The 2009 Albums Thread

[sweetcell]

now i want to give this album a listen... marketing win:

Chris Cornell's dance album dismays rock fans

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Chris Cornell is getting a kick out of angering his fans.

The former Soundgarden singer has stunned the rock cognoscenti with his whimsical decision to record an album with Timbaland, a hip-hop producer whose clients include pop stars Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado.

"Scream" is both the title of his third solo outing and a reflection of the howls of indignation. Online forums ignited with bitter denunciations (and occasional defenses) of the album long before it hit stores on Tuesday via Interscope Records.

(...) 

At any rate, Cornell has performed the album in its entirety at about a dozen concerts, and says the audience response has been enthusiastic.

"It's the most that I've seen guys with beards rocking back and forth to a rhythm," he said.

He considers the album "an interesting sociological experiment," since people seem to be more concerned about who is making the music rather than the music itself.

full article

[azaghal1981]

Wow Timbaland? This makes me actually want to see him now.

[sweetcell]

SFA unveil entire new record in gig webcast!
 
At 8pm GMT on March 16th log onto superfurry.com to see a gig webcast - its the first airing of the new album, Dark days/Light Years and you'll be able to see the band playing the new album in its entirety
 
You can buy the new album immediately from 8pm UK time on March 16 from superfurry.com on MP3 download...there will also be options to pre-order it on CD, which will be available from April 13.
 
Expect to start hearing tracks from DD/LY on the radio and online from next week - Inaugural Trams features Nick from Franz Ferdinand doing a German rap, so worth looking out for!
 
The full tracklisting is -
 
DARK DAYS/LIGHT YEARS
 
Crazy Naked Girls
The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
Moped Eyes
Inagural Trams
Inconvenience
Cardiff In The Sun
Mountain
Helium Hearts
White Socks/Flip Flops
Where Do You Wanna Go
Lliwiau Llachar
Pric

free track: Inaugural Trams

[sweetcell]

Wow Timbaland? This makes me actually want to see him now.

show is sold out, not that you shouldn't be able to get a ticket outside the club.  face was like $50 i think...

[Relaxer]

At first I was really disappointed with the new Bonnie Prince Billy album. It was so polished and shiny, with clean instrumentation and smooth background vocals, whereas I like my Oldham creaky and ramshackle. But the fact is, motherscratcher can write songs and the quality still comes shining through. Doesn't reach the highs of Lie Down in the Light, and isn't nearly on the level of I See a Darkness or Viva Lost Blues. But it's another win for the bald fat man.

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs does nothing for me. They ratcheted down Zimmer's guitars and increased O's vocals, and now it just sounds kind of generic.

Mantic Ritual's Executioner is a new band that someone described as sounding like Kill 'Em All-era Metallica, and... that's exactly right. Not ground-breaking but hits the spot.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

from the Old 97's website:

And this just in from Billboard: Rhett's self-titled fourth CD now has a release date: Rhett Miller hits the shelves of finer sound emporiums on June 9. Another great tidbit from that piece:
Miller plans to tour in support of "Rhett Miller," both on his own and with Old 97's. In fact, he says, the band, which will be on the road this summer, is thinking about incorporating solo sets by Miller and bassist Murry Hammond as part of an "evening with" concept.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

I thought Bonnie's album was kind of boring. But I've never really been much of a fan. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

At first I was really disappointed with the new Bonnie Prince Billy album. It was so polished and shiny, with clean instrumentation and smooth background vocals, whereas I like my Oldham creaky and ramshackle. But the fact is, motherscratcher can write songs and the quality still comes shining through. Doesn't reach the highs of Lie Down in the Light, and isn't nearly on the level of I See a Darkness or Viva Lost Blues. But it's another win for the bald fat man.

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs does nothing for me. They ratcheted down Zimmer's guitars and increased O's vocals, and now it just sounds kind of generic.

Mantic Ritual's Executioner is a new band that someone described as sounding like Kill 'Em All-era Metallica, and... that's exactly right. Not ground-breaking but hits the spot.

[azaghal1981]

Wow Timbaland? This makes me actually want to see him now.

show is sold out, not that you shouldn't be able to get a ticket outside the club.  face was like $50 i think...

Pretty sure I'm set.

[gaaaaaaaaah]

SFA unveil entire new record in gig webcast!
 
At 8pm GMT on March 16th log onto superfurry.com to see a gig webcast - its the first airing of the new album, Dark days/Light Years and you'll be able to see the band playing the new album in its entirety
 
You can buy the new album immediately from 8pm UK time on March 16 from superfurry.com on MP3 download...there will also be options to pre-order it on CD, which will be available from April 13.
 
Expect to start hearing tracks from DD/LY on the radio and online from next week - Inaugural Trams features Nick from Franz Ferdinand doing a German rap, so worth looking out for!
 
The full tracklisting is -
 
DARK DAYS/LIGHT YEARS
 
Crazy Naked Girls
The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
Moped Eyes
Inagural Trams
Inconvenience
Cardiff In The Sun
Mountain
Helium Hearts
White Socks/Flip Flops
Where Do You Wanna Go
Lliwiau Llachar
Pric

free track: Inaugural Trams

Inaugural Trams is a great track.  I'm looking forward to seeing/watching this whole record on monday afternoon.  It's apparently got some pretty epic track lengths, too.

[azaghal1981]

The new Thermals hasn't grabbed me like the last one did yet.

[Relaxer]

Gave the new Superdrag a run-through last night and really liked it. It feels particularly all over the place, and a couple songs went by without notice. But there were more great numbers that grabbed my attention.

New Super Furry Animals is on deck for the lunchtime run.

[sweetcell]

relaxer: how was SFA?

and in other news:

Ashes of American Flags, Wilco's first live concert film on DVD is now available for pre-order HERE. Filmed during the band's March '08 tour, it includes footage from Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Tipitina's in New Orleans, The Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. Our friends Brendan Canty and Christoph Green at Trixie Films directed & produced (Sunken Treasure, Burn to Shine, etc.) and we think it's a pretty damned good piece of work. Since April 18 is a ways off yet, we'll give you at least a bit of immediate gratification upon ordering with an instantaneously available downloadable version of Monday (playable on your computers, ipods, etc.). You can check out the trailer HERE. And you can catch a screening of the film in a CITY near you.

[gaaaaaaaaah]

New SFA is incredible after one listen.  It's bigger, louder and heavier than just about anything they've ever done.  I'm quite the SFA freak, but I'd recommend checking the album out if you get a chance.

[Relaxer]

I was the biggest SFA fan during the Fuzzy Logic and Radiator era, but Guerilla was the fade point and I've not been into much since. And I don't like the new one a lot. It's good enough music and I could see people liking it. But I like those first two albums so much with their greasy guitars and punchy songs, and everything since has seemed like mushy baroque pop.

I realized last night that the Pains of Being Pure at Heart is probably my favorite record of the year so far. It'll fade sooner or later, but for now, it's a nice little album.

Another disappointment is the new Art Brut. I still think their debut is one of the decade's classics. Every song on there is a winner. But I never really got into the second one, even though it sounded pretty similar. I'll try again on Art Brut vs. Satan, but it sounds like they're just filling out a template on what they're supposed to sound like. I've played it twice and both times I've stopped in the middle and put the debut on and been happier. Result!

[azaghal1981]

For the dubstep fans:
the new Caspa is good and heavy-hitting so far; too bad I don't have the proper stereo system for it. Much of the super low sub-bass is lost on me.