Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream About... (Echo Mountain)
CD $13.75 Listen: A Long Dream • Birdwings
Debut album from Tyler Ramsey (the new guitarist for Band of Horses) is full of moody guitar romanticism and Smokey Mountain melancholy, Fahey/Kottke-esque guitar caress and spectral M. Ward/Neil Young "moments", along with the occasional bonfire reverie. Think Red House Painters, it’s uncanny. [more detail]

Jaqee - Nouvelle D'Amour (Enjovu) CD $14.00
Listen: Sugar • Zion
Jim's Pick: Recently nominated for a Swedish Grammy this ambitious new album from Swedish/Ugandan soul siren finds Jaqee (Jaqueline Nakiri) partnered with Swedish rock icon Mattias Hellberg (Nymphet Noodlers, Hederos & Hellberg) who voodoos up some killer songs and crafty arrangements , as well as some rambunctious and rootsy psych-country-dub-ragga-folk-blues grooves. [more detail] Check out Jim's Pick Page for more sound samples, etc.

Three Hour Tour - B Side Oblivion (Martian Record Corp)
CD $15.00
Listen: A Girl That I Once Knew • What Made You Change
Brand new album from former Choo Choo Train/Stupid Cupids/Artificial Limbs guitarist Darren Cooper's Three Hour Tour, the long-awaited follow-up to his 90s output on Parasol Records. Darren is joined by Brad Steakley (Elvis Brothers, Big Hello, Handcuffs) on drums; and Adam Schmitt, who also produces; Velvet Crush duo Paul Chastain & Ric Menck... Power pop in maximum melodic mode, for fans of Beatles, Badfinger, Raspberries, Velvet Crush, and The Posies! [more detail]

Lovecup - Greefus, Groinks and Sheet (12 Inch) CD $10.00
Listen: Even When I Sleep • Hi Pazoo
Saturday Shift 1/19: First CD in the player is local heroes Lovecup’s one and only album, released in 1994. This CD, an out-of-print single, and a slew of borrowed/blown amps are all that's left of the band's legacy. Heavy is as heavy was, and Lovecup made grungy guitar-rock into something crushingly beautiful, all the while rocking harder and weirder than any of their peers. Without Lovecup would there have been a guitar supernova in Hum’s "Stars", or kickass Cadillac commercials? We wonder. [more detail]

Menck - Hey War Pigs (Action Musik) 45 $2.50
Listen: Hey War Pigs
New from Parasol Label Group: On his new limited vinyl single Velvet Crush rabble-rouser Ric Menck (and co-conspirator Matthew Sweet) covers former Soft Boys and Katrina & The Waves guitarist-songwriter Kimberly Rew’s pissed-off protest anthem, backed with a dry-hump version of "Teenage Head" by The Flaming Groovies. Black wax in a plain paper sleeve, limited to just 300 copies. Take action! Visit the release page for a free mp3, the best press photos of 2008, etc.

The Fine Arts Showcase - Sings Rough Bunnies (Adrian)
CD $14.00
Listen: Modern Love • Rough Bunnies Saved My Life
Jim's Pick: At long last, one of 2007’s best Swedish albums, from one of our fave artists, finally arrives here at HQ in early 2008…sorry it took so long! The Fine Arts Showcase, led by post-modern popsmith Gustaf Kjellvander, makes magical, melodic rock music. When covering an album's worth of Rough Bunnies tunes Gustaf shines as a vocalist and arranger, creating polished art-rock baubles from the cult-cultivating Rough Bunnies’ melancholic lo-fi uncut gemmage. Read all about it.

Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde (Profound Lore)
CD $14.25 Listen: Souvenirs d'un autre monde
Saturday Shift 1/12: First CD in the player is by French one-man-post-rock-dynamo Alcest, founded by a Monsieur Neige to explore colossal neo-psychedic shoegaze guitar-rock vastnesses. Think Jesu, M83, My Bloody Valentine, even Hum! Sung in French but like Sigur Ros (alot like them actually) it's more about evocation than translation. [more detail]

Various - The Essence of Swedish Progressive Music, 1967-79
(Premium Publishing) 4CD BOX/BOOK $54.25
Artists: Life • International Harvester • Mats Glengård
Subtitled: Pregnant Rainbows for Colourblind Dreamers, this five hour, four-CD set documents a far-gone age, in a far-off land, and explores in depth the far-out genesis of a musical genre. Mindbending prog, rock and psychedelia spread evenly amongst instrumentals, songs sung in English and those in Swedish. 71 bands, 71 songs (a majority unreleased on CD previously), the audio companion to the esteemed reference bible, The Encyclopedia Of Swedish Progressive Music 1967-1979, edited by Ulf Henningsson, who also created the liner notes (all in English) for the boxset. [more detail]

Mattias Barjed - Upp Till Kamp OST (Razzia) DCD $18.00
Listen: Set Us Free • Stay With Me Forever • Coming Down Cold
Mattias Barjed, guitarist for The Soundtrack of Our Lives, creates and curates this original soundtrack (to a hip new Swedish TV miniseries) that plays out like a retro-rock opera! Features contributions from Barjed's TSOOL mates, plus members of Elope, The Hip Whips, The Jan Martens Frustration and many more. Also includes a brand new, unreleased song by The Tallest Man On Earth. [more detail] Check out Jim's fave Scandinavian releases of 2007.

DeVotchKa - How It Ends (Cicero) CD $15.00
Listen: How It Ends
Saturday Shift 1/5: I was waylaid by this album while standing in line at the local indie video store, totally spellbound by the title track, a gorgeous lament, one of several. Thus began my better late-than-never love affair with Gypsy-Desert-Americana-Rock act DeVotchKa’s haunting worldly and otherworldly pop. Think Calexico meets Antony & The Johnsons meets 16 Horsepower. [more detail] I can also recommend the band’s most recent offering, the Curse Your Little Heart EP form 2006, laden with covers of The Velvets, Siouxsie, Sinatra, etc.

Laakso - Mother, Am I Good Looking? (V2 Scandinavia)
CD $14.25 Listen: Worst Case Scenario • Italy vs Helsinki
2007 album from Swedish/Finnish elemental rockers Laakso, one of Scandinavia's most beloved acts. We’ve charted their promise from a freaky and frenetic elemental-folk band to the high drama, heroic-pop juggernaut they’ve become. Another Swedish late-arrival that would've easily cracked Jim's Best Of 2007 list had it arrived earlier! [more] Also available: Laakso's new EP

Bonny Billy & Dawn McCarthy - Wai Notes (Sea Note)
CD $13.25 Listen: I Called You Back
Special, sneaky, 11th hour mystery release from Drag City subsidiary Sea Note: The beardy Bonny Prince and Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy dueting and dueling across the demos for last year's Letting Go, backed by guitar and cozy tape hiss. Limited to 10,000 worldwide. [more]

Noah Harris - The Sea & Age EP (Self-Released) CD5 $7.00
Listen: Lion & Lamb
New solo offering from Elanors' Noah Harris. Live studio recordings of five songs of solo piano (bedecked with classical motifs) and voice (likened to noted carolers Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley) recorded in a three hour window of time on a blustery Monday morning in March of 2007. Plaintive piano and a gorgeous voice. [more]

Various - Plum (Thrill Jockey) 10 x 45 Boxset $40.00
Extra-special release celebrating Thrill Jockey’s 15th year in existence, and just in time for stuffing stockings! Contains ten 7'' vinyl singles all in full-color jackets, housed in a box with removable lid. Features exclusive and previously unreleased tracks from most/all of the TJ roster each covering a song by another TJ artist, and will not be released on CD. Limited to 2000 copies, worldwide, which just adds to the drama, don’t it? Out of print by 2008, get yours now. [full tracklist]

Society Of Rockets - Our Paths Related (Underpop Records)
LP Vinyl & Digital Download Ticket $10.00
Listen: Mountain Magic • Time
All new kozmic soul-psych opus from The Society of Rockets, formerly known as iconic San Francisco psych-pop collective The Shimmer Kids Underpop Association. Part 70s fuzz-soul, part bleary-eyed shoegaze, part California sunshine-pop = dizzying psych-rock gems. LP vinyl in gatefold jacket includes coupon for free digital download of the entire album plus exclusive bonus track. [more]

M83 - Digital Shades Vol. 1 (Mute) CD $20.50
Listen: Coloring the Void
An import-only in-betweener to keep fans glassy-eyed between albums 3 and 4. This new instrumental release from M83 honcho Anthony Gonzalez finds him in oldschool ambienteer mode, more minimalist than maximalist. He's obviously influenced and fluent in krautrock's motorik kosmische and Brian Eno's classic aéroport atmospherique and streams both together in one awesome headtrip. [more]

Black Cab - Altamont Diary (Interstate 40) CD $12.50
Listen: Summer Of Love • New Speedway Boogie
BETTER PRICE! A full-immersion 2004 concept album based on one of the darkest days in rock-n-roll history, from Aussie electro-psychedelic duo Black Cab. Uncut Magazine called it "The kind of psychedelic noir that Primal Scream or Spacemen 3 always strived to achieve," and we'll throw in The Beta Band at their slowburn trippiest along with echoes of The Stones and The Grateful Dead, naturally. [more]

Black Cab - Jesus East (Interstate 40) CD $12.50
Listen: Hearts On Fire • Jesus East
BETTER PRICE! As incredible as their conceptual drone-rock debut, Altamont Diary, was, Jesus East finds Australian duo Black Cab’s psychedelic hypno-grooviness in supernova mode. From the motorik, otherworldly "Hearts On Fire", to the shambling avant-pop anthem of a title track, to the spoken-word discourse (by Altamont-era Stones/Dead manager Sam Cutler) that closes the set, there are myriad worlds to explore here. Think Neu!, Joy Division, Primal Scream, Spacemen 3, The Beta Band... [more]

Husky Rescue - Ghost Is Not Real (Cat Skills) CD $16.25
Listen: My Home Ghost • Hurricane (Don't Come Knocking)
Finally a decent import price for these Finnish snow-folkies' second album, issued earlier this year elsewhere on the planet. With Ghost Marko Nyberg and radical chic chanteuse Reeta-Leena Korhola get all spacey and sensual; like Air meets Mazzy Star with a little extra rock-n-roll smolder infusing the frosty dream-pop haze. [more]

Husky Rescue - Other World: Remixes & Rarities (Cat Skills)
CD $17.75 Listen: Summertime Cowboy [Mocky Remix]
Also available and hot off the presses is this brand new European collection of exclusive name remixes by Tunng, Fink, Serge Santiago, Emperor Machine, Evil 9 and Vector Lovers; plus unreleased acoustic material and b-sides, including a Alice Cooper cover! The sample track above is a long bonus remix that does not appear on the CD. [more]