XTC co-founder Andy Partridge gets his freak wiggle on next week in a loose, layered, free-form two-CD set that reunites him with an old mate from his heady new-wave days. Released on his own boutique label, Ape House Records, Monstrance is an improvised, instrumental three-man roundtable, with original XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and the drummer from his own Shriekback concoction, Martyn Barker.
Recorded over a three-day period in 2005 and 2006, the trio's unfastened, baggy jams were boiled down by Future Sound of London guitarist Stuart Rowe, free of overdubs and studio edits. Mind-altering highlights include the 16-minute "Priapple" and the piano flirtation of "Little Field." Other Ape House releases are also due Tuesday domestically for the first time, including the UK's poppy Milk & Honey Band and two other projects Partridge's hands have been in: Canadian Veda Hille's Return of the Kildeer and a 2003 collaboration with Peter Blegvad titled Orpheus: The Lowdown, telling the story of Apollo's son's journey to hell to revive his young bride.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hits the showers with the Gym Class Heroes tonight; The Late Show with David Letterman hosts Bloc Party on Thursday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Death Cab for Cutie this evening overnight and My Morning Jacket on Thursday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson presents The Ataris this evening overnight and The Noisettes on Monday overnight; and Last Call with Carson Daly clues Junior in about The Bird & the Bee on Thursday overnight.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, April 3:
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change.
The Almost - Southern Weather (Tooth & Nail/Virgin) new from Underearth drummer Aaron Gillespie, with guest Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate on "Dirty & Left Out"
Greg Ashley - Painted Garden (Birdman) solo album from The Mirrors and Gris Gris founder
The Black Keys - Chulahoma (Fat Possum) six-song CD EP of Junior Kimbrough songs
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath: The Dio Years (Rhino/Warner Bros) anthology featuring three new songs
Brandi Carlile - The Story (Columbia) with guests the Indigo Girls on "Cannonball"
David T. Chastain - Countdown to Infinity (Leviathan) layered instrumental album from the Southern Gentlemen shredder, with drummer Mike Haid
Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis (Rough Trade) new solo album from the former Pulp frontman
Dogboy - Rebel Riddim (Suburban Noize) smooth, pensive bounce from the Kottonmouth Kings associate, getting lost in the cool Jamaica breeze
Eats Tapes - Dos Mutantes (Tigerbeat 6) crazy retro electronica featuring Matmos guitarist Nate Boyce on "I've Become Cretin"
Erasure - "I Could Fall in Love with You" (Mute) CD single with five remixes
Everybody Else - Everybody Else (Militia Group) joyous, hip-shaking, hand-clappin' full-length debut from this Harvard-educated power-pop trio, featuring former Push Star Carrick Moore Gerety
Jeff Finlin - Angels in Disguise (Ryko) infectious Americana diatribes from the Thieves co-founder, with Will Kimbrough
Fountains of Wayne - Traffic & Weather (Virgin) with guest Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers
Further Seems Forever - The Final Curtain (567 Records/Razor & Tie) CD and DVD set featuring the band's final show and rare 27th Street sessions featuring Chris Carrabba
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager (Atlantic) domestic release of this UK hit, heard recently on The OC
Headlights - Keep Your Friends Close, Keep the City You Call Home Closer (Polyvinyl) limited-edition CD EP featuring WOXY and Daytrotter sessions
Idlewild - Make Another World (Sanctuary) with two exclusive bonus tracks
Rose Kemp - A Handful of Hurricanes (One Little Indian) anticipated domestic release of this UK hit from the daughter of Steeleye Span's Rick Kemp and Maddy Prior
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times (RCA) on tour last fall with Bob Dylan
Alison Krauss - A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection (Rounder) featuring songs from the soundtracks of Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Peel - Peel (Peek-a-Boo) buoyant, jangling freak-pop debut from Austin, Texas
Pentangle - The Time Has Come 1967-1973 (Castle/Sanctuary) four-CD box set packed with rarities and a 1968 concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof - original motion picture soundtrack (Warner Bros) with music from Joe Tex, T-Rex, and the Coasters
The Roadside Graves - No One Will Know Where You've Been (Kill Buffalo) rootsy Americana from Metuchen, New Jersey, with a hint of Bob Dylan's wanderlust
Martin Sexton - Seeds (Kitchen Table) with guests Keller Williams and Nils Lofgren
Shadows Fall - Threads of Life (Atlantic) recorded in Dave Grohl's California facility, Studio 606
Sia - Lady Croissant Live (Astralwerks) featuring a cover of The Pretenders' "I Go to Sleep"
Sick Puppies - Dressed Up as Life (Capitol) featuring "All the Same," a big You Tube hit with its "free hugging" video
Emilie Simon - March of the Empress (Milan) icy-cool original soundtrack composed for the 2005 documentary March of the Penguins, unfortunately shelved when the film's producers went in another direction
Todd Snider - Peace, Love, & Anarchy: Rarities, B Sides, & Demos Vol. 1 (Oh Boy) featuring the aching, bald-man bummer "Combover Blues," a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Stoney," and guest guitarist Tommy Womack lending a hand in the Crazy Horse-esque "Cheatham Street Warehouse"
Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land (V2) with guest vocalists Jimi Goodwin of the Doves, Will Oldham, and Mark Lanegan
Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid & Their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky) featuring different cover art on the two-CD set and three-LP vinyl versions
Static-X - Cannibal (Reprise) bristling, brutal new album with producer John Travis
Los Straitjackets - Rock En Espanol, Vol. 1 (Yep Roc) Spanish-language album covering The Troggs, The Kinks, Arthur Alexander, and the Coasters, with special guest vocalists Big Sandy, Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, and Little Willie G. of Thee Midniters
Subtle - "The Mercury Craze" (Lex) red-vinyl 12-inch, seven-inch picture disc, or CD single, featuring Doseone from Clouddead
Throbbing Gristle - Part Two: The Endless Not (Mute) also available in a special Totemic Gift edition with talismans of copper, bone, wood, or rubber
Tiger Saw - Tigers on Fire (Tract Records) more than 20 players and vocalists in this creeping, eclectic collective from Massachusetts channel Elvis' croon in "Commerce in the Night"
Timbaland - Shock Value (Mosley Music/Interscope) with songs by Fall Out Boy, Elton John, Nelly Furtado, and The Hives
Umphrey's McGee - The Bottom Half (Sci-Fidelity) two-CD set of outtakes, a cappella versions, and B sides
Paul Wall - Get Money - Stay True (Atlantic) with guests Fergie and Yung Redd
Cadence Weapon - Breaking Kayfabe (Revolver) Canadian rapper with big buzz from Urb, Stylus, and the Plug Independent Awards
Chris Whitley & Jeff Lang - Dislocation (Rounder) featuring covers of Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and "Changing of the Guard"; these Melbourne, Australia, sessions were Whitley's last
Jah Wobble - Heart & Soul (Trojan/Sanctuary) new solo album from the Public Image Ltd. bassist and dub visionary
Wolfgang - The Wicked Truth About Loving a Man (Hypnote) rocking a vintage synth vocoder and Human League beats
