Preview Tuesdays (but it's Monday)

In the United States, music and DVDs are released on Tuesdays. This week, music seems to be coming out on Monday (that's today). On Preview Tuesdays, we're going to tell you about some selections that are coming out, and give you our thoughts on albums we probably haven't heard at all. That's pretty much the way it used to work before the days of the Internet anyway. Ahhhh, the good old days. When all you heard was a song on the radio and had to guess about the rest of the album. I'm feeling nostalgic:

Albums releasing on November 22, 2010:

1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: You should get this. It's dope. All kinds of weird symbolism, great production, plus Kanye's brutal and awkward manipulation of the English language. It's a polarizing album, with some people saying it's the best thing since humans developed thumbs and other people saying it's garbage. It's somewhere in the middle, but way closer to being as awesome as having thumbs. [Update: Rolling Stone gave this album a 5 out of 5, which is a big deal, but Pitchfork has given this album a 10 out of 10, which is like, holy (beep) because Pitchfork has a reputation for hating everything.][PopMatters just gave this album a 10 out of 10, and they almost never give a 10. The album is definitely sick. I probably would give it an 8 or a 9. It's more of a 9 if I'm allowed to add Kanye's free G.O.O.D. Friday tracks to it.]

2. Akon, Akonic: Not a big Akon fan. I always see "Akorn" first and then I realize it's "Akon". I respect this guy's hustle, though, but I'm not excited about hearing this one. Album title is kind of wack, too. Kanye's album title is long, but it's cool to me. Akonic is just...the opposite.

3. The Alchemist, Gutter Water: I like the Alchemist on production. There's a stigma attached to being a producer who raps. Most rap heads think producers can't rap. I think it's more that producers do such a great job with the beats and the music, their rhymes get overshadowed. Large Professor is a strong rapper, if you need an example to settle a bet.  The Alchemist? He's not bad. I think Oh No (Madlib's brother) is participating in this too. I'm interested in this album for the beats, for sure.

4. Lloyd Banks, H.F.M. 2 (Hunger For More 2): I don't like sequels. I don't remember the first Hunger For More. I don't like acronyms for album titles. I don't listen to Fiddy Cent or the Lethal Interjection Crew his G-Unit crew, of which Lloyd Banks is a member. Notice, I didn't say, "I don't like Fiddy Cent or G-Unit", I simply said I don't listen to them. There's a big difference. I'm open to liking them, I just haven't listened much. I'm not excited about this release, though, but I would expect it to at least be average.

5. Darkwater, Where Stories End: Darkwater is a Swedish band that does prog metal. Some folks are recommending this, and I haven't heard their debut, but I gather there are lots of guitar solos and some vocal harmonizing. Eh, we'll see.

6. Kevin Eubanks, Zen Food: This guy, former bandleader and sidekick on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, is an awesome musician. He kind of played himself being the butt of the joke for Jay Leno, who is about as funny as a comatose squirrel. This is a jazz record, and I expect it to be kind of mellow, maybe with a few flourishes hear and there, but it's not going to be something that has a lot of surprises. My guess is that it will be technically proficient, but it ain't gonna convert non-jazz listeners into overnight fans. It might be of interest to hardcore jazz enthusiasts (both of them). I plan on getting to this after I've caught up on a couple of things I missed earlier in the year.

7. Ke$ha, Cannibal (EP): Honestly, I'm not really interested in this, but her music seems to move units, and I'm always fascinated by what ends up being popular. She's a singer and she raps a little bit, so, yeah, okay. You never know. It could be enjoyable. Plus, it's only an EP, which means it's short even though EP stands for "Extended Play".

8. Killing Joke, Absolute Dissent: What I'm hearing is that this is the first album recorded by this band's ORIGINAL lineup since 1982. That gets my attention right there. Early reviews say it's energetic, and the lead vocalist Jaz Coleman may be in fine form. What worries me is that the band is using Auto-Tune. It bothers me that it's being used, number one, but also the use is supposedly terrible in rap but not terrible in other genres, such as rock and metal. It's hard to tell what to make of this, so I might have to take a listen. When rock and metal albums are "good" to critics, they start using words like "anthemic", "apocalyptic", and "stadium scale". Sometimes, that means "epic" or "breathtaking". Other times, it just means "loud". I'm on the fence on this, probably to err on the side of listening to it and not taking the chance on missing something good.

Adam rants about Auto-Tune: New motto for 2010: "Thou Shalt Not Auto-Tune Jaz Coleman"

9. Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday: Nicki has a great verse on Kanye's song "Monster", and it's great to see a female rapper with an album that people are anticipating. There were albums and mixtapes by females in 2010 and most of this material ranged from solid to great. I haven't joined the Nicki Minaj à bandwagon yet, but I've listened to 3 mixtapes of her material, and I find her to be "all right". I'm not going to compare her to other female rappers, because that's the trap - a girl gets her emcee on, and then all the boys run to compare her to all the other girls, and then the girls start beefing with each other until they all get dragged into obscurity. Compared to all emcees on the market right now, she's competent, and her accents are humorous. I don't see hardcore hip hop heads loving this album, because I sense a little bit of indecision in terms of subject matter and execution, but it's at least worth a spin.

10. My Chemical Romance, Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys - I'm really curious about this one. I dig My Chemical Romance because they don't just rock, they RAWK! For some reason, though, I don't put them on many of my car mixes. They're on my iPod but not on any playlist. Anyway, the title of their new album intrigues me, and I'm a sucker for a good title. There's also talk of this album being like a concept album, along the lines of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, and I ride for Ziggy, so if I ride for Ziggy, and My Chemical Romance rides for Ziggy, then by the transitive property, I must also ride for My Chemical Romance.

11. Ne-Yo, Libra Scale: I respect Ne-Yo's songwriting hustle. I respect his singing voice too. I'm just not in love with R&B right now, and I'm not interested in the usual themes of dancing, having sex (or, listening to songs about other people having it), and breaking up. Now, I'm not totally sure that's what this album is about, but that's my estimation and I'm sticking to it. I'm not hating on the formula, but I just think I'm going to go a different way this time.

12. Robyn, Body Talk: Swedish awesomeness Robyn writes pop songs the way Muhammad Ali used to box. She's crafty. She doesn't always come right at you. She sneaks up on you. She's witty and clever and all kinds of subversive, but she's also a woman with a big heart. Don't think she's missing a heart just because she doesn't wear it on her sleeve. She's complex and multi-layered, that's all. Body Talk is the 3rd release this year from her. The first two parts were pretty good, with some danceable tracks as well as acoustic work. Those were like EPs. This is supposed to be longer, but a big chunk of the songs are from the first two parts. A 3rd of the album will be new songs. I wish they were all new songs. I don't like paying for songs twice. Nevertheless, I'm going to check this album out ASAP.

13. Royksopp, Senior: 2009's Junior was very, very good. This Norwegian duo is fun and really eccentric. This is trip hop music, and it definitely bumps, although it can sometimes get a little repetitive. Some of it is great for playing in the background, which is not an insult at all. It's well-composed. Music that bothers you is a nuisance. I don't think this album will fall into that category.

Peace & Happy play list making!!!!!!!!!!!!