I really went down the rabbit hole this past holiday, so I missed mentioning a number of new releases coming up. In fact, enough news came down the proverbial pipe to warrant an actual round-up of upcoming albums. I usually bad mouth first quarter releases, but as the recording industry continues to get clobbered — and thus become chickenshit about actually releasing stuff — the first quarter is almost becoming the hidden treasure trove of the release year.
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Island Records pointing me to a stream of her upcoming English-language single, "Come Back to Me". (Not an m-flo cover, but damn, that would be cool.) Now, Bounce.com reports Utada’s next English-language album is set for a March 24 release in the US and March 4 release in Japan. Timbaland once again collaborates with Utada on the new album, which has not yet been titled. It’s been four years since her English debut, Exodus.
The new single is pretty low-key ballad, not as lush as her most recent Japanese releases but not over-produced like anything on Exodus. It’s refreshingly uncluttered, actually.
Billboard.com lists Feb. 17 as the release date for … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s next album, titled The Century of Self. It will be the first release on the band’s own label, Richter Scale Records. Conrad Keely says this time, the band took a less meticulous approach, getting rid of click tracks and recording live. The Billboard article describes a few tracks from the album, and it sounds like the more prog-rock leanings of the last two albums haven’t been totally abandoned.
A while back, an item on Pause & Play led me to believe a new Wendy & Lisa album would be out in September. That is clearly not the case, since the duo relaunched their website yesterday (Dec. 9, 2008) with their new album, White Flags of Winter Chimneys, on sale. The album is available now as a digital download, with a CD release following in March 2009.
Shiina Ringo’s 10th anniversary commemoration campaign ends with another live DVD release in March, reports Bounce.com. No details about the DVD are yet available, but the official ringo10th website says a film crew caught a "premium live" performance at the Saitama Super Arena. The Bounce article mentions Shiina’s 7 year-old son serves as narrator.
STRAIGHTENER is set to release their new album in February, reports Bounce.com. The title hasn’t been announced, but the sound of the album has been "scaled up", according to the article. Not sure what that really means. New member Ooyama Jun, who was a former member of ART-SCHOOL, was featured on the band’s most recent single "Little Miss Weekend".
I haven’t really been paying too much attention to STRAIGHTENER for the past two albums, but with one half of ART-SCHOOL playing in a band that’s quite similar, I think I might check this next album out.
NUMBER GIRL’s appearance on the Fuji TV show Factory is headed to DVD, according to the most recent e-mail I received from CD Japan. It comes out on Jan. 21. Is there anything really left to release after the massive OMOIDE IN MY HEAD anniversary campaign from 2005?
NUMBER GIRL’s former bassist Nakao Kentaro also co-produced the forthcoming mini-album by MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS. The CD Japan e-mail didn’t have a title, according to the band’s official site, it’s titled World Is Yours and has six tracks clocking in at 22 minutes.
Since I’ve been neglecting this site these last two weeks, a number of release items went unreported.
GO!GO!7188 releases a new album titled Antenna on Feb. 4. I doubt it’s a full cover of Quruli’s album from 2004. The album contains 12 songs, with the single "Futashikatashika" preceding the release on Jan. 14.
BONNIE PINK has been keeping busy. She has a song, "Try Me Out", being featured in a new commercial for Attenir Cosmetics, and on Dec. 13, she performs at Billboard Live in Tokyo. Fans who buy the special edition of her upcoming Christmas EP CHAIN can win a ticket to the event, but only a limited number will be available. CHAIN hits stores on Nov. 26. BONNIE PINK is also collaborating with UK R&B artist Craig David on the track "All the Way", which is included as a bonus on the Japanese release of David’s Greatest Hits. The compilation is also being release on Nov. 26.
LEO Imai releases his next single, "Synchronize", on Jan. 28. Imai’s previous single, "Taxi", was released in July 2008.
Tommy heavenly6 has a new song featured on the anime Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 titled "Unlimited Sky". There are no plans for a single release yet.
Other December releases include a collaboration single between Yaida Hitomi and Odu Kazumasa titled "Koi Bus" on Dec. 3, while Van Tomiko’s second non-cover album, Van., gets a Dec. 10 release date.
These bits of news are a few weeks old, but I may as well mention them. Tommy heavenly6 is set to release a new single on Dec. 10, and UA follows a week later with her own single on Dec. 17.
Bounce.com reports the new Tommy heavenly6 single, titled "PAPERMOON", serves as the opening theme for the anime Soul Eater, and it will have a limited edition first pressing with a promo clip DVD. The single’s coupling songs have yet to be determined.
CD Japan sent an e-mail informing me about the new UA single, which seems to be titled "2008". The online retailer states, "New single release from UA who had her second baby featuring songs to children of the future." Congratulations to UA!
Tokyo Jihen keyboardist Izawa Ichiyou is releasing an album with his trio Appa on Nov. 15, reports Bounce.com. Previous Appa releases were self-released with limited pressings, which have all sold out. The new album, titled Rashipoki, contains 12 tracks, which Bounce seems to want to describe as "theatrical". The band’s website hosts MP3s of their earlier albums, so you can judge for yourself.