Empire of the Sun - Walking on a dream. This is band I would normally not really get into. Electronic is respectable and I like it enough in small doses. This duo used the left over energy from their previous/other acts Nick Littlemore of Pnau, and Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson. There. Subsequently there has been quite a buzz with the new single, the title track from the album getting play on radio stations and their video being shown in at least clips on music stations, as we know music videos are passé. The collaboration makes for a great musical marriage and there is something for most everyone to enjoy, sinthy dreamy breaks and drum beats bringing it back to reality. All and all I think it is at least worthy of a listen and for a sneak peak enjoy the track Half Mast

Related Artists (according to last.fm): Cut Copy, Grafton Primary, Ladyhawke, Midnight Juggernauts and Pacific! And I think MGMT on downers, which sort of levels them out.

The Dear and The Headlights - Drunk Like Bible Times. The Five some from Arizona returns with a follow up to their first full length, “Small Steps, Heavy Hooves". This next release is not much of a departure from the first, usually this would be a negative light, but they bring back the same enthusiasm in every track that you were used to with Small Steps. Drunk like Bible times seems to be the perfect follow up, keeping their momentum flowing without allowing the sound to get stale. Their are more of a kick to the new songs and they deliver just as promised, making drinking seem appealing to even the most modest of drinkers. Cheers! And enjoy the sneak peak I'm not crying. You're not crying.

Related Artists: As Tall As Lions, Days Away, The Snake and The Cross, Copeland, The Manchester Orchestra and Forgive Durden.

The Very Best!

Here in the wasteland that is my laptop I have a whole folder of things that I mean to listen to that never actually get listened to. The Very Best’s album did not stay there for very long. Now and again when I’m feeling truly whimsical or otherwise just very bored I’ll slap a random track from one of the albums waiting in the limbo folder on and see what it does for me. The fact that I’m finally making an update on this blog should tell you what The Very Best did for me. With a sound that’s somewhere in between reggae, electronica, and good old fashioned African music they’re a unique find to say the very least. Give them a whirl and judge for yourself, but don’t deny that you’re bopping in your seat just a little bit.

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (is it a cover? I can't tell)

Dinosaur On The Ark

The Very Best on MySpace

Top 5 hello hey and howdy.

What could I possibly say about Jeff Buckley that hasn’t been said before at least a million times by people who are probably much more articulate than I am? To me Jeff Buckley is the living end; I don’t think anyone comes close to the same visceral passion that Buckley put into his songs both lyrically and conveyed in his astoundingly beautiful voice. A lot of people have laughed at me and my fondness for Buckley, but there’s just something about him and his music that endures – I’ve never been able to get tired of him no matter how much I listen to any of his songs. The posthumous release Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk was maybe the easiest album for me to chose when Morty and I decided that this would be the first posts for our blog. We’re treating it as sort of an introduction to us musically speaking, so you have a rough idea of what to expect in coming posts, and I don’t think any introduction to my musical tastes would be complete without a little Jeff Buckley to start the entire thing off. This entire album is like a book of intimate poetry put to music, it’s both refined and rough around the edges with lyrics that will absolutely knock your socks off and make you swoon. Keeping his lyrics in mind, I would like to introduce (or reintroduce) you to Vancouver, one of my favorite Buckley songs of all time.

These guys have been written off as a one hit wonder in the annals of music history, and I would just like to state here and now that in considering them such you are missing out on a real gem. If Buckley is my favorite singer/songwriter then these guys are my favorite band. Their lyrics are catchy and very clever with plays on words, references to both math and literature, and killer lines waiting in every song to leap out and bite you. Like any band their sound has evolved over the years but the heart of the band remains the same, they haven’t ever lost touch with the smart cynical style that borders on theatrical at times that has been more than apparent since their first album: Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? Released in the late 90’s this album isn’t without a touch of the grunge of that era, but as any good band ought they take that sound and warp it, making it something all their own. It’s an album you can yell along to with the windows open, which scores major points in my book; so give Old Hat a listen.

Oh Modest Mouse. Long ago when black lipstick was still considered somewhat chic if only within the confines of my own teenage mind Modest Mouse was a find and a half, mostly because it was so drastically different from anything I had ever heard before. My best friend and I treated this band like our own personal little find, and yes - we even got a bit of snotty pleasure out of people professing to having never had heard of them. We were kids, what do you expect? And then Float On happened, and I don’t know about her but quite frankly I was pissed all the way off, although I did get a laugh when they were nominated for best ‘new’ artist at the Grammys that year. It didn’t take much for me to fall in love with them all over again, their latest effort We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank winning me back without much effort at all. They have a unique sound, although unique is a little bit of an understatement – The Moon And Antarctica wasn’t the first of them that I heard, but it’s still my favorite album, and one I can listen to all the way through – which is the basis for this list! 3rd Planet is a sweet little ditty, so I hope you like it.

The Weakerthans are another group that takes me back years and years, to my first year of college to be exact. I think it says a lot for a band and a lot for a specific album when you can listen to a song that you first heard years and years ago and still get your heart ripped out by it. Left And Leaving as a whole does that for me and I love every second of it. If you haven’t figured it out yet I’m something of a lyric hound and The Weakerthans more than satiate my love of a line that packs a punch. Left And Leaving is an album that makes you want to drive around in the middle of the night with your best friend and be oblivious to what time it is until neither of you can keep your eyes open. It’s an album you can pine for a lost lover to or fall in love with someone new while it plays in the background, warning you of the trials and tribulations to come. These guys will rip your heart out and you’ll thank them and ask for more. Pamphleteer is one of the stand out tracks for me from Left And Leaving, awkward, winsome, and regrettable all at once, it’s a dose of hope with a dash of caution on the side.

There is no top five album list that is complete without Pinkerton or the first self titled album by Weezer on it. They’re nothing new, and they’re not a lurking underground gem waiting to be discovered but by gum I do not care, to me – they’re awesome. Pinkerton was the second release and it wasn’t as well received as the now legendary Blue Album and all I can do is ask why. It’s an album about lamenting I think, and Across the Sea is the most evident of that but you can’t help bob your head and sing along as Rivers lusts after the Japanese teenager of his dreams, writing him letters from a land faraway. Try not to want to learn all the words and sing along, even if you can’t keep a straight face during a few of the lines you won’t be able to turn it off.

Top Five Albums of the recent history.

For me it is hard to find albums that I can listen to straight through with no itch to switch, as I like to say. It is also a near impossibility to pick favorite albums of all time, so in this case, I did what I could. Here is a list of one song from five albums I think were pretty killer in recent history. Enjoy.

Jeff Tweedy - Radio King. From the album: Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest. Wilco is probably hands down one of my favorite bands, but picking something from one of their albums seemed to be endlessly impossible because everything of theirs (in my humble opinion) is too solid to really wade through a pick a clear winner. However picking something that was performed live seemed to be a bit milder of an experience.

City & Colour - In the water I am beautiful. From the album: Sometimes. Much like many of the fandom of this fine man I've been following the career of his slightly more aggressive (okay a lot more aggressive) band for years, and when I got my hands on some demos he had done from years back it was just what the doctor ordered. My favorite thing about Dallas is his voice, his lyrics are great, but there is an honesty, and something really uncontrived about the way he sounds when he plays, for me it is rare to find someone who can stir that up and he definitely does. As far as why I picked this album instead of his most recent or even some of the demos is for one reason alone: there is no twitchy finger! You will come to see that is the deciding factor on all of these albums.

Songs: Ohia - The Lioness. From the Album: The Lioness. This is another one who just kills me. I love all of his albums but it was really this song that decided it for me. The context, the lyrics, I just love what he's created with such a humble beat. For me the song is all about mood and he sets a perfect one, I can picture a video playing out in my head, and once again, that is big for me. I would suggest anything by this man but especially this track. I can go for hours with it on loop.

Wintersleep - Faithful Guide. From the Album: (untitled). The first taste I got of this band was off a compilation album for the show Trailer Park Boys, and as you might have imagined it was more a joke then anything but when I sat listening to it and I heard Wintersleep pop up I had to listen. I turned it up, I was pretty enraptured with the somewhat haunting sound of Tim D'Eon and Paul Murphy combo and once I heard that one song I went looking for anything of theirs that I could get my hands on. And then I found this little ditty. When I first heart it I did actually press a button, but not to skip the album, but because I wanted to hear this song again, and again. There is something about it that I think encapsulates Wintersleep in a song, although it was hard to pick one as again, all their albums are worth picking up.

Low vs Diamond - Don't forget Sister. From the album: Low vs Diamond. Picking the last one was hard, so I wanted to go with something that I listen to for fun, whenever I need a good dance break at three am, this is usually what I choose, at least recently. This is one I have not even had for very long but ever since getting it I haven't been able to stop myself from listening to it whenever possible. It is just one of those catchy feel good albums and this song definitely is worthy of a listen.

I will likely not like any of these choices tomorrow as that is just what I do, but enjoy!