The Wu is back but in a different form.

Following Wu-Tang’s disastrous 2007 reunion-album, 8 Diagrams, Ghostface, Raekwon, and Methodman, arguably the three most commercially successful and well known members of the Wu, have decided to form their own super group.

After promotional videos, rumors, and album push backs, the project entitled Wu Massacre is scheduled to be released on March 30th. The project is a return to the basic foundations of what Wu Tang is. “Our Dreams,” the lead single with a distinct Wu Tang sound that fans have been clamoring for. It samples Michael Jackson’s 1975 track “We’re Almost There,” and shouts out to the world that the bread and butter of Wu Tang is back.

Although he had his creative differences with the group on 8 Diagrams, and is not exclusively producing the project, the RZA has contributed, and is a staunch supporter.

“I think it’s a great idea…I was pushing that idea to them years ago…They are three of the most prolific voices in Wu-Tang…We’re at a period of life, if anybody from Wu-Tang needs me, I’m there for them. Everybody has grown and matured to where we don’t need each other.”

Other features on the album include beats by RZA protégé Mathematics, Wu member Inspectah Deck, and comedian Tracey Morgan.

Additionally, Meth, Ghostface, and Raekwon have set up a contest for fans to choose the name of the new group, with the winner getting credits in the album.  The album is a great thing for the return of real hip hop to the mainstream, as well as a return to the old Wu Tang sound.

As I had previously written, 30 Seconds To Mars was finally slated to release their new album This Is War yesterday. While the band avoided disappointing fans with yet another postponement, the album unfortunately cannot say the same. After falling in love with the album’s first single, “Kings and Queens” I had been hopeful that an epic follow-up to 2005’s platinum selling A Beautiful Lie. Instead, I was faced with a softer, more pop-driven album that comes across as uninspired and well…boring. Particular low-lights include the ballad-esque train wreck that is “Alibi”, and “Hurricane (Feat. Kanye West)”. Why 30STM ever thought pairing up with Kanye would be a good idea is beyond me. However, the news is not all doom and gloom, as tracks such as “Kings and Queens” and “This is War” are reminiscent of the old 30STM and save this album from being a complete nightmare. One can only hope that Jared Leto and company can return to form in their next effort.

Monday, prog-rockers Coheed and Cambria announced on their fan-site that they will be releasing a new album, titled Year of the Black Rainbow in April 2010, which will be followed by a US tour. While the official announcement of this album shouldn’t come as much of a shock to fans, the planned released date being only about four months away is a great surprise. An even greater surprise is what is set to accompany the album’s release…a 300+ page novel written by Claudio Sanchez and novelist Peter David.

That’s right, Claudio is writing a book. For those of you who do not already know, the four previous Co&Ca albums follow a story known as “The Amory Wars,” which follows the futuristic saga of the married couple Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon and their 4 children. According to the letter posted on their fan-site, the album and book will be a “prequel” of the Amory wars and that they will “tell the origins of Coheed and Cambria, and much more.” To read the full letter, click here.

Spoon is one of those rare American indie rock bands that release consistently good albums with straight-forward, yet infectious songs that continue to attract more and more listeners. From being virtually unknown in 1994, when they released their first EP, they have seeped into the mainstream, with their most recent release Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga topping Billboard Charts at #10. Their last three full-lengths have been critically acclaimed, and there are high expectations for their next full-length titled Transference, which is now set for release in 2010. Check out the tracklist and one of the songs after the jump.

The tracklist for Transference is as follows:

01 “Before Destruction”
02 “Is Love Forever?”
03 “The Mystery Zone”
04 “Who Makes Your Money”
05 “Written in Reverse”
06 “I Saw the Light”
07 “Trouble Comes Running”
08 “Goodnight Laura”
09 “Out Go the Lights”
10 “Got Nuffin”
11 “Nobody Gets Me But You”

And for all the patient people out there who aren’t going to be trawling torrent sites for leaked versions of the album, it is coming out January 26th in North America and January 25th in Europe. Until then, here’s a single from the album to get you all more excited:

Download mp3: Spoon “Got Nuffin”

Remember the Switchfoot frontman, Jon Foreman? Well he has paired up with Sean Watkins, the guitarist from Nickel Creek, to form Fiction Family. Their first, self-titled album was release on January 20, 2009. If you enjoy their single “When She’s Near” (in the video above), you’ll love their other tracks like “War in my Blood” and “Betrayal”. Their music always puts me in a good mood, with its easygoing and happy-go-lucky sound. Check it out: 06-war-in-my-blood

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

I have figured out why there is such a high percentage of indie/emo/scene kids with bipolar disorder. If you take a listen to their music, you find the theme of the songs tend to group at the negative and positive ends of the emotional spectrum: “I want to kill myself by cutting my head off with the jagged edges of my broken heart” and “I’m so fucking ecstatic Mac came out with another product ’cause that can only mean they are going to make another commercial containing a song that will make me dance till my heart explodes”.

With popular tunes like “Needle in The Hay” (Elliot Smith, the writer, stabbed himself to death) and “Screaming Infidelities” that teaches listeners to listen “to the saddest songs and sit alone” when suffering a tough break up, I’m pumped and ready for the mass suicide. On the other hand we have Black Kids’ “I’m Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You” in which a lesbian does just as the title suggests. It’s so goddamn dance-y. In fact it is so goddamn dance-y that it almost distracts you from the dude’s voice representing said lesbian, at which point you question just exactly how hot the final girl on girl action really is. But you know what? Indie-dance or emo-slasher music is damn good at what it does. It grips you and shoves you into a mood, whether you like it or not.

Well, Phoenix is no exception, and is in fact particularly forceful in getting your dancing pants out on a few tracks on their latest release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Formed initially as the backup band on the remix of Air’s “Kelly Watch the Stars”, the band officially chose the name Phoenix in 1996 and has had 4 releases prior to Wolfgang. Listening to the new album, it is easy to see Air’s relaxed techno-pop infiltrate the songs like bubbles floating through an air duct into a techno lounge. “Fences” bobs happily through your ears until you’re bobbing right along too. Even in less overtly energized songs like the almost solemn “Love Like a Sunset” the staccato guitar and electronic bleeps and bloops are rooted in French synth-pop. But this ain’t 1999 baby and Phoenix knows it. Skinny pale kids and artsy fartsy kids alike are trying to get their dance ON! “Lisztomania” gets the feet tapping and the shoulders swaying rather effectively and “1901” is nearly unstoppable but I will get into “1901” later.
My overall impression of Wolfgang is it’s a decent album. The songs are for the most part more groovable than your average Rooney. Indeed “1901” needs to be put on the list of highly infectious diseases (but more later). Yet despite this talent in beat making and meandering hooks, for the most part this album is brought down by its lyrical quality. Not that the lyrics here are especially bad (although on “Love Like A Sunset” the lyrics are “Here comes, a visible horizon / Right where it starts and ends / Oh, and then we start the end / Here comes, a visible illusion / Oh, where it starts and ends / You’re like a sunset”. That’s the whole song. Alrighty then.). They just sure as heck don’t do anything new or creative. There are decent stabs such as “1901” and maybe “Rome” but in the end the lyrics almost seem generic and bland. Imagine a less poetic Kooks mixed with a Franz Ferdinand that’s had a couple drinks. Bottom line is the album has too many songs that give you the “didn’t I already hear this song on Pandora today like twice?” feeling. There is also one song that absolutely blows. “Lasso” sounds like it should come from the album Wolfgag Amaduesch Phuckit. Ok maybe it’s not that bad but I guarantee it will not be in your top 9 (“But Jack! There’s only 9 songs on the album!”).

I know that evaluation seems a bit rough, but I’m only doing it out of respect. I like this album so damn much. It’s easy listening at its finest and thoroughly enjoyable. I want to listen to this album on a country drive to a picnic in a meadow that slowly evolves into a bonfire keg party with everyone I know. But all this potential falls short, which is easily recognizable when compared to Phoenix’s contemporaries. When next to bands like “Vampire Weekend” and “Santogold” you come to realize Wolfgang just isn’t all that standout from a field with plenty to choose from. Sure it’s good but in this electronic age where everybody and their mother can put together something decent using a Mac and the satanic GarageBand (it’s like Extenze for wannabe musicians: sounds good, boost of confidence, but no real results) the stakes have been raised: there needs to be innovation in composition, cleverness in lyrical quality, a subtle swagger that you can point to and say “That makes that band”. The L.A. times puts it the best: “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, a truly marvelous album title if ever there was one, is danceable but only a little disco, synth-driven but clubland averse, an easy record to like but a more difficult one to love”.

Best Song: “1901”

Most Underappreciated: “Fences”

After critically acclaimed album “The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me”, many critics couldn’t imagine emo kings Brand New stepping any further out of their type-casted persona. If there was any doubt before, there certainly is none now: Brand New is a tour-de-force.

Don’t get it twisted – they are as emotional as ever. After all, what artist isn’t? This time, however, that emo, self-hating stereotype has manifested itself in deeper, rooted sentiments. The opening track ‘Vices’ is a perfect example. Starting off with a one-minute clip of a gospel standard, the song quickly switches to frontman Jesse Lacey’s screaming along with discordant guitars and weird time signatures. Heavy, damp guitars slish-slosh over the song and drown it in perfect chaos. Sonically, one could say Brand New is louder than ever. But then, you get tracks like ‘Bed’ and ‘Noro’, quieter tunes that highlight Jesse Lacey’s achy, almost bluesy voice. In a short way, ‘Daisy’ is mercurial and consistently inconsistent…but in a good way.

In their shortest album yet (a mere 41 minutes: 15 minutes shorter than DAGR), Brand New skips between loud, screamers (‘Vice’); slower, introspective pieces (‘Bed’, ‘You Stole’, ‘Daisy’), to blues-based, standard alternative rock (‘Gasoline’, ‘Bought a Bride’) quickly and noticeably. The effect of this is a denser, heavier feeling record than they have ever made.

Lyrically, Brand New is a slightly different band in ‘Daisy’. More than previous albums, Vin Accardi (guitarist) had a more prominent role in the lyrics. Differences can be seen, although Accardi’s words seem like something Lacey would have written. Sometimes the lyrics fall short of what could have been (‘At the Bottom’ was frustratingly uneasy). But there are definitely some gems. ‘You Stole’ is a killer; a new, mutation of the fan-beloved ‘Jesus’:

“But I just don’t care

We all go to sleep in the same place

And in the morning hope that we’re all the same

Just sit around like broke down cars in the lot Waiting for repairs”.

The beautiful, introspective moments on this album most definitely shadow those few and far between lyrical pitfalls because of the sheer density of the album.

‘Daisy’ finds Brand New the most experimental they have ever been. Jesse Lacey said in an interview with Spin Magazine, “We’ve always been interested in putting strange things on the albums. We don’t do it as much as we would like.” The start of this strange can be seen in opening track ‘Vices’, where they sample that weird gospel hymn and scream like a hard-core band; in ‘Bed’, where Vin Accardi does a blues solo (a blues solo?!), in ‘Be Gone’ with the delayed, screwed up vocals and the slide guitar that sounds a like a Beck song, in ‘Daisy’ with recorded speeches by a man and a child. Simply put, Brand New really blew the doors down on this record. They brought it from all angles.

Cudi’s experimental production and minimalist sound, based on electronica-inspired beats, gained the attention of hip-hop veteran Kanye West, who helped produce “Man on the Moon.” Lyrically, the emotional Kid Cudi wears his heart on his sleeve; his introspective rhymes are rooted in the death of his father and the MC’s taste for psychedelic mushrooms. Kid Cudi demonstrates the musical dexterity of the British pop-duo A.R. Kane, who were partly responsible for the sensational “Pump Up the Volume” before making their early shoegaze classics (1988’s Sixty-Nine and 1989’s brilliant but seldom-heard I). Cudi, who actively resists the increasingly materialistic nature of the rap game, comes across as the genre’s interpretation emo’s bleeding confessionals.

In other words, Kid Cudi is different, and decidedly so; the rapper prides himself in his uniqueness. At first listen, “Man on the Moon” rolls on like a three-day binge, the product of one too many space-cakes and Dutch-master blunts. But, if you cut through the cloudy-haze and look beyond the celebration of stoner-culture, you’ll discover torture and triumph; what emerges is the life of a young unpredictable stoner.

“Man on the Moon” opens with “In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem),” where Cudi sings of his “night terrors” over an atmospheric track that sounds like it would be more appropriately placed on a Bjork album. Cudi picks up the pace on the confessional “Soundtrack 2 My Life” where the rapper describes how he “split an eighth of shrooms just so I could see the universe.” Celebrating his own demons, Cudi continues on “now I’m in the cut, alcohol in the wound/My heart’s an open sore that I hope heals soon/I live in a cocoon opposite of Cancun where it is never sunny, the dark side of the moon.”

The ominous “Solo Dolo (Nightmare),” with its plucking violin strings, establishes Cudi’s “me against world” mantra. Produced by seasoned beatmaker Emile, the track is anchored around Cudi’s nonsensical declaration “I’m Mr. Solo Dolo.” Cudi gradually opens up to his listeners, utilizing his piercing yet focused flow to narrate the story of an outcast who finds refuge in his music.

A solid drum beat and transcendent piano chords make “Heart Of A Lion (Kid Cudi Theme Music)” work, and again the track revisits Cudi’s emotional struggles. “My World” is a childhood tale of loneliness; a collage of low self esteem, internal conflict, and dead-end jobs. “Enter Galactic,” the disjointed and frantic disco-ditty that plays like a bad Basement Jaxx song, is the low point on the album, made worse by the album’s rare lyrical miss.

Cudi calls in a favor from a few of his hipster pals on two of the album’s best tracks: “Alive” and “Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare).” The electronic duo Ratatat anchor “Alive” with their unmistakable beats that drop and break so enticingly. Psychedelic rockers MGMT join the party on the inspirational “Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare),” providing the chorus’ glowing harmonies and winding chords, over which Cudi declares, “I’ll be fine when I get it, I’ll be good.”

Older tracks like the conventional “Sky Might Fall” and “Make Her Say” (Cudi’s addicting re-envisioning of Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface” which features Kanye West & Common) still sound fresh, as does the breakout hit “Day ‘n’ Nite.” “Hyyerr,” featuring Chip Tha Ripper, is a triple-rhyme slow-jam that returns to the celebration of stoner culture and is dedicated to the sensual pleasures of smoking weed. “Man on the Moon” closes with the pop infused, up-tempo beat of “Up Up & Away,” which sounds so much like an early Black Eyed Peas demo, that it’s a surprise not to hear a verse from Will.I.Am or Fergie.

“Up Up & Away” closes the album appropriately, by leaving the doors of speculation open. Cudi appears to be consumed by expectations as he offers “They gone judge me anyway, so whatever!” Cudi is right, they will judge him – all of hip-hop will judge Kid Cudi, as will the indie scene, who will lament the loss of another talented star to mainstream radio-play. Than there is the added pressure from hip-hop vets like Jay-Z and Kanye West (both have been vocal about the unlimited potential and talent of Cudi) who will look to Cudi and other young MCs deliver fresh sounds. “Man on the Moon” is a bold step for hip-hop, introducing a new perspective and meaningful, honest material without sacrificing authenticity or quality. Through the pot-smoked haze of Cudi’s imagination comes a fresh breath for hip-hop, and while he is by no stretch of the imagination the game’s savior, “Man on the Moon” is definitely a step in the right direction.

“The thing about bands like Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, and Deerhoof,” a friend said to me recently, “is that I only like them on paper. They’re experimental, they’re pushing boundaries – but I can’t really listen to the music.”

I see her point. To the uninitiated, Dirty Projectors’ music is a haphazard mashing of a capella harmonies, disjointed guitar lines, and angular rhythms. Amber Coffman’s vocalizing grates as much as it croons, and David Longstreth’s falsetto gets old fast. (Take note, bands: this is true of falsetto in general.) It’s near-impossible to make out melodies; the second the notes settle into a pattern, they’re interrupted by an unlikely guitar figure or meter change. What a mess, right?

…But this is why Bitte Orca is so amazing. While any one of these “faults” would doom an ordinary album, Dirty Projectors’ newest gets under your skin because of what’s wrong. The twists and turns that dominate this album are not a sign of schizophrenic songwriting; rather, they shock the listener out of musical stasis. From the fractal-like variations of “Temecula Sunrise” to the slapped-together refrain of “Remade Horizon,” each track is carefully considered, reconsidered, deconstructed, and put together as something new.

Longstreth’s break-and-build method of composition means that many songs are written in several parts. Bitte Orca’s greatest example is “Useful Chamber” – which, in my opinion, should have won out over the straightforward, R&B-influenced “Stillness Is The Move” for single release. Starting out as a slow, ebbing synth line, the song goes through a number of seemingly unrelated themes and textures before everything falls together in the final minute. The overall effect is both stunning and nuanced; after several weeks on repeat, there’s still some new line or note to be heard for the first time.

So, yes, Bitte Orca is complex and still sits well in the “experimental” category. But this intricacy doesn’t stand in the way of creating a truly powerful album – because for all of his formal training (hello fellow music-major), David Longstreth’s complex songs speak to simple human experiences: longing, passion, discovery, joy.

Not to mention, they’re damn catchy.

An interview on Time.com I recently read, with author and musician Elijah Wald being questioned on his recently released book How The Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll, got me thinking about the state of the musical record albums. Albums are fairly new, in the context of the history of music, and the creation of such has become an art form in itself.

Here is an Elijah Wald quote from the Time article:

The Beatles were the first superstar pop group to simply cease to exist except on record. As late as the 1940s, pop music was what bands played when people went out dancing. The records were just what you listened to at home. The Beatles were the first group to realize that pop had become records, and that they never needed to step on a stage again in their lives. That’s a huge shift, and [although] I think it would have happened without them, they were the catalysts.

So, now we are in a world where there is another huge shift. Artists are struggling to profit from record sales. Even the best artists. In today’s economy with the technology available to us free music downloading is becoming fairly standard. Yes, randomly we hear about someone getting fined for hundreds of thousand of dollars by the RIAA, but for the most part there is little to no threat against illegal downloading.

For the first time in about 40 years artists are faced with the situation where the album once again is supporting the live performance. No longer can artists solely record albums and expect to make a living. The question now becomes whether the art form of making an album will be lost, and the focus of artists will shift to live performances or artists will continue to focus much of their efforts on making the best studio albums possible in hopes of boosting touring attendance and revenue? And what of artists with limited live appeal (but perhaps brilliant albums), do they get weeded out in this tough economy? It seems only time will tell for many of these questions as we progress into a new age of popular music.