pop
You need summer music. Summer music doesn't have to mean listening to something either super poppy or power-fun. You can find fun, power, and thoughtfulness at the same time. You can listen to fun summer music with huge, retro hooks that also is on an album that will stand the test of time.
My favorite album of the year that sounds best on a hot, sunny day with the windows of the car down and the radio turned up is Mikal Cronin's MCII. And it's only $6.99. I think you are gonna love this one.
Brand new album from one of my favorite bands, Deerhunter: Monomania, is out today and on sale for $5. It's one of the few albums I've anticipated weeks ahead of time in 2013. Pitchfork 8.3/10. It's excellent.
Stream the new album from Phoenix: Bankrupt! now through iTunes.
It's out next week. Click on album cover or here to listen free.
This is one of the most hopeful signs concerning the "popular version" of the Avett Brothers vs. the pre-popular version. Once they started shooting for and reaching the national stage, their music became slightly over-produced and less punk-awesome and screamo-fun. That's a lot of hyphens. In a bit of a return to form, I give you the band that bandwagon fans (not a put down) might have never heard. These guys rock, and everyone needs to know it. Crank. It. Up.
Several circumstances led to this post. I saw Challies posted an interview a few days ago with a band. I ignored it. Then I got a Facebook message telling me I should check out the same band. I figured after two pointed me to it, I should go ahead and check'm out. I went to the website and something started looking familiar. Wasn't sure what.
Come to find out the band, the Gray Havens (Dave & Licia Radford), live in Crystal Lake, 20 minutes southeast of us. Dave was also on American Idol back when we used to watch it. After watching his audition again, we remembered him as someone who didn't do "pop music" like everyone else. And that was a good thing. Our northwest suburbs newspaper also put out an article at about the same time called "Haven Sent."
Honestly, I was still skeptical. 1. I don't generally go for "Christian" music or even music made my Christians. I was worried whether it would be creative. You know, art. 2. Can anything good come out of Crystal Lake? ;) I had that feeling that for the band (duo) to be this local, it couldn't be that good. In other words, my stereotype buttons were being pushed.
I have really enjoyed listening to the Gray Havens, enough so that I felt I needed to give them their own Music Monday post. Right now their album, Where Eyes Don't Go, is still FREE! I want my readers to pick it up. It's folksy, lyrical, redemptive, and joyful. I like every song. You can also support them buy buying on Amazon.
As I post this my family is loading in the van to meet Dave and Licia and enjoy dinner together tonight. I had to meet them. I hope you'll take a few minutes and introduce yourself to the Gray Havens. Stream and download free below.
From last week's Best Albums of 2012 post, here's the same list of albums only listing the ones currently on sale. All are $5 unless I say otherwise. It was a couple days ago I worked on this so I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if any prices have changed.
APOLOGIES: Hot Chip | Cat Power | Crystal Castles | Frank Ocean ($3.99) | Bill Fay | Titus Andronicus
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel... | Shearwater: Animal Joy | Father John Misty: Fear Fun | Todd Snider: Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables | The Avett Brothers: The Carpenter ($3.99) | Dan Deacon: America | Beach House: Bloom | Spiritualized: Sweet Heart, Sweet Light | Passion Pit: Gossamer | Lower Dens: Nootropics ($5.99) | Jon Talabot: Fin ($6.49) | Shovels & Rope: O Be Joyful | Grimes: Visions | Hospitality: Hospitality
35. Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan
32. Daphni: Jiaolong
29. Purity Ring: Shrines
28. Fort Atlantic: Fort Atlantic ($5.99)
26. Tame Impala: Lonerism
25. Aaron Embry: Tiny Prayers ($6.99)
23. Sera Cahoone: Deer Creek Canyon
22. The XX: Coexist
21. Now, Now: Threads
20. Polica: Give You The Ghost
19. Brandi Carlile: Bear Creek
18. Bhi Bhiman: Bhiman ($6.99)
15. Damien Jurado: Maraqopa
14. Propaganda: Excellent (free)
10. Andy Stott: Luxury Problems ($6.99)
8. Swans: The Seer
7. The Lumineers: The Lumineers ($3.99)
6. Richard Hawley: Standing at the Sky's Edge
5. Lost in the Trees: A Church That Fits Our Needs ($5.99)
3. Anais Mitchell: Young Man In America
2. Alt-J: An Awesome Wave ($5.99)
1. Sharon Van Etten: Tramp
$5 albums this June are solid. Several are new, a couple are gems from the last couple years. Enjoy!
There's a new band, Cults. Their self-titled debut is a wonderful summer album, full of catchy hooks. It also uses samples of cult leaders speaking to their followers. It blends together fun poppy summer sounds with real depth & content worth thinking about. Tough to accomplish, but fascinating & successful here. Pitchfork names "Best New Music" & 8.5/10 and Paste 7.9/10. Check out Cults.
The samples, of cult leaders speaking to their followers, could have been a distraction had they chosen to make a big deal out of them, but they're woven tightly into the album's sonic fabric and processed to varying degrees of decipherability, which turns them into an effective textural element. (via)
Ultimately, Cults is an album that can be enjoyed as either a summer soundtrack or as something with a darker, more concrete substance. How you choose to interpret it is your call, but the beauty of this notable debut is that either way works just as well as the other. (via)
Here are a few new albums worth buying (or at least checking out)...
Both Ra Ra Riot albums are $5 (The Rhumb Line | The Orchard), and if you buy them through April 11 the proceeds benefit Japanese Red Cross.
If you need a proper introduction, here's "Can You Tell" from The Rhumb Line...
I'm a big Okkervil River fan. Some of the most creative indie music around. Lyrically rich. New album, I Am Very Far, drops in May. I can't say enough how much I love their albums: Black Sheep Boy (and Appendix), The Stage Names, The Stand Ins. Here's the official video for "Wake and Be Fine" off their new album (via)...
Check out the True Grit score. It's mostly variations on "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and a couple other protestant hymns. Just beautiful. I particularly love the closing credits version of "Leaning..." by the wonderful country-folk singer, Iris Dement...
I'm discovering a bunch of new stuff because of "Best Albums of 2010" lists. Three I'm loving are Best Coast: Crazy For You ($5), Swans: My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky ($5), & Buke and Gass: Riposte ($5). I liked it so much I had to watch the Buke and Gass video for "Page Break" twice...
