Best CD I've heard so far 2011.........

Just spun up a new one: Pete Thorn's "Guitar Nerd".

Peter Thorn is a top shelf LA session guy (Don Henley, Hole, Alicia Keyes, Melissa Etheridge, etc., etc.) who's just released his first solo album. It's a self indulgent, instrumental guitar strut that screams "look at me". But....

The music is better than you have any right to expect and the playing is pretty damn stunning. Definitely one of the few new artists who really barks up my preferred tree.

Marty

New remaster of Peter Tosh's Equal Rights.

I should add one caveat on the Pete Thorn recommendation:

On a subtlety/nuance scale of 1 to 10, this rates a zero. Just some "in yer face" guitar fun, old school style.

Marty

J Mascis - "Several Shades of Why" - Dinosaur Jr is my favorite (extremely loud) rock band of the last 20 years. J Mascis puts down his electric guitar (except for a couple of leads), turns the amps down from 11 to 6, and turns in a gem.

The Hampdens - "The Last Party" - Delicate acoustic rock from Australia.

Thurston Moore - "Demolished Thoughts" - No electric guitars, not even any drums, just beautiful songs from the Sonic Youth front man.

Gillian Welch fans should like the new one. Probably not up to the masterpiece Time, and perhaps not quite up to the excellent Revival and Soul Journey, but very fine. The standout may be "The Way it Goes," which exemplifies her trademark understated creepiness.

John