Stars have always been a group delayed; their albums ultimately get put on hold or set aside for months or even a full year before finding their way into my playlist. Not this time, I said. The band’s new album, The Five Ghosts is here, and I have to say I am impressed. Opening with the romantic “Dead Hearts” and continuing with the pseudo electric “I Died So I Could Haunt You”. It finds the band again maturing in new and exciting ways. The first single off the album is “We Don’t Want Your Body” and it is, perhaps, the best example of the changes undergone by Stars since In Our Bedroom After The War. One listen and you’ll hear an emphasis on electronic production. It may take a few listens to get used to, but it wouldn’t be the Stars we know and love if that weren’t so. (And for those who find it a bit too far out, remember there are still tracks like “Dead Hearts” that have a bit more in common with the band’s past.) I for one, find Stars invigorating in every form.

The Five Ghosts is out now on Vagrant Records.

Download: “We Don’t Want Your Body” by Stars

Backed by a few synths and a light guitar strum, Electric Owls‘ Andy Herod has pieced together a surreal soundscape for Ain’t Too Bright opener “Magic Show”. It’s an energetic tune that is true to the pop sensibilities Herod’s previous group, The Comas, never seemed to quite reach. Where The Comas pumped out one rock tune after another, Herod now seems more than comfortable writing pop songs that have a light rock edge, but don’t stray too far into his former stomping-ground.

For one, the songs are much more relaxed than pretty much anything by The Comas; many can even be considered ballads. With Herod’s signature vocal styling, backed occasionally by a female accompanist, it’s a winning match for an artist far from his prime. Ain’t Too Bright is the antithesis of its title, and pledges good things in store for the future.

Electric Owls: Magic Show [mp3]

This bit of news may be slightly old, as the session went up last week, but I’m just now catching up on my Daytrotter-ing and it seemed fitting. Coincidence: earlier this month I was scrounging around on eBay looking to see how much that vinyl copy of Eudora would go for (just an estimate, not because I want to sell it – don’t you do that will your records too?), and I wondered if The Get Up Kids would give us anything new soon. Of course, they regrouped and played a live set in Lawrence last March, and this Daytrotter session is our first peek at some of the new tunes they put together over the summer.

Sure, this may coincide with the 10th Anniversary of Something To Write Home About, out now on Vagrant Records. After all, the session does include a rendition of “I’m A Loner Dottie, A Rebel”. Among the new tunes are “Sharon Stone” and “Your Petty Pretty Things”, but the song that takes the cake, in my opinion, is “Overdue”. They say what I was thinking in the liner notes:

This is one of my favorite songs we’ve ever written. We didn’t really play it very often back in the day so I’m glad to we’re bringing it back. I like the way the acoustic guitar sounds through the amp. Jim really likes his own guitar playing. He’s a big fan.

The song originally appeared on On A Wire. This song takes me back; it, too, was one of my favorites from The Get Up Kids. Yeah, I’m digging the new tunes, and I’m pretty damn excited they’re coming back.

Head over to Daytrotter to check out The Get Up Kids’ session. It’s well worth it.

I’ve only begun to absorb EELS‘ last album, Hombre Lobo. It’s pretty good, I tell you; got that gritty edgy pop/rock sound familiar to the Southwest, and even bits of Texas (I’m thinking about you, Austin). Well the latest tidbit to come from the band is that they’re gonna drop a new album, their eighth studio release – and that the new album will hit stores January 19! That date is well under one year after the release of Hombre Lobo. Today they announced the tracklist and dropped in the cover art as well. See it beyond the fold…

End Times will again be released by Vagrant Records, as was Hombre Lobo. If their last one passed you by, here’s the astounding second track “That Look You Give That Guy”:

EELS: That Look You Give That Guy [mp3]

1. The Beginning
2. Gone Man
3. In My Younger Days
4. Mansions of Los Feliz
5. A Line In The Dirt
6. End Times
7. Apple Trees
8. Paradise Blues
9. Nowadays
10. Unhinged
11. High and Lonesome
12. I Need a Mother
13. Little Bird
14. On My Feet

As a whole, the original Alpinisms warrants much praise. Songs like “Iamundernodisguise”, “Half Asleep” and “Connjur” are, quite literally, among the best electro-pop songs released this year. And, in some ways, School Of Seven Bells defies that genre classification, as their music strays into an occasional repetitive shoegaze, hints at a little feedback filled noise, and dives headlong into a swirling and dreamy atmospheric state.

With success rampant thanks to a fair share of hype and positive reviews alike, SVIIB now gives Alpinisms a bit of an edge, adding to the digital release nine additional tracks including remixes, alternate versions, and even a demo.

The “Wired For Light (Live Drum Version)” is exactly how it sounds; an alternate version in which the instrumentation is stripped away for a beat heavy track. “Half Asleep (Alternate Version)” takes a completely different approach than the original, but is no less appealing. All of these songs possess the core traits of their counterparts. In that, they’re no less powerful, no less gripping, than those original tracks.

One of the more intriguing tracks is the live version of “Caldo” for Stereogum’s Decomposed series. The minimal instrumentation and alternating language from English to Spanish make it one of the deluxe version’s high points. However, it’s the true favorite off Alpinisms that takes the cake — “Iamundernodisguise (Vocal Mix I)”.

With this deluxe version of Alpinisms, it’s no secret that School Of Seven Bells has been busy. And that’s not all — the band recently announced their follow-up to this album, Disconnect From Desire will hit next year.

School Of Seven Bells: Iamundernodisguise (Vocal Mix I) [mp3]

Vagrant Records [Deluxe LP, 2009]

1. Iamundernodisguise
2. Face To Face On High Places
3. Half Asleep
4. Wired For Light
5. For Kalaja Mari
6. White Elephant Coat
7. Connjur
8. Sempiternal/Amarnath
9. Chain
10. Prince Of Peace
11. My Cabal
12. Wired For Light (Live Drum Version)
13. Half Asleep (Alternate Version)
14. White Elephant Coat (Early Demo Version)
15. Caldo (Live on Stereogum’s Decomposed)
16. Sempiternal-Amarnath (Alternate Version)
17. Iamundernodisguise (Vocal Mix I)
18. My Cabal (Early Mix 07)
19. Connjur (Alternate Version)
20. For Kalaja Mari (Drum Outtake Mix)

Surprising a fact as this may be, I am pretty much unaware of the music reviewing world. This is a fact I plan to rectify from now on, as there are surely several blogs and sites worthy of my time and attention. I did a little digging when approaching “New Bones” by So Many Dynamos, a song that many relate to Fugazi, dub as post-punk with forays into math-rock, or said this positive thing or that negative thing… and I start to see why I tune so much of it out. It taints the writing, the perceptions, and the expectations.

“New Bones” for example, is an outstanding, catchy track. So Many Dynamos’ latest (third) release, The Loud Wars, came out last month on Vagrant Records, a label that so often leads me to digging out old records by The Anniversary. But, when it comes down to it, I see the validity in what those others have said; the Fugazi references, and even hints of The Dismemberment Plan, or Les Savy Fav.

But let’s put all relations and references aside: they cannot discount the fact that “New Bones” is filled with a consistently awesome bass-line, a sweet vocal part, and production that points straight to Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla. And production is right: despite plenty of weight in practically all So Many Dynamos’ instruments, there’s a feeling of minimalism that is impossible to ignore. And that’s what makes “New Bones” such as exceptional track.

So Many Dynamos: New Bones [mp3]

“Desert Song” may be buried somewhere in the middle of Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros‘ latest LP, Up From Below, out as of last week on Community Music / Fairfax Records, but it’s the intro to their twelve-part, feature-length movie-musical. The song features an intro filmed by singer Alex Ebert’s mother and a chant by his father.

It almost seems fitting — the song is apparently about (according to the YouTube caption for the video) ” Alex’s reckoning with the middle name his father secretly wrote on his birth certificate – a Native American name which means ‘Devil’ or ‘Demon’.”

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros play music that hints of higher authority. No, they don’t sing God songs and bow down to fundamental zealots; their music is more the community one things of when they hear the names Devendra Banhart or Akron/Family. Holy and cosmic, it’s more spiritual than anything else. And these elements shine forth in “Desert Song”.

In my opinion: this is one of the coolest videos of the year thus far.

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros: 40 Day Dream [mp3]