Each Tuesday stop by Muzzle of Bees for our recommended purchases for the week. Here is the album we suggest for the release date of January 22nd:

Artist: Black Mountain
Album: In The Future
Label: Jagjaguwar
Myspace: Black Mountain
MP3: Black Mountain – “Tyrants”
Video: Black Mountain – “Set Us Free”
Upcoming: 3/23 – Black Mountain – High Noon Saloon, Madison
MoB: “Following up their self-titled debut was no easy feat, but In The Future is filled up with heavy guitar solos that would make even the best guitar hero’s out there blush. The heaviness of the sixteen minute plus “Bright Lights” slows to a spaced out angel choir sound before erupting once more to close out the track. Definitely one of the most promising releases of the new year.

Artist: Drive-By Truckers
Album: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
Label: New West Records
Myspace: Drive-By Truckers
Video: Drive-By Truckers – “3 Dimes Down” (Live at the 40 Watt)
Upcoming: 2/28 – Drive By Truckers/The Felice Brothers – Pabst Theater, Milwaukee
MoB: This one could benefit from a little bit of editing, though the Truckers have always used up every bit of disc space on their releases. While we dig on the lighter acoustic numbers thrown into this one, and still enjoy the booze-soaked rockers, there are some straight up laughable tracks as well (see: “Bob”) that simply water this one down.

Artist: Cat Power
Album: Jukebox
Label: Matador
Myspace: Cat Power
Video: Cat Power – “Lived In Bars”
MoB: Her second go around on a covers record this time putting forth her versions of Sinatra, Dylan, and Hank Williams. I think the Pitchfork review summarizes our thoughts and rating quite well.

Artist: Bodies of Water
Album: Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink
Label: Secretly Canadian
Myspace: Bodies of Water
MP3: Bodies of Water – “I Guess I’ll Forget the Sound, I Guess, I Guess”
MP3: Bodies of Water – “Doves Circled the Sky”
MP3: Bodies of Water – “These Are the Eyes”
MP3: Bodies of Water – “We Are Co-Existors”
Video: Bodies of Water – “I Heard It Sound”
MoB: These blog darlings took some warming up to. Not because I didn’t enjoy their record, but because I was reluctant to join the wave of acclaim. I should have listened earlier as these guys are worth the words and praise they’ve garnered to date.

Artist: Collections of Colonies of Bees
Album: Birds
Label: Table of the Elements
Myspace: Collections of Colonies of Bees
MP3: Collections of Colonies of Bees – Flocks III
Video: Collections of Colonies of Bees – Live from the Cactus Club in Milwaukee (4/27/07)
Upcoming: 2/7 – Starlight Cinema
MoB: “Their songs remind us that there is something underneath the layers of pop, production, lyrics, and sentimentalism that constitute most music. They don’t need vocals or traditional song structures to make interesting, engaging and energetic music.” You can read the rest of our reviews here and here.

Artist: Evangelicals
Album: The Evening Descends
Label: Dead Oceans
Myspace: Evangelicals
Video: Evangelicals – “Another Day”
Upcoming: 3/30 – Cactus Club, Milwaukee | 4/2 – High Noon Saloon, Madison
MoB: Strange and daring. This album shook the living hell out of me. Seriously, spend some time with this one and you’ll be closer to space travel. With three Wisconsin dates scheduled, you should be quite familiar with the group by the time summer arrives.

Artist: MGMT
Album: Oracular Spectacular
Label: Columbia
Myspace: MGMT
Video: MGMT – “Time to Pretend”
MoB: A opening slot for Of Montreal brought our attention to these guys, and while their record could have possibly already been in your possession, it now gets its proper major label release.

Artist: The Whigs
Album: Mission Control
Label: ATO
Myspace: The Whigs
MP3: The Whigs – “Right Hand On My Heart”
Video: The Whigs w/ John Popper in Athens, GA
Upcoming: 2/13 – The Whigs/Wild Sweet Orange – Majestic Theatre, Madison
MoB: Don’t you wish you would have paid your dues and cash to see one of My Morning Jacket’s first shows? You’ll be filled with remorse should you pass up the opportunity to check out this album or this group on their upcoming tour. A definite torch carrier for rock and roll.

Artist: Biirdie
Album: Catherine Avenue
Label: Drive-Thru
Myspace: Biirdie
MP3: Biirdie – “Him”
MP3: Biirdie – “Estelle”
Video: Biirdie live on Indie Live Austin
MoB: We threw up a couple MP3′s of these guys in our second installment of weekend MP3′s and you guys seemed to get along quite well with the tracks. Further investigations provided legitimacy to your taste. A band to watch, sure to enjoy great success in 2008.

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Insound | eMusic