na: mount eerie, white hinterland

So to answer the question on everyone’s mind: the new Stephen Malkmus will be here. Hopefully by tomorrow. We had a slight glitch that kept it from being posted today, but all systems should be ‘go’ for tomorrow’s delivery.

In the meantime, here’s a quick roundup of some titles that did arrive today, many of which are worth investigating…

Gary Numan, Replicas Redux: Numan’s classic album gets the remastered-and-expanded treatment. Disc 2 features fine early versions of Replicas classic tracks, and they sound even weirder and more primitive than the ones that made the cut. It’s weird to me that Numan is considered by many a one-hit wonder. His music still sounds, to these ears, dark and threatening.

White Hinterland, Phylactery Factory: Some of you might already be familiar with singer/songwriter Casey Dienel. White Hinterland is Casey’s full-band project, and I’m pretty into it. It’s getting compared to people like Regina Spektor and Nelly McKay, but the word “quirky” isn’t anywhere in Dienel’s vocabulary. Phylactery, lyrically, is dark — really dark — meditations on destruction and death and decay. The music is free-wheeling piano-pop, kinda richly ornamented and deliberately constructed. I interviewed Casey for an upcoming eMusic feature and she had quite a few fascinating things to say about the songs and their inspiration. Phylactery Factory is a fine, wintry little record worthy of a spin-through.

Mount Eerie, Black Wooden Ceiling Opening: This EP finds the always-fascinating Phil Elvrum turning up the volume knob for a series of songs that are a bit louder than his usual fare.

Chatham County Line, IV: The latest from country/bluegrass outfit Chatham County Line is lovely as usual. I know Yancey is a big fan; a quick skim through this one, and I can see why.

The Hysterics, Hysterics: When I first heard that the members of the Hysterics were still in high school, I wrongly assumed this would be a record of sloppy, bratty punk rock. As usual, I am an idiot: this is a lovely collection of ’60s-styled pop — full-on jangly guitars, woozy melodies, incense, peppermints, etc etc etc. The vocalist has a startlingly clean tone, and the harmonies are outta sight. Our own Amelia Raitt is a big fan, and I second her endorsement.

Behemoth, Satanica: And speaking of loud. This is the fourth record from Polish metal band Behemoth. The record is called Satanica, which should tell you everything you need to know. It’s incredibly brutal, like all Behemoth releases, and definitely worth it for fans of the genre. Somewhat related, a piece in the Washington post on the black metal scene in Virginia

Screaming Trees, Clairvoyance: This is the first Screaming Trees record, a group that my fiancée personally reps hard for. I can see the appeal: this is brash, grimy rock & roll. The Screaming Trees seemed perennially poised to benefit from Seattle-mania in the ’90s. They didn’t, and became yet another band that was written about more than listened-to. You can help reverse that trend today.

Adam Green, “Morning After Midnight”: New single from the half of the Moldy Peaches that isn’t featured in Juno. Perhaps Diablo Cody will follow Juno with a remake of Junior, starring Jonah Hill. Should that happen, Green is ready to go.

The Black Hollies, Casting Shadows: Ex-members of Rye Coalition serve up kinda psych-y, kinda mod-y rock record. The second song is called “Paisley Pattern Ground,” which kinda sums up the sound.

Skillz, ‘07 Rap Up: Every year, Detroit rapper Skillz releases a single that summarizes the year’s major events in hip-hop called, appropriately enough, the ‘Rap Up.’ His 2006 Rap Up was particularly good — you can hear it here. I’d been waiting for weeks back in January for the ‘07 Rap Up to drop. It’s…not as good — though I don’t know if that’s because of Skillz or because there wasn’t a whole lot of notable hip-hop news in 2007. Inexplicably, we have two versions of this. The Digital Blink version is built around a piano part that sounds like the labyrinth music in The Legend of Zelda. The Digital Rose version is a bit clubbier. If you have an extra download this month and are a hip-hop fan, it’s worth checking out.

On that same note: there have been a number of really good hip-hop releases so far this year — making up, perhaps, for last year’s incredible dearth. Since I missed ‘em when they came out, let me take a few seconds to recommend the following:

Blu & Exile, Below the Heavens: A Kanye-esque vibe dominates this fine, fine album. Blu is the rapper, Exile is the producer; the tracks all have that great, soul-sample-based vibe: scratchy, dusky, smooth. Blu’s flow is clean and conversational and the rhymes are tight and introspective. Highly, highly recommended.

Edo G & Da Bulldogs, Life of a Kid: Edo G is a Boston rapper who released a few major-label singles in the ’90s that failed to generate a whole lot of heat. This compilation gathers up B-Sides and rarities and, guess what, it’s fantastic. I’m a sucker for that ’90s sound, and this double-disc is bursting with big boom-bap, crackling vinyl and incredibly adroit rhyming. Another highly recommended album.

Substantial, Sacrifice: I notice that there’s an also an artist called Substantial on the Holy Hip-Hop label, but a quick spin through this one makes it pretty clear that this is not the same Substantial. Substantial’s got a deep, rolling voice and the tracks fall somewhere between club and classic R&B. Solid throughout, and definitely worth investigating.

Uncut Raw, First Toke: This one was pointed out to me by a fellow eMusic employee. Super dusky, great jazz-and-soul based production (at times kinda Madlib-esque) and speedy, eager rhymes.

Also, in a few weeks we get the debut from EMC; that record, along with Nicolay & Kay’s Timeline, are in constant rotation on my iPod.