I am a man on a mission. The mission: to find that elusive Flaming Lips cover Tame Impala / Tame Impala covers the Flaming Lips EP that's floating around. Originally available only at Lips/Tame Impala tour stops, it's been reported that it's also landed at random indie record stores, but as this point I'd even settle for mp3 downloads based on this freewheeling and hella trippy Flaming Lips cover of Tame Impala's "Elephant." No, I really want that EP on vinyl, especially if it's more of that handmade vinyl Wayne was fooling around with last year, like their Heady Fwends vinyl set for last year's Record Store Day (which is one of the coolest things I've ever picked up... ever). Anyway, here's "Elephant," which you probably shouldn't listen to while operating heavy machinery. 

Ditto for this Flaming Lips / Tame Impala collaboration from last year's Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends double LP. On "Children Of The Moon" Parker and Steven Drozd really summon the cosmic mojo, deploying one of the spaciest guitar riffs I've ever heard. Careful with this.

Bruce Springsteen's late-period has yielded some of the best work of his career, with 2012's Wrecking Ball in particular acting of a fine representation of what he's still capable of. Earlier this week, he announced the follow-up, High Hopes, which will be released in January. This album feels like it will be a bit of an oddball in his discography. Rather than another album of new original material, Bruce has gone for a mix of covers, and new versions of old songs that have been overlooked over the years.

The first track to be released was a stark, intense cover of Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream," while this week, the title track, a remake of a song from his lesser-know EP Blood Brothers made the rounds. This one represented Bruce's more rollicking side, but also contained the legendary fury of his live performances. The performance was raw, and gave the impression that the album as a whole could take a an angry, political tone (Tom Morello's involvement also gives that indication). In any case, while the concept for the album is a bit surprising, the first two tracks have eased any fears I may have had about this record. The Boss's winning streak will almost certainly continue.

Who wouldn't want to listen something from someone named DJ Dog Dick? A lame person, that's fucking who! Seriously, I had never heard of this guy until this track came out through Stereogum yesterday, so if you're a longtime fan, my analysis of his work might seem amateurish. What I'll mostly say is that I really fucking liked this song. It's anthemic without ever become overly bombastic, and the synth line that drives it lends it an atmospheric, almost ambient feel. In other words, it sounds nothing like what you would expect the music of someone named DJ Dog Dick to sound like. His latest album also was released yesterday, and if it's anything like this, it's certainly well worth checking out.

I was pleased to see on Facebook that M83 released a new song on Monday from a hitherto unknown upcoming project due digitally next week and physically next year. Apparently, Anthony Gonzalez has been using his downtime after the mega success of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming with yet another film soundtrack, following his work on the Tom Cruise/Morgan Freeman sci-fi epic Oblivion, with a soundtrack for the French art film You And The Night featuring Manchester United legend/god and French international Eric Cantona. 

Described as a "tribute to 70's French soundtracks" for "lovers and ghosts," the first release "Ali & Matthias" is a welcome curveball after that overcooked Killers/M83 collaboration, a gentle instrumental that calls to mind Danny Elfman while building to a pleasing crescendo in classic M83 fashion. The entire soundtrack will be available for download November 19th, while the film You And The Night will be released this month in France with international release to follow.




Also, check out the trailer for the film You And The Night, featuring more M83, Cantona and some serious French cinema. I hope it finds it's way to WNY. It looks like fun.

On Lorde's cover of the Tears For Fears classic - which will be appearing on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - she seems to have a clear understanding of how dark the song is, perhaps even more so than Roland Orzabal did when he wrote it. The song becomes dreary and dirge like, a mourning of how society becomes compromised in the relentless pursuit of power.

As a song intended for a movie about a Dystopian future where poor kids kill each other in a competition than the upper class gleefully watches, it's a perfect fit. We've already established that Lorde is an extremely talented songwriter, but with this, we see that she is quite adept at interpreting the work of others as well.

On Tuesday, Austin's The Impossibles released new material for the first time in twelve years. Let me repeat that. On Tuesday, Austin's The Impossibles released new material for the first time in twelve years. This was a momentous occasion in the Moretti household, where I spent the evening downing Lone Stars, imitating Jack Topht's signature shoulder bounce, and playing air guitar to seven minutes worth of material in my customized Impossibles softball jersey. You see, this band molded my teenage years. The Impossibles weaned me off of my Blink-182 obsession and immediately became my comforting companion to numerous breakups, breakdowns, road trips, and overall good times of growing up. 

Without being overtly sentimental, "Come Back," combines the formula of past Impossibles releases, with upstroke ska verses a la Anthology, the crescendos and choruses of Return, and finally the anthemic aura of 4 Song Brick Bomb. Singer Gabe Hascall's vocals are just as sweet and sincere as they were in 1999, Rory's powerful delivery of the chorus is spot-on, and Craig's bass lines have gotten better with age, like a fine wine. 

Rory, Gabe, and Craig- I've missed you. Thank you forever for the come back. 

     

It's been 11 years since Peter Gabriel's last album of new original songs, and unfortunately, that drought doesn't appear to be ending any time soon. Luckily, folks desperate for any unheard Gabriel music can enjoy this previously unreleased cut, which will be art of an epic reissue of 1986's So, Gabriel's most popular solo release and one of his best. Considering how poppy that album was, you can understand why Gabriel decided to leave "Courage" off the final track list. Quite simply, it was just too weird.

This isn't to say it' a bad song mind you, on the contrary, it has an extremely memorable melody, and will likely be played repeatedly by folks who pick up the So boxset. No, the problem facing this song was that Gabriel wrote it at the wrong time in his career. It would have been a perfect addition for either of his first two solo albums, since it sounds a bit like "Shock The Monkey." It'll be interesting to see if classic rock radio stations add "Courage" to their playlists. It's Gabriel at his finest, and it would surely break up the doldrums of hearing the same songs again and again. At any rate, it's great to hear some of Gabriel's unreleased work, and of course, it just makes me want him to make a new album even more.

Is the year slowing down? When I looked at what was coming out this month, I started to realize that the new release stream is lightening as the year winds to a close. Soon, we will be reading a seemingly endless string of year end reviews (none of which matter by the way but ours, ours is the only one you should read, we have a lot of opinions and you need to see that we are generally right, me especially, I am the most right here) and we will not see much new music until 2014. So, what is in store for this last major month for new music in 2013?

November 5

Black Flag - What The...: Old dudes who should have retired awhile ago would like to desecreate  anything you might have held sacred.

Bright Eyes - A Christmas Album: A limited charity release from a number of years ago, Bright Eyes is apparently opening your holiday season up early. Like really early. Fun fact, you know how you always gave your mom or dad Christmas albums because that was what they liked...well kids can do that with Bright Eyes now, because we are all old, painfully old (the writer is 6 months away from his 30th birthday, not sure he is doing well with this fact).

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2: Oh dear lord, the first one of these came out when I was a freshman in high school. The cruel march of time marches on (he might need to talk through this, if you see the writer, tell him it will be ok).

Cut Copy - Free Your Mind: The Australian electronic group is back with one of the year's most danceable albums. Early singles have been a solid indication that the group has built upon their previous two albums, bringing them together into an excellent release. Check back on Wednesday for our review.


Dropkick Murphy's - Signed and Sealed in Blood (Box Set): If you need a gift for your friend with questionable taste in hats and/or beer, here ya go.

M.I.A. - Matangi: After a number of delays and label disputes, M.I.A. has returned with her fourth album. While her "rebel" status is starting to seem increasingly contrived, early buzz has been positive even if she seems to have cribbed the first single and video from things Azelia Banks did a year or two ago.




Sapphire Slows - Allegoria: Japanese artist, Sapphire Slows, is releasing her second album through LA's Not Not Fun label. The first single, "Animal Dreams," sounds similar to labelmates, Maria Minerva and LA Vampires. Textured electronic melodies haunted by vocals perfect for wandering around during the longer and longer nighttime.




November 12

Lady Gaga - Artpop: Seriously?

deadmau5 - We Are Friends Vol. 2: New music from that guy in the big helmet. Might appeal to you if you are currently rolling.

Wooden Shjips - Back to Land: Spaced out psych from the San Francisco group, a few whose members were behind last year's heavily underrated Moon Duo record. The title track is fantastic and will satisfy fans of groups like The Fresh & Onlys.




November 18

Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe: Dev Hynes has gone through a number of metamorphosis over the course of his career. Once Lightspeed Champion, the artist has reinvented himself as a pop music wunderkind, producing awesome tracks for Solange Knowles and Skye Ferreira. The first single, "Chamakay," may have been one of the year's best songs period. Hopefully this album lives up to its lofty promise.




November 26

Thee Oh Sees - Singles Collection, Volume 3: Just in time for Thanksgiving, Thee Oh Sees release another collection of music. At this point, I fully trust everything this groups does so I am just going to say it will be awesome and will totally scare your relatives. Play it while the pie is served.

When Broken Bells, the duo of Shins frontman James Mercer and mega-producer Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse, debuted a couple years back, the results were a good, but not great collection of spacey pop music. Despite the Shins returning with a very good come back album in 2012, the pair maintained that Broken Bells was not a one off project and further releases would come down the line. Well, Mercer and Burton are back with a new album, After the Disco, and today, released the sophomore album's first single "Holding On For Life." The duo has maintained their space synth sound, but has injected some serious falsettos of Bee Gees proportions into the new tune. Listen to the track below. After the Disco will be released on January 14th.
 

It's hard to think about Sufjan Stevens when he was just starting out. After so thoroughly blowing our minds with Michigan, Illinois, and Seven Swans, he's quite firmly established himself as the one of the finest songwriters around, with a level talent that few can hope to reach. But just like everyone else, Stevens was once a hungry young musician still figuring out what he was trying to say. We were lucky enough to get a peak into that phase of Stevens' career when he released "Jamila," the 4-track demo he made in 1998, onto Soundcloud earlier this week.

As with any demo from such a young musician, it's a bit rough around the edges, and the lyrics would lack the sophistication that would come to define his best work. Still, you can pick up on elements of his music that were present right from the beginning. The song is sweet and sincere, and could be looked at as a less depressing precursor to "Casimir Pulaski Day." Stevens wold go onto bigger and better things, but this early recording shows that he was always destined to be a great talent.

Last April, between Okkervil River album releases, front man Will Sheff debuted Lovestreams, a sort of bedroom side project of the literate songwriter that allowed him to dabble with less organic instrumentation. The project allowed Sheff to take those wonderful synths that were sprinkled over the nostalgia heavy The Silver Gymnasium (an ode to Sheff's New Hampshire hometown), and go in a very different direction than what fans of the band have come to expect over 7 studio albums. 

Given the Lovestreams remix treatment, "Stay Young," the latest single from the new album, is now a shimmering, arena ready pop song, sounding like something that could easily fit in a Phil Collins set list. Distant and echoing vocals, drum machines, and saxophones, which may or may not have been stolen from "Pseudio," result in something that is heavy in its cheese factor, but so was most of the 80s. Enjoy.

A message from Sydney, Australia made its way into my inbox this morning, signed Love Reece and Russ. Reece Cooper and Russell Smith make up Bon Chat, Bon Rat, an indie-electronic duo with a new single titled after their upcoming EP Burning Palms, named after a beach in southern Sydney. The release has only been active for seventeen hours, but already has 143 plays.

Nothing assaulting can be attributed to the single "Burning Palms;" a few elements include the clanking of water glasses, a booming and slightly ominous bass line, a steady drum beat, and ghostly choral chants. The feeling of the song is slow and sorrowful. Burning Palms tells, briefly, of the experience both members had leaving their parents' nest at an early age.

Cooper explains, "Originally it was about leaving home at a young age and disregarding your parents love and trust. This idea was paralleled by the idea of human kind, perhaps, being in a similar situation with Mother Nature."

The single, Cooper and Smith feel, expresses the struggle of the "dichotomy between analogue and digital", something they are exploring in their newest project.

Lost in all of this Reflecktor hype is that 2013 still has another much anticipated release, at least for this writer, in Cut Copy's Free Your Mind. The band has been building some hype of their own after dropping the great title track, in addition to a handful of interesting remixes which includes one from J Spaceman himself. On the album's latest single, "We Are Explorers," the Australian synth poppers continue to dabble in their much welcomed Madchester influences as they mix tribal beats with spacey effects, vintage psychedelia, and naturally, massive synths. Free Your Mind, the follow up to 2011's Zonoscope, will be released on Nov 5th.