Artist: Future Islands Album: “On the Water” Release Date: October 11, 2011 Label: Thrill Jockey Featured Track: “Balance”
“On the Water is a record that aims to both break your heart and heal your wounds.” That’s what the press release says anyway. But I know one thing for certain, the vocals of frontman Samuel T. Herring broke my heart the first time I heard “In The Evening Air”. Earning it a spot on my Best of 2010 last year. Needless to say, I have great expectations for their forthcoming LP, “On the Water”. This is a band you need to know, for sure.
It’s 10:10 AM on 10/10/10. A perfect 10. These tri-numeral dates come around once a year and this year it falls on the number 10. Is it an auspicious day or a bunch of hullaballoo? There is a certain completeness of order with the number 10. For the Chinese the number is lucky, representing perfection or completion. We’re born with 10 fingers and 10 toes after all. Perfect beauty is measured on its scale. Top 10 lists are ubiquitous. And any respectable album contains at least 10 songs.
If you’re technologically-inclined, today is a “binary” day. The ones-and-zeros representing the binary code or the mathematical language “spoken” by computers to create all things digital. Converting the date 10/10/10 to binary code gives us 101010. And in the binary counting system, that number translates to 42, which means…absolutely nothing.
But hey, it’s a nice theme for a post isn’t it? And everyone loves a top 10 list. So, here’s mine. The 10 albums I’m obsessed with on this month, this day, this year. The albums I have on heavy rotation right now and keep coming back to again and again. Ten, in a long list, of albums you should most definitely own. Listed in no particular order, they are:
Artist: Future Islands Album: In Evening Air Release Date: May 4, 2010 File Under: Post Wave Featured Track: “As I Fall”
If you’re in need of a fresh sound, look no further. This Baltimore-based synthpop, new wave revival trio is really just…spectacular. It’s frontman Samuel T. Herring’s vocals that get me. At times growling like Tom Waits, at others crooning like Matt Johnson he forces you to sit up and listen. It takes a few spins to get acclimated to the album, the tempo, the sound, the voice. But once you do, it’s so damn compelling you won’t be able to stop.
Their debut LP “In Evening Air” will be released on Thrill Jockey May 4 and the band will play San Francisco’s El Rio on May 24.
the OCMD 