December 14, 2007
View Comments | Post CommentTrends in iPodery
Bringing up Vampire Weekend in that last post made me think about the fact that the end of the year is coming up. That means another top albums list. I imagine that this year's list will be shorter.
But anyway, that'll be a long time coming. For now, I just wanted to share some things I've been listening to that I think are pretty nifty. And then I want to know what else is pretty nifty that you've been listening to that I need to check out. The death of Oink has really put a damper on the last couple months of my music listening. Thankfully, I'm now on What.cd, which is a suitable Oink replacement, so I can now "sample" music to my heart's content again.
Artist names link to somewhere you can sample some of their stuff. In order from most accessible to least accessible (because Americans love lists):
- Sea Wolf - Leaves In The River - This is just nice, mellow, indie pop music about love, but it has enough odd aloofness to keep it very interesting.
- Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold - Dynamic British girl band that's getting a lot of buzz. This whole album has been on loop for me a lot recently. And I love that, unlike with other dynamic indie female vocalists, the music actually has a ton of atmosphere. It's kind of ominous, and perfect for winter. "Trophy" is one of my favorite songs of the year.
- Clear Tigers - EP - "Igloo" is one of my favorite songs of the year and I can't wait until these guys release a full album.
- Black Kids - Wizard Of Ahhhs - Awesome title on this EP. Their music is like a cross between The Cure and Architecture In Helsinki. It's very 80's sounding. And, incidentally, many of the band members are, in fact, black kids.
- Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals - They have an interesting sound that is quite different depending on which track you listen to. Sometimes it's like Talking Heads mixed with Indian tribal chant, other times the vocals remind me of Rio-era Duran Duran. It's really a grab-bag of different sounds, all of them interesting and fresh-sounding, but it's still engaging and in your face, unlike some indie stuff where half the tracks are nothing but ambient noises on loop.
- Le Loup - The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations Millennium General Assembly - Pretentious indie trash, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for that shit, especially when it claims to be a concept album! This is supposed to be all about Dante's divine comedy. Okay. Anyway, the album is mostly kind of just background music, but on three or four tracks it really comes together and is some amazing pop music. If the entire album were like the album's best track, "Outside Of This Car, The End Of The World!" (exclamation present in original title), then it would easily be the best album of the year.
And then there's also the new Band Of Horses album, and the new Okkervil River album, but they're well enough known that I don't feel like I need to hype them. So, what are you into right now?
Posted at December 14, 2007 3:49 AM | Comments (0)
