Opeth: "I Feel the Dark"

Yep.  I really think Heritage is going to be the album to get me back on board the Opeth horse-and-carriage.  I don't go so far as to call their more recent albums "selling out", but there has definitely been that sort of phoned in quality of a talented band with chops galore just going through the motions, much the same glaring indifference as Opeth BFF's Dream Theater have toiled under for a decade.  Between this song and previous leak "The Devil's Orchard" I'm definitely down with the virtually metal-free 70s prog sound I'm hearing.

Mastodon: "Spectrelight"

At the risk of gorilla pimping this band's recent output, here's another ridiculously promising new track from Mastodon's upcoming The Hunter.  For those keeping score, this is the third officially released song from that 13 track album, so by the time September 26th rolls around you should definitely have decided you need it in your life by that point.  Like I said last time around, I'm pretty stoked to hear the more stripped down, balls out rock material coming out of the band, as opposed to the bloated, progressive sound they've been fucking with in recent years.  Tell me why I'm wrong in the comments, otherwise I'll take your silence as tacit consent.

Ryan Adams: "Wasted Years" (Iron Maiden cover)

Here's a recent Ryan Adams cover of the eloquent Iron Maiden folk song (huh???) "Wasted Years", recorded live for BBC2 on August 30, 2011.  Chew your food, bitches!

Adams has a new record, Ashes & Fire, coming out October 11th, but this will not be on there, yet another in a long line of intentionally bootleg-ready material.

Justice: "Audio, Video, Disco"

This has the breezy vocals of early Air combined with the oh so French electro rock that Justice have helped pioneer, itself a handshake compromise between traditional filter disco and the disco punk that is all the rage at present.  "Audio, Video, Disco" is the title track off the band's upcoming album of the same name, due 25 Oct 2011 in the US (see what I did there, motherfuckers?).  This is the second single off of that album, following "Civilization" released way back in April.  I like "Audio, Video, Disco" better as a song, but "Civilization" had the better video.

Wavves (feat. Best Coast): "Nodding Off"

Back from vacation, hiatus over.  This is a good summer tune to come back to, the weather in New York seasonal compared to the perennial 105-degree heat wave I left behind in Austin, the return to Austin met with unexpectedly similar cool temperatures as I basked in while guerilla pimping the Big Apple.

"Nodding Off" is primarily a Wavves affair, basically employing singer Nathan Williams' main squeeze Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast renown) as harmony singer.  There isn't much of the trademark Best Coast lo-fi here, it's primarily well-produced, upbeat party time rock a la Wavves' "King of the Beach".  "Nodding Off" will be featured on the upcoming Life Sux EP, which should be out as soon as the distributor finishes up at your mother's house.

Tom Waits: "Bad As Me"

Well, look who's back?  Excluding the odds & ends collection Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards it's been nearly seven years since Waits' last studio album of newly written material.  I don't know quite what I think of "Bad As Me" after a couple of cursory listens:  it's got a good sound to it and the hammy singing style I've long since gotten used to, but that's kind of just it... this doesn't really distinguish itself much from the same style he's been milking for over ten years now.  Maybe it will be one of those slow gestating songs that end up being one of my favorites, but in the meantime my gut tells me that I hope he chose this as the first single off the new album because it was the most accessible, and not the most adventurous.

  Tom Waits - Bad As Me by antirecords

Singles vs EPs, or The Death of the Album

Since I've flip flopped musical priorities and am now listening to all the new releases first, I'm noticing that the proliferation of EPs and albums <40 minutes has been skyrocketing lately... even in fields like rap and techno where maximizing the CD's 80 min running time has pretty much been gospel for decades.

Now, this is primarily true for less established bands - major label and macro-indie acts still largely hew to the full length album format, although 40 minute indie rock albums were never really a rarity - but particularly when you get down to bands self financing their shit through Bandcamp, etc. or on micro indie budgets, the short LP/EP format almost becomes holy writ.

I guess this shouldn't be surprising: pundits have been predicting the internet will bring about the end of the album format for 10 years now. The problem I think is that it's not so much that the classic era of the single is returning as that bands are just dumping out material on the public at whatever rate they're finishing it... there's very little quality control, and unlike in the past, a band putting out a single in 2011 is no guarantee that the artist believes that song to be amongst their best (or most accessible) material.  It just happens to be the most recent thing they've completed.

Toxic Holocaust: "Judgment Awaits You"

I was hoping "Bitch" would be the first video off Conjure and Command but this is not a bad second choice.  I had a few words to say about the album as a whole recently, so I won't bother to rehash that here.

Matthew Friedberger: "Meet Me in Miramas"

If the name Matthew Friedberger sounds vaguely familiar, it's likely you recognize him as one half of the brother-sister duo Fiery Furnaces.  Friedberger is in the midst of a six album Solos project, of which Meet Me in Miramas is the second installment.  It's been out since March - don't know why I'm just now getting around to checking it out - so in the interests of currency I should actually be tackling the fourth volume, Cut It Out, which was actually released this month.  It was hard enough finding a legit stream of this one, so cut me some slack.
  Matthew Friedberger - "Meet Me in Miramas" by LoudLoopPress

"Glory Is Fleeting, But Obscurity Is Forever"

I've recently been turned on to the Lefsetz Letter, an obsessively updated blog devoted to goings on in the music industry.  Bob Lefsetz is an industry veteran - the Lefsetz Letter started as a print column 25 years ago - and for an old timer he seems to have a refreshingly progressive view: subscription services are the future, artists need to quit whining about lost revenue and embrace creative alternatives, etc.

"Obscurity Is Your Friend" is his latest column - though, with the man's prolific way with a keyboard there are liable to be 5 or 6 more by the time I finish typing this - and one of his most visionary, I think.  I strongly encourage anyone interested in media consumption to read the whole thing, but in summary his position is that the traditional hitmaking machinery is malfunctioning in the internet era; with hundreds or even thousands of blogs potentially covering you, more publicity just means a sped up period of scrutiny under which you are evaluated and then either lionized or discarded.  There is no room for artist development at that level of exposure.  You'd better be ready for prime time because if you come with a half assed, unfinished product there is no time for second chances.  Your product will be chewed up and spit out before you have time to finish your cup of coffee, let alone book another studio.