Another week, another interview up at PopMatters. My piece on Isobel Campbell was posted today. It's not near the long ramble that last week's Robert Pollard piece was, partly because my recorder crapped out leaving me with only the notes I typed as we talked. Still, I was able to glean her thoughts on her new disc with Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, her notions about strong female artists and a word or two about Belle and Sebastian.

In the week I've been away, I've amassed quite a list of discs to look forward to, almost all from male singer-songwriters. These all are scheduled over the next several months, so there should be time to digest one before the next comes. The first is Subtitulo from Josh Rouse. As that disc is out in two weeks, there is a significant promotional ramping up under way, including an e-card and an NPR interview.

Alejandro Escovedo also has a new disc coming with the May release of The Boxing Mirror. It's his first studio disc since 2001's Man Under the Influence and the subsequent hepatitis-related collapse he suffered while on tour. It's good to have him back. Those wanting an Alejandro fix in the meantime are encouraged to pick up Room of Songs, a two-CD live set of Alejandro and his string quintet.

Damien Jurado, prolific as always, has two discs forthcoming, according to his label, Secretly Canadian. According to SC, Jurado had so much material for his latest disc that it soon became two separate discs. "Related imagery, lyrics and song titles link both records at the spine," they write. But lest you think that "spine" reference is some sort of old school, gatefold double-LP reference, think again: Tentative release dates of Fall '06 and early '07 would seem to indicate a Mezmerize/Hypnotize sort of release schedule as opposed to a Use Your Illusion I and II schedule. Regardless, that's better than a Chinese Democracy timeframe. Funny thought: Rouse, Jurado and Escovedo all launched solo careers after Guns 'n' Roses last studio album(s) were released in 1991 (well after in the case of Rouse and Jurado), each released at least 6 albums in that time, and each of those albums is infinitely better than the awful G'n'R tracks leaked on the Internet a couple of weeks back. I'm just saying.