La Sera - Hour of the Dawn

At least once a year, an album comes out that begs for summer listening.  This year, it's this one.  This is La Sera's third album, and I think it's their best.  On this album, Katy Goodman and company have been able to marry their reverb pop with punk, and the result is fantastic.  Roll the windows down, crank up this album and sing as loud as you can.
Fun fact: I listened to this album while driving up the Maine coast, and it was absolutely perfect.

Rating: 5/5
Favorite track: "10 Headed Goat Wizard"
(That's probably the most metal name for a sunny pop song I've ever heard.)

St. Vincent - St. Vincent

I've been a fan of St. Vincent since Marry Me first came out.  With each album, she has tried something different, while still sounding like no one but herself.  She takes risks, but still maintains her sound.  I never know what I'm going to get with a new St. Vincent album, but I know it'll be different, and I know I will love it.

This album is no different.  It's heavier on synths than her past albums, and that bothered me a bit at first.  She's an amazing guitarist, so I scowled a bit at the thought of synths overshadowing her guitars.  But it didn't take me too long to get rid of that line of thinking.  The arrangements are so dense and interesting that they drew me in (and there still is plenty of guitar here, it just doesn't feel like the focal instrument).
And, of course, her voice is in the middle of it all.  She has a beautifully subtle way of singing.  It's a powerful instrument, but she knows exactly when to dial it back.  There's a great warmth in her voice.

At this state, I don't think there's anything she could do that I would hate.  I already love this album, and am excited to see what she does next.

Rating: 5/5
Favorite track: "Huey Newton"

Marissa Nadler - July

Is it snowing where you are?  I'm assuming your answer is "yes", because it's snowing everywhere right now.  For me, there's currently about 4 inches of snow on the ground and some freezing rain tonight.

There are some albums that lend themselves to listening to them when snow is falling, and this is one of them (in fact, pretty much any album in Nadler's discography fits that description).  Absolutely beautiful.  Terrific instrumentation, and her voice just seems to float over the music.  I have loved her for a long time, and this is probably her best album.  Grab it and listen to it before all the snow melts.

Favorite track: "Was it a Dream"



Also a huge fan of the opener, "Drive"

Top 20 Albums of 2013

I'm getting this out later than I would like.  Apologies.  Apologies all around.  I've been busy with writing on other sites, and this one has fallen by the wayside.  I'm going to try to pick that up a bit.  Starting now.

A shout out to those who didn't quite make the cut:
Yo La Tengo - Fade
Laura Marling - Once I Was an Eagle
Jenny O. - Automechanic
Gary Murray & LN - Minor Lives
Minor Birds - Hold Back All My Dark
Low - The Invisible Way
The Head and The Heart - Let's Be Still
Grouplove - Spreading Rumours
Washed Out - Paracosm
Mazzy Star - Seasons of Your Day
A$AP Rocky - Long. Live. A$AP.
Toad the Wet Sprocket - New Constellation
Appleseed Cast - Illumination Ritual
Night Beds - Country Sleep
Matt Pond - The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand
Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt

To the list!

20. Lorde - Pure Heroine

Favorite track: "400 Lux"

19. Zola Jesus - Versions

Favorite track: "Collapse"

18. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Favorite track: "Don't Lie"

17. Camera Obscura - Desire Lines

Favorite track: "This is Love (Feels Alright)"

16. Daniel Amos - Dig Here, Said the Angel

Favorite track: "We'll All Know Soon Enough"

15. David Bowie - The Next Day

Favorite track: "(You Will) Set the World on Fire"

14. Leif Vollebekk - North Americana

Favorite track: "At the End of the Line"

13. My Bloody Valentine - mbv

Favorite track: "She Found Now"

12. Hem - Departure and Farewell

Favorite track: "So Long"

11. Frankie Rose - Herein Wild

Favorite track: "The Depths"

10. Lissie - Back to Forever

Favorite track: "I Bet On You"

9. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse

Favorite track: "Dead Now"

8. Jake Bellows - New Ocean

Favorite track: "Two Weeks"

7. Sigur Ros - Kveikur

Favorite track: "Brennisteinn"

6. Action Bronson - Blue Chips 2

Favorite track: "Rolling Thunder"

5. Noah and the Whale - Heart of Nowhere

Favorite track: "Lifetime"

4. Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons to Die

Favorite track: "Murder Spree"

3. The Lonely Wild - The Sun as it Comes

Favorite track: "Buried in the Murder"

2. Josh Ritter - The Beast in its Tracks

Favorite track: "New Lover"

1. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

Favorite track: "Pink Rabbits"

Noah and the Whale - Heart of Nowhere

I didn't love this album immediately.  Honestly, it was a bit too cheerful.  A bit too upbeat.  Parts of it came across as a bit cheesy for me.  Apparently I have a problem with sincere happiness.
But the songs are catchy, so I kept coming back to it.  The more I listen to it, the more I really love it.  Great, well-crafted songs.  Just a really nice little pop album.  I love it.  The instrumentation is terrific.

Rating: 4.5/5
Favorite track: "Lifetime"

Jake Bellows - New Ocean

I have been a huge fan of Neva Dinova since they released their self-titled debut in 2002 (amazing that album came out over 10 years ago).  So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that the lead singer released a solo album.  I tried not to get my hopes up too high.
As it turns out, I could not have set my hopes high enough to be disappointed by this.  It's a terrific album, ranking up there with Neva Dinova's best work.
If you liked Neva Dinova's work, you'll like this album.  If you haven't heard Neva Dinova, listen to this album, then grab all of their albums.  You won't be disappointed.

Rating: 5/5
Favorite track: "Two Weeks"

The Lonely Wild - The Sun as it Comes

This entire album feels like a sonic explosion occurred in the middle of a Western.  Quite a few songs start sparse, only to grow into something massive by the time it's over.  There are times I can swear I'm listening to an updated take on a Morricone soundtrack.
This is the sound of the sky falling around two grizzled gunfighters.

This one didn't hit me immediately.  It took me a few listens to really fall in love.  But now I can't stop listening to it.  At the end of the year, I'd be shocked if this didn't end up in my top 5 albums of the year.

Favorite track: "Buried in the Murder"
Rating: 5/5

She & Him - Volume 3

Another beautiful slice of upbeat, shimmering, 60s pop goodness.  I like to throw this on, sit out on the patio and drink.

Favorite track: "I Could've Been Your Girl"
Rating: 4/5

Gary Murray & LN - Minor Lives

I've been a fan of Gary Murray's work for years now, dating back to LN's Novel album (2001).  At that time, if I was having a stressful day, I would turn the lights off, close my eyes, listen to that album, and probably end up falling asleep.  It was referred to as a "sleepytime album" for good reason.

I still love that album, although I think I love each LN album released since then just a little more.  This is the first album Murray has released since 2009's excellent Downstream Angels (also listed as Gary Murray & LN).  And it just kind of dropped out of nowhere on June 7.  Needless to say, I bought it as soon as I learned of its existence, and have been enjoying it ever since.

It covers the same basic territory as a lot of past LN albums.  Slow, dark, folksy songs, built around a simple melody, and eventually filled out with a vast array of atmospherics.  And, as always, Murray nails it.  It's a beautifully dark album, each listening revealing something new to love.

If he keeps releasing albums this good, I don't really mind the 4 year wait so much.

Favorite track: "Minor Lives"
Rating: 5/5

Stressful Day Playlist

Your old pal Dusty was asked to contribute a playlist over at Steelhanded.  Since I had just gotten through a particularly stressful day, I decided to make a "get through a stressful situation" playlist.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

If you get a chance, check it out here.  And check out Brandon's other posts on that site.  Some really great stuff.

Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons to Die

From the moment I heard about this album, I couldn't wait to hear it.  I love Ghostface (naturally), but I have also become a huge fan of Adrian Younge.  His scores for Black Dynamite and Something About April are terrific, and his production of the new Delfonics record was amazing.  His style is somewhere between laid-back hip-hop and Ennio Morricone.  He really is very talented.

Thankfully, this album delivered on my high expectations.  With the exception of the underwhelming "The Center of Attraction", the entire album is fantastic.  It's a concept album of murder and revenge, which is played out perfectly with Younge's dark and lush beats and Ghostface's delivery.  This is a perfect album for a dark night.

If you can, I would definitely spring for the deluxe version with the instrumental tracks.  They sound terrific.

Favorite track: "Murder Spree"
Rating: 5/5

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Through their first two albums, I wasn't really a fan of Vampire Weekend.  A couple decent tracks, but that was about it.  I listened to them a couple of times, then promptly forgot about them.  Just not enough there to keep my interest.
This album is different.  The songs are catchy without bordering on smirking-annoyance.  There's a depth to these songs that I hadn't heard from them before.  A spacious darkness, almost.
Don't get me wrong.  This isn't a morose album by any means.  The happy, Paul Simon-esque pop is still there.  But there's a different feel to it.  I have quickly fallen in love with this album.

Favorite track: "Don't Lie"
Rating: 4.5/5

I couldn't find a video for "Don't Lie", so here are videos for a couple other tracks I love:

"Step"



"Ya Hey"

The National - Trouble Will Find Me

My love of The National has been well documented.  High Violet was my favorite album of 2010.  So the fact that I positively love this album shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
There are moments that bring to mind Boxer and Alligator.  But, for the most part, this album is its own monster.  A beautifully-crafted, thundering monster.

Favorite Track: "Slipped"
Rating: 5/5

Kat Jones - La Rosa, La Calavera

Okay, so it's not technically a "new" album (it was originally released in 2004), but it was recently remastered, so I thought I'd talk about it for a second.
I love this album.  It's a perfectly dark little pop record.  At first listen, it's a bit surprising that half of these songs are not murder ballads.
The instrumentation is terrific here (which is not surprising, seeing as how her backing back is comprised of Frank Lenz, Richard Swift & Josh Dooley).  Lots of organ, and perfect piano flourishes.
It's no surprise that it's the songwriting and voice of Kat that really makes this album great.

And now, with it remastered, I'm hearing it in an entirely new light.  It really does sound quite a bit different, in a good way.  I was a big fan of this record before, but I'm an even bigger fan now.

Favorite track: "One More Second Chance"
Rating: 5/5

You can grab this (as well as some of Kat's other albums) at her Bandcamp page.

Kate Nash - Girl Talk

I'm working on trying to get this up and running.  Going to try to ramp up to a couple posts per week.  They'll be short (in some cases probably nothing more than the album cover and a rating), but I'll try to keep this up with stuff I'm currently listening to.
For today...

On this album, the poppy, jumpy, piano-driven songs from her past couple albums are gone.  This album finds Kate delving into fuzzy, scuzzy punk rock.  Driving basslines and filthy guitars and primal screams.  I'm not a fan of every song, but, as a whole, I really like this album.  It's a different direction for her, and it took me a couple listens to get into it, but, once it clicked, I found myself listening to it quite a bit.
A good summer driving album.

Favorite track: "Conventional Girl"
Rating: 4/5

Josh Ritter - The Beast in its Tracks

This past Tuesday (March 5), both Josh Ritter & Kate Nash released their new albums.
I'll get to Nash very soon.
Right now, it's time for Ritter.

Josh Ritter is consistently one of my favorite songwriters.  He started his career at an extremely high level, and only seems to be getting better, which is very impressive.
And he needed to be at the top of his game for this album.  It's not easy to write a break-up album, especially when that break-up came in the form of a divorce.  It's too easy for the songs to be angry and bitter.  It's too easy to write about how you've been done wrong.  There have been great break-up albums, but there have been a lot of terrible ones, too.

This is one of the good ones.
This is Ritter at the top of his powers.  Even his angry lyrics are poetically bitter.  Behind the sadness, there is an overwhelming feeling of optimism.  There's anger.  There's regret.  And, when he points the finger, it's rare if he's not also placing some of the blame on himself.

Here are a handful of my favorite lines from this album:

"I hope you got a lover now, you got somebody who
Can give you what you need, like I couldn't seem to do
But if you're sad and you are lonesome, and you got nobody true
I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me happy, too."
[From "New Lover"]

"She went away and took all her love
And I could not believe how little there was"
[From "Hopeful"]

"These days I'm feeling better about the man that I am
There's things I can't change and there's others I can."
[From "Hopeful"]


"There is pain in whatever
We stumble upon
If I'd never have met you
You couldn't have gone
But then I'd never have met you
And we couldn't have been
I guess it all adds up
To joy in the end"
[From "Joy to You Baby"]

If I felt like it, I could really just type up the entire album.

This is a devastatingly beautiful album.  In a career full of amazing albums, this may be his best.

Favorite track: "Hopeful"
Rating: 5/5

Last of all, check out this video for "New Lover".  It's terrific.

My Bloody Valentine - mbv

After 22 long years away, My Blood Valentine finally resurfaced a few weeks ago with their first album since their groundbreaking album Loveless was released in 1991.
And it's glorious.  Like they haven't missed a beat.
The guitars are layered and dense and massive.  And beautiful.  My first time listening to this album, I was driving through a snowstorm.  And it was perfect.

Welcome back, Kevin Shields & Co.  We've missed you.

Top 20 Albums of 2012

With January almost in the books, I figured it was time I finally unveiled my top 20 albums of 2012.  Except my top 20 will be my top 21 this year.  I recently started listening to Lost in the Trees' album a bit more over the last couple weeks, and realized just how much I loved it.  Since it didn't make it to my honorable mentions, I decided to just throw it in the last spot here.

Without further adieu, my top 21 albums of 2012.

21. Lost in the Trees - A Church That Fits Our Needs
Favorite Track: "Red"

20. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Favorite track: "Anything We Want"

19. The Killers - Battle Born
Favorite track: "Runaways"

18. Passion Pit - Gossamer
Favorite track: "It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy"

17. The xx - Coexist
Favorite track: "Angels"

16. St. Vincent & David Byrne - Love this Giant
Favorite track: "Optimist"

15. Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats 
Favorite track: "All the Rowboats"

14. M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion
Favorite track: "Crawl After You"

13. Mumford & Sons - Babel
Favorite track: "Below My Feet"

12. The Raveonettes - Observator
Favorite track: "Till the End"

11. Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts
Favorite track: "Miriam"

10. Waxahatchee - American Weekend
Favorite track: "Bathtub"

9. Rosie Thomas - With Love
Favorite track: "Back to Being Friends"

8. Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania
Favorite track: "Violet Rays"

7. The Tallest Man on Earth - There's No Leaving Now
Favorite track: "There's No Leaving Now"

6. Ingrid Michaelson - Human Again
Favorite track: "Ghost"

5. Jenny Owen Youngs - An Unwavering Band of Light
Favorite track: "Pirates"

4. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
Favorite track: "I'm Wrong"

3. Andrew Bird - Break it Yourself
Favorite track: "Lusitania"

2. Metric - Synthetica
Favorite track: "Speed the Collapse"

1. The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
Favorite track: "Handwritten"