New Year - New Music

Hey Lobsters,

So, we know it's been a long, cold, lonely winter without Drop It Like It's Hot, but we hope ya'll were still finding some good new music to throw into the mix.

Anyway, we figured we'd just pick up where we left off. There was a fair amount of clamoring at the end of the year about 2009 being a bit of a down year in terms of stellar albums, but there is certainly a lot to look forward to in 2010.

Perhaps the most anticipated disc to drop this week is Spoon's Transference. The indie rockers have gone about two and a half years without an album, but early indications of the new record are mostly positive. Feel free to sample the new songs here, here, and here.

Another intriguing release for indie fans this week is the Behave Yourself EP from Cold War Kids. After their much-lauded Robbers and Cowards, they laid a bit of an egg with Loyalty to Loyalty. The new release has been pretty well kept under wraps, but one teaser has fans hoping for a return to the quality of the band's debut.

On the more electronic front, RJD2 will be releasing The Colossus, a new full-length album. It seems like the Columbus-based DJ will continue to stray away from the instrumental, beat-based tunes from his early album, to the dismay of some long-time fans.

As far as more mainstream hip-hop, Missy Elliot returns this week with her first new album in a half-decade. The new album, Block Party, will feature collaborations with Amy Winehouse, T-Pain, and Lil Wayne, to name a few.

In other genres, the aging acoustic-rockers of Eels release End Times, their eighth album in 15 years. The new album will apparently center around the recent divorce of front-man Mark Oliver Everett.

Lastly, the pop-punk outfit Motion City Soundtrack makes their major-label debut with My Dinosaur Life. According to Spin, the new album "strikes a radio-ready balance between mayhem and melody." If MCS is trying to get a little more experimental while maintaining their catchy, emo roots, it sounds like they just might succeed.

Damn, it feels good to be dropping things as if they were hot again.

-Greg Gallant, Copy Editor