I just picked up tickets to see Shearwater, along with Wye Oak and Hospital Ships at the Bowery in March, and I can't wait, I'm really loving The Golden Archipelago, the latest album for them, to be released in February. I saw that the second track from the album "Black Eyes" has been leaked to the blogs over the past two weeks (while I've been stuck working insane hours) so I thought I'd join the fray. It's my favorite song from the album and one of my top 10 songs of the week.
Basia Bulat's second album was released last Tuesday, and it's as wonderful as her breath of fresh air debut, Oh My Darling. Heart of My Own shows some additional maturity and shows a full-fledged band acting as a full-fledged band, with stronger arrangements but the same magical pop sensibility that made her debut so refreshing. Check out "Go On" and go find a copy of the album.
Teen Dream, the second album from Beach House, was the first leaked 2010 album I had, back in November and December, but it finally got its officially CD release date last week, and is definitely a contender for early (very early) album of the year honors. My favorite track among an album full of great tracks is "Silver Soul" and I've been waiting a while to be able to "legally" post this. But please go get a copy of the album to hear the full length yourself.
Los Campesinos! came flying out with their third album in two years last week, a collection of poppy, happy songs that they've become known for, and for good reason. It's a strong album throughout and it's tough to find a favorite to post here, but check out this one for good measure. Romance is Boring is now available for purchase at an Amazon or iTunes retailer near you!
Woodpigeon's Die Stadt Muzikanten came out a couple weeks ago. Here's my favorite track from this really good album that definitely deserves more recognition than it's getting from the indie blogs so far.
The Magnetic Fields have released another album, Realism, and I heard that a movie (at Sundance?) was made, or is being made, about the eccentric force at the center of the band, Stephen Merritt. I also recently noticed that Merritt was one of the contributing editors of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus, an indispensable volume in which he wrote blurbs about music-related thesaurus entries including the words album, sing, and verse, as well as subjects he also is singularly able to illustrate, including the words love, romance, genre, and tacky. Um, yeah, sure tacky... which Merritt describes as "anything aesthetically excessive", as opposed to "corny" (overly sentimental or countrified), or "kitschy" (grandiosely tasteless). He is a genius in many ways. And here's a track from Realism.
Midlake, oh Midlake, coming off of the Van Occupanther album that took some time but eventually grew on me as one of the great albums of 2006, have finally come out with their follow up, The Courage of Others, releasing today. And while many of the songs are really, really good, the entire album feels oddly flat to me, with a certain sameness in sound that wasn't as evident in the more wide-ranging Van Occupanther. I was expecting a lot from this album, so I'm mildly disappointed, but there's a good chance it may grow on me like their previous work. Below is my favorite track.
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