1. Circle Takes the Square – Decompositions Vol. 1
I--and I’m sure many others--have been waiting years for a new Circle Takes the Square album. Some thought it would never happen, but they’re almost finished in the studio, and I couldn’t be more pumped. As the Roots Undo continues to be one of my all time favorite albums and my expectations are high for their follow-up.
2. fun. – Sophomore Album
Fun.’s first album, Aim + Ignite, was my album of the year in 2009. I have no doubt that their upcoming album will manage to slide into my top 5 for the end of 2011 as well. I was pretty stoked with the two newest ones I saw them perform in April and can’t wait to hear more.
3. Hot Water Music – 2-song 7”
I never thought I would be this excited for just 2 songs. Fortunately, the wait won’t be much longer. Their last album, The New What Next may not have been my favorite release of theirs, but I’m very interested to see what they’ve come up with after these past 7 years. Hopefully those songs can hold me over until next year, when they release a new full length.
4. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
I may not be the biggest Sleater-Kinney fan, but when I heard Brownstein and Weiss had formed a new band, it was a no brainer that they’d be good. I’ve been pretty satisfied with the few songs they’ve released so far. It's only a matter of a few months before they floor me with their debut full length.
5. Blaqk Audio – Bright Black Heaven
Ok, so I’m not exactly anticipating this album the same way I’m anticipating the others. Not that I’m not interested. I loved the dancier tracks on Cex Cells, and I look forward to dancing around to some of the tracks on this album. Ultimately though, I’m a huge AFI fan that wants everyone in the band to be finished with their side-projects already so they can get back to writing another AFI record.
(Words: Aaron)
