A Personal Guide to Upcoming Music (Spring)
Because my taste is narrow-minded.
By Jess Skinner
Posted January 15th, 2008.
Eels — Useless Trinkets (January 15)
Some people probably can't believe this band is still around, but old man E keeps it coming, and reached a rare kind of late-period creative awakening with that Blinking Lights album. He's evidently amassed a great enough throw-away catalogue to fill a full release, rivalling Tom Waits in a prolific ability to dig up remains. He's also writing a book about his life, which I guess will be like his albums — only longer and quieter. Go see.
Black Mountain — In the Future (January 21)
This clan from Vancouver is set to unleash its second full-length, and it's apt to be the first great album of the new year. It's a bit of an indulgence, to be sure, both for artist and listener: they're unapologetic about taking ideas from the classics. You can either accept it or not. I do, and they are a great homeland group. Listen to them roar.
Sons & Daughters — This Gift (January 28)
This Scottish band writes strange and addictive songs, pop with some biting sarcasm, all giddy and inebriated. I don't know how this will go over with some people, but the melodies are sure stuck in my head. Are they stuck in yours yet?
Taking a break from being the best live band in the world, angry Jamie Stewart and Co. drop another (probable) proto-art-rock marvel on us. What to expect? Adding a fourth member (Devin Hoff on bass) may expand the sometimes-claustrophobic style Xiu Xiu has so deftly held on to. First track "I Do What I Want When I Want" has been out for a while, and it recalls everything fans expect: hushed hostility against a pulsating, technological beat. I doubt this will be the one that gets them on the TV, if that was ever going to happen. Wanna hear?
Hot Chip — Made in the Dark (February 8)
I got on the Hot Chip bandwagon late; I still haven't digested The Warning completely. But, here is their third effort of the decade. Their energetic white-boy approach to dance music continues. Expect at least some of these songs to nest in your cortex for a while: that's what they're there for, after all.
Pete & the Pirates — Little Death (February 18)
Although I would go for another LP from front-man Tommy Sanders's other band, Tap Tap, P&P will do. It's jumpy and catchy and all that jazz — very English rock that everyone should appreciate. This is technically a debut after a couple EPs, which both had greatness underneath that inevitable wall of bad quality. Little Death will hopefully get them over that hurdle into a perfect sound. Judge for yourself.
Upstart youngsters Alice Glass and Ethan Fawn like to make a lot of noise. They may dress like hipster caricatures and possess an unsavoury love for the 1980s, but this duo makes something of a quality racket, and they're from Toronto! So, bonus points for that. Pay attention. Seriously. Watch.
Destroyer — Trouble in Dreams (March 18)
One-man band Dan Bejar is one of those musicians doing four things at once all the time, it would seem. With time served with The New Pornographers, Swan Lake, etc., he goes solo for Trouble, at least in principle — he still sees the project as a band, despite its indefinable lineup. His brand of folk has always been unique, if off-putting. His voice is akin to Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, still a fanciful, half-joking tone, evident on first preview "Foam Hands." Like Bejar's mass output, it consciously avoids a grand dramatic lift, choosing to coast along comfortably instead. Take a listen.
A Silver Mt. Zion — 13 Blues for 13 Moons (March 25)
A new one from this Godspeed You! Black Emperor offshoot, now firmly established with their own identity. One of the most idiosyncratic acts in Canada (known to change their band name for every release), Silver Mt. Zion eschews sloganeering and accessibility for an "epic" approach to song writing; 13 Blues changes tracks only four times, every 13 minutes or so throughout the record.
Sun Kil Moon — April (April 1)
No indication that this is an April Fool's joke just yet, unless it turns out to be crap. Highly unlikely as, despite what some people say, Mark Kozelek's moniker of the aughts is still putting out fairly great music. His last effort Tiny Cities attempted to traverse the catalogue of Modest Mouse with some success, losing its way when transforming some songs that were kind of half-baked to begin with. But April's first single "Moorestown" is a return to his recognizable quality. And what quality.
The Breeders — Mountain Battles (April 8)
I agree with Kim Deal's avoidance of new Pixies material. Frankly, that band was much too ingrained in its time and place to start writing songs for the current youth. Instead she's sticking with The Breeders, as their six-year gap in material ceases and they let out Mountain Battles, their fourth album. She should give this act up, let's say, when she turns 50?
Animal Collective — Water Curses EP (April 8)
Didn't get enough Animal Collective in 2007? If you like them at all then you probably love them, which is why a brief EP can count under a "new albums for the year" list. We do know it will include Strawberry Jam outtake "Street Flash," which will hopefully not be a song chronicling a man running around in a trench coat.