2. LCD Soundsystem This is Happening James Murphy's doctoral thesis / love letter to the 80s tempers romantic indulgence with analytic detachment, delivering something sweeter and smarter than expected without compromising Murphy's untucked sincerity.
3. Black Keys Brothers Akron boys cash in on merging grass-roots and industry acceptance without changing the fundamentals - plugged-in blue-eyed Detroit soul rubbed raw over Alabama blacktop blues.
4. The National High Violet The brothers Dressner and Co. continue to build rich, dark, cathartic pop anthems full of guitar swells, cracking snares and soulful, urbane poetry.
5. Arcade Fire The Suburbs It must be tiring to maintain such consistently high levels of sociopolitical bile and artistic bombast, yet Arcade Fire doesn't show signs of slowing down as they continue to grow in scope and popularity.
6. Justin Townes Earle Harlem River Blues Fresh and familiar, JTE offers a poignant, classic-country hued folk record as indebted to southern gospel as it is to Hank Sr.
7. The Hold Steady Heaven is Whenever Like most story tellers, Craig Finn is at his best when he's fleshing out the details of interesting characters and challenging situations. Though Heaven offers familiar fodder, they remain top-notch and debauched.
8. Band of Horses Infinite Arms Ben Bridwell is warm honey on sharp steel as his band eases into a comfortable place at the top of the middle of a new dirt road.
10. Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore Dear Companion As a native Kentuckian I am supposed to notice this, but simple arrangements, endearing voices and graceful hollow-hall production make what could have been a regional political stunt into a true folk gem.
11. Spoon Transference Equally at home in the studio as on stage, Transference highlights quirky, cinematic production of the band's strain of straightforward rock-n-roll.
12. Sleigh Bells Treats This year's sound of snarling hipster fun finds a sharp edge in the weird and wired world of twenty-first century boom-bash guitar pop, which of course means cheerleaders.
13. Liars Sisterworld A good album with better packaging, Sisterworld sounds like a brutal ghost story without much punctuation. Atmosphere and violence unsure of where to breath.
14. Elvis Costello National Ransom With the continued support of roots music icons T Bone Burnett, Jim Lauderdale, Jerry Douglass and others, Costello effortlessly pulls a rabbit from his pork-pie hat with this vaudevillian romp.
15. Jenny & Johnny I'm Having Fun Now Jenny Lewis is on a roll, having taken the reigns of her pop outfit Rilo Kiley, positioned herself nicely among alt-something sirens like Neko Case, Kelly Hogan and Emmylou Harris, and now she has a cute boyfriend who likes Buddy Holly. Fun now indeed.
16. New Pornographers Together AC Newman, Neko Case & Dan Bejar have been setting the standard for crystal clear indie pop for a decade now. Together toes the line but does little to stretch it. Still, when this is your line...
17. Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz Before he was the indie folk messiah of Illinoise! he was the up-and-coming glitch pop prodigy of Enjoy Your Rabbit. Suf-J seems to be looking for a way to balance his disparate selves, trading in a few choral voices and a banjo or two for more software and skittering breaks. Weird and often welcome, but not always.
18. OFF! First Four EP's What if hardcore punk was actually just rock-n-roll but meaner and faster? Eighteen songs in in twenty minutes, that's what. Anything missing? Nope? Okay.
19. Gogol Bordello Trans-Continental Hustle I once had a friend who described herself as having generic third world good looks. Trans-Continental spans stylistic borders to speak folk-punk for any number of displaced fans of accordions, alcohol and big mustaches.
20. Jon Langford & Skull Orchard Old Devils My favorite bright eyed Welshman spins yarn from his sleeves, baring more heart and history than sinew or sweat this time around.
21. Blitzen Trapper Destroyer of the Void Backwoods chamber-prog from Portland's finest, these guys change channels between Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and King Crimson with ease, but it mostly plays like a collection Furr B-sides.
nice try
Free Energy Stuck on Nothing Did Ric Ocasek produce this? No? Really? Are you sure?... wait, James Murphy? That James Murphy? Bang Pop Fizzzzz. Sure.
Fang Island s/t If Battles got Animal Collective pregnant while listening to one of those interchangeable long haired guitar god types, only not as bad as you'd think because it's art, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment