January is turning out to be great so far for music!
Magnetic Felds – [Realism] Hmm, I love Magnetic Fields, but I’m too excited about this one after the first listen. Realism is Stephin Merritt’s “folk album”, and the sister album to 2008’s Distortion, where he wanted to sound more Jesus & Mary Chain than Jesus & Mary Chain.
Spoon – [Transference] Back with their 7th studio album, Spoon keeps putting out great stuff.
Vampire Weekend – [Contra] Will the sophomore album live up to the debut?? I might like it better. Bonus track
Broken Bells – [Broken Bells] The new project from Danger Mouse and James Mercer from The Shins! Pretty great. (Not allowed to post the link due to web sherrif!)
Yeasayer – [Old Blood] trippy awesome
Shearwater – [The Golden Archipelago] Epic. Shearwater started as a side project of Okkervil River, but have continually released amazing records of their own.
Xiu Xiu – [Dear God, I Hate Myself] Though still not “radio friendly”, this latest record is so much more so than the other Xiu Xiu releases. I like it, and the title is pretty awesome. And I read somewhere that they used a nintendo to make some of the sounds?
Real Estate - [Real Estate] Good, mellow. Kinda Fleet Foxes-ish but less dreamy?
Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) – [Heartland] So Owen decided to drop the Final Fantasy moniker for all upcoming releases. This album uses a lot more instruments than just his usual violin and voice.
Nana Grizol – [Ruth] I like this album a lot, and the singer is getting compared to Jeff Mangum, though I don’t quite see it. It kinda reminds me of Hallelujah the Hills, from Boston. Nevertheless, it has a definite Elephant 6 feel to it, as it should. Members of this band run Orange Twin Records with members of Elf Power.
Los Campesinos! – [Romance is Boring] I think they grew up a little with this record. Lot’s of good songs, but less innocent cutesyness.
Liars – [Sisterworld] More cool hipster music.
Harlem – [Hippies] Lo-Fi, garage-y, I think you’ll like it if you liked the Girls album last year.
Moonface – [Dreamland EP] Spencer Krug from Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade gives us 21 minutes of Marimba and drums and lyrics based on his dreams. Offered free or by donation on www.mooonface.ca
Charlotte Gainsbourg – [IRM] French actress, daughter of Serge Gainsbourg, collaboration with Beck…. So good.
Neil Young – [Dreamin' Man] Live takes on every song from Harvest Moon, but in different order. 1992 performance.
