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ATO Records recording artist Gomez’s highly anticipated new album, Whatever’s On Your Mind, is now available! The eagerly awaited collection – the follow-up to 2009’s A New Tide – is already seeing critical acclaim. Gomez is currently on tour promoting Whatever’s On Your Mind.

When it came time to record their seventh studio album, the eclectic, beautiful Whatever’s On Your Mind, the members of Gomez found themselves in a bit of a ‘long distance writing relationship.’ Spread out on opposite corners of the world, the band ­ that had once shared a house ­ was forced to think outside the box and revamp their writing strategy. Not the types to shy away from a challenge, they took up an unusual, near-futuristic tactic.

Instead of getting together to write and record, the Transatlantic five-piece set up an online hub for their homemade demos. They tasked each other with delivering a set number of songs per week ­ each of which the other band members could modify at will. “I think we all knew the intensity of how good we wanted to make the record,” says drummer Olly Peacock. Many months were committed to focusing these musical chain letters. Over 50 compositions whittled down and blended.

The resulting tight, 10-song long-player was perfected in two ten-day sessions in Charlottesville, VA with longtime friend Sam Farrar (Phantom Planet) whose role was strongly editorial “Unlike other producers we’ve worked with, in Sam we had somebody who was familiar with our entire back catalog, and knew what it was that we were going after,” says Tom Gray. “He could help us achieve our aims even better than we could ourselves.”  This return to a form of self-production seems to have allowed Gomez to incorporate the lush pop of recent records like How We Operate with the free-form feel of early, beloved Gomez albums like Bring it On.

This is a record in glorious Technicolor: the sound of a band enjoying themselves. Not alone though. The other musicians on the record include Luke Steele (Empire of the Sun, Sleepy Jackson) and Stuart Bogie (Antibalas, TV on the Radio, Iron and Wine). Whatever’s On Your Mind shares a lineage with In Our Gun, thanks to both a preponderance of strings and horns (check out the brass on the opening track, “Options,” the punctuation-abetted, groovy “I Will Take You There,” and the seasonal swells of the pre-chorus to “X-Rays”) and an electronic dance-aspect that always carries along with it some sort of guitar chunkiness. (“Song In My Heart” begins almost Gaga-esque before its keyboard lick is replicated by a strummed acoustic). At 38 minutes it’s Gomez’s shortest album to date; there is no fat on the disc.

Still, it maintains Gomez’s trademarks: Ben Ottewell’s gritty vocals tear through the carefully arranged background harmonies of “The Place and The People,” while bassist Paul “Blackie” Blackburn’s overdriven bass gives a near-African beat to “Equalize,” and “Just as Lost As You” finds Ball yearning and introspective, while somehow still sounding hopefully positive, as the band explodes behind him in a memorable, throttling thrust. The title track alone should convince you that this is a band reaching further than they have before to achieve a balance in their work between musical exploration and lyrical content. The songwriting is adult, but the spirit is freewheeling.

Gomez has stood apart from their very beginning just over a decade ago, earning critical praise and an ever-growing fanbase for their eclectic and ambitious musical tack. How We Operate – Gomez’s ATO Records debut – debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Heatseekers” chart upon its May 2006 release, and garnered play on television shows ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Fox’s House M.D., as well as multi-format radio outlets Triple A and Modern Rock. Gomez is currently on summer tour to promote Whatever’s On Your Mind.

The change of pace and influx of creativity has helped the band find themselves again. “Sometimes we might have been a little trapped by our own muso-ness” says Gray, “but this album is liberating. It doesn’t feel at all stuffy. It’s a real joy.” Whatever’s On Your Mind finds Gomez driving forward on a beautifully lush and dynamic album. There is a fresh feeling of rebirth and awakening.  One to raise a smile even from the naysayers. A broad grin from the rest of us.

With the release of its 1993 debut, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, the identities of the musicians behind The Fireman were initially unknown. But soon the press revealed them as none other than Paul McCartney and Youth. “Paul McCartney has discovered dance music – the results are staggeringly brilliant,” said Melody Maker. “They take a melody and, with dexterous genre-hopping through ambient, trance and house, evolve a number of breathtaking variations.”

Last year, McCartney and Youth went into the studio with no master plan, no record company restraints and no set release date to work to. Thus Electric Arguments emerged organically: 13 eclectic tracks, each written and recorded in the space of one day. ?The record opens with a stylistically diverse trifecta: the classic rock attention-grabber “Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight,” the acoustic driven “Two Magpies” and, in another hairpin turn, the euphoric, melodic “Sing The Changes.” Electric Arguments continues in this fashion, each track exhibiting an entirely different personality yet all meshing perfectly. “Lifelong Passion” – a track The Fireman donated earlier this year to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield – showcases a traditional, song-based sound with vocals, completely unlike anything on the duo’s previous two albums. Other standouts include “Light From Your Lighthouse,” “Sun Is Shining” and “Dance ‘Til We’re High,” all demonstrating McCartney’s unending interest in pure musical possibilities.

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Far more than on any of the Drive-By Truckers previous albums, 2011 release Go-Go Boots rises like smoke from the old Muscle Shoals country-and-soul sound. Having recorded with Bettye Lavette and Booker T.Jones, and having spent a lifetime listening to classic soul albums by Bobby Womack, Tony Joe White, and especially Eddie Hinton, it was inevitable that the Truckers eventually produce this album.

We knew they were pin-your-ears-back rock and roll, but here in Go-Go Boots, the Tuckers are country, and here too, the Truckers are soul and rhythm and blues. It looks funny on paper – the words country/soul mashed up like that – but maybe in the end it comes down to this one shared ethos: the harder life gets, the more it calls for art, for music, for beauty – for the slow celebration of loss or pain that is mournfully, beautifully defiant.

Something undefinable has changed with the Truckers. They’re still rocking on, but a few more strands of lightness of being, and happiness have infiltrated their being. They’re happier. Do not hold this against them, nor worry that it will corrupt their blues and rock, their snarl and anguish. Instead, the happiness will continue to whet these things – the things for which their old fans love them. Theirs is an earned happiness, and therefore does not temper or weaken their sound. Indeed, this new light forges the sound – the rock. You can hear it in every chord. It’s their finest yet.

If waiting until their album is dropped to hear some Whigs seems too far away, be sure to take a look at the tour dates listed on their website (http://www.thewhigs.com/tour) for a chance to see them live beginning February 4th.  They will be playing with the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the Royal Bangs, depending on the show.

Much of the album’s amplified creative direction can be attributed to the involvement of bassist Tim Deaux, who joined founding members Parker Gispert (guitar/vocals) and Julian Dorio (drums) just prior to the 2008 release of the Whigs’ acclaimed second album, MISSION CONTROL.

“There aren’t words to describe how lucky we are to have found Tim,” Dorio laughs. “Parker and I would just be sitting here, staring at each other.”

An exuberant, no-holds-barred live act, the Whigs followed the release of MISSION CONTROL with nearly non-stop touring, spending much of 2008 traversing the planet as a headline act, special guests of Kings of Leon, The Kooks and Drive-By Truckers, and with stage-stealing festival performances at such international events as Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, and T In The Park.

“We’d had a good time touring and traveling,” says Dorio. “We had absorbed a lot of music and new experiences, so there was a lot in us to pour out. There was no shortage of ideas.”

While previous Whigs recordings kicked off with Gispert’s songwriting, this time the rhythm section took the reins. Dorio and Deaux began collaborating in the band’s practice space, crafting near-complete songs built upon drumbeats and bass lines.

“It just kinda clicked,” Dorio says. “We ended up going in every single day, almost as if we were clocking in to go to work.”

“It was really important that Tim was a part of this record from the ground up,” Gispert says. “From day one, he’s been knee-deep involved in this record, which is how it should be.”

The detailed rhythm tracks provided a solid foundation for Gispert, allowing him the opportunity to write in a more responsive fashion. As a result, his guitar lines and vocal parts became increasingly dynamic and precise.

“It was really exciting for me,” Gispert says. “To have an idea already in place that I could instinctually react to, as a guitar player and as a singer. It allowed me to not over think things before they had even gotten started and to spend more time working on things I don’t normally work on.”

The Whigs laid down demos throughout the first part of 2009 and on June 1st, entered Athens’ Chase Park Transduction studio with longtime friend Ben H. Allen producing. Allen – who had been behind the board for two of the past decade’s most pivotal works: Gnarls Barkley’s “ST. ELSEWHERE” and Animal Collective’s “MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION” – was an avowed fan of the Whigs from the very start. Allen was present at the Whigs’ very first gig and had even helped record the band’s early demos.

“We thought, who better to understand where we were coming from,” Dorio says. “He knows the band’s trajectory and what we wanted to do with this record. Who better than a guy that really knows us and loves our band?”

“There didn’t need to be a lot of explanation,” Gispert says. “Ben already knows us, he knows what we like, he knows us as people. Everybody had a common goal, so it was able to happen pretty quickly.”

Allen supported the band’s decision to open up their musical approach. Songs like “Hundred / Million” and the title track are centered on Dorio and Deaux’s initial tracks, with Gispert’s powerful guitar only arriving in the explosive choruses.

“In the past we’ve always been this full-throttle, fifth-gear rock n’ roll band,” Dorio says. “Ben didn’t want us just bashing away all the time. I think there’s a little bit more space. He really encouraged that.”

A month of sessions was followed by further touring, including a trip through North America’s arenas alongside Kings of Leon. Playing such large-scale venues had a remarkable effect on the Whigs’ sound, driving them back to the studio in order to capture that new found sonic sensibility.

“Being on some bigger stages, you start hearing different things coming out of your amps,” Gispert explains. “The way it’s hitting the open air as opposed to a wall that’s 40 feet in front of it. Things start sounding a little different and to turn your back on that, to the different sounds that are happening, would not be cool.”

“Playing those rooms is a unique challenge,” Dorio says. “I thought if we’re ever so lucky to have that kind of success and popularity, could a band this small fill the room with sound? It was kinda reassuring to realize, yeah, we can hang here.”

In October, the Whigs hit Nashville for a week’s worth of sessions with producers Jay Joyce (Cage The Elephant) and Angelo Petraglia (Kings of Leon). Each producer brought something unique to the table, with Joyce helping to fire up the high-octane riff rock of “Someone’s Daughter” and Petraglia adding muscular clarity to such tracks as the album’s first single, “Kill Me Carolyne.” To the Whigs’ credit, IN THE DARK stands as a remarkably cohesive collection, with the various producers helping the band to explore their own creative palette.

While the band’s overall sound was growing more expansive, Gispert was determined to increase his focus as both singer and as a lyricist. Songs like “Dying” and “I Don’t Even Care About The One I Love” are confident and concise, adding introspection and emotional oomph to the Whigs’ overall anthemic power.

“I tried to be more honest,” he says. “I was more comfortable with saying what I meant and letting it sit there. I wasn’t so hung up on like, ‘Wow, I really said that in a cool way.’ My goal was more like, ‘Can you understand what I’m saying here? Am I making myself clear?’”

With its impressive range and undeniable vigor, IN THE DARK sees the Whigs doing what all great bands do – furthering their artistic scope with each successive effort.

“We have a lot of different things that we’d like to do,” Dorio says. “Of course we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band, but we really like writing really fun pop tunes that you can sing along to, we also like writing songs that are a little bit weirder. There’s a little bit of a variety that we think adds to the listenability and the longevity of the album.”

“I hope that we’re always changing,” Gispert promises, “in the sense that we’re always keeping our ears open to what’s happening around us. Responding to the sounds we hear walking around Athens or what’s on the radio or what’s in the back of the bins in the record store.”

“But at the core of this,” he avows, “the band is always going to be a rock band. When we hit the stage, we are who we are.”

A cathartic, kaleidoscope of influences, from Depeche Mode to The Band, it’s also the sound of Alberta Cross’ two principals-frontman/guitarist-vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist Terry Wolfers-going for broke and stumbling across the sound of their dreams in the process.

Broken Side of Time took root in an April 2008 jam session, Stakee and Wolfers’ first with three players they would quickly enlist-guitarist Sam Kearney, drummer Austin Beede and keyboardist Alec Higgins. With the aid of a little drink and a little smoke, the five jammed on a group of Stakee’s then-new songs, giving birth to Alberta Cross’ second incarnation almost immediately: “I remember thinking that night, ‘This is gonna be insane,’” remembers Stakee.

It was a time of upheaval for Stakee and Wolfers, ex-pat Brits living in Brooklyn. They had moved to a new, tough city, lost the major-label record deal they had moved there with, and were in the midst of reinventing both their band and their sound, while sleeping on friends’ couches. Their well-received debut EP, 2007′s The Thief & the Heartbreaker, was a modest, folk-minded, acoustic-based disc that garnered glowing reviews. But, for Stakee and Wolfers, it was a baby step.

Broken Side of Time, meanwhile, is a giant stride ahead, one that marks the band’s official introduction to America. Grand in volume and vast in vision, it’s an inspired set of electric songs that finds the intersection of The Verve, My Morning Jacket and Neil Young (with or without Crazy Horse). Recorded in Austin, produced by the band with Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Dead Confederate, Heartless Bastards) and mixed by John O’Mahoney (Depeche Mode, Coldplay, Kasabian) at Electric Lady Studios, the album melds propulsive, throbbing bass lines and crashing waves of guitar to a haunting, impassioned voice that can sound ancient and Appalachian.

Something of an about-face from The Thief & the Heartbreaker, the album, says Stakee, bears the influence of years of frustration logged in the shadow of Manhattan: “It’s kind of a desperation album, a darker album; it’s definitely angrier. We’ve been in a crazy place during the whole album, and you can hear that.” Appropriately, Stakee was listening to Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, and the grimmer, gospel songs of Depeche Mode while writing the songs of Broken Side of Time. On songs like “Rise From the Shadows” and “Ghost of City Life” he speaks directly of their situation and surroundings.

Despite any struggles, Wolfers and Stakee in many ways have had a charmed career thus far. Born in Sweden-where he spent a childhood on tour and in studios with his musician father before moving to London in his late teens-Stakee and Wolfers-a Brit charmed by everyone from Prince and My Bloody Valentine to Metallica and Ride as a teen-were playing in a guitar-rock band in London’s east end some four years ago, when Stakee brought some new songs and ideas to the band. When all were roundly rejected, Wolfers invited his bandmate to record those humble, acoustic songs on the makeshift equipment in his apartment.

“Right then and there I instantly realized that he was an extremely talented fellow,” Wolfers says. “That’s when I realized I had found someone who I could create some really great music with-after just jamming on a few things.” Those demos would become The Thief & The Heartbreaker-featuring Petter’s brother, John Alexander Ericson, on keyboards-released via Fiction in the U.K. and re-released by popular demand on the bands new U.K. label, Ark Recordings

Bored with the scene in London and in need of a burst of energy, Stakee and Wolfers moved to New York, where they immediately created a buzz, playing spellbinding acoustic shows at venues like The Living Room, en route to capturing a new deal with ATO Records. Seeking to create more of a band vibe-”and we wanted it to be a family,” says Wolfers-they added Beede, Higgins and Kearney and a louder, grittier sound was born. “We had a show at The Mercury Lounge [in New York] like two days after that first jam,” says Wolfers, “and, without really any real time to rehearse, I remember being onstage that night thinking, ‘This is the best I’ve heard the material.’”

Alberta Cross has toured extensively through the U.K., sharing the stage with Oasis, The Shins, Bat for Lashes and Simian Mobile Disco, among others. “If we weren’t playing for people every night, we would be going mad.” Stakee says. Adds Wolfers, “We do it, because we have to.”

“I remember going to see The Verve on the Storm in Heaven tour, and I stood right in front of [guitarist] Nick McCabe the whole night,” the bassist continues. “I remember walking out of that show feeling like I had just seen a group of people pour their heart and soul out, and I felt it. It changed my life. And that’s what we want to do: We want to give people something honest, and move them, make them feel.”