My Future Faves: Upcoming 2009 Releases
Posted on January 30, 2009 at 3:16 pm | No Comments
New-music-wise, 2009 has been off to a semi-slow start for me, with just a few eagerly-anticipated albums released within this first month, including Andrew Bird‘s “Noble Beast”, Loney Dear‘s “Dear John”, and just a few days ago, SPC ECO‘s download-only debut “3-D” (that’s Dean Garcia of Curve‘s new band with his daughter Rose on vocals). I’m also semi-obsessed with The Hush Now‘s new one which, while technically available for a couple months, gets its official release party in a couple weeks (and can be downloaded for free). While those four albums have been plenty enough to occupy my ears, things really pick up with February’s arrival.
Like last year, I took some time to pull together a list of discs officially scheduled for release in the year ahead (and some rumored to be) that I’m most excited to hear. This practice makes my year-end list more interesting by contrast, just to see which bands let me down, and which ones weren’t even on my radar. Speaking of that, if there’s anything not listed that you think I’d dig, leave a comment (and yes, this is implied permission for promo-people to go nuts). Keep in mind, though, if there’s something blatantly conspicuous in its absence, there probably be a good reason.
I also threw in some other random events and releases at the bottom that have me very much looking forward to the remainder of the year ahead…
fyi, I’ll be updating this list randomly with schedule changes and new releases as I find out about them.
February
Heartless Bastards – “The Mountain”
(Feb. 3rd on Fat Possum)The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – self-titled debut
(Feb. 3rd on Slumberland)Travels – “The Hot Summer”
(Feb. 14th / release party on Feb. 14th @ PA’s)“Dark Was The Night” – A Red Hot benefit compilation
(Feb. 17th on 4AD / listening party on Feb. 16th at River Gods)Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3: “Goodnight Oslo”
(Feb. 17th on Yep Roc)Asobi Seksu – “Hush”
(Feb. 17th on Polyvinyl)Beirut – “March of the Zapotec”
(Feb. 17th on Ba Da Bing)M. Ward – “Hold Time”
(Feb. 17th on Merge)Circle Of Buzzards – debut EP
(Jason Loewenstein & Bob D’Amico, demos here)March
Erik Blood – “The Way We Live”
(March 3rd, self-released)Bishop Allen – “Grrr…”
(March 10th on Dead Oceans)Bell Orchestre – “As Seen Through Windows”
(March 10th on Arts & Crafts)Julie Doiron – “I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day”
(March 10th on Jagjaguwar)Bonnie Prince Billy – “Beware”
(March 17th on Drag City)Superdrag – “Industry Giants”
(March 17th on Superdrag Sound Laboratories / Thirty Tigers)Decemberists – “The Hazards of Love”
(March 24th on Capitol)Adam Franklin – “Spent Bullets”
(March 31st on Second Motion Records)Kristin Hersh – “Speedbath”
(self-released, demos downloadable now)The Sea Navy – self-released sophomore album April
Bill Callahan (Smog) – “Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle”
(April 14th on Drag City)Boy In Static – “Candy Cigarette” Camera Obscura – “My Maudline Career”
(April 21st on 4AD)
(April 14th on Fake Four Inc/Circle Into Square)Bob Mould – “Life and Times”
(April 7th on Anti)Grand Archives – TBA
(on Sub Pop)Silversun Pickups – “Swoon”
(April 14th on Dangerbird)Trashcan Sinatras – “In The Music”
(self-released)Sometime in Spring?
Dylan In The Movies – debut full-length
(self-released / pre-order info here)50 Foot Wave – “Power + Light” EP (on vinyl – stream it here) The Long Winters – TBA
(on Barsuk)You Can Be A Wesley – debut full-length
(self-released)The Wooden Birds (Andrew Kenny of AmAnSet / David Wingo of Ola Podrida) – “Magnolia”
(on Barsuk, tracklist here)Elsewhen in ’09?
The Album Leaf (Fall ’09) Autolux David Bazan‘s Black Cloud Bon Savants – sophomore album Built to Spill – “There Is No Enemy” (Fall) Caspian (September) Chatelaine (Toni Halliday of Curve) The Cure (that supposed ‘darker’ companion album to “”4:13 Dream) Clogs – Possibly in May Hallelujah the Hills – “Colonial Drones” (on Misra) Idaho A Will Johnson/Jason Molina collaboration album (October on AK/Misra) Kings of Convenience – “Quiet is the New Loud” Magnolia Electric Co. – “A Map of the Falling Stars” The One AM Radio – TBA (Fall / Demo here) Joe Pernice – “It Feels So Good When I Stop” (covers album, soundtrack to his book) Joe Pernice – “Murphy Bed” (all original, sometime in ’09) Pow Wow (Mary Timony, Jonah Takagi, & Winston Yu) Sea Wolf Six Finger Satellite Snowden Sonic Youth – “The Eternal” (June on Matador) Radio Dept. – “Clinging to a Scheme” (on Labrador, of course) Wheat – “White Ink, Black Ink” (demo here) Maybe? New material in progress?…
Bottomless Pit (update here) The Broken River Prophet (hitting the studio soon) Explosions in the Sky Midlake – “Courage of Others” (tentative title) The In Out The Jesus and Mary Chain MBV (I’ll list this every year until it happens) The National Rival Schools (look here) Summer at Shatter Creek – sophomore album Ted Leo & the Pharmacists Tristeza
Other random happenings I’m looking forward to in ’09
The Merge Records 20th Anniversary Fest in July… … and my Merge Score! subscription, all year long Swirlies live at the Middle East in March Throwing Muses with 50 Foot Wave at the MidEast in March, too Kristin Hersh‘s auto-biography The live return of The Jesus Lizard (fingers crossed for a Boston show) The return of Versus (“we’ll be back in 2009“) The Wedding Present “Bizarro” album 20th anniversary tour (so sayeth Gedge) Michael Showalter & Michael Ian Black‘s new sketch show on Comedy Central The fall debut of “Stargate: Universe” More bands I like getting added to the ATP New York 2009 lineup The loooong-awaited next George RR Martin novel, “A Dance With Dragons” And lastly, hopefully, the very last issue of Ellis & Cassaday‘s “Planetary”
Yes, those last three are very wishful thoughts, but I remain optimistic…
Merch Giveaway: Spectacle / Sundance Schwag Bag
Posted on January 28, 2009 at 2:19 pm | No Comments
The first season of the Elvis Costello-hosted “Spectacle” series on the Sundance Channel has been a curious thing. In aiming to appeal to a fairly broad range of music-fans (and not just devotees of Mr. Dynamite), the lineup of interviewees includes more than just Costello’s aging contemporaries (The Police, James Taylor, Lou Reed, Elton John), but a few more, um, how shall I say, ‘relevant’ songwriters (M. Ward, Jenny Lewis, Rufus Wainwright), along with some utterly random non-musicians (director/painter Julian Schnabel and… Bill Clinton?). Some of the chats have been fascinating, others fairly run-of-the-mill, but all watchable, usually due to Costello’s obvious respect and familiarity (and sometimes kinship) with his subjects, who invariably reciprocate. And even if the shared reflections aren’t your thing, Elvis and his guests usually make up for it by sharing the stage for a song or two (well, except Clinton, thank goodness).
This week sees the debut of Elvis’ sit-down with opera singer Renee Fleming (and if there’s a musical collaboration, it’s sure to be… interesting), followed by a spotlight on Herbie Hancock next week. But it’s the February 11th episode I’m most looking forward to, when Mr. MacManus hosts a group discussion with M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel (aka She & Him) and Jenny Lewis. According to Elvis’ site, he’ll join Jenny to recreate “Pretty Bird” as well as “Carpetbaggers” (which he contributes to on her latest album) with Deschanel on backing vocals, then Jenny will return the favor by performing on his “Go Away“. She & Him also do their own “Change Is Hard“, and Costello teams up with Jakob Dylan to cover The Clash‘s “Straight To Hell” before all the guests hit the stage to tackle Elvis’ classic (and Nick Lowe-penned) “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?“. My DVR is already set.
The promote Spectacle, the PR folks behind the show are offering up a bunch of eco-friendly “Spectacle/Sundance Prize Packs”, which includes: A Keen/Sundance totebag, a t-shirt, notebook, a Sigg /Sundance thermos, and most intriguingly, a pair of desktop speakers. Here, have a look…
Want it? Just send an email (subject: “Spectacle!”) to giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com before noon this coming Monday, February 2nd, and I’ll randomly pick one winner. And just for the hell of it (and to see if you’re reading closely), include the title of your favorite Elvis Costello song as well. Since everybody must have one. U.S. residents only, please, and if I pick your name on Monday, I’ll contact you that afternoon to get your snail-mailing address.