Roundup of Upcoming May Leaks
The Hold Steady | Heaven Is Whenever | May 4th
Stereogum's
Premature Evaluation.
"Heaven Is Whenever isn’t a bad album, but it’s also not a great album. (It’s OK to be disappointed.)"
- We'll have to see about this evaluation. They are highly critical of The Hold Steady, who are recently searching for a new sound after the departure of the Keyboardist Franz Nicolay, who was a major influence on their "stadium rock" sound that defined their first 4 albums.
- I have listened to the album, I do not believe that it quite possibly is better than what Stereogum is predicting, besides, they aren't pitchfork, but who wants to be anyways.
The National | High Violet | May 11th
Stereogum is all over these leaks aren't they. Here is their
Premature Evaluation.
"Like the band that created it, it’s an album that’s built to last."- Please take notice that the leak of this album occurred on 4/19/10 and the Premature Evaluation was posted on 4/20/10, that means that this album was listened to and analyzed in about 24 hours.
- They seem to praise this album because it is by the National and their enduring sound.
- Yes, from what we've heard there is a certain tone on High Violet that wasn't there on Boxer, agreed.
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TSURURADIO is back with a bang and is buzzing their
approval.
"It patiently takes you up, down, & over from start to finish.."- Valid points on the growth of the band are described to a T. That how it happened for me and I'm sure many more.
- With the hype of this one and supposed awesomeness it contains it does seem like we will see them amongst the big names in music after High Violet.
- I've been saying it for a while now, The National is the next Coldplay.
- Starbucks - YES. Soccer Moms - Probably Not.
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We All Want Someone To Shout For took the time to do a Live Blogging of the album, wrapped up with a summary.
"I don’t know how many bands out there takes so much time and effort to give us such a complete album."- Will mentions that he is using a leak with crappy quality to assess the album, good. Means that the others are using the same as well.
- Shows expresses his feelings on each song, though tries not to say anything too bad about the album.
After I found my way to a leak of High Violet, I immediately turned away because of the poor quality of the beginning of each song. Unless The National is taking a lo-fi approach to their latest, which is not the case, I am going to hold off on this one until I can appreciate it in quality. However it would be cool to hear WAVVES in hi-fi and The National in lo-fi. I hope these evaluations were not from the terrible quality leak I got my hands on.
*The album will officially begin streaming on the 23rd on the NY Times website, be ready for that*
LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening | May 18th
Stereogum's
Premature Evaluation - "
Murphy’s shown again he can find endless permutations in what, admittedly, seemed like a pretty rigid formula all those years ago."
- PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE
- Though Stereogum is highly critical of The Hold Steady's new project, they fail to make bold claims of greatest or failure in this one. Taking a middle road as to not turn people off.
- DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE.
- It's all about dancing and summer and how This Is Happening will fit right it, which it will.
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There Goes The Fear - "
LCD Soundsystem have recorded some fantastic tracks for This is Happening."
I'm a big fan of this album, I am declining comment on it because I will be sure to say a few words or 300 about it when it comes out, for now I'll write about the slave trade and jazz history. I will, however, say that "I Can Change" is my new favorite song. I am not going to say 'of all time' but 'of 2010' wouldn't be a stretch by any means, I love it.
