The Cardinal Sings

Eric Matthews, former memeber of chamber pop outfit Cardinal, has been in a writing mood of late. After he created two fine solo records for Sub Pop in the mid to late nineties, he disappeared for quite a stretch. He returned in 2005 and has put out three solo releases since then. This year he released a new CD entitled The Imagaination Stage. With the release is a very limited run of 500 copies that will come with a bonus CD containing two extra songs; Cell 33 (Redux), and Where You Belong. In addition these limited runs will be shipped with an 18x24 hand numbered poster of the album's artwork, which was done by Anthony Difatta. The posters will also be signed by Eric. And finally the CD booklet will have lyrics and other artwork by Difatta. The limited edition of the release is only available from the Empyrean Records website.

Alvin releases "Drunk"

This week Dave Alvin has released his seventh digital only download available through the Yep Roc website. This time around he joins the Gene Taylor Blues Band as they do a live version of an old jump blues tune called "Drunk," which was originally done by Jimmmy Liggins in 1953.

Sunday Mornings

Former Feelies member Glenn Mercer released a surprisingly great record last year called Wheels in Motion. I just discovered that there is one bonus track on the digital download version of the album that is available from eMusic, iTunes, and Amazon.com. The track is a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning."

Rise Up and Listen

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are set to release a new album shortly called Dig Lazarus Dig!!!. Just prior to its release, a 7", CD, and digtial single will be released on February 26th for the title track. The single will contain one exclusive track called "Accidents will happen." More info at Mute Records.

Hidden Mountain

For Vancouver quintet Black Mountain's latest release, entitled In the Future, there was a very limited edition of the release that included a second CD. The bonus CD contains three songs and is sixteen minutes of extra music. The three tracks are out-takes from the album that they have been playing live but simply decided to leave off of the regular relase. The tracks are; Bastards of Light, Thirteen Walls, and Black Cat. The deluxe edition is already out-of-print and unavailable from their label Jagjaguwar but copies can still be found elsewhere.

Return of the Rubies

After nearly ten years, the Sand Rubies (originally known as the Sidewinders) from Tucson, Arizona are back with a new release entitled Mas Cuacha. The band has primarily consisted of guitarist Rich Hopkins and singer/guitarist David Slutes. Rich has released a huge number of records on his own in that space in time, some very limited (such as the recent 3CD German fan club live affair "Horse Tour 2007"). The new Sand Rubies record shouldn't be quite as limited, but is being released on their own indie label San Jacinto Records. It is also available from some online CD shops such as Blue Rose Records and CD Baby.

We Speak of Online Only Releases

Dax Riggs, former member of Deadboy & the Elephantment, will be coming here to Iowa City this Tuesday in support of his new Fat Possum release We Sing of Only Blood or Love. Also available from eMusic are a couple of MP3 only relases. One is his set from last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival and the other is from his appearance at Lollapalooza. The former has fourteen tracks, while the later only has seven.

Alvin releasing 'em one song at a time

Dave Alvin has been releasing one off MP3s of late through the Yep Roc Recrods online store. These have been cover songs that I would presume will be compiled at some point in a similar fashion to the eMusic songs Steve Wynn did a few years ago. There have been six songs released so far and the latest that was made available is a song called "Perdido Street Blues" which was written by Lil' Hardin Armstrong (the former wife of Louis Armstrong) and originally recorded back in 1926. More info at Yep Roc's site.

Aussie Classic Reissued

Died Pretty's classic album Doughboy Hollow is getting the royal treatment this month. The 1991 release has been remastered and is being reissued as a 2CD set. Disc one will be the original album remastered and disc two is chock full of b-sides and unreleased material. The contents of the second disc are;

1. Wonder: Originally Appeared As A Bonus Track On The Single Release Of D.C.
   
2. Disappointed: Originally Appeared As A Bonus Track On The Single Release Of Sweetheart.
   
3. Lonesome Bull: Originally Appeared As A Bonus Track On The Single Release Of Headaround From The Album Trace
   
4. Time: Originally Appeared On A Giveaway Single - Paddington Rsl Sydney - January 1991
   
5. Let Me Be: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
   
6. D.C.: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
   
7. Battle Of Stanmore: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
   
8. Satisfied: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
   
9. Godbless - Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
   
10. Sweetheart: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
    
11. The Love Song: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
    
12. Doused: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
    
13. Disaster: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
    
14. Out In The Rain: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
    
15. Turn Your Head: Unreleased Demo For Doughboy Hollow
    

The reissue can be ordered from several Austrailian online stores such as Chaos and Red Eye Records.

30 Years of Cool

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Nick Lowe's Jesus of Cool record. For the occassion, Yep Roc Records is reissuing the album on CD and vinyl. It will include all of the tracks from the original UK album as well as the different tracks from the US edition, which in typical lame major label record company fashion was retitled Pure Pop for Now People. It will also have seven bonus tracks. And another nice bonus for those who pre-order the record from Yep Roc will be four additional MP3s. Two of the MP3s will come from Nick's side project Tartan Horde ("Bay City Rollers We Love You" and "Allorollo"). The other two songs are from his Disco Brothers side project ("Let's Go to the Disco" and "Everybody Dance"). I'm assuming that if you don't get in on the pre-order that the MP3s will become available as 99 cent downloads from the Yep Roc store eventually as that is what they have done in the past. But, you never can be certain. Of course you could always get a hold of The Wilderness Years compilation which has those same songs (I'm guessing they are the same versions). More info at http://www.yeproc.com/artist_info.php?artistId=54.

Mekons in Brackenrigg

Apparently, the Mekons released an instrumental EP called Brackenrigg last September. It is only availbable through the Rhapsody digital music service. It was recorded during the Natual sessions. Getting all the Natural related songs has been quite a headache as one exlusive song was available for download from Touch and Go Records. Two others were exlusive downloads on iTunes. And a fourth song (another instrumental) is available for free download on the Club Mekon fan website.

Beck reissue is where it's at

Beck's Odelay is one of the newest records to receive the Deluxe Edition treatment. And while some of these deluxe reissues have simply appended a live show from the same period or have leaned heavily on remixes, this reissue compiles no less than ninteen b-sides, soundtrack songs, and unreleased tracks. Only three of the tracks are remixes and two songs have never been released anywhere else. The one glaring omission is the song "Diskobox" which was a bonus track on some import versions of Odelay.

Opportunities Abound

While this has been out for a bit, I thought I'd mention it in case you missed it. Okkervil River have an EP (in MP3 format) entitled Golden Opportunites Mixtape that is available as a free download from their website. The EP was released during the holiday season and contains mostly cover songs that were recorded on tour. There is also one original song as well. Tracks include;

1. APRIL ANNE (John Phillips)
   
2. SIMON SMITH AND THE AMAZING DANCING BEAR (Randy Newman)
   
3. I WANT TO KNOW (Charles F. Olsen/Ed Sanders)
   
4. DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO (Jimmy Webb)
   
5. I CAME HERE TO SAY IM GOING AWAY (Serge Gainsbourg/Trans. by W. Sheff)
   
6. THE BLONDE IN THE BLEACHERS (Joni Mitchell)
   
7. ANTARCTICA STARTS HERE (John Cale)
   
8. LISTENING TO OTIS REDDING AT HOME DURING CHRISTMAS (Will Sheff)
   
9. SOLO (Sandy Denny)
   

Trash delivery

Matador Records has rolled out the fifth installment in its 'Buy Early Get Now' program. This time around it is for the release of Real Emotional Trash by Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks which is set to officially be released on March 4th. This is the fourth solo record by the former member of Pavement and if you preorder the disc either through the Matador website or from a select number of independent record stores, you will get a lot of added material. First off, you will be able to immediately stream the album and get one b-side song. Then, later you will get a live show recorded at Doug Fir in Portanld, 12/21/07 as well as more b-side songs and a poster for the disc. More info at; http://www.buyearlygetnow.com/.

Return of the Mavericks

Collector's Choice Music has recently reissued the post-dB's album Mavericks by Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey. The record was originally issued on Rhino's RNA label in 1991. This reissue adds six bonus tracks. They include; Hollywood Waltz (unreleased), I Knew You Would (unreleased instrumental), Angels (original demo), Close Your Eyes (full band version), Here Without You (acoustic mix), and Anymore (electric remix). More info at Collector's Choice Music

Moore Tunes from SoHo

This week iTunes released another of its exclusive LIVE from SoHo EPs. This time around Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth performed at the Apple store in SoHo and ran through a number of songs from his latest ablum Trees Outside the Academy as well as three tracks from his previous solo record Psychic Hearts. More info at iTunes.

Hitchcock demos come out of the shadows

Robyn Hitchcock has just released yet another compilation of demos and unreleased tracks entitled Shadow Cat on Sartorial Records in the UK. Most of the tracks are of the acoustic variety and come from the 1990s. All tracks are originals, sans a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "The Windw Cries Mary. CDs can be ordered through The Museum of Robyn Hitchcock (http://www.robynhitchcock.com/giftshop-paypal.html#shadowcat).

The full track listing is as follows;

1. For Debbie Reynolds
   
2. Never Have to See You Again
   
3. LoveAffair
   
4. The Wind Cries Mary
   
5. High on Yourself
   
6. Because You're Over
   
7. The Cat Walks Her Kind of Line
   
8. Statue With a Walkman
   
9. The Green Boy
   
10. Real Dot
    
11. Nothing But Time
    
12. Beautiful Shock
    
13. Baby-doll
    
14. Shadow Cat
    

Tilbrook squeezes out some more demos

The second installment of demo recordings by Glenn Tilbrook was released Wednesday, which is entitled In the Sky Above: the Demo Tapes 1993-1998. There are a total of five planned discs of demos. This second volume isn't quite as exciting as the first one though. The first one focuesed on demos from the time of Squeeze's great East Side Story album. These demos are from the later period of Squeeze, covering the albums; Some Fantastic Place, Ridiculous, and Domino. You can order it from Quixotic Records at http://www.quixoticrecords.com/gt_albums.html.