Idolator

Welcome to On The Shelf, Idolator's weekly look at select releases hitting store shelves on Tuesday. This week looks to be a big one for indiedom's biggest artists, although there's a Jerky Boys album coming out, too; after the jump, we look at new albums by Modest Mouse, El-P, Tracey Thorn, and LCD Soundsystem.

Modest Mouse, They Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
The artist: American Idol-ized Northwest rockers, who now have Johnny Marr in tow.
The sound: Big guitars, nautical overtones, and a few harmony lines from James Mercer.
The first in line: American Idol fans. Wait, why are you laughing?

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead
The artist: Underground hip-hop pioneer, who has Chan Marshall and Trent Reznor in tow.
The sound: Bleak, furious, and summed up by the line, "The whole design got my mind crying."
The first in line: Fatalist backpackers.

Tracey Thorn, Out Of The Woods
The artist: Everything But The Girl frontwoman goes solo for the first time since the '80s.
The sound: A long, satisfying stroll through the past two decades of dance music.
The first in line: Us. (No, we're not kidding.)

LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver
The artist: World-weary Ultimate Fighter-slash-remixer-slash-blogger.
The sound: Cowbells and handclaps syncopating 21st-century dread.
The first in line: The chart-storming troops.

On The CD Front [Pause & Play]