This has been a good thread, as it's guided some music purcahses of mine:
Rilo Kiley "Under the Black Light" - This release is what it is: brilliantly executed alterna-pop. In that context, I cannot fault a single track.
Iron & Wine "The Shepherd's Dog" - This trippy folk-rock release hit me square between the eyes, and it is making me seek out their previous releases. Amazing.
Band of Horses "Cease to Begin" and "Everything All the Time" - While I wish "Everything..." had the same production sensability of "Cease...", the writing is better on "Everything..." However, both are solid releases that I'd recommend.
The National "Boxer" - At first, I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, then I 'got it'. Just like "Under the Black Light" you need to take the whole work in context, then the individual pieces make more sense. Very mature and thoughtful, particularly to those who have had to deal with the transition. Currently in heavy rotation. Brilliant.
Arcade Fire "Neon Bible" - So far, it's not doing it for me. I'm not ready to discount it, though.
Interpol "Our Love to Admire" - I was really looking forward to finally buying this, and it hasn't done it for me, either. Just like "Neon Bible", I'm not ready to throw it out the window, but I did expect more. Just I'll just have to put on "Turn on..." and listen to "The New" over and over...
LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver" - This one snuck up on me. I think it's good, but I'm not going to call it great. Until I did some research on LCD Soundsystem, I would have swore it was some middle-school kids messing around with Garageband on their Mac.
Rilo Kiley "Under the Black Light" - This release is what it is: brilliantly executed alterna-pop. In that context, I cannot fault a single track.
Iron & Wine "The Shepherd's Dog" - This trippy folk-rock release hit me square between the eyes, and it is making me seek out their previous releases. Amazing.
Band of Horses "Cease to Begin" and "Everything All the Time" - While I wish "Everything..." had the same production sensability of "Cease...", the writing is better on "Everything..." However, both are solid releases that I'd recommend.
The National "Boxer" - At first, I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, then I 'got it'. Just like "Under the Black Light" you need to take the whole work in context, then the individual pieces make more sense. Very mature and thoughtful, particularly to those who have had to deal with the transition. Currently in heavy rotation. Brilliant.
Arcade Fire "Neon Bible" - So far, it's not doing it for me. I'm not ready to discount it, though.
Interpol "Our Love to Admire" - I was really looking forward to finally buying this, and it hasn't done it for me, either. Just like "Neon Bible", I'm not ready to throw it out the window, but I did expect more. Just I'll just have to put on "Turn on..." and listen to "The New" over and over...
LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver" - This one snuck up on me. I think it's good, but I'm not going to call it great. Until I did some research on LCD Soundsystem, I would have swore it was some middle-school kids messing around with Garageband on their Mac.