The coldest months of the year are approaching, and with them come snowbound days we’ll spend safely inside enjoying hot cocoa and good music. For that reason, this list of notable album releases arriving soon has been compiled for snowed in readers and music listeners. Note: the due dates included are mostly for the physical and digital release of the album, though occasionally the digital version will be available sooner. Please enjoy.
To start in chronological order, Glasgow indie-pop rockers Belle & Sebastian returned with their eighth studio album release Belle & Sebastian Write About Love. Following on the sound and success of 2006’s The Life Pursuit, the album commonly known as Write About Love released through Matador Records on October 12th. Promotion for the disc has been great, including contests, clips from a possible Belle & Sebastian television program, and an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with the Roots’ drummer Questlove. Write About Love features the likes of Carey Mulligan and Norah Jones on the songs “Write About Love” and “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” respectively.
Also dropping on October 12th is the Led Zeppelin tribute album from Jealous Butcher Records From The Land Of The Ice And Snow: The Songs Of Led Zeppelin. The two-disc compilation has a smorgasbord of well-known and obscure artists covering the legendary rock band’s hits. Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla makes an appearance, as well as The Spinanes’ Rebecca Gates, and M. Ward of She & Him.
Brian Eno of Talking Heads and David Bowie-collaboration fame will drop his a new album November 2nd via Warp Records. Small Craft on a Milk Sea will be the Eno’s twenty-fifth solo album, not counting the countless others he’s contributed to with his songwriting, playing, and producing. The single “2 Forms of Anger” leaked in September will be seen on the album, which Eno worked on with British electronica master Jon Hopkins and Euro-star Leo Abrahams. Judging from the sound of “2 Forms of Anger,” Small Craft on a Milk Sea will bring back the uplifting, guitar-laden art rock of 1974’s Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) mixed with the heavy lyricism of 2005’s Another Day on Earth. This could prove to be a winning combination for Eno, whose avant-garde electronica has left listeners in awe for decades.
November 2nd was recently declared the due date of eccentric hip-hoppers N.E.R.D’s fourth studio CD, Nothing. Their single “Hot-n-Fun,” featuring Canadian artist Nelly Furtado, appears on the album with the Daft Punk produced “Hypnotize U” following close behind. The trio performed the latter track on The Late Show with David Letterman in September as a part of their promotion for Nothing.
Popular group Weezer will release an extremely expanded version of their 1996 record Pinkerton (otherwise known as everyone’s favorite Weezer album) November 2nd as a part of their Memories Tour. Stemming from the musical blandness of their last two discs Raditude and Hurley, Weezer’s Memories Tour follows the band playing all the tracks from the celebrated Blue Album and Pinkerton. The special edition of Pinkerton packs in 25 songs, adding B-sides and 16 previously unreleased songs to the original track line-up as well as live recordings of certain numbers.
Next is the Georgia born virtuoso Cee-Lo Green’s Lady Killer, set to drop on November 9th. Lady Killer was initially slotted for an early December release, but was bumped up a month due to the success of his bouncy break-up single, aptly named “F*** You!” Along with “I Want You” (a softer Cee-Lo ballad leaked soon after the album announcement), “F*** You!” can be seen on Green’s third solo album.
Emo-rapper Kid Cudi will return with his sophomore album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager also on November 9th, harboring cameos from Cee-Lo Green, Snoop Dogg, and Ratatat. The sequel to his well-received debut Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, the album formerly known as Cudder: The Revolution of Evolution is said by Cudi to be a more personal and more traditionally hip-hop record as opposed to his first. The summer-released singles “REVOFEV” (short for “revolution of evolution”) and “Erase Me” stand as two tracks on Man on the Moon II the latter featuring Kanye West.
Speaking of Kanye West, the king of personal and emotional rapping himself will drop the much anticipated My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy November 22nd on Roc-A-Fella Records. With verses and beats from a slew of artists of different genres including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Swizz Beatz, and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, MBDTF has survived many a name change and illegal track leak from overzealous fans to make it this far. As promotion for his upcoming album and a thank you to loyal fans, West created G.O.O.D Friday through which he drops a new, free track every week or so. His own holiday, G.O.O.D Friday has occurred since he announced it in August and will end come Christmastime. The various singles he’s released for free download on his website (kanyewest.com) are arguably his best work yet. The GF songs combine the deeply personal and lyrical cleverness of The College Dropout and Late Registration with the expert beat making of Graduation and last years 808’s and Heartbreaks. If West’s G.O.O.D Friday songs are any hint to the overall sound of the album, MBDTF has potential to be Ye’s best and most powerful work yet.
On top of that, West will release his collaborative EP with Jay-Z Watch the Throne November 23rd, the day after MBDTF. Recorded on the Def Jam label, the EP is said to feature the GF tracks “Power (remix),” “So Appalled,” and “Monster.”
Featured on the aforementioned “Monster” track, Nicki Minaj will drop her debut studio album Pink Friday on November 23rd as well. Pink Friday will include the before released singles “Right Thru Me” and “Your Love.” While Minaj is only just now releasing an album, the pink-wigged wordsmith has already collaborated on some of the best songs of the year (see Mariah Carey’s “Up Out Of My Face,” Trey Songz’s “Bottoms Up,” and “Monster”). While her rapping styles vary greatly between songs and even within verses, Minaj’s talent is prominent and the stance of her album seems promising.
In addition to all of those albums, there are the endless “to be announced” records that are impatiently hounded so. Wilco, Cat Power, and promising collab-band Atoms For Peace (Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea) will drop albums this year, most likely between November and December. There’s also the to-be-announced records of early 2011, when the likes of The Shins, Swizz Beatz, and The Mars Volta are said to release discs.
Look for reviews of the best of these albums coming soon, and have a great, music-filled winter!