New at Not Lame, 3/10/06.

Some interesting new developments at Not Lame today. Before I go into the featured releases, they're offering streaming (and special pre-order deals) for two new releases the power pop community has been looking forward to. First is the Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs covers album, Under The Covers Vol. 1. They have a special pre-order deal here (with autographed booklet), and you can stream it here in its entirety:

Under The Covers Vol. 1

And the other big release is the new solo disc from Jon Auer of the Posies, titled Songs From The Year of Our Demise. The pre-order deal (with a bonus cd of live tracks) is here, and the full-length stream is here:

Songs From The Year of Our Demise

Good stuff. I'm going to have the give the Auer a listen over the weekend.

On to the featured releases. There's a familiar look here with a couple of them: First off, is Stuart Valentine's Melody's True, which was our CD of the Day a few weeks ago. (Note the different album cover on the Not Lame page). Also featured is the new Warren Zanes, which hits the streets Tuesday, and which I've discussed on several occasions. I think only Supraluxe has received more namedrops on this blog than Zanes has. There are also a couple of the new Cheap Trick reissues featured as well.

* As for the stuff that's both new and new to being mentioned on this blog, we start with latest from The Animators, How We Fight. The Animators are not the typical band, incorporating accordion, glockenspiel, and cajon into the mix. As Bruce puts it, "it`s pretty much impossible to say 'Hey, The Animators sound like "XXX" band(s)'", but they do manage to retain a somewhat conventional sound despite some of the unusual instrumentation. The opening track, "Good to Be Here", for one is damn impressive.

They have four songs from the new one streaming at their myspace page, and further samples can be found at the cd baby page for the album.

* Next up is the Norwegian band CoStar and their 2004 release Keep It Light. I've had this one for over a year myself, but I haven't listened in a long time. In situations like this, I use the iPod test: if it's still on my iPod it must be good, because I have all 60 gigs filled and I'm now at the point where I'm deleting to add new stuff. Bruce namedrops The Posies, Elbow, Manic Street Preachers and Oasis, and from listening to some of it again I have to say he's in the ballpark.

You can download 4 mp3s (if you have your browser set to "save to disk" on mp3 links) from the album at their site. The rest can be sampled at cd baby. They actually have a new album soon to be released, titled Fix, and their myspace page is streaming tracks from that album.

* Finally, we have Chuck Maiden's Adobe. There's no truth to the rumor that the liner notes only come in a .pdf file, and I don't think Maiden's an acrobat. Bad software humor aside, Adobe sounds like the kind of singer-songwriter pop that I have a penchant for, with the names of Penn, Finn and Petty thrown about. I missed this one when it came out last summer, so I'm glad Bruce & Co. have found it.

It's also available on eMusic here, where you can get the 30-second sample blitz. And it appears you can stream the whole thing at his site in the media player right at the bottom.