My brief foray into the world of album reviewing taught me one thing: I'm not good at reviewing music. At best I can think of a couple of snarky jokes about a band and then pepper them into four paragraphs of the most ambiguous pablum you've ever read. So this year I thought I'd get Shticky and write superlatives for the albums that got my attention this year. WHAT A GREA IDEA!!

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins: Most likely to be followed up by an album in which dirty is mentioned in the liner notes.
I love me some Okkervil River. And so does Dirty. Wanna know how you can tell? Because he stopped ogling a bartender in a really short skirt long enough to tell the guitar player what a fan he was one night in Cincinnati. He doesn't do that for just anybody, you know. The Stand Ins was a follow-up to last years The Stage Names. Both albums probably represent the band at their most accessible, if you care about that sort of thing. If you're a music snob let me instead direct you to one of their obscure earlier albums that's 12 tracks of an old man reading a dish washer warranty over a bed of ukulele music

Conor Oberst - self titled: Most likely to start using his real name, get his hair out of his eyes and start wearing cowboy boots. Okay, I know Oberst's last album as Bright Eyes, Casadega, really represented the seemingly obvious transition from folky-emo dude to alt-country dude, but the superlative works better if it seems like his first album without the Bright Eyes moniker was the one where he quit whining so much. This album housed possibly my favorite song of the year: I Don't Want To Die (In A Hospital). It's a great song and it's true - I totally don't want to die (in a hospital).

TV On The Radio - Dear Science: Most likely to be so totally awesome that if you can't find at least one song on the album that you like then you and I probably should reconsider our friendship. The best song on the album is Crying. There I just did the hard work for you. Now go buy the album and enjoy it without all the pressure of having to think for yourself. Honestly, this was such a good album that it should be a crime. TV On The Radio strikes me as such a creative and original band that if they didn't exist I imagine the universe would have to create them in order to fill the abhorrent void.

Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride: Most likely to have a really long career. John Darnielle and company earn their superlative not because they're awesome and deserve a long career (but they totally do) but because It's hard to imagine Darnielle not making music. There are plenty of artist out there who are probably more prolific than the Mountain Goats (Ryan Adams and Robert Pollard come to mind) but the way the MG's catalogue spans the kooky to the uncomfortably vulnerable seems to imply compulsion. There's something in John Darnielle and it needs to get out. That's what she said.

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges: Most likely to suggest that in an alternate universe The Allman Brothers could have been Prince's back-up band. Think about it!!!!!


Albums that were enjoyed but didn't earn superlatives:
Ben Folds - Way To Normal
Avett Brothers - Second Gleam
Wolf Parade - At Mt. Zoomer

Labels: playlist

Good picks. I bet 3 of these will be on my top 10. However, I have to sift through over 50 albums I have on my list so far! Ugh, being a 'music snob' is so complicated.  


Because of me distaste for reading, I didn't realize that I was mentioned in this post when I glanced through it the first time. That was a good night! Nothing better than $2 PBRs to give a guy some confidence.
Now going back and re-reading it and compiling a little list of me own. It won't have any clever stories to accompany the album. But I am really just hoping to spoil some of the Colonel's picks by picking them too. Here they are laugh, if you want:

Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
She & Him - Volume 1
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
The Kooks - Konk

Honorable Mentions:
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
Al Green - Lay It Down
The Dodos - Visiter.  


Come on Dirty, you don't even know any of these bands. Copy/Paste should be outlawed.  


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