Album List

The new year is in full swing. Soon we’ll have a new president bringing with him new possibilities. Even when it comes to music Barack Obama promises to up the ante, vowing to bring jazz back into the White House. With Miles, Coltrane, and Charlie Parker populating his iPod, Obama just might be the Messiah (at least musically) that the “liberal” press keeps harping on. It’s with this renewed sense of optimism that I approach the coming year in music. And thus, in what will become a regular feature, I present some of the highlights of what’s to come in the months to follow. So prime those credit cards, as these are musical offerings you’ll want to partake in.

Antony and the Johnsons

The Crying Light

Release Date: January 20 (Secretly Canadian)

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Antony returns with his third album and let me tell you, it’s a doozy. With a brighter, more airy sound than its two predecessors, The Crying Light is a gorgeous collection of orchestral pop delivered as only Antony can, in a wavering falsetto that sounds like a cross between a eunuch and an angel. The highlight is the rhythm heavy and borderline upbeat “Kiss My Name,” a welcome respite the funereal pace of the rest of the album. It features inspired orchestrations from classical composer wunderkind Nico Muhly and is sure to be ranked as one of my favorite tracks of ‘09.

Andrew Bird

Noble Beast

Release Date: January 20 (Fat Possum)

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Andrew Bird has been getting better with each release, and there’s a good chance that this trend will continue with Noble Beast. Due for a breakout year in ‘09 (headlining Carnegie Hall!), Bird’s fourth album is an intricate tapestry of sounds – whistling, violin, wordless backing vocals – framing idiosyncratic songwriting and quirky lyrical yarns. A tour this spring with power trio Heartless Bastards is sure to be one of the year’s best gigs.

Miles Davis

Kind of Blue Deluxe Re-issues

Release Date: January 20 (Legacy/Sony)

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Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album in history and for good reason. For this modal masterpiece Miles recruited perhaps the greatest group of musicians ever assembled for a recording – John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. In celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, Legacy is pulling out all the stops, re-issuing the seminal album in two handsome deluxe packages with tons of extras that are worth the ducats even if you already own the original release. No record collection is complete without Kind of Blue, so now’s as good a time as any to discover (or re-discover) the genius of Miles.

Animal Collective

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Release Date: January 20 (Domino)

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Perhaps the most anticipated release of the year, Animal Collective follow up the stunning Strawberry Jam with an experimental pop record that’s even more adventurous and more accomplished, if that’s even possible. As Brian Castleberry noted in his review on JamsBio Magazine, “All of a sudden, the ferment and experimentation that has typified indie rock in the last few years has its historical marker: an eclectic masterpiece that gathers its myriad influences together and pushes them all in a new direction.”

Psychic Ills

Mirror Eye

Release Date: January 20 (The Social Registry)

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More bone rattling psych jams from New York’s Psychic Ills. As Thom Jurek aptly describes them, “Psychic Ills, a band known for their squalling live shows that combine post-punk sonics, deafening drones, psychedelic weirdness, rhythmic tribalism, and loose, shambolic, improvisational jams that have everything to do with chaos and intensity and nothing whatsoever to do with Widespread Panic, Phish, or whatever other ‘uber-musician’ gang you can come up with. These cats may not be able to play as well, but they are more musical for all their craziness.”

Bruce Springsteen

Working on a Dream

Release Date: January 27 (Columbia)

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We’ll be featuring a full length review of the Boss’s latest in the next week or so, but let me tell you that if you dug Magic, you’ll love Working on a Dream. Taking the “pop” music direction to new heights, Springsteen and the E Street Band deliver an unusually bright and airy batch of songs, a few of which even boast some swooning strings. “Tomorrow Never Knows” is a rollicking country rock driver that finds Bruce channeling Guy Clark, while “This Life” sounds like “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” redux, albeit with some uplifting Beach Boys inspired backing vocals taking it out. The real treats come at the end with the ballad “The Last Carnival” and the bonus track, the devastating, brilliant “The Wrestler,” taken from the film of the same name.

Hot Chip

With Robert Wyatt & Geese EP

Release Date: January 27 (Astralwerks)

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Hot Chip put out one of the best records of 2008 with the electropop gem, Made in the Dark. The duo is following up this ambitious release with an inspired collaboration with legendary British experimental songwriter Robert Wyatt (of Soft Machine, Matching Mole, and solo fame) and Geese (aka Emma and Vince from The Elysian Quartet). It’s nice too see Hot Chip not resting on their laurels with Made in the Dark 1.5. Their taste in musical partners only foreshadows good things to come from the duo.

Duncan Sheik

Whisper House

Release Date: January 27 (Victor/Sony)

One hit wonder turned acclaimed Tony-winning Broadway composer, Duncan Sheik is following the runaway success of his Spring Awakening score with another ambitious theatrical pop platter. Entitled Whisper House, the new project is a collection of songs written for a forthcoming theatrical piece. Structured as a melodrama, each of the 10 songs on the album weave together to tell the story of a child’s grief and spinster’s longing as seen through the eyes of the ghosts that haunt the remote, World War II-era Maine lighthouse where they live. Singer-keyboardist Holly Brooke plays a prominent role alongside Sheik on several of the songs. It promises to be the perfect chamber pop follow-up to Spring Awakening and Sheik’s 2006 solo release, White Limousine.

Volcano Suns

The Bright Orange Years & All Night Lotus Party Re-issues

Release Date: January 27 (Merge)

Formed from the ashes of the brilliant post-punk outfit, Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns played shambolic garage rock with an approach that was much lighter than the stern messaging of Mission of Burma. That’s not to say the music isn’t intense and raging with power. Merge Records is rescuing the Suns’ from obscurity, reissuing their first two (and best two) records, 1985’s The Bright Orange Years and 1986’s All Night Lotus Party.

Heartless Bastards

The Mountain

Release Date: February 3 (Fat Possum)

The Heartless Bastards is a blues soaked power trio fronted by the amazing Erika Wennerstrom, the band’s vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter. Steeped in the best of garage rock, the Heartless Bastards also incorporate elements of Zeppelin, Joplin, and the Black Keys in their heady rock and roll stew. The band’s third release, The Mountain, was produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead) and features the return of original supporting cast of Dave Colvin on drums and Jesse Ebaugh on bass.

Bad Plus

For All I Care

Release Date: February 3 (Heads Up)

Once you get past the seemingly gimmicky jazz trio interpretations of popular rock songs (”Lithium,” “Comfortably Numb”) you’ll find three stunningly original and accomplished instrumentalists who’ll change the way you listen to jazz. Consisting of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King, the Bad Plus combines elements of modern Avant-garde jazz with rock and pop influences. The band have recorded versions of songs by Nirvana, Aphex Twin, Blondie, Ornette Coleman, Pixies, Rush, Tears for Fears, Neil Young, David Bowie, Yes, Interpol, and Black Sabbath. Billboard sums up Bad Plus quite nicely: “Audacious, rule-breaking jazz trio crunches and at times pulverizes swing to let improvisational freedom shine…Dynamics play a huge roll in the act’s music, as does humor, an element sorely lacking in most of contemporary jazz. But beauty is also key… jazz purists tremble while the vanguard flocks.”

Lily Allen

It’s Not Me, It’s You

Release Date: February 10 (Regal)

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Sure she’s a tabloid queen, a bratty pop princess who cares more about fame and fortune than her craft, but tell me you weren’t smitten with the charming, playful pop confections on Allen’s debut Alright, Still. Although I’m not holding my breath for an equally beguiling follow-up, I have to admit that I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Sure, she might be a guilty pleasure, but there’s no shame in savoring the pleasure part of Lily Allen’s tasty songs.

Andy Warhol / Dean & Britta

13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests DVD

Release Date: February 10 (Plexifilm)

Technically this is a DVD and not a record, but for the first time, Andy Warhol’s mesmerizing screen tests get musical accompaniment courtesy of the sensuous duo of Dean and Britta (that’s Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna and Britta Phillips of Luna, Ultrababyfat and the Gem cartoon). Judging from the film’s trailer, this is going to be a real feast for the eyes and ears as Dean and Britta’s decadent soundtrack perfectly frames Warhol’s classic silent film portraits. Subjects include Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper, and more, all shot between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol’s Factory studio in New York City.

M. Ward

Hold Time

Release Date: February 17 (Merge)

M. Ward follows Volume One by She & Him, his well received collaboration with actress Zooey Deschanel, with Hold Time. Sure to be another fine collection of dusty Americana, Hold Time features contributions from Lucinda Williams, Jason Lytle (ex Grandaddy) and Deschanel.

Morrissey

Years of Refusal

Release Date: February 17 (Lost Highway)

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Moz has been going strong since his triumphant return to form with 2004’s You Are the Quarry, releasing a strong follow-up with Ringleader of the Tormentors in 2006 and touring like mad. Now comes Years of Refusal, a collection of songs that I would argue rank among his best. While not as consistently rousing as Quarry or sublimely understated as Vauxhall and I, the Spanish-flavored “When Last I Spoke to Carol,” the straight pop glory of “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” and the syrupy ballad, “You Were Good In Your Time,” prove that Morrissey still has it, even 20 years after the Smiths called it a day.

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