Weird month. Loved a LOT. Liked one album I would have been willing to bet money I wouldn’t like and didn’t like one I would have assumed I’d be more interested in listening to. Weird.

Absolutely Love & Adore:

My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges” – Not just my favorite album in August, but my #1 album of the year so far. It’s sexy and funky and sassy and smooth. Love it! Favorite song is “I’m Amazed” followed by “Librarian” (great lyrics) and “Smokin’ from Shootin” (love the chorus). Only one song I tend to fast forward past and that’s “Remnants”.

Earlimart “Hymn and Her” – So pretty. Really cool boy/girl interactions, harmonies, lyrics. Faves: “For the Birds”, “Time for Yourself” (great rhythm), “Town Where You Belong.”

Cut Copy “In Ghost Colors” – Dance, dance, baby. I read a great quote somewhere (dang, lost the link) describing them as a “non ironic Joy Division.” They also remind me of earli(er) Madonna (“Lights & Music” particularly). Really fun. Favorite songs are “So Haunted”, “Out There on the Ice” and the opener “Feel the Love” to which I always yell “YES!!” when it comes on.

Drive-By Truckers “The Dirty South” – OK, I KNOW, I am only four years late to the party on this one. Bygones! I first listened to Jason Isbell last summer, went to see him this spring, and decided I needed to backtrack and find out what Drive-By Truckers were all about. It was recommended I start here. Yay! Love it. Very much an album of Southern rock storytelling. Gritty tales of (often) misfortune. Favorites are “The Day John Henry Died”, “The Sands of Iwo Jima”, “Puttin’ People on the Moon” and “Puttin’ People on the Moon”.

Beck “Modern Guilt” – Love it. Really great. His albums are all such individuals, it’s hard to compare, but “Sea Change” is probably its closest comparison among his previous albums. That said, I actually find this significantly less melancholy than that one. Faves are “Gamma Ray” and “Walls”.

Nana Grizol “Love It Love It” – I think of these dudes as a slightly happier, slightly poppier, and less “harsh” on the guitars version of Okkervil River. But I am likely the only person on the planet who describes them (or any band) that way. Love the horn arrangements. Love “Circles ‘Round the Moon” (yay!) and “Voice Echo Down The Halls…” Only song I skip is (oddly) the last one. Woot. Lots of fun.

Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):

• “Photograph” Eagle Seagull
• “On My Mind” Romantica
• “Wreck” The Bittersweets
• “Murder in the City” The Avett Brothers
• “Give Em Hell” Hearts of Palm (love the lyrics)
• “She Does” Locksley
• “Black Ghost/Black Girl” Starling Electric (90s feel)
• Mother & Child Reunion” (cover!) The Morning Benders (LOVELOVELOVE)
• “Word Up” Willis

Other Albums I Liked:

• Mason Jennings “In the Ever” – Love “Fighter Girl.” Love “Your New Man”. Also “Soldier Boy”. But find it a bit uneven as a whole. Don’t like “Memphis, Tennessee”. Don’t dig the semi religious/Jenny Lewis-type overtones at times.
• Ryan Auffenberg “Marigolds” – Been singing along to “Alright, Okay” all summer long. Really love “Undercover”. Also “Deep Water” is nice. Not polished throughout, seems to still be working things out. Has a Ryan Adams/Rhett Miller vibe at times (yes those are two very different people. Work it out.).
• Coldplay “Viva la Vida” – If the world stops turning, I’ll have to take the blame, as it, you and I should all be in shock that I actually like this album. I’ve told you before [more than once] I’m not a Coldplay fan. You don’t want to get me started on Chris Martin and masking tape on his fingers. But someone sent me this album and damn if I don’t quite enjoy most of it. Hate the song “42” (HATE) but really like “Lost” and even the two radio releases “Viva la Vida” and “Strawberry Swing”. Also like “Yes” but mostly because it doesn’t sound at all like Coldplay, ha ha ha.

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:

The Hold Steady “Stay Positive” – Loved their first album, liked their second, didn’t care for the third. Now this one is OK but I just don’t find myself making much time for it. Have kinda lost my moment with this band. Have seen them live quite a few times. Always a really entertaining show. But generally I find myself less excited than in the past. This album: unusual instrumentation for them, some crazy harpsichord-sounding action. Tends to have more “singing” than they’ve done in the past (particularly “Lord, I’m Discouraged”) / less just Craig Finn ranting. But tunes like “One for the Cutters” just make me ask “how many times in one song can you say ‘townie’?” (Turns out a lot.) However, if you are a big HS fan, I think this is a solid album that’s exploring some new ground.

Shamefully have either not listened to at all, or not all the way through, or so few times that I can’t legitimately offer an opinion:

None! 🙂

Absolutely Love & Adore:

Fleet Foxes (self titled) – Layered haunting harmonies. Voices ringing out like bells. An updated CSNY with less twang, more melancholy. Particularly love “He Doesn’t Know Why”, “Oliver James” and “Your Protector”. But you may want to start with “White Winter Hymnal” which is probably their biggest hit so far. LOVE!

Sea Wolf “Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low” (EP) – This came out before their full album you may remember me raving about, but I didn’t get the EP until I saw them live. I already had two songs off it, but I’m so glad I got it because “Sea Monuments” is just lovely. Yay Sea Wolf!

Joseph Arthur “Vagabond Skies” (EP) – Third of the four EPs he’s putting out this year. Plus a full album due September 30! Happy for me because I just can’t get enough of this dude’s music. My favorite off this EP is the first song “Slow Me Down”, but really I like the WHOLE THING. 🙂

The Fratellis “Here We Stand” – These guys are just pure infectious fun, I don’t know see how it would possible to not enjoy their music. They just make me want to stand up and dance!! Michelle doesn’t like this album as much as their first, but it pushes all the right buttons for me. My faves are “Baby Doll” and “Shameless” which gives me a total John Lennon vibe.

Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):

• “Landlocked Blues” (live from Pantages Theater) Conor Oberst
  
• “Backwards Walk” Frightened Rabbit
  
• “Josephine St” I Love Math
  
• “My Only Offer” Mates of State
  
• “When I Get to the Border” She & Him
  
• “No One Else Like You” Joey Ryan
  
• “Hologram” Katie Herzig (awesome lyrics!)
  
• “You, Me & The Bourgeoisie” The Submarines (from this album)
  
• “Bang My Drum” Danielia Cotton
  
• “Beyond the Pale” Scott Kempner (total old school feel)
  
• “Saint C3cili4” Sunlight in Architecture
  
• “Alright, Okay” Ryan Auffenberg
  
• “The Ground That We Stand On” Hawksley Workman

Other Albums I Liked:

• Lil Wayne “The Carter III” – Most hyped rap album of the year? It’s got some of the same issues all rap albums have (sooo many songs, soooo many guests), but there’s a lot more singing, R&B style harmonies, etc., than on other comparable albums. I love “Mrs. Officer”, also “Mr. Carter” and “Comfortable.”
  
• The Audreys “When the Flood Comes” – I randomly bought an album by the Audreys when Mariko and I went to Oz (2006?) based on the cool photo on the cover. Fortunately turned out I really really liked it! I don’t like this album as much, it’s a bit less inviting. But it’s just as pretty… Like. Certainly. But don’t love.
  
• Port O’Brien “All We Could Do Was Sing” – You know when you rush off and buy a full album based on the strength of one awesome song? And then you get the album and it’s just not what you expected because that awesome song is not really the real style of what they do? And then you do like the album but you never get into it THAT much? Yeah, this is that album. That song? “I Woke Up Today” (brilliant!). Other songs I also enjoy are “Stuck on a Boat” and “Fisherman’s Son”.
  

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:

Shearwater “Rook” – So I thought I would love this. It’s somewhat in the vein of Sea Wolf or Fleet Foxes, that layered choral-feelin’ music people are doing these days, somewhere between folk and pop. The difference really here is the vocals which are quite…hmmmm. I guess I’d say a bit “operatic”, along the lines of Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley. Which is fine, just not my favorite style. But the real reason I have a rough time with this album is it’s just soooo sooooo sad. (Yo, I get my sadness on the inside, ha ha ha. But really.) I really like “Leviathan, Bound” (pretty! chiming!), “Century Eyes” (more upbeat) and “The Hunter’s Star (pretty!), but honesty listening to this just makes me get all quiet and lonely and curl up in a corner and bang my head against the wall. So I’m kinda avoiding it actually.

Jakob Dylan “Seeing Things” – Another album that while lyrically/musically has things to recommend it….but it makes me so sad I just can’t listen to it. Super slow and dirge-like and I don’t think that’s his strength as a musician. I am a bigger fan of the Wallflowers than most people I know, but I don’t love this. And the lyrics to “Will It Grow”, I’m sorry, are just over the top.

James Hunter “The Hard Way” – I really liked his previous album. I actually really like think this is a good album too…but turns out I don’t have much interest in listening to it. As with Duffy that I talked about last month, this just isn’t a style of music I often find myself reaching for.

Shamefully have either not listened to at all, or not all the way through, or so few times that I can’t legitimately offer an opinion:
None! 🙂