Exciting(?)

The New Pornographers have a new album called Together coming out on May 4! It will, as usual, include A.C. Newman, Dan Bejar, Neko Case, and that cute keyboardist chick. But get this: according to Pitchfork it will also feature contributions from Zach Condon (Beirut), Annie Clark (St. Vincent), and Will Sheff (Okkervil River). Dayum.

Impressive, but hopefully it doesn't end up being something like the Wilco song that featured Feist... playing a garden weasel. I don't know what the hell a garden weasel is, but I do know, from this song, that the noise that comes out of a garden weasel sounds nothing like the noise that comes out of Feist's mouth.

New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show
New Pornographers - Dreams (live Fleetwood Mac cover)

Owen Pallett's Heartland

Owen Pallett, extraordinary one-man band and occasional contributor to the Arcade Fire, finally released his long-awaited Heartland this month. It's a work as impressive as it is ambitious. Where his previous album He Poos Clouds was pointedly minimal, Heartland is its opposite in being unabashedly vast--he uses a full orchestra in every damn song.

Heartland's sound is lush and complex, filled with woodwinds, horns, and strings complemented by a tasteful host of experimental electronic sounds, but it never gets excessively epic. Pallett's own voice is much less prominent than it was in his previous work, often distant and ephemeral behind the rich orchestral sound. He seems content to let the music do most of the speaking, and it works.

Give it a listen. It will break your heart. You won't be disappointed.

Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes Action
Owen Pallett - Tryst With Mephistopheles

By the way, he has officially dropped his old moniker, Final Fantasy, and will be going by his real name from now on, so update your tags.