Fall Album Preview
by Mike Conklin and Lauren BeckSEPTEMBER
Hurley and Pinkerton: Deluxe Edition
"I hope people don't look at it as too jokey," Weezer guitarist Brian Bell said in a recent interview, referencing the album artwork for Hurley. You mean the cover plastered with a picture of Hurley from Lost isn't a joke? We're screwed. Bell characterized the band's eighth studio album as a "youthful kind of sound;" the pummeling arena rock of lead single "Memories" fits the bill, with Rivers plowing through lines like, "Playing hacky sack back when Audioslave was still Rage�€� I want to be back there again." So do we�€� So do we�€� Fittingly, a repackaged, expanded edition of their 1996 cult classic Pinkerton is also set for release later this fall, inciting rumors of a Blue Album/Pinkerton tour, where both albums would be played in their entirety and we would find ourselves not nearly as screwed as we originally thought. (Hurley: 9/14 via Epitaph; Pinkerton: 10/5 via Geffen/Ume)
Blonde Redhead
Penny Sparkle
They've been pairing avant-rock with ethereal vocals for forever, each album steadily moving towards the culminating lushness of 2007's 23. So what comes next? How about overdriven guitars, bass-driven beats and canned drumming glazed over by Kazu Makino's icy vocals. Imagine the Dirty Projectors, Beach House and Sleigh Bells being remixed by a very sad Panda Bear. From the tracks we've heard, that's how Penny Sparkle sounds. (9/14 via 4AD)
Eternal Summers
Silver
This Virginia-based, boy-girl duo has been kicking around the local live circuit since CMJ last year, becoming friendly with many of the Brooklyn bands with whom they share a sound. They do the highly melodic jangly guitar lo-fi thing, but as Silver's first single "Pogo" can attest, they do it with a sense of care often missing from their cohorts' material. There's no way you write a song that catchy if you don't care about songcraft. (9/28 via Kanine)
No Age
Everything in Between
"Glitter," the first single off Everything in Between is really, really good. It sees the spastic art-punk of the duo's previous work evolved into bittersweet pop—still distorted, still weird, still infectious. According to Sub Pop, "There's a genuine and apparent baring of the soul [on the album]," and if "Glitter" is any indication, that might not be an empty PR promise. (9/28 via Sub Pop)
Sisters
Ghost Fits
Sisters could be considered No Age's East Coast protégés, sticking primarily to a drum-guitar format, a decidedly DIY aesthetic (their drummer works at Death by Audio), wild-eyed energy, and a knack for breaking up fits of cacophony with simple, childlike melodies that save the day. Unlike No Age, however, there's less reliance on samples and an emphasis on earnest speak-sung vocals, making for a debut that should be as endearing as it is fast and loud. Brooklyn represent. (9/28 via Narnack)
Deerhunter
Halcyon Digest
The announcement of Halcyon Digest came via an interactive xerox art project inspired by the photocopied show flyers frontman Bradford Cox saw plastered on the walls of record stores while growing up in Athens—what he called an "art-punk scrapbook." The album itself should follow suit, blurring cut-and-pasted bits of psychedlia, post-rock and noise-pop into hook-filled collages like only Deerhunter can. (9/28 via 4AD)
Panda Bear
Tomboy
Since 2007's Person Pitch, the indie-rock world has been holding its breath for the next solo project from Animal Collective's golden boy of blissed-out psych-pop. Reviews of recent festival appearances have been mixed, and there's been an awful lot of hearsay surrounding Panda Bear's new material�€� This is what we know for sure: the first in a series of singles leading up to the album sees him incorporating a downcast, repetitive beat; it's a self-described "darker" and less sample-based record; it's still the work of someone responsible for some of the most heralded, emotive indie-rock in recent memory, so relax. It should be good. (September, exact date TBA, via Paw Tracks)
OCTOBER
Sharon Van EttenEpic
Epic may be somewhat of a misleading title as Ms. Van Etten established herself as Brooklyn's latest expert in sparse, understated folk with her debut album Because I Was in Love last year. Through songs that stung with heart-wrenching honesty, the smoky voiced singer-songwriter laid down an unwavering foundation upon her next project to build. (10/5 via Ba Da Bing)
Marnie Stern
Marnie Stern
No longer having to prove herself as an exceptionally skilled guitarist—her last album took care of that—Stern has said a "louder, fuller" sound is the goal here. Teaming up with bassist Matthew Flegal of Women and animal drummer Zach Hill of Hella and Wavves fame, lead single "For Ash" sounds like Fang Island. Written after finding out her ex-boyfriend "Ash" had committed suicide, there is fits of tribal drumming and a failing, reach-for-the-stars energy. (10/5 via Kill Rock Stars)
The Beets
Stay Home
Though the local garage-rock trio has introduced a female drummer into the band, you probably shouldn't expect them to sound any more refined on Stay Home. Though little info has surfaced about the album, we imagine it aligning with the sloppy, gritty, Jets vs. Sharks pop of their debut, and being all the better for it. (10/12 via Captured Tracks)
Antony & the Johnsons
Swanlights
This should give Belle & Sebastian a run for their money in best twee pop album released on October 12. Ha! Just kidding. What you can expect from Swanlights is more theatrical, baroque balladry that will find Antony in his regular spot come December: among the upper echelon of critics' "best of" lists, especially considering there's a reported duet with Bjork. (10/12 via Secretly Canadian)
Avey Tare
Down There
AnCo's other frontman, the yelper, gives the solo thing a go with Down There, the debut album under his own name (or pseudonym, as the case may be). In an interview with Pitchfork, there's lots of talk about how he channels certain influences—"a haunted swamp," images of hell, and films like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre—through watery electronics and self-recorded samples. Sounds as weird and wonderful and scary (the Halloween release date is intentional) as anything from Animal Collective's early catalog. (10/26 via Paw Tracks)
Small Black
ill
New Chain
Small Black first made waves last fall with "Despicable Dogs," a sad, romantic track that made for the perfect transition from summer to fall. It was close to being chillwave but saved itself with having too much hold on a defined melody. Now the local trio has gotten themselves a record deal, and if the single "Photojournalist" is any evidence, a few more swirling, danceable, near-chillwave songs to go along with it. (10/26 via Jagjaguwar)
Bob Dylan
The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos
It's hard to believe we're now nine installments deep in this unbelievably solid, dense and rewarding series, and its hard to believe it could possibly get any better, but with The Witmark Demos arriving on store shelves later this fall, it should do just that. The 2-disc, 47-track collection features demos of well known early singles as well as a bunch of previously unreleased songs recorded between 1962 and 1964. You'll get to hear a very young Dylan at his best—acoustic guitar, harmonica and very little else, trying to figure out what he's going to become. You know how it turns out, now see how it happened. (10/19 via Columbia)
Taylor Swift
Speak Now
It's been an eventful couple years for Taylor Swift since the release of her immensely likable breakthrough, Fearless. There was the messy, public breakup with that one Jonas Brother. There was the Kanye thing. There was the onslaught of award show success. An onslaught of surprised reactions to that success. Constant aw-shucks humility that was at first endearing, but later completely irritating and, worse, sort of fake. On Speak Now, we'll see if it had any effect on her—positive or negative. (10/26 via Big Machine)
Sufjan Stevens
The Age of Adz
For Sufjan's first new full-length in five years, he's reportedly ditched the banjos ukuleles that once gave his cutesy indie-pop its unmistakable identity in favor of, yep... electronic stuff. It will be interesting to see if his playful sensibilities will cut through the inherently colder sound. Here's hoping. (10/12 via Asthmatic Kitty)
NOVEMBER
WYWH
In 2003, the Concretes put out an album of charming, lace-collar indie-pop. Music critics drooled, "Say Something New" was on a Target commercial, then lead singer Victoria Bergsman left the band, and their follow-ups went largely unnoticed here in the states. After three years without releasing a single song, the Swedish outfit set out to make a self-described "disco album"—eight band members, less guitar, more keyboards, digging basslines. We're listening now to a new track now, and that's some damn fine danceable pop. (11/2 via Friendly Fire)
Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian Write About Love
It's been three years since the release of the very good and very underrated The Life Pursuit, a time during which frontman Stuart Murdoch focused, at least briefly, on his somewhat disappointing God Save the Girl Project, so it'll be interesting to see if they can recapture the stylish, smart, adorable and ridiculously catchy glory of their previous work together. Even just judging from the title, we're thinking they won't have too much trouble. (10/12 via Matador)
Kanye West
Dark Twisted Fantasy
Arcade Fire, M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem... you thought there was a lot of hype surrounding those records earlier this year? Yeah, well, that was nothing compared to what's gonna happen when Kanye eventually gets around to releasing Dark Twisted Fantasy (or whatever he's calling it these days), his much, much, much anticipated follow-up to the confounding 808s & Heartbreaks—his first since the Taylor Swift incident, his first since joining Twitter, and his first since embarking on a strange promotional tour centered around different social networking sites. One gets the feeling he's going to rewrite the rule book here, and one gets the feeling an awful lot of people are going to have an awful lot to say about it. One also gets the feeling this record is going to sell an awful lot of copies, regardless of what those people say. (Def Jam Records, Release Date TBD)
