November 29, 2009
Albums:
| Bat For Lashes : Two Suns Two Suns‘ combination of several instruments including piano, harpsichord, percussion, synth, and twinkling bells make it positively genre-breaking. Read more… |
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| The Big Pink : A Brief History of Love The Big Pink provide a spark of hope to music junkies, completely fed up with today’s vacuous and mundane pop stratosphere. Read more… |
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| Black Moth Super Rainbow : Eating Us Psych doesn’t get much smoother than this. Read more… |
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| Bowerbirds : Upper Air Another charming addition to the new folk movement. Read more… |
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| The Boy Least Likely To : The Law of the Playground The Boy Least Likely To’s The Law of the Playground is the perfect remedy to a bad day. Read more… |
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| Brasstronaut : Old World Lies EP Somewhere in between jazz, piano-man, blues, classical, horns and more lies Brasstronaut on their debut EP, Old World Lies. Read more… |
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| Neko Case : Middle Cyclone Case sets her captivating voice free once again. Read more… |
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| The Cinematics : Love and Terror The Cinematics finally return – right on schedule. Read more… |
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| Cracker : Sunrise In the Land of Milk and Honey The multi-faceted Cracker play it a little straighter towards the alt-rock on their latest, Sunrise In the Land of Milk and Honey. Read more… |
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| The Danks : Are You Afraid of The Danks? Prince Edward Island’s own live up to the alt-pop press of their debut EP with their debut LP. Read more… |
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| Death Cab for Cutie : The Open Door EP Death Cab’s habit of releasing great bonus EPs continues with The Open Door. Read more… |
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| Dinosaur Jr : Farm The greatest alt-rock reunion of this millenium keeps apace. Read more… |
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| Doves : Kingdom of Rust A little more seasoned and skeptical, Doves return with their darkest album to date. Read more… |
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| Drug Rug : Paint the Fence Invisible Drug Rug have put out a record that earns the critic’s praise in Paint the Fence Invisible. Read more… |
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| The Decemberists : The Hazards of Love Combining a taste for theatrics with an astounding command over the English language, Colin Meloy has weaved tales ranging from the life of a sea-faring mariner to Japanese folk tales. Read more… |
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| Electric Tickle Machine : Blew It Again A wild party garage-rock band that actually releases a good record?!? Read more… |
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| Fanfarlo : Reservoir It’s almost impossible for one not to instantly fall in love with Fanfarlo’s Reservoir. Read more… |
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| Benjamin Gibbard & Jay Farrar : One Fast Move Or I’m Gone The frontmen of Death Cab for Cutie & Son Volt team up to soundtrack the new Kerouac documentary. Read more… |
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| The Features : Some Kind of Salvation Southern alt-rock shall rise again, thanks to The Features’ Some Kind of Salvation. Read more… |
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| The Felice Brothers : Yonder Is the Clock The Felice Brothers are establishing themselves as the go-to band in roots Americana rock. Read more… |
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| R. Garcia : I Used To Write On Walls & Other New York City Stories The prolific Randy Garcia lets his instruments do the talking as ‘R. Garcia’. Read more… |
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| Girls : Album Album masterfully encapsulates the relaxed and carefree lifestyle of California, but underneath is a fragile, darker side. Read more… |
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| Harlem Shakes : Technicolor Health Harlem Shakes are worth the wait as the grow and grow in their highly-anticipated Technicolor Health. Read more… |
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| Grant Hart : Hot Wax After ten years of no new material, the icon of melody & punk hasn’t changed a bit. Read more… |
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| Hooray For Earth : Momo EP Hooray For Earth change their attitude without having to change their sound. Read more… |
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| I Monster : A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars Quirky electro-art rockers release their first album since 2003. Read more… |
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| Illinois : The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe, Chapter Four The prolific Illinois mix things up a bit on the fourth installment of The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe. Read more… |
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| Illinois : The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe, Chapter Five As Illinois near the end of their massive six EP Adventures of Kid Catastrophe, they’re combining song styles more and more. Read more… |
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| Illinois : The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe, Chapter Six The final chapter of Illinois’ epic The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe is its best. Read more… |
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| Illinois : The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe (Deluxe Edition) It all comes together in the deluxe edition of the epic Adventures of Kid Catastrophe. Read more… |
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| Iran : Dissolver After seven years, Iran returns without the buzz & crackle, but with the complexity underneath, in Dissolver. Read more… |
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| The Jaguar Club : And We Wake Up Slowly Something interesting, original & familiar this way comes from Brooklyn. Read more… |
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| Norah Jones : The Fall Welcome to the new Norah Jones. Read more… |
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| Jones Street Station : In Verses New Americana doesn’t have to be alt- to be great. Read more… |
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| Ladyhawke : Ladyhawke (Special Edition) Multi-continental synth-dance hit Ladyhawke finally comes to the States. Read more… |
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| Land of Talk : Fun and Laughter EP Fun and Laughter reminds you why you fell in love with Land of Talk in the first place. Read more… |
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| Shaney Kedar : Acid Tongue Shany Kedar effortlessly proves her lineage in seven spare songs of human suffering and nubile insistence. Read more… |
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| Malajube : Labyrinthes Seriously sexy alt-rock blossoms in Montreal. Read more… |
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| The Mars Volta : Octahedron The Mars Volta have produced a record so fresh, consistent and clear, that every time you hear it, you are taken with them on a journey. Read more… |
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| Matt & Kim : Grand Brooklyn’s break-through duo Matt & Kim second full-length Grand is exactly that. Read more… |
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| John Mayer : Battle Studies One of the most popular guitarists of his time takes quite a different approach from previous records. Read more… |
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| Mew : No More Stories/Are Told Today/I’m Sorry/They Washed Away//No More Stories/The World Is Grey/I’m Tired/Let’s Wash Away Simply put: one of the most powerful and artistic rock albums of the year. Read more… |
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| Middle Distance Runner : The Sun & Earth Middle Distance Runner’s latest is a brilliant collection of shiny, compact jewels. Read more… |
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| Monsters of Folk : Monsters of Folk Four of the most acclaimed voices in alt-folk team up to make the biggest supergroup since The Travelling Wilburys. Read more… |
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| Muse : The Resistance Stadium rock at its most dangerous? Read more… |
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| The Naked Hearts : These Knees EP Amy Cooper and Noah Wheeler combine a lot on their debut as The Naked Hearts, These Knees EP. Read more… |
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| Marissa Nalder : Little Hells Marissa Nadler’s backing sounds reach the level of her voice on Little Hells. Read more… |
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| The Nerd Parade : Span of a Life The Nerd Parade’s jam moves a little bit more in formation with their wide-Spaning latest. Read more… |
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| 1990s : Kicks Glasgow’s 1990s still know what it takes to produce a record that is not dependent on commercial radio overplaying one track. Read more… |
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| Noah & The Whale : The First Days of Spring The band’s second album exudes pure intimacy. Read more… |
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| Ola Podrida : Belly of the Lion David Wingo’s strum builds into emotional power on his second release as Ola Podrida. Read more… |
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| Parkas : You Should Have Killed Us When You Had The Chance You Should Have gotten to know Canada’s Parkas When You Had The Chance. Read more… |
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| Paul & The Patients : To the Lions EP This strong debut deserves attention for Paul Holmes and his Patients. Read more… |
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| Phil & The Osophers : Parallelo Enjoy garage done by someone who enjoys it, Phil & The Osophers. Read more… |
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| Grant-Lee Phillips : Little Moon Grant-Lee goes back to the nineteenth century on his latest, Little Moon. Read more… |
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| Phoenix : Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix French lounge-pop vets deliver another engaging effort. Read more… |
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| The Picture : Bluebirds EP On Bluebirds EP, New York’s The Picture let emotion into their indie-rock without going emo, as well as make it grand without being overbearing. Read more… |
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| Plushgun : Pins and Panzers Daniel Ingala can make even the most high school of subjects work with his indietronica. Read more… |
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| The Postmarks : Memoirs At the End of the World Quite possibly the smoothest album of the year. Read more… |
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| R.E.M. : Reckoning – Deluxe Edition There was no sophomore slump with R.E.M.’s Reckoning, now out in a deluxe edition. Read more… |
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| Röyksop : Junior Look out: the duo really, really steps up their game here. Read more… |
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| The Rural Alberta Advantage : Hometowns The Rural Alberta Advantage continues Canada’s impressive alt-legacy. Read more… |
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| Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions : Through the Devil Softly The softest voice of the last twenty years is back. Read more… |
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| The Seedy Seeds : Count the Days If American/alt-country and indietronica crashed into each other and washed away the pretenders, we’d likely find the Seedy Seeds as the last band left standing. Read more… |
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| Charles Spearin : The Happiness Project Charles Spearin of Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think gets even more unusual and compelling with his Happiness Project. Read more… |
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| Regina Spektor : Far In following up her break through success of Begin To Hope, pop virtuosa Regina Spektor straddles extremes and turns them into a devastatingly beautiful genre contradiction. Read more… |
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| Bruce Springsteen : Working On a Dream The Year of The Boss continues with his successfully varied latest. Read more… |
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| stellastarr* : Civilized Everything you loved about stellastarr* is finally back on Civilized. Read more… |
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| Taken By Trees : East of Eden Victoria Bergsman outdoes herself on her second solo effort. Read more… |
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| These United States : Everything Touches Everything These United States get even better & more fun on their latest, Everything Touches Everything. Read more… |
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| The Twang : Love It When I Feel Like This (U.S.) The U.K.’s The Twang get a proper U.S. release, with choice bonus tracks, of their debut, Love It When I Feel Like This. Read more… |
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| The Vaselines : Enter The Vaselines As they embark on a short reunion tour, Kurt Cobain’s favorite alt-pop act put out another complete compilation. Read more… |
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| Vulture Whale : Vulture Whale II Southern fried alt-country rock gets fun with Vulture Whale’s second self-titled LP. Read more… |
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| The xx : xx The overall feeling of xx is neither its bleakness nor its idealism, but the complete and utter excellence of its musical judgment. Read more… |
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| War Child : Heroes UK charity War Child releases another all-star affair. Read more… |
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| White Rabbits : It’s Frightening A focus on percussion takes the dancehall stomp of White Rabbits’ debut and makes it spooky and more accomplished on their follow-up, It’s Frightening. Read more… |
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| Wilco : Wilco (The Album) The definition of alt-country returns: Wilco (The Wilco). Read more… |
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| Yo La Tengo : Popular Songs There’s a reason Yo La Tengo is a classic critic’s fave – a good reason. Read more… |
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Accessories:
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Weezer Snuggie |
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Fanfarlo Christmas Hamper |
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Flaming Lips Silver Fetus Christmas Ornament |
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Designs by Les Savy Fav’s Deadly Squire |
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Sake of the Song |
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