DC November 8 New Release Recap

This week's collection of new releases is something of a mixed bag of side projects as we check out Laura Veirs' charming collection of songs for kids (and their parents), Lissie's EP of eclectic covers, the long-overdue U.S. release for retro-popsters The Bees and an interesting U.K.-only release of Thea Gilmore's cool Sandy Denny project. We're also pointing you to a new covers EP from Ólöf Arnalds, a live album from Arnalds' Icelandic cohorts Sigur Ros, an EP from Vancouvers' Said The Whale, the debut from Oasis' Noel Gallagher and his Flying Birds, something new from L.A. songwriter Fay Wolf and many more. Peruse the full list of releases below...

Laura Veirs - Tumble Bee - After the birth of her first baby, Portland, OR performing songwriter Laura Veirs and her hubby and producer Tucker Martine (The Decemberists) set out to make an album of children's folk songs and lullabyes. After scouring folk archives for classic songs from over 100 years, Veirs puts a new spin on songs by the likes of Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Peggy Seeger and Harry Belafonte, keeping the campfire sing-a-long fun while adding a dimension that keeps adults happy, too...more DC

Lissie - Covered Up With Flowers (Fat Possum) - Named Best New Solo Artist of 2010 by Paste - a call with which we wholeheartedly agree - the Rock Island, IL roots/pop performer collects five covers from Lady Gaga to Metallica to Kid Cudi for this exotic and diverse EP...we caught Lissie at a live show this summer and were simply floored at how much she'd matured from coffeehouse folk ingénue into a charismatic and confident performer who delights in shaking things up...more DC

The Bees (A Band of Bees in the U.S.) - Every Step's A Yes (ATO) -We're not quite sure how a groovy (in every sense of the word) band like The Bees can make something quite so nostalgically pastoral sound equally as fresh and like today, man, but we'll take their dreamy psych-folk -- with all of it's early Pink Floyd, Love, The Monkees and Laurel Canyon acid strum-fest influences -- with the retro flashback attitude it means to invoke...released a year ago in the U.K., the fourth album from The Isle of Wight band finally washes up on these shores (with six bonus tracks)...more DC

Thea Gilmore - Don't Stop Singing (Island UK) - After ten lauded solo albums in a decade, U.K. songwriter was tapped for a thrilling but daunting task: compose, arrange and perform new music built around previously unscored lyrics from Sandy Denny, the seminal British songwriter who tragically died in 1978. A member of Fairport Convention, the greatest of all U.K. folk/rock outfits, Denny released four best-selling and groundbreaking solo albums in the 70's but may still be best known in the U.S. for her vocals with Robert Plant on "Battle of Nevermore" from Led Zeppelin IV...more DC

Ólöf Arnalds - Ólöf Sings (November 8, One Little Indian) - Icelandic singer follows up her praised alt/folk and art/pop 2010 album Innundir skinni with this five-track EP of well-chosen covers -- her first release sung completely in English sets the stage for a new all-English album of original songs due in 2012... Arnalds' fragile, accented warble of a voice is a but of an acquired taste but theres' no disputing the fact that beyond the ethereal quality of her singing there is some genuine, unpretentious musicality in these lovely, if idiosyncratic interpretations...more DC

Said the Whale - New Brighton - Vancouver indie alt-popsters keep the warbley jangle-pop razor sharp and full-bodied on their new EP , a prelude of sorts to their new Little Mountain full-length due March 6. Winners this year of a Juno (read: "Canadian Grammy") for New Group of the Year, STW began as a platform for songwriters Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft and expanded into a full-fledged band five-piece for the release of their debut in 2008...more DC

November 8

Atlas Sound - Parallax
Birdy - Birdy (U.K.)
Brian Eno - Panic of Looking
Brooke Fraser - Flags (Deluxe Edition CD/DVD) DC
Built Like Alaska - In Troubled Times
Caithlin De Marrais - Red Coats
Camille Bloom - Never Out of Time
Cass McCombs - Humor Risk
David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time
Edward Rogers - Porcelain
Fay Wolf - Spiders
Garrett Anderson - Within and Around (11/11)
High Highs - Ivy (11/11)
Hussey-Regan - Curios (Covers) (UK)
Jonathan Coulton - Artificial Heart
Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood - In Case the World (Live)
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
Nils Lofgren - Old School
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - S/T (U.S.)
Owen - Ghost Town
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Deluxe)
Rascal Flatts - Live
Rush - Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland
Sigur Ros - Inni (Live CD/DVD)
Summer Camp - Welcome to Condale
Young Statues - S/T