New CD Releases...

On their fifth album, Dark is the Way, Light is a Place, Anberlin continue down the path they started down on New Surrender with a sound that's even more layered and dense. Utilizing the talents of Grammy-winning producer Brendan O'Brien, the band's sound has evolved in a way that's manages to be less poppy while sounding decidedly more pop, with the album having a casual slickness to it that makes it sound like something that belongs on the radio rather than an something that's trying to be on the radio. Read more

Gregory Heaney - www.allmusic.com

In Helmet's twenty years over a dozen musicians backed up Page Hamilton, and with the exception of Chris Traynor, who played bass for Helmet's previous two albums, Seeing Eye Dog boasts another new lineup. Yet, with every shift, it seems Hamilton distances himself from the band's golden years in the early '90s. Now with guitarist Dan Beeman and drummer Kyle Stevenson, the group sounds heavier and angrier. Read more

Jason Lymongrover - www.allmusic.com.com

A lot about Interpol suggests that it's a statement of purpose, from its eponymous title to the fact that it was released by Matador, where the band released its best material. There is a certain back-to-basics feel about the album: producer Alan Moulder strips away much of Our Love to Admire's lavish sheen and gives the band a more muscular attack by pushing the rhythm section to the fore - especially fitting since bassist Carlos Dengler left the band shortly after finishing Interpol - and the album clocks in at a relatively concise 10 songs in 45 minutes. Read more

Heather Phares - www.allmusic.com

Approximately 80% of Welcome Home is made up of acoustic, down-river rock constructed around drum loops and twan'y vocal melodies. With the exception of the rap-based songs "#1"; and "Rideout Chick," it's a full album of country-fried pop ballads in the style of their biggest single, "Sittin' at a Bar." And for a band that got their start their start emulating the Dirty South alongside Goodie Mob, it's a strangely pleasant listen. Read more

Jason Lymangrover - www.allmusic.com

For their third album, Audio Secrecy, maturity feels like the name of the game. There's still a fair amount of Stone Sour's hard rock heaviness, but rather than delivering another collection of chugging riffs, the band has made an effort to add some depth to their sound. Tracks like "Threadbare" and "Say You'll Haunt Me" are busier and more atmospheric than anything on the band'' previous outings, demonstrating a more melodic and layered approach to songwriting. Read more

Gregory Heaney - www.allmusic.com

The Steeldrivers may play traditional bluegrass, but they do it with a style that's informed by outlaw country and rock & roll attitude. Mike Henderson, who plays mandolin, resophonic guitar, and harmonica and also co-writes the majority of the band's original tunes, was one of the founders of the Dead Reckoning label, an alt-country label that released some of the best non-Nashville country albums of the '90s. That maverick approach is evident in the sounds the Steeldrivers generate here.. Read more

j. poet - www.allmusic.com

Rust In Peace: Live does not disappoint in any capacity; every track from its namesake release gets due diligence and enormous fanfare, every musician does their duty to a "T". Under normal circumstances, I could bitch about the convenience of putting out this kind of live album so soon after the previously stated Sonisphere appearance and Endgame promotion, but that is the point. Upon hearing Rust In Peace: Live, everything goes out the window in favor of sinking into the unheard of live tracks, the increased level of audience reception on more familiar fare ("Tornado Of Souls" being a primary example), the entirety feels thought out and preserved like a piece of history in the making. Read more

David Buchanan - consequenceofsound.net

Dallas, Texas rapper Dorrough hopes to follow the success of his debut album Dorrough Music with the release of his sophomore effort, titled Get Big. Dorrough, whose biggest single to date is the platinum-selling single "Ice Cream Paint Job," recently teamed with acclaimed director Dr. Teeth to shoot the video for "Get Big," which is also the album's first single.

The rapper, who won two BET Awards in 2009 (Best New Artist, Rap Song of the Year), explained that he is in the music industry for the long haul. Read more

staff - www.keepittrill.com

After making two albums of unbridled, incredible noisy indie rock and a third album that scaled back the noise but boosted the lyrical stakes, the Thermals lost the plot on their fourth record, Now We Can See. The glossy production and cliched rock & roll moves made it seem like the band was off the rails for good, but luckily for fans of the band's energy and outlook, their fifth album Personal Life is a welcome comeback. Thanks to Chris Walla's simple production and a batch of catchy, emotionally powerful songs that mostly drop the preachiness of the previous album for a more personal approach, the band seems to have found their way again. Read more

Tim Sendra - www.allmusic.com

Over the course of their 10 years recording albums, Knoxville outfit 10 Years have somehow remained on the correct side of the alt-metal/post-grunge divide. By incorporating heavier, more atmospheric traits into their sound, the now quartet (following the departure of guitarist Matt Wantland) have managed to stay out of the much derided mainstream rock grouping which the likes of Nickelback and Creed spearhead. Read more

staff - www.sputnikmusic.com

It's hard to believe that Chicago's DISTURBED have already been at it for over a decade. The band that rose to stardom by inviting listeners to get "Down With the Sickness" has come a long way from the dark clubs of the Windy City (anyone remember the bassist auditions at Oasis 160?) to headlining arenas and playing host to their growing MUSIC AS A WEAPON tours.

On their fifth studio effort, ASYLUM, the band turns in what is arguably their most powerful performance yet, broadening their sound well beyond the chugga-chugga riffage that has become synonymous with the band - though there's plenty of that to be had as well. Read more

James Zahn - www.kikaxemusic.com

With the release of TIME FOR ANNIHILATION... ON THE RECORD AND ON THE ROAD, PAPA ROACH present what they're calling a "unique hybrid listening experience" that combines new studio recordings with a "greatest hits" live set. The concept is a bit of a head-scratcher, as it's not an EP, a full studio album, nor a full live album either - rather a piece that recalls a host of Japanese import discs from the mid-1990's.

Of the five new songs present on the disc (Burn, One Track Mind, Kick in the Teeth, No Matter What, The Enemy), there isn't a weak link to be found as all five could easily (and will likely be) singles, and, like the currently-spinning "Kick in the Teeth" - bonafide hits. Read more

James Zahn - www.kikaxemusic.com

[Junky Star] is a dream-team project, as the alt-country sensation enlisted his fellow Oscar-winner T-Bone Burnett to produce. The two paired up for this album on the heels of their successful artistic partnership on the Oscar and Golden Globe winning song, "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart).& This album is also something of a personal dream come true for Ryan -- a former rodeo rider in New Mexico and Texas -- who built his music career after teaching himself to play guitar, self producing CDs and driving from town to town looking for gigs. Read more

Nancy Dunham - www.theboot.com

What hath She & Him wrought? I'm Having Fun Now is all whimsical, tongue-in-cheek cutesiness, but with songs this sugary, it'd be churlish to complain. Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and singer-songwriter/boyfriend Johnathan Rice have both had their moments of pure-pop confection in the past, but never as crazily delicious as here. Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis burnishes the doomy sentiments about domestic serpents and sharp instruments with a deceptive gloss, so you won't notice the acid aftertaste until much, much later. Read more

David Menconi - www.spin.com

Nutshell summarisation: Something for the Rest of Us is every bit as easy on the ear as each of their albums has been since 98's big-league breakthrough, Dizzy Up the Girl. Read more

Mike Driver - www./www.bbc.co.uk

Sara Bareilles has a knack for piano pop hits that take veiled digs at her label. Her 2007 "Love Song" had the hook "I'm not gonna write you a love song / 'cause you ask for it," and on her new CD's "King of Anything," she scoffs, "You dare tell me who to be?" But challenging the boss isn't her only skill. Bareilles, 30, injects doo-wop flavor into "Gonna Get Over You" and melancholy on "Breathe Again."

Ian Drew - www.usmagazine.com

You know when an album’s opening track is titled "Your Goat Is On Fire," it's going to be awesome.

Bare and David Vandervelde co-produced the album, titled A Storm- A Tree- My Mother’s Head. Special Guest Stars on the album include Tom Blankenship, Carl Broemel and Patrick Hallahan from My Morning Jacket and Bare's musician father, Bobby Bare Sr., who co-wrote a few songs on the album. Read more

Lindsay Eanet - www.pastemagazine.com

Trash metal? Horror metal? Punk metal? B-movie metal? It's hard to settle on a single description for the Murderdolls. But after hearing their sophomore effort, 2010's Women and Children Last, any of the four aforementioned metallic subgenres would do the trick. It's been quite a layoff since the 'dolls released their full-length debut, 2002's Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, but fans never gave up hope about the possibility of a sophomore effort...If you were figuring that the Murderdolls were going to expand musically upon what they laid down on their debut album, Women and Children Last will prove your assumption wrong - they're sticking as close to their original vision as possible. Read more

Greg Prato - www.allmusic.com

Broemel - who does various things with MMJ - will release his second solo record, All Birds Say, on August 31 and will be available through ATO Records in the US. Of the record, Broemel says, rather cryptically: "Where do you start? Or where do you stop? And how do you reconcile the things you do versus the things you don't? It’s something I'm constantly thinking about. I think there's a lot of trying to be aware of what you’re doing now versus dwelling on things or worrying about what’s gonna happen later. A lot of the songs are really just me talking to myself, trying to make sense of things in my head." Read more

Luke Slater - www.drownedinsound.com

For three albums now, the pair have forged a dusty, atmospheric kind of retro Americana in which Campbell's coo takes on Lanegan's racked grumble. It is easy to see them as an update of the similarly-toned duo Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. Campbell and Lanegan's union, though, is built on an enticing inversion of the classic svengali/starlet relationship. Read more

Kitty Empire - /www.guardian.co.uk

Though the album's title may reflect a certain sweetness that could only be associated with pop music, Dead Confederate did what it does best: wrote solid rock songs. On "In the Dark", Hardy Morris stands out with solid vocals and equally impressive guitar solos, with a guitar sound reminiscent of vintage Neil Young - think Live Rust. It's a little more stripped down when compared to the group's 2008 release, Wrecking Ball. Read more

Daniel Kohn - consequenceofsound.net

Knoxville, an improvised live set recorded in early 2009 with guitarist David Daniell and drummer Tony Buck, is a good example of how he keeps busy between solo albums... The tracks here range between six and just under 10 minutes, but they flow into each other, so Knoxville feels more like a continuous suite in four movements... The particulars of the feelings evoked here will vary from one set of ears to another, but above all, Knoxville offers an opportunity to lose yourself in a rush of highly detailed and overpowering sound Read more

Mark Richardson - www.pitchfork.com

Georgia Warhorse (named for a tenacious and resilient species of grasshopper) contains 11 new originals, recorded at Jim DeVito's Retrophonics Studio in St. Augustine--as were all four previous albums. The music is steeped in funky, greasy, slippery Southern R&B, blues and rock. The backbone slipping slow-grind funk of "Diya Dayo" opens the set with a wailing harmonica, a chunky single string vamp and a Howlin' Wolf meets Stax chorused refrain. Read more

Thom Jurek - www.allmusic.com

The Grammy Award-nominated singer's follow-up to her multi-platinum debut, One of the Boys, comes on the heels of her No. 1 singles "I Kissed A Girl," "Hot N Cold," and "Waking Up In Vegas." It's preceded by a single, "California Gurls," which is purportedly Perry's West Coast response to Jay-Z's salute to New York, "Empire State of Mind." Snoop Dogg is featured on that track, while the upcoming release is said to include contributions from Dr. Luke, Greg Wells, Ryan Tedder, Rivers Cuomo, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Cathy Dennis. Perry told Rolling Stone she'll "definitely keep it pop" and said the album's sound would be like "Love Fool" by the Cardigans meets "Into the Groove" by Madonna but (with) a little more meat on the bones lyrically." Read more

Tony Sclafani - www.prefixmag.com

14-time Grammy winner Ricky Skaggs is back with a full band sound, a style that made him one of the best-selling artists in Country history with an incredible string of 12 #1 Country hits and 12 Top 20 Country albums, on the inspired and inspirational album Mosaic. Skaggs worked closely with fellow Grammy winner Gordon Kennedy, known for his work with Eric Clapton, Garth Brooks and Bonnie Raitt, to create an album that mixes elements of Country music with Beatles-esque melody and lyrics that speak to Skaggs' faith, making "music that is in my head and in my heart," says Skaggs.. Read more

www.bluegrassjournal.com

Tied together by the theme of a planet locked in a battle between good and evil, the band comes out fighting with majestic album artwork, akin to a 1970s sci-fi paperback, and an instrumental opening track entitled Acheron/Unearthing the Orb. The level of fantastical grandeur on display here is on a par with the bands who built the power metal subgenre's prototypes: Judas Priest and Richie Blackmore's Rainbow in the 70s, Iron Maiden, Manilla Road and Dio the following decade. Read more

Noel Gardner - www.bbc.co.uk

This sextet's poetry-quoting, cello-chugging debut came with plenty of stop-start, hum-along rockers, as if the band was out to prove that liberal-arts fops could soundtrack keggers. But here, they deliver the sort of mid-tempo, orch-pop fussiness that they'd been praised for transcending. A few tracks possess a quicker pulse, like the intriguingly twitchy "Massachusetts" and the aerobic, bass-driven fairy tale "Boy," while "Too Dramatic" resurrects the band's crowd-pleasing ambitions, with a keyboard breakdown worthy of Journey. Read more

Spencer Kornhaber - www.spin.com

Steve Gulley explains the origin of "Dogwood Winter" saying, "This recording project is, quite simply, two good friends and writing partners recording some of their songs in the way they heard them when they were originally written. It was truly a great experience to record and create a collection of music that was all original. Tim has been my primary writing partner for years – as well as a one of my best friends. Besides being a good friend and collaborator, Tim is one of best musicians on the planet, so it was really cool to finally get to work with him in the studio on our own project."Read more

www.bluegrassjournal.com

God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise, he's joined by his terrific band The Pariah Dogs: Jay Bellarose on drums, Jennifer Condos on bass, Patrick Warren on keys, Eric Heywood on guitar and Greg Leisz on steel guitar. The album was recorded in LaMontagne's woodsy home in western Massachusetts, which helps lend that rural sound which runs through all of his records...As the album's title suggests, it's a country-tinged record complete with slide guitar and the occasional banjo. The songs conjure images of a simple life of hammock naps and skillet-cooked breakfasts within a universe devoid of cell phones, laptops and televisions. Read more

Jess Gitner - www.npr.org

Fight the Frequency is the fourth full-length studio album from pop punk band American Hi-Fi. Work on the album began in May 2007 when the band first entered the studio to record a follow-up to Hearts on Parade, but due to label issues and members of the band touring with Miley Cyrus, the record which was planned for release in May 2009 was delayed until 2010.

The Final Frontier is British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's upcoming fifteenth studio album, set for release on 16 August 2010http. At 76 minutes and 35 seconds, it is the band's longest studio album to date. It will be their first album since the release of A Matter of Life and Death in 2006, the longest gap to date between two consecutive Iron Maiden studio albums. The Final Frontier World Tour in support of the album started in Dallas, Texas on 9 June, and will end in Washington, D.C. on 20 July, with a European tour beginning in Dublin on 30 July.

Mellencamp says the album is "as American folk as I've ever been," and official reports suggest that the record will be "a complete change of style-and voice" for the singer. However, Mellencamp did say that the record will contain "a couple of pop songs." He told Rolling Stone in July 2009 that he's not concerned whether or not there's a large audience for such a raw, simple record. "I am done being a rock star," Mellencamp said. "I have no interest in that, in having the biggest concerts. I have only one interest: to have fun while we're doing this and maybe have something that somebody might discover."

Whether or not you're a fan of Ian Astbury, or indeed Boris, at the very least their collaboration is an interesting premise. The former is best known for singing in The Cult, a band that has sold millions of records and graced some of the world's largest stages. Astbury has also fronted a tattered reincarnation of The Doors, and lent his vocals to solo albums by guitar royalty Tony Iommi, and more recently, Slash. By contrast, Boris are an eclectic Japanese metal band with a penchant for doom and the avant-garde. Read more

Kyle Ellison - www.drownedinsound.com

Armed with a rousing set of hard rockin' alternative tunes and a new record entitled Trouble With Angels, Filter is once again gearing up to conquer the charts and bring their own brand of infectious music back to the masses. One of the most highly-anticipated records of 2010, The Trouble With Angels goes much deeper than it's predecessor's and certainly has more to offer as well. Read more

Gian Erguiza - www.frantikmag.com

Given the title of Joe Firstman's second album to be released in 2010, Live at the Treehouse, it should be pointed out upfront that this is not a live album in the traditional sense of a concert recording; "the Treehouse" is the name of Firstman's recording studio, and when he says "live," he means only that the recordings were made without overdubs. On the other hand, the album does share a major characteristic with most "live" albums in that it consists largely of re-recordings of songs the artist had recorded previously, rather than new material. Read more

William Ruhlmann - www.allmusic.com

Like hip-hop and reggae, afrobeat is one of the crucial forms of expression for the world's disenfranchised. As time passes and we get further from the initial heat of Fela's influence, bands like Antibalas play a greater role in keeping the flame lit. Who Is This America? is the group's most powerful fuel for the fire. Read more

Jonathan Zwickel - www.pitchfork.com

Following the release of 2005's critically lauded Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, Eels' frontman, Mark Oliver Everett, set out to create a trilogy of concept albums. The trilogy's story began with 2009's straightforward rocker Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire that, as its title implies, dealt with various feelings associated with desire. Just six months later, in 2010, Everett continued the tale with End Times. A darker record, it focused on themes of divorce and aging. But there was hope left in Everett as made by Tomorrow Morning's heartwarming single, "Looking Up." The track indicates that this, the last album in the trilogy, will feature brighter themes and, perhaps, peppier tunes.

Andrew Martin - www.prefixmag.com

Fourteen years after he debuted on Billboard's Hot Country Songs with "There's a Girl in Texas," Adkins is focused on reclaiming the spark he felt at the outset of his career. The album he started in September is bursting with brisk tempos and Adkins' signature acerbic wit. Due August 17, it's the first he recorded for Toby Keith's Show Dog-Universal label, and it bears the title "Cowboy's Back in Town" to reflect the spirit of that day at the Clay County Fair. "I feel as energized and enthusiastic as I did when I first got a record deal," Adkins says. "I'm having fun again, so (the title) 'Cowboy's Back in Town' just made sense to me." Read more

Tom Rowland - www.reuters.com

This new Limited Edition version of the As Day Follows Night is released to celebrate Sarah's forthcoming tour which marks her return to Oz after achieving significant success and rave reviews across Europe. The package includes a 15 track live disc which was recorded earlier this year at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne which features all of the big songs from the album plus some old favourites including Always On This Line, Planet New Year & [explain]

A Staten Island-based Afro-beat, soul-jazz, and funk instrumental ensemble, the Budos Band came together at a jam session hosted by Brooklyn's Afro-beat kings, Antibalas. Specializing in horn-driven world roots funk, the band has a somewhat fluctuating lineup; The group released the self-titled The Budos Band on Daptone Records in 2005 and followed it with The Budos Band II in 2007. After a tour, and a lengthy break during which individual members contributed to other artists' projects, the band reunited to record a third album aptly entitled The Budos Band III, which was released August of 2010.

Steve Leggett - www.allmusic.com

This soundtrack to the Michael Cera flick, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World features tunes penned by Beck and performed by the fictional garage band in which Cera's character plays bass. "Garbage Truck" is the keeper, with a fuzz-punk groove that's no laughing matter. Elsewhere you get T. Rex's classic "Teenage Dream," as well as a psych-country cover of Sade's "By Your Side" by Beachwood Sparks.

Mikael Wood - www.ew.com

When Elvis Costello signed with Universal it was under the condition that he could record for any of their various imprints, thereby giving him full license to indulge in all his interests, whether it be rock & roll, R&B, opera, or torch songs. This made for an interesting era without many hits, so compiling an overview of his stint with the label is all about personal choice -- and in the case of Pomp & Pout, it's all about Costello's own take on 1998-2008, a take that is typically idiosyncratic. Read more

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - www.rolling stone.com

...Whats remarkable about Come and Get It! [is that] this is not a modern-day blues album, it's a classic soul album, with almost all the tracks clocking in at 3:30 or less, leaving very little room for showboating solos. All concentration is on the tunes themselves, with the band kicking them toward kineticism, Reed channeling all his energy into making the songs sing, and they wind up sticking, sounding a bit like forgotten classics upon first listen, then winding up as familiar favorites upon the second. Read more

Stephen Thomas Erlewine- www.allmusic.com

SF59 has always been a band that delivers albums of interest, not just singles. The upcoming release follows this pattern. This time the album talks about how things change, and you have to learn to accept the fact that things change. Read more

www.ccmmagazine.com

Best known as a member of the Cleveland crew Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, rapper Bizzy Bone began a prolific, risk-taking, and sometimes baffling solo career in 1998. Read more

David Jeffries - www.rolling stone.com