Spring '08 LPs From Madonna, Coldplay, The Roots, Mudcrutch, Elvis Costello
Usher, Death Cab For Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Weezer and Dozens More
Posted Apr 17, 2008 3:46 PM
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Madonna
Hard Candy4/29
Madonna hooked up with two of hip-hop's top beatmakers —
Timbaland and Pharrell Williams — for her eleventh studio
album. "She just wanted energy, she just wants to dance," says
Williams, who produced about half the disc, including "Beat Goes
On," featuring Kanye West ("It has a Megadeth-dance feel," says
Williams), and the raw, synthy house jam "Give It 2 Me." Justin
Timberlake co-wrote and co-produced several tracks, including the
Timbaland-produced single "4 Minutes." "She was like, 'I don't want
any ballads, I just want people to move,'" Williams adds. "It's
like a sex and workout album."
On its tenth album, the Philadelphia crew explores dark territory.
"Criminal," which includes verses from Saigon and Philly newcomer
Truck North, takes on police brutality; "Singing Man" is about
Middle East terrorism and the Virginia Tech shooting. Drummer and
bandleader Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson says the album, which also
features Mos Def, Common and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, was
inspired by watching lots of CNN on the road. "It's not a party in
2008," he says.
When Tom Petty reached out to the former members of Mudcrutch, his
pre-Heartbreakers band, about a reunion, they thought he was
joking. "But once they really believed me, they got gung-ho," Petty
says. Keyboardist Benmont Tench and guitarist Mike Campbell went on
to join the Heartbreakers, but drummer Randall Marsh and guitarist
Tom Leadon hadn't played with Petty since Mudcrutch split up in
1975. The disc's fourteen new songs (every group member sings at
least one) were cut in just two weeks at Petty's Malibu home
studio. "It has an edgy country-rock feel," Petty says. "I had to
calm myself down at night, I was having so much fun."
"Scare Easy"
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Ashlee
Simpson
Bittersweet
World4/22
"It could be a good summer record," says Simpson, reflecting on her
bubblegummy, beat-driven third album. "It's a record to listen to
when the girls are getting ready to go out." With help from
producers including Timbaland, Kenna and Chad Hugo, Simpson ditched
her guitar-pop approach this time around in favor of a danceable
sound influenced by Eighties acts, from Missing Persons to Siouxsie
and the Banshees. "It was just exploring something new," she says.
"Who knows what direction I'll go next?"
In Steve Winwood's old band Traffic, he wrote the music, he says,
"as an excuse for us to jam." Nine Lives, his debut for
Columbia Records, was written in the same spirit, with the songs
born out of jams with his longtime touring band and fleshed out at
Winwood's studio in Gloucester, England. "Dirty City" is an
escalating, hypnotic opus, featuring Winwood on B-3 organ and a
solo by his Blind Faith buddy Eric Clapton; "Fly" sounds like his
mellower hits from the Eighties. "I've tried to combine ingredients
of Latin music, gospel, bebop, and add them to the folk-rock-jazz
elements I've always tried to have," Winwood says. "It becomes a
soup, and hopefully it's a tasty soup."
"Dirty City"
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Phantom
Planet
Raise the Dead4/15
SoCal pop-rockers Phantom Planet have changed significantly since
their sunny song "California" was used as the theme to The
O.C. in 2003. There were lineup changes, a label shift (to
Pete Wentz?s Decaydance mothership, Fueled by Ramen), and then
there's frontman Alex Greenwald's newfound appreciation for cult
leaders. While Greenwald was writing songs for the band's first LP
in four years, he immersed himself in music by David Koresh and
Charles Manson. While those creepy influences are evident on
Raise the Dead's "Leader," Big Star and the Zombies remain
the act's more obvious reference points.
They played Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury and Reading when
they were barely in their twenties. But this month, mod-punks Tokyo
Police Club will finally release their debut full-length
Elephant Shell, an eleven-song disc that features
foot-stomping first single "Your English is Good." The Canadian
indie rockers pepper their garage-pop with synth and Casio hooks
and an emphasis on lead singer Dave Monks' sleepily energetic
voice.
If you want Elvis Costello's new LP Momofuku on CD you're
going to have to be patient — it'll be available on vinyl and
as a digital download on April 22nd, but comes out on disc May 6.
But what's more curious is the album's name, which may reference
one of the hottest restaurants in New York and/or the inventor of
ramen. The twelve-song set is the Imposters' follow-up to 2004's
The Delivery Man, which marked Costello's Lost Highway
debut, and it features "No Hiding Place," "Drum and Bone" and
"Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve."
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Portishead
Third4/29
In the nine years since the seminal trip-hop group last released an
album of original material, their brand of moody cinematic
soundscapes went from next big thing to last week's trend to being
co-opted by major acts like Gnarls Barkley and Radiohead. So it's
no surprise that the long-awaited Third keeps Portishead
firmly planted in the aesthetic that made them cult heroes in the
first place: sinewy grooves, heavy strings and Beth Gibbons'
haunting vocals.
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Robyn
Robyn4/29
More than a decade after making a splash in the States with the
single "Show Me Love," Swedish pop star Robyn's self-titled fourth
album will finally arrive in the U.S. Originally marketed as a
Nineties teen popper, Robyn nixed a tour with the Backstreet Boys
and returned home to start up her own label and transform herself
from a pop princess to an indie-electro queen. Her dancey album,
which was originally released three years ago in Sweden, features
collaborations with the Knife ("Who's That Girl") and Kleerup (the
Euro chart-topping single "With Every Heartbeat").
The New Zealand comedy-folk duo's show isn't coming back to HBO for
a new season until some time next year, but luckily their first
proper album will tide over fans itching for doses of favorites
like "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" and "Mutha'uckas."
Grammy Award-winners (for last year's mini-album The Distant
Future) Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement will deliver studio
versions of all the songs from the first season of the show, plus
the new song "Au Revoir."
Before she became Santogold, the Brooklyn artist who mixes
electronic beats with punk guitars and New Wave synths, Santi White
worked A&R for a major label. When a pal, the alt-R&B
singer Res, called for advice on finding a producer, White quit to
write and produce Res' rock-reggae-R&B hybrid debut, How I
Do. Now White — who went solo after singing in the punk
band Stiffed — is making her debut on an album that ranges
from the dub-influenced "Shove It" to "L.E.S. Artistes," which
sounds like a Cars/Strokes mash-up, to "Creator," which strongly
resembles her friend M.I.A.'s latest album. "Nina Simone and HR
from Bad Brains are my two biggest vocal influences," she says.
British singer Jamie Lidell hit studios in Berlin, Los Angeles and
Paris while recording the follow-up to his 2005 breakout album
Multiply. As first new single "Little Bit of Feel Good"
demonstrates, Jim finds the unusual crooner returning to
his slow electro-funk and showing off his soulful voice, but there
are also disco and gospel influences peeking through his thumpy
sound. "The most important thing was the vocal, to capture the
balance of me delivering the songs with full gusto, and at the same
time retaining the grain and the grit," Lidell has said.
"Little Bit of Feel Good"
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of Feel Good" in full
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The
Replacements
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash;
Hootenanny; Let It Be (Reissues)4/22
The Replacements' first three studio albums (plus their 1982 EP
Stink) are being reissued with thirty bonus tracks —
including the band's original 1980 four-track demo.
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Love
Forever Changes: Collector's
Edition4/22
Two years after Love frontman Arthur Lee passed away, his 1967
psychedelic masterpiece, Forever Changes, is being
re-released with a slew of unheard material. A twenty-track bonus
disc features alternate takes, demos and instrumental versions.
Listen for a killer cover of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs' "Wooly
Bully."
"Recording is an addiction," Lil Wayne says. "The album's done
whenever the label tells me to stop." With just a month to go
before the disc's release, the platinum-selling MC is still cutting
tracks. The situation could stem from Wayne's remarkable studio
stamina: He's already recorded some 200 prospective songs. Tha
Carter III has the potential to be incredibly good:
Prospective tracks mix grizzled rhymes and stream-of-consciousness
battiness with seriously hooky beats.
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Usher
Here I Stand5/27
On the follow-up to 2004's 9-million-selling Confessions,
Usher presents a more grown-up version of the R&B star,
complete with lyrics about not giving in to the temptation to
cheat. "I'm like Shrek," Usher says. "I have layers now." Last
August, Usher married Tameka Foster, with whom he had a son in
November. "I'm dealing with real-life issues, like 'manhibitions,'"
he says. Big-name producers provide the beats, including Tricky
Stewart (the Prince-y electro romp "This Ain't Sex"), Dre and Vidal
(the Timberlake-style title track) and Polow Da Don ("Love in This
Club"). Usher says Stand is "ninety percent" done, but one
big task remains: cutting a track with Jay-Z. After that, Usher
plans to promote the album heavily. "Baby gotta eat," he says.
Death Cab didn't set out to make their sixth album dark or heavy.
But when the group settled into a Seattle studio to record Ben
Gibbard's latest batch of songs (some were written in a Big Sur
cabin where Jack Kerouac once stayed), the sessions became "weird
and a little dangerous — it was like, hit 'record' and see
what happens," says guitarist-producer Chris Walla. "It was less
cerebral and more gut." The free-flowing vibe resulted in jangly
Sixties-style pop, moody Leonard Cohen-esque musing and "I Will
Possess Your Heart" — the disc's sprawling, psychedelic lead
single. The eight-minute jam is already freaking out some fans, as
Walla discovered recently online. "There were definitely some
haters," he says. "But still, it's nice to know we're not afraid to
take a risk."
Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson admits he was nervous before he went
into the studio to co-produce Al Green. But soon enough, he says,
"We found the formula for getting fireworks out of him." Lay It
Down captures a sound more organic and spontaneous than
anything Green has released in decades. Corinne Bailey Rae, John
Legend and Anthony Hamilton — whom Green describes as "very
humble creative spirits" — came by for guest spots, but the
focus stays where it belongs: on the mighty Reverend himself.
Three years after Rick Rubin helped Neil Diamond remove the Vegas
polish on 12 Songs, the duo are back with another
collection of personal acoustic songs. "This one is more rhythmic,"
Diamond says. "I view Rick as an enabler. He allows the musicians
and me to just go off and do whatever we want, and then he becomes
an editor." Backed by an all-star group — including
Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench — Diamond, 67,
dedicates some of the songs to his thirtysomething girlfriend. "I'm
the pro-love candidate," Diamond says. "The songs reflect it."
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Gavin
DeGraw
Gavin DeGraw5/6
"Sonically it's more rock than my first album," says pop heartthrob
Gavin DeGraw, who's back with a heavier, guitar-driven disc (made
with Daughtry producer Howard Benson). In the five years since his
debut, DeGraw opened a bar in New York — and nightlife is a
big inspiration for the singer. "You get a lot of ideas in bars,"
he says. "I like watching people interact."
Bun B was nearly done with this solo album in December when
longtime UGK partner Pimp C died of a drug overdose. The veteran
Texas MC made two major changes as a result: He added a tribute
called "Angel in the Sky," and he cut a verse from another song
that celebrated "sizzurp," the cough-syrup cocktail that killed
Pimp C. "I thought it would be in poor taste," says Bun. Otherwise,
the disc, with appearances by Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco and Rick Ross,
has a political edge: "Get Cha Issue" calls out policemen,
preachers and politicians who abuse power. "The original
gangsta-rap albums from people like N.W.A and Ice-T were socially
conscious," he says. "It's just talking about shit that's fucked up
in society."
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T Bone
Burnett
Tooth of Crime5/6
In the early 1990s, T Bone Burnett penned a set of songs for Sam
Shepard's futuristic play The Tooth of Crime. But by the
time the show hit off-Broadway, many of Burnett's songs had been
severely shortened. Last year, Burnett recorded full versions of
the ambient, foreboding songs — including "Kill Zone," which
he wrote with Roy Orbison weeks before Orbison's 1988 death. "Roy
told me he wanted to write a song like 'In Dreams,' which starts on
his lowest note and climbs very slowly to his highest note,"
Burnett says. "It was probably his last song."
Last year actress Scarlett Johansson and TV on the Radio's Dave
Sitek took a road trip from Los Angeles to Lafayette, Louisiana, to
record an album of Tom Waits covers. Johansson, who has been
singing since she was young (Sitek compares her baritone to Debbie
Harry's voice), was offered a record deal but delayed recording
until she could come up with the right songs to cover. Cut over
five weeks, Anywhere I Lay My Head features ten Waits
covers along with "Song For Jo," an original Johansson/Sitek
composition. The Waits covers bear practically zero resemblance to
the originals (short of the lyrics) and Sitek says his role was to
create a "cough medicine tinker-bell vibe" that features church
organ, brass, drum machines, a music box, Nick Zinner of the Yeah
Yeah Yeahs, two vocal guest spots by David Bowie and even the
sounds of the cicadas that infested the studio. "I've heard through
friends that he's very excited about it," Johansson says of Waits'
reaction.
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Animal
Collective
Water Curses EP5/6
Coming off the most accessible album of their eight-year career
(2007's Strawberry Jam), freak-folk foursome Animal
Collective — Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin
— are offering a worthwhile encore with a four-song EP. From
the poppy title track to the slow-motion dub of "Street Flash"
Water Curses stays true to the group's trippy M.O.:
according to their label, closer "Seal Eyeing" "is the moment you
realise watching vapour trails melt into the sky is not only the
most constructive thing you can do, but the only real option that's
left."
"Water Curses"
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Foxy
Brown
Brooklyn's Don
Diva5/13
"I still make the front-page news if I just sneeze!" raps Foxy
Brown, who?s serving a year in prison for a probation violation,
setting a fierce tone on "Rumors of Fox" from her long-delayed
Brooklyn?s Don Diva. Recorded before Brown was sentenced,
the LP encompasses Foxy?s rough ride over the past few years: the
physical altercations, court dates, tabloid talk, going deaf,
undergoing surgery, regaining her hearing. "It's about everything
she went through," Mixtape MC and Black Hand labelmate Grafh
explains. "It's gonna be the biggest comeback since Mimi."
"Star Cry"
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Cyndi
Lauper
Bring Ya To The
Brink5/27
Due to record-label drama, Cyndi Lauper hasn't officially released
an album of new studio material since 1996. On Bring Ya to the
Brink the fifty-five-year-old Eighties icon returns with a set
of uptempo dance tracks she co-wrote and co-produced with
collaborators like Basement Jaxx ("Rocking Chair") and Swedish
producer Kleerup ("Lay Me Down"). On her blog, Lauper reported that
she traveled to Paris and England to write for the first time and
"returned to my voice as a writer and as an artist but in a way I
had never done before." The famous New Yawka checked out the
Swedish music scene because "the Swedes have this incredible melody
sense," but suffered a few communication breakdowns on the way:
"Other Euro countries I think, speak the Queens English, and I
ain't speaking about a Borough."
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Teyana
Taylor
From a Planet Called
Harlem5/20
As a Tony Bennett-loving skater chick from Harlem, Teyana Taylor is
used to being different. "I'm not afraid to explore new things, to
be an individual," says the seventeen-year-old, whose debut album
is an eclectic mix of sassy hip-hop and guitar-fueled rockers in
the vein of N.E.R.D (Pharrell Williams, who signed Taylor to his
Star Trak label, produced the funked-up "Switch It Up"). "I was
always popular in Harlem — people were like, 'That's the girl
with the big hair!' " says Taylor, whose skater-themed birthday
bash was one of the most popular episodes of MTV's My Super
Sweet 16. "Now I'm breaking it down for everyone who's not
from that planet."
For Jason Mraz's third major-label album (his first record in
nearly three years), the singer-songwriter ripped himself from his
beloved SoCal home base and relocated to London, documenting his
studio time (strumming acoustic guitars, conducting a kids' choir)
with the YouTube series Crazy Man's Ju-Ju. The finished product
— which will be preceded by a series of EPs packed with
alternate versions in the weeks leading up to the big release day
— features collaborations with fellow singer-songwriters
James Morrison and Colbie Caillat and first single, "I'm Yours," a
re-birthed B-side that showcases Mraz's chill vibe and clean,
melodic vocals.
Twin brothers Bill and Tom Kaulitz founded eyeliner-and-riffs
quartet Tokio Hotel in Germany seven years ago, and as young teens
the group rocketed to international stardom, selling out stadiums
across Europe. The band — androgynous Bill on vocals and Tom
on guitar, drummer Gustav Schaefer and bassist Georg Listing (none
of whom is old enough to grab a beer at one of their Stateside
shows) — will make its U.S. debut with their first
English-language album, Scream, a selection of their
angsty German hits translated into English in the key of My
Chemical Romance.
Like They Might Be Giants before them, Canadian rockers Barenaked
Ladies realized that their inspired brand of wackiness can easily
be translated to children's music, which is exactly what their
latest LP Snacktime is: a delightfully inspired collection
of tunes about big sisters, the alphabet and plenty of jingles
about food. The album, released on the band's own Desperation
label, also features maple leaf-centric guest spots from Sarah
McLachlan and Geddy Lee.
"The Ninjas"
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No
Age
Nouns5/6
With Nouns, Los Angeles noise-rock duo No Age look to live
up to the promise they showed on their 2007 debut Weirdo
Rippers. Drummer-singer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall
made the leap from Fat Cat to Sub Pop between albums and quickly
hit L.A.'s Infrasonic studio to churn out a twelve-track art-punk
scorcher spearheaded by first single "Eraser." They're not skimping
on the packaging, either: fans can look forward to a
sixty-eight-page color book featuring photos and pieces of art.
After a four-year break, country-tinged power-pop band Old 97's are
ready to unleash their seventh studio album, Blame It on
Gravity, a collection of louder, crunchier tunes that recall
Rhett Miller and friends' earlier work. "We went into the studio
hell-bent on making something great," Miller has said. "I could
feel the energy crackling every day we were in there. It's like we
had something to prove."
Mudhoney might have actually been the only true "grunge" band, and
yet they have spent most of their career under the radar. Perhaps
that will change with the reissue of their classic EP Superfuzz
Bigmuff (named after band leader Mark Arm's two favorite
guitar effects pedals). The jagged, fuzzy songs have all been
remastered (or in the case of a few songs, mastered for the first
time). The band's eighth LP, The Lucky Ones — which
was recorded in a swift three and a half days — drops the
same day.
For their fourth album, Coldplay enlisted producer Brian Eno to
broaden their palette beyond the piano-heavy anthems the band is
best known for: "Strawberry Swing" includes Afro-pop guitars, "42"
is a three-part epic built on glitchy loops and "Yes!" mixes Middle
Eastern percussion with Chris Martin's newfound deep-register
vocals. "It's impossible to please everybody, and it took us a
while to learn that," says Martin, adding that he credits Eno, who
has made records with U2 and the Talking Heads, with helping the
band leave its comfort zone. "You have to stop caring about what
you're known for," says Martin. "So even if it's shit, at least
it's brave."
Listen to Chris Martin discuss the effect singing low has on
his voice teacher, what influenced Viva la Vida's sound
and more
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My Morning
Jacket
Evil Urges6/10
Evil Urges begins with three of the wildest songs of MMJ's
career — including "Highly Suspicious," which combines lyrics
about a "peanut-butter-pudding surprise" with a bastardized
Eighties funk beat and Prince-style falsetto vocals from frontman
Jim James. But other songs are far more accessible, from the
Band-meets-the-Who glories of "I'm Amazed" to the old-fashioned
country ballad "Sec Walkin" and the fierce arena rock of "Aluminum
Park." "I've gotten tired of normal rock & roll sounds," says
James. "But I like that there's a song like 'I'm Amazed' where
anybody who's seen us live over the years can get into it."
The first album by the Crüe's original lineup in eleven years
is loosely based on their best-selling autobiography, The
Dirt. "It begins with the innocence of starting out with a
song called 'Down at the Whisky,' " bassist Nikki Sixx says. "It
goes through to when we're peaking and self-destructing at the same
time in a song called 'White Trash Circus.' " The band's previous
album, 1997's electronica-ish Generation Swine, was a
departure from Eighties glitter-rock mayhem — but Sixx
pledges the group has returned to what it does best. "This album
has the vibe of Dr. Feelgood, Girls Girls Girls
and Shout at the Devil," Sixx says. "There's also a lot of
humor because, let's face it, we're ridiculously funny."
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Missy
Elliott
Title TBD6/17
Missy Elliott knew the beats on her seventh album were hot when the
cops showed up at her New Jersey home studio while she was
recording. "The music was banging up against the window, and the
dogs were barking — I set off all the alarms!" says the
rapper, who would roll out of bed at 4 a.m. to lay down the
record's hyper Eighties-influenced tunes. Elliott — who
teamed up with her longtime collaborator Timbaland — even
helms a vocoder on the slinky R&B jam "Love." "I'm tapping into
a different side of Missy," she says. "You ain't always gotta
dance. You can just rock from side to side."
"Ching-a-ling"
"Shake Your Pom Pom"
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Weezer
Weezer6/17
For the third time in six albums, Weezer has named a record
Weezer. The latest — they're already referring to it
as the Red Album — was cut in three sessions over the past
year: The first was with Rick Rubin, the second was mostly
self-produced, and the last was with Jacknife Lee (who produced
U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb). "We put a lot of
emphasis on blowing our minds with creative freakouts," frontman
Rivers Cuomo says. Freakouts like "I'm the Greatest Man That Ever
Lived," which blends piano, police sirens and Cuomo in falsetto
mode. The probable first single, "Pork and Beans," was inspired by
a record-company meeting where the band was told it needed to
record more-commercial material. "I came out of it pretty angry,"
Cuomo says. "But ironically, it inspired me to write another song."
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Ne-Yo
Year of the
Gentleman6/24
"I won't attend your pity party/I'd rather go have calamari," Ne-Yo
tells his girl on "So You Can Cry." The clever lines are standard
— Ne-Yo has penned smash hits for Beyoncé and Rihanna
— but on his third album, he expands his R&B palette,
crafting moody piano ballads and slick club stomps inspired by Nat
"King" Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. "It's time for that clean-cut era
to come back around," says the singer, who soaked up Rat Pack tunes
between studio sessions. "I'm asking myself, 'Are people gonna get
it?'" he says of his genre-crossing tracks. "But good music is good
music."
"Closer"
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The
Cure
Title TBD6/3
With thirty-three songs recorded for the Cure's thirteenth album,
the band is still figuring out which tracks to submit to the label.
"There's some very, very downbeat seven-minute songs and some very
upbeat ones," singer Robert Smith says. "One voice is saying, 'Put
out the most commercial-sounding CD and draw people into the Cure
world again.' There's another voice saying, 'Fuck that, let's just
put out the doom and gloom.'" At least one tune will almost
definitely make the cut: "Sleep When I'm Dead," a recently
unearthed demo from 1985's The Head on the Door. "It
sounds genuinely 1980s," Smith says. "I don't think that's a bad
thing. It's part of our heritage."
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Jakob
Dylan
Seeing Things6/10
After fronting the Wallflowers for nearly two decades, Jakob Dylan
decided it was time for a change of pace. With his band on hiatus,
he teamed up with producer Rick Rubin and cut an album of stark,
solo acoustic songs that evoke the softer side of Elvis Costello
and Bruce Springsteen. "I had never spent a lot of time adhering to
the 1970s singer-songwriter 'heart on the sleeve' kind of manner,"
Dylan says. "But that's more available on this record than it has
been in the past."
"Something Good This Way Comes"
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N.E.R.D.
Seeing Sounds6/10
"It's like auditory Red Bull," says Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D
about his trio's long-awaited third disc, Seeing Sounds.
The disc is filled with fast-paced, block-rockin' beats on cuts
like "Anti-Matter," "Killjoy" and "Everybody Nose," which pokes fun
at "all the girls standing in the line for the bathroom" waiting to
snort the booger sugar. "Our fans want to jump around and go
spastic," says Williams. "Hence, one of our new song titles:
'Spaz.'"
It's been four years — or a millennium in the rap game
— since Nelly released his double disc Sweat/Suit,
and St. Louis' finest has invited an all-star lineup to his
welcome-back party. His fifth album, Brass Knuckles
features Fergie on first single "Party People," as well as T.I.,
Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Chuck D, Akon, Lil Wayne and many more
guests on productions by Jermaine Dupri, the Neptunes and Polow Da
Don. Ciara reportedly pops up on "Stepped on My Js," a "My
Adidas"-style song devoted to Nelly's intense love of Nike Air
Jordans, but the rapper's dream collaborator — Bruce
Springsteen — didn't make the LP. "I was really trying to get
the Boss," he tells the AP, "but the Boss is all over the
world."
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Alanis
Morissette
Flavors of
Entanglement6/10
A lot has happened since Alanis Morissette released 2004's
So-Called Chaos — a well-publicized split with her
fiancée, actor Ryan Reynolds comes to mind — and in
addition to politics, she talks candidly about her life on her new
album. "Writing about my own personal relationships is my favorite
thing to do because it's the only thing I can really comment on
with any kind of conviction or authority," she says. While
Flavors of Entanglement maintains some of her prior
record's buoyant sound, according to Morissette, "There's a nice
cross-section on this one. There's so much joy and levity ... and
then there's kind of a rock bottom, 'Holy shit, I am a broken
woman' moment." Morissette tapped Guy Sigsworth (the former Frou
Frou member who's worked with Seal, Björk and Madonna) as a
co-writer, with hopes of expanding her sound. "I love to dance so
there's a lot of loops and beats on this record where you can dance
your face off."
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Martha
Wainwright
I
Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings, Too6/10
The pressure to follow up a critically acclaimed debut album is
always great, especially when your last name is Wainwright. Martha,
Rufus' sister and Loudon's daughter — who has a unique voice
all her own — will release her second full-length album in
June. It's a twelve-song set featuring ten originals and two
covers, including a rendition of the Eurythmics' "Love is a
Stranger" and a version of Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play."
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Wolf
Parade
Kissing the
Beehive6/17
After making a mark with 2005's Apologies to the Queen
Mary, the members of twitchy indie-rock outfit Wolf Parade
splintered into side projects like Sunset Rubdown, the Handsome
Furs, Frog Eyes and Swan Lake. The Montreal collective finally
reconvened for their long-awaited second set Kissing the
Beehive, named after a Jonathan Carroll novel. According to
the band, the album will have nine songs, "some short and some
long."
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Alejandro
Escovedo
Real Animal6/24
The Austin singer-songwriter's most guitar-charged solo album is a
collaborative triumph. He co-wrote the songs with Green on Red
guitarist Chuck Prophet and got Tony Visconti (T. Rex, Morrissey)
to produce. But the rock & roll life in the lyrics is all
Escovedo's, based on his true adventures in bands like the Nuns
("Nuns Song") and cow-punkers Rank and File ("Chip n' Tony"). The
title track is a homage to Iggy Pop and sounds like a lost Stooges
outtake.
Dennis Wilson's 1977 cult classic, Pacific Ocean Blue, is
returning to shelves after ten years. Demos and outtakes round out
Disc One, but Disc Two is even cooler: It contains unreleased
tracks from Wilson's aborted follow-up, Bambu, which he
described as "a hundred times what Pacific Ocean Blue is."
"River Song"
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Liz
Phair
Exile in Guyville: 15th Anniversary
Edition6/24
Liz Phair's breakthrough 1993 album is back with three previously
unreleased tracks from the original sessions — plus a new
sixty-minute DVD, Guyville Redux, about the making of the
album and the Chicago indie scene of the mid-Nineties.
"Fuck and Run"
Stream "Fuck and Run" in
full
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John
Mellencamp
Life, Death, Love and
Freedom7/15
While preparing for his 2003 covers disc, Trouble No More,
John Mellencamp listened to hundreds of hours of American folk
songs. "I realized our country has written some sad motherfuckin'
songs," he says. "I wanted to see if I had it in me to write like
that." Working with producer T Bone Burnett, Mellencamp crafted a
stark, bluesy collection of tunes about murder, rape and
loneliness. "I see darkness everywhere, and I have to write about
it," Mellencamp says. "I don't care if I just sell six records. All
I can do is keep on writing songs and singing."
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The Hold
Steady
Stay PositiveJuly
For their fourth album, the Hold Steady didn't exactly abandon
their visceral bar-band attack: The sweaty grooves, big riffs and
singer Craig Finn's vibrant narratives are all back on Stay
Positive. But with the New York quintet having written much of
the disc on the road, trading song sketches between laptops,
Stay Positive is more expansive, including talk-box solos,
harpsichord and tuneful vocals (the notoriously gruff-voiced Finn
started taking voice lessons). "There are some bands that do five
records that all sound similar," says guitarist Tad Kubler. "We've
tried to avoid that."
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Kid
Sister
Koko B. WareJuly
For a rapper with rapid-fire flow, Kid Sister has a very drawn-out
writing process. "I sit down with a legal tablet, two pens, my iPod
and a Thesaurus," admits the Chicago native (a.k.a. Melissa Young),
who rolls out her polysyllabic rhymes about beepers, nail salons
and "broke-ass dudes" over spacey blips and rowdy, danceable beats
— some of which were supplied by her brother, Josh (a.k.a.
J2K), one half of DJ duo Flosstradamus — that recall Nineties
club staple "Percolator." Fortunately, familiarity with Cajmere
isn't required to enjoy Kid Sister's tunes. "A lot of times when
there's music that's trendsetting, you find a lot of pretension,"
says Young. "But everyone's invited to this party."
Thanks to a bigger recording budget, Philly retro rockers Dr. Dog
got to mix their disc at O'Jays session player Larry Gold's
high-end studio. "We're better musicians now," says
singer-guitarist Scott McMicken. "We went further with the
arrangements this time." "My Friend" experiments with Abbey
Road-style studio trickery, and the horn-powered ballad "Army
of Ancients" was inspired by Frank Sinatra. "It's got a decadent
vibe to it," says McMicken. "But within our abilities, obviously."
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The
Academy Is...
Title TBDAugust
Less than a year after the release of their major-label debut,
Santi, Fall Out Boy protégés the Academy
Is... are already gearing up for their as-yet-untitled third album.
Singer William Beckett promises revealing, autobiographical lyrics,
and says the writing process so far has been closer to the Chicago
band's Fueled by Ramen debut Almost Here than the more
"stressful" sessions that produced Santi. "The songs are
taking shape fairly quickly — it's therapeutic," he says.
"It's sort of the way it started. I would compare it to the feeling
of release we got on Almost Here."
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Ben
Folds
Title TBDAugust
Though he hasn't released a full album since 2005, the erstwhile
piano man has been busy working on soundtracks, putting out live
DVDs and producing other people's albums. This summer Folds will
release the proper follow-up to Songs For Silverman, and
while there's no word on whether he'll attempt another hip-hop
cover (as he did with Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit"), the new
songs have already been road-tested, most notably at a
well-received set at the Langerado Festival.
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Ray
Lamontagne
Title TBDAugust
Ray LaMontagne is known for eschewing interviews and playing
concerts in the dark, so it's no surprise he hasn't said much about
his third album, the follow-up to 2006's Till the Sun Turns
Black. Fans clamoring to discover whether the as-yet-untitled
new LP will boast the stripped-down feel of the folk singer's debut
Trouble or the more orchestral leanings of Sun
will likely have to wait for August to get some answers.
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The
Walkmen
Title TBDAugust
After preppy New York rockers the Walkmen gave up their Harlem
studio, they spent a leisurely two years cutting their fourth disc
in Mississippi, New Jersey and New York. "We edited ourselves this
time," says singer Hamilton Leithauser. Among the carefully crafted
gems are the Pete Seeger-style "Canadian Girl," the folk-rock waltz
"Red Moon" and the Roy Orbison-inspired "I Lost You," complete with
strings and horns.
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Nas
NiggerSummer
And you thought Hip-Hop Is Dead was a provocative title!
"This record is a lot more serious than hip-hop," says Nas, who
tackles race and American history on his new album. Polow Da Don,
Stargate, and Cool and Dre contribute beats to the disc, which
includes "Be a Nigga Too" (a play on the Dr Pepper jingle), the Fox
News-slamming "Sly Fox," and "This Is Not America," on which he
raps about sexism and racism in the U.S. "This album is like
talking to your child about sex," says Nas. "It's uncomfortable,
but it's important."
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Gym Class
Heroes
The QuiltSummer
The emo-rap crew expands its range on its fourth disc, which was
mostly cut in two sessions: in Miami with Lil Wayne producers Cool
and Dre, and in L.A. with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump. Daryl Hall
guests, but Travis McCoy is especially psyched by the Beach
Boys-style harmonies on "Live a Little." "I listen while I'm in the
shower," he says. "And I feel extra clean when I'm done."
With System of a Down on hiatus, guitarist Daron Malakian took the
opportunity to explore more song-based work, writing most of the
album on keyboard. That said, several tracks have an intense
metal-prog feel, which SOAD fans will find familiar. "I wouldn't
say it's where we left off with System," Malakian says of the Scars
project, which he produced himself (with early input from Rick
Rubin) — and also includes SOAD drummer John Dolmayan. "I
have been trying to go to another place with it — without
completely losing who I am."
T Bone Burnett first saw B.B. King at the Central Forest Club in
Dallas in the 1960s. "That show had a profound impact on me," the
producer says. "I wanted to make a record that sounded like that
concert." So when King visited Burnett's studio, the pair listened
to dozens of obscure R&B songs from the 1950s — and cut
fifteen tracks for the record, including songs by Lonnie Johnson
and T-Bone Walker. "B.B. hasn't lost a step," Burnett says. "He's
an authentic American genius musician."
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O.A.R.
Title TBDSummer
Constant touring has made Maryland-born jam band O.A.R. (?of a
revolution if you're nasty) a favorite among aficionados of their
groove-friendly, jazz-influenced sound. The band is coming off a
sold-out show at Madison Square Garden in 2006, regular exposure on
ESPN and a USO tour last year, and they have written more than
twenty new songs for their follow-up to 2005's hit record
Stories of a Stranger.
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U2
Boy; October; War
(Reissues)Summer
The Edge personally supervised the repackaging — and
remastering — of U2's first three studio albums. The two-disc
sets — which contain the classic tunes "I Will Follow," "New
Year's Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" — are packed with live
tracks, B sides, outtakes, never-before-seen photos and new liner
notes by the guitarist himself.
Click here to listen to "4
Minutes" in full 
