There hasn’t been a music thread for some time and I’m jonesing for some proper music to play since I’ve pretty much ran out my latest albums. [Spoon - Gimme Fiction, Sufjan Stevens - Illinois, and Animal Collective - Feels, for those keeping score.)
So what’s everyone else listening to these days?
Does Triggercut have a special list he’d be nice enough to write up?
Check out this thread at Octopus Overlords - 33 Pages of Fun
I’ve got the following recent titles on Play
Chris Mills - The Wall To Wall Sessions
Cordero - En Este Momento
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Self Titled
Editors - Munich
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World really good disc
Hotel Lights - Self Titled
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas
Maxïmo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Micah P. Hinson - The Baby & The Satellite
Mylo - Destroy Rock ‘n’ Roll
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
The Apparitions - As This Is Futuristic
The Lovemakers - Times Of Romance
The Melody Function
The M’s - Self Titled
Rosebuds - Birds Make Good Neighbors
Tim Fite - Gone aint Gone
The Walkup - These Walls Have Ears
I’ll put up some mp3 links in the morning
Though most aren’t brand new, these are a few of my recent acquisitions that have pleased me and that might appeal to you:
The Most Serene Republic - Underwater Cinematographer
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy and Black Sheep Boy Appendix
Jens Lekman - Oh You’re So Silent Jens
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Edit:
Forgot about the newest Silver Jews album, Tanglewood Numbers.
I’ve been on a major Decemberists jag lately. Picaresque is pretty damn brilliant, and I bought the Tain on iTunes. So, if you haven’t already devoured their stuff, give it a look. I’m also in love with the Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary.
Oh, and if you haven’t downloaded the Metasciences album yet, what’s wrong with you? It’s totally free!
[sarcasm]Thanks a lot…[/sarcasm]
I’ve been reading and taking notes on that goddamned thread forever. It’s 4:30 and I have to be up in 3 hours. :)
My latest.
The Knife - Silent Shout
You can listen to all the songs here. The play function is a bit screwy by intent since it only lets you listen to 15 seconds or so before it pauses itself, but you can just press play again and keep listening.
UGH. Seconded. :(
A horrifyingly great thread.
I may have to get Arctic Monkeys now, even though I’ve resisted the hype so far.
Seconded.
They’re slightly obscure to those outside Britain, but I’d strongly recommend Inside In/Inside Out by The Kooks. Just get it.
I actually get afraid of checking it out…
Mp3s!
Chris Mills - The Wall To Wall Sessions
Escape From New York
You Are My Favorite Song
Cordero - En Este Momento
La Piedra
Close Your House Down
The Deadstring Brothers - Starving Winter Report
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
Hotel Lights - Self Titled
Maxïmo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Full Streams at Official Site - A next big thing band, really catchy though. Well deserved accolades.
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
The Apparitions - As This Is Futuristic
Electricity and Drums
God Monkey Robot
The Lovemakers - Times Of Romance
The Melody Function
The M’s - Self Titled
Rosebuds - Birds Make Good Neighbors
Tim Fite
The Walkup - These Walls Have Ears
Stuff I’ve been digging, all brand new for 2k6:
Arctic Monkeys: just buy into the hype and have done. It’s a fun record, and they do what they do so effortlessly and so brilliantly that even though this isn’t really my sort of thing, I’m so down with these guys.
The Minus 5: The new self-titled disc is the latest for this sort-of supergroup, mainly Young Fresh Fellows frontman Scott McCaughey aided and abetted by Wilco, Ken and Jon from The Posies, and various and sundry musicians from the Pacific Northwest (Colin Meloy of the Decemberists contributes an ace lead vocal to one track). If you’ve ever found bliss with Gram Parsons or late-period Byrds, the track “Cigarettes, Coffee & Booze” is almost too wonderful for words.
Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3: He might be nearing 50, but when Wynnie decides to bring the rock, there’s few who can touch him. …tick…tick…tick is as loud, as urgent, as angry a record as Wynn has done since Days Of Wine & Roses back in his Dream Syndicate days. Bonus points for getting brilliant crime fiction author and Wynn fanboy George Pelecanos to contribute the lyrics for “Cindy It Was Always You”.
Ooh, wow, that sounds great. I haven’t even heard anything Wynn ever did after, uhh, that second Dream Syndicate album way back–Medicine Ball? But I’ve been thinking about getting Days of Wine and Roses off iTunes (to replace my ancient vinyl copy) and may have to check this out too, esp. with the Pelecanos thang. Thanks for that tip!
Me also digging:
The Silver Jews’ Tanglewood Numbers (“Sometimes A Pony Gets Depressed” is my very favorite song in forever)
Devandra Banhart’s Cripple Crow
and from the old school: Run-DMC’s Raising Hell
Wynn’s solo career has been pretty up-and-down for me. I “get” his folkier stuff, and understand and respect the reasons he does it, and am happy for him for getting critical raves for it…but it just isn’t my thing, so much.
Since Days he’s recorded two albums that capture, to my ears anyway, the feeling of immediacy (and loud rawk) of that disc. The second disc is the new solo album. The other one worth seeking out is Melting In The Dark, from 1996 or so. It’s out of print, but there are so many “promo” copies of it out there that it can be had on the Amazon marketplace for under a buck, still.
Might be the best buck on music anyone ever spent, too. For Melting, Wynn enlisted Boston/NY skronk band Come as his backing band, and the whole thing was recorded live in the studio in one overnight session. It remains one of my favorite rock and roll records of the 1990’s.
Last record I bought was the latest Cat Power. Not absolutely crazy about it, but it doesn’t sting to listen to it or anything.
Normally I’m pretty good at separating art from artist, but goddamn Cat Power (Chan Marshall), as a person, annoys the shit outta me. This makes listening to her music problematic, as I may like what I hear, but at the same time I’m thinking “What a pretentious fuck…”.
Never noticed any pretentiousness, though I think a lot of her antics are probably an act and I doubt I’m alone in that. I think she’s hot, anyway.
Allow me an addenda to this thread.
If you ever blissed out over the magic on “Something Else By The Kinks”, or “Village Green Preservation Society” or songs like “Shangri-La”, “Waterloo Sunset”, “Autumn Almanac”, or “Sunny Afternoon”, please do your life a favor and pick up a copy of Ray Davies’ first ever solo album.
It is brilliant. And not just “brilliant for a guy Ray’s age” brilliant, but “wow what a fucking great album, where did this come from?” brilliant.