


Pork is here with his weekly post, bringing you the best of this week’s new music releases.
Rufus and Mika and Cumming. Oh my. Officially ushering in what is sure to be a very musical Fall is a heavy load of new releases featuring new titles from acts as varied as Rufus Wainwright and Pearl Jam. Yoko Ono and Basement Jaxx release works both together and alone while Mika throws his hat into the ring with his sophomore album of non-committal offerings. As always, I’ve got you covered.
It’s about time Rufus Wainwright delivered a proper live album to his minions! After over 10 years of writing, recording and touring, it makes perfect sense to serve up a captivating live set captured in Milwaukee, hence the title Milwaukee At Last!!!. The essential purchase this time around is the Deluxe Edition (pictured here) which contains 10 audio tracks on a CD (what’s up with the massively limited number of songs here, folks?!) and a DVD with 28 (yes, 28!) live songs including backstage rehearsals and 3 songs from the 2007 Montreux Jazz Festival not available on the stand-alone DVD. Never been to a Rufus show? Pop this puppy in, dim the lights and crank the sound. Been to over 50 Rufus shows (:whistles:), then pop this in to relive some Ru-magic anytime. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
In this fast-paced musical scene bands, fads and genres come and go in the blink of an eye. Closing in on 20 years of an epic career, Peal Jam has stood the test of time. They’ve also wrapped up 11 new tracks for us in a 37 minute package. Surely you’ve got 37 minutes for Pearl Jam. They are straying from the conventions of modern record labels and releasing Backspacer on their own label, Monkeywrench Records. This also means that you may have to do a bit of searching to find it. Besides some independent record stores, it’s only being carried at Target (as well as the band’s website and, of course, iTunes.) From what I’ve heard, the boys are back to basics and are not here to mess around. Check out “The Fixer”:
Mika picks up where his debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, left off with his new set, The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Well, I wasn’t too big of a Mika fan after hearing Life in Cartoon Motion (I find his delivery annoying) and after hearing the new album’s first single, “We Are Golden,” it became clear that this album probably wouldn’t convert me into a Mika-ite either.
That being said, if you enjoyed his debut, you should check out The Boy Who Knew Too Much as he’s working with the same producer, Greg Wells, and tackling facets of his life during his adolescent years. Personally, I can’t seem to get past his determined urge for ambiguity. Truly there’s no need for every artist to declare their sexuality and/or any personal instincts, but it’s hard to identify with an artist who doesn’t identify himself. Of course I could argue both sides of this argument (not all artists can be Rufus), but for some reason Mika pushes me to indifference. And recently “coming out” as a “bisexual” (Mika please!) during the press rounds for this album? Sounds like he’s about as trailblazing as his music is (read: isn’t). Here’s the typically omnisexual second single, “Blame It On The Girls.”







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