General Music Discussion Thread (a.k.a. indie lovefest)

[Earl Sleek]

ED,

It is hard to be unaware of The Libertines since Pete Doherty is rarely out of the media spotlight for his repeated arrests and relationship with Kate Moss. I am a big fan (of the band, not of Doherty), "The Libertines" is one of my favourite albums. It's really a shame they never followed it up. I am not a fan of Doherty's more recent work with Babyshambles however.

The Arctic Monkeys too are hard to miss. They were hailed as the best thing since Oasis when they released Whatever People Say..., which I think was a massive overestimation, but the album certainly stands with Costello Music as one of the best of the year. Personally I haven't really gotten into their music like I have with the other bands mentioned, but I will be interested to see where they go with their second album, which is due for release in April here.

I had never really listened to Belle and Sebastian before you mentioned them but I've been listening for the last half hour and I'm really liking what I'm hearing. I'm going to get a couple of their albums, do you have any recommendations?

[Claunchy]

cbloom: Palace/Will Oldham/Bonnie "Prince" Billy is definitely one of my favorite artists. Will Johnson (of Centro-Matic) is another artist with a similar vibe going on. Absolutely phenomenal voice.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]


I had never really listened to Belle and Sebastian before you mentioned them but I've been listening for the last half hour and I'm really liking what I'm hearing. I'm going to get a couple of their albums, do you have any recommendations?

[/ QUOTE ]

B&S are one of my top 5 bands of all time, and all of their albums (except their one piece of crap, Dear Catastrophe Waitress) are either very good or excellent. But I suggest starting with Tigermilk and The Boy With the Arab Strap for two of their best earlier albums.

That will give you a feel for where they started. If You're Feeling Sinister is also great, and came out between those two records.

But some of their best songs came from singles that weren't on any LPs: in fact, 3 of their finest songs ever are "This Is Just a Modern Rock Song," "I'm Waking Up To Us" and "Legal Man." Those are arguably their best tracks to date.

After that, you might skip right to their most recent album, The Life Pursuit. It's damn good. If you're still into them, you can pick up everything else.

EDIT:

Legal Man promo video

"Another Sunny Day" live

[amplify]

At first I thought Destroyer's Rubies was some kind of tragically unrealized masterpiece, a madman groping through the bars of his cage at the thronging crowd, some Lou Reed burnout crazy & fitful letting the cigarettes burn his fingers, disordered personalities vying for a voice, a dismembered cortex pulsating on the floor. Now, I'm not sure what it is, but it's damn good.

[JaBlue]

One of the bands that I was recently introduced to and love is Akron/Family. They came out with a new album called Meek Warrior but I haven't heard it. The album I love is self-titled. Akron/Family: Akron/Family



These guys are folksy and creative musically and lyrically. Dunno how else to describe them so I'll link my favorite songs using pfunks hype machine thing:

I'll Be on the Water

Running, Returning

Shoes

[BWebb]

Well I've pumped this album a few different times on the board, might as well do it again.

The Format-Dog Problems


I'm not a music expert, so I can't give you any in depth analysis of the album. I can tell you that I loved this album since I first got it and it is still in regular rotation with me. Their most popular single was The Compromise which got pretty regular play on Sirius Alt Nation. I like pretty much every track on the album and I can't really pick a favorite, but some highlights are Time Bomb and She Doesn't Get It .

[Shakes]

The new Explosions in the Sky album, "All of a Sudden I Miss Everybody" (or something like that), is quite good. They're the band that did the Friday Night Lights movie soundtrack, and their music is in just about every episode of the TV show.

[cobrakai111]

Out of curiousity I'd be interested to know what people's sources are to find music out there. I have a buddy in the industry that tips me off, my big blog mainstays are Brooklyn Vegan and Stereogum. Anyone else have any good recommendations for souces.

One more album that has been burning up my ipod lately which I'm sure most of you PAvement fans are familiar with:

I'm not a huge fan of pitchfork but this review really nailed it giving the album a 9.9.

Last year David Berman finally toured with this band for the first time ever, perhaps the best and most endearing live show I have ever attended.

[Claunchy]

Shakes: OMG HTF DID I NOT REALIZE THAT. I watch that show every week. I guess I'm too busy looking at Minka Kelly to notice.

cobra: Well, back in the late 90's/early oughts I was kind of a 'scene' kid. Didn't ever dress the part too much or anything, but I went to a ton of shows and hung out with so many emo kids that I was just exposed to a ton of stuff.

Nowadays, I usually just surf Metacritic and see what got decent reviews and go from there.

[Claunchy]

Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds



Around last fall, one of my friends told me about this album over instant message, and I was immediately skeptical. "Final Fantasy? WTF is this some lame orchestral video game music?" I was pleasantly surprised.

This is a solo project consisting solely of Owen Pallett (of Arcade Fire and some other stuff). It actually is pretty orchestral, as there are no standard guitar/bass/drums songs on this album. All I can say is that this album is phenomenal. It was one of the best (overlooked) albums of last year IMO.

There are some tracks from the album available here, but I think it's a pretty big disservice to listen to this album piecemeal (I think that about most good albums FWIW).