Real Estate – Real Estate

A truly beautiful album, with soft guitar music and soft singing that nonetheless has a wonderful feel to it and somehow never feels boring.  Strange for such an even album, where many songs use the same guitar themes.  I love it more and more as time goes on.

Jim O'Rourke – The Visitor

One album, one amazing 40 minute track.  There's no singing, just the gentlest, subtlest guitar.  Then, as it wears on, Jim slowly draws you in with sweet little compositional tricks and weaves in other instruments.  This could soothe you while you have a deep conversation with someone, or you could listen to every note and feel its richness.  I doubt I'll ever get sick of this album.

Here's just a little sample, the only one I could find… actually not a bad pick, this is where it really starts to pick up:

Beach House – Teen Dream

On the surface, this is easy to compare to Real Estate.  Swoony/hazy guitars, gentle singing, an even-gentle feeling.  I would say that Beach House is more feminine, and the production is much more dense.  Real Estate feels stripped down, where Beach House is a thicker, more layered sound.

Toro y Moi – Causers of This

A sweet mix of gentle beats, Animal Collective-like singing, electronic sounds, and little hip-hop flourishes.

Julianna Warwick – Florine

Lay in a huge church with light streaming in the stained glass windows.  Take a deep breath and close your eyes.  Take a bong hit (this is a very accepting church).  Now put on Florine.  I think that for twenty-four minutes you'll feel like you made the right decision.

Owen Pallett – Heartland

I've never heard an Owen Pallet album before, but I really am enjoying it. I listen to about 5-10 new albums a week, often in the background. So, when one really jumps out at me after only a couple of listens I know it must be special.

I had heard it once and knew it was a "pretty album" so I put it on in the background as my girl and I lounged in bed. About midway through, I started thinking, oh wow… this album is something!

It is indeed a pretty album, and almost suitable for lazing around in bed with. (Like Real Estate, which I'm going to review next) but Owen doesn't just let his lovely singing and orchestration just meander along. He likes some catharsis;  he lets his songs swell into big, beautiful affairs that just fill you up.  Swells of wind instruments, string instruments and some impressive percussion all swirl up around his vocal themes, which sounds maybe as much like a Beach Boy than anything else. What's awesome though, is how he also mixes traditional orchestral instruments with more experimental electronic music sounds.

I always heard about but not heard Owen's other musical project: Final Fantasy, which he had to drop for obvious licensing issues, once he started to get big, but I fully intend to go back and listen now.  I also found out he wrote some of the arrangements for Arcade Fire, The Pet Shop Boys, and Beirut's The Flying Club Cup, which I also found totally inspiring.  (In fact, if you've never seen this Take-Away shows video of one of their songs, it's very worth taking the time to watch.)

This album might challenge you a little if you like mostly muzak, and might seem too poncy if you like tougher music.  But, for me, I don't even know what a single song is truly about yet and I love it.

I picked three songs in sequence that represent the part of the album that first thrilled me. See what you think:

First of all, thanks to everyone who gave "Songs That Make the Most of Few Words" suggestions. I might do a reprisal post because there were some great suggestions (I wish I'd thought of Spider!!!)

When I played The Love Language, for my friend Seth, the first thing he said was a rueful, "Oh yeah, a lot of bands are doing this lo-fi thing.  The production is just awful!"  Indeed, just about every review mentions the productions so, yeah, it sounds like they recorded it at the bottom of a well.

I hung my head a little though… in my mind I was like, "can't you tell they're giving it their all?!"

Later I read reviews of the self-titled album that said things like

cycles through a wide range of indie-rock, country, and early-pop styles, all delivered with shouty charm and in-the-red verve, roughly approximating a sock-hop-era Arcade Fire (pitchfork)

and

I listen to the Love Language because they write music I wish I’d written. I often picture myself playing these songs for some awkwardly shy, yet strikingly beautiful French girl on a jetty in Quebec, romantically duping her with my plagiarized sentiments. Dishonest, yet undeniably feasible.

and I feel like someone did actually get it.  I don't listen to this album in heavy rotation, but ultimately I can't stop listening to it.  Bad recording and all.

Midlake – The Courage of Others

This wasn't very well reviewed.  Most people seem to think it's a little too even and consistent to the point of boring.  Most people like the earlier "Trials of Van Occupanther" a lot better.  I really like that album too, but several listens puts me at odds with other people who aren't as impressed.

To me, this album shows how close Folk music and Heavy Metal really are.  At first listen it sounds like a droning, slightly dark folk album.  But as time goes on it seems like the construction and content are really more like heavy metal.  And if you LIKE the tone, then you get a whole solid album of it.  For me, I find this album great to work to, and hear little gems of lyrics, mellowly passionate singing, and some great guitar work pop out every once in a while.

Florence and the Machine – Lungs

You might not have heard of this album, but it hit #1 on the UK charts, which shocked me a little.  My girl said she thought a lot of the songs sounded "so Lilith Fair" which I can't disagree with.

At her best though, she is a passionate singer with amazing orchestral + rock and roll backing.  There's at least 6 songs on this album you really should hear.  Cosmic Love is a grandiose, sweeping statement.  Kiss With a Fist is a hot little number (and probably one of the Lilith Fair-ey ones) and I couldn't stop listening to Girl With One Eye for almost the whole month.

Ben Frost – By The Throat

Besides the totally wicked album cover, this somewhat dark, mostly ambient album is about as listenable as something from this genre can be.  With its musical drones, gentle piano and wolf noises you'll find it almost fades into the background, creating a soundtrack for dark angels to lounge on couches of thorns.  I found it works extremely well for playing video games.  I would tend to forget that I was playing the album and almost think it was a natural part of the game.

Roger Miller

An Informercial (Time/Life) I saw in Rockford got me obsessed with Roger Miller.  King of the Road is just so fucking beautiful.

Micachu still thrills me.

My mom keeps me into country music, but we don't like the same kind, exactly.  I bought this amazing album for her… I wonder if she'll get into it.

Did you know Bob Dylan curated an amazing XM radio show for 3 years?  Bob Dylan is a better-than-average DJ.

And last, but not least, Four Tet can get you laid.

Now you know, and knowing is (contrary to popular belief) 28.62% of the battle.

The Dodos, being incredibly modern, just posted their new album online in its entirety (just to listen to, not to download yet).

They put out one album as Dodo Bird, and then a second album as The Dodos, called Visiter, which I love love love love love love love.  Visiter.  Is amazing.  It's an amazing sweet cacaphony of banging, clanging, thumping and strumming that is cathartic and inspirational all at the same time.

All the passion of Visiter seems to be produced right out of Time To Die, though.  We'll see, maybe I'll fall in love with it.  Meric Long sure is a good songwriter.

Bromst is pretty sweet.  I know that the first couple of songs might freak you out, but it's not going to bore you.  It's kind of hard core and tender at the same time.  I love the cover, a lot like the Dept. Of Eagles cover, it's just one little scene highlighted in the dark of night.

Plus, they have a song called Woof Woof with a lot of meowing sounds, but even in the two songs I'm featuring here, you might not be able to get how weird the album really is.  If you like this kind of thing, then there's a lot to love in Bromst.  Even if you don't… listen to each song once, close your eyes, and let the weirdness overcome you.

I hear that when Dan Deacon performs live, he performs in the audience instead of up on stage, and has the audience participate in making the music.  That sounds cool.

Snookered:

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Woof Woof:

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You know, I started The Sweet Snob with the best intentions, but I just got so into structure that I forgot to post and have fun, and with that, I will quit it, and tell you some things I've been listening to and loving. 

Badly Drawn Boy – EP1, EP2 and EP3: Back in the bad old days of LimeWire, when you had to just download individual songs with crappy ID3 tags (the piece of info in an mp3 that makes it show up right in iTunes) I got a lot of obscure stuff without any idea where it came from.  I got into the amazing Badly Drawn Boy album The Hour of Bewilderbeast.  It's mellow and clanky and weird and beautiful, and it's also the last album Damon Gough made before he started writing total pop pablum.  Anyway, I went on LimeWire and found a bunch of his weird old lo-fi songs and loved many of them.  Now, thanks to the power of the internet, I found these somewhat rare old EP's and am enjoying these songs all over again.

Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane: Now, instead of Badly Drawn Boy, I'm impressed by Chad VanGaalen.  I feel like if Damon of Badly Drawn Boy had grown artistically, he could be making more clanky, weird lo-fi music like this.  Chad VanGaalen is more badass, and kind of rocks out in a way that Badly Drawn Boy never did.  Chad starts out all pretty with Willow Tree, but gets into some intense blooping and clanging by Phantom Anthills.  I never know what mood I have to be in to listen to this album, but when I find myself in it, this is perfect.

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion: Yes with two L's in Pavillion.  OMGWTFBBQ this album is so good.  Not too many albums that me and my friend L. Beth Suki Tsunami Yockey Jones both love (she tends to exclusively like music that hurts you) but this is one of them.  It's willfully kind and beautiful and inspiring and it's like one of those kaliedoscopes you can see through, held up to a beautiful, kind, creative hippie girl who's doing this amazing dance.   I've never loved these guys but holy crap do I love this album!

Shad – The Old Prince: This is the kind of rap I like… well, one of the kinds.  Funny, smart, literate, self-depricating but not like, Eminem-self-depricating.  Awesome sweet beats.  There's this one rap called The Old Prince Stayed at Home, where he's talking about being really thrify.  About midway through, the beat stops and one of his crew says, "What happened?"  He says, "Uhhh, I couldn't afford the rest of the beat.  I mean, he was just charging soooo much.  It wasn't worth it.  We should just, you know, vibe with it.  You know, just… I'll spit the beat and you can clap or something."

That should be good.  You guys could leave like… some comments or something.  I know you have to sign up or something, but only the first time.

I'm returning to 2007 to see how my Best Albums of 2007 list has fared this year before tackling the best of 2008.

My review from the tinyblog:

If folk music has a future, this is it. Here's a guy pulling together the history of country music, indie music, rock music and folk music. What he makes doesn't sound futuristic, it sounds like American music at it's best. I could still be listening to this album when I'm sixty.

Sam Beam has a beautiful voice, I'll give him that. I was never so impressed by him before, as it sounded like just another pretty voiced folk music guy. It really takes more than that to impress me. M. Ward did it last year with Post-War, winning me over with his sheer brilliant songwriting and explosively pretty guitar interludes. This year Sam Beam is the man to win me over, but for different reasons.

First of all, this is not just a guy with a guitar. This is an incredibly rich and harmonious instrumentation: organs, steel guitars, an amazing mix of different percussion elements, and even a few electronic sounds thrown in there. But, it doesn't jar, and the whole album has a rich, unified sound. When I close my eyes and listen to this album it's like a golden grahams commercial, with pouring streams of honey colliding mid-air with tiny crunchy graham crackers. This is not a gimmick, this is a serious album. Whatever he was going for sonically, he nailed it on every track.

Next, this is some real, mature songwriting. You want to impress me? Write a song called Resurrection Fern and don't make it painfully obvious.

If you like your music straight-up beautiful and that's your highest ethic, then this album would have been #1 for you this year.

My Sweet Snob Commentary, a year later:

I sent the song Lovesong of the Buzzard to a friend in a mix CD and she said, "If I were stranded on a desert island with only that song, I'd be happy with that."

It's true, this is an album you can listen to a lot, and I don't know if I've found the bottom of its well of beauty. It's at once serene and exciting.

Sam Beam's sweet whispery voice goes down easy, sure, but this album alternately coos and clatters and he leaves little treasures in every song.

Lovesong of the Buzzard (I probably would pick a different song if I only had one, myself):

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House by the Sea:

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I'm returning to 2007 to see how my Best Albums of 2007 list has fared this year before tackling the best of 2008.

My review from the tinyblog:

Okay, I'm always going to be tempted to call them The Nationals, or American Mary, which they almost called themselves back in 2001.When I first heard this album I thought it was pretty boring. I thought their 2003 album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers was way more inspiring.

It has grown on me, though. I'll admit, my top 4 songs carry the whole album, but those songs are great! This guy reminds me vocally of The Magnetic Fields, but without so much of the debauch sexual brokenness. The National is so much more Springsteenlike: political, a little defeated, pretty damn rockin'. By the time they shout, accusingly: "You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends!", I'm hooked.

One of the songs I love is Racing Like a Pro.  For days I had this in my head: "Your mind is racing like a pronoun." I thought for days about what such a lyric might mean, so impressed by it. Like, which pronoun? Did pronouns race? But no, that's not The National's style. The girl in the song's mind is racing like a pro, now. Oh god, that was a million years ago.

My Sweet Snob Commentary, a year later:

It's possible this one is a keeper.  There's always a Sunday late afternoon time doing errands where this is the perfect soundtrack to "last night before the work week".  The National's older albums don't even do it for me as much.  The National is the new soundtrack of being a half-awake city dweller.  And… if you live in the city you almost have to be that some of the time.  Even the I'm-so-aware-yoga-mommies of Seattle go around in a daze from the sheer weight of rules and schedules city life forces us into.

Racing Like a Pro(noun):

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Mistaken for Strangers:

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