>> getLevitation >>>>>

The month of May is bringing a slew of new releases of note: Smog, Spoon, Oneida, Caribou, The Coral, Mercury Rev, Stephen Malkmus, and Sleater-Kinney, to name a few.


Smog, er (Smog)

Smog (aka Bill Callahan) has always been a personal favorite of mine. Say what you will about his weird and wacky ways (folks love to refer to him as the yang to Chan Marshall's ying), but the man can carry a tune. I loved 2003's Supper to death, so I've been awaiting his newest offering, A River Ain't Too Much to Love, with anxious ears. It's due to drop on May 31, and the first of this week's offerings comes from this release. (No word on whether he has dropped the parantheticals from his name or not.)


Spoon

I can't get enough of the new Spoon song, "I Summon You," and luckily the local rock station has been spinning it. Gimme Fiction will be out on May 9; in the meantime, if you're one of the ten people left that hasn't sampled the demo version of the song available on Spoon's site, then here it 'tis. The actual version on the album features drums and bass, and is by far superior--but this'll give you the idea.


Animal Collective

Thanks to blog Cred Central for pointing out that the much-hyped collaboration between Animal Collective and Vashti Bunyan is coming out May 31. The four-track EP will be called Prospect Hummer. "It's You" is simply gorgeous in a way that Animal Collective is not on their own. Check it and others out at FatCat Records' official site.


Oneida

Finally, Oneida has a new album on Jagjaguwar that'll be out on May 3. The Wedding finds Oneida in rare form, as "Did I Die" will attest. Check it out. I'm sure that Jon will share his full thoughts with us once the album drops. By the way, if you've got a harpsichord or a clavinet to spare, Oneida would love to bum one off you forever.

(For MP3s, see the sidebar to the right.)