'08's Music to Love More Than Music: Love More Than Music, Pt. 8

Love More Than Music (<3>)
Rachael Pollard - A Good Thing
Denverite Rachael Pollard has been making music for a long time. She's one of the local acts that, when you talk about her to other people, those people look at you and say things like "of course you like Rachael Pollard, she's amazing." Those people saying that aren't even the snobs. Her voice is timid and adorable, though not spot on, which, in my mind, doesn't matter at all, because we have to many "good," spot on singers, and I'm sick of that, and when I hear a voice as genuine as Rachael's, my soul melts. I got weak in the knees when I heard this album. It's so truthful and sweet that it's shocking to your system. It's like you just found that person you know you're going to fall in love with if you spend enough time with them.
Rachael Pollard - The Desert
Rachael Pollard - Alexandria
Rachael Pollard - Ripley's Believe It Or Not

Ladyhawk - Shots
This is a very simple album. It's basically just a rock album, and it's only 8 tracks long, just barely under 30 minutes. Ladyhawk has trimmed the fat, and what they had left turned out to be gold. The song writing is stellar, with lines like "I just want to feel something other than fear," the album pushes their personal stories, thoughts, and feelings through infections rhythms and spot on vocals. Nothing on this album is over the top or ridiculously over produced. If it was anything other than what it is, it wouldn't be as perfect. This is the middle poridge.
Ladyhawk - Fear
Ladyhawk - S.T.H.D.

Foals - Antidotes
I didn't notice that the songs were minimal in nature until someone pointed it out to me, because the songs sound so full of life and energy. The album is like a mix of Battles and ... well the best parts of any of the bands in the high energy Dance Punk genre. I didn't know that it actually was a mathematical as it was until I read about it, because it flows so well, something that one doesn't usually associate with music that could essential be called High Art. Heck, even Battles was a little hard to get into until they released Hi/Lo and Atlas. There are no bad songs on this album. Each song stands out as it's own stellar composition. There is no wonder that this album has, essentially, spawned 6 singles.
Foals - The French Open
Foals - Cassius
Foals - Balloons

HEALTH - HEALTH
A great pulsating beast of an album. There are few releases as mind blowingly intense as this album. The first time you hear it, it might all sound the same, and it might be hard to tell what exactly is going on, but that's because, other than the drums, everything is distorted past the point of recognition. You can't tell that what you just heard actually is a bass being played, and I love that. It's mathematical and inspirational. It may just be the most inventive thing to have come out in 2008. I'll love it forever.
HEALTH - Crimewive
HEALTH - Triceratops
HEALTH - Perfect Skin
(I only have the vinyl, so I'm hosting what I could easily get a hold of. I would have like to put Tabloid Sores most of all though)

The Faint - Fasciinatiion
I felt that this was a very different album for the Faint, and I really liked that. The whole album dealt with having problems dealing with the world, other people, technological advances, and the like, but that's not really all that strange for The Faint. The songs are not as in your face dancy and out of control, and I think that's all right, because if they were to do that again, I feel like they would have started to get a little stale, because they certainly have albums that went for that sound and achieved it to the point where it will be hard for anyone to top it. This album may be over looked by Faint fans who only like them for their dancy side, but I think it's still dancy enough to please most. The songs are a lot more chopped up and electronic that I was used to with the Faint, but for the general topics they wrote on, I felt it fit. All the songs on this album are unskippable.
The Faint - I Treat You Wrong
The Faint - A Battle Hymn for Children
The Faint - Machine in the Ghost

Russian Red - I Love Your Glasses
Russian Red - Timing is Crucial
Russian Red - Cigarettes
Russian Red - Gone, Play On

This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You - The Mighty Rio Grande
This Will Destroy You - A Three-Legged Work Horse


My Favorite album of the year will be posted tomorrow