Since April 1 I've picked up just twelve new-to-me albums. Actually that's a slight lie; I've also picked up a bunch of albums—some new to me, some re-purchases from years past—as part of my research for my book. But as those albums are, in a way, work, I've left them out of this roundup. (I will address them in a future post, however.) They're still a huge part of my listening hours—the biggest part, it sometimes seems—but writing about them in this forum is not quite right.
Anyway: of the twelve above albums, three are from 2009, one is from 2008, three are from 2000-07, and the other five are musical blindspots. As far the new releases go, I'm a little disappointed to see the quality set by some of the releases in the first three months of the year drop off, at least as far as what I'm purchasing goes. I have to admit that I've been terrible at keeping up with new music in the last few months. Between the book, a long-overdue vacation, my job, and other outside concerns, my mind has been pretty far removed from music circa 2009. I'd like to say that's going to change as the year progresses but I don't really think it will. I honestly have no idea where my attentions are going to be as far as music goes for the rest of this year. My recentish dalliances with krautrock and 60s/70s country rock have nearly evaporated, though that has more to do with my time and purchasing power than my changing tastes.
But I digress: what about these twelve records? As always I'll be breaking this week's posts into the best and the rest, starting with the best a little later today. I can't think of a period since I've started doing these MLH posts, though, where the line separating the two categories has been so fine, so take the division with a big grain of salt. There are a few albums here that are undeniably outstanding; but at the same time nothing grabbed hold of me out of this bunch the way, say, Middle Cyclone, Merriweather Post Pavilion, or Faust IV did in the last go-around. So I ask you: you can see what I heard above; what did I miss out in the last three months? What recent new releases have you sharpening your pencil for your best-of-the-year-so-far lists? What old album did you recently discover that knocked you on your ass?
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