St. Vincent - Actor

St. Vincent's first album (Marry Me) was a terrific debut. Strange and intense and amazingly listenable. I didn't think there was any way she would be able to top it.
After my first couple listens to Actor, I assumed I was right. It was good, but it wasn't as good as Marry Me. There was only one standout track, and the rest all seemed to blend together. It still sounded good, but it didn't compare to Marry Me.
I listened to it again. And again. And again.
After 5-6 listens, it clicked. Every song became spectacular. My previous standout track was still my favorite track, but the rest of the album was not far behind. And now, every time I listen to this album, it gets even better than the last time. Marry Me was good. Actor is great. There's not a down song on the album.
This album is currently on my short list for Album of the Year. It's still early, I know, but this album has a real shot to be my favorite by the end of the year.
If you liked her first album, you definitely need to check this out. If you haven't listened to her first album, check this out. It's extremely creative (and sort of quirky) chick pop. I usually compare her to Regina Spektor, but this new album is better than anything Regina Spektor has done.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Song: "Marrow"

What I've Been Listening To

Here are some albums that I've been listening to lately.

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Front to back (frog track aside), this is probably my favorite album of hers. Before this, Fox Confessor was probably my favorite, but there were still some tracks I wasn't crazy about. I think this entire album is stellar. It really hit me on my fifth listen. Just fantastic stuff. I love it. The full instrumentation of some of the songs ("This Tornado Loves You", "I'm an Animal") sounds amazing. The lesser instrumentation of other songs ("Magpie to the Morning") sounds amazing. And her stark cover of Harry Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" is breathtakingly gorgeous. Everything she did on this album works. As I mentioned, I could've done without the 30 minutes of frog noises at the end of the album, but, since it's at the end, it doesn't really bother me that much.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Song: "Don't Forget Me"

U2 - No Line on the Horizon

I like this album much better than I thought I would. There are some tracks that I really don't care for at all ("Get on Your Boots" and "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" being the main culprits), but it's pretty good for the most part. The title track works extremely well as an opener. I really like "Moment of Surrender", but I cringe a little every time that line with the ATM comes on. Still, the music is so good (I love the keyboard and string section lurking in the background) that I can't help but like it.
There are a lot of parts on this album that sound less like a U2 album and more like a new album from a U2 cover band who has written their own music. It's not bad...it just sounds like a rehash of their older albums. It's better than How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which was my only requirement for the album.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Song: "Moment of Surrender"

Handsome Furs - Face Control

I didn't listen to their first album, and I'm not really that into Wolf Parade. This album, however, completely blew me away. Great electro-rock music, complete with a rough voice and catchy melodies. I listened to this album after hearing how good it was...and it completely exceeded those expectations. Jump in your car, roll down the windows, and crank this album. You'll love it.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Song: "Radio Kaliningrad"

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

I have a personal vendetta against Animal Collective and their legion of loyal fans. I have never understood the love and praise heaped on their heads. Apparently there's a fine line between "genius" and "unlistenable", and I have always counted myself among the latter camp. That is, until this album. They have taken their sound, polished it up a bit, and made a great pop album. They took their love of Brian Wilson and have turned out an album that is extremely creative and listenable. Personally, I didn't think they had it in them.
It's not all fantastic. I could do without the repetition of "Guys Eyes" and the lyrics of "Taste". A couple of the songs go on for a bit too long (I suppose that's to be expected when listening to an Animal Collective album).
Most of the songs are good, though, and there are a couple of great songs. "My Girls", "Bluish" and "Lion in a Coma" are the ones that stand out above all the others.
This album definitely isn't for everyone, but, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best album of their career. And it's not even really that close.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Song: "My Girls"

Hopefully I'll follow up this post with some other random albums I've been listening to. Hopefully.

Artist of the Month: Bjorn Norestig

Bjorn Norestig hails from Sweden, as so many pop artists are doing these days. Hello Inside is his first full length album, and was originally released in 2006. You can visit his website here.

Sharon's Rating: 3/5

Sharon's Thoughts: I enjoy the way his melodies are bright and hopeful, and manage to have a full and deep sound as well. I always love the use of trumpets! His vocals are pretty good, too, and work especially well for harmonizing.

Favorites: "We Can Make it Last"

Dusty's Rating: 4/5

Dusty's Thoughts: Wonderful moments of pure pope awesomeness, mixed with elements of folk and jazz. His voice works extremely well with the music, and the harmonies are amazing. The horns are magnificent; they really fill out the songs well, and perfectly complement the gorgeous sounds of the Hammond B-3 that is present throughout. I'm not too fond of "Character Song", but the rest of the album is terrific. A great album to listen to in the car on a nice day with the windows rolled down.

Favorites: "We Can Make it Last", "Everything is Good", "Feeling of Emptyness"

We're going to be altering this a little bit going forward. From now on, instead of Artist of the Month, we'll be doing an album of the month. This will give us a chance to talk about artists that have more than one album.

Next month we'll be looking at This is Ivy League's self-titled album. Feel free to join in.

Wavves - Wavvves

I kept hearing great things about this album. "Lo-fi surf rock," they said. I like lo-fi surf rock. Not many people do that kind of music anymore. I was excited.
My excitement was completely unfounded. They got the lo-fi part right, but there's not much that resembles surf rock on here. There may be a couple songs on this album that fit that bill, but the majority of it is filled with noise that borders on torture.
Let's get this out of the way: I like noise. I enjoy Sonic Youth's SYR albums, which are, for the most part, orchestrated noise. I also enjoy Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Now I Got Worry, which is about as lo-fi and noisy as music can be and still be listenable. I could go on, but I won't.
So it's not because of some old-person sensibility that leads me to say this: the majority of this album is nothing but noise. It's not good noise. It's terrible noise. This noise is at a frequency that can be literally painful to listen to...and that's at low volume.

There are a couple of tracks on here that were pretty good, but I don't remember what they are, and, frankly, they weren't even worth skipping through the album trying to find them again. Not a good sign.

Rating: .5/5

Visit their website here

Random Grammy Thoughts

I'm sitting here studying for some tests this week, but I thought I'd watch the Grammy's as well, and write down some random thoughts as they come to me. Here we go:

- If you wrote a song with lyrics as terrible as the opening song from U2, would you project them up on a big screen for all the world to read? Lyrics like, "I don't want to talk about wars between nations," followed by "Boots" repeated a number of times. The music isn't bad, and I probably wouldn't even notice the lyrics if they hadn't been posted.

- Ah Whitney...still as crazy as ever.

- Boyz II Men put out an album this past year?

- That "Beatle Fighters" joke fell about as flat as is humanly possible. Thanks Rock.

- Was that General Store thing supposed to be a joke? You have to either be a bit more obvious or a lot funnier, Mr. Timberlake.

- With one hand I want to punch Chris Martin, but what would I do with the other hand? Oh...hello Kanye. Where did you come from...and what are you talking about?

- Joy! A Coldplay medley, with Chris Martin prancing to another stage. Now he's spinning. And he's raising his hand in the air. Does he think this is the iTunes commercial again? Did he slip in a line from Springsteen's "Working on a Dream", or am I crazy? I'm 95% positive his bandmates hate him.

- Carrie Underwood: single-handedly trying to bring back the faux-puffy shirt. The strange thing? It actually looks pretty good on her. Somewhere Matthew is salivating.

- I love that Sheryl Crowe walks out to "All I Wanna Do". For some reason that is humorous to me.

- The chick from Sugarland is CRAZY. McCartney might want to look into a restraining order.

- You don't have to jump through hoops for Duffy, Al Green.

- What is Kid Rock doing? Somewhere along the line, he grew tired of his rap-rock schtick and embraced an era of terrible (TERRIBLE) socially-conscious/political songwriting. I never thought I'd say this, but you're better than this. And right on cue...his "Werewolves of London"/"Sweet Home Alabama" mash-up. I'm seriously considering recanting my previous statement.

- Awwww...a song about high school romance from Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. I can't even begin to tell you how little I care about this. I just found out that they're best friends. Who knew?

- Robert Plant looks like sin.

- Did the CSI chick just compare the Jonas Brothers to Cain and Abel? Someone had to say it.

- Stevie Wonder singing through autotune? What a waste. The next time you decide to jack up someone's voice, pick someone who can't sing.

- Hey...Bandana Jonas. That's Mr. Wonder to you. Show a little respect.

- Could someone tell me why the Jonas Brothers are popular? Now they have decided to ruin "Superstition". It's going to be hard to listen to this song the same way again. Thanks for ruining music, Grammy's. And let's not forget the Jonas Brothers...single-handedly setting music back 50 years.

- Blink-182 announcing their reunion. Does this mean we don't have to listen to Angels & Airwaves anymore?

- I can't help that I like Katy Perry, and I won't apologize. Her voice is not necessarily in top form tonight, though.

- Kanye West looks hideous, and he doesn't sound any better. Estelle is not even close to saving this thing.

- There is not a single good artist in the Best New Artist category. Who wins? Why...Adele, of course. The woman who has one decent song. Oh well...at least it wasn't the Jonas Brothers.

- Wait. Morgan Freeman and Kenny Chesney are friends? What do you suppose they do on a Friday night?

- The interchange between Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock and Diddy was terribly awkward in an extremely funny way.

- I was pulling for M.I.A. to win Record of the Year, if only for the possibility of seeing her go into labor on the stage.

- T-Bone Burnett is wonderfully crazy. You can't help but love that guy.

- I knew it only a matter of time before Queen Latifah used the term "Rap Pack".

- Is it healthy for a woman who is nine months pregnant to be bouncing around the stage? Regardless, she sounds better than everyone else currently on the stage (Kanye, Jay-Z, T.I. & Lil' Wayne). What a terrible excuse for macho posturing. I'm actually starting to feel a little nauseous. If you want to primp and preen, fellas, take it to the corners.

- Kate Beckinsale? What a wonderful surprise. And introducing Paul McCartney. She's actually doing a terrific job.

- McCartney's voice is on the downswing, but he still sounds pretty good. Performance of the night so far.

- Best Male Pop Vocal: I'll take McCartney, only because the other ones are garbage. And...it's John Mayer. Wow. Way to win an award with yet another piece of terrible acoustic pop garbage. Thanks John.

- Jay Mohr & LL Cool J? When exactly is Jay Mohr going to finally see his career die? Shouldn't that have happened years ago?

- Is it just me, or did the chick from Sugarland age 30 years since the beginning of this show?

- Adele sounds terrible live. Did they doctor her voice for her album, or is she just really nervous? Since she steadily got better throughout her performance, I guess I'll blame it on a case of the jitters.

- Radiohead coming up. This should be fantastic.

- The marching band was a nice touch. Some of Thom's movements seemed a bit forced. Other than that, it was a good performance.

- What is Samuel L. Jackson wearing? This show just keeps getting more confusing.

- You know, T.I. isn't a bad rapper, but there's something off with this Justin Timberlake collaboration. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I'm really not enjoying this at all.

- T.I. just welcomed me on his road to redemption. Thanks T.I.

- I always hate when the president of the academy shows up, but this may be one of the worst speeches of his I've heard. He just sounds unnecessarily egotistical. Just stop with the whole "Yes we can" stuff. It's a little played out at this point.

- In order to honor the musical contribution of the Four Tops, they bring out Jamie Foxx. Sure. That makes sense.

- I may have to take that back. This is actually a pretty good performance. The last living member of the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx. They sound pretty good together.

- I should have figured that The Grobanator would've shown up at some point.

- Neil Diamond still has that swagger...so why wasn't he included in the debacle that was "Swagga Like Us"?

- They couldn't find someone better than Gary Sinise to introduce Lil' Wayne? And why is Robin Thicke up there? While Lil' Wayne is rapping about the hardships of New Orleans, Thicke is raising his hand in the air, singing "New Orleans" over and over again and grinning like an idiot. Does anyone actually like this guy?

- Alan Toussaint just showed up...and he still has it. And now's he's being joined by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. And Terrance Blanchard. That was actually pretty enjoyable.

- Will.I.Am sighting! Let's hope he doesn't embarrass himself like he did last year. He did fairly well...but I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with T-Pain.

- Best Rap Album...Lupe Fiasco? No...of course not. It's Lil' Wayne. Of course it is. Why, it's only one of the most hyped rap albums in recent memory. Of course it wouldn't go to Lupe Fiasco, who crafted an extremely creative and eclectic album. That would've made sense.

- It's about time Zooey Deschanel showed up. And she's introducing Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. That's pretty cool...but I wish she didn't use the "She & Him" hook.

- This Plant/Krauss performance is really good...and pretty dark. I'm really enjoying it. It's nice to see T-Bone Burnett on stage with them.

- And here I thought I could get through the night without seeing Green Day. Those guys are idiots. Does the one guy still call himself Tre Cool?

- Album of the Year...here we go. I am, of course, rooting for Radiohead, but I don't really think they'll win it. I'll predict Coldplay.

- Annnnnnd....Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. I did not see that coming. I thought that album was decent, but I was surprised it was even up for Album of the Year, let alone winning it. Oh well. I've seen worse winners. Congrats.

- How dare they try to cut off the Album of the Year acceptance speech. That is shameful.

Well, this was kind of fun. It was my first time doing something like this. Hope you enjoyed it.

Top 20 Albums of 2008

I realize I'm a little late on this (being almost a month into 2009), but I'd say it's about time I unveiled my top 20 albums for 2008. There were quite a few albums that I was forced to leave off of this list, so I'll do another post featuring some of those fantastic albums that just missed the cut.
It was a better year for music than I remember, and a lot of these albums were really close together for me. Most of the albums in the 11-20 range have been shuffled around a lot since I started this list, and that's part of the reason it has taken me so long to get this up. There was even quite a bit of shuffling within the top 10 (#3 & #4 have swapped places numerous times). Even now I'm not entirely comfortable with the placing, but it has to be done.
Without further adieu, I give you the top 20 albums of 2008.



#20: The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

Great dark(ish), slinky pop music backed with the London Symphony Orchestra. The entire album seems like it was taken from a James Bond soundtrack...but in a good way. Parts of this album are upbeat and catchy, but even those moments seem to have an almost sinister undercurrent. This band is comprised of Alex Turner (from Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (from The Rascals). I'm not really a fan of either of those bands (sorry), so I was extremely surprised to find that I really liked this album.

Favorite Song: "My Mistakes Were Made for You"



#19: The Submarines - Honeysuckle Weeks

I loved The Submarines first album (Declare a New State!). It showed off their talents for writing a collection of perfect pop songs. While I don't think their new album quite measures up to their old one, Honeysuckle Weeks is still a great collection of pop music, and it's clear (through songs like "1940" and "Fern Beard") that they are trying out some new creative ideas. This is a good pop album, and further shows that they will be a major force to be reckoned with in the not-too-distant future.

Favorite Song: "Xavia"




#18: British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

I'll admit: I'm a bit late to the British Sea Power train. I listened to their previous albums, but they never really impressed me that much. That all changed on this album. When the riff for "Lights Out for Darker Skies" kicked in, I was hooked. The entire album is filled with big rock songs. Some ("No Lucifier", "Waving Flags") sound like lost Arcade Fire songs, while others ("Open the Door") recall a bit of the 60s Brit-Rock era mixed with an unknown 80s alt-rock band. There are a couple of weak points on the album (somewhere in the middle), but it opens strong and ends strong. All in all, a very good rock album.

Favorite Song: "Lights Out for Darker Skies"




#17: Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things

I've been a fan of the Wallflowers for years, so I was really looking forward to this album. When I heard it was being produced by Rick Rubin, I had a pretty good idea of what it would sound like. Needless to say, I was not surprised by the sound of this album. It is exactly what I thought it would be. And that's a good thing. It's great to hear him stepping away from his band for an album and airing out some of these stripped down songs. I'm not really too fond of "All Day and All Night", but the rest of the songs are great. I'm particularly fond of "I Told You I Couldn't Stop"; a slow-stomping, restrained blues song. It doesn't sound at all like the rest of the album, which makes it that much more striking. "Valley of the Low Sun" and "War is Kind" are great protest songs...poetic and well thought-out. Sadly, there are too few of those anymore. This album showcases Dylan's quieter side, and also shows off his stellar songwriting. Let's hope there's more where this came from.

Favorite Song: "I Told You I Couldn't Stop"



#16: Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

It'd be easy to say that Gnarls Barkley has fallen a little bit. Their first album (St. Elsewhere) made was tied as my favorite album in 2006. And here we sit in 2008, all the way down at #16.
The truth is that this is a great album. Their sound hasn't really evolved since that album, but there wasn't really a reason to. The beats are still chaotic little masterpieces of music history, and Cee-Lo is still raving like a mad preacher (nowhere is this more evident than on "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"). It would be a little higher on this list if it weren't for "Whatever"; a wretched little song about a neglected teenager, sung in a terribly whiny voice (you know, to capture the spirit of the character). The rest of the album is really strong, featuring some of the best songs of their short career. This album is shows why Danger Mouse is one of the best producers currently working (more on this in a couple of albums).

Favorite Song: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"



#15: Okkervil River - The Stand Ins

I was sucked in by Okkervil River's previous album, The Stage Names, so I was pretty excited about this album, seeing as how closely they were connected (it was originally conceived as a double-album). It took me a couple of listens to get into it, but, once I did, I couldn't stop listening to it. No offense to The Stage Names, but this album blows it out of the water. There are a number of great songs on this album, but "On Tour With Zykos" stands out among all the others. If you have yet to hear a single Okkervil River song, make sure you listen to this one. It's really hard for me to listen to this song without skipping back to the beginning as soon as it gets over.

Favorite Song: "On Tour With Zykos"



#14: The Black Keys - Attack & Release

I've been a fan of the Black Keys for years, and this is, by far, their best album. They stick to their blues roots, but they have also expanded their musical pallet considerably on this album. Flutes, organs and other various instrumentation show up quite often, giving them a sound that is quite different from their other albums. Danger Mouse produced this album, and I'm sure he had more than a little bit to do with this new direction. Let's hope that their next album takes this sound and expands it even further.

Favorite Song: "So He Won't Break"



#13: Amanda Jenssen - Killing My Darlings

I randomly came across this album on a blog somewhere, and fell in love with it within about 20 seconds. The album opens in full Dusty Springfield mode; bright strings, clean guitars, a nice beat...and that voice. That's really what carries this album. She rolls through a number of different styles, but her voice is what holds the album together. As I've said before in this space, all the genre-hopping can get a little distracting sometimes, but there are so many amazing moments on the album that it doesn't really matter that a couple of the styles don't seem to mesh. Being from Sweden, I don't think she'll ever make it big here in America, and that's a shame.

Favorite Song: "For the Sun"



#12: Bjorn Norestig - Hello Inside

Bjorn Norestig is a pop singer. He has a gruff(ish) voice that is usually considered to be more along the lines of a folk singer, but he is a pop singer. Plain and simple. And we can all be glad that he is. There are moments of pure pop brilliance on this album; heavy on the Hammond B-3, blaring horns that show up at key moments, and even some female hamonies thrown in for good measure. Make no mistake about it: this guy knows what he's doing.
As with Amanda Jenssen's album, there are some down moments on this album (most notably "Character Song"), and some moments that are just merely really good...but there are 3-4 amazingly perfect pop songs on this album. This being his first full-length album, I can't wait to see what he does from here. I doubt he'll ever break it big in America, but you need to track this album down. You'll thank me for it later.

Favorite Song: "We Can Make it Last"



#11: The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

The Ravonettes have been making great, 50s-inspired rock for a number of years. The formula is simple; write a song that sounds like it should've been written 50 years ago, throw some reverb on it, and let it fly. It's been a good formula. But they decided to switch it up a little bit on this album.
The key elements are still there...only there's a lot more distortion this time. The songs come off as pieces of beautifully orchestrated chaos. Tons of noise filling your ears, while the voices of Sun Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo blend together in the foreground, sounding like ghostly entities rather than people.
I realize this all sounds a bit ridiculous, but, listening to this album now, it's the only thing that makes any sense.
I have listened to (and enjoyed) every album they have released, so I can say this with some confidence: this is the best album in their catalog...and it only gets better with each listen.

Favorite Song: "Aly, Walk With Me"



#10: The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

The Raconteurs first album, Broken Boy Soldiers, was pretty good, but it wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped it would be. On paper, it looked great: the main creative force of an experimental blues-revival group (Jack White), a pop singer/songwriter (Brendan Benson), and a rhythm section comprised of a blues-rock band (Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler from The Greenhornes). It came out as a bit of a mess...a band searching for their sound.
On Consolers of the Lonely, it's pretty safe to say that they've found their sound. It's still pretty easy to tell who wrote each song, but all the songs seem a bit clearer. The styles mesh together a little better. The album actually feels like an album, as opposed to a bunch of songs thrown together just for the sake of doing so. This is a great rock album, and they've shown that they'll only get better.

Favorite Song: "Carolina Drama"



#9: She & Him - Volume One

This is She & Him's first album: "She" being Zooey Deschanel, and "Him" being M. Ward. "She" being a movie star, and "Him" being an underground folk singer. It's a collaboration that no one saw coming, but it turned out to be a perfect one.
Deschanel has a very unique voice, so she needed someone who knew how to best utilize it. Ward was that person. The music ranges from jazz to country to girl-group to pop. The entire album has an old feel to it; like it was recorded decades ago and was just recently found. I can't wait for Volume Two.

Favorite Song: "Sentimental Heart"



#8: Shearwater - Rook

I have a hard time describing this album without bringing up Talk Talk. They are obviously a big influence on Shearwater, and they're not afraid to show it. Grand sweeping pop songs with hints of classical and jazz. They seem to subscribe to the quietLOUDquiet school of music. The album is restrained for most of the time, so the explosions feel a little bigger somehow.
This is a beautiful album. The music goes perfectly with Jonathan Meiburg's dramatic voice. This album seems large and epic in scope, yet still clocks in at less than 40 minutes. This album was overlooked by quite a few people. Don't make that mistake.

Favorite Song: "Home Life"



#7: Neva Dinova - You May Already Be Dreaming

Talk about underappreciated. Over the course of their 3 albums, Neva Dinova have quietly been perfecting their own brand of rock music. They're catchy and creative, yet you rarely hear their name mentioned. This album tends a bit more to the folk side of their influences, but it's still unmistakably Neva Dinova. Even though it is folk-leaning, it's still far from being called a folk album; there are elements of pop, rock, and shoegaze sprinkled throughout. This album took me a little bit to get into, but, once I did, I couldn't stop listening to it. Extremely creative stuff.

Favorite Song: "Tryptophan"



#6: Margot & The Nuclear So & So's - Not Animal

I immediately loved Margot's first album, The Dust of Retreat, so it was a bit of a shock to me when the same didn't happen with this one. The same elements were there; simple songs backed with tons of instrumentation. So what wasn't working?
None of the songs really seemed to stand out. Unlike The Dust of Retreat, when 3 or 4 songs stood out among the others, all of these seemed content to just hang out on the same plane, none of them distinguishing themselves from the other.
But, the more I listened to it, the more the songs really started to jump out at me. Listening to it now, I realize that most of the songs still exist on that same plane...but the plane is high, and all of the songs are great. In fact, I think this album may be better than The Dust of Retreat, and that's really saying something.

Favorite Song: "Pages Written on a Wall"



#5: William Fitzsimmons - The Sparrow & The Crow

William Fitzsimmon's last album, Goodnight, was an extremely personal album; it was a concept album written about his parents' divorce, as seen from the perspective of different family members.
With The Sparrow & The Crow, Mr. Fitzsimmons dialed it up a notch, and wrote yet another extremely personal album; this time it is about his own divorce. The albums kicks off with "After Afterall", a reprise of the last song off of Goodnight. From the opening notes, you can tell you're in for something different. The electronics that were so prevalant on Goodnight are gone here (barring a song or two), leaving only acoustic instrumentation and William's voice. It's a stripped down album, filled with emotion, beauty, heartbreak, and even a little redemption. The album closes on a hopeful note with "Goodmorning", an extremely positive song, showing that the entire world is not made up of gloom and doom.
This is an extremely personal album. It's the sound of an artist baring his soul. It can be a little uncomfortable at times, but it's necessary...and beautiful.

Favorite Song: "Find Me to Forgive"



#4: Beck - Modern Guilt

Danger Mouse has been a busy man. This is his third appearance in this list.
When I heard that Beck and Danger Mouse would be working together on this album, my expectations went through the roof. Beck is one of the most consistently creative artists currently working, and Danger Mouse is one of the best producers currently working. How could my hopes not be sky high?
Much to no one's surprise, I immediately loved this album, and it only gets better with each listen. This album goes back to the era of 60s & 70s psych-rock and throws a little modernity on it. And it works perfectly. It sounds simultaneously modern and timeless...no easy feat.

Favorite Song: "Youthless"



#3: Glasvegas - Glasvegas

Glasvegas takes their love of 50s pop, throws a layer of reverb over it, and calls it a day. The strange thing? It works so well. They take their instrumentation and creative a massive wall of sound that would make a drug-addled Phil Spector proud. They sing songs about social workers, cheating on their girlfriends, getting stabbed, and all matter of other things. At least, I think that's what they're singing about; the lead singer's thick Scottish accent can be a bit hard to understand at times.
Regardless, this is a fantastic debut album. There is a lot to love on this album, and a lot to look forward to in their future.

Favorite Song: "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry"



#2: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

I'll not argue as to whether this was a 2007 or 2008 release. I can do that later if you so desire. Just let it be known that I'll call this a 2008 release in this space.
This album came out of nowhere. I checked it out on a whim, after hearing it described as "TV On the Radio meets Iron & Wine". That's a bit off, but I can see where they were going with it. It's mainly an acoustic album (Iron & Wine), and he has a unique voice that can get pretty high (TV On the Radio). But that description doesn't quite catch what this album is. His sound is nothing like I've ever heard. It's stripped down and full at the same time. His double-tracked vocals bring out a depth in the music that shouldn't be there. He has crafted a sound which is wholly unique and absolutely amazing. There is more creativity in this album than most artists can summon in a lifetime. If you haven't heard this album yet, I urge you to do so as soon as possible.
For the record, he also puts on a killer live show.

Favorite Song: "The Wolves (Act I & II)"



#1: TV On the Radio - Dear Science,

Like the Beck album, this is yet another album that I had big expectations for, and then had those expectations blown away. Their previous album, Return to Cookie Mountain, was my favorite album of theirs' so far, and I expected this album to take them to another level entirely. It did that, and so much more. They took their abrasive, noisy art-rock style and fit it into an easier to digest package. With this album, they have shown that their creativity knows no bounds. They tackle Prince-esque horn-laden funk, quirky electro hip-hop, piano-and-string filled ballads, and, of course, songs that could only work in the hands of these masters. This is, by far, their best album. And it feels like they're just getting started.

Favorite Song: "DLZ"


Do you take issue with the order of these? Do you have your own top 20 list? By all means, leave comments. There's nothing like a little healthy musical dialogue to keep it fun.

Band of the Month: Glasvegas

So, we've decided that the whole "Band of the Week" thing wasn't working too well, and have now updated it to "Band of the Month". We weren't holding up our end of the bargain for weekly updates, anyway.
Now, on to the newest Band of the Month...


Band: Glasvegas
Discography: 2008 - Glasvegas
Background Ramblings: Formed in Glasgow, Scotland...their name is a combination of Glasgow and Las Vegas.

Sharon's Rating: 3.5/5

Sharon's Thoughts: I like them. They have a very soothing sound and are fun to listen to. I like his accent, and the way it sounds like he's putting everything he has into a lot of the songs; like he's throwing his entire self into his voice. I like that kind of unabashed emotion in a vocalist.

Favorite Songs: "Flowers and Football Tops", "Polmont on My Mind", "Stabbed"

Dusty's Rating: 4/5

Dusty's Thoughts: Massive reverb-laden songs that fill the entire room with sound. I love the guitars. I'm also a fan of his voice...even if I can only understand a fraction of what he's saying. Some of the songs have a definite 50's doo-wop sound to them...only modernized a bit.

Favorite Songs: "Flowers and Football Tops", "Geraldine", "It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes Me Cry"

Next band: Bjorn Norestig
Feel free to join us and write your thoughts in the comments.