The Riff Report: New music this week

[Deirdre Long]

By Sarah Zupko/PopMatters.com

Spoon — “Transference”

Austin, Texas’ indie rock kings come out of the year strong with their sixth album of guitar-laden tunes. Spoon is nothing if not consistent, offering up album after album of brainy rock that the critics and hipsters love. There’s nothing groundbreakingly new on “Transference,” but Spoon work the alternative, guitar-rock genre with consummate ease and that’s enough, really.

Eels — “End Times”

E typically wears his heart on his sleeve in his music and his eighth album with the Eels is no exception. The 46-year-old E is consumed by the emotions associated with a failed relationship and growing older on the appropriately named “End Times.” So, it’s not an upper, but more like a catharsis.

Various Artists — “Crazy Heart” (soundtrack)

Jeff Bridges deservedly won a Golden Globe Sunday night for his leading role in the new film “Crazy Heart,” featuring Bridges as a down-on-his-luck country singer. Yes, Bridges sings as does co-star Colin Farrell. The soundtrack includes those tunes, plus songs by awesome young rodeo cowboy turned singer Ryan Bingham, Buck Owens, George Jones and the late, great Townes Van Zandt.

Other notable releases this week:

Cold War Kids — “Behave Yourself” Editors — “In This Light & On This Evening” Lindstrom & Christabelle — “Real Life Is No Cool”
Motion City Soundtrack — “My Dinosaur Life”
RJD2 — “The Colossus”
Various Artists — “The Hurt Locker” (soundtrack)
Gretchen Wilson — “Greatest Hits”

TUNES ON THE TUBE ... BEST MUSIC ON TV THIS WEEK

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: The Avett Brothers had a banner year in 2009, with their latest release, the Rick Rubin-produced “I and Love and You,” placing high on many year-end top music lists. It was their major label debut and showed a great deal of musical growth as they embraced the piano to build out and enlarge their sound. This Saturday they take the stage in Austin with the garage rockers Heartless Bastards.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC): Melanie Fiona (T), Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers (W), Katharine McPhee (Th). “Late Show with David Letterman” (CBS): The Swell Season (T), James Taylor and Carole King (W), Blind Boys of Alabama with Lou Reed (Th), Charlotte Gainsbourg (F). “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (CBS):
“The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” (NBC): Spoon (T)
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (NBC): The Mountain Goats (T), Switchfoot (W), Queen Latifah and the cast of “Fela!” (Th), Beach House (F).
“Last Call with Carson Daly” (NBC): The X (T), Anya Marina (W), Gossip (F).
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC): Rihanna (Sa).
“Austin City Limits” (PBS): The Avett Brothers and Heartless Bastards (Sa).
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated): Jeff Bridges (T).

ON SCREEN: Blur — No Distance Left to Run

The Blur documentary “No Distance Left to Run” had its London premiere last week in Leicester Square. British fans can catch the film about the Britpop legends in theaters now and pick up a copy of the DVD on Feb. 15. Those of us on this side of the pond will either have to switch our computers to PAL format to play the import DVD or wait until some underdetermined date for the U.S. release. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/119058-blur-no-distance-left-to-r... ew-dvd-trailer/

EAGERLY AWAITING: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion — “Dirty Shirt Rock ’N’ Roll: The First Ten Years”

A career retrospective is on the way this spring from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. This is just the opening volley in an extensive reissue campaign that will see the rerelease of all the band’s records in deluxe, expanded and remastered form. The sets will include copious extras, including previously unreleased and rare songs. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/119043-the-jon-spencer-blues-expl... n-dirty-shirt-rock-n-roll-new-album-vi/

DOWNLOAD: Serena Maneesh — “Ayisha Abyss”

Norway’s Serena Maneesh recorded its new album, “S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor” (releasing March 23) in a cave outside Oslo, appropriate for a group mightily concerned with musical atmospherics. Emil Nikolaisen says of the new work and approach, “Studio environments often get on my nerves and I love the underworld, you can silently head down there and do as you please, leave the world behind. So we found this huge cave with stone walls, it looked like a refugee hideout from World War II, with a huge, undiscovered treasure of sound.” http://static.4ad.com/audio/serenamaneesh/ayishaabyss.mp3