February 24
Artisan Loyalist – Lonely Ghost
Astral Swans – All My Favorite Singers Are Willie Nelson
Champs – Vamala
Daniel Knox – S/T
Diamond Rugs – Cosmetics
Elana James (Hot Club of Cowtown) – Black Beauty
Elvis Perkins – I Aubade
Gang of Four – What Happens Next
Girls, Guns and Glory – Tribute to Hank Williams Live
Groeni – Hewn (EP)
Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders – Playmates (U.S.)
James McMurtry – Complicated Game
JJ Grey & Mofro – Ol’ Glory
Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman – Tomorrow Will Follow Today
Kristin Diable – Create Your Own Mythology
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (Expanded)
Mat Kearney – Just Kids
Maybeshewill – Fair Youth (U.S.)
Melanie De Biasio – No Deal Remixed
MisterWives – Our Own House
Quiet Company – Transgressor
Rachel Sermanni – Tied To The Moon
Sea Change – Breakage
Tall Tales & Silver Lining – Tightropes
The Elwins – Play For Keeps
The Lowest Pair – The Sacred Heart Sessions
The Zoltars – S/T
Valaska – Thing
Via Tania – Via Tania and the Tomorrow Music Orchestra
Wind In Sails – Turning Light
March 3
Amy Speace – That Kind of Girl
Andrew Combs – All These Dreams
Björk – Vulnicura (Physical Release)
Brandi Carlile – The Firewatcher’s Daughter
Buxton – Half A Native
Dorthia Cottrell – S/T
Echo Lake – Era
Gill Landry (Old Crow Medicine Show) – S/T
John Helix – Chronically Happy (3/6)
July Talk – S/T
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper – After
Lady Lazarus – Miracles
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday
Of Montreal – Aureate Gloom
River City Extension – Deliverance
Ryan Culwell – Flatlands
Sandra Kolstad – Zero Gravity State Of Mind
Sasha Siem – Most of the Boys
Selah Sue – Reason
Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) – Hand. Cannot. Erase
The Slow Show – White Water
To Kill A King – S/T
Tom Brosseau – Perfect Abandon
March 10
Beans On Toast – The Grand Scheme of Things
Danielle Nicole – Wolf Den
Fences – Lesser Oceans
Gren Bartley – Magnificent Creatures
Joe Pug – Windfall
Lieutenant – If I Kill This Thing…
Madonna – Rebel Heart
Mark Knopfler – Tracker
Matthew E. White – Fresh Blood
Rebecca Ferguson – Lady Sings The Blues (UK)
River City Extension – Deliverance
Ships Have Sailed – Moodswings
Snowapple – Illusion
Taylor Berrett – Great Falls
The Minus 5 – Dungeon Golds
Will Butler (Arcade Fire) – Policy
March 17
Allison Moorer – Down to Believing
Eve Belle – Sonder EP
Glen Hansard – It Was Triumph We Once Proposed…Songs of Jason Molina (EP) (3/17)
Inventions – Maze of Woods
Liz Longley – S/T
Modest Mouse – Strangers to Ourselves
Rah Rah – Vessels
Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield – …Sing Elliott Smith
Tobias Jesso, Jr. – Goon
March 24
Angelique Kidjo – Sings
Chilly Gonzales – Chambers
Feufollet – Two Universes
Gabrielle Papillon – Tempest of Old
Hudson Taylor – Singing For Strangers (U.S.)
James Bay – Chaos & The Calm
Laura Marling – Short Movie
Nellie McKay – My Weekly Reader (Covers)
Portico (ex-Portico Quartet) – Living Fields
Rah Rah – Vessels
Striking Matches – Nothing But the Silence
The Go! Team – The Scene Between Us
Tommy Wallach – We All Looked Up
Various – A Musicares Tribute to Paul McCartney (2012) (DVD)
Vetiver – Complete Strangers
March 31
Boz Scaggs – A Fool to Care
Circa Waves – Young Chasers
Dayna Kurtz – Rise and Fall
Death Cab For Cutie – Kintsugi
Hall and Oates – Live in Dublin (DVD/BluRay)
Hannah Cohen – Pleasure Boy
Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem – Violets Are Blue
RIngo Starr – Postcards From Paradise
Ron Sexsmith – Carousel One
Scott Weiland & The Wildabouts – Blaster
Simple Minds – Sparkle In the Rain (Deluxe)
Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
April 7
Alex G – Rules
Alicia Witt – Revisionary History (Prod: Ben Folds)
Alison Wonderland – Run (U.S.; 3/20 AUS)
Becca Stevens Band – Perfect Animal
Blues Traveler – Blow Up The Moon
Brian Wilson – No Pier Pressure
Callaghan – A History of Now
Cloud – Zen Summer
Delta Rae – After It All
Josh Rouse – The Embers of Time
Lord Huron – Strange Trails
Marina and the Diamonds – Froot
Matt & Kim – New Glow
Say Lou Lou – Lucid Dreaming
The London Souls – Here Come the Girls
The Mountain Goats – Beat the Champ
The Waterboys – Modern Blues (U.S.)
The Wombats – Glitterbug
Waxahatchie (Katie Crutchfield) – Ivy Tripp
April 14
Calexico – Edge of the Sun
Eels – Royal Albert Hall (Live) (CD/DVD)
Kathryn Calder (New Pornographers) – S/T
Mooonking – Secret Life
Villagers – Darling Arithmetic
April 21
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Great Lake Swimmers – A Forest of Arms
John Moreland – High on Tulsa Heat
Lindsey Cohen – Distance Makes Me Sensitive EP
Passion Pit – Kindred
San Fermin – Jackrabbit
Twin Danger (w/ Stuart Matthewman of Sade) – S/T
Wire – S/T
April 28
Ambrosia Parsley – Weeping Cherry (U.S.)
Blur – The Magic Whip
Braids – Deep In the Iris
Jackson Scott – Sunshine Redux
Mew – + – (Plus Minus)
Sophie Hunger – Supermoon (UK, EUR, AUS)
10,000 Maniacs – Twice Told Tales (Brit Folk Covers)
The Weepies – Sirens
April TBD
Dida – Modern Love Songs
Comment: Every week or so I check I check in on Direct Currents (here), to read their opinions, though it is mostly country, rock, Americana and hipp hop gets short to no shrift, but also because it gioes through quite a way (through to the end of April), plus for their taste in music they have pretty good taste and the writing is fine in my books. What interests me today is the best named album of the year, All My Favorite Singers Are Willie Nelson by Astral Swans which, if it is half as good as its name, should kill. Astral Swans is Canadian Matthew Swan, and his “You Can carry A Sickness” is first rate (sounds like extreme loner to me but…)