Music

$5 Albums for December 2011

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Some great $5 albums at Amazon for December. At least a couple will end up on my best of 2011. Go check out some great music, especially my favorites below...

M83 On Fallon With "Midnight City"

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M83 has one of my favorite albums of the year, Hurry Up We're Dreaming. Actually it's a double album. My iPod asks me for a little diversity and I'm reluctant, because I love this album and I love it loud. I think you will too.

If you aren't convinced, please watch them play Fallon with their great song "Midnight City." Turn up the volume. The lyrics are below the video if you want to follow along. Lyric of note, "The city is my church." What does this song teach us about the culture? 

"Midnight City" Lyrics

Waiting in the car
Waiting for a ride
At night the city grows
Look at the horizon glow

Waiting in the car
Waiting for a ride in the dark
Drinking in the lights
Following the neon signs

Waiting for a word
Looking at the milky skyline
The city is my church
It wraps me in its blinding twilight

Waiting in the car
Waiting for a ride in the dark

$4.99 Albums | Amazon Black Friday (NOW)

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Amazon is selling a handful of albums for $4.99 this week (for Black Friday). Here are the ones they've marked down so far. More to come. Enjoy!

Austin City Life: Glow EP

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Austin City Life church in, uh, Austin, has a new four song EP out: Glow. Stream it at Bandcamp.  couple of years ago I shared my thoughts on their first EP, One. Vocals are from Miranda Dodson (I really like here album, Change A Thing).

I've only listened through it twice. Two quick notes. I really dig the opener "Beautiful Love." Sounds like they blend some southern flavor to a hint of the vocal dancing of Eisley or Joanna Newsom. It's a lovely track. They close with a tweaked version of "Be Thou My Vision." Miranda dominates here, yet sings it delicately. They add a chorus (or a bridge?) that I believe will add a layer of understanding for those who get a bit lost in the wording of the original hymn. 

Glow is well worth checking out. Share your thoughts below. Would love to hear what you think.

Calexico: Selections from Road Atlas 1998-2011

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Calexico

Calexico makes good music. Consistently. I've never seen them live, but would like to. One of the benefits of seeing them live is that they have produced tour-only albums along the way.

But now you can pick them all up without seeing them on tour. Calexico: Selection from Road Atlas 1998-2011 is the compilation of 8 self-released tour albums. Amazon has it for $8.99 right now (17 tracks, including one exclusive to Amazon). But don't take my word for it. Stream it free in full at Paste.

David Lynch: Crazy Clown Time

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Crazy Clown Time from director David Lynch, who also was a part of the Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse project, Dark Night of the Soul. This may be one of the most interesting albums of the year. His soundscapes are dark and weighty. Stream it free today and buy it tomorrow. It is filling my home office and shaking my house right now. This dude knows how to create a mood. Read what others are saying...

NPR Music says, "Lynch's first solo album finds him meandering through a series of dark dreams and visceral meditations on modern life and society."

NME gives it an 8/10 and says, "It’s weird, unsettling, in thrall to ’50s Americana and constructed with the same meticulous craft and obsessive compulsion you’d expect from Lynch."

Consequence of Sound says, "Crazy Clown Time plays out in many of the same ways that the filmmaker’s visual projects do. There are splinters of a narrative, floating in the middle of a heavy sea of dark images; old, bluesy, noir structure pushed through a postmodern, eerie filter. Lynch makes darkly familiar art, pieces that sound familiar, though the subconscious knows that they ultimately shouldn’t, and that carries over to his music."

4 Christmas Albums I Love

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Talking Christmas albums on Twitter today, so in preparation for the day after Thanksgiving (the appropriate time to start listening to Christmas music) here are 4 Christmas albums I recommend that focus on Jesus/incarnation and not just the cultural holiday (though I love some cultural albums too). Let me know your faves. Mine are in no particular order...

$5 Albums for November 2011

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Here are some great $5 albums for November.