The first major release date of the year brought some pretty big heavy hitters in terms or releases.

The biggest of them is the sophomore release from Vampire Weekend, Contra. If you liked the first album, you are sure to like the follow-up as well. As an aside, we have the indie-exclusive version that features a second disc at no extra cost, in stock right now. This is very limited so if you want this second disc, you’ll want to come pick it up ASAP.

Next we have the new album by Owen Pallett, formerly known as Final Fantasy. You might best know his work from both Arcade Fire albums as he wrote and arranged all the strings for those albums. His new album,Heartland, is an adventurous album of orchestral bombast under pop music structures that brings to mind the last album by Psapp, which was excellent.

Last but not least though is our first Record of the Week in 2010. Having worked previously on the score of The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, amongst many others, the duo of Nick Cave & Warren Ellis are back again scoring the soundtrack for the post-apocalyptic, Cormac McCarthy film-adaption of The Road.

While I personally haven’t seen the film yet, listening to the score that Cave & Ellis have put together has certainly piqued my interest. The score is constantly walking the line of modern “indie-classical” compositions by artists such as Max Richter, Rachels, and Peter Broderick to tracks that bring about a looming sense of doom that bring the mind the soundtrack to the television show Lost.

While, The Road: Original Score might not be something you would put on all the time, or even listen to as much as the honorable mentions this week, it stands above as an excellent album and certainly deserving of your attention.

"Home" from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' 2010 album The Road: Original Score

"The Road" from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' 2010 album The Road: Original Score

"The Cannibals" from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' 2010 album The Road: Original Score

Honorable mentions for January 12th Record of the Week:

• Owen Pallett - Heartland (Domino)
  "Lewis Takes Action" from Owen Pallett's 2010 album Heartland
• Vampire Weekend - Contra (XL)
  "Cousins" from Vampire Weekend's 2010 album Contra