Looking ahead: December 2012 – February 2013
Releases are few and far between until March, when the run-up to the summer concert season begins.
Utada Hikaru, “Sakura Nagashi”, Dec. 26 (DVD Single)
Utada Hikaru is still officially on hiatus, but she took some time off to dash off a theme song for the latest Evangelion movie. The digital release of this two-track single happened back in late November, and it even included the US.
Sasagawa Miwa, Machi no Kaori, Jan. 16
It looks like Sasagawa Miwa is easing back into her label relationship with Avex Trax, following up the August release of Oroka na Negai with another mini-album. The title in kanji can be read “tokai no kaori”, but the furigana reading indicates “tokai” should be read “machi”.
Camper Van Beethoven, La Costa Perdida, Jan. 22
Wait, what … you mean to say the last time Camper Van Beethoven released an album was eight years ago. And I actually remember being excited about the band’s reunion, and that was a decade ago.
Björk, Bastards, Feb. 5
Biophilia spawned quite a number of remixes which are compiled on this release.
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Old Yellow Moon, Feb. 26
I didn’t warm up to Emmylou Harris’ duet album with Mark Knopfler mostly because I’m no fan of Knopfler. I’m more intrigued by this duet album with Rodney Crowell because of his history with Harris. He was an original member of her legendary Hot Band, and this album is being produced by Brian Ahrens, who helmed Harris’ earliest albums.
Tokyo Jihen, HARD DISK, Feb. 27
Well, this is a pickle. I have just about every Tokyo Jihen release. And now there’s word of a disc of extras? And a USB drive with a new song? But I have to re-purchase every album to get them? I missed out on the wonderful remastering of the MoRA boxed set because I wanted to minimize the redundancy of my Shiina Ringo collection, so is there a similar incentive here? Bah.