2009: The Year in Music

[cd213 0]

The new Zeromancer album has me excited. The first single, DOPPELGANGER is really good. Also, the new Prodigy album should be good. It's the first time since FAT OF THE LAND that Keith and Maxim are back with Liam.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I'm digging this Jay-Z meets Radiohead mash up

[Henry Spencer 0]

I'm going to listen to my first two 2009 albums tonight. Animal Collective and Marianne Faithfull. I might even make popcorn.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I'm digging this Jay-Z meets Radiohead mash up

I listened to most of this and wasn't thrilled. Most of the stuff was interesting for a minute, but lost me pretty quickly when it became clear the instrumentals weren't going to change much even when Jay's tempo and delivery did. I like "Change Order" the best, just because "Gag Order" has a pretty satisfying, plaintive guitar twangle that goes well with "Never Change." Unfortunately, it doesn't go as well with "Never Change" as the original backing track to "Never Change."

[Garth 0]

I'm very much looking forward to Art Brut's third offering, which I believe is out in April. They're had Frank Black.Black Francis/Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV/whatever you want to call him producing this record. I'm interested in seeing if he has had any real impact on the sound of the record.

[Mik 0]

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand leaked over the weekend. Just found out about it this morning and need to wait until tonight to give it a listen. Anyone who can get to it today and give their thoughts here would be appreciated.

 

Idolator is saying that "Lucid Dreams" is stretched out to 8 minutes and is the highlight of the album. Can't wait to get my hands on this.

[Henry Spencer 0]

Moz's new album leaked yesterday. I'm on my third listen. It rocks a lot harder than anything he's done in a long time. If anything, it reminds me of Kill Uncle mixed with one of the two late nineties weird ones that nobody listens to anymore.

[Henry Spencer 0]

I'm now listening to the new Animal Collective for a second time. I like this band and have enjoyed to varying degrees everything they've released. This one's no exception, but it basically feels like the third part of the Feels/Strawberry Jam trilogy. Kind of a holding pattern. I guess it's poppier than either of those albums, it's debatable whether that's a good thing or not. I'll give it a few more listens before I decide to toss it on the scrap heap of Animal Collective albums I never listen to with Strawberry Jam.

[Henry Spencer 0]

The new Antony & The Johnsons album, The Crying Light. I've always been a fan of his work, so I was eager to hear this. My god, it's so maudlin. I don't think that even my more-intense-than-usual-this-year seasonal depression can get me through it.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Moz's new album leaked yesterday. I'm on my third listen. It rocks a lot harder than anything he's done in a long time. If anything, it reminds me of Kill Uncle mixed with one of the two late nineties weird ones that nobody listens to anymore.

 

Been waiting what seems like forever for the studio version of 'Something is Squeezing My Skull'. Great opener. I think he might have shot himself in the foot releasing 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris' as the first single (not an actively bad song, but not great or really reflective of the largely up-tempo album) and including both 'new' tracks off the Greatest Hits though.

[Gary Floyd 0]

The new Antony & The Johnsons album, The Crying Light. I've always been a fan of his work, so I was eager to hear this. My god, it's so maudlin. I don't think that even my more-intense-than-usual-this-year seasonal depression can get me through it.

Speaking of him, his pal David Michael (aka David Tibet) should have a new Current 93 album out this year. Also, can't wait to hear the new Antony album.

[Mik 0]

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand sounds like what you'd expect a Franz record to sound like. Lots of up-tempo numbers and it winds down with a few nice ballads. "Katharine Kiss Me" is a good closer.

 

I'm still unsure how I feel about the album. It didn't grab me immediately but then I remembered that the last two albums didn't either right away. Anyway - I really like "Ulysses" and there are a few other good tracks. Overall - I really enjoy it.

 

Idolator was right, though. The longer remixed version of "Lucid Dreams" is probably my favorite Franz song to date.

[Copper Feel 0]

Best Ferdinand album yet.

[Mik 0]

Glasvegas, anyone? Giving it a listen tonight to see what the hype is about.

[Copper Feel 0]

Now there's a Glaswegian band I don't like.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Yeah, agreeing with Henry Spencer that The Crying Light is awesome.

[Henry Spencer 0]

I never said it was awesome. I finally did give it a listen all the way through a few times, though. It's pretty good. I like both of his previous albums better, but time will tell how this one sits with me in the long run.

[Kinetic 0]

Anyone have an opinion on the new Animal Collective? I'm listening to it for the first time right now. I'm not nuts about it so far. "My Girls" is good, though.

[Henry Spencer 0]

It's Animal Collective as usual as far as I can tell.

[Henry Spencer 0]

I heard Brothersport at a party about a week ago. All the hipsters went absolutely nuts, and we listened to nothing but Animal Collective for the rest of the night.

 

This will not be helpful in increasing my opinion of the album.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I'm giving it a first listen as well, and finding the whole album to be ridiculously dense. A little frustrated that all the tracks seem to be about the same tempo--that they roll together so easily adds to the overwhelming feel of it all. One other weird thing for me is that I remember the entire first half of the album from when I saw them live a year and a half ago; the arrangements have changed some, but it was kind of surprising to have consistent moments of recognition for 25 minutes or so. On the plus side so far, I too love "My Girls," and "Bluish" is awfully pretty.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

I think my favorite is "Summertime Clothes".

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

I listened to that "My Girls" song on their MySpace. I stand by my previous assessment.

[Kinetic 0]

I mostly understand where you're coming from on that, but I recently took a liking to Strawberry Jam and therefore had some mildly high hopes for the new album. I echo Edwin's sentiments about the tempo of the album. Everything sounded sort of same-y on first listen, and worse yet sounded pretty generic and mostly uninteresting. But I never like anything the first time I hear it, so I'll reserve any sort of real judgment until I listen to the thing a few times.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

They'd really be a lot more tolerable if they did away with all those super-annoying and cloying vocal effects. They've got a few songs that are pretty interesting from a purely musical standpoint, but then they go and slather them with 'child-like whimsy' or w/e and totally ruin them.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I use to feel that way too--too cutesy, too whimsical--but they're one of my favorite bands now. My progression was: hear Sung Tongs, think it's okay but eh, get into Feels towards the end of college, start putting "Turn Into Something" at the end of several mix discs, go back to Sung Tongs and suddenly love it, get Strawberry Jam and listen to "Peacebone" and "Fireworks" like 40 times each in a week, and then go see them live, where they put on a pretty astonishing almost 2-hour show. They've definitely become one of my go-to "it's Saturday afternoon and I'm doing absolutely nothing" listens.

[At Home 0]

I like MPP so far. My Girls feels less than it could've been, though.

[Gary Floyd 0]

On the new Dalek album: Love the production. That out of the way, while they bring up some good points in their cultural critique, that aspect is starting to become repetative. You're angry about the state of Hip-Hop and the atrocities committed by the American government-We get it guys. You've told us that so many times before, it's starting to become uninteresting, no matter how correct it is.

[C Dubya 04 0]

The new Andrew Bird is really quite nice.

 

Also, the new Derek Trucks Band disc is one that I'm enjoying a lot.

[Mik 0]

Hey how about that new Kelly Clarkson song? It's no "Since U Been Gone" but it's pretty good.