The release schedule has been light for the last 2 or 3 weeks. I guess folks figured that they’d let the Grammy dust settle before bringing the big guns back out. Well, the dust has officially settled and we’re getting back into the groove. No superstar releases this time around, but a few things you might be interested in, such as…

Atoms for Peace: Taking a bit of sabbatical from his day job as the lead singer of Radiohead, Thom Yorke has joined forces with musicians including Flea (of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) and Joey Waronker (who has worked with Beck & R.E.M.) to form Atoms for Peace. Taking their name from a track on Yorke’s excellent (and as underrated as anything with Yorke’s name attached) The Eraser album, this side project has a more pronounced electronic slant than Thom’s main band. The album, called Amok, has been streaming for free for a while, so I’ll assume that most people already have an idea of what the album’s flavor is. However, for those with patience enough to actually wait until the release date to give it a spin, here’s your chance.

A little over a month ago, I discovered Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors. After hearing a song of theirs on “How I Met Your Mother,” I enlisted Twitter to help me locate this band and subsequently found a free sampler that allowed me access to more good tunes from them. I was happy to hear that they had an album release right around the corner, and guess what? It’s here! The album’s called Good Light. It was released a week early to iTunes but is released today to all other DSPs as well as being made available on CD (for those, like me, who still dig shiny round discs.) A poppier version of the current folk-rock wave sweeping the nation, these guys should be huge stars in no time.

The Mavericks have been gone for a minute. Actually, if my calculations are correct, they’ve been gone for the entire 21st century so far! In the meantime, lead voice Raul Malo has released a couple of solo albums, while the other members have…um…well, I don’t know what the other members have been doing. At any rate, these guys were my official entry point to liking any country-related music (aside from those Eddie Rabbitt/Crystal Gayle/Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton songs that dotted pop radio in the early Eighties) and I’m happy to welcome them back with their new album In Time. Actually, a few acts that either have been missing for a while (or just evoke nostalgic feelings) are returning this week-good (Smiths/Modest Mouse legend Johnny Marr puts out a new one today) maybe not so good (an album of Motown covers from Michael Bolton) to plain old weird (the first album by Player-of “Baby Come Back” fame-in thirty years.)

Too young to remember “Baby Come Back”-one of the best slices of white-boy soul ever? And a stone cold Hall & Oates rip to boot?

Get a fuller list of this week’s releases on Pause and Play.