Let it Rock: The Anticipation is Killing Me

By Sues

One of the most frustrating things is when one of my favorite artists or bands takes absolutely forever to release a new album. Maybe I’m impatient or maybe I just listen to music so often that I’m constantly wanting more from my favorites. But is there ever anything better than listening to a brand new fabulous album over and over?

Yes, the anticipation can be great, but there gets to be a point where I’m done anticipating and want to start listening. Here are 3 artists that I’m hoping to see albums from in the very near future. I don’t know how much longer I can wait before their old albums start skipping from me playing them over and over. And over. Oh, they’re digitally downloaded? Well, I still don’t think I can wait much longer.

Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams is basically a music-making machine. Some people get annoyed because it seems like he writes songs and makes albums non-stop. He comes out with at least a couple every year. I don’t get annoyed; I love every moment of it and buy his every album. But see, his last album that he did with the Cardinals, Cardinology, wasn’t so fabulous. Don’t get me wrong, I still bought it and listened to it over and over again like I do with all his albums, but the songs on it didn’t move me like they usually do. So normally I’d think, “Eh, it’s OK, he’ll come out with a new album in a couple months anyway.” But now? Now I’m scared that he won’t.

He recently claimed that he’s done touring and while Ryan is known for his fickleness and often goes back on what he’s said, it’s been a few months now and he’s standing by his claim. So maybe he’s just done touring for a while and wants to focus more on creating new music? I wish. Instead it seems as if he’s moving away from music and more into writing poetry. And then last week he went and got married, which means he’ll likely have even less time for music making. The only bright side is that he married Mandy Moore who is not only one of my favorite people in the world, but is also an amazing musician herself. Let’s hope she encourages Ryan to keep up with his music. Or that they at least create some beautiful duets.

Bon Iver

Bon Iver seriously confuses me. Or teases me. Maybe a little bit of both. I mean, they come out with a 6-song LP at the beginning of 2008, which I absolutely fell in love with. Like, hard. So, doesn’t an LP mean a full-length album would be out soon or something? So I waited and waited. And then in early 2009 I hear Bon Iver is coming out with something new. Hooray! But wait, it’s only a 4-song EP (What’s the difference between an LP and an EP anyway??). Sure, the 4-song EP, Blood Bank, excited me beyond belief and I listened to it at least 200 times the first day it came out. But now I’m dying for more – like, I don’t know, a full-length album?! And not an album that just replays everything on the EP and LP. I want new stuff. Justin Vernon, you and Bon Iver are awesome and if you need to, please go lock yourself in a cabin deep in the woods of Wisconsin again (that’s what he did while writing the songs for For Emma, Forever Ago), and don’t come out until you can give me a full-length album. I mean it.

Enrique Iglesias

Don’t laugh at me. I know I’m not the only one who is absolutely obsessed with Enrique Iglesias. I’ve grown up with his music, so I can’t help but love it (though I still stand by the fact that Ricky Martin is the hotter of the two). The thing about Enrique is that his music is always good…year after year. His last album, Insomniac, was different than anything he’d previously done, but was still awesome. He took songs that had the potential to be the cheesiest of cheesy, “Ping Pong Song” and “Don’t Turn Off the Lights,” and made them songs I wanted to listen to over and over. And I was only a little bit ashamed when my friend noticed my #1 most-played song on iTunes happened to be Enrique’s “On Top of You.” Oops. My point is, Enrique has me constantly anticipating what he’s going to do next and I always know I’m going to love it. So he should just put down his pen and his studio-recording microphone now and release a new album; I’m sure it’s amazing as is.

I was going to include Rascal Flatts on my list, but guess what? I just found out they’re coming out with a new album in a couple weeks. So, you’ll be hearing about them again on Let it Rock very soon. Yay for that!

What artists are you eagerly anticipating new albums from?

[Images courtest of Rollogrady.com, Poorpony.com, Starpulse.com]