DC September 13 New Release Recap

A big week for new releases as we begin to ramp up into the fall deluge of titles. As always, we have our favorites -- like new albums from new-acoustic Beantown outfit Joy Kills Sorrow, UK neo-folkies Laura Marling and Ed Sheeran, jazz/pop chanteuse Basia, retro-pop pioneer Nick Lowe, Neil Finn's comfy new outfit Pajama Club, New Orleans funk/jazz partymaker Trombone Shorty and Nashville troubadours Matthew Perryman Jones and Trent Dabbs. Check 'em out and gaze longingly at our full DC release list below...

Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know (Ribbon) - Wise-beyond-her-21-years Brit neo-folk thrush, two-time Mercury Prize nominee and critical darling returns with her highly anticipated third album, written and arranged on the heels of her last album I Speak Because I Can (2010)...Producer Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne), who produced Speak, is once again at the studio helm ...more DC

Basia - From Newport to London/Greatest Hits Live (and More) (September 13, E1) - It's been a couple of decades or so since singer Basia Trzetrzelewska joined up with trendsetting Brit band Matt Bianco but the Latin-flavoured jazz/pop that also influenced contemporaries like Sade and Everything But the Girl stuck with the platinum-selling Polish-born vocalist...Basia and keyboardist Danny White continued to explore the cocktail-cool rhythmic pop for a series of best-selling Basia "solo" albums in the 90's...New concert album, recorded this past June in the Polish city of Łódź, offers up 15 live versions plus two new studio tracks...more DC

Joy Kill Sorrow - This Unknown Science (Signature Sounds) - Acclaimed Boston-based new-traditionalist string amalgam follow up last year's fine Darkness Sure Becomes This City with their third studio album..."We like experimenting and stretching boundaries," says guitarist Matthew Arcara, a sense of non-formulaic adventure that's summed up by the album's title...like The Low Anthem, the quintet may be grounded instrumentally in traditional bluegrass and Americana, but the core of the music feels more like poseur-free indie folk...more DC

Nick Lowe - The Old Magic (Yep Roc) - His 2007 album titled At My Age pretty much sums up the no-sweat attitude of the songwriter who says he spent his early years busily "not fitting into three successive movements: pub rock, punk and new wave" while skillfully taking in aspects of each. This is, after all, the first artist signed to the legendary Stiff label in the mid-70's. But that was then, and this, as they say, is now. The title of his new album also gives a hint at what's inside via the telling title: the comfortable yet elegant songwriting that taps deep into the roots-n'-retro lounge/pop music mood...more DC

Pajama Club - Pajama Club (Lester/Redeye) - Crowded House-mate Neil Finn and his wife Sharon are the shared drivers in the front seat of this new off-shoot vehicle...where Crowded House was sleek pop/rock ride, with luxurious melodies and padded production, Pajama Club is more of a rugged, ragged ATV (minus a muffler and a top)...we can't help but think that Neil and Sharon's son Liam's indie pop explorations have been a big influence here...more DC

Trombone Shorty - For True (Verve) - Self-described "superfunkrock" is the name of the game on this eagerly anticipated album from Grammy-nominated Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, one of New Orleans' hottest players, maven of inspired, modern (and real) R+B and international phenomenon...there's a visceral, spirited Crescent City jazz edge to the music, but this is also bandleader who's shared the stage with the likes of U2, Green Day and Dave Matthews...the A-list guests include Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Warren Haynes and Jeff Beck...more DC

Catherine MacLellan - Silhouette (True North) - Steeped in backwoods blues, inspired retro jazzy pop and sparse country/folk, the fourth album from Halifax, Nova Scotia singer/songwriter has an appealing directness and honesty to complement her confessional, sometimes brutal lyrical content...behind the sweetly beguiling voice are some dark truths and intimate tales waiting to be heard...more DC  

Trent Dabbs - Southerner - Mississippi-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter is also known for his touring Ten Out of Tenn songwriter caravans...sixth album, getting a wider national roll-out in September, finds the tunesmith revisiting his Dixie roots //  Sounds like: artisan acoustic-focused folk/pop with the occasional venture into tougher edged climes, like the rich and ragged "Neil Young...more DC

Matthew Perryman Jones - Until the Dawn AppearsJourneyman Nashville songwriter strips back seven songs from his three studio albums -- and adds two new songs -- for this recent collection...self-released earlier this year, the project is getting a larger national CD rollout next month...MJP is currently working on songs for a follow up slated for 2012 // Sounds like: While not an "unplugged" set, the starkly produced Dawn brings a more personal feel to the approach... "Save You" sounds positively nocturnal with a reverbed piano and Jones' subdued vocals...more DC

Ed Sheeran - + (Plus) (Atlantic U.K.) - Unassuming 20-year-old Brit neo-folkie with a love of hip-hop rhyming has become something of a sensation across the pond, an acousto-beat wonder that tacks speed tumbling lyrics onto a buskery strumfest...a series of collaborative and solo EP's and a killer single - "The A-Team"  - took the copper-topped troubadour to the #2 spot on U.K. iTunes...more DC  

A.A. Bondy - Believers
Ben Rector - Something Like This
Big Harp - White Hat
Bill Bourne - Bluesland (U.S.)
Blind Pilot - We Are the Tide
Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
Blondie - Panic of Girls
Bush - The Sea of Memories
Chris Taylor/CANT (Grizzly Bear) - Dreams Come True
Chuck Ragan - Covering Ground
Ed Sheeran - + (Plus) DC
Eleanor McEvoy - Alone (UK)
Elbow Jane - Boldest Blood (UK)
Gabriel Kahane - Where Are the Arms
Gabriel Miller-Phillips - One for the Crow
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Howling Bells - The Loudest Engine
Jason McNiff - April Cruel (UK)
Jenn Miereau - Hush
JJ Grey & Mofro - Better Days/Live (CD/DVD)
Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit
John Wesley (Porcupine) - The Lillypad Suite
Kevin Devine - Between the Concrete & Clouds
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis - Smoking In Heaven
Lady Antebellum - Own the Night
Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer
Laura Jean - A Fool Who'll (UK)
Lydia Loveless - Indestructible Machine
Mason Jennings - Minnesota
Mates of State - Mountaintops
Melissa Ferrick - Still Right Here
Memoryhouse - The Years (EP)
Mike Viola - Electro de Perfecto
Milagres - Glowing Mouth
Mogwai - Earth Division (EP)
Neon Indian - Era Extraña
Paper Aeroplanes - A Comfortable Sleep
Primus - Green Naugahyde
Queen - Expanded Catalog Remasters II
Reckless Kelly - Good Luck & True Love
Rusty Lewis - Postcards from the Third World
Shimmering Stars - Violent Hearts
Slow Club - Paradise
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
The Dirt Daubers - Wake Up Sinners
The Drums - Portamento
The Gourds - Old Mad Joy
The Human League - Credo
The Kooks - Junk of the Heart
Todd Rundgren - (Re)Production
Tom Vek - Leisure Seizure
Toro y Moi - Freaking Out (EP)
Umphrey's McGee - Death By Stereo
Various - Dark River: Songs of the Civil War Era
Wild Flag - S/T
Wooden Shjips - West
Wynton Marsalis/Eric Clapton - Play the Blues