HT faves Umphrey’s McGee will return to headline Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado on June 7th, but instead of the more jam-centric co-bills of years past, this year they’re bringing Americana acts Dr. Dog and Delta Spirit to round out the lineup.

In addition, UM will play the Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder on June 8th. A pre-sale for VIP packages tickets to the two shows will take place on Wednesday, February 27th, at 10am MT/11am CT via UMTicketing. The Chautauqua general on-sale will take place on March 1st at 10:00 am MT/11:00 am CT, while the Red Rocks general on-sale will go down a few hours later on the 1st at 12:00 pm MT/1:00 pm CT.

Welcome to the fifth consecutive Best Albums of the Year countdown here at Hidden Track. Hopefully, you know by now that we pride ourselves on covering music that spans any genre, any age, any geography, and any instrumental makeup. To us, good music is good music. Period.

So, you can rest assured of the one thing that will always make our list a cut above the rest: we consider everything. Our submissions include all styles of music from bluegrass to jazz, jam to indie, electronica to rap, as well as everything in between. At the end of the day, we’re a diverse open-minded music blog. Our writers work here because they have great taste in music, and thus they are encouraged simply to write about what catches their interest. We have no motives, no editorial biases, and no strings attached. We hope that comes across in our picks.

We’ve hit the mid-point of our week-long countdown of the 25 best albums of 2012, let’s check out numbers 15 through 11…

15) Norah Jones – Little Broken Hearts

Key Tracks: Take It Back, Happy Pills, Miriam

Sounds Like: A modern day film noir soundtrack, Norah Jones’ heart breaking

The Skinny: Forget what you think you know about Norah Jones. Little Broken Hearts isn’t one for the suburban Starbucks soccer moms. Teaming with IT-producer Danger Mouse, and armed with a stack of deeply personal songs about a recent break up with her longtime boyfriend, Jones walked away with an sparse, dark and moody album that is full of devastating heart break. As the old expression goes “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” These are songs that cut deep, Jones pulls no punches wondering on She’s 22 “She 22 and she’s loving you, and you’ll never know how it makes me blue/Does she make you happy?”, while on Little Broken Hearts, proclaiming “Little broken hearts of the night/Slowly picking up their knives/On the way to the fight/Tonight they want revenge.”

- Jeffrey Greenblatt

• Previously On HT: #25 – #21, #20 – #16
• Spotify Playlist: Hidden Track’s 25 Best Albums Of 2012

14) Maps & Atlases – Beware & Be Grateful

READ ON

Today, we have a double feature in store in the video department. First off, we have a stellar stop motion animated video for Dr. Dog’s Do the Trick, which stars many of your favorite old school Star Wars action figures. I’m no expert, but this looks like a dead ringer recreation of Empire Strikes Back. From execution to attention to detail; this my friends is a small work of genius.

Next up, HT faves Head for the Hills are in need a little extra scrill to finish up their third album, so they put together a nice Kickstarter video for support. Here’s a look at the sound and vision of the work in progress from one of Colorado’s best new bluegrass bands.

READ ON

Three longtime HT faves will come together to perform at the 25,000-capacity Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, New Jersey on Saturday, July 21 as part of radio station WXPN’s XPoNential Music Festival. Wilco, the Avett Brothers and Dr. Dog are all set to play the large venue on the middle night of the three-day event.

The full festival lineup will be revealed on May 1, along with ticketing information. Those purchasing three-day passes for this year’s XPoNential Music Festival will receive lawn seats for the triple-bill in Camden on the 21st. A XPN listener pre-sale for reserved seats will take place Thursday, March 29, at 10AM ET, while tickets for the general public will go on sale this Saturday, March 31, at 10AM ET.

Just one day after the release of Be The Void, which is winning raves around HT headquarters, Dr. Dog visited Conan for a performance of That Old Black Hole on the TBS late night show. This take is getting us excited for the band’s current tour, which kicked off last week and runs through the end of March. If you missed it, here’s the clip…

As we head into the home stretch of the first month of the year, the release that I’ve been eagerly anticipating in the early stages of 2012 is Be The Void, the latest studio album from HT faves Dr. Dog, which hits stores via venerable indie label ANTI on February 7. Last month, along with revealing a slew of tour dates in support of the record, the Philly-based psych-pop act offered up a first taste of what’s to come with a very lo-fi homespun video for the album’s lead single, That Old Black Hole. The propulsive track, which features everything we’ve come to love about the band’s ability to mesh The Beatles and The Band, has gotten the proper music video treatment, with Dr. Dog showing off their goofy side. Let’s check it out…

Dr. Dog – That Old Black Hole

Dr. Dog kick off a lengthy winter tour on February 1, at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio and includes a two-night tour ending hometown stand at the Electric Factory on March 24 and 25.

It’s kind of odd that I haven’t uttered the words Dr. Dog around these parts in quite a while. Well, that’s all about to change as the psych-pop-rock act recently announced that on February 7 they will be releasing their latest studio album - Be The Void. Along with that great news, the Philadelphia-based band has also revealed their first round of 2012 tour dates. The 31-date, two-month long run kicks off on February 1 at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio and includes a high profile stop at New York’s Terminal 5 on March 23, as well as a two-night tour-closing hometown stand at the Electric Factory on March 24 and 25. In anticipation of the record’s release Dr. Dog also dropped this lo-fi video for the album’s first single That Old Black Hole. Let’s check it out…

If you’re not into a night with psychedelic-pop act, then maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…

• Gomez: Quinceañera Party Tour (2/17 – 3/17)
• Elvis Costello: Spinning Songbook Spring Tour (4/10 – 4/29)
• moe.: Early Spring Tour (3/2 – 3/25)
• Heartless Bastards: Winter Tour (2/7 – 3/10)
• Conspirator: Midwest February Tour (2/2 – 2/19)
• The Darkness: February North American Tour (2/1 – 2/21)

For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

We’ve got just ten albums to go on our week long countdown, let’s check out albums number 6-10…

10) Beach House – Teen Dream

Key Tracks: Zebra, 10 Mile Stereo and Norway

Sounds Like: The music a female version of Neil Young would make while fighting the effects of Ambien

The Skinny: Beach House’s Sub-Pop debut, the band’s third full-length album, showed a major progression in the band’s sound as the duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally put together an album of dreamy originals that draws you in during the first few seconds of opening track Zebra and doesn’t let you go until the final notes of the closing Take Care. In between, Legrand and Scally take us on a tour of diverse soundscapes with layer upon layer of goodness that you’d never expect from a two-some. Whether using organs, slide guitar, or lush harmonies – Beach House put together a masterpiece of atmospheric rock.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

Dr. Dog @ Vic Theater, October 21, 2010

Philadelphia’s finest, Dr. Dog, treated Chicago fans to a colorful array of psychedelic pop at the Vic Theater back on October 21st. The six-piece band performed two hours of continuous high-energy rock filled with original compositions spanning their extensive catalogue. A bulk of the repertoire was selections off of 2008’s Fate and 2010’s Shame, Shame. The band also introduced two new songs to the mix, both of which embraced Dr. Dog’s signature 1960’s rock-revival sound.

In all honesty Dr. Dog are a must-see live band. They bring a similar raw emotion and friendly energy embedded in their recordings to the stage amplified times ten. Remaining true to their recorded sound, lead lyricists Toby Leaman (bass) and Scott McMicken (lead guitar) rotated vocals on each piece, putting forth a variety of perceptive themes.

Leaman’s soulful, existential approach crossed with McMicken’s introspective observations laid upon a bed of bright arrangements and playful hooks. Leaman, McMicken, Frank McElroy (rhythm guitar, harmonies), Zach Miller (keyboards), Eric Slick (drums) and an unknown friend on percussion polished off the sound with electrifying lo-fi bends and feel good vocal harmonies.

READ ON for more thoughts and photos from Allison…

It’s been quite the year so far for psych-pop revivalists Dr. Dog with the release of their critically acclaimed, and quite possibly their best studio album to date – Shame, Shame – which should end up near the top of any number of Best Of  2010 album lists. The Philadelphia-based act recently went back into the studio and recorded four new songs that they will give away for free over the next month, with the first one – Take Me Into Town-  currently available via the band’s Facebook page. The band will also sell a limited number of double 7″ at shows this fall.

While you’d expect a music video to be released around the same time as the album, Dr. Dog likes to do things in reverse. The group recently took some time from their seemingly relentless touring schedule – having already played 70+ gigs this year – and headed into a roller rink to shoot the video for Shadow People. Check it out…

Dr. Dog will kick off their fall tour this Friday at the Nor’easter Festival in Lincoln, NH. The lengthy run also includes a two-night stand at the historic Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on November 3 and 4.

A couple of weeks ago when I just featured longer segments from less bands, I saw the download count for the “Pocast” go up a little bit, so I’m going to start doing that more often. I’ll still have editions where I feature five different bands, but for today – just three bands, and leading off we’ve got a 30-minute segment spanning just two tunes.

You can download all of this week’s audio in one easy to listen to MP3 that we call the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast, click here to download.

[This week's photo is actually courtesy of me]

the Disco Biscuits – Reactor > Shem-Ra Boo
Date & Venue: 2010-09-10 Mountain Park – Holyoke, MA
Taper & Show Download: Jesse Hurlburt

the Disco Biscuits have just wrapped up their big summer tour and from I can tell from fans of the band, it went very well. I personally went and checked out both shows in Massachusetts this past weekend and thought the band sounded great and they looked even better with the addition of the lasers. tDB are off until their Halloween run starts on October 27th in Baltimore, but Conspirator (featuring Marc Brownstein and Aaron Magner) plays tonight at Cervante’s in Denver, CO.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Feeling Twisted, the encore from the following night’s tour closer in Boston:

READ ON for tracks from Dr. Dog and STS9…

Nearly 30 years after releasing their last studio album, Avalon, influential art-rock act Roxy Music have announced that they will reunite for the first time in over a decade for a string of shows in the UK in 2011 to celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary. Joining Bryan Ferry on the seven-date run will be multi-instrumentalist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera and drummer Paul Thompson. Despite appearing alongside his former band mates on Ferry’s upcoming studio album Olympia, which is due out on October 25, founding member Brian Eno will not take part in the tour.

If you can’t make it across the pond for these reunion shows, than maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…

• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists mix festival and headlining shows
• Guided By Voices “classic” 92-96 line up will reunite this fall
• Dead Confederate & Alberta Cross team up for a September run
• Afro-funk act Budos Band hit the road for a cross-country trek
• Jayhawks founder Mark Olsen heads out on a solo acoustic tour
• School Of Seven Bells bring their shoegaze-pop to a town near you

Finally, this fall Philly-based psychedelic pop-revivalist Dr. Dog will continue their road warrior ways as they recently announced a slew of new tour dates. The band, whose latest album Shame, Shame top my Top 6 Of The First 6 list, will head out for a 24-date cross-country run starting on October 16 in Toronto, ON, which includes a two night stand at San Francisco’s historic Fillmore on November 3 and 4. The band will be joined by Here We Go Magic and Good Old War, who will split time holding down the opening slot.

With the first six months of 2010 beginning to feel like a distant memory, I figured it was time to continue a tradition by taking a look at my favorite six albums of the first half of the year with the Top 6 Of The First 6.

6) Cornershop – Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast

Cornershop sure seem to like taking their time in releasing studio albums, managing only two in the 13 years since their critically acclaimed When I Was Born For The 7th Time came out in 1997. At points you almost forget the band still exists. For the group’s first full-length since 2002, the Brit-pop act returned with another album full of their unique blend of British Invasion rock, mixed with sitars, eclectic samples and sound collages. The LP includes a fantastic cover of Manfred Mann’s version of The Mighty Quinn and the soaring 16-plus minute psychedelic-gospel-funk-soul jam Turned On Truth.

READ ON for more of my Top 6 Of The First 6…

While it’s looking like the sixth annual Mountain Jam Festival is off to quite the start, there was some unfortunate news that did surface earlier today, that for once didn’t involve mother nature. Sadly, Philly psych-pop revivalists Dr. Dog had to cancel their appearance, where they were set to hit the stage this afternoon, as their keyboard player Zach Miller spent the majority of yesterday in the hospital with a medical issue.

Here’s the official statement from the band…

We’re writing with some unfortunate news. The story ends with us saying that we will not be playing our scheduled show at Mountain Jam this afternoon. Zach spent most of yesterday in the hospital with a medical issue. We had hoped that he’d begin feeling better as the day went by and that didn’t end up happening. The good news is that Zach is going to be just fine… we’re just not quite sure how long it will take until he can play a show again.

The folks up at Mountain Jam have been truly amazing and have worked to try to accommodate us in anyway they can, while offering all the support in the world for getting Zach better. They’ve offered to let us play tomorrow afternoon if Zach begins to recover throughout the day today.

So – for the time being, we’re letting you know that we definitely can’t play the show today and we apologize to you and to the Mountain Jam organizers that have worked so hard to make this festival as cool as it is. We’ll talk to them throughout the day and see how Zach is doing. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery, we’ll miss seeing you today.

We here at HT want to wish Zach a quick recovery and hope that the band doesn’t have to cancel too many of their upcoming gigs, which include a stop at Bonnaroo and a recently announced free show next month at Governor’s Island in New York City. Don’t forget that iClips is broadcasting live from Mountain Jam all weekend long, so be sure to tune in.

Dr. Dog & Deer Tick @ Terminal 5 – May 15

If I was forced into seeing one concert, and one concert only in 2010, I may very well have picked the double-bill of Dr. Dog and Deer Tick that took place at Terminal 5 in NYC last month. I’ve repeatedly championed these two acts, not only for their stellar studio work, but also for putting on great live shows – albeit with quite different approaches. Both bands, who had been on the road together for several weeks, pulled into the spacious venue located on a desolate industrial stretch of Manhattan’s Upper West Side for a sold-out, tour-ending show that saw both bands expressing their affinity for each other throughout the evening’s festivities.

[All Photos By Jeremy Gordon]

Sporting their finest sundresses for the occasion, the boys of Deer Tick ambled onto the stage to the strains of Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York. The group’s always entertaining frontman John McCauley crooned the last few bars and greeted the rapidly filling venue by declaring the band Dr. Dog’s prom dates for the night before launching into the winding guitar intro of Easy. McCauley & Co., who will release their third studio album The Black Dirt Sessions next Tuesday and are primed for a breakout year of their own, managed to turn a truncated 45-minute set into a free-wheeling showcase of their boozy, country-infused, folk-rock.

READ ON for more on Jeff’s thoughts on the night…