While it's common for most record labels to launch an onslaught of highly anticipated releases during the fall, this is being taken to a new extent in 2011. From my perspective, this year has been laden with excellent new releases, and given the schedule for upcoming records in the fall, 2011 is shaping up to be a stronger year than 2010.
For my Off The Record column in this New Student Edition, I've decided to assemble a cast of upcoming releases. They range from this week to October and are presented in order by release date. I've included some personal thoughts on the records I've heard early. Spoiler alerts - beware.
I wish everyone a good semester and hope the fall is accompanied by some awesome tunes.
Aug. 16
Charlie Simpson
Charlie Simpson is the front man for English alt-rockers Fightstar. While Fightstar is on hiatus, Simpson brings us his first solo album, "Young Pilgrim." The record is nothing short of jaw-dropping, as Simpson's beautiful vocals take over from the opening "Down Down Down."
Aug.23
Banquets
Banquets plays the kind of music that I, as a college-aged, bearded young man, enjoy immensely. The best way for me to describe the band's sound is like this: Imagine if Anberlin's Stephen Christian broke away from arena rock and decided to front a slightly rougher punk band made up of musicians from The Gaslight Anthem.
The pop sensibility comes out in a strong way, but Banquets' decidedly punk aura makes "Top Button, Bottom Shelf" a release that hits home despite being only a 25-minute full-length.
Aug. 30
Butch Walker & The Black Widows, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Here we have the first truly stacked release date of the fall. In addition to the above listed, Lil Wayne is (supposedly) dropping "Tha Carter IV." With a history of releases that get pushed back weeks, though, it's not even worth trying to preview.
Butch Walker & The Black Widows return with "The Spade," the follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed "I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart." Walker has become more and more sought-after as a producer, and this record shows why. The catchy pop-rock anthems are delivered with the drive of a rock ‘n' roll superstar, and rightly so: There aren't many musicians out there who are as superstar-esque as Walker. Songs like first single "Summer of '89" should put pop bands like All Time Low to shame. Walker seemingly writes these monstrous hooks as easily as you and I drink water.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers will always make headlines, and this time they're doing it without long-time guitarist John Frusciante. Despite losing his unique edge on the guitar, the California funk-rockers heightened curiosity for "I'm With You," their first studio album in five years, by releasing "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie." The song suggests a return to RHCP's sound on "Californication" while mixing the better parts of 2006's questionable "Stadium Arcadium." Either way, I'm anticipating the record - which I could not have said before hearing "Rain Dance Maggie." Check it out on YouTube or something.
Sept. 6
Horrible Crowes, The Front Bottoms
The Horrible Crowes' "Elsie" is, at this point, the best record I have heard in 2011. The group is the side project of Gaslight Anthem vocalist/guitarist Brian Fallon, and his soulful vocals carry the band. It may seem like hyperbole, but I fully mean it when I say that Fallon is the future of rock ‘n' roll the way Bruce Springsteen and other classic rock greats knew it.
The Front Bottoms are a super-weird New Jersey indie/punk band. Their 12-song debut full-length consists of six re-recorded tracks from an earlier EP, but the six new songs are far more stellar. The dual vocals and the erratic attitude behind the musicianship is something to behold.
Sept. 13
Chuck Ragan, Polar Bear Club
Chuck Ragan's newest solo offering, "Covering Ground," will be his last before the new Hot Water Music record. The Gainesville-based HWM frontman just released "Meet Me In The Middle," a Springsteen "Nebraska"-esque track featuring Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem. If that song doesn't make you want to hear the entire release, don't even bother with it.
Polar Bear Club is releasing "Clash Battle Guilt Pride," the highly anticipated follow-up to 2009's "Chasing Hamburg." "Chasing Hamburg" launched the band to new heights, and it will be interesting to see their sound can withstand the test of time.
Sept. 20
Thrice - "Major/Minor"
I won't lie- Thrice lost me years ago with "The Alchemy Index." I was a bigger fan of the group's more punk side, coming to a crux with the brilliant "The Artist In The Ambulance." Despite all of that, though, frontman Dustin Kensrue makes it worthwhile to listen to every single Thrice release, and "Major/Minor" is no exception.
Sept. 27
Blink-182 - "Neighborhoods"
It's 2011, and we're going to get to hear a new Blink-182 record. Hallelujah! While "Up All Night" and "Heart's All Gone," the first two songs released from "Neighborhoods," weigh in at opposite ends of the spectrum, we shouldn't have expected anything else. Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge have always had their own styles, and six years after Blink's eye-opening self-titled album, their styles have never been more different. Expect a record where a soaring pop-punk jam is followed by an airy, Angels-and-Airwaves-like track.
Oct. 4
Jack's Mannequin, New Found Glory, Transit
The above listed are only a few of the albums coming out on this fall's most ridiculous day of new releases. Andrew McMahon will steal the show with "People and Things," the new Jack's Mannequin record. He retains the accessibility of "Everything in Transit" and the heavy honesty of "The Glass Passenger" but lets his Tom Petty influences slide a little more into the picture. This may be the best Jack's Mannequin record to date.
New Found Glory certainly won't be forgotten on this date, as the Florida natives continue their career-spanning clinic in how to properly create pop-punk music. As the grandfathers of the genre, NFG never have to change, and while "Radiosurgery" is promised to contain a more ‘90s-tinged punk vibe, it's still classic New Found Glory.
Transit's first release for Oregon-based Rise Records will bring on the height of their popularity. "Listen and Forgive" promises to combine the brilliant pop-punk found on "Keep This To Yourself" with the nostalgic Midwestern emo flashed on "Something Left Behind."
