DC September 27 New Release Recap

If its Tuesday this must be the DC New Release Recap -- and in a particularly congested week of new albums out and about we've got plenty to share. Dig into (and sample) the latest from Josh Rouse, Wilco, Will Hoge, The Bangles, Dan Mangan, The Barr Brothers, Sonia Leigh, Matthew Sweet, Hannah Miller, Lotte Mulan, Marcus Foster, Elizaveta and Bearfoot. Plus you can peruse our full listing to find more from the likes of Bjork, Daryl Hall, Beth Hart & Joe Bonnamassa, Van Hunt, Tony Lucca, Pieta Brown and many (and we mean many) more:

Josh Rouse - Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations (Bedroom Classics/Redeye) - Amiable singer/songwriter is back and he's got an appropriately named band to boot...living on the island of Valencia and in Spain for the past five years brought out the breezy, globe-trotting sound of Latin music (and more) on his last project El Turista...Rouse and his backing duo The Long Vacations maintain the sunny influences while swinging back to the relaxed acoustic folk/pop that launched Rouse's career a decade ago...more DC

Wilco - The Whole Love (September 27, dBpm/ANTI-) - Since their formation in the mid-90's from the ashes of beloved alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo, the Jeff Tweedy-led Wilco have simply never worn a single genre outfit comfortably, sometimes confounding (and delighting) fans and critics with a mash-up of folksy Americana, harmony-rich 60's retro rock and the jagged, cacophonous edge of the more experimental modern alternative indie purveyors...Sprawling, diverse new album is their eighth studio project and first since 2009's Grammy-winning major-label swan song Wilco (The Album)...more DC 

Will Hoge - Number Seven (Ryko) - If any artist could epitomize the transformation of Nashville from singular big hat country capitol to diverse seeding ground for singer/songwriters, Americana, indie rock, roots soul and eclectic art/pop it's this Tennessee native. For over a decade, Hoge has deftly sewn all of those aforementioned elements into a rough hewn, comfortable stylistic kit bag extending over six acclaimed albums and countless dynamic live shows. But it is relatively recent events like a near fatal motorcycle accident and his maturing into new roles as husband and father that shape Number Seven...more DC

The Bangles - Sweetheart of the Sun (September 13, Model Music Group)L.A. folk/pop and garage/rock with 60's flair have collided for some memorable hits from this pioneering female band ("Manic Monday" and "Eternal Flame" still sound wicked good)...Matthew Sweet, a recent collaborator with Bangle Susannah Hoffs and an expert in SoCal, "Nugget"-era retro pop, is the trio's "fourth Bangle" on their first studio recordings in eight years, an album with a "paradise lost in Southern California" theme...more DC

Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune (Arts and Crafts) - Follow up to 2009's exceptionally fine Nice, Nice Very Nice continues the Vancouver songwriter's steady shift from acoustic-wielding folk singer to burgeoning indie alt-pop-with-an-edge artisan...the tales are as witty and sharply etched as when he started out but the colorful creative palette in the studio has grown significantly...Mangan calls the experiences of the past few years as "life changing stuff"...more DC

The Barr Brothers - The Barr Brothers (Secret City) - Montreal quartet led by siblings Brad (songwriter/guitarist frontman) and Andrew (drummer) play an esoteric mix of ethereal folk, rueful blues and Americana shot through at times with a razor-sharp rhythmic edge and a kitchen's sink of odd, and oddly perfect instrumental noises (hand made "peanut dish banjo" anyone?)...the music began in the duo's home studio as playful and experimental off-shoot...more DC

Sonia Leigh - 1978 December (Southern Ground) - Dixie-fied alt-country twang meets raspy and rockin' pout on this energized, tough-as-nails album...Leigh cut her teeth bangin' the club stage boards with the likes of Marc Broussard and Zac Brown (who signed her to his own label), learning how to dish up soulful, rough-and-ready roadhouse fare...take a heap of rootsy folk/rock, add a shot of Jack Daniels and some kickin' country swagger and then turn up the heat...more DC

Matthew Sweet - Modern Art - If anyone could stake the claim as archival keeper of the 60's and 70's Southern California jangle/pop, folk/rock sound it's this acclaimed songwriter and producer (notably of the new Bangles reunion album)...in addition to celebrating the 20th anniversary of his classic, critically adored breakthrough album "Girlfriend", Sweet returns with his lucky thirteenth album, his first new studio project since 2008's Sunshine Lies...more DC

Sophie Milman - In the Moonlight (E1) - After three critically-acclaimed albums of lush jazz/pop standards, twenty-six-year-old Russian-born Toronto-based vocalist headed to New York with producer Matt Pierson for her first "string-centric" album of orchestrated confections, the follow up to 2009's Take Love Easy...NPR has praised her "classic jazz voice that evokes smoky lounges, softly clinking glasses and the cool of the night...more DC

Lotte Mullan - Plain Jane - Twenty-five-year-old London songwriter discovered her father's trove of Beatles albums when her parents split up. She's moved through electronica, Sneaker Pimps, Paul Simon's Graceland, drum and bass, Portishead and Beth Orton at various points in her life but one thing is certain: even from those earliest memories, she says, "I’ve been making sense of life through music ever since." She's also worked as a music label intern, a booking agent, publishing radio plugger -- all experiences that helped her understand the workings of the business, build her own label and self-release her own promising debut album...more DC

Elizaveta - EP (Universal Republic) - L.A.-based, classically-trained (sm)art/pop-stress (and self-described "diva in training") was born in New York but spent her formative years in Moscow, raised on a musical diet of opera and the classics while honing her own precocious skills in poetic lyricism and sophisticated piano songcraft. 5-track EP, a sampler of sorts from her forthcoming 2012 longplayer, confidently crisscrosses charming artisan pop styles, soaring aria-styled choral breaks and cabaret-styled drama with a surprisingly deft, light touch...more DC

Bearfoot - American Story (Compass) - Like many of their "new acoustic" contemporaries from Nickel Creek to Joy Kills Sorrow, recently transplanted Nashville quintet uses bluegrass instruments and traditions not to look back but move forward...a move from Alaska to Music City brought in three new members including lead singer and songwriter Nora Jane Struthers...more DC

Hannah Miller - O Black River EP - Alabama-raised, Nashville-based singer/songwriter  has quietly built a reputation and growing following for her thoughtful, lovingly rendered folk/pop that also taps into her roots of gospel and soulful Americana. Miller's almost dispassionate vocal style, reminiscent at times of the languid cool of Cowboy Junkies' Margot Timmons, communicates as simply and effectively as a knowing glance. Miller doesn't reveal much as she sings in the gorgeous hymn "O Black River" but the result is surprisingly to draw the listener closer...more DC

Marcus Foster - Nameless Path (Geffen U.K.) - Raspy voiced Londoner follows up his promising Tumble Down EP -- one that we said heralded the 24-year-old as one of the year's best new performing songwriters -- with his debut full-length...the freewheeling foundation may be folk based but Foster brings a dramatic passion and loose-limbed rock swagger to these impressive compositions...new project was shepherded by Communion Records, co-founded by Mumford and Sons' Ben Lovett...more DC

Acoustic Alchemy - Roseland
Alessi's Ark - Time Travel (US)
Apparat - The Devil's Walk
Beth Hart/Joe Bonnamassa - Don't Explain
Betty Wright/The Roots - Betty Wright: The Movie
Bjork - Biophilia
Brett Anderson (Suede) - Black Rainbow (UK)
Caged Animals - Eat Their Own
Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now (US)
Carolina Liar - Wild Blessed Freedom
Carolyn Wonderland - Peace Meal
Chickenfoot - III
Craig Wedran - WAND
Cranberries - Live In Paris 2010
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien
Daryl Hall - Laughing Down Crying
Family of the Year - St. Croix (EP)
fDeluxe (ex-Prince band The Family) - Gaslight
Hannah Miller - O Black River
Janes Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo) - Skyscraper Soul
John Scofied - A Moment's Peace
Johnny Winter - Roots
Jono McCleery - There Is
Katharine Whalen & Fascinators - Madly Love
LeAnn Rimes - Lady and Gentlemen
Mekons - Ancient Modern
Millennial Territory Orchestra - Plays Sly
Mocean Worker - Candygram For Mowo!
Nikki Lane - Walk of Shame
Nirvana - Nevermind (Deluxe Version)
The Pallers - The Sea of Memories
Pieta Brown - Mercury
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Deluxe)
Rachel Taylor Brown - World So Sweet
Rev. Horton Heat - 25 to Life
Sarah Siskind - Novel
Sarah Slean - Land & Sea (Can)
Sarah Tracey - Tell No One
Seth Macfarlane - Music Is Better Than Words
Sleep ∞ Over - Forever
Sleeper Agent - Celabrasion
Sophie Milman - In the Moonlight
Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) - Grace For Drowning
Sting - 25 Years (4-CD/DVD Box Set)
Switchfoot - Vice Verses
The Gift - Explode
The Humans - Sugar Rush
The Pallers - The Sea of Memories
The Stepkids - S/T
Tigran Hamasyan - A Fable
Tony Lucca - Under the Influence
Twin Sister - In Heaven
Tyler Ramsey - The Valley Wind
Van Hunt - What Were You Hoping For?
Various - Note of Hope/Woody Guthrie Tribute
VHS or Beta - Diamonds & Death
Warm Ghost - Narrows
Willie Nile - The Innocent Ones
Young Man (Colin Caulfield) - Ideas of Distance
Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation