Inspired by liking Lust, Lust, Lust I'm now listening to other new albums people are recommending. For example, The Kills' Midnight Boom? Good! Yeasayer's All Hour Cymbals? Also good!
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Hey -- People Put Out New Albums!
26 Mar 2008 01:12 pm
Comments (56)
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Black Keys - Attack and Release
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Well then, it is time for you to listen to Hanin Elias (ex Atari Teen Riot chanteuse) Future Noir, and of course, Lady Ray Bitch, the best rapper in Germany, whose output at the moment is all singles, sadly enough. But here she is in video!
Not that new, but... I've had "Rise Above" by the Dirty Projectors and "Strawberry Jam" by Animal Collective in heavy rotation. Rise Above is an interesting listen, but somewhat grating. Strawberry Jam is AC's best so far. "Fireworks" is one of the best songs of last year. So far as new, new stuff goes the Fuck Buttons album is worth a spin, but isn't one that will get many replays and the new Destroyer is a huge disappointment after "Destroyer's Rubies."
long time lurker, might as well join in:
agreed with the Yeasayer album, saw them live at SXSW, great band.
burial's "untrue," released later last year. amazing dubstep album, if you're in to that sort of thing, which i am.
los campesino's "hold on now youngster." infectious brit pop. excellent hooks. also very good at SXSW.
sebastian tellier's "sexuality." look it up just for the album cover. kind of like electro-beach boys. w/out lyrics. very good.
goldfrapp's "seventh tree."
You must hear the new Beach House album "Devotion." Best album of '08 so far. I second the above readers' comments on Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors.
"Rise Above" the single is indeed the best album on Rise Above. By comparison the rest of the album may sound less poppy/more grating but those songs are good and interesting, too.
Dirty Projectors fans ought to check out Make a Rising. Anyone with ears should, really.
Speaking in my role as Pope Of Indie-Rock Snobbery, Joanna Newsom's Ys inspires the most severe love/hate reactions I've seen among music fans since Surfer Rosa in 1988. Although not technically "new," if there's a record out there that divides the congnoscenti sheep from the goats, Ys would be it.
(OT note to younger readers: the Pixies' music was loathed, absolutely loathed by most music fans when it was originally released. Really. People would leave parties because Surfer Rosa was on the turntable.)
"Rise Above" the single is indeed the best album on Rise Above. By comparison the rest of the album may sound less poppy/more grating but those songs are good and interesting, too.
Dirty Projectors fans ought to check out Make a Rising, from Philly.
Gee whillickers the Indie Rock Consensus rules the roost around here.
In April there will be a new Boris album out called "Smile". I'd recommend that to anyone who may wish to dabble in Actual Rock Music.
Tegan and Sara (The Con)
The Fashion (don't think they have a full album out yet -- just an EP IIRC -- but this Danish band is mad good IMHO, and available on ITunes).
What I've heard of the new DeVotchka album is quite splendid. I'm also a fan of much of the new Ghostland Observatory disc. But, the best album I bought in the last 6 months is by Joshua Morrison. Incredible!
Hi Matt,
I'm a big Andrew Sullivan reader, and have come to you by way of him (I'm a progressive fascinated by conservative arguments, when they don't suck). Anyways, here's some of my favorites of recent years:
TV On The Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
(I think it's a Mario Bros. reference, which I love...)
Feist- The Reminder
and
Let It Die
(the most inspired singer-songwriter of our time)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (self-titled)
AND
Radiohead- In Rainbows
(both are partially responsible for the slow death of the music industry, because these records became hugely popular without labels)
Regina Spektor- Begin To Hope
Postal Service- Give Up
(touchstone record of this decade; indie-rock connects with electronica in unforgettable pop)
Enjoy! Many thanks for your work.
-Eric
Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple is also good.
Hi Matt,
I'm a big Andrew Sullivan reader, and have come to you by way of him (I'm a progressive fascinated by conservative arguments, when they don't suck). Anyways, here's some of my favorites of recent years:
TV On The Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
(I think it's a Mario Bros. reference, which I love...)
Feist- The Reminder
and
Let It Die
(the most inspired singer-songwriter of our time)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (self-titled)
AND
Radiohead- In Rainbows
(both are partially responsible for the slow death of the music industry, because these records became hugely popular without labels)
Regina Spektor- Begin To Hope
Postal Service- Give Up
(touchstone record of this decade; indie-rock connects with electronica in unforgettable pop)
Enjoy! Many thanks for your work.
-Eric
Hi Matt,
I'm a big Andrew Sullivan reader, and have come to you by way of him (I'm a progressive fascinated by conservative arguments, when they don't suck). Anyways, here's some of my favorites of recent years:
TV On The Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
(I think it's a Mario Bros. reference, which I love...)
Feist- The Reminder
and
Let It Die
(the most inspired singer-songwriter of our time)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (self-titled)
AND
Radiohead- In Rainbows
(both are partially responsible for the slow death of the music industry, because these records became hugely popular without labels)
Regina Spektor- Begin To Hope
Postal Service- Give Up
(touchstone record of this decade; indie-rock connects with electronica in unforgettable pop)
Enjoy! Many thanks for your work.
-Eric
check out Ladyhawk
New music, by and large, sucks.
I'm cranky.
Tonight I'm going to listen to some vintage Tim Buckley, and none of you people can stop me.
I think "new" as such is a bit overrated; new to you is interesting, however. For me, this week has involved a lot of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, who were quite awesome as it turns out. As a Clash fan of many years, it was a new and welcome discovery.
But in the "actually new" category, I think you might like the Heartless Bastards. I just can't believe how many people don't listen to them. Their lead singer has one of the most compelling voices I've heard (even if it's a bit lacking in range), and for the locals who find indie pop rock difficult to tolerate, you should know these guys can plain rock out.
Other good stuff: Pela, Lali Puna (only kind of newish but not well known; sounds kind of like a toned down Stereolab), Menomena (if only for the brilliant song "Evil Bee"). I assume all you DC folk already know Le Loup. And if you like alt country at all, Kathleen Edwards is pretty fantastic and comes from Ottawa, Home of Awesome Music. (Her fellow Ottawans The Acorn are also really great.)
The new Elbow album - The Seldom Seen Kid is another good one from them in my opinion.
Elbow is basically the Coldplay that doesn't suck. (ie their albums are really different from each other, musicality and lyrics are much more interesting, and less marketable - and their b-sides are plentiful and actually worth tracking down)
Check it out. Also if anybody missed it... The new Rogue Wave album that came out last year is really really good - called Asleep At Heaven's Gate and it's in my top 5 from last year. That band is going places...
Aw, if you stopped listening to the music scene for a while there, maybe it was because you're a little tired of the same old chords, the same old rhythms. You're looking for something new. The world is big, y'know? Why not try "Aman Iman," the latest by Tinariwen, the bluesy guitar giants from the deserts of Mali? Or "Infinito Particular" by the glorious Marisa Monte from Brazil? "Navega," by Mayra Andrade of Cape Verde? "Techari" by the flamenco/hip hop collective Ojos de Brujo? Or "Nysch," the latest by the jazzy nyckelharpa (look it up, this strange and most beautiful instrument) band from Sweden, Bazar Bla.
If you don't like any of this, I'll pay you back the price of the music. A promise.
May I suggest...
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
British Sea Power, who are currently touring their latest album "Do You Like Rock Music?," are worth listening to.
May I suggest...
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
you wouldn't happen to be from the Triangle would you?
anyway, as for former deyarmond edison member bands, megafaun's album "bury the square" is far far better than the bon iver album (and would probably be my favorite album of the year thus far).
White Williams "Smoke" and anything by The Tough Alliance.
I second, or fourth as it were, TVOTR. Their cover of "Mr. Grieves It has been out for a long while, though. So far as something a little more recent in the same vein Dragons of Zynth are worth checking out.
I'd recommend the recent Robyn Hitchcock reissues (Eye and I Often Dream of Trains especially). This stuff will outlive whatever band of the moment is lighting up the blogs this minute.
Most new music I've heard this year has been a disappointment (Mtn Goats, She & Him especially). American Music Club new disc is great as always, though.
Second Ojus de Brujo rec. I'd hold my ground against anyone that they're the best band going. Top 3 minimum. Wish they'd play North America more.
If you can take it, try Bassnectar. Last year's Underground Communication was easily one of the best albums of the year.
you wouldn't happen to be from the Triangle would you?
Chicago, IL
Yes, Ojos de Brujo's second, "Bari," though not their latest, is their best.
i've been enjoying:
panda bear - person pitch
the national - boxer
radiohead - in rainbows
animal collective - strawberry jam
grizzly bear - friends ep, but please listen to their whole catalog!
megafaun - bury the squares (they toured with akron/family which is also good)
I'd second the Ladyhawk endorsement. Not so much The Acorn endorsement, though I seem to be about the only person in the Canadian music blogosphere (tiny as it is) that doesn't like them (I just find them boring, like indie rock given a folk-world music veneer).
Other recommendations:
- The Rural Alberta Advantage (their newest album, Hometowns, is like a slightly twangier version of Neutral Milk Hotel -- and if you haven't heard NMH, then you seriously need to stop everything you're doing and get a copy of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
- Black Hat Brigade (no one knows them yet, but they remind me a lot of Wolf Parade, and I think they're going to be big in about a year or so)
- The Golden Hands Before God (old school psychedelic rock; their EP comes out in May)
- Basia Bulat and Jenn Grant (both girls with guitars and awesome voices, both very worth checking out -- Oh My Darling and Orchestra For the Moon, respectively)
And if you like The Raveonettes so much, I'd definitely recommend Love Kills' Carry Me Home. I'm listening to it for the first time now (for a review), and I'd definitely put it squarely in that fuzz-rock vein.
All this music I've never heard of sounds very hipster and indie. I'm going in a different direction.
Tift Merritt's new album is only $8, and she has a lovely voice. It's sort of country/folk/Americana/rock. Her older albums are great, too.
weird day, publius is pimping the Kills album over on Obsidian Wings, too.
I have to throw in another comment about MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular" - easily the coolest new music I've heard in ages. Some very odd videos of their songs exist on youtube:
These are worth checking out:
Prototypes (eponymous)
The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
Michael Hurley - Ancestral Swamp
Prototypes are a french band, and one of the best pop records I've purchased in a few years.
I've been really digging the Miley Cyrus single, "See You Again." The best mindless, stupid-stoopid-st00pid airhead single since maybe The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar."
Oh, and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' album Real Emotional Trash is pretty good too.
Well, if the Corrs really don't do it for you, try John Hughes' other discovery:
Tara Blaise - Paperback Cliche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxGmIzT5rf0&feature=related
Tara Blaise - Three Degrees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXlOrjScU0o&feature=related
Tara Blaise - the Three Degrees acoustic (with Corrs guitarist Anto Drennan)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncTlmaIdOAI&feature=related
Here's a few worth checking out.
1. Robert Plant/Allison Kraus - Raising Sand
2. Andy Summers/Robert Fripp - I Advance Masked
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Is this the best album of 2007?)
4. Bauhaus - Go Away White (The Second Half of the Album)
5. Killing Joke - Hosannas from the Basements of Hell.
Do not know why Bloggingheads.TV has no music edition. Would be nice to have an episode with you and Andrew Sullivan talking about music. Would be nice to hear about your good tastes in music and Andrew's bad taste :)
Steve Stevens - Memory Crash
Third by Portishead (comes out next month)
my friend from a music mag got it early, and so far it's fairly pleasing
The Whigs - Mission Control
White Rabbits - Fort Nightly
Going back to last year:
Simple Kid - 2 (I can't believe that this has received absolutely no buzz whatsoever)
Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor
The Broken West - I Can't Go On; I'll Go On
The version with links is being held in the spam filter.
Burial - Untrue - so good
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - their debut Broom is amazing (from 2006) and they have a new album coming out April 1 (but already out there on the internets) Pershing
Beach House - Devotion
Older but worth checking out:
Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music - girls + synths + beat machines - awesome
Voxtrot - s/t debut album + their EPs (Your Biggest Fan, Raised by Wolves, Mothers Sisters Daughters and Wives)
A few additional recommendations:
1. A Place To Bury Strangers -- s/t (2007)
2. A Mountain Of One -- Collected Works (2007)
3. City of God -- Original Movie Soundtrack (2002)
4. Darondo -- Let My People Go
5. Deerhunter -- Fluorescent Grey (2007)
6. Italians Do It Better Compliation -- After Dark (2007)
7. Rachid Taha -- Diwan 2 (2006)
8. The Clientele -- God Save The Clientele (2007)
9. Tinariwen -- Aman Iman: Water is Life (2007)
10. William Basinski -- The Disintegration Loops, Vol. I -- IV
I think the upcoming disc from Sun Kil Moon (April) will also be very good, BTW.
That Tinariwen disc is an all-time keeper. Best release of 2007
The Clientele opened for Spoon a few years ago. They sounded like the Innocence Mission with a dude singer. Not really a good warmer upper.
1. The Black Angels - Passover (Remind me of the Doors, except that they are much darker)
2. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead is a great band. Worth checking out.
3. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
4. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
5. Thom Yorke - The Eraser (You should see Thom Yorke playing Cymbal Rush on the Henry Rollins Show, I think its on youtube)
6. Type O Negative - Dead Again
Hey Matt, Heres a suggestion for ya. Create a Gmail account. Post it on your blog and ask readers to send you great songs. That way, you could be in touch and cool again.
"The Clientele opened for Spoon a few years ago. They sounded like the Innocence Mission with a dude singer. Not really a good warmer upper."
Totally different types of bands, totally different core audiences. Both great, tho.
The Clientele are like a foggy, atmospheric, hyper-literary 80s English act. Spoon are a lean, rhythm-based American rock band.
I don't share your indie love, but I have recommendations anyways:
400 Blows - Angel's Trumpets and Devil's Trombones
Career Suicide - Attempted Suicide
Anything ever by Hickey, the greatest band in music history.
Pile On!
Brakes: The Beatific Visions
The Yoshida Brothers: Hishou (Japanese Banjo! Really.)
Joe Jackson: Rain (His best since Laughter and Lust)
A few more suggestions from the startlingly lovely music beyond our borders, pleasure just a click away:
Here's a site of music and videos of the wonderfully punkish Portuguese traditionalists, Dazkarieh:
http://www.myspace.com/dazkarieh
And here's quite an odd bunch, Birdy Nam Nam, a French band that consists of only four turntables. Great videos:
http://www.birdynamnam.com/home.html
and here's a video of Tinariwen playing, that Tuareg blues band from the desert of Mali:
Enjoy!
Forgive me, one last suggestion: "Tiempo de Solea," from Bari, by Spain's Ojos de Brujo:
At first listen the new Raconteurs record sounds pretty nifty!
For a change of pace from indie rock, give Jimmy "Duck" Holmes - Done Got Tired Of Tryin' a spin.
Your readers have good taste in music. I'd add to the list Vampire Weekend. They're terrific. Kinda Paul Simon-Graceland inspired rock. My Morning Jacket is good; the Magic Numbers is happy summertime rock. Rhett Miller (of the Old 97s) is good country-ish music. If you're going in that direction, She & Him is also very good.
Bon Iver's 'For Emma, Forever Ago'
Foals' debut album Antidotes just came out on Sub Pop (at least via iTunes) and it has been playing on my stereo non-stop all day. Mighty catchy dance rock from the UK, with horns in all the right places.
Comments closed April 09, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
She & Him's "Volume One"
and (a little older, but) Jenny Lewis' "Rabbit Fur Coat."
...oh, and Steve Colbert and John Legend's duet on "The Girl is Mine" is actually better than the Jacko original, IMO.
Posted by rob! | March 26, 2008 1:29 PM