New Release Tuesday

Leslie Feist is a fox. 'Nuff said. Back when I was in college, me and all of my guy friends didn't just go ga ga over her hot bod and, depending on the picture, adorable face, but man what a set of pipes she has. I first saw her open up for Broken Social Scene in the Fall of '05, and she just had the sold out crowd captivated. Where her second album, Let It Die, featured a handful of originals interspersed with covers (Ron Sexsmith's "Secret Heart" taking the cake,) The Reminder is a collection of soaring originals. The album has a feeling and sound all its own that I am still at a loss for words to describe. At times, the record comes off sounding like its just a bunch of mics strategically placed in a big empty room and catches what he can here and there. The vocals of "How My Heart Behaves" sounds like she has the woes in the hallway while the piano is trickling from the ballroom on the opposite end. "My Moon, My Man," the album's first single, is classic Feist: the catchy beat, and her signature voice that just goes to show she's going to be around for awhile.


Stream: The Reminder [Here] /// [Buy Here]

In a more non-traditional album release, the UK outfit The Crimea have decided to give their second album, Secrets Of The Witching Hour, away as a free download on their website. At my old job, I would spend my days listening to satellie radio and that's how I got introduced to this band. Warner Bros. had signed them in the states and released an EP ahead of the album, Tragedy Rocks, but I don't even think it saw the light of day over here. Now the band has an idea to market themselves by letting you have their album at no charge (you can buy it on CD via their website June 4.) The band figures this will introduce them to new listeners, and will make money via touring, and maybe it's working: as of this post, I was downloader 5,327 since midnight. At least "Bombay Sapphire Coma" is finally getting a proper release.

Download: Secrets Of The Witching Hour [Here]