this is a repost form my last.fm (some of the links are broke, but this is hella long, so I'm not fixing them)

 A month or two off?

Sorry I haven't written one of these in a few months. I've been lazy. I have no excuses.

I've found some good stuff this month (some from January and December, too).

First off, I'd like some feedback on some issues:
1) should I link the artists, songs, and albums with last.fm data every time they appear, or just the first time? its nice to be able to click where you're reading without searching around, but does it look too messy with all the underlines?

2) Should I put a number rating (4 or 5 stars, thumbs up/down, out of 10, out of 100) or not and if so, what kind?

3) would you like to see in-depth reviews of more albums every few months or a monthly quick recap of whatever I might find ? I suppose this might qualify as an excuse, but I was avoiding this album of the month through December and January after not having much to write about in November.

4) Also, if someone would copy edit for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. I try to make corrections as I go, but its hard to catch everything with all the tags in there.

5) Is this too long?


Now that that's out of the way, down to business.


The album of the month goes to:
This Is Deer Country-Daylily King

It was released at a free show[1] hosted by WMTU on the 23rd.
It's beaten out Chris Walla's Field Manual, The Mars Volta's The Bedlam in Goliath, and The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride as my favourite album of 2008 thus far. Granted, the latter two are covering newer ground, but Daylily King is more enjoyable to listen to.

Anyhoo, here's the review:
This Is Deer Country is known for clever and sometimes unsettlingly intimate lyrics, and this EP certainly delivers. Dan's subtle guitar perfectly complements Kate's warm, personal voice. I'm always amazed at the feeling this duo creates on stage, and I am very pleased that they could recreate it in the studio.

Overall,Daylily King EP is a subdued, comfortable feeling album. I think that the songs on the second half of the album benefited more from being recorded than the first half. Unfortunately, Jackie lost a bit of the power in its simple chorus without the performance element. It's still a great track though.

Kate's double tracking/self harmony is sublime on Come Along and More. Speaking of More, It happens to be my favourite track off the album. The power behind the vocals and the 'just enough' percussion set it out.

I was also very impressed at how Dan has stepped into the backing vocal role, especially on Away. When he first starting singing backup live, I was a bit skeptical, as he didn't seem too confident, but I can't picture Away without his vocals anymore. I was surprised at the curious lack of harmonica, though. I've grown fond of hearing it during the live shows. Again, a must-buy for '08. If you can't find it, let me know (or talk to Kate).



Now on to the other finds:

First off, the aforementioned three albums (Chris Walla's Field Manual, The Mars Volta's The Bedlam in Goliath, and The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride) are wonderful in their own right and all worth their play time.

The Bedlam in Goliath is less jazzy than Amputechture. In fact, it sounds a lot like Viscera Eyes, which is the one track off Amputechture that sounds like Frances the Mute. To be honest, I missed the riff content of Frances the Mute and Deloused in the Comatorium on Amputechture, but it seems to be back in The Bedlam in Goliath, specifically on Goliath and Cavalettas. I think that this album is my second favourite from Cedric and Omar behind Frances the Mute.


I'd just found The Mountain Goats a few days before this album came out. It seems I have a lot to catch up on, so I can't make any comments about the band's direction, but I do know that I like Heretic Pride a lot. It's hard to explain, but for me it pushes all the right boundaries in the indie/folk/rock genre. I'm sure if I listened to it over and over[2] I'd be able to enumerate the reasons behind this, but this is one of those albums that defies easy description. The easy solution is for you to go listen to it!

I'm not going to lie, Field Manual was only on my radar because of Chris Walla's work on Tegan and Sara's The Con. It has it's moments musically and lyrically that I would've taken a vastly different direction, but the production is so enjoyable through the whole thing that I think it will be a contender for the top 10 of '08. It definitely has a The Postal Service quirkiness about it, but it's more grounded and accessible instead of floating around in digital dream pop world.


I also discovered Xploding Plastix, an electronica duo out of Oslo. Unfortunately, they don't appear to be together anymore,; their best album (The Donca Matic Singalongs) was released in 2003. Their other work is more of a techno-jazz kinda thing, but Donca Matic... Donca Matic is an utterly amazing trip through synth-hook land. I torrented a mix tape called 'A Dream Upon Waking' that featured Dizzy Blonde off Donca Matic, which I instantly fell in love with. It reminds me of stuff I used to program in fruity loops 3 years ago, only with guitars. It's so happy and innocent and fizzy and warm. It also reminds me a lot of Aphex Twin's Melodies From Mars.

The overall feel of Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents is that of the cowboy bebop theme. There is a lot of tasty beat work on proskirt (especially on Funnybones & Lazylegs) and much of it reminds me of Jojo Mayer and his amazing live twitchy breakbeats. It's fun and different, but I have to be in a mood to enjoy it fully.

Rachael Cantu deserves a shout out, too. I don't remember how I found her, but her 2006 release Run All Night is great. It's fairly typical girl with a guitar music, but it's done well, her voice is great, and Saturday is a great track. I bought it direct from Q-Division and it was the most positive online shopping experience I've ever had. It was like shopping in a store at an indie label. they threw in a pair of demos of similar music (neither were that great, but its the though that counts, right?) and a great post card with 'thank you' scrawled on the back. It also shipped 11 minutes after I placed my order. I was thoroughly impressed.

I missed this one completely the first time around, but Poison the Well produced another comfortably uncomfortable wall of sound complete with the semi-atonal scream-singing and interesting instrumental interaction they're known for. It doesn't contain another Nerdy[4], but none of their other albums do, so take it as you will. Versions is worth a checkout if you're in the mood for something heavier. It also makes me mourn the loss of Hopesfall (not in 2008 as advertised, but in 2002? when Doug Venable left).

Last but certainly not least[5], Lightspeed Champion is my hero. Falling Off The Lavender Bridge is a really odd album. Some of the melody sounds like Superdrag's Regretfully Yours but the instrumentation is really innovative, using guitars, synths, slide, and strings to create a rich texture to sit Devonte's ironic lyrics on. Some of his voicing, and of course the lyrics, remind me of early Elvis Costello. I'd recommend listening to this as an album, rather than as tracks. its much more enjoyable that way.


Also, check out Domino Records UK. Just go look at the lineup of bands they represent over on that side of the pond and you'll see what I'm getting at.

To recap, the top 3 of the first 2 months of 2008:
1) This Is Deer Country - Daylily King
2) Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
3) The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride


The Beat[6]:

Tegan and Sara
Aphex Twin
The Deadly Syndrome
Menomena
Boards of Canada
Four Tet
Caribou
Animal Collective
Najwa Nimri
Jem
British Sea Power
My Brightest Diamond
Hooverphonic
Ms. John Soda
Lali Puna



[1] The show also featured:
Howl
Sh! The Octopus
The Mighty Narwhale

[2] Eventually I will, but I've got too much music to listen to to concentrate on one album too much[3].

[3] Deer Country doesn't count. I'm trying to get them on the charts :)

[4] one of my favourite songs ever. of all time. period. Nerdy, along with April Left With Silence are the two songs that I will physically harm someone who decides that it might be a good idea to change the song part way though. They MUST be played complete.

[5] Had I done an album of the month for January, This would've won. Honestly, this got buried in my stack new music when I started this post, so it didn't get added until the very end, but it's on par with Daylily King.

[6] Maybe You've heard of them, Maybe you haven't. Maybe you've forgotten, Maybe they're you're most played. Whatever your relationship to these artists, the Beat will keep you up on whats up. At least from where I'm sitting.