New Release Tuesday: The Fireman

The Fireman Electric Arguments (One Little Indian/ATO)

Paul McCartney's collaboration with producer and founding member of Killing Joke Youth began as an electronic experiment in the early '90s. Their first two releases, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1993) and Rushes (1998) were largely instrumental experiments, unacknowledged by McCartney himself. This year's Electric Arguments is a different beast - coming on the heels of McCartney's departure from Starbucks' Hear Music label, as well as a brutal public divorce, the album is direct in ways that restores our faith in rock monoliths. The first Fireman album in ten years, its songs are punchy, rockin' and out, paying subtle homage to everyone from Tom Waits ("Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight") to Brian Eno ("Lovers In a Dream"). McCartney and Youth are both actively promoting the record, and gave an exclusive first listen to NPR Music last week. Though both the previous albums were lauded as being thrilling glimpses into a rarely seen side of McCartney's talents, Electric Arguments takes the surprise to another level, skipping the predictable ballads and sentimentality for thirteen tunes that plunge head first into fun loving experimentation.

The Fireman [Official] [MySpace]

Amanda Rogers: Heartwood (import)
Asobi Seksu: Citrus (vinyl reissue)
Austrian Death Machine: A Very Brutal Christmas (single)
Blood Ceremony: Blood Ceremony
Brian Jonestown Massacre: Spacegirl and Other Favorites (vinyl reissue)
Britney Spears: Womanizer (import single)
Coldplay: Prospekt's March EP (import)
Daft Punk: Gift Pack (2-CD & DVD)
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Live at the Troubadour (with DVD)
David Byrne & Brian Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Death Cab For Cutie: Something About Airplanes (deluxe remastered edition with bonus disc)
Doris Day: Christmas
Fennesz: Black Sea (vinyl)
Fireman: Electric Arguments
Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree (with DVD)
Iggy & The Stooges: Raw Power (vinyl reissue)
The International Noise Conspiracy Cross of My Calling
Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes: Live at the Greek (3-LP vinyl)
John Zorn: Film Works, Vol. 22: The Last Supper
Judas Priest: Hero Hero (vinyl reissue)
Judas Priest: Rocka Rolla (vinyl reissue)
Julian Cope: You Gotta Problem With Me… (vinyl)
Justice: A Cross the Universe (import)
Kanye West: 808s & Heartbreak
Killers: Day & Age
Ludacris: Theater of the Mind
Lydia Lunch: Frankie Teardrop EP (vinyl)
Metallica: Metallica (2-disc vinyl reissue)
Metallica: Metallica (4-disc vinyl reissue)
Mike Campese: The Meaning Of Christmas
Moby: Last Night Remixed
Motley Crue: Dr. Feelgood (vinyl reissue)
Motley Crue: Girls, Girls, Girls (vinyl reissue)
Motley Crue: Saints of Los Angeles (vinyl reissue)
Motley Crue: Shout at the Devil (vinyl reissue)
Motley Crue: Theatre of Pain (vinyl reissue)
Motley Crue: Too Fast for Love (vinyl reissue)
Nada Surf: Vinyl Box Set: 1994 - 2008 (7-disc vinyl box set)
Port O'Brien: All We Could Do Was Sing
R.E.M.: Murmur (remastered with bonus disc)
The Rapture: Tapes (DJ Mix)
Raveonettes: Wishing You a Rave Christmas EP (digital)
Replacements: Tim (vinyl reissue)
Rivers Cuomo: Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Santana: Abraxas (vinyl reissue)
Santana: Santana (vinyl reissue)
Scott Weiland: Happy in Galoshes
Sheryl Crow: Home for Christmas (import)
Shirley Bassey: Shirely Stops the Shows/12 of Those Songs (import)
Supersuckers: Get It Together (vinyl)
Surf City: Surf City EP (vinyl)
Various Artists: Fisher Price: Silent Night: Christmas Vocal Lullabies
Various Artists: Peanut Butter Wolf Presents Badd Santa
Various Artists: Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective (3-disc box set)
Was (Not Was): Boo! (vinyl)
Ween: At the Cat's Cradle, 1992