New Okkervil River in February

In 2010, Okkervil River put out a collaboration with Texas psych legend Roky Erickson. Critically regarded as his comeback album True Love Cast Out All Evil, was a bold step for all parties. Okkervil River’s Will Sheff was in fact recently nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for the aforementioned release.

This year though, the band will be focusing on their own craft once again, as they will release a new single on February 8th via Jagjaguwar.

The single contains two new tracks: "Mermaid" and the b-side "Walked Out on a Line." (According to the fan site Down the Oubliette, "Mermaid" was previously featured in the independent 2008 film, In Search of a Midnight Kiss.)

The single will come out on glorious twelve-inch vinyl. As always, for those without a vinyl carver, it will also be available digitally. The "Mermaid" single precedes Okkervil River's forthcoming follow-up to 2008's brilliant The Stand Ins, which is due sometime later this year.

New Mountain Goats Record Due in March

John Darnielle is a prolific musician. Not Robert Pollard prolific but his announcement of a new Mountain Goats record due out in early 2011 keeps him in the upper echelon of recording productivity. (Don’t forget that exceptional Extra Lens record from earlier this year.) The new record is called All Eternals Deck, and will be released by Merge on March 29th.

The Mountain Goats website offers this interesting teaser as to what we can expect:

The album is called ALL ETERNALS DECK, and if you have ever watched say a 70s occult-scare movie where one of the scenes involves a couple of people visiting a storefront fortune teller, getting their cards read, and then trying to feel super-hopeful about what they hear when what they're visibly actually feeling is dread, then you have a pretty decent idea of what the album is all about.

Check out the intriguing tracklist below. (I’m looking at you Liza Forever Minnelli).

1. Damn These Vampires
2. Birth of Serpents
3. Estate Sale Sign
4. Age of Kings
5. The Autopsy Garland
6. Beautiful Gas Mask
7. High Hawk Season
8. Prowl Great Cain
9. Sourdoire Valley Song
10. Outer Scorpion Squadron
11. For Charles Bronson
12. Never Quite Free
13. Liza Forever Minnelli

Lastly from mountain-goats.com. Some of us might get to see Mr. Darnielle in the new year!

The album's coming out on Merge in the U.S. on March 29th, 2011; Moorworks has got it for Japan, and our good friends at Remote Control in Australia are holding it down down under, and will release it on March 26th. I hope we get to tour all those places and more next year!

In the meantime, to celebrate the Mountain Goats 5000th follower on Twitter this week: An unreleased song from the prolific one – Tyler Lambert’s Grave

The Rural Alberta Advantage Departing in 2011

Indie Canuck trio the Rural Alberta Advantage knocked us all out with their stellar 2009 debut album Hometown so it's been a while since we've heard new music from them.  That will change on March 1st of next year, when they follow that up with a new album called Departing.  The record will be released in Canada,via Paper Bag and in the U.S. through Saddle Creek. (See the artwork and tracklisting below.) The details of the new record are still unknown, but it was recorded with producer Roger Leavens at Toronto's Boombox Sound.

The band is in the middle of a tour now (dates below) and no doubt another full blown tour will be announced soon. I’ll be the first to let you know when they are playing your hometown.  Unless of course you can get over to Manchester, England tonight where they are playing the Deaf Institute.  With the joyous noisy clatter this band is capable of creating their choice of venues might not be as ironic as it seems.


In The Summertime from Digital Safari Academy on Vimeo.

Departing

01 Two Lovers
02 The Breakup
03 Under the Knife
04 Muscle Relaxants
05 North Star
06 Stamp
07 Tornado '87
08 Barnes' Yard
09 Coldest Days
10 Good Night

Tour dates:

12/8 Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute
12/9 London, UK - Luminaire
12/10 Brighton, UK - The Hope
12/15 Hamilton, ON - Casbah
12/16 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
12/17 Montreal, QC - Il Motore
12/18 Ottawa, ON - Ritual
1/12 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

November News: New Decemberists in January!

It must be November as Decemberists news has arrived today.  Just in time to warm our winter weary hearts, The King Is Dead, the Decemberists' new album, arrives January 18th in North America via Capitol and a day earlier in Europe via Rough Trade.   But this is where it gets even better. The new album will be available in all the usual formats, a special edition as well as a deluxe limited-edition box set, which will feature the album on CD and 180-gram white vinyl, as well as a DVD, a unique Polaroid photo, a hardcover book, and an art print-- all in a linen-wrapped clamshell box with a foil-stamped cover. You might just have the coolest coffee table in town if this piece were to make its home there.

Here's the details.  Only 2,500 of these boxes will be available. For the box, the band teamed up with the Polaroid film manufacturers the Impossible Project and the photographer Autumn de Wilde. De Wilde took photos of the band's recording sessions in rural Oregon and L.A., and each box will come with a unique photo. The DVD contains Pendarvia, a 30-minute documentary about the making of the album by filmmaker Aaron Rose. The 72-page hardcover book features photos from de Wilde and illustrations from Carson Ellis, and the Giclée print is of an Ellis illustration and signed by Ellis herself.

The Party Ain’t Over for Wanda Jackson

Third Man Records and Nonesuch Records have announced the release of the new album from the undisputed Queen of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson. The Party Ain’t Over, produced by Jack White, will be out January 25, 2011.

With a remarkable career that began in 1955, Jackson was credited with being the first woman to ever record a rock and roll song—“Let’s Have a Party” in 1958. The fiery singer is a bona fide legend and the pairing with White is an inspired one.  You may remember a few tears back when Jack White hitched his wagon to another legend to produce Loretta Lynn’s very fine Van Lear Rose thusly revitalizing her career.  Anticipation is high that the same will happen with this effort.  White and Jackson teamed up last year to record a 45rpm single for White’s Third Man Records. The vinyl and iTunes release, a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” b/w “Shakin All Over” was a huge success and the pair set to record a full-length album.

The Party Ain’t Over was recorded in Nashville at White’s studio, where he brought together a fabulous band, including himself, Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather/Raconteurs), Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), Patrick Keeler (Raconteurs), Ashley Monroe, Jackson Smith, and his wife Karen Elson, to name a few, and hand picked the songs—11 tracks dating in origin from the early 1900s to 2007. The result: a retro modern collection of music that showcases Miss Jackson, now in her seventh decade and sounding as powerful as ever.

Wanda Jackson was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Americana Music Awards in Nashville last night, (September 9th). The award, in the category of Performance, was presented to her by Jack White.

The Party Ain’t Over Tracklist

1. Shakin All Over
2. Rip It Up
3. Busted
4. Rum and Coca-Cola
5. Thunder on the Mountain
6. You Know I’m No Good
7. Like a Baby
8. Nervous Breakdown
9. Dust on the Bible
10. Teach Me Tonight
11. Blue Yodle #6