Okkervil River - the Stage Names
Will Sheff is a busy boy, with this and Shearwater both coming out with full lengths this year. His voice just makes you want to cry; it's always on the edge of cracking in a very Daniel Johnston way. The music is orchestrated so well you'd think they put in a cheat code. Sometimes the mixing is a little off, with certain things a little to loud, off setting the over all effect of the song, but it doesn't happen that often.
Okkervil River - John Allyn Smith Sails
Zookeeper - Becoming All Things
You know that drunk guy at that really ritzy party who thinks he can play piano? Well if he actually could, and got to the point where he performed ala drunken master, and played like that regularly, in a club, with a tambourine and horn section, then he would sound like Zookeeper ... on one song. He frequently channels Tom Waits, Colin Meloy, and Jeff Magnum ... to name a few. Feel good and get drunk to this album.
Zookeeper - Trumpets
Oh, Sleeper - When I am God
Like acts such as UnderOath and Zao, these Christian Hardcore boys know their business. It's straight up good.
Oh, Sleeper - We Are The Archers
Samael - Solar Soul
With the occasional flair of eastern influence, these Industrial Dark Metal magicians have crafted an album that revisits the style that made me love the band. Their 1999 album will probably be my favorite album by them for all time, but they were not far off base by making this new one sound like it was made by the same band that made Eternal. It's a roaring success.
Samael - Suspended Time
Pictureplane - Turqiouse Trail
Travis, one of Denver's Local Noise-Dance artists (who happens to go by the name Pictureplane), has released his second full album, and sweet and salty jesus is it peculiar. Best experienced live (but with earplugs, because I have never been to louder shows than Pictureplane shows), Pictureplane's music is some of the most bizarre mash-up dance music since Girl Talk, but more fun (imo).
Pictureplane - Day Glowwed
Pictureplane - Crystal Skull Caravan
Sigur Rós - Hvarf-Heim
Ghostly and haunting, as always. Since it's B-sides, I have trouble rating it higher than "love," but I really did love this release. The DVD has been watched like 3 times, and each time more magical than the last.
Sigur Rós - Salka
The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
The first Polyphonic Spree album sounded like a band made up of people who didn't really want to overstep each other, so no risks were taken, and songs came out short and sweet. The second one sounded like the 30 or so people got comfortable with each other, and comfortable with their boundaries, and figured out how to play together. this new one just sounds like 30 people trying to hard. It sounds like 30 people in a room playing 30 different instruments. But, the redeeming factor in all this is that they are, in fact, The Polyphonic Spree ... so they're just a bunch of fun. I heard the album before I saw them perform the songs, and if one thing in life is true, it's that the Polyphonic Spree can take songs so jumbled and over-thought that they're just difficult to get into and perform them with such pizazz that it doesn't even matter. but, that means that the album is a companion piece to their live show, which is kinda sucky. See them live!
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 23 (Get Up and Go)
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
Awkwardly one of my most popular blogs is about these fellas ... so ... I guess I did a pretty good job of giving them props all ready. I like 'em. there ya go.
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
Blonde Redhead - 23
Blonde Redhead has always given me the shivers when I listened to them, and this album is no different. It took me a while to warm up to, because I'm utterly in love with Misery is a Butterfly, but I eventually did, and I'm glad I gave it the second and third chance, because it's just as haunting and beautiful as most their other albums.
Blonde Redhead - The Dress
Dead Heart Bloom - Chelsea Diaries
Paraphrase from my old post about this album: "the album is undeniably good, it's not overwhelmingly interesting. One thing it does have is soul, and, somehow, that makes it a little bit more infectious each time you listen to it, and that the lyrics are damn good."
Dead Heart Bloom - Chelsea Song #2
The Electric Six - I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master
I love the Electric Six. Or ... rather, loved. But then they released a rather horrendous album, and I just got disappointed. So my hopes were not high for this release, seeming how it was only a year after the awful awful release and there is only one original member, But, I have to say, I was rather impressed. It's no Fire, and it's certainly no Señor Smoke, but they've redeemed Switzerland. Neo-Disco has never sounded so amazing ... if you don't count the band's first two Cd's (also not counting the Wildbunch albums)
The Electric Six - I Don't Like You
The Electric Six - Down at McDonaldz
Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High
These guys get so much flack but the plain fact is that these guys are really really good at making music that is poppy and rather likable. So what if they're the new N'SYNC (Hellogoodbye all ready took Backstreet Boys' title [which would be rather impressive {because the Backstreet Boys are actually still around} if it weren't for the fact that the Backstreet Boys are currently as relevant as Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band Solution])? Okay, maybe that's a little harsh, especially since I really did like this album. It's a really solid album.
Fall Out Boy - Golden
Future Pilot AKA - Secrets From the Clockhouse
This is one of the most schizophrenic albums ... the first couple times. After a few listens you begin to see some cohesiveness. It would fit right in with 1960's hippie love-is-all-you-need music (love is a constant theme throughout the album). Everyone once and a while they have this Bilbo Baggins sounding M-er F-er talking about peculiar things, things that they sometimes tie in, and other times just let hang. It's a bizarre album to say the least.
Future Pilot AKA - First Light
Future Pilot AKA - It's In The Heart Of Everyone
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