Albums: (sorry if some of these are a little formal and such, couldnt be bothered rewriting them all so just copy and pasted from blog
)
10. Tallest Man on Earth- Shallow Graves
Simple lovely folk stuff.It took me a while to warm to this, at first I thought he was trying too hard to do a Dylan type thing, but theres a real poignancy to his warm tone and lyricism, and he also put on a great show when he toured.
9. My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges
If the whole album was as good as the first four or five songs, this could be right up there, but they get lazy in the middle and don't venture out of their comfort zone. Deserves its spot just on the amazing strength of those first few songs though.
8. The Mars Volta- The Bedlam in Goliath
Another album I absolutely love the first half of,... the second half is nigh on unlistenable though. The best I can figure theres some kind of conceptual battle between melody and dissonance going on, and melody gets pummeled for a while... Unfortunately I think the pay-off for listening thru this album isn't enough, it does my had in past track 8 or 9, so for my sanity i tend to keep to the first 5 tracks.
7. Opeth- Watershed
This is right up there with their best work, they flow so easily thru so many different styles, masterful at all of them. If I were more of a metalhead this would probably be my album of the year... or maybe it wouldnt because most of it is hardly metal at all.
6. Conor Oberst- Conor Oberst
Probably not as strong as his recent Bright Eyes output, but still really solid and Cape Carnaveral is one of the best songs he's ever written. It has strength in its straightforwardness, and never really falters.
5. Joan as Police Woman- To Survive
While not as mindblowingly sensational as its predecessor- Real Life felt like the culmination of years of work busting to come out- this is by no means a sophmore slump. The subtle arrangements which made her so entrancing to begin with are still there, and this set of compositions is another grower. It may take a while, but the sense of wellbeing it eventually exudes can’t be suppressed. There are a couple of downspots which feel a little like retracing steps, but for the most part this is simply exquisite
4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
Fucking Rock. I love this record, it's a complete balltearer. I love his dry wit and none too subtle jabs. This is how rockstars should grow old, instead of making nashville session albums thru starbucks.
3. The Gutter Twins- Saturnalia
No one does dark and foreboding like Mark Lanegan, and from the outset of The Stations you know you’re in for a ride. This is Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs trip though, taking control of this beautiful fractured beast. The band owes its name to Oscar Wilde’s famous line- “We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. Taking this as a reference point, the twins take us on a journey of human longing, with the knowledge that we can never attain our imagined dreams- “heaven so fine, heaven is quite a climb from seven stories underground”
2. Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
Bon Iver is derived from the French for ‘good winter’, and its a perfect moniker. Justin Vernon holed himself up in a solitary cabin in Wisconsin to record this, and it shows in the slow burn beauty of its ringing guitars and lo-fi soundscapes. A true album, each song builds from the previous one and feels like a slow meditation on a relationship.
1. TV on the Radio- Dear Science
This is so far ahead of anything else on the list it ain't funny. Everything is just brilliant, its infectious, funky, amazingly produced, totally accessable pop music that is dark and ominous and fucking angry about the current political situation, but as hopeful as it is deadly realist.
hmm, ill need to figure out gigs, cant think right now
never stop doing that, its great.