Now Streaming: New CDs from Mountain Goats, Jason Collett, Muse, & More

From indie rock to Americana to jazz, there's a wide array of new albums streaming this week. There are new albums from Mountain Goats, Muse, and Beth Orton, among others. And in the continuing trend of bands from the 1980s popping up with new albums, there's a new album streaming from southern rockers The Outlaws (remember "Green Grass and High Tides," ""There Goes Another Love Song," etc.?).


"Lord Knows" by Dum Dum Girls, from their new EP "End of Daze."

Former Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett has not one but two albums streaming this week, a new album ("Reckon") and an eleven-song, career-spanning retrospective ("Essential Cuts"). Speaking of collections, Suzanne Vega is releasing her latest albums consisting of re-recordings of her previous tunes, grouped around a particular theme. "Close-Up Vol. 4: Songs of Family" includes songs including  "Widow's Walk," "Blood Sings," "Bad Wisdom," "Honeymoon Suite," and "Tired of Sleeping."

 We don't normally cover jazz here, we're making an exception for a couple of notable releases that are streaming: "St. Peter and 57th" by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (marking the group's 50th anniversary) and "Made Possible" by The Bad Plus.

There's also a new album by Emmanuel Jal, the former child soldier from Sudan who burst onto the scene a few years back with "War Child," and a second chance to hear Sera Cahoone's excellent new  "Deer Creek Canyon" and the Dum Dum Girls' EP "End of Daze." (You've got a few chances to see Dum Dum Girls in the near future: they're playing Europa in Brooklyn on Sept. 30th, appearing at Other Music on Oct. 1st [free], and opening for The Walkmen at Terminal 5 on Oct. 18th.)

And in honor of Feist's "Metals" winning the Polaris Music Prize last night for best Canadian album of the year, the CBC is streaming it now (not sure for how long, though)... see the bottom of this article.

There are many more streaming albums below (and at the linked websites); have a listen and enjoy.

Rolling Stone: 
"Transcendental Youth" by Mountain Goats (who are playing in NYC soon: Oct. 14th at Music Hall of Williamsburg and the next night at Bowery Ballroom)

The Guardian/iTunes:
"The Second Law" by Muse (streaming at The Guardian in the U.K.; at iTunes in the U.S.)

NPR First Listen:
"Sugaring Season" by Beth Orton
"Until the Quiet Comes" by Flying Lotus

KCRW Album Preview: 
"12 Bit Blues" by Kid Koala

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"End of Daze" by Dum Dum Girls
"Made Possible" by The Bad Plus
"Reckon" and "Essential Cuts" by Jason Collett
"The Poet's Dead" by Rah Rah
"Bodyparts" by Dragonette
"Close-Up Vol. 4: Songs of Family" by Suzanne Vega
"Look A Little Closer" by Levek
"Deer Creek Canyon" by Sera Cahoone
"Reptile Youth" by Reptile Youth
"A Beating Heart Is A Bleeding Heart" by Kingsfoil

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"St. Peter and 57th" by Preservation Hall Jazz Band
"Half-Made Man" by Ben Sollee
"It's About Pride" by The Outlaws
"See Me Mama" by Emmanuel Jal

CBC:
"Metals" by Feist

Free Concert Notes: River to River Festival Returns Sunday (Music Schedule)

The downtown River to River Festival is back starting on Sunday, and running until July 15th. Yes, once again River to River, which used to run all summer, will be a one-month series jam packed with multiple events almost every day. And, as always, all the events are free.

Eleanor Friedberger is one of the performers at River to River 2012.

River to River includes dance, art, and more, but naturally Podcast Party is squarely focused on the music. The venues include a range of sites, indoors and out, all over lower Manhattan (see links below for descriptions of artists and location of venues). You'll find the full River to River music schedule here, but below are most of the rock/pop highlights of the month-long free festival:

June
* Thurs., June 21st: Eddie Palmieri, Rockefeller Park, 7 p.m.
* Tues., June 26th: Suzanne Vega and Gabriel Kahane, Rockefeller Park, 7 p.m.
* Wed., June 27th: Emily Elbert, One Liberty Plaza, 12:30 p.m.
* Wed., June 27th: Third World, Rockefeller Park, 7 p.m.
* Fri., June 29th: Veronica Falls with The People's Temple, Pier 17, The Seaport, 7 p.m.
* Sat., June 30th: Ecstatic™ Summer: Roomful of Teeth with Merrill Garbus & William Brittelle and Judd Greenstein's The Yehudim, World Financial Center Plaza, 7 p.m.

July
* Mon., July 2nd: The Bridge to Broadway starring Rebecca Luker, Marin Mazzie, Matt Munisteri, Gretchen Parlato, Sachal Vasandani, and Tia Fuller, Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City, 7 p.m.
* Tues., July 3rd: Pakistani singer-songwriter Arieb Azhar, Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, 7:30 p.m.
* Thurs., July 5th: Megan Burtt & The Cure for Love, One New York Plaza, 12:30 p.m.
* Fri., July 6th: Patrick Watson with Loney Dear, Pier 17, The Seaport, 7 p.m.
* Tues., July 10th: Afro-Caribbean band Locos Por Juana, World Financial Center Plaza, 5:30 p.m.
* Tues., July 10th: Salsa legend La India with Aurora & Zon del Barrio, Rockefeller Park, 7 p.m.
* Wed., July 11th: Singer Ian Link, One Liberty Plaza, 12:30 p.m.
* Thurs., July 12th: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Rockefeller Park, 7 p.m.
* Fri., July 13th: Eleanor Friedberger with Ex Cops, Pier 17, The Seaport, 8 p.m.

For more details, see the River to River website. And for breaking word on cancellations or venue changes related to weather, follow River to River on Twitter at @R2RFestival.

Concert Notes: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Death Cab Going on Sale

See below for links to tickets to Springsteen and other NYC-area concerts.

Springsteen's New York area shows aren't the only high-demand concerts going on sale this weekend. (See my post with links to tickets for the NYC-region Springsteen shows.) Here are some other gigs on sale today and tomorrow that should sell pretty briskly:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prudential Center in Newark, Fri, May 4th. On sale Sat., Jan. 28th. This is said to be the band's only NYC/NJ area appearance, so pounce if you're into RHCP, pounce. [UPDATE: Second RHCP show added at Prudential Center, May 5th; on sale now.]
• Death Cab for Cutie, Beacon Theatre, with The Magik*Magik Orchestra, Sat., April 28th. Tickets went on sale this morning. (The first show on April 27th is sold out already.)

And there are some interesting upcoming shows now on sale that, while not as popular as Springsteen or the others, are in small venues and will be well worth attending for fans of this blog:

• Suzanne Vega and Duncan Shiek at Highline Ballroom, April 25th and 26th. Tickets went on sale at Noon today. I've seen Vega live many times in different venues, and it's always a good set from her diverse catalog of tunes.
• Graham Parker and the Figgs, City Winery, April 20th. On sale now.
• Richard Barone at City Winery, May 4th,  "Cool Blue Halo" 25th Anniversary Concert with special guests. On sale now. A recreation of the former Bongos frontman's first solo album, plus additional songs, featuring the original quartet from "Cool Blue Halo" with additional musicians. (See an NPR article on the album here.)

By the way, congrats if you got tickets to see The Boss: I got shut out of the Prudential Center and MSG shows. The wait times on Ticketmaster were unlike anything I had ever seen. No doubt scalpers were out in force to snap up the tickets. No doubt Springsteen and band will add more shows, maybe at MetLife Stadium or other outdoor venues in the late summer after they wrap up their European tour in late July.

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from John Zorn, The 65's, & More

The trickle of new albums available for streaming continues this week, but there are still some new CDs worth checking out. The avant-garde composer and instrumentalist John Zorn has a new album called "A Dreamer's Christmas," and if you're into holiday music with a different twist, head on over to NPR Music to preview it. [Update: the Zorn Christmas album is very enjoyable and a much more mainstream Christmas album than I would have expected, considering his past work. It's still streaming on NPR as of Dec. 23rd.]

The debut album by NJ band The 65's is one of the titles available for free streaming this week.

New Jersey alternative rockers The 65's are out with their debut album, "Strike Hard!," and it's available for preview this week (listen to the first track from the album, "Walk On Selfishly," below, and listen to the album's killer version of "Pretty in Pink" here).

Also this week, there are EPs by groups including The Lower 48 and Sixx:A.M., the band featuring Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. The Sixx:A.M. release, "7," is a collection of seven of the band's tunes reworked in acoustic versions. (See a review of "7" here.)

  The 65's • "Walk On Selfishly" by dromedary

Another album streaming this week is a benefit collection to fight cancer that features songs from performers as diverse as Ben E. King, Suzanne Vega, Tom Verlaine, Randy Brecker, and John Pizzarelli.

NPR First Listen:
"A Dreamer's Christmas" by John Zorn

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Fire & Ice" by Kaskade
"Where All Maps End" by The Lower 48
"Strike Hard!" by The 65's
"Life in the Loos" (EP) by Ross and the Wrongens
"Lying to My Lies" (EP) by Dear Lions

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"7" by Sixx:A.M.
"Back to Love" by Anthony Hamilton
"Pioneers for a Cure - American Songs to Fight Cancer" by various artists (including Ben E. King, Suzanne Vega, Tom Verlaine, John Pizzarelli, Randy Brecker, and Tom Chapin).

Live in NYC Wednesday: WNYC to Webcast Mountain Goats and Suzanne Vega

The Mountain Goats and Suzanne Vega will be performing live Wednesday afternoon at WNYC's new downtown performing space, and if you can't make it there you can watch the live webcast.

The performance, part of the station's show "Soundcheck," starts at 2 p.m. The show will be webcast live and will also be broadcast on WNYC's FM station at 93.9.

The Mountain Goats are a band led by John Darnielle. Their latest album, “All Eternals Deck,” came out on March 29th. In a write-up about the album NPR Music said of Darnielle, "Once a wild man whose shouted white-knuckle screeds could barely be contained by the crummy boom boxes on which he recorded them, Darnielle has aged into a singing poet whose words still hit like punches." (More on Mountain Goats from NPR Music.)

Suzanne Vega has long been one of my favorite musicians ever since her first album (which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year). I've seen her play in venues ranging from large festivals to small clubs; she's definitely a performer I'd recommend seeing. Her latest project is the original off-Broadway play “Carson McCullers Talks About Love,” about the famous Southern author who is a hero of Vega's. Vega wrote the script for the work and plays McCullers, and also collaborated on the score with pop musician Duncan Sheik, who's now had success a huge success on Broadway with "Spring Awakening."

Suzanne Vega: "People & Places" Out Tuesday; Get It for $3.99 Today

Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega's latest project is re-recording a number of her songs from throughout her career and releasing them in themed albums. The first album in the series she's calling "Close-Up" was "Love Songs"; the second, "People and Places," comes out tomorrow.

Amazon.com is having a special day-early sale on the MP3 edition of "Close-Up, Vol 2: People and Places (Deluxe Edition)," offering it for only $3.99 for Monday, Oct. 12th only. [UPDATE: The price is still good on Tuesday, Oct. 12th.] (This offer may be good only in the U.S.) This edition has several extra bonus tunes, including a Spanish-language version of "Luka."

As you'd expect, New York is the place that shows up most frequently on the (as in "Tom's Diner" and "New York is a Woman"); and the people include the title characters from her songs "Luka," "Priscilla," and "The Queen and the Soldier."

Suzanne Vega performed a live set at Borders book store headquarters last week; you can view song from the session at the link. Playing with Vega are her longtime collaborators bassist Mike Visceglia and guitarist Gerry Leonard.

Spoon, Robert Randolph, The Zombies, Suzanne Vega, & More Rock the Union County Music Fest (PHOTOS)

The Union County Music Fest in Clark, NJ has got to be one of the best-kept secrets in the NYC area as far as free music festivals go. As I wrote the other day, the 2010 UC Music Fest this past weekend had a great lineup, and I caught Sunday's show with Spoon, Robert Randolph, The Zombies, Nils Lofgren, Suzanne Vega, and more.

One surprisingly good act was the first one I saw Sunday, the Nils Lofgren "acoustic duo." I've long been a fan of Lofgren (above), but wondered if a two-man acoustic lineup could convey the power of his more rocking tunes.

Not to worry: Lofgren's guitar playing and voice did the songs justice, and his sideman (whose name I didn't catch) did a fine job not only on keyboard but on percussion: tap dancing on a wooden platform. Nils also took a couple turns hoofing it on the boards (who knew Lofgren could tap dance?)

I've seen Suzanne Vega (above) in concert more than almost any other performer, and part of the reason is because she never disappoints. Her UC Music Fest set with longtime collaborators Mike Visceglia (bass) and Gerry Leonard (guitar) was no exception.

It showed her range from moving stories in spare acoustic arrangements in several songs from her first album, "Suzanne Vega" (which came out 25 years ago), to the bossa nova of "Caramel," the industrial sounds of "Blood Makes Noise," and her collaboration with Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse, "The Man Who Played God."

The Zombies (above), that influential rock band from the 1960s, are still around? I had no idea until I saw them on the Music Fest's lineup. They're celebrating their 50th anniversary and are even working on a new album (due in 2011). They put on a good set of original Zombies songs and tunes the band recorded, as well as songs by keyboardist Rod Argent's group, Argent (including the hits "Hold Your Head Up" and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You.")

New Jersey's own Robert Randolph (above) and the Family Band got the crowd moving and shaking off the chill of the cool, wet afternoon. Randolph said it was good to be back home, and to know that the Giants won that afternoon. Yes indeed.

Austin's Spoon was back in the tri-state area to close the festival (above: Rob Pope and Britt Daniel). This was the band most people came to see (though Robert Randolph had a good-sized crowd, too). Spoon played a one-hour-plus set that included many of the same tunes as their recent sets at Madison Square Garden (opening for Arcade Fire), with an emphasis on their latest album "Transference" and its predecessor "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga."

The Music Fest featured a smaller stage for up-and-coming acts, and I liked the one band I saw: Brooklyn's A Million Years (three of four members above). (Unlike many Brooklyn bands, most of these actually grew up in the borough). They've been playing together for many years, it seems, and it showed. They had a solid, tight sound as they played tunes from their debut album "Mischief Maker," including the catchy title tune.

A Million Years will be playing a couple of gigs at next month's CMJ in New York and a show with Jesse Malin in the East Village.

The Union County Music Fest offered an amazing lineup for a free show, and getting in and out of the even was surprisingly hassle free. This is an event I'll definitely put on my calendar for next year.

Suzanne Vega Returns to New York

Although best known to most people for her 1987 hit song “Luka,” singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has had a long and varied career for more than 20 years. Her concert at Manhattan Center on Thursday was a great chance to see this native New Yorker performing in her hometown, playing songs from her very New York centric new album, Beauty and Crime.

In some of the new songs Vega harkens back to an earlier era in New York, and this look is also captured on the photography for the new album, and in her appearance onstage. For the entire show Vega wore a trenchcoat that would have been at home in a 1940s filim noir, with one side pulled down seductively to reveal a bare shoulder. And when playing several songs from Beauty and Crime she donned the type of old-fashioned hat you'd expect a hardened noir detective to wear.

The songs she played from Beauty and Crime talked about New York City of the past—New York is a Woman (“But not always a lady,” she noted), Edith Wharton's Figurines, Frank and Ava (about the stormy romance between Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner). But one poignant number, Angel's Doorway, tells the story of an NYPD cop named Angel who worked at Ground Zero.

While Vega's early work had acoustic roots, calling her a folk singer vastly oversimplifies the many styles she's worked in over the years. She showed this range during the concert, from the remix dance-pop version of her a capella hit Tom's Diner to the clanging industrial sound of Blood Makes Noise to the jazzy bossa nova feel of Caramel.

The Manhattan Center show was a fitting example of the many styles and faces of Suzanne Vega.