Best record of the year: Microcastle / Weird Era - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey 

OK, so I've also been listening a lot to the Radar Bros who put out Auditorium the beginning of the year. And it does spend some time with that Mercury Rev Deserter's Songs psych-Americana sound that I like so much. Great record, maybe not quite the greatness that I assign to their And the Surrounding Mountains, but that's one of my favorites from the last decade, actually one of my favorites from any decade (but that probably says more about my tastes than the quality of the record ). Pretty nice sound on this latest too. Good bass and in-room presence. Maybe a bit slow moving for some, but I really like it, and definitely one of my favorites of this year, getting better with each listen, and I liked it a lot from go. Any other Radar Bros. fans hanging around?

Hehehe, fun to see an old dead post resurface, and get more response than the first time around :)


Yea, I do tend to agree with viro, not exactly one of the classic years of modern rock, regardless of how indie you wanna be. But on the other hand, I am still listening to a few ...


Dodos Visiter - silly band name, intentionally misspelled album title, no wonder this one got kind of overshadowed by the emergence of (the also silly named) Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend and all the others. But this is some very good and eclectic pop music, sometimes very melodic and accessible, other times noisy and adventurous, all the time with a nice sense of song craft, and nothing ever seems to unfold completely so you want to keep coming back. Like so many of the modern bands I like, a very healthy dose of the Kinks, sometimes pushing it toward the sound of that catchy Strokes' debut, but oftentimes more sophisticated. Fun CD, and nice to see that it actually wound up very high on many best of 2008 lists. Engineered by John Askew, who in his other job as the band Tracker, made a very cool little record a few years ago that I love called Polk.


Wovenhand Ten Stones - middle section knocks it down for me - but the new The Threshing Floor is amazing - best of 2010 right now


Radar Bros Auditorium - by all rights, this sound just shouldn't really work much beyond one CD, kinda slow moving layers upon layers of sound without much change in pace over the course of a CD (or two), but And the Surrounding Mountains remains one of my alltime favorites, and this one is close behind - guess it's just one of those records that fits like an old shoe.


Shearwater Rook - sometimes you get the feel an artist has been working their whole career for that one defining record, and I think it all came together this time for Meiburg, the inspired lyrical imagery coupled with his allegorical music vision, sophisticated but still very musical. Even harkens back at times to the progressive folk of Jethro Tull's Songs from the Wood or bits of Aqualung, and especially Van Morrison, whose Veedon Fleece he gives a tribute in the amazing "Home Life", by way of a direct quote. Pretty obviously channeled through Talk Talk's later Spirit of Eden to strip away some of the modern excesses. His voice is the best it has ever been, recorded without most of the needless reverb this time, it floats and then soars effortlessly, like the majestic birds that live in so much of his music. Just 35 minutes, but a beautiful record.


Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago - Already mentioned a few times, and what a classic sounding mix of folk and pop music in the tradition of Nick Drake and Elliot Smith. Great songwriting and production, mastered very nice too. Refreshingly so, and it really does get better with each listen. Gonna be tough for him to do something like this again, something that so captures a little place in time with so many people, mostly just word of mouth in the beginning, bloggers that had heard the initial self-released CD and had to talk about it, and finally a real indie label release, and many more like myself getting the chance to listen over and over. I remember downloading "re: stacks" early in '08, and it became almost like a spring soundtrack, just that one song, until the record was finally released. Should be like one of those classic, yet underappreciated, records that continues to shimmer many years after the tide goes out, kind of quaint and fragile, but full of wonder, gaining stature as the word is passed around. Has a real timeless quality to it, beautiful, charming record. Almost everything about it is understated, even the artwork, but that's one of the things that makes it so nice.

And there were a few others  like ...

Sun Kil Moon - April
Vampire Weekend
Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

 

Still 2 months out, but a couple songs are out on a 7".

I do have the new Arcade Fire spinning, and that is kinda fun. Think a lot of people are gonna like this one a lot.