Generally January can be quite problematic; I often throw down a shiteload of dough for tunes on other people’s year-end lists and then either never manage to even listen to some of them or decide I hate them. This year, I somehow held back and bought only FOUR albums in January. FOUR. (OK, 4.5 since there was an EP also.) That’s crazy times. (I only bought two in December but that was year-end. That’s sooo different.)

Absolutely Love & Adore:

MGMT “Oracular Spectacular” Only on a million year-end lists. Where has this album been all my life? I’m pretty sure I resisted buying this all of 2008 because I misinterpreted the reviews I read and thought it was some Techno stuff that I wouldn’t like (you know, like JUSTICE from the year before). OMG I was so wrong. Love it like a crazy lady. Not sure I’d be up for seeing them in concert (M. describes it as “two dudes leaning over synthesizers and never moving”) but it is totally living room dance inducing. Fave songs: “Weekend Wars” “Kids” “The Handshake” and my favorite 80s rock soundin tune “Pieces of What”

Why? “Alopecia” Can’t remember where I read about this one, dang. Do you call this rap? (not really. but it’s closer to rap than to singing.) hiphop? (Has beats. but not the R&B hints of hiphop.) It ain’t pop or rock. (It ain’t.) It’s one of those things that just falls between genres but it’s damn good. Fave songs: “Fatalist Palmistry” “Exegesis” (where I love the background so much) and the nasty but so good “Good Friday”

Bon Iver “Blood Bank” EP At this point, you know how I feel about Bon Iver. The feeling continues.

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

• “Only You” Assembly (Yaz cover) One of my top-five all-time favorite songs.
  
• “Paparazzi” Lady GaGa I can’t tell the difference between her and Gwen Stefani. But I do dig this song.

Other Albums I Liked:

• Ra Ra Riot “The Rhumb Line” Bought due to its presence on Becky’s list. Absolutely love “Dying Is Fine”. Other standouts are “Winter ’05” and “Each Year”.

• The Walkmen “You & Me” Also bought due to its presence on Becky’s list. (The girl’s got good taste.) My favorite song is “Red Moon” with its funerealness.

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: Nada!

I bought only two albums in December and a few random singles. Say wha? Definitely the least amount of $$ spent on music all year.

Absolutely Love & Adore:
Frightened Rabbit “The Midnight Organ Fight” – I think this album is outstanding but I don’t have that much more to say about it than when I mentioned it the first time. I listened to it over and over in December. The Vores described it as sounding like Counting Crows. OK, I’ll give them that. I would describe it as… let’s say a combination of Counting Crows with Snow Patrol (from their first album before they got soooo super cheesy and overdramatic in EVERY SONG) but with slightly better music, better lyrics, and better accents. “Backwards Walk” is definitely my favorite song but I’m not sure there’s a single one I don’t like. (“The Twist” may be my #2 fave. I know you wanted to know that.)

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

• “Halo” Beyonce – You could not possibly be prepared for the crazy amount of love I have for this song so I’ll just leave it at that.
• “Shattered Glass” Britney Spears – Yes. I KNOW!
• “Someone Else’s Life” Joshua Radin – Swoon.
• “Duet” Rachael Yamagata (with Ray LaMontagne, I believe, although he was not credited on iTunes when I bought it)
• “Forever Young” (cover) Audra Mae & Forest Rangers – both the accompanied and the acapella versions are soooo pretty (this was featured on Sons of Anarchy. FYI.)

Other Albums I Liked:

• The Sea and Cake “Car Alarm” – I bought this just to get a little familiar with their tunes since I was going to see them on New Year’s Eve and had never listened to them before (I know!). It’s pleasant enough and I like it but it’s really (really) tame compared to their live show. Dear Sea and Cake fans, do they have an album that better represents what they sound like live? Lemme know, yo.

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:
Nada!

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:
Nada!

Absolutely Love & Adore:

Jem “Down to Earth” – There’s a lot to like here, even though this doesn’t sound like your typical Jem album. Actually sounds more like a set of remixes, and the dance-y backgrounds are a great backdrop for her voice. Love “Crazy”, “Keep on Walking”, “I Always New”, “Forever and a Day”. And “It’s Amazing” has gone on every mix I’ve made over the past several months.

Matt White “Best Days” – I tried not to love this album. And then it became all I listened to for days on end. Ah well. Particularly love “Moment of Weakness” and “Paradise”.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals “Cardinology” – Doesn’t sound much like a Ryan Adams album to me but I really like it nonetheless. I love the folky swoons of “Natural Ghost”, such a romantic feel. And “Fix It” is another fave. (I could do without “Magick” however.)

Vancougar “Canadian Tuxedo” – I wish I could remember what made me check this out. I think it was a post on either Monitor Mix or the Three Imaginary Girls blog but I can’t seem to find it. They’re punk sassy girls (think the Go-Gos, before the industry prettied them up, and if they had already been musicians when they started), but every once in a while they throw in a total ’60s girlgroup vibe (listen to “Obvious”). Great album.

The Killers “Day & Age” – I never bought their second album so I hadn’t listened to these guys in a loooong time. I love the emphaticness here. It’s rocking. It’s all big and dramatic and overarching and it just sweeps me right along with it. Faves are “Spaceman” “This Is Your Life” and I love! the chorus on “The World We Live In”.

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

• “Raise Today” Peasant (old but on constant rotation)
  
• “Don’t” Rachael Yamagata (srsly. don’t.)
  
• “Colors” Kira Willey (damn you iPod commercials)
  
• “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” Beyonce (all carrieoke’s fault)
  
• “Glamorous” Fergie (ditto)
  
• “Cathedrals” (cover) Joan Osborne (can’t go wrong covering this song)
  
• “Home in the Woods” Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons (from a paste sampler)
  

Other Albums I Liked:

• Pink “Funhouse” – I lovelovelove all the fast(er) songs on this album. “So What” and “Sober” as one & two are great. Some of the slow ones I get bored by though. (Hence the Like not Love.)

• Kanye West “808s & Heartbreak” – Dear Kanye, you really crack my shit up. There is so much “woe is me” in some of these lyrics and I’m sure this is not the reaction you were looking for but it is damn funny to hear. “My friend showed me pictures of his kids and all I could show him was pictures of my cribs / he said his daughter got a brand new report card and all I got was a brand new sports car.” Yeah, times are tough for single Kanye. Gold records are NOTHING. Who cares about that. OK, Goofus! Get back to me when you’re my age and single, dude. Not that there is a chance in hell of that happening. Faves: “Heartless” and “Robocop“.

• The Knux “Remind Me in 3 Days…” – Weirdly I really have not bought very much rap this year. This album is a lot of fun with sassy smart lyrics and great beats. There was one song I had to delete from iTunes however. Just toooooo much pussy or hos or bitches or something, I can’t remember exactly what but I really couldn’t stand to listen to it. On the other hand, faves: “Cappuccino” (“fresh cappucino with a mocha twist“), “Roxxanne”, “Daddy’s Little Girl”, “Playboys” and “The True.” Lots of fun.

• The Gaslight Anthem “The ’59 Sound” – If Bruce Springsteen was the lead singer for the Hold Steady but Craig Finn wrote his lyrics and sometimes Tom Petty helped with the harmonies. That’s my description of this band. Pretty rockin’.

• The Go-Betweens “16 Lovers Lane” – Really old. (1988?) Pretty sure I bought this based on this Monitor Mix post. I really like this, but I can really hear the years between then and now. It fits perfectly into my “Colleging It Out” playlist with The Smiths, The Replacements, The Cure, New Order, Cocteau Twins… “Dive for Your Memory” really brings old, old Mick Jagger (back when he could actually SING, right?!?) to mind as well.

• The Weakerthans “Left and Leaving” – Bought due to this Fuel/Friends post. I like the snide feel of “Everything Must Go”, the rock of “Watermark” and the Shins/Death Cab feel of “This Is a Fire Door Never Leave Open”. But my favorite track is “Left and Leaving.”

• Winter’s Fall “Winter’s Fall” – Much more Southern/country-esque than I was expecting after reading about it on some indie/alternative site. Think Jason Isbell or My Morning Jacket’s latest. Love “Blame” and “On Wisdom”. But really need to listen to it more, it was the last album I bought in November and it hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves.
  

Mixed Feelings

• Travis “Ode to J. Smith” – This is the album that’s the most like their live show (which is awesome) but somehow that makes it not work very well as an album? I was bummed to see all the bad reviews and more bummed to find they weren’t far off. I like a couple songs (“Sarah” and “Last Words”) but overall this is not the Travis that I love. Their other albums are so much more melodic and lyrical. And yes, they turn them into total rocking out songs in concert, but somehow starting from a more lively place did not make them write better songs. It kinda bums me out frankly. But I have liked it more in the past week than on the first few listens. So there’s that.
  

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:

The Kin “Rise and Fall” – Too arena rock/cheeseball for me. Although I dig “Together” (until the chorus) and “See” and “Romeo” aren’t bad either. There are some (need I even say scary) religious lyrics on here though (“Abraham”) and you know how that makes me run for the hills.

Chad Van Gaalen “Soft Airplane” – I like some individual songs here (“TMNT Mask” and “Bare Feet on Wet Griptape” the chorus of which sounds like old Rolling Stones to me) but overall I find this album so stylistically scattered that I can’t figure out if I’m listening to an album or shuffle when it comes on. (And I really don’t like “Frozen Energon” at all. Ick.) Sometimes falsetto, sometimes not, arrangements all over the place. I’ve seen mentions of this album lots of places but I just can’t find my way into it.

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:

Brendan Canning “Something for All of Us” – My general impression of this is a good one. But I really haven’t listened to it more than once or twice so far. The title track is nice, dark and dirty (like Joseph Arthur).