Favorite New Music Of 2011...So Far By Vince Hans  [19 more lists]

Released March 8, 2011

What's left to say about a band that has had a storied 30-year career? Well, how about something as simple as this: R.E.M. has made their best album in 20 years. It's not a stretch. Collapse Into Now is R.E.M. at their finest, a collection of balls-out rockers, quiet melancholy moments and mid-tempo strummers that bassist Mike Mills calls 'our best record since Out of Time.'

For Collapse Into Now, R.E.M. re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee. Recorded over a stretch of 12 weeks at studios in New Orleans, Nashville and Berlin, Collapse Into Now also features very special guests: Patti Smith, guitarist Lenny Kaye, Peaches, Eddie Vedder and The Hidden Cameras frontman, Joel Gibb.

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Released March 15, 2011

Joe Lewis is stuffed into a van with his six bandmates, as they hurtle across Texas to a gig. Most of the guys are sleeping now, content in the knowledge they've just made the record of their lives. All killer, no filler, the fittingly titled, take-no-prisoners Scandalous - once again produced by Jim Eno, moonlighting from his main gig as Spoon's drummer - is a churning slab of rock & roll, blues and funk, laced with a double shot of 100-proof punkitude.

Like his forebears, Lewis writes from direct, often bitter experience with unflinching veracity. The songs of Scandalous are littered with the debris of age-old issues: hard times and one-night stands, lying and cheating, redemption and revenge. Gritty, raunchy and real, his music is not for the squeamish, but experiencing it fully can be genuinely cathartic.

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Released March 1, 2011

Lykke Li's highly-anticipated sophomore album, Wounded Rhymes, was produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn & John and recorded in Stockholm. The follow up to her critically-acclaimed debut, Youth Novels, Lykke Li has created an eleven song album that sounds like no other. The record is packed full of pounding, voodoo drums, girl group gang vocals, sparkling guitar lines, woozy keyboards, love unrequited, hope reignited and her own very powerful voice, sounding bigger and bolder than ever before. From the hazy 60's organ driving opener 'Youth Knows No Pain' to the sparse toe-tap-solo-guitar-swing of 'Unrequited Love' to rollicking single 'Get Some' to the dense drums of the propulsive 'Jerome,' Wounded Rhymes is a testament to Lykke Li's brilliant musical voice, one unlike any other.

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Released April 5, 2011

UK duo The Kills, Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart, are back with a new album, Blood Pressures. This is the highly anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed third album, Midnight Boom. This album keeps their basic sound intact - searing guitars, driving rhythms and sexually charged lyrical savvy. The 11 tracks on Blood Pressures find the Kills embracing a fuller sound; there is heavier instrumentation and layered, huge-sounding harmonies with Jamie and Alison uniting in their trademark singsong vocal style over tom heavy primitive beats.

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Released May 10, 2011

The Case Files collects demos, out-takes, one live shot and other unreleased material from the 1985-2010 span of Peter Case's solo career following his work with his pioneering bands the Plimsouls, the Nerves & the Breakaways. Compiled by Peter himself, this long-overdue collection combines rockin' full band electric tracks with a selection of dynamic acoustic performances, and also features collaborations with many of Peter's talented friends, such as Stan Ridgway, Eddie Munoz, T-Bone Burnett, and Ron Franklin among others.

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Released January 25, 2011

This is Content, the new album from Gang of Four. The album features eleven new songs written by Andy Gill & Jon King. 'What we strive for in all of our songs is to interpret the world in a way you haven't seen nor thought of before,' says Andy who also produced the album. 'We feel you'll hear this in Content. The tracks are simple: vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. It is a tough, loud sound.'

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Released February 1, 2011

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Live Forever is the last live performance from an icon, and features many of Bob's most cherished songs, including unique performances of 'No Woman No Cry,' 'Jammin',' 'Redemption Song' and 'Is This Love,' to name a few, and depicts a musical innovator and inspiration to people of many cultures and generations.

This spectacular audio documentary Live Forever, is available in a limited edition 2CD+3LP box set and 2CD Deluxe Edition.

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Released on May 17, 2011

On September 17, 2008, the legendary Levon Helm took his beloved Midnight Ramble on the road to one of America's treasured venues, Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. Accompanied by such luminaries as Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, George Receli, Sam Bush and Billy Bob Thornton, the Levon Helm Band created an unforgettable night of stage magic. This collection features the Levon Helm Band in a veritable tour through the American songbook, performing classics from Helm's tenure with the Band, as well as song's from his Grammy winning release Dirt Farmer and selections from artists such as Chuck Berry, the Carter Family and more.

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Released February 15, 2011

Lemmy, the result of three years of trailing the man with a camera through concert halls and his preferred grungy L.A. environs, meanders in a very different way from his band's two-minute songs. The first few scenes alone offer a beautifully odd portrait of a 65-year-old rock god, frying potatoes in his smallish rent-stabilized apartment, ambling down to Amoeba Records to buy a Beatles box set, and dominating a trivia game's high-score list at the Rainbow Bar and Grill. A quietly witty film, much like the dude himself.

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Released March 1, 2011

Beady Eye is Liam Gallagher, Andy Bell, Gem Archer and Chris Sharrock.

'Music, it's all about the music, we could all have sat at home after Oasis split but what would have been the point of that. We had a couple of weeks off and then we were back in the studio demo-ing. We're musicians, it's what we do, it's how we define ourselves.'

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Released March 1, 2011

'Title aside, Williams isn't inclined to count blessings here - not with so many damn fools to suffer. Blessed feels more like a country-blues toast to the pissed-off side of interpersonal relations, set to co-producer Don Was' sturdy barroom roots rock. - SPIN

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Released March 15, 2011

Live At The Aragon is Mastodon's first ever live package and is comprised of Crack The Skye performed live in its glorious entirety along with fan favorites from Blood Mountain and Leviathan plus a brutal cover of 'The Bit' by Melvins.

The DVD contains a full 78-minute live concert filmed live at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago in 2009. It also features a 58-minute tour film entitled Crack the Skye: The Movie and contains the films which were projected on screen, behind the band in performance. These images were created specifically to illustrate the conceptual thread linking each of the songs on Crack the Skye and are exclusive to this package for the very first time.

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Released March 15, 2011

The continued maturation of Noah and the Whale has been a pleasing thing to follow - from the joyous burst of their debut, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, through the lovelorn sobriety of The First Days of Spring, it now reaches a kind of fruition on Last Night on Earth.

Last Night On Earth was co-produced by lead singer Charlie Fink and Jason Lader (Julian Casablancas, The Mars Volta) in Los Angeles. The album features backing vocals by Jen Turner from Here We Go Magic and gospel vocals by the legendary Waters Sisters, who famously provided backing vocals for Michael Jackson's untouchable hit 'Wanna Be Starting Something.' Elsewhere, the record features Adam MacDougall of the Black Crowes on Moog and Rhodes, and legendary percussionist Lenny Castro.


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Released April 12, 2055

Blending jazz from the streets and music halls and clubs of New Orleans and beyond with bluegrass from rural festivals, school auditoriums and more restrained settings, American Legacies presents two giants of traditional American music - the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band - in one spirited stream of deliciously inviting, boldly innovative and yet profoundly familiar music.

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Released April 12, 2011

'The Trews are, without a doubt, the greatest rock band of their generation.' - Performer Magazine (From cover feature, April 2011)

The Trews' fourth full-length studio album, Hope & Ruin, out on their own Trews Records, is a level-raising evolution for the Toronto-based rock band with two gold records, 10 top-10 singles and 800-plus concerts logged. Recorded live-off-the-floor, they captured lightning in a bottle, resulting in a sound that is raw, electric and igniting.

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Released April 16, 2011

Co-produced by Vanguard staffer Stephen Brower and Birdman Records founder David Katznelson, is a double gatefold, 18 track vinyl compilation that encompasses hand-selected tracks from Vanguard’s best "lost" records and 45’s. Many of the bands featured here only released one record, or a smattering of singles, before drifting into obscurity, though many of the artists went on to greater fame after their stint at Vanguard was done. And while they are stylistically varied, there lies a common thread of musical proficiency and integrity that represents the trademark of quality Vanguard strived (and still strives) to uphold…no matter how bombastic, fuzz-soaked or outer-worldly the music may have seemed.

Some of the artists on Follow Me Down include: The 31st of February (A Nickel’s Worth of Benny’s Help) - Originally forming in 1965 under the moniker The Bitter Ind – short for Independents, this Florida band recorded one album for Vanguard Records. The band disbanded shortly thereafter, and drummer Butch Trucks was invited to join the Allman Brothers as a permanent member. Circus Maximus (Travelin’ Around) - The band recorded two albums for Vanguard, a self-titled 1967 outing and 1968’s follow-up Neverland Revisited. Each album is driven by the dual songwriting contributions of the band’s leaders and co-founders, Bob Bruno and Jerry Jeff Walker, with the band gaining most of its still-modest notoriety from Bruno’s 8-minute epic "Wind," which became a minor hit on FM radio at the time. The Hi-Five (Did You Have To Rub It In?) - A classic rock and roll tale of a band that was so very close to superstardom, but fell short. The band were regulars at the famous Café Wha?, when Beatles manager Brian Epstein walked into the club and signed the Hi-Five to management. Soon after, labels like RCA and Columbia were cutting demos on the band. But when Epstein died at 32 of a drug overdose, the doors that had been opened were slammed shut. It was then that Vanguard, who had also had been interested in the band, offered them a single deal. Did You Have To Rub It In? featured here is a Mamas-and-Papas-esque groover and one of the best titled rock songs of all time. And those are just a few of the various and sundry tales this landmark compilation has to tell.

Released April 19, 2011

Dengue Fever, whose exotic blend of Cambodian rock, Afro grooves, surf, and garage psych returns with Cannibal Courtship, the group's first studio album since 2008's Venus on Earth and their Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group debut. With 11 new tunes, Cannibal Courtship, features songs sung in English and Khmer (Cambodian). The album also features beautiful backing harmonies by the Living Sisters.

With Cannibal Courtship, the band has reached a powerful new plateau, deftly balancing the wide-ranging influences that inform their sound and songs. Longtime fans will get their required dose of Nimol's haunting vocals and the band's spooky, kinetic, mood-swinging sound on the new disc but the group, which produced the set together, has upped the creative ante.

The band's eclecticism gels instantly on the slinky, spiky rock of 'Cement Slippers,' 'Family Business,' '2012' and 'Cannibal Courtship.' They display a deep pocket and soaring vocals on the Cambodian dub track 'Uku,' deliver bilingual, gear-shifting drive on 'Only a Friend,' and mesmerize on 'Mr. Bubbles.' Cannibal Courtship is, like the tropical malady that gave the band its name, wildly infectious.


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Released April 26, 2011

Produced by Dave Sardy (Oasis, Band of Horses, the Ting Tings, Twisted Wheel), 'Changing' is the first single pick from the Airborne Toxic Event's long-awaited new album, All At Once.

Since its release in 2008, The Airborne Toxic Event, the band's self-titled debut album has sold over 200,000 copies in the U.S., and over 300,000 copies internationally. Named Debut Album of the Year by the Boston Herald, the record spent 53 weeks on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, with eight of those weeks logged at #1. The album's breakthrough single 'Sometime Around Midnight' rose to #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, and was named Alternative Song Of The Year at iTunes. The next single, 'Wishing Well,' broke the Top 20 at Alternative radio. The songs received major airplay internationally on BBC Radio 1 in the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Austria, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and South East Asia.

The Airborne Toxic Event - Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Anna Bulbrook (viola, keyboards, tambourine, backing vocals), Noah Harmon (bass, backing vocals), and Daren Taylor (drums) - have earned their reputation as an aggressive touring band, known for playing more than 350 dates in support of their debut album release, supporting Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, the Ting Tings, and many others.

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Released January 25, 2011

Charles Bradley's debut album is a solid set of brilliant, heartfelt and soulful songs - featuring the sounds of Menahan Street Band - and produced by Tommy TNT Brenneck.

'Charles Bradley may be the greatest soul singer you've never heard of. But at 62, the raw-voiced Bradley's time has come.' - New York Post

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Released May 3, 2011

Great Expectation is the first North American release from the legendary Jamaican band the Jolly Boys in 20 years. Mento is the original sound of Jamaica and a forerunner to reggae and ska, the two genres of music Jamaica is most known for.

Great Expectation is produced by Baker, founder of Gee Street Records, the seminal UK hip hop label that first brought the likes of the Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, PM Dawn and RZA to the attention of the British public. Instead of relying on mento classics of times gone by, the sessions called upon classic and contemporary rock/pop music, interpreting songs that resonate with mento's raucous history. The tracks draw from a full spectrum of artists like The Clash, Johnny Cash and Amy Winehouse.

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Released January 25, 2011

On this debut for Third Man / Nonesuch Records, produced and arranged by Jack White at his Nashville studio, the spirited Wanda Jackson proves that brash rock and roll attitude need not have an age limit. The BBC calls the album "rich, warm, big-hearted and hilarious ... a sumptuous, brassy stew of country and blues." Jackson's trademark growl remains intact on rockers like "Rip It Up" and "Nervous Breakdown;" she opens the set with an echo-laden sneer on a rollicking version of "Shakin’ All Over" and ends it ten songs later with a plaintive take on Jimmie Rodgers’ "Yodel #6," along the way gamely tackling country, gospel, densely worded Bob Dylan, and a little bit of Tin Pan Alley. Jackson and White are a remarkably simpatico pairing; their collaboration came together quickly, serendipitously. One of Jackson’s colleagues had originally approached White about doing a duet with Jackson for a proposed "Wanda and Friends" disc, but White demurred. Instead, he offered something better, inviting Jackson to cut a single with him for his Third Man label, and that swiftly led this kindred spirits to put together an entire album.

Released January 18, 2011

Rock ‘n’ roll icons Social Distortion have officially announced the release of their long awaited, highly anticipated new studio album, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, which is set for January 18. A follow-up to their acclaimed album Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes is the band’s seventh studio album and first release in over six years. Fans are invited to download the first single, "Machine Gun Blues," via iTunes on November 16.

Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes builds on singer Mike Ness’ twin footings, one in the haunted American landscapes of Hank Williams and the other in the raw swagger of Exile-era Rolling Stones. While these twin pillars have always been behind Social Distortion’s anthemic songs, on Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes they come roaring to the fore, in one of the hardest rocking, most soulful, albums of Ness’ career.

Released February 15, 2011

'Whenever you're here, you're alive' are the first words sung on Dynamite Steps, the fifth album from Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers collective, and the group's first in five years. Dynamite Steps explores the thin line between life and death, mortality and immortality, resignation and celebration that mythical moment when your life flashes before your eyes, drawn out here over the course of eleven songs.

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Released February 1, 2011

In some ways, music doesn't get much more modest or minimalist than it is in the hands of The Civil Wars, a duo comprised of California-to-Nashville transplant Joy Williams and her Alabaman partner, John Paul White. They travel without a backup band, and on their first full-length album, Barton Hollow, the bare-bones live arrangements that fans hear on the road are fleshed out with just the barest of acoustic accoutrements. Each song is an intimate conversation, and no third wheels or dinner-party chatter are going to interrupt that gorgeous, haunting hush.

On the other hand, there's been something distinctly loud about the duo's introduction to the world, even prior to the album's release. Their signature song 'Poison & Wine' was heard on Grey's Anatomy - in the foreground, in its entirety, over a key climactic montage, prompting hundreds of thousands of viewers to Google the mystery music. 500,000 views later, the newest single/video 'Barton Hollow' is also catching the attention of music lovers from across all genres.

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