Q2 Report: We Pick the Best of April, May and June 2008
July 11th, 2008 | 9:00 am est |
New Releases
Walter Becker - Circus Money
The Black Keys - Attack & Release
Brian Blade Fellowship - Season of Changes
The Breeders - Mountain Battles
Los Campesinos - Hold on Now, Youngster…
James Carter - Present Tense
The Charlatans UK - You Cross My Path (Deluxe Edition)
Cheap Time - Cheap Time
Clinic - Do It!
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
Elvis Costello & the Imposters - Momofuku
Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
Duffy - Rockferry
The Duke Spirit - Neptune
Dwele - Sketches of a Man
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
Estelle - Shine
Firewater - The Golden Hour
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
Robert Forster - The Evangelist
Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!
Al Green - Lay It Down
Lalah Hathaway - Self Portrait
Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Jeremy Jay - A Place Where We Could Go
Joan as Policewoman - To Survive
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
M83 - Saturdays=Youth
Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers
Matmos - Supreme Balloon
Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch
Mudhoney - The Lucky Ones
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
No Age - Nouns
Osborne - Osborne
Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual!
Portishead - Third
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Robyn - Robyn (2008 US Bonus Tracks)
The Roots - Rising Down
RZA as Bobby Digital - Digi Snacks
Santogold - Santogold
Sigur Rós - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
George Strait - Troubadour
Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha
Weezer - Weezer (Red Album)
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Reissues
Air - Moon Safari (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
The Browns - The Complete Hits
Gene Clark - Silverado ‘75: Live & Unreleased
George Duke - Faces in Reflection (MPS)
Jim Ford - Point of No Return
Gas - Nah und Fern
Merle Haggard - Hag: Concepts, Live & the Strangers — The Capitol Recordings 1968-1976
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection (Deluxe Edition) (Bonus Tracks)
Kid Creole - Going Places: The August Darnell Years 1976-1983
King Khan & the Shrines - The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines
The La’s - The La’s (Deluxe Edition)
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff (Deluxe Edition)
Willie Nelson - One Hell of a Ride (Box Set)
Old 97’s - Blame It on Gravity (Deluxe)
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (Deluxe Edition)
Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07
Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (Collector’s Edition)
The Replacements - Hootenanny (Deluxe Edition)
The Replacements - Let It Be (Deluxe Edition)
The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (Deluxe Edition)
Steinski - What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
Various Artists - The House That Al Built: The Alegre Records Story 1957-1977
Various Artists - A-Square (Of Course): The Story of Michigan’s Legendary A-Square Records
Various Artists - Eccentric Soul: The Tragar & Note Labels
Various Artists - Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story
Click here to view our picks from the first three months of 2008.
The new Sparks album “Exotic Creatures of the Deep” was released on May 19th and it is one of their best. There is a deluxe edition for folks who are into that sort of thing.
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/3588/sparks
I don’t care what anyone says, the new Breeders album is awful.
No Sun Kil Moon?
I apologize for being yet another complaining voice in your nook of hell, but the new Weezer album is horrific. And on top of that as a huge R.E.M. fan I was quite disappointed with Accelerate. It seemed really juvenile and the songs were uncommonly short. I don’t rock a hipster scene so I am unaware of a lot of the crap you will hear about but this list is good. Costello, Diamond, and Flight of the Conchords are enough to make me happy.
Torche - Meanderthal
The new Weezer album is excellent. Thank you for mentioning it. :)
Fuckin Weezer? What are you guys passing around the office? C’mon now, there’s tons of great music right under yr noses–lazy, lazy.
New Weezer album is absolutely wonderful for at least half of it’s entire running length, definitely a very good album.
The RZA as Bobby Digital CD has some of the greatest hip-hop joints of the year!
Digi snacks!
In my opinion Barry Adamson’s Back To The Cat is one of the greatest new releases I have heard in some time. I have been listening to it non-stop. Its very ecclectic and extremely enjoyable. One of my new favorites.
2008 is only half over and it already blows the doors off 2007! as for the second quarter, i must have really weird taste because i love the no age AND robyn. i can’t believe i just typed that.
I have to agree with Richard’s post above on Sparks new album. For a band that has been around for 35 years and still making truly vital and inventive music, they are so overlooked in the music press in favor of ridiculously derivative bands like The Hold Steady and their ilk. Yawn. Give me something that tickles my brain and points it toward new directions. Thank you Sparks for Exotic Creatures of the Deep–and also ignore the review of A Woofer in Tweeter’s Clothing on this website. Creem magazine was right when it called it a truly subversive record (or something close to that) 35 years ago. It was that review that got me into Sparks in the first place and it still stands a a great modern achievement with a forward looking sound as does their most recent release.
I was wondering where all the morons went until I read this message board and found you congregating here. With the exception of the Becker album, The Black Keys, George Strait, My Morning Jacket, and Al Green, this is all shit. And I had to sift through it to pick those, as is the case with most contemporary mainstream music. Thanks to the legacy left by the likes of REM and the Sparks (sorry Keith and Tom)we have the worst, most discordant bunch of unintuitive assclowns handing us Green Day’s Dookie album in various keys with the distortion tweaked over and fucking over again. Advice to prospective musicians: Billy Joe Armstrong’s voice only works for him, and rarely for him. Also, strings laid over that type of shit does not sound good.
This John fellow, I like his style.
You missed two albums that are, for me, two of the best of the year. Kasey Chambers’ and Shane Nicholson’s “Rattlin’ Bones,” yet to be released in the States (but available via Amazon) is as good as it gets - an Aussie Emmy and Gram, just about. And speaking of Emmy … her “All I Intended to Be” is absolutely stunning.
most of these are good, but what’s up with the neil diamond? come on now. just because rick rubin produced an album doesn’t make it good.
Digi Snack Yeah
The Wombats album “A Guide to Love, Loss and Despair” is absolutely brilliant. Recommended for anyone who likes fun rock/alternative. Great lyrics, great sound, and great vocal style. But of course no one is going to mention them since the album got no coverage almost.
John, this isn’t pitchfork. Dial down the snark a notch or two. If allmusic can write a sober review of a WK album, surely we can avoid the word ‘moron’ in a conversation about Sparks.
Check out the Al Escovedo CD…hell, check out all the Alejandro Escovedo you can find. It’s all consistently great.
Where’s Dig Lazarus Dig????? Useless list.
yet again, not a single metal or hardcore album on the list. seriously, there’s a lot of excellent extreme music coming out that you guys have completely ignored
my bad there is the jay reatard album, but still
I agree with joey. There are plenty of great metal albums that came out this year, so far. One of them being Opeth’s ‘Watershed’. This band keeps upping the notch with each album they produce. I think that album should at least made the list. But, hey, that’s just my opinion.
Joey + Chris = Correct - Anything “non-commercial” gets ignored.
Opeth - Everything they have done for a decade (seven albums) has been flawless, as reflected by the near permanent 4.5* rating (we can deliberate why not five, maybe it’s a test of time thing and maybe it’s a commercial thing). AMG is fantastic for reviews, but you’d have thought by now it (as an organization) would be “promoting” albums based on artistry and not commercial acceptability. Weezer? Duffy? Coldplay? REM? Not a tenth on Opeth. Just commercially viable mediocrity. Watershed is an absolute monster, as per Opeth, and it gets no recognition! Widen that pallet of selection a bit guys!