The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur
This album hit me hard for some reason. It's just gorgeous. It's mellow jazz orchestral feeling is life affirming ... but only about half the time. Honestly the best songs are the ones where they've got guest singers singing their souls out ala Nina Simone.
The Cinematic Orchestra - Familiar Ground
Against Me! - New Wave
Against Me! get so much shit for signing to a major label, and that's wrong, but they've only gotten more talented, more intelligent, and more influential, all of which are good things, so why the shit? Are they less punk? I suppose that depends on your definition of punk. Are they less cool? well that really shouldn't matter as far as music goes. Whatever, Against Me! is on top of their game, writing some of the most intelligent songs of their career, and good for them.
Against Me! - Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart (featuring Tegan Quin)
O'Death - Head Home
Listening to O'Death (not O Death or Of Death) is like going to a hoe-down hosted by Real Gone era Tom Waits covering Roscoe Holcomb songs in a house on fire in a twister. the lyrics are country as hell, the vocals make the Appalachian mountains quake, the guitars and banjos and washboards and everything else this ensemble seems to be playing all sound like they were found in a dumpster, but the fact that some talented Mer-Fers are playing said junk instruments make the whole thing sound straight up gorgeous.
O'Death - Down to Rest
O'Death -Travelin' Man
Dethklok - The Dethalbum
Who would have thought that nerdy Adult Swim animators could actually be fairly competent musicians? Well either way, it turns out that Brendon Small is on top of his shit. I haven't really been the most loyal of metal fans these past couple of years, so when I listen to metal albums, they really have to strike me, and this album destroys. I loved the show, but this album is good enough to stand on it's own. It's by far one of the best metal albums to be released in the last 10 years. Every aspect of every song is so well thought out, well produced and well performed. I honestly only have one complaint about the album, and that's that "Nathan's" vocals on Go Into The Water are mixed a little high. Other than that, I'd say it's the most solid metal album I've heard in a LONG time.
Dethklok - Awaken
Dethklok - Murdertrain A Comin
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
This album was the album that first put the idea of "instant nostalgia" in my mind. When I played the first track the first time and went to do things around the room I found my self absently mindedly attempting to sing along but not being able to find the words ... then it dawned on me what was happening, and that this was the first time I'd heard the album. It's groovy like a disco beat, soothing like a lounge hit, and hip as the hippest kids on the block. Every song sounds like a song you and your imaginary friend wrote as a child.
Of Montreal - Suffer For Fashion
Le Loup - The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly
So, as it turns out, it's the end of the world, and all this shit is going to go down in the bayou. That's feeling you get when you listen to Le Loup's debut. Poetic doesn't even begin to describe how triumphant this album is. At times it's like Sufjan Stevens, but it's so unique in so many ways that the infrequent similarities pretty much stop there. Get out your banjos and your looper pedals, it's gonna be one heck of a night.
Le Loup - breathing rapture
Le Loup - i had a dream i died.
Le Loup - we are gods! we are wolves!
Oliver Future - Pax Futura
I think the thing that initially drew me in was the fact that lead singer sounds a whole of a lot like David Strackany, but what held me was the incredibly peculiar lyrics, funky baselines, and charing high pitched guitars, coupled with one heck of a talented drummer. First and foremost, however, are the lyrics. "Was I crazy, or had the rest of the world gone sane?" "Will you grab your loved ones or just change the channel?" "Look into your heart. What heart are you talkin' 'bout?" The list, as you can probably imagine, goes on and on from there.
Oliver Future - What Heart?
Oliver Future - The Big Sleep
Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
I know for a fact that the only reason I love this album is because Dan Deacon is the best show in town. I've seen him 3 times now, and each of those shows hold 3 of the positions in my top 4 shows ever. I don't really need to rehash what it's like to go to his shows, just see the back catalog. The album is like a rabbit on coke, expect probably a whole lot more fun and a whole heck of a lot less dangerous ... and... well ... honestly, nothing like a rabbit on coke. Electro-spazy dance music straight from your c-64's child (being controlled by Johnny-5 nonetheless) to your ear.
Dan Deacon - Wham City!
Dan Deacon - Snake Mistakes
Pigeon Detectives - Wait For Me
So, I'm really big into this English Dance Pop Punk thing that seems to be going on right now. Pigeon Detectives make me think of what the Winterkids' (see Part 4 of the list) cousins would sound like if they were in a band. Full of Brit angst, these kiddos came to town to power it with their energy. The lyrics are what really really makes this band (granted the rest of the band is pretty damn good), but maybe that's just because I can relate to people who have relationships that don't work out ... ,;-)
Pigeon Detectives - I Found Out
Pigeon Detectives - Don't Know How To Say Goodbye
The Hives - The Black and White Album
If you make an album dancy as hell with punk ideals and a hail-to-the-king air of importance then I can't help but love it, especially if it's by the M-er Fi-ng Hives. This album is, of course, Hives-ish in nature, which means the lyrics are ridiculous and the guitars are charging and the bass is groovy and the drums make you want to run around your friend's house and break things.
The Hives - Try It Again
The Hives - Return The Favour
The Pierces - Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge
Musical influences coming from all over, The Pierces are two sweethearts who've come to creep you the heck out. From Sarah McLachlan to Italian folk music to gypsy music to bluegrass to hip hop to R&B to cabaret to clichéd singer/songwriter. these two fine ladies have songs that usually address relationships of certain types of people in our society ... and, in a way, our society in general.
The Pierces - Sticks & Stones
The Pierces - Three Wishes
The Pierces - Kill, Kill, Kill
Shearwater - Palo Santo
With it's latin-feel and epic crescendos (at times), this triumphant album glimmers the second you press play. Beatles influenced at times, Queen at others.
Shearwater - La Dame Er La Licorne
Shearwater - Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five
Shearwater - Special Rider Blues (Skip James Cover)
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