Please Release Me: October 2006 Edition

Well, it's not like Oct. 3rd isn't already busy enough as it is, CD-release-wise -- new stuff from Beck, the Decemberists, the Hold Steady, even the Killers (though their new album is getting absolutely miserable reviews). But, hey, even in the kids' music segment we got a new (sort of) Ralph's World. Not to mention a bunch of other stuff to look forward to.

So here we go:

Oct. 1: AudraRox - I Can Do It By Myself
Oct. 3: Ralph's World - Welcome To Ralph's World
Oct. 8: The Sippy Cups - Electric Storyland
Oct. 10: Gothic Archies (Stephin Merritt) - The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events
Oct. 16: V/A - Colours Are Brighter
Oct. 17: V/A - New Orleans Playground (Putumayo)
Oct. 24: Wee Hairy Beasties (Jon Langford, Sally Timms, Kelly Hogan, Devil in a Woodpile) - Animal Crackers
Oct. 24: V/A - Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Vol. 1

News: Stephin Merritt To Release Kids' Music CD, Tour

Someone who's both a reader and reviewee of this site pointed out this Pitchfork article from late yesterday which notes that Stephin Merritt (through his side project the Gothic Archies) will be releasing a CD to accompany the Lemony Snicket books. The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events will be released Oct. 10 (not 13th as in the article) and include 13 tracks, one for each book in the series (previously released on the audiobooks), plus 2 new bonus tracks.

Merritt and Snicket (who looks suspiciously like author Daniel Handler) will be making musical appearances in bookstores across the country in October and November.

Merritt is a prolific artist (he's a man whose Magnetic Fields group once released a triple-CD album entitled 69 Love Songs -- the title described it perfectly), so I'm curious to see how he'll do with the discipline imposed by set texts.

Follow-up: Link to Nonesuch's album page, stream of 3 songs from the album.

More follow-up: Kelly at Big A little a has a link to an... odd Stephin Merritt - Lemony Snicket interview in the Guardian.