Monday Music Roundup

This was a weekend of long-overdue fresh starts and spring cleaning:

Time to retire old Jack, I’d say. And (!!) yesterday afternoon I sat in a coffee shop with a local illustrator/designer and discussed my concepts to redesign this site. He’s making me a nifty new custom header image, and I think I am going to move Fuel/Friends over from Blogger to WordPress. I would welcome any suggestions you may have for redesign, or help with the conversion process if you’re a web-type because I am in the slow class when it comes to this stuff.

Here are some tunes I am enjoying this week after culling the promo CD stack that I am woefully behind in enjoying:

Looks Like We Haven’t Learned A Thing
The Walkup
After meeting in a Lower East Side NYC bar in 2005, The Walkup have been honing their energetic, punchy live show into a full-length studio album of material called Down on Pacific (June 3, Reynolds Recording Co). Their music is angular and hooky with Brit-pop influences and ace drumbeats, perfect for warmer days and summer nights. The album is produced by Gregory Lattimer (Albert Hammond Jr.) and Caleb Shreve (Ra Ra Riot).

Do The Panic
Phantom Planet
Southern California band Phantom Planet‘s retro overtones take bold predominance in several tracks on their newest release Raise The Dead (released last week on the Fueled by Ramen label). This cut is an absolutely infectious reworking of a song originally off their 2004 fanclub-only CD Negatives, all laced with ba-ba-ba (shooby doo)s and exhorations to “come on, come on” over jangly jaunty guitar. You’ll be totally wanting to bust out singing this all day; wait until you’re in the elevator.

How Did We Forget?
El Perro Del Mar
As we recall from high school Spanish class, El Perro Del Mar translates to “the dog of the sea” and sounds like it should be a quartet of jolly Mexican mariachis, but is actually comprised solely of the the lovely platinum blonde Swede Sarah Assbring. This tune sounds like it’s coming to you on a very old radio, wafting in from another room where it’s been playing all along. There is a timeless quality to the music – the coy bittersweetness of the blues, modern Swedish ambience, and moments where it feels like a gentle lullaby. From The Valley To The Stars is due tomorrow on fellow Swedes The Concretes‘ label Licking Fingers. After touring with folks like Jens Lekman and Jose Gonzalez, she has several upcoming dates in May with it-girl Lykke Li.

Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket
This brand new mp3 from My Morning Jacket was unleashed upon the music-web community last Friday via email blast. It’s the title track from the upcoming Evil Urges album (June 10/ATO Records), and the fact that it’s cross-posted on just about every other blog in the world (except maybe this one) shows how hotly anticipated this release will be. Also, judging by the vibe emanating in virutal heatwaves off this track, their evil urges are actually compelling them to wanna gyrate around like Prince and croon in a soulful Motown falsetto. If this sneak peek only whets your appetite, you can also check out the astoundingly cool SXSW set that Jim James did with M. Ward to hear some more new MMJ material, mixed with the old. Sublime.

If You Stay
Richard Julian
Brooklynite Richard Julian hangs out with musical pals like the talented Jesse Harris and plays in Norah Jones’ side project band the Little Willies (who opened for Ryan Adams in NYC that one time). In addition, if you appreciate a recommended drink menu to complement each track on an album, check the liner notes of this one. Developed by an NYC mixologist, the concoctions range from warm beer & weight gain, to absinthe and rye whiskey, to this one — a sugar cube with champagne, laced with Angostura Bitters. The sweet with the bitter, as Julian musically weighs in on whether she should stay or go: “but if you stay there’s a film I’d like to go see / and if you go, i’ll watch one on tv.” It sounds like a nonchalant proposal, but by the end of the song Julian is confessing that he would “weep like a goat” while she packed her things, letting his true colors bleed through. Sunday Morning in Saturday’s Shoes is out now on Manhattan/EMI.