New and notable on eMusic.

If you were impressed (or at least 50% as impressed) as I was by the Travis Hopper debut I touted the other day, you may have noticed that the man most responsible for that cd after Hopper himself was Salim Nourallah. Nourallah is an outstanding solo artist in his own right, and eMusic just added his most recent release, last year's Beautiful Noise, to its site. Beautiful Noise is kind of a low-key affair (although Nourallah can get it cranked up at times), reminiscent of some of the slower numbers on Wilco's Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, only without all the bells and whistles. And if you like Beautiful Noise, you can also download his previous release, Polaroid, as well as his album with brother Faris, usefully titled the Nourallah Brothers.

Also just in is the latest release from a band that had an impressive debut as any I've heard back in 2002 with Holes In The Wall. I'm talking about the UK's The Electric Soft Parade, who make their bow on eMusic with The Human Body EP. ESP have the ability to sound like a number of different bands; at times they have a more 60s-70s Beatlesque sound; and at others they have a more modern Teenage Fanclub/Blur/Oasis sound. Highlights on the EP include "Cold World" and "Stupid Mistake".

Being reminded of Holes In The Wall makes me think I should start a series of overlooked albums of, say, the last 10 years. Maybe after the 2005 Top 20 is done.