Gil Scott-Heron, New York Is Killing Me. From 2010’s, I’m New Here.

I’m New Here is the 13th studio recording for activist/musician/poet and former resident of Riker’s, Gil Scott-Heron. Coincidentally, Here also marks Heron’s first release in over 13 years. Gil Scott-Heron will turn 61 in April. Take that Nickelback!

More on GSH here.

Cold Cave, The Trees Grew Emotions and Died. From the bands debut disc, Love Comes Close.

Manhattan’s Cold Cave is currently in the UK supporting Editors.

More on Cold Cave via Matador Records.

The Soft Pack, Answer to Yourself. Live on vocalist Matt Lamkin’s roof. From the band’s self titled 2010 record set to be released on February 16th.

Formerly known as The Muslims, this the first record that the band has recorded under their new name, The Soft Pack.

More on San Diego’s The Soft Pack here.

Them Crooked Vultures, Dead End Friends, professional footage shot live in Reading. From the 2009 self-titled release Them Crooked Vultures. For Freddy Pants.

More on one of the best records of 2009 via, Them Crooked Vultures.com.

Soulsavers “Death Bells” remixed by Mogwai.

If you dig this remix hard like me, you can download the track for free via NME.com.

A Place To Bury Strangers, Keep Slipping Away. From 2009’s Exploding Head.

Exploding Head is the third full-length feedback-y release from this Brooklyn based band. Currently in Europe, Strangers will conclude the European leg of their tour with a newly announced show in London on December 15th. A Place to Bury Strangers will be at Neumo’s in Seattle on March 12, 2010.

More here.

Gift Of Gab,  El Gifto Magnifico. From 2009’s Escape 2 Mars. Which sounds like a really good idea right now.

Seattle’s Brother Ali and Del the Funky Homosapien both guest on Gift of Gab’s (aka Timothy Parker, 1/2 of Blackalicious) new record, Escape 2 Mars.

More on Oakland’s Gift of Gab here.

The Sisters of Mercy, Lucretia, My Reflection. From 1987’s Floodland.

More: The Sisters of Mercy.

Russian Circles, Malko. From 2009’s

Hold on to your roof Neumo’s! Russian Circles will attempt to blow you off on November 18th. The awesome Helm’s Alee opens.

More on Chicago’s Russian Circles here.

The Rollings Stones doing Live With Me from Let It Bleed. Live at the Marquee in London, 1971.

The only thing better than this song, is the outfit Mick Jagger is wearing in the video. Girlfriend is hot.

Visqueen, Message to Garcia, 2009.

The impossibly catchy WARD! comes Visqueen’s third studio record, Message to Garcia. Without fear of going out on a limb, it’s probably the Seattle trio’s best effort. WARD! is one of those songs you find yourself singing out loud. And that’s because it’s simply impossible not to want to pretend you sound exactly like Visqueen’s powerhouse vocalist, Rachel Flotard. Which of course, you don’t.

Visqueen will play a gig with Shonen Knife (!) at The Tractor Tavern on Saturday, October 24th.

Ozzy Osbourne & The Blizzard of Ozz, Steal Away the Night. From Ozzy’s first solo record, Blizzard of Ozz, 1980.

Damn you Monday. I always hated you.

Love,

Your 1/2 brother Tuesday.

PS: In other news, Ozzy Osbourne just obtained a license to drive in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Crowley had this to say about his accomplishment, 40 some odd years in the making:

I just passed my driving test. Took me 60 years, but I did it! For the first time in my life, I’m legal to drive, so watch out!

Ozzy Osbourne will turn 61 this coming December. He also might dislike math a lot as well as operating a motor vehicle.

Maybe take the bus tomorrow  if your’re in LA.

Manic Street Preachers, Peeled Apples. From 2009’s Journal for Plague Lovers. For K.

Journal for Plague Lovers, the ninth studio release from Manic Street Preachers, contains music penned 13 years ago by Manic’s former vocalist/guitarist Richey Edwards. Edwards disappeared in 1995 after checking out of London hotel. In 2008 Richey was declared legally dead, despite the fact that his body has never been recovered.

More on Manic Street Preachers here.

Speech Debelle.

Speech Debelle’s 2009 record, Speech Therapy, just won The Barclaycard Mercury Prize for Album of the Year in the UK.

You can download he track Bad Boy from Speech Debelle for free, here. I myself have fallen in love with Debelle’s trip-hoppy, breathless vocals and madly sampled mixes so enjoy. I know you will.

More on Speech Debelle…

The Heavy, How You Like Me Now. From 2009’s The House That Dirt Built. Little Red Riding Hood getting lost on her way to Funkytown? Rock star video bonus!

UK’s The Heavy are back with their second full length and so far, I’m loving it as much as the bands super bad 2007 release, Great Vengance Furious Fire. You can find my most recent earwig, How You Like Me Now, on 2009’s, The House that Dirt Built. Running a close second in my ears is, No Time, a truly funked out rock track in it’s own right. Kelvin Swaby’s vocals have been injected with equal parts of Marvin Gaye and James Brown.  And that’s enough to send anyone hard. Hard and heavy that is. Meow…

The Heavy will be at The Crocodile on October 30th.

Hotels. For Stacey.

The track, Near the Desert, Near the City from Seattle’s Hotels gets me right in the 80’s. Just like the bands Gary Newman homage above. Near is from the bands second record, Where Hearts Go Broke, out this past February.

Hotels will play at 2:00pm on the EMP stage at Bumbershoot on Saturday, September 5th.

More on Hotels here.

Buffalo Tom, Summer. From 1995’s Sleepy Eyed.

I know you don’t really want to believe that summer is pretty much done. But like you, I’m still in denial of that sad fact so I spent the day at the beach, marveling at the surf kicked up by Hurricane Danny, wishing that the lyrics to from Buffalo Tom’s song Summer weren’t so timely.

In two days, it’s going to be September. Summer’s gone, it’s written in the sand.

*Programming note: Posts will be slow tomorrow as I’ll be traveling back to Seattle so read the archives! There’s some good shit in there.*

The Dead Weather, Treat Me Like Your Mother from 2009’s Horehound.

This video has everything! Jack White, machine guns and a chick that looks like Jack White (TDW vocalist Alison Mosshart) with a machine gun shooting Jack White. What more could you ask for?

The Dead Weather will be in Seattle on August 20th at The Paramount.

Amanda Blank, Make it, Take it, from 2009, I Love You.

‘Illadelphia represent!

More on Amanda Blank here.

Soulsavers, Broken. Out on August 18th, 2009.

On the B-side of Sunrise, the new 7″ from Soulsavers (Mark Lanegan and Rich Machin) is a haunting  cover of the Bonnie Prince Billy (aka, Will Oldham) song, “You Will Miss Me When I Burn”. You can listen to it at the bands Myspace. Oldham turns the tables for side-A of the single by lending his vocals to Sunrise, a song written by Lanegan.

Broken, the third record from Soulsavers (the second one with Mark Lanegan on vocals), will be out on August 18th. Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers also appear on the tracks Unbalanced Pieces (Patton) and Death Bells (Haynes). Soulsavers will play three gigs in London and Glasgow starting on August 24th.

Soulsavers return to Seattle to perform at Bumbershoot on September 7th. I’m not missing that, how about you?