New Year Releases

The New Year releases will get kicked off a little slowly but there are several that have cought my eye. So since Dick Clark rang in the year in all of his Nipped, Tucked and Botox glory you can focus on some early year releases. By the way he co-hosting this year with Ryan Seacrest. So your Rockin' Eve was hosted by the ageless one and the classless one. As for me, I watched Superbad instead and ignored the whole damn embarassing spectacle. Back from my Digression let us talk about new music.

1-8

Marah - Angels of Destruction! Does anyone rock with more passion than the kids from Philly?
Check out a couple of new Tunes on MySpace

Rhonda Vincent - Good Thing Going Supposedly more country and less traditional it will be interesting to here this one.

Sample at Ronder

1-22

Drive-By-Truckers - Brighter than Creation's Dark - More on this later. I will be posting a review thia weekend. However, it is yet another great one from the Truckers.

The Preview on myspace

Norh Mississippi Allstars - Hernando I'm fired up for this one. The Allstars and the Truckers on th same day! It needs to be declared a national holiday.

Sample tracks Here

Matt Costa - Unfamiliar Faces This will be the first good Singer-Songwriter albums of 2008.

Check out Mr. Pitiful on his website.

Under the Radar: Giant Bear

Giant Bear just released there self-titled album on August 14th and it will rank up there with Elliot Randall as one my surprise favorites of the year. They are an Americana outfit with Indie Rock sensibilities. Based in Memphis the Commercial Appeal says they are "somewhere between cowboy noir and the best band to ever play on a front porch." The Source Weekly in Eugene, OR calls it "Orchestral Funk-a-Billy." I call it awesome. These guys could follow Lucero's rise from Memphis to the Alt.Country circuit.

The album starts out with the line "There are no honky tonks left in Nashville" musing about the current state of Music City from the perspective of a guy who "Wants to drink the old time way." The album also has the coolest cover since The Gourds did "Gin 'n Juice." They do a quirky Americana version of "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails. Some of the songs are dark like "Devil in the Wall" - "There was blood on your wrist and a Bible on your reading list. I tried to fix you with my towel. You clenched your fist and woke me with a growl." Mostly though, the album is an upbeat good time. Also, Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi All-Stars contributes slide guitar on the album to give it the local Memphis "Street Cred."

The album is streaming for free on: http://redwaxmusic.net/ check it out for sure!

This review also appears on: http://twangville.com