It's a bit like the first cuckoo of spring. No sooner does the new calendar get pinned to the wall than here it is, the album that 'raises the bar for 2009'; 'if there are many better released it's going to be a great, great year'; 'certain to be a 'Top 10' staple come December', etc etc. This time it's that Animal Collective album which is doubtless very cosmic and transporting in a Mercury Lips-with-bangin-beats kind of a way (tho' these days this blog tends to give albums which come trailing reviews citing the likes Van Dykes Parks and the Beach Boys' Smile as 'obvious touchstones' a pretty wide berth; less is more.) This time last year Black Mountain's In the future was being slavvered over everywhere as a potential-realizing must-have yet come the big-hitting year-end lists it was almost completely forgotten...

The latest J. Tillman record is another one. A couple of years back Josh opened a little London show featuring Denison Witmer and Califone. Hardly anyone noticed not least because his previous two albums had appeared via the now sadly-defunct but rr championed boutique label Keep Recordings. Now of course it's post-Fleet Foxes ('the Americana of..Van Dyke Parks', 'a glorious descendant of “Smile”, etc) and Vacilando Territory Blues is another '09 pacesetter. No, reallyrather is happy to dodge the tidal waves of hype and continue pottering about in the rockpools where early finds seem likely to include:

:: Gentleman Reg Vermue. If reallyrather was a label this guy's Darby & Joan (see rr Nov 04) would've been on it. Dapper, personal guitar band pop, shamefully it never escaped Canada. Happily, his belated follow-up Jet black has been picked up by Arts & Crafts (Feist, Stars, BSS, etc) and so guaranteed a wider hearing, if only by association. Out Feb 24; go, Reg...
[gentleman reg][jet black on arts&crafts]

:: Miranda Lee Richards. An even longer wait for willowy, LA-based folk-popster's follow up to slightly over-egged debut The herethereafter (2001!), expect Light of X to positively brim over with shimmering wistful restraint...
[miranda lee richards]

:: The Boy Least Likely To. 'I'm not a boy I'm a big fat balloon'. Indeed, indeed. Pedalling their own brand of wide-eyed stompy twee, Pete, Jof & co. put out album no.2 in March. The retail sites all expect it to be called Fight the power but this blog seems to recall Jof saying at their pre-Christmas bash it's The law of the playground. In the meantime, and fed up with the interminable delays, keyboard player 'Amanda Applewood' [!] has been having a go on her own; Song for Kent is apparently 'a love song for Kent' though presumably not the Maidstone/Gravesend-y bits...
[tbllt][amanda applewood]

:: And could it be water pistols at dawn for twee supremacy as Scots slackers Aberfeldy are also re-entering the fray. A vinyl 7-inch (natch) of new-ish song Come on Claire on 17 Seconds Records sets down an early marker but no word of an album - come on yersel', Mr Briggs!
[aberfeldy]

:: low-key UK folk-pop softie James William Hindle promises another album in '09 and if its anywhere near as good as, say, Prospect Park (ranked at 6 for the year hereabouts back in '03) you'll want it...
[james william hindle]

:: hardly a rockpool dweller these days but a new M. Ward record can't go unmarked. Hold time is due 17 Feb but, hey, the whole thing's available to hear here...

:: The little London band that could, My Sad Captains have finally strung together some of their wonky little alt-pop charmers for a debut release. Hopefully, they've used their studio time to slightly more imaginative effect than obvious tour support couplings...
[my sad captains]

:: The Magic Numbers, themselves busy preparing album no. 3. An acoustic fund-raiser night at the Water Rats sold out briskly and they're fairly obvious candidates for something like The End of the Road festival in September...

:: ...but even more desirable would be.. Wheat! There seems every chance that next record White ink, black ink could surface sometime this year; My warning song is typically tantalizing...
[wheat]

:: The odds against a new matt pond PA album this year are even greater but then they did offer up an all-new 9-track EP for free late last year half of which is stronger than most of the last one we had to pay for. mpPA were, of course, ...
[that mppa freep]

:: ...champions here in 2005 and formerly heroes of Polyvinyl Records. This label is now trumpeting their newest roster addition (and rr champion for 2007): 'With his first four albums, Emil has always aspired to perfection; he has always promised a masterpiece. 'Dear John' is that record'. Crikey, etc. So then, Loney, dear sounding dangerously like they'll be, er, raising the bar for 2009...
[loney,dear]