Ten February Albums Worth Checking Out

Lead photo by Stacie Huckeba

Don’t know if you noticed, but February started yesterday. Crazy, right? Pretty soon, it’ll be summer and all the snow will have melted, and then it’ll be the holidays again and the snow will be back, and then, before you know it, we’ll all be dead. Phew! This got awkward in a hurry. So yeah, um, while February certainly has its new-release work cut out for it thanks to the powerhouse that was January, this month has its fair share of great releases. Some of them were already released yesterday, in fact. Below, then, are but 10 of February’s albums worth checking out:

The Civil Wars — Barton Hollow [Sensibility Music, Feb. 1]
Review (8.0/10) excerpt: “Barton Hollow, the name of a nonexistent place, is largely polite. It approaches relationship and life dissatisfactions with a subdued presence reminiscent of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ duets. But the tranquility dissipates as the songs peak, with White and Williams escalating the volumetric power of their playing and singing, taking full control of the songs’ directions. They have no problem transitioning from tempered introspections to fiery declarations, at times within a single track.” Nathan Spicer

The Go! Team — Rolling Blackouts [Memphis Industries]
Review (6.2/10) excerpt: “It’s both thrilling— perfect for a Friday night windows-down cruise through the big city—and slightly exhausting.” Ryan Reed

North Mississippi Allstars — Keys to the Kingdom [Songs of the South, Feb. 1]
“In case the progeny of Memphis legend Jim Dickinson aren’t all-star enough for you, guests on the bands latest includ Mavis Staples, Ry Cooder and Spooner Oldham. Dickinson passed in 2009, but had told his sons Luther and Cody “You need to be playing music together. You are better together than you will ever be apart.” The boys took that advice to heart, recording at the family’s Zebra Ranch Studio in Coldwater, Miss. Look for a Paste review of Keys to the Kingdom later this week.” Josh Jackson

Todd Snider — Live: The Storyteller [Aimless, Feb. 1]
“Wise-cracking folkie Todd Snider is back on the road again in 2011, this time in support of his forthcoming live album on Aimless. The humorous storyteller will launch his tour Feb. 2-3 in New York City before making his way across the country.” Look for a Paste review of Live: The Storyteller later this week.

Over the Rhine — The Long Surrender [Great Speckled Dog, Feb. 8]
Review (9.2/10) excerpt: “From the splintered shards of a life—from marital discord and tentative healing, from the middle, or perhaps end, of an uncertain career, from the vantage point of starting over when you’re already way, way down the line—Over the Rhine has pieced together a lovely, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting musical mosaic.” Andy Whitman

Nicole Atkins — Mondo Amore [Razor & Tie, Feb. 8]
Interview excerpt: “Some break-up records are about a boy. And some are about a girl. But Nicole Atkins’ new album Mondo Amore is about a boy, a band and a record label. Three years after her Columbia Records debut, she’s rediscovering the joy of independence, recording her new album with the help of fan donations and touring with a soul sister on guitar.” Josh Jackson

Tristen — Charlatans at the Garden Gate [American Myth, Feb. 15]
Tristen Gaspadarek first began recording music at age 14, and it was around the same time that she decided to drop her Polish last name professionally. “I was probably a little, at that point, afraid that people wouldn’t understand my last name,” the singer told Ani Vrabel in a ”http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/01/best-of-whats-next-tristen.html">Paste Best of What’s Next story. “… When you’re 14, you’re like, ‘OK, I like Jewel and Madonna and I’m just going to cut my un-show-business-like last name out of the picture.” Look for a Paste review of Charlatans at the Garden Gate soon.

Bright Eyes — The People’s Key [Saddle Creek, Feb. 15]
NPR’s Robin Hilton calls it “the best record Bright Eyes has ever made. In fact, it’s the best record the band’s frontman, Conor Oberst, has ever been a part of.” Listen to it in full here.

Drive-By Truckers — Go-Go Boots [ATO, Feb. 15]
From the forthcoming Paste interview: "After releasing 2008’s Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood decided he wanted to make more concise records. Out of this mindset, Go-Go Boots emerged. ‘When we went into the studio to create this straight up rock record, The Big To-Do, we had all these other songs that were just obviously not a part of that record.’ Rather than making an overstuffed double album, Go-Go Boots emerged as a record channeling the Muscle Shoals legacy. The latest from DBT combines the band’s soulful side with themes of love, salvation, power and authority. Max Blau

The Low Anthem — Smart Flesh [Nonesuch, Feb. 22]
From the forthcoming Paste feature on the band: “Unlike Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, Smart Flesh reaches another primordial level, where fear of the unknown seems to be a constant lurking factor, and love of each other and the music is the only working weapon keeping it at bay.” Jay Sweet