A Busy Week, or It’s Overflowing

by halfo on Sep. 15, 2008, under music, mix, music, music, songs, weekly mix

Great Falls Hike

Picture taken at Great Falls, VA

Whew, so 2 weeks ago, I said to myself, “dammit, must update blog!” and Self snickered but said sure. Who knew Self was going to rely on external exigencies to get its nefarious non-updating way?

Yes, the past week has been too busy for me to do any writing, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening.

There are some weeks where 1 or 2 interesting albums drop, and I pick up an album or two from a year ago from some band I’ve just stumbled across. But not last week! Last week alone the following great albums came out:

  1. Bound Stems – The Family Afloat
  2. The Broken West – Now Or Heaven
  3. Damien Jurado – Caught in the Trees
  4. Fujiya and Miyagi – Lightbulbs
  5. The Lovely Sparrows – Bury the Cynics
  6. Marching Band – Spark Large
  7. The New Year – s/t
  8. Okkervil River – the Stand-Ins
  9. Parenthetical Girls – Entanglements
  10. Tricky – Knowle West Boy

I also picked up:

  1. Birdmonster – From the Mountain to the Sea
  2. The Clientele – That Night, a Forest Grew
  3. Jessica Fletchers – Less Sophistication (yay!)
  4. The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement (finally on eMusic – glad I waited)
  5. Marissa Nadler – The Saga of Mayflower
  6. The Uglysuit – s/t
  7. Viva Voice – Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
  8. The Silents – Sleepwalker

I’m weary just from typing all of them up. So far, all of the new albums are standouts; not a bad album in there. I’ve never encountered Damien Jurado before, but I find his Elliott Smith suddenly got happy approach to music relaxing. The new Tricky, though at times a bit too reggae for me, reminds me how much I’ve always liked his work – and resurrects the giddy laughter that always bubbles up whenever I hear his music thanks to his minor role in Fifth Element. Some of the new stuff, like Marching Band or The Lovely Sparrows, is just beautiful orchestral indie pop. How can you go wrong with that? Finally, the new Okkervil River and the new Broken West kick ass. Haven’t gotten to The New Year’s latest yet.

So I threw together a quick mix; Part 2 will be up (probably) tomorrow and then it’s off to the races for another week’s new releases!

  1. The Lovely Sparrows – Year of the Dog
  2. Parenthetical Girls – Young Eucharists
  3. Damien Jurado – Coats of Ice
  4. Bound Stems – Happens to Us All Otherwise
  5. Fujiya and Miyagi – Knickerbocker
  6. The Broken West – Auctioneer
  7. Okkervil River – Lost Coastlines
  8. The Uglysuit – Chicago

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