New Album Releases: October 26, 2010

By KROQ's Nicole Alvarez

No matter how annoyed most people feel on Mondays because they have to start the work week and bid farewell to their weekend, one thing we can all look forward to and rely on, is new music Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, the musical heavens open up and new albums rain down upon us. On Tuesdays, the arts are enriched and our musical horizons expanded. Simply put, Tuesdays rock.

This Tuesday, October 25th 2010, there were no huge "buzz" albums released. In other words, there was nothing that I couldn't wait for. I'm the type of person that loses sleep when one of my favorite band is releasing a record the next day. I wanna leave cookies out for the artist much like I would for Santa. It's a joyous occasion indeed.

This week, there's nothing I'm crazy about. It's the first time in a long time that I didn't have a "passion album", however, there are noteworthy ones that evoke curiosity and deserve a listen. Here's a list:

Artist/Album

(hed) p.e. - Truth Rising

Now here's a band that meshes several genres of music together and some times it works and sometimes it doesn't. Unfortunately for them, they were often pigeon holed as a rap-metal act, or "rap core metal, which isn't always a favorite, but the band has a viciously loyal following and their live shows quite frequently rise to the occasion.

A typical show of theirs has a lot of booze, a lot of guys with tattoos and baseball caps, and mosh pits that aren't exactly friendly circle jerks. You can bruise easily. That's (hed) p.e.

Breathe Owl Breathe - Magic Central

Breathe Owl Breathe is a band that I just discovered and fell in love with instantly. The first time I played their music, I felt at peace, in tune, enchanted, and kissed by the sun. They are the kind of band that you discover at Coachella and their music is best served to a free spirit with an inner hippie. The music is organic and simple and in that simplicity lies its beauty.

I really look forward to driving down PCH on a lovely L.A. Sunday and listening to Magic Castle with the windows down and my hair blowing in the wind. Theirs is a truly comforting sound.

Diamond Rings - Special Affection

Diamond Rings is John O'Regan and John O'Regan is an androgynous anti-hero in glam rock clothes thumbing his nose at society with the coyness of a school-girl and and a self-aware swagger. If you like the Scissor Sisters, which I do, then Diamond Rings is an artist you need to get familiar with. It's dance, it's 80's, it's precocious and moody. "Glam Rock Dance Party Poetry" pretty much sums it up/

Special Affection is everything Diamond Rings has always been comfortable doing and continues to do well.

Ill Nino - Dead New World

These Latino heavy metal Jersey boys are 5 albums into it and their following has never left their side. They are loud, very loud, they play their guitars as if they're trying to set them on fire and they play them ferociously. They are not for the lighthearted nor should you expect any delicate lyrics about falling in love. They mean business.

Dead New World sounds like a machine gun going off. So, if you're into that kind of sound, Ill Nino does it well on this album.

A definite standout is Ill Nino's cover of the Smashing Pumpkin's "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". Ironically, it's the slowest song on the album.

These are the albums that I will be spending quality time with this week. I guess you can call them my picks. However, there are a lot more albums that also got released today that some might want to check out.

If you like ROCK:

• Monster Magnet - Mastermind
• Senses Fail - The Fire

As far as the biggest albums or at least 2 that I predict other people are losing sleep over, are the following:

• Taylor Swift - Speak Now
  This little vixen likes to kiss and tell, or at least kiss and tell-off! She documents her love life via her music and that is EXACTLY why people love her. She's an open book.
• Mark Salling - Pipe Dreams
  Mark Salling is known to most as the cute guy with a mohawk on Glee. He plays Puck and he has a built in audience of teenage girls and their mothers who watch Glee just to swoon over his bad boy smile. Of course he'll sell records.