Record-Release Roundup

New local tuneage now available includes Born with Stripes, from surf-slackers the Donkeys, who will play an in-store at M-Theory for the event on Saturday, April 30; Best Days, by spiritual songsmith Steven Ybarra; Plague of Babies, from pop-punkers Someday Assassin; Chemicals, courtesy of major-label signees Dynamite Walls; an Eazy-E tribute EP, R.I.P. Eazy, by South Psycho Cide; and Republic of Letters, with Stories, on Nick Venti’s new Mass and Measure label.

The Touchies launch two new CDs at the Whistle Stop on May 13, one all-original and another featuring comedic covers. “The title of our originals album, Friends of the Friendless, came from an episode of I Love Lucy, where Lucy encounters a musical group by that name that welcomes anyone to jam along,” says Stanze Touchie. As for the covers album, “The name David Cover-Riverdale is a play on David Coverdale of Whitesnake and Riverdale, the fictitious town where Josie and the Pussycats are from.” Attendees who buy the originals album get the covers LP for free.

Ristband’s release party for Balancing Act happens May 20 at Pal Joey’s. “The cover art features Adelaide Marcus of the Shimmy Sisters and Danyavaad,” says guitarist Dave Gladish, “depicting a Hindu goddess, balancing four symbols from Hindu teaching — lotus, conch, skull, fire — representing what we all have to balance to get through life.”

Irish-American folk-punks Lexington Field debut their new 12-track Old Dirt Road at the Belly Up on May 29. “The album title represents the worn path of life that we all travel and the unknown future that greets us with open arms,” says singer-guitarist Beau Gray. Cash’d Out will open the show.

On May 30, Cults release their debut full-length, Go Outside, on Columbia Records and produced by Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, M.I.A.).

The next day, Flogging Molly’s Speed of Darkness drops via their newly founded label Borstal Beat Records. “It wasn’t the album we set out to write,” according to frontman Dave King. “It became the album we had to write.”

The first week of June will see a new six-song EP from reunited punks Cardiac Kidz, Playing for Change, recorded at Earthling Studios and released on local Blindspot Records. Says singer-bassist Jim Ryan, “The title represents the double meaning of our intent to cause change and the fact that we aren’t getting rich playing music.”