This Week's New Album Releases (3/1/11)

We picked 15 notable album releases coming out tomorrow, from Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis project to the latest supergroup featuring members of Dawes, Deer Tick and Delta Spirit.

Alex Ebert – Alexander
In a recent announcement, Ebert described the solo venture as "a very humble album with sky’s-the-limit sort of qualities, and so I didn’t really shy away from doing whatever I felt like doing.” Recorded in between activity with Edward Sharpe, Ebert reportedly uses a variety of instruments on the album including violin and clarinet. Read more about Ebert’s solo debut.

Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
The smoky voiced Londoner will be following her U.S. debut with a North American tour—that is if a recent injury that caused her to miss U.K. dates isn’t too serious. Watch video footage of Anna Calvi performing the album closer “Love Won’t Be Leaving”.

The Baseball Project – Volume 2: High and Inside
“Much of America is still deep in the throes of winter, and spring seems like an impossible dream. But for the members of The Baseball Project—major-league sports nerds from better-known bands Young Fresh Fellows, Dream Syndicate, REM, and Golden Smog—Opening Day is just around the corner. Their second album, Vol. 2: High and Inside, picks up right where Vol. 1 left off, firing power chords like fastballs, and tossing in a few musical changeups to keep listeners off balance.” Read Andy Whitman’s review tomorrow.

Beady Eye – Different Gear, Still Speeding
“If there’s one universal truth to emerge from the stripped-down rock tunes on Beady’s Eye’s debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding, it’s “Once a Gallagher, Always a Gallagher.” Liam Gallagher’s new band basically sounds like Oasis returning to its less complicated roots, stripping back the heavily overdubbed layers of their curtain call, 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul. The problem is that most of the songs, in terms of either pure songwriting or inventiveness, just don’t stack up." Read Ryan Reed’s review later today.

Buddy Miller – The Majestic Silver Strings
Fresh off a run with Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, Buddy Miller has gathered some of his talented friends for a celebration of guitar. Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz live up to the majestic name with special appearances by Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Lee Ann Womack, Chocolate Genius, Ann McCrary and Julie Miller. Read our review of a rare Buddy Miller performance on the recent Cayamo cruise.

Davila 666 – Tan Bajo
“Davila 666 is more than just a Puerto Rican garage rock band. These guys are masters of making rock ‘n’ roll fun. On Tan Bajo, their latest, you can hear traces of girl groups, swamp blues, doo wop, power pop and ‘60s garage—and then they put the spook on it. The record is full of creepy voices buried beneath fuzzed-out rhythm guitars and fiendish vocals. (You don’t just adopt the name “Davila 666” without throwing some spooky shit in there.) But the most impressive thing about Tan Bajo isn’t its creepiness—it’s the hooks." Read Evan Minsker’s interview tomorrow.

DeVotchka – 100 Lovers
“DeVotchKa’s fifth studio LP, 100 Lovers, begins with a gorgeously moody and cinematic wash of synths, strings and piano seeping forth as if water through a crack in a dam. The feeling this intro evokes perfectly sets the tone for the album’s first seven songs, on which DeVotchKa trades a bit of its international flavor for a sound more akin to glossy, modern New York indie pop a la Animal Collective or The Walkmen. It’s a move that the band and producer/engineer Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Ladybug Transistor) execute extremely well, and a sound DeVotchKa has flirted with a few times in the past.” Read Steve LaBate’s review.

Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High
“A lot has changed since the Dum Dum Girls started making music three years ago. Gone are the days in which Dee Dee (née Kirstin Gundred) created lo-fi recordings as an emerging solo artist. These days, the band’s visionary performs with a full band behind her. Not only that, but her all-girl group struck gold with their 2010 debut I Will Be—a modern pop classic that stood out amongst a wave of similarly minded lo-fi peers.” Read Max Blau’s interview with Dum Dum Girls or Steve LaBate’s review.

Easter Island – Better Things
Keeping the theme of great Athens music going, Georgia band Easter Island enlisted Five-Eight drummer Patrick Ferguson to produce its debut album full of charming lo-fi pop. Download the track “Proud” here.

Eisley – The Valley
Listen to or download Eisley’s “The Valley” here and read China Reevers’ interview with the band later this week.

Lucinda Williams – Blessed
“These are precious songs to Williams, as they will be to her listeners, and she’s chosen the ideal supporting cast to shepherd them home—pros’ pros who possess a sensitivity equal to their virtuosity. If 1998’s Car Wheels on as Gravel Road stands as the high point of Williams’ self-involved period, Blessed just as masterfully traces the bursting heart and smoldering soul of her humanity. This is as deep and true as the song form gets.” Read Bud Scoppa’s review or Max Blau’s interview.

Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
“At the drop of a programmed snare hit, Lykke Li, the Swedish princess of off-beat art-pop, can turn from sugar-coated sweetheart to devilish temptress to futuristic night club siren. And on Wounded Rhymes, Lykke Li has stepped up her game, crafting a brasher, more well-rounded effort that fully realizes the potential she showed on her debut. Youth Novels was a cool little hand-drawn doodle done in pencil—this is an oil painting, rich with color and more vivid detail.” Read Ryan Reed’s review.

Middle Brother – Middle Brother
“John McCauley (Deer Tick), Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit) and Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) take turns singing lead, and from the first harmonies on “Daydreaming” it’s clear that we’ve got a true collaboration on our hands. At times they sound so in tune with one another that the record starts to feel like a concept album, like a time capsule crafted by the trio of rock ‘n roll troubadours to document their rise to fame.” Read Bonnie Stiernberg’s review.

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
“Toronto residents now more than half a decade removed from their western Canadian roots, RAA whip up a raw, insistent, and stripped-down folk music that is enormously appealing on the surface. The songwriting is another matter; Departing relies too frequently on stock winter imagery and generic love laments. It’s too bad because the songs, particularly those on the uniformly strong second half of the album, are big, blustery anthems that The Arcade Fire would be proud to write.” Read Andy Whitman’s review.

Ron Sexsmith – Long Player Late Bloomer
Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith will tour in March, making his way through North America before crossing the pond to Europe in late April. Love Shines, a documentary chronicling the past seven years of Ron Sexsmith’s career, is also out this week.