New Release Tuesday

For their sixth album, Icky Thump (which is like, slang for the slang phrase "ecky thump" or something,) one-time kissing cousins Jack and Meg of The White Stripes grabbed their peppermint sticks and headed to Nashville to track their first record for a major label. With the flourishing brass moments of "Conquest" and the introduction in to the repertoire, Thump is being hailed by critics and fans alike for the back to basics sound and approach of their first three albums. Filled with sludge-ridden guitars reminiscent of Zeppelin or Sabbath, they collide with what's either frantic keyboards or multilated organ on the title track. Like later Stripes albums, for me at least, the album has about two or three decent numbers and a bunch of filler, culminating in the closing track "Effect And Cause." Using only a simple acoustic riff and some barely there drum and percusson combo, the album ends on a better note than the entire album itself.

Download: "Effect And Cause" [mp3] /// [Buy Here]

An album I am surprised by this week is The Fragile Army, the third album from Texas collective The Polyphonic Spree. Upon first listening to them, I didn't care that leader Tim DeLaughter was the man who gave us the mid-90's hit "I Got A Girl" and was now cavorting around the world with 30 or so people all dressed up as if they competing with Heaven's Gate in the Which Cult Dresses Better competition. This time around, though, the band is in black army fatigues but the songs are instantly catchy. When the band circulated a MP3 that mashed-up portions of every song on Army, I was blown away with the infectious loops of "Section 30 [Watch Us Explode/Justify]" and the lead single "Section 22 [Running Away]," even though it was similar to their minor hit singles of the past. Their live shows are said to be epic, and they'll be coming through here around the 4th of July. Maybe I'll be there if I can get over my fear of being brainwashed.

Download: "[Section 30] Watch us Explode (Justify)" [mp3] /// [Buy Here]