I love the bass sound on this album. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was my last experience with the Lips - for some reason I never got around to listening to At War With the Mystics. Anyway, where Yoshimi was sunny and poppy, Embryonic is dark and heavy and intense. Both are awesome flip sides of the same coin. Album closer "Watching the Planets" is the standout track for me.
"Oh, oh, oh, finding the answer. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Finding that there ain't no answer to find."
Sunset Rubdown is supposedly the side project of Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade, but this being Sunset Rubdown's 4th album compared to Wolf Parade's 2, you could be fooled into thinking this was Spencer's main gig. Anyway, while previous albums Shut Up, I Am Dreaming and Random Spirit Lover are really good, I think Dragonslayer is their best set yet. It's got more of a live sound than its predecessors, and the strong female backing vocals really compliment Spencer's yelp quite nicely. Album opener "Silver Moons" grabs me from the start.
"I believe in growing old with grace. I believe she only loved my face. I believe I acted like a child, making faces at acquired tastes. And now silver moons belong to you..."
I love Passion Pit. I first starting getting into this Massachusetts band a few months before this album came out. Their first release was an EP called Chunk of Change. It featured an incredible song called "Sleepyhead", with chipmunk vocals and an awesome beat. That track is included here on their debut album Manners as well, for good reason, but there are new tracks that match that song's gloriousness. "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "The Reeling", and "Moth's Wings" are all spectacular. Passion Pit have a bubbly electro pop sound with strong falsetto vocals from singer Michael Angelakos. This is happy music, it puts a smile on my face. A very impressive debut, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.
"Let this be our little secret. No one needs to know we're feeling...higher and higher and higher, higher and higher and higher."
Jay-Z has become my favorite artist in hip hop. I don't know if The Blueprint 3 is his best album, but I can say pretty definitively that it's his strongest effort since he "retired" with The Black Album. Lots of great beats here. Extremely listenable. I couldn't agree more with Jigga's anti-auto-tune sentiment in "D.O.A.". "Empire State of Mind" featuring Alicia Keys is a monster of a track. To call it an anthem would be an understatement. It's the new "New York, New York". My brother Tim really isn't into hip hop, and last I checked he didn't like Jay-Z at all, but just last week we were in the car and he asked if I had that "Empire State of Mind" track on my iPhone. That's a testament to the strength of that song.
*Update*
My brother pointed out to me that although it's true he was never into Jay-Z until "Empire State of Mind", that doesn't mean he's not into hip hop. For instance, he's always been a fan of the Wu-Tang Clan. Well I stand corrected on that point.
"Yeah, I'ma up at Brooklyn, Now I'm down in Tribeca, Right next to DeNiro, But I’ll be hood forever. I’m the new Sinatra, And since I made it here, I can make it anywhere, Yeah they love me everywhere."
Dave Longstreth is the mastermind behind Brooklyn-based band Dirty Projectors, but he catapulted his experimental group into indie stardom by letting the lovely ladies of his band (Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle) take center stage. Standout track "Stillness Is the Move" is an indie R&B song, and it's straight up one of the best songs to be released all year. Taking the album as whole, the music is complicated and difficult, yet always poppy.
"Isn't life under the sun just a crazy, crazy, crazy dream?"
This album takes me to another place, and it kinda sounds like it's from another time. I don't know what time, exactly, but the music has a nostalgic and rustic quality to it. All four members of the band contribute vocals, giving the music some gorgeous vocal harmonies, though they are primarily led by two members - Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen. "Two Weeks" is epic and sounds like being at a carnival. "While You Wait for the Others" and "Southern Point" are also fantastic tracks.
"Would you always, maybe sometimes, make it easy, take your time."
Wavves is the musical project of Nathan Williams, and is part of a recent trend of lo-fi music. Nathan recorded his music on cheap equipment and it's generally rough and unpolished. But underneath that lack of production are some beautiful pop gems.
This is actually Wavves' 2nd album in a very short period of time. The first was self-titled, this one adds the extra V. The song titles are tongue-in-cheek: Summer Goth, Beach Goth, Weed Demon.
This is apocalyptic surf rock music, sunny and angsty at the same time, never taking itself too seriously. It's a lot of fun, and it's great driving music.
"Got no car, got no money. I got nothin', nothin', nothin', not at all. Got no god, got no girlfriend."
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs make the move from raw garage rock to dancey electro material. "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" are stellar singles that could rock the dancefloor. Then there are more straightforward rock songs such as "Dull Life" and "Hysteric" that are also spectacular. This is just an awesome album overall, and it's made me a huge fan of the YYY's.
"We've seen the nightmare of the lies that you speak. The beast that I lie underneath is coming in."
Atlas Sound is the solo project of Bradford Cox, frontman of Deerhunter. That's him on the cover. This has a more folk sound than the previous Atlas Sound record Let the Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannot Feel. Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) from Animal Collective and Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab provide guest vocals.
This is truly an album, not just a collection of songs. Each track flows beautifully into the next. "Walkabout", featuring Noah Lennox, might be the feel good track of the year. It's got an awesome beat to pair with Noah's vocals, it's a summer jam. "Attic Lights", on the other hand, is a haunting track driven largely by violin.
I believe this is the most underappreciated album on my list. Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, and Dirty Projectors are all receiving widespread praise. Atlas Sound, less so. Really, do yourself a favor and give this a listen. It's well worth your time.
"Forget the things you've left behind. From looking back, you may go blind."
Sooooo much has been written about this album already. I'm not sure what I can really add to the discussion at this point, but I'll give it a shot. I was first drawn in my that trippy optical illusion album art above. I had heard Animal Collective before, but I had never seriously gotten into them. This album has made them my favorite band.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is heavy on electronic instrumentation, but still manages to sound organic, from nature, fitting with their band name. There isn't a weak song in the bunch. "In the Flowers", "Summertime Clothes", and "Brother Sport" are all spectacular. But the standout is "My Girls", the best song of the year.
"I don't mean to seem like I care about material things, like a social status. I just want four walls and dobe slabs for my girls."
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