2007 Post-Release (or Post-Leak) Thread

Here's a twin to Ray's New Release Calendar thread. This thread's for 2007 releases as you hear them (i.e. not old stuff that you just picked up). More or less a repository for reactions to new albums that don't have their own threads, like the new Arcade Fire or for reactions to multiple albums at once.

Anyway, the new Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?: this album is inviting a lot of gun-jumping, it being so early in the year. That said, if this doesn't end up being one of my favorites of '07 by the time December comes around, then we've got a lot of amazing music to look forward to. I've only heard snippets of their earlier work, but this is a pretty remarkable achievement - a concept album about a breakup that manages to split the difference between breezy and anarchic. The seamless integration of pop songwriting and traditional instruments with studio manipulation reminds me of Super Furry Animals' Rings Around the World, but it's far more unhinged, like its manic depressive cousin, and the lyrics are more focused.

Now, I really like the new Arcade Fire, I think parts of the new Shins album stand up to the best of their catalog (though not all, unfortunately), and the new Andrew Bird album comes as close as I've heard him come yet to equaling his live show on a studio album. But, for my money, Hissing Fauna is the standout in a surprisingly strong first quarter of the year.

But didn't they already prove that on Those Who Tell the Truth... and The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place?

I like those albums, but I can't imagine needing another one, unless there's something different going on with the new one. Do they innovate on their sound at all, or is it just more of the same?

It's also more lyrically coherent and smarter than anything Beck's ever done - his stuff depends far more on nonsense rhymes and funny pop culture wordplay. Beck's actually not an analogy I would have thought to make, but it works - pop song by way of pastiche (although, unlike Beck, I don't think Montreal relies nearly as heavily on samples of other artists and the song seems to dictate the separate elements of the end product rather than the other way around). I picked up the Sunlandic Twins the other day, but haven't given it a good listen yet. First impression is that it's musically very similar to Hissing Fauna, but a lot more disjointed lyrically. I think the lyric continuity on Hissing Fauna is a chief strength, so I'll have to see if Twins grows on me as much.

Hissing Fauna's still tops for me, which is surprising with new Arcade Fire and Shins albums in the running, but with new albums by Radiohead, New Pornographers, Ted Leo, Postal Service, and a dozen or so other bands that I love still to come, there are plenty of chances for an upset.

If the National are able to make good on the promise of Alligator, I suspect their new one will be in the running, too.

Incidentally, I'm not sure how many people care around here, but the new Patti Griffin album is quite good, too. Griffin is sorely undermentioned on these boards and by rock fans at large, but she's got a staggeringly consistent body of work and a stellar voice. I guess she lacks the indie cred of other female musicians who dip into country and southern soul like Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, and even Lucinda Williams (though I'm not sure why in the last case, since they've both been on majors and both been covered by big time popular country artists), but there probably should be a common audience there.

I got his last album, and it was okay, but his voice and lack of musical variety both grate after a while. I also heard his recent cover of the Replacements' "Bastards of Young," and it's downright abysmal.

In the last day or so, I've had the opportunity to listen to the new Modest Mouse, Wilco, and Ted Leo albums.

I'm sure I'll be able to elaborate more later, but the Wilco is probably going to be hardest to get into. It's easily their mellowest release, and it's sort of surprisingly low-key in light of it being the first Nels Cline-era studio album. A couple songs remind me of Abbey Road-era Beatles, but it mostly has sort of a 70s soft rock vibe with some great noodle-y guitar solos. It's far less diverse than A Ghost Is Born, but I don't think that's necessarily a weakness.

If you first really got interested in Modest Mouse with Good News... and took to songs like "Float On" and "The View," this is for you. If you're into their older stuff or the quirkier elements on Good News like "Satin in a Coffin" and "Bukowski" and hate that they've gone so pop lately, it's going to infuriate you. My dirty little secret - I've wanted them to go poppier since the Moon and Antarctica, anyway. I think it works for them. Brock's voice is unusual enough and his approach to songwriting unique enough that weirdness doesn't necessarily require that much emphasis. On a first listen, We Were Dead... could perhaps use a few more oddball moments to break up the groovy pop stuff, but I think Brock and company were wise to emphasize their melodic side this time around, even though I anticipate a huge backlash.

Ted Leo, of course, continues to rule. There are perhaps one or two songs on his new one that rely too heavily on minutes-long vamps that pad out the run time (something he hasn't done since Tyranny of Distance), but if Living with the Living isn't his most consistent album, it's his most varied and experimental. He's toying with reggae, Costello/Graham Parker-style pub rock, and even a sort of Dismemberment Plan homage, and it's almost all catchy, seldom boring.

Again, these are all first impressions. I have a bunch of other stuff, too (including the new Explosions in the Sky and Apples in Stereo), but I've been ill for about two weeks, and new music never goes down well when I feel shitty.

I guess I hear a little Foo Fighters in the chorus, but "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb." is Dismemberment Plan all over. He's even doing a Travis Morrison-style delivery over the talky parts.

Living with the Living is "safe" in a general sense, but it's all over the place stylistically compared to his other albums. Hearts of Oak and Shake the Sheets were tighter and probably better overall, but they also stuck to a signature sound more consistently, so this one is, in some ways, more impressive.

I've only really heard the "hits" by this guy ("Daft Punk...," etc.). Is it all that novelty-sounding, or is there a little more diversity on the albums? The hype turned me off on LCD Soundsystem big time.

I've heard really good things about this album (and your description has me further intrigued), but, again, my previous (limited) experience with them was sort of "meh." Would you say this sounds a lot different than their earlier stuff?

Actually, I haven't. I admire a lot of the instrumental, technically complex stuff you post about here a lot, but I don't really listen to it that much. I loved Stanier's work in Helmet, though, so I should probably give it a shot sometime. Is the new one a good starter?