Anberlin: New Surrender
The album’s being distributed through USB bracelets that feature the album, 4 bonus tracks and additional bells and whistles. On New Surrender, the band’s major-label debut, the guys make their case for the big leagues by polishing their sound and stepping it up a notch. This latest is said to rock with the force of Blueprints, with shades of Never Take Friendship Personal. They take to radio-friendliness pretty well, by the sound of things. 

Ani DiFranco: Red Letter Year
I’ve been a fair-weather Ani fan since an ex of mine turned me on to her in ‘99. Every time she puts something out, I feel a marginal spark of interest, and I’m always let down. Red Letter Year is a little more fun, but no more memorable than her last 6 or 10 albums. For some, like Ms. DiFranco and Tori Amos, the fire is simply too weak to warm our hands - let alone heart - any more. 

Bayside: Shudder
Caught Bayside at SxSw last year. They’re good working-class rockers, but this record will in now way ‘immortalize them for the ages,’ as Amazon reads. ‘We are feeling youthful and excited,’ says vocalist and guitarist Anthony Raneri. Y’know, as opposed to “We’re feeling old and burned out.” 

Ben Folds: Way To Normal
Never in hell would I ever have thought I’d say this, but the new Ben Folds record sorta kicks ass. If your musical compass is anything like mine or anyone I know, the last Ben Folds song we heard had something to do with joining the Army or something, and it was a long-ass time ago. And we didn’t really care then, so why should we now? Put simply, Folds welds jazz and power rock with wit and originality for an album that’s kinda weird, kinda out there, but kinda awesome.  He’s a story-teller for the piano-rock generation, and his collaboration with Dennis Herring (Counting Crows, Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello) and indie songstress, Regina Spektor (on the track You Don’t Know Me) make for a refreshing walk down Ben Folds lane. Check out Free Coffee for a taste of what to expect. 

Dear And The Headlights: Drunk Like The Bible Times
Dear And The Headlights bridges indie-pop and folk with an album that goes a long way to capturing the band’s live energy on tape. Drunk Like Bible Times is a lesson in live evolution with the band, as well. “I think part of the issue with the first record is that we demoed a bunch of songs, and we just demoed them to death,” says vocalist Ian Metzger. “By the time we ended up recording the actual record, I had to go in and sing about stuff that I didn’t even slightly relate to anymore. When we went into the studio and heard the polished version, we’re like, ‘Ugh! It’s a little lifeless.’ On this record, we didn’t demo any of the songs. We let playing them out live kind of be the demo just by playing it out and remembering how it sounds live.” The result is warmer, more natural, and not bad at all. 

Grateful Dead: Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978
You goddamned hippies. This double CD/DVD set marks the 30th anniversary of The Dead’s historic concerts at Giza, and features more than 3 patchoulie-soaked hours of rare and previously unreleased music remastered in HDCD, plus over 100 minutes of extremely rare, previously unseen concert and behind the scenes footage. For the diehards. 

Innerpartysystem: Innerpartysystem
Innerpartysystem has an Orwellian name that makes me want to hate them. I don’t know this band, except for the few shitty blippy electro synthpop tracks I’ve heard on their myspace. They licensed the shit out of their music for all kinds of video games (FIFA Street 3, Madden NFL ‘09 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition and Burnout Paradise), but that doesn’t make it good. 

Jack White & Alicia Keys: Another Way To Die
A mess of a song that could’ve been done entirely without Ms. Keys’ assistance. More on that here. 

Jack’s Mannequin: The Glass Passenger
Everybody seemed to go nuts over Andrew McMahon’s debut album, Everything In Transit, and that’s fine. It was a pretty good album. But McMahon calls The Glass Passenger ‘a record about getting through something that was negative and getting to something that was positive.’ If that’s the best an artist can do to describe his new baby, I’m out. 

Madlib: WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip
This final edition of the Beat Generation series includes guest appearances from Talib Kweli, Murs, Oh No, Guilty Simpson, Defari, Georgia Anne Muldrow and many more. From the few tracks I’ve heard, WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip finds Madlib at his most potent, and I’m looking forward to hearing this one in its entirety. 

Murs: Murs For President
Eclectic, versatile, politically rampant and unpredictable are good ways to describe Murs, one of LA’s biggest underground hip-hop pioneers. He finally makes his major label debut with this one, but it seems to lack a bit of the fire from his previous work. This one’s gonna need another spin or two. 

Nightwatchman: The Fabled City
Morello’s best known for his roles in Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave, but he moonlights as the Nightwatchman, a solo project indulging his acoustic singer/songwriter temptations while staying true to the leftist messages that put Rage on the map. He adds several new dynamics to the Nightwatchman sound on this one, including a string section, piano and mandolin, with a full band to back him. His lyricism is just as biting and melodramatically political as on One Man Revolution, but things are definitely a little more well-rounded on this one. 

NWA: Family Tree
What, did Tupac join NWA? We’ve already got a greatest hits, but for some reason we need this, a compilation of NWA songs you already know, mixed with artists that were influenced by them. But I’ve heard more than enough from Warren G and Nate Dogg. This isn’t the nineties anymore. In other words, nobody cares. Unless you’re getting back together, which wouldn’t make sense without Eazy-E. So nevermind. 

People Under The Stairs: Fun DMC
The fiercely independent duo’s most meticulously produced release to date also comes with a comic book made by the hip-hoppers themselves. There’s some flavor and flow here, but won’t make any best-of lists this year. 

T.I.: Paper Trail
The title references T.I.’s return to literally writing down his lyrics, aka “going back to basics”. Should we celebrate that? It doesn’t exactly seem to matter. The Atlanta rapper recorded Paper Trail album while under house arrest for weapons charges, and he’s looking at a year-long prison sentence starting next year. The album is free of the fake-gangster bullshit that weighed down his previous work, filled instead with poptastic rhymes and guest appearances and production from Lil Wayne. Rihanna, Usher, The Dream, Fall Out Boy, Kanye West, B.O.B, John Legend, DJ Toomp, Swizz Beatz, Drumma Boy, & Danja. 

Trivium: Shogun
Trivium’s back with what they’re calling their most cohesive and mature effort to date. They promise to ‘knock the metal and hard rock community on its ass with what will definitely be hailed as the metal album of the year by critics and fans alike!’ Right. New Rule: If you’re telling people your new record is album of the year, by default it fucking sucks. But for 15 bucks, redemption may come in three bonus tracks and a DVD with a 45-minute making of the album documentary, as well as ‘how to play’ clips teaching fans how to play songs from the new album on guitar and bass. That deserves a little respect. 

Various Artists: Les Paul & Friends- A Tribute To A Legend
A tribute to Les Paul. With Joan Osborne, Johnny Reznik and Richie Sambora. No thanks. 

Various Artists: Rock N Rolla
The soundtrack to Guy Ritchie’s new flick features cuts from The Clash, War, The Subways, The Sonics, Flash & The Pan, Lou Reed, The Hives, Wanda Jackson and more. Interesting mix for what looks like a badass movie.