There are always those bands that come along and are offered as a free download everywhere you turn, or so it seems. Most of the time, they might be fun for a moment or two, and then are quickly lost in the infinite abyss that is the iTunes library.
Blind Pilot's debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, is one of those that decided to stick around. While it was technically released in 2008 under Expunged Records, the album was picked up and rereleased this year by ATO records. It is indeed a fun record, and also one that I simply could not stop listening to.
For the past two years Conor Oberst has been one busy guy. With a solo album released last year and this album with The Mystic Valley Band, as well as releasing an album this year with some friends as Monsters of Folk, there has not been a lack of new material from this modern day Dylan, as he has been called. Of course, with Oberst's tenacity for songwriting, this is of no surprise.
For this album, Conor has received criticism for allowing the influence of other, supposedly sub par, songwriters to contribute to his repertoire. Admittedly, Conor himself has changed, but I don't believe we can expect any artist to continue to be the same today as he was yesterday. To do so would be to set such an artist on a path towards blandness. What we can do is appreciate the willingness for Conor to break outside of his own creativity and allow others into that circle.
From a young age Ben Harper was surrounded by music. With artists like Taj Mahal and Leonard Cohen passing through his grandparents' music store it isn't surprising that his music infuses elements of blues, classic rock, jazz and folk to create his own unique style.
On his tenth studio album, Harper is backed by a new band, Relentless7. The album is an incredible combination of rock, on songs like "Number With No Name" and "Shimmer and Shine" as well as folk, as on "Skin Thin" and "Faithfully Remain."
It is great to see an artist still coming out with such honest and sincere songs after so many years.
Neko Case has been compared to veteran country music artists such as Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, and while those claims may be well founded, her voice also lends an almost haunting aspect to her music. As a singer Case may be superb, but her songwriting meets if not exceeds her vocal abilities.
There is the darkness she exhibits on "This Tornado Loves You": "I carved your name across three counties, and ground it in with bloody hides." And the loneliness on "Prison Girls" when she sings: "Where am I tonight? My hotel room won't remember me." However, as she sings "Middle Cyclone" we get a glimpse of the part of Neko that is yearning for love: "I lie across the path waiting, Just for a chance to be, A spider web trapped in your lashes, For that, I would trade you my empire for ashes, But I choke it back, how much I need love."
As the first of three North Carolina bands that made this year's best of, John Darnielle's The Mountain Goats have called Durham, NC home since 2006, after close to 15 years of working out of California.
As a self proclaimed agnostic, Darnielle has experienced his share of both physical and emotional challenges in the past few years. He has alluded to the fact that as a result of these experiences he has taken a harder look at God and spirituality than he ever has. While his songs on this album are each named for a verse in the Bible, there is no preaching going on. The result is an album of inspiration for humanity - that this life is full of pain and confusion, but in the end, maybe there is something to all of this God stuff.
Darnielle does not profess to be a Christian after this album, but it is an incredible look at the journey one man is taking towards a relationship with God.
From the ashes of Uncle Tupelo, two alt-country phenomenons were born. Really, they had been honing their craft together since they were teenagers, but have spent the greater part of the past decade and a half moving their separate ways with their own bands. With Wilco, Jeff Tweedy has arguably garnered greater commercial success than has Jay Farrar with Son Volt.
For the seventh installment from the band, Tweedy chose to name it, simply, Wilco - parenthetically referencing it "The Album". Likewise, the first track is Wilco (The Song). The album itself is one of their most relaxed to date, yet following the trend of Sky Blue Sky. Maybe Tweedy and company are getting older and settling down a little bit, and maybe I am as well, right along with them.
Glen Hansard has been performing with his band since 1990 as The Frames. A native of Dublin, when he was 13 he began busking on those city streets. Fittingly, in 2007 he and girlfriend Marketa Irglova were in an Irish film called Once, following an Irish busker and the struggles he faces as a street performer. The soundtrack to Once was Hansard and Irglova's second release as The Swell Season. Sadly, however, while they are still friends, they are no longer romantically involved and Hansard has stated that Strict Joy will probably be the last album as The Swell Season.
Hansard declares Van Morrison as one of his major influences and has covered many of his songs at The Frames' live shows. The influence is especially evident on songs like "Low Rising" and "Feeling the Pull" as well as on many songs from his previous work with both Irglova and The Frames.
The Swell Season will be missed, but any future work from Hansard, with The Frames or anyone else, will be much anticipated.
I have been a fan of Rhett Miller and the Old 97's since I was in high school and heard the Old 97's on WNCW - so there was no doubt that Rhett wouldn't at least be a contender for this year's best of. His eponymous album obviously did not disappoint.
Rhett Miller proves once again he is both a hopeless romantic and a master songwriter with clever lines like:
"I wanted things that I couldn't afford, like love."
"When I laid my eyes on you I felt a fundamental change, I was a concrete jungle in summer, I was a desert aching for rain."
"Ever since I found you I've been orbiting around you like you are the sun."
In the four years since Benson's last full length album, The Alternative to Love, he has been quite busy. His band with Jack White, The Raconteurs, has released two albums in this time frame. As for his own music, Benson has been leaking demos on his myspace page since 2007, most of which became My Old, Familiar Friend.
The power pop of the pre-Raconteurs Brendan Benson is still very present on this latest album, and sometimes overwhelming on tracks like "Eyes on the Horizon" and "Garbage Day" - of course you could even say the same about "Don't Wanna Talk" and it has become my favorite track on the album.
A couple of months ago I was introduced to a London fivesome by the name of Fanfarlo - and from the first song was hooked by their huge sound, tempered by Simon Balthazar's hushed voice. While they have been around since 2006, Reservoir is their first full length album and I am looking forward to what else they have coming down the line.
Grizzly Bear could well be considered this year's breakout artist. While they've been around for a few years, it seems their song "Two Weeks" has been used in countless TV shows and commercials. With each album the Brooklyn foursome has continued to hone and perfect their craft - culminating in the songs that are Veckatimest: from the dreamy yearning of "Two Weeks" to the ghostly "Dora to the deeply longing of "I Live With You." After getting to know Grizzly Bear through their music, it is of no surprise they were asked to contribute to the New Moon soundtrack, joining half of Beach House (Victoria Legrand) on "Slow Life."
My first introduction with Andrew Bird came when he signed to Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe Records in 2003. Since then, he and his incredible whistling lips have crossed through many different stages, much like his music prior to 2003. Little did I know, he played on three Squirrel Nut Zippers records from 1996 to 1998.
Coming from classical and jazz roots, Bird has veritably become an icon in the indie rock realm. On Noble Beast he has continued to explore techniques of layering sounds to create his music - and he has done so successfully. While not his best album to date, Noble Beast is still quite an enjoyable listen.
For The Decemberists, to call them grandiose would only be an understatement. On each of their four previous full length albums, their songs have entranced the listener with tales of love and deceit and death. With The Hazards of Love however, Colin Meloy and his band of storytellers have crafted an album that is in itself a heroic story. Each song weaves together the masterful tale of Margaret the villager and William the son of the Queen of the forest - a jealous and contemptuous woman.
It is no small feat to create a "rock opera," but Meloy has definitely succeeded on this incredible risk. At every juncture where he could have failed, he excelled, as did every musician on this album. With every power chord, every melody, every cadence, every lyric, there is impeccable timing to surround the listener with pieces of an epic story, and in the end tie all those pieces together.
