Bloglander

Each week we sift through all manner of entertainment garbage to find the gems worth your time among the week's new releases in music and DVDs. It can get messy, but we like to be helpful. Here's a look at some of the best for this week: 

MUSIC 

Modest Mouse, Strangers to Ourselves. Eight years. It seems insane that it's taken Modest Mouse that long to get another full-length album together, but alas, it's true. Acts like Axl Rose and Boston are notorious for such lengthy pauses in recording, but Modest Mouse was historically pretty prolific for most of their career. Thankfully for us fans, the wait is over, and the collection Strangers to Ourselves is full of the off-kilter rhythms, churning anthems and Isaac Brock howls we've come to know and (for the most part) love through the years. As someone who was feeling a bit burned out on the band by the time their last album came around in 2007, the long wait was perfect for getting me amped to hear them again. Of course, not all old fans are thrilled with the new one. Here's a taste of a new song called "Coyotes:"

Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly. Arguably the most creative rapper going right now, Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album was originally slated to come out next week, but he went ahead and dropped To Pimp a Butterfly a little bit early. People are pretty excited about it after his killer debut Good Kid: M.A.D.D. City, his appearance during the last week of The Colbert Report and much hype accompanying the release. Here's a killer new track for your consideration: 

Twin Shadow, Eclipse. The Brooklyn singer/songwriter Twin Shadow has slowly been turning himself into a must-see live artist playing festivals across the globe, and a consistently strong writer as well. Eclipse is his third album, and while it's a bit more guitar-oriented than his past work, there's plenty of the emotional lyrics and singing that helped him break through. Here he is playing a new tune live: 

MOVIES & TV

Hollywood must have considered the fact that St. Patrick's Day falls on a Tuesday this year and most folks will get out of the house, because the new home vid releases are pretty awful. You have your roundly derided remake of Annie, and you have Batman Goes Biblical, er, Exodus: Gods and Kings among the big mainstream new options. Yuck. 

One new release stands above all the junk, and it's Top Five, which many critics compared to prime Woody Allen (in the great comedic film sense, not the pedophilia stuff). Chris Rock wrote and directed, and while the story of a struggling comedian trying to be taken seriously after going mainstream isn't going to appeal to everyone, long-time Rock fans of his TV show or standup will love how good he is in this compared to most of his feature films. Here's a look: