Comments

Oof alert! Remember that time you were drinking Purple Stuff with your buddies and throwing out possible mashup project titles: Weezyer, The Fall...Out Boy, Animal Collective [ft. Animal from the Muppets], Jaydiohead. It was dumb; it was great. But there's a difference between spitballing while listening to The Grey Album and actually making a full 10-song album of Jay-Z/Radiohead smashups and calling it Jaydiohead, which is exactly what some New York City guy named Minty Fresh Beats just did. Jay-Z raps, Radiohead play, and you listen curiously for about a minute before groaning. Will somebody please stop the madness?

Who has patience for this type of thing in 2009? Even Girl Talk faltered when he put Jay's "Roc Boys" over "Paranoid Android" on Feed the Animals-- and that was just 30 seconds of Jaydio-ness. This is 38.1 mintues worth! The best thing to come out of the project are the titles, which often cross over into so-bad-they're-amazing territory. There's the possibly Wall-E-inspired "Dirt Off Your Android" and, our personal favorite, "Lucifer's Jigsaw", which sounds like a very difficult puzzle. Of course, this isn't the first time some dude (it's always a dude) downloaded Jay-Z a cappellas and put them over his favorite subversive rock band (lest we remind you of The Slack Album). And it won't be the last time. It should be the last time.

Comments

People of France: Bonjour! That's French, right? Also, did you guys know that Pitchfork made a book? We did! We totally did. The book is in English, though. Sorry about that. We hope it's not too much of a problem. Anyway, now that we've already thrown book-release parties in New York and Chicago, it's your turn.

This Friday, January 9, Le Motel in Paris is throwing a party for The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present. Le Motel is located at 8, passage Josset, 75011 Paris. If you're taking the Metro, it's Ledru-Rollin. And from 6 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., the DJs Bonne Ambiance and Maxence P will be playing selections from the book. I swear I'm not making those names up, either.

And if you haven't heard anything about the book yet, here's the deal: This handy paperback chronologically explores Pitchfork's 500 favorite songs from 1977-2006, constructing an alternate history of the past three decades of popular music-- one that extends beyond the typical Baby Boomer-approved canon of the Clash, Prince, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Radiohead, and Outkast.

From art-rock and proto-punk godfathers such as Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie to today's leading lights such as the Arcade Fire, the White Stripes, and Kanye West; from superstars to cult heroes; and from punk, indie, and pop to hip-hop, electronic music, and metal, we've created the ultimate playlist. Interspersed throughout are sidebars on the most vital subgenres from electro to grime to riot grrrl, along with pieces like "Career Killers: The Songs That Ended It All" and "Runaway Trainwrecks: The Post-Grunge Nadir."

Edited by Pitchfork founder/president Ryan Schreiber and editor-in-chief Scott Plagenhoef, and written by an all-star team of contributors, The Pitchfork 500 is the perfect book for the train ride to work, a cozy winter's night by the fireside, or extended stays on the toilet.

The book is available in your friendly neighborhood bookstore right now. Or you can order it via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Insound, Powells, or Simon & Schuster. 

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

This English indie-dance trio's debut shows an amplified, ambitious, and inventive attention to detail that helps steer them away from sounding like just another polished party band.

read more

Comments

Welcome once again to the Pitchfork Guide to Upcoming Releases, our seasonal guide to upcoming releases! Four times a year, we round up a big ol' list of albums, singles, EPs, and DVDs set to be unleashed over the coming months, hoping to get you pumped about going out and buying records. (You do still do that, right? RIGHT?) This installment covers early 2009.

Compiling such a list isn't easy in this day and age, with different release dates for digital and physical versions of albums, as well as different release dates for different countries. So we tried to stick with North American physical release dates as much as possible, with exceptions as noted. When an album's North American release date differs from its overseas one, we also made a note of that. Keep in mind that release dates are as slippery as an eel on rollerskates, and any one of these is subject to change at any moment.

JANUARY

01-06:

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino] [vinyl release]
Beausoleil: Alligator Purse [Yep Roc]
Destroy Destroy Destroy: Battle Sluts [Metal Blade]
The Ecclesia: Birdsong Over the Interior Castle [Arena Rock]
Glasvegas: Glasvegas [Columbia] [U.S. release, out now in the UK]
The Gourds: Haymaker! [Yep Roc]
High on Fire: Live From the Relapse Contamination Festival [Relapse]
Jessie Kilguss: Nocturnal Drifter [self-released]
King Khan & BBQ Show: "Animal Party" 7" [Fat Possum]
Pumajaw: Curiosity Box [Fire] [U.S. release, out now in UK]
Soporus: 24,110 [Burnt Toast Vinyl]
Various Artists: Desolation House [Relapse]
West Indian Girl: 4th on the Floor - West Indian Girl Remixes Vol. 2 [Smash Hit Music Co.]
Woe of Tyrants: Kingdom of Might [Metal Blade]

01-12:

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino] [UK/Europe release]
Colossal Yes: Charlemagne's Big Thaw [Ba Da Bing!]
El Goodo: Coyote [Grease]
Gris Gris: Live at the Creamery [Birdman]
MV & EE With the Golden Road: Drone Trailer [DiCristina]
The Silt: Cat's Peak [Fire] [UK release]
Various Artists: Motown 50 [UMTV] [UK release]

01-13:

Arthur Lee: Arthur Lee [Friday Music] [reissue]
Blue Giant: Target Heart EP [Jealous Butcher] [CD release, out now digitally]
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band : Greatest Hits [Columbia] [Wal-Mart exclusive]
City and Colour: Sometimes [Vagrant] [U.S. physical release, out now digitally in U.S. and physically in Canada]
Fires of Rome: You Kingdom You [The:Hours]
Franz Nicolay: Major General [Fistolo Records]
Friendly Foes: Born Radical [Gangplank] [CD release, out now digitally]
Late of the Pier: Fantasy Black Channel [Astralwerks] [U.S. release, out now in the UK]
Love: Love Live: Whisky A-Go-Go 1978 [Friday Music] [reissue]
Lymbyc System: Carved by Glaciers [Magic Bullet] [CD release]
My Dear Disco: Dancethink [Dancethink]
Peter Bernstein Trio: Monk [Xanadu] [digital release, out now on eMusic]
Quatre Tete: Art of the State [Sickroom] [CD release, out now digitally]
Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees: Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees [Youth Club]
Superchunk: The Clambakes Vol. 4 -- Sur la Bouche -- Live in Montreal 1993 [Merge] [digital release]
This Will Destroy You & Lymbyc System: Field Studies [Magic Bullet] [CD release]
Various Artists: NOW That's What I Call Motown [Universal/Sony/EMI] [U.S. release]

01-19:

A Camp: "Stronger Than Jesus" single [PIAS/Universal Sweden] [European release]
Squarepusher: Numbers Lucent EP [Warp] [UK release]
TV on the Radio: "Dancing Choose" 12" [4AD] [UK release]
The Yellow Moon Band: Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World [Static Caravan] [UK release]

01-20:

16: Bridges to Burn [Relapse]
The 1900s: Medium High mini-album [Parasol]
A.C. Newman: Get Guilty [Matador]
Andrew Bird: Noble Beast [Fat Possum]
Angelo Spencer: "My Music Is My Sweat" 7" [K Records]
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino] [CD release]
Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light [Secretly Canadian]
Anya Marina: Slow and Steady Seduction, Phase II [Chop Shop]
Atmosphere: God Loves Ugly [Rhymesayers [CD/DVD reissue]
Bat For Lashes: Fur and Gold [Manimal Vinyl] [deluxe vinyl release]
Ben Nichols: The Last Pale Light in the West [The Rebel Group]
The Beyman Bros: Memories of Summer as a Child [Dharma Moon]
Blackout Beach: Skin of Evil [Soft Abuse]
Bon Iver: Blood Bank EP [Jagjaguwar]
Calexico: Live From Austin, TX [New West] [DVD]
Capracara: "King of the Witches" single [DFA]
Cattle Decapitation: The Harvest Floor [Metal Blade]
Clue to Kalo: Lily Perdida [Mush]
Combichrist: Today We Are All Demons [Metropolis]
Cut Off Your Hands: You and I [Frenchkiss]
David Bazan: "American Flags" 7" [Barsuk]
Diplo and Blaqstarr: Get Off / Serato Vinyl [Mad Decent] [vinyl release]
DJ Signify: Of Cities [Bully]
Fake Problems "The Dream Team" 7" [Side One Dummy]
Fiction Family: Fiction Family [ATO]
G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies: The Best of G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies [MVD] [DVD]
Gutbucket: A Modest Proposal [Cuneiform]
The Hollies: Beat Beat Beat [MVD] [DVD]
The Hunches: Exit Dreams [In the Red]
Ice-T: Live in Montreux 1995 [MVD] [DVD]
J. Tillman: Vacilando Territory Blues [Western Vinyl]
Jackie O Motherfucker: The Blood of Life [Fire]
Jeremy Jay: "Love Everlasting" 12" [K]
Jim O'Rourke & Loren Connors: Two Nice Catholic Boys [Family Vineyard]
John Frusciante: The Empyrean [Adrenaline Music]
Kill Your Idols: Something Started Here 1995-2007 [Get Outta Town] [7" box set]
The Kinks: Beat Beat Beat [MVD] [DVD]
Mariah Carey: The Ballads [Columbia/Legacy]
Matt and Kim: Grand [FADER]
The Meatmen: Rock 'n' Roll Juggernaut [Meat King] [reissue]
The Modern Skirts: All of Us in Our Night [Modern Skirts Recordings]
Music Go Music: "Warm in the Shadows" 12" [Secretly Canadian]
The Music Lovers: Masculine, Feminine [Le Grand Magistery]
New Model Army: Fuck Texas, Sing for Us - Live [Attack Attack]
Or, The Whale: Light Poles and Pines [Seany]
Pigface: Glitch and Son of a Glitch [MVD] [DVD]
Psychic Ills: Mirror Eye [The Social Registry]
Public Enemy: Revolverlution Tour 2003 [MVD] [DVD]
Rachel Shearer: Fakerie DVD [Family Vineyard]
Raymond Scott: 100th Anniversary Doll and CD set [Press Pop]
Robert Pollard: The Crawling Distance [Guided by Voices Inc.]
Roger O'Donnell: Songs From the Silver Box [Great Society]
Rose Funeral: The Resting Sonata [Metal Blade]
Royal Trux: Royal Trux [Drag City] [vinyl reissue]
Royal Trux: Twin Infinitives [Drag City] [vinyl reissue]
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder: Living for Death, Destroying the Rest [Relapse]
Small Faces: Beat Beat Beat [MVD] [DVD]
The Spencer Davis Group: Beat Beat Beat [MVD] [DVD]
Squarepusher: Numbers Lucent EP [Warp] [U.S. release]
Stephen O'Malley: Keep an Eye Out! [Table of the Elements] [vinyl release]
Swervedriver: Mezcal Head [Second Motion/Hi-Speed Soul] [reissue]
Swervedriver: Raise [Second Motion/Hi-Speed Soul] [reissue]
Telefon Tel Aviv: Immolate Yourself [BPitch Control]
The Telescopes: Untitled Second [Bomp] [reissue]
Tesco Vee's Hate Police: Gonzo-Hate-Vibe [Meat King] [reissue]
The Yardbirds: Beat Beat Beat [MVD] [DVD]
Thom Yorke: The Eraser Rmxs [XL] [Japanese release]
Titus Andronicus: The Airing of Grievances [XL] [reissue]
Various Artists: This Comp Kills Fascists [Relapse] [7" box set]
Welcome Wagon: Welcome to the Welcome Wagon [Asthmatic Kitty]
The Who: The Kids Are Alright [UMe] [DVD]
Will Sheff / Charles Bissell: Will Sheff Covers Charles Bissell, Charles Bissell Covers Will Sheff 7" [Jagjaguwar]

01-26:

Bloc Party: "One Month Off" single [Wichita] [UK release]
Bricolage: Bricolage [Creeping Bent] [UK release]
Cheer-Accident: Fear Draws Misfortune [Cuneiform]
Hudson Mohawke: Polyfolk Dance EP [Warp] [UK release]
Franz Ferdinand: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand [Domino] [UK release]
Future Loop Foundation: "The Sea and the Sky" single [Just Music] [UK release]
Future of the Left: Last Night I Saved Her From Vampires [4AD] [UK release, live album]
Lars Horntveth: Kaleidoscopic [Smalltown Supersound] [Scandinavian release]
Lily Allen: "The Fear" single [Regal] [UK physical release, out now digitally]

01-27:

American Football: American Football EP [Polyvinyl] [vinyl reissue]
Anahita: Matricaria [Important]
Asa: Asa [Mercer Street/Downtown]
The Bird and the Bee: Ray Guns Are Not the Future [Blue Note]
Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun [Capitol] [DVD]
Brotzmann/Nilssen-Love: Sweetsweat [Smalltown Superjazz]
Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream [Columbia]
Circlesquare: Songs About Dancing and Drugs [!K7]
Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon [Suicide Squeeze]
Dalek: Gutter Tactics [Ipecac]
Dan Deacon/Adventure: Split 12" [Carpark]
Duncan Sheik: Whisper House [Victor]
Eliot Lipp: Peace Love Weed 3D [Old Tacoma]
Ethan Rose: Oaks [Holocene Music]
Franz Ferdinand: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand [Domino/Epic] [U.S. release]
Futurecop!: The Unicorn & The Lost City of Alvograth EP [IHEARTCOMIX/Southern Fried] [CD release, out now digitally]
Gary Louris & Mark Olson: Ready for the Flood [New West]
Goblin Cock: Come With Me If You Want to Live [Robcore Records]
Golden Boots: Winter of our Discotheque [Park the Van]
The Guggenheim Grotto: Happy the Man [United for Opportunity]
Hot Chip With Robert Wyatt and Geese EP [Astralwerks] [CD release, out now digitally]
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash Remixed [Compadre]
Kenneth Pattengale: Storied Places [Milan]
Kylie Minogue: Boombox: The Remix Album [Parlophone]
Lars Horntveth: Kaleidoscopic [Smalltown Supersound] [U.S. release]
LeATHERMOUTH: XO [Epitaph]
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes: Eye Legacy [Mass Appeal/Koch]
Lithops: Ye Viols! [Thrill Jockey]
Loney Dear: Dear John [Polyvinyl]
Magnetic Morning: A.M. [Friend or Faux] [physical release, out now digitally]
Mi Ami: Echonoecho 12" [Quarterstick]
Nickel Eye: The Time of the Assassins [Rykodisc]
Of Montreal : An Eluardian Instance EP [Polyvinyl]
Of Montreal : Jon Brion Remix EP [Polyvinyl]
Omar Rodriquez-Lopez: Old Money [Stones Throw] [physical release, out now digitally]
The One Up Downstairs: The One Up Downstairs 7 " [Polyvinyl]
Owen: (the ep) [Polyvinyl]
Ran Blake: Driftwoods [Tompkins Square]
RZA: Afro Samurai: The Resurrection [Wu Music Group]
Six Organs of Admittance: RTZ [Drag City]
Strand of Oaks: Leave Ruin [La Societe Expeditionnaire]
The Sway Machinery: Hidden Melodies Revealed [JDub]
Various Artists: Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to the Cure [American Laundromat]
Volcano Suns: All Night Lotus Party [Merge] [reissue]
Volcano Suns: The Bright Orange Years [Merge] [reissue]

January:

Ben Kweller: "Sawdust Man" 7" [Bloodshot]
Black Moth Super Rainbow: "Don't You Want to Be in a Cult" b/w "Feel the Drip" [Mexican Summer] [picture disc]
Golden Triangle: Golden Triangle [Mexican Summer] [vinyl release]
Various Artists: Live From Bonnaroo 2008 [Superfly Entertainment/A.C. Entertainment] [DVD]
Wino: Punctuated Equilibrium [Southern Lord]

FEBRUARY

02-02:

A Camp: Colonia [PIAS/Universal Sweden] [European release]
Andrew Bird: Noble Beast [Bella Union/Cooperative] [European release]
Hauschka: Snowflakes and Car Wrecks EP [Fat Cat] [North American release]
Keith: Vice and Virtue [Lucky Number] [UK release]
Pumajaw: Back catalog digital reissues [Fire] [UK release]
Pumajaw: "Buds" single [Fire] [UK release]
Ryan Driver: Feeler of Pure Joy [Fire] [UK release]
Various Artists: Rough Trade Shops - Counter Culture 08 [Rough Trade]

02-03:

A Day to Remember: Homesick [Victory]
Alexandra Hope: Invisible Sunday [Manimal Vinyl]
Benjy Ferree: Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee [Domino]
Ben Kweller: Changing Horses [ATO]
Bibio: Vignetting the Compost [Mush]
Bodychoke: Cold River Songs [Relapse]
The Brighton Port Authority: I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat [Southern Fried]
Cannibal Corpse: Evisceration Plague [Metal Blade]
Deleted Waveform Gatherings: Baby Warfare [Rainbow Quartz]
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele: The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele [Paw Tracks]
Eluvium: Life Through Bombardment [Temporary Residence] [7xLP box set]
Handsome Furs: Face Control [Sub Pop]
Heartless Bastards: The Mountain [Fat Possum]
Iran: Dissolver [Narnack]
Jim White: A Little Cross to Bear EP [Luaka Bop]
Kinky: Barracuda [Kin Kon/Nettwerk]
Ladyfinger (ne): Dusk [Saddle Creek]
Lisa Hannigan: Sea Sew [ATO]
Maserati/Zombi: Split LP [Temporary Residence] [vinyl release]
Mike Bones: A Fool for Everyone [The Social Registry]
Nous Non Plus: Menagerie [Aeronaut]
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart [Slumberland]
Phosphorescent: To Willie [Dead Oceans]
P.O.S.: Never Better [Rhymesayers]
RH+: Quintana Roo [Nacional]
Roger Joseph Manning Jr.: Catnip Dynamite [Oglio]
Sabertooth: Old Days & The Island [Arena Rock]
The Silt: Cat's Peak [Fire] [UK release]
Sole & The Skyrider Band: Remix Album [Black Canyon]
Two Tongues: Two Tongues [Vagrant]
The Von Bondies: Love, Hate and Then There's You [Majordomo]
Vulture Whale: Vulture Whale [Skybucket]
Wavves: Wavvves [De Stijl]
Woolfy: "Oh Missy" single [Rong/DFA]
Yeasayer: All Hour Cymbals [We Are Free] [vinyl release, out on CD now]
Zero Boys: History Of [Secretly Canadian] [reissue]
Zero Boys: Vicious Circle [Secretly Canadian] [reissue]
Zombi: Spirit Animal [Relapse]

02-09:

Hot Panda: Volcano...Bloody Volcano! [Mint] [UK release]
Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You [Regal] [UK release]
Max Tundra: "Which Song" single [Domino] [UK release]
Morrissey: "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" single [Decca/Polydor] [UK release]
The Uglysuit: "Chicago" single [Touch & Go] [UK release]
Various Production: The Invisible Lodger [Fire] [UK release]

02-10:

The Alternate Routes: A Sucker's Dream [Vanguard]
An Horse: Rearrange Beds [Mom & Pop]
Behemoth: Grom [MVD] [reissue]
Ben Lee: The Rebirth of Venus [New West]
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Advance Base Battery Life [Tomlab]
Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid [Nonesuch]
Deborah Anderson: Silence [Somis Sound / My Dog Osaka]
Dex Romweber Duo: Ruins of Berlin [Bloodshot]
Golem: Citizen Boris [JDub]
Hot Panda: Volcano...Bloody Volcano! [Mint] [North American release]
Iggy Pop: Lust for Life [MVD] [DVD]
India.Arie: Testimony: Vol 2., Love & Politics [Universal Republic]
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love: A Classic Album Under Review [MVD] [DVD]
Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You [Capitol] [U.S. release]
The Lonely Island: INCREDIBAD [Universal Republic]
Madlib: Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6 [Stones Throw] [CD release, out now on vinyl]
Malajube: Labyrinthes [Dare to Care]
Miranda Lee Richards: Light of X [Nettwerk]
Serena Ryder: Is It OK [Atlantic] [U.S. release, out now in Canada]
The Sleepover Disaster: Hover [Devil in the Woods]
Trentalange: Awakening, Level One [Coco Tauro Records]
Trouble Andrew: Trouble Andrew [Virgin] [reissue]

02-14:

Charles Spearin: The Happiness Project [Arts&Crafts]
Mr. Russia: Teething [Lens]

02-16:

Aidan Moffat and the Best Ofs: How to Get to Heaven From Scotland [Chemikal Underground] [UK release]
Beirut/Realpeople: March of the Zapotec/Holland [Pompeii/ Ba Da Bing] [European release]
Hauschka: Snowflakes and Car Wrecks EP [Fat Cat] [International release]
Morrissey: Years of Refusal [Decca/Polydor] [UK release]
N.A.S.A.: The Spirit of Apollo [Epitaph] [UK release]
Oberam Knocks: 16th Smallest [Aperture] [UK release]
Soap&Skin: "Spiracle" single [PIAS] [UK release]
The Uglysuit: The Uglysuit [Touch & Go] [UK release, out now in U.S.]
Various Production & Georgia's Horse: "As It Stops Raining" remix single [Fire] [UK release]

02-17:

Abe Vigoda: Reviver EP [PPM]
Alela Diane: To Be Still [Rough Trade]
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead: The Century of Self [Richter Scale]
The Appleseed Cast: Sagarmatha [The Militia Group]
Architecture in Helsinki: "That Beep" single [Polyvinyl]
Arise and Ruin: Night Storms Hail Fire [Victory]
Asobi Seksu: Hush [Polyvinyl]
The Autumn Offering: TBA [Victory]
Beirut/Realpeople: March of the Zapotec/Holland [Pompeii/ Ba Da Bing] [U.S. release]
Boston Spaceships: The Planets Are Blasted [Guided by Voices Inc.]
Broken Spindles: Kiss/Kick [blank.wav]
Canadian Invasion: Three Cheers for the Invisible Hand [Transit of Venus]
Corpus Christi: TBA [Victory]
D. Rider: Mother of Curses [Tizona]
Dean & Britta: 13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests [Plexifilm] [DVD]
Death: ...For the Whole World to See [Drag City]
The Drones: Havilah [ATP] [U.S. release, out now in Australia]
Eleni Mandell: Artificial Fire [Zedtone]
Fake Problems: It's Great To Be Alive [Side One Dummy]
Faunts: Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. [Friendly Fire]
Fidel Nadal: Crucial Cuts [Nacional]
Filastine: Dirty Bomb [Soot]
Final: Reading All the Right Signals Wrong [No Quarter]
Fol Chen: Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made [Asthmatic Kitty]
Gun Outfit: Dim Light [PPM]
Henry's Funeral Shoe: Everything's for Sale [Alive]
Here We Go Magic: Here We Go Magic [Western Vinyl]
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit [Lightning Rod Records]
Lionel Richie: Just Go [Island]
Living Things: Habeas Corpus [Jive]
Loren Connors: The Curse of Midnight Mary [Family Vineyard]
Maia Hirasawa: Though, I'm Just Me [Thrive]
M. Ward: Hold Time [Merge]
Mi Ami: Watersports [Quarterstick]
Morrissey: Years of Refusal [Attack/Lost Highway] [U.S. release]
Mountains: Choral [Thrill Jockey]
The Murder City Devils: Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts [Sub Pop] [vinyl reissue]
The Murder City Devils: In Name and Blood [Sub Pop] [vinyl reissue]
The Murder City Devils: The Murder City Devils [Sub Pop] [vinyl reissue]
The Murder City Devils: Thelema [Sub Pop] [vinyl reissue]
N.A.S.A.: The Spirit of Apollo [Anti-] [U.S. release]
Obscura: Cosmogenesis [Relapse]
Odawas: The Blue Depths [Jagjaguwar]
Plushgun: Pins and Panzers [Tommy Boy]
Psapp: The Camel's Back [Domino] [U.S. release, out now internationally]
Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3: Goodnight Oslo [Yep Roc]
Sholi: Sholi [Quarterstick]
Sleeper: Behind Every Mask [Mush]
The Sleeping: TBA [Victory]
Southeast Engine: From the Forest to the Sea [Misra]
Telepathe: Dance Mother [IAMSOUND]
These Are Powers: All Aboard Future [Dead Oceans]
Thrice: The Alchemy Indexes I-IV [Vagrant] [vinyl box set]
Throw Me the Statue: Purpleface EP [Secretly Canadian]
Thursday: Common Existence [Epitaph]
Tombs: Winter Hours [Relapse]
Various Artists: Dark Was the Night [4AD]
Various Artists: Guilt by Association Vol. 2 [Engine Room Recordings] [CD release, out now digitally]
Vetiver: Tight Knit [Sub Pop]
The Vibrarians: "Red Light" 7" [K]
Weird Owl: Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed [Tee Pee]
William Elliott Whitmore: Animals in the Dark [Anti-]
Within the Ruins: TBA [Victory]

02-23:

First Aid Kit: Drunken Trees EP [Wichita Recordings] [UK release]
Grandmaster Flash: The Bridge: Concept of a Culture [Adrenaline City Entertainment/Strut] [European release]
Pan American: White Bird Release [Kranky]
Rex the Dog: "Bubblicious" single [Hundehaus/Cooperative Music] [European release]
Robert Wyatt: Back catalogue box set [Domino] [UK release]

02-24:

Black Lips: 200 Million Thousand [Vice]
Cazals: What of Our Future [The:Hours]
Fountains of Wayne: No Better Place - Live in Chicago [Shout! Factory] [DVD]
Joe Budden: Padded Room [Amalgam Digital]
Lamb of God: Wrath [Epic]
Lorrie Matheson: In Vein [Saved by Radio]
MC Lars: This Gigantic Robot Kills [Crappy]
Pearl Jam: Ten [Legacy Recordings] [reissue]
Xiu Xiu: You Can't Hear Me [MVD] [DVD]

February:

Various Artists: War Child: Heroes [Astralwerks/Parlophone]

MARCH

03-02:

Georgia's Horse: Mammoth Sessions [Fire] [UK release]
The Leisure Society: The Sleeper [Willkommen Records] [UK release]
The Prodigy: Invaders Must Die [Take Me to the Hospital/Cooking Vinyl] [UK release]

03-03:

Bosque Brown: Baby [Burnt Toast Vinyl]
The Boy Least Likely To: The Law of the Playground [Too Young to Die/+1 Records] [worldwide release]
Buried Inside: Spoils of Failure [Relapse]
Coheed and Cambria: Neverender [Columbia] [box set]
Grandmaster Flash: The Bridge: Concept of a Culture [Adrenaline City Entertainment/Strut] [U.S. release]
Hollywood, Mon Amour: Hollywood, Mon Amour [PIAS]
Laura Gibson: Beasts of Seasons [HUSH]
Marissa Nadler: Little Hells [Kemado]
Neko Case: Middle Cyclone [Anti-]
The Prodigy: Invaders Must Die [Take Me to the Hospital/Cooking Vinyl] [U.S. release]
Say Hi: Oohs & Aahs [Barsuk]
The Soundtrack of Our Lives: Communion [Yep Roc]
U2: No Line on the Horizon [Interscope]
The Whip: X Marks Destination [Razor and Tie] [U.S. release, out now in the UK]
Wild Light: Adult Nights [Almost Gold/Startime International]

03-09:

Reigns: The House on the Causeway [Monotreme] [UK release]
Tim Exile: "Family Galaxy" single [Warp] [UK release]
Wounded Knee: Shimmering New Vistas [Benbecula] [UK release]

03-10:

Arbouretum: Song of the Pearl [Thrill Jockey]
Bishop Allen: Grrr... [Dead Oceans]
BLK JKS: MYSTERY EP [Secretly Canadian]
Blue Giant: Target Heart EP [Jealous Butcher] [vinyl release, out now digitally]
Condo Fucks: Fuckbook [Matador]
The Count and Sinden: Hardcore Girls 12" [Domino]
DM Stith: Heavy Ghost [Asthmatic Kitty]
Extra Golden: Thank You Very Quickly [Thrill Jockey]
Father Yod and the Spirit of '76: Contraction [Swordfish] [reissue]
John Wesley Harding: Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead [Popover/The Rebel Group]
Lymbyc System: Carved by Glaciers [Magic Bullet] [vinyl release]
Mexican Institute of Sound: Soy Sauce [Nacional]
Mirah: (a)spera [K Records]
New Found Glory: Not Without a Fight [Epitaph]
The Number Twelve Looks Like You: Worse Than Alone [Eyeball Records]
The Thermals: "When I Died" single [Kill Rock Stars]
This Will Destroy You & Lymbyc System: Field Studies [Magic Bullet] [CD release]
Tim Hecker: An Imaginary Country [Kranky]
Various Artists: Nat King Cole: Re:Generations [King Cole Partners & Productions/EMI]
Various Artists: Punk Goes Pop Volume Two [Fearless]
Ya Ho Wa 13: I'm Gonna Take You Home [Swordfish] [reissue]
Ya Ho Wa 13: Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony [Swordfish] [reissue]
Ya Ho Wa 13: I'm Gonna Take You Home [Swordfish] [reissue]

03-16:

Debbie Leggo: Deb's Legs [Fire] [UK release]
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Beware [Domino] [UK release]
Leo Abrahams: The Grape and the Grain [Just Music] [UK release]
Soap&Skin: Lovetune for Vacuum [PIAS] [UK release]

03-17:

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Beware [Drag City] [U.S. release]
Kelly Clarkson: TBA [RCA]

03-18:

Fever Ray: TBA [Rabid/Brille] [Scandinavian/European release]

03-19:

Tim Exile: Listening Tree [Warp] [UK release]

03-20:

Richie James Follin: Battle [self-released]

03-23:

Fever Ray: TBA [etcetc] [Australia/New Zealand release]
Lotus Plaza: The Floodlight Collective [Kranky]
William Orbit: "Optical Illusions" single [Kobalt]

03-24:

Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali [Because Music/Nonesuch] [U.S. release, out now internationally]
Beep Beep: Enchanted Islands [Saddle Creek]
Dan Deacon: Bromst [Carpark]
Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks: Tangled Tales [Surfdog]
The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love [Capitol]
Red Red Meat: Bunny Gets Paid [Sub Pop] [2xCD reissue]
Fever Ray: TBA [Mute] [U.S. release]
Indigo Girls: Poseidon and the Bitter Bug [IG Recordings/Vanguard]
Jeremy Jay: Slow Dance [K]
Obits: I Blame You [Sub Pop]
Winter Gloves: About a Girl [Paper Bag]
Ya Ho Wa 13: Re-Visiting Father and the Source Family [Swordfish] [DVD]

03-30:

Frightened Rabbit: Liver! Lung! FR! [Fat Cat] [International release, out now in U.S.]
Jackie O Motherfucker: Ballads of the Revolution [Fire] [UK release]
Loner: Western Sci Fi [Just Music] [UK release]
PJ Harvey and John Parish: A Woman A Man Walked By [Island] [UK release]

03-31:

Great Lake Swimmers: Lost Channels [Nettwerk]
JR Writer: Cinecrack [Babygrande]
Richard Skelton: TBA [Tompkins Square]
Thunderheist: Thunderheist [Big Dada]

March:

Arcade Fire: Miroir Noir [Merge] [DVD, out now digitally]
Chin Chin: The Flashing, The Fancing [Definitive Jux]
The Crayon Fields: All the Pleasures in the World [Chapter Music]
The Ettes: EP [Take Root]
Grizzly Bear: TBA [Warp]
The Juan Maclean: The Future Will Come [DFA]
Justin Townes Earle: Midnight at the Movies [Bloodshot]
Kurt Vile: TBA [Mexican Summer] [vinyl release]
MSTRKRFT: Fist of God [Dim Mak/Downtown]
Valet: TBA [Mexican Summer] [vinyl release]

APRIL

04-06:

Lady Sovereign: Jigsaw [Midget/EMI] [UK release]
William Orbit: TBA [Kobalt]
Wundermut: As [Fire]

04-07:

Double Dagger: TBA [Thrill Jockey]
Eulogies: Here Anonymous [Dangerbird]
Lady Sovereign: Jigsaw [Midget/EMI] [U.S. release]
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: A Stranger Here [Anti-]
Sara Watkins: Sara Watkins [Nonesuch]
The Thermals: Now We Can See [Kill Rock Stars]

04-13:

Puerto Muerto: Johnny Deformed [Fire] [UK release]

04-14:

Dave Matthews Band: TBA [RCA]
Yonlu: A Society in Which No Tear Is Shed [Luaka Bop]

04-21:

Immaculate Machine: High on Jackson Hill [Mint]
Tortoise : TBA [Thrill Jockey]

04-28:

A Camp: Colonia [Nettwerk] [U.S. release]
Motorik: Klang! [self-released]

April:

Art Brut: Art Brut Versus Satan [Downtown]
Black Dice: Repo [Paw Tracks]
Ida Maria: Fortress Round My Heart [Upper 11] [U.S. release, out now internationally]

MAY

The Jesus Lizard: Head, Goat, Liar, and Down reissues [Touch & Go]
The Orkustra: TBA [Mexican Summer] [vinyl release]
Wooden Shjips: TBA [Mexican Summer] [vinyl release]

Sometime in 2009

50 Cent: Before I Self Destruct [Aftermath/Shady/Interscope]
Akron/Family: TBA [Dead Oceans]
Belle Orchestre: TBA [Arts&Crafts]
Bell X1: Blue Lights on the Runway [Yep Roc]
Big Boi: Sir Lucious Leftfoot...Son of Chico Dusty [LaFace]
Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle [Drag City]
Carolyn Mark with NQ Arbuckle: Let's Just Stay Here [Mint]
Chicks on Speed: TBA [Chicks on Speed]
Chris Cornell: Scream [Interscope]
Ciara: Fantasy Ride [LaFace/Zomba]
Clipse: Till the Casket Drops [Columbia]
The Coathangers: TBA [Suicide Squeeze]
Consequence: You Win Some, You Lose Some [G.O.O.D. Music/Universal Motown]
Dead Meadow: Peel Session [Xemu]
Doves: TBA [Astralwerks]
Eminem: Relapse [Aftermath/Shady/Interscope]
Gentleman Reg: Jet Black [Arts&Crafts]
Gomez: TBA [ATO]
Harmonic 313: When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence [Warp]
Jay Reatard: TBA [Matador]
Jesse Rose: What Do You Do If You Don't [Dubsided]
John Fogerty: The Return of the Blue Ridge Rangers [Fantasy]
Kid Sister: Dream Date [Downtown]
Mastodon: Crack the Skye [Warner Bros.]
Missy Elliott: Block Party [Atlantic]
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band: TBA [Dead Oceans]
Patrick Wolf: Battle [Bloody Chamber Music]
Paul Wall: Fast Life [Asylum]
Plush: Bright Penny [Broken Horse]
Sebadoh: deluxe reissues [Domino]
Sonic Youth: TBA [Matador]
Tori Amos: TBA [Universal Republic]
Townes Van Zandt: deluxe reissues [Domino]
Unknown Instructors: Funland [Smog Veil]
Van Morrison: Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl [Listen to the Lion/EMI]
Wilco: Ashes of American Flags [Nonesuch] [DVD]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: TBA [Interscope]

Comments

OK, it takes a lot to admit this but three weekends ago I stayed in and watched Strictly Come Dancing. Alone. Without anyone holding me down in front of the TV and shoving matchsticks between my eyelids to force me to witness the sunburned, leather sofa-esque atrocity that is Bruce Forsyth's face. And that's not all. Suitably impressed by the music that was played as an actor from Holby City theatrically danced the Argentine tango, I went onto the internet to try and find out what the song was. After a fruitless 10 minutes I came to my senses and gave up.

Later that evening, I watched ridiculous spy caper True Lies on TV. In anticipation of the scene where Jamie Lee Curtis strips to reveal herself in all her androgynous glory, and also because there is something strangely addictive about watching Arnold Schwarzenegger act (in the same way that watching a cat lick its bum is weirdly compelling), I decided I would throw away another few hours of my life in front of the telly.

By peculiar coincidence, there was a tango scene within the first 10 minutes of the film in which Arnie prances about to the same song I had heard earlier in the night. With renewed interest I went searching again on YouTube and found that the tango song in question was a take on Carlos Gardel's Por Una Cabeza.

It was while on YouTube that I stumbled across an Argentine group called Tanghetto, who make a concoction of tango and electronic music called, erm, electrotango.

Anyone who's ever been unfortunate enough to hear some Gotan Project on Gilles Peterson's Radio 1 show (he is the only person in the world who plays their music ?????' fact) will know how inane a contemporary take on tango can sound. But Tanghetto do manage to pull it off better than their French counterparts.

Their cover of New Order's Blue Monday is an understated and affecting take on a classic, and I have been revisiting it repeatedly since I first heard it (despite my general distaste for the accordion).

A number of Tanghetto's better tracks have a really dreamy, early Chicago house feel to them, and their mix of accordion and piano with laid-back beats also strongly recalls Balearic house. In fact, listening to songs such as Biorritmo helps me to imagine what it was like to be on the beach in Ibiza in 1987 watching Paul Oakenfold's luscious locks glistening in the sun while he took the crowd on a musical journey.

Herein lies the major problem with electrotango: it sounds inescapably dated. The music is so out-of-date it makes big beat sound like "spaceline" (a thrilling cross between space rock and bassline that's going to be massive in 2084).

One electrotango act who manage to sound slightly less ancient than Tanghetto is Bajofondo, an Argentine-Uruguayan collective led by Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (he wrote the score for Brokeback Mountain, not that many people were paying much attention to the music during the film).

The group mixes tango with everything from hip-hop to house, but it is songs such as Exodo II, where tango instrumentation meanders around a jungle breakbeat, that really hit the spot. The result sounds like a straighter version of the stuff on Venetian Snares' amazing Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett album ?????' in which the producer cuts up Hungarian jazz and classical music (check out the haunting ??"ngyilkos Vas????rnap which samples Billie Holiday's cover of a Hungarian suicide song called Gloomy Sunday) over curdled drum'n'bass-speed breakbeats.

Bajofondo's modern take on tango has garnered them plenty of success in their homeland, as well as across the rest of the world. Their debut album, Bajofondo Tango Club, won a Latin Grammy for best pop instrumental album, and their latest album, Mar Dulce, features none other than Nelly Furtado herself. To paraphrase Brucie: didn't they do well?

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

The results of this year's guardian.co.uk/music Readers' Poll are in, and the remarkable thing is last year's double winners Radiohead very nearly made it into the the top ten Bands of the Year list, despite not having released an album this year. That good eh, readers?

They have not clinched the top spot, however. That honour goes to another double winner. This year, Bon Iver takes the prize in both Album of the Year and Solo Artist of the Year (which was actually dominated by women). You voted him better than Fleet Foxes, Elbow and Vampire Weekend in the former category, and more worthy than Laura Marling, Santogold and, erm, Leona Lewis of the latter award. He told guardian.co.uk/music: "I am simply flattened by your response to the record. I don't know how to thank you ... appropriately. Thank you for making it your record."

Over in the Band of the Year category, there was one group who obliterated the competition in terms of votes. The Killers, whose album Day & Age was released in November, were so far in the lead we suspected foul play, but the freak who spammed us over 1,000 times under such names as Dickie Burn and, charmingly, Fred West, had nothing to do with it. The Killers' lead singer Brandon Flowers was especially touched on hearing the news, telling guardian.co.uk/music: "We are very blessed to have such great and computer-savvy fans. It's wonderful to be a band of the people. 2008 was a year of relaxation and devastation for the Killers. We love you all."

Song of the Year wasn't nearly as unanimous, but Kings of Leon took the title with their number one hit Sex on Fire. Elsewhere, MGMT took second and third place with Time to Pretend and Kids respectively, while Elbow also popped up twice with two songs from their award-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid.

But most importantly of all, which musician did you think was Most Deserved of a Government Bailout this year? Many opted to plant a "?" in this box. Others opted for Coldplay, Madonna and Amy Winehouse, who actually won our Most Likely To Go Missing in a Canoe and Resurface in Panama award last year. She must be very proud. The winner, though, was Guns N' Roses, although we can't think what for.

So there you have it: full lists below. Three winners selected at random can look forward to receiving the top ten albums in the new year, while the rest of you can get on with telling everyone how crap their choices are on the list below. Merry Christmas!

Album of the Year

Bon Iver ?????' For Emma, Forever Ago

Fleet Foxes ?????' Fleet Foxes

Coldplay ?????' Viva La Vida (Or Death and All His friends)

TV On The Radio ?????' Dear Science

Elbow ?????' The Seldom Seen Kid

Vampire Weekend ?????' Vampire Weekend

Kings of Leon ?????' Only By the Night

Portishead ?????' Third

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ?????' Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

MGMT ?????' Oracular Spectacular

Band of the year

The Killers

Kings of Leon

Elbow

Fleet Foxes

TV on the Radio

Vampire Weekend

MGMT

Glasvegas

Coldplay

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Solo artist of the year

Bon Iver

Laura Marling

Duffy

Santogold

Leona Lewis

Amanda Palmer

Adele

Paul Weller

Seasick Steve

Leonard Cohen

Song of the year

Kings of Leon ?????' Sex on Fire

MGMT ?????' Time to Pretend

MGMT ?????' Kids

Coldplay ?????' Viva La Vida

Fleet Foxes ?????' White Winter Hymnal

Elbow ?????' One Day Like This

MIA ?????' Paper Planes

Elbow ?????' Grounds for Divorce

Vampire Weekend ?????' A-Punk

Estelle ?????' American Boy

Most Deserving of a Government Bailout

Guns N' Roses

Amy Winehouse

Coldplay

Madonna

Leonard Cohen

Comments

Comments

Comments

Click in our “Blog” to see themxx??

Comments

here are some photographs from japan:??????????spike having a lovely sit-down????The bullet train??????anyway boring boring boring waiting… on the bullet train, i got neck shaved . this is our wonderful manager Keith with a shaving.??keith and vicky????Tokyo…??????as soon as we got to tokyo we tried to find another pet shop with monkeys.but their were none, however all the dogs were in really lovely dresses. this was the most beautiful…????stage clothes 09????????????have a lovely christmas??????xDaniel??????????????????

Comments

Comments