Matt Pond PA is just 'Starting'

Photo by Jeremy Balderson

Each album that Matt Pond PA releases is a rebirth. The style is only slightly different, but the approach and delivery are rejuvenated, more mature, and truly fresh.

The Pennsylvania-based sextet will release The Dark Leaves, its first album in three years, this April, marking another phase in an already-impressive career. The group has released its first single, "Starting," a worthy introduction to the best album Matt Pond PA has recorded thus far.

Learn:
Matt Pond PA on Myspace

Listen:
1 - Starting

Buy:
Altitude Records Store

Broken Social Scene: Something for All of Us

Broken Social Scene may well be the greatest Canadian import of modern times. The collective - which has numbered as many as 19 members at a time- is frenetic and impassioned, the brainchild of Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Feist and members of Metric are graduates of the artistic collaboration, although BSS, as a collective, has made the most indelible mark thus far.

Canning and Drew have released solo albums under the Broken Social Scene moniker, which have seemed an extension of the group ethos. But the word now is that the band is on the return. Broken Social Scene will release Forgiveness Rock Record on May 4, an announcement that pales only in the presence of the release of a first single, "World Sick."

Welcome back, Broken Social Scene ... we missed you.

Learn:
Broken Social Scene

Listen:
1 - World Sick

Buy:
BSS Store

Legendary Shack Shakers: Aging with Grace

Photo by Jessica Wilkes

The Legendary Shack Shakers have been grinding it out in grimy joints and sweaty dives for years, their brand of fierce rockabilly hopped up on kilos of hard-core energy and punk stamina.

Looking at the new promo photos, it would appear that the quartet is now on the straight-and-narrow. Despite the tucked-in shirts and reserved poise, Agridustrial, the band's sixth studio release, is bona-fide Shack Shakers. The ragged edges have been rounded a bit from the storms of a 10-year career, but the fury remains.

You can't stop age, but according to Agridustrial's first single, "Sin Eater," age isn't an issue in the unbridled power of The Legendary Shack Shakers.

Learn:
Shack Shakers Online

Listen:
1 - Sin Eater

Buy:
Shack Shakers' Store

The Tallest Man on Earth is on the 'Hunt'

Swedish songwriter Kristian Matsson, who records as The Tallest Man on Earth, has had exposure in the United States on tours with Bon Iver and John Vanderslice, but he is slated to increase his visibility with his sophomore release - first for Dead Oceans - entitled The Wild Hunt.

The Wild Hunt will be release on April 13, and will coincide with a US tour that begins the day after its release. In anticipation, Dead Oceans has released the first single, entitled "King of Spain," which you can listen to below.

The Tallest Man on Earth US Tour Dates:
4/14/10 Buffalo, NY: The Ninth Ward
4/15/10 Winooski, VT: The Monkey House
4/16/10 Montreal, QC: Petit Campus
4/17/10 Toronto, ON: El Mocambo
4/20/10 New York, NY: Highline Ballroom
4/21/10 Cambridge, MA: Middle East Downstairs
4/22/10 Philadelphia, PA: World Cafe Live Upstairs
4/23/10 Washington, DC: Black Cat
4/26/10 Chapel Hill, NC: Gerrard Hall
4/27/10 Asheville, NC: Forsythia Hall
4/28/10 Atlanta, GA: The Earl
4/29/10 Birmingham, AL: The Bottletree
5/02/10 Austin, TX: Stubb's BBQ (Indoor)
5/03/10 Phoenix, AZ: Rhythm Room
5/05/10 La Jolla, CA: UCSD - The Loft
5/08/10 Brookdale, CA: Historic Brookdale Lodge
5/09/10 San Francisco, CA: The Independent
5/11/10 Portland, OR: The Mission Theater
5/12/10 Vancouver, BC: St. James Hall
5/14/10 Edmonton, AB: Brixx
5/15/10 Calgary, AB: Local 522
5/17/10 Salt Lake City, UT: Kilby Court
5/18/10 Boulder, CO: Fox Theatre
5/19/10 Denver, CO: The Bluebird Theater
5/21/10 Iowa City, IA: The Mill
5/23/10 Minneapolis, MN: Varsity Theater
5/25/10 Milwaukee, WI: Pabst Theater
5/26/10 Bloomington, IN: The Dome House
5/27/10 Fort Wayne, IN: The Brass Rail
5/28/10 Chicago, IL: Lincoln Hall

Learn:
The Tallest Man on Earth on Myspace

Listen:
1 - King of Spain

Buy:
Dead Oceans

The Return of Ratt

Two reasons for this post:

1. Ratt was my introduction to metal, particularly Out of the Cellar, some 25 years ago
   
2. Stephen Pearcy is back with the band, which means that Ratt is back
   

Considering this, I am excited that the new Ratt album, Infestation, is slated for release on April 20. Pearcy is quoted in the press release as saying: “We wanted this to be like something that we would have written right after [1984’s] Out of the Cellar.We definitely went back to basics with the mindset of a band with a lot of excitement and some great songs to get out.”

And, it is their first on Roadrunner Records.

Learn:
Ratt Online

Listen:
Ratt on Myspace

Buy:
Roadrunner Records

The Soft Province Dare to Be Risky

You could say that Jace Lasek and Michael Gardiner have poor timing, but that isn't the case. Sure, they are releasing an album as The Soft Province this summer, only a few months after their full-time gig, The Besnard Lakes, delivers its highly-anticipated The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night. Sure, it's a risky play that could result in over-saturation; however, early signs indicate that The Soft Province could stand as a new dimension of musicality for the duo, who have been friends since childhood.

Recorded partially by Laske in Montreal, and partially by Gardiner over two years in Regina, Canada, the two converged in Montreal in the summer of 2008 to sift through the numerous snippets and ideas, which they boiled down to The Soft Province's eponymous debut. While the tracklist and release date remain a mystery, the group has released the first single, "One Was a Lie," for public consumption.

Mutating guitar and levitating falsetto are the heart and brain of "One Was a Lie" and hint at the nature of the forthcoming album. If this is the case, 2010 will shine as a high point in the careers of Laske and Gardiner, and their efforts, both as The Soft Province and The Besnard Lakes, will be coveted additions to the review pages and end-of-the-year lists.

Learn:
The Soft Province on Myspace

Listen:
1 - One Was A Lie

Buy:
Three Ring Records

Frog Eyes: New label, New 'Triumph'

Photo by Shawn MacDonald

2007's Tears of the Valedictorian marked the proliferation of Victoria, British Columbia's Frog Eyes into the ears of critics as a band, rather than a sometimes side-project of Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown) or associates of Destroyer's Dan Bejar. The quartet's fourth release gave affirmation that Frog Eyes not only had a voice, but something to say with its wry lyrics, spirited delivery, and boisterous tension.

The band - Carey Mercer, Melanie Campbell, Ryan Beattie, and Megan Boddy - is now poised to release Paul's Tomb: A Triumph, which it has been kneading and sculpting for three years. The first release on Dead Oceans, Frog Eyes is giving a peak into the nine songs on Paul's Tomb: A Triumph with the release of the first single, "A Flower in A Glove."

Paul's Tomb: A Triumph will be released on April 27.

Paul's Tomb: A Triumph
A Flower in a Glove
The Sensitive Girls
Odetta's War
Rebel Horns
Lear, in the Park Styled by Dr. Roberts
Lear in Love
Violent Psalms
Paul's Tomb

Learn:
Frog Eyes on MySpace

Listen:
1 - Flower in a Glove
2 - Bushels (from Tears of the Valedictorian)

Buy:
Abosutely Kosher Records
Dead Oceans

The Scissormen: In the Lowcountry with the Blues

The Scissormen make the blues feel red hot.

The Nashville, Tennessee duo, fronted by guitarist Ted Drozdowski, is a Molotov cocktail of sound, taking a stripped-down setup to innovative heights both on record and in the live setting. To their credit, the players claim three albums, international tours, and a performance at Bonnaroo 2008.

The Scissormen will soon be the subject of a new film by Robert Mugge, whose 1991 film Deep Blues is a defining document of Mississippi blues, and his recent Deep Sea Blues captures 2007's Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. Entitled Big Shoes, filming will take place in the Midwest later this month.

On February 5, The Scissormen will perform in Charleston, South Carolina at Fiery Ron's Home Team Barbecue as part of the Southern Comfort Lowcountry Blues Bash. In its 20th year, the Blues Bash has grown from a single night of music to a venue crawl through historic Charleston, as well as many venues in the outlying areas. Featuring local and national blues artists, the festival takes place in bars, restaurants, hotels, and various all-ages venues.

This year's lineup is promising and boasts 53 acts over 12 days and a total of 90 shows, including performances by Muddy Waters' son Big Bill Morganfield, Col. Bruce Hampton Blues Trio, Shemekia Copeland, and The Scissormen, among others. The Blues Bash runs from February 5-12.

Learn:
The Scissormen Online

Listen:
1 - Mattie Sweet Mattie
2 - Death Letter
3 - The Devil is Laughing

Buy:
Scissormen at CD Baby