THE NATIONAL LIGHTS the dead will walk, dear

this album has really gotten into my brain over the last week or so. at first listen, it may just sound like another pretty (indie?) folk album. but the melodies and harmonies are so haunting that you'll revisit it again and again, each time becoming more engrossed by the various musical layers, the lyrics about death and rape (seriously! and set against such beautiful tunes..), and, again, those lucious male/female harmonies employed on nearly every track. this is a true gem of an album, and one that if enough people heard, i think would be considered a classic album of the genre (sorta like that bon iver album caught on last year). actually, i highly recommend this if you like bon iver or the mountain goats. 2007.

OLD 97'S too far to care

the best album from my latest obsession. the old 97's are an alt-country/rock band with an amazing sense of melody and featuring the genius lyrics of rhett miller.

"This is my favorite Old 97's album, and it ranks with the very best of the so-called alt-country genre. In fact, I'm not so sure that this album qualifies as alt-country, since the "country" dimension has been so thoroughly supplanted by surf-punk guitars, rolling drums, and lyrics about urban life. This album is everything rock and roll ought to be--it's fun and loud, and it rewards multiple listens. There's not a single dud on this album, but my favorites are "Timebomb," "Barrier Reef," "Just Like California," and the scorching collaboration with Exene Cervenka, "4 Leaf Clover.""

it is one of my all-time favorite albums. highly, highly recommended. 1997.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE how it feels to be something on

i'll save my last post for the day for an album that i've always loved, but has recently become one of those "top [insert number]" albums for me. this is one of those records that has its own very special feeling and atmosphere about it that you can't get anywhere else (like talk talk, for instance, has a monopoly on pretty much an entire genre of music that only they have played). sure, other bands have combined a midwestern emo aesthetic with indie rock. but no one has ever done it like this, or done it this well. the lyrics are absurdly awesome; the guitar and basswork are so perfect, as is the drumming; and, of course, jeremy enigk's vocal performance is one of my all-time favorites.

here, SDRE go off and just transcend whatever genre they were in before. much like radiohead did with ok computer, and talk talk* did with spirit of eden, they just create an entity unto itself. i consider this an essential masterwork, and i hope everyone in the world one day hears it and loves it. 1998.

* - apologies for bringing up talk talk twice in a post about SDRE, as they really have nothing in common aside from being totally fucking awesome

KOENJIHYAKKEI angher shisspa

outstanding japanese avant-prog/zeuhl. can't really say that much more about it, as it sorta defies words. unlike pretty much anything you may have heard before (and that's coming from a huge magma fan!). 2005.

WILCO summerteeth

my favorite album from the seminal chicago group. here they start branching out from their alt-country origins. lots of great pop sensibility and sonic experimentation. pretty much a perfect album. 1999.

MONO hymn to the immortal world

cuz it's mono, so it's automatically great. epic, orchestral post-rock from the japanese masters. 2009.

ULVER teachings in silence

compilation of the silencing the singing and silence teaches you how to sing EPs (both released in 2001). this is haunting, dramatic glitch/dark ambient work, a particular sound here that the band never really touched on again (there are traces of it in lyckantropen themes and shadows of the sun). these EPs are quite overlooked, and the last 3 tracks (from the silence teaches ep) are especially wonderful. 2002.

ULVER lyckantropen themes

glitch/dark ambient/electronic music from the norwegian group. this is my personal favorite ulver recording; it possesses an incredible atmosphere that i've never really encountered in any other music. very dark and austere, sorta like watching a film noir or listening to tim hecker, but somehow more personal. when the piano bit comes in on the 7th track my soul is lifted to places it has never been before. give it a shot, as i doubt you've heard anything like this before. 2002.

GHASTLY CITY SLEEP ghastly city sleep

one of the prettiest albums i've ever heard. shoegazey post-rocky sorta stuff, but never really getting into the whole mogwai sound. connections to city of caterpillar, majority rule, gregor samsa, and pageninetynine, so you know it's gotta be good. highly recommended.

"it sounds like parachuting into the arctic."

2007.

NEIL YOUNG on the beach

perhaps less acclaimed than the aforeposted NY album, but perhaps more important (and better).

Wow, Neil's flipped out and joined "the family" or something. You might think it could only get better from there, but you'd be wrong. This ain't for rainbows and unicorns here baby, better leave that to T. Rex or somebody, this here is like Alice in Chains in 1974 and I couldn't possibly love it any more than I do.

This album was reportedly made under the influence of honey slides, a rather noxious combination of honey and marijuana invented by fiddle player Rusty Kershaw who played on the album. Apparently this stuff would really put it on you, and the pace and tempo of the album would certainly confirm those rumors, not to mention the fact that they were cooked up at a rate of a reported pound a week. Yeah, that explains a lot.

The songs themselves range from the singular up-tempo "Walk On," through a trilogy of "blues" titled tunes and some other ditties you've probably never heard on Sesame Street I'm betting. They cover a variety of subjects from disillusionment to relationship disintegration and other happy subjects along those lines.

If you are a Neil fan and don't own this go get it now. If you are new to Neil, you better wait on this one. This one here is a different beast entirely than those pretty records like After the Gold Rush and Harvest. This one here is creepy man, be prepared. It's also one of the absolute best in my collection.

essential. 1974.

NEKO CASE fox confessor brings the flood

neko case, known mostly for her work with the new pornographers, also releases fantastic alt-country/singer-songwriter material under her own name. her most prominent asset (aside from her gorgeous red locks) is her mesmerizing voice, and it's on full display here:

If Neko Case isn't the reigning queen if alt. country, I don't know who is. Employing The Sadies, Calexico, and Giant Sand's Howe Gelb, Neko's self-produced fourth solo album is a certain ambiance shift from her last traditional covers laden release The Tigers Have Spoken, despite maintaining the animal imagery. Fox Confessor rides a heavier dark and sombre vibe with Case's lyrics apparently waking up from the disillusionment of the Hollywood propagated notion of some rewardingly presented all encompassing love that's crammed down our throats from a young age (though I don't understand how anyone could believe Jennifer Lopez is even capable of loving anyone besides herself). While legions of accountants and secretaries flock to the banal, unchallenging likes of Jack Johnson, Case wraps her singer-songwriter roots folk vocals and vision around country, twisting it to accept everything from moody psychedelic rock to eloquent orch-pop. The brilliant symphony of a household’s mental downfall, "Dirty Knife" exhibits all the best qualities of where she’s at now. Move aside, Wilco. It's Neko's turn now.

2006.

WHISKEYTOWN stranger's almanac

a brilliant alt-country album from ryan adams and co. the sound is less ryan adams than his solo stuff (imagine that), but the quality is extremely high. this band was fucking phenomenal, and this is possibly their best work. ranks way up there with the best of the genre. originally released in 1997, this is the deluxe edition from 2008 with copious amounts of (excellent) bonus tracks.

CEASE UPON THE CAPITOL cease upon the capitol

extremely passionate and intense screamo with a post-rock influence. there are a lot of bands doing this sort of thing now, but this is certainly among the best. it's strangely really catchy to me, too - when i pop it in, i usually don't take it out for a few days. for fans of daitro, envy, orchid, jerome's dream, etc. 2006.

BOTCH we are the romans

THE definitive mathcore album. this monster will bludgeon you over the head. it's like if converge slowed down for a while. technical, dissonant madness. like dillinger? converge? all those other bands that ripped off those two? well, this band arguably started that shit, and they pretty much perfected it. and, interestingly, some of the lads in this group went on to form seattle indie/math rockers minus the bear. 1999.

SIGUR RÓS ( )

you probably have it, but i can't live without it, so neither should you. to me, it's the icelandic group's best album. 8 intensely beautiful tracks: the first four more on the low-key side, showcasing their penchant for making slow, drawn-out beauty. the last four tracks, though, are as brooding and intense and any music i've ever encountered (listen to the last piece on full volume and get mindfucked!). essential masterpiece, blahblahblah, etc. 2002.

PELICAN march into the sea

2 track ep from the chicago group. i know this band has their detractors ("they're boring" or "that guy can't fucking drum to save his life", etc), but there is no denying that they can make some very powerful music when they want to. and this is them at their best. the twenty minute title track appears on 2007's the fire in our throats will beckon the thaw, but in edited form. and to be honest, it's much better here in it's original version, and it works better for me outside of the context of that album. the second track is a throwaway jk broadrick remix of "angel tears", but this is sooooo worth it for the first song. truly the epitome of EPIC. 2005.

JAKOB solace

the third album from one of the most overlooked post-rock bands. think explosions in the sky if they took a bit more time and listened to more ambient music.

"Instrumental, slow and intense music made by the NZ trio Jakob. The music is built upon minimal rythms, delicate melodies and dilated echoings that develop into majestic and incredibly intense walls of sound. Amazing."

it's great. they need to make a new album. 2006.

HÜSKER DÜ zen arcade

duh. the seminal post-hardcore (?) masterpiece. if you don't have this, you need it asap. sounds brand new, even though it's getting close to being 30 years old. another classic album for all music fans. 1984.

ARVO PÄRT alina

possibly the most beautiful, fragile album ever recorded. minimalist classical from one of the masters. one note says one million things. totally essential in every single way. "an album for thinkers and one for lovers of beautiful music." 1999.

ELEND a world in their screams

amazing, ethereal, atmospheric, dark ambient/neoclassical music from france. this is another one of their masterpieces. 2007.

ALEXISONFIRE watch out!

one of the great post-hardcore albums of the new century. passionate, yet refined, pushing itself to the brink but never dismantling. dallas green's vocal melodies are something to behold--this album has one of the greatest vocal performances i've ever heard. these songs are so full of energy! if you can listen to the opening track "accidents" without cranking up the volume and opening all the windows then you do not have a pulse. the rest of the album is fantastic, too. one of my favorite, most listened to albums ever. 2004.

BETWEEN THE BURIED & ME between the buried & me

progressive metalcore from the masters. this is their first album, and as such it's a bit on the "rough around the edges" side, but that's why it's my favorite album of theirs. i think people like to give this album a bunch of flack because "colors is just so amazing!!!", but this thing fucking started it, baby. no one sounded like this when it came out, and when i heard it back when it came out, i was just flabbergasted by what i was hearing! there are a few bands that have tried to emulate the sound of this record, but no one can do it. awesome breakdowns, badass thrash riffs, iron maiden harmonies, grindcore blastbeats, piano breaks, lounge jazz, three-part harmonies - it's all hear, folks, with btbam at their roughest and best. 2002.

CAT POWER you are free

the best album from the lovely chan marshall. this actually has some of my favorite songs ever, the absolutely heartbreaking masterpieces that are "good woman" and "maybe not". marshall has never sounded better than she does here. she knows when to rock and when to be pensive, and this album is a nice balancing act between her more muscular tunes and her most low-key work. recommended for all folk/singer-songwriter fans! 2003.

CHARLES MINGUS tijuana moods

flamenco tinged jazz from the legendary mingus. this is one of his best works, which means it's one of the best jazz albums ever. this is in my top 3 mingus recordings. 1962.

DINOSAUR JR bug

another indie rock classic, this one from j mascis, lou barlow, & murph. i can't decide if this is my second or third favorite dino jr album (green mind is my favorite, actually, followed by either this or the seminal you're living all over me). guitar screeches, slacker vocals, rumbling bass and drums...they got the sound right. get it. 1988.