Observation 16: 2009 has been rocking the new music releases [Part 2].

The two albums that I have most been looking forward to this year come out, officially, on March 24th.

However, I did some chants, incanted some black magic, and miraculously, I’ve managed to take a listen to both ahead of time. And I’m happy to report that my impatience has paid off greatly.

I won’t go into great detail, save to say that these are two albums lucky enough to already have built-in audiences. In Deacon’s case, it’s riding the recent wave of attention that the Baltimore music scene, in particular the Wham City art collective, has been garnering, in large part due to his own contributions to it. In Obits’ case, it’s simply the legend of Rick Froberg, aka Rick Fork, aka one of the driving forces behind seminal groups like Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes.

But while these built-in audiences will recognize a great deal of the trademark stuff that made each of these artists worthy of their fanboy-level obsession, they would be mistaken to think that either is guilty of base rehashing. In both cases, familiar sounds are evolved but also given ample room to be expanded upon and screwed around with. And in both cases, it’s pretty damn rewarding.

Another common thread is that, in my opinion, a large part of what makes both of these albums great is that they’re the work of people doing what they know how to do best instead of following an arbitrary and predictably short-lived trend. Granted, the wave of high-energy Charm City-based art-noise that’s been feeding the hype machine lately may actually be a trend now. But Deacon was one of its forefathers, not its followers. And in the case of Obits? Well, Froberg said it best:

“We’re not into innovation as a band. I think innovation is overrated and an overestimated quality. Anything that’s going to be original is going to happen without your control. Things that make your band sound like you, are things you wouldn’t be able to change anyway. We just go ahead and play the stuff we like, and we don’t worry about originality per se, because that takes care of itself.”

Listen to Dan Deacon’s Bromst, in its entirety, legally and freely, here.

Listen to the Sub Pop freebie (and second track off of Obits’ I Blame You), “Pine On” here.

Read “2009 has been rocking the new music releases [Part 1]” here.