This coming Tuesday sees the release of the new Shearwater record, The Golden Archipelago. Here’s eMusic’s Melissa Maerz with an idea of what to expect.
Shearwater
The Golden Archipelago
[Matador]
Release Date: 16 February 2010
An explorer, ecologist, and folk hero, Jonathan Meiburg is the Jacques Cousteau of indie-rock. A former graduate student with a specialty in geography and ornithology, [...]

Our fall will sound like summer. Not everyone’s but certainly indie rock’s, and three bands (a trend) — the Drums, Girls and Beach Fossils — will be partially responsible. Some of their music will remind you of surf rock. More of it like the electrified cicadas of early R.E.M. Most of it like California. And [...]

Hey there! It’s the end of the day, and we haven’t uttered a peep — sorry about that. I wanted to draw quick attention to a record that we are particularly excited about, and think you might be too.
It’s on Stones Throw, which should almost be enough of a pitch these days. Peanut Butter Wolf’s [...]

So here we are smack in the middle of summer, a time notorious for a dearth of new music. Fear not, though: there are five records coming down the pike certain to quench the new music thirst, all of them worth getting worked up over. They are as follows!
August 4, Jay Reatard, Watch Me Fall
Coming [...]

When Sony’s catalogue hits the site later this summer, what will you see? That’s the question the 17 Dots team has been working on, and I wanted to give everyone a peek at how we’re approaching this.
The first thing to note is that, for better or worse, eMusic’s taste is the same. We’re finicky, we [...]

Just a head’s up that tomorrow, Al Green week will commence on the site with the addition of his key ’70s records — just an unbelievably incredible collection of music that everyone (and we mean everyone) should have at their disposal. Songs like “For the Good Times,” seen below on Soul Train:

BTW, how cool is [...]

A few years ago, I got taken by the debut from a group called New Ruins. As it turned out, quite a few eMusic members did, too (though, from a glance at the User Reviews, it appears that just as many did not).
If you’re in the former camp, you might want to check out the [...]

Remember Elvis Perkins? He put out an album a few years ago that I liked a whole lot, but didn’t really explode into the stratosphere the way, I dunno, other records did. Well, Elvis has a new record coming out in March called, simply, Elvis Perkins in Dearland. I’m on my first listen right now, [...]

I’ve been hearing from the buzz out there in the ether that Slime and Reason, the new Roots Manuva album, is good. I figured everyone was grading on a curve because, really, what has Manuva done aside a few okay singles? Turns out I’m the idiot in this case — as it often is — [...]

Before you start: apologies to all readers in the US and Canada. It looks like this album will be for users of eMusic Europe only.
Last night I was granted a sneak preview of the new TV on the Radio album Dear Science. It’s always so difficult to judge an album with only one listen, but [...]

Okay – let’s get this sorted. We’ve been talking about having a UK meet-up down here. Now it’s time for decisive action!
The Venue: The eMu Europe office local. The Northumberland Arms, on the corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street.
The People: Me! You! Whoever else I can entice out from the eMu Europe [...]

Coming August 19 is You & Me, the new album from the Walkmen. It is the best album of their career, and certainly one of the best albums I have heard this year. Start to finish, it’s a stunner. Best song of all is “In the New Year,” which I listened to approximately infinity times [...]

Hi everyone! Just a quick word on a couple of upcoming features at eMusic. Tomorrow, we will begin unveiling the 100 Best Albums Ever on the US site (in the UK, Europe and Canada, these will be Top 50 lists, also beginning tomorrow). The results will be posted bit by bit, with the winners not [...]

Typically the summer is a slow stretch for new releases on eMusic, as the indies quiet down with college radio on hiatus and the blockbuster-type stuff takes over. Summer = catching up on your save for later lists. However, this summer is looking a whole lot different. I want to give you a quick sketch [...]

So, we’re gonna stay cryptic for now, but tomorrow is going to be a big day for all US subscribers. (Sorry non-Americans!) We won’t give away too much, but there is a clue somewhere on the New on eMusic page. Check back tomorrow for the goods!

It isn’t often a major band and their record company decide not to tell anybody about a forthcoming album until a week before it’s due to be released, so I was surprised to say the least when one of eMusic’s bigger labels informed me that was exactly what they’d done. Have I heard it? No, [...]

Photo by Ryan Muir
I’ve been listening to a lot of old favorites lately, skipping through some upcoming stuff, not sticking to any one thing. But one record I’ve really been liking is She & Him, the upcoming album from actress Zooey Dechannel (Elf, Almost Famous) and M. Ward. Volume 1 (Merge) is a totally solid [...]

This is the week for great new upcoming releases, apparently. Following up Atlas Sound, here’s another called Scary Mansions, which is a Brooklyn woman singing songs that to me sound like if Sparklehorse were a lady. Cat Power, too. But she’s already a lady. Anyway, above is a really great little apartment performance that’s powerful, [...]

An early hype FYI: on February 19 there’s this record coming out by a band called Atlas Sound who I had never heard of until today, when Joe, Todd and I took a listen. The first song sounds like Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians and the second song, called “Recent Bedroom,” is total knock-yr-sox-off transfixing [...]