Old News/Music Roundup

Things have been moving a little slowly around here as of late, but that's ok; we're more concerned with quality than quantity, anyway. New music releases have hit a bit of a lull recently, other than the excellent new Retribution Gospel Choir album (thanks to Kyle for giving us the heads up on that one). There have been a few interesting developments here and there, though, so here we go:

1. The National is releasing a new album in May. No title, tracklist, or artwork yet. There's an interview with lead singer Matt Berninger @ Pitchfork discussing the album, etc.
2. Ditto for The New Pornographers. It's also coming out in May (4th to be exact); they do have a title ("Together") and artwork ready to go. Check it.
3. Our buddies in New Ruins have posted a couple new tracks on their myspace page, and they're really good. I especially dig "Stance". If you've never heard them you really should check them out. Look for big things from these gentlemen in the near future...
4. Broken Bells (The Shins' James Mercer and Dangermouse) have released a video for the ridiculously good track "The High Road" (their debut is set to be released in March). It more or less consists of the two encountering various whacked-out events as they walk along a road at night, which is actually cooler than it sounds:
   The High Road
   
   Broken Bells | MySpace Music Videos
5. Jimmy LaValle's one-man project The Album Leaf is set to release a new LP in March, entitled A Chorus of Storytellers. It's floating around out there in cyberspace already, and it's more of the same (in a good way). If you've never heard of LaValle or his "band", his claim to fame is doing some work with Sigur Ros. His music is predominantly instrumental, and when he does sneak vocals in there, they're usually used as part of the landscape as a whole.
   
   "Falling From the Sun"
   
6. Finally, the "Hope For Haiti Now" Telethon aired on pretty much all of the major networks last Friday, and there were several notable performances. In case you missed it:

Coldplay "A Message"

Justin Timberlake covering Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah"

Jay-Z, Bono & The Edge of U2, and Rihanna with a new track, entitled "Stranded"

There were several other notables as well, and you can check them all out here.

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Memory Tapes Remix Phoenix's "1901"

In case you hadn't heard or seen this already (it's kinda everywhere right now), one of the best new acts from last year, Memory Tapes, remixed what I consider to be the best track of 2009, Phoenix's "1901". But realistically it's a bit of a stretch to call this a "remix". It's really more of a complete restructuring; think Robocop or Darth Vader. The only remnants of the original are Thomas Mars' vocals, which are scattered throughout the track. Needless to say, if you, I, or anyone else end up digging this, it won't be because Dayve Hawke was coat-tailing off the catchiness that made "1901" a hit...

You can download it by right-clicking here.

In weirder news, Passion Pit remixed Lady Gaga. Enjoy:

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Retribution Gospel Choir

Retribution Gospel Choir is a 3-piece headed by Alan Sparhawk of Low. This is their second album entitled “2” and it will rock your face off. The music is very different from that of Low. Low seems to be very subtle and subdued whereas Retribution Gospel Choir is more about big riffs, huge drums and even a little classic rock in the mix. Their self-titled debut album was released through Mark Kozelek’s label Caldo Verde Records. This is their first album on Sub Pop and I can’t imagine it’ll be their last. My advice is to go out and buy this today and PLAY IT AS LOUD AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!

Retribution Gospel Choir – Hide It Away

Retribution Gospel Choir - Your Bird

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Conan Says "Goodnight"

Congratulations, NBC: You suck. Been out a few days, but in case you somehow missed it, Conan and NBC reached a buyout agreement, Jay is still trying to present himself as a victim in all of this, and January 22 saw The Tonight Show with Conan O'brien come to an end waaaay too soon. Of course, O'brien and the gang didn't go quietly; he defiantly ripped NBC up through Thursday night before bowing graciously and thanking NBC (but not Leno, mind you) on Friday night, had plenty of great guests and surprise appearances, and highlighted some of the best moments from his short stint as host of The Tonight Show. And then came one of the coolest things I've ever seen on television. After saying his goodbyes (for now), Conan closed out his version of one of the most storied and respected franchises in all of media with a goofy all-star jam rendition of "Freebird" that was at times just flat-out weird. It featured Max Weinberg and the rest of the Tonight Show Band, Ben Harper, Conan, Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top), and Beck, with none other than Will Ferrell leading the way - and he brought his cowbell! Not sure that it was funny or that it even served any purpose, but it was pure Conan:

Goodnight, Conan. See you soon...

More on last night:

Evidently a lot of people were watching, and Jimmy Fallon and The Roots did a pretty awesome tribute at the top of their show:

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Parks and Recreation Auditions: RZA

Parks and Recreation is the Wu-Tang of Comedy - watch more funny videos

Amazingly, not the first time Amy Poehler has worked with the RZA. The Wu-Tang were also on Season 2, Episode 3 of Upright Citizens Brigade.
Fun facts!

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Patton Oswalt is a BIG FAN

If you haven't seen a really weird movie in a while, here's one for you. It's Patton Oswalt like you've probably never seen him before. It's not exactly funny per se, but after watching it I could see how you could get away with calling it a BLACK comedy. Big Fan is written and directed by Robert D. Siegel, the writer of The Onion Movie and The Wrestler. There was barely any press for this movie, and I could see how it might not be a big money maker. But, this film is great and a must see for any fan of Patton. So just rent this movie and watch Patton be a weirdo. You can watch the trailer HERE.

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Spoon perform on 'The Tonight Show'

Wow, two of our favorite things to talk about, combined! It's like a McGriddle or something!

"Written in Reverse":

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Taiwanese Late Night Explanation, Throwdown Style

I like this version better, especially the computer-animated brawl at the end:

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Jay's Side of the Story

Earlier this evening, NBC released a transcript of Jay Leno's monologue from tonight's Jay Leno Show. In it, Jay attempts to explain his angle on this mess. As far as the probability of a potential shuffle and the termination of The Tonight Show with Conan O'brien, "inevitable" seems to be the word:

“I thought maybe I should address this. At least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC. Oh, let’s start in 2004. 2004 I’m sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, listen, Conan O’Brien has gotten offers from other networks. We don’t want him to go, so we’re going to give him ‘The Tonight Show.’ I said, ‘well, I’ve been number one for 12 years.’ They said, ‘we know that, but we don’t think you can sustain that.’ I said, ‘okay. How about until I fall to number two, then you fire me?’ ‘No, we made this decision.’ I said, ‘that’s fine.’ Don’t blame Conan O’Brien. Nice guy, good family guy, great guy. He and I have talked and not a problem since then. That’s what managers and people do, they try to get something for their clients. I said, ‘I’ll retire just to avoid what happened the last time.’ Okay.
So time goes by and we stay number one up until the day we leave. We hand… [applause here] No, no. Okay, but I’m leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else, I would be at least a year or 18 months before I could go and do a show somewhere else. I said to NBC, ‘would you release me from my contract.’ They said, ‘we want to keep you here.’ Okay. What are your ideas? They said, ‘how about primetime?’ I said, ‘that will never work.’ No, no, we want to put you on at 10:00. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10:00. Look at these studies showing Jay’s chin at 10:00. People will go crazy. Didn’t seem like a good idea at the time. I said, ‘alright, can I keep my staff?’ There are 175 people that work here. I said, ‘can I keep my staff?’ Yes, you can. Let’s try it. We guarantee you two years on the air, guaranteed. Now for the first four or five months against original shows like ‘CSI’ you’ll get killed, but in the spring and summer when the reruns come, that’s when you’ll pick up. Okay, great. I agree to that.
“Four months go by, we don’t make it. Meanwhile, Conan’s show during the summer, we’re not on, was not doing well. The great hope was that we would help him. Well, we didn’t help him any, okay. They come and go, ‘this show isn’t working. We want to let you go.’ Can you let me out of my contract? No, you’re still a valuable asset to this company. How valuable can I be? You fired me twice. How valuable can I be? Okay. So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. They’re the ones that sort of makes the decisions, they’re not happy with your performance and Conan is not doing well at 11:30. I said, ‘what’s your idea?’ They said, ‘well, look, how about you do a half hour show at 11:30?’ Now, where I come from, when your boss gives you a job and you don’t do it well, I think we did a good job here, but we didn’t’ get the ratings, so you get humbled. I said, ‘okay, I’m not crazy about doing a half hour, but okay. What do you want to do with Conan?’ We’ll put him on at midnight, or 12:05, keeps The Tonight Show, does all that, he gets the whole hour. I said, `okay. You think Conan will go for that?’ Yes, yes. [laughter from the audience] Almost guarantee you. I said okay. Shake hands, that’s it. I don’t have a manager, I don’t have an agent, that’s my handshake deal.
“Next thing I see Conan has a story in the paper saying he doesn’t want to do that. They come back to me and they say if he decides to walk and doesn’t want to do it, do you want the show back? I go, ‘yeah, I’ll take the show back. If that’s what he wants to do. This way, we keep our people working, fine.’ So that’s pretty much where we are. It looks like we might be back at 11:30, I’m not sure. I don’t know. [applause] I don’t know. But through all of this — through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy. I have no animosity towards him. This is all business. If you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air. I think you know this town, you can do almost anything. You get ratings they keep you. I don’t get ratings, he wants. That was NBC’s solution. It didn’t work so we might have an answer for you tomorrow. So, we’ll see. That’s basically where it is.”

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'24': Day 8 Premiere

I'll spare you the elaborate (and unnesessary) review of the "4:00pm-5:00pm" and "5:00-6:00pm" episodes of this brand new season of 24, and get down to the essentials.

Reasons Season 8 looks to be more of the same:

• Jack being so close to getting out of the game completely before being pulled back in at the worst possible moment.
• A plot to assassinate an important foreign leader
• The director of CTU is a stiff
• Someone in CTU has personal problems
• An office romance
• Chloe hacking into things
• Jack not playing by the rules
• Jack operating as some sort of rogue agent and directing government resources despite not actually being employed by said government.
• A noble president surrounded by people of questionable character
• Technology!
• Foreign Terrorists who have somehow managed to infiltrate the highest levels of government, and who undoubtedly have a plot so elaborate and sinister that no one will really have a handle on it until it's almost to late.
• Explosions!
• A "young Jack" character
• Jack's "intense" voice

Reasons not to Care it's more of the same:

• New York City
• Jack giving a baddy an axe to the chest within the first 30 minutes.
• A bazooka being used within city limits
• Kim Bauer not being an annoying drag so far
• Drones
• "Percy Wetmore" is one of the Bad Guys.
• The warden from Shawshank Redemption is still involved.
• This:

In short: Was the Season 8 premiere ground-breaking? Certainly not. But will I be tuning in again @ 8 tonight? Oh yes.

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Leno's 2004 Announcement

Um, wow:

Jay's 2004 Announcement - watch more funny videos

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New York Gets "Jacked"

Yeah, that's Fox's actual promo slogan for season 8. My expectations for 24 have regressed over the past 3 years, but there's always hope, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kinda pumped for the 2 hour season premiere tonight (8 pm Central). The real question is whether this is going to be different (and changing the locale again isn't going to be enough) or if it's gonna be same formula, different day (literally). We'll see; either way it looks like they're gonna blow some stuff up real good...

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Death Cab Cover "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

... and it's really, really bad. This took place at the Critic's Choice Movie Awards, which was broadcast on VH1. Evidently they were paying tribute to the late John Hughes. View at your own risk:

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

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Late Night War Round Up...

The good news? Apparently, this thing could be winding down. The bad? Unfortunately it sounds like it's not going to end well. The latest reports have NBC buying out Conan and Leno returning to The Tonight Show. Evidently every single NBC executive is either blind and deaf, or they're a bunch of stubborn old people (although I suppose those things aren't mutually exclusive). Either way, they're making a decision that flies in the face of the popular consensus - that Leno is the bad guy who should step aside and do the right thing - and the ratings, which have recently spiked for Conan. In fact, Tonight Show ratings have actually eclipsed that of Leno's show even though he's on during prime time - kind of a big deal. But who cares, the old rich guys think Jay is funny, or something.

The A.V. Club has a great rundown of everything that's gone down so far here. Check it.

Edit/Update: Ken Tucker @ EW.com posted this today on Dick Ebersol, the NBC exec. who's leading the "anti-Conan" charge. He's also the same guy that almost single-handedly wrecked SNL in the early 80s and thought (former SNL & Seinfeld writer and current Curb Your Enthusiasm star) Larry David was a talentless hack. Tucker makes several other excellent points as well, and they all point to one thing: NBC is making a joke of itself.

Also of note: Conan and NBC may reach an agreement by the end of the weekend. Needless to say, it'll be interesting to see what O'brien does with his last week should that actually come to pass; he's been relentless as-is...

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Video: The Very Best's "Warm Heart of Africa"

Finally, the best track from one of my favorite albums of 2009 has a video, and it's actually pretty fun to watch. It's a good thing, too - Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig almost went an entire day without media exposure...

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First Impressions: Spoon's 'Transference'

In case you haven't heard, Transference, which was the most anticipated "confirmed" upcoming album of 2010 for me personally, has finally hit cyberspace. I'm not comfortable with evaluating how good or bad it is at this point (Spoon albums are always growers that reveal themselves over time, anyway), but I do have a few observations:

• This is the first album the band has ever produced completely on it's own, and you can tell. That's not to say it isn't Spoon-like; In fact, it's actually the opposite. Transference sounds like a can of Spoon concentrate, and I mean that in a good way.
• This album contains both a.) one of the rawest, lo-fi Spoon songs since Series of Sneaks ("Trouble Comes Running") and b.) an actual straight-up ballad ("Goodnight Laura")
• Can't say with 100% certainty that there are going to be stand-out tracks of the same caliber as those found on any of the previous 5 albums (i.e. "Sister Jack", "Everything Hits at Once", "Finer Feelings", "The Way We Get By, etc.), but what I can say at this point is that overall Transference is a really good listening experience as a whole. Even the tracks that had already been leaked ("Mystery Zone", "Got Nuffin", and "Written in Reverse"), which seemed a bit underwhelming at first listen, sound better within the context of the entire album. Again, it wouldn't be a Spoon album if it didn't require a little bit of diligence to truly enjoy it.
• "Who Makes Your Money", "Nobody Gets Me But You", "Written in Reverse", and "Out Go the Lights" are emerging as my early favorites.

Hard to truly evaluate any Spoon release this early on, but it's definitely a must-have for fans of the band, and a must-listen for fans of music in general. Probably wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to anyone who hasn't heard Spoon before, but that doesn't reflect on the quality of the album. Scroll down for what I think are some of the highlights that haven't already been leaked...

"Who Makes Your Money"

"Nobody Gets Me But You"

"Out Go the Lights"

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Jimmy Kimmel on Leno

Kimmel gets some pretty good shots in on "Jay-the-Terrible" here, although this is mostly just awkward...

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I Love Movies!

Hey everybody! The "I Love Movies" podcast is one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time. It's taped in front of a live audience at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in LA and hosted by Doug Benson, comedian and ummm... "herbalist" behind Super High Me. He always has at least two guests on the show with him each time. Some of the best so far have been Aziz Ansari, Thomas Lennon & Ben Garant, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Jon Hamm, and the list goes on. I don't think I realized how clever Benson is until listening to these podcasts. I really only knew him from Comedy Central specials (which suck because the comedians have to really hold back for the censors), and Super High Me, which I did enjoy. But, it is all about movies, so don't think you won't enjoy it if you aren't into pot or pot related humor. Now, in my experience, it's really hard to recommend podcasts to people because they have to find it and download it and so on and they just won't do it. So, I thought if I put the links right here maybe someone will actually check it out because if you like movies and/or things that are funny, this IS something you've been missing. There are usually two a month and sometimes more. You can find it on itunes or the link below, and if you like it also try "Never Not Funny", "Comedy Death-Ray" and "Comedy and Everything Else". So check it out and as always, Willem Dafoe is a shit head (you'll get this joke later).

I Love Movies
& Follow him on twitter here
http://twitter.com/DougBenson

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The 'Robocop' Rap

This thing is AWESOME. In 10 minutes DJ Mayhem & MC Mouthmaster give us a synopsis of the original Robocop film, complete with sound bytes and samples from the original theme. You really need to watch this in it's entirety:

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Music is Awesome!!!

After staying home with my daughter for a week and a half over Christmas break and then tacking on 2 snow days for good measure, I've gotten quite a dose of Nick Jr. recently. Being the immature person that I am, I've actually taken a liking to several of the shows they produce, especially Yo Gabba Gabba! Yeah, most of us, including me, have spent the past year and a half laughing at this:

But I actually sat down and watched several episodes, and it's really very good. It teaches great lessons (my favorite: "Shake, Shake, Shake it off" when you fall down), people like Jack Black and Andy Samberg make appearances routinely, and they invite great bands to get involved. Mark Kozelek, Low, The Little Ones, Roots, Rahzel, Jason Lytle, The Postmarks, The Shins, Mates of State, The Clientele, Hot Hot Heat, Jimmy Eat World, I'm From Barcelona, Enon, Of Montreal, and Chromeo have all made contributions. Also, Biz Markie does a new "beat" every episode. In other words, if you've got young kids, this show is a no-brainer.

Not surprisingly, one of the very best Yo! tracks comes from a band who has always sounded like it should be the house band for the show, The Little Ones (they wouldn't even need to change their name!).

"Hey, Won't Somebody Come and Play"

I also really like Chromeo's "Nice 'N' Clean"

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Conan: I'm a Boss

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over the in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Showinto the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of theTonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Update: Leno is talking about walking, too.

Also, here's Conan making the best out of a dumb situation last Friday night:

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Current Spider-Man Franchise Squashed

The Playlist, amongst others, is reporting that Spider-Man 4 is officially off the table and the entire franchise will be scrapped and rebooted in about 2 years or so. Sam Raimi (director) and Tobey Maguire are washing their hands of Spider-Man for good. Thanks to Spider-Man 3, the real question is whether or not anyone cares at this point. More details here.

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The Late Shift, Cont...

NBC is moving forward with their next great idea, and moving Jay Leno and his big dumb Harley back to 10:35 (CST)... Conan will be backed up to 11:05, and then Jimmy Fallon will begin @ 12:05. Evidently this will all take place after the Winter Olympics conclude. Although it sucks Conan is being kicked all over the place for the sake of a guy who isn't really funny at all, there are a few silver linings here. For one thing, O'Brien won't have to compete with the Colbert Report anymore, which is surely affecting Tonight Show ratings right now. In addition, this creates the opportunity for NBC to actually put real shows on @ 9:00 again, which, despite opening the door for more awful reality garbage, hopefully ensures that shows like Chuck don't go the way of Life (I'm still steaming about that). Finally, this should mean that someone will have to take over Carson Daly's spot at the top of the list of people who least deserve to have their own late-night talk show (I vote Chelsea Handler). Last call, Carson!

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Vampire Weekend on MTV Unplugged

Let's go ahead and make it official: these guys are everywhere. Can't say this one wasn't a bit surprising, though. What isn't surprising, however, is that VW's style lends itself extremely well to the intimate acoustic-type setting. The set consists of 6 songs (3 from their self-titled album and three from Contra). "A-Punk" is directly below; you can see the whole show here @ MTV's site. Be warned: the buffering is a bit out of control, you may want to wait a while and see if this thing cools off...

Edit/Update: The pool has cleared; go ahead and dive in.

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I Still Like FREE Stuff...

I have to say, Adult Swim can just about do no wrong. They have really good, albeit crazy original shows, good re-run shows, and occasionally good FREE music. Now, I can't speak on behalf of the album as a whole, but it's got some highlights like the Young Jeezy (El-P Remix) and the Gucci Mane (Flying Lotus Remix). Anyway, you might as well have it right? It's FREE.
So put your floaties on and download the whole album here from Adult Swim...

ATL RMX

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I Like FREE Stuff...

This is probably better to have from a collector's standpoint than anything else. It's definitely not "Microcastlesque" or probably even "Cryptogramsesque," but enough of made up words. Point is, it's something you might not have from a band you may like, and once again...IT'S FREE. So, here is Deerhunter's - Carve Your Initials Into the Walls of the Night. It's a CD-R recording from 2005 that, Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox, posted recently on his blog. The link to his blog is below and the download link is at the bottom of his page. Go get it and listen to it or don't, just get it!

CARVE YOUR INITALS INTO THE WALLS OF THE NIGHT

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NBC Mulls Moving Leno Back to the Tonight Show... Sort of

I'm going to say this as nicely as possible: NBC is the DUMBEST network television station there is. I've voiced my disgust with their knee-jerk reactions before; they get the worst ratings of any of the four major networks with good reason. Now, after gutting their entire line-up to give Leno a show that was doomed to failure from the very beginning, they're considering this. Unbelievable. Stay strong, Conan!

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Washed Out channeling Olivia Newton John

I really dig Washed Out's tunes (which definitely fit in with a playlist of Neon Indian and the Weird Tapes/Memory Cassette/Memory Tapes triumvirate) and also the music videos that have been created for the songs. However, it's really hard to get full enjoyment out of this last one when the whole time I'm reminded of Body Fuzion. Take a look.

Feel It All Around


New Theory


Going good so far, but here comes the curveball or should I say awkward frames filled with pelvis.

Belong (sorry, felt like it needed it)


Body Fuzion

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Julian Casablancas on Letterman

"Out of the Blue" has probably become my favorite track off of Phrazes for the Young, and Casablancas and company definitely did it justice on The Late Show last night. So I guess I can forgive the fact that he's dressed like Uncle Jesse.

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Aloha's "Moonless March"

Almost a straight up rock song by Aloha standards, "Moonless March" is the first track to be leaked from their upcoming album Home Acres (March 9), and it owns. Check it:

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Vampire Weekend on Letterman

What's wrong with bein' preppy?

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Rogue Wave's "Good Morning"

Up to this point, all we've had on Rogue Wave's fourth album is a tracklist, a release date (do we really have to wait until March 3rd?), and a title (Permalight). Well, now we have "Good Morning". Rock:

Btw: The band has made this track available as a free download. Booyah.

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Japandroids on Fallon

Thumbs up, Jimmy!

"Wet Hair":

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Coming Soon... 2010

2009 was undoubtedly a great year for music - 2010 is looking like it may trump that easily. Apparently, releases from consistently great bands (Spoon, The National, Pinback, Broken Social Scene, Minus the Bear), long-overdue returns (The Wrens, Sufjan Stevens, The Rapture, Dr. Dre), highly-anticipated sophmore releases (Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Battles, Fleet Foxes), and, yeah, maybe even some new Radiohead (!) await us. Of course, it's day 2 of the new year, and a lot can (and will) happen in the next 12 months. But there's no harm in hoping, right?

It's obviously not an all-inclusive list, but these are some of the releases (confirmed and unconfirmed) coming in 2010 that we're most excited about. They range from the pretty concrete (Release Date, Artwork, Tracklist, etc.) to whispers in the wind. But it's all in good fun. Also, scroll further down for some of our favorite tracks from 2010 that have already been released into the wild.

Another note: Along with 2010 comes a new layout for this place. The old one didn't allow for comments for some reason; hopefully this new look remedies that. So we encourage you to leave behind your own input. Anything we left off the list? Let us hear about it! Otherwise, enjoy:

Confirmed Dates

Vampire Weekend Contra (January 12)

Spoon Transference (January 26)

Midlake The Courage of Others (February 1)

The Album Leaf A Chorus of Storytellers (February 1)

Yeasayer Odd Blood(February 9)

Rogue Wave Permalight (March 2)

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists The Brutalist Bricks (March 9)

Broken Bells (The Shins' James Mercer & Dangermouse) Broken Bells (March 9)

Aloha Home Acres (March 9)

Jonsi Go (March 22)

Medications Completely Removed (April)

Title and/or Date Unconfirmed

MGMT Congratulations

Band of Horses Night Rainbows (Spring?)

Gorillaz Plastic Beach (Early 2010?)

Dr. Dre Detox

Radiohead TBA

The National TBA

Minus the Bear TBA

Arcade Fire TBA (May?)

Pinback TBA

Fleet Foxes TBA

The New Pornographers TBA (Spring?)

The Strokes TBA

Interpol TBA

LCD Soundsystem TBA

Of Montreal TBA

The Wrens TBA

Outkast TBA

Sufjan Stevens TBA

Iron & Wine TBA

Menomena TBA

Battles TBA

Broken Social Scene TBA

The Rapture TBA

The Knife TBA

The Get Up Kids TBA

The Firebird Band TBA

Previously Leaked Tracks

Broken Bells "The High Road"

Jonsi "Boy Lilikoi"

Yeasayer "Ambling Alp"

Vampire Weekend "Cousins"

Minus the Bear "Into the Mirror"

Spoon "Written in Reverse"

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