Draft Board for 8/19/08: Amy MacDonald, David Byrne and Brian Eno, Lykke Li, The Dandy Warhols

Sorry I’m late, kids: here’s what’s new in stores and worth your time:

Amy MacDonald, This is the Life
MacDonald’s fantastic debut, which was a huge hit in her native UK and one of my top 10 albums of last year, finally gets a proper US release, and it’s well worth seeking out. She’s a knockout songwriter, and the album is loaded with strong folk-pop hooks. Her thick Scottish accent is also a treat. Amazon MP3’s version is inexplicably lacking closing song “The Road To Home” so I’d go with the iTunes version, which includes a previously unreleased bonus track “Rock Bottom.”

David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
The first Byrne/Eno collaboration in about 30 years is a pretty good one — give it a shot at http://www.everythingthathappens.com where the album is streaming in full. I still think that Bryne’s last, Grown Backwards, is a better-sounding album, but I’m happy that Eno rebounded nicely from the travesty that was Paul Simon’s Surprise. It’s not out on disc until the end of November, but you can order it digitally right now from the site.

Lykke Li, Youth Novels
This Swedish chanteuse has been much-blogged-about, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the buzz was justified. Her voice is pretty and slight, but when combined with the quirky, organic pop arrangements of Youth Novels, it becomes something really special (except for a couple oddball spoken word/tone poems, that is — those are eminently skippable). Give this a try:

Download: Lykke Li, “I’m Good, I’m Gone” (mp3)

Like what you hear? Grab Youth Novels at iTunes.

The Dandy Warhols, …Earth to the Dandy Warhols…
Finally in stores after debuting online to the Dandys’ fanclub a couple months back. Every outlet seems to be offering the album with different bonus tracks, so I’m recommending Amazon MP3, whose edition features a cover of Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay.”