New Releases Tuesday - 10/3

Another big name New Releases Tuesday...featuring new albums from the likes of Beck, The Decemberists, The Dears, Jet and The Killers. The New York Times did a nice job of profiling the heavy hitters yesterday, but there's still plenty more to check out: Ad Astra Per Aspera - Catapult (Calypso) Akron/Family - Meek Warrior (Young God) Air - Late Night Tales (Azuli) J.B. and Nicholas are the latest artists to contribute to this great compilation series created by Azuli Records. (think of it as a downtempo version of the DJ Kicks series) The French lounge masters feature a few obvious choices like Sebastien Tellier, Lee Hazlewood and Scott Walker, but they also drop a few surprises like tracks from The Band and Black Sabbath. Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Ole! Tarantula (Yep Rock) In 30 years of recording with the Soft Boys and solo-wise, Robyn Hitchcock's enduring brand of madcap mayhem has raced between English punk, acoustic folk and sonically lush pop. But by teaming with Seattle pals Pete Buck (REM) and Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5), Hitchcock has made a return to garage rock not heard since 1989's Queen Elvis...Buck's indelible guitar instills a chiming luster to songs like "Underground Sun" and "Red Locust Frenzy," while McCaughey provides a random, finger-snapping piano to the delightful "Belltown Ramble," which finds Hitchcock serving as the clever hobnobbing tour guide of his favorite Emerald City neighborhood. As usual, a sharp cockney twang is Hitchcock's best instrument, carving up the scatty title song as aptly as his ode to San Francisco "(A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs" or his salute to "NY Doll," late bassist Arthur Kane. --Scott Holter (via Amazon) Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant) Craig Finn loves books and bars. It's not just that he pinched the title of he Hold Steady's third album from the ultimate manual for boozehounds, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" ("Boys and Girls in America have such a sad time together"), but that every leery line of every song is crammed with the wayward poetry and passion of someone who is more familiar with the bottom of a whiskey glass than the sun. Thanks to his raucous Brooklyn band, his music--louder than its predecessors this time, with a few more ballads--also happens to make a great soundtrack for an all-night bender where broken-hearts and broken bottles become one. -Aidin Vaziri (via Amazon) Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out (Astralwerks) Sean Lennon - Friendly Fire (Capitol) Make Believe - Of Course (Flameshovel) Pernice Brothers - Live A Little (Ashmont) Subtle - For Hero For Fool (Astralwerks) Thunderbirds Are Now! - Make History (Frenchkiss) Various Artists - DFA Remixes: Chapter Two (Astralwerks)