01 Jim White – Transnormal Skiperoo
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Fantastically curated Southern Gothic tales full with quirky moral imperatives; These delicately delicious stories are cloaked in an airy cinematic wrapper of consistently well-executed backwoods/alt.country/Americana soundscapes.
Another fabulous Jim White album in the continuing search for “the gold tooth in God’s crooked smile.” |
02 She & Him – Volume One
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Simply easy-to-listen-to late-60’s/early-70s California AM radio bliss. Great originals and sublime covers pulse with a tangible sonic heartbeat, provided by M Ward. Zooey Deschanel delivers fun, breezy lyrics for classic-sounding love songs. Ahhh, simple pleasures… |
03 Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
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A highly nuanced, country-ish romp with intelligent lyrics and slacker-esque emoting. Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea has far less darkness, despair and self-loathing than previous Silver Jews albums at times bordering on the mildly positive (uplifting even?!?). This is true modern American poetry, writen on a beer coozy.
“Then he came at me with some fist cuisine” = best lyric of the year. |
04 Bubblegum Lemonade – Doubleplusgood
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Insanely great throwback 60’s jangle-pop tour-de-force, run through a fantastic, tone-perfect, J&MC-esque reverb filter. I could live forever with just this sound…
See also: Strawberry Whiplash |
05 Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
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At times arena-rock, at times bedroom sprawl, Saturnalia is a dark, powerful, and thoroughly modern album covering territory all across the indie-rock-noir landscape. Sonically adventurous, with endless instrumental nuances, tied together via Lanegan’s rough barritone and Dulli’s swagger. |
06 Throw Rag – 2nd Place
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An awesomely manic desert-amalgam of punk-country-rockabilly-garage-kitchensink. Sloppy, slobbery, ass-out, and carefree – these guys remember that rock is about having a good time. |
07 Calexico – Carried to Dust
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A full return to the smoky, desert-cinematic, soundscapes they do best. Filled with sonic drama and unexpected experimental moments, Carried to Dust documents a confidently inspired band coalescing a very eclectic outlook into a relaxed, comfortable whole.
And they’re even better live … |
08 Black Keys – Attack and Release
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The Keys continue their classic dirty-blues-rock sound, this time having DJ Danger Mouse put a crisp, clean shine over the top. A much more rounded (and less aggressive) sound, with clever added instrumentation and songwriting depth.   |
09 The Young Republic – 12 Tales From Winter City
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Excellent, arty, symphonic pop. A genre-hopping mix of pop and rock, all faintly underlined with a modern country feel, 12 Tales From Winter City functions as a great winter shut-in soundtrack. Subtle comparisons to Lloyd Cole are right on the money. |
10 The Kills – Midnight Boom
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Angular, punky and uber-sexy, this is a raging cool-brat howler. Hopscotch beats lead jarring guitars and swarming vocals to a seductive and coherent punk-blues destination that is as hip as it is unique. A supernova waiting to explode. |
Other notables:
King Khan & the Shrines – The Supreme Genius of…
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Super-duper-great psychedelic garage-rock, big-band style. This collection of tracks from the near-past of the incomperable King Khan are a great re-introduction to their weird brand of awesome. Supreme genius indeed!!! |
Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight
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Awesome skittering folk-rock anthemz. Well-executed throughout with a fun bar-rock feel. The f-bomb chorus of “Keep Yourself Warm” makes this fairly NSFW. |
Tilly & the Wall – O
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Infectuous, breezy pop-pop-pop fun. Full of attitude, crazy rythyms, and anthemic shouts. PS: Have a tap-dancer instead of a drummer… |
Johnossi – All They Ever Wanted
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A pair of Swedish friends (John & Ossi) cranking up some serious blues-rock-punk action!! |
Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
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Lush, complicated, adventurous ambient-rock. Has ample space for individual listener head-exploration, with enough structure to soothe. Has the long-lost ‘shoegaze’ scene found a new leader? |
Matthew Sweet – Sunshine Lies
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One of the masters of power-pop returns (with the usual strong cast) to crank out another album of bright pop hooks, fuzzy guitars, and finely crafted melodies. Another great addition to the catalog. |
Delta Spirit – Ode To Sunshine
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A rolicking barroom stomp. Wobbly roots rock and a rough catch-all style combine to create a boisterous, carefree party. |
Black Diamond Heavies – A Touch Of Someone Else’s Class
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Staggeringly wild, fuzzed-out organ-drums blues, topped by a Waits-esque howl. Not for the faint of heart, but devotees will be righteously rewarded. Feat. an awesome Ike & Tina Turner cover! |
Blitzen Trapper – Furr
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Tightened up indie-folk full of polished, fun, tunes. A touch of alt.country rides over the multi-influenced sound, with plenty of aural nuggets in the mix. |
White Denim – Workout Holiday
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A great party record, full of wacky tunefulness and deconstructed structures. Challenging, but worth it. (DrB’s fave new ‘home-town’ band?) |
Radishes – Strychnine EP
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Crunchy, punky, heavy-garage-rock with an ‘as great as advertised’ Lennon cover (I Found Out) |
The Aliens – Luna
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Brilliantly crazy experimental psychedelic-rock brain-melter. Also crazy-catchy and engaging as hell. (ex-Beta Band members, nuffsaid) |
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Sunday at Devil Dirt
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Only supremely talented and adventurous artists would dare try to make this pairing work – much less succeed at crafting a sound this coherent and beautiful. (and Mark Lanegan makes yet another appearance on a DrB list…) |
Foxboro Hottubs – Stop Drop And Roll
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Highly recognizable, garage-tinted, power-pop-punk. Not earthshaking, but fun as hell. (PS: actually a Green Day alter ego) |
Gentleman Auction House – Alphabet Graveyard
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Very original, very well, done modern indie-pop. Largely drum driven, with energetic and melodic lyrics, they leave plenty of space in the mix – to great effect. |
Nightmares on Wax – Thought So…
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Catchy, bouncy, dub-inflected, mellow party tracks. Let the disc roll, grab a drink (or whatever), and watch the party get started. Another fine N.O.W. release. |
band – album
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Too late for the list, but definite contenders