2009 Fall Releases – The Cup Overfloweth

I did a “Most Anticipated Music of 2009″ a while back and so far I have been pleased with most of the releases that I had been looking forward to. P.O.S.‘s Never Better came out early in 09 and didn’t disappoint. Well, it disappointed me a little, it is his weakest release, but still has some great songs. Other release lived up to my expectations as well. Isis and dredg both had very strong releases. Then some disappointed, The new Prodigy was pretty terrible, don’t know why I get excited about their releases anymore, but I think that’s over with Invaders must die. So now we are almost into the fall (my favorite time of year) and there are tons of releases that have yet to surface. This is going to be a wonderful few months leading up to the end of the year. Here is what I cannot wait for:

Brand New - Daisy: Yes, I know they titled the album Daisy. I don’t care. Brand New has been a rare band in my opinion. They have gotten better and better with each release. 2006′s The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me is my favorite album of the decade, hands down. For some reason people still love to label these guys “Emo” but they are the furthest thing from it. They are American rock to it’s fullest. They just happen to have an emotional front man (one of the best in the biz) in Jesse Lacey. I will always have high expectations for Brand New releases, they have never let me down. Releases 9/22/09 (it has recently leaked as well).

Katatonia - Night Is the New Day: This is a group that I randomly came across as 08 came to a close. I tried out The Great Cold Distance and was blown away. One of the best metal releases I have heard in forever. I’m not quite as enamored with their past work, but the song writing during TGCD was so fantastic, I cannot wait for new stuff. With this one I am slightly worried that expectations are too high as I just really can’t get into any of their early work. I’ll find out when this releases on 10/19/2009.

Thrice - Beggars: This one already leaked, which is way to early and might hurt (or help) with the final release. The same thing happened to Brand New with The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me and they scrapped almost everything they had and started over. Because of that experience I refuse to check this out early. I am going to wait for the release date and purchase it, because I want to support the bands I love. With the Brand New leak in 06 it kind of killed my excitement for the album because the leaked demos didn’t sound that good. Well, that’s because they were demos. From what I understand the Thrice leak might be more finalized than it’s Brand New counterpart, I don’t care. I’m getting this the day it comes out, in an actual store, which is 9/15/09. It is currently out on ITunes, but I feel like if I wait for the physical release I will be rewarded with something. Plus I want DRM free music.

Some honorable mentions to go over.

-A Wilhelm Scream is easily one of my favorite bands and I was really looking forward to their release this year. I’ve since found out that is a EP (5 songs I believe) so while I am still stoked for it, I want a full album.

-AFI are releasing their follow up to Decemberunderground this year and I am looking forward to it. I have cooled off on AFI the last few years and I’m not sure why. I think their last two releases have been their strongest (regardless of what others think) but I feel like I might be growing out of them. We shall see once Crash Love hits 9/29/09.

-30 Seconds to Mars is a guilty pleasure for me. They are kind of overly pretentious (seriously, that video for From Yesterday makes me want to gag) but I still enjoy listening to them. I’m not super stoked for this, but they are a decent band and always have 3 to 4 songs on each album that I think are great.  This Is War comes out in late October.

-CunninLynguists are set to release their second LP this year in the form of Strange Jourey Volume 2. The first one was better than I expected. It only had a handful of new songs and there are a few songs that weren’t even their own, but it was still a great listen. Hoping for more of the same.

Music Review: P.O.S. – Never Better

If you have been following my blog at all the first few months of it’s existence, you have seen my most anticipated music of 2009.  One of those albums has dropped making my wait for some good music not to bad, only the 2nd month of the year.  The disc is from P.O.S., a Minneapolis based rapper.  For those that don’t know him, he started out with punk-rock at a younger age.  He started doing hip-hop here and there, playing small shows, and he ended up having quite a bit of fun with it.  Not only did he have fun with it, he was pretty good.  Never Better is the 3rd L.P. in P.O.S.’ career.  His first two albums were stellar front to back with some of my favorite hip-hop songs ever.  P.O.S. is on of the few rappers out there who still sound unique to me.  At times his vocals do sound a little like Eminem, but he mixes it up well, singing, screaming and rapping… sometimes all on one track.  His production is also unique.  There are a lot of live instruments sprinkled throughout his albums.  He samples rather heavy guitar from groups like Underoath.  Mix his vocal variety with a punk approach to production and you have something different from the mainstream.

Thankfully I didn’t post this review when I first planned to. After my first two listens I wasn’t digging it. My first listen was while playing a video game and the second listen while at work. Then came the third go round. I put on my headphones, turned on my Zune and laid back with nothing but the music to pay attention to. It was this listening session that made everything click for me. While listening in the background, I missed so many of the intricacies of the production.  There are layers upon layers of strings, beats, live drums, vocal sampling.  If you don’t pay attention your going to miss what makes this album so good.

Video for Drumroll (We’re all Thirsty)

Most Anticipated Music of 2009

I always enjoy entering a new year.  I get to think about all the things that I have to wait for.  In this post I am going to go over all of the music that I am looking forward to in the new year, and you should be looking forward to it as well.  This list isn’t in any particular order and I did my best to dig and scratch for release info.  Some releases I found an estimate, some the actual date and some with the unfortunate TBD.  Take a look at the list, see if you agree and add some of the ones you are looking for in ’09.

Imogen Heap – TBD:  This one is going to seem out of place when you read the rest of my list, but that’s OK, the girl’s got skills.  She got a little bit of radio play with Goodnight and Go, a song that was played on the then famous The O.C. on Fox.  Like all other talented female artists before her, the radio play was fleeting because everyone was wondering what Britney Spears was doing with her hair.  Imogen has had a pretty nice career for herself.  Two solo albums, a side project with Frou Frou and some wonderful guest appearances on various other albums (Check our her video with Urban Species below).  She’s hard to pigeon hole into one specific category, so I just say she’s one of the best female vocalists with a heavy electronic influence.  I guess it could be Trip-Hop but I just don’t know.  Either way, this is going to be a good release.  She has consistently gotten better throughout her career and I don’t plan on that stopping now.  Late in ’08 she released the single Not Now, But Soon.  The track may or may not be on her ’09 release.  Regardless the single is a great song and signs of good things to come.