To continue my slight nudging back to topic, I present some other recent albums for discussion:
Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites
Anybody else heard this one? I've only had it for a little bit, so I haven't been able to formulate a full opinion, but I still think I like it. I dub 2006 the year of highly confident, well-produced/written, standard indie albums.
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
I mentioned this earlier, but, seriously, this is an amazing album. If you sorta like The Decemberists, but wish they focused more on the music, and less on the stories, you will probably enjoy this album. If you liked The Decemberists anyway, you might be a little torn. As a huge Decemberists fan, I think that this may be their best album.
Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island
I'm gonna talk about how great this album is until I'm blue in the face.
Cursive - Happy Hollow
I was searching for advance reviews, and this seems to be getting a mixed reception. So what? They ditched the cello. They got a kick-ass horn section! It's like The Mars Volta's little anglo brother, who is sorta emo. You'll notice I make a lot of Mars Volta comparisons...I don't know why that is.
Akron/Family - Meek Warrior
It's kinda like what Comets on Fire's Avatar is to Blue Cathedral; where the self-titled took a lot of patience to appreciate, Meek Warrior hooks you in immediately, and pretty much never lets up. I love it.
Originally posted by nathanielkt: To continue my slight nudging back to topic, I present some other recent albums for discussion:
Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites
Anybody else heard this one? I've only had it for a little bit, so I haven't been able to formulate a full opinion, but I still think I like it. I dub 2006 the year of highly confident, well-produced/written, standard indie albums.
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
I mentioned this earlier, but, seriously, this is an amazing album. If you sorta like The Decemberists, but wish they focused more on the music, and less on the stories, you will probably enjoy this album. If you liked The Decemberists anyway, you might be a little torn. As a huge Decemberists fan, I think that this may be their best album.
Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island
I'm gonna talk about how great this album is until I'm blue in the face.
Cursive - Happy Hollow
I was searching for advance reviews, and this seems to be getting a mixed reception. So what? They ditched the cello. They got a kick-ass horn section! It's like The Mars Volta's little anglo brother, who is sorta emo. You'll notice I make a lot of Mars Volta comparisons...I don't know why that is.
Akron/Family - Meek Warrior
It's kinda like what Comets on Fire's Avatar is to Blue Cathedral; where the self-titled took a lot of patience to appreciate, Meek Warrior hooks you in immediately, and pretty much never lets up. I love it.
Of these, I've only heard Mew, and I think it's pretty good. There's a thread in Indie Rock if you want to discuss it more.
The Heads - Under The Stress Of A Headlong Dive (Alternative Tentacles)
Don't like Wolfmother? This band has all the Sabbath fuzz you'll ever need mixed with the better space rock jam band qualities of Acid Mothers Temple. It's the best release from Alternative Tentacle I've heard in some time.
________________________________________________________ "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson tinymixtapes.com / The Skinny / PopMatters
Well, the new Lambchop album is a classic. "What's wrong with that?" indeed. Good man Kurt...
Can't wait for Tuesday so I can pick this up. I wish I'd ordered it online so I would have my copy by now. I love the tracks I've heard so far, and assume that if it isn't my favorite album of the year, it will be darn close to the top.
Yeah, it's beautiful alright, and the bonus disc really sheds some light on the album proper. The whole thing took me a few listens for it to click, but now that it has, there really isn't a bad song in sight...
Posts: 354 | Location: Havana, Cuba | Registered: 14 March 2006
All right, this is a bit like cheating since I right now have Beirut as the best record of 2006, but "Etiquette" by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is really, really good. Very high standard.
Posts: 260 | Location: Stockholm | Registered: 30 November 2005
Originally posted by Malondron: All right, this is a bit like cheating since I right now have Beirut as the best record of 2006, but "Etiquette" by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is really, really good. Very high standard.
Etiquette is definitely very near the top for me as well. Beirut is too.
Posts: 3130 | Location: FoCo | Registered: 07 January 2005
To me Liars - Drum's Not Dead is the best so far. Beirut is ok, but there doesn't seem to be much variaty on the album. And also, I'm from eastern Europe so I'm probably tired of all this oriental stuff. A good record anyway.
Yes, Drum's Not Dead is very high for me too. I also am pretty used to eastern European music, and for me one of the most interesting things with the Beirut album is that it is not just eastern European music, but just heavily influenced. Rather like eastern European music appearing in a dream: recognizable, but something is "different", if you know what I mean. Actually, I had a cool experience a few days ago on the commuter train. I was listening to one of the later songs on the album, when a trumpet played some small sequence, slightly off key in my left ear. I have not listened to the album so much in ear phones yet, so I just thought: "Hmm, cool that it just enters from the left. A pity about the intonation though." A second later I realize that the trumpet is not actually in the song, but there is a small gypsy band playing for coins in the train! Quite cool. Later the same day I had another strange experience on the subway when a woman from Romania sang an originally Greek folk song (I know it) in Romanian with only a few words from the refrain being in Greek. Pretty weird.
Posts: 260 | Location: Stockholm | Registered: 30 November 2005
Upon first listen, The Thermals' The Body, The Blood, The Machine is pretty awesome. Pitchfork finally gave me a good recommendation this year. Indie Rock that actually rocks. Imagine that.
----- Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.
Posts: 5270 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 19 June 2005
Originally posted by ericq75: Upon first listen, The Thermals' The Body, The Blood, The Machine is pretty awesome
I haven't heard this one yet, but their last album rocked pretty hard too. Pretty straight up punk stuff with sort of a shoegazer feel to it, which is a good thing. The opening song was completely brilliant. I think it was called "Our Trip".
Posts: 1376 | Location: Valparaiso, IN | Registered: 01 July 2006
Originally posted by nathanielkt: To continue my slight nudging back to topic, I present some other recent albums for discussion:
Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites
Anybody else heard this one? I've only had it for a little bit, so I haven't been able to formulate a full opinion, but I still think I like it. I dub 2006 the year of highly confident, well-produced/written, standard indie albums.
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
I mentioned this earlier, but, seriously, this is an amazing album. If you sorta like The Decemberists, but wish they focused more on the music, and less on the stories, you will probably enjoy this album. If you liked The Decemberists anyway, you might be a little torn. As a huge Decemberists fan, I think that this may be their best album.
Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island
I'm gonna talk about how great this album is until I'm blue in the face.
Cursive - Happy Hollow
I was searching for advance reviews, and this seems to be getting a mixed reception. So what? They ditched the cello. They got a kick-ass horn section! It's like The Mars Volta's little anglo brother, who is sorta emo. You'll notice I make a lot of Mars Volta comparisons...I don't know why that is.
Akron/Family - Meek Warrior
It's kinda like what Comets on Fire's Avatar is to Blue Cathedral; where the self-titled took a lot of patience to appreciate, Meek Warrior hooks you in immediately, and pretty much never lets up. I love it.
Meek Warrior is ridiculous in every way shape and form. I love these guys and everything they touch. Also "Crane Wife" is growing on me. I still am not crazy about it, but have haven't put it aside. Junior Boys "So This Is Goodbye" have been lighting up my speakers lately. This is also a very solid album.
Originally posted by ericq75: Upon first listen, The Thermals' The Body, The Blood, The Machine is pretty awesome
I haven't heard this one yet, but their last album rocked pretty hard too. Pretty straight up punk stuff with sort of a shoegazer feel to it, which is a good thing.
Pitchfork called them a politically charged punk band, which I thought was a bit misleading. I generally don't like modern punk music, and it sort of implies they ought to be playing on the Warped Tour or something. The Thermals play a much artier brand of punk, more akin to Mission of Burma or Sleater-Kinney. The album's also incredibly catchy despite the bleak 'anti-religious right' subject matter.
----- Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.
Posts: 5270 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 19 June 2005
The opening song was completely brilliant. I think it was called "Our Trip".
Yes! That opening track on Fuckin' A kicked ass. I was so addicted to that song that anything else I heard from them was a bit of a letdown, and I don't think I ever got through the whole album because of that.
I'd definitely nominate Mew, although I'm pretty sure it came out last year. Also "Destroyer's Rubies", "Silent Shout", "Twin Cinema", "The Greatest", "Fox Confessor...", "At War with the Mystics", "Wolfmother".
********************** Metal-Archives POTD
quote:
I'm looking for Russian Militant Black Metal. Semi-good production is a plus, as are clean vocals (if kept to a minimum). Also looking for vocals in Russian. Basically like a Russian version of Absurd...
Posts: 939 | Location: Ain'T it stiLl obvious? | Registered: 22 August 2006
Originally posted by ezkcdude: I'd definitely nominate Mew, although I'm pretty sure it came out last year. Also "Destroyer's Rubies", "Silent Shout", "Twin Cinema", "The Greatest", "Fox Confessor...", "At War with the Mystics", "Wolfmother".
Twin Cinema definitely came out last year.
Posts: 3130 | Location: FoCo | Registered: 07 January 2005
I can never quite tell if the albums you guys talk about are albums that are already out, or albums that you've heard on leaks.
I KNOW Decemberists isn't out. What about Mew, Cursive, and all those other ones you mentioned?
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies is really persevering as one of the best albums of the year for me. All the other of my favorites this year other than Silent Shout I kind of waver on.
Originally posted by ezkcdude: I'd definitely nominate Mew, although I'm pretty sure it came out last year. Also "Destroyer's Rubies", "Silent Shout", "Twin Cinema", "The Greatest", "Fox Confessor...", "At War with the Mystics", "Wolfmother".
Twin Cinema definitely came out last year.
Not only did "Twin Cinema" come out last year, it was one of -- if not the -- best albums of 2005. I think it may be the best album of the decade, so far.
