5dots (in brief)

    1. Rachel Grimes (38)
    2. Mates of State (24)
    3. Hauschka (23)
    4. Four Tet (16)
    5. The Magnetic Fields (16)
    6. Kid Cudi (15)
    7. Wrnlrd (13)
    8. A.C. Newman (12)
    9. shh… this is a library (12)
    10. Beach House (10)

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    2. comments

  2. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    I would be lying if I said I loved Beach House. I might be in the minority, but her voice doesn’t really do it for me, though I have to acknowledge that it has a certain character that resonates. What really got me about these songs, though, is a kind of wooziness - that synth organ sound in the beginning of “Norway” gets detuned as soon as the verses start. Normally this kind of effect irks me (this is a weird personal prejudice but I kind of don’t like pitch bend?), but it seems to really work here.

    And I’m a sucker for organ, so there’s that. “Silver Soul” has some nice slide guitar bits, also.

    Beach House - Norway

    Beach House - Silver Soul

    3. comments

  3. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    Rachel Grimes was in the band Rachel’s (side note: one of my favorite band names of all time - possessive!), and it’d be easy to say that if you like them you’d like her new record. On her own, though, she’s quieter; most of the songs are solo piano. “My Dear Companion” is one of the more immediately compelling tracks, with a pleasant gallop to it, but “She Was Here” is a little more like the rest of the record: quiet, spare, and backed by a field recording of birds. Pleasantly gentle.

    Rachel Grimes - My Dear Companion

    Rachel Grimes - She Was Here

    4. comments

  4. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    Good news, everyone! I said a thing on my list of my favorite records of the decade about how I wish Tree Wave had put out more than just the one EP. It turns out that, even as I was writing that, they had! They released a “digital 10 inch” through their website last August, and at least as of then the project is alive and well.

    This song is “plentyc”, and isn’t anything like a stylistic change for them - noisy, videogame synths with pretty lady-vocals on top. The 10 inch is a little short - I’d love a full album from them - but it’s still all this good. And I can’t really complain, because you can download it for free from their website.

    (And if you’re a nerd like me, but haven’t heard of Tree Wave, you should poke around their website a bit. They’ve done things like musicify TRS-80s, dot matrix printers, and a bunch of other neat old-computer-art.)

    5. comments

    1. Lackthereof (10)
    2. Faraquet (9)
    3. Real Estate (6)
    4. Phon.o (1)
    5. Chris de Luca (1)
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    6. comments

  6. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    If you’re a new reader, you might like to know that I’m a grad student. I say this because my daily schedule informs my music listening quite a bit. As an undergrad, and for my first year of grad school, I had a lengthy commute that allowed me plenty of time to listen to music.

    This year, though, I decided to try living in the same town as my university. While that’s worked out well in most regards, it means that my commute - including time spent parking and walking to class - is about half an hour, total. This has been pretty bad for my music listening.

    But I’ve started working in earnest on my master’s thesis, which means more time spent at home reading, which means I can play records all day if I remember to. Consider this post my announcement that I’m trying to remember.

    Balmorhea are clearly a post-rock band, yes. But not quite as narrowly defined as, say, Explosions in the Sky. If you enjoyed Rachel’s, you’ll probably like this: the instrumentation is broader than a typical rock band, with strings and piano and banjo and the like. Apparently I listened to their record last June and forgot about it, which admittedly is a poor testimonial, but there it is. Maybe I needed to listen to it twice?

    “Harm and Boon” is a little more typical for the album - there’s a crescendo, but it happens earlier in the eight minutes than you’d expect, and the rest of the song picks up in a slightly different direction afterward -but “Elegy” is the track that really grabbed me. It’s short, and consists only of fingerpicked guitar plucking out a repeated phrase; the kind of gently emotional guitar work that I’m a complete sucker for.

    Elegy

    Harm and Boon

    7. comments

    1. Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble (11)
    2. shh… this is a library (11)
    3. Delorean (5)
    4. Enduser (4)
    5. Pearl Harbor (4)
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    8. comments

  8. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    My girlfriend hipped me to this EP, figuring I’d want it for DJ material. It’s rare that I listen to a record and tag every song on it for DJing, but that happened here. The first track is easily the best, though - I put this on while driving to school the other day, and this song totally got me amped without my expecting it. A little of that Swedish haziness, with a Baltimore break (huh?), but ultimately a crisp, very French-sounding, 4/4 dance-pop jam with easy lyrics that have stayed stuck in my head.

    Delorean - Deli

    9. comments

  9. To my new followers:

    Usually I don’t do this, but…*

    Hi! Thanks for opting to read. I know most of you came here because of my end-of-year post, and I’ll grant you that it’s some pretty exciting stuff.

    Hopefully you read the sidebar, and so you have some idea of what I’m trying to do here, but just in case: I listen to a lot of music, and when I really like something, I post mp3s here. I don’t do this full-time, and I don’t post just to have content. If I put something here, it’s because I think it’s worth your listening to. If you liked my end-of-year post, what with the full albums available for download, stick around because I do it every year.

    The links eventually stop working, so you should probably listen promptly, although I usually try to keep the most recent handful of posts available. So, if links are broken, it’s probably on purpose - sorry!

    And seriously, I try to include as little non-music content as possible. I try to run the mp3blog that I’d like to read, which includes as few of these kinds of posts as possible. So again, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy, and feel free to comment or let me know about things you like and don’t like.

    *go ahead and break ‘em off a little preview of the remix.

    10. comments

    1. Girls (12)
    2. Bonny Billy & The Picket Line (11)
    3. Black Moth Super Rainbow (7)
    4. The Drums (6)
    5. Mount Eerie (6)
    6. Islands (1)
    7. Boris (1)
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    11. comments

  11. Best Records of 2009

    UPDATE: In the event that you’re coming here late due to links from others, I’m sad to tell you that all the links in this post are dead. I have a personal policy about not giving music away indefinitely, and I left this stuff up a good bit longer than planned, but all good things end. At any rate, the recommendations still stand, but now you’ll have to acquire these records through some other source. Thanks for reading!

    An Introduction:

    For several years now, I have done some kind of end-of-year wrap up of music I’ve enjoyed. Because I like to give, I make all of these albums available to you to download as good quality mp3s. Read closely, here: the links in this post are all .zip files of full albums, encoded as mp3 at a totally reasonable bitrate. The links will stop working at some point - likely before new year’s day - so grab them while you can.

    That said (because I have gotten flack for giving away music before): I trust that you have a conscience, and will figure out how best to support these bands if you enjoy their records (e.g., see them live, buy merch, or actually purchase their CD, if that’s something you like to do).

    But really, the downloading is sort of beside the point. Mainly, I just like to take stock of things from time to time and look back. What I present to you here is a list of records I liked a lot this year, with some explanation as to why I liked them. Standard caveats apply: firstly, that there is a ton of music released this year that I simply haven’t gotten around to listening to, and if any of that turns out to be good in subsequent listening I’ll try to note it; secondly, that exclusion from this list does not necessarily mean I didn’t like the record, but only that I didn’t love it - every record on this list I would be happy to listen to at will; and thirdly, that this list is in no particular order, because ranking these things seems pretty futile to me - they’re presented instead in iTunes alphabetical order.

    (So, yes, this is a completely subjective list. I have no pretensions of critical objectivity. Maybe when I start getting paid to do this, we can talk about that.)

    Oh, and as always, if you enjoy getting some good free records, you are encouraged to say so in the comments. (And you can also feel free to discuss/dispute my selections there).

    The list:

    A.C. Newman - Get Guilty

    I really loved his last solo record - it’s really pretty essential listening, if you ask me - and this is not quite as good as that, if I’m being honest. But it’s still a lovely pop record, and after awaiting it skeptically I was surprised to find that several of these songs had wormed their way into my head.

    Anti-Pop Consortium - Fluorescent Black

    Speaking of being skeptical: I really hoped this record would be good, and was afraid it would be terrible. APC had such a unique sound, and it seemed like things must have just clicked perfectly on “Arrhythmia” such that maybe it couldn’t be replicated. The solo work these guys did certainly suggested that (okay, the Beans records are all right, but nothing great). This wound up being a totally solid record, though. I really need to give it a few more listens, but I’m looking forward to that. I was palpably relieved when I listened the first time.

    Best Coast - Where the Boys Are

    60’s girl group pop as played by one woman with a four track, and more distortion. Catchy, and if you like noisy lo-fi girls as much as I do, you’ll like this.

    Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us

    I slept on BMSR for a long time; for whatever reason I just never thought they’d be my thing. But for some reason I got turned on to Tobacco’s solo record last year (“Fucked Up Friends”) which was some great psych-pop - rap beats, vintage synths and tons of vocoder. On the strength of that, I gave this a listen and wasn’t disappointed. There’s a great retro feel to the album, but without sounding like a throwback - it still sounds new. And the vocoder on the vocals makes for an effect that I really enjoy - on this and on other records - where you can hear the vocals in the mix, but what the actual lyrics are is obscured and clearly not that important.

    Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone

    I don’t think there’s anything about this record that’s a real obvious pull, but it’s a solidly put together uptempo indie rock record. There’s a lot of exuberance and shouted group vocals; nice energy. You get the sense that these guys probably put on a good live show.

    DD/MM/YYYY - Black Square

    I especially like the songs on this record with no/downplayed guitar - the sound is kind of like post-punk-influenced-indie-rock (I guess?) but with prominent, buzzy synths.

    The Drums - Summertime

    It wasn’t that long ago that I posted some songs from this EP on here, so you may remember. But if you don’t: echoey lo-fi with a very noticeable oldies influence. The twist is really pleasant, and very much works.

    The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

    I love “The Soft Bulletin” a lot. Front to back, it is basically a perfect pop record. The subsequent albums, however… They’ve had a few good singles (I don’t really care how many ads/movies/&c. it’s been in, “Do You Realize??” is still an incredible song, and I tend to get a little misty when I hear it), but are mostly completely forgettable otherwise. This record, though, is probably the best overall package since “The Soft Bulletin”, though there aren’t really many standout singles. Still, it’s very nice to see these guys show that they haven’t really given up on making interesting and slightly challenging records.

    Flashy Python - Skin and Bones

    If you liked Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, you will probably like this. It’s a little less tense, and certainly more accessible than the second CYHSY record, but Alec Ounsworth still has that voice (which sounds great to me, but I suspect is probably divisive, so, yeah).

    Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

    Last year, Fuck Buttons made the best noise record I have heard in years. This follow-up was very anticipated by me, and it’s a pleasant change of sound from that debut. Here, that post-shoegaze-ish wash of noise is filtered into four on the floor dance music, which keeps things moving really pleasantly. For techno heads: imagine Chris Liebing and Speedy J, but the distortion’s fuzzier and less crisp.

    Girls - Girls

    I didn’t really expect to like this record, for some reason. I think maybe that all the hype referenced bands I don’t like, or something like that? But it’s a good record, yeah. Kind of jangly, like some of the more twee indie pop I like, with vocals that definitely rip off a certain 50’s rock and roll sound. The sound does shift around a fair bit, though - “Hellhole Ratrace”, in particular, sort of updates My Bloody Valentine’s “Sometimes”, with the background noise level increasing over the length of the song.

    The Horrors - Primary Colours

    I know a lot of people hate this band, and admittedly, their press photos make them look pretty silly. I hadn’t heard their first album before listening to this one (I since have; decent but not outstanding garage revivalism), but I’d heard that it was a big stylistic shift for them, and that had me curious. All that said: this is pretty much a neo-shoegaze. Swirly, dreamy, pleasant. Do you like Slowdive? You will probably like this. (Maybe this record is derivative, but really, so what.)

    Islands - Vapours

    Loved the first album, didn’t get into the second so much, wasn’t sure what to think about this one before listening. But this was easy to like. They’re back to that more upbeat, kind of weird pop sound of the first record, and then there’s “Heartbeat”, which is the best song I’ve heard using autotune possibly ever.

    iTAL tEK - Massive Error

    iTAL tEK has made some of the better aggressive sounding dubstep I’ve heard (if I recall, he comes from breakcore, which makes sense), but on this EP he mixes it up a bit. There’s a song or two at hip-hop tempo, and a lot of the songs have the ethereal kind of synths that I associate with IDM. And really, IDM revivalism is a quick way to get onto my end-of-year lists.

    James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game

    I like all of his records, but this one seems to take his style to a logical conclusion. Reichian minimalism as applied to guitar and piano, with a little bit of cello behind it to round it out. Really beautiful, peaceful and thoughtful.

    Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

    This is not really so different from their album from last year (which, astute readers will recall was on my end-of-year countdown then), but Krallice are still totally awesome. Their last record got me interested in black metal, and I still don’t think I’ve heard any other band working in that genre that satisfies me so much. Lots of dissonance and songs that deliberately don’t resolve. Very tense.

    Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

    Similarly, this is not a record that breaks new ground for Lightning Bolt. Did you like “Hypermagic Mountain”? You should, and if you did you will also like this record.

    Lullatone - Songs That Spin in Circles

    This isn’t really anything terribly new from Lullatone, but they make fairly consistently pretty records. All the toy instruments and sleepy computer sounds I’ve come to expect, making for a peaceful little bedtime pop record.

    Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine

    A New Magnolia Electric record isn’t necessarily an exciting thing (though I really do love their output, they’ve got a sound that they usually stick pretty closely to). It doesn’t get switched up too much here, but there’s some good organ here, and maybe a little touch of oldies influence. In short, this doesn’t sound quite as much like Neil Young, which is nice.

    Mount Eerie - Wind’s Poem

    The Microphones’ “The Glow Pt. 2” is one of my all-time favorite albums, and nothing Phil Elverum has put out since (under that name or the more current Mount Eerie) has really resonated with me on anywhere near that level. It’s not that I don’t like the various Mount Eerie records, but that a lot of them tend to be just guitar and voice, and so sound a little tossed off and/or rambling. This record, though, is something else. He’s said that it’s heavily inspired by black metal, and on a few distortion-heavy tracks that influence is pretty apparent. The rest of the album just borrows the tone and mood from black metal, and in either case the sound really works for him. So much of his work has been imbued with a sense of existential dread and awe, and black metal brings that out quite well (and also sounds really good). This is the first Mount Eerie record that I’m likely to return to.

    Mount Kimbie - Maybes / William / Vertical / Taps

    Of the stuff people are calling post-dubstep these days (and, sidebar, it is super-weird to me that we’re already post dubstep - it feels like it really hasn’t been around that long, but then I do the numbers and here we are I guess), this record is absolutely the weirdest. Really slow beats - if you can even call something so off-kilter a beat - and a totally different vibe from other dubstep. It’s sort of indirectly like how the Skull Disco folks have done a lot of work in weirdly minimal dubstep, where it’d be a challenge to a club audience to play it, but it’s certainly a different sonic aesthetic that that. Definitely some of the most experimental dance music I’ve heard in ages.

    Nisennenmondai - Fan

    I’ve previously only heard one record by Nisennenmondai, and honestly I don’t remember it that well (other than that I enjoyed it). This, though, is something else: one 35-minute long song, building very gradually. The first 8 minutes or so sound like a really extended intro to a hard techno song, and when the drums come in they’re doing a four on the floor beat, so you might think this is going to be just some wacky techno. And it is, in a way, but also totally not. Take certain kinds of traditional minimalism, make them rock harder and more overtly psychedelic (but not silly), and it’s maybe kind of like this.

    The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

    You’ve almost assuredly heard this record by now, right? Right? So, okay, it’s kind of derivative, but it still sounds great and the songs are fuzzy and catchy and lovely. (Cf. The Jesus and Mary Chain)

    Phosphorescent - To Willie

    I had thought this would be sort of an ironic hipster tribute record, but it actually comes off really sweet and earnest. I played this for my girlfriend’s mom, who is from Texas and really likes Willie Nelson, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

    The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa

    I’m not sure whether I like this album or their mixtape from last year better; they’re both just great. So exuberant, catchy, funky, &c., &c. I have a hard time getting into a lot of African (and “African”) music (I am, I guess, the one guy who doesn’t really like afrobeat), but everything about this record speaks to me. (And let’s bracket for now the issue of two white westerners making “world music” palatable to a white dude in America, please.)

    Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong

    Is it as good as their self-titled debut? No, probably not - some of the harmonies on that record (e.g., “Where Do You Run To?”) aren’t present here. But it’s a solid listen regardless.

    Worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals

    I haven’t heard their previous albums (though now they’re definitely on my to-listen list), but I understand they’re basically IDM-meets-post-rock. This record sounds like a band with that background got pretty into minimal techno and replaced a lot of the IDM with that. Which is pretty rad - at times I was reminded of what I was trying to do with my “Lap Top Post Rock” album, but with less crescendo and more techno.

    The xx - xx

    Again, if you haven’t heard this yet, I’m seriously baffled - it seems like everyone is talking about how great this record is. But, yeah, it’s pretty great. Just the right combination of electronics and real instruments, male and female vocals, and a wonderful use of space. It’s a quiet record that doesn’t sound weak; it sounds like they’re a band that knows where to stretch out, that understands restraint.

    12. comments

  12. Favorite Records of the Decade

    If I recall correctly, I said on here that I wasn’t going to do an end-of-decade list. But right after I said that, I started working on one, thinking it would be a nice surprise. But I couldn’t narrow things down enough to where I was comfortable giving away records, and I realized the list was reflecting too much of my personal history (and so dramatically more subjective than other things I post here), and I set it aside.

    But right now I’m snowed in, and I’ve decided to share.

    I should point out, I guess, that at the beginning of this decade I was 15, and as it ends I’m now 25. So the records that I’m sharing here reflect a pretty big chunk of my formative years: finishing high school, post-high school, college, post-college, grad school. In some ways, I suppose you could say that some of these records are responsible for my being the way I am today. I won’t claim that they’re all great records, but if they’re not great they’re on here because they’re simply important to me.

    Also I’ll note that fairly little from this year (and 2008 and 2007) is on here. That’s primarily because I hate when people hear a record once and then stick it on a list like this. I don’t have enough distance from hardly any record released this year to evaluate it.

    Finally, there are 57 albums on this list, so I’m not going to include notes on all of them. You’re welcome to comment on anything I say, or don’t say. Oh, and you’ll notice that they’re just in alphabetical order - I can’t even imagine how I would begin to rank these records; it goes beyond apples and oranges.

    So, the list:

    • A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder

    “On the Table” is one of the best pop songs I have ever heard, and I might still love this record even if that song was the only good one on it.

    • Aesop Rock - Daylight

    • Air France - No Way Down

    • Anti-Pop Consortium - Arrhythmia

    After tiring of a lot of backpack-rap, this record hooked me - clever, non-derivitive, experimental but still pop with catchy hooks.

    • Aphex Twin - Drukqs

    Some of my favorite Aphex-sounding songs, and also “Avril 14th” which is just wonderfully sad and beautiful.

    • At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command

    • The Avalanches - Since I Left You

    I can get a little worn out on this record, but it’s still a well put together summer party album.

    • Beirut - Gulag Orkestar

    • Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country

    This might have been the first IDM record I heard. I worked at a record store and wanted to buy a record one day, so I asked a coworker to recommend something. He showed me this, and told me that it sounds like the artwork looks. He was right, and it’s probably still my favorite BoC release.

    • Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People

    What a totally solid indie rock record. Hits all the right buttons.

    • Burial - Burial

    In ten years, when I want to remember dubstep, I will probably play this record.

    • Cex - Being Ridden

    • Cex - Role Model

    Similarly, when I want to remember IDM, I’ll put this on.

    • Daft Punk - Discovery

    I really liked “Homework”, and was deeply skeptical of this album for a long time, but eventually I realized that it’s a total party of a record. Impossible not to get down to.

    • Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism

    • DJ/rupture - Gold Teeth Thief

    The first thing I heard from /rupture, and it used to be my default mix to play in the car with other people around. There’s something for everyone in here, and I never got tired of hearing it.

    • DJ/rupture - Uproot

    The cello piece in the middle of this is amazing - completely makes the mix for me. Shows you what dubstep can be.

    • Emynd & Bo Bliz - White Tees and White Belts

    And when I want to remember club music, I’ll turn here.

    • Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place

    Or if I want to remember crescendo-y post-rock…

    • Girl Talk - Night Ripper

    Or mashups (though I should say that this record really succeeded for me because it went beyond the novelty listening of most mashups, and really did create something new and fun and interesting from its components).

    • Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven

    I loved Godspeed from first listen; I always appreciated that their post-rock was long-form and demanded attention. (And I will always remember the day I listened to this record at my college while anti-abortion protestors showed graphic, bloody images on huge posters - extremely surreal; felt like the world could end).

    • Greg Davis - Curling Pond Woods

    A perfect blend of ambience, folk music, and pop. This is a comfortable record.

    • Her Space Holiday - The Young Machines

    • The Impossibles - Return

    • The Impossibles - 4 Song Brick Bomb

    The best thing they recorded - I wish this was an album; I wish they still made this kind of music.

    • James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game

    Keeping minimalism alive and relevant.

    • Japancakes - Loveless

    The original “Loveless” is a record I got into pretty late, but immediately loved. This is the rare cover record that successfully puts the original into the new band’s context and still sounds engaging. Cutting out the distortion really emphasizes the melodies in these songs, and I’ve found some people who would never have enjoyed the original who quite like this.

    • Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

    A marvelous, clever, tuneful, amazing pop album. There are songs on here that make me start to tear up a little.

    • Kid606 - Down with the Scene

    This album, I think, made me realize that there was electronic music that I could really get behind (at a time when I assumed it was all like trance and completely formulaic and awful). The idea of doing punk with a laptop very much inspired me to make music of my own.

    • Kinski - Airs Above Your Station

    • Konono No. 1 - Congotronics

    • Les Savy Fav - Rome (Written Upside Down)

    The first LSF I heard, and still my favorite. That weird glitch on the vocals in the first song is probably my favorite thing this band has ever done - so unexpected but catchy.

    • M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

    Hearing this record’s epic shoegaze-on-computers sound directly inspired my post-rock-on-computers ideas that I used on my second album.

    • Madvillain - Madvillainy

    Basically a collection of my favorite Madlib beats with my favorite Doom lyrics.

    • Matmos - A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure

    Also really inspirational to my early forays into music. The idea that I could make songs completely from samples of non-musical things is probably something that I took from this. (And also the idea that experimental music could be fun, not just academic and super-serious.)

    • Matt & Kim - Matt & Kim

    This record gets me so pumped - full of exuberance and joy and sadness.

    • Max Tundra - Mastered by Guy at the Exchange

    • The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2

    I don’t even know what to say about this. There have been times in my life where I listened to this album every day. “I Felt My Size” perfectly sums up the feeling of truly understanding your place in the universe, and the wonder and terror of that feeling.

    • Múm - Finally We Are No One

    • Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll

    • Of Montreal - Horse & Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed)

    Not very cohesive (as it’s not a “proper” album), but some great songs on here. Best song: “Nicki Lighthouse”.

    • Okkervil River - The Stage Names

    Sad and moving, but also incredibly catchy and clever.

    • The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

    • Panda Bear - Person Pitch

    I’ve never really enjoyed Animal Collective, but I love this record. Psychedelic, sure, but not over the top. Like a Beach Boys record, but hazier and sprawling.

    • The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages Of…

    I think I used to listen to songs from this on a daily basis for a while, too. Maybe it’s a little cheesy or overblown, but some of these songs are really uplifting, and I used to sing along loudly in the car.

    • The Postal Service - Give Up

    Some don’t care for Gibbard, but the precious and clever lyrics and delivery aren’t off-putting to me, and the beats on this are just wonderful. Such a great electropop record.

    • Quasimoto - The Unseen

    I think this is second only to “Madvillainy” - this sprawls a little more - but when it’s great, it’s great.

    • The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

    Speaking of wonderful indie-pop records… Their first and third records never grabbed me anywhere near the way this one did.

    • Soundmurderer - Wired For Sound

    A weird record: it’s three separate mixes, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes, and they’re all non-stop amen-break jungle. I missed jungle happening the first time, and this was probably my first exposure, but that energy just totally grabbed me.

    • Soundmurderer & SK-1 - Rewind Records

    And this is a collection of new classics of jungle. I heard “Call the Police” in so many mixes for a while there, and I never got tired of it.

    • Spiritualized - Let It Come Down

    A little slow-paced, but still really moving and emotional.

    • Stars As Eyes - Enemy of Fun

    • Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds Of

    • The Strokes - Is This It

    I was kind of down on The Strokes when this record came out, and I never really bothered with their later albums, but this might be the best “rock” album of the decade. A bunch of catchy, well-made rock songs.

    • Sweet Trip - Velocity : Design : Comfort.

    • Tree Wave - Cabana EP

    I really wish this band had made more records. I feel like a lot of people dismissed them as a novelty band, but they had a pretty great electro-shoegaze sound.

    • The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

    Like The Strokes, I was kind of dismissive when this came out, but I came around to loving it. It’s so much more developed then “Fell in Love with a Girl” led me to believe; so crafted, and with so much energy.

    13. comments

    1. Osymyso (14)
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    3. Osso (13)
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    14. comments

    1. Tortoise (12)
    2. worriedaboutsatan (11)
    3. Liechtenstein (9)
    4. Best Coast (7)
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    15. comments

  15. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    When I found out a few years ago about Six Organs of Admittance, I was initially smitten. Like many of the best musical discoveries, they already had a pretty lengthy catalogue to dive into, and almost all of it was as good as the stuff I’d first heard: slow, raga-esque acoustic guitar. A weirdly minimal kind of psychedelia, with an “eastern” influence unlike others (e.g. sitar on a Beatles song). They’ve kept putting out records, and I’ve kept listening, though they’ve wandered a bit (odd, because the first handful or so of releases are actually kind of samey (I mean that in a totally good way though!)). The last thing I remember listening to from them had a lot of weirdly aggressive distortion, and didn’t quite jive for me.

    But, they’ve put out two records this year, and I’ve enjoyed both quite a bit. I just listened to “Empty the Sun”, and there’s a lot more of what I liked in the first place. There’s a little distortion in places, and some vocals, but the sound works much better here.

    Six Organs of Admittance - Goddamn the Sun

    16. comments
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