As is well documented on the web lately, a new album from Ryan Adams is on the way, and from what we’ve heard so far, DRA’s going back to his acoustic roots. Some, meanwhile, are calling Ashes & Fire “possibly the album of his career.” And though its October 11 release date still seems like an age away, the good people at NPR have the whole thing up right now for streaming.

We’ll doubtless spend much time and many words dissecting the album, which was produced by Glyn Johns and features Norah Jones on seven tracks. For now, take a first listen right here.

Image by David Black

German producer Sascha Ring’s music achieves what much electronic music doesn’t (dubstep, I’m looking at you): It brings emotions—many different kinds—to forefront of each track while understating the more typical elements of the genre (handclaps, shuffles, etc.). His fourth album, The Devil’s Walk, proves Ring hasn’t lost his touch. From the first guitar pluck on opener “Sweet Unrest” to the isolated vocals of “Your House Is My World” that end the album, he lives up to his forte of masterfully merging shoegazy electronic with traditional pop, rock and acoustic.

According to NPR, the album originated in a makeshift studio in Sayulita, Mexico and later finished back in Europe. Mute will release it on September 27.

Take a listen, right here.

It’s not that I didn’t dig the jangly, arena-rock-like anthems on III/IV and the prog-metal album Orion, both released in 2010 (though the former was actually recorded in 2007). But the Ryan Adams persona (and let’s face it, dude’s got a few) I’ll take over any other is the one found on gems like Cold Roses, Gold, and Easy Tiger.

So in my world, at least, the new Ryan Adams track is appropriately titled. “Lucky Now” hearkens back to the melodic, country-rock musings found on those latter albums, and the song is hopefully a taste of more to come when Adams’ next full-length, the Glyn Johns-produced Ashes & Fire. The record is apparently inspired by Adams’ newfound love of hiking and will be released on October 11 via PAX•AM.

The mostly acoustic “Lucky Now” features minimal drums, just a touch of electric guitar and piano courtesy of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench. Stream it below, where you can also find album artwork and the tracklist.

Ryan Adams – “Lucky Now”


Lucky Now by ryanadams







Ashes & Fire
01 Dirty Rain
02 Ashes & Fire
03 Come Home
04 Rocks
05 Do I Wait
06 Chains of Love
07 Invisible Riverside
08 Save Me
09 Kindness
10 Lucky Now
11 I Love You But I Don’t Know What to Say

Stream “I Might” and check out The Whole Love tracklist below. Solid Sound photos after the jump.

Wilco – I Might by ListenBeforeYouBuy

The Whole Love

1. Art of Almost
2. I Might
3. Sunloathe
4. Dawned On Me
5. Black Moon
6. Born Alone
7. Open Mind
8. Capitol City
9. Standing O
10. Rising Red Lung
11. Whole Love
12. One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)

Photo credit: Samantha Cope

Remix artist Max Tannone—you know, of Jaydiohead fame—apparently saw Duncan Jones’ 2009 science fiction film Moon, liked it, and went to work on Selene—a five-track concept EP sampling  Clint Mansell’s original score and various dialogue bits from actors Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. Tannone collaborated here with Brooklyn rapper Richard Rich, whose lyrical content, “include[s] themes like isolation, separation, self-realization, and cloning,” natch.

Download Selene here or listen to the entire EP from the safety of MOLB below.

Selene by Max Tannone

Songs, which are off band’s latest album, The Grand Theatre, Volume One, include “Champaign, Illinois,” a song for which Miller splits a writing credit with Bob Dylan. (Dylan’s eleven-minute “Desolation Row” is the melody.)

Listen to the full set here.

In news of The Old 97′s, the bank continues it’s trek around North America. Check ‘em here:

02/18 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant *
02/19 Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre *
02/20 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue *
02/22 Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall *
02/23 Newport, KY – Southgate House *
02/24 Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel *
02/25 Atlanta, GA – The Buckhead Theatre *
02/26 Charleston, SC – The Music Farm *
02/27 Jacksonville Beach, FL – Free Bird Live *
03/01 Orlando, FL – The Plaza Theatre *
03/02 Tampa, FL – Skipper’s Smokehouse *
03/03 Tallahasse, FL – The Moon *
03/04 New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s *
03/05 Houston, TX – House of Blues *
03/31 Omaha, NE – Slowdown ^
04/01 Madison, WI – The Barrymore Theatre #
04/02 Bloomington, IL – Castle Theater #
04/03 Indianapolis, IN – Vogue #
04/05 Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall #
04/06 Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern #
04/07 Rochester, NY – Water Street #
04/08 Boston, MA – Royale #
04/09 New York, NY – Webster Hall @
04/10 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club #
04/12 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater #
04/13 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle #
04/14 Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theater #
04/15 Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theater #
04/16 Birmingham, AL – Workplay Theatre #
05/30 Quincy, WA – Sasquatch Festival

* = with Those Darlins
^ = with The O’s
# = with Teddy Thompson
@ = with Kevin Devine

Image © Brittney Bush Bollay/KEXP

This is Sufjan’s first release since the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway inspired BQE in 2009. The title track is supposed to be “a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s “Sounds of Silence.”” Wrap your head around that one…

Tracklisting:
1. All Delighted People (Original Version) – 11:38
2. Enchanting Ghost – 3:39
3. Heirloom – 2:55
4. From The Mouth Of Gabriel – 4:03
5. The Owl And The Tanager – 6:39
6. All Delighted People (Classic Rock Version) – 8:07
7. Arnika – 5:14
8. Djohariah – 17:03

Listen to the track below, and be sure to check out the John Hillcoat-directed music video for “Heathen Child” over at Pitchfork.

Grinderman – Super Heathen Child (with Robert Fripp) by MuteRecords

Here’s the video, just released and packed with grainy footage of APTBS in the live and lots of flashing lights. Sian Alice Group’s Ben Crook directed the clip.

In other APTBS news, the band released a five-song EP in June where this track took front-and-center and received the remix treatment from the likes of Cereal Spiller, Broken Spindles and Secret Machines. Listen to the latter below, and download it here.

Exploding Head and the I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart EP are both out now via Mute.

Warren Hildebrand, a.k.a. Toronto’s Foxes in Fiction gives Memoryhouse’s recent dream pop hit, “Lately (Deuxième),” the cover treatment. Hildebrand’s version doesn’t deviate much from the original in terms of mood or style, keeping it on par with the Memoryhouse recording. Hildebrand explains that the track was recorded by “bouncing some of the guitar tracks to and from [a] tape machine about three times,” and without samples. His redux is below, along with the original Memoryhouse recording.

Foxes In Fiction’s debut album, Swung From the Branches, is available now via Orchid Tapes, a cassette based record label run by Mr. Hildebrand himself. Threw away your tape players? Orchid Tapes also offers the album up as a free download over at his blog.

Memoryhouse – “Lately (Deuxième)”