It’s been 3 long years since Antony and his Johnsons birthed their first breakout album, I Am a Bird Now, but do not give up hope weary listener:  help is on the way!  On January 20th, the unique and unmistakable Antony Hegarty will release his official follow up (and 3rd full length overall), The Crying Light.   Said to be inspired by ‘his relationship with the elemental and natural world’, the much awaited record should be a contender for best of 09 honors come December.  It also has a hauntingly scary cover (see above).

No sample mp3s from the Crying Light have been released so in the meantime I’ve attached the title track from Antony’s 2008 EP Another World.  I highly recommend this release as it is not only a great holdover for fans but it features some great songs.  Most notably the track ‘Shake That Devil‘ which is AMAZING.  Trust me, it’s amazing.

AMAZING.

Antony and the Johnsons - Another World

(buy this album)

While I was busy curating the world’s most important music blog, the world’s most awesomely titled folk punk band Andrew Jackson Jihad were quietly releasing a 7 song EP follow up to their delightful 2007 release People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World.  That is a lot of world for one sentence.  It’s also a lot of good news for fans of the Pheonix band (including that one dude who posted a comment on my last post).

Only God Can Judge Me isn’t as furiously strummed and shouted as their People full length but all the goods are still in tact (sharp lyrics, great use of stand up bass).  It’s definitely a worthy follow up, if not a nice look at the more emotional side of the band.  Here is the third track, ‘Growing Up’, which has curse words so be careful playing it in front of your children.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Growing Up

(buy this album)

I’ve never met Kind of Like Spitting’s Ben Barnett but a couple of years ago he and I got into an argument on a small label message board so I’d say we are pretty good friends.  That’s why it hurt me when a few months back I asked him to send me a CD-R of new demos (he was giving them away on his Myspace page) and his response was that I couldn’t have one because I wasn’t his friend on Myspace.   Ouch, what happened?  I thought we were friends.

Speaking of friends, Barnett is finally making music and touring again with his new band of friends called Fun with Friends.   I haven’t heard any actual recordings from this new band of friends (unless those random demos and covers on his Myspace are samples) but I can’t imagine their sound be too far removed from the good old days when I would insult Barnett’s Phil Ochs tribute album, he’d defend himself by saying it was recorded on Gene Autry’s 4 track and besides who cares what I think because he makes music only for himself, then I’d say if you make music only for yourself you should stop releasing albums that are stocked at Tower Records and buy a cabin in the woods, grow a beard, and play your songs to the forest.   You know looking back, it may not have helped that I reminded him of our online argument when asking for that CD-R of demos.  Hmmmm.

I’m not really sure what the lineup for Fun with Friends is but I do know Barnett is going on tour under the name alongside Sean Bonette of Andrew Jackson Jihad and David J of Novi Split, who has also performed as part of Kind of Like Spitting for years.  Will they play new songs or take turns playing their own bands’ songs?  Will they all be one band or come out one at a time?  No one really knows, I suppose.  But nonetheless here are the dates!

Fun with Friends 2009 Tour Dates

Jan 1.)  Seattle (Healthy Times Fun Club)

Jan 2.) Portland (The Artistery)

Jan 4.) Sactown (The Java Lounge)

Jan 5.) Sacramento  (Bigfoot Ranch)

Jan 6.) Santa Cruz  (The Crepe Place)

Jan 7.) Long Beach  (TBA)

Jan 8.) San Diego (The Boat House)

Jan 9.) Phoenix  (Trunk Space)

Jan 10.) Tucson (Dry River)

And here are some delicious mp3s from each artist!

Kind of Like Spitting - Team Reasonable

Purchase Kind of Like Spitting’s split EP with Lemuria ‘Your Living Room’s All Over Me’ at Amazon.com

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Brave as a Noun

Purchase Andrew Jackson Jihad’s ‘People Who Can Eat People’ on Amazon.com

Novi Split - Leaving It

Purchase Novi Split’s ‘Pink in the Sink’ on Amazon.com

Apparently, it’s 2009 now.  I wanted to post that Death Cab for Cutie song. You know, the one called The New Year. I thought it would be really cute if I did that.  Actually, I instantly recognized how dumb of an idea that would be  so instead here is an upbeat number from the Michigan band El Boxeo.

The jam in question is called “Tons” and while it isn’t as obviously clever of a choice as that one Death Cab track it does have a repeating lyric that inspires celebratory glee (”We’re having tons of fun”).  The song is taken off El Boxeo’s record Awake & Dreaming, which is a fact you may have not known.

That’s all you’re going to get today so Happy New Year!  And you’re welcome for the hot pic/boner!

El Boxeo - Tons

Purchase El Boxeo’s ‘Awake & Dreaming’ at Amazon.com