Picked up a bunch of odds and ends lately that I've wanted for awhile ...
Richard Buckner: Meadow (love this guy, all the way back to the Bloomed debut. Nice band on this one, and always great songs and voice, no radical departure, just classy, folksy, country music)
Richmond Fontaine: Thirteen cities (ditto above, the dusty story-based songs of singer Willy Vlautin always take me away. Recorded in Arizona with members of Calexico, the americana.uk site gave it a way over the top 10/10 ... "We live in a world of hyperbole and exaggeration which is a pity because when this album is called a masterpiece, such words lose some of their effect. But a masterpiece it is – daring, adventurous, literate, and consummate.")
Electrelane: No Shouts No Calls (love these Brighton ladies, especially with Steve Albini at the recording console, but on this one they stayed in Europe and Albini stayed in Chicago, but no complaints here. Some of the VU and Krautrock and Feelies influence falls away for some great pop sounds, and again, no complaints. Great record, by one of the best rock bands making music right now.)
The National: Boxer (what can you say when a band hits all the right spots, and does it with such class and flair? Immediately understated, but highly rewarding in the end. Keeps alive what I've always loved about Joy Division, and later rediscovered in those first couple Tindersticks records, and Sixteen Horsepower, and other favorites.)
Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha (had a freebie for quite awhile now, and easily became one of my favorites of the year, so had to get the real one - Andrew Bird is one of the most special songwriters I know of today)
Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (only heard, but never had a copy, until now. Classic stuff. This is the longer Nonsuch reissue from the late 90s. Easy 10 out of 10 on any of today's rating scales. Mind shifting, yet accessible avant garde post rock music - but from the 70s. Not like Pink Floyd psychedelia - think more like Tortoise, and Rachel's)
Fridge: Happiness (right up there with that great Manitoba "Up In Flames", and Hood "Cold House", and Notwist "Neon Golden", but this post rock is instrumental like Mogwai, although not like Mogwai.)
Rex: C (all things revolving around Red Red Meat and Califone and that whole Chicago family of bands will ultimately be mine. Call it a disease, but it makes me happy
)
Morphine: Cure for Pain (all things revolving around Sixteen Horsepower and Woven Hand and that whole family of Denver areas bands will ultimately be mine. Call it a disease, but it makes me happy
)
Cat Power: The Greatest (skipped at the time last year, cause Moon Pix will always be my favorite, and I miss the wreckage, but I do still love Chan, and that voice works great in this setting too, even if not like it does on You Are Free or Moon Pix)
Palace: Viva Last Blues (Will Oldham is a long time favorite, picked up this on vinyl way back in the mid 90s, and it's still probably my favorite, another great Albini recording, but the turntable has been in mothballs for awhile due to moves, and I really needed to hear it again, and only $5.99 for the CD of a truly understated classic of the 90s - no brain needed for this buy)
