Today is a great day for the music world. Why you ask? Today is the day that the latest TV On The Radio album, Dear Science (amazon) (itunes), is finally available for purchase or download. If you’re into physical copies make sure you stop somewhere on your way home from work today to pick it up. Yes, it is that good. It’s good enough that for the next month you won’t take the album out of your car. It’s good enough that you just might forget that you own any other albums at all. No matter how many more albums TV On The Radio release this is one that will always be remembered as a masterpiece.
mp3 : TV On The Radio - Halfway Home
mp3 : TV On The Radio - Dancing Choose
This was one of the hardest albums to pick just two songs to post here on TWF. With all integrity I can honestly say that I love each and every track that appears on this album. I chose these two because I felt they show a good contrast, both sides of the TV On The Radio coin, if you will. Luckily for me {and for you} they’ve put their entire album up on their myspace page. Head over there and you can listen to the entire disc from start to finish. Simply brilliant.
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It’s hard not to love the sublimely catchy tunes that pop and sparkle all over the latest release from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. And honestly, who can resist loving a band who chose an entire sentence for their moniker? {Quite a cheeky sentence at that}. Regardless whether you like their name, or lack thereof, you’ll most definitely want to give their latest disc, 2008’s Pershing (amazon), a try from start to end.
mp3 : Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Modern Mystery
mp3 : Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Some Constellation
So far this year has been one massive success as far as indie pop has been concerned {recession or lack thereof not withstanding}. Great albums have been dropped so far by Frightened Rabbit, Mates of State, This Is Ivy League, Vampire Weekend, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and the list could go on and on. This album is by far the better of the two that SSLYBY {their name is too long even for copy and paste} have released thus far and it makes me excited to hear what they’ll cook up next.
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Albert Hammond Jr separated himself just a little bit more from The Strokes on his latest studio effort. Released on July 7th of this year, Como Te Llama (amazon) (itunes), takes some of his tried and true roots and builds on them, further cementing his musical credibility. Overall the album is a solid addition to his career {I mean c’mon, the guy plays guitar on Is This It, has played with The Strokes for ages, and already had one good album in his solo shift}. One thing the album does very well is reveal the talent base of his other band. While Julian Casablancas might be the signature front man it appears, or at least sounds, like much of the music comes straight from the brain of this man.
mp3 : Albert Hammond Jr - GfC
The bottom line is that if you like anything The Strokes have done or you liked Albert’s first solo album then Como Te Llama is right up your alley. The bright side is that even if you didn’t like anything that has come before this album there is enough sustenance here that it could easily qualify as a good starting point for your Albert Hammond Jr love affair.
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Once in awhile along comes an album that I unceremoniously foist upon anyone within earshot of my current home. Once there was an album called The Colour and the Shape, then there was The Blue Album, followed by Is This It, followed by Greetings from Michigan, followed by Wednesdays, followed by, well, you get the picture. Yesterday I heard for the first time the latest album by Frightened Rabbit. The album is called The Midnight Organ Fight (amazon) (itunes) and you should immediately make an excuse to acquire yourself a copy as soon as is humanly possible.
From start to end this album is solid. The lyrics and melodies are intricate and intoxicating and I find myself at a loss for words to accurately describe the magic contained within these fourteen tracks. In fact I find it hard to choose just two songs for you to sample. Every track could stand alone, but it is the sum of the parts, when heard together, that take this album and elevate it to something special. Something special indeed.
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - The Twist
In my opinion these two tracks are brilliant, but even they fail to accurately capture how great of an album this really is. Other standout tracks include Old Old Fashioned, Head Rolls Off, My Backwards Walk, Poke, Floating In The Forth, and I Feel Better. Mark my words, this is not an album that you can pick and choose which songs to purchase. Every single moment of this album is amazing.
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One of my favorite bands has released their latest album and I must say it is quite brilliant. In a smooth step The Walkmen have chosen to release their album, You & Me, exclusively on music retailer Amie Street’s web store. The full album download is only five dollars and for each album purchased five dollars is donated to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. You can download individual tracks, buy the full album, or stream the entire album simply by following this link.
I love the fact that these boys from New York have released their album for a mere five dollars and I’m also pleased they chose to do so with a nontraditional retailer {aka not iTunes}. The fact that each album sale helps fight cancer is the icing on the cake. Kudos to The Walkmen.
mp3 : The Walkmen - In the New Year
mp3 : The Walkmen - Four Provinces
The album is full of amazing songs. I’m not yet sure if this album is at the same level as Bows+Arrows, but I must say up front that it is a classic Walkmen creation. Almost every track contains sprawling guitar soundscapes and Dylanesque style vocals. There are ballads as well as rockers here on You & Me and from the start to the end you’ll love every second. And saying that is saying a lot. The album clocks in at over fifty minutes in length and contains fourteen tracks. For a five dollar download this is one album whose value simply cannot be beat. I would look for You & Me to be all over top ten lists in a few months {I’m almost sure it will be on mine}.
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For starters let me apologize for how much TWF has been sucking as of late. Three weeks vacation could be considered a dry spell {a small death if you will}, but to return from the great state of Colorado with three lackluster posts in the span of a week is weak even by the most lackadaisical of standards. I shall persevere and endeavor to return The World Forgot to the glory that it was before my heart was reminded, yet again, of how much I love the mountains. On with the show.
Sigur Ros is one of the most brilliant groups currently making music. Their sonic soundscapes can be cited as influences in every band from Smashing Pumpkins to Radiohead {and they’ve done it all while singing in Icelandic - or in one case Hopelandic}. Listening to a Sigur Ros album is akin to watching a master painter lovingly craft his masterwork stroke by exacting stroke. With their latest effort, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (amazon) (itunes), Sigur Ros has taken their already trademark sound and expanded and elevated it to heights even they have not reached before. Every single minute of this album is filled with emotion and when taken as an entire album you cannot help but come to realize this is truly a work of art.
mp3 : Sigur Ros - Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
mp3 : Sigur Ros - Fljótavík
It’s a rare breed today that crafts an entire album so carefully to fit and flow together into one big swath of sonic superiority. Somehow the boys from Iceland have found a way to capture this magic time and time again {and yet they continue to improve and innovate with each and every album they release}. It is my opinion that this album is the best, to date, that Sigur Ros has made. It stays true to their roots; lengthy soundscapes, soaring harmonies, a stratospheric falsetto, and yet on this album they’ve found a way to take their unique sound and make it accessible to virtually everyone. Sigur Ros has taken their dominance of what was once a niche market and thrust it upon the main stage of modern music.
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It’s hard to choose only two songs to showcase Nathan Moomaw’s latest album, 26 (itunes), due to the eclectic folk nature of the album. Each song was written and recorded during one month of his twenty sixth year on the planet and each track has its own unique flavor and style. Put together they form a solid new folk album with some nods to diverse acts like Elliot Smith, Joseph Arthur, and The Flaming Lips. It’s fun to listen to the entire album in one sitting and reflect on how Nathan’s life changed over twelve months. To hear musical influences come and go and to find the sublte consistencies that exist throughout this solid album.
mp3 : Nathan Moomaw - April
mp3 : Nathan Moomaw - January
Both of these songs are great and I feel they lean away from references of other musicians and more towards the core of Nathan’s natural talent. He creates an easy style of folk music {an almost fairytale quality folk music} that is as much at home this year as it will be twenty years from now.
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Awhile back I posted a few tracks I’d heard from the dynamic Californian duo who calls themselves The Dodos. Finally I’ve come around to getting their entire album and I must say that it is brilliant. From start to end there exists a certain coherency and consistency that is not oft found in a full length album in today’s modern single song download driven industry. Granted some songs are more amazing than others, but I challenge you to find a single track on Visiter (amazon) (itunes) that isn’t absolutely worth having in your music collection.
mp3 : The Dodos - Walking
mp3 : The Dodos - God?
The above two tracks serve as the opening and closing tracks of the album and I feel they do a good job of showcasing the breadth of talent these two boys from California have. To be honest I haven’t been this thrilled about a guitar player percussionist duo since Meg and Jack first made that pairing seem as simple as breathing. Clocking in at just under one full hour this album contains some of the creative songs I’ve heard this year; some tracks will leave you contemplating life while others will simply leave you smiling, and bouncing your head while your fingers reach inexplicably for the repeat button.
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For Emma Forever Ago (amazon) (itunes), the first full length effort from Bon Iver, grabs hold of your mind with a subtle intimacy that is both comforting and quietly desperate. From the opening seconds of the first track Flume there exists a haunting quality to this album that remains mysteriously intangible after repeated listens. This album deserves as much praise for what is apparent as for what is consciously left out. While some acts bring a cornucopia of production and layers to their music Bon Iver instead relies on a minimalist nature which lets the beauty of the art shine through.
mp3 : Bon Iver - Flume
mp3 : Bon Iver - Skinny Love
This album will not be for everyone. It will be too slow and too teasing for some, but for the rest of us it will be the closest we ever come to hearing songs from a post physical world. Songs that reach out from someplace barely imagined yet entirely recognizable. Songs from our past that speak kindly of our future. Songs that you can listen to time and time again.
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Ten years is a long time in any regard. Ten years is even longer when you’re waiting for a band to finally live up their full potential. But looking back ten years isn’t all that long to wait for an album as good as Nada Surf’s latest, Lucky (amazon) (itunes). After string of efforts that at best produced two great songs, and in the case of their last album only one brilliant song, it’s refreshing to finally hear these three guys live up to their obvious talent song after song. Unfortunately it was their startling lack of skill at bottling this magic for an entire album that kept me away from their latest disc for so long.
mp3 : Nada Surf - Whose Authority
mp3 : Nada Surf - The Film Did Not Go ‘Round
From start to finish the album if full of songs that relay both the band’s maturity as well as musical style. It’s also good to hear that the boys seem to have finally grown comfortable with their eclectic all inclusive style of modern pop. At times they stray slightly psychedelic into the realm of The Flaming Lips, other songs seem to bend toward the northwest pop sensibilities akin to The Long Winters, and on other tracks there’s hints of a country twang background similar to Uncle Tupelo and an earlier Wilco. What I like is this diversity and the effortless way Nada Surf spins from song to song without ever feeling as if they’re forcing the issue. At last we can all rest assured that Nada Surf have created one album that from start to finish lives up to their enormous potential.
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At least seven tracks on the new Weezer album, which most are calling The Red Album (amazon) (itunes), are masterfully done. And by masterfully done I mean they feature Rivers on lead vocals. There’s really only one gripe that I find with their new disc and that is the few songs that don’t have Rivers’ trademark vocals. I mean honestly, if I wanted to listen to you other cats sing I would buy the albums by your other bands {which I don’t own yet and don’t intend to}.
All that aside, my opinion is that this could be the best Weezer album since Pinkerton. I’m not going so far as to say they’ve eclipsed either Pinkerton or The Blue Album, but most of these tracks go a long way toward capturing those glorious moments once again. From start to finish I love the entire album {although I might be slightly biased} and I’m excited to hear a new Weezer album that both references their past success while still moving forward as an ever maturing band.
mp3 : Weezer - Pork and Beans
mp3 : Weezer - The Greatest Man That Ever Lived
I’m including Pork and Beans here, even though it’s been out for awhile, due to the story surrounding the song. Apparently the execs at Geffen told Rivers that he needed to write more commercially viable music so he and his bandmates could move more product. In response Rivers sat down and wrote Pork and Beans as their first single {hence the chorus “I’m a do the things I wanna do, I ain’t got a thing to prove to you…” and the repeated phrase the entire band sings in the song’s bridge, “I don’t care.”} Also worth noting is the music video for Pork and Beans. Simply classic. The other track here is my favorite song on the album and has the band putting together ten distinct styles of music all revolving around one central musical theme.
As a note I’d like to point out Circuit City has the album available for only $5.99 for those of you who have one of those stores close by.
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Gone are the days when Neil Diamond was simply another joke preforming a charade of a show out in Vegas. His fall from grace left him seeming locked into sequins and shows packed with an ever gentrifying audience {or the younger set crowding in like so many children catching a glimpse of the bearded lady}. Fortunately, as the story goes, along came Rick Rubin. Rubin put his trademark stripped down on Neil Diamond’s previous effort, 12 Songs, encouraging the aging trobadour to pick up a guitar and actually write and preform his own music again. I loved that album and I love Neil’s latest effort, Home Before Dark (amazon) (iTunes), even more.
Where 12 Songs stripped Neil down to his most basic instincts Home Before Dark gives him room to play. The sounds found here are bigger and speak more of the cannon of Neil’s career. It reminds me a lot of the later work of Johnny Cash, also produced by Rick Rubin, in that it at times is intensely autobiographical while at the same time there seems to be an overarching sense of age infused into every lyric. This album is a bit less restrained than 12 Songs, and although some of the songs found here are simple, there are times when the full flavor of Neil Diamond, from folk hero to Vegas burnout, shines through and shines through gloriously.
mp3 : Neil Diamond - One More Bite of The Apple
mp3 : Neil Diamond - The Power of Two
It feels like the perfect album to listen to around the campfire, on a rainy road, or in the basement with some friends, drinking some cold ones and talking about remember when. From start to finish it’s another solid effort. {And I must add, of all the aging rockers, Neil Diamond is the most senatorial in appearance. He’s simply aged with grace, despite the shenanigans.}
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Phantom Planet has come a long way since being known largely as the band Jason Schwartzman left so he could focusing on acting and/or the band with that one song for that one show about The O.C. Regardless of first impressions or first exposures, these four gentlemen have come a long way since those days.
Their original release was rather ho-hum southern California version of indie pop. Filled with acoustic guitars and wistful melodies Is Missing (iTunes) was a decent effort, but it wasn’t until their breakthrough sophomore effort, The Guest (iTunes) {which featured the smash hit California}, that they achieved the privilege of having a nationwide fanbase. Unfortunately for many of those fans Phantom Planet’s third album, their first to simply be called Phantom Planet (iTunes), was quite the drastic departure from their trademark breezy surfer style. Although it was critically heralded, and I might add I love it to this day, it went a long way toward alienating many of their fans and served to reinforce the image that they were just those guys with that one song on that one show about The O.C.
Phantom Planet released their fourth album, Raise The Dead (iTunes), this past Tuesday and I believe it is their most accomplished album to date. Proving once and for all that there really is a middle ground between the two extremes of their sound {as demonstrated on their previous two efforts} Raise The Dead is at times a rocker, and at times a slow acoustic romp around beach fires, sure to be enjoyed whether you’re chilling in the Midwest or enjoying an endless summer. From the opening title track to the excellent closing track Raise The Dead reads like a talent rap sheet for what these four West Coast buddies are ultimately capable. In brief, this is what indie Cali-pop is all about.
mp3 : Phantom Planet - Raise The Dead
mp3 : Phantom Planet - Do The Panic
For those of you interested in hearing more I’ll be putting another track of their’s up in this month’s BOTM post in a couple of weeks. It’ll be worth hearing more, trust me, the entire album is solid.
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After loving, some might say adoring, his break through smash hit Animal Years, my mind entertained massive amounts of skepticism when I heard that Josh Ritter was releasing a follow up to that critically and popularly loved album. Apparently that was coupled with the fact that I got his newest album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (iTunes), at about the same time I got the newest albums by long time favorites Sigur Ros, Radiohead, and Shout Out Louds. Somewhere in that muck the latest Josh Ritter disc simply failed to make an impression.
Let me tell you about the wrong place to try and experience The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter for the first time. Imagine you have just driven to Florida in a rental car that now reeks of dudeness and cheeseburgers and in which you’ve spent almost a full twenty four hours. Granted you spent the night lounging in a hotel room, watching Discovery Channel miscreants blow things up {for science!}, and drowning your pathetic existence in a quarter gallon of ice cream mixed with a half bottle of Kahlua, but it’s still the same car that was known as your tomb on wheels. Do not try to experience Josh in this setting. Anything that goes on the stereo that isn’t at once familiar and sing along friendly is going to get a bad rap.
Instead listen to this album in a safe place where you’re comfortable and able to hear all the intricate melodies and rapid fire lyrics which fill The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter from beginning to end. Whether he’s idolizing his mythical love interest or talking about falling in love in a missile silo you’ll love every second of this indie rock folk treasure.
mp3 : Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam
mp3 : Josh Ritter - Wildfires
The Temptation of Adam is the aforementioned track that details falling in love in a missile silo. It’s a beautiful narrative and it rests comfortably as track four on the album. Wildfires hails from a bonus disc for The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter and it comes off sounding a bit like a b side {which it is} and a bit like a lost gem that only needs a little polish to make it on side one.
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Although these boys hail from beautiful Halifax Nova Scotia I would easily place their debut full length disc alongside the stalwart acts of the western American pop rock music; Death Cab for Cutie, the Long Winters, and Band of Horses. From the opening note of track one, Allyson Got Robbed, to the swirling delerious end of the album’s closing track, Breathe Deep Tornado, there is not a moment on Turn Into Vapour that will only leave you wanting more. Although the term shoegaze is bandied about a bit much I do believe these boys take the best parts of that genre and turn them into a weapon of mass musical bliss. Take a listen to these two tracks here and you’ll be a convert immediately.
mp3 : Sleepless Nights - Got Caught
mp3 : Sleepless Nights - Amounts To Nothing
The album, available at CD Baby, is a sparkling debut and I would definitely recommend putting it into your collection in some form. All eight tracks are gems and they range from the driving pulse of Got Caught, to a melancholic rocker Kids on Fire, to the eight minute sprawling landscape of Breathe Deep Tornado. Trust me good reader you will not be disappointed. I know I wasn’t. And if you’d rather catch them on tour, and you are somewhere in East Central Canada, then feel free to stop by these fine venues.
Jan 26 in Peterborough at The Spill
Jan 27 in Toronto at Sneaky Dee’s (Wavelength)
Jan 28 in Toronto at Lee’s Palace
Jan 29 in Hamilton at The Casbah
Jan 31 in Windsor at Avalon
Feb 01 in Bayfield at Black Dog
Feb 07 in Moncton at The Paramount
Feb 09 in Halifax at The Attic
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