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Stereogum's 50 most anticipated albums of 2012
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Lisa Hannigan: Passenger is $3.99 today. Includes a duet with Ray LaMontagne.
Just wonderful...
"We're right at the finish line," singer-guitarist Seth Avett says of his band's seventh album. "It's just the formalities now." The folk-rock crew recorded more than 20 tunes in Asheville, North Carolina, last year for the follow-up to 2009's breakthrough album, I and Love and You, once again working with producer Rick Rubin.
Read the rest at Rolling Stone. And while you are thinking Avett, Emotionalism and Four Thieves Gone are both $5 right now.
It's time to give away some copies of The Poison Tree's self-titled debut album, which I named my best album of 2011. From my Best Albums of 2011 post...
Lovely & subtly massive. Cinematic. Baritone vocals. Literary. Charming. Moody. Introspective. Wistful. Barely wet city streets. Black and white. Hands-in-pockets. Collar pulled tight. Good penmanship, elegant words, antique fountain pen on an antique journal on an antique table in a sparsely decorated and lonely room. Life...experienced. Calmly dramatic. This album is almost completely and shamefully neglected. It's a rarely reviewed 2011 masterpiece. It's not #1 because it's neglected. It's #1 because it's gorgeous and brilliant.
You can download it for $4.99 today, and I very much encourage you to buy it. But I also want to give away a physcial CD to three of my readers (thanks to Steve Salett, The Poison Tree, for being so gracious as to provide copies to give away).
Here's how you enter to win (U.S. residents only)...
STEP 1: Copy & share the following without the quote marks on Twitter (if you aren't on Twitter, use Facebook, or do BOTH!): "Win @stevekmccoy's #1 2011 album, The Poison Tree. RT this & comment at Reformissionary to enter! http://bit.ly/zqn9TY "
STEP 2: Leave a comment below (so I can verify you did step 1). Include your full name and real email address (kept private) so I can contact the winners. In your comment, guess how many writing divices (pens, pencils, markers) & other utensils are in the two coffee mugs on my desk. It's a number between 1-100. I'll buy a free download of The Poison Tree to the first person to guess it exactly (if not a winner of a CD).
I will randomly choose 3 winners in the late afternoon/early evening on Friday (6th).
Dirty Three is some of my very favorite, go-to music for reading and concentration-based study. It's beautiful and different: violin, guitar, and drums. It's like a post-rock classical style, but you have to hear it to understand. So cool. A bunch of albums are $4.99...
Several Over the Rhine albums are $4.99. If you don't know OtR, you should.
Amazon is having a massive sale on MP3 albums. All are $5 or cheaper. Nearly all of my Best Albums of 2011 & honorable mentions are super-cheap! And there are many more great albums for sale beyond my list. Check these out!
NEW = Recently found & added to the original list
From my Best Albums of 2011 list...
Honorable mentions...
Other recommended albums for $5 and under...
Get music from one of the best bands in the world for cheap right now...
I'm a huge Sojourn Music fan because I like their music and the rich content of their songs. More than that, I love their music because I love their focus on the Gospel as a church. They are friends and one of my favorite churches around.
I've given a couple of listens to Sojourn Community Church's new Christmas album, A Child Is Born. My word for this album would be "challenging." It's challenging to your ears as it's anything but a typical Christmas album. It's not even close. Their version of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is "punk-rock inspired," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is poppy, as is "Silent Night." Some of the more subdued and lovely moments on the album are from lesser known lyrics retooled. I love the voices that are now very familiar to me: Brooks Ritter, Jamie Barnes, Megan Shaffer & others. They are always a joy to hear again on new projects. The cover design is lovely and simple.
In many ways, this isn't supposed to be an easy album to hear. From Sojourn's website...
There’s a place for joy, a necessary and central place for celebration, but that joy and celebration has it’s most weight when seen in the context of the suffering and longing from which it emerges. So Christmas music at Sojourn has always had a dark edge, a sense of tension and angst, which points us to the darkness of our own hearts that longs for the light of Christ.
For me, A Child Is Born is an odd album. Taking the familiar and making it unfamiliar. Taking songs typically wrapped in seasonal sounds and re-wrapping them in something unseasonal and unusual. It may not be an easy album for you to like, though I've heard from many who are liking it a lot! Sojourn takes some serious risks in genre and style that will shake your Christmas world. But you will have to be the judge if this darker, grittier version of Christmas is something that will be in your rotation year by year. If nothing else, Sojourn for me has earned a listen as they continue to make music in service of the Church that is out of the ordinary.
Buy A Child is Born: Amazon or for $5 at Grouptune
Also check out: Over the Grave | The Water & The Blood
Time for my Best Albums of 2011 list. I don't listen to everything out there (who has the time? or money?), but I listen to a lot. I hope my list will help you discover some new music. I'll give comment to the higher picks and I'm happy to discuss any of the albums, why I liked them, why some albums are not on my list, etc. Please list your favorite album(s) in the comments. Love to hear'em.
See my Best Albums of 2010|2009|2008|2007|2006
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Atlas Sound: Parallax | The Black Keys: El Camino | The Low Anthem: Smart Flesh | Other Lives: Tamer Animals | Panda Bear: Tomboy | Radiohead: The King Of Limbs | Sepalcure: Sepalcure | Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde | Gillian Welch: The Harrow & The Harvest | Youth Lagoon: The Year of Hibernation
ARGUMENTATIVE
tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L | As creative as it gets, but not as good of a listen as some say. When I listen, it stretches me but leaves me somehow unsatisfied. I want to both celebrate this accomplishment and punch it in the face.
ALBUMS 35-21
35. Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
34. Cults: Cults
33. Real Estate: Days
32. Okkervil River: I Am Very Far
31. Washed Out: Within or Without
30. My Morning Jacket: Circuital
29. Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
28. Ryan Adams: Ashes & Fire
27. Crystal Castles: (II)
26. War On Drugs: Slave Ambient
25. Dolorean: The Unfazed
24. Ha Ha Tonka: Death of a Decade
23. Wilco: The Whole Love
22. The Pains of Being Pure In Heart: Belong
21. Glasser: Ring
ALBUMS 20-11
20. Joy Formidable: The Big Roar | Running through thorn bushes at full speed.
19. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues | Dancing through willow branches in slow motion.
18. Middle Brother: Middle Brother | Love these three guys. Love what they created. But I still like what they do separately better than collectively. That said, it's a great album.
17. The Horrors: Skying | Eerie flight. Bending notes. Worthy of both their name and the album's name.
16. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: Diamond Mine | Fragile Scottish lullabies. Delicate & delightful. Pipe smoking. Peat beneath my feet.
15. The Roots: Undun | Concept album well conceived. Arrived late, but deserves much attention. Looking forward to more listens.
14. Beirut: The Rip Tide | Not sure they can make a bad record. Distant world flavor. Horntastic. Seasoning for a bland day.
13. The Antlers: Burst Apart | Please keep making music! They are doing amazing things, first through Hospice and now with Burst Apart. A wonderful follow-up to a crazy-good album.
12. James Blake: James Blake | Audio playground. A sonic dance. Ear candy...that's good for you. A blend of a powerful voice and eclectic editing and creative processing. It continues to grow on me.
11. Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong | Opening song, "Time Spent in Los Angeles," is one of my favorite songs of the year. I think I once listened to it 5 times in a row. Songwriting excellence. Lyric-driven rock'n'roll.
TOP 10
10. Decemberists: The King Is Dead | Their best-ever album. So many good songs. Thoroughly enjoyable. Completely accessible, yet it's well-crafted art and deserving of high praise. "Bear your neighbors' burden within reason." Singable. If you are weirded out by indie music, let this album invite you in.
9. Frank Turner: England Keep My Bones | Passionate. Straight-forward = says what he means. Atheistic worship songs, but don't let that discourage you. Redemptive themes throughout. It's incredibly informative, enjoyable, and artistic. Loud, but acoustically controlled loud. Sing-along with beer in hand. Punk sensibilities. Masterful. At times it's old-school Avettastic screamishness.
8. Low: C'mon | Some of the most memorable lyrics of the year are here. Some because of word choice, and some because of how they are presented. The critical calling out of "all you guys out there tryin’ to act like Al Green, y'all are weak." "I'm nothing but heart" repeated for 6 minutes in a slow, heavy, glorious swell. "Try to sleep" and "don't look at the camera" on the opening track captured by a wonderful, memorable melody. As a whole this album is a slow crawl... beautiful, often delicately heavy, and always unsettlingly moody. A haunting album that won't leave you alone.
6. The Field: Looping State of Mind | It is looping, ambient soundscapes. Perfect for work, reading, etc. Or, and maybe more important, it's perfect for putting the headphones on, laying down, turning it up, and riding along. These steady slow builds and gradual descents are a joy to navigate. And beyond mere ambient sounds without structure, that can be a pleasure as well, these tracks are guided by heavy beats and basslines. So while the music soars, it also stomps, stomps, stomps along.
5. Josh Garrels: Love & War & The Sea In Between | Listened to this album more than most. Poetic. Rhythmic. Completely Christ-haunted and distinctly Christian, yet some of the best music of the year Christian or otherwise. I can't believe how little buzz I've seen about this album. It's really wonderful. And it's 100% FREE, which means everyone should be checking out and loving this album. And then you'll want to check out Josh's other albums.
4. Bon Iver: Bon Iver, Bon Iver | I wanted to rate this lower simply because I loved For Emma, Forever Ago so much. I need objectivity! Stupid me. While losing the romance of discovery of Justin Vernon's falsetto and magical soundscapes that came with For Emma, this album establishes his genius as a lasting force. I ranted last year on Twitter that Vernon should stop making side projects and stick to Bon Iver. My goodness. He did.
3. M83: Hurry Up We're Dreaming | I enjoyed M83's 2008 album, Saturdays = Youth, though I seem to remember finding it late. I was interested when I hear a new album was coming. I didn't know I should be this interested. It adds more soar, more lift, more joy to 80's shoegaze. It also adds more epic views of despair. It really is a masterpiece that I, so far, haven't been able to stop listening to. The first five songs alone are worth the price of the album. I wish John Hughes was around to hear this.
2. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake | A remarkable album. Disturbing. Poignant. WWI, war-time, yet universal at all times to the war-torn everywhere. Quirky. Odd. Rare. PJ's voice is a perfect kind of shrill (if there is such a thing) for these creative arrangements. On deck during a colossal battle, the siren of the ocean sings beyond view through the storm & cannons. The guts of dead soldiers are clearly in view.
1. The Poison Tree: The Poison Tree | Lovely & subtly massive. Cinematic. Baritone vocals. Literary. Charming. Moody. Introspective. Wistful. Barely wet city streets. Black and white. Hands-in-pockets. Collar pulled tight. Good penmanship, elegant words, antique fountain pen on an antique journal on an antique table in a sparsely decorated and lonely room. Life...experienced. Calmly dramatic. This album is almost completely and shamefully neglected. It's a rarely reviewed 2011 masterpiece. It's not #1 because it's neglected. It's #1 because it's gorgeous and brilliant. Please buy it...and be moved.
A handful of really good, cheap albums right now. All $3.99 unless listed otherwise.
This is the best thing you will watch/listen to today. Just wonderful. James Blake's self-titled 2011 album is only $3.99. You can get "A Case of You" on Blake's Enough Thunder EP.
Read Matisyahu's reasons for shaving his beard & dropping his "Chassidic reggae superstar" look...
This morning I posted a photo of myself on Twitter.
No more Chassidic reggae superstar.
Sorry folks, all you get is me…no alias. When I started becoming religious 10 years ago it was a very natural and organic process. It was my choice. My journey to discover my roots and explore Jewish spirituality—not through books but through real life. At a certain point I felt the need to submit to a higher level of religiosity…to move away from my intuition and to accept an ultimate truth. I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules—lots of them—or else I would somehow fall apart. I am reclaiming myself. Trusting my goodness and my divine mission.
Get ready for an amazing year filled with music of rebirth. And for those concerned with my naked face, don’t worry…you haven’t seen the last of my facial hair.
- Matisyahu
(via)
On Saturday I had the privilege to speak to a mausoleum full of people who lost and buried loved ones last year at McHenry County Memorial Park. An employee of the cemetery is a family friend, which opened the opportunity to preach for about 20 minutes from the first two Beatitudes.
I wanted to share with you some free music from The Joy Eternal: A Sweet & Bitter Providence (download below) which I found to be very encouraging during my prep week for this event. John Piper readings are featured in these songs, and he says this about the music...
Big truth and beautiful sounds are a powerful combination. The Joy Eternal has touched me both ways. One of my biblical sieves for what is real is the apostolic word 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing.' I hear that in these songs, and they ring true. Beautifully true. May God give them wings.
The National and guest, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver singing "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks." Song is off The National's outstanding 2010 album, High Violet.
Shearwater is one of my favorite bands. I first discovered them because frontman, Jonathan Meiburg, played with Okkervil River. Post-Okkervil Meiburg & Shearwater are now a force of their own. Their last three full-length albums, the Island Arc trilogy, are wonderful: Golden Archipelago, Rook, and Palo Santo. Their new album, Animal Joy, drops on Valentine's Day. More at their new label, Sub Pop.
Check out "Breaking the Yearlings" and the new sound of Shearwater...
After attending the first Verge Conference at The Austin Stone, I became a fan of Aaron Ivey (@AaronIvey) and his album, Between the Beauty & Chaos. It's one of the most played worship albums on my iPod and in my house. Then at the recent Together for Adoption Conference in Phoenix I met (several times... inside joke) Jimmy McNeal (@JimmyMcSings), who should have a worship album releasing next year. Loved the times of corporate worship led by Jimmy and the songs he brought.
So when I heard a new Austin Stone Live album was on the way, featuring Aaron & Jimmy, I was excited to hear it. Today I've been streaming the recording of their live concert from last night. It includes some songs from T4A Conference, and I'm really enjoying it. Watch it here. Buy it at iTunes.
"Lucky Now" from Ryan Adams' new album, Ashes & Fire. Lyrics below.
I don’t remember were we wild and young?
All that faded into memory
I feel like somebody I don’t know
Are we really who we used to be?
Am I really who I was?The lights will draw you in
And the dark will bring you down
And the night will break your heart
But only if you’re lucky nowWaiting outside while you find your keys
Like bags of trash in the blackening snow
City of neon and toes that freeze
We’ve got nothing and nowhere to go
We’ve got nothing and nowhereAnd the lights will draw you in
And the dark will take you down
And the night will break your heart
But only if you’re lucky nowAnd if the lights draw you in
And the dark can take you down
And love will mend your heart
But only if you’re lucky nowI don’t remember were we wild and young?
All that’s faded into memory
I feel like somebody I don't know
Are we really who we used to be?
Am I really who I was?
