Back & Forth

It never fails…at the end of every year I compile my year-end list of favorite albums, then after the first of the year I end up hearing records that should have made the list. I always seem to miss at least one or two gems. It hasn’t even been a month since I posted my Top 20 Albums of 2007 and I’ve already discovered a number of great albums that I should have included. One that I knew about but just didn’t listen to is Peter Bjorn and John. That is one great album!

Another CD that I had in my collection but just hadn’t listened to enough is Mirrored by prog instrumentalists Battles. They channel some serious King Crimson...This one should have made my top 20 as well.

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The biggest oversight however has got to be Kent. I didn’t even realize they had a new album out until I saw it on another year-end list (thanks Thaddeus). The name of the album is Tillbaka Till Samtiden and it’s sung in their native Swedish. Even though I don’t understand a word, this album is so good that if I had heard it last year it would have easily made my Top 10! It is by far their best, with amazing songs and lots of cool keyboards and guitars. Thaddeus described it best when he called it “Dissociatives mashed up with early Radiohead.”

Now it’s back to the future. The new release lists for the next couple of months look good and there is already some great music out there.

The first truly great find of the year for me is The Hoosiers. An email from Musicologist Jim Worthen recommending a band does not come all that often, but when it does it’s always good. This time he emailed to tell me about The Hoosiers, a band from where…? Indiana? No! This is yet another great band from England. The record is out in the UK already and comes out here in the US this year. There’s a 3 song EP available here now on iTunes. Fans of The Feeling, Human Radio and Rooney will definitely want to check this one out. The single is “Goodbye Mr. A” and you’ve got to check out the video too…the classic A&M single logo look and feel at the beginning fades into an animated segment…very cool. The song itself is an instant power pop classic, reminiscent of “Mr. Blue Sky.”

Here are a few more releases to look forward to in the coming weeks…
Mike Doughty, Presidents Of The United States, MGMT, Joe Jackson, Yazbek and more.
That should be a great start to 2008!

First Great Album of '08?

Surprisingly, I'm talking about Joe Jackson's upcoming album "Rain." I've never been a big Joe Jackson fan, although I enjoyed his 3 great albums from the late 70's early 80's period (Look Sharp, I'm The Man, Beat Crazy) he lost me after that. When my good friend and music writer/critic Andre Salles (check out his column here: www.tm3am.com) emailed me telling me to check out his new tunes on MySpace I didn't have high hopes, but ended up being blown away. The songs up from his new album are as good as anything he's ever done and his voice sounds even better.

Check it out now: http://www.myspace.com/joejacksonmusic

Releasing on January 28th.