Sleater-Kinney is an all-female trio from Olympia, WA, which has actually been around for 10 years now. Unfortunately I never happened across them until “Entertain” off The Woods received airplay this year. This, their seventh album, is essentially rock from top to bottom, only slowing down on “Modern Girl.” In addition to “Entertain,” “Rollercoaster” and the 11-minute monster “Let’s Call It Love” highlight this solid album.

It was a tough decision on June 12. Foo Fighters vs. Coldplay. Both had new albums. I opted for the Dave Grohl’s electric/acoustic 2-disc set. Disc 1 of In Your Honor largely picks up where 2002’s One By One left off: powerful guitar and drums and Grohl’s gutteral vocals, well represented by the first single, “Best of You.” The acoustic version of “All My Life” seemed to garner significant attention and perhaps precipitated the 10 track unplugged second disc of In Your Honor. “Cold Day in the Sun” and a couple others are worthy of a listen, but I would rather Foo Fighters hold back the acoustic stuff as a change of pace and focus on the high-voltage rock.

This is the fifth release from the Detroit based duo of Jack and Meg White. If you’re familiar with the preceeding albums, well put those out of your head entirely. Get Behind Me Satan is clearly a venture into new territory for the Stripes. Sure, it opens with the punkish first single “Blue Orchid,” but after that the electric guitar only comes back only twice more. If “Blue Orchid” is typical Stripes (and it’s not), “Nurse” is off the charts weird, featuring melodic marimbas and sporatic raucous cymbals and guitar. The adventure continues with the catchy piano and drum laden “My Doorbell,” back to marimbas with piano on “Forever for Her,” followed by the ho-down “Little Ghost.” And that’s just the first five tracks. “Take, Take, Take,” a commentary on celebrity, might be the best track on the album, and is followed by the Stripes unplugged on “As Ugly As I Seem.” With it’s ridiculous variety, Get Behind Me Satan might be my favorite album of 2005, which is saying a lot with competition from Beck and the Eels. I really can’t listen enough.

The Decemberists [official site, allmusic bio] are a band that I’ve been interested for some time, but it wasn’t until they were recommended simultaneously by Wil Wheaton and Amoeba that I finally picked up one of their albums. Front-man Colin Meloy’s country-alternative background and Jenny Conlee’s accordion distinguish the Decembererists from other indie-pop artists. Despite several references to San Francisco landmarks on the album, interestingly Meloy is from Montana and the band was formed in Portland. C&C covers a fair amount of ground, from the lively “July, July!” to Melissa’s favorite, the folksy “Legionaire’s Lament.” Based on the strength of C&C, I’m almost certain to pick up 2003’s Her Majesty and this year’s Picaresque.

I think I first heard about Lisa Germano [official/allmusic] from her affiliation with the Eels and then came across her name again when list-lover Volgraf directed our attention to Piero Scaruffi’s 100 Greatest Rock Albums, of which Geek the Girl is rated #15 all time, and Love Circus is also highly regarded. With such glowing praise as E’s opinion, I picked these albums up on consecutive New Music Fridays. Stache asked me if it was fair to describe her as the female E. I think it’s a reasonable comparison. They evoke similar moods with personal lyrics, unusual instruments, and suboptimal, but well used voices. I guess I would say Germano delves more into folk, while the Eels rock.

After the first listening I wasn’t too thrilled with this album, but it’s been growing on me over the last week. “Beverly Hills” is one of those songs that I like at the moment, but I’m afraid that between the radio and it’s placement as the first track I’m going to hear it so many times I’ll be sick of it. “Perfect Situation” opens with a Green Album-esque intro and morphs into an outstanding track. “We Are All on Drugs” rocks as well.

The reviews have been mixed on Make Believe. This is a general problem when artists set the bar for themselves at the spectacular level. Then when their next piece is merely pretty damn good, people complain. There’s only going to be one Blue Album, and there’s only going to be one Pinkerton.

And the doctor in the sky
Gonna bring his chopper down
Gonna bring me out alive
And set me on the ground
Once more again – Blinking Lights (for me)

As album releases go, I don’t get more excited than when the Eels come out with something new. Every new disc is an experience. The latest effort from Mark Oliver Everett’s band is a 2-CD, 33 track with guest appearances by Tom Waits and Peter Buck.

To my untrained ear, the last two albums (Souljacker, Shootenanny!) by the Eels were rather disjointed, with a lot more flat out rock than their first three (Beautiful Freak, Electro-Shock Blues, Daisies of the Galaxy). BL&OR feels more like the earlier recordings, especially in that it has a much more personal aura. My first impression was a dreamier, more upbeat sounding version of Electro-Shock Blues. As for individual tracks, “Railroad Man” rates among my favorite songs. Also noteworthy are the dance-craze parody “Going Fetal” and “Old Shit/New Shit,” the story of life at a crossroads. Following the lead of prior albums, the new release finishes optimistically with the wisdom of “Things the Grandchildren Should Know.” It’s dangerous to claim that an album this new is one of my favorites ever, but I think this one will certainly belong in that class.

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