We’re excited to welcome Timber Timbre to Cactus Club in Milwaukee on Sunday, May 22nd. Tickets are on sale now. Their new album, Creep on Creepin’ On is essential listening.

The band has features with The National Post, Spinner, NOW and Chart (via Chromewaves).
MP3: Timber Timbre – “Black Water”
Video: Timber Timbre – “Woman”

My Morning Jacket unveils the title track from their new album, Circuital as a free download.

There’s a lot of great music in Austin tonight. Band of Horses and Kings of Leon at Frank Erwin Center, The Ravonettes with Tamaryn at Emo’s and The Love Language inside at Stubb’s. I’ll be attending the latter two shows.

Austin360.com chats with The Ravonettes.

Video: Charlie Crist Official Apology to David Byrne for Copyright Infringement – additional details here (via the AP).

AV Club Madison reviews Destroyer’s show at the High Noon Saloon.

Stream new albums in full: Paul Simon, Alison Krauss and Union Station, The Felice Brothers, The Meat Puppets, Low, Brett Dennen, The Head And The Heart, Atmosphere, Bass Drum Of Death, Henry Clay People, and more.

Amazon has digital albums from TV On The Radio, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Sleigh Bells, Freelance Whales, Trampled By Turtles, and Those Darlins for only $3.99.

Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers waxes on Eddie Hinton at Aquarium Drunkard.

The Austin Chronicle profiles Black Joe Lewis whose new album, Scandalous has been in heavy rotation.

Yuck has a session with Daytrotter and a video at Pitchfork.tv.

Vinyl Deal Of The Day: TV On The Radio – Nine Types of Light [$11.19]

By Kyle Shaffer

Sometimes when you’ve found what you’re good at, it’s perfectly acceptable to stick with it, pound it out, and see what comes of the cracks and fissures. After all, in an age of technology-aided instant gratification, there’s something to be said about seeing how far you can push a certain constancy before setting your gaze on greener pastures. And while San Francisco natives The Dodos don’t sound complacent, their own particular brand of uniformity proves to be more virtue than vice on their latest, No Color.

From the jittery psych-folk spunk of opener “Black Night” Meric Long and Logan Kroeber set a table over which they talk about all the bizarre stuff that happened in their day. The bouncy guitar and the skittering pulse of Kroeber’s recognizable drumming serve as a floor upon which Long’s scatterbrained ruminations dance and flutter: “Kind heart, kindness. Where you going to, are you going through heaven or hell?” “Going Under” capitalizes on the polyrhythmic punches and accents the group is known for, oscillating between a lilting verse and a more straightforward, dreamy chorus.

“Good” sees the duo painting with broader brushstrokes and primary colors while still finding little nooks and crannies within the song to insert yelps and harmonies to keep things interesting. The frenetic thump in the beginning of “Hunting Season,” coupled with the heavy groove in the song’s bridge, make this track one of the most fun to listen to on the record, while “Don’t Stop” is a sonic smorgasbord of Nick Drake style finger-picking and sample-worthy drumming all hopped up on too many cups of coffee.

For most of the record, The Dodos stick with up-tempo tracks saturated in percussive tenacity that stops just short of sounding overplayed. There are times when you find yourself wanting to take a break to catch your breath, but Long and Kroeber are too ambitious to really fault them for that. And even though the argument could be made that The Dodos are but another installation in a trend of African-influenced pop (I won’t mention an oft-cited namesake that nearly every “ethnic pop” group is compared to these days), songs like those on No Color exhibit a left-of-centeredness that’s simultaneously weird and wonderful enough to single them out from any trend.

Buy: The Dodos – No Color
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MP3: The Dodos – “Don’t Stop (featuring Neko Case)”

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performs a new song called “Open Your Mind” for Canadian TV. You can go here to watch the performance and also check out the two interviews.

Wilco are on tour, including dates with Smith Westerns before curating their own Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, MA.

By Ross Pedersen

Between interested friends and movie soundtracks (2005’s Everything is Illuminated and 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine), I have heard a decent sampling of DeVotchKa’s music over the last several years. That said, they have been the kind of band that I always put on my radar, but never actually look into. That changed a few weeks ago when a friend of mine played me a few cuts off of their new album, 100 Lovers (ANTI-), and sparked my interest once again.

While 100 Lovers is not a revolutionary album, it has the energy, power, and uniqueness to make it well worth your while. The album sounds something like an Arcade Fire recording that got too carried away in the distortion department to fit into their discography. The title track, “One Hundred Other Lovers,” is the accessible centerpiece (and my favorite) of the album, combining a wispy discontinuous beat with funky, staccato vocals. Elsewhere on the album, DeVotchKa stretches their instrumentation wings, making repeated use of strings arrangements, accordions, and brass/woodwind sections and by that virtue really distinguishing each song from the last.

To me, the greatest attribute of the record is how cohesively its songs were put together. Interlude tracks are less common on alternative albums than on, say, rap recordings, but DeVotchKa definitely understands how to use them to make an album that plays well from start to finish, and “Sunshine” is a fitting and conclusive closer to the disc. In the end, it is the unified feeling of the album that makes me have a great time listening to it and will surely keep me coming back for more from DeVotchKa.

Buy: Devotchka – 100 Lovers
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Video: Devotchka – “All The Sand In The Sea”
Video: Devotchka – “100 Other Lovers”

Here are the Wisconsin, Illinois and Austin shows we recommend you take in this week. Check out the upcoming concerts below and let us know which ones you’ll be attending or ones you think should really make our list.

Upcoming Shows:

4/11 – Civil Wars – Schubas (CHICAGO)
4/11 – Destroyer + The War On Drugs – High Saloon (MADISON)
4/11 – Robert Plant + North Mississippi Allstars – Riverside Theater (MILWAUKEE)
4/12 – Civil Wars – Schubas (CHICAGO)
4/12 – Kings Of Leon + Band Of Horses – Frank Erwin Center (AUSTIN)
4/12 – The Raveonettes + Tamaryn – Emo’s (AUSTIN)
4/12 – The Love Language – Stubb’s Inside (AUSTIN)
4/13 – Ra Ra Riot + Generationals – Turner Hall Ballroom (MILWAUKEE)
4/13 – Common Loon + Take Care – Cactus Club (MILWAUKEE)
4/13 – British Sea Power – The Mohawk (AUSTIN)
4/14 – Ra Ra Riot + Generationals – Majestic (MADISON)
4/14 – Delicate Steve – Empty Bottle (CHICAGO)
4/14 – The Civil Wars + Arum Rae – Turner Hall Ballroom (MILWAUKEE)
4/15 – Jeff Tweedy – Vic Theatre (CHICAGO)
4/15 – Of Montreal + Morning Teleportation – UW Union South (MADISON)
4/15 – The Civil Wars + Arum Rae – Der Rathskeller (MADISON)
4/15 – Zola Jesus + Cult Of Youth – Empty Bottle (CHICAGO)
4/16 – Jeff Tweedy – Vic Theatre (CHICAGO)
4/16 – Mike Watt & The Missingmen – Shank Hall (MILWAUKEE)
4/16 – Roadside Graves + Conrad Plymouth + Jeremy Benson – Cactus Club (Milwaukee)
4/16 – Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – Hi-Dive (CHAMPAIGN)
4/16 – Tobacco – High Noon Saloon (MADISON)
4/16 – Breathe Owl Breathe – Scbubas (CHICAGO)
4/17 – Breathe Owl Breathe – The SETT (MADISON)
4/17 – Mike Watt & The Missingmen – High Saloon (MADISON

Photos by Ed Oliver

Elsewhere: Watch videos of Sharon Van Etten performing “Don’t Do It” and “One Day” from the Pabst Theater.

Buy: Sharon Van Etten – Epic | Little Scream – The Golden Record
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MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Don’t Do It”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”
MP3: Little Scream – “Cannons”
MP3: Little Scream – “The Heron and the Fox”