DC September 18 New Release Recap

A plethora of new albums today -- so many, in fact, that we've been hardpressed to even try and keep up with all the notable releases. Still, we've got a few that we want to draw your attention to, including new music from Band of Horses, Aaron Embry, Aimee Mann, MS MR, Ben Folds Five, Antje Duvekot, K's Choice and Decemberists side-project Black Prairie. Also of note: Grizzly Bear, Dwight Yoakam, James Iha, Little Big Town, Rickie Lee Jones, Ryan Bingham, Paul Simon's Live DVD, The Killers, The Sea and Cake, Dinosaur Jr., Alt-J, The Whigs and Corin Tucker Band. Yikes. Check out a few of our pithy overviews (with links to stream music) and take a look at the full DC listing below...

Band of Horses -- Mirage Rock (Columbia) - "A ramshackle crew has something to prove" sings Ben Bridwell in "Knock Knock", the lead track (with telling lyrics) from the eagerly anticipated fourth studio album from Band of Horses and successor to 2010's groundbreaking Infinite Arms...legendary studio vet Glyn Johns (Eric Clapton, The Who, Led Zeppelin) produced the mostly live-in-the-studio project with minimal overdubs...a veritable hodgepodge of styles and moods that sounds perfectly natural, from speaker-rattling rock n' roll ("Feud") to California fuzz-tinged retro riffs ("How To Live") to spiraling folk/rock strumming ("Shut In Tourist") ...this is music big enough to be played on a grand, arena-sized stage while still connecting on the most intimate and personal level...more DC

Nearly twenty years into her solo career, Aimee Mann draws on what she calls the "super pop" of the 70's and 80's for her aptly titled eighth album Charmer (September 18, Superego). As is the case with just about all of Mann's distinctive songwriting, there's a darker meaning lurking in the shadows and Charmer, for all of it's sunny and deliciously melodious attributes, exposes some sharp teeth behind that winning smile. “I’m fascinated by charming people," says Mann. "Is someone’s charm being utilized just to try and entertain people, make them feel special and interesting, or is there a more sinister purpose behind it?"...more DC

Candy Bar Creep Show (September 18), the title of the new EP from NY's mysterious duo MS MR, doesn't reveal so much as it does discretely hint at what might be in store. Which is pretty much the strategy for a band that keeps images under wraps (albeit a little more difficult with performance videos and live shows), names and basic bio a well-kept secret. But if the music does the proverbial talking, we're hearing a language immersed in goth-accented synth-pop, moody anthems and a distant if oddly soulful vibe...more DC

Time can be a heavy burden, particularly in the rekindling of the creative process. But twenty years after they first began writing and recording together and over a decade since their last album, the Belgian brother and sister team Gert and Sarah Bettens -- K's Choice -- are once again defying the odds. Their fifth and latest album Echo Mountain has already served notice of the band's reemergence on the international stage and will finally reach American shores September 18. It's also one of their very best, a reminder that crisp, uncluttered songs with rich melodies and sublime harmonies can still wield a razor-sharp edge. There is, after all, a good reason songwriters still call them "hooks"...more DC

"The pain is built-in, but a lot of these songs are life-affirming," observes Antje Duvekot of her third and latest album New Siberia (June 26 limited; September 18 full release), adding "musically I think I'm in the strongest place I've ever been." The words "wiser", "struggle" and "honesty" also emerge from Duvekot's recent bio, terms that signify a healing process and what she refers to as her journey "from a darker, younger self to a better, older place." Coming to terms with one's own history figures in much great songwriting, the appraisal of one's life and family, troubled times, personal reappraisals and the inventory of one's own soul...more DC

More September 18 New Releases:

alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Beaten By Them - Kinder Machines
Ben Folds Five - Sound of the Life of the Mind
Big Scary - Vacation
Black Prairie - A Tear In the Eye Is A Wound In The Heart
Bootstraps - S/T
Carly Rae Jepson - Kiss
Carolyn Mark - Queen of Vancouver Island
Cars and Trains - We Are All Fire
Catherine Irwin - Little Heater
Corin Tucker Band - Kill My Blues
Devlan James - The Lookout
Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky
Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears
Eric Burdon - 'Til Your River Runs Dry
Grizzly Bear - Shields
How To Dress Well - Total Loss
James Iha - Look To The Sky
Jamey Johnson - Living For A Song: Hank Cochran Tribute
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat & Bone
Josephine Foster - Blood Rushing
Keith Harkin - S/T
Little Big Town - Tornado
Menomena - Moms
Nelly Furtado - The Spirit Indestructable
Ne-Yo - Red
Paul Simon - Live In New York City (CD/DVD)
Pebaluna - Carny Life
Pink - The Truth About Love
Rebecca Loebe - Circus Heart
Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) - Aftermath of the Lowdown
Rickie Lee Jones - The Devil You Know/Covers
Riley Etheridge Jr. - The Arrogance of Youth
Ryan Bingham - Tomorrowland
Silent Rider - S/T
Sweet Lights - S/T
The Killers - Battle Born
The Lighthouse & The Whaler - This Is An Adventure
The Presets - Pacifica
The Sea and Cake - Runner
The Whigs - Enjoy The Company
Various - Low Country: Song of Nick Lowe
Various - Quiet About It: Tribute to Jesse Winchester
Wild Belle - S/T (EP)