You don't have to look far to find a rich variety of new CDs this year
Living in Boston reminds us of the denouement in "The Wizard of Oz," when Dorothy wakes up and realizes that everything she's been looking for can be found in her own backyard. Think about it: the music industry as fractured fantasy land controlled by evil witches and witless power-mongers and the local scene as humble farm filled with hard-working proletariat. OK, we're generalizing. The point is one needn't go far to find every kind of music, from western swing to hip-hop, right here in our own little corner of the world. Here's a completely subjective sampling of 20 New England acts scheduled to drop albums in 2004. As ever, release dates are subject to the whims of the muse, the mixing guy, and the distributor.
THE CHARMS
Boston's infectiously sexed-up garage rockers are back with their second album, "So Pretty," out on Tuesday. "The first CD was really sunny and lighthearted," says singer/guitarist/songwriter Ellie Vee, "and a lot of people think of us as really poppy. But we played close to a hundred gigs last year, and our sound naturally got harder. We looked for producers who could capture a more edgy side of our sound." The Charms found it in Marc Schleicher and Nick Zampiello of Cracktorch, who helmed the project. The Charms' record release party (with Cracktorch and others) is tonight at T.T. the Bear's.
MARK ERELLI
"I wanted to make something not quite so hyphenated," says singer-songwriter Mark Erelli of the follow-up to 2002's "Memorial Hall Recordings." "I'm calling this one a country record." Indeed, "Hillbilly Pilgrim," in stores this week, is a beautifully measured collection of originals cast in the western swing tradition of the '30s and '40s. "I had another record ready to go, a very sociopolitical-minded record about war and homelessness and hard times in the promised land. But I thought maybe people didn't need another reminder about how depressing it is out there. We have to have times when we let our cares go and just smile and dance." Erelli celebrates the album's release with a Feb. 6 show at the Lizard Lounge.
JOHNNY A
The local guitar whiz and former Peter Wolf sideman indulges his taste for everything from hard rock and down-home picking to acid jazz and vintage blues on "Get Inside," a collection of original instrumentals plus covers of Johnny Rivers's "Poor Side of Town" and Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary." Due out Feb. 24.
LA TIMBA LOCA
The 11-piece timba ensemble will release an as-yet-untitled second disc sometime around Thanksgiving, according to Gonzalo Grau, the group's director. "We have half of it recorded, and even though the music is still very jazzy and funky, the beat is more danceable and more accessible, without being too commercial." Expect a few old salsa classics, with the rest original material contributed by band members.
MARY LOU LORD
Following a three-year hiatus, Salem native and gifted indie troubadour Mary Lou Lord returns March 9 with "Baby Blue," a collaboration with longtime musical cohort Nick Saloman of the Bevis Frond. The disc -- full of smart pop, softly skewed rock tunes, and Pink Floyd and Badfinger covers -- is Lord's first full-band project in six years. She'll hit the road this spring, band in tow, for a US and European tour.
JED PARISH "It's got a very live, very unadorned sound," says the Gravel Pit frontman of his new CD, "Torch and Swan." Parish recorded most of the disc with the Mother Tongues, a.k.a. drummer Pete Caldes (the Gravel Pit, the Gentlemen) and organist Lori Perkins (Seks Bomba). "It's rootsy pop. There are songs that are obviously R&B, or country, or blues, but they're always catchy." Parish expects to release the disc sometime in March.
MR. LIF and AKROBATIK
Politically minded rapper Mr. Lif and his frequent collaborator, the MC Akrobatik, have joined forces to form the Perceptionists, whose as-yet-untitled CD is due out on Definitive Jux Records this fall. Produced largely by Fakts One, a local DJ and producer, the project is more mainstream than either artist's solo projects, according to Tim Linberg of MetroConcepts, which is marketing the disc. "It's classic, vintage hip-hop." The pair plans to tour the United States in the spring and the fall and travel overseas this summer.
AMY FAIRCHILD
The rising pop singer-songwriter -- who has won the Grand Prize at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest the past two years -- releases "Amy Fairchild Live" on Feb. 9. The collection features 11 tracks from 2002's "Mr. Heart" and five new ones recorded at four different shows.
JOE PERNICE
The pop songwriter and prolific leader of the Pernice Brothers (whose 2003 album "Yours, Mine, and Ours" made it to this writer's top 10 list) is in the studio recording a new CD with Chappaquiddick Skyline, one of his many side projects, due out this summer. The band includes Pernice Brothers personnel Tom Monahan and Peyton Pinkerton and British sideman James Walbourne. "So far we've done a piano ballad that sort of sounds like Badfinger," says Pernice. "But we reserve the right to kill the project if it's not going anywhere." Pernice is also working on a musical.
TARBOX RAMBLERS
Inordinate amounts of time spent on decaying rugs in a poorly lit rehearsal space strewn with empty beer cans inspired the "darker and more aggressive" sound of the new Tarbox Ramblers album, according to the roots-rock band's founder, Michael Tarbox. "We've always had this side to us and it's become more explicit." "A Fix Back East," due out Tuesday, was recorded largely in Memphis with legendary producer Jim Dickinson (Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Big Star, the Replacements); a few later tracks were laid down in Boston with local luminaries Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade at the helm. The CD release party with the Downbeat 5 is Feb. 21 at T.T.'s.
LORI MCKENNA
"Bittertown," due out in late spring, is the folk-rocking mother of four's treatise on life in Stoughton. Sounds weird, but in McKenna's able hands the small, well-observed moments crackle and snap. Local favorites Kevin Barry, Meghan Toohey, and Chris Trapper lent a helping hand in the studio.
BRETT ROSENBERG
Busy pop-rocker Rosenberg recorded his mellow new disc, "Shocktwins," on a four-track machine at home. "My girlfriend broke up with me and I wanted to make this record for her." In time-honored fashion, the songwriter's loss is the music fan's gain. With no clock ticking and nobody watching, Rosenberg came up with a sound that's "alternately murky and tinny," he says, "kind of like a cross between a Sam Phillips record and a demo."
MISSION OF BURMA
One of Boston's most beloved and influential rock bands, Mission of Burma has signed a record deal with Matador and will drop its first new studio recording in more than two decades -- self-produced and recorded at Boston's Q Division -- on May 4. "They made a record that sounds like Mission of Burma, and that sounds dumb, but it's significant when you haven't made a record in 22 years," says band manager Mark Kates.
PHIL AIKEN
Keyboardist Phil Aiken, best known as part of the Bill Janovitz/Buffalo Tom/
Crown Victoria school of rock, releases his second and third solo discs later this year: the former a mostly acoustic piano-based album and the latter a more rock-oriented CD.
THE MOBIUS BAND
After spending last year touring with Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo, the Raveonettes, and the Roots, among others, Western Mass.'s electronic arthouse indie-rockers will release their first full-length CD this summer. Expect Krautrock repetition but not at the expense of melodies, says band manager Jacob Harris.
SENOR HAPPY
"If Nick Drake and the Foo Fighters had a fistfight with Stephen Malkmus refereeing, and Nick won." This is the mind-boggling description offered by Q Division Records of Senor Happy's sophomore CD, which arrives next month. It's six years since the band's debut, but judging by a brief listen last month, the disc will prove worth the wait.
READ YELLOW
The riff-heavy garage-rockers release their much-anticipated first full-length CD in late March or early April. Expect noise and melody -- and decipherable lyrics -- in equal parts to match the growing national buzz. The quartet of former UMass students plays tonight at the Middle East.
INSIGHT
"'The Blast Radius' is pretty much my area, where ignorance is destroyed and I can affect anybody with the music," says the Boston rapper Insight of his much-anticipated sophomore release. It's a drum-heavy, high-concept project with jazzy flourishes and rapid-fire wordplay, he says, and each track features a central, well-researched topic. "The Blast Radius" is scheduled to drop in early April.
THE GENTLEMEN
The hardscrabble, muscle-rocking Gentlemen explore the wonderful world of horn sections and synthesizers on their upcoming third disc, due out this spring. "It's a lot less arena-rocky," says bassist Ed Valauskas. "There aren't as many guitar overdubs. It's more '70s, but it's also sort of early '80s." Get it?
Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com
