By most accounts, 2014 has been a relatively weak year for music. There have been a few great albums, but the lack of depth compared with the strong outputs of the past two years is staggering.
All hope is not lost, though. This fall we can expect new music from underground icons, experimental rock bands and some of the biggest pop stars in the world. Read on to see what you can expect to hear the next few months as well as the songs that are already available.
Alt J — “This Is All Yours,” Sept. 23
The genre-bending Englishmen return with their sophomore album following the surprise success of their debut, “An Awesome Wave.” The band is getting, if possible, weirder — they sample Miley Cyrus on the album’s first single “Hunger of the Pine.” This record will be a different sort of experience. Buy the album, ride the wave.
Listen now: “Hunger of the Pine,” “Left Hand Free”
Aphex Twin — “Syro,” Sept. 23
Richard James, the man behind Aphex Twin, has not released new music in 13 years. Then, when a strange link posted on the deep web announced the first Aphex Twin album since 2001’s “Drukqs,” music blogs collectively lost their minds.
James reportedly has multiple albums worth of music recorded, so we might be in for a second prolific run of Aphex Twin releases. Our first taste will come this week, and that will be more than enough for fans who have waited over a decade.
Listen now: “minipops 67 [120.2][source field mix]”
Julian Casablancas + The Voidz — “Tyranny,” Sept. 23
By most accounts, the festival gigs from the new band of The Strokes frontman this summer were disastrous, so we should be forgiven for expecting little from Casablancas’ side project.
And little was expected — until the first single was released. “Human Sadness” is an approximately 11-minute epic that takes so many twists and turns that it never manages to lose the listeners’ attention. Maybe they should have kept expectations low; they now face the pressure to live up to the high level of “Human Sadness.”
Listen now: “Human Sadness,” “Where No Eagles Fly”
Flying Lotus — “You’re Dead,” Oct. 7
This instrumental hip-hop mastermind gets jazzy on ‘em in his fifth studio album. Eliciting features from Herbie Hancock and bass god Thundercat, what we have heard so far from the album is disorienting and transcending.
Lotus’ rapping alter ego Captain Murphy, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar also make appearances on the record. Call it trippy, call it psychedelic, but at least call it what it really is — genius.
Listen now: “Never Catch Me”
Kanye West — TBA
Kanye West might have sold himself short for the first time in his career on last year’s “On Sight.” When he declared “Yeezy season approaching,” he was assuming he was ever out of season — and judging by the fervor surrounding his seventh solo album, we are still in the thick of it. Just take a look out how desperate his fans are for new music: one paid $500 for a 30 second sample of song that might or might not even be on the album. Also floating around have been awful quality snippets of supposed first single “All Day,” since August.
Combine that with the rumored Paul McCartney collaboration “Piss on My Grave,” and highly secretive nature of the recording sessions, and Kanye’s follow-up to “Yeezus” should be a doozy. Yeezy season is here to stay.
Listen now: snippets of “Black Bruce Wayne” and “All Day.” Neither have been officially released.
This is the first part of a three-part series previewing upcoming and notable album releases this fall.
