I thought 2009 was a good, but not great, year for recorded music, and am hopeful that 2010 will top it. To be fair, at this time last year, I hadn’t even heard of nine of the artists that produced my top 25 albums of 2009. The point is, amazing music can come from anyone, anywhere, and that no year should be judged solely on the number of hotly anticipated albums by big-name artists that it promises.
That being said, the first half of 2010 is turning out to be an incredibly productive time for some of the most high-profile names in what we used to call underground rock ‘n’ roll, but now is more like highly marketable and bloggable rock ‘n’ roll.
First, that Vampire Weekend album I told you about a couple weeks back took the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. (Wow.) Then, there was that new Spoon album I forgot to tell you about (but you probably heard about anyway). Today, we learned that it came in at No. 4 on the Billboard chart, the band’s best sales week ever. (Hear it here. I think it’s their best work in eight years.)
Yesterday, Beach House’s “Teen Dream” was released, and it’s a tasty slice of dream-pop, and sure to top many year-end lists at the close of 2010. Also out yesterday: new music from The Magnetic Fields, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Four Tet.
Let’s get on to the big dogs, though, shall we? On Feb. 2, the subtly addictive Texas band Midlake will put out “The Courage of Others,” the follow-up to 2006′s “The Trials of Van Occupanther,” aka one of the best albums of the 2000s. “Trials” has aged amazingly well over the past few years, and I’m several listens into “Courage” and believe it can be equally enduring, if not as immediately accessible. Here’s a trailer for the album that surfaced this week:
How many rock ‘n’ roll trailers feature a flute sighting, huh? Wait … why is there a trailer for this album? Did I miss something?
Anyway, March 9 will see Scottish indie-pop wonders Frightened Rabbit drop “The Winter of Mixed Drinks,” their follow-up to “The Midnight Organ Fight,” which is not only my favorite album of 2008, but arguably my favorite of the entire decade. (Not sure about that. More thinking to do. But I will get back to it). The band has played a few songs here and there and released one excellent single, all of which points to a very promising third effort from the Rabbit. I cannot wait. (Also March 9: Broken Bells, aka James Mercer of The Shins and DJ Danger Mouse. Here is their new video.)
As if all that wasn’t enough, May is shaping up to be a scary-good release month, what with rumors of an Arcade Fire album, as well as the recent announcements of new albums by The New Pornographers (with Neko Case and Dap-Kings horns!) and The National. The former had a ridiculously productive 2000s (three classic albums, one very good one) and the latter may be my favorite band going right now.
All of this, plus releases that I don’t necessarily feel strongly about, but lots of people do, like new Yeasayer (Feb. 9), Toro y Moi (Feb. 23), Ted Leo (March 9), Gorillaz (March 9), Drive-By Truckers (March 16), She & Him (March 23), Radiohead, MGMT, LCD Soundsystem, R.E.M., Coldplay and so on and so on.
It never stops. Thank goodness.
Now, I’ve obviously only covered a fairly narrow sliver of music here; it’s the one I tend to pay the most attention to. But I’d love to hear from y’all what you’re stoked about, whether it’s country, hip-hop, mainstream pop, reggae or whatever. (Paging Scott Halvorson. Please pick up the Heavy/Industrial/Punk/Metal Courtesy Telephone.)
Tags: Arcade Fire, Beach House, Broken Bells, Frightened Rabbit, Midlake, Spoon, The National, The New Pornographers, Vampire Weekend
Yay! A mention in the blog, I rule! And yes, of course I have opinions. Great to hear that The National has new stuff coming out. Was actually listening to Boxer the other day and hoping that there was something in the works. I’m kind of annoyed R.E.M. has an album on the way. They used to be a huge enough deal to me and I still have enough love for what they did up to and including New Adventures In Hi-Fi that I still fill the need to investigate every time they put out a new album and every time I end up disappointed. In the meantime, what I’ve heard so far…
rumor is The Melvins have a new album in May; even in the worst of all possible worlds this album will be really, really good. Probably my favorite band. Them or The Pixies. Speaking of, there are rumors that Frank and Kim are finally on the same page about a new Pixies album.
Immolation has a new album out soon. They’re sort of the band that delivered onthe promise Morbid Angel started with those first two albums. They’ve really hit the right spot of having the heavier-than thou aspect of death metal, not playing too fast instead going for a doomish atmosphere and having a strong artsy-fartsy edge.
Skinny Puppy has a new one on the way. I didn’t like Mythmaker but it was more of a letdown then a shark-jumpingly bad album, I do enjoy the poppier more listener friendly side of Puppy that’s won out, so I still have hope for this. The singer has another Ohgr album coming out. I was a big fan of that first Ohgr album Welt, which is a really cool pop album in the vein of Love & Rockets and Kraftwerk. The other main Puppy guy is putting out a Download album. I always loved Download as well. I have high hopes for the Skinny Puppy camp this year.
Kraftwerk has a new album on the way. Very excited about that.
D.R.I. is playing shows again. I have no idea if that means new music, but I really, really, really hope so.
Godflesh and The Swans are both coming back. If they went on tour together that’s the sort of thing I’d have to follow around the country.
Eyehategod has a new one on the way. They’re a very easy band to dismiss. Most listeners will find the name either too offensive or too much a childish attempt to be offensive. (For a long time I fell in with the latter before giving the band a chance and realizing they’re fantastic.) Plus, they’re buddies with the singer from Pantera. (I don’t know if that puts people off as well, but personally, Pantera always just bugged me. A lot. Obviously, I’m sorry the guy’s dead, I’ve heard he was a nice guy, but purely on musical tastes Pantera never did anything for me.) They list their influences as The Melvins, Black Flag, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd. This gives you a pretty good idea of what they sound like but it doesn’t do justice to how ugly the sound is. The sound is so wonderfully grimey and nasty the band is somehow a complete hoot to listen to. Possibly the ugliest and grimiest sounding band I’ve heard. Can’t wait.
I don’t know 90% of the bands either of you list, but I’m looking forward to the new Rob Zombie album, hopefully back to a more industrial sound. The guy never puts on a bad show either- his concerts are killer.
So, I have a great new hope for the following year. I have recently acquired the debut s/t from Shrinebuilder. If I’d heard it before now, it would have easily won favorite album of ’09 (I still love you Napalm Death!). It’s a supergroup featuring Dale Crover from The Melvins on Drums, Scott Kelly from Neurosis on guitar, Wino from The Obsessed and St. Vitus on guitar and Al Cisneros from Sleep on guitar, which is a pretty irresistible lineup. Cisneros, Wino and Kelly all alternate on vocals. I’m not really up on my doom metal, but The Melvins are probably my favorite band and I do like Neurosis quite a lot. The three vocalists give a great sense of dynamics; the music is very much Sabbath worship ranging from really heavy to psychedlic meandering. The lyrics contain masonic / secret society sounding references to building temples and stuff like that. For a band this heavy with 4 strong personalities, all 4 guys are given plenty of breathing room within the group. It all fits together perfectly as well. I love, love, love this album. Can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a new band. I almost feel like an adolescent again. Apparently they’ve already done some writing for the next album. Can’t wait.
Thanks to you both for bringing some actual volume to my blog. Without you guys, Frequency would be a wasteland of indie-pop wimps and fey singer-songwriters.
1. R.E.M. has an album on the way? Wasn’t that last one — the “return to form” — just last summer or something?
2. I need to start picking up Melvins albums. Gotta start looking for those things used.
3. Kim and Frank on the same page? I’ll believe it when I see it.
4. “Doomish” “artsy-fartsy” “ugly” “grimy” “nasty” … sounds like I need to check out Immolation and Eyehategod.
5. A.C. – Rob Zombie almost made my list of bands I’d like to see come to the Schwab that I posted this morning. But when I visited his site, it looks like he’s booked up through much of July and August, and coming nowhere near Bend. So I decided not to include him. I have no doubt he’d put on quite a show.
6. Re: Shrinebuilder – Consider me sold. I will definitely check them out. Thanks, Scott. Great description…
songwriters.
“1. R.E.M. has an album on the way? Wasn’t that last one — the “return to form” — just last summer or something?”
I’ve already forgotten where, but I’m pretty sure I saw something about them working on a new on already. I’ve gotta stop getting my hopes up. I dunno; I almost never like “return to form” albums; they always make me think of bands giving up an experimenting when those albums don’t sell while. Personally, I absolutely loved New Adventures In Hi-Fi.
“3. Kim and Frank on the same page? I’ll believe it when I see it.” Hey man, just because that rumor gets started every 2 or 3 months, that doesn’t mean this time is just wishful thin….
Okay, yeah, you’re right. But without the Pixies, Frank has released some fantastic solo albums, the Breeders are pure gold; I can’t help but think that there’s still potential for the two to make something interesting together.