Alex Winston - Sister Wife EP (2011)

Welcome back, friends. I know it's been awhile. Rather than make excuses, I'm going to jump right into the next post. After releasing an EP of covers in 2010 (that includes an almost ethereal cover of Mumford & Sons' "The Cave"), American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alex Winston returned last year with Sister Wife, a collection of six pop songs that each stand on their own quite nicely. No two tracks sound the same, but they all contain her classically trained and delicately haunting voice that sounds as if it were birthed by Tracy Chapman and Meredith Godreau and is also by some weird coincidence, a distant (and much more pleasant to the ear) cousin of Joanna Newsom's. The song form which the record gets its name is pretty much a perfect pop song about polygamy. That's right, you heard me. Girl whose voice has an almost childlike timber to it sings indie pop track about polygamy... And it's good. Like, REALLY good, y'all.

P.S.: I've only just heard the album last night and I've had the title track stuck in my head ever since. Enjoy!

For fans of: Gregory and the Hawk, Hepburn, Joanna Newsom, Meggan Carney

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GIVERS - GIVERS (2009)

Released in 2009 by Louisiana's GIVERS, this self titled EP is made up of five tracks that will have your brain dancing in whimsical confusion. The band itself is such an amalgamation of sounds and vibes that trying to accurately compare their sound to other artists is like trying to divide by zero. Suffice it to say though, that these five songs are some of the most fun your ears will ever have. Enjoy!

For fans of: The Flaming Lips, The Color Bars, a third band or artist I can't quite put my finger on

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The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea (2006)

This record is fan-fucking-tastic. Playful guitars, haphazard beats, enchanting vocals, baskmasking, synths... This album has it all. The fifth full-length album from Brooklyn's The Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea is one of their greatest efforts thus far. Dancing around the nucleus of sibling duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, this band presents the listener with something new on each release. This release just so happens to present the listener with a bucketful of awesome. Choice tracks include, but are in no way limited to "In My Little Thatched Hut," "Black-Hearted Boy" and "Bitter Tea."

For fans of: Deerhoof, Regina Spektor, Half-Handed Cloud

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Teen Heat - A Crime In Our City EP

If you are going to SXSW this year you should check out teen heat. An awesome blend of electronic instruments and pop punk melodies. Great lyrics, really good quality (by famed Fueled By Ramen producer Scott Riebling) and catchy as hell. This comes with a remix by infamous french dj Toxic Avenger too, which is really badass. If you haven't you really need to download and listen...

For Fans Of: Taking Back Sunday, Breathe Electric, Justice, InnerPartySystem

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Eulogies - Here Anonymous (2009)

The sound of this band is really an amalgamation of sounds. The vocals of Peter Walker are a quilt woven together from the fabrics that make up the voices of Win Butler and Alec Ounsworth, most notably in the track "Eyes on the Prize". The bass lines of Tim Hutton take a cue from Julian Koster and Nicholas Harmer, while Chris Reynolds and Drew Phillips' drum and guitar tracks show simliarities with Jason McGerr and Chris Walla, respectively. It's a shame that Tim Hutton parted ways with the band during the recording of this album. Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups makes a guest appearance on the track "Two Can Play," an airy duet in which the vocals roll over the bass line and light drums as fog rolls over a highway. This record was co-produced by Hrishikesh Hirway of The One AM Radio, and if this is the end result of just the sophomore effort, I can't wait to see what the future holds.

For fans of: Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Earlimart

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The Magnetic Fields - Get Lost (1995)

The best way to describe this record would be to compare it to the Pale Blue Dot. It is exceptionally lo-fi, but within its 39 minutes and 58 seconds of length dwells a vast and epic world of song. When interviewed by The Onion's AV Club in September 2005, alternative rock musician Bob Mould was reminded of an interviewer who once referred to him as "the most depressed man in rock," to which Mould responded, "He's never met Stephin Merritt, obviously." Mould couldn't be more correct. Merritt's lyrics on this album reach an unprecedented point in melancholia, which is further accentuated by the sounds that echo from the valleys within his bass vocal range. Amidst a waltz of watery guitar Merritt laments, "Arms have charms, but I've no hope of falling in love," during "With Whom to Dance?." "All the Umbrellas in London" is saturated with synth while Merritt bemoans, "All the umbrellas in London couldn't stop this pain, and all the dope in New York couldn't kill this pain." "Save a Secret for the Moon" has Stephin providing a commentary on a love that might not be acceptable by society's standards and muses, "When you love someone, you can't always tell the sun. It will be twilight soon, save a secret for the moon." That song is the closest thing that the album has to an upbeat track, and the synchronicity of Merritt and Claudia Gonson's vocals is something now revisited in bands like The Postal Service, where the vocals of Gibbard and Lewis work together swimmingly. On a coincidental sidenote, in 1999 under the "¡All-Time Quarterback!" moniker, Ben Gibbard released a cover of "Why I Cry," yet another downbeat gem found on this album. "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Love is Lighter Than Air" are also very, very noteworthy. This album makes its home among many top ten lists, and rightly so. Give credit where credit is due, and boy, is it due!


*** In 2008, this album was released in vinyl format for the first time. On this release, the track listing was altered and completely changes the scope of the record (in a very good way). In fact, I recommend arranging the track listing to match the vinyl format and then give it a listen. The vinyl release track listing is as follows:

1. With Whom to Dance?
2. Smoke and Mirrors
3. All the Umbrellas in London
4. Why I Cry
5. Save a Secret for the Moon
6. Don't Look Away
7. Love Is Lighter Than Air
8. Famous
9. The Desperate Things You Made Me Do
10. You and Me and the Moon
11. When You're Old and Lonely
12. The Village in the Morning
13. The Dreaming Moon

For fans of: Joy Division, The Human League, Future Bible Heroes

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Florence + the Machine - Lungs (2009)

I was completely blown away by this record. Like, REALLY blown away. Compared to this album, that twister at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz was just a cool breeze. No joke. "Lungs" is the debut album of London-born singer Florence Welch and her band of noisemakers playfully dubbed "The Machine." To say that Welch merely sings would be like saying that the Atlantic Ocean is just some puddle. She manipulates melody into a highway on which a cavalcade of emotions commute from her mouth to the listener's ears. Suffice it to say, this ain't no silly pop record. I'm going to come right out and say that this is hands down, one of the best albums of 2009. Bold statement, you say? Well don't take my word for it. See for yourself.

For fans of: Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens

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Styrofoam - Nothing's Lost (2004)

On May 5th, 2007, Ben Gibbard, lead singer of Seattle band Death Cab for Cutie played a solo show at The 9:30 Club in our nation's capital. At one point in the set, he spoke of how a few years back, he collaborated with a guy named Arne, and proceeded to perform a song which he described as "an open letter." Intrigued by the lyrics, I went home and looked them up. The aforementioned "Arne" was in fact Arne Van Petegem, a Belgian electronic musician otherwise known as Styrofoam. The "open letter" was the song "Couches in Alleys," a song from Styrofoam's album "Nothing's Lost" the subject said song is one of Gibbard's biggest influences, Jack Kerouac. In it, Gibbard opens with, "Hey Jack, it's me. I don't mean to bother you, but something's been on my mind," and confides in the late author, "I know your demise, and I fear what will happen when the road fails to flow under me." The lyrics, while soul-baring and vulnerably honest, are really only words (poetic as they are), which do not become a proper song until merged with the indietronic bliss of Van Petegem's music. This album, which features other wonderful guest vocalists such as Andrew Kenny (The American Analog Set, The Wooden Birds), Valerie Trebeljahr (Lali Puna) on the tracks "Front to Back" and "Misguided," respectively, is a glitchy, harmony-filled, synth-laden delight. It should be noted however, that its title is a bit misleading. You see, the name of the record is "Nothing's Lost," but this simply isn't true, as it is the listener who becomes lost in the rush of sound that comes billowing forth from this 2004 release.

For fans of: Dntel, Telefon Tel Aviv, The Postal Service

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Maritime - We, the Vehicles (2006)

After the dissolution of The Promise Ring, Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier made some music together for a time under the name Vermont, before starting this band. Maritime's sophomore effort, "We, the Vehicles" is the showcase of the band finally coming into it's own, finding a comfortable sound and running with it. This record marks the prodigal return of an upbeat sound, not heard from Davey and Dan since The Promise Ring's penultimate album, "Very Emergency." The sound of this band differs from The Promise Ring, it's more polished, more mature, but older fans can still hear things they loved about the older stuff shine through. Notable tracks include "Tearing Up the Oxygen" and "Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts!."

For fans of: Make Believe, The Promise Ring, Joan of Arc

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