A Random Mp3 Trilogy: Loney Dear, Abe Vigoda, Mount Eerie
I know I have already done a post for the new Loney Dear, but I seriously can’t stop listening to this album. It is one of those rare pieces where I can appreciate every single artistic choice, and all of them are executed flawlessly. I mean just the way he pronounces ‘story’ as ‘storwy’ on “Harm/Slow” is such a miniscule detail, but it sticks out so vividly. Loney Dear, aka Swedish songwriter Emil Svanangen, has produced one of the best albums of 2009 so far, so don’t miss out.
Loney Dear : Everything Turns To You
Los Angeles based Abe Vigoda‘s 5 track follow up to last year’s Skeleton sees the band moving into a more matured, darker direction that doesn’t quite as easily wear the fun, tropical punk name tag. This may not be good news to some of their fans, but I think this EP, Reviver, proves they are more than just a No Age clone. If you read this blog regularly, you know I always prefer my music to be interesting over fun, so if that is how you like your punk served up as well, then make sure to grab this:
Lost Wisdom, a Mount Eerie collaboration with Julie Doiron (Eric’s Trip) and Fred Squire, has made its way back into my heavy rotation again. I liked it a lot when I stumbled across it at the end of last year, but it has taken me a while to appreciate some of the slower songs on this thing. I love returning to an album and getting obsessed for a second time, and it is a true testament to a record’s greatness. If you never heard this one, you are missing out:
Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron & Fred Squire : O My Heart
- Posted by Davy Minor on February 23, 2009 at 7:11 pm
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Ohmpark’s Top 20 Best EPs/Short-Length Albums Of 2008
I decided to do something a little experimental this year with my best EP list. When I was comparing very short “full-length” albums to longer albums on my best LP list, I kept wanting to hold the time duration against the shorter album. Also, it seems the difference between EPs and LPs can be a bit arbitrary sometimes, so I decided to just draw a line completely based on album length to split up my best album lists. This list, then, is the best of all albums less than 35 minutes, regardless of what the record is labeled. I’m happy with the end result, as I’m able to really highlight some extremely worthwhile briefer albums and it made the competition on this list a lot tighter. When you really think about it, any classic album this short feels like it is in a different weight class. I want to give an honorable mention to Cynic‘s Traced In Air, Parade‘s Ghosts, and Mount Eerie with Julie Dorion and Fred Squire‘s Lost Wisdom because all three were awesome, but here are the 20 best albums under 35 minutes: Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 31, 2008 at 5:57 am
- 1 Comment
My Favourite Songs of 2008: Ohmpark Mixtape #6
So here is a playlist comprised of many of my favourite songs from the year. Not all of my favs are here, but I think all of the essentials are in it. I tried my best to build this as a flowing playlist more than just a collection of songs, so the order and even some of the selections reflect that. I really need to do more mixtapes. Based on Hypemachine/elbow popularity, I know everyone loves that Fleet Foxes song, but I decided instead to treat you to a better song from one of the bands that FF is ripping off. Anyways, here is an hour and half of the best songs of 2008. Jam them hard while you can, because in about 3 days they aren’t hip anymore:
Islands : The Arm
Sigur Ros : Gobbledigook
Atlas Sound : Recent Bedroom
Kaki King : Life Being What it Is
MGMT : Weekend Wars
Department of Eagles : No One Does It Like You
Animal Collective : Water Curses
Antony And The Johnsons : Another World
Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron & Fred Squire : Voice In Headphones
My Morning Jacket : Touch Me I’m Going To Scream pt. 1
Beach House : Used To Be
Portishead : The Rip
Summerbirds In The Cellar : Now We Are Ugly Inside
Hot Chip : One Pure Thought
M83 : Kim & Jesse
Bon Iver : For Emma
Plants And Animals : Guru
Destroyer : Shooting Rockets (From The Desk Of Night’s Ape)
Deerhunter : Nothing Ever Happened
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead : The Betrayal Of Roger Casement And The Irish Brigade
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 29, 2008 at 9:57 pm
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The Quest For The Best Albums Of 2008 Continues…
Bambara are playing the Drunken Unicorn tonight (Wednesday)
So I continue to scan through other people’s year end posts and add albums to a very long list of stuff to listen to, but I’m already finding so much good new music. For instance, I just finished listening to Bambara‘s self-titled album for the first time, and it blew me away. The three piece Athens, GA outfit has been playing together for about 7 years, but this is the first release from them as Bambara. I’ll have more on this one upon closer inspection, but give a track a listen and then go see them live tonight:
Pegasuses-XL @ Fest 7.
Another record from Athens I have been extremely impressed with is Pegasuses-XL‘s latest release, The Anitphon. It seems that this album is not getting much love from the various reviews I read and other folks I know that have heard it, but I just can’t get enough. They do the Bloodhound Gang school of rap way more interestingly than Why?, and the keyboard driven atmospheric melodies are juxtaposed by an intense punk streak. There are very few albums that I can think of that can be so avant-garde and so much fun at the same time. Maybe the best record to come out of our sister city all year long:
Pegasuses-XL : Marathon Mansion
Pegasuses-XL : Serious Feelings
Starfucker
Another high quality album that is very fun is the self-titled Starfucker album. This thing is sort of like Peter Bjorn And John meets Ratatat. It is totally a summer jammer, but even in these wintry times I can’t help but to get on their poppy, sunny vibe.
Starfucker : Isabella Of Castile
Pale Young Gentlemen
So another album that I think can be appreciated by just about anyone is Black Forest (tra la la), the new release from Madison, Wisconsin’s Pale Young Gentlemen. The singer has one of those voices that you could draw a comparison to just about any other male vocalist you can imagine. The terrific songwriting is bolstered by lush instrumentation and perfect production resulting in a top shelf indie-pop record.
Pale Young Gentlemen : Coal/ivory
Pale Young Gentlemen : The Crook Of My Good Arm
Fleet Foxes
Ok, so I have been listening to a lot of Fleet Foxes lately because everyone has gone bonkers for these guys this year, but I still feel the way I did upon first listen: They are a good, nice sounding band, but a bit overrated. They are just so conservative and safe and bring absolutely nothing new to the table. When I was listening to the full length album, someone who didn’t know them came in and thought i was listening to Christmas music. There is just an extremely generic quality to this band. In a short dose like Sun Giant it can hold my interest, but there is way too much filler on Fleet Foxes, and that album doesn’t even last 40 minutes. But regardless, there is no denying that this is an amazing song:
Fleet Foxes : White Winter Hymnal
Mount Eerie
Probably the greatest discovery so far in my holiday album dash is Mount Eerie, the most recent moniker of Phil Elverum, formerly The Microphones. The Microphones are one of those bands that I had always heard about, but for some reason I never stumbled across one of their albums. Although, I’ll be making my trek through Elverum’s entire discography very soon because currently three releases Mount Eerie put out this year are in my heavy rotation and all could possibly find their way on to my year end lists. Get hip to this lo-fi hottness:
Mount Eerie : Dawn : Cold Mountain
Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron and Fred Squire : Lost Wisdom : Voice In Headphones
Mount Eerie : Black Wooden Ceiling Opening : In Moonlight
Mount Eerie : Dawn : Goodbye Hope
Buy Dawn
Buy Lost Wisdom
Buy Black Wooden Ceiling Opening
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 17, 2008 at 7:31 am
- 3 Comments
