New Release Tuesday 5-13-14

May 13, 2014

MUSIC

The Black Keys – Turn Blue (Nonesuch)
When I was first exposed to the blues rock from the Akron, Ohio duo nine years ago, I wondered if mainstream pop culture would ever embrace their sound. It didn't take much time after that for Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney's music to start appearing in ads for Victoria's Secret and for them to start performing on music festival main stages. With the release of their fifth album, 2008's Attack & Release, the Black Keys began working with producer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse), who has co-produced each of their subsequent releases, and as their songs became more radio friendly, their popularity soared. Now, with platinum records and multiple Grammys under their belts, the Keys once again team with Burton for their eighth studio effort, Turn Blue. If you loved their last three albums, then songs like "In Time, "Fever" and "10 Lovers" are going to make you very happy.

Chromeo – White Women (Big Beat/Atlantic)
I can honestly say that I have never been disappointed when I've listened to songs from the Montreal electro-funk pair of David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. The streak continues with the tracks of their fourth album, White Women, which releases today. With infectious beats and often hilarious lyrics, there's a reason Chromeo refer to themselves as the "Larry David of Funk." Just give songs such as "Come Alive" (featuring Toro y Moi), "Over Your Shoulder" and "Lost on the Way Home" (featuring Solange) a spin to see what I mean. You'll smile, you'll giggle and, most of all, you'll dance.

Little Dragon – Nabuma Rubberband (Loma Vista)
Ever since the Swedish foursome burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut in 2007, they've held my interest. Their synthesizers and electronic beats are paired with the soulful voice of frontwoman Yukimi Nagano in bold and innovative, yet completely catchy, ways. "Let Go" and "Klapp Klapp," the first singles from their fourth album, Nabuma Rubberband, immediately grab your ear with pulsating beats, and once Nagano's vocals kick in you are hooked. Although Little Dragon don't have an L.A. date on their current schedule, they are giving you a chance to win tickets to see them perform at Bonnaroo next month. All you have to do to enter is build your own Nabuma Derby car (see instructions here: nabumarubberband.com), then post a photo of your tricked out racer on Twitter or Instagram using #NabumaDerby @LittleDragon and @Redbull.

Michael Jackson – Xscape (Epic)
While you may have mixed feelings about posthumous album releases, there is no way you aren't curious in the least about hearing more new music from the King of Pop. L.A. Reid worked with Michael Jackson's estate to find eight songs that the singer had completed vocals on before teaming with some of the industry's top producers to give the tracks a contemporary finish. The result is Xscape, the second compilation album of new music to be released after the artist's death. Reid enlisted Timbaland to co-executive produce the album, which also contains work from StarGate, Jerome "J-Rock" Harmon, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and John McClain. While songs like "Love Never Felt So Good" (which also has a duet version with Justin Timberlake) sound exactly how you would expect a new MJ jam to, the darker "Blue Gangsta" and title track hint at a different style that we might have seen from him. The deluxe album includes all of the songs in their original forms, a bonus track and two videos.

Tori Amos – Unrepentant Geraldines (Mercury Classics)
I doubt there is a contemporary singer-songwriter who isn't influenced or at least knows the lyrics to one Tori Amos song. Her incredible voice is instantly recognizable, her piano skills phenomenal and her lyrical prowess is incredible. While her last three albums were classical in nature, Unrepentant Geraldiines, her 14th full-length release, is a return to the pop/rock sound she is known for. With songs such as "Trouble's Lament," "Wild Way" and "16 Shades of Blue," Amos has not only continued to push herself creatively she has remained entirely beautiful in eloquence and melody in doing so. See her perform songs from the new album and some favorites on July 23 at the Greek Theatre.

Also available – Bane's Don't Wait Up; Blondie's Blondie 4(0) Ever; Cursed Sails' Rotten Society; Dolly Parton's Blue Smoke; Dylan Gardner's Adventures in Real Time; Eastlink's self-titled; Guided By Voices' Cool Planet; Hiss Tracts' Shortwave Nights; Joseph Arthur's Lou; Killer Be Killed's self-titled; Kishi Bashi's Lighght; La Sera's Hour of the Dawn; Levi Weaver's Your Ghost Keeps Finding Me; Midnight Faces' The Fire Is Gone; Mirah's Changing Light; Mushroomhead's The Righteous & The Butterfly; Only Crime's Pursuance; The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's Days of Abandon; Rascal Flatts' Rewind; Rig 1's North of Maple; Sean Nicholas Savage's Bermuda Waterfall; The Shilohs self-titled; Swans' To Be Kind; Sylar's To Whom It May Concern; Sylvan Esso's self-titled; Thunderegg's C'mon Thunder; Tobacco's Ultima Il Massage; The Trouble With Templeton's Rookie; Walter Martin's We're All Young Together; Watery Love's Decorative Feeding; Weatherbox's Flies In All Directions; Young Widows' Easy Pain

LITERARY

In stores this week – The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz; Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore; Jack of Spies by David Downing; No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald; President Me: The America That's In My Head by Adam Carolla; The Skin Collector (Lincoln Rhyme) by Jeffery Deaver; Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises by Timothy F. Geithner; Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner; We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

DVD

Film – Writer/director Spike Jonze won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Her, a riveting and innovative love story that stars Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Chris Pratt and Rooney Mara; Aaron Echkhart, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto and Bill Nighy in I, Frankenstein; That Awkward Moment follows the dating adventures of three best friends (played by Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller)

Music – The Dave Clark Five and Beyond: Glad All Over

TV – Eastbound & Down: The Complete Fourth & Final Season; Longmire: Season 2; Orange Is the New Black: Season 1

Also available – After Tiller; Camp Harlow; Chlorine; Compound Fracture; Crook; Shakespeare: Richard II; Special ID; Squatters; Stalingrad; Stranger By the Lake

New Release Tuesday 5/6/14

May 6, 2014

 

MUSIC

Atmosphere – Southsiders (Rhymesayers)
The Minneapolis duo of rapper Slug (Sean Daley) and DJ/producer Ant (Anthony Davis) came together over 25 years ago, and with seven studio albums, 10 EPs under their belts and a jam-packed schedule of upcoming tour dates, they are still going strong. For me, when someone utters the phrase "indie rap," Atmosphere is the first group that always comes to mind. Southsiders, their first album since 2011's The Family Sign (the full-length follow-up to the awesomely named When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold), is a shout-out to their native neighborhood and, fittingly, is deeply reflective on tracks like "Camera Thief," "Bitter" and "Kanye West." Their record-release show at the Roxy this Thursday is sold-out, but never fear, they will be back in the fall for two nights at the Palladium (Sept. 5 & 6).

crash – Hardly Criminal (Community)
If you're a fan of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, then crash's voice should be familiar to you since he has served as a backing vocalist in the group for the past two years. Whenever Alex Ebert has handed the microphone over to him for a rendition of "Motion Animal," crash has wowed the crowd with his soulful style and unbelievable tenor. When he goes deeper in his register on the songs  of his debut album, Hardly Criminal – such as "Mad at the Clouds," which puts more of his Southern roots on display – he is just as enthralling. Now an Angeleno, crash hasn't lost touch with the music of his Louisiana upbringing; the sounds of his grandfather's country band and New Orleans street performers meld with his love of folk and soul for a flavor all his own.

Leisure Cruise – Self-titled (Last Gang)
Everyone needs an album that's just going to make them dance, and this debut from Lea Siegel (Firehorse) and Dave Hodge (Broken Social Scene) is more than capable of doing just that. The idea to form the duo came to Hodge the day that Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, as he saw his friend Siegel walk by a café he was sitting in. A few months later, they began creating the songs that would make up this self-titled effort, and the tragic events of the natural disaster definitely had an impact on their songwriting process. The album is anything but sad, though. Its electronic beats and beeps on "Double Digit Love," "Sailing" and "Ragged Down" take you on an aural journey that is utterly enjoyable.

Lykke Li – I Never Learn (LL/Atlantic)
The Swedish singer-songwriter has such a striking voice that the songs she sings never fail to strike an emotional chord. Her third studio album, I Never Learn, is full of gorgeous, intimate tracks that she calls "power ballads." For the first time, she co-produced the songs with long-time collaborator Björn Yttling and Greg Kurstin, and she took inspiration from her new surroundings in Los Angeles. Resulting tracks like "No Rest for the Wicked," "Gunshot" and "Love Me Like I'm Not Made of Stone" are heart-wrenching and beautiful. Her May 19 show at the Theatre at Ace Hotel is already sold out, but make sure to catch her set if you're heading to Outsidelands in August because her live performances are quite riveting.

Also available – Antwon's Heavy Hearted in Doldrums; Badbadnotgood's III; Barrows' Red Giant; Ben & Ellen Harper's Childhood Home; Black Stone Cherry's Magic Mountain; Coy Kids' Youthful Days; Current Swell's Ulysses; Elephant's Sky Swimming; Eno Hyde's Someday World; Fujiya & Miyagi's Artificial Sweeteners; The Generators' Life Gives-Life Takes; The Horrors' Luminous; Hunter Hayes' Storyline; Kina Grannis' Elements; Liam Finn's The Nihilist; Lily Allen's Sheezus; Makthaverskan's Makthaverskan II; Matrimony's Montibello Memories; Money's The Shadow of Heaven; Mick Harvey's Intoxicated Man/Pink Elephants; Morning Parade's Pure Adulterated Joy; Natalie Merchant's self-titled; Naughty Boy's Hotel Cabana; Nikki Lane's All or Nothin'; Papercuts' Life Among the Savages; Paws' Youth Culture Forever; Rachel Taylor Brown's Falimy; Rodrigo Amarante's Cavalo; Santana's Corazón; Sarah MacLachlan's Shine On; Stone Cold Fox's Memory Palace; Thomas Dybdahl's What's Left is Forever; Trophy Scars' Holy Vacants; tUnE-yArDs' Nikki Nack; Willie Watson's Folk Singer Vol. 1; Young Magic's Breathing Statues

LITERARY

The Snow Queen: A Novel by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
I chose Virginia Woolf as the subject of my final research project in my high school English class, and I've been obsessed with the writer ever since. So, of course I devoured Michael Cunningham's The Hours – about three generations of women (including Woolf) whose lives are interconnected by her novel Mrs Dalloway – when it was released in 1998 and adapted to film in 2002. The Hours garnered Cunningham the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and international acclaim. If you enjoyed that book or his other works, such as A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood or By Nightfall, you should definitely pick up his latest novel, The Snow Queen. Set in New York, the story follows two brothers' struggle and search for deeper meaning in life. It's a tale about faith, transcendence and love.

Also available – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; Birdmen by Lawrence Goldstone; Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast; The Closer by Mariano Rivera with Wayne Coffey; Conform by Glenn Beck and Kyle Olson; Delicious! by Ruth Reichl; Extra Virgin by Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar; Field of Prey by John Sandford; Finding Me by Michelle Knight with Michelle Burford; #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso; Guy on Fire by Guy Fieri; Instinct by T.D. Jakes; John Quincy Adams by Fred Kaplan; The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry (available May 7); Mirror Sight by Kristen Britain; The One (The Selection) by Kiera Cass; The Painter by Peter Heller; Southern Living Country Music's Greatest Eats - presented by CMT; A Troublesome Inheritance by Nicholas Wade; Unlucky 13 (Women's Murder Club) by James Patterson; Walking on Water by Richard Paul Evans

DVD

Film – The Veronica Mars Movie is set nine years after the event's of the TV show's series finale and reunites creator/director/writer Rob Thomas with the cast helmed by Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring and Enrico Colantoni; Kurt Russell, Jay Baruchel and Matt Dillon in The Art of the Steal; Broadway Idiot follows Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong's journey of turning the band's 2004 hit album, American Idiot, into a Broadway musical

TV – Generation War; Republic of Doyle, Season 1; Rookie Blue: Season 4; Your Inner Fish

Comedy – Lewis Black's Old Yeller: Live at the Borgata

Music – All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman; A Celebration of Blues and Soul: The 1989 Presidential Inaugural Concert; Rush – The Rise of Kings; Suzanne Vega's Solitude Standing

Also available – After the Dark; Burn; Making the Rules; Mr. Jones; Nearlyweds; Still Mine; Sugar; Truth
 

New Release Tuesday 4/29/14

April 29, 2014

MUSIC

Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots (Warner Bros.)
Damon Albarn sure knows how to craft a catchy song, yet the British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer's name might not be that familiar to you. His work at the helm of Gorillaz and Blur has made him a critical and commercial success, and with today's release of his first solo album, people will begin to associate his name with the brilliant compositions and the voice they will undoubtedly recognize. On Everyday Robots, which he co-produced with XL's Richard Russell, Albarn is more introspective and reflective on his personal life and history than he has ever been and seamlessly blends electronic beats with soulful vocals. Everyone will still find bits to relate to among the 12 tracks. You will find yourself clapping along with Albarn's collaboration with Brian Eno, "Heavy Seas of Love," smiling to "Mr Tembo" (a song about a little elephant he encountered in Tanzania) and shedding some tears during "You & Me."

The Goastt – Midnight Sun (Chimera)
Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl first unveiled songs from the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger in 2010. SInce then, the New York modern psych-rockers have toured with the likes of the Flaming Lips and Tame Impala and release a new album today. Midnight Sun takes their compelling, postmodern-psychedelic sound further on lush tracks like "Animals," "Don't Look Back Orpheus" and "Moth to a Flame." Catch them perform as a five-piece band at the El Rey on May 17.

Rodrigo y Gabriela – 9 Dead Alive (ATO)
I can't remember the exact date when I first heard the Mexican duo, but I do remember instantly falling in love with the fiery energy of their fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars. It's been five years since Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero released new, original material, and 9 Dead Alive is a return to their roots, with stripped-down and minimalistic pieces that showcase their incredible skills. Just one listen to songs like "The Soundmaker," "Torito" or "Somnium," and I am instantly reminded of why I first became so enamored with them. See them set the Orpheum stage on fire a week from today (May 6) or at the Palladium May 7.

Strange Talk – Cast Away (Wind-Up)
Sometimes you just need to dance, and this debut album from the Aussie foursome is an ideal soundtrack to any party, be it a one-person bedroom dance session or at a crowded club. The 12 tracks received four out of five stars from Rolling Stone Australia, calling them "equal parts Cut Copy and Daft Punk with pinches of Eighties pop," and from the opening bars of its title track, Cast Away will have you moving. You'll also want to give "Young Hearts," "Climbing Walls" and "Morning Sun" a spin or two or three. Their May 14 show at the Echo is sold out, but you can also catch them performing at Bardot on May 12.

Also available – Alfie Boe's Trust; André Obin's Ways of Escape; Bas' Last Winter; Ben Watt's Hendra; Brody Dalle's Diploid Love; Chad VanGaalen's Shrink Dust; Chris Robinson Brotherhood's Phosphorescent Harvest; Dan Sartain's Dudesblood; Edward David Anderson's Lies & Wishes; Ex-Cult's Midnight Passenger; Floor's Oblation; Fu Manchu's Gigantoid; Howlin Rain's Live Rain; Johnossi's Transitions; Lindsey Stirling's Shatter Me; Maria Minerva's Histrionic; Miss May I's Rise of the Lion; Mystic Braves' Desert Island; Neighbors (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack); Nels Cline Singers' Macroscope; Old 97s' Most Messed Up; Olga Bell's Krai; Ought's More Than Any Other Day; Pigeon John's Encino Man; Pink Mountaintops' Get Back; Pixies' Indie Cindy; Ramona Lisa's Arcadia; Rebecca & Fiona's Beauty Is Pain; The Revere's Behold, The Sea Itself!; The Safes' Record Heat; Secret Colours' Positive Distractions Part II; The String Cheese Incident's Song In My Head; Stumbleine's Dissolver; Styles P's Phantom and the Ghost; Whitechapel's Our Endless War; Wye Oak's Shriek

LITERARY

In Stores This Week – Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger; Discovering Your Soul Signature by Panache Desai; Natchez Burning (Penn Cage) by Greg Iles; Sex Criminals Volume One by Matt Fraction

DVD 

Film – Labor Day is Jason Reitman's adaptation of the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name about an escaped convict (Josh Brolin) who crosses paths with a 13-year-old boy (Gattlin Griffith) and his depressed mother (Kate Winslet); Fantasy horror film Escape From Tomorrow was shot guerilla-style at Walt Disney World and Disneyland; Vanessa Hudgens, Rosario Dawson and Brendan Fraser in Gimme Shelter

Comedy – Jim Gaffigan's Obsessed

TV – Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series; Godzilla: The Complete Animated Series; Mr. Selfridge Season 2; Star Trek Enterprise: Season Four

Music – The Allman Brothers' 40th Anniversary Show; The Milk Carton Kids' Live From Lincoln Theatre; The Rise and Fall of the Clash; Toto's 35th Anniversary Live in Poland

Also available – Art Machine; Bad Country; The Best Offer; Dead Shadows; Devil's Due; Gloria; The Legend of Hercules; The Rocket; Seduced and Abandoned; Trouble Every Day

New Release Tuesday 4/22/14

April 22, 2014

MUSIC

Asher Roth – RetroHash (Pale Fire)
It's been exactly five years since the release of Asher Roth's promising debut album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, and this time has brought about many changes for the hip-hop artist. Not only has he relocated to Los Angeles from his native Philadelphia, Pa., he has also "experienced a transformation only achieved by spiritual growth." There is definitely a maturity and west coast influence, as well as an exploration into new and classic sensibilities, heard on tracks like "Tangerine Girl" and "Fast Life," yet his thought-provoking lyrics and smooth flow remain throughout RetroHash. Join him to celebrate the record's release tonight at the Troubadour.

Bailiff – Remise (self-released)
After dropping out of Berklee College of Music, vocalist/guitarist Josh Siegel returned to his hometown of Chicago and immediately placed an ad on Craigslist to find other musicians to start a band. The ad said: "Do you consider Radiohead to be soul music? Do you hear Muddy Waters in between the notes on the White Album?" Drummer Ren Mathew replied, and Bailiff was born. After releasing their 2011 debut Red Balloon, which introduced their progressive blues-rock sound to the world, they added New York transplant Owen O'Malley to the lineup, spent eight months of intensive songwriting with mentors Dan Smart and Jon Alvis and launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised $16,000 towards their sophomore release, Remise. And they continue to push genre borders with must-hear tracks such as "Helicopter" and "Shake My Heart Awake."

Neon Trees – Pop Psychology (Island)
Even if you're not a fan of alternative pop, "Animal" and "Everybody Talks" make getting up to dance and sing along pretty impossible. The Provo, Utah quartet of Neon Trees achieved multi-platinum status with those singles from their first two albums, 2010's Habits and 2012's Picture Show and are poised for even more success with the release of their third effort, Pop Psychology. The album's first single, the infectious "Sleeping With A Friend," was already Top 10 at Hot AC radio, No. 11 at Alternative, No. 19 at Triple A and No. 32 at Top 40 at the beginning of the month. I don't think anyone can resist a song with "ooh oohs" in it. If you haven't seen them perform live, you can find out what all the fuss is about on June 14 when they headline the Wiltern with Smallpools and Nightmare and the Cat in tow.

Also available – Augustana's Life Imitating Life; Careful's The World Doesn't End; Death's III; Dwight & Nicole's Shine On; Dylan Shearer's garagearray; Eels' The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett; Fear of Men's Loom; Francesca Battistelli's If We're Honest; Hot Victory's self-titled; Iggy Azalea's The New Classic; Jerry Leger's Early Riser; Justin Rutledge's Daredevil; Keb Mo's Bluesamericana; Kelis' Food; Krokus' Long Stick Goes Boom: Live from Da House of Rust; Medeski Martin & Wood + Nels Cline's The Woodstock Sessions (Vol. 2); The Menzingers' Rented World; The Ministry of Wolves' Music From Republik der Wölfe; Modern Rivals' Cemetery Dares; Patrick Park's Love Like Swords; Pinky Doodle Poodle's self-titled; Sebastian Bach's Give 'Em Hell; Teen's The Way and Color; To Kill a King's Cannibals With Cutlery; The Whigs' Modern Creation

LITERARY

There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll by Lisa Robinson (Riverhead)
In the early 1970s, there were only a handful of journalists who were writing about rock 'n' roll, and Lisa Robinson was one of them. Name any of the influential musicians of the era – John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Patti Smith – as well as modern-day superstars like U2, Eminetm, Lady Gaga and Jay Z, and Robinson has interviewed them all. She shares behind-the-scenes stories from those times and throughout her career as one of the few females in the field in this new book. From introducing David Bowie to Lou Reed and helping the Clash and Elvis Costello get their record deals, Robinson has so many amazing tales to tell, and she does so in There Goes Gravity.

Also available – Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy; Everybody's Got Something by Robin Roberts with Veronica Chambers; A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren; Pride Over Pity by Kailyn Lowry; Smart Money Smart Kids: Raising the Next Generation to Win with Money by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze; The Target (Will Robie) by David Baldacci

DVD

Film – Bettie Page Reveals All is Mark Mori's documentary about the life and cultural impact of the pin-up model and includes audio interviews with Page, as well as interviews with Dita Von Teese, Hugh Hefner, Rebecca Romijn, Naomi Campbell and Mamie Van Doren; Evan Rachel Wood and Scott Speedman in Barefoot; Suspect stars Mekhi Phifer and Sterling K. Brown as social scientists posing as bank robbers; Bill Siegel's documentary about Ali's battle in refusing to serve in Vietnam, The Trials of Muhammad Ali

Comedy – Tracy Morgan's Bona Fide

Music – The King Family: Classic Television Specials Collection Volume 1

Also available – Good Witch's Garden; Harold's Going Stiff; House of Good & Evil; Lies We Tell but the Secrets We Keep; Sorcerer; Tyler Perry's Madea's Neighbors From Hell

New Release Tuesday 4/8/14

April 8, 2014

MUSIC

The Faint – Doom Abuse (SQE)
I have so many awesome memories tied to songs off the Faint's Danse Macabre and Wet from Birth albums, so I am always eager to hear new material from the Omaha foursome. After touring for a year in support of their last album, 2008's Fasciinatiion, they took time away from the band to regroup but eventually started making new music together last year, releasing a 12-inch called Preversions. These four songs became the foundation for their latest album, Doom Abuse. "We focused a lot less on the finished product of this record than we did on the spirit of it," comments guitarist Dapose (Michael Dappen). "The spirit was low-fi mixed with hi-fi, feedback and noise mixed with songwriting. There are some real consistencies in the songs, but it was really about a feel in general. Everything’s a lot faster on this record, it's more rocking. It’s like a punk rock record in some ways." Experience Doom Abuse live when the Faint head our way this summer for a three-night stand at the Roxy on June 6, 7 and 8.

John Frusciante – Enclosure (Record Collection)
John Frusciante is one of my favorite contemporary guitarists, but in the time since parting ways with Red Hot Chili Peppers for the second time, he has immersed himself in synthesizers, drum machines, samplers and computers. Enclosure, his 11th solo album, is the culmination of his exploration into musical programming, with the entire record having been written, produced, performed and engineered by him in his L.A. studio. Songs like the over-six-minute-long "Scratch" are the confluence of his guitar mastery merged with technological elements. Frusciante's experimentation extends far beyond the album's nine tracks, though. On March 29, Enclosure was loaded onto a cube satellite called Sat-JF14 and launched into space aboard a rocket, and using the Sat-JF14 app, you can track the satellite's movement to find out when it's above your region to listen to the album for free using any iOS or Android mobile device. So cool.

Nømads – Free My Animal (Mecca Lecca) 

The New York duo comprised of Nathan Lithgow (My Brightest Diamond, Inlets, Gabriel & the Hounds) and Garth Macaleavey (Inlets, sound engineer for the Philip Glass Ensemble, Joe's Pub and Le Poisson Rouge) unveil their debut album today. Free My Animal was completely produced, recorded and mixed by the two for a sound that is a blend of Nirvana and Fugazi with Death From Above 1979 and Queens of the Stone Age. Songs like "In the Mend," the title track and "Down in Out" are guaranteed to make your heart beat a little faster and your ears bleed. But the hurt is very, very good.

Also available – Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks' Enter the Slasher House; Black Label Society's Catacombs of the Black Vatican; Brown Shoe's Lonely Beast Part One; Chuck Inglish's Convertibles; Colourmusic's May You Marry Rich; Consider Me Dead's Young at Heart; EMA's The Future's Void; For the Fallen Dreams' Heavy Hearts; Ghetto Ghouls' self-titled; Haley Pharo's self-titled; Highasakite's Silent Treatment; Incan Abraham's Tolerance; James Durbin's Celebrate; Joan Osborne's Love and Hate; Martina McBride's Everlasting; The Mary Onettes' Portico; Menew's Mother Nature; MercyMe's Welcome to the New; OFF!'s Wasted Years; Ratking's So it Goes; School of Language's Old Fears; Sleepmakeswaves' In Today Already Walks Tomorrow; SoftSpot's Mass; SoMo's self-titled; SZA's Z; Teebs' Estara; Thus Owls' Turning Rocks; Todd Terje's It's Album Time; Tweens' self-titled; Whalers' Submarine Sun

LITERARY

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan (Scribner)
If you're ever in need of inspiration, all you have to do is read the final essay – which shares the same title as this collection of her work – Marina Keegan wrote for the Yale Daily News in anticipation of her 2012 graduation. Her words are even more moving when you take into account that the 22-year-old writer, poet and playwright died in a car accident just five days after Commencement. Her family, friends and teachers, like author and editor Anne Fadiman who also penned the book's introduction, chose the best of Keegan's fiction and nonfiction stories and essays to include in The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories. This is a wonderful collection by a brilliant young woman who was full of so much talent and promise.

Also available – The Blender Girl by Tess Masters; Can't and Won't by Lydia Davis; The Chopped Cookbook by Food Network Kitchen; Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace; The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead by Charles Murray; The Death of Money by James Rickards; The Divide by Matt Taibbi; Face the Music by Paul Stanley; In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen; Love Life by Rob Lowe; Miracles Now by Gabrielle Bernstein; My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz; The Truth About Retirement Plans and IRAs (paperback) by Ric Edelman

DVD

Film – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second in Peter Jackson's trilogy adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece, stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen and Richard Armitage in the continuing adventure of the hobbit, wizard and group of dwarves; Tracy Letts' dark comedy, August: Osage County, transitions from the stage to big screen with an all-star cast led by Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper and Ewan McGregor; Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone go toe to toe in Grudge Match

TV – The Amazing Race: S13; Earthflight: The Complete Series; Lizzie Borden Took an Ax; Moonshiners: Season 2

Music – Artaserse; The Bobby Darin Show; Don't Ask Me Questions: The Unsung Life of Graham Parker and the Rumour; Justin Bieber's Believe

Also available – Back in the Day; Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses; Best Night Ever; Black Coffee; Cavemen; Cocaine Cowboys Reloaded; Marilyn & The Senator; Men, Money & Gold Diggers; My Fair Lidy; My Name Is Paul; Nurse; Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones; Snake & Mongoose

New Release Tuesday 4/1/14

April 1, 2014

MUSIC

Caught a Ghost – Human Nature (+1)
"Blues musicians used to say you caught a ghost if you gave a good performance… like you were possessed," informs Jesse Nolan. The singer-songwriter/producer at the helm of the L.A. trio, which is rounded out by vocalist/percussionist Tessa Thompson (whom you may recognize from "Veronica Mars," "Cold Case" or "Copper") and drummer Stephen Edelstein, is a fan of music from all eras, and Caught a Ghost succeeds in continuing to carve their own niche of electronic soul with their fantastic debut album, Human Nature. Electronic noises snap you to attention before a choir bursts into the chorus of opener "No Sugar in My Coffee." Then, piano keys are tickled and paired with pulsating drumbeats, horns and soaring vocals in "Sleeping At Night." Other standouts include the title track, "Time Go" and "Connected." Make sure to join the band as they celebrate the album's release with a show at Bootleg Bar this Friday, April 4.

Christina Perri – Head or Heart (Atlantic)
The singer-songwriter has such a knack for crafting songs that not only tug but completely yank out your heartstrings, leaving you bleary-eyed and breathless (see: "Jar of Hearts" and "A Thousand Years"). She continues to infuse emotion into every measure of the 13 songs on her sophomore full-length, Head or Heart. First single "Human" is by far the standout ballad, while the more uptempo "Burning Gold," co-written with Kid Harpoon, and "I Don't Wanna Break," co-written with fun.'s Jack Antonoff, are quite infectious. The L.A. transplant (by way of Philadelphia) embarks on a North American tour in support of the album this week, and it stops at the Wiltern on May 17.

Dan Croll – Sweet Disarray (Capitol)
The Liverpool native is testament to the saying that you can never judge a book by its cover. One shouldn't be fooled by his slim build, glasses or sensitive songs, Croll is a rugby fanatic whose career in the sport was thwarted by a broken leg, a former nightclub doorman and he resides above a strip club. Not sure if you would be more surprised at those facts or that the extremely talented singer-songwriter graduated from the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, has worked with fellow Liverpudlian Sir Paul McCartney and won National Songwriter of the Year from the Musician's Benevolent Fund. His highly anticipated debut album, Sweet Disarray, is finally available today, and there are several folk-meets-electronic gems sprinkled throughout the tracklist of 12, including "In/Out," "Compliment Your Soul," "Can You Hear Me" and the gorgeous "Home." He visits Los Angeles on Friday, April 4, for a set at the El Rey.

Kaiser Chiefs – Education, Education, Education & War (ATO)
Education, Education, Education & War is the Kaiser Chiefs' first effort since founding drummer and chief songwriter Nick Hodgson left the band in 2012. The Leeds-based fivesome (fronted by "The Voice UK" coach Ricky Wilson) unveiled a few of the new songs, like first single "Coming Home" and the explosive "Misery Company," from their fifth studio album at shows last year to high praise. Written in London, Los Angeles and Nashville, the 10 tracks were recorded in Atlanta, Ga., and mixed by Michael Brauer (My Morning Jacket, Coldplay) with producer Ben H. Allen III (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Deerhunter). A global enterprise that will undoubtedly please Kaiser Chiefs fans the world over.

Also available – Adanowsky's ADA; A.J. Ellis' Bury the Devil; Architecture in Helsinki's Now + 4eva; Austrian Death Machine's Triple Brutal; Band of Skulls' Himalayan; The Body's I Shall Die Here; Chevelle's La Gargola; Chiodos' Devil; Cloud Nothings' Here and Nowhere Else; Fartbarf's Dirty Power; Hank Williams III's Ramblin' Man; Inventions' self-titled; Jamaica's Ventura; Jon Langford & Skull Orchard's Here Be Monsters; Lacuna Coil's Broken Crown Halo; Leon Russell's Life Journey; Mac DeMarco's Salad Days; Manchester Orchestra's Cope; Matt Andersen's Weightless; Maximo Park's Too Much Information; Mike Dillon's Band of Outsiders; Mike Oldfield's Man on the Rocks; Mobb Deep's The Infamous Mobb Deep; Nickel Creek's A Dotted Line; Pattern Is Movement's self-titled; Power Take Off's This is Late; S. Carey's Range of Light; Saintseneca's Dark Arc; The Singles' Look How Fast a Heart Can Break; Smoke DZA's Dream.ZONE.Achieve; Split Single's Fragmented World; Steel Panther's All You Can Eat; Thievery Corporation's Saudade; Timbre Timbre's Hot Dreams; This Is Your Life (Ronnie James Dio tribute); The Used's Imaginary Enemy; White Hinterland's Baby

LITERARY 

Carla's Comfort Foods: Favorite Dishes from Around the World by Carla Hall (Atria)
Regardless of cultural background, two people can find common ground quickly and easily when it comes to a talking about food. From Southern Peach Cobbler and Greek Baklava to German Double-Mustard Potato Salad and Indian Chile, Pea and Coconut Chutney, the "Top Chef" alumna and co-host of "The Chew" guides you in recreating some of her favorite comfort dishes from around the world. In this follow-up to Cooking with Love: Comfort Food That Hugs You, her 2012 cookbook debut, she shares recipes, stories and seasoning tips to transform your average weekday dinner into a scrumptious meal with ease.

Also available – 8 Weeks to SEALFIT by Mark Divine; The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen Editors; The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison; Flash Boys by Michael Lewis; Frog Music by Emma Donoghue; I've Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark; John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman; The King (The Black Dagger Brotherhood) by J.R. Ward; The Last Pirate by Tony Dokoupil

DVD

Film – The ever-classy news team (played by Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate) returns for more antics in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; 47 Ronin stars Keanu Reeves as a former slave who joins the group of samurai intent on avenging the murder of their master; John Cusack, Robert De Niro and Crispin Glover in action crime thriller The Bag Man

Music – A MusicCares Tribute to Neil Young

TV – Action: The Complete Series; Broadchurch: Season 1; The Client List: Season 2; Finding Bigfoot: Volume 3; Psych: Season 8

Also available – At Middleton; Emulation; Four Seasons; L'Immortelle; Inspired Guns; Knights of Badassdom; The Pirate Fairy; The War Wagon; When Jews Were Funny

New Release Tuesday 3/25/14

March 25, 2014

MUSIC

Ages and Ages – Divisionary (Partisan)
The Portland, Ore. collective experienced the loss of several close family members and friends during the creation of this sophomore effort, but Divisionary is anything but dark and depressing. Fueled by the wonderful (a marriage, the birth of a child) rather than the sad, Tim Perry spent 10 days on a silent meditation retreat coming up with lyrics and the overall direction for the album. You'll find yourself clapping and singing along to songs like opener "Light Goes Out," "Big Idea" and "The Weight Below," while "Over it" and the beautiful, gospel-infused title track will pull more than one tear from your eyes. This is a rare gem in today's musical landscape, as it's a thoroughly stellar album from start to finish.

Faces on Film – Elite Lines
Mike Fiore pulled from an extremely diverse pool of influences – Harry Nilsson, Frank Ocean, Neil Young – in conjuring material for Faces on Film's third album, yet the eight tracks fit together seamlessly. Elite Lines was recorded at Fiore's home in Boston and at Q Division Studios with engineer-producer Rafi Sofer, and exposes deeply personal moments in the singer-songwriter's life. Standout tracks include "Your Old One," "Bad Star" and "Rake the Dust."

Liars – Mess (Mute) If there's one thing you can count on from the L.A. trio of Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross, it's the unexpected. There is not a single word or short phrase that is apt enough to describe their sound, and all you really need to know about their seventh album is that it absolutely rattles your eardrums, brain and your being from the get-go. Mess' openers, "Mask Maker" and "Vox Tuned D.E.D," grab your ear with pulsating beats, and the trio doesn't let go straight through to the eerie closing moments of "Left Speaker Blown." Make sure not to miss their set at the Fonda on May 27.

Also available – Animals as Leaders' The Joy of Motion; Asia's Gravitas; The Bad Plus' The Rite of Spring; Barry Manilow's Night Songs; The Baseball Project's 3rd; Bob Dylan in the 80s: Volume One; Boy George's This Is What I Do; Burnt Ones' Gift; Cage the Gods' Badlands; Carl Creighton's Brookings; Chancellor Warhol's Paris Is Burning; Chimurenga Renaissance's riZe vadZimu riZe; Chuck Ragan 's Till Midnight; Circa Zero's Circus Hero; The Colourist's self-titled; Combichrist's We Love You; The Dandy Warhols' Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder; Future Islands' Singles; Glenn Kotche's Adventureland; Grieves' Winter & The Wolves; The Hold Steady's Teeth Dreams; Howler's World of Joy; Jean Jacket's self-titled; Jimi Goodwin's Odludek; Johnny Cash's Out Among the Stars; Karmin's Pulses; Lil Debbie's California Sweetheart; Matthew Fowler's Beginning; Memphis May Fire's Unconditional; Mr Little Jeans' Pocketknife; …Of Sinking Ships' The Amaranthine Sea; Sage the Gemini's Remember Me; Seahaven's Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only; Shakira's self-titled; Sleeper Agent's About Last Night; Tokyo Police Club's Forcefield; Uh Huh Her's Future Souls; Withered Hand's New Gods; Yasmine Hamdan's Ya Nass

BOOKS

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder by Arianna Huffington (Harmony)
I've been coming across a lot of articles about stress and exhaustion brought on from overextending one's self in pursuit of money and power, the two traditional metrics of success. After experiencing her own wake-up call (a broken cheekbone and cut over her eye from a fall due to lack of sleep), the Huffington Post Media Group co-founder and editor-in-chief began to take a hard look at the price she was paying for success. In her 14th book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder, she shares personal stories about prioritizing family and work, as well as scientific findings on the transformative effects of meditation, mindfulness unplugging and giving, that people from every field can benefit from.

Also available – Blossom Street Brides by Debbie Macomber; A Call to Action by Jimmy Carter; The End of Dieting by Joel Fuhrman, MD; How About Never – Is Never Good for You? by Bob Mankoff; The Hungry Girl Diet by Lisa Lillien; Living in Style by Rachel Zoe; A Nice Little Place on the North Side by George Will; NYPD Red 2 by James Patterson and Marshall Karp; Saga, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan; Shadow Spell by Nora Roberts; Spirit Animals Book 3 by Garth Nix and Sean Williams; Under the Dome: Part 2 by Stephen King; Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham; Wings of Fire Book Five by Tui T. Sutherland

DVDS

Film – The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese's black comedy based on the Jordan Belfort memoir, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in Oscar-nominated turns; Vince Vaughn plays a guy who discovers a donation he made to a sperm back fathered 533 children in Delivery Man; Upon viewing the first stills released of The Great Beauty, I knew it was a solid awards contender, and Paolo Sorrentino's homage to Federico Fellini ended up taking home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

TV – Californication: Season 6; Continuum: Season 2; Key & Peele: Seasons One & Two; Veep: Season 2

Music – Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa: Live in Amsterdam; Kari Jobe's Majestiic; MusiCares Person of the Year: Tribute to Bruce Springsteen; The Punk Singer

Also available – The Appearing; Boardwalk; Camille Claudel; Chinese Zodiac; The Conspiracy; Crave; Faust; Geography Club; Girl on a Bicycle; Home; Let the Fire Burn; Machine Head; Odd Thomas; The Truth About Emanuel; Walking with Dinosaurs; Welcome to the Jungle

New Release Tuesday 3/18/14

March 18, 2014

MUSIC

Black Lips – Underneath the Rainbow (Vice)
From the first bars of Underneath the Rainbow's lead single, "Boys in the Wood," you can tell that the latest album from the Atlanta quartet was produced by the Black Keys' Patrick Carney. While the song drips with the blues like Carney's main project, it also boasts the grittiness – both in lyrics and overall feel – associated with Black Lips. As you explore all of the tracks on their seventh album, the wide range of their influences reveals itself. There's 1960s pop in "Make You Mine," surf rock in "Do the Vibrate" and psychedelia in "Waiting," as well as much fun to be had with "Drive-By Buddy" and "Smiling." Pick up a scented cassette version of Underneath the Rainbow when the band stops at the El Rey this Friday with the Coathangers, who also release a new album, Suck My Shirt, today.

Foster the People – Supermodel (Columbia)
"Pumped Up Kicks" is such a catchy song that it would be incredibly hard to top, and unfortunately, the L.A. threesome falls a bit short with this follow-up to their 2011 Torches debut that spawned the single. While frontman Mark Foster once again teamed with Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence + the Machine, John Legend), with whom he co-produced three of Torches' tracks, Supermodel's singles "Coming of Age" and "Pseudologia Fantastica" are great for bopping your head along to in the car, but fail to really stick in your head. You have a few opportunities coming up to give the songs a chance in person: Foster the People are doing a show at the Fox Theater in Pomona on April 8 before performing at both weekends of Coachella.

I Am the Avalanche – Wolverines (I Surrender)
The New Yorkers grab one's attention from the moment Vinnie Caruana yells the first word of album opener "Two Runaways" and hold on tight throughout their third album. Produced and engineered by I Am the Avalanche drummer, Brett "The Ratt" Romnes at the Barber Shop Studios, located in a church that's over 100 years old in Lake Hopatcong, N.J., Wolverines is full of gems that touch upon emotions which run the gamut of high to low. Standouts include "Young Kerouacs," "Where Were You?" and "My Lion Heart." Make sure not to miss them swing through the Roxy on April 12.

Kevin Drew – Darlings (Arts & Crafts)
While the co-founder, songwriter and frontman of Toronto collective Broken Social Scene collaborated with over 20 different musicians on his solo debut, 2007's Spirit If…, he only worked with four others (Charles Spearin, Ohad Benchetrit, Dean Stone and Dave Hamelin) for his latest offering. It definitely shows on the tighter, more personal tracks of Darlings, especially on lead single "Good Sex," "My God" and the gorgeous "And That's All I Know." Kevin Drew shows many sides of himself on the effort, and all of them make for a pleasurable listen.

Also available – The Coathangers' Suck My Shirt; Dead Rider's Chills on Glass; Earth Crisis' Salvation of Innocents; Eliza Gilkyson's The Nocturne Diaries; Enrique Iglesias' Sex + Love; George Michael's Symphonica; Gus G.'s I Am the Fire; Hauschka's Abandoned City; JT Woodruff's Field Medicine; Kevin Gates' By Any Means; Lyla Foy's Mirrors the Sky; Mac Mall's Macnifacence & Malliciousness; Madlib & Freddie Gibbs' Piñata; Mother Falcon's MF Computer; Perfect Pussy's Say Yes to Love; The Pretty Reckless' Going to Hell; Riley Etheridge Jr's The Straight and Narrow Way; Ringworm's Hammer of the Witch; Sisyphus' self-titled; Skrillex' Recess; Taking Back Sunday's Happiness Is; Tycho's Awake; The War on Drugs' Lost in the Dream; Whiskey of the Damned's Monsters Are Real; Wishbone Ash's Blue Horizon; YG's My Krazy Life

BOOKS

Available this week – The Auschwitz Escape by Joel. C Rosenberg; Blood Moons by Mark Blitz; The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer; Missing You by Harlan Coben; Raising Steam (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett; The Story of the Jews by Simon Schama; You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz

DVDS

Film – American Hustle, David O. Russell's crime drama loosely based on the FBI ABSCAM operation in the late 1970s, stars Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence in Oscar-nominated performances; Disney's latest animated musical juggernaut, Frozen, tells the tale of two sisters voiced by Kristen Bell and incomparable Broadway star Idina Menzel; Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom depicts Nelson Mandela's life story with Idris Elba and Naomie Harris; Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in the story of how Mary Poppins was adapted to the big screen, Saving Mr. Banks

Music – The Dukes of September Live; Judy Collins: Live in Ireland

TV – Devious Maids: Season 1; Flashpoint: Final Season; Survivorman Ten Days

Also available – 20 Feet Below; Contracted; Cybergeddon; The Happy Sad; Jamesy Boy; Outpost 3: Rise of the Spetznaz; Reasonable Doubt; Sparks; A Touch of Sin

New Release Tuesday 3/11/14

March 11, 2014

MUSIC

Aloe Blacc – Lift Your Spirit (Interscope)
While Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III's third album does feature an acoustic version of "Wake Me Up," the mega-hit co-written by him, Mike Einziger and Avicii, you'll discover that there's so much more to the Southern Californian singer-songwriter and musician after listening to all of Lift Your Spirit's tracks. Whether it's a song to get your body moving, like second single "The Man," "Love Is the Answer" and "Can You Do This," or the soaring "Red Velvet Seat," Aloe Blacc's soulful vocals will undoubtedly Lift Your Spirit. He is performing at both weekends of Coachella in April and as part of the James Brown celebration at Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 13.

Metronomy – Love Letters (Because/Elektra)
The British quartet, led by singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Joseph Mount, holed up in the proudly analogue Toe Rag Studios to record their highly anticipated fourth album, the follow-up to 2011's Mercury Prize-nominated The English Riviera. With innovative tracks like "I'm Aquarius," "The Most Immaculate Haircut" and a title track that boasts a video by the Oscar-winning Michel Gondry, Love Letters does not disappoint. Metronomy invade the Fonda Theatre on June 17.

Ozomatli – Place in the Sun (Vanguard)
No other L.A. band captures the diversity of the city better than the seven-piece, who in nearly 20 years of working together have toured the world, won multiple Grammys, penned a theme song for the Dodgers and had April 23rd declared "Ozomatli Day" by Los Angeles. With their eighth full-length the Latin rock and hip-hop continue representing the region with songs that transcend genre lines, such as the lively title track, "Paleta" with Voces Del Rancho and  "Brighter," which features Dave Stewart. Head over to Amoeba Music at 6 p.m. tonight for a free in-store performance from the band, who sign copies of Place in the Sun after their set.

311 – Stereolithic (311)
Happy 311 Day! Longtime fans who aren't able to celebrate with the fivesome in New Orleans this evening can take comfort in today's release of their 11th album. For Stereolithic, the debut offering on their own label, the band reunited with Scott "Scotch" Ralston, who produced the two albums that propelled them to mainstream success, 1997's Transistor and 1999's Soundsystem. As a result, tracks like "Five of Everything" – which has a video helmed by Jigsaw friends director Brian Bowen Smith and editor B Love – "The Great Divide," "Existential Hero" hearken back to the super energetic early days of the group.

Also available – Architects UK's Lost Forever//Lost Together; Charlie Oxford's self-titled; Dean Wareham's self-titled; Disasteratti's Cerebral Hack Artist; Don Williams' Reflections; Elbow's The Take Off and Landing of Everything; The Fat White Family's Champagne Holocaust; Juanes' Loco De Amor; Laibach's Spectre; Ledisi's The Truth; Lune's Music & Sports; MØ's No Mythologies to Follow; Sara Evans' Slow Me Down; September Girls' Cursing the Sea; Tensnake's Glow; Thomas Azier's Hylas; Tying Tiffany's Drop; Warm Soda's Young Reckless Hearts; Young Money's The Rise of an Empire

BOOKS

Available this week – 10% Happier by Dan Harris; The Accident by Chris Pavone; Be Careful What You Wish For (The Clifton Chronicles) by Jeffrey Archer; Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn; Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty; The Hormone Cure by Dr. Sara Gottfried, MD; Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin; Night Broken (Mercy Thompson) by Patricia Briggs; Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte; Pete Rose: An American Dilemma by Kostya Kennedy; Power Play by Danielle Steel; The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition by David Allen Sibley; Stone Cold (A Joe Pickett Novel) by C. J. Box; Surprise-Inside Cakes by Amanda Rettke; The Wahls Protocol by Terry Wahls, M.D. and Eve Adamson (March 13)

DVDS

Film – Belgium's The Broken Circle Breakdown, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Oscars, was based on the play written by Mieke Dobbels and Johan Heldenbergh, who also stars in the film as one half of the bluegrass-loving couple at the center of this drama. Actress/singer Veerle Baetens plays his other half and gives a powerful performance as Elise and Didier's love story unfolds; I just read Markus Zusak's heart-wrenching bestseller, loved it and am curious to check out the film adaptation of The Book Thief, starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and Sophie Nélisse; Written and directed by the Coen brothers, Inside Llewyn Davis delves into the folk scene of 1961 Greenwich Village with a cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman

TV – Big History; Rogue: Complete First Season; Trinity: Complete First Season

Music – Carl Palmer - Decade: 10th Anniversary Celebrating the Music of Emerson Lake & Palmer; Eric Clapton - The 1970s Review; Punk in Africa; Sensation: The Story of the Who's Tommy

Also available – All Things to All Men; Commitment; A Cross to Bear; Dark House; Enemies Closer; Homefront; The Hungover Games; In Fear; Out of the Furnace; The Outsider; Pig; Puncture Wounds

New Release Tuesday 3/4/14

March 4, 2014

MUSIC

Albums

Ume – Monuments (Dangerbird)
The Austin trio's sophomore effort is just as exciting and explosive as their Phantoms debut from 2011. They sonic assault on your eardrums begins with the searing guitars of "Black Stone" and thundering beat of "Embrace," while Lauren Larson's soft yet aggressive vocals soar on "Too Big World," "Barophobia" and "Within My Bones." Ume recorded Monuments in Seattle with Grammy-winning producer Adam Kasper (Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Cat Power) and kick off national tour in support of the release with several hometown shows this week at SXSW and stop at the Satellite on April 4.

We Are Scientists – TV en Français (Dine Alone)
It's hard to believe that it's been 13 years since the members of We Are Scientists, who met at Pomona College, relocated to New York and eventually broke into the mainstream with 2005's With Love and Squalor. The duo of Keith Murray and Chris Cain teamed with producer Chris Coady (Beach House, Smith Westerns, Yuck) for the first time and enlisted frequent drummer Andy Burrows (Razorlight) for their fourth album, TV en Français. The resulting 10 tracks have you dancing from the get-go with "What You Do Best" and "Dumb Luck," and keep your toes tapping all the way through to "Don't Blow It" and "Take An Arrow." Make sure to bring your dancing shows if you go see them May 9 at the Troubadour.

Also available – Arthur Beatrice's Working Out; As Animals' self-titled; Ashanti's Braveheart; Axxa/Abraxas' self-titled; Bart Davenport's Physical World; Bruised But Not Broken's Fragment; Carla Bozulich's Boy; Clyde Carson's Playboy; Color War's It Could Only Be This Way; Comeback Kid's Die Knowing; DA & The Jones' Sirens; Drive-By Truckers' English Oceans; Eagulls' self-titled; Eternal Summers' The Drop Beneath; Fenster's The Pink Caves; Fuel's Puppet Strings; Ghost Beach's Blonde; Indestructible Grampas' 1-800-Matters; Information Society's Land of the Blind; Jimmer Podrasky's The Would-Be Plans; Jupe Jupe's Crooked Kisses; Kandle's In Flames; Lea Michele's Louder; Linda Perhacs' The Soul of All Natural Things; The Mary Onettes' Portico; The Men's Tomorrow's Hits; The Mighty Fine's Brothers and Smugglers; Morning Glory's War Psalms; Netherfriends' P3ACE; Nothing's Guilty of Everything; Real Estate's Atlas; The Revivalists' City of Sound (re-release); Rick Ross' Mastermind; Roman Remains' Zeal; Shadow Shadow's Riviera; Trust's Joyland; Wake Owl's The Private World of Paradise; Weeknight's Post-Everything

News

Goldfrapp's Tales of Us
The film inspired by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory's breathtaking album of the same name from last fall is screening in cinemas for one night only. Tonight at Laemmle NoHo, Playhouse and Claremont at 7:30 p.m. Co-created by Goldfrapp and director/writer Lisa Gunning (Nowhere Boy, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), Tales of Us is a 30-minute filmic journey through five of the album's stories and will be followed by a live performance by the duo transmitted from London.

PATH:two
Heyday Media Group presents its second charity licensing campaign, PATH:two, during which 25-percent of every license generated from certain songs provided by their artists goes toward one of 10 organizations that include Farm Sanctuary, weSPARK, Shriners Hospitals for Children and Lamp Community. Artists such as the Parlotones, B*Side Players, Swollen Members, Pokey LaFarge and Amanda Jo Williams are all participating, and you can view a complete list and sample the tunes at pathmusic.net. If you would like to check out performances from some of the artists (Jim Reynolds, Becky Lynn and Gabby Young & Other Animals), head over to El Cid this Friday, March 7, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

BOOKS

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (Riverhead, March 6)
The fifth novel from the 29-year-old author of 2011's prizewinning Mr. Fox is a brilliant reworking of the Brothers Grimm "Snow White" fairy tale. It's 1953 when Boy (Arturo, a widower with a young daughter named Snow) meets girl (in this case she's named Boy and is escaping an abusive father), and they marry then have a daughter, Bird. The baby's dark skin color unlocks secrets from the family's past and is at the center of this powerful story about love, race, beauty and identity.

Also available – Being a Teen by Jane Fonda; The Bootlegger (An Isaac Bell Adventure) by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott; Cycle of Lies by Juliet Macur; The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz; Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening by Carol Wall; The Next America by Paul Taylor and the Pew Research Center; The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon; Princess Labelmaker to the Rescue by Tom Angleberger; Redeployment by Phil Klay; The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler; The River by Alessandro Sanna; Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern; Showtime by Jeff Pearlman; Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon (March 6); Success Through Stillness by Russell Simmons; Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler; Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson

DVDS

Film – Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), 12 Years a Slave is director Steve McQueen's epic adaptation of Solomon Northrup's memoir from 1853, which stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Northrup; Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster, with Tony Leung as Ip Man and Ziyi Zhang as Gong Er; Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth reprise their roles in the second film of the series adapted from the novels by Suzanna Collins, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (March 7)

Music – Bob Dylan's The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (Deluxe); Moby's Almost Home, Live at The Fonda

TV – Breaking Amish: Season 1; Mr. & Mrs. Murder: Series 1; Noah and the Great Ark; Restaurant Impossible: Season 3; Venture Bros: Complete Season Five

Also available – The Best of Men; Billy's Cult; Blast Vegas; Children of Sorrow; Cold Comes the Night; Free Fall; Girl Rising; Hours; The Iran Job; The Last Days on Mars; Oldboy (2013); Rabid Love; Untold History of the United States; Wicked Blood

New Release Tuesday 2/25/14

Feb. 25, 2014

MUSIC

Beck – Morning Phase (Capitol)
It's been six years since Beck Hansen released an album (the Danger Mouse-helmed Modern Guilt), but that doesn't mean he wasn't channeling his musical creativity in other ways. He performed a live re-imagining of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision" with over 160 musicians; produced albums for Charlotte Gainsbourg, Thurston Moore and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks; put out a songbook in 2012 and three singles last year. He has finally fulfilled fans' hopes with the release of his 12th full-length today. Enlisting the same group of musicians – Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker, Smokey Hormel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Jason Falkner – who played on one of my favorites of all his albums, Sea Change, Beck infuses the classic sound of his native Los Angeles, which permeated that 2002 release, with a sunnier outlook on Morning Phase's tracks like "Blue Moon" and "Waking Light."

Milagres – Violent Light (Kill Rock Stars)
The Brooklyn foursome follow up their critically acclaimed debut from 2011, Glowing Mouth, by showing a bit more of their darker, harder side on the aptly titled Violent Light. Culling from a wide range of influences that include Al Green, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, the album deftly moves from dream pop to funky classic rock. The ethereal vocals and synths of opener "Perennial Bulb" immediately captivate before "Jeweled Cave" and "The Letterbomb" get you moving and "Sunburn" moves your soul. You're sure to have a good time if you join them at the Satellite on March 20.

Priscilla Ahn – This Is Where We Are (SQE)
I was fortunate enough to see some of Priscilla Ahn's first shows in Los Angeles after the singer-songwriter relocated from her native Pennsylvania. In the subsequent years, she has toured with Joshua Radin, Willie Nelson and Ray LaMontagne, released two albums (A Good Day, When You Grow Up) and had songs featured on shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" and in films like Bride Wars. She unveils her third full-length today, which opens with the grittier, more hard-hitting than she's ever been before "Diana." Ahn reverts to the more dreamy compositions she has come to be known for on songs like "Remember How I Broke Your Heart," "Home" and "In a Closet in the Middle of the Night," but also gets your heart pumping a bit faster with the album's title track, "Wedding March" and "You and Me."

Also available: Barzin's To Live Alone in That Long Summer; Bleeding Rainbow's Interrupt; Brandt Brauer Frick's DJ-Kicks; Carsick Cars' 3; Charlie Greene's self-titled; Creative Adult's Psychic Mess; Damaged Bug's Hubba Bubba; David T. Little's Haunt of Last Nightfall; Dierks Bentley's Riser; Doomsquad's Kalaboogie; Drekka's Ekki Gera Fikniefnum; The Fray's Helios; The Grouch & Eligh's The Tortoise and the Crow; Habits' Unselves in Arrival; InDirections' Clockworks; Kid Cudi's Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon; Lethal Dosage's Consume; Lo-Fang's Blue Film; Mainland's Shiner EP; Major Lazer's Apocalypse Soon; Mike Gordon's Overstep; Neil Davidge's Slo Light; Neneh Cherry's Blank Project; The Notwist's Close to the Glass; Patten's Estoile Naiant; Pillar Point's self-titled; Qui's Life, Water, Living…; Runaway Dorothy's The Wait; Scattered Bodies' Talking Songs; ScHoolboy Q's Oxymoron; Silversun Pickups' The Singles Collection; Son of God soundtrack; St. Vincent's self-titled; Sultan Bathery's self-titled; Twin Forks' self-titled; We Were Promised Jetpacks' E Rey - Live in Philadelphia; Wild Beasts' Present Tense; Yellow Ostrich's Cosmos

BOOKS

The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind by Michio Kaku (Doubleday)
I am always enthralled by the theoretical physicist, especially when the Science channel airs episodes of his "Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible" series, which was based on his New York Times bestselling book Physics of the Impossible. Dr. Kaku also penned the bestselling Physics of the Future in 2011, and his latest book expands upon the possible roles of science and technology in the future, specifically in regards to unravelling the secrets of the human brain. From telepathy and telekinesis to mapping the brain and uploading memories, he explains how ideas once thought to only exist in sci-fi movies are now (and will be) realities.

Also available – The Artisan Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus; Bark: Stories by Lorrie Moore; The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet by Mark Hyman M.D.; The Chance (Thunder Point) by Robyn Carr; The Chase (Fox and O'Hare) by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg; I Can See Clearly Now by Wayne W. Dyer; North to Alaska by Debbie Macomber; The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen; The Undead Pool (Hollows) by Kim Harrison

DVDS

Film – Nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director (Alfonso Cuarón) and Actress (Sandra Bullock), Gravity centers around a woman lost in space; Blue Is the Warmest Color, a love story based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and stars Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulous; Another multiple Academy Award-nominee, Nebraska, is up six Oscars that include Best Picture, Director (Alexander Payne) and Actor for Bruce Dern, who plays a cantankerous father who thinks he's won a sweepstakes and wrangles his son (Will Forte) into a road trip to claim the prize; Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston reunite in Thor: The Dark World

Music – Celtic Woman's Emerald: Musical Gems - Live in Concert; Heart's Fanatic Life from Caesar's Colosseum; Muscle Shoals; Rock Candy Funk Party Takes New York: Live at the Iridium

TV – Adventure Time: The Complete Third Season; Ghost Adventures: Season 5; Here Comes Honey Boo Boo Season One; Law & Order: The 14th Year; Legit: Season 1; The Middle: Season Four; Monsters: The Complete Series; Scarecrow; Spiral: Season 3

Also available – Bullet; Crash Reel; Curse of the Dragon; Dark Tourist; Dead Like Me: Life After Death; Ice Soldiers; Narco Cultura; Pulling Strings; Sleepers Wake; Twice Born; The Wedding Pact; You Will Be My Son