So What's Good in 2008?

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Good question to periodically ask I think, of any year. Being that I've kind of moved off the chart a bit, don't catch much in the way of new music a lot of times, there are bands, rappers, artists in general that will of course be coming out, have a lot of integrity and vision to their work, and they're not as easy as most other bands to bombard you by radio just because they're commercial friendliness is usually pretty narrow.

I know of at least a few artists that I'm into who are projected to have 2008 cd's but the artists themselves aren't new news. When I think of artists with vision I think of musicians where their melodies, concepts, vocals, emotional angles - everything locks in tight to where you can tell they not only knew exactly what they meant to do with it but that they had some compelling inspiration and something very new, fresh, and either very lyrically or melodically intelligent.

I'm sure there's a lot out now as of the past couple years, maybe moreso in the UK than in the US (I'm a sucker for trip-hop and things of that like) but then again I've noticed our rock is actually - well, its more commercially washed and ironed than ever before but it actually has some quality emotion and ideas working its way back in. I'm one guy who has his head quite often stuck in one genre (pay you a quarter if you can guess what that is) and in the sea of mediocre its just tough to turn the radio on, particularly when I have a good 400 cd crutch enabling me to never need the radio.

I like the FloBots a lot. They are brand new, have a great message, and haven't been killed off by radio over-saturation yet.

This should be a promising year, if all releases promised for 2008 will actually see the light of day at least.

Orphaned Land, Marilyn Manson, Placebo, Echo & The Bunnymen are all working on new material and the release dates were set for 2008. I doubt they will all meet that deadline though, probably we can expect them early 2009 or so. I am mainly looking out for the EATB one (my favourite band alltogether) and the Orphaned Land one (although it will almost be impossible to do as good as the masterpiece Mabool, they're still one of those bands that never let me down)

Manson's going to have a new album? Hell yes! I hope it's better than Eat Me Drink Me, but then again, it's got to since he reunited with Twiggy Ramirez. (They co-wrote Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals, and--my favorite--HolyWood...once they split MM's albums went seriously downhill.)

Anyway, try The Red Paintings <---that there's a link!

They're excellent. A bit like The Cure, only not gothic. They toured with The Dresden Dolls...who ALSO have a 2008 album...which was disappointing. Hah. But that's okay.

i dont think i have heard anything drastically new to come out this year, ill have to keep an eye on this thread

Captain Cleanoff's Symphonies of Slackness was really good if your into that sort of thing
Origin's Antithesis was a masterpiece of technical death metal, and there is a good chance ill be saying the same thing about the new psycroptic album in a few months
im skeptical about the new cynic album though
the new decide album isn't to bad, though ive barely listened to it
and concerning the new cryptopsy album: no, just no

Took a listen to some of these links - Flobots and The Red Paintings do sound like they've got some quality, Flobots I could definitely see my one buddy liking, he's big on the Lost Prophet type stuff and it sounds like they take that genre of rock and bend it with funk, a little bit of hip-hop (kinda reminiscent of Linkin in how), and it blends out with a good dose of class.

I've kept hearing rumors, I'll have to do research, but talking about preexisting bands I'm still looking forward to seeing if Massive Attack will have a new album this year or early 2009 - there's been a lot of talk out of that corner.

I like Flobots too (mostly because they remind me of Cake).

Well here's some for you.
Vampire Weekend - Never judge a book by their cover, or in this case by their name. When their music first landed in my inbox back in December, I thought they were an emo band. They're not even close. They kinda sound like a mix between Modest Mouse, The Police and Graceland-era Paul Simon. They've been on every late night talk show in the US, and for a good reason too. I've posted the video for "A-Punk" on WP at any time it was suitable. So i'm doing it here again:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ[/youtube]

She & Him - The indie folk duo consisting of actress Zooey Deschanel and indie rock singer M. Ward. Unlike other bands formed by actors, this one is fantastic (joining a very select group that includes Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett's Rilo Kiley and Alex Greenwald's Phantom Planet)

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - This is an electropunk band from Britian. I like them quite a bit.

Pendulum's quite new album "In Silico."

More commercialised, and more techno based as apposed to 2005's Hold Your Colour, which was pure Drum N Bass.

Can't touch em, sorry.

Drum & Bass though is one of those few genres that's too easy and has been again since 2005'ish - Loxy, Spirit, Keaton, B Key, Outrage, Gremlinz, Commix, Aspect, Matt U, Blame, Icicle, Lomax, anything Renegade Hardware, Metalheadz; its not the deep and gritty 1996-1998 sound I fell in love with in the first place but it has as much integrity I think.