Top Five Tuesday: Where Do We Go From Here?

Lately I've been rambling about the legions of album releases due in the coming months. I've heard a few tracks that scare me. Thankfully there have also been many that have piqued my curiosity.

I thought I'd compile some artists with upcoming 2008 releases that, for one reason or another, I'm regarding with special interest. A few of these bands have nowhere to go but up. Others...worry me a bit.

5. Wolf Parade – Ah, Wolf Parade. Recently I was listening to KEXP’s Cheryl Waters, a DJ with impeccable taste, and she mentioned that Wolf Parade was one of her favorite artists of all time. Really? How can you know that after just one album? Certainly Spencer Krug is a talented musician, spearheading WP and Sunset Rubdown as well as working on projects with Swan Lakes, Frog Eyes, and so on.

Still, the band that snagged a coveted 9.0 Pitchfork rating now faces the dreaded second album, a daunting obstacle for any band -- even more so with a band looking to match the success of their debut. (Clap Your Hands, anyone?) Will WP continue down a similar path? Or perhaps take a cue from Sunset Rubdown and focus on slower tracks like "Modern World"? Will they rock? Overproduce the shit out of it? Here’s hoping it’s not the latter.

4. Deerhunter – The machine Bradford Cox is scheduled to release another album this fall – Microcastle – due out on Halloween, according to Exclaim. This is one of the few on the list that I am confident will be good, I take it back incredible, though I’m most curious about how the album will sound.

In that interview with Exclaim, Bradford said the following:

“I don’t really like using effects that much. I like them only because sometimes you need them to get a certain desired feeling or sound, but I don’t like for a song to depend on a metal box working and having fresh batteries in it. I guess I just get tired of depending on technology. The root of the song should be there already and I think you should be able to play these songs whether you have these things or not."

So does that mean the band is moving more toward territory staked by the Fluorescent Grey EP? I’m getting tingly all over thinking about it. And Let the Blind Lead… hasn’t even been out for a month.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially in love with Bradford Cox.

3. Built to Spill – With a band as consistent as BTS, it’s unfortunate that their 2006 reunion album You in Reverse failed to recapture the band’s brilliance. On their upcoming album, this listener would love to see them combine the less polished approach to YIR with the more complex melodies demonstrated on Perfect from Now On.

If nothing else, YIR showed the band isn't unafraid of trying new things, and that is why I’m confident the band will return with a triumphant follow-up album.

2. of Montreal – Early 2007 saw the release of the phenomenal Hissing Fauna, and with it, a new of Montreal was born. K Barnes and company simultaneously released their most depressing, most melodic, and most danceable work to date. So now that you’ve purged your soul of all that, what’s next?

I'm intrigued not only by what Skeletal Lamping has in store for us, but also by its relatively quick release. Might it be the Amnesiac to Hissing Fauna's Kid A?

1. Portishead – Seriously, this album is due out in April and aside from the cover art I don’t know a damned thing about it. Does anyone?

It’s been eleven years since the release of the self-titled Portishead album (ten since Roseland NYC Live), and all we’ve heard since is Beth Gibbons' side project with Rustin' Man (yawn) and a few under-nourished instrumental tracks on the band’s Myspace. I’m not sure what to expect here. And to be honest, I'm a little afraid.

If the album artwork is any indication, are we to gather that Portishead's Third will sound exactly like the band's two previous efforts? Perhaps the more important question is, will that be enough?

Other artists to watch in 2008: Junior Boys, Menomena, My Morning Jacket, and apparently, Gang of Four.

Also, when is that freakin' MBV album I've heard so much about coming out?