The key albums of the summer

THE LOCALS

Hacienda's third album came out June 19 and it's "a perfect lead-off for summer driving in the city … that owes as much to Doug Sahm's rollicking Tex-Mex as it does to neo-electric blues," according to the Leonard Pierce review you can read on page 83. The Tiago Splitters will finally present their Farewell the Analogue album with a free June 27 show at Broadway 5050 (5050 Broadway, duh). The album was actually recorded almost two years ago by Chris Maddin and Current Art Director Chuck Kerr under the production of Buttercup's Joe Reyes, who will be playing with them at the must-see 5050 show. Yes Inferno will release their own new CD on July 11 and Nicolette Good will present Monarch, her first full-length album, with a show July 13 at 502 Bar (502 Embassy Oaks).

OUT THERE

The following albums already came out in June and are highly recommended: Rush's Clockwork Angels (yes, the Rush), Hot Chip's In Our Heads, the Cypress Hill x Rusko EP (Rusko being Christopher Mercer, the British DJ and producer), Pat Metheny's gorgeous Unity Band (with Chris Potter, Ben Williams, and Antonio Sánchez), and Neneh Cherry & The Thing's The Cherry Thing, with covers of Don Cherry (Neneh's father), the Stooges, and more. Fiona Apple's long-overdue album finally arrived on the 19th, so grab a pen and paper because you need to write this down: the name of the album is The Idler Wheel is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do (that's her secret: catchiness).

JULY

Tentatively, on July 3 the new 50 Cent album, 5 (Murder by Numbers), will be out, even though there is no single yet. On the 17th, System of a Down's Serj Tankian returns to his heavier side after freaking everyone out with an orchestral mix of electronica and jazz in 2010's Imperfect Harmonies. The new album is Harakiri, his third. Another long-delayed album arrives on the 31st: rapper Rick Ross' God Forgives, I Don't.

AUGUST

My single pick for August is Ry Cooder's Election Special, which includes "Mutt Romney Blues" as an opener. Commenting on the song on his label's website, Cooder said: "Where did Mitt Romney learn that hollow laugh of his? A correspondence course on how to scare your dog shitless? He sure scares me, I don't mind telling you."

Other (mostly recommended) summer releases
June 26: Linkin Park's Living Things and Beto Cuevas' Transformación (Cuevas is the lead of major Chilean rock band La Ley).
July 3: Flo-Rida's Wild Ones.
July 10: Zac Brown Band's Uncaged and Communist Daughter's Lions & Lambs EP.
July 17: Soul Asylum's Delayed Reaction and Jimmy Cliff's Rebirth (first album in seven years by the reggae legend).
July 25: Deadmau5 w/Chris James' The Veldt EP (James, a fan, took the instrumental track, wrote a melody and lyrics, and uploaded his own version. Deadmau5 loved it, and the rest is history).
July 31: The newno2'a thefearofmissingout and Toadies' Play.Rock.Music.
August 28: Wiz Khalifa's O.N.I.F.C. and Alanis Morissette's Havoc & Bright Lights.

BEST REISSUES

July 10: Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection and Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones' Live at the Checkerboard Lounge Chicago 1981.

July 31: Charles Mingus' The Complete Columbia & RCA Albums Collection (10 CDs), Thelonius Monk's The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection (6 CDs), and Frank Zappa's remastered albums from 1966's Freak Out to 1972's Just Another Band from L.A.

August 21: Los Lobos' Kiko (20th anniversary remastering plus bonus tracks). •

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