Adventures In Stereo

… to all.  The last few weeks have been fairly busy, but this afternoon I thought to myself that it was about time that I drafted something up for those who visit this site.

2008 promises to be a good year for music, but here are the 10 albums that are bound to set the tone for the rest of the year.

 1. “Saturnalia”, The Gutter Twins

The long awaited collaboration between (ex-Screaming Trees frontman and Queens of the Stone Age collaborator) Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli (Twilight Singers/The Afghan Whigs) has finally been recorded and a release date has been set.  

The album from the pair has been rumored since 2003, and they performed as The Gutter Twins for the first time back in September 2005.

Until the album is released on March 4th, you can listen to “Idle Hands” and “The Stations” on their MySpace page.  ”Idle Hands” is also available to download for a limited time.

2. “The Golden Age”, American Music Club

The first record since the band’s welcome 2004 return ‘Love Songs for Patriots’ is released on February 4th.  This, their 9th album, has already been described by Uncut Magazine as their best since 1993’s ‘Mercury’ - which was one of the finest records released in the 90’s. 

The line up change (bassist Danny Pearson and drummer Tim Mooney are replaced by guitarist Sean Hoffman and drummer Steve Didelot) shouldn’t impact the group too muh, as American Music Club was always about the union of Mark Eitzel and Vudi.

 3. “Dig!!!, Lazerus, Dig!!!”, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

 March also sees the release of the first Bad Seeds record since Cave’s ‘Grinderman’ project (March 3rd).

Cave has stated that the album will have the ‘Grinderman’ sound, suggesting that “Dig!!!…” will be a rock orientated set.  Whether or not the album will also have the orchestral arrangements of recent releases is unknown, but we can be sure that this will be one heck of a record.

Nick Cave, throught the bands official website, had this to say about the records inspiration:

“Ever since I can remember hearing the Lazarus story, when I was a kid, you know, back in church, I was disturbed and worried by it. Traumatized, actually. We are all, of course, in awe of the greatest of Christ’s miracles - raising a man from the dead - but I couldn’t help but wonder how Lazarus felt about it. As a child it gave me the creeps, to be honest. I’ve taken Lazarus and stuck him in New York City, in order to give the song, a hip, contemporary feel. I was also thinking about Harry Houdini who spent a lot of his life trying to debunk the spiritualists who were cashing in on the bereaved. He believed there was nothing going on beyond the grave. He was the second greatest escapologist, Harry was, Lazarus, of course, being the greatest. I wanted to create a kind of vehicle, a medium, for Houdini to speak to us if he so desires, you know, from beyond the grave”.

 Sweet.

4. “Diamond Hoo Ha”, Supergrass

‘Road to Rouen’ was seen by many as an elegant swan song from one of Britain’s finest rock bands.  However, the band had recently debuted some new material at Guilfest before announcing Diamond Hoo Ha’s release for March 24th.

The first track, Diamond Hoo Ha Man has found some airplay on BBC6 Music and if it’s anything to go by, the record should be a real treat.

 5. “April”, Sun Kil Moon 

Announced through the bands official website in November 2007, the third studio album from Mark Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon is set to be released on April 1st 2008.

This follows the brilliant ‘Ghosts of the Great Highway’ and ‘Tiny Cities’, which, oddly, was a collection of Modest Mouse covers.  If ‘Tiny Cities’ was considered by many to be a little disappointing, ‘April’ is set to impress if ‘Moorestown’ is anything to go by.

6. “Detox”, Dr. Dre

2008 should see the release of Dr. Dre’s third album.  The excellent ‘2001′ was Dre’s last ’solo’ album and ‘Detox’ was first mentioned back in 2000, while the imminent release of ’Detox’ has been rumoured since 2004. 

Recently, the most promising signs of the albums iminent release were Dre’s statement in February to Power 106 radio that he’d finished 18 tracks and was looking for 13 for the finished article, 50 Cent’s comments to HipHopDX.com in August 2007 that “He’s working on it. I’ve recorded two songs for him. He’s such a perfectionist. But sometimes that can be a bad thing. You create new pressure when you wait that long. When you put a new album against the last two classics, people will scrutinize it if they become impatient”, and Dre’s comments at the MTV Music Award in September regarding Detox coming soon.

Fingers crossed.

7. “Untitled”, Alice in Chains

Ok … if I’m completely honest I’ve not decided whether this is a good thing or not.  Details are a bit patchy, however it is rumoured that the 3 original members and William DuVall have been recording new material. 

In April 2007, one of AiC’s road crew (The Baldy?) had announced:

“I’ve been [in Los Angeles] for five days, sat through three rehearsals and one demo recording session, listened to several other demos, and I can happily report that the new stuff is kicking my ass right out of my pants. Remember that these songs are still only in the early stages of being written too. Just in the time I’ve been here, the guys have taken a riff and worked on it and expanded it and added layers to it, and now it’s practically a full-fledged song”.

8. “Before I Self Destruct”, 50 Cent

Recorded around the same time as his 2007 release ’Curtis’, ‘Before …’ was initially scheduled to be the first of the two releases.  However, as things turned out, ‘Curtis’ was issued first (in September) and ‘Before I Self Destruct’ took a back seat.

In April 30th 2007, 50 Cent told DJ Semtex (?) that “Some people think I changed the title of my album from “Before I Self Destruct” to “Curtis”, but what I did was, I changed albums. I had Before I Self Destruct, I recorded twelve songs under that actual topic, and then I created the material that is under Curtis, and I felt like this album should come out right now and Before I Self Destruct is gonna be my follow-up record, so I’m probably like three or four records away from completing my next album at this point. And I signed a five-album deal with Interscope, so this Curtis is my third album, Before I Self Destruct is scheduled to release February 4th, which will be the anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and my final studio recording album because the fifth album in my recording contract is a greatest hits album, so technically, I’m about three songs away from completing my music career”.

Rumours had circulated about the possible involvement of a certain Mr. West and MTV decided to ask … surprisingly enough, Fiddy told them in November that Kanye West had produced a track but it had not made the final cut.

He also stated that “this album is more aggressive and darker- I’ll produce something that hands down will be the best record of that time period”

And when asked about double standards with swearing on records Fiddy said: “Matter a fact my next single starts ’It’s Britney Bitch’”. 

Due to the fact that ‘Curtis’ was delayed it’s expected that ‘Before I Self Destruct’ will also be put on hold for a few months.

 9. “American Recordings VI”, Johnny Cash

Another project where the details aren’t exactly clear.  However, it has been widely reported that on the day Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin put the finishing touches to 2002’s American IV: The Man Comes Around, recording continued.  Roumor has it that they wrapped up around 60 tracks a week before the Man in Black passed on September 12th 2003.

American V was duly released in July 2006 and since then there has been reports that Rick Rubin and Cash Jnr. have been assembling American VI.

“I avoided it for a long time, because I didn’t want to feel sad and I was concerned from a technical standpoint, because a lot of it was recorded when he wasn’t in the best shape,” says Rubin.  ”I was shocked at the volume and quality of the material. Certain songs raised their hands and volunteered for this album. VI is mostly revealed but not completely.”

Whether American VI will be released in 2008 is still uncertain, but here’s hoping something wonderful is waiting to be heard.

10. “The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull”, Earth

The 6th album from the god of guitar doom, Dylan Carlson.  According to sources, the album is a step in the direction of conventional rock.