"Don't Blame Yourself" from Chicago troubadour (and Ten Out Of Tenn veteran) Andrew Belle is an oversized, lushly orchestrated slice of "grand piano pop", a deft and imaginatively detailed production that still leaves room for Belle's high-flying vocal melody. Taken from his forthcoming February 23 album The Ladder (more DC babble here). Video after the jump...

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Andrew Belle - "Don't Blame Yourself" (from the album The Ladder)

Canada's Library Voices say that you could call their music "Post-Twee-Power-Folk-Nu-Beach-LoFi-Modern-Indie" but want to keep it simple: they just prefer "pop." The Regina, Saskatchewan octet formed in 2008 and have released an EP but well-tuned critical ears have already made note, including SPIN and those smarty-pants at The New Yorker. We like the witty, rather retro-meets-modern substructure that supports the Voices' nimble, gangly jangle and it's a blast to play "pin the tail on the influences" as our collective heads swim with a muddled melange of names from 60's radio fodder, 70's So-Cal harmonied pop, skittish 80's New Wave and homespun 90's indie rock. But that's really just the beginning of the fun.

Kicked off with lead single "Drinking Games", debut full length Denim On Denim (April 23, Young Soul) makes the most of the band's eclectic array of instruments and voices (we are talking eight performers here) as staccato guitar riffs, handclaps, swelling organ chords and a big boisterous beat set up an irresistible vocal harmony hook. The result is The Cowsill-ian, Bay City Roller-ish anthem as might be performed by a 70's version of Arcade Fire -- and, we might add, with a clever lyrical edge. We're also besotted by the tenaciously driven "Haunt This House", a rave-up of rhythmic thrust and a kitchen-sink's worth of wall-of-sound instrumental mayhem that would make David Byrne smile. Fun -- didn't we already say that? -- but almost never frivolous, these boisterous Library Voices shall not be shushed. Recommended.

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Library Voices - "Haunt This House" (from the album Denim On Denim)

Library Voices - "Write Me A Myth" (from the album Denim On Denim)

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In what may be her most personal and introspective album of the dozen that she's recorded, The Age of Miracles (ZOE/Rounder) arrives April 27 from five-time Grammy winner Mary Chapin Carpenter. Described as an "exploration of regret and resilience", Miracles' twelve new songs were created during the recovery from a life-threatening illness, a time of reflection on her own life and relationships -- past and present -- and the turbulent world around her. "I have always made albums with the idea that each one is a snapshot of where you are in your life, she observes. "That is no different with The Age of Miracles."

Following up her 2008 seasonal album Come Darkness, Come Light and '07's The Calling, Carpenter's new project was co-produced with long-time collaborator Matt Rollings (Lyle Lovett) and features guest vocals from Vince Gill ("I Put My Ring Back On") and Alison Krauss ("I Was a Bird"). As usual, Carpenter's trademark songwriting is impeccable with sweeping melodies and exquisitely turned lyrical phrases providing the underpinning for her tender, often world weary but evocative vocals. In an age when "flavor of the month" artists come and go, spending time with The Age of Miracles reminds us that there's a reason why truly gifted artists like Carpenter not only persevere over time they thrive. Highly recommended. Sample tracks below and at the Rounder site here.

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Mary Chapin Carpenter - "I Was A Bird" (from the album The Age of Miracles)

Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Age Of Miracles sampler ("We Traveled So Far", "I Put My Ring Back On", "Holding Up the Sky", "The Way I Feel")

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A certain rustic, old-fashioned folksy attitude is stitched through the musical fabric of Ontario, Canada's Basia Bulat, a heartfelt and straightforward sensibility that emerges fresh-faced and clear-eyed, fusing simplicity of style with innate, effortless sophistication. As a follow up to 2007's acclaimed debut album, the perfectly titled O My Darling, Bulat's newly released Heart of My Own again charts a path positioned between smart, modern indie pop and classic folk/pop traditions. Often clutching an autoharp in concert, encouraging audience handclaps and singalongs (sometimes joining her onstage) Bulat isn't as fearless as she is simply, unpretentiously committed to her craft. Boisterous choruses soar, feet stomp and her rhythms sway and then gallop as she moves easily from mood to mood, a spirited burner followed by a sweet and tender ballad.

First single "Gold Rush" epitomizes what we've come to love about Bulat's special talent for making music that seems to spontaneously tumble from the speakers while still sounding so focused and assured. In just under three minutes, "Gold Rush" is indeed a rush, fusing influences that range from the fiddling flurries of rural Appalachia to busking Celtic folk melodies to breakneck pop a la Arcade Fire. Produced again by Howard Bilerman and glowing internally with a self-generated source of energy, Heart's eclectic punch promises to be a sweet and swooning knockout.  “I think it is at times extremely sparse and, well, spacious, with big choirs singing,” Bulat says, “and then it gets really dense with really spirited and rolling drums.” Recommended.

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Basia Bulat - "Go On" (from the album Heart of My Own)

Basia Bulat - "Gold Rush"  (from the album Heart of My Own)

From Allison Moorer's new album Crows (due February 9 via Rykodisc), "Sorrow (Don't Come Around)" is a magnificent ballad written by Moorer just after she found out that she was pregnant -- and seven months after an earlier miscarriage. Performed with just a piano backing during a NY Times interview with critic Ben Sisario, the song, we think, has an even greater immediacy and emotional power with just the intimate production. This was also, she says, the final song written for the album. Listen to the complete podcast interview here. More DC on Crows here.

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Allison Moorer - "Sorrow (Don't Come Around)" (live version from the album Crows)

Brooklyn three-piece Yeasayer cite a collective acid trip in New Zealand as the catalyzing inspiration for sophomore full-length Odd Blood, worth mentioning since their music is often - and aptly - described as psychedelic. Much-buzzed debut All Hour Cymbals was a digital/analog/accoustic melange of dreamy pop that was frequently likened to CSNY for its three-part vocal harmonies, psychedelic in a corduroy pants and two doobies sort of way but not really mind-bending. However, on Odd Blood's first track "The Children," replete with a industrial percussion and heavily processed vocals, it's clear that the band has - at least sonically - moved onto the harder stuff, crazy club drugs with numbers for names.

There's an undeniable dance music influence on Odd Blood, part New Wave, part tribal stomp, part future rave. Doing away with their drummer, as well as much of the harmonizing and guitar arpeggios that defined the laid-back sound of ...Cymbals, Odd Blood favors programmed electronics in dizzyingly dense arrangements that invite chin scratching and hip-shaking, sometimes simultaneously. This electron-cloud of texture and timbre sometimes obscures but never erases the fact that at its nucleus, Odd Blood is a very accomplished pop album, one that hooks immediately but engages through repeat listenings. “When it comes to our aesthetic," says singer/multi-instrumentalist Chris Keating, "we ask ourselves ‘What will music sound like in 20 years? ‘” This album answers that question pretty convincingly, but if they're wrong and 2030 sucks worse than 1980 at least we'll have Yeasayer on the classic rock station.

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Yeasayer - O.N.E. (From Odd Blood)

Australian singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann shares more with Leslie Feist than just co-writing credits on Feist's hit (and iPod commercial sensation) "1-2-3-4". Along with claiming the same recording label (Canada's Arts and Crafts), both have that particularly ingenious skill that entails concocting intelligent, hook-riddled pop songs that manage to skirt any detrimental semblance of mainstream pap -- something that has given them (along with the likes of Beth Orton or Regina Spektor) both indie cred and, in Feist's case, commercial success. After two fine albums under her original moniker New Buffalo, Seltmann has claimed her own name -- and a bid for a major breakthrough -- on her forthcoming April 6 album Heart That's Pounding.

In a subtle shift from her '07 album Somewhere, Anywhere, these eleven tracks offer Seltmann's keyboard-based songs and lovely, unaffected vocals with a more opulent production. By turns whimsical ("5 Stars", "Dream About Changin", "Sentimental Seeker"), intimately confessional ("I Tossed A Coin") or gloriously anthemic (lead single "Harmony To My Heartbeat"), Heart beats with an ambitious and unabashedly sunny charm. Even black-clad, angst-ridden hipsters may come under the spell. We sure have. Highly recommended. Watch the video for "Harmony To My Heartbeat" after the jump...

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Sally Seltmann - "Harmony To My Heartbeat" (from the album Heart That's Pounding)

Sally Seltmann - "Heart That's Pounding" (from the album Heart That's Pounding)

Hey -- did you remember that our music streams are for sampling only? Good.

With their self-titled debut album three years ago, singer/songwriter Inara George and multi-instrumentalist/producer Greg Kurstin -- aka The Bird and the Bee -- forged a tantalizing hybrid of fizzy electronica and smart, tongue-in-cheek art-pop. The sound was sleek, the attitude playful, the songs rich with lyrical wit and hummable hooks. But is this in the neverland of "too pop for the indie intelligentsia" and "too eclectic for the masses"? We certainly hope not -- and the beguiling new project Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates, arriving March 23 via Blue Note, just might be the ticket. If anyone knows the challenge of straddling critical credibility and pop success, isn't it Hall and Oates?

The spark for the project came after the duo began including the H+O standard "I Can't Go For That" into their live show. Why not a album's worth of classics? Guiltless Pleasures I kicks off with one lone, perfectly nuanced original -- "Heard It On the Radio" -- before George and Kurstin delve into the H+O catalog with glee, bringing a glossy, bubbly kick to eight indelible songs such as "I Can't Go For That", "Rich Girl", "Sara Smile" and "She's Gone". Sure we see a tongue-in-cheek wink here and there in the performances but this is obviously a labor of love. "There’s definitely no irony," says Kurstin matter of factly. "They’re great songwriters and these are great songs." Recommended.

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The Bird and the Bee - "She's Gone" (from the album Guiltless Pleasures Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates)

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Photos: Autumn De Wilde

Tonight -- February 4 -- marks the debut of Three Girls and Their Buddy on PBS' Soundstage. Recorded as a "singers in the round" format, Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin trade songs, chat a bit and then join in the harmonies backed by famed guitarist Buddy Miller. The 12-song concert -- which we're hoping (and guessing) will show up as the full 21-song performance on DVD at some point -- includes Shawn Colvin's "Hold On" and "Polaroids", Patty Griffin's "Heavenly Day" and "Love Throws A Line", Buddy Miller's "Poison Love" and Harris' "Black Hawk" and "Love and Happiness". Check out the complete set list and songs that made the cut for the broadcast after the jump. Get a preview with a video of "Love and Happiness" here. Find out the broadcast date and time in your area here.

Three Girls and Their Buddy - "Love and Happiness" (featuring Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin)

Icelandic singer/multi-instrumentalist Sindri Már Sigfússon is at the creative core of Seabear, a septet of musicians -- each with their own individual art and music projects -- who together fashion some of the more interesting and eclectic folk-based chamber/pop we've heard over the past few years. As the follow up to the 2007 debut Ghost That Carried Us Away, new album We Built A Fire, available March 2 in Europe, is a gorgeous if unassuming collection of songs that combine sweetly rendered pop melodies with finely crafted orchestrated backings.

There's a refined presence to songs such as "Cold Summer", a quiet stunner that takes Sigfússon's lighter-than-air vocal and wraps it in a warm blanket of delicate piano and lovely horn and string arrangements. The lo-fi intimacy that's at the heart of Seabear is also on display with "Lion Face Boy", another gem of gently mannered melody and sophisticated instrumental notation. Akin to a combination of Iceland compatriots Sigur Ros meeting up with Sufjan Stevens, Seabear shines as a nocturnal study of unhurried understatement. Highly recommended.

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Seabear - "Cold Summer" (from the album We Built A Fire)

Seabear - "Lion Face Boy" (from the album We Built A Fire)

Taken from their forthcoming March 30 album Down The Way, new single "Black Crow" from Aussie neo-folkies Angus and Julia Stone comes from the Angus side of the duo's creative output and follows up Julia's equally wonderful "And The Boys." Both tracks signal a subtle shift from earlier folk stylings to a fuller, more dynamic "band" sound on the self-produced project -- and make us even more anxious to dive into the full album. And if you missed "Boys", watch the video after the jump. More DC on Down The Way here. "Black Crow" is at your favorite digital store February 16.

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Angus and Julia Stone - "Black Crow" (from the album Down The Way)

Our music streams are for sampling purposes only. Please support the artists and BUY the music!

"Free, melodic, funky, phat and rocking" is how John Butler describes April Uprising, the Aussie roots-rocker's first new studio album in three years arriving on these shores April 6 via new U.S. label home ATO. With new backing players on board -- drummer Nicky Bomba and bassist Byron Luiters -- The John Butler Trio remains a marvel of lanky, rough-and-ready interplay, intelligent music that still manages to land a powerful punch. Or as Butler says of lead single "One Way Road, "not too contrived or cerebral." Over the course of four albums in twelve years, Butler and band have burnished their reputation as a tour-de-force live where the trio's raw but tightly tuned songs can stretch out with the improvisational feel of a funky jam band-styled power trio.

"There’s definitely a certain attitude that comes across on the album," says Butler. "Perhaps there’s a conviction, in a song writing and production sense, that I haven’t tapped into so much on earlier works that seems to be more prevalent on April Uprising." A spin of new track "One Way Road" taps into what Butler describes as "pretty much most of my musical influences: dancehall, roots & rock" with a scorching slide guitar line leading into a relentless rhythm overdrive and lyrics that spill out wrapped in a flurry of island-tinged singing. Watch the "One Way Road video after the jump. A brief five city U.S. tour begins February 11.

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John Butler Trio - "One Way Road" (from the album April Uprising)

We've always felt a little guilty about Meg Hutchinson's music. We probably should have been tugging on the sleeve of everyone we knew and telling them about what an incredible find each of her albums has been. But, with an artist like this, someone whose effortlessly beautiful songs can speak to the listener on a profoundly personal level, it's also tempting to just keep it to yourself. We were reminded of that fact today as we listened to Hutchinson's new album The Living Side, due February 9 via Red House, tempted to just close the door, turn the phone off, ignore the email and just, well, listen.

At 31 and with more than a decade's worth of touring and releases, Hutchinson will never be mistaken for some young "next big thing." But perhaps it is this adult perspective along with her undeniable skill as a songwriter that makes The Living Side so extraordinary. It is clear that on every level the Boston-based singer is performing at the top of her game: the melodies are subtle but rich, the airy voice tender but resilient, the lyrics knowing and provocative. And when Hutchinson sets the socio-political stage for pointed observations on the lost American Dream in the deceptively lovely "Hard To Change" or probes emotional will in the whispered intimacy of "Gatekeeper" you know you're in the presence of something truly special. Highly recommended.

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Meg Hutchinson - "Gatekeeper" (from the album The Living Side)

Meg Hutchinson - "Hard To Change" (from the album The Living Side)

An odd turn of events for U.K. indie shoe-gaze popsters Engineers. First, the band finds out that the song "Home" from their eponymous 2005 debut album is selected as the new theme song for the HBO's fine "Big Love" series. Then, just today, creative lead Mark Peters announces today that he and Simon Phipps will carry with the Engineers minus two supporting band members (don't ask why there are only three faces featured in the band's press shots). We won't even get into why their 2009 album Three Fact Fader still has no U.S. label or physical distribution (does that even matter any more?).

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Engineers - "Home" (from "Big Love" and Engineers)

Shelby Lynne will follow up her superb 2007 Dusty Springfield tribute disc Just A Little Lovin' with a self-produced new project Tears, Lies, And Alibis due April 20 on her own newly founded independent label. "I've made records for 20 years and never been more excited," says Lynne. "I finally have the creative control I've needed to get my vision out there." The new project is said to have relatively stripped down sound and some old school elements from a studio band that includes members of the famed Muscle Shoals Swampers: David Hood and Spooner Oldham. New songs include lead single "The Rains Came" as well as "Like A Fool", a song that premiered on the TV show "Army Wives."

Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck returns with his first studio CD in seven years on April 13: Emotion & Commotion. In typical Beck-ian style, the album is all over the place stylistically including tracks recorded with a 64-piece orchestra on some instrumental classics ("Over the Rainbow", Jeff Buckley's "Corpus Christi Carol", Puccini's operatic "Nessa Dorma". Joss Stone guests on a pair of songs including the blues classic "I Put A Spell On You" while rising neo-rockabilly singer Imelda May tackles "Lilac Wine." Beck will tour the U.S. this spring after a worldwide sprint and the highly anticipated double bill with Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden in NY February 18 and 19.

The ever wonderful < Patty Larkin celebrates 25 years of making albums with the release March 9 of 25, an impressive collection of 25 Larkin love songs featuring (you guessed it) 25 guest artists. Among those on the impressive guest list: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Bruce Cockburn, Jonatha Brooke, Greg Brown, Janis Ian and Suzanne Vega. Complete listing here. More on 25 soon as we get some advance music...

 On June 29, Capitol will mark a pair of John Lennon release anniversaries -- 30th for Double Fantasy, 40th for Plastic Ono Band -- with special "anniversary editions" of each. Details to come.

DC favorite Tift Merritt > will release her new studio album See You on the Moon on May 25 via Fantasy. Produced by Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, The Decemberists) and recorded in her home state of North Carolina, the new album is said to be less thematic than her excellent (and semi-auto-biographical) Another Country with Merritt remarking that "the story is more in the music this time."

Recent Grammy winner for Best New Artist, country rockers Zac Brown Band will release a 2-CD/DVD Live From The Fox Theater in April.

We're intrigued with the concept behind Women and Country, the upcoming T-Bone Burnett-produced solo album from < Jakob Dylan arriving April 5. The former Wallflower frontman asked Neko Case and her bandmember Kelly Hogan to add their vocals to eight of the project's eleven songs for what is said to be some pretty amazing harmonies. "Neko’s a huge character," Dylan remarked to Billboard. "She and Kelly add a huge personality to the record." Women is Dylan's first album since 2008's Seeing Things solo debut. Look for all three to tour together this summer.

Long-running roots rockers The BoDeans will release a new CD, “Mr. Sad Clown,” on April 6 via new label home 429. New studio album from Little Big Town penciled in for an August 24 street from Capitol Nashville. A 3-CD expanded version of The Cure's Disintegration arrives April 6 marking the release's 20th anniversary.