…just as expected!  The fourth-quarter wave of new music releases has finally made its presence known, and it sounds like it’s going to be one hell of a good season!  After a few sluggish weeks in August, Friday has taken the New Release Day baton and wielded it high.  The next few months look quite promising.

A few records that have caught my ears so far:

Tamaryn, “Hands All Over Me” from Cranekiss, released 28 August.
The more I listen to this album, the more I hear Curve.  Tamaryn’s vocals have that sultry lower-register sound that’s similar to Toni Halliday’s, and the dreampop noise is more melodic than MBV’s wall of sound.  It’s not often I latch onto an album immediately like this, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

Foals, “Mountain At My Gates” from What Went Down, released 28 August.
A pretty wild interactive video, actually!  My first listen to this album left me wondering what they might be angry about; there’s an uncomfortable tension throughout, even on the quieter songs, like you’re just waiting for something to spill over.

Stereophonics, “I Wanna Get Lost with You” from Keep the Village Alive, released 11 September.
I’ve been a longtime Stereophonics fan from my record store days…they’re one of those bands that may not have the big hits or the widely known singles, but they write great and solid tunes.  Glad to see them back again with another excellent record.

Low, “No Comprende” from Ones and Sixes, released 11 September.
A huge favorite of mine right now, this is one of Low’s best records in awhile.  They still rock the slowcore/quietcore sound, but like the new Foals album, there’s an underlying tension that won’t go away that I’m loving.  They’ve even turned up the volume on this album (similar to their Great Destroyer album from ten years ago).

Ben Folds & Nashville Symphony Orchestra, “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Movement 1” from So There, released 11 September.
A and I saw BF perform this movement with the San Francisco Symphony a few months ago, and we were floored — for me, this was a scrappy dude I saw twenty years ago in a tiny club in Northampton MA (where he sold me the Ben Folds Five debut cd himself), and now here he is, writing a three-movement piece reminiscent of George Gershwin.  There are some fun pop songs on the first half of the album that he performs with yMusic, but it’s worth it for this lovely piece alone.

Robert DeLong, “Don’t Wait Up” from In the Cards, released 18 September.
We caught RD’s live show at Outside Lands last month, and let me tell you — the dude has natural control of his audience.  It’s just him and all those toys and instruments you see in that video, no other musicians; even his entry music was a poorly-made yet hilarious fan video of Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose”, hinting that he’s just some skinny nerd who got extremely lucky and writes some damn fine dance music.

Motion City Soundtrack, “Lose Control” from Panic Stations, released 18 September.
Sure, the new single can easily be mistaken for a Weezer track, but I can forgive them that. The new album feels more lively than some past efforts, like the band has chosen to lose some of their inner demons and just have some fun this time out.  [That’s not to say there’s not some classic unlucky-in-love MCS tracks here…”Over It Now” has my favorite break-up lyric of the week: I kicked around in the big bad world / after you sold all my action figures / I never got in that one last word / So here’s a f*** you ].  Another great release from a fun band.

I’m still awaiting more release news, but I’ll be looking forward to these releases in the next few weeks:

Caspian, Dust and Disquiet (9/25)
Chvrches, Every Open Eye (9/25)
New Order, Music Complete (9/25)
Silversun Pickups, Better Nature (9/25)
Editors, In Dream (10/2)
Duncan Sheik, Legerdemain (10/9)
Oberhofer, Chronovision (10/9)
Here We Go Magic, Be Small (10/16)
Dave Gahan & Soulsavers, Angels & Ghosts (10/23)