Yeah, it's like that.

​Once again our mailbox has filled to overflowing with CDs (and zip files). The desk looks like a Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown of jewel cases, and the entire room is littered with (largely unread) piles of hype-and-tout. And while much of what comes over the transom is less than exciting, we'd be remiss if we didn't let our kind readers know about some of the good stuff that will most likely go unnoticed and unreported. Here are five new items you may want to dig up at your local record dealer or online (shame).

Rufus Thomas - Do The Funky Chicken - Concord Music/Stax -- This wonderful remastered reissue features some mighty, mighty sides from one of the true early godfathers of soul. These songs will be familiar to aficianados, but for someone discovering Thomas -- he passed away in 2000 -- via this back door, it will be a perfect introduction. The first four tracks alone -- "Do The Funky Chicken," "Let The Good Times Roll," "Sixty Minute Man," "Lookin' For A Love" -- would make this a collector's item.

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Yep.

​The folks at Rockabye Baby! remake hard rock from the likes of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Tool, and the Smashing Pumpkins into baby-friendly jams with "soothing mellotrons, vibraphones and bells," replacing all the things that made those bands perfect for well, making rock and roll babies. This week in the mail we received our copy of Rockabye Baby!: Lullaby Renditions of Van Halen and we threw it on after a few days debating it in our heads.

We don't have kids yet, so the concept of needing soothing, non-abrasive music for a child's ears is strange and interesting. Shea Serrano -- the best music writer in town with twin boys -- came by to visit the office and we showed it to him. We said we didn't understand the disc. To which he said, "Because you don't have kids."

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Pick of the Litter

Cambria Harkey

Heartless Bastards (Austin/Cincinnati), The Mountain (Fat Possum)

PR Says: "The record delivers the swamped-up rock howl that fans have always loved - but also brings in this amazing expansion into their sound with pedal steel, mandolin, banjo and strings."

Rocks Off Says: If Cat Power fronted Led Zeppelin, it might sound a lot like The Mountain - indie-rock classic-rock muscle. Rootsier than the trio's previous efforts, The Mountain feels like Erika Wennerstrom's voice has been imported from the '30s on the more acoustic songs, and so do her wistfully Biblical lyrics - midnight trains, wicked suns, pale moonlight, falling down on her knees to pray and so forth. Sturdy and eerie.

Coming Through?: The Bastards tear it up Saturday night at Last Concert Cafe.

Fun Fact: The band appears on The Late Show With David Letterman tomorrow night.

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After a hot minute, Mail Call returns in a slightly revamped format...

Pick of the Litter

Diagonals (Austin), Valley of the Cyclops (Monofonus Press)

They Say: "A sweet-and-sour dark-pop soundtrack for the dawn of the post-Bush era."

Rocks Off Says: Loose-fitting, lo-fi melodic garage that may have been inspired by a bong hit or two (think the desiccated Sub Pop '90s blues of Chicago's Red Red Meat). Never cooks, never stalls, but Steve Garcia's lyrics keep it interesting - "Suitcase Packed" is a no-punches-pulled tour diary, and it's hard not to smile at titles like "Clown Fucker" and "Neil Diamond Blues."

Coming Through?: Only one hometown Austin show is listed on Diagonals' MySpace page (February 6, Emo's), but undercover Houstonians the Octopus Project are fans - Diagonals opened OP's Warehouse Live show last year - so don't rule it out. Rudz and the Mink should both make the appropriate overtures.

Fun Facts: Diagonals' keyboardist is Dazed and Confused and Waking Life co-star Wiley Wiggins. CD comes with I Could Be Happy, an R. Crumb-ish comic by Michael Berryhill starring a ventriloquist's dummy (or is it?) with an attitude.

More to come...

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AC/DC may be gone (sniff), although the ringing in several of Rocks Off's friends' ears (and his own) lingers on, but the mail goes on...

Waylon Jennings & the .357s (Littlefield/Nashville, R.I.P.), Waylon Forever (by request): "'I'd been playing my dad the music I was inspired by at the time,' [son] Shooter explains. 'Whether it was Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Pink Floyd or Cream, he really enjoyed being part of my musical journey. It was then he suggested we do an album together." C-R

Chow Chow Music (New York), Doomsday Scenarios: "Largely instrumental, the music is upbeat in contrast to the album title, but recorded with the knowledge that the world is gonna end. Soon." D-Exp-I-P-Psy

Zack Nichols (Los Angeles), Bright Eyes EP: "Combines Nichols' influences of folk, pop, rock, blues, jazz and soul, as he continues to hone his own craft as a songwriter and a performer." P-R

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It's been a while, but let's see what's been lurking in the bin...

*Kenton & Hill (Houston): "A side project from Last Soul Descendents producer Darren Roberts, this masterpiece brings together live jazzy, funky, hip-hop grooves with heavy dance beats to create a unique sound." D-Fu-J-Rap (Friday, Grum Bar, 306 Main)

*Brent Allen (Austin), There's a Lot of Folks Like Me: "True-to-life stories about life, love, infidelity and some great two-stepping tunes." C (Friday, Tumbleweed Saloon)

Many Birthdays (Austin), Emptiness is Forever EP: "The sound combines elements of post-punk and electro with sometimes haunting and sometimes frantic melodies, and the vocals are in Japanese and English." D-I-Pu-W

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As you might imagine, the past few weeks have been somewhat hectic for Rocks Off, meaning there's been another heaping helping of yellow and brown envelopes piling up. Let's do this. This time I've added brief quotes from the accompanying press release, provided there is one.

Definitely

Roy Orbison (Wink, TX), The Soul of Rock and Roll (4-CD box set) - "A live performance of 'It's Over' from Roy's final concert on December 4, 1987 - recorded two days before his untimely death - is just one of many new and highly anticipated tracks in this collection" P-R-C-RB

Various Artists (Stooges, Go-Go's, Wolfmen, Pretty Things, Urges, etc.), Little Steven's Underground Garage Presents: The Coolest Songs In the World, Vol. 6 P-R-Psy

Various Artists (Alice Cooper, Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Tate, etc.), We Wish You a Metal X-Mas and a Headbanging New Year - "Motorhead's Lemmy, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, for instance, team up on Chuck Berry's 'Run Rudolph Run" R-M

Residents (San Mateo, Calif.), The Residents Present The Bunny Boy - Obsession, insanity and the coming apocalypse have never sounded better" Exp

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It's one of God's little jokes that no matter how hard we try, we really can only do one thing at a time. Certain tasks always seem to get relegated to the back burner, and for Rocks Off, for some reason, it's the mail. I think it has something to do with believing that as long as you don't open a bill, it's OK not to pay it. Ask Ford Credit about that one.

Anyhow, from time to time I do clear out the crates, and I thought it would be fun to keep a record here. This is what's come across the transom in the past two or three weeks, so all you publicists can relax. I do get around to opening the mail eventually. See below for the key to all those funny letters.

Worth a Damn (Maybe)

* Girl Talk, Feed the Animals (Warehouse Live, Oct. 18) I-D
* Portugal the Man, Censored Colors (Meridian, Oct. 18) I
Capricorns, River, Bear Your Bones Brit-M
Subways, All or Nothing Brit-Pu-R
I Am Ghost, Those We Leave Behind Pu-R-M
Blood Ceremony, Blood Ceremony I-E-R
The Sea & Cake, Car Alarm Exp-I-R-J
Bill Madden, Child of the Same God I-F-R
** Ani DiFranco, Red Letter Year I-F-Pu
* Walter Meego, Voyager (Rudyard's, Oct. 4) I-D-R
People in Planes, Beyond the Horizon Brit-I-R
Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin, Amparo J
* Spiritualized, Songs in A&E (Meridian, Sept. 26) R-E-Psy

Patty Loveless, Sleepless Nights C-BG
* All That Remains, Overcome (House of Blues, Nov. 30) M
Natalie Cole, Still Unforgettable P-J-RB
** The Shondes, The Red Sea I-E-Pu
Taj Mahal, Maestro B
Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby (The Mink, Sept. 14) I-F-R
* The Stills, Oceans Will Rise (Verizon Wireless Theater, Oct. 28) R
Parts & Labor, Receivers I-E-R
Catfish Haven, Devastator I-P-B
** Frontier Brothers, Spacepunk Starlet I-C-F-R
The Game, LAX Rap
Castanets, City of Refuge I-E-R
B.B. King, One Kind Favor B
* Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping (Warehouse Live, Nov. 12) I-E-F-P
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