Day and Age by The Killers.

Santigold
Hercules & Love Affair

dilwithers said:

right, it's not bout quality. I just wanna get some new albums in order to feel the musical zeitgeist (what a silly German word it is!)

Okay, thanks folks. I'm gonna check it out. Not sure if I'm gonna dig Lil Wayne, though

I noticed that a certain trashiness is hip at the moment. Not only for some rock groups (Hives), but in pop music especially.
Lady GaGa, Katy Perry and Britney are trashy anyway, Madonna's Hard Candy even looks trashy and Kanye West makes an album full of autotunes and 808s...

So, probably this will be the impression left in 2029

TRASH. Selfirony, sillyness, retro-sounds.

What do you think?

Hard Candy is going to be a year old in 10 days.

I think there have been some cool singles in the past years, but I'm not sure if there are any essential mainstream albums released these days. Most acts are focusing on singles now, like the pre-80s...

LiveToTell86 said:

pre-67

I agree, we're back in the 1950s and 60s now, when Elvis released an album each time he had like six singles and it's b-sides and made them an 12-track album.

Motown was no different, their albums had the real hit songs and fillers.

But the concept of "the album" only started in around 1967, when Sgt pepper's was released, or 1966 with Revolver or Pet Sounds.

Albums were now a platform for concepts and statements.

Nowadays it's all about the singles which is sad for album lovers but has many chances as well! Especially for younger artists.

^But what about the 70s? I know there are some cult albums and artists like Donna Summer or ABBA released a new album in each year, but none of them were huge sellers, right? In fact no female solo album before 1985 sold 5 million in the US. There were those disco wonders who scored huge hits but their albums are largely unknown, no? The biggest selling album from the 70s is Saturday Night Fever which was actually a collection of hits.

Isn't it since Thriller when the focus shifted towards albums and labels started pushing them? It went as far as not even releasing singles in the late 90s, which led to the massive one-million a week sales of 2000, but those albums were all fillers, sold on the back of a couple of hits, so essentially it's the labels who ruined the album concept...

LiveToTell86 said:

I don't know bout labels, but Sgt Pepper's was the first album with lyrics printed on it, also it was not just a new collection of Beatles songs, it was a NEW ALBUM.

Before Pepper's the American Beatles label (Capitol) mixed up their albums and ex/included some songs.

In the late 60s and 70s the album was definitively seen as a statement, ABBA were never keen on artistic statements, but their albums were million sellers even in the 70s.

In the 80s I think, records just began to sell much more, that's why albums were pushed, they promised the big money, but the concept of the album where every song is on it's right place and shoudl not be changed comes from the 1960s.

Alej said:

I love your avatar

graecophilos said:

this is exactly what I love about
The Death Of Adam album

the ghetto chick in between songs
tells a story about Adam
that pieces the songs into a real sequence

I try to do this in my own music
sans the narration

I think the new Bill Callahan album 'Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle' is incredible. It's the first thing I've heard in ages that's really excited & engaged me. To me he's really an exceptional performer: I don't mean that in the muso, technical sense, though...I just mean that I nearly always ease comfortably into his songs like well-worn slippers, and almost everything he releases is essential to me.

DirtyChris said:

Not a big pop music fan I take it?

damosuzuki said:

I took a look on amazon and don't think he sounds 2008/09

graecophilos said:

I only looked at your initial post & through the thread after I made my post. My selection definitely only reflects my taste & doesn't represent anything that's happening in '09 in the broader sense.

DirtyChris said:

Thank you

Alej said:

who is that, you

graecophilos said:

daPrettyman said:

I am... but not current pop
a very limited few

graecophilos said:

-----
Good Lord

Circus - Britney Spears
808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West

Essential to whom

laurarichardson said:

Oh man, this is not about personal taste. My favorite of 2009 so far was an old Stevie Wonder ballad.

I just wanted to have a clue what is THE sound ofr 2008/09, not the BEST or your FAVE.

And Cirus and 808s are essentiell 2008 albums, as are The Fame by Lady GaGa and the Katy Perry album.
If Timbalnad would release his album now, I'm sure it would be a hit and could be defined as 2009.

You gotta read more than just the first poste to judge a thread.

graecophilos said:

It was selling pretty well before her tragic loss. Robin Thicke wrote a song on the album also called "Giving Myself"....outstanding song.

daPrettyman said:

I was also surprised at how good it was in it's entirety. She does have a tendency to go off, so it was nice to see the softer side of her voice. "Giving Myself" is one of my favorites along with "Can't Stop the Rain" and "We Gon' Fight".