David Byrne/St. Vincent Ticket Giveaway!

Courtesy of the fine folks at OK Productions, we're happy to be giving away a pair of tickets to the upcoming David Byrne/St. Vincent show at Cobb Energy Centre. David Byrne has, of course, been one of the world's leading musicians for over three decades. St. Vincent may be a relative newcomer, but her handful of albums have rightfully made her a critical darling. Their recently-released collaboration, Love This Giant, easily meets the lofty expectations afforded by their pedigrees. You probably already know that, though, as Love This Giant has spent the better part of the last month in constant rotation at the store. Regular customers will also know how Warren raves about the sound and sightlines at Cobb Energy Centre. He's even complimented the ease of parking, which may be an absolute first. It all adds up to a can't miss show, so stop by the store and enter for your chance to win...and hurry! The show is this coming Wednesday.

While we're talking about awesome concerts, we wanted to share one more tidbit: Calexico and Yo La Tengo will be playing at the Buckhead Theatre on January 25th. We really hope the Mayans were wrong about the apocalypse, because those are two of our absolute favorite bands.

New Releases 9/25/12

Unsurprisingly, September's going to end on a high note w/r/t new releases. This week brings us fairly big folk acts, perservering legends, preserving jazz bands, aging punks pitching fits on television, young lady-rockers, reunions, remasters, reissues—and more, always more. Take a look at the list below and let us know what you're looking for, new or old.

Mumford & Sons
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
John Hiatt
R.E.M. (Document 25th)
Dum Dum Girls (EP)
The Bad Plus
Pete Seeger
Bettye LaVette
Green Day
Frightened Rabbit (EP)
Joseph Arthur
Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb
Lavender Diamond
Jason Collett
Lucy Kaplansky
Ricky Skaggs
David Hidalgo/Mato Nanji
No Doubt
Ben Sollee
Joe Strummer (remasters)
Frank Zappa (reissues, again)

New Releases 9/18/12

Boy howdy, September is just an embarassment of musical riches! Last week brought us new stuff from Bob Dylan, The Avett Brothers, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Calexico, ZZ Top, Amanda Palmer and a bunch of others. Meanwhile, this week keeps the hits coming. Check out this crazy list:

Band of Horses
Grizzly Bear
Dinosaur Jr
Aimee Mann
Ben Folds Five
Corin Tucker Band
Thee Oh Sees
Rickie Lee Jones (covers)
Menomena
Dwight Yoakam
The Lighthouse and the Whaler
The Whigs
Robert Pollard
Muse

Staff Picks

Aside from listing new releases as they arrive and giving shout-outs to stuff on Twitter as we play them and to folks in person when they ask, we don't do staff picks listings nearly enough. Today, we start correcting that. Expects posts like these on a regular basis going forward. And hey, while we're at it, what are you digging these days?

Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't
"Over the past decade, few songwriters have dedicated themselves to dramatizing the rise and fall of the heart as brilliantly as Lekman. Whether he's falling in love at the post office or making out during a boring Sunday sermon, his well-detailed, gracefully arranged songs inflate everyday moments and view the most banal aspects of modern life through rosy lenses, as though somebody's constantly spiking his drinks with love potion." [full review]

My Darling Clementine - How Do You Plead?
"...an album of country duets that sound as if they were written in the 60s or 70s. It's a finely crafted tribute to the classic country duos such as Johnny Cash and June Carter or George Jones and Tammy Wynette, with all the songs [originally written] and several sounding like lost classics." [full review]

Future - Pluto
"He leans hard into all those post-Lil Wayne clichés — goofily aligned punch lines, spaced-out drug analogies, dope-boy boasts, designer name-drops — but delivers them in a strained, melismatic warble, drenched in Auto-Tune and constantly cracking. Imagine P-Funk's Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk re-imagined by Mike Patton, but with unbridled swagger replacing any semblance of pitch or poise." [full review]

Swans - The Seer
"The Seer is 30 years’ worth of effort, a unique and exciting height earned after decades of creation, experimentation and unconventional musical disassembly. Ultimately, it’s an argument against immediate gratification and proof that we haven’t seen it all. Or, heard it all, thankfully." [full review]

Cat Power - Sun
"Marshall has always been one of the most emotionally intense songwriters around, but with Sun she has made her riskiest, most vital album, not to mention one of her greatest." [full review]

King Tuff - King Tuff
"King Tuff still retains a cunning and artless character, not roaming too far from the basement, adhering to its original sound. Feel-good nostalgia meets the stoned Dazed and Confused-types and the glam-punks halfway. The album's fuzzed-out appeal could make it a summer go-to disc even for audiences who live above the basement." [full review]

Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
"While he's now primarily writing songs for himself, his time toiling in L.A. studios gave him the experience to create a piece as accomplished and varied as Channel Orange, which swings from Stevie Wonder-style keyboard breeziness to 1990s R&B to mystic psych rock to crunching 8-bit funk without thinking twice." [full review]

Bob Mould - Silver Age
"Where [previous Mould] albums retained hints of slick pop, balladry, broad dynamics, and that lingering squiggle of electronics, Silver Age just rocks. In Mould’s case, though, 'just rocking' has always meant more: more melody, more smarts, more craft, and more depth of emotion." [full review]

Baroness - Yellow & Green
"Lke Slayer's Reign in Blood performed on Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American, the two-person vocal interplay between lead vocalist John Baizley and guitarist Peter Adams is melodious yet tense, immediate and human, at times even recalling X's Exene Cervenka and John Doe), sometimes just a headband away from Van Halen." [full review]

Nude Beach - II 
"Arguing against the continued existence of this music is like saying they shouldn't make new kinds of beer. Why limit the production of what is, first and foremost, a populist pleasure producer, even if the variation among new products is minimal?" [full review]

New Releases 9/4/12

Now this is what we're talking about! This week's releases are kickstarting the month of September, which is going to be a monster. Some great stuff below, and it's only gonna get greater in the coming weeks! Thumbs up, everybody. Thumbs. Up. (Oh, and you should really read this fantastic story about Cat Power.)

Cat Power
Animal Collective
Bob Mould
Deerhoof
Mark Knopfler
Melissa Etheridge
Dave Stewart
The Fresh & Onlys
Chick Corea
Sondre Lerche
Azure Ray
Two Door Cinema Club
Stars
The Music Tapes

September Shows

Happy Labor Day weekend, y'all! Squeaking in right in the nick of time, we've got a list of your notable Atlanta-area shows below. As usual, there is much to enjoy. So much, in fact, that you could nearly average a couple shows a day (if you're a crazy person). Get after it:

Sept. 2: Drive-Invasion: Black Lips, Subsonics, Web Wilder, many more @ Starlight Six
Sept. 5: Dead Can Dance @ Cobb Energy Centre
Sept. 5: Pop 1280, Vincas, Black Lodge @ 529
Sept. 5: Azure Ray @ The EARL
Sept. 6: Balam Acab @ 529
Sept. 6: Sealions, Tikka, Small Reactions (free show!) @ Star Bar
Sept. 6: Chris Isaak @ Cobb Energy Centre
Sept. 6: The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Psychic Paramount @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 6: The Spits, Turbo Fruits, Dino's Boys @ The EARL
Sept. 7: NOBUNNY, The Coathangers, Bad Sports, Apache Dropout @ 529
Sept. 7: Arrested Development @ The Goat Farm
Sept. 8: Gentleman Jesse, Cheater Slicks @ The EARL
Sept. 8: Yeasayer @ Tabernacle
Sept. 8: Blackberry Smoke @ Masquerade
Sept. 8: Michelle Malone @ Red Clay Theatre
Sept. 9: Sun O))) @ Masquerade
Sept. 10: Ariel Pink @ The Goat Farm
Sept. 10: Madeline @ 529
Sept. 13: Built to Spill @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 13-14: Soulphonics, The Dynamites ft. Charles Walker @ The EARL
Sept. 14: StoneRider @ Masquerade
Sept. 15: Cheap Time @ The EARL
Sept. 15: Amanda Palmer @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 15: Supersuckers @ Star Bar
Sept. 16: Beach House @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 17: WHY? @ The EARL
Sept. 17: Grizzly Bear, Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ Tabernacle
Sept. 18: Ben Folds Five @ Tabernacle
Sept. 18: Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees @ The Goat Farm
Sept. 18: Saint Vitus, Weedeater @ Masquerade
Sept. 19: John Hiatt @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 19: Wymyns Prysyn @ Star Bar
Sept. 19-20: Twin Shadow @ The EARL
Sept. 21: Beth Orton @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 21: Corin Tucker Band @ The EARL
Sept. 22: Johnny Cash Tribute ft. Caroline & The Ramblers and many more @ Star Bar
Sept. 23: Glen Hansard @ The Buckhead Theatre
Sept. 24: The Wallflowers @ Smith's Olde Bar
Sept. 26: The Walkmen @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 26: Frank Turner, Jenny Owens Young @ Masquerade
Sept. 27: Subsonics @ 529
Sept. 28: Stars @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 28: OFF!, Negative Approach, Double Negative
Sept. 29: The Soft Pack @ The EARL
Sept. 29: Wild Nothing, DIIV @ 529
Sept. 29: Wowser Bowser @ Drunken Unicorn
Sept. 29: Marcus Miller @ Variety Playhouse
Sept. 29: Alabama Shakes @ Masquerade Music Park
Sept. 29: Little 5 Fest ft. Anna Kramer, Dirty Hotel Sunshine, Gringo Star, Dino's Boys, Noot D'Noot, Hawks, Coathangers, many more
Sept. 30: Animal Collective, Micachu & The Shapes @ Tabernacle

HELP!

Gotta be honest, folks: We're more than a little concerned. There are a bunch of bloodthirsty heathens up the street, and if they don't get their fix on the Decatur Square, they might—gasp!—walk down the street and TEAR US ASUNDER. So, if you're reading this, and especially if you're a member of a marching group of Stormtroopers in the Dragon*Con parade, perhaps on your iStorm smartphone, we'd really appreciate it if you directed your crew to the nearest MARTA station, hopped on the blue line, got off at Decatur Station, and marched on down here. We might need back up. For your troubles, we're willing to let you and yours pick through our dollar bin at no charge. Our security is worth at least thirty bucks. Thanks for reading, lifesaver.