New CD Releases: January 29, 2008

Artists from both coasts duke it out on the charts this week.

We’ve been fans of the Helio Sequence's ambient sound for some time now, and today the band releases their fourth album, Keep Your Eyes Ahead.
-Download some songs at CNET
-Aversion interviewed Helio singer Brandon Summers
-Read an album review at Billboard.com
-Buy Keep Your Eyes Ahead

So if you visit the Mars Volta’s website, you can read a very elaborate story about how a cursed Ouija board served as inspiration for the band’s new album, The Bedlam in Goliath. But we didn’t really need the long-winded explanation - the music speaks for itself.
-The NYTimes recently reviewed a Mars Volta concert
-Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez will soon release a solo album
-Eye Weekly interviewed lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala
-Buy The Bedlam in Goliath

Vampire Weekend releases their massively hyped self-titled debut today, a record that has drawn early comparisons to Paul Simon’s Graceland.
-Watch the video for single, “Mansard Roof,” on Youtube
-Download some songs from the group’s Daytrotter studio session
-Read an album review in Rolling Stone
-Stream the entire album at MTV’s The Leak
-Buy Vampire Weekend

Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla can add another title to his esteemed musical career – solo artist. Walla’s solo album, Field Manual, is out today.
-Stream a track from the album at EW.com
-Hey, Death Cab is coming out with an album soon too
-Download album single, “Sing Again,” at CNET
-Walla says, "turn the volume down"
-Homeland Security seized Walla’s hard drive at the Canadian border!
-Buy Field Manual

Some critics said that Louis XIV’s last album was a little too over-the-top. So of course the band that is as decadent as its name returns with a richer, bigger sound on their new record, Slick Dogs and Ponies. Of course.
-Watch the video for album single, “Guilt by Association,” at Spinner
-Louis XIV is scheduled to perform at Warehouse Live in March
-Stream the entire album at AOL
-The band recently spoke to the NY Post about making the new record
-Buy Slick Dogs and Ponies

The Radar Bros., who sound a lot like Built to Spill's more melodic cousins, release their new album, Auditorium, today.
-Watch the video for single, “When Cold Air Goes to Sleep,” on Youtube
-Stream the entire album at AOL
-Buy Auditorium

Xiu Xiu is releasing a new album, Women as Lovers, filled with the band's requisite haunted vocals and sublime instrumentals.
-Xiu Xiu are performing at Houston’s Orange Center for Visionary Art in April
-Watch the video for single, “I Do what I want, When I Want” and download an mp3 at Paste Magazine
-Xiu Xiu's lovely labelmate, Thao Nguyen, is also releasing an album today
-Xiu Xiu is suing Rolling Stone
-Buy Women as Lovers