Brandon's Buzz

Nothing major out there this week as August arrives in earnest, but a couple of midlist sleepers pop up on the new release wall, and the artists behind them are absolutely the real deal. Dig in:

• A’ll be pleased as punch to learn that his current heroine Lady GaGa is back this week with The Remix, a collection of ten extended dance and club mixes of her hit singles.

 

• Indie rock icons Arcade Fire return with their latest, The Suburbs.

 

• Still talkin’ to angels: two decades past the release of their mega-platinum debut, The Black Crowes are back with Croweology,
  a double-length acoustic celebration of their survival.

 

• One of my all-time favorite foreign chicks is the delightfully odd
  Katie Melua, who takes a bit of a left turn this week, teaming up with Madonna’s old crony William Orbit for her fourth album, The House.

 

• I find him whiny, shallow, and painfully pretentious, but his music obviously strikes a chord with someone, and for that person, John Vesely — who records under the name of Secondhand Serenade — offers up his latest effort, Hear Me Now.

 

• And finally: he first gained national attention in 2006 as one of the contestants in CBS’ ill-fated Idol knockoff Rock Star: INXS, which
  sought to find a new lead singer for the venerable Australian band.
  (The time-stopping cover of R.E.M.’s classic smash “Losing My Religion” that he crafted for the series remains one of the most chilling and compelling pieces of television that I have ever witnessed.) Now, four years later, the blisteringly brilliant Ryan Star steps into the spotlight as a true recording artist with his hotly-anticipated major label debut 11:59.

names dropped with reckless abandon: "American Idol", A, Arcade Fire, INXS, John Vesely, Katie Melua, Lady GaGa, Madonna, R.E.M., Ryan Star, Secondhand Serenade, The Black Crowes, William Orbit