Category Archives: Album of the Week

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

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Artist: Elbow
Album: The Seldom Seen Kid
File Under: Brit Rock
Recommended if You Like: Radiohead, Coldplay, Rob Dickinson, Peter Gabriel
Featured Track: Grounds for Divorce; The Bones of You

“I’ve been working on a cocktail called Grounds for Divorce…,” is the opening line from the rockin’ single, ‘Grounds for Divorce,’ off Elbow’s fourth and arguably best release to date, The Seldom Seen Kid.  The song is immense, snarling with emotion and emblematic of the theme of the album – the joys and sorrows of everyday life.

I’ve been obsessing over this album since it’s release in April.  Definitely one of my top albums for 2008.  I’m in love with Guy Garvey’s voice, which reminds me of Peter Gabriel at times and Rob Dickinson at others.  It’s beautiful and melodic, regardless. Especially the track, ‘The Fix’, in which Guy collaborates with another British crooner, Richard Hawley.

Elbow is one of those Radiohead-esque English bands that emerged from the wake of The Bends and OK Computer in the 90s.  For whatever reason, Coldplay was the band the masses glommed onto while Elbow remained in relative obscurity, despite their abundance of critical accolades.  Lucky for you, you now know better. 

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Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal

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Artist: Fleet Foxes
Album: Fleet Foxes
File Under: Indie Folk Rock
Recommended if You Like: Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, Band of Horses, The Dodos, My Morning Jacket
Featured Track: White Winter Hymnal

For those of you who follow music, this is probably not a new band for you; but those of you who don’t, you must add this one to your collection.  The reaction I had to this Seattle-based quintet the first time I heard them was similar to my first experience with Bon Iver – wow!  

I had to the good fortune to see them at SXSW this year while killing time before the Helio Sequence show. (I just love serendipity.) I remember being overwhelmed by the myriad of instruments they had on stage – acoustic and electric guitars, tom drums, mandolins, bass pedals, organs, dulcimers- all overlaid with the most beautiful, harmonious vocals I’ve ever heard.  The band clearly pays homage to their folk rock influences, but they do not get lost in it.   They synthesize a broad spectrum of styles and sounds into their own.  A classic for sure.

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Black Keys [Black Crystal Bands, Part 3]

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Artist:  Black Keys
Album:  Attack & Release
File Under: Lo-fi Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like:  White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Black Angels
Featured Track:  Psychotic Girl

I had all but given up on the Black Keys.  I’ve followed them since their debut and loved their bluesy minimalist sound.  (I’ve always described them as White Stripes meets Stevie Ray Vaughn.)  But each successive album seemed to be just more of the same and less creative.  I don’t think I would have bothered to pick up their new album, ‘Attack and Release’, if it weren’t for an interview I saw of the duo on Pitchfork.tv that completely cracked me up. 

I’m glad I did because it’s become one of my favorite albums this year…like reconnecting with an old friend.  The album is dark and moody for sure, but oh so sexy.  Their collaboration with Danger Mouse on this album adds subtle layers of complexity to give it a more ethereal and eerie sound than their prior releases.

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Handsome Furs – Plague Park

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Artist:  Handsome Furs
Album:  Plague Park
File Under:  Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like:  Beck, Wolf Parade
Featured Track:  Sing! Captain

The influence and reach of Montreal-based Wolf Parade and its members is quite astonishing.  I’ve always been intrigued by Spencer Krug and his impressive list of side projects.  (Sunset Rubdown was one of my favorites last year.)   Now Wolf Parade guitarist and vocalist Dan Boeckner has his own, Handsome Furs. 

Formed as a concept project with his drum-machine playing wife, Alexei Perry, in 2006, the duo booked a tour before even they’d even written a song. The two holed up in an apartment belonging to members of the Arcade Fire and wrote their debut album, Plague Park.

Featuring a drum machine, guitar and Beck-like vocals, their sound is dark, bare and stirring.  I love it.

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The Dodos – Visiter

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Artist:  The Dodos
Album:  Visiter
File Under:  Primitivist Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like:   Elliott Smith, Fleet Foxes, M.Ward, Iron & Wine, High Places, Yeasayer 
Featured Track:  Fools

This is a fantastic up-and-coming San Francisco-based band that I ironically stumbled upon at SXSW this year.  It was one of those chance discoveries that left me mesmerized and wanting more.  I quickly made note in my iPhone and have had this album on heavy rotation ever since.

The stripped down, two-man band consists of Meric Long on guitar and vocals and Logan Kroeber on percussion.  Both are feature performers  – on the recording and live.  Their simplicity has drawn comparisons to a crop of new-primitivist bands like Yeasayer and High Places.  Whatever the case, you should listen to this album and make a point to see them live.  For all you SF locals, that would be June 19 at The Independent.

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Rafter

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Artist:  Rafter
Album:  Sex Death Cassette
File Under:  Lo-Fi Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like:  Fiery Furnaces, Sufjan Stevens, Guided by Voices
Featured Track: zzzpenchant


This album hooked me from the first song, zzzpenchant, which sets the tone for the entire album – a crafty arrangement of short, eclectic tunes by musician Rafter Roberts that literally mashes up every conceivable music genre and instrument.  The end result is fresh, kooky, chaotic and beautiful.  

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School of Language

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Artist:  School of Language
Album:  Sea from Shore [released February 4, 2008]
File Under:  Brit Pop
Recommended if You Like:  Rock Symphonies
Featured Track:  Extended Holiday

It wasn’t until I took my Sonos player off shuffle and listened to this album in its entirety did I actually ‘get it’.  Now I can’t stop listening to it and the more I do, the better it gets. Testament to a great album and an exceptional musician by the name of David Brewis, member of the on-hiatus group Field Music.  The songs are exquisitely constructed and I love the way he plays with structures and sounds. 

The album is almost entirely a solo project showcasing David’s genius and is a true album experience.  Like a mini rock symphony, the album starts and ends with a series of songs called ‘Rockists Part 1 and 2’ and ‘Rockists Part 3 and 4’.  Parts 1 and 4 are different versions of the same song but strung together and listened to in it’s entirety, is a stunning arrangement.  

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All Hail the Duke Spirit

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Artist:  The Duke Spirit
Album:  Neptune [Released Feb 2008]
File Under:  English Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like: Grungy garage rock a la Sonic Youth and P.J. Harvey
Featured Track:  The Step and the Walk

I’ve been a fan of The Duke Spirit since their first album, Cuts Across the Land, hit the US in 2005.  With their second release, Neptune, the band has clearly come of age.  The album is a seductive blend of lead singer Leila Moss’s bluesy-rock vocals and ferocious guitar riffs.   The songs, evoking images of sea gods and ships, are a journey of brooding intensity that, in the end, leaves me only to say… “All Hail The Duke Spirit.”  

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Bon Iver, Mon Ami

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For Emma, Forever Ago

Artist:  Bon Iver (pronounced bon hiver – as in French for good winter)
Album:  For Emma, Forever Ago ( Released February 7, 2008 )
File Under:  Singer/Songwriter; Make out Music
Recommended If You Like:  Iron & Wine
Featured Track:  Skinny Love


The label Jagjaguwar knows how to pick artists and Bon Iver is no exception.  Their release of the band’s debut album, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” made waves among critics and music lovers alike.  And for good reason, the album is stunning. The band’s driving force – Justin Vernon – wrote this masterpiece holed up in a cabin in Wisconsin for three months during the winter.  The sense of isolation, longing and loneliness are palpable in his songs, but in a beautiful way.  The tempo and rhythm of the CD washes over you in a way that just makes you want to curl up and touch someone. 

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