Seattle Subsonic

Albums I’m Looking Forward To

January 19th, 2009

After reading through Pitchfork’s list of upcoming 2009 releases a few weeks ago, it got me thinking about what I myself am looking forward to this year…you know, music-wise. Below is a list of what I’ve found so far. Mostly it’s albums that will be out in the first half of the year, and mostly it’s stuff that I’m really excited about (as opposed to the laundry list of albums that may or may not pique my interest should I be slovenly killing time in a Sonic Boom; which I’m very good at, btw).

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Some highlights? Well, Grand Archives will have a tough time trumping their debut (but I’m confident they can do it), Montreal’s Malajube have made me wait long enough for their 3rd album, I’m excited to hear what Handsome Furs have done with their sophomore effort, and I’m sure the Thermals new one will be decidedly awesome. I also think Merriweather Post Pavilion will end up with 2009′s Trippiest Album Cover award. Did I mention that the Wrens are making new music?!?

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Feel free to voice yourself (is that a phrase?) in the comments. Feel free, also, to scoff.

• Low Frequency in Stereo Futuro – January 12, 2009: Cosmic Norwegian psych-pop; the album’s out now, but I’m still looking forward to it. Listen to all eight tracks on their myspace page.
  

• Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion - January 20, 2009: The vinyl’s out now, but I don’t buy vinyl, so I don’t really care about that. CD out tomorrow. Prepare to be shocked be the severe lack of people who dislike this record. Also, listen to “My Girls” on myspace if you haven’t already downloaded it.

• Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - January 27, 2009: More ponderous info, including new tracks “Ulysses” & “Lucid Dreams”, here.

• Malajube Labyrinthes - February 10, 2009: Discordantly melodic (?) Francophone pop-rockers from Montreal are awesome. Update: Listen to one (1) new song here.

• Abe Vigoda Reviver EP – February 17, 2009: Get into the new L.A. punk scene. Also, listen to “Don’t Lie” on myspace.

• Black Lips 200 Million Thousand - February 24, 2009: New website with new song “Starting Over” (Update: .mp3 download here). Alright!

• Handsome Furs Face Control – March 3, 2009: Dan Boeckner’s involved? I’m there. Listen to the boisterous new track “I’m Confused” on myspace, along with a very, uh, interpretive new bio. The promo pics of Dan and his wifey are pretty spicey, as well.

• Neko Case Middle Cyclone - March 3, 2009: More info, including radical new album cover, here. Listen to the new song “People Got A Lotta Nerve” on her myspace.

• Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band s/t – March 10, 2009: Check out the album version of “Anchors Dropped” here.

• See Me River The Great Unwashed - early March: I’ve been recently super-enjoying this “blackgrass” band’s 2008 LP, Time Machine. Listen to new track “Ed Jackson” on their myspace.

• Fever Ray s/t – March 23, 2009: Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife debuts her solo project. It sounds like the Knife. If you have patience for annoying music streamers, listen to the entire album here.

• Peter, Bjorn & John Living Thing – March 31, 2009: I dunno, after hearing their fairly terrible new song “Nothing To Worry About” (via Kanye West’s blog, no less), I’m not sure I’m all that excited for this one anymore.

• The Thermals Now You Can See - April 7, 2009: The band has moved from Sub Pop <gasp!> to Kill Rock Stars. They will still slay. Slightly outdated info here.

• Junior Boys Begone Dull Care - April 7, 2009: Just heard about this. Bout fuckin’ time. Read the band’s recent blog regarding their new record.

• Grand Archives – April 2009: FYI, the new songs sounded excellent on stage.

• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – TBD 2009: Please Please Please

Update: the band has released the name: It’s Blitz (or Blitz, depending on how you read this). They also gave this Spring as a release date. YYY.

2nd update: April 14th is the release date. It’s Leaked.

• Autolux Transit Transit – TBD 2009: L.A. drone punks released “Audience No. 2″ in August. No other information has surfaced.

• The Wrens – ??: Oh man, the Wrens have finally come out of their shell. John Richards debuted a new song recently, which you can read about on their new website. It’s basically just them fuckin’ around, but given this new promise from the band, this boy is exCITED.