Music Is For Ears

So I decided to make a list of my favorite albums of the year. Even though it's July. And the albums didn't necessarily come from this year either, I just found them this year. What of it?

No particular order?

The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur
An English friend I worked with whom I shall leave unnamed told me about this band and told me to start with this CD as it's their newest. Really good stuff. I then proceeded to download their previous stuff, all good. Englishman who's name rhymes with Farcus also told me about this old old silent movie that had been revolutionary to film at the time which The Cinematic Orchestra wrote a new score for. I got the album and even found the video online. It was surreal to watch, and the music goes with it great. So good find.

Opeth - Watershed
I'm not into metal like I used to be, but I'll always have a place for it my COLD DARK HEART!!! Opeth was always great at progressive metal, with some truly beautiful acoustic sections leading almost seamlessly into some of the most brutal noises ever recorded. Great stuff, with the added benefit of nostalgia.

Final Fantasy - Has a Good Home / Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
Ya, both his albums. I'd had many people tell me about this guy for quite a while but somehow I got it in my head he was techno, which I'm not too into these days. Finally I gave it a shot and realized he's awesome. Just him and his violin and some really quirky but frustratingly catchy tunes with lyrics that are really fun to dissect. He won the Polaris Music Prize, which is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label.

Patrick Watson - Close To Paradise
This was a great find. This guy is like Peter Gabriel meets Coldplay. Some unique vocals and the songs are piano heavy, which is always A-OK with me! Just some solid well written semi-experimental music, I suggest giving it a listen! I found it when I searched up other winners of the Polaris Music Prize, which this album also won.

Jim Guthrie - Now, More Than Ever
Sort of folk-y with a cool addition of strings. This album took quite a while to grow on me, but once it did I realized it's a solid album all the way through. This album was nominated for a Juno back in 2003. This cd was perfect for my long drives on my road-trip.

The Stars - Set Yourself On Fire / Do You Trust Your Friends
Linda told me about this band that she had heard and thought was really cool but was having trouble downloading it, so I did some torrent searching and found Set Yourself on Fire by them, and also Do You Trust Your Friends which is essentially the same album but each song is covered by a different artist. It was really cool getting to know the album by listening to 2 versions of every song. "Your Ex Lover Is Dead" covered by Final Fantasy is my favorite. Was listening to that song at work once and had a customer have me write down the song and band name for him. Hard to describe the sound. It has moments of pure 80's pop, but then goes into a very jazzy/bluesy duet between the male and female singers. Many members from Broken Social Scene are in this band.

The Lightning Bug Situation - A Leaf, A Stream
This album can ONLY be listened to as a whole album. It feels like a collective meditation of several of life's milestones. It drifts from one beautiful progression into a conversation of people about their memories, into a new song completely. It's effect is quite haunting. I kept bumping into this band on "similar artists" and "If you liked so&so you might like..." parts of my music sites. I couldn't find it anywhere to download, so I actually paid money (*GASP*) to download the album from the official site. Only like $5. A great introspective album. No particular song leaves a huge impression, but the album on a whole really does!

VAST - April 2.0
Always been a fan of VAST since I stumbled onto their first CD back in '99. I don't think I've ever shown someone that first CD of theirs who didn't fall in love with it, and subsequently them. But every album since the first has been much less memorable. This CD at first didn't blow me away, but I find myself coming back to it whenever life gets a little too complicated. Their first CD without use of distortion, almost entirely clean guitar. Their best CD since their first.

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
A progressive Pink-Floyd guitar driven experiment in music. Very cool. Start with "And You Lied To Me".

Yeasayer - All Hours Cymbals
Lauren at work told me about these guys after seeing them on Take-Away Shows. Their song 2080 seems to be best way to start, but it's another solid album all the way through. A really cool energy to the band that just gets you excited, pumped up. Maybe the Take-Away Show video influenced me, but the band in general makes me think of flash mobs. The good side of flash mobs. Not the looting and violence.

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
When I first stumbled across this band I really felt like I'd found some hidden gem and couldn't wait to show it off. Within a few days I realized I was probably the last person to hear this band. Still, a great CD. The songs all sort of sound the same, but it's a good sound so it's forgivable. This CD is pretty solid the whole way through, though it should be mentioned my favorite Beirut song, Scenic World (both versions), isn't on it.

Alaska In Winter - Dance Party In The Balkans
This album was so up my alley. It's Sigur Ros meets Wall-E. 'Nuf said. Impossible to find though, so I just bought it after hearing only one song.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Love this album. Love it. Not gunna lie, it's not a party album or a great sunshiney day album. It's not emo or super dark or anything, but it's definitely for those nights when nothing makes sense. Very unique sound. He layers his voice with subtle to severe differences to each layer, so that his voice(s) sound like a second guitar with loose string playing along. Hard to describe.

Honorable Mentions
The Notwist - Neon Golden, Wilco Sky Blue Sky (only album of theirs I like), VHS or BETA - Bring On The Comets (pure 80's revival), Vampire Weekend, The Speakers - Yeats (this is pretty much the same band as The Lightning Bug Situation and is awesome for the same reasons), NIN - Ghosts, M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (more 80's goodness), Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara, Fort Minor - Rising Tied (first rap CD I've ever really liked), Foo Fighters - Echoes Silence Patience and Grace, Filter - Anthems For The Damned, The Decemberists - Castaways and Cut-Outs, Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs, Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, City & Colour - Bring Me Your Love, Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The U.K., Dresden Dolls - No Virginia (The guy I stayed with in Toronto showed me this band, very cool!)

It's been a good year for new music and expanding my musical tastes. It's a shame, as long as the list is it got cut very short, almost every album in the honorable mentions deserves its own write-up. But there you have it. If you're looking for some new music, all above is strongly recommended!