Don't expect this to be a regular feature, but there are two fantastic albums coming out today that I've been listening to for a while.
Low - Drums & Guns
I've been listening to this album for several weeks and I'm ecstatic that they were able to improve upon their last two albums, The Great Destroyer and Things We Lost in the Fire. Low is usually classified as slo-core, but they've been starting rock a little more. I'm a big fan of the triple play of "Hatchet", "Your Poison" and "Take Your Time" about 2/3 of the way through the album.
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
I had loosely followed Andrew Bird for a while, but got sucked in last year with the release of Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs. The new album has a very similar feel but is a bit more mellow. More than anything else, it's his hypnotic vocals that bring me back to his songs. The new album doesn't disappoint in this regard and is a great companion to Eggs. An interesting note, apocrypha can be defined as, "...works that in their title, form, and contents resemble books of the Old and New Testaments, but that are not accepted as true biblical books" (a.k.a. armchair religious person, like armchair quarterback).