((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) Scott Walker, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Black Dice, etc.

RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS Follow The Lights CD
*** When this arrived, I thought "Another Ryan Adams album!?" It turns out it's not an album after all--it's a 7-song EP, featuring 4 new tracks and 3 alternate versions of Adams' songs.

OREN AMBARCHI In The Pendulum's Embrace CD
*** "Ambarchi continues his otherworldly investigations with his latest where he expands the scope and range of his unique musical language, incorporating an even broader palette of instruments and sensibilities."

BABYSHAMBLES Shotters Nation CD
*** The NME said: "Babyshambles have far exceeded all expectations. This record is the work of a bunch of musicians hellbent on making he best record they have in them."

BLACK DICE Load Blown CD
*** "Strange and abrasive, yet somehow more familiar, accessible and familiar than ever, this is Black Dice at their most palatable yet."

CAN Anthology 2xCD
*** "A double CD of 29 classic CAN tracks--the perfect intro to the legendary German musical pioneers."

CASSIUS 15 Again CD
*** "Features the international dance floor smash 'Toop Toop' and the PHARRELL collabo 'Eye Water'." Plus bonus track!

CASTANETS In The Vines CD
*** "Appropriately, the album he was struggling to complete is based on a Hindu fable about being trapped in an inescapable fate, with death and the limitations of our physical lives closing in from all corners. The songs are sung with such intimacy and earnestness that "In The Vines" sways somewhere between the serpent, elephant, bees and rats, the honey representing a strange sense of hope and delight in the brief moments of beauty that sustain our lives."

COHEED AND CAMBRIA No World For Tomorrow CD
*** Yes, they're still mining that prog/hardcore thing, even going so far as to include a 5-part (re: song) cycle called "The End Complete". Most hilariously fantastic art of 2007? Perhaps. (Curious about the 2006 cover? It was Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquer album. It was every 1980s 5th grader's dream yearbook photo.)

iLIKETRAINS Elegies To Lessons Learnt CD
*** "The Leeds five piece arrived in 2006 with their powerful tales of morose events from bygone days, murder and misfortune. The stories told by iLiKETRAiNS are set to carefully structured, adorning melodies with instrumental patterns capable of creating an incredible range of emotions."

JESU Lifeline CD
*** It looks like Jesu took a note from Ryan Adams and decided to pop out an EP following an album too. Damn, 2007! But yeah, this features JARBOE of Swans and is a "clutch of dream rock gems. ...Lifeline is upper-atmosphere music that works just as well down here on Earth."

KRAFTWERK Aerodynamik / La Forme CD
*** NOW ON CD.

LITTLE BROTHER Get Back CD
*** These guys were so hot and then it slowed down but I think it's going to pick back up. LIL' WAYNE guests, for crying out loud.

METALOCALYPSE Dethklok CD
*** "The full length album from the most brutal band on the planet. Featuring songs from the [adult swim] series."

OF MONTREAL If He Is Protecting Our Nation Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children? CD
*** Would you like a mouthfull with your Of Montreal reissue? Just say the title! Moving on, this was an import-only item that's been unavailable for a year or so now.

ORTHODOX Amanecer en Puerta Oscura CD
*** "Sophomore release from this Spanish power trio helps give a new perspective into the soul of the music they create as well as its movement into several different directions without forgetting their metal roots."

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS Raising Sand CD
*** What!? Are these two together? MOJO magazine seems to think so, referring to it as their "courtship dance." I also heard it's "gentle, attentive, and respectfully intimate."

PREFUSE 73 Preparations 2xCD / LP+CD
*** "By focusing on the foundation of his creative process and less on the intricacies of his trademark editing and chopping magic, he's emerged with an album that will give fans a subtle taste of his record that have come before." Apparently the bonus disc is the jam.

SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME Fill Up The Room CD
*** Yow! Fred Thomas jumped the Michigan ship and got signed to Olympia, WA's #1 former cassette label: K! Congrats, fellow. It turns out Thomas has been shying away from the Motown sound of past records and has expanded into the ether a bit. Give it a whirl.

DAVID SHRIGLEY Worried Noodles 2xCD+BOOK
*** Two years ago, artist DAVID SHRIGLEY released an LP-sized book of song lyrics which sold out almost immediately. It found a slew of admirers in music circles, wherein the idea of adapting these songs to music was realized. Featuring 39 exclusive tracks with contributions from DAVID BYRNE, FRANZ FERDINAND, ISLANDS, GRIZZLY BEAR, TV ON THE RADIO, HOT CHIP, LIARS, TRANS AM, and many more. Included with the two discs is a hardcover book reproduction of the lyrics.

SIGHTINGS Through The Panama CD
*** Produced by ANDREW WK. "Bass, drums, and guitars meshed together with a synthetic twine envisioned in future think tanks...this is a rock album, but a rock for times coming, a sound of future days."

SKULL DISCO Soundboy Punishments 2xCD
*** "Skull Disco's dubwise approach is a mutant mix of techno, tribal drums, eastern drum patterns and dubbed out resonating bass lines fused together to make this one of the most exciting and forward thinking new sounds to come out of the UK's underground dance scene. Includes RICARDO VILLALOBOS' epic remix of 'Blood On My Hands'."

SUBTLE Yell & Ice CD
*** Their second disc of collabos and exclusive b-sides, etc., featuring TV ON THE RADIO, NOTWIST (remember them?), WOLF PARADE, FOG and believe it or not, CLOUDEAD!

THE THRILLS Teenager CD
*** Perhaps the most apt cover art in regard to the album title. Hmm... what else should you know? It's a 4 star (****) album according to both MOJO and UNCUT.

SCOTT WALKER And Who Shall Go To The Ball? And What Shall Go To The Ball? CD
*** "After confirming his position as one of the most singular talents working in any field of the arts by releasing The Drift, Scott was commissioned by London's South Bank Centre to write music for a contemporary dance piece. Titled 'And Who Shall Go To The Ball? And What Shall Go To The Ball?', the entirely instrumental composition is made up of four movements with a total running time of 25 minutes. This is a limited edition release in deluxe packaging and will never be repressed."

ROGER WATERS / RON GEESIN Music From The Body CD
*** "Sound experimentalist Ron Geesin collaborated with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters to release this twisted auditory exploration of the human body. PINK FLOYD joins the duo for the soundtrack finale."

WEEN La Cucaracha CD
*** The brothers Ween holed up in a rented bungalow and recorded at least three albums worth of tunes, but here's 13. Like the last few albums preceding it, the fellows eek out a little bit serious territory while polishing up the fart jokes for a truly strange experience.

WEST INDIAN GIRL 4th & Wall CD
*** New album from very pretty, very Astralwerks sounding band formerly known in Ann Arbor as WIG.

WITCHCRAFT The Alchemist CD
*** "Third album from Witchcraft, finding the band delivering their 70s laden rock while expanding into a progressive soundscape. Includes a 13 minute three-part doom epic."

YEASAYER All Hour Cymbals CD
*** "Pulling from every spectrum and mashing, then re-mashing, the YEASAYER collective have bent genre's until unrecognizable. YEASAYER'S components are four, each multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and chanter. Founded by half of a barbershop quartet, then followed by the rhythm, YEASAYER is a tight brotherhood undisrupted by the external."

NEIL YOUNG Chrome Dreams II CD
NEIL YOUNG Chrome Dreams II CD+DVD
*** Critically acclaimed new album of ten songs and a sequel to an unreleased album. This is Neil Young's world!