February 15 Releases, 2012

By: Kevin Rutherford, Editorial Director

After a relatively slow start, we're finally starting to get some buzzworthy album releases for the new year. Let us waste no time in discussing this week's.

Worth first mention is a Texas band that has roots in our area.

Heartless Bastards are headed by Erika Wennerstrom, who formed the band in Cincinnati. The bluesy, garage-y rock quartet releases their fourth studio album on Tuesday, giving it the title Arrow. Spoon drummer Jim Eno is the album's producer, and given his own band's recent stab at mainstream success, it isn't much of a stretch to see the Bastards do the same. That said, this will be the band's first release on indie label Partisan Records. It's tough, therefore, to predict what kind of success Arrow might achieve.

English rockers Band of Skulls return this week with Sweet Sour, the band's first LP since 2009's acclaimed Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. The album's lead single, "The Devil Takes Care of His Own," has already reached No. 20 on the Canadian charts, and seems poised to break in both native England and in America.

Montreal's Islands return for the band's third release on ANTI- Records, and its first since 2009. A Sleep & a Forgetting is its name, and bandleader Nick Thorburn calls it "far more personal than any I’ve made before.” Exciting! Keep an eye out on ACRN.com for an interview with Islands, to be posted this weekend.

Punch Brothers are a progressive bluegrass act that I love very, very much. The band's style is not specifically bluegrass, having roots in classical music, which accentuates the quintet's quirkiness. Also setting the act apart from more conventional bluegrass bands is the vocal from mandolin player Chris Thile, whose voice is far departed from what one might expect from the genre. Check out the band's new record Who's Feeling Young Now? and enjoy the five-piece's unconventional take on rootsy Americana.

Last, but certainly not least, let's mention The Explorers Club. The six-man South Carolina band releases its second album, Grand Hotel, which is its first LP since 2008. Check out this band if you're into pop-rock and surf rock slightly in the vein of The Beach Boys -- which, I promise you, is not a poor comparison. At least, frequent Beach Boys collaborator Mark Linett doesn't think so -- he mixed Grand Hotel.

There's plenty more dropping next week, including new releases from Sleigh Bells, Cheap Girls, the Chieftains and more. Keep it locked to ACRN.com's Drop It Like It's Hot, and perhaps we'll talk a bit about them next week.