No offense to M.Ward, but there's plenty of other (better?) albums out today. Actually the month of February has been rather fantastic as far as releases go and it looks to only get better as we head into the first half of March.
Releases I've personally been digging are:
Iran - Dissolver
Listened to this album non-stop for a week (I was reviewing it) and it got better and better with each listen. If you're an old Iran fan then you may be a bit disappointed. It's a lot less noisy and a lot more pop. It's still fuzzy as hell. If you like Kyp Malone's other band (TV on the Radio) you should give this a shot. Try "I Already Know You're Wrong" on their MySpace. Sold out the Mercury Lounge on March 6th with the Handsome Furs (also a great new album coming), but look out for more dates around there, at least in New York.
Beirut - March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland EPs
How did Melissa miss this one? This band is right under Beck on the "Melissa talks about all the time" scale. (Mostly kidding). At 11 songs, this is pretty much a full-length, but it's split into two discs. The first is with help from a small-town Mexican band and with that comes the obvious horns and whatnot. The second (titled Realpeople Holland) is more bedroom pop. Both are great. Can't figure out which one I like more, actually. Somehow no tracks off the album are available on their MySpace, but Stereogum has their first video off Zapotec. You just missed the band if you were looking to see them. They played a ton of shows throughout NYC about a week ago. I caught the one in Greenpoint about a block from my apartment at this tiny bar.
N.A.S.A. - Spirit of the Apollo
A pretty anticipated album for me ever since I saw the guest list (David Byrne, Method Man, Tom Waits, RZA, KRS-One, Karen O, ODB, Kool Keith, Santogold, Kanye West, M.I.A., Del -- just to name...12). Most of the album does not disappoint despite the high expectations from such great artists. "N.A.S.A. Music" (which you may have heard remixed by LA Riots already), "Way Down" and "Samba Soul" are all highlights for me. It looks like the whole thing is streaming on their MySpace now. You can catch them (and pray 1/4 of the artists involved drop by) at Harper's Ferry in Boston on March 11th or Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on the 12th.
The Appleseed Cast - Sagarmatha
Not Brooklyn Fest headliners followup 2006's Peregrine. I gave this a handful of listens through (a bit less than the one's above) and...I'm not blown away, but I like. I also liked Peregrine, so maybe my opinion of Appleseed Cast is completely skewed here. Either way, if you're looking for an album to sit down and relax to (especially in the evening, in your bed) then you can't really go wrong. Three songs off the album are streaming now.
Some others I like, but have yet to fully listen to:
These Are the Powers - All Aboard Future
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
Asobi Seksu - Hush
