No order here, just a laundry list, but long overdue.
(1) Frightened Rabbit — Midnight Organ Fight
I only started listening to this a few days before the end of the year, and the first thing that struck me was that the Scottish accent and the vocal style sounded a lot like Noah and the Whale (see below). But there are a lot less pop-ish hooks and the lyrics are quite a bit more blunt, significantly harsher. Some of it is downright silly, which makes it hard to get accustomed to or to even take all that seriously. But I’m making it sound like I don’t like this record at all, which isn’t true. It’s one of those that I actually like a lot for its anthems. I like that. Even though I don’t like singing “You’re the shit and I’m knee-deep in it.” I still think that it sounds great and at least these guys are being earnest about it.
(2) Bon Iver — For Emma, Forever Ago
And this got its official release a few months into the year, though it was self-released in 2007. Of all the shows we went to this year, this was my favorite, because of the inspired 3-part harmonies and passion in the songwriting. I’ll take Lump Sum any day of the week, but the title track is also especially powerful, even more so live, because it’s louder and rocking with the driving drum beats pounding away. When they played the song Brandon covered, The Wolves, the entire crowd sang along with the chorus and on queue, we all broke into a screaming cacophony—It was a site to see. If I had to give just one recommendation on who to see live, of all the people I saw live this year, it’d be these guys.
(3) Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Pershing
These are the guys we went and saw on our anniversary last year, and it was nice to hear the new songs live. I wondered why they aren’t more popular, especially considering these guys are picking up where The Shins left off. A few of these songs are very, very good, but there’s plenty of decent songs on the album as whole. As far as strength of an album goes, this falls a little bit lower on the list, but overall, still one of my favorite albums of the year.
(4) The Tallest Man on Earth — Shallow Graves
One of the few times I’ve been to a show and saw the guy play and was really rather blown away. The site of him was actually a little bit distracting. It’s actually just one dude, a skinny Swedish guy and his guitar and he has finger-picking madness and this voice that carries like the wind over water. I don’t know much else about him except that on the record he sounds a little bit like Bob Dylan. His words are pretty wrenching though, so I picked up the album after seeing him live and listened to it for a week, days at a time on repeat. Of all these things on here, this is the recommendation I have to pick up most for something a little bit off the beaten path of all the other indie-rock crap I’m slinging over here.
(5) Nada Surf — Lucky
Now, as far as general indie-rock crap that I sling, this is probably the winningest of that bunch. Nada Surf, after releasing Let’s Go, put out a couple of other records that didn’t quite catch my attention like this one did. This is another one of those albums that is especially good throughout. Outstanding tracks: “I Like What You Say”, “Whose Authority”. Brandon and I had entertained the thought of covering “The Film Did Not Go ‘Round”, but then I got busy and didn’t do anything for it. Kind of like how I still haven’t printed the covers for IRCMT 2008. By the way, there’s a possibility that someone is going to get me another song sometime soon. G-Dub, you hearin’ me?
(6 )She & Him — Volume One
More M. Ward, I think, but this is a pretty nice album. I don’t know though, the more I think about it, the more fleeting this feels. Ah, who am I kidding, this spent a significant amount of time in the headphones, so it deserves a good mention. M. Ward just came out with a new album recently, I should go get that now.
(7) Noah and the Whale — Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
The only reason I went out and got this one is because of the Take Away Show they did. One of the songs they do on the train in Paris, which was pretty great and reminded me of taking the train to the Eiffel Tower. These guys seem fun and that fiddle playing is a nice touch. The album itself is a good listen but also rather benign when it comes down to it, and then there’s also the matter of recognizing that one song from that one commercial. These things don’t matter much to me, especially since I hope one day I’ll get paid to hock goods on the television, but it’s still a little odd.
(8) Vampire Weekend — S/T
I like to just complain about these guys no matter how much they get stuck in my head and how much I have listened to them over the past year. The songs are undeniably catchy, but you’ll also hear me complain about how they’re so referential to NE-Ivy-League wink-wink sort of thing, a little like how Beirut likes to give that we’re-not-European-but-we’re-not-going-to-say-we’re-not-European-and-if-you-think-we-are-then-that-well-that’s-cool-too feel. Somehow this is different than Blake from Jawbreaker’s English lilt throughout Dear You. But if you get the headphone time, then you get a place on the list. I like this album, no matter what you catch me saying about it any other time.
(9) Death Cab for Cutie — Narrow Stairs
Okay, so here we are again! These guys will always hold a special place in my heart regardless of what they do on a record, that’s just the truth. Everyone’s going to have their own opinion on this because it’s just that way now, but I really like a few of these songs quite a bit, including: “Cath”, “Grapevine Fires”, the former because the drums sound a lot like old Death Cab—strong pounding toms and kick, and the latter because the lyrics are more thoughtful and crafted than anything I”d heard in a while. I still have quite the soft spot for earlier Death Cab, but I appreciated the self-indulgent minutes long intro on their single and thought that dabbling in slowcore was something they used to do, and they do it well, but it does get a bit tiresome. This was a welcome change.
That’s all I have for now, but I’m sure there is something I’m missing but I’d rather get this up than wait till it’s complete, because it never will be!
I hope everyone’s doing great, and thanks for your patience on all this IRCMT 2008 stuff. I’ll get it done, come hell or highwater. Have a good weekend, kids.
