2008: Top Twenty, Pt. 2
Jan. 13th, 2009 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urgencytobleedAlright, as promised, today = the top ten. I can honestly say that I adore every single one of these albums. So I'm quite happy with this list. I've also realized that my reviews would be a whole lot shorter if I didn't quote so damn many lyrics... What can I say? I'm a sucker for good lyrics. Anyway, I think that's all I have to say. Except that these all come highly recommended, obviously, so if you haven't listened to them, I think you should give them a chance. Oh yeah, and if anyone is surprised by my number one, well, you must be new here because it's so predictable if you know me. That is all. On to the music...
10. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
Ra Ra Riot takes the concept of a typical indie rock band, pumps it full of chamber pop influences, adds in a dash of new-wave inspired synths and melodies, and throws in a frontman with sensitive but strong vocals, shakes it all up, and ends up with a surprisingly cohesive and enjoyable sound. Their debut full-length release, The Rhumb Line, is jam-packed with catchy choruses, stirring string arrangements, and Wesley Miles' expressive vocals, and there isn't much to be found amongst its ten tracks that is anything less than great. The most impressive example of their sound is probably "Dying Is Fine", an absolutely perfect song with a catchy chorus ("Death, oh baby/You know that dying is fine but maybe/I wouldn't like death if death were good/Not even if death were good") that comes from an unlikely source of inspiration: a poem by E.E. Cummings. Apart from that, there are many other highlights. Opener and single, "Ghost Under Rocks", is a sweeping and nearly epic four-and-a-half minutes of complete gorgeousness. "Too Too Too Fast" features an insanely memorable synth line and another one of those unbelievably catchy choruses. The penultimate track is a cover of Kate Bush's "Suspended in Gaffa"; I usually find myself wishing that another original song would replace whatever random cover a band decides to throw onto their album and it's pretty hard to pull off a successful Kate Bush cover, but this one actually ends up being a standout track. They don't change the song much, just give it enough of a makeover to fit in perfectly with the rest of the album, and the result is a completely commendable tribute to Kate. The Rhumb Line is a youthful, energetic, and joyous album but it also has a good amount of depth, emotion, and intensity, which is sometimes hard to find in a musical landscape that is increasingly full of generic, cardboard cut-out type indie rock bands. Ra Ra Riot has that something special that allows them to stand out from the rest and leave a much larger impact on the listener.
Key tracks: "Dying Is Fine", "Ghost Under Rocks", "Too Too Too Fast", "Oh, La"
9. Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Animal!/Not Animal
It would be easy to dismiss Margot & the Nuclear So and So's as a band not worth investing in. Between their slightly silly (and long-winded) band name and their even sillier track titles ("Hello Vagina", "Holy Cow!", "Hip Hip Hooray", "Real Naked Girls", etc.), it makes sense to mistakenly label them as an immature, joke-y band who doesn't take their music very seriously. But making such an assumption would not only be completely off-base but completely unfortunate because, in actuality, they definitely take their music seriously and not only that, but it is very good music. Some of the lyrics are rather silly and don't seem to make much sense in the context of the rest of the song, but these few shortcomings can be easily overlooked when they sound so damn beautiful regardless. Richard Edwards' voice is effortlessly gorgeous and the musical arrangements are absolutely to die for, lovely beyond words. Basically, they make very atmospheric, often subtly catchy, and sometimes extremely heartbreaking chamber pop but that description doesn't do them much justice. You really have to just listen to the songs to understand their appeal; they aren't attention-grabbing in the way a catchy pop song is but in a more restrained way. At first, you aren't sure what exactly is so gripping about them, but after a few listens, it starts to become clear and you can't seem to pull yourself away. These songs are simply very well-written and presented so that they just catch your attention but aren't at all flashy or over-the-top - they are just beautiful and that is more than enough. The best tracks are those that are shared between both versions of the album - the band's Animal! and the record label's Not Animal: "German Motor Car", "As Tall as Cliffs", "Hello Vagina", "A Children's Crusade on Acid", and "Cold, Kind, and Lemon Eyes". Each album also has its own memorable moments; Not Animal has the folky yet intense (Edwards' delivery of the line "Don't fucking move" sends shivers down my spine every single time) "Broadripple Is Burning" and Animal! has the relationship-centered duet between Edwards and keyboardist Emily Watkins, "Mariel's Brazen Overture" and the rich atmosphere and sweet sentiments of "I Am a Lightning Rod". Neither album is perfect on its own, but together they are quite a force to be reckoned with.
Key tracks: "A Children's Crusade on Acid", "German Motor Car", "Broadripple Is Burning", "Hello Vagina"
8. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
Mates of State, consisting of uber-cute married couple, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, have always made adorable and catchy but dense music - vocals piled on top of vocals piled on top of keyboards piled on top of drums piled on top of keyboards and filled with schizophrenic melody changes and cryptic, non-sensical lyrics. With Re-Arrange Us, the duo's fifth full-length album, they finally take the time to slow down, catch their breath, come off their sugar high, and take a bit of a rest from the insanely hyper style they've become known for. Not that they've abandoned their sound completely: "Now" consists mostly of a one-word chorus that is too catchy for its own good, "The Re-Arranger" features that "two voices singing two different things at the same time" trick that they've always used quite liberally in the past, and the lyrics are, for the most part, still head-scratchingly random ("I propose a less serious boat/But don't mistake it for a party of jokes"; "Discount meals are warm, dear/Old age star on your new home team"). But there is also an undeniable divide between Re-Arrange Us and the Mates' previous releases. The most obvious difference is the use of piano in place of Gardner's signature keyboards and synthesizers. The songs are also noticeably more restrained in sound and traditional in structure. "Blue and Gold Print" and "Lullaby Haze" are almost ballads, which is a rare find in the Mates of State catalogue, but they work beautifully and are surprisingly emotionally potent. And other tracks like "Great Dane" and "Help Help" aren't as in-your-face-catchy as anything from Team Boo or Bring It Back but they have a simpleness and straightforwardness that is refreshing and easy to come back to again and again. Plus, both Kori and Jason's voices sound stronger and more versatile than ever, especially Jason's, which has improved immensely since the band's first two releases (just listen to his verse on "Girls Singing" and then anything from this record and the difference will be clear). Overall, while it may not be as immediately appealing and memorable as its predecessors, Re-Arrange Us is cohesive and subtle in a way the Mates have never been before and this is what makes it so ultimately satisfying. So the moral of the story is this: sometimes growing up really isn't such a bad thing.
Key tracks: "Blue and Gold Print", "The Re-Arranger", "Great Dane", "Now"
7. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
It's been slightly difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that Jenny Lewis is no longer the same girl who wrote, say, "Pictures of Success" or "The Good That Won't Come Out" or "Spectacular Views" or any of the songs from the first two Rilo Kiley albums and, for the most part, More Adventurous (though the changes were beginning to show by that point I still group it more with the earlier releases than with Under the Blacklight). And she'll probably never be that girl again; she's older now and in a different place. Whether you think she's changed for better or worse, it's silly to expect her to revert back to the kind of songs she wrote more than five years ago when it's pretty obvious that she has no intentions to and I think I've finally made myself accept that - at least mostly. I'm not sure I can say with complete certainty that Acid Tongue is better than Jenny's first solo release, Rabbit Fur Coat; it's a completely different animal which makes the two quite hard to compare fairly. Jenny is definitely more confident this time around - there are plenty of guest contributors sprinkled liberally throughout the album, but she doesn't attempt to hide behind them. Her voice is strong, versatile, and commanding and it never comes across as fearful or underutilized. She even uses it in a few ways that she has never fully explored before: bravely opening the album with a song that is sung completely in falsetto ("Black Sand") or turning it into a sultry, understated croon ("Bad Man's World"). As for the lyrics, they are repetitive and simple, more similar to Under the Blacklight than Rabbit Fur Coat or any other Rilo Kiley releases, but that formula seems to work better this time around. They aren't terribly soul-baring or confessional but they leave a big impression in their own way; their simplicity leaves a lot of room for interpretation through the listener's point of view. "Bad Man's World" tells a chilling story extremely sparsely ("I will never forgive you/For what you put us kids through/Remember that night you tried to take your own life?/When they found you, you were a shade of blue/And then you failed at that, too") which makes it all the more effective. Then there's the title track, which is probably most similar to the Jenny Lewis of old and doesn't disappoint: "To be lonely is a habit like smoking or taking drugs/And I've quit them both but, man, was it rough." There is definitely plenty to love here, you just have to learn to love it in a different way first.
Key tracks: "Jack Killed Mom", "Bad Man's World", "See Fernando", "Black Sand"
6. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Okkervil River has been a familiar name to me for a long time now but I never bothered checking them out because I was sure that their sound wouldn't really be my thing. It turns out I must have been extremely misinformed or something because, as I discovered only a few months ago, they are exactly my thing. Well, better late than never, I suppose. I just can't get over how amazing Will Sheff's lyrics are. In all seriousness, this album deserves its position for "Starry Stairs" and "On Tour with Zykos" alone, even if everything else was only average, which luckily it isn't. Those two songs, though, are perfect beyond words. They are both written from a female perspective and the results are scarily spot-on; Sheff completely becomes these characters - he digs so deeply inside these women's heads that, by the end of the song, the listener knows them so well that they feel like old friends. And the stories they have to tell are devastatingly beautiful and poetic: "This girl's eyes/When they were roughly wrenched open/I could see a starry stair up your thigh/You hid behind your hair/(Oh, but I saw you were smiling)/While all these guys/All these curious sets of eyes/Safe behind a TV screen/I let them pry/Pick apart and hang up to dry/Almost every piece of me"; "How come I shout 'goodbye!'/When God knows I just want to/Make this white lie big enough/To climb inside with you?" Sheff also knows how to lighten the mood when everything starts to get just a bit too dour and depressing and does it with just as much skill and ease. "Singer Songwriter" is an amusing diatribe against an overly smug, privileged, and superficial rich kid: "You've got outsider art by an artist who arguably kidnapped a kid on the wall/Your designers have slyly directed the eye down clean lines here in your well-lit hall/You've got taste/What a waste that that's all that you have." And the gloriously over-the-top "Pop Lie" spends almost its entirety denouncing an insincere, manipulative pop singer and the fans who hang on his every word before ending on a clever revelation that completely changes the song's tone: "This is respectfully dedicated/To the woman who concentrated/All of her love to find/That she had wasted it on/The liar who lied in this song." Of course, it's not all about the lyrics; Sheff also has the strong melodies and catchy choruses to back them up. And then there's his voice, which sounds more assured and controlled than ever but still retains its fragile, wounded side when called for and is never anything less than one hundred percent heartfelt and full of passion.
Key tracks: "On Tour with Zykos", "Starry Stairs", "Singer Songwriter", "Lost Coastlines"
5. She & Him - Volume One
On a purely superficial level, Volume One can best be described as "cute". Once you dig a bit deeper, though, it's obvious that the album has so much more to offer beyond simply serving as pleasant ear candy. None of these songs can be called lyrically genius or melodically challenging, but they can be called something much more commendable, at least in my opinion, and that is classic. A song can have the most introspective, wordy lyrics imaginable or be positively drenched in sonic experimentation but if it's not instantly memorable, if it doesn't get stuck in your head and stay there for ages, if you never get the urge to hear it over and over and over again, how good is it, really? What do amazing lyrics matter if the melody is so dull that you can't remember how they go? And how impressive is it when a song is so covered with bells and whistles that its emotional core is smothered and replaced with unfeeling, robotic, and detached studio trickery? This is the reason why Volume One is so refreshing; the songs are simple and unadorned, they are allowed some breathing room, and you can just bask in the glory of Zooey Deschanel's lovely voice and penchant for all things vintage. It's just as easy to believe these songs were written in the '50s as it is to believe they were written in the twenty-first century and this is a good thing. It gives them a timeless quality and sometimes, this can be a hard feat to accomplish effectively but Zooey and musical partner M. Ward do it with seemingly little effort. The real star of the show, though, is Zooey's voice. It truly does sound like it comes straight out of a long-past decade and though it can sometimes sound a bit rough around the edges, it's always completely charming and full of attitude. Take "Change Is Hard", a stirring torch ballad that owes much of its success to Zooey's flawless, heartbreaking, and just plain gorgeous vocal delivery. And when she sings coyly on the catchy "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?", "I've got to get your presence/Let's make it known/I think you're just so pleasant/I would like you for my own," it's hard not to get caught with a huge, dumb grin spread across your face. This album is chock full of moments that are similarly adorable and charming and sweet and every other cutesy adjective you could possibly think up, but it's also full of well-written and infectious songs and, most importantly, a true passion for making music. Let's hope that Volume Two, whenever it comes, goes down just as easily and sweetly.
Key tracks: "Change Is Hard", "Sweet Darlin'", "This Is Not a Test", "Black Hole"
4. Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster.../We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
I thought for sure that I had made some extravagant claim about Hold on Now, Youngster... being my album of the year before I had even heard it but, alas, it appears I'm not as idiotic as I think I am because I can't seem to find myself saying that anywhere. The closest I could find was in my personal blog back in April when I first started keeping track of my '08 list; Los Campesinos! occupied the top spot then and I had said in regards to the top two that they were "all but set in stone" which obviously turned out to be mildly untrue. LC! have since been uprooted from their position and well, the album that was number two kind of traveled in the opposite direction, if you know what I mean (I'm trying to be vague here and failing). Anyway, if you would have asked me to make a list a couple months ago, they would probably have fallen even lower, not because I love the album any less, but because I stopped listening to it obsessively quite awhile ago and it isn't nearly as emotionally resonant as a good deal of its competitors, which is a big thing to me and a large component in deciding how this list should be ranked. But then they had to go and release We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed which, while not quite as good, re-established my adoration of them and I decided that, between the two, there was more than enough amazingness to justify a relatively high finish. Los Campesinos! won't change your life or cause you to come to some grand epiphany on its meaning but they are sure to make you dance, sing, and scream along to their songs out of pure, unadulterated joy and giddiness. They have perfected the craft of writing an excellent pop hook, they combine aspects of twee and punk in such a way that they are never overly sweet or overly angsty, and, to put it simply, they are just tons of fun. Neither Gareth nor Aleksandra have ideal singing voices but they are more than adequate for their particular sound and their lack of skill is actually rather charming; LC! is the kind of band that makes you think, "Hey, I might not be the most talented person in the world, but I can make it as long as I have fun and love what I'm doing with every cell of my being!" It also helps that they have insanely witty, pop culturally informed, often hilarious, and more than a little unabashedly pretentious lyrics. "When our eyes meet all that I can read is 'you're the b-side'"; "We kid ourselves there's future in the fucking but there is no fucking future"; "I cannot emphasize enough that my body is a badly-designed, poorly put-together vessel/Harboring these diminishing, so-called 'vital organs'/Hope my heart goes first/I hope my heart goes first!" On the surface, they are just amusing and clever but they are actually extremely multi-dimensional and layered; it's absolutely brilliant.
Key tracks: "Knee Deep at ATP", "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks", "All Your Kayfabe Friends", "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed"
3. Copeland - You Are My Sunshine
Aaron Marsh's flawlessly smooth falsetto draws you in and his stunningly gorgeous compositions and simple, abstract lyrics force you to stick around. You Are My Sunshine is almost unbelievably beautiful and if the album at number one hadn't already stolen most of my soul and wrenched out my emotions nearly completely by the time this was released, it might actually have made it to the top of the list. The two are very similar in my opinion, not only in style but in the atmosphere they create and how fully they speak to the listener's emotional side. Yes, the songs are quite repetitive and don't change much in tempo and I can completely understand why some people might find them boring; I'll even admit to falling asleep halfway through my first listen of this album (though that can partly be attributed to the fact that a. I was listening to my mp3 player in bed and b. I had kind of pre-determined that I wouldn't like it much for some reason or another so wasn't trying very hard). After two or three listens, the songs still might not have sunk in completely and it's hard to distinguish one from the other, but there's something undeniably appealing about them that you can't quite put your finger on. And after maybe half a dozen listens, you're completely hooked and the repetitiveness ends up being the main selling point: it's soothing and nurturing and slightly hypnotic; it's like each song is gently cradling you and for a few minutes, you're totally unaware of the real world and are only focused on the world created by the music. It's an extremely hard feeling to describe. The best moments on You Are My Sunshine are those tiny unexpected ones that, despite their subtleness, make each song stand apart from the rest: the mesmerizing layered vocals on "Should You Return", the barely there moment of vocal distortion partway through "The Suitcase Song" that is so small but somehow elevates the song to the next level, the seamless injection of a female voice, most notably in "On the Safest Ledge". And the lyrics on their own might not seem extremely impressive - take, for example, "In the moments before time starts moving backward/I will feel her hand in the palm of mine" ("To Be Happy Now") - but they are delivered with such introspection and sadness by Marsh that they resonate a million times more than they do on paper. The entire album just flows so perfectly and is so simple yet so affecting. I wasn't expecting to be blown away by it and that I was makes the listening experience even more gratifying.
Key tracks: "On the Safest Ledge", "Should You Return", "The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song)", "Chin Up"
2. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Who would have thought the death of Amanda Palmer would turn out to be such an enjoyable listening experience? All joking aside, maybe Who Killed Amanda Palmer is missing a lot of the rawness and vulnerability that permeates the Dresden Dolls' self-titled debut, but such intense emotional resonance is hard to duplicate multiple times over. Besides, even if it doesn't seem quite so effortless, the album has still got plenty of heart-wrenching confessionals and sarcasm-laced social commentary to go around and, technically, it is almost undoubtedly Miss Palmer's most accomplished and fully-realized work yet. This is largely due to the unrestrained, no holds barred approach that is taken to each song. They are more embellished and bombastic than any of her work with the Dolls has ever been yet it never feels like too much; the emotional core of the songs is never overshadowed by their fancy packaging. Ballads like "Ampersand", "Blake Says", "Have to Drive", and "The Point of It All" are drenched in gorgeous string arrangements and choir-esque group vocals but the stark, uncomplicatedly meaningful lyrics are what grab your attention and keep it: "Blake makes friends but only for a minute/He prefers the things he orders from the Internet/And Blake's been having trouble with his head again/He takes his pills but never takes his medicine"; "It's better to waste your day watching the scenery change at a comatose rate/Than to put yourself in it and turn into one of those cigarette ads that you hate." And the faster paced songs have their fair share of twists and turns as well but your ear is never drawn away from Amanda's perfectly-suited vocal performances, whether they be frantic and aggressive ("Runs in the Family"), sarcastic and biting ("Oasis"), or ballsy and over-the-top ("Leeds United"). There is such a vast array of styles and emotions to be found on Who Killed Amanda Palmer that it is at first a bit overwhelming. Once these songs have had a chance to settle in, though, that is when they truly shine. The quieter songs that you may have initially overlooked in favor of the more dramatic ones, in time, sneak up on you and hit you like a speeding bullet, revealing their beauty and depth suddenly and forcefully. These are the kinds of songs that truly make an artist, I think, the ones that at first don't seem extremely special until that one day when they finally allow you to glimpse their glory in full. A lot of musicians can craft something flashy and catchy and immediately gratifying but it takes someone special to create a song so subtle in its greatness that it becomes timeless rather than quickly wearing off of you. Luckily for Miss Palmer (and for us), she seems to be capable of pulling these kinds of songs out of her sleeve with little effort.
Key tracks: "Blake Says", "The Point of It All", "Runs in the Family", "Have to Drive"
1. Lydia - Illuminate
What a year it's been for Lydia. When this album came out back in March - and I first declared it my album of the year - it's distribution was extremely limited, only available physically through the band's online store and at shows. Now, less than a year later, the band has signed to a major label, re-released the album on a much wider scale, just finished their first ever music video (to be released in the new year), and will soon embark on a well-deserved headlining tour. So let's get to the music, eh? Illuminate is that album, you know the one; it grabs hold of you and shakes you violently until all of your emotions come spilling out and not only the first time, but with every single listen. These kinds of albums are rare - at least the ones that consume you entirely - and it's hard to come up with words that describe the experience accurately. So to not do it justice at all... These songs are lush and atmospheric, full of swirling melodies that are heartbreaking in their beauty and the lyrics are simple but possess a staggering amount of emotional depth, an attribute that becomes even more obvious over time. To take examples from two of the many lyrical gems: from "One More Day", "Love is not for me, I promise," stated so matter-of-factly that it packs a staggering and unexpected punch straight to the gut; and in "Hospital", the subtle anthemic intensity of "Oh, no one is watching now/Sing like you just might drown/But always come back home." Leighton Antelman's delivery of these lines and others is so spot-on that it propels them to an even higher level; whether he's at his most whispery and hoarse or wailing at the top of his lungs, his voice is always so injected with emotion that it almost hurts to listen. Finally, factor in Mindy White's understated yet stirring background vocals (the only complaint I have about this album is that it needs more Mindy; when she takes the lead on closer "Now the One You Once Loved Is Leaving" it is so refreshing and lovely that you wish she sang more prominently on a few more songs) and you have a recipe for near-perfection. This album is insanely impressive to me, especially considering it is only their second release and they've gone through an insane amount of line-up changes since the band's inception. It's not to everyone's tastes, I know that (but that won't stop me from stubbornly believing anyone who doesn't like it must be deaf), but it definitely deserves a fair chance. Maybe it'll end up being a pleasant surprise and maybe, just maybe, it will effect you as much as it has affected me; even now, after probably hundreds of listens, I can honestly say that it is still getting better each time. I predict huge things in Lydia's future.
Key tracks: "Stay Awake", "One More Day", "Now the One You Once Loved Is Leaving", "Fate"
10. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
Ra Ra Riot takes the concept of a typical indie rock band, pumps it full of chamber pop influences, adds in a dash of new-wave inspired synths and melodies, and throws in a frontman with sensitive but strong vocals, shakes it all up, and ends up with a surprisingly cohesive and enjoyable sound. Their debut full-length release, The Rhumb Line, is jam-packed with catchy choruses, stirring string arrangements, and Wesley Miles' expressive vocals, and there isn't much to be found amongst its ten tracks that is anything less than great. The most impressive example of their sound is probably "Dying Is Fine", an absolutely perfect song with a catchy chorus ("Death, oh baby/You know that dying is fine but maybe/I wouldn't like death if death were good/Not even if death were good") that comes from an unlikely source of inspiration: a poem by E.E. Cummings. Apart from that, there are many other highlights. Opener and single, "Ghost Under Rocks", is a sweeping and nearly epic four-and-a-half minutes of complete gorgeousness. "Too Too Too Fast" features an insanely memorable synth line and another one of those unbelievably catchy choruses. The penultimate track is a cover of Kate Bush's "Suspended in Gaffa"; I usually find myself wishing that another original song would replace whatever random cover a band decides to throw onto their album and it's pretty hard to pull off a successful Kate Bush cover, but this one actually ends up being a standout track. They don't change the song much, just give it enough of a makeover to fit in perfectly with the rest of the album, and the result is a completely commendable tribute to Kate. The Rhumb Line is a youthful, energetic, and joyous album but it also has a good amount of depth, emotion, and intensity, which is sometimes hard to find in a musical landscape that is increasingly full of generic, cardboard cut-out type indie rock bands. Ra Ra Riot has that something special that allows them to stand out from the rest and leave a much larger impact on the listener.
Key tracks: "Dying Is Fine", "Ghost Under Rocks", "Too Too Too Fast", "Oh, La"
9. Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Animal!/Not Animal
It would be easy to dismiss Margot & the Nuclear So and So's as a band not worth investing in. Between their slightly silly (and long-winded) band name and their even sillier track titles ("Hello Vagina", "Holy Cow!", "Hip Hip Hooray", "Real Naked Girls", etc.), it makes sense to mistakenly label them as an immature, joke-y band who doesn't take their music very seriously. But making such an assumption would not only be completely off-base but completely unfortunate because, in actuality, they definitely take their music seriously and not only that, but it is very good music. Some of the lyrics are rather silly and don't seem to make much sense in the context of the rest of the song, but these few shortcomings can be easily overlooked when they sound so damn beautiful regardless. Richard Edwards' voice is effortlessly gorgeous and the musical arrangements are absolutely to die for, lovely beyond words. Basically, they make very atmospheric, often subtly catchy, and sometimes extremely heartbreaking chamber pop but that description doesn't do them much justice. You really have to just listen to the songs to understand their appeal; they aren't attention-grabbing in the way a catchy pop song is but in a more restrained way. At first, you aren't sure what exactly is so gripping about them, but after a few listens, it starts to become clear and you can't seem to pull yourself away. These songs are simply very well-written and presented so that they just catch your attention but aren't at all flashy or over-the-top - they are just beautiful and that is more than enough. The best tracks are those that are shared between both versions of the album - the band's Animal! and the record label's Not Animal: "German Motor Car", "As Tall as Cliffs", "Hello Vagina", "A Children's Crusade on Acid", and "Cold, Kind, and Lemon Eyes". Each album also has its own memorable moments; Not Animal has the folky yet intense (Edwards' delivery of the line "Don't fucking move" sends shivers down my spine every single time) "Broadripple Is Burning" and Animal! has the relationship-centered duet between Edwards and keyboardist Emily Watkins, "Mariel's Brazen Overture" and the rich atmosphere and sweet sentiments of "I Am a Lightning Rod". Neither album is perfect on its own, but together they are quite a force to be reckoned with.
Key tracks: "A Children's Crusade on Acid", "German Motor Car", "Broadripple Is Burning", "Hello Vagina"
8. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
Mates of State, consisting of uber-cute married couple, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, have always made adorable and catchy but dense music - vocals piled on top of vocals piled on top of keyboards piled on top of drums piled on top of keyboards and filled with schizophrenic melody changes and cryptic, non-sensical lyrics. With Re-Arrange Us, the duo's fifth full-length album, they finally take the time to slow down, catch their breath, come off their sugar high, and take a bit of a rest from the insanely hyper style they've become known for. Not that they've abandoned their sound completely: "Now" consists mostly of a one-word chorus that is too catchy for its own good, "The Re-Arranger" features that "two voices singing two different things at the same time" trick that they've always used quite liberally in the past, and the lyrics are, for the most part, still head-scratchingly random ("I propose a less serious boat/But don't mistake it for a party of jokes"; "Discount meals are warm, dear/Old age star on your new home team"). But there is also an undeniable divide between Re-Arrange Us and the Mates' previous releases. The most obvious difference is the use of piano in place of Gardner's signature keyboards and synthesizers. The songs are also noticeably more restrained in sound and traditional in structure. "Blue and Gold Print" and "Lullaby Haze" are almost ballads, which is a rare find in the Mates of State catalogue, but they work beautifully and are surprisingly emotionally potent. And other tracks like "Great Dane" and "Help Help" aren't as in-your-face-catchy as anything from Team Boo or Bring It Back but they have a simpleness and straightforwardness that is refreshing and easy to come back to again and again. Plus, both Kori and Jason's voices sound stronger and more versatile than ever, especially Jason's, which has improved immensely since the band's first two releases (just listen to his verse on "Girls Singing" and then anything from this record and the difference will be clear). Overall, while it may not be as immediately appealing and memorable as its predecessors, Re-Arrange Us is cohesive and subtle in a way the Mates have never been before and this is what makes it so ultimately satisfying. So the moral of the story is this: sometimes growing up really isn't such a bad thing.
Key tracks: "Blue and Gold Print", "The Re-Arranger", "Great Dane", "Now"
7. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
It's been slightly difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that Jenny Lewis is no longer the same girl who wrote, say, "Pictures of Success" or "The Good That Won't Come Out" or "Spectacular Views" or any of the songs from the first two Rilo Kiley albums and, for the most part, More Adventurous (though the changes were beginning to show by that point I still group it more with the earlier releases than with Under the Blacklight). And she'll probably never be that girl again; she's older now and in a different place. Whether you think she's changed for better or worse, it's silly to expect her to revert back to the kind of songs she wrote more than five years ago when it's pretty obvious that she has no intentions to and I think I've finally made myself accept that - at least mostly. I'm not sure I can say with complete certainty that Acid Tongue is better than Jenny's first solo release, Rabbit Fur Coat; it's a completely different animal which makes the two quite hard to compare fairly. Jenny is definitely more confident this time around - there are plenty of guest contributors sprinkled liberally throughout the album, but she doesn't attempt to hide behind them. Her voice is strong, versatile, and commanding and it never comes across as fearful or underutilized. She even uses it in a few ways that she has never fully explored before: bravely opening the album with a song that is sung completely in falsetto ("Black Sand") or turning it into a sultry, understated croon ("Bad Man's World"). As for the lyrics, they are repetitive and simple, more similar to Under the Blacklight than Rabbit Fur Coat or any other Rilo Kiley releases, but that formula seems to work better this time around. They aren't terribly soul-baring or confessional but they leave a big impression in their own way; their simplicity leaves a lot of room for interpretation through the listener's point of view. "Bad Man's World" tells a chilling story extremely sparsely ("I will never forgive you/For what you put us kids through/Remember that night you tried to take your own life?/When they found you, you were a shade of blue/And then you failed at that, too") which makes it all the more effective. Then there's the title track, which is probably most similar to the Jenny Lewis of old and doesn't disappoint: "To be lonely is a habit like smoking or taking drugs/And I've quit them both but, man, was it rough." There is definitely plenty to love here, you just have to learn to love it in a different way first.
Key tracks: "Jack Killed Mom", "Bad Man's World", "See Fernando", "Black Sand"
6. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Okkervil River has been a familiar name to me for a long time now but I never bothered checking them out because I was sure that their sound wouldn't really be my thing. It turns out I must have been extremely misinformed or something because, as I discovered only a few months ago, they are exactly my thing. Well, better late than never, I suppose. I just can't get over how amazing Will Sheff's lyrics are. In all seriousness, this album deserves its position for "Starry Stairs" and "On Tour with Zykos" alone, even if everything else was only average, which luckily it isn't. Those two songs, though, are perfect beyond words. They are both written from a female perspective and the results are scarily spot-on; Sheff completely becomes these characters - he digs so deeply inside these women's heads that, by the end of the song, the listener knows them so well that they feel like old friends. And the stories they have to tell are devastatingly beautiful and poetic: "This girl's eyes/When they were roughly wrenched open/I could see a starry stair up your thigh/You hid behind your hair/(Oh, but I saw you were smiling)/While all these guys/All these curious sets of eyes/Safe behind a TV screen/I let them pry/Pick apart and hang up to dry/Almost every piece of me"; "How come I shout 'goodbye!'/When God knows I just want to/Make this white lie big enough/To climb inside with you?" Sheff also knows how to lighten the mood when everything starts to get just a bit too dour and depressing and does it with just as much skill and ease. "Singer Songwriter" is an amusing diatribe against an overly smug, privileged, and superficial rich kid: "You've got outsider art by an artist who arguably kidnapped a kid on the wall/Your designers have slyly directed the eye down clean lines here in your well-lit hall/You've got taste/What a waste that that's all that you have." And the gloriously over-the-top "Pop Lie" spends almost its entirety denouncing an insincere, manipulative pop singer and the fans who hang on his every word before ending on a clever revelation that completely changes the song's tone: "This is respectfully dedicated/To the woman who concentrated/All of her love to find/That she had wasted it on/The liar who lied in this song." Of course, it's not all about the lyrics; Sheff also has the strong melodies and catchy choruses to back them up. And then there's his voice, which sounds more assured and controlled than ever but still retains its fragile, wounded side when called for and is never anything less than one hundred percent heartfelt and full of passion.
Key tracks: "On Tour with Zykos", "Starry Stairs", "Singer Songwriter", "Lost Coastlines"
5. She & Him - Volume One
On a purely superficial level, Volume One can best be described as "cute". Once you dig a bit deeper, though, it's obvious that the album has so much more to offer beyond simply serving as pleasant ear candy. None of these songs can be called lyrically genius or melodically challenging, but they can be called something much more commendable, at least in my opinion, and that is classic. A song can have the most introspective, wordy lyrics imaginable or be positively drenched in sonic experimentation but if it's not instantly memorable, if it doesn't get stuck in your head and stay there for ages, if you never get the urge to hear it over and over and over again, how good is it, really? What do amazing lyrics matter if the melody is so dull that you can't remember how they go? And how impressive is it when a song is so covered with bells and whistles that its emotional core is smothered and replaced with unfeeling, robotic, and detached studio trickery? This is the reason why Volume One is so refreshing; the songs are simple and unadorned, they are allowed some breathing room, and you can just bask in the glory of Zooey Deschanel's lovely voice and penchant for all things vintage. It's just as easy to believe these songs were written in the '50s as it is to believe they were written in the twenty-first century and this is a good thing. It gives them a timeless quality and sometimes, this can be a hard feat to accomplish effectively but Zooey and musical partner M. Ward do it with seemingly little effort. The real star of the show, though, is Zooey's voice. It truly does sound like it comes straight out of a long-past decade and though it can sometimes sound a bit rough around the edges, it's always completely charming and full of attitude. Take "Change Is Hard", a stirring torch ballad that owes much of its success to Zooey's flawless, heartbreaking, and just plain gorgeous vocal delivery. And when she sings coyly on the catchy "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?", "I've got to get your presence/Let's make it known/I think you're just so pleasant/I would like you for my own," it's hard not to get caught with a huge, dumb grin spread across your face. This album is chock full of moments that are similarly adorable and charming and sweet and every other cutesy adjective you could possibly think up, but it's also full of well-written and infectious songs and, most importantly, a true passion for making music. Let's hope that Volume Two, whenever it comes, goes down just as easily and sweetly.
Key tracks: "Change Is Hard", "Sweet Darlin'", "This Is Not a Test", "Black Hole"
4. Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster.../We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
I thought for sure that I had made some extravagant claim about Hold on Now, Youngster... being my album of the year before I had even heard it but, alas, it appears I'm not as idiotic as I think I am because I can't seem to find myself saying that anywhere. The closest I could find was in my personal blog back in April when I first started keeping track of my '08 list; Los Campesinos! occupied the top spot then and I had said in regards to the top two that they were "all but set in stone" which obviously turned out to be mildly untrue. LC! have since been uprooted from their position and well, the album that was number two kind of traveled in the opposite direction, if you know what I mean (I'm trying to be vague here and failing). Anyway, if you would have asked me to make a list a couple months ago, they would probably have fallen even lower, not because I love the album any less, but because I stopped listening to it obsessively quite awhile ago and it isn't nearly as emotionally resonant as a good deal of its competitors, which is a big thing to me and a large component in deciding how this list should be ranked. But then they had to go and release We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed which, while not quite as good, re-established my adoration of them and I decided that, between the two, there was more than enough amazingness to justify a relatively high finish. Los Campesinos! won't change your life or cause you to come to some grand epiphany on its meaning but they are sure to make you dance, sing, and scream along to their songs out of pure, unadulterated joy and giddiness. They have perfected the craft of writing an excellent pop hook, they combine aspects of twee and punk in such a way that they are never overly sweet or overly angsty, and, to put it simply, they are just tons of fun. Neither Gareth nor Aleksandra have ideal singing voices but they are more than adequate for their particular sound and their lack of skill is actually rather charming; LC! is the kind of band that makes you think, "Hey, I might not be the most talented person in the world, but I can make it as long as I have fun and love what I'm doing with every cell of my being!" It also helps that they have insanely witty, pop culturally informed, often hilarious, and more than a little unabashedly pretentious lyrics. "When our eyes meet all that I can read is 'you're the b-side'"; "We kid ourselves there's future in the fucking but there is no fucking future"; "I cannot emphasize enough that my body is a badly-designed, poorly put-together vessel/Harboring these diminishing, so-called 'vital organs'/Hope my heart goes first/I hope my heart goes first!" On the surface, they are just amusing and clever but they are actually extremely multi-dimensional and layered; it's absolutely brilliant.
Key tracks: "Knee Deep at ATP", "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks", "All Your Kayfabe Friends", "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed"
3. Copeland - You Are My Sunshine
Aaron Marsh's flawlessly smooth falsetto draws you in and his stunningly gorgeous compositions and simple, abstract lyrics force you to stick around. You Are My Sunshine is almost unbelievably beautiful and if the album at number one hadn't already stolen most of my soul and wrenched out my emotions nearly completely by the time this was released, it might actually have made it to the top of the list. The two are very similar in my opinion, not only in style but in the atmosphere they create and how fully they speak to the listener's emotional side. Yes, the songs are quite repetitive and don't change much in tempo and I can completely understand why some people might find them boring; I'll even admit to falling asleep halfway through my first listen of this album (though that can partly be attributed to the fact that a. I was listening to my mp3 player in bed and b. I had kind of pre-determined that I wouldn't like it much for some reason or another so wasn't trying very hard). After two or three listens, the songs still might not have sunk in completely and it's hard to distinguish one from the other, but there's something undeniably appealing about them that you can't quite put your finger on. And after maybe half a dozen listens, you're completely hooked and the repetitiveness ends up being the main selling point: it's soothing and nurturing and slightly hypnotic; it's like each song is gently cradling you and for a few minutes, you're totally unaware of the real world and are only focused on the world created by the music. It's an extremely hard feeling to describe. The best moments on You Are My Sunshine are those tiny unexpected ones that, despite their subtleness, make each song stand apart from the rest: the mesmerizing layered vocals on "Should You Return", the barely there moment of vocal distortion partway through "The Suitcase Song" that is so small but somehow elevates the song to the next level, the seamless injection of a female voice, most notably in "On the Safest Ledge". And the lyrics on their own might not seem extremely impressive - take, for example, "In the moments before time starts moving backward/I will feel her hand in the palm of mine" ("To Be Happy Now") - but they are delivered with such introspection and sadness by Marsh that they resonate a million times more than they do on paper. The entire album just flows so perfectly and is so simple yet so affecting. I wasn't expecting to be blown away by it and that I was makes the listening experience even more gratifying.
Key tracks: "On the Safest Ledge", "Should You Return", "The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song)", "Chin Up"
2. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Who would have thought the death of Amanda Palmer would turn out to be such an enjoyable listening experience? All joking aside, maybe Who Killed Amanda Palmer is missing a lot of the rawness and vulnerability that permeates the Dresden Dolls' self-titled debut, but such intense emotional resonance is hard to duplicate multiple times over. Besides, even if it doesn't seem quite so effortless, the album has still got plenty of heart-wrenching confessionals and sarcasm-laced social commentary to go around and, technically, it is almost undoubtedly Miss Palmer's most accomplished and fully-realized work yet. This is largely due to the unrestrained, no holds barred approach that is taken to each song. They are more embellished and bombastic than any of her work with the Dolls has ever been yet it never feels like too much; the emotional core of the songs is never overshadowed by their fancy packaging. Ballads like "Ampersand", "Blake Says", "Have to Drive", and "The Point of It All" are drenched in gorgeous string arrangements and choir-esque group vocals but the stark, uncomplicatedly meaningful lyrics are what grab your attention and keep it: "Blake makes friends but only for a minute/He prefers the things he orders from the Internet/And Blake's been having trouble with his head again/He takes his pills but never takes his medicine"; "It's better to waste your day watching the scenery change at a comatose rate/Than to put yourself in it and turn into one of those cigarette ads that you hate." And the faster paced songs have their fair share of twists and turns as well but your ear is never drawn away from Amanda's perfectly-suited vocal performances, whether they be frantic and aggressive ("Runs in the Family"), sarcastic and biting ("Oasis"), or ballsy and over-the-top ("Leeds United"). There is such a vast array of styles and emotions to be found on Who Killed Amanda Palmer that it is at first a bit overwhelming. Once these songs have had a chance to settle in, though, that is when they truly shine. The quieter songs that you may have initially overlooked in favor of the more dramatic ones, in time, sneak up on you and hit you like a speeding bullet, revealing their beauty and depth suddenly and forcefully. These are the kinds of songs that truly make an artist, I think, the ones that at first don't seem extremely special until that one day when they finally allow you to glimpse their glory in full. A lot of musicians can craft something flashy and catchy and immediately gratifying but it takes someone special to create a song so subtle in its greatness that it becomes timeless rather than quickly wearing off of you. Luckily for Miss Palmer (and for us), she seems to be capable of pulling these kinds of songs out of her sleeve with little effort.
Key tracks: "Blake Says", "The Point of It All", "Runs in the Family", "Have to Drive"
1. Lydia - Illuminate
What a year it's been for Lydia. When this album came out back in March - and I first declared it my album of the year - it's distribution was extremely limited, only available physically through the band's online store and at shows. Now, less than a year later, the band has signed to a major label, re-released the album on a much wider scale, just finished their first ever music video (to be released in the new year), and will soon embark on a well-deserved headlining tour. So let's get to the music, eh? Illuminate is that album, you know the one; it grabs hold of you and shakes you violently until all of your emotions come spilling out and not only the first time, but with every single listen. These kinds of albums are rare - at least the ones that consume you entirely - and it's hard to come up with words that describe the experience accurately. So to not do it justice at all... These songs are lush and atmospheric, full of swirling melodies that are heartbreaking in their beauty and the lyrics are simple but possess a staggering amount of emotional depth, an attribute that becomes even more obvious over time. To take examples from two of the many lyrical gems: from "One More Day", "Love is not for me, I promise," stated so matter-of-factly that it packs a staggering and unexpected punch straight to the gut; and in "Hospital", the subtle anthemic intensity of "Oh, no one is watching now/Sing like you just might drown/But always come back home." Leighton Antelman's delivery of these lines and others is so spot-on that it propels them to an even higher level; whether he's at his most whispery and hoarse or wailing at the top of his lungs, his voice is always so injected with emotion that it almost hurts to listen. Finally, factor in Mindy White's understated yet stirring background vocals (the only complaint I have about this album is that it needs more Mindy; when she takes the lead on closer "Now the One You Once Loved Is Leaving" it is so refreshing and lovely that you wish she sang more prominently on a few more songs) and you have a recipe for near-perfection. This album is insanely impressive to me, especially considering it is only their second release and they've gone through an insane amount of line-up changes since the band's inception. It's not to everyone's tastes, I know that (but that won't stop me from stubbornly believing anyone who doesn't like it must be deaf), but it definitely deserves a fair chance. Maybe it'll end up being a pleasant surprise and maybe, just maybe, it will effect you as much as it has affected me; even now, after probably hundreds of listens, I can honestly say that it is still getting better each time. I predict huge things in Lydia's future.
Key tracks: "Stay Awake", "One More Day", "Now the One You Once Loved Is Leaving", "Fate"
