mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright (V0)

At some point in our lives we all wanted to be backwoods folk musicians, living in the middle of the woods trying to make songs about imaginary animals and people doing stupid simple things that were suddenly exaggeratedly important within the context of our songs.

Now, if you tell me you didn't have that life-long dream, let me tell you that you're in denial and you'll never reach your penis (amount of people that will get that reference is a solid 0).

This is that album, mixing in Folk with Indie Pop- kind of like a more aggressive and in your face Belle and Sebastian, with wordplay that could blow up a small child's brain.

All The Time, Everyone, Everywhere, Everything.
Download this amazing album title.
Support this maze of links. I'm serious about the maze, it takes some navigating to find any actual web store.

Foxes In Fiction - Alberto EP (320)

Any regulars of 4chan's /mu/ might already be familiar with Foxes In Fiction, the Toronto-based project of Warren Hildebrand. It's a funny story, actually, as he gained his initial success through someone reposting his songs as alleged new material by Atlas Sound on, where else but 4chan. People quickly spread the songs around and he wound up getting a record deal and even a lovely pitchfork review in the process.

I can only say I'm extremely grateful for that. The man certainly knows what he's doing, and I'd honestly go as far as to say that his first LP, Swung From The Branches, was one of my most loved albums of last year. Seriously, if you like indie, shoegaze, ambient or any of that stuff you basically kind of HAVE to like Foxes In Fiction. Pitchfork described it as Warren making the follow-up to Logos that he wanted because he just couldn't wait. That's certainly a valid comparison, but it's not something he should be defined by. There's a lot more than just avid Bradford Cox fanboy-ism at play here.

So Alberto, his newest 2011 effort is his attempt at making slightly more structured, poppier songs, a direction I was kind of hoping he might take. His songs literally relieve stress for me.

So, I'm gonna dump a few links on you now.

First, download all of his music (for free) from his site. Swung From the Branches can be downloaded here.
You can get Alberto here, packaged by me.

You can listen to a personal favorite of mine, "Fifteen Ativan," here.

So when you're done gasm-ing all over, FINALLY support this man by buying his album here.

Pomegranates - Everybody Come Outside! (V2)

If you ask Wikipedia what pop music is, you'll get this.

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short and simple love songs and utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.

I think that, however articulate this definition may be, 'pop' has come to mean a whole new thing in relation to modern music. And yes, genres are something that people love to hate. Hell, I posted an album review a couple of days ago while using the term slowcore. What the hell is slowcore? (Click here to find out.)

Well, the fact is, these things exist as a way for us to communicate the sounds of a particular piece of music or art to other people. Genres, as silly as they seem, serve those of us who can't describe the way something 'sounds' accurately. I don't think that Seurat said to himself one day, "And now I will create Pointillism." It was Seurat being Seurat. Don't quote me though.

So. That said, Pomegranates are indie pop. They are basically soft rock with catchy lines and plenty of hooks thrown in. Isn't that what people usually say? Hooks, lines, riffs, themes, melodies?

2009's Everybody Come Outside! is a sonically rich album, full of swelling guitars, textural melodies and the poignant croon of frontman Joey Cook's falsetto. The album, their second LP released on Afternoon Records, will take you places that pop doesn't always take people, places that seem emotionally relevant, places that seem awkward, places that seem hopeful, and places that seem like they are just happier than they should be. These guys are rising in popularity, due to some really lucky breaks, and more importantly, a cohesive artistic direction that is heading towards something great.

Download here, buy it here.

The high school swimming pool never seemed so far away.

Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart In Your Heartbreak (320)

For anyone who is a fan of Pains of Being Pure at Heart or related projects, here's a new single out from their upcoming album Belong. It's going to be released in 2011, hopefully early in the year.

No matter what you take, you're never gonna forget.

The Octopus Project - Hexadecagon (V0)

Just in time for the end of 2010, The Octopus Project has released Hexadecagon, the follow-up to their 2007 breakout Hello, Avalanche. Their new rapport with the music industry has afforded them many luxuries, included dedicated producers and a wider range of instrumentation.

Although the album is mostly composed of instrumentals, it's so engaging and clever that the music speaks for itself. You won't find the drawn-out crescendos or abstruse tonal changes that have, for the last decade, dominated instrumental music. Hexadecagon is always motivated, and what keeps it interesting is the ways in which those motivations will often surprise you.

Download.

Anathallo - Floating World (V0)

Anathallo is a band who I easily could have seen in Chicago (they are based in the city for the most part) but due to my ignorance I chose to attend some other stupid event. I can't believe myself, they were playing with Why Intercept? at the time, another great Chicago act, but I think I went to a Valentine's day party or something.

Stupid me.

I missed out on a plethora of unique sounds, ranging from chains as percussion, brass sections, songs reminiscent of pop, post-rock and folk all blended together and even an autoharp.

Damn.

I also missed out on buying one of the best albums of 2006.

There's always next time, I guess. Oh wait, they're broken up.

Crap.

Download here, buy it here.

The Morning Benders - Big Echo (V0)

The Morning Benders are 100% me approved. I can't stop listening to this band, I've seen them live a couple times and they never fail to impress. They've been touring with Oberhofer and Twin Sister, which is why the last few posts I've made were of those bands. They are amazing musicians, and a real treat to talk to.

And Chris's voice is pure gold.

Shouting into a valley.
Big shout – big echo.
Small shout – small echo.

Buy it here.

Unrest - Imperial f.f.r.r. (V0)

For an early 90's indie pop album I expected a lot worse. Like, I expected to hear grunge production values and overused chorus pedals covered by melodies that included holding words for as long as the singer could before finally going to the next one.

Luckily, this was nothing like that and was actually a very surprising, easy to get into album.
Maybe you've heard of it before, I've never heard anything but praise for it; but even if you haven't it's a great, simple, relaxed album that just flows and sounds so natural that, maybe (just maybe), your parents could even get into it.
Not mine though, they listen to shit.

SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Download because my parent's taste in music sucks and yours doesn't.

Oberhofer - o0Oo0Oo EP (V0)

You're pushing me away from you,
And there's nothing I can do,
And I can't fight all of your battles for you.

Buy it at a show. He gives it away for free.

This is the first of a three post series highlighting the bands Oberhofer, Twin Sister and The Morning Benders.

Expect more from these guys soon.

Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love (FLAC)

Belle and Sebastian released a new full-length this year, and it's strange to see how much and how little they've changed since Tigermilk. Write About Love is their eighth studio album, an impressive feat in the fourteen years that they've been around. Although it has a much bigger emphasis on production than previous releases, due mostly in part to the influence of Tony Hoffer, who has worked with acts such as Beck and Phoenix in the past, the personal touches of Stuart Murdoch and company still make this album uniquely Belle and Sebastian.

Towns' and cities' populations up and grow,
The workers move to the suburbs,
In between I watch and go,
I run along side rush hour traffic a prayer for every car.

Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap (V0)

"Belle and Sebastian are a 7 piece pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. Their music can usually be described as "pretty" or "delicate," but without the negative connotations that those words may convey. The band formed as the brainchild of Stuart Murdoch. He recruited members "by instinct" in an all-night cafe in Glasgow. Eventually he found 6 other members, all college students, and Belle and Sebastian was born. The band originally was to just be a small school project type thing, and they initially agreed to release two albums and then split.

Their first album, Tigermilk, which was released in May of 1996 was an underground success almost strictly from word of mouth. Only 1,000 copies were in circulation, and reports were that copies were going for 75 pounds. The album was eventually re-released on a wide scale in 1999. The band's second album, and the one generally attributed to putting Belle and Sebastian on the map, was If You're Feeling Sinister. It recieved wide acclaim in the UK as well. The Boy with the Arab Strap is the bands third formal album. While this album doesn't break new ground for Belle and Sebastian, it consolidates their talents, and the result is an album full of folk-pop treasures."

Download.

Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (V0)

The recipe for a perfect autumn day: equal parts Belle and Sebastian and Carissa's Wierd. Both gentle and falling, like leaves onto a sidewalk, into and out of your consciousness just often enough to feel a leaf brush your skin or to a hear a lyric like, "Who's seeing you at all?" The truth is that no one is, and Belle and Sebastian have the unique ability to be freed by this fact, to escape to the egocentric fragility and expansiveness of a child's wit and imagination. Every moment is just as surreptitious as it is intimate, and even the synthesized moments of If You're Feeling Sinister seem completely organic.

Download.

Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk (V0)

On a bus stop in the town,
"We rule the school,"
Written for anyone to read and to see.

On a bus stop in the town,
"We rule the school,"
Written for anyone with eyes in their heads.

Download.

Los Campesinos! - All's Well That Ends (V0)

So with their new album just released earlier this year, Los Campesinos! decided to release an EP containing four songs from Romance is Boring but in entirely different, acoustic versions. All the songs sound more folky and less fun, but it's an interesting listen for any Los Campesinos! fan. Speaking of Los Campesinos!, i'm planning on finally revealing to Gareth my secret crush on his accent at their New York show later this month. I hope his accent loves me back.

Download V0, because we need more post-coital, and less post-rock. Feels like the build up takes forever but you never get me off.

The Deadly Syndrome - Nolens Volens (V0)

I unfortunately didn't hear about The Deadly Syndrome until earlier this year, when I was still spending all my nights in my room awake until 3 AM just listening to music and watching re-runs of Reno 911. I had heard about them from a friend who, ever since I had taken him to a Blind Pilot show, was obsessed with this understated, simplistic pop sound. The songs they do remind me of lost journal entries, or small composition notebooks filled with thoughts and musings about people and love.

Say what you know,
and fake what you don't,

You can't accept,
They won't have kept,
Your name with your death,
and life will be easier.

– "Wingwalker"

Nolens Volens, their 2010 self-released album, carries an aesthetic feel that almost feels ambient at times. The songs "Villan" and "Afterwork," while retaining a somewhat poppy aesthetic, seem to go into self-indulgent territories, which is something absent from most music like this these days. One of my favorite things about The Deadly Syndrome is the careful attention they put towards the instrumentation. There are plenty of swelling synths and calm acoustic guitars, which balance well with the pop-rock songs like "Party City," which almost gives a Rogue Wave vibe. It's a great album for the autumn season, so take this one with you somewhere. You won't regret it.

Download it here, buy it here.

I also invite you to have a listen to their 2007 release, The Ortolan.

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz (FLAC)

Although The Age of Adz, Sufjan Stevens' sixth full release and his most expansive to date, might be better described as The Age of Flute Trills, it might also be one of the landmark albums of the decade. The Age of Adz is a sprawling musical suite that combines, intelligently and infectiously, the Enjoy Your Rabbit-era glitchy electronics and drum samples and the 50 states project-era symphonics and fluttering orchestration.

Each song complements the other, realizing the vast and overarching vision that Sufjan loyalists caught a glimpse of in this year's All Delighted People EP. Each note and verse swells with clarity and authenticity and, although at louder moments there's a significant amount of compression, the dynamics of each moment are pronounced in ways that encourage listeners to delve deeper. The Age of Adz is so musically dense that it's hard to process everything at once, even over the course of several dozen listens.

It's difficult for religiously zealous musicians to gain legitimacy within the music community, but when Sufjan sings, "You really got get right with the Lord," he backs it with such an overwhelming sense of musical harmony and personal intimacy that it forces listeners to empathize with him. That's the wonder of this album: it's so vivid and primal that it's impossible to ignore.

Download.