Popular Fall Hits

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9/18:  Band of Horses – Mirage Rock (Columbia)

9/18:  Ben Folds Five – The Sound of the Life of the Mind (ImaVeePee Records)

This Kickstarter-funded album, the band’s first as a power trio since 1999′s Reinhold Messner, fits right in with the band’s 90s material as though they never left.

9/18:  Brother Ali – Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color (Rhymesayers)

9/25:  Mumford and Sons – Babel (Glass Note)

Don’t call this album overlooked, but despite the pre-release hype and staggering first-week sales (600,000, the most for a “rock” album since 2009), they’re still a niche band you may not have heard. If you haven’t, Babel definitely deserves a listen.

9/25:  Green Day – Uno! (Reprise/Warner)

10/2:  The Mountain Goats – Trancendental Youth (Merge)

John Darnielle, the most consistent, yet underrated, songwriter working in America, ups the ante on Trancendental Youth, an early front-runner for Album of the Year consideration on the basis of “In Memory of Satan” alone.

10/2:  The Big Cats – For My Mother (Independent)

10/2:  Tori Amos – Gold Dust (DG Deutsche Grammophon)

10/2:  The Vaccines – Come of Age (Columbia)

10/2:  Diana Krall – Glad Rag Doll (Verve)

Krall turns to T-Bone Burnett to produce her latest album, and his presence reinvigorates this Canadian legend’s already storied career. Though not the flashiest, or even the most anticipated, album this fall, Krall’s Glad Rag Doll serves as an excellent reintroduction to a performer who deserves a wider audience.

10/9:  Bad Books – II (Triple Crown Records)

10/9:  The Wallflowers – Glad All Over (Columbia)

10/9:  Ellie Goulding – Halcyon (Interscope)

10/9:  Lord Huron – Lonesome Dreams (Iamsound)

10/9:  Coheed and Cambria – The Afterman: Ascension (Universal Distribution)

Whether you like gross-out comedy, art-house films, political documentaries or full seasons of TV shows, this week’s DVD / BluRay release slate has a little of something for everyone. This week Dinesh D’Souza’s 2016: Obama’s America arrives.