Just looking through this month’s offerings MAKES ME DIZZY.
4/1/08
The Black Keys – Attack & Release – The Akron, OH blues duo’s fifth full length was produced by Danger Mouse.
Kylie Minogue – X – Minogue’ tenth album (hence the X), which came out last November in the UK, finally gets a US release, and is her first album since recovering from breast cancer.
Moby – Last Night – On his first album in three years, and 8th overall, Moby returns to the dance music that kicked off his career.
R.E.M. – Accelerate – After the Athens, GA legends admittedly phoned it in on 2004’s Around the Sun, they return with their hardest rocking album in years, the 14th of their storied career.
Sun Kil Moon – April – Mark Kozelek’s (of Red House Painters fame) third full-length under the Sun Kil Moon moniker features guest spots from Will Oldham and Ben Gibbard, and is full of slow, heart-felt tunes.
4/8/08
The Breeders – Mountain Battles – The Deal twins’ first album in six years finds the band exploring more experimental territory than on past efforts.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig! – Nick Cave first assembled the legendary Bad Seeds in 1984, and 24 years later they’re still going strong on their 14th studio album.
Clinic – Do It – After two stellar albums kicked off their career, Clinic’s been struggling to find a direction since 2002’s Walking with Thee. They’re hoping this is finally the proper follow-up.
Cut Copy – Ghost Colours – The Australian electroclash trio’s third album is sure to be full of big anthems that will get you on the dance floor.
The Duke Spirit – Neptune – The London band’s fuzzy garage rock returns intact on their second album.
Foals – Antidotes – The Oxford, UK’s buzz band sound is akin to Bloc Party on crystal meth, if you can imagine that. Their debut contains 11 brand new songs, using none of the singles they’ve released over the past two years.
Jonathan Richman – Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild – The former Modern Lovers frontman releases his first album since 2004.
The Long Blondes – Couples – The Sheffield, UK quartet’s sophomore effort was produced by electronic musician Erol Alkan, and takes on a more dance-y, synth-heavy sound this time around.
Man Man – Rabbit Habits – The Philadelphia-based Tom Waits disciples third full-length continues to evolve this eclectic band’s unique sound.
Colin Meloy – Colin Meloy Sings Live! – The title says it all!
Peter Moren – The Last Tycoon – Peter, Bjorn & John’s Peter’s debut album is more subdued and acoustic than his band’s heavily produced work.
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Pershing – The second album from the Missouri indie pop band is full of easy to digest, catchy tunes.
Spoon – Don’t You Evah EP – Contains the original version of the song by the Natural History, one brand new song, and remixes by Diplo, Matthew Dear and others.
Tapes ‘n Tapes – Walk It Off – The blog darlings try to follow-up the success of their 2005 debut with this David Fridmann-produced album. With Fridmann on board, it’s sure to sound much bigger and spacier than The Loon.
4/15/08
Brian Jonestown Massacre – My Bloody Underground – The ever-changing San Francisco group, fronted by the enigmatic Anton Newcombe, release their 13th studio album.
The Kooks – Konk – The British garage-rock band, huge in their home country, try to replicate their success on this side of the pond with their sophomore release.
M83 – Saturdays = Youth – On his fourth album, the (now) one-man band of Anthony Gonzalez dips into the 80s for inspiration and adds more vocalists and pop songs to his typical electronic/shoegaze sound.
Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha – One of the few remaining bands from the 90s Britpop invasion, Supergrass continues to make superb music on this, their 6th album.
4/22/08
Islands – Arm’s Way – Nick Diamonds, formerly of The Unicorns, may have lost founding member J’aime Tambeur, but it hasn’t stopped him from churning out new music.
Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint that Shit Gold – This is the 6th album from the Minnesota underground hip-hop duo.
El Perro Del Mar – From the Valley to the Stars – Gothenburg, Sweden’s El Perro Del Mar, aka Sarah Assbring, releases her second album of dreamy bedroom pop.
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid – The Britpop band’s 4th studio album has been garnering rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.
Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords – Finally, New Zealand’s 4th most popular folk-parody duo has a full-length album that compiles the best material from their incredible show.
Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell – More than two years after releasing their debut EP, A Lesson in Crime, the Ontario-based blog darlings are finally releasing their first full-length.
4/29/08
Boris – Smile – The Japanese experimental doom metal trio turns the volume down a little bit for what appears to be their most accessible album to date.
Constantines – Kensington Heights – The Toronto-based indie rock quintet releases their 4th album.
Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight – This indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland garnered a lot of buzz at South by Southwest and hope to make good on it with their sophomore release.
Jamie Lidell – Jim – The former electronic musician began experimenting with soul music on 2005’s Multiply and continues down the path on Jim, which sounds like it could’ve come straight out of the 60s.
Madonna – Hard Candy – Madge is back and her 11th studio album features contributions from Timbaland, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams.
Portishead – Third – The trip-hop pioneers’ first album in eleven years sounds like they haven’t lost a step at all. They moved past the trip-hop and into darker, louder territory with a larger variety of actual instruments and less synthesizers.
Matt has been writing this column for the first week of the month FOR MONTHS.
Pitchfork did their first one today.
Try some reverse guilt tripping.
See above.
April 3, 2008 at 5:34 amre: Brian Jonestown Massacre. Any of you who have not seen the documentary Dig move it to the top of your Netflix queue right now. Essential viewing.
April 3, 2008 at 8:41 amwhat reggie said.
WERD.
April 3, 2008 at 10:32 ami’m totally not in the know about portishead. a) why is the black chick who was singing fore them gone? 2) is the new girl good/great/eh/sucky/comparable? seriously, answers, please. i’m lazy.
April 3, 2008 at 11:51 ami’m so retarded it’s nt even funny. i was thinking of morcheeba. ok, same question, though.
April 3, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Pitchfork called. They want their list back (minus the inane commentary).
April 2, 2008 at 5:40 pm