ONRA
Chinoiserie...
FAVORITE
CD //
£9.99
OUT OF STOCK
AARON MARTIN
River Water
Preservation
CD //
£9.99
OUT OF STOCK
SPOKES
People Like People Like You
EVERYONE
CD //
£6.99
TIM HECKER
Atlas
Audraglint
10" //
£7.49
OUT OF STOCK
HECKER
Hecker, Höller, Tracks
Semishigure
2LP //
£15.99
OUT OF STOCK
Now we’ve had sufficient time to digest 2007 and comprehensively reflect upon its ups and downs, let’s consider what’s in store for us in 2008. We’re only a month into the new year and already it seems like a more impressive showing than January would traditionally permit. Have a look at the column to your right for evidence of that: Cat Power, Onra, Aaron Martin, newcomers Spokes and Heckers Tim & Florian have all been quick out of the blocks in delivering early highlights, but there’s plenty more where that came from just around the corner.
… in electronic music…
First off, electronic music doesn’t get any more exciting than when there’s a new Autechre album around the corner, and Quarisitice, their latest labyrinthine algorithmic onslaught is due on shop shelves as of 3rd March 2008. If their MySpace is anything to go by, you can expect a weeklong migraine to kick off Spring. Warp are clearly getting back in touch with their pioneering electronic roots: as a prelude of sorts to this latest opus from Messrs. Booth & Brown, you’ll find an EP’s worth of comparably left-of-centre material from the envelope-pushing Haswell & Hecker UPIC collaboration (only a couple of weeks after Hecker’s spectacularly indigestible Holler Tracks 2LP for Semishigure). Surely it’s only a matter of time before Warp hook these guys up with a Maximo Park/Gravenhurst remix EP? The campaign starts here. The oft-imitated, seldom bettered Christian Fennesz has finally made a return to frontline electronica with his new 7” Transition having just landed, continuing Touch’s burgeoning series of vinyl releases, something we sincerely hope the label expands upon over the course of the year (Chris Watson’s Oceanus Pacificus was one of the most unlikely 7” single releases of 2007, but also one of the very best). Further to that, there have been rumbles about a springtime release for a full Fennesz album, so keep your ears peeled. Perhaps most exciting of all however, 2008 sees the return of SND (or .snd, depending on who you ask), one of our all time favourite acts, and certainly one of the very few who can simultaneously be daringly academic and able to deliver a devastating beat. Watch this space for a seriously amazing triple pack…
Good news for all you techno followers, at long, long last Modern Love is limbering up to unleash Claro Intelecto’s Metanarrative, the follow-up album to 2004’s Neurofibro. As you’d imagine, it’s the cause of no small amount of excitement in the Boomkat office, something we hope you’ll all be able to share in very soon.
… on Type Records…
As you’ll all be aware, we’ve been known to fraternise with that Type Records rabble, and we can impart some information regarding their upcoming year: tantalisingly close to completion are new full-length works by Grouper, The Alps (previously seen on Japanese label Spekk) and Peter Broderick (notable not only for his solo output, as exemplified by the recent Docile 10”, but also collaborations with Efterklang and Machinefabriek). Given how outstanding Type’s Grouper and Broderick 7”s were last year, we’re veritably champing at the bit to hear new albums from these guys, but then The Alps’ pedigree is more than a little impressive too. They’re quite the supergroup, comprising Scott Hewicker, Arp’s Alexis Georgopoulos and Tarentel’s Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.
… in the indie universe: overseas…
As ever, North America promises to spew forth a panoply of delights for all you indie types and followers of ‘proper songs’. For starters there’s a new album due from Mark Kozelek, whose feverously anticipated Sun Kil Moon album, April, drops exactly when its title suggests. Another convincing case against the stipulation that it is in fact the cruellest month. If men who write songs are your bag, expect copious wowment (no, that definitely is a word) resulting from the latest Destroyer album, Trouble In Dreams, which sees a release on these shores thanks to Rough Trade (Merge in the USA). Part-time New Pornographer Dan Bejar holds back his ‘A’ material for this project, and if his last album Destroyer’s Rubies is any barometer, you can brace yourself for some of the most insightful, eloquent songwriting of 2008. If you’re actually quite sick of men who write songs – not because of the songs, but rather the men – why not try weaning yourself off all that business with Scarlett Johansson’s Anywhere I Lay My Head? It’s touted as a collection of Tom Waits covers, taking its name from the closing track on Rain Dogs. Whether or not this is a good idea remains to be seen, but expect Scarlett to put a little bit of The Nanny Diaries into Frank’s Wild Years this May.
… and at home…
The UK hype machine whirrs on, with excitement stirred up over broadsheet regulars like Adele, Duffy et al. In amongst those now rather familiar names on the ‘Hotly Tipped’ lists you’ll find real potential in Foals, Friendly Fires, plus new Domino acquisitions Eugene McGuinness, Lightspeed Champion and These New Puritans, all of whom are gearing up for a big year. Those latter two acts have released their respective debut full-lengths only in the past couple of weeks or so, and certainly, These New Puritans’ magnificent Beat Pyramid is not an album to be sniffed at. It’s all too easy to dismiss a release of this ilk after a cursory listen, but by no means should it be underestimated as merely another one of those XTC-influenced hipster affairs accumulating unduly favourable notices: this one’s the real deal.
Speaking of things in fashion, if 2007 got you all excited about the by-now insufferably monikered nu-gaze sound, then expect Beach House’s imminent new album to well and truly float your boat. The follow-up to their 2006 debut, Devotion is guaranteed to set the blogosphere alight, but if you find yourself more interested in heading back to the source of these sounds, you’d do well to invest in the Jesus And Mary Chain rarities boxset, expected this March.
In addition to all that, if last year was anything to go by you can expect at least twenty releases from Machinefabriek. In fact, given that this is a leap year, you can probably expect one or two more than usual.
… and since they're only giving ten days notice on these things nowadays, Radiohead might release another album too. I mean, almost certainly not, but who knows?
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