...when the tissue paper layers of his songs build to sufficient thickness, it’s impossible not to be swept away, as evidenced by Blues Funeral.

Blues Funeral is the first album released under the name Mark Lanegan Band since 2004’s Bubblegum, but don’t think Lanegan hasn’t been busy. He has released albums with Isobel Campbell, The Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, and The Guttertwins, in addition to making numerous guest appearances in the meantime. Despite eight years and nine albums separating them, Blues Funeral follows logically from Bubblegum. Blues Funeral is the more cohesive of the two, yet rarely dips into monotony. Guest appearances by frequent collaborators, Josh Homme, Greg Dulli, and Jack Irons connect the album to Lanegan’s other projects.

Blues Funeral is best enjoyed in its entirety in a darkened room, through headphones, with a bourbon in hand. Throughout the whole, lyrics are placed front and center, where, like the Man in Black, Lanegan yearningly explores unwholesome themes with only a flickering hope of Christian redemption.

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I'm going to start this new "album round up" for Three Imaginary Girls with the above recent You Tube video for Sean Rowe's "Jonathan": (1.) Because I think it's the best song off of his recent Magic album (recently given full treatment here) and though it's been out a while the video is new. More-so, it's starting my summer off all rum and cola-sweetly, buzzy and bubbly at dusk-time, and I want to share it with you because the tune still grabs my attention. (2.) That's to help set the tone for a regular column that will primarily focus on the best songs on the albums I'm playing, while taking care of full length business as economically as possible. This doesn't mean I won't be doing more full length album reviews; but they might get the test-run here before they get the full heat treatment. Or, as in Rowe's case, I might remind you dear reader of previously scribed-about music that I think needs further attention, probably due to a bright jelly ear-worm melting in the candy jar of my brain.

Now to a hit and run consumer guide starting in my iTunes, and running into my headphones and down through my fingers briskly with the assistance of a jar of cold, strong coffee and soy milk:

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One of my favorite albums of the year comes from the Oxford-based band Stornoway.  It's an understatement to say they craft sumptuously understated melodies that draw from ponds of the Decemberists, later-era Lucksmiths, and Nick Drake and would sit comfortably on mixtapes between Teenage Fanclub, Belle and Sebastian.  Given the line of influence, it's no surprise that the band members met while attending Oxford University and that there is an ornithologist and a Russian translator among its ranks.

The songs on their 2010 release, Beachcomber's Windowsill, craft a soothing journey that meanders with graceful guitars and strings, playful keyboards and drum section, and shiny hopeful vocals that pierce your heart, summoning the memories you hold closest. 

Stornoway will play their first show in Seattle at the Crocodile on Thursday, December 9, 2010 with Head and the Heart opening up.

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(The National plays with Okkervil River at the Concerts at the Marymoor in Redmond, WA on September 11, 2010.)

I'm a latecomer to The National, the band that somehow sounds like a son of L. Cohen fronting a farm of Radiohead fans with both acoustic instruments and electronic gizmos. I first heard them on the quite excellent Live At KEXP Volume Four benefit compilation with the short, simmering "Start A War." Considering that smorgasbord also had Vampire Weekend's must-replay-frequently "A-Punk" and Sharon Jones' "Let Them Knock," the fact it was my favorite song on there was pretty impressive. Well, OK, to me, anyways.

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(Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti plays tonight at Neumos with Puro Instinct and Magic Kids.)

Before Today follows up Ariel Pink's previous two Haunted Graffiti projects (and becomes its own "thing" via its addition to his name) Worn Copy (2005) and House Arrest (2006). It lives up to Ariel Marcus Rosenberg's affection for Joe Meek's home-recorded production odysseys, and in the infectious swoon of fifth track "Round and Round" and the 80s-style big-pop-style remake of the Rockin' Ramrods 60s hit "Bright Lit Blue Skies," it transcends record collector rock or the critic's-easy-grab "freak folk." This is a sultry psyche-pop peak experience limber enough to transcend fetishism for either almost-colossal AM buzz or fuzzy handmade culture of past aeons.

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Music from The Big Pink was the 1968 album from The Band. Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell know this, as their band's website is musicfromthebigpink.com. Yet, The Big Pink, circa 2010 bears little resemblence to The Band of 1968, and sounds more like what might happen if My Bloody Valentine reveled in the mid-90s Blur/Oasis/Pulp Britpop scene, rather than precede it.

The Big Pink are a London-based, shoegaze duo who are playing (I believe) their first show in Seattle Friday night at Neumos. Their debut album is modestly called A Brief History of Love and it was released on 4AD last September. That's what Wikipedia will tell you about The Big Pink but what you really need to know is that the LA Times called what they (and tourmates A Place to Bury Strangers) do "kicking the bejesus out of your reverb unit."

{The Big Pink plays Neumos Friday, March 12 with A Place to Bury Strangers, io echo and Grave Babies; $15 adv, 21+.}

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By the time this gets posted, it'll probably be Bastille Day's Boxing Day, but that shouldn't stop anyone from posting this catchy-as-hell Camera Obscura song, "French Navy," which can be downloaded by right-clicking here. And/or you can watch the video after the jump.

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I'll be the first to admit that when I heard there was a new Camera Obscura record coming out, I expected a new collection of indie pop tunes in the vein of "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" or "Let's Get Out Of This Country."  The first track on My Maudlin Career is "French Navy,"  -- also the album's first single -- a string-heavy, upbeat song that stays true to its pop roots by only lasting three minutes and reminds me a lot of "Lloyd..."

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After a while out of print on vinyl, 4AD has re-released both Pixies' Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde albums on 180 gram vinyl (they hit the racks back on Oct 13).

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