BREAKING NEWS! We now have album art and a name to Andrew’s brand new EP, “Party All Goddamn Night”. It ships March 30th 2011 in Japan. A release date in America is still unconfirmed. A full length album is expected later this year.
– Thoughts –
If the expected rumors of an American release are true than it should bring many unique qualities to this release. Yes, its true we’ve enjoyed many additional releases of AWK music since The Wolf way back in 2003, but each release seems to have had some type of condition (annoyingly I might add) attached to it especially to us Americans. Sadly, this is probably due to Andrews various legal troubles he’s dealt with throughout his career. To recap here is some of the history behind Andrew W.K.s discography.
Andrews 3rd studio album Close Calls With Brick Walls was released in 2006, but only in Asia. The Japan Covers were released exclusively to Asia in 2008, but c’mon they were J-Pop cover songs. A Wild Pear was a split 7″ for Canada in 2009, also covers. 2009 saw another Japan-only album, this time from the Gundam franchise, more covers. 55 Cadillac was released in America but is not considered in the Party Rock style we usually associate AWK with, also the album was probably created more as a legal victory than anything else. We Got A Groove was a split 7″ on a Volcom label, it was perhaps the first exclusively released song (Party Rock-style) in America since The Wolf! However, it was only one track on vinyl and for a long time was only available by joining Volcom’s vinyl club like $30.00 if you wanted one song?!?! A collaborated Single, Kiba was released in 2010, to Japan only. Vagabond was technically released in the UK. The dual release of Close Calls With Brick Walls/Mother of Mankind was A) a re-release and B) a B-sides/Anthology type of album. I Was Born To Love You was just released as E-Single, a Japan-only cover song.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed every single one of these releases thoroughly but sometimes knowing about the added baggage associated with each release is sometimes cumbersome as a listener and as a fan. I sometimes wish I was naive to it all so I could enjoy it without the added weight. That said, to hope for a new studio album released in the artists native country (without cover songs, re-releases, splits or heavy collaborations) isn’t too wild of an idea is it?
Soooo to me this release is EXCITING and seems different in many ways. It is as if it has no bloated legal baggage and no strings attached it. It will be the first American EP released in 11 years (the two prior being AWKGOJ and Party Til You Puke, both 2000). My prediction is that it will usher in a new era of Andrew W.K. and a benchmark of what can be expected for the near future. GET READY TO PARTY 2011!!!
