The Post-Rockist

Our promise to you, gentle reader, is to bring you music news near and dear to your heart before it becomes embarrassingly outdated.  Cough, cough, ahem.  Starting next week.

Here’s a glimpse at what’s been happing in your world for the past week or so:

New Releases

The Mountain Goats will be releasing a new album entitled Get Lonely, which is scheduled to leap into the open arms of affectionate diarists everywhere August 22, 2006.  Complete with vibraphone, Hammond organ, cello, piano, and brass accompaniment, Get Lonely is expected to continue along the path started by last year’s successful The Sunset Tree, with John Darnielle’s recollections of pulling his life together after his fraught relationship with his stepfather.

Tracklisting:

01. Wild Sage
02. New Monster Avenue
03. Half Dead
04. Get Lonely
05. Maybe Sprout Wings
06. Moon Over Goldsboro
07. In The Hidden Places
08. Song For Lonely Giants
09. Woke Up New
10. If You See Light
11. Cobra Tattoo
12. In Corolla 

The times they are still a-pluggin’ away.  Robert Zimmerman, more popularly known as Bob Dylan, has recorded his follow up to 2001’s Love & Theft.  The new record, which is called Modern Times, is slated to appear August 28, 2006.  Last week a number of hand-selected journalists, The Post-Rockist not among them, were given a chance to hear a preview of the album on the condition that they not discuss its particulars quite yet.  Thanks to Google and some hard-nosed investigative work, we are able to reveal some of the track titles on the new record: “Thunder on the Mountain,” “Spirit on the Water,” “Workingman’s Blues,” and “When the Deal Goes Down.”  One source claims that, of the dozen songs included on Modern Times, there are “at least three masterpieces.”  With any luck, the remaining songs are not rubbish.  No word yet on exclusive distribution deals with Starbucks.

Hip-hop producer/DJ/indie-crossover success El-P is also at work on his new album, called I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead.  El-Producto will be teaming up with industrial veteran Trent Reznor on the track “Flyentology” and with the Mars Volta on an as yet unnamed track.  A preview track is up on El-P’s MySpace page, and if this song is any indication, then it sounds as though the heavy noise and reverb bursts that characterized 2002’s incredible Fantastic Damage have been toned down in favor of a leaner cut.

Reissue Alert

Lester Bangs may have called Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music the greatest album ever recorded but, curiously enough, the listening public did not agree.  Reed’s 1976 follow-up was the subtler, smoother, and oft-overlooked Coney Island Baby, which, Billboard reports, will be getting the deluxe 30^th anniversary reissue treatment by RCA/Legacy. 

In the new set of liner notes, Reed reflects, “Metal Machine Music had an unusually high number of returns and was taken off the market in three weeks.  I had no money and no guitars.  The roadies had taken them when they hadn’t been paid.  I was in debt to everyone including the musicians union.  RCA put me in a hotel while the future fell, to be determined.”

The future, August 15 to be exact, will see Coney Island Baby re-released with several rarities of the time, including previously unreleased rehearsal demos of  “She’s My Best Friend,” “Crazy Feeling,” and “Coney Island Baby,” all recorded with former VU bassist Doug Yule.  O, sweet somethin’!

When the Beach Boys first released Pet Sounds in 1966 it may not have been made for those times – only reaching a disappointing gold as opposed to the platinum of its surf-fun-dance predecessors – its stock has only grown exponentially among pop enthusiasts.  Well, since the 40-year mark is as good a time as any to celebrate an album’s release, Capitol Records plans to release Pet Sounds with the now standard mono and stereo mixes, plus previously unreleased documentary and promotional video, as well as a reissue of the “Good Vibrations” single.  Because sometimes, having a four-disc box set isn’t enough to celebrate a truly great album.

Break Ups

Sleater-Kinney is calling it quits, but we’re probably the last people to tell you that, aren’t we?  Well, if you’re lucky you’ll catch them before Lollapalooza, smarty pants.