The King is dead but he's not forgotten.

Road Tunes: New Music Releases

What’s new in music for the week of August 14, 2012

By: David Merline

Web2Carz Senior Writer

Published: August 14th, 2012

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his week marks the 35th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s alleged death. We’ll be marking that anniversary on Thursday with special all-Elvis editorial content. Unfortunately, the King is not making any new recordings from beyond the grave, or wherever he’s currently hiding out, so we’ll have to content ourselves with this week’s batch of new releases from these decidedly lesser artists.

		Dead Can Dance / Anastasis (PIAS) THEY SAY: First album since 1996 for the newly reunited goth/world music duo. WE SAY: When Dead Can Dance first appeared on the scene way back in 1984, the seemed to be from another planet or another time. Their unique blend of Cocteau Twins-ish pop with African/Gaelic/Middle-Eastern sounds quickly earned them a legion of obsessed fans. Those fans won’t be disappointed with Anastasis, which is every bit as good as any of the duo’s other albums.
		Insane Clown Posse / Mighty Death Pop (Psychopathic) THEY SAY: ICP is, according to Amazon.com, “Celebrating 20 years together, Insane Clown Posse is among the best-selling independent groups of all time, with 24 albums to their credit and over 11 million albums sold worldwide.” WE SAY: Neither mighty, nor deathly, nor poppy, the new ICP album is very much like all of the “horror rap” duo’s previous 23 albums: an unintentionally hilarious bunch of inane raps over some occasionally interesting music (created by the talented Mike E. Clark) meant to titillate kids who have never heard a Richard Pryor album, or any real rap records.
		Lumerians / Transmissions From Telos Vol. IV (Permanent) THEY SAY: Latest from San Francisco’s purveyors of psychedelic “mindbender” music. WE SAY: Telos IV is known to those familiar with the Star Wars universe as the home planet of Carth Onasi. Think of this latest Lumerians release as an electric-era Miles Davis album transmitted from Telos IV. On The Corner on Tatooine, if you will. Even if you won’t it’s a record full of deep grooves and seriously spacy beats.
		Ralph Stanley / Old Songs and Ballads (Rebel) THEY SAY: Ralph Stanley is a legend in the world of Bluegrass. He was a member of the Clinch Mountain boys, and is familiar to most people for having popularized the song “Man of Constant Sorrow,” and for singing “Oh, Death” on the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? WE SAY: “Old Songs and Ballads” is two volumes of Stanley’s favorite traditional songs from the Appellation Mountain region where he grew up. A great bunch of songs from a true master.
		Various Artists / Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac (Hear Music) THEY SAY: Various artist compilation of Fleetwood Mac covers, featuring Antony & the Johnsons, New Pornographers, Marianne Faithful, and others. WE SAY: Tribute albums are usually meant to expose younger music fans to music they might otherwise not have heard, by presenting covers done by new or underground artists. We can’t imagine there are many people alive who haven’t heard Fleetwood Mac, but it hardly matters. This album features some truly great people covering some truly great songs. From Lee Renaldo and J Mascis’s lovely cover of “Albatross” to Karen Ellson’s (aka Mrs. Jack White) take on “Gold Dust Woman,” to Antony Hegarty’s gorgeous “Landslide,” this is both a good introduction for neophytes, and a nice listen for the rest of us.

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