Do your thing.

Leaks so far include Andrew Bird, Antony & the Johnsons, A.C. Newman, Animal Collective, Ben Kweller, and Robyn Hitchcock.

I've only heard a couple of tracks from the Andrew Bird and A.C Newman albums. Not crazy about the Newman stuff, but thought the Bird tracks I heard were perhaps his best yet.

iran dissolver

yessir

animal collective and j. tillman

the only one I've heard is the new Modern Skirts album, All of Us In Our Night, which is pretty decent.

Yeah, this new A.C Newman is not good.

It's only the 2nd!?!?!

'bout time for my 09 shmoo poll!

Some of us have been listening to 2009 releases since November.

I have yet to catch up with 2005.
Sad, but true.

1. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
2. The Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth
3. Ben Kweller – Changing Horses

hahaha

okay, let's seeeeee...

1.Animal Collective -Merriweather Post Pavilion - I can't stop listening to this record. I fucking love it.

2.Bon Iver - Blood Bank - Thank god Animal Collective's new release leaked so I would stop listening to this ep every day.

3.Stephen Steinbrink - Ugly Unknown

4.Andrew Bird - Noble Beast/Useless Creatures - These two albums are definitely going to take a while to grow on me. I find "Beast" kinda boring, overall.

5.Husband & Wife - Dark Dark Woods

6. Dert Floyd - Talk Strange


How is A.C. Newman?

Andrew Bird Noble Beast
Dare I say, it's his best album to date without Radcliffe jumping down my throat? Yup.

Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion
I have yet to get through this album on one listen. Believe me, I've tried. It's just not keeping my interest long enough to want to listen to it 'til the end. I'll give it another chance and see if it finally clicks.

A.C. Newman Get Guilty
There's something about him that turns people off on first listen. Perhaps it's the fact that his songs rarely have a hook or a chorus and aren't as accessible as they should be. With that said, I must admit, I rather like it. It's not great, but when I listen to it, it hits the spot.

Antony & The Johnsons The Crying Light
Hmmm...on first listen, it's a bit more accessible than his previous album, and rather dull. Nothing seems to jump out at you...until of course, several listens later, when the songs finally begin to reveal themselves. This is a pleasant album, and much less abrasive than I Am A Bird Now.

The Rifles The Great Escape
Pretty standard Britpop. A couple of really fun songs among a bunch of filler.

I'm anxiously anticipating the new Black Lips, but from the one song that's leaked, they're going in exactly the direction I saw coming from a mile away: away from the Pebbles-style garage rock recorded in a tin can and towards generic indie rock horseshit. I guess that's what happens when you sign to Vice..

Ben Kweller Changing Horses
So I guess this is his singer-songwriter country album. It's not bad by any means but it's also not an album I will look to when I'm in the mood for some country. Perhaps, Ben should've stuck to what made him.

Iran Dissolver
The first half of this album is quite good, although it's a bit too polished for this sort of thing (90s noise pop ala Guided By Voices). It's when you get to the second half of the album that it falls completely apart. It's a shame really.

Mark Olson & Gary Louris Ready For The Flood
This isn't bad, it's just not memorable. I like that it has a live feel to it however, but again, will I remember to even bother?

Tom Zé - Estuando A Bossa
Another brilliant "Estuando" record from the man (following "Estuando a Samba" and "Estuando o Pagode") that both celebrates and mocks traditional Brazilian musical styles at the same time. I wish that I knew more about the history there and that I understood Portugese, because then I'm sure that I'd get a lot more out of it. Nonetheless, the music is so melodic and playful, that there is no way that I cannot enjoy the hell out of this. It was released in '08 in Brazil, but isn't out yet in the US, so I'm lumping this in with the '09 releases.

Excellent, very descriptive AllMusic review here.

morrissey leaked. just listened and it's not bad at all.

i liked telepathe's dance mother when i first listened to it, but that was two weeks ago.

Yeah that's one of the best of the 09's I've heard thus far.

These are all kind of by default at this point, but I've heard eight09' releases so far.

1. Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses
2. Built by Snow - Mega
3. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
4. Vetiver - Tight Knit
5. Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health
6. Coconut Records - Davy
7. Ben Kweller - Changing Horses
8. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

anyone wanna send me that animal collective record?

riyl?

tv on the radio, sebadoh, pavement w/o the retarded lyrics.

sweet thx. i will check this out.

I just sampled The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Iran and like them both a lot. Good start to '09!