so while in charlottesville, my brother and i stopped by plan 9 and he picked up the following cds, which we listened to on the way home:
okkervil river, stage names
los campesinos, sticking fingers into sockets
rilo kiley, the money maker
the black keys, something something, i forget the album name
de novo dahl, the shout EP
and maybe something else, but i was operating on like four hours of sleep.
short reviews: they all suck, except for stage names, and except for a few singles off the others. for example: you! me! dancing! by los campesinos is one of the most perfect songs i've ever heard. the rest of their album? not bad, poppy and happy, but mostly unremarkable. and i'm obsessed with silver lining off of rilo kiley's newest, but the rest of the album? ATROCIOUS! it sounds like 70s porn r&b reimagined by indie hipsters. so bad! jenny lewis's voice sounds pretty amazing, though.
anyways. if you've got any truly solid album recommendations, leave them in the comments.
Well I can't speak of the suckiness of those other albums, but the Okkervil album is pretty amazing. I bought a bunch of CDs the week before (new Spoon, I Am Barcelona, latest Dungen, plus the Okkervil album) and the only thing that wowed me was the Okkervil stuff.
Coming to DC from Austin, I've been a pretty big fan of Okkervil (and Shearwater) for quite a while & have seen them play countless times (although only Will Scheff and sporadically Jonathan Meiburg remain from the earliest days). I think this new album is a big new step-up for them,IMHO. Although to some extent, I think he/they've traded in a little of their emotional resonance for some pop hookiness. But maybe that's not all a bad thing. I certainly think it will bring a big change in their commercial success.
So don't be too hard on the others just b/c they don't measure up to the 'wow'-factor of Okkervil. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.
Other than that I don't have any helpful recommendations on new stuff. At the wolf parade show the other night, they played a bunch of new material that sounded promising. So if you like that sound, keep an eye/ear out for that...
Posted by: SC_in_DC | August 27, 2007 at 11:33 AM
The Blue Cranes, Lift Music! Flown Music!
Clive's Original Band, Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart (reish has lots of bonus tracks)
A Broken Consort, Box of Birch
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, In Glorious Times
Alec K. Redfearn & the Eyesores, The Blind Spot
My Fun, La Sonorine
Jozef van Wissem & Gary Lucas, Diplopia
All totally solid.
Posted by: ben wolfson | August 28, 2007 at 04:29 PM
Aloha - Some Echoes
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
The National - Boxer
LeJeune - For Club & Country
Iron & Wine - Woman King EP
Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue
But there's no way you don't already own all of them, right?
Posted by: Gabriel Fry | September 06, 2007 at 02:37 PM