The reality of it all is that I have so much music I need to listen to before it is time to compile my year end best of list and so few hours to do all that listening. This is in addition to replaying all my favorites of the year and trying to actually put ‘em in some sort of logical order. Maybe? For the last few years I’ve posted my top 50 albums of the year but I might just expand it to a top 100 this year. Would that be overkill or would you be interested in seeing the second 50? I’ve still got about a month to work on it so here are a few more short spins.
American Relay is a ferocious punk-ass blues duo from Denver, Colorado that I’ve heard described as “R.L. Burnside meets Soundgarden.” That’s pretty accurate and (as you might expect) their 2007 album Corn & Oil is pretty much amazing.
MP3 | American Relay – Weekend Corn & Oil
Although I haven’t seen or spoken to him in quite some time, I’ve known singer/guitarist Matt Embree (of RX Bandits) for many years. Matt’s first solo album as Love You Moon is called Waxwane and finds his raw, emotional vocals and fluid (almost jazzy) guitar playing paving the way for dark and melancholy melodies. Basically, it sounds almost exactly how I expected it to and it’s not a bad thing.
MP3 | Love You Moon – Why Popstars Sell Silicon Waxwane
Silver Dollars is the second album from Axton Kincaid whose traditional country rock meets bluegrass sound and three-part harmonies is colored by shades of modern West Coast indie rock. The Dixie Chicks meets Centro-matic with an arsenal of fiddles, pedal steel, and harmonicas in tow.
MP3 | Axton Kincaid – We Should Be Drinking Silver Dollars
Earlier this year Hermosa Beach punks Pennywise released Reason To Believe, the ninth studio album of their 20 year career. Considering that I’ve been a fan of theirs for almost that long, this makes me feel really old.
MP3 | Pennywise – The Western World Reason To Believe
With The Devil, You + Me The Notwist has finally delivered a follow up to their stellar 2002 album Neon Golden. The band again collages acoustic pop and glitchy electronic rock into the perfect organic/synthetic backdrop for Marcus Acher’s plaintive-yet-distinctive vocals. It isn’t a vastly different formula than the band used on Neon Golden and I’m fine with that.
MP3 | The Notwist – Gloomy Planets The Devil, You + Me
