September 24, 2006

Rack And Opinion: Release Date 9.26.06

The Lemonheads -- The LemonheadsThe Lemonheads are one of our top five favorite bands, so we're obviously excited about the release this week of the band's first set in a decade [album stream at VH1.com here]. As with all post-Lovey releases, we're pretty cool about this record at the outset. It is good, but no Lemonheads record has leapt out and grabbed us straightaway as the band's earlier, punk and punkish stuff used to. That said, there are lots of strong songs on The Lemonheads, and we are sure that in time we will probably come around as a strong proponent of this one. It took us a couple years to really warm up to Come On Feel The... in particular. It certainly helps The Lemonheads that J. Mascis lends guitar riffage to one tune, and the Descendants-descended backing duo offer a nice bit of punch to the proceedings. Even so, we don't wholly buy chief Lemonhead Evan Dando's pre-release assertion that the record marks a return to the band's punk roots. Our Dando fandom aside, there are a number of other big deal releases this week, including sets from fan favorites Sparklehorse and :: clicky clicky :: favorites Colleen. Those and the rest of our picks for best new releases of the week are listed below. Links go to relevant commercial opportunities with our former tax assessors over at Insound.

Adem -- Love And Other Planets -- Domino
Colleen -- Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique -- Leaf
Four Tet -- Remixes -- Domino
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton -- Knives Don't Have Your Back -- Last Gang
The Lemonheads -- The Lemonheads -- Vagrant
Sparklehorse -- Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain -- Astralwerks
Wolf Eyes -- Human Animal -- Sub Pop

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