WEEK IN RELEASES

It’s another stellar week for new releases, with the highlights being a fierce psychedelic offering from the Flaming Lips and what’s sure to be a divisive Christmas album from none other than the Hibbing Jew, Robert Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan.

Forro in the Dark

Light A Candle

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Unlike its cousins, samba and Tropicalia, forro originated in the rural sections of northeastern Brazil. It’s a highly rhythmic, often funky, brand of party music that’s sure to get your hips swiveling and your feet moving. The New York based band of Brazilian ex-pats, Forro in the Dark, uses this traditional music as a jumping off point to explore a variety of dancefloor styles. On its third album, Light A Candle, the group keeps the energy high with the zabumba drum, accordion and metal triangle leading the charge. Although summer’s come to end, a little Forro in the Dark is sure to bring you back to the steamy days of August.

Bad Lieutenant

Never Cry Another Tear

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Most New Order fans jumped ship a long time ago (around the time of Technique in 1989), but the iconic ’80s pioneers released a couple of solid, if not groundbreaking, albums over the past decade. With the band now apparently kaput, New Order members Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Phil Cunningham, along with Jake Evans of Rambo and Leroy and a little help from Blur’s Alex James, re-grouped to form Bad Lieutenant. Their debut album features more pleasing mid-tempo pop songs along the lines of Get Ready (2001) and Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (2005). Again, nothing earth shattering, but for a group of guys that has to live up to “Blue Monday” or “Ceremony,” what do you expect?

My Robot Friend

Soft-Core

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Fans of Postal Service, Yaz, and Magnetic Fields take note, My Robot Friend is your newest pal. With a stage show more performance art than rock concert (think Devo and Laurie Anderson), My Robot Friend is pushing the boundaries of electronic music. And Soft-Core is one hell of a tasty record, with enough sugary bleeps and gurgles to have you euphorically singing along. The best part is that it features guest appearance by former Luna and Galaxie 500 leader, Dean Wareham, and Yaz’s Alison Moyet. Could My Robot Friend be the next synthpop savior?

Bob Dylan

Christmas in the Heart

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As a fairly rabid Dylan fan, I’m going to reserve judgment about this odd undertaking until I have a little more time to let it sink in. There’s something subversive about one of music’s true geniuses (and a Jewish one at that) recording a collection of Yuletide classics straight-up with a bevy of female back-up singers and lush orchestration. Is it good? The jury’s still out. Is it confounding and perversely humorous? You betcha!

Grant-Lee Phillips

Little Moon

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Grant Lee Buffalo was one of the unsung alt-rock bands of the mid-1990s. A critics’ favorite with a cult following, the trio delivered a powerful brand of Americana-tinged rock with a bombastic streak that would make Bono proud. After disbanding in 1999, singer/songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips struck out on his own, releasing five more intimate albums. His sixth record, Little Moon, continues this winning streak with a set of finely crafted songs that veer from optimistic grandeur (”Good Morning Happiness”) to swooning balladry (”Blind Tom”), all delivered with Phillips’ honey-throated tenor.

The Flaming Lips

Embryonic

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I have to admit, I’ve been starting to tire of the Flaming Lips as of late. The sunny sheen on their last few records blunted the band’s more adventurous side. The shtick of their live shows and sci-fi movie explorations seem to have overshadowed the music. But with Embryonic the Lips return to form in stunning fashion, delivering a dark, shifty, and at times, downright raucous, psychedelic masterpiece. There’s not a hit to be found among the 18 songs on the album; nothing even close to the sweetness of “Do You Realize?” Apple will have to look elsewhere for its next big iPod commercial jingle. On Embryonic, Wayne Coyne and company bring the noise with a chaotic and dizzingly off-the-cuff collection of warped classics.

Piano Magic

Ovations

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A wildly unpredictable band with a restless, but adventurous spirit, Piano Magic is worth seeking out. From the dreamy soundscapes of Son de Mar to the lush arrangements of Low Birth Rate, there’s sure to be something for everyone in the collective’s rich and varied catalog. Its latest entry, Ovations, is actually a good place to start if you’re a novice. The album is chock-full of intricately constructed songs that are dark, haunting and infectious.

Tinariwen

Imidiwan: Companions

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I’ll let eMusic’s Chris Nickson sum this one up: “The best rock music on the planet isn’t coming from Britain or America. It doesn’t shred or headbang. Instead, it strides out of the dust of Sahara, the crucible of the blues, with a gun in one hand and a guitar in the other. It’s made by Tinariwen, one-time nomadic Touareg rebels who, these days, fight with six-string axes rather than AK-47s, and from the start of their fourth outing it’s obvious the fire still burns hard in them. The music still builds on irresistible, slow-burn desert grooves that twist and turn, sometimes atavistically funky (”Tenhert”), other times delightfully playful (”Initlayaghen”).” If that doesn’t sell it, I don’t know what will.

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