Today, I have a stack of CDs I haven't listened to prior to right now. I might love it, I might hate it. First impressions can be very interesting. Here are some of the new releases for Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

P.O.S. - Never Better
CD (Rhymesayers)

An intricately packaged album that draws attention to itself, Never Better, the latest from the young, black, masterful, flash quick spitter P.O.S., really deserves the spotlight for what's within - beats that snap and trap and entangle you in punchy, timely, motor-mouthed lyricism. On the record, P.O.S. did a lot of shit on his own, but his real aim is to unite and take back, arms linked together, fists up. Wow. I'm digging it. File under Heavy Rotation.

P.O.S. will perform live on Friday, Feb. 6 at Nectar.

Zombi - Spirit Animal
CD/LP (Relapse)

Prog is not a four letter word for Zombi. As one who first heard the band live, I urge anyone to make it their first priority to see this band live first. The Pittsburgh duo are an amazing live act, switching between a multitude of guitars and synths and drums, as the songs journey through light and dark, real and imaginary, epically. Fans of John Carpenter and other soundtrackers of that ilk might enjoy the keyboards, and King Crimson fans will surely have their minds melted by the technicalities of such a complex record. With five songs falling in just under an hour, I kind of wish I had some weed to get me beyond the first two cuts (the eight-minute second track, "Spirit Animal," is siiiiiiiiiicccccckkkk!).

Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
CD (Fat Possum)

I had friends down in Texas who were crazy about Heartless Bastards a few years ago. This sounds nothing like that band, at least from what I'm hearing. I don't remember them sounding some slick hybrid of Black Keys and Two Gallants and White Stripes. Maybe they always have been? Maybe I should be drunk? The Mountain doesn't do anything for me, but it will do wonders for a lot of people out there.

Marco Benevento - Me Not Me
CD (Royal Potato Family)

Pianist Marco Benevento, one half of the funky jazzniks Benevento-Russo duo, is back with another solo record, that is playful and charming. Seattle's own Matt Chamberlain plays drums on half the tracks (Andrew Barr on the other half), alongside bassist Reed Mathis and Benevento, who not only plays piano, but clavinet, tack piano, mellotron, and the fantastically quirky and unpredictable Optigan! This is certainly a hard-to-classify record.

Also out today: Ben Kweller Changing Horses, The Von Bondies Love Hate And Then Theres You, Dent May and his Magnificent Ukelele, Fatboy Slim's new The BPA project, and Eno and David Byrne's ...Bush Of Ghosts gets a fancy new LP reissue.