Usually at the beginning of each quarter I list what albums are coming out chronologically, instead, this time I am counting down the ten albums I am most looking forward to listen to this fall. Then the rest I sorted by release date. If you are interested in pre-ordering the record from Amazon, click the album name (or the album cover where available). Click the artist name to be taken to their iTunes page to grab their current work. And as always, all dates subject to change.
1. Battle Studies – John Mayer (November 17): When I get around to making the Greatest Albums of the 00’s list, you could make an argument for any of his first three albums to land near the top of the list. Hopefully he goes four for four with Battle Studies.
2. Kamaal the Abstract – Q-Tip (September 15): This should have been on the Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2002, but the album got shelved by Arista. The record takes the jazz samples of A Tribe Called Quest to the extreme of live instrumentation and even sees Tip sing long before Andre 3000 or Kanye with production from the late J Dilla.
3. Draw the Line – David Gray (September 22): Even though he hasn’t gotten the mainstream following after striking it big with Babylon, Gray has put out consistently good music since. And from the signs of the first single Fugitive, it looks to continue.
4. Everything Comes and Goes – Michelle Branch (November 10): Branch started off her career by making what may end up being the greatest pop album of the decade. Like many other artists this decade, she went country with her duo The Wreckers. Now back with her first solo album in six years, it sounds like she will continue straddling the pop / rock / country fence.
5. Kiss and Tell – Selena Gomez and The Scene (September 29): Just kidding, making sure you are paying attention. But seriously, their first single is disturbingly catchy. Don’t tell Chris Hansen I said that though please.
6. The Seventh Seal – Rakim (September 22): Another rap album that has been taking too long to be released. I have been anxiously waiting for this album ever since Dr. Dre signed him to his Aftermath label back in 2000. He left three years later to sign with Dreamworks that folded shortly after. Hopefully there are no more snags between now and the 22nd.
7. I and Love and You – The Avett Brothers (September 29): I was first introduced to the band when Friday Night Lights used it as the soundtrack to the Landy/Tyra coupling. Now with a Rick Rubin produced, they are posed to be the breakout rock act of the year.
8. Play On – Carrie Underwood (November 3): Unlike #5, this is no joke. Her debut was the guiltiest of guilty pleasures and the follow was exactly what you expect, save the last track Wheel that pushed her boundaries outward. From the sound of the first single Cowboy Cassanova she might be pushing further with the song co-written by Mike Elizondo, one of Dr. Dre’s co-producers.
9. Man on the Moon: The End of Day – Kid Cudi (September 15): Consider me skeptic about a five act rap concept album, the recent three acts from Green Day was heavy-handed. But Make Her Say may go down as the best hip-hop track of year. And bonus points for being from Cleveland.
10. How I Got Over – The Roots (October 20): You would think after agreeing to be Jimmy Fallon’s house band, The Roots would rest on their laurels, but just a year after releasing their last album comes a new one.
Here are some other albums you can expect to drop sometime before Christmas. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments or tell me what fall release you are looking forward to:
A couple weeks ago one of the major record labels pulled all their videos off YouTube, but I still go there first when looking for new ones intuitively. When I searched for the new Jason Mraz video I found one with a new notice: “This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled.” So you basically are watching the music with the mute button on because YouTube won’t pull the video but has to strip the audio to avoid copy write infringement. I love getting caught in the middle of uber rich entities fighting with other uber rich entities over pennies.
Yet another reason why Q-Tip landed in at number two of the Best Albums of 2008 list. I can’t imagine anyone who couldn’t get behind this bass line. If you haven’t checked out The Renaissance yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Sounds very much like Maybe which may be my favorite N.E.R.D. song. Get it? I guess that is why I never went into stand up. And what is up with the gratuitous Zune product placement.
And the very first headscratchingly absurd video of 2009 goes to Canadian artist Lights. Still I watched it about ten times when I first came across it.
After the most mediocre year last year (see 30 Best Albums of 2007) I thought 2008 was looking up while listening through the almost 200 potential songs that will appear in next week’s Best Songs of 2008 list. Despite being plethora of great songs, there were not really any great albums. There were plenty of good albums released in the last twelve months and here they are.
If you are interested in reading my original review of these albums, check out the link below the album and if you are interested in buying them on iTunes, click on the album link. If you want to buy the physical CD, head over to Scooter McGavin’s Amazon Store where you can order them there:
Quote of the Week: Now if you excuse me, I have a date with Hannity and Colmes. (Barney - How I Met Your Mother)
Song of the Week: Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (How I Met Your Mother)
Big News of the Week: ABC Drops All the Shows I Watch on Their Network: The day after Tony Kornheiser gave Pushing Daisies some dap on Pardon the Interruption, ABC announced that the show would be taking its title too seriously. Michael Wilbon won’t be too happy that Dirty Sexy Money will be joining them. Also six feet under is Eli Stone. None of the shows are officially canceled or pulled from the schedule, but it is doubtful we will see any of the shows again after their original order of thirteen episodes are aired, that is if ABC bothers to air them all (I sense a buy the DVD to see unaired episodes situation coming). After the Jericho debacle, I doubt there is any luck resurrecting any of the shows by sending pies, stones, or dirt covered money to the network. The closest thing to hope fans can look to is a Friday Night Lights situation, although network may want to wait to see how successful that is before trying it themselves. And Mark Cuban, whom owns DirecTV, is a little busy these days with the SEC. At any rate, it may be time for another rant that anyone who thinks the Neilsen Ratings are credible are complete morons.
Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:
Coalition Links of the Week: From Turtle on Entourage to Thirteen on House, Buzz rounded up some of her favorite nicknamed TV characters. (BuzzSugar)
Vance loves Bobby Cannavale but isn't quite sure if he'll make a good Cupid yet after seeing the preview. (Tapeworthy)
This week, Jace took an advance look at the Doctor Who: Complete Series Four DVD which came out earlier this week and offered an early look at a potential ABC midseason schedule. (Televisionary)
I'm in ur hospital, sleepin' with ur interns! Dan continued his trend of ridiculing Grey's Anatomy with a new batch of LOLGrey's. (TiFaux).
Jennifer returned from maternity leave to chat with Rosie O’Donnell about her new variety show, Nip/Tuck, and The View and received a strike notice from her DVR. (Tube Talk)
Kate kinda hated herself for continuing to watch Stylista. But holy crap was this week's episode compelling! (TV Filter)
Heather had a longish chat with 24: Redemption's Robert Carlyle and, incredibly, managed to avoid once mentioning Hamish Macbeth! (TV Spy)
Free Download of the Week: Gettin’ Up - Q-Tip (iTunes): A couple weeks ago iTunes launch a Free Single of the Week and the former A Tribe Called Quest rapper’s latest video is yours without having to pay for it. I always wondered who actually pays to download music videos on iTunes. Why download a three music video for $1.99 when you can get a forty minute television show for the same price. But you cannot beat free. Now if only I could figure how to convert an iTunes video into a MP3 song.
Video of the Week: I have always been skeptical of the upcoming remake for Cupid from Rob Thomas, but the promo for the show hit the interwebs this week. Have a look:
Wow, after watching that I have to wonder if Bobby Cannavale watched every episode of Entourage back to back because he looks like he is trying too hard to do a Jeremy Pivin impersonation. Is there really anyone at ABC that thinks this will be better, or even perform better, than Eli Stone or Pushing Daisies? The channel may be morphing into The CW for me where I no longer watch it, not because I am boycotting it like Fox, but I don’t watch it because there just isn’t anything watchable.
Next Week Pick of the Week: Macy’s Thanksgivings Day Parade, Thursday at 9:00 AM on NBC: A yearly tradition even if I don’t know who seventy-five percent of the “stars” they have trotted out in the past decade. Surprisingly this year I actually recognize a few names like Miley Cyrus, David Archuleta, Kristen Chenoweth, James Taylor, Darius Rucker and Trace Adkins. Not appearing this year are The Cheetah Girls, whoever they are, because they got dumped from the show for some reason. Hopefully that means more Hootie.
When Q-Tip calls his album The Renaissance you cannot help but get excited. It has almost been a decade since his first solo outing and over a decade since his seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest last recorded together. In the interim rap has gone from a cultural movement to a corporate medium that now hawks soda drinks and feminine products.
Tip’s hiatus wasn’t self imposed those as he bounced from five record labels in six years with a couple albums that have yet to see the light of day (asides from some advance copied). Old School Tribe fans should be pleased that The Renaissance stays away from the pop-dance vibe of Amplified and fit somewhere between Midnight Marauder and The Love Movement.
And that vibe starts right off the top with the jazzy, minor key staccato notes of Johnny Dead, one of many songs that Q-Tip produced himself. The only outside producers are Mark Ronson whose retro sound messes well with the Tribe vibe on the sports filled metaphors of Won’t Trade. The other guest producer is frequent Tribe collaborator, the late great J Dilla on the two lead singles, the most danceable songs on the album Gettin’ Up and Move which will definitely make you want to do what the songs say with the latter sampling The Jackson 5’s Dancing Machine.
As for people lending their voices to the album (sadly no Phife Dawg) the most notable being D’Angelo who was months away from showing up on the side of milk carton on Believe. Also bring the neo-soul for a hook is Raphael SaadiqonWe Fight/We Love. While Norah Jones adds some smoothness while Tip gives a shout out to those that have carried on his torch on Life Is Better. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another decade to hear from Q-Tip again and he has Phife, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi along for the ride.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
If I were to make a list of the most disappoint things about the 00's, Sam’s Town by The Killers would have to make the list. Most of that was thanks to Brandon Flowers’ own Bruce Springsteen comparison. After that backlash, you would think Flowers would cool it on that, but he is on the record of calling Human a mix between Johnny Cash and the Pet Shop Boys. Um, yeah, okay. But looking at the video it is nice to see the band has ditched the silly Spaghetti Western look, but I have no idea what is with the feathered shoulder pads. Look for Day & Age out November 22.
Yeah Snoop Dogg just did the retro video a couple months ago, but what I have heard from The Renaissance, color me excited about the new Q-Tip album dropping on November 4.
What do you do when you’re a singer-songwriter and everyone ignores your first album? Well if you are Brett Dennen you find yourself a famous fan like Mandy Moore and put her in your video where you do your best Al Bundy impression. Works for me.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
When it seems like every pop act is going country it is interesting to see that Taylor Swift is going the other way with the first single off of her second album. This is after they un-countried two songs from her debut album for Top 40 consumption. We will have to wait until November 11 when Fearless, which features co-written songs with Colbie Caillat, comes out to see just how far the transformation goes.
It has been almost a decade since we have gotten new material from Q-Tip which was much more dance music, but if Gettin’ Up is any indication, the new album will get back to his A Tribe Called Quest roots. The Renaissance comes out November 4.
I am never a fan of new material on Greatest Hits compilations. It just wreaks of blatant attempts of forcing fanatics to buy the album just for the track or two that they don’t already own, what’s worse is when iTunes makes those new songs “Album Only” tracks. Plus none of the songs (sans Mary Jane’s Last Dance) ever live up to the moniker greatest hit. The same goes for this Sarah McLachlan track from her Greatest Hits which probably wouldn’t crack my top twenty favorite songs by her.
Every once and a while a song just gets stuck in my head and I just break out into that song at inappropriate times and the first single from Australian Lenka falls into that category. And the video is just as quirky as the song the former of which I will talk about in greater when I review the album later this week (if I get around to it).
To say the summer for music was bad would be an understatement. Between Coldplay and Metallica which was released this past weekend, there were no releases to get excited about unless you were a fourteen year old girl (horary Jonas Brothers). Need more proof, check out Tapeworthy’s list of the Best Songs of the Summer. Yeah, sad (but where was I’m Yours?). And fall got a little less anticipated with the recent announcement that U2 has pushed No Line on the Horizon back to 2009. But here is a list of the albums you can plan to give to loved ones for Christmas this year (dates subject to change; click the album name for Amazon pre-order and the artist name to check out them on iTunes). If I left off your favorite artist, let me know in the comments and I will add it later:
You may also expect new albums from, Michelle Branch, Rhymefest, Fabolous, Goo Goo Dolls, Eminem, R. Kelly, Franz Ferdinand, and The Fray. Being Christmas season there is your usual Greatest Hits packages from Bob Dylan, Sarah McLauglin, Christina Aguilera, Switchfoot, Celine Dion, Hilary Duff, Bette Midler, and Tim. McGraw. Then actual Christmas albums from Faith Hill, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr., Elvis Pressley, Kristin Chenoweth, Chris Isaak, Al Jarreau, and The Wiggles.
Then the battle of long delayed album is heating up again between Dr. Dre and Guns ‘n’ Roses. A tie in with Detox for Dr. Dre’s own cognac is scheduled to roll out this fall but no date for that or the album. While on the Chinese Democracy front, one track will be featured on the latest Rock Band game but no set date for the whole album. But cross your fingers because if it does come out this year, Dr. Pepper will give everyone in America a free can.
– John Mayer (November 17): When I get around to making the Greatest Albums of the 00’s list, you could make an argument for any of his first three albums to land near the top of the list. Hopefully he goes four for four with Battle Studies.
2. Kamaal the Abstract – Q-Tip (September 15): This should have been on the Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2002, but the album got shelved by Arista. The record takes the jazz samples of A Tribe Called Quest to the extreme of live instrumentation and even sees Tip sing long before Andre 3000 or Kanye with production from the late J Dilla.
3. Draw the Line – David Gray (September 22): Even though he hasn’t gotten the mainstream following after striking it big with Babylon, Gray has put out consistently good music since. And from the signs of the first single Fugitive, it looks to continue.
– Michelle Branch (November 10): Branch started off her career by making what may end up being the greatest pop album of the decade. Like many other artists this decade, she went country with her duo The Wreckers. Now back with her first solo album in six years, it sounds like she will continue straddling the pop / rock / country fence.
– Selena Gomez and The Scene (September 29): Just kidding, making sure you are paying attention. But seriously, their first single is disturbingly catchy. Don’t tell Chris Hansen I said that though please.
6. The Seventh Seal – Rakim (September 22): Another rap album that has been taking too long to be released. I have been anxiously waiting for this album ever since Dr. Dre signed him to his Aftermath label back in 2000. He left three years later to sign with Dreamworks that folded shortly after. Hopefully there are no more snags between now and the 22nd.
– The Avett Brothers (September 29): I was first introduced to the band when Friday Night Lights used it as the soundtrack to the Landy/Tyra coupling. Now with a Rick Rubin produced, they are posed to be the breakout rock act of the year.
8. Play On – Carrie Underwood (November 3): Unlike #5, this is no joke. Her debut was the guiltiest of guilty pleasures and the follow was exactly what you expect, save the last track Wheel that pushed her boundaries outward. From the sound of the first single Cowboy Cassanova she might be pushing further with the song co-written by Mike Elizondo, one of Dr. Dre’s co-producers.
9. Man on the Moon: The End of Day – Kid Cudi (September 15): Consider me skeptic about a five act rap concept album, the recent three acts from Green Day was heavy-handed. But Make Her Say may go down as the best hip-hop track of year. And bonus points for being from Cleveland.
– The Roots (October 20): You would think after agreeing to be Jimmy Fallon’s house band, The Roots would rest on their laurels, but just a year after releasing their last album comes a new one.
– Muse
- Drake
– Pearl Jam
– Wale
– Monsters of Folk
– Sean “Diddy” Combs
– Alice in Chains
– Paramore
– Mariah Carey
– Foreigner
(Box Set)
– Switchfoot
– Joe Budden
– Daniel Johnston
– Joe Perry
- Lights
– Bob Dylan
– Shakira
– Brian McKnight
– Five for Fighting
– Clipse
– The Swell Session
– Train
– Sting
- Kings of Leon
– R.E.M.
– 50 Cent
– Amerie
– Norah Jones
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on my 
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