NPR is streaming Nellie McKay’s new album, As Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day.  Perfect right? This seems like the logical progression of her career, which when she first made a name for herself people said her music sounds like a cross between Doris Day and Eminem.  There is a genuine warmth in both her voice, piano playing, and how old-timey she sounds. 

Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day is an album free of cynicism, full of heart and more elegant than a mere nostalgia trip. McKay chose from more than 600 of Day’s recordings for her tribute. Many of these songs are part of The Great American Songbook: “Sentimental Journey,” “I Remember You,” “The Very Thought of You” and so on. Songs by George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Burt Bacharach and Les Brown, as well as an original — a small curtsy to Doris Day, written by McKay, called “If I Ever Had a Dream.”

Dear God, I hope Nelly McKay covers Eminem next.

Tuesday can’t get here fast enough.  We’ve heard a few of these jams when The Fruit Bats played at the Mission Theater back in February and then once some proper tracks were released we became convinved that Johnson’s evolution into a Gram Parson’s/Brian Wilson-type genius was complete.  Now thanks to Entertainment Weekly you can listen to the entire album, The Ruminant Band (via Sub Pop Records), which will be released Aug. 4 proper.

This is as good a summer record as I’ve heard in some time.  Not sure where it stacks up against their discography.  But it’s sunshine and lemonade and running through sprinklers and driving with the windows down and falling in love on acetate.

Listen to the new record!

Tori Amos‘ new album comes out tomorrow and is streaming on MySpace.

Rhapsody is streaming Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown. The album comes out May 15.

NPR is streaming St. Vincent’s (Annie Clark) new album Actor this week.  Annie Clark got her start as a guitarist for The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band and her second album has been slowly generating great buzz.

“Based on an advanced listen,” writes Pitckfork, “new album Actor (out May 5 on 4AD) keeps the Kate Bush-meets-Bowie dreams alive. Co-produced by Clark and John Congleton (Modest Mouse, Polyphonic Spree), the record is even more embellished than her debut, with Scary Monsters -style freak out bits mixed in with plenty of flute-laden filigree.”

The NPR stream will be available for two weeks, so you’ve got plenty of time to live with this one for free.

Sometime New Pornographer, always alt-country chanteuse, Neko Case drops her sixth studio album on March 3.  On Middle Cyclone, Case offers up what she calls “a bunch of love songs,” which are heartbreakingly beautiful and, at times, comical. 

According to NPR, “the songs on Middle Cyclone are largely inspired by classic country and gospel, but there are unexpected moments in which she veers into more experimental territory with ambient textures and sound effects. The closing track on the album, for example, is a 31-minute field recording of crickets chirping.” 

Ultimately, the songs on Case’s latest are about the universal need for love – in all their forms, whether that be a person, a region or a feeling. 

Middle Cyclone was produced by Case, with Darryl Neudorf, and recorded in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto and Vermont. It features Case, backed by her core band: guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and drummer Barry Mirochnick. She’s also joined by a number of guests, including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, The Lilys and Giant Sand.

Stream the album on NPR 

Curious to see if U2’s new album No Line on the Horizon will be any better than first single “Get On Your Boots?”  Now’s your chance to listen to the whole thing at their Myspace.  I’m sad to report that it’s no Joshua Tree, it might not even be as good as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.  Still, it’s U2 right?  Right.  I’m going to talk myself into loving this album.

I love pretty much everything off their first two bass-heavy, stadium-ready anthems. There’s a danceable groove to their music, the kind where it’s just as easy to pump your first or tap your toes.

“Lucid Dreams” forgoes all of that for something much less intense but no less enjoyable. The dance grooves are still there, along with some intentional vinyl hiss and pops. Here they’ve dialed back the delivery of their sound without sacrificing what we’ve come to love about the band.

You’ll have to enter an e-mail addy to hear the entire song.

[via Idolator]

Anyhow, Sigur Ros’s new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust comes out DRM-free on June 23rd. In case you care the album title translates to: “With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly” (or could just be a lame Stereogum prank but whatevs, it’s got a nice ring to it).

After giving it a cursory listen to, I’m inclined to think it’s another top notch effort and Deaf Indie Elephants were right in their assessment of the album. “A solid album, I really wanted more risk from the band but at least I’m happy with those “popish” short songs. And let’s be honest, when it comes to Sigur Rós, is mandatory to listen epic songs, with a lot of “aaauuuuuu”, “yusó”, goosebumps and a little smile at the end.”

Listen for yourself.