mission freak!

We put a daily emphasis on Iowa City’s music scene, but of course we’ve got our ears open for music from all over. Thus, we’ll be ringing in the new year with a new feature: the Mission Freak Release Calendar. The idea is to provide you with one stop for all your record-buying needs, with a little extra push towards the albums we’re most stoked about. Of course, if you’ve got the lowdown on something not featured here, feel free to post in the comments. January, though being remarkably dormant in terms of releases in the first two weeks is always one of best months for new music of the year, as last year saw three of our favorite releases from 2007 (Of Montreal, Menomena, David Karsten Daniels) come out in the first month of the year. This Tuesday is a little scant, but bears one pretty awesome release. The following weeks are pretty heavy. It looks to be another good year of music in 2008.

January 15
The Magnetic Fields - Distortion (Nonesuch)

January 22
Evangelicals - The Evening Descends (Dead Oceans)
Bodies of Water - Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink (Secretly Canadian)
Cat Power - Juke Box (Matador)
Times New Viking - Rip It Off (Matador)
Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off the Lavender Bridge (Domino)
The Fleshtones - Take a Good Look (Yep Roc)
Black Mountain - In the Future (Jagjaguwar)

January 29
Xiu Xiu - Women as Lovers (Kill Rock Stars)
Chris Walla - Field Manual (Barsuk)
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop)
Vampire Weekend - s/t (XL)
Human Bell - s/t (Thrill Jockey)

Download: Evangelicals - Skeleton Man

*boldface indicates weekly editor’s pick