Upcoming Album Releases To Be Excited About (2010)

There are so many albums that come out every year, most are bad, some are good and just a few are great. It’s impossible to listen to every album that comes out within a single year, but there are a few whose pervious musical work should garner some excitement for their upcoming releases by music lovers.

Mark Your Calendar For These Albums:

March 9th 2010: Broken Bells, Self-titled Debut

March 16th 2010: The White Stripes, Under Great White Northern Lights [Live]

March 23rd 2010: Bettie Serveert, Pharmacy of Love

April 9th 2010: Dr. Dog, Shame Shame

April 13th 2010: MGMT, Congratulations

May 4th 2010: New Pornographers, Together

May 18th 2010: Deftones, Diamond Eyes

We are also looking forward to these albums to be released sometime this year:

Arcade Fire, [Title TBA]

Beastie Boyz, [Hot Sauce Committee Part 1]

Blitzen Trapper, [Title TBA]

Fleet Foxes, [Title TBA]

The National, [High Violet]

The Offspring, [Title TBA]

The Strokes, [Title TBA]

Wolf Parade, [Title TBA]

David Bowie | A Reality Tour Live Album

There are few musicians with the influence of David Bowie, he is a living legend. You can say what you will about his more recent contributions to his catalogue but songs like Space Oddity and Heroes are ingrained in the collective consciousness of innumerable people. As a live album A Reality Tour highlights the enduring power of Bowie. Not only has he maintained his ability to perform such high energy performances, unlike so many of his peers, he also still… well… looks like David Bowie. So many other musicians of Bowie’s generation have faded to mere shadows of themselves, skeletal and used up. With this new live album recorded during Bowie’s last tour you get the feeling his music is alive and well. And Bowie still loves to perform, that is clear from this album, with a career that spans over three decades the man still has that spark.

Most of us grew up listening to David Bowie but few have though had the privilege to see him perform live. This album could be as close as most of people will get to a live Bowie performance, hopefully not but for now this live album will do. Lets all indulge in a little hero worship with this one. BOWIE!

Zeus | First Impressions of Zeus & Their Debut Album Say Us

Psychedelica is the most impressive revival to find its self among the indie bands. The past few years have produced some spectacular acts that summon the spirits of the beloved genre of The Beatles, The Grateful Dead and so on. Current bands such as Dr. Dog, Sunset Rubdown, and to a certain extent My Morning Jacket have produced some outstanding albums filled with richly surreal lyrics and extended instrumental parts that would make any original creators of the genre grin uncontrollably with pride that their sound still has a place in the world and is being worked in powerful new ways.

Zeus a band based out of Toronto, Ontario has also taken up the technicolour banner of the genre with its debut album Say Us. In it, the band brings this expansive expression of rock to life. With its piano pounding, sternum vibrating base lines along with spin inducing choruses, take the listener on a very vivid auditory journey throughout Say Us. The subtle fuzz added to the guitars is accompanied seamlessly with the albums well placed harmonies delivered by the members of the band.

Say Us is due out February 23rd and if you are a fan of this genre it is a must have and if you are new to it then it is one of the more palatable variations out their, Dr. Dog and Sunset Rubdown (especially the first two album of Sunset Rubdown) take patients and multiple listens to really enjoy. Whereas with Zeus you can jump in right head first and you will never feel like you are in foreign waters.

The Hush Now | A Review of Constellations

The Hush Now is a five man band based out of Boston Massachusetts. Their sound is comparable to the likes of The Cure, My Bloody Valentine or other bands in the same vain. Their Second album Constellations is a playful mix of pop/garage/shoegazer brands of rock, which results in a sound that is both youthful and energetic. While the lyrics are straightforward, consisting of the run of the mill sort, usually heard in such a band, ballads of sorrow wrapped in gentle barbs of disillusionment.
Never the less, they still evoke that sense of wonder and awe a good band should. Some people can just be a sucker for a band with horns, and face it they have them well placed in this album, the trumpet along with what sounds like a cello complement songs like All You’ve Said & Done. There is also an operatic interlude which comes at the end of the track Hoping & Waiting. It’s either genius or silly, (I’ll let you be the judge of that particular point) as Hoping & Waiting finishes with driving drum progression accompanied by a blaring trumpet you can’t help but like what this band it doing. The only real constant in this album is the voice of lead singer Noel Kelly, the album shifts between more traditional pop rock ballads which you can hear in the track Smokescreens to the more folkie oriented numbers as with the track Fireflies. What constitutes this album as worthwhile is its overall character and tone. Constellations invites you in with an initial sense of familiarity, and escorts you out with a feeling of auditory delight.

The Fieros | The Fieros Self-titled EP

The Fieros, a quartet based out of Brooklyn, New York has released an EP under the same title as the band. The band has made some waves with this little EP since its release at the end of January this year, making it onto the coveted (yet sometimes misleading) Indie Spotlight on iTunes. The EP itself lets potential listeners know what the band is about right off the bat. The album art calls to mind a cover from some 60’s music magazine that would feature “The Twist” and the increasing frenzy over this new act called The Beatles. In reality though, what you get from this EP is the previously nonexistent excitement for the full length LP which we should be released soon enough.

But why should you be excited about The Fieros, haven’t we heard their style of music before? The tracks that make up their Self-titled EP are reminiscent of acts like The Caesars, Oasis, and (as more of a contemporary) The Black Box Revolution. That’s just it, The Fieros are a nice taste of something our musical palates are all too ready for, but have gone unsated for far too long. Hopefully, the full length album that they have yet to release will deliver what their EP did, a straightforward alternative rock album, and be album to live up to the anticipation their EP has created for it.

Jason Boesel | Hustler's Son

Few drummers ever have the chance/willingness to step to the front of the stage. Jason Boesel has done just that with his first solo album entitled Hustler’s Son. Boesel has been an associate drummer for bands like The Elected, Bright Eyes and others for the better part of his musical career. You can count on one hand how many drummers have successfully made the transition from the heart of the band to the face of the band, Dave Grohl, Phil Collins and Don Henley are the ones that come to mind offhand. It takes a certain kind of musician to make that kind of transition, and Boesel does just that with this sole project. The album itself is a very thoughtful representation of an artist who doesn’t mind delving into the roots of rock from inspiration. When listening to the Hustler’s Son you get the impression that Boesel was listening to a healthy mixture of Dylan, The Band and other bands of that nature while preparing to make the album.

Hindi Zahra | Taking A Look At Handmade

Hindi Zahra has come out with an album of note called Handmade. The Paris based musician’s album is the first memorable one of its sort to come out since the dawn of the New Year. A gentle collection of tracks filled with arid acoustic guitar riffs accompanied by Zahra’s vocals which at times conger up memories of the great Billie Holiday. In the world of current music though, among her peers Zahra would be more comparable to a Leslie Feist than Lily Allen. In fact, as with Feist’s album Let It Die, Zahra’s Handmade moves between songs sung in French and English.

Handmade moves in tone from more the more playful, with tracks like Beautiful Tango to the more sultry with tracks like Kiss & Thrills. On the whole the album contains a set of cuts that truly come to life while you listen to them. Last year had no shortage of folk/blues albums but only a few of them had the stamina to retain interest for multiple listens, such as M. Ward’s Hold Time. Handmade has definitely been crafted with care.

Brian Jonestown Massacre | A Review of Who Killed Sgt. Pepper

Brian Jonestown Massacre is set to release their eleventh studio album on Feb 23rd. The band has gone through an impressive number of members since its formation in 1990. Former members number in the dozens. All but Anton Newcombe, one of the founding members of Brian Jonestown Massacre have come and gone. Being one of the only constants in the band, Newcombe can safely be considered the heart of this long standing band. You can hear how much the psychedelic music of the 60s has a role in the music of Brian Jonestown Massacre, its palpable through the lyrics and underlined rhythms.

As for Who Killed Sgt. Pepper, the title is obviously alluding to the heavily psychedelically influenced Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lone Hearts Club Band. If this is the case, doesn’t it make you wonder what original band member Newcombe thinks of the current state of the slowly building roots rock/psychedelica. The likes of which can be heard in acts like Dr. Dog, Sunset Rubdown and Silent League. Getting back to Who Killed Sgt. Pepper, distortion plays an important part on most tracks, filtering through the drums like so much auditory energy. Some tracks stand out with very catchy though anti-pop chorus, such as Lets Go Fucking Mental that has a title that bares the same name. Detka! Detka! Detka! a track off of the album sung in Russian, the title itself meaning something like ‘Baby! Baby! Baby!’ as in ‘Baby I’m amazed!’, a song that stands apart from any other on Who Killed Sgt. Pepper only in language. The tone and style all remain stylistically similar throughout the album and even in Russian you still know who you are listening to.