So what are the most anticipated albums for 2013? Lady Gaga’s? Justin Timberlake’s? Beyonce’s? Britney Spears’? Certainly none of these for me… actually I couldn’t care less for those ones, but they are a bunch of other ones I am looking forward to:
Queens of the Stone age: We got numerous updates about this one, it’s gonna be a collaboration album with Dave Grohl on drums and guest spots for Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears and Nick Oliveri, but beside this, it is a plain mystery. No title, no track, no date, only this crazy mockumentary released a few weeks ago.
Arcade Fire: Another big mystery to me but there has been this super-hyper-secret show in Montreal and some happy few did hear some new songs and even got their phones smash against the wall for braving the security and daring taking a bad resolution picture of Win Butler’s right foot. I just know James Murphy may be involved, and I am sure that all the critics are gonna praise the new baby.
Vampire Weekend: I was not over enthusiastic about the song ‘Unbelievers’ that they premiered on Jimmy Kimmel Live a few months ago, but the new album is due this spring. The LA Times has reported that they are actually recording parts of it in Los Angeles with ex-Foreign Born’s Ariel Rechtshaid, who knows a bit about indie-music-sounding-like-Graceland, and who has also worked with Usher and Sky Ferreira. Koenig has described the new album as ‘darker’ and ‘more organic’ than the previous ones, but in fact as a sort of continuity of them: ‘We created some characters on the first record, some of which are real people, some of which are ourselves, so it's not so hard to keep following them and see what their concerns are now and how their lives have changed.’
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: we have a date and a title for this one ‘Push the Sky’ on February 18th, and Helen has already reviewed the video of the single ‘We No Who U R’ a few days ago. Anyway, Nick Cave’s voice has always been a fascination just by itself, dark and intense, it can fill the whole place alone. A must-hear.
The Flaming Lips: I am surprised, no one is mentioning this one anymore, whereas Wayne Coyne had announced a release last year, and had even commented with his usual panache: ‘It's very strange: beat-less, synthesizer-like church hymns. Really triumphant, but very depressing at the same time. Lovely suicidal music.’ Last August, he had also explained to the Guardian that, The Terror’, would be about Steven Drozd’s battle with drugs in 2010, a very bad time for the band, but also an inspiration and Wayne could not shut up about it: ’The Terror is about "finding the answer," What it hones in on is this idea that you really do have to surrender yourself to something before you get a great reward … You sit in this dilemma of 'Do I live a half-life because I don't want to live in pain?' or 'Do I go all the way in life and then kill myself?' That's the dilemma I saw in Steven at that peak of his pain.’
May be the Yoshimi musical delayed the whole thing, but what the fuck happened to 'The Terror'? I am hoping for a 2013 release…
Of course, there are also the Jurassic creatures, not completely extinct after all: David Bowie, Black Sabbath, and even U2 are back,… Bowie is a huge surprise, but who cares about U2 in 2013? Certainly not me!
And I forgot, the new FIDLAR is almost there, and already streaming on Pitchfork!