In the spirit of the Holidaze, I will show thanks to my favorite albums of this year. Like any "best-of" I could do, this isn't super definitive and I am sure there are a couple of ones that I forgot that I will regret. I will probably do at least one more of these by the end of the year. Happy Thanksgiving!
Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan-Hawk
I have talked and talked about this album and listened to it waaaay too many times to write anything about it now.
Pitchfork did an alright job talkin it up so go ask them. Anyways yeah it's real real good.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan from DUKOFF on Vimeo.
Wild Nothing-Gemini
Man this band crept on my hard and rapidly became one of my favorites. They encompass the term "sleeper" in almost anyway you can come up with. I paid no attention to the band when they put up their Kate Bush cover, which is odd. And then when the album came out, I liked it but didn't give it too much thought. It wasn't until the three-song Evertide ep, that I really got a good hold on them. Three songs and each one of them could have been a smash-hit, Duran Duran-big radio phenomenon...In an alternate, much much cooler universe. Revisiting the album I realized each and every song on the motherfucker was just about as good, and it was variated enough to not be monotonous, which is not the easiest thing to pull off when you are playing soft somber shit. It's all over the news, NOSTALGIA is waay big with the current generation and im a fan myself. Anyways this shit will definitely make you feel like you're living in whatever idealized past/future you've created for yourself.
WILD NOTHING - LIVE IN DREAMS from John Paul on Vimeo.
Big Boi-Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
-I knew this one was gonna be great by the steady stream of singles that came out damn near a year preceding the album release. But actually a lot of the end of the album tracks have become my favorite, the whole album reminds me of why I fell in love with songs like Skew It On the Bar-B, B.O.B, Trans DF Express(remember that one?), and pretty much all Outkast in general. I find myself putting this album on more than others, oh and the below song will forever remain my personal anthem, I smoke weed and flex in my room by myself to this shit.
Big Boi - Fo Yo Sorrows VIDEO ft.Too Short,George Clinton,SamChris from SNORTTHIS.COM on Vimeo.
Joanna Newsom-Have One On Me
In time this album could very well become my favorite album of all time. The problem is that it is sooo dense and packed to the brim with imagery and harmony and swirling strings and all that and more that even nearly 10 months later I have not been to fully grasp all three albums. I just take off a chunk or so and chew on that for a couple of months, but honestly I haven't really been able to get past "Good Intentions Paving Company" which is one of those songs that just plucks every heartstring I have, in a fashion probably not too different from the way she plays the harpstrings. But what in the hell is up with all those sex symbol press photos?! That is definitely not the spritely elf singing about clams my junior year. I mean can't say I'm objecting, I just never imagined she'd intentionally give dudes boners to sell her music, but like I said I'm not complaining.
No Age Everything In Between
I came into this album with little to no expectation beacause I wasn't that big of a fan of their earlier shit. That's what suprised me the most is because I wasn't really looking for anything in their vein, but they brought it so hard that I liked it anyway. It rocks way harder than their other albums, more concise I think. It sounds like a band really honin' in on their own sound, it's cool to listen to. They've always tried to that pulsing white-noise build up into structure thing, well I think they pulled it off the best they've ever done it on this album. They shift seamlessly from amorphic to anthemic throughout the album.
No Age - Glitter (not the video) from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.
Dum Dum Girls-I Will Be
I was an early fan of these guys especially of that song Ship of Love, but I tell you what the recording on those early releases was pretty bare-bones. This record continued the great songs from the demo and whatnot but with just enough polish. My only complaint would be that more of the older stuff wasn't re-recorded. I know bands usually get flack for that, but Im usually all for it.
I really enjoyed these as well. Dum Dum girls is probably my favorite of those. Big Boi's album is way better than this Kanye crap I just listened to.
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