16. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP This was the EP that Sufjan released online when he announced that he would also be releasing Age of Adz. This cd is pretty awesome despite the fact that about a third of the album is comprised of two versions of the same title track. It's all real good. Basically Sufjan is giving his fans a little bit of old fashioned banjo music before Adz came string-plucking free.
This band is comprised of the singer of the Shins, James Mercer, and one uber dj, aka 1/2 of Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse. This Cd is not actually as good as I had hoped it would be which is why it sits lowly in the fifteen spot here, but there are a couple of songs on here that are Extremely good (Vaporize, Mongrel Heart, The Mall & the Misery) and the rest are still pretty good. If you like the shins you'll probably like this too.
James Murphy returns in what is most likely his final go round as LCD Soundsystem. While that does suck, he has left us with a gem, not quite Sound of Silver but also not trying to be. It is full of big overwhelming beats and Murphy getting crazy. Check out One Touch and also I Can Change
First solo album from the lead singer of Bloc Party, one of my all time fav bands. This Cd is like Bloc Party with more electronics. It is basically pretty much awesome. On the Lam is particularly great as it features Kele's vocals changed to sound like a woman's, all being layed down over crazy ass dance beats. Love them dance beats.
More of the same from Minus the Bear: singing bout sex and drinking and general philandering while backing it up with straight up rock sounds with electronics. Good thing that the Same Old is still really good. not quite as epic as Planet of Ice was, but still solid with standout tracks being Dayglow Vista Rd and Secret Country.
The much awaited return of Sufjan Stevens to a traditional Cd release. And while most were hoping for Illinois pt Deux, that is not what came. In fact, that anticipation is what prevented Stevens from being able to make this Cd earlier, for fear of letting down the large expectations. What we get is a bunch of electronics and sad sad songs that are spectacular. Saw this album played live and it was pretty much the greatest thing ever. Check out I Walked and Get Real Get Right. Only you, Sufjan, will get me to sing about God.
I don't know what to say about these guys except that they make a new album almost every year and every time it is amazing. This one might be the best with its luscious sweeping guitars and haze. This Cd switches between sad dreary nightmares to light folky dreams. Best tracks are the Jay Reatard-dedicated He Would Have Laughed and Revival (it makes me wanna dance everytime). This album has prevented me from committing boredom related suicide while taking the train home from Chi-Town numerous times.
A Cd that I bought strictly because an article in Rolling Stone described them as Dream Pop. I was in. Turned out to be a good decision because this album was my underground discovery of the year. Everyone I play this Cd for likes it, and it often gives me and Zoe something to enjoy together in the car. Beautifully sung, full of angst and pain, this one's a good one, so good in fact that one song was used in a Reese's commercial. Take that Snickers! Every song on this cd is good. Go BUY it!
The follow up to Antidotes (My favorite album of my college years, and often a drinking companion to Brian and Me). It is much slower than its predecessor but still has its jam out moments. It sounds like that band recorded it underwater, and the sound held up when I went to see them earlier this year. My favorite song on this album is After Glow. The fact that this is number eight is a testament to the sheer abundance of good music I came across this year.
I heard of Flying Lotus through Adult Swim, because is is played during the bumps quite often. I listened to Los Angeles a ton and then when this new album came out, I leaped on it, hoping to at least hear Friday Night Funk (a clip played often during AS). It's buried in there somewhere along with Radiohead's Thom Yorke, ping pong balls, bad ass jazz bass solo, and everything else you could possibly imagine. This is an album to be listened to as a whole and quite frequently. Once you get over the shock of it all, you learn to listen to which sound is the beat and go along for the ride.
I'm a sucker for chick singers, and this is a female rock quartet, so I love it. It's gloomy and beautiful and full of awesome progged out instrumental sections. Composure has a crazy low vocalled intro and outro. It's just all really really good. Everyone should listen to this band and just enjoy it all. The only bad thing about this album is that I can't find it anywhere to buy, so I am gonna have to get it on Amazon. I never buy anything on Amazon cuz I hate paying shipping, so this is how good this band is.
Probably my third or fourth favorite band. New Cd kinda rolls together as one big experience. I have listened to it over and over again and I never get sick of it. There is a little bit of new stuff introduced to Interpol's sound that has come from Paul Banks's solo album. Basically if you like Interpol you will like this Cd. I like how the album feels like a big breakup, possibly because the band was in the process of the departure of long time bassist Carlos D. while making the album. If you want a sampler of what the album has to offer, Download Summer Well and Safe Without.
04) Deftones - Diamond EyesI Love the Deftones. Always have, always will. This album is pretty much just a little bit more hard Deftones, but it's really awesome. Crazy winding guitar riffs, thrashing drum beats. You've Seen the Butcher is intense and pounding. This is just classic Deftones, if you like em, you'll like it.
I bought this album and Spoon's Transference at the same time in March, when I was working a ton and life was crazy confusing, and I had been working on a super long drought of finding really good music. This album ended that drought, perpetually occupying a spot in my car's Cd player for all of the remaining nights of warm spring deliveries. I love the crazy electronics and the different rapping styles, the sad ballad Broken, everything. It's all over the place yet seems coherently complete. Buy this Cd, don't be a fool.
Kanye did it again, everyone doubted him and he knocked it out of the park. This album is so good that it erases all thoughts of Kanye's personality. Just listen to it two times and all you can hear is genius, tons of amazing cameos (most notably Jay-Z and Nikki Monaj), tons of amazing beats and guitar riffs, and electronic fuzzouts, and some Elton John. So Apalled is amazing despite the chorus consisting of the line "I Mean This Shit is Fucking Ridiculous!" What's ridiculous is that Kanye somehow continues to make better albums than all of the ones that came before him.
01) Spoon - TransferenceAs mentioned before, I got this with the Gorillaz album, and I pretty much stopped listening to anything other than these two albums for months on end. Like two times a delivery shift, it was crazy. This album is a demo-esque version of Spoon, and it is really rewarding. Lots of little glitches and headphone moments, half words and reverbed effects. Every song makes me happy and this album made working seventy hours a week slightly pleasant. Get this album, listen to it, listen to it again, prepare to do nothing else for a while.
