You are off for the summer. Musicians aren't. Midway through what has been an impressive music year, some of the best and most anticipated music is primed to come out. Here are just a few of the albums all the kids will own by fall semester.
-May 4
Art punk before there was art punk, and indie before there was indie cred, Mission of Burma faded into the night in 1983 after their loud shows led guitarist Roger Miller to develop a case of tinnitus. The ringing in his ears was degenerative, the band stopped touring and one of the greatest punk bands of all time broke up. There weren't many indie fans to pick up on a minor label gem, but performers took note: Bands like Moby and REM have covered better-known songs like \Academy Fight Song"" and ""That's when I reach for my Revolver.""
Twenty years and a set of ear covers later, Mission of Burma reformed. Their first new set of shows overflowed with fans, most only toddlers when the group first broke up. is the long awaited new release. Performed and written as it would have been in 1984, is a hell of an album. Few albums stand out as much as and , and isn't one of them. But it is the album that brings Mission of Burma back, and gives them a chance to garner the fame they have always deserved.
-May 18
Morrisey has returned to prove that he isn't dead, just very sad. The former Smiths frontman and his angst-ridden, lost-my-girlfriend indie rock haven't been on a record since 2000. For an album that was turned down by a shocking number of major, mid-sized and minor labels, has generated a surprising amount of buzz. For an alternative icon, it's strange that the labels weren't lining up.
-June 8 (re-release)
Despite Cat Power's efforts, last year's best folk release was Nina Nastasia's . Slow and plodding, Nastasia's first effort with a unique, brooding style was a true success. While she is now known for a fairly dark style with enough of a conventional folk tinge to still resonate with her audience, Nastasia began her career as a conventional artist who was slightly dark. , her first release, has long been out of print. It shows Nastasia, for better or worse,?? with more pop sensibility than any of her other albums. Most of the songs are brilliant. This is a great album for fans to see where Nastasia has been, but a strong album in its own right.
-June 8
Sonic Youth is a band that rarely misses. As a noise-rock band in the '80s, they became the prototype noise rockers. As an alternative band in the 1990s, they generated a massive following. And as a two-decade veteran band, they gave us , a look back at classic Sonic Youth that still managed to innovate. Early reports of leaked tracks have garnered ecstatic early press. Expect a lot from Sonic Youth.
-June 18
Like Wilco, The Roots set the bar high for their 2004 album by releasing one of the best albums of 2002. Without , most people would not be able to pronounce ?uestlove. They have demonstrated mastery of jazz-rap with , and the more aggressive style of . has some of the most explosive potential of all the albums this summer.
-June 22
Wilco entered 2004 as the band to beat, announcing the follow-up to its instant classic . And though you can't buy , you've heard this album or you are about to. Famously leaked online, Wilco publicly asked for money from fans who downloaded it. It's good, more sprawling and will maintain the following which Wilco built through the first great album of the century.
-July 13
Among the strangest bands in the business today is a collective of twenty-something men in white robes playing orchestral rock. Polyphonic Spree release uplifting albums with choral arrangements. The project of Tim Delaughter of Tripping Daisy fame, its first album was a soundtrack to a movie waiting to happen. The second is poised as a sequel.
- June 7
The Killers are the best band in synth-pop right now, and they have only put four songs on CD. Although being big in Europe doesn't mean what it used to (think Datsuns, Vines, and Hasselhoff), The Killers have been playing songs larger than the novelty of their genre in tours across the world. Their full-length album should get them fans stateside as well, and perhaps bring a Las Vegas band home for more than two-month tours.
- May 18
RJD2 has timed things perfectly. In a post-Atmosphere and Madvillian world, with the rise in college hip-hop, there has never been a better time for a great indie beat-layer to release an album. RJD2's group, Soul Position, gained a small following last year in an industry that is still growing. RJD2's collage-style beats have the potential to keep the underground hip-hop scene rising above ground.
- June 15
They're still white, they're still rappers with scratches and sampling, only now they're really old. The Beastie Boys keep moving towards political music, with causes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Tibet, and it makes them less fun even when they try to be fun. They aren't the punk-rock kids who MC anymore. The first single ""Ch-Check it Out"" misses, and don't be surprised if does too.
jhuchill@wisc.edu.
