Sorry this is late kids: chalk it up to Memorial Day weekend hangover. In any case, here’s what’s new in stores & worth your time this week:

Al Green, Lay It Down
The Rev takes a break and crafts his first wholly secular album in ages with the help of The Roots’ ?uestlove, and the results are sparkling. Al’s voice is still an incomparable instrument (his falsetto especially shines), and ?uestlove’s production is absolutely top notch: the songs sound familiar thanks to generous doses of smooth horns, organ, and subtle strings, but not dated. Sure, there are some guests to draw in the kids (Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, and Corrine Bailey Ray), but they know their place: they complement Al well, and things never approach the horrific levels of Santana’s recent monstrosities where he plays second fiddle to a bunch of talentless modern hacks on “his” record. Welcome back, Al. iTunes is offering the album with a bonus track, so grab it there.

KT Tunstall, Live from SoHo (iTunes Exclusive) EP
My girl KT redeems herself a bit here after the massive letdown that her second album Drastic Fantastic has been, going back to her more acoustic roots and offering an excellent 9-song live EP featuring renditions of both old and new tunes. Drastic’s tunes are much much better in a live setting than in their original studio incarnations, so this should certainly satisfy old & new fans alike. Grab it at (duh) iTunes.

It’s only fair that you get a good understanding of why we picked the remixes we did, so here are the originals for your enjoyment:

• Uncle Sam’s “The Real Thing”
• UNKLE Matt’s “preMix”
• Onkel Rudi’s “As Originally Seen In…”

You probably last heard these songs in a remixed form in the “Imagine Moist Exterior” playlist. Now’s the change to hear the source material for all of these crazy-ass remixes. It’s amazing how the remixers can squeeze out five (or more) minutes of material out of very short TV theme songs, isn’t it?

Enjoy!

Download: Theme to “Sesame Street” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Theme to “Speed Racer” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Have A Cigar” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Lemon” - U2 (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “A Day In The Life” - The Beatles (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Here are the original tracks for my remix playlist, untouched and in their original pristine glorious black & white. The weird thing about the Vega track is that she begins her album with the accapella, then ends it with an instrumental version. Hmm, methinks a mashup may be a’brewin!

Download: Suzanne Vega, “Tom’s Diner” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Duncan Sheik, “Reasons For Living” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Christina Aguilera, “Hurt” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Black Sheep, “The Choice Is Yours” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Imogen Heap, “Hide And Seek” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

As promised, here are the unmixed originals to go along with the tunes I posted in Even Better Than The Real Thing a couple weeks ago. Every once in a while I revisit these mixes, with Cornershop’s half-speed “Brimful of Asha” and A3’s more rambling “Woke Up This Morning” getting the most work, but for the most part, I seek out the superior remix. Enjoy the before/after effects!

Download: Primal Scream, “Higher Than The Sun (Original)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Manic Street Preachers, “So Why So Sad” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Cornershop, “Brimful of Asha” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: U2, “Elevation” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Alabama 3, “Woke Up This Morning” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Björk, “All Is Full Of Love” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Here’s what’s new and worth your time this week:

Dandy Warhols, …Earth To The Dandy Warhols…
The newly label-less Dandys are trying something new for the release of …Earth, their eighth full-length. It’s due in stores this September, but if you’re a fan who just can’t wait, enroll in their “ETTDW subscription service.” For $35, you’ll get a download of …Earth right away in high-quality MP3 form, the physical disc sent to you upon release, a handmade …Earth print, and future downloads of b-sides, live tracks, and videos. It’s a bit pricey for the casual listener, but it’s a can’t miss deal for fans (like me).

Foxboro Hot Tubs, Stop Drop and Roll!!!
Green Day decided to shrug off the pressure to record the follow-up to American Idiot by dabbling in this Nuggets-style side project with their touring band en tow. The retro-kitschy design is excellent, and so are the tunes, based on the EP’s-worth that were given away on teh intarwebs late last year — try non-album track "Highway 1" on for size:

Download: Foxboro Hot Tubs, "Highway 1" (mp3)

Gemma Hayes, The Hollow of Morning
Now this was a complete shocker: Brit folk-rocker Gemma Hayes’ newest album hit the iTunes Store today, just over a week after it hit stores in the UK. She’s an old favorite of mine (I first heard her catchy debut single “Hanging Around” while in a Virgin Megastore in London & grabbed her disc in a flash), but she hasn’t seen a stateside release since a horribly reworked version of her debut came out in 2003. I’ve already grabbed this from 7digital.com, but it’s definitely worth a look see: Hollow is solid.

Beatallica, All You Need Is Blood
I’ll bet you never thought you’d need an album of nothing but multilingual versions of a Metallica-aping parody of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” but trust me: you do. Especially the Hebrew and Estonian versions.

Sometimes I just get in the mood for some stadium-sized, anthemic Britrock, and recently I’ve been getting my fix from The Enemy’s debut album We’ll Live And Die In These Towns. The Coventry-based trio’s disc was released in their native UK last July, where it went straight to #1 on the album charts and spawned three top-20 singles (”Had Enough” charted highest at #4). All of this means, of course, that it’s never seen the light of day on our shores, and I owe the breathlessly-hyped coverage in Q & NME thanks for introducing me to them.

Their unabashedly big sound is equal parts modern indie-punk and mid-90’s Brit rock (imagine the Arctic Monkeys & Oasis having a baby), and their songs are universally built around soaring riffs and fist-pumping choruses; you can practically see crowds bouncing along when the songs really get going. The album is solid from beginning to end, but I think it peaks smack-dab in the middle with “You’re Not Alone,” which might have secured itself a place on my year-end compilation thanks to its driving beat, earworm-inducing melody, and sort-of-unintelligible but makes-you-want-to-sing-along-anyway chorus. Enjoy:

Download: The Enemy, “You’re Not Alone” (mp3)

Download: The Enemy, “We’ll Live And Die In These Towns” (mp3)

Like what you hear? You can download We’ll Live And Die In These Towns from 7digital.com, a neat UK-based digital music retailer that opens the door for us Yanks to get ahold of European music without the heavy import charges. You’ll pay in British pounds, but the cost for albums is pretty close to what you’d pay for a CD anyway (5-8 pounds is roughly equivalent to 10-16 dollars).

Here’s what’s new in stores and worth your time this week:

Duffy, Rockferry
The newest of the UK’s retro-soul queens, Duffy, washes ashore with her debut album, which reached the top of the British album charts & yielded a number one single, too (”Mercy”). Her sound is equal parts Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield, and the Welsh singer teamed up with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler to craft this solid disc of 60’s cool. Worth a look-see via iTunes, which is offering the album with 2 bonus tracks.

Old 97’s, Blame It On Gravity
Rhett Miller returns from the solo-album wilderness and reunites with his bandmates for another album of solid country-fed power pop. Not as bouncy as Satellite Rides (my favorite album of theirs), but much more meaty songwriting. iTunes is offering 2 bonus tracks, so grab it there.

Sorry for the delay, folks — springtime sinus infections can lay to waste the best of plans. Anyway, here’s what’s new in stores and worth your time over the last 2 weeks:

The Roots, Rising Down
Illadelph’s finest return with another sharp, pointed album that’s blissfully (and consciously) filler-free. ?uestlove’s organic production and crack rhythms are a treat, and Black Thought continues to impress with his rhymes (”75 Bars (Thought’s Reconstruction)” is killer). The music’s tight and vibrant, and the lyrics are smarter than you’ll ever hear on top-40 radio (opener “Rising Down” takes on global climate change — think tools like Flo Rida ever even heard of that?). The iTunes version includes a hideously awful bonus track (”Birthday Girl” a collaboration with Fallout Boy singer Patrick Stump) that the Roots recorded almost as a joke to placate their short-sighted label bosses, so don’t be fooled into thinking that’s representative of the album as a whole. Grab it at iTunes because it’s convenient and sadly not available at Amazon MP3, but skip that last bonus track. I opted for the physical disc for just that reason.

Nine Inch Nails, The Slip
Does Trent Reznor record albums in his sleep or what? He’s been so prolific recently, he’s making Ryan Adams look like Portishead (see below). In any case, to thank us for the impressive success of his recent instrumental release, Ghosts I-IV, Trent sez “this one’s on me” and is giving the new (with vocals, too!) Nine Inch Nails album The Slip away for the low, low price of zero dollars. In exchange for an email address, you’ll get a link to the download, which is available in high-quality, beautifully-tagged MP3s or in a multitude of lossless formats via torrent. The price is right and Reznor sounds creatively refreshed, so what’s stopping you? Grab it at theslip.nin.com. Feel free to share it, too, as it’s been released under a creative commons attribution non-commercial share alike license. Don’t mind if I do, then:

Download: Nine Inch Nails, “Discipline” (mp3)

Portishead, Third
Their first album in more than a decade is unsurprisingly excellent and moody, but after a couple of thorough spins, the thing I’m most floored by is how alive the album sounds. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision, but Third sounds like it was built for the road. Now if only they were playing anywhere near me…

Steve Earle, Copperhead Road: Deluxe Edition
A nice remaster of Earle’s classic album is a decent enough draw, but the real attraction here is an entire live show recorded with his backing band The Dukes in Texas included as the second disc of this new deluxe edition. Amazon MP3 is the best place to snag it at under 15 bucks.

Ahh, remixes. CD single filler? (”You mean I get both a 9-minute Junior Vazquez remix and a 10-minute Chris Cox remix plus the original of Kelly Clarkson’s “Walk Away” with this $10 import CD single?!? Awesome!”) Irritating trend? (DJ Sammy in the studio: “You know what the world needs? A cheesy eurodisco version of an overwrought Bryan Adams ballad!”) Or legitimate, creative awesomeness? (Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album is one of the coolest things you’ll ever hear)

In any case, it’s a topic that’s come up in conversation with Matt quite often (and with Rudi, too, to my pleasant surprise, given his generally retro & folkie tastes), so I thought we should proudly display our favorites. My guidelines for the challenge were this, remixed into lolcat speak:

UR REMIXES. LET ME HAS THEM.

Pretty wide open, no? They could be 12-minute long trance remixes, Moog synthesized re-versionings, or simply an alternate studio mix, but they couldn’t be the original mix/version of the song. Enjoy the results!

• UNKLE Matt’s “Hey, you got your acappella in my instrumental!”
• Onkel Rudi’s “Imagine moist exterior”
• Uncle Sam’s “Even Better Than The Real Thing”