The 2009 Albums Thread

now i want to give this album a listen… marketing win:

Chris Cornell's dance album dismays rock fans

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Chris Cornell is getting a kick out of angering his fans.

The former Soundgarden singer has stunned the rock cognoscenti with his whimsical decision to record an album with Timbaland, a hip-hop producer whose clients include pop stars Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado.

"Scream" is both the title of his third solo outing and a reflection of the howls of indignation. Online forums ignited with bitter denunciations (and occasional defenses) of the album long before it hit stores on Tuesday via Interscope Records.

(…) 

At any rate, Cornell has performed the album in its entirety at about a dozen concerts, and says the audience response has been enthusiastic.

"It's the most that I've seen guys with beards rocking back and forth to a rhythm," he said.

He considers the album "an interesting sociological experiment," since people seem to be more concerned about who is making the music rather than the music itself.

full article

Wow Timbaland? This makes me actually want to see him now.

sweetcell wrote:
SFA unveil entire new record in gig webcast!

At 8pm GMT on March 16th log onto superfurry.com to see a gig webcast - its the first airing of the new album, Dark days/Light Years and you'll be able to see the band playing the new album in its entirety

You can buy the new album immediately from 8pm UK time on March 16 from superfurry.com on MP3 download…there will also be options to pre-order it on CD, which will be available from April 13.

Expect to start hearing tracks from DD/LY on the radio and online from next week - Inaugural Trams features Nick from Franz Ferdinand doing a German rap, so worth looking out for!

The full tracklisting is -

DARK DAYS/LIGHT YEARS

Crazy Naked Girls
The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
Moped Eyes
Inagural Trams
Inconvenience
Cardiff In The Sun
Mountain
Helium Hearts
White Socks/Flip Flops
Where Do You Wanna Go
Lliwiau Llachar
Pric

free track: Inaugural Trams

azaghal1981 wrote:
Wow Timbaland? This makes me actually want to see him now.

show is sold out, not that you shouldn't be able to get a ticket outside the club.  face was like $50 i think…

At first I was really disappointed with the new Bonnie Prince Billy album. It was so polished and shiny, with clean instrumentation and smooth background vocals, whereas I like my Oldham creaky and ramshackle. But the fact is, motherscratcher can write songs and the quality still comes shining through. Doesn't reach the highs of Lie Down in the Light, and isn't nearly on the level of I See a Darkness or Viva Lost Blues. But it's another win for the bald fat man.

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs does nothing for me. They ratcheted down Zimmer's guitars and increased O's vocals, and now it just sounds kind of generic.

Mantic Ritual's Executioner is a new band that someone described as sounding like Kill 'Em All-era Metallica, and… that's exactly right. Not ground-breaking but hits the spot.

from the Old 97's website:

And this just in from Billboard: Rhett's self-titled fourth CD now has a release date: Rhett Miller hits the shelves of finer sound emporiums on June 9. Another great tidbit from that piece:
Miller plans to tour in support of "Rhett Miller," both on his own and with Old 97's. In fact, he says, the band, which will be on the road this summer, is thinking about incorporating solo sets by Miller and bassist Murry Hammond as part of an "evening with" concept.

I thought Bonnie's album was kind of boring. But I've never really been much of a fan. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

Relaxer wrote:
At first I was really disappointed with the new Bonnie Prince Billy album. It was so polished and shiny, with clean instrumentation and smooth background vocals, whereas I like my Oldham creaky and ramshackle. But the fact is, motherscratcher can write songs and the quality still comes shining through. Doesn't reach the highs of Lie Down in the Light, and isn't nearly on the level of I See a Darkness or Viva Lost Blues. But it's another win for the bald fat man.

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs does nothing for me. They ratcheted down Zimmer's guitars and increased O's vocals, and now it just sounds kind of generic.

Mantic Ritual's Executioner is a new band that someone described as sounding like Kill 'Em All-era Metallica, and… that's exactly right. Not ground-breaking but hits the spot.

sweetcell wrote:

azaghal1981 wrote:
Wow Timbaland? This makes me actually want to see him now.

show is sold out, not that you shouldn't be able to get a ticket outside the club.  face was like $50 i think…

Pretty sure I'm set. ;)

sweetcell wrote:

sweetcell wrote:
SFA unveil entire new record in gig webcast!

At 8pm GMT on March 16th log onto superfurry.com to see a gig webcast - its the first airing of the new album, Dark days/Light Years and you'll be able to see the band playing the new album in its entirety

You can buy the new album immediately from 8pm UK time on March 16 from superfurry.com on MP3 download…there will also be options to pre-order it on CD, which will be available from April 13.

Expect to start hearing tracks from DD/LY on the radio and online from next week - Inaugural Trams features Nick from Franz Ferdinand doing a German rap, so worth looking out for!

The full tracklisting is -

DARK DAYS/LIGHT YEARS

Crazy Naked Girls
The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
Moped Eyes
Inagural Trams
Inconvenience
Cardiff In The Sun
Mountain
Helium Hearts
White Socks/Flip Flops
Where Do You Wanna Go
Lliwiau Llachar
Pric

free track: Inaugural Trams

Inaugural Trams is a great track.  I'm looking forward to seeing/watching this whole record on monday afternoon.  It's apparently got some pretty epic track lengths, too.

The new Thermals hasn't grabbed me like the last one did yet.

Gave the new Superdrag a run-through last night and really liked it. It feels particularly all over the place, and a couple songs went by without notice. But there were more great numbers that grabbed my attention.

New Super Furry Animals is on deck for the lunchtime run.

relaxer: how was SFA?

and in other news:

Ashes of American Flags, Wilco's first live concert film on DVD is now available for pre-order HERE. Filmed during the band's March '08 tour, it includes footage from Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Tipitina's in New Orleans, The Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. Our friends Brendan Canty and Christoph Green at Trixie Films directed & produced (Sunken Treasure, Burn to Shine, etc.) and we think it's a pretty damned good piece of work. Since April 18 is a ways off yet, we'll give you at least a bit of immediate gratification upon ordering with an instantaneously available downloadable version of Monday (playable on your computers, ipods, etc.). You can check out the trailer HERE. And you can catch a screening of the film in a CITY near you.

New SFA is incredible after one listen.  It's bigger, louder and heavier than just about anything they've ever done.  I'm quite the SFA freak, but I'd recommend checking the album out if you get a chance.

I was the biggest SFA fan during the Fuzzy Logic and Radiator era, but Guerilla was the fade point and I've not been into much since. And I don't like the new one a lot. It's good enough music and I could see people liking it. But I like those first two albums so much with their greasy guitars and punchy songs, and everything since has seemed like mushy baroque pop.

I realized last night that the Pains of Being Pure at Heart is probably my favorite record of the year so far. It'll fade sooner or later, but for now, it's a nice little album.

Another disappointment is the new Art Brut. I still think their debut is one of the decade's classics. Every song on there is a winner. But I never really got into the second one, even though it sounded pretty similar. I'll try again on Art Brut vs. Satan, but it sounds like they're just filling out a template on what they're supposed to sound like. I've played it twice and both times I've stopped in the middle and put the debut on and been happier. Result!

For the dubstep fans:
the new Caspa is good and heavy-hitting so far; too bad I don't have the proper stereo system for it. Much of the super low sub-bass is lost on me.

Isis - Wavering Radiant is in the usual places.



Looking forward to hearing this one.

This will be a great collection and hopefully it will show up on eMusic, but given music licensing laws it's hard to tell these day.  If anything I'd like to cherry pick some of the tracks, since I owe a bunch of these already.

KITSUNE TABLOID BY PHOENIX
Release Date:March 22, 2009
Label:Kitsuné
Synopsis
Following on Digitalism who kicked off the Tabloid series, we now give free reins to Phoenix for an unlikely yet amazing compilation. The boys have gathered some rarities that have changed their life. So here comes the most sentimental and melodic record ever released on Kitsuné, and possibly the most pundit and antique too, with some gems going back to the fifties. A stylish musical present from one of the greatest French bands which spearheads its forthcoming album to be released this spring. Contains exclusive and rare tracks from

1 Love Theme From Kiss - Kiss
2 Rise Above - Dirty Projectors
3 Victory Garden - The Red Crayola
4 I've Been Trying - The Impressions
5 I Am The Cosmos - Chris Bell
6 Pyjamarama - Roxy Music
7 I Had To Tell You - The 13th Floor Elevators
8 Ship Building - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
9 Send It On - D'Angleo
10 Love On A Real Train - Tangerine Dream
11 Stull (Part 1) - Urge Overkill
12 Aos Barões - Lô Borges
13 Master Charge - Iggy Pop & James Williamson
14 Lady (Falling in Love) - Dennis Wilson
15 It's Raining - Irma Thomas
16 In A Turkish Town - Ritchie Valens
17 I Think It?s Gonna Rain Today - Dusty Springfield
18 Street Hassle - Lou Reed

Not sure if you saw this or not, azaghal:

Animal Collective - Animal Crack Box
Finally some details on that long-rumored Animal Collective live box set.

http://pitchfork.com/news/34866-animal-collective-box-set-details-emerge-via-ebay/

Relaxer wrote:
Gave the new Superdrag a run-through last night and really liked it. It feels particularly all over the place, and a couple songs went by without notice. But there were more great numbers that grabbed my attention.

New Superdrag takes a few spins but there are about 6 or 7 really strong tracks that get better with each listen. A lot more nuanced than their past two records. It is a bit of a mash up of styles but it holds its own against the rest of their catalog. Especially fond of tracks 3 and 4.

Saw their show in Knoxville last week and I'm really excited for the 9:30 show. Nice mix of older material and the new stuff. Played about half of "Industry Giants" but didn't neglect some of the stronger tunes from "Head Trip in Every Key" and "The Fabulous 8 Track Sounds."