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 [...]

And just when I thought I was being treated to ridiculous riches with new records by Ghostface and Scarface — a brand new Destroyer song, taken from their forthcoming Trouble in Dreams turns up on Catbird Seat. I probably don’t need to say any more about how much I loved Destroyer’s Rubies, so the fact [...]

Regular readers know that Manchester band the Answering Machine + Me = HUGZ GALORE!, and make that HUGZ X 10000000000 after listening to their latest single, “Lightbulbs,” which you can hear at their MySpace page here. These kids need to be signed. And come to the US. And play shows in my living room. Single [...]

Psst! Just got word that a certain, highly touted new release scheduled to come out October 9 will, in fact, be available on eMusic tomorrow. Save some extra downloads. And let’s not forget that other big announcement. Holy Tuesday!

In five years, the Octopus Project have gone from an Austin oddball instrumental trio to A Band With Buzz. The buzz was built on the back of their live show — which, damnit, I still have yet to see — and they’ve regularly become That Opening Band people end up liking more than the headliner, [...]

No Age are an LA fuzz-rock duo specializing in concise little weirdly skewed pop-rock songs, the kind where you can hear the germs of the broader pop experience but it’s so mutated it’s way too easy to miss. And that’s kind of the goal. Reference points abound: most notably Husker Du, especially songs like “Girl [...]

This fall looks to be a monster in terms of big indie releases, and below is a preview of some of the better ones that should make their way onto eMusic. Read on, and start salivating!

So not to stoke the Kala fire even further, but Maya did a session on KCRW yesterday in which she performed several songs from the Best Record of 2007, and also answered a few of Nic Harcourt’s questions (thanks to Gorilla Vs. Bear for the heads-up on this). also, if you haven’t seen it yet, [...]

17 Dots recently had the chance to exclusively sit down with the Arcade Fire to discuss their upcoming follow-up to Neon Bible. The band is currently weighing five different approaches, and 17 Dots brings them to you exclusively below.

Album Title
Recording Gimmick
Latest Influence
Album Theme
Review Quote
Weeklong Residency

Three Loaves, Two Fishes
Live album recorded in Red Sea
Psalms
The Second Coming… [...]

Photo by Andrea Heins
Here in the office, we’re all really high on the National’s upcoming one, The Boxer, out May 22 on Matador. Their last record, Alligator, really snuck up on me — it wasn’t until it fared so well in the 2005 user poll here on eMusic that I really paid much attention to [...]

The new Colleen record, Les Ondes Silencieuses (The Silent Waves), is magnificent. It’s not out for quite a while — June 19, on the Leaf Label — but I am so stunned by its beauty and perfection that I had to make note of it immediately.

The National’s new album, The Boxer, will be released on May 22, but there are a number of previews floating around tied to an upcoming documentary on the band. You can find most of the preview clips at Daily Motion, but the newest and last of these is by far my favorite:

I’ve been nigh-on obsessed the past few days with Kathy Diamond. Set to be released in April, her debut album is a collection of spectral slo-mo disco tunes flecked with touches of dub by her producer, the incomparable Maurice Fulton.