Music Under Fire

All that matters this week is that The Appleseed Cast is back with their seventh album, Sagarmatha. You've got to give a band credit for being together for 11 years! But it wouldn't be too fair if we laid all of the attention on them, even if we have been listening to them since Mare Vitalis struck us nine years ago.

There's lots of other great artists out this week, including the forgotten Fatboy Slim. Sure, Norman Quentin Cook is 46, but he's still rockin the beats with his latest, I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat.

Also notable is Ben Kweller's Changing Horses, which is his first album in three years since his self-titled album. Another low-key band we just love listening to is Mono, who are a Japanese post-rock band. We discovered them through their 2006 album, You Are There and suggest you go back and do the same before laying your hands on One Step More And You Die.

If your pop rock collection has been disappointing you lately, listen to Brooklyn's Black Gold and Nashville's Shirock. We were tickled to get Rush from Black Gold a few weeks ago and haven't stopped hyping them up to our friends. Also, Shirock technically hit the mark with Everything Burns by creating a distance-spanning vibe to the likes of U2. Really amazing stuff from both groups.

For vinyl this week, hit up Junior Boys and Yeasayer. We have really been digging these two groups over the past couple of years and these records should throw some treble through your speakers.

Lastly, our hearts go out to Telefon Tel Aviv and the family and friends of the late Charles Wesley Cooper, III. We wish you our best during this tough time.

MP3: The Appleseed Cast - As The Little Things Go (buy)
MP3: Mono - Ashes In The Snow (buy)
MP3: Ladyfinger - Little Things (buy)
MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You (buy)
MP3: Benjy Feree - Fear

A Day To Remember - Homesick (Official) (MySpace)
Bad Plus - For All I Care (Official) (MySpace)
Ben Kweller - Changing Horses (Official) (MySpace)
Benjy Feree - Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee (Official) (MySpace)
Black Gold - Rush (Official) (MySpace)
BPA/ Fatboy Slim - I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat (MySpace)
Bricolage - Bricolage (MySpace)
Chris Cornell - Scream (Official) (MySpace)
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukelele - The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele (Official) (MySpace)
Ganjasufi - EP (MySpace)
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain (Official) (MySpace)
Iran - Dissolver (MySpace)
Jim White - A Little Cross To Bear (Official) (MySpace)
Junior Boys - Hazel 12" (Official) (MySpace)
Ladyfinger (NE) - Dusk (Official) (MySpace)
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew (Official) (MySpace)
Mike Bones - A Fool for Everyone (Official) (MySpace)
Mono - One Step More And You Die / New York Soundtracks (Official) (MySpace)
My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (vinyl) (Official) (MySpace)
organicArma - Discordia (Official) (MySpace)
Phosphorescent - To Willie (MySpace)
Sabertooth - Old Days & The Island (MySpace)
Shirock - Everything Burns (Official) (MySpace)
Soundtrack of Our Lives - Communion (Official) (MySpace)
Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself (Official) (MySpace)
The Appleseed Cast - Sagarmatha (MySpace)
The Fray - The Fray (Official) (MySpace)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart (Official) (MySpace)
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - You Better Pray (Official) (MySpace)
The Strange Boys - And Girls Club (Official) (MySpace)
The Von Bondies - Love, Hate and Then There's You (MySpace)
Thursday - Waiting (vinyl) (Official) (MySpace)
Two Tongues - Two Tongues (MySpace)
Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (vinyl) (Official) (MySpace)
Young Dubliners - Saints And Sinners (Official) (MySpace)
Zero Boys - Vicious Circle (Official) (MySpace)
Zombi - Spirit Animal (Official) (MySpace)