UPDATED - Release Me: Pissed Jeans, Division Day, Jay Reatard, Keelhaul, Antlers

Like a dog catcher stuffing stray puppies into a sack, we’re packing in an awful lot of new releases this week.

We’ve already gabbed about a hunk of ‘em on the blog - the Accused’s The Curse of Martha Splatterhead, Division Day’s Visitation, Jay Reatard’s Watch Me Fall, Mount Eerie’s Wind’s Poem and so on. Scroll down for the definitive, link-laden list.

First, we can’t believe we haven’t gotten around to talking yet about Pissed Jeans‘ King of Jeans (Sub Pop), which is vying for our favorite rock album of the year. Loud as fuck, our hands tremble when we slip this CD into the player. Harvey Milk have done their damndest to sound like the Jesus Lizard, but howler Matt Korvette’s David Yow impression on ”Half Idiot” is even more spot-on. As we walked around town listening to the distortion-heavy disc, Nirvana and Burning Brides also came to mind - except the Jeans’ guitar-work is purely punk-based, never bleeding into classic-rock territory. But the thing about this album that really makes us smile is Korvette’s consummately sarcastic lyric-writing. “I could do twenty push-ups if I was willing to try,” he growls on “Spent.” “The weeks fly by, and my only prize/ Is slowly watching my waist increase in size.” Drunk, slurry and drawly, this is a pig sty of an LP. And we’re gleefully rolling around in it.

“Dream Smotherer”

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Tune-Yards‘ Bird-Brains (4AD) is one of strangest pop albums we’ve heard this year. Merrill Garbus’ cool singing is interrupted by babies crying; her sparse acoustic instrumentation by brittle, head-scratching found sounds. But what most distinguishes the album are the off-kilter vocals, the hoot and hollers that bring the record dangerously close to being an annoyance. But ultimately it is not - the intrigue reigns instead. Today sees the release of a limited screen-printed version of the CD, but it’ll be back again in November with two extra cuts.

“Sunlight”

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Another one whose songs all earned four and five stars in our playlist is David Daniell and Douglas McCombs‘ Sycamore (Thrill Jockey). As well-seasoned as expertly prepared rosemary chicken, the two musicians have résumés that would make other artists drool - Daniell has worked with everyone from Thurston Moore to Rhys Chatham, while Douglas has been in bands ranging from Eleventh Dream Day to Die Donnergötter, led by, um, Rhys Chatham. It was as part of that guitar-wielding sextet that Daniell connected with Douglas, and the two brainstormed until they finally gave life to Sycamore. Ethereal, vaporous and rhythmless (there isn’t any percussion), this is an audio escapade that probably sounds killer on four-channel surround sound. Careful driving to this one - you might space out, or worse, fall asleep at the wheel.

Equally dreamy - and also on Thrill Jockey - is Transition by Lokai, an avant-urous project by the duo of Stefan Nemeth and Florian Kmet. Broad in intellectual scope but never too psych-otic, the instrumental chill pill is limited to 500 LPs and 1,000 CDs.

And there’s another Thrill Jockey post-everything item hitting this week: Tortoise’s two-song “Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes” 12-inch. Limited to 1,500 vinyl copies, we haven’t heard this one yet, but it finds Boredoms’ Eye rebuilding ”High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” and Basic Channel’s Mark Ernestus putting his fingerprints all over “Gigantes.” Coolios.

We’re not sure why this week happens to be so depressing music-wise - did all these artists foresee the mess that is the health-care debate? - but Slow Claw also fit right in. The two tracks we’ve heard from the South Carolina trio’s self-released Grandfather Clocks lull us into a state of solemnity. Play ‘em loud - you’ll have to, otherwise you’ll barely be able to hear them:

“Colorado”

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“Everybody”

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And finally - and on a completely different note, so to speak - we’ve heard a little from Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return to Obscurity (Hydra Head), and it was enough to get our salivary glands working. Without a serious bone in their body, the Ohio heavy-rockers still manage to construct smart, technically astute songs that rock our boat.

The Accused - The Curse of Martha Splatterhead (Southern Lord)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: You Say Party! We Say Die!, Kyp Malone, Pixies, Grizzly Bear”
The Antlers - Hospice reissue (Frenchkiss)
Burnt by the Sun - Heart of Darkness (Relapse)
The Cave Singers - Welcome Joy (Matador)
Choo Choo La Rouge - Black Clouds (Kiam)
The Delfields - Ogres (self-release)
David Daniell and Douglas McCombs - Sycamore (Thrill Jockey)
Division Day - Visitation (Dangerbird)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: Silversun Pickups, Wavves, Velvet Underground”
Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh - Overloaded Ark (Drag City)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: These Arms Are Snakes, Nick Cave, Deastro, Junius”
Keelhaul - Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return to Obscurity (Hydra Head)
Landmine Marathon - Rusted Eyes Awake reissue (Prosthetic)
Read more: “Inside the Label: Prosthetic Records”
Litmus - Aurora (Metal Blade)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: Happy Hollows, Nick Oliveri, The Books, Brian Eno”
Lokai - Transition (Thrill Jockey)
Mission of Burma - “Innermost” b/w “… And Here It Comes” 7-inch (two unreleased songs; Matador)
Mount Eerie - Wind’s Poem (P.W. Elverum and Sun)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: Gonzales, Lou Barlow, Why?, Owen, Vic Chestnutt, Biclops”
Jack Peñate - Everything Is New (XL)
Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans (Sub Pop)
Ravage - The End of Tomorrow (Metal Blade)
Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall (Matador)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: These Arms Are Snakes, Nick Cave, Deastro, Junius”
See more: “Video: Jay Reatard’s ‘It Ain’t Gonna Save Me’ ”
Slow Claw - Grandfather Clocks (self-release)
Tortoise - “Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes” 12-inch (Thrill Jockey)
Tune-Yards - Bird-Brains (4AD)
The Waitiki - Adventures in Paradise (7-inch; Pass Out)
Zaza - Cameo EP (Kanine)
Read more: “RecaPitulation: Pixies, Zach Hill, Nurses, Vic Chestnutt”