July Music Preview

July looks like it has the potential to be a fairly strong and heavy month, provided that things break the right way. Unlike June, there seem to be very few obvious clunkers – Chris Cornell, this means you. Onto the releases:

7/3
Chemical Brothers/ We Are The Night – Delayed from 6/19, here’s what we wrote last month:
After a few lackluster records, the Chems returned with a force in 2005 with Push The Button, largely due to guest appearances ranging from Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest), Tim Burgess (Charlatans UK), Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), to The Magic Numbers. They’ve toned down the reliance on friends with their new offering, preferring to see if the music can stand on its own. The jury’s out on this one.

Chemical Brothers On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
Entire Record Streaming As Of This Writing

Velvet Revolver/ Libertad – Supergroups often have a problem duplicating their previous bands’ successes, which is something that Velvet Revolver struggled with on their debut album. That being said, fans of STP and GN’R are going to flock to this record regardless of its quality.

Velvet Revolver On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“She Builds Quick Machines”

7/10
Crowded House/ Time On Earth – The Finn brothers reunite for the first time under the Crowded House name in fourteen years. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” is one of the best songs of all time so these guys get a long leash.

Crowded House On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“Don’t Stop Now”

Interpol/ Our Love To Admire – Interpol’s first album, Turn On The Bright Lights, may have been the best debut of the past decade but their follow up, Antics, stalled out well short of their standard. Our Love To Admire will hopefully tell us who the real Interpol is. Based on its first single, “The Heinrich Maneuver,” there’s unfortunately every reason to be afraid that they’re not the band that we thought they were.

Interpol On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“The Heinrich Maneuver”

Smashing Pumpkins/ Zeitgeist – Ohhhh boy. The Smashing Pumpkins are back. Scratch that – two fifths of Zwan CALLING themselves the Smashing Pumpkins are back and does this album ever have train wreck written all over it. Let’s all take a moment to weep for Siamese Dream because this record’s likely to shit all over its memory.

Smashing Pumpkins On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
None, because Billy Corgan is an egomaniacal asshole, although first single “Tarantula” is pretty much terrible.

Spoon/ Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – Coming on the heels of their breakthrough, Gimme Fiction, and frontman Britt Daniel’s work on the score/soundtrack for Stranger Than Fiction, it should be interesting to see if Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (wow, that’s a horrendous title) can catapult them to the crossover level of fellow indie acts The Shins and Modest Mouse.

Spoon On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“The Underdog”
“The Ghost Of You Lingers”

7/17
Editors/ An End Has A Start – US release date; Out in the UK in June, here’s what we wrote last month:
This one’s a bit of a surprise as one of 2006’s best new bands returns a scant year later with their follow up. If its anything like its forbear, An End Has A Start has a chance to be something spectacular.

Editors On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors”

The Magic Numbers/ Those The Brokes – The British collective brings their California-pop influenced sound stateside for a sophomore set. Imagine a limey Mamas & Papas and you basically have The Magic Numbers. To quote Bob Ryan on Entourage, “Does that sound like something you might be interested in?”

The Magic Numbers On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“Take A Chance”
“Undecided”

7/24
Talib Kweli/ Eardrum – One half of the critically adored Black Star returns with his third solo outing. Fans of intelligent hip-hop everywhere, rejoice, but also tremble in the fact that no-talent sellout will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas produced a couple of the tracks.

Talib Kweli On MySpace Music

New Tracks [Samples Only]:
“Hot Thing”
“Say Something”
“More Or Less”

Prince/ Planet Earth – Yes, 3121 was a disappointment but it’s just great seeing Prince make music again. After his blistering set at halftime of the Super Bowl, anticipation and expectation is high for this one.

No MySpace Available

Silverchair/ Young Modern – Dave… this one’s for you. God knows you’re the only fan they have left.

Silverchair On MySpa… yeah, no one really cares.

Tegan & Sara/ The Con – Lesbian twin sisters from Canada. Does it get more indie than that? Joking aside, The Dirtywhirl isn’t looking forward to any record in July more than this one. Their last, So Jealous, was a near-perfect slice of indie pop and early word on The Con promises more of the same.

Tegan & Sara On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“Back In Your Head”
“The Con”

7/31
Common/ Finding Forever – As one of the few hip-hop artists worth a damn creatively, it’s been more than a little troubling to see Common selling out in Gap and Coke ads as well as whoring himself out for a cameo on Joss Stone’s latest record. Here’s to hoping that he has at least a sliver of his former artistic integrity left.

Common On MySpace Music

New Tracks:
“The People”
“The Game”