Cursive
Mama I'm Swollen
CD (Saddle Creek)

"While history repeats, the present won't repent" sings Tim Kasher on "In The Now," the opening track off Cursive's seventh full-length Mama I'm Swollen. So true. Here is history repeating itself with Kasher's cringe-worthy, emotive, confused, written-on-the-sleeves sentiment - the kind that makes me feel like I'm in hell (thanks for confirming that halfway through the disc on "We're Going To Hell," K-Dog.) Though many friends have tried to convince me of Cursive's "genius," I still don't hear what all the fuss is about.

Jeff Kirby scored a digital copy for $2 last Monday and had this to say:

I never feel brought down by his negative observations - it’s like he’s venting those frustrations so I don’t have to. The fact that he manages to do it in thoughtful and inventive ways record after record has not yet ceased to impress me.

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
CD/LP (Dead Oceans)

Many words have been written about Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band (going all the way back to a year ago, when they were just a song-less band with viral PSA videos). In just under a year, they have produced more videos, wrote some songs for their preciously crafted self-released Weepy EP, signed to Secretly Canadian umbrella label Dead Oceans, wrote some more songs for their debut on said label, created their own signature ice cream for Molly Moon's, sold out Neumos, and are currently embarking on a 7 week journey across America. Wow, this band will make a lot of people feel lazy and unlucky. Their music, more or less so.

Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
CD (XL Recordings)

"Shampoo," the song that kicks off the second full-length from the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, is one of the most pleasant folk-pop songs I've heard all year. Harmonicas, pump organs, and other sounds fill the air alongside Perkins gentle, fluttering voice that washes your ears clean and leaves you tingling with minty freshness. Elsewhere, Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark contributes her peaceful harmonies to "Hey", as Perkins' introspective pleasantries frolic through the mind. This is the kind of record that makes flowers blossom, just in time for Spring.

DM Stith
Heavy Ghost
CD (Asthmatic Kitty)

DM Stith, the newest artist to emerge on Sufjan Steven's label, is every bit the adventurous, whimsical musician as his boss. He embodies the voice of an American Caetano Veloso, and adopts the twilight atmospherics of Grizzly Bear. Multi-textured treatments are layered over handclaps, piano, and percussion, voices echo from the edge of a thick grove of trees, and spirits are born out it. Haunting!

Handsome Furs
Face Control
CD/LP (Sub Pop)

Face Control is the follow-up to Handsome Furs' 2007 debut, Plague Park, which finds Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner and partner Alexei Perry noodling around with an arsenal of synthesizers, drum machines, and guitars. I really enjoyed listening to this while driving on Aurora through the night. A blur of white lights and neon at it's finest and cheapest.

Other OMG Indie Rock releases: Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Anni Rossi, Julie Doiron, Mirah, Blk Jks, and Bishop Allen.

Other not-so-indie-rock releases: Clipd Beaks unleash their latest tribal punk madness on the "Visions" seven-inch single, Jurassic 5's long out of print J5 gets a deluxe reissue on LP, Kool Keith reveals his latest alter-ego on Tashan Dorrsett , Mark Sultan a.k.a. BBQ releases a new 7" on Sub Pop, and Kelly Clarkson gets everything she ever wanted.