Thursday, January 27, 2011

Thursday night Link-o-Rama.

I have a bunch of new releases I want to spread the word about but don't have the time or motivation to write about them at length, so I'll just briefly summarize and provide the pertinent links.

The Hard Way-Tell Me When You Can't Breathe. Remember back in 1977 when the Klaatu record came out and people thought it was the Beatles under an assumed name? Well, substitute 2011 for 1977, The Hard Way for Klaatu, and Superdrag for the Beatles and you get the picture here. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Eric Bay-Pair Shaped. Fine debut EP from this British singer/songwriter who has a McCartneysque flair. Absolutely love the track "Cheer Up". CD Baby | Facebook | iTunes

The Test Dream-Shades of Love. Full-length debut from a band whose EP I featured a couple of years ago (did that lead them to send me a copy of the new one? No, I had to find it on my own. Hmph). Dreamy indie pop that meets the promise of the EP. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Dan Kibler-Capsule. How ironic that I feature a disc named Capsule in a blog post consisting of capsule reviews? OK, not that ironic. Anyway, Kibler (when not making cookies with elves) is a Pennsylvania guitarist who's played with Parallax Project and has this album produced and engineered by Shoes' Jeff Murphy. And the tunes match the pedigree, so give it a listen. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Marco Joachim-Hidden Symphonies. When we last visited Marco Joachim, he was releasing Songville at the end of 2007. That disc found Joachim channeling Wilburys-era Bob Dylan; this one finds him switching Wilburys to Jeff Lynne as he's gone for a more ornate and hooky sound. Verdict: it worked. "Those Days" has that late-period ELO sound down and "Things You Do" is bouncy Beatlesque pop. A very pleasant surprise. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes