just gonna list out some of my favorite albums from this year. This will be the first rough installment (done out of boredom). STAY TUNED FOR A COMPLETELY OVER-WROUGHT AND METICULOUSLY PREPARED TOP 20!!
10. Fembots - The City
It continues to grow on me. A pretty dark brand of alt-country.
Something about how he sings "So long this life is" will make you shiver.
Favorite tracks: So Long, Up From the Ditches, My Life in the Funeral Service
9. Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday
Would it be bad to say that these songs could fit into the soundtrack for That 70's Show.
That's the only way I can describe it. It's really great rock and roll, guys.
Favorite tracks: Cattle and the Creeping Things, Your Little Hoodrat Friend
8. Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
stubborn optimism, cheerful pessimism, poppy confident arrangements...they live up to their names sake.
Fav tracks: Great Lengths, Sunlight in a Jar, If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now
7. Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Eggs of Production
He'll tell you that you are just what happens when two substances collide...but he'll wink at you when he says it.
Fav songs: Nervous Tic of Motion Of the Head to the Left, Savoy
6. Constantines - Tournament of Hearts
How many rock bands do you know that can hold one chord for a whole song and somehow wrestle a verse and chorus out of it? This is a clever album. I think in ten years The Constantines will be as much Canadiana as Blue Rodeo
5. The Decemberists - Picaresque
Ah, a delicious treat for you linguists, I'm sure. Meloy churns out 5 dollar words like my mom churns out tea-buns. To a backdrop of Early-modern charicatures and chamber pop arrangements.
Favorite tracks: We Both Go Down Together, The Engine Driver
4. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
The "warmest" album of this year, without a doubt. He could have released this in 1940 and nobody would be phased.
Fav tracks: One Life Away, Sweethearts on Parade, Paul's Song, Radio Campaign
3. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Conor is one of those artists that I hope to follow for another 10 years at least. The improvements that he makes with each album is nothing to ignore. Every line is poignant and clever. "We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web. We must rip out all the epilogues in the books that we have read. and in the face of every criminal strapped firmly to a chair; we must stare, we must stare, we must stare"
listen to: At the Bottom of Everything, Landlocked Blues, Road to joy
2. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
They got tangled up in the cogs of the 'hype machine' long before the record was even released. Adn whereas bands like Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah seem to have gotten lost in it, the Wolf Parade sound like they could stick around. Queen Mary is cold and empty and desperate. So...if that's your thing, pick it up.
Standouts:
You are a Runner, and I am my Fathers Son
Modern World
Same Ghost Every Night
I'll Believe in Anything
This Hearts on Fire
1. My Morning Jacket - Z
This came out of nowhere for me. I was expecting them to release a good album, but nothing like this. Z feels big and important; cocky and smart. From the very first song to the last.
Check out: Wordless Chorus, Off the Record, Into the Woods, Knot Comes Loose, Dondante