‘Tis the season for the summer blockbuster, and with that the usual assault on our senses by scores of manipulative trailers and teasers. That’s cool with us, I like watching clips from Meet Dave as much as the next guy, but when exactly did albums start getting their own coming attractions? Did it begin with Beck’s Modern Guilt promo or is this something that’s flown under our radar until now (and if that’s the case, we can agree it’s a rather ineffective form of marketing, yes?)?

You know what they say, once an occurrence, twice a coincidence, three times a trend*, so here’s behold the latest trend: the album teaser. Let the salesmanship begin…

Beck - Modern Guilt Teaser - Black and white and twitchingly paranoid, just like the new album is. Neat.

Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty Teaser- Coincidentally, Cold War Kids will start streaming the album’s first single “Something Is Not Right With Me” on MySpace tomorrow and Wednesday. Heads up.

The New Year - S/T Album Teaser

As you can see, there are varying levels of production, quality, thought, and effort that go into these. I think I’ll wait until they have actual booming “voice of God” voiceovers, fast cuts (though the CWK vid comes damn close) and stuff like that though before I pay much attention. The larger question looms though: have any of these actually piqued your interest in these artists’ forthcoming albums?

*if this isn’t actually a saying, I’ve already used it twice so there’s really no stopping me now

**above photo found HERE