A Sweeping Curve of Sound

She recorded my favorite album of 2007, and it looks like P.J. Harvey could wind up on my “best of 2008″ list as well. The enigmatic Harvey is planning to release a follow-up to 1996’s critically acclaimed John Parish collaboration “Dance Hall at Louse Point“.

“Polly is due to enter the studio with John Parish later this month to commence work on a collaborative album, a follow-up to their 1996 collaboration on Dance Hall At Louse Point. They will be joined in studio by long-time cohort, Eric Drew Feldman, Carla Azar from Autolux and Giovanni Ferrario. The studio session will take place ahead of Polly’s forthcoming tour of New Zealand & Australia and confirmed show in Rome on March 9th which are in support of her current album White Chalk. The, yet to be titled, album is expected out later this year. “

PJ Harvey - “That Was My Veil”

 Exciting news for Harvey fans, and yet another album to add to a truly stellar line-up of upcoming 2008 releases.

I thought I had a good idea of what sort of new music releases were coming in 2008 for the genres I enjoy. But then I went to DJ Martian’s list of artists scheduled to release new material in 2008.  There you can find nearly 400 artists that have announced a 2008 release date. Including such darkwave artists I enjoy like Arcana, Magick Daggers, and The Gathering. Truly 2008 looks like it is going to be a banner year.

In related news, R.E.M. has unveiled a teaser site (which seems to be “hosed” at the moment) for the forthcoming album “Accelerate”, which the band promises will be more “guitar-heavy” than previous efforts.

“‘Accelerate’ promises to be a return to the guitar-driven REM of old. Sales of the last album ‘Around The Sun’ were disappointing when compared to previous sales. ‘Accelerate’ is expected to be similar in feel to 1994’s ‘Monster’ which featured the hits ‘What’s The Frequency, Kenneth’ and ‘Crush With Eyeliner’.”

I’m not sure referencing “Monster” is a good thing for the band, since I thought it was an uneven and disappointing album. But I will be keeping my ears open to see if the band can reclaim some of their former charm.

Finally, for the more occult-oriented among you, an anthology book entitled “Antibothis” has just been released. It features a variety of essays by underground luminaries on the subject of “cultural revolution”. But even more interesting is the CD that will be packaged with the book.

“Along with the book a spoken word / oral cut up cd compilation will be available with artists like : Jarboe, Fernando Ribeiro ( Moonspell ), Kenji Siratori, Phil Von ( Von Magnet ), Christophe Demarthe ( Clair Obscur), Rasal.asad, Euthymia, Wildshores, Andrey Kiritchenko, Netherworld, Rapoon, Planetaldol, Thermidor, Structura, Martin A. Smith, Alex Tiuniaev.” 

With artists like Clair Obscure, Moonspell, and Jarboe involved, it should be an interesting listen.

Musicfolio has released their top twenty Goth/Darkwave/Industrial albums for 2007. Topping the list is VNV Nation’s album “Judgement”.

“Judgement is obviously a darker album being that the theme is Judgement Day, the end of mankind. Lyrically it contains many of VNV’s most popular themes, but on tracks like Nemesis and Descent we see Ronan really tapping that dark visceral vein of his. The vocals on Descent are spoken, not sung, and believe me when I say Ronan sounds seriously grim on that track! A very haunting song.”

I can’t say I think VNV Nation made the best “dark” album of 2007, but I’m sure they are working with different criteria.

On a more personal note, I would like to give a shout-out to the Parasol Records top-2007 picks (I briefly interned there, and they are all wonderful people with great musical taste).

But enough of this 2007 pondering! I am very much looking forward to the music of 2008. New albums from Nick Cave, M83 (check out a preview), Bauhaus, Deadfly Ensemble, Devotchka, Ladytron, A Silver Mt. Zion, Portishead, Jessie Evans, and the new Mirabilis CD “Sub Rosa” (now available via mailorder, but hitting the stores in February) which I plan to review here soon (once I get my hands on it).

“Mirabilis - the collaborative neo-classical/heavenly voices duo Summer Bowman of The Machine in the Garden and Dru Allen of This Ascension - return with Sub Rosa, the brilliant follow-up to their 2004 debut, Pleiades. The new album mixes classical sensibilities with exotic electronics and acoustic instrumentation to complement the vocal depth listeners are familiar with from Dru and Summer. The vocals are supported with a melancholic arrangement of flute, hammered dulcimer, and live percussion mixing with multi-layered vocal stylings to invoke a range of emotional textures.”

Sounds right up my particular alley. Now off to record this weeks podcast…