New Release Highlights for April 5, 2011: the Raveonettes, the Kills, Cold Cave and More

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below.)

*Cold Cave, Cherish The Light Years
The Guardian says of Cold Cave's latest: "'Take me to the future. I'm ready,' sings Wesley Eisold. That may be true, but someone appears to have stuck a spanner in his time machine - he's definitely heading backwards. The destination is 1982 or thereabouts, given the Human League and the Cure appear to be the main influences on Cherish the Light Years, though the horns of Dexys and Peter Hook's bass tone are discernible, too. Chris Coady's production makes the whole thing sound rich, but quite why Eisold, a Bostonian, is so fixated on the UK of 30 years ago is unclear, especially as Cherish the Light Years is apparently a tribute to his new home of New York. Whatever the reason, this collection seems retrograde and oddly neutered, the chilly vulnerability of its inspirations recoded as muscular bombast."

*Ray Davies, See My Friends
Consequence of Sound reviewed the Kinks frontman's latest: "I don't know what I expected. Remember that movie He's Just Not That Into You? I've only seen a few minutes of it, but movies like that -- where they try to impress the audience (your parents) by how many famous people they can get into one movie, only to feel more star-gazing than actual plot-telling -- feel like dirty tricks. And it pertains to Ray Davies' collaborative remakes album, See My Friends, in that the assembly of duet partners is unreal. Beyond the giant names of Bruce Springsteen and Metallica, it also notably features peaking group Mumford & Sons in addition to a post-humonous cut from recently deceased Big Star frontman Alex Chilton. It's easy to get lost in the impressive mix, but the artist line up is so diverse that the question of 'Did it ever have a chance' seems to echo in the folds of each number, making me feel like a fool for thinking success was a possibility."

*Hot Tuna, Steady As She Goes
The Twin Cities' Daily Planet reviewed the latest Hot Tuna: "Kaukonen's highly inventive guitar work rocks tough and articulate, clean as a cat's whiskers. He still sings with that slightly strange, quintessentially laid-back voice, except it's stronger now. He's always been a fine lyricist, waxing wry with an existential bent. His melodies, even mean as a snake, have warmed over the years with a bluegrass influence. Casady is Casady, one of the most unorthodox and profoundly gifted bassists ever known to rock music. They've always been a fascinating pair of musical partners from the early hallmark 'Spare Chaynge.'"

*Jim Jones, Capo
Prefix says of Capo: "Whether you love or hate his somewhat sloppy rapping style, Jim Jones stayed on his grind following the release of his modestly successful 2009 effort, Pray IV Reign. The album, which was his fourth, mostly peaked thanks to ubiquitous lead single 'Pop Champagne.' But following that release, Jones showed signs of life (and talent) when working on the Blakroc album with the Black Keys, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, and others. The Harlem rapper then dropped The Ghost of Rich Porter mixtape months later in the spring of 2010 before announcing his old crew, Dipset, would be reuniting. It between all of that, he found time to work on his fifth proper album, Capo, which boasts a guest appearance from Snopp Dogg and a Dipset sighting on over-the-top lead single 'Salute.'"