Editor’s Note: Once again, The Selective Echo welcomes Wendy Christensen from Positively 4th St. Music with this week’s picks and the store’s new logo.

Highlights this week:

The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark: This is a dazzling return to form for band members, delivering some of their finest, most eclectic, and most mature music to date. The album’s strength is a pleasant surprise given the departure of guitarist and tunesmith Jason Isbell, who had become one of the group’s most interesting writers. However, founding members Hood and Mike Cooley have risen to the occasion with some excellent new songs, and bassist Shonna Tucker (who’s also Isbell’s ex-wife) steps forward as a composer and lead vocalist on this set with three great songs about broken hearts and the stuff that follows in their wake. Don’t miss their show at The Paladium Wed., Feb. 20. You can buy tickets from us — get yours early — they are going fast!

Vampire Weekend - Self Titled: Describing its sound as “Upper West Side Soweto,” New York City’s Vampire Weekend mixes preppy, well-read indie rock with joyful, Afro-pop-inspired melodies and rhythms. The buzz around Vampire Weekend reached a peak of interest in 2007 that led to this 2008 release. We like it – come check it out!

Dead Meadow - Old Growth: Dead Meadow’s fifth studio album Old Growth was recorded in two locations: Sunset Sound on the Sunset Strip, rumored to be haunted by Jim Morrison’s ghost, and in a restored abandoned Indiana guest house— where the band first recorded Howls from the Hills. Some moments specialize in the plodding groove, some are more experimental and trippy, while others are surprisingly quaint acoustic-based numbers. Where the group used to sound like a bulldozer demolishing rubble, now they’re more like a snow plow gently shoving away a winter snow.

Upcoming shows with tickets available at Positively 4th St. Music:

FEB 17 – The Redwalls @ KILBY COURT (all ages)
FEB 19 – Dubtrio @ URBAN LOUNGE (21+)
FEB 20 – Vinyl Williams CD release @ KILBY COURT (all ages)
FEB 20 – Drive By Truckers @ PALADIUM (21+)
FEB 21 – Alpha Blondy @ PALADIUM (21+)
FEB 23 – MEN feat JD&Johanna of Le Tigre @ URBAN LOUNGE (21+)
FEB 25 – Hot Buttered Rum & Waybacks @ THE PALADIUM (21+)
FEB 27 – Sole @ URBAN LOUNGE (21+)
FEB 27 – Calvin Johnson/ Mahjongg @ KILBY COURT (all ages)

Shows we recommend:

FEB 21 – Every Time I Die & From First to Last & more @ SALTAIR (all ages)
FEB 28 – Bone Thugs N Harmony @ SALTAIR (all ages)