4/10 new arrivals

Nick Cave gets primitive, CocoRosie get spacey and the Rosebuds go new wave.

There’s a ton of great stuff to get through today, so without any further ado…

Various Artists, Live at the Austin City Limits festival
Similar to the Lollapalooza haul we got a few days ago, these recordings from this past fall’s Austin City Limits festival showcase a smattering of tracks from artists like Stars, the Shins, Cat Power and Deadboy & The Elephantmen. Recording quality is mostly excellent (though the Cat Power song sounds strangely foggy), and any of these would be a great way to polish off those last few monthly downloads.

Beatnik Filmstars, All Pop Stars are Talentless Slags
I spent an awful lot of time with this record many years ago. Not quite as great as Boss Disque, but still a must to check-out for fans of slightly hyper, slightly grizzled Britpop.

Christopher O’Riley, Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake
Following up his collection of piano takes on Radiohead songs, O’Riley here takes a pass at the music of revered proto-twee folkie Nick Drake. There’s no reason this should work, which makes it all the more rewarding that it does. O’Riley keeps it simple and understated, actually interpreting the songs instead of offering straight Muzak renditions. Lovely.

Menomena, Wet and Rusting
Single off the group’s latest album, augmented with several extra tracks. This is my first real encounter with Menomena, and I’m pretty intrigued. The combination of off-kilter percussion, clambering piano and occasional electronic flourishes keep the songs moving in unexpected directions. For fans of slightly skewed pop music.

Mystery Jets, Diamonds in the Dark
The latest EP from this UK combo works a lot of different angles — it’s randy and dancey and skronky on “Crosswords” and hard-driving and anthemic on the title track. I think Yancey is a fan, and he can probably illuminate more in the comments section.

Pedro, Early Pedro
I love this record like crazy. Pedro is one James Rutledge, a British musician who kicked around in a few post-rock bands before finally turning attention to his own compositions. He released three EPs in the late 90s which fell almost immediately on to the collector’s circuit. Early Pedro ends the bidding wars by compiling those early works, and in turn creating a gorgeous, gripping full-length. The record hits my sweet spot (in the same way Kammerflimmer Kollekteif and Marz do): it combines found sounds and live instrumentation with electronic rhythms and textures to create something wholly new and mysterious. I cannot recommend it highly enough — completely intoxicating from start to finish.

Xiu Xiu, Remixed & Covered
Fans and friends of oddball musician Jamie Stewart take a crack at re-imagining selections from his catalog. Contributors run from the buzzed (Sunset Rubdown, Devendra Banhart, Kid 606) to the unknown (Cherry Point, xo skeletons).

CocoRosie, The Adventures of Ghosthorse
Our reviewer Amanda Petrusich has this to say: “On The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, CoCoRosie’s third full-length, horses toss back their manes and neigh, children’s toys burp and squeak, found-sound samples spin and warp, drum machines sputter, bells chime, keyboards moan. Bianca chant-raps, Sierra bays with operatic aplomb and the resulting cacophony feels a little like stumbling through a flea market in some far-flung European hamlet, knocking into unfamiliar gadgets, disoriented by all the mingling. The Cassidys thrive on twisting simple keyboard melodies into big, atmospheric productions that are pretty and nightmarish at the same time, and The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn will either leave you shaking or gazing dreamily out a window.”

From Autumn to Ashes, Holding a Wolf By the Ears
I have a huge, huge soft spot for pop-emo/screamo, and what I’ve heard of this record so far sounds absolutely promising. Crossing straight-ahead, tuneful pop melodies with throat-wrenching howls, From Autumn to Ashes deliver a work that is full-throttle and unrelenting. Those utterly disinterested in more commercial music might want to avoid, but this is absolutely recommended for fans of Underoath, Senses Fail and Aiden.

Grinderman, Grinderman
Nick Cave returns to his hyper-primitive Birthday Party roots on this raw, ragged side project. eMusic’s Andrew Perry says: “The sound is accordingly loose, often primordially brutal — the words are, too. “We are sick and tired of all the self-serving grieving,” he sings on “Go Tell the Women.” “All we wanted is a little consensual rape in the afternoon, and maybe a bit more in the evening.” “No Pussy Blues,” meanwhile, unleashes all the pent-up sexual energy one might worriedly anticipate from its title, and then some. Grinderman proves that, at close on 50, some inexplicable and exhilarating fire still burns in Nick Cave. Bizarrely, for such a typecast doom merchant, he gives hope to us all.”

Konono No. 1, Live in Tokyo EP
An eMusic exclusive! I’m only going to excerpt the review by editor-in-chief Michael Azerrad, but it’s as worth reading in its entirety as this EP is worth downloading: “Konono stacks dense layers of polyrhythmic junkyard percussion, thrumming three-note bass lines, topped with call-and-response vocals and their signature sound: highly amplified, distorted likembes (or thumb pianos) throwing out molten globs of repetitive melody, white-hot rivets of sound. The band cooks on this live, three-track EP recorded in Tokyo. Konono’s electric folk music is a spiritual link to ways of life that are rapidly being lost in 21st-century urban environments.”

The Rosebuds, Night of the Furies
Beloved North Carolina indie band goes new wave. In my review, I said: “Night of the Furies is jittery and juiced-up, the moment when the Rosebuds edge nervously away from the wall and over to the dancefloor. What remains unchanged is the group’s knack for sunny melodies. Even when they’re lit up with synth blips and powered by a drum machine pulse, the songs still find room for those huge, swooping choruses.” To which I’ll add: I’m not sure the whole thing works, but when it does (“Cemetary Lawns,” “Hold on to this Coat”), it’s fantastic.

Joe Rogan, Shiny, Happy Jihad
Rogan is probably still best known for his role as the host of Fear Factor, but Yancey tells me that lately he has emerged as a kind of confrontational comedian, working an aggressive, take-no-prisoners style. He also passed along this amazing video clip, in which Rogan storms into Carlos Mencia’s standup act and accuses him of pilfering jokes from other comedians. Be warned: the language in this makes it very NSFW, but the acrid back and forth between the two comics is amazing. Rogan lays out his case point by point, even bringing other comics up to dismantle Mencia. The whole thing builds to a spectacular, messy meltdown.