  Nelly Furtado is ready to let loose her new album. |
Summertime ... and as usual, the listening is anything but easy. At least, that's how we see it.
You might be gearing up for vacation, but it's business as usual in the music biz, with dozens of big artists dropping discs between now and Labour Day. Sure, for music lovers it's a picnic buffet. But for us, it means another summer trapped in a hammock listening to free CDs, with only a cooler of ice-cold malt beverages to keep us going. Oh, don't worry -- we'll struggle through. And here are some of the CDs we'll be listening to (or not -- all dates are subject to change):
AFI - Decemberunderground: Davey Havok and his California goth-punks are back to freak out parents and wow teens with this followup to 2003's Sing the Sorrow. (June 6)
Cheap Trick - Rockford: The power-pop vets work with Jack Douglas, Linda Perry, Steve Albini and others. But they're still gonna start every show with Hello There. (June 6)
Cracker - Greenland: Post-punk eclectic David Lowery parks Camper Van Beethoven again to put out his other band's seventh studio set. (June 6)
Primal Scream - Riot City Blues: Open wide for the first album in four years from these shape-shifting Scottish rockers. (June 6)
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River in Reverse: The songwriter's songwriter joins forces with the New Orleans songwriter and pianist. (June 6)
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped: Back to a quartet after the departure of utility player Jim O'Rourke, the New York noisemakers reportedly lower the volume for this 20th set. (June 13)
The Futureheads - News & Tributes: Can the angular English punks beat the sophomore slump with this sequel to their self-titled 2004 debut? (June 13)
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Sinner: The Runaway-turned-riot-grrrl delivers her first new studio disc in 12 years. So she still loves rock 'n' roll. Though we don't think that dime is gonna do much in the jukebox, baby. (June 13)
Busta Rhymes - The Big Bang: Dr. Dre, Stevie Wonder, Missy Elliott, Nas and Q-Tip give the rapper a hand with album No. 7. (June 13)
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope: Judging by the hype, this sophomore disc from the Russian-born, New York-raised piano chanteuse could put her over the top. (June 13)
Nelly Furtado - Loose: With a title like Loose -- not to mention songs like Promiscuous and Maneater -- it's clear Nelly is sexing it up for her third album. (June 20)
Frank Black - Fastman Raiderman: The Pixies man delivers another rootsy set a la Honeycomb, with the help of guests like Steve Cropper, Levon Helm, Al Kooper and Spooner Oldham. (June 20)
Keane - Under the Iron Sea: For this CD, the British piano-rock trio claim they made a "journey into the darkest places we could find." Sounds like summer, no? (June 20)
Obie Trice - Second Round's on Me: Eminem comes out of his semi-retirement to help D12 homeboy Obie on his sophomore solo disc. (June 20)
Billy Talent - Billy Talent II: Canada's favourite screamo boys kick it up a notch with Devil in a Midnight Mass, the first single from their second CD. (June 27)
Dashboard Confessional - Dusk & Summer: Emo troubadour Chris Carrabba recorded this arena-rockin' album in Jamaica with star producer Daniel Lanois. What will the kids say? (June 27)
India.Arie - Testimony Vol. 1: Life & Relationship: The soulful singer-songwriter's third studio set features the single I Am Not My Hair. Well, OK then. (June 27)
Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways: Songs by Hank, McKuen and Springsteen -- along with a couple of originals -- highlight this posthumous set produced by Rick Rubin. (July 4)
Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army: What is summer without some new hymns to God from everyone's favourite orch-pop cult? (July 4)
Thom Yorke - The Eraser: From what we've read, the first CD from Radiohead's frontman sounds like a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Big surprise. (July 11)
Greg Graffin - Cold as the Clay: Most of The Weakerthans are the backing band on this second solo CD from the Bad Religion frontman. How cool is that? (July 11)
Peaches - Impeach my Bush: The electro-rock sleaze mistress is back with the album of the year -- or at least the title of the year. (July 11)
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche: If you loved last year's musical travelogue Illinois, take a return trip with this set of 21 outtakes. (July 11)
Soul Asylum - The Silver Lining: The Minneapolis post-grunge outfit's first disc in eight years includes the last work of bassist Karl Mueller, who died from cancer a year ago. (July 11)
Bruce Cockburn - Life Short Call Now: A 23-piece symphony joins the folk icon for his 29th album. (July 18)
Los Lonely Boys - Sacred: Guess the trio of Tejano blues-rock brothers finally figured out how far heaven is. (July 18)
Kelis - Kelis Was Here: Her Milkshake brought the boys to the yard in 2003. But without the help of hitmakers The Neptunes, can she lure them back again? (July 25)
New York Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This: Glam survivors David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain get dolled up for their first new disc in 32 years. About damn time, we say. (July 25)
Tom Petty - Highway Companion: "It's a quieter album," the cranky rocker says of his umpteenth set, on which he also plays drums. So, maybe not that quiet. (July 25)
Pharrell Williams - In My Mind: King Neptune's solo debut was due in November. Then December. Then February. Now July. Not a good sign. (July 25)
DJ Shadow - The Outsider: Rappers like David Banner give voice to the normally instrumental DJ's latest cuts. (August 1)
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain: How hip are these experimental New York rockers? David Bowie is a guest on this second CD. (August 1)
The Sadies - Vol. 1: This double-live set from Toronto's spaghetti-surf guitar heroes features guests like Neko Case, Garth Hudson and Jon Langford. (August 8)
Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics: We are told Xtina's latest pays tribute to influences such as Billie Holiday and Otis Redding. Funny, we can't recall either one of them wearing assless pants and singing a song called Still Dirrty. (August 15)
Mars Volta - TBA: Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante guests on the prog-rockers' latest. Maybe he'll do the same on their upcoming tour. (August 15)
Pete Yorn - Nightcrawler: The California popster gets by with a little help from Dave Grohl, Dixie Chicks and Leon Russell. (August 15)
OutKast - Idlewild: With only one song that features both Big Boi and Andre 3000, this soundtrack to the duo's movie also sounds like a swan song. (August 22)
Motorhead - Kiss of Death: Lemmy and his warts crank everything louder than everything else one more time. (August. 29)
The Roots - Game Theory: These smart, artsy Philadelphia hip-hoppers haven't let us down yet. No reason to think they're going to start now. (August 29)
Jessica Simpson - TBA: Is there any chance that TBA stands for To Be Aborted? Nah, didn't think so. Oh, well. (August 29)
