It's a new year, and of course it looks just the same outside, but this day does mark a good opportunity to think of what we have to look forward to in the coming 12 months musically. (I'll also be giving an opportunity to look backward at the last 12 in a few days).

ALREADY OUT
A couple important 2008 albums have already dribbled out onto the internet. We are not particularly surprised, cause that's the way things tend to go these days. The most notable for me is the new British Sea Power disc entitled Do You Like Rock Music? (2.12 on rough trade) It’s definitely worth a listen and a thankful change of pace from their last one, the beautiful but plodding Open Season.

The Mountain Goats’ Heretic Pride (2.19 on 4ad) is also a notable one; though I haven’t spent much time with it. It seems to be more of the same (which is usually a good thing when John Darnielle is involved) with production flourishes expanding a bit beyond The Sunset Tree and trademark thoughtful lyrics.

Goldfrapp’s Seventh Tree (2.26 on mute) sees her going back to more ethereal territory than her last two albums. There is a welcome return to some approximation of her brilliant debut Felt Mountain. Beach House’s Devotion (2.26 on carpark) seems a bit more lush and busy than their rather haunting debut.

Magnetic Fields’ Distortion (1.15 on nonesuch) was definitely enjoyable on a cursory listen. Sons and Daughters’ This Gift (1.28 on domino) started off wicked strong but had trouble keeping the awesome on till the end.

SOME OTHER THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO
There are albums coming out every week. Tons of ‘em. And despite all the people too eager to proclaim that music these days is crappy, if you ignore the radio and just throw yourself into the bottomless pit of musical obsession, there are many, many gems to be found. It’s basically futile trying to predict which albums will end up being the best, and with the number of bands I love, it’s just as pointless to talk about all the upcoming releases I’m interested in. So, I’m going to touch on what’s coming out of the hands and mouths of some of the bands that have been with me for awhile, on my top bands list for many years now.

Although I tend to forget about it more than I should, there is a new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album itching to get out there. It’s called Dig, Lazarus, Dig and you can already listen to the title track on the official seedy site. It’s sounding rough and grimy not unlike Grinderman with some throwbacks to garage rock of yore and some wonderful lyrics. It’ll be officially out on March 8th, so that means it’ll probably leak somewhere around tomorrow? And then with any luck Nick and his Seeds will finally stage some concerts in North America — something I’ve been waiting for with varying degrees of patience since he became one of my most revered artists 4.5 years back.