ON ROTATION

After almost a year of listening to lots and lots and lots of music, I will admit that I get a bit burnt out and it becomes harder for new music to get me excited. And the music that does get me excited, I frankly want to simply enjoy listening to it and not necessarily write about it. With this said, here are four recently released albums that I have been listening to and enjoying....a lot! All are quite special and definitely rise above many of the albums that I have reviewed this second half of the year.

M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Anthony Gonzalez, the French wonder-musician behind M83, has been dazzling with his electro-shoegazing music for a decade now. And his latest album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, is by far his most ambitious outing to date. A 22 song, double album, it's epic in its shear scale and effort. Fortunately, the album is also packed full of music that lives up to the ambition. While many of the songs have an early '80's synth sound to them, the album feels quite contemporary. I really like how Gonzalez is less interested in creating pop songs, than a body of work filled with richly textured pieces that create a great listening atmosphere and space. 
Midnight City  

Lisa Hannigan, Passenger

Irish, singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan has one of the most beautiful voices that I have heard in a very long time. The first time I heard her I was absolutely captivated by it. Matching her wonderful voice is her songwriting and musicianship which is every bit as good. In general, I really, really like Hannigan's sophomore album, Passenger. What I absolutely love are the quieter and more tender songs and moments on the album where her voice just shines. She can convey so much with her voice, and it is sometimes lost in the 'bigger' songs. Regardless, this is a wonderful album and it has what is one of my favorite songs of the year in Little Bird.
Little Bird   

The Roots, Undun
Last year I made the mistake of not including The Roots' album, How I Got Over, as one of my favorite album picks of the year. A year later, it is one of the albums released last year that I listen to on a regular basis. What was I thinking? I have always appreciated and loved The Roots incredible combination of musicianship and social consciousness that permeates their lyrics. And Undun is another absolutely stunning and phenomenal album that blends the two perfectly. Described as the existential retelling of the life of a fictional street hustler named Redford Stephens, the album follows his brief rise and fall. It's a gripping and tragic story, and it should not be missed. 
Make My 

Amy Winehouse, Lioness: Hidden Treasures
I was always a fan of Amy Winehouse. As much as I liked Back In Black, her sophomore-break through album, it was her debut album, Frank that really grabbed me. She was only 19 at the time, but she sang with the power, confidence, and knowledge of someone who was much older. She magnificently blended influences of of soul, jazz, and blues from decades that came and went..decades before she was born. On Lioness: Hidden Treasures, I am once again reminded at how special Winehouse was at interpreting the music that so heavily influenced her and how she was so easily able to make it relevant, exciting, and fun. 
                                                       Best Friends, Right? 

ON ROTATION

Real Estate, Days
I have been listening to Real Estate's Days for...days now, actually weeks. I just can't get enough of this album. There is such a great, soft, breezy, and laid back groove to the band's music. I love their vocal harmonies and their guitar work, which is simply impecable and so richly textures these songs.  I am reminded of the Beach Boys and The La's when listening to Days. Real Estate manages to capture some of the timeless qualities of these bands and it make you feel like these songs have been with you for a long time, which I am sure they will be. While All The Same is my favorite song on the album, Green Aisles really showcases what the band does so well. 
Green Aisles  

Josh Rouse and The Long Vacations

Josh Rouse is one of the few artists that I can point to and honestly say that I never tire of listening to any of his songs or albums. Rouse has a wonderful way about him as a songwriter and storyteller and his music is always so warm and inviting. Rouse's new collection of songs is no exception. As the musical influences of his time living in Spain continue to seep deeper and deeper into his music, Rouse's songwriting and music is becoming gentler, sweeter, more rhythmic, and enchanting.
Oh, Look What The Sun Did!   

Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire

Ryan Adams is a prolific songwriter and musician with ever shifting musical interests. With each new release, you are never quite sure what to expect, except that it is going to be all Adams. With Ashes & Fire, Adams strips down his sound and songs and operates in the singer-songwriter mode that produced such wonderful songs like Two and Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.. It is a quieter and more laid back album than his last few and a welcome change. While I always enjoy Adams' musical exploration, I am most connected with his music when he is alone or close to it, with his guitar and words.

Dirty Rain 

Other Lives, Tamer Animals

A few months back, Other Lives, who hail from Stillwater, Oklahoma, release there sophomore album, Tamer Animals. I had read that it took the band almost 14 months to complete it. Listening to it, you know why. It is a dramatic album that is both orchestrally and sonically rich. The attention that the band has paid to detail throughout the album is self evident and listening to it becomes a wonderful exercise in identifying all of the instruments and sounds placed within these songs.  

Last week I had an opportunity to see Other Lives play live at the Paramount Theatre here in Seattle. Having listen to Tamer Animals many times, I was very curious to see how they actually built these songs and how much of what I was hearing on the album was done with live instruments vs. using synthesizers and sampled sounds. I was amazed to see and hear that almost everything that I was hearing was actually being played lived by all five members of the band. They are all multi-instrumentalists in every sense of the word. At one point I had counted six different instruments that Jonathan Mooney had played in the span of two songs: violin, piano, guitar, trumpet, xylophone, and percussions. After seeing them play live, my appreciation for what they have accomplished with Tamer Animals is even greater than before. 

Below are three in-studio performances that the band did last week for hear*ya at Shirk Music & Sound in Chicago. Seeing them play some of their songs again live was a real treat and very cool. Instruments change from one song to the next so take the time to watch them all. They are a very impressive band.

Sóley, We Sink

A few months back I heard I'll Drown, the first track off of Sóley Stefánsdóttir's recently released debut album We Sink. I was completely captivated by the song and by Sóley.

Sóley's, who is a member of the Icelandic band Seabear, has a beautiful, warm, and subtle voice that floats in a just under-the-radar kind of a way. She reminds me of Emiliana Torrini, who I have admired for a long time. I had read that after many years of singing in private, Sóley got used to the sound of her own voice and finally discovered her own vocal skills. I'm glad she did.

Released last month, We Sink is a wonderful album that feels less like thirteen individual songs and more like a journey through a dark and restrained musical dreamland. In it, Sóley uses her subtle vocal style and singing to weave stories, some quirky, some odd, all seemly other-worldly, through her musical landscape. With open and minimalistic instrumentation, perfectly placed elements and little touches throughout.....a simple dancing piano line, adding something whimsical to an otherwise dark and somber moment, a snapping finger or clapping hand to create musical texture, as well as rhythm....Sóley ultimately creates imagery in one's mind that that lingers long after the music has stopped. This is especially true for songs like Kill The Clown and About A Funeral which have a Danny Elfman-Like feel to them. 

I'll Drown 

While my first listen to We Sink was enjoyable, I did not truly appreciate it until I listened to it again and let myself be drawn into it's stories and landscapes. We Sink is an artful album on which everything Sóley does is intentional, but nothing feels forced or false. This is a great debut for Sóley and one that is definitely worth taking the time to explore.  

Smashed Birds 
One of my favorite songs on We Sink is Smashed Birds. It's a beautiful and haunting song. Below is a video for the song that really compliments it well. Enjoy.

ON ROTATION

Bombay Bicycle Club, A Different Kind Of Fix
Bombay Bicycle Club showed that they were not afraid to change musical direction with their sophomore album, the mostly acoustic endeavor Flaws. It was a big departure from the sound of their debut album that first got them so much attention, and it was a favorite album of mine last year. On their latest album, A Different Kind Of Fix, the band has blended the sounds of those first two album. While this does not result in the band breaking any real new ground, it does bring richness and sophistication to their music and shows that this band is continuing to grow in a great direction.
Lights Out, Words Gone   

Blitzen Trapper, American Goldwing
American rockers, Portland Oregon's own Blitzen Trapper, keeps you on your toes. Album to album, they find new, creative ways to explore that classic, southern American rock sound that we all grew up on. With their incredibly satisfying new release, American Goldwing, the band backs off from the edgy experimentation that has characterized a lot of their music, and gives us a collection of songs that have a more laid back feel and sound to them. By not pushing so hard, the band's songs feel like they originated more from their hearts than from their heads. While this may not be what many of their fans want, I find it to be a welcomed change of pace. This is genuinely a great, great album.
Love The Way You Walk Away 

The Weeknd, Thursday
Earlier in the year, The Weeknd released the very dark, moody and highly stylized House Of Balloons. The album was fantastic and made Scattered's Best Albums for the first half of 2011. Back with what is the second album in a trilogy, Thursday, R&B singer Abel Tesfaye continues the musical journey through a dark world of alcohol fueled partying and sex. As with House Of Balloons, the protagonist shows little remorse for his devient behavior or thoughts, but he does begin to show signs of having emotions underneath his steely veneer.                                     

Musically, Tesfaye brings a bit more light and volume to this album. Beats are more pronounced, the instrumentation is more complex and vocals are pushed further forward than they were on House Of Balloons. While I preferred the darker and moodier music of House Of Balloons, I understand the need to move the music and storyline forward. And like with a great dark novel, you are drawn into this world and you stay there to see what happens next. 

Thursday 

Nick Lowe, The Old Magic

I

The press release for Nick Lowe's new album, The Old Magic, starts off with the opening line of his song Checkout Time and goes on to comment on it. "I'm sixty-one years old now, Lord I never thought I'd see 30,"....The line cuts right to the quick.  For though he spent his 20s "busy not fitting into three successive movements: pub rock, punk and new wave" (NY Times), Lowe has mined fertile new creative ground in recent years and the eleven tracks on 'The Old Magic' dig deeper still. As NPR observes, “Few musicians get better with age.  Nick Lowe is an exception.”

Both quotes and observations could not be more on the money. Over the past few albums, Nick Lowe has completed a transformation from punk and new wave rocker, that defined not only him, but a generation of British artists in the '70's, to a crooner with a subtle and refined way about him. Along the way he has elevated his songwriting and performing to a level of perfection that few artists ever achieve professionally, let alone later in their careers. 

With his last album, At My Age, Lowe found a voice and a groove that seemed so natural, it made it almost impossible to listen to the younger Lowe and believe that it was the same person. With that album, Lowe received some of the best reviews of his career and showed that he was more than comfortable being in his own fifty something year-old skin. 

On The Old Magic, Lowe not only matches what he accomplished on At My Age, he surpasses himself. Once again, drawing inspiration from '50's country-tinged standards and ballads and easy-going rockabilly songs, Lowe sings and moves with grace and warmth through this collection of eight original songs and three covers. Every song on The Old Magic sounds and feels classic, timeless, and familiar, which makes listening to this album so completely satisfying. I absolutely love this album. For me this is just a perfect album...not near perfect. Perfect. 

Stoplight Roses