Howard Hello – “Television”
Howard Hello
This self-titled debut EP endures as one of my absolute favorite albums, and one of the most compelling arguments that much good music exists between established genres. It most closely resembles a sort of organic electronica, but its hypnotic tone and beautiful female vocals propel it beyond most of its genre-mates. I almost always listen to this entire album straight through.
Sybarite – “The Fourth Day”
Nonument
Sybarite is one of the electronic crossover bands that sometimes is a little too downtempo for me – like Arovane’s Tides, much of Nonument fades into the background. But “The Fourth Day” is a great song that has compelling melodies and quite a lot of layers. One part Four Tet sound collage, one part Savath + Savalas murmured melodies, and then a bit of Sybarite’s own excellent sense of rhythm.
Fred Astaire – “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”
My “getting ready” music. If I could have this playing in my head on every night I wear shiny shoes, I’d probably be a lot more smooth.
Dan Deacon – “Build Voice”
Bromst
This is a really, really weird album. But it has a completely unique sound which is amazing as often as it is frustrating. Deacon’s penchant for high-pitched cartoon voices basically ruins a few songs, but ones without, like this first track and the next, “Red F,” are must-listen. It takes about a minute to really start so have patience.
Real Estate – “Beach Comber”
Real Estate
I think this album has generated some hype; I saw it here and there and it’s easy to see why. It’s very infectious, fun, and jangly stuff. This first track strikes me the most, but I’ve really only given the album a couple listens. Good bouncing around getting stuff done music.
Tarantula – “Rail”
Tarantula
If you’ve ever listened to Esmerine, you probably have a good idea of what Tarantula sounds like, though they certainly have their differences. They both, however, are sort of chamber music unbound – cello and violin and glockenspiel mated with drumming and guitar. “Rail” is a good introduction, but hardly all that’s worth listening to from this self-titled album.
Sleep Whale – “Summer Sick”
Houseboat
Mostly into instrumental post-rockish stuff, yet not falling into the usual traps of that sort of music, Sleep Whale is the rare post-rock/organic electronica band that creates something that is both original and listenable. Good instrumentation, good rhythm, and being perfectly happy to just make something nice and beautiful makes for good music.
Mice Parade – “Logic (Parts 1 & 2)”
Ramda
Mice Parade has always been a bit difficult to nail down. More recently, Adam Pierce (of whose name Mice Parade is an anagram) has been collaborating more and creating more easily palatable music, but it still has a lot of the old feel to it. Ramda, Mokoondi, and The True Meaning Of Boodleybaye will always be my go-to albums for him, though. “Logic” definitely starts out slow, but let it build and form itself the way it’s obviously meant to. I find it has a nice payoff if you just let it do its thing.
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Tarentel – “Ursa Minor, Ursa Major”
From Bone To Satellite
My favorite Tarentel song, from before they got really, really weird (We Move Through Weather). This nearly 18-minute epic has some of the best guitar tone I’ve ever heard – those first few plucks at the strings send shivers up my spine every time. And of course when it blows up, it’s beautiful and huge. Goes on for a bit after that, but it’s more expansive and ambient. (buy)
Colleen – “I’ll Read You A Story”
The Golden Morning Breaks
When I reviewed it earlier, I called it a mermaid’s music box. That’s about right.
Colleen – “A Little Mechanical Waltz”
Mort Aux Vaches
This is a beautiful piece, done as far as I can tell on a componium, that reminds me of my other favorite track by Colleen, “I’ll Read You A Story” from The Golden Morning Breaks, which I’ll put up next.
Dump – “On The Right Track Now”
Plea for Happiness
This record was pretty spotty, in my opinion, but it was also home to a few gems. This is one of them; “Made for it” and “My head in your hands” were the others. I still listen to them years later (one was even in a Ben Stiller short).
Lupine Howl – “Sometimes”
The Carnivorous Lunar Activities of Lupine Howl
I never listened much to the rest of this album, but “Sometimes” is one of the few one-off tracks I still regularly listen to that I got during my great college music expansion period. I love the lines “The universal gift must always be returned/and everything can be unlearned.” It’s long but broken into three parts, which helps the pacing.
My Education – “Snake in the Grass”
Italian
You have to listen to this one all the way through. It sneaks up on you and the payoff is at the end. These guys have a great ear. I’m getting to know their other albums; they’re shockingly little-known as far as I can tell. If you see this, guys, come to Seattle and play with Kinski.
The Lovely Feathers – “Photo Corners”
Hind Hind Legs
Got a new love for this album over the weekend, having usually turned it off after “Wrong Choice” for no particular reason and not getting a chance to love the later tracks. The half-major, half-minor singalong feel of this song is pretty unique to The Lovely Feathers. It’s like the best possible cross between the Libertines’ Up the Bracket and The Unicorns.
Tiny Vipers – “Eyes Like Ours”
Life On Earth
Life On Earth is a darker and much more spare album than Hands Across The Void, focusing more on Jesy’s voice and guitar, and with a bit more of a bleak and minor-key a feel to it. It doesn’t have the rawness of her self-titled EP or the mystical flow of Hands, but she sounds more confident in her writing and certainly performs it admirably.
Crime in Choir – “In search of plunder (bum convention)”
The Hoop
The final track from another great Crime in Choir album. This one is short and relatively straightforward. Synth-rock doesn’t attract me fundamentally, but these guys really, really pull it off.
Hank Williams Sr. – “If you’ve got the money honey, I’ve got the time”
Great old song. Congrats to Kaz and Tenny, who turned me on to this one, on their marriage and everything else.
Marches – “Cold Hands Warm Heart”
4AM Is The New Midnight
This album is absolutely strange, and none of the tracks are at all like any of the others. This weird electro-R&B and its staccato horn section really caught my ear, though.
Early Day Miners – “Marauder”
The Last Snow EP
Normally a very sedate band, Early Day Miners pull out the big guns on this track. Well, they’re normal-sized guns compared to everyone else, but still. Relatively big.
Skygreen Leopards – “The Heron”
One Thousand Bird Ceremony
One of my favorite songs, period. Just the absolute pinnacle of jangly forest-folk. From a fantastic album (their follow-up was disappointing).
Gustav – “Total Quality Woman”
Verlass Die Stadt
Gustav has always been hit-and-miss for me, but it’s rewarding listening. This song is very far from her normal oeuvre, but it’s still a fun little thing, and you get a good idea of her strangely idiomatic and not exactly correct English.
Bibio – “Mr. and Mrs. Compost”
Vignetting the Compost
This beautiful, micro-sized bite of a song is a bit of an exception on this album due to its primary vocal focus. I have to say that Vignetting the Compost is one of my favorite albums I’ve gotten this year.
The Wind-Up Bird – “That I’ve”
Whips
I wrote this album up at length here. What a fantastic, crushing album. Joe Grimm has moved on to a new album under his own name which I need to check out.
Broken Social Scene – “Baroque Social”
To Be You And Me
BSS like you never hear them. Actually sounds like Do Make Say Think’s “Chinatown” crossed with Loscil. Great track no matter what.
