it's only Tuesday...

Deer Tick and Pitchfork

The big brains at Pitchfork seem to have a stick up their ass for Deer Tick. Their new album "Born on Flag Day" has got nothing against you; it just shambles over in its beat-up ball cap, throws out a few one liners, sips its beer and then makes you laugh all night. It's charming, scruffy, and full of heart. This lack of innovation apparently ruffles the feathers of the tools at the 'fork, and earns their scorn. That Sunn O))) album, though, that's friggin' awesome, huh. Argh.