Dunking my head in the waters of the Welsh Music Prize for a month or two was a fun exercise, don't get me wrong, but buying up all of those albums did cause me to miss a few interesting new releases that weren't born on Welsh soil. Here are five new-ish albums that will be going straight in my shopping basket come payday:
Reflektor by Arcade Fire
I wasn't a big fan of The Suburbs (as this blog post made pretty clear), but I get the impression that Reflektor is a pretty big departure from its predecessor. Equally interesting is the lack of critical consensus I've seen; NME hailed it as their best work yet, while Uncut portrayed it as grand but flawed and Drowned in Sound didn't seem very convinced at all. I'm keen to hear who was right.
The track that has me excited: Reflektor itself. It's big, it's new, it's cuh-ray-zay!
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I wasn't a big fan of The Suburbs (as this blog post made pretty clear), but I get the impression that Reflektor is a pretty big departure from its predecessor. Equally interesting is the lack of critical consensus I've seen; NME hailed it as their best work yet, while Uncut portrayed it as grand but flawed and Drowned in Sound didn't seem very convinced at all. I'm keen to hear who was right.
The track that has me excited: Reflektor itself. It's big, it's new, it's cuh-ray-zay!
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Hesitation Marks by Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails still occupy the 'Best Live Band I've Ever Seen' throne in my brain palace (they completely upstaged the new Smashing Pumpkins at Reading 2007), and while there are still plenty of old NIN albums I don't yet own, this new'un was sufficiently unexpected to leapfrog to the top of my wishlist. I thought Trent Reznor was done with NIN, so the announcement a few months back came as a pleasant surprise.
The track that has me excited: The rather awesome Came Back Haunted.
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Nine Inch Nails still occupy the 'Best Live Band I've Ever Seen' throne in my brain palace (they completely upstaged the new Smashing Pumpkins at Reading 2007), and while there are still plenty of old NIN albums I don't yet own, this new'un was sufficiently unexpected to leapfrog to the top of my wishlist. I thought Trent Reznor was done with NIN, so the announcement a few months back came as a pleasant surprise.
The track that has me excited: The rather awesome Came Back Haunted.
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The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River
I love The Stage Names, and I quite like I Am Very Far, so when I stumbled upon the news that Okkervil River had a new album out I was pretty made up. I know absolutely nothing about The Silver Gymnasium, but I daresay that these guys know what they're doing.
The track that has me excited: I haven't heard anything off this album yet, but if any of the songs are half as good as Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe, I'll be happy.
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Arrows by Polly Scattergood
As I hinted in an image caption on Friday, this one is quite high on my buy list. I discovered Polly Scattergood through a Mute label sampler (free with another purchase from the ever-excellent Spillers Records); the song was Disco Damaged Kid, and when I discovered that its parent album hadn't yet been released, I made a mental note to check it out when it eventually did see the light of day. Arrows is that album, and I intend to purchase it forthwith.
The track that has me excited: Disco Damaged Kid, the climatic teenage defiance-storm that stood out on that Mute sampler.
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As I hinted in an image caption on Friday, this one is quite high on my buy list. I discovered Polly Scattergood through a Mute label sampler (free with another purchase from the ever-excellent Spillers Records); the song was Disco Damaged Kid, and when I discovered that its parent album hadn't yet been released, I made a mental note to check it out when it eventually did see the light of day. Arrows is that album, and I intend to purchase it forthwith.
The track that has me excited: Disco Damaged Kid, the climatic teenage defiance-storm that stood out on that Mute sampler.
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There is Nothing More Frightening Than the Passing of Time by The Superman Revenge Squad Band
I'd never heard of TSRSB until a couple of days ago. I posted a tweet asking people what new releases I ought to check out, and @DannyinBelfast insisted that I add There is Nothing More Frightening... to my list. I listened to the first track on bandcamp, and promptly stopped listening after that so as not to spoil the album for myself.
The track that has me excited: Lately I've Found Myself Regressing, which sounds like Ed Stockham with a full band behind him.
I'd never heard of TSRSB until a couple of days ago. I posted a tweet asking people what new releases I ought to check out, and @DannyinBelfast insisted that I add There is Nothing More Frightening... to my list. I listened to the first track on bandcamp, and promptly stopped listening after that so as not to spoil the album for myself.
The track that has me excited: Lately I've Found Myself Regressing, which sounds like Ed Stockham with a full band behind him.
Come back on Friday, when I'll be listing some slightly less new albums that I've got my eye on.
Click on this link to find out what I thought of these five albums when I did eventually buy them, or click here for the 'slightly less new' albums mentioned above.
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