Weekend Picks - 03/11/11

Tuesday is usually the day that new music is released...and it just might blow your mind if you could see just how many albums are released weekly. Loads of nonsense shipped to fill up shelves in record stores...some of it new...some of it old (with great new artwork!). Wasn't it Morrissey who said "reissue, repackage, repackage..."? Despite a truck-load of bad records released this week, there happened to be 2 excellent albums quietly put out...and people in "the know" (like myself) quickly scooped them up (Rival Schools, and Rheanna Downey). Now if you missed out on purchasing these records, you can still change course...you can still salvage your weekend so it's not a total loss! Here are my weekend picks...2 brand new records, 1 record that is yet to be released (but can be listened to here), and 3 albums you should have purchased a long time ago. Enjoy...

Weekend Picks - 03/11/11

-The Violet Burning: "The Story Of Our Lives" (still unreleased)
-Rival Schools: "Pedals"
-Rheanna Downey: "Pull The Moon"
-The Tallest Man On Earth: "The Wild Hunt"
-Gliss: "Devotion Implosion"
-Ryan Adams: "Love Is Hell"

Buy these records...thank me later.

Note: The picture above is Gliss...rocking the stage at the Silverlake lounge. A huge thank-you to Stephanie for suggesting them. They remind me of The Jesus And Mary Chain, minus the Reid brothers fighting in between songs. They are incredible!

Cush - "Always Disappear"

If you ever happen to read Billboard.com, or your try to stay "up" on new releases, you most likely have come to the sad realization that much of the "new" music being released these days is rubbish. Sure, there have always been bad albums that have been released upon an unsuspecting populace..."real" housewives singles...lindsay lohan...vampire weekend...all charlatans of suck if you ask me. Because of this phenomenon, I like to take it upon myself to "champion" bands I think deserve a little of your time. Bands that deserve to be heard above all the generic drone that's hyped on music sites. Now I don't have some overwhelming sense of self-importance...I realize that there really aren't droves of people clamoring to read about my thoughts on music (regardless of what I tell myself before I go to sleep). So with all of my rambling out of the way, I give you the new single by Cush. It's atmospheric and dreamy...and musically it picks up where they left off in 2000 with their only full length LP. It's awesome...and it's probably going to make your entire week. Enjoy...

Buy their records...thank me later.