Now Downloading: New Releases 12.15.09

Here it is, nearly the end of the year and Animal Collective has released a superb EP, reminding us that they started 2009 off right as well. Other than that, there's the blues/hip-hop collaboration Blakroc. Beyond that... it's a holiday dumping ground, for the most part.

Playlist: New Releases 12.08.09 to 12.15.09

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Animal Collectice - Fall Be Kind
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Leave it to Animal Collective to start and end the year with two of the best releases of 2009. Fall Be Kind almost seems like a reminder to all that Merriweather Post Pavilion released back in January was pretty damn good, and here's a brilliant EP released during the "garbage time" of the holiday season. "Gaze" is fine enough, but "What Would I Want? Sky" starts off like an AC jam but turns on a dime to become what sounds like a long lost hit for the Beta Band. There's no throwaways here, making it, perhaps, even harder for them to follow up MPP, given the bar they've set. (I wouldn't bet against them.)

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More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
Blakroc - Blakroc
Timbaland - Shock Value II
Snoop Dogg - Malice 'N Wonderland
Shiny Toy Guns - Girls Le Disko
Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom
Robin Thicke - Sex Therapy
Glee Cast - Glee: The Music, Volume 2
REISSUES
Cloud Cult - They Live on the Sun / Aurora Borealis
Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen, We are Floating in Space (Bonus Tracks)
Paul Weller - Paul Weller

tags: music, album review, animal collective, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody