Recent Music Purchases...

Here are some recent music purchases I have made that I recommend others make as well...

Ships - Danielson
This is the best album that I have heard this year. This will possibly be the best pop album that comes out this year. It features an extremely talented cast of guest musicians--Sufjan Stevens, members of the Danielson Famile, members of Deerhoof, and John Ringhofer of Half-Handed Cloud. This album is a little more accessible than his other albums under the incarnations Danielson Famile, Br. Danielson, and Tri-Danielson. Smith keeps his signature vocal sound but in a much more tolerable way than other albums. There are some amazing songs on this album. From the very first song "Ship the Magestic Suffix" to the end. This album is full of great songs, catchy pop melodies, and musical surprises. I highly, highly recommend it.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case
First, this sounds nothing like what she does with The New Pornographers. This is one of the better female alt-country records I have heard. This is a pretty chilled out CD with some great songwriting. Lyrically, this album is just great. Musically, I think it depends on your taste. If you don't dig alt-country music, you won't dig the album. Then again, that's kind of a given.

The Slow Wonder - A.C. Newman
This album is from 2004, but it's from Neko Case's counterpart in The New Pornographers. This record is not a huge departure from Newman's band, but it's got it's differences. I know this is an older album, but I really think it's worth getting. This is a pretty upbeat album, which kind of makes it a good counterpart to the Neko Case album above--which is pretty low key.

Bitter Honey - Eef Barzelay
First off, I love Clem Snide. They're one of my favorite bands. I think I'll throw that out there, because it could bias my judgement on their lead singer's solo album. Nonetheless, I really like this album. A lot of people will have a hard time getting used to Eef's voice, but he is such an amazing singer and songwriter. His storytelling is great. "The Ballad of Bitter Honey" is a real highlight. If you've heard Clem Snide, this album really sounds like an acoustic Clem Snide album. The whole album is just Eef and his guitar.