Tuesday's Recommended Releases

Alela Diane "White as Diamonds"

As we move into February, good records are going to be flying at you fast and you might not catch 'em all, so we'll do our best to tip you off to the good shit you may not find right away. Our featured release today comes from the lovely Alela Diane. Although this is an iTunes only exclusive at this point, she has some great placement on the site and is the free iTunes download this week. Her album To Be Still is a gorgeous, wintry record highlighting her amazing voice and songwriting. Rough Trade releases the record to all outlets on February 17. Also released this week are fantastic records from a slew of Stark Favorites:

Pains of Being Pure at Heart: s/t (Slumberland)
"Everything with You" - mp3

Recalling the best aspects of late 80s and early 90s rock, POBPAH give us a record filled with perfect melodies, gauzy guitars, overdrive and timeless songwriting.


Dent May: The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele (Paw Tracks)
Meet Me in the Garden - mp3

Dent May offers up a truly good-feeling record with his witty quips on local drunks, dance parties and academic conferences; all the while being backed by catchy-ass instrumentation and his charming croon.

Heartless Bastards: The Mountain (Fat Possum)
"The Mountain" - mp3

Another great rock record from the Heartless Bastards, stocked with Kim Deal quality songs and flawless vocal and instrumental execution.



Benjy Ferree: Come Back to the Five and Dime Bobby Dee Bobby Dee (Domino)

Following up on his excellent record Leaving the Nest Benjy continues to deliver well-crafted rock songs written with a singer-songwriter mentality. Come Back finds Ferree dipping into the Bowie influences more heavily, and trust us, that's not a bad thing.

Phosphorescent: To Willie (Dead Oceans)
Reasons to Quit - mp3

Matthew Houck's tribute record to Willie, modeled after Willie's tribute record to Lefty. With Houck's voice and Willie's tunes, To Willie is a guaranteed pleasure trip, even if it's not breaking any new or stylistic barriers.