The Year Ahead, In Albums

General Manager

With a new year comes new things for WVAU.org. Starting this week, if you visit WVAU.org, you’ll be greeted by articles written by our new web team. In order to give you a little taste of what we have in store for this semester, each member wrote about which albums they’re looking forward to in 2011.

Anthony DeLuise

It‰’s been four years since Explosions In The Sky released All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, a record that added some piano to their usual epic, guitar-layered sound. For a band that can play seven to eleven minute long instrumental songs without becoming boring, their upcoming album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care should be nothing different. Asobi Seksu‰’s new record Fluorescence, due out in a few weeks, is another record I‰’m excited for this year. This shoegaze duo from New York City has in recent releases moved away from their early works‰’ noisy sound but should still be something I‰’ll check out. Last on my radar for 2011 is Starfucker‰’s Reptilian. After releasing a short EP last year, Reptilian should provide some fun and poppy electro songs for all your dance party needs this spring.

Marissa Cetin

TheShinsTheShinsTheShins, The Shins! It’s been four years since they released their last album, and in the meantime, James Mercer paired with Danger Mouse to put out a bitchin’ album under the name Broken Bells. But like most things in life, people tend to prefer the original, and I want back the band that made that masterpiece of a song, “Caring is Creepy.‰Û
Radiohead is also set to put out a new album this year, and after In Rainbows colored my world in 2007, I’m ready to see what they’ve got next. Chances are it will be as awesome, if not more, than previous albums, but with almost two decades passed since the single “Creep” was first released, I’ve got to wonder what new musical stops they could possibly pull out after 19 years of fantasticalness.
I’m also pumped for the much-hyped Kanye and Jay-Z collaborative album because ‰ÛÓ do I really need to give a reason?!

Jesse Drucker

Now that 2010 has rolled back into the sands of time and we find ourselves trotting along in 2011, it’s time to check out what musical landscape we‰’re getting into. Having surveyed the land, I can tell you that Sonny Smith‰’s new project with the Sandwitches‰’ Heidi Alexander, Story of an Earth Girl, appears to be the most exciting album on the horizon. It began as part of Smith‰’s solo project, 100 Records, wherein he wrote 100 singles for 100 fictional bands. From the released track “Hit After Hit,‰” it appears to be some beautifully done 50‰’s rock‰’n‰’roll throwback. At close second, I have high hopes for Thurston Moore‰’s Benediction. Produced by Beck and incorporating harp and violin, this album could turn out to be just what the doctor ordered as we attempt to tread through the year ahead.

Maeve McDermott

2011 has already been a solid year, featuring awesome releases by Cloud Nothings, Destroyer, Smith Westerns and Tennis (let‰’s not talk about Iron & Wine and Bright Eyes‰Û_), and is building up to be an exciting year for music as a whole. Big names in music are returning, important releases are slated the next few months, and the ever-growing hype just makes things even more interesting. Good albums will become smash hits, bad ones will elicit generous doses of scorn, and the boring releases will be the most disappointing of all. Here are a few upcoming releases that I can‰’t wait to love/hate/forget.
Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong
The Strokes: Angles
Cut Copy: Zonoscope
The Rural Alberta Advantage: Departing
Aaaaand‰Û_ Kanye West/Jay Z: Watch the Throne

Zarek Chase

My standards for a ‘good year for music’ are unimaginably high now, since 2009 and 2010 were such amazing years for new releases. M83 looks most promising, as he announced that his new album would be a return to the darker style he displayed in his amazing album Before The Dawn Heals Us. I’m also looking forward to Panda Bear’s Tomboy, Toro y Moi’s Underneath the Pine, and James Blake’s first self-titled LP. And maybe, just maybe, if we’re all good little boys and girls, then The Avalanches and Kraftwerk will both release their announced, much-awaited albums (Prediction: This Will Not Happen).

What albums are you dying for in 2011? Comment on this article and tell us!