thus spake drake: deerhunter

Showing posts with label deerhunter. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Top 50+ Albums of 2010

2010 turned out to be another pretty good year for music, but no album ran away with the top spot this year. LCD Soundsystem's This Is Happening gets the nod for me, by a nose, but it's not even really James Murphy's best effort (that would be Sound of Silver). The rest of the more than fifty releases below are an eclectic collection, although my rockist bias is still probably apparent. But how many lists out there are you going to find with Ty Segall, Kanye West and John Mellencamp on it. (Yeah, the last one surprised me as well, but it's gooooood.)

Playlist: Top 50 Albums of 2010

1. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

If this is indeed the last album that LCD Soundsystem releases, and James Murphy has hinted as much, then this is the way to go. This is Happening, lyrically, is Murphy's most personal release, continuing the inward trend since LCD SS' beginnings in detached irony.

Review, May 18, 2010

2. Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
Stream / Purchase [mp3

The slow and steady progression for Deerhunter from damaged art rock to accessible (yet still damaged) pop band has been fascinating to witness, and with Halycon Digest, they've perfected the right balance between the two for a artful pop album that rewards on repeat listens.

Review, September 28, 2010

3. Wavves - King of the Beach
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Nate Williams rebounded nicely from an up and down 2009. Enlisting the late Jay Reatard's old band to back him, King of the Beach finds Williams still in the loner/outsider role, but now the music backing the loser-based lyrics are far more rich. Easily one of the most exhilarating releases of 2010.

Review, August 3, 2010

4. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

With every repeat listen of The Monitor, the seams holding together New Jersey split just a little more, as the love/hate relationship Titus Andronicus has with their home state is volatile, to say the least. And this from an album allegedly about the Civil War, complete with spoken word cameo from Craig Finn as Walt Whitman (the best recording Finn took part in this year).

5. Los Campesinos - Romance is Boring
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Romance is Boring is anything but boring, instead at times white hot and most of the time unable to sit still. It's pop at in the face of chaos. An album that seems to have been overlooked by many (maybe some were assuming they'd be releasing more like the year prior).

Review, January 26, 2010

6. Sleigh Bells - Treats
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

As if The Go! Team's cheerleaders decided to make out with the AV club guys, sending the dial into the red. Distortion and pep don't often go together, but this noisy affair is one for the eardrums.

7. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

The album I played the most in 2010. Combines everything I loved about the early 90s and turned the BPMs up to workout pace. Lift those knees!

Review, May 11, 2010

8. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Much like Deerhunter, Ariel Rosenberg has graduated a bit from the lo-fi art noise of his earlier recordings, moving from the bedroom to an actual studio. The songs, however, are still warped by the sun and probably under the influence of illegal substances. So there's that. Wheee!

9. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Might have topped my list had it been released sooner/Kanye didn't seem like such a douche bag/it weren't for my aforementioned perceived rockist bias. Certainly wins for Best use of a King Crimson song on the scorcher, "Power."

(Review November 23, 2010)

10. Beach House - Teen Dream
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

The Baltimore duo Beach House also upgraded their recording studio this year, in their first Sub Pop debut, putting some extra polish on their already lush and dreamy sound.

(Review January 26, 2010)

11. Vampire Weekend - Contra
(Review January 12, 2010)

12. Ty Segall - Logos

13. The Posies - Blood/Candy

Review, September 28, 2010

14. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

(Ear on TV preview December 13, 2010)

15. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
(review August 3, 2010)

16. Best Coast - Crazy For You

17. Spoon - Transference

18. Twin Shadow - Forget

19. John Mellencamp - No Better Than This

20. The Fresh & Onlys - Play it Strange

21. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

(review September 14, 2010)

22. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

(review October 12, 2010)

23. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

24. No Age - Everything In Between

Review, September 28, 2010

25. Off! - Four EPs

26. The Walkmen - Lisbon (review September 14, 2010)
27. Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here
28. The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack (review February 2, 2010)
29. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
30. Grinderman - Grinderman 2 (review September 14, 2010)
31. The Intelligence - Males
32. The Black Keys - Brothers (Ear on TV preview)
33. Field Music - Measure (review February 16, 2010)
34. Bottomless Pit - Blood Under the Bridge (review August 17, 2010)
35. She & Him - Volume 2 (review March 23, 2010)
36. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Ear on TV preview for May 24, 2010)
37. Jenny & Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now (review August 31, 2010)
38. Robyn - Body Talk
39. Liars - Sisterworld (review March 9, 2010)
40. Crystal Castles - II
41. Baths - Cerulean (review 05/19/09)
42. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son Of Chico Dusty (review July 5, 2010)
43. Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern
44. Yeasayer - Oddblood (review February 9, 2010)
45. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (Ear on TV preview February 15, 2010)
46. Tyvek - Nothing Fits
47. The Roots - How I Got Over (review June 22, 2010)
48. The National - High Violet (review May 11, 2010)
49. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
50. New Pornographers - Together (review 05/19/09)
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (review May 4, 2010)
Women - Public Strain
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM (review February 13, 2010)
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Brutalist Bricks (review March 9, 2010)
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (review March 30, 2010)
Hot Chip - One Life Stand (review February 9, 2010)
Perfume Genius - Learning
Boston Spaceships - Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (review September 21, 2010)
Delorean - Subiza

Previously: Top 50 Albums from 2009, Top 50 Albums from 2008, Top 100 Albums from 2007, Top 100+ from 2006, Top 50 from 2005, Top 10 from 2004

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Now Downloading: New Releases 09.28.10

If two weeks ago was Super Tuesday, this must be Ultimate Tuesday, as there are at least four albums likely to make more than a few year end top 10 lists (there are two likely to make mine -- I'll let you guess which ones). So you'll forgive me if this week's post is late, as the word count has spiraled out of control laying praise on the latest from The Posies, Deerhunter, No Age and Neil Young. Other notables this week include new releases from Abe Vigoda, Women, Glasser, Nellie McKay, Owen Pallet, Ben Folds/Nick Hornby, The Corin Tucker Band, Owen, Grandchildren along with a greatest hits comp from Soundgarden and a deluxe reissue of 2009's list topper Bitte Orca from Dirty Projectors.

Playlist: New Releases 09.28.10

The Posies - Blood/Candy
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

I've been a Posies fan going back to 1988, when you could catch them playing the occasional house party near the University of Washington campus. In terms of bias, familiarity can make a sub-par record seem better, but by the same token, it's also fairly difficult to be surprised by someone you've known for nearly 23 years. So when I say the greatness of Blood/Candy shocked me, it's not just hubris void of perspective.

Stringfellow / The Posies / Sasquatch 2010

Initially inspired by a 2009 performance of 93's Frosting on the Beater in it's entirety, B/C was going to be a 'return to roots' rock record for Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. But a funny thing happened on the way to ~~the forum~~ recording the album... the songs just weren't going to cooperate with the initial box laid out for them. The restless Stringfellow has been harder to pin down creatively since the Posies first broke up (and thank God breaking up is the one thing The Posies are horrible at) and his song contributions here seem like they'd be especially difficult initially to button down. Witness the theatrical "Licenses to Hide," the zany Pet Sounds-inspired "Enewetak" - name for the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific which were abused by the US for nuclear testing - and the soaring "For the Ashes." Meanwhile, Auer had his own left-turns up his sleeve, unleashing the challenging "Accidental Architecture," after which it must have become obvious that this was not going to be a 'return to' anything album.

Auer / The Posies / Sasquatch 2010

Sure, there are a couple songs here that fall into the classic Posies sound, and those have always tended to be Auer's contributions, whose confidence in his McCartneyesque songwriting has made him Mr. Reliable (see "The Glitter Prize," "So Caroline" and "Notion #99"). But even the classic (and the almost nursery rhymish "Cleopatra Street") have so much going on that it begs, nay demands, repeat listens to get the full effect. To my ears Blood/Candy is the first album since Auer and Stringfellow's styles started more noticeably diverging (around 1996's Amazing Disgrace) where the potentially conflicting styles mesh in perfect harmony, with both artists reaching forward and out to each other, and it's a wondrous thing to behold.

Download: "The Glitter Prize" [mp3]

Their first ever performance of "The Glitter Prize" was capture on KEXP back in May:

Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

The slow and steady progression for Deerhunter from damaged art rock to accessible (yet still damaged) pop band has been fascinating to witness. In some respects, we've been witnessing frontman Bradford Cox's split personality gradually merging together, with the tripped-out art of Deerhunter now almost impossible to distinguish from the pop ambitions of his solo project Atlas Sound.

Cox / Deerhunter / CHBP 2009

Witness the Cox's cooing bedroom vocals on the pop nuggets "Revival" and lead single "Helicopter," two highlights from the album (that still don't eclipse Microcastle's "Nothing Ever Happens," but that's to be expected). Cox's lyrics are still kind of a downer and purposely obtuse, but on the final track, the sprawling 7 1/2 minute "He Would Have Laughed" (dedicated to the late Jay Reatard), he comes as close as ever to letting us inside this thoughts. Cox pleads "Where do your friends go?/ Where do they see you?/ What did you want to be? Ah shut the hell up... shut your mouth" and then the song peters out, ending mid-note, much like Reatard's life. It's a powerful coda to an endlessly fascinating release.

Free AOL Album Stream

No Age - Everything In Between
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Watching No Age play Bumbershoot a year ago, I got the impression that the duo (Dean Spunt on drums/vocals, Randy Randall on guitar) was perhaps a bit bored, drawing mostly from 2008's well-received Nouns. Everything In Between, the band's 2nd proper full length), kind of reinforces this opinion, with No Age mostly amputating nearly all the punk-fueled up-tempo elements ("Fever Dreaming" and "Shed & Transcend" remind us they still have that in their arsenal) that made their last album a dizzying affair.

Spunt / No Age / Bumpershoot 09

The aptly named "Positive Amputation" is a drum-less instrumental that explains this theory better than words can, built as it is from loops and sonic experimentation. Lead single "Glitter" is the perfect distilling of No Age's strengths, combining looping sonic landscapes with Spunt's simple repetition on vocals. The only weakness here for No Age (and it barely can be called that) is that with their leap forward in sonic sound, unfortunately Dean Spunt's vocals just don't seem strong enough at times to hold their end of the bargain. Spunt's laid back Cali skate punk feels at home riding the wave of their punkier numbers (again, see "Fever Dreaming"). Even with the tempo ratcheted down a notch, it's still another dizzying affair.

Download: "Fever Dreaming" [mp3]

Neil Young - Le Noise
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Neil Young is in the enviable position where he really doesn't need you to like him, which makes his album choices always an event of sorts. Take Le Noise, an album that is very recognizably a Neil Young joint (it's just Neil and his electric guitar playing within his idiom) and yet manages to be kind of out there through the funky mix job by Daniel Lanois. The result is a swirl of guitars and echoing vocals dancing around what are otherwise superb Young songs. Compare this with fellow rock legend Eric Clapton, who's vanilla offering this week challenges nobody, and we're reminded again why Young is such a treasure (I'd say national treasure, but some Canadians might scoff at the thought). In concert with the album, Young's YouTube channel is streaming the album as a short film, with artful black & white footage of Neil in the studio intercut with some crazy effects (much like the album itself) - see below:

Free AOL Album Stream

Monday, January 05, 2009

Best Albums From 2008

Getting snowed in and extending myself writing other projects helped contribute to this list's delinquency, but it can also be said that I dreaded this post a bit due to a slight dip in quality this year. In the past, this list would run up over 100 in length, but not this go 'round. I was not as excited by the depth of releases this year -- quite a few releases impressed, but on the whole, I found it to be a down year. Also, 2009 has come earlier than in the past (hello new releases from Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Antony & the Johnsons, A.C. Newman and Robert Pollard) and since I'm about to head to Mexico for a week, this will be incredibly brief.

Playlist: Best Albums From 2008

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

The most focused and consistently great album that TVOTR has released yet, which is saying a lot. And it's funky. Dear Science opens like an extension of Cookie Mountain (best album from 2006) and eventually ends with an ode to sex that sounds like it Sufjan Stevens orchestrated the song's final few minutes. Breathtaking.

Review, September 18, 2008)

2. No Age - Nouns

The first of Sub Pop's near dominance in 2008, and also the first example of how the late 80's/early 90's is coming in style. Even though the LA punk duo is by all estimations still getting it's bearings, Nouns seems to hit a sweet spot that's been missing... sloppy DIY punk delivered via My Bloody Valentine guitar swirls, all encased with a tape-loop hiss that all together sounds far more accessible than you'd think it would.

Review, May 6, 2008)
Download: "Eraser" [mp3]

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

More love for Sub Pop. Between the reverb and the incredible vocal harmonies, it's hard to not play the Pet Sounds card, but the folky guitar strums send us in the direction of CSN&Y.

Review, June 3, 2008
Download: "White Winter Hymnal" [mp3]

4. Deerhunter - Microcastle

Latest relies more on pop conventions than past releases. There's still plenty of noise and artful moments here to be sure, but the swing to convention is concrete to the ears, and the sound is thrilling.

(Review, November 4, 2008)

5. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

DJ Andrew Butler may be the man behind the beats, but the star here is really Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnstons,) who's expressive voice sounds possibly even more at home in this updated disco setting than the band he fronts.

(Review, June 25, 2008)

6. Q-Tip - The Renaissance

The third album QT has recorded since Amplified (1999) while just the first to get an actual physical release. Welcome back QT, and welcome back A Tribe Called Quest-like grooves.

(Review, November 4, 2008)

7. The Hold Steady - Stay Posiive

Craig Finn actually singing more than speaking? Rock riff nods to Led Zep and Thin Lizzy? Relax... it's still Hold Steady at the core of these tales of good kids reaching for something big, falling hard and getting back up again.

Review, July 16, 2008

8. Blitzen Trapper - Furr

Yet more love Sub Pop. Still present is the restless mixtapery of Wild Mountain Nation, but a bit more focus. Lots of 70's pop and rock mishmashed together in a manner that's quite pleasing to the ears (and mind).

Review September 25, 2008
Download: "Furr" [mp3]

9. Portishead - Third

Like Q-Tip, the Bristol trip-hop pioneers are another 90's comeback story. But their not content to just return to their sound, instead they push on to new uncharted territories. Dense and sinister, it's an aural onion waiting to be peeled.

Review April 30, 2008

10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

A refinement of Grinderman's midlife Christ-kick, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! is rock with Cave's wit on full display. "I say prolix! Prolix! Something a pair of scissors can fix."

Review April 8, 2008

11. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak (review 11/24/08)
12. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
13. The Walkmen - You & Me
14. Shearwater - Rook (review 06/03/08)
15. M83 - Saturdays=Youth (review 04/15/08)
16. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (review 06/18/08)
17. Santogold - Santogold
18. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See or Cannot Feel (review 02/20/08)
19. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
20. Man Man - Rabbit Habits (review 04/08/08)
21. The Week That Was - The Week That Was (review 08/27/08)
22. Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
23. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (review 10/21/08)
24. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
25. Beach House - Devotion (review 02/27/08)
26. The Dodos - Visiter
27. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins (review, 09/09/08)
28. School of Language - Sea of Shore
29. Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali
30. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (review 03/04/08)
31. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
32. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
33. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
34. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (review 01/29/08)
35. Harvey Milk - Life...the Best Game in Town
36. Black Mountain - In the Future (review 01/23/08)
37. The Saturday Knights - Mingle (review 06/25/08)
38. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark (review 01/15/08)
39. Foals - Antidotes (review 04/01/08)
40. Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
41. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (review 06/10/08)
42. Sam Roberts - Love at the End of the World
43. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (review 02/05/08)
44. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (review 10/15/08)
45. Slumdog Millionaire - Music From the Motion Picture (review 12/01/08)
46. Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On
47. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (review 10/07/08)
48. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams (03/19/08)
49. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
50. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III
50. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash (review 03/04/08)
50. Black Keys - Attack and Release (review 03/25/08)

Previously: Best Albums from 2007

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Now Downloading: New Releases 10.28.08/11.03.08

New releases from Deerhunter, Danielson and Q-Tip
Dropped the ball last week on the new releases, basically running out of time in a very busy week, so I'm combining them, as I don't want to let the new Deerhunter album slip by us without comment. Also from last week there's new releases from Ryan Adams and Cardinals, Eagles Of Death Metal, Bloc Party and Crystal Stilts. This week sees the highly anticipated new release from Q-Tip (see earlier post on it,) along with a compilation from Danielson, and new releases from Black Moth Super Rainbow, Travis and Megapuss.

Playlist: New Releases 10.28.08
Playlist: New Releases 11.04.08

Deerhunter - Microcastle
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

Frontman Bradford Cox has had a very busy year, first releasing a fine album from his solo project Atlas Sound, and now the latest from his primary vehicle, Deerhunter. The timing of these albums contribute to the belief that perhaps the differences in his bands are getting to be a lot less, thanks in part to Microcastle relying more on pop conventions than past releases. There's still plenty of noise and artful moments here to be sure, but the swing to convention is concrete to the ears, and the sound is thrilling. In fact, the two songs that have the biggest impact have less to do with Cox than previous albums, "Agoraphobia" features guitarist Locket Pundt on vocals, and "Nothing Ever Happened" was mostly written by bassist Josh Fauver. The album is supposed to be reliant on pop of the 50's and 60's, and it's there if you look hard enough... like hearing The Everly Brothers through the ears of My Bloody Valentine.

Q-Tip - The Renaissance
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

"Where have I been? I was waiting for the time to be right."
Q-Tip

I guess the right time is election day 2008, which is amplified by the early version of the album's closer "Shaka," which earlier versions contained snippets from a Barack Obama speech (not in released version). While many folks have been waiting for Guns n' Roses' Chinese Democracy, I've been eagerly awaiting Q-Tip's latest, if for no other reason than to see if it actually saw the light of day. This is the third album QT has recorded since Amplified (1999) and the first to get a physical release (2002's Kamaal the Abstract came the closest, getting shelved by his label at the last minute after deeming it uncommercial). Needless to day, the Bush years haven't been too kind to Q-Tip. It's no wonder that The Renaissance signals a return to QT's A Tribe Called Quest days, specifically the jazz collage of Midnight Marauder, from the syncopated piano of the opener "Johnny's Dead" to Norah Jones guest vocals on "Life is Better" (the best song she's ever sang on, in my book,) it's apparent that QT is back.

More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week (AOL Streams rollover 10/27)

Ryan Adams - Cardinology
Eagles Of Death Metal - Heart On
Bloc Party - Intimacy
Crystal Stilts - Flashy
The Darling Downs - From One to Another
Larkin Grimm - Parplar
Lucinda Williams - Lu in 08
Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns
Cobra Verde - Haven't Slept All Year
The Damned - So Who's Paranoid
I Am Robot And Proud - Uphill City
Juliette Commagere - Queens Die Proudly
Fight Bite - Emerald Eye
O Death - Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin
OMFGG - Original Music Featured On Gossip Girl No. 1
REISSUE
Pere Ubu - Dub Housing
NOVEMBER 4

Danielson - Trying Hartz
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Drippers EP
Megapuss - Surfing
Travis - Ode to J. Smith
Dragonette - Galore
Eulogies - Eulogies
Little Joy - Little Joy
Paul Weller - Weller at the BBC
Tipsy - Buzzz
Prototypes - Synthetique
HushPuppies - Silence Is Golden
Curumin - Japanpopshow
Drew Andrews - Only Mirrors
Thunder Power - Love Yourself
Johann Johannsson - Fordlandia
The So So Glos - Toursim/Terrorism

tags: music, album review, deerhunter, danielson, q-tip, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody

Friday, May 11, 2007

Sometimes less is more

One of the things that I miss about the days of vinyl was the careful consideration that artists were forced to use in what songs made the album, and what order. Nowadays, when you can fit 80 minutes on a cd, artists/labels barrage us with a lot of filler and 'bonus tracks.' Thankfully, in the digital age, some of that fat can be separated, but what ever happened to the integrity of the album?

One of the ways to combat this urge to 'fill fill fill' is the EP. This week three fine EPs were released by respected artists (Of Montreal, Deerhunter and Sea Wolf) and another was announced (Two Gallants) that demonstrate the different ways in which an EP helps rectify this problem.

1) Overflow of songs from recording session

EP: Of Montreal - Icons, Abstract Thee

It can be painful to cut songs from an album, but if it doesn't fit into the overall scheme of the release, worry not... the songs can still be released on a companion EP. Of Montreal's Icons, Abstract Thee features a couple tracks that were digital bonus tracks, and while great songs, I understand why they were left off Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?. In the setting of Icons, Abstract Thee, the songs are not straddled with living up to the tracks prior to it and instead serve as a sort of added background to the album's story.

2) Surge of recorded ideas while finishing current record

EP: Deerhunter - Flourescent Grey

Deerhunter's album Cryptograms was actually pieced together from two different recording sessions, and was initially thought to be separate EPs. Fitting then that they record what became the EP Flourescent Grey while mixing Cryptograms. It demonstrates the leaps and bounds this band has made in a short time. Can't wait for the next full length.

3) Introduction of new project/artist/band lineup

Many bands use this one to their advantage. Take some of the songs you've been performing live and test them out with an EP. Bloc Party's Banquet (2004) was a good example of this, as is Tokyo Police Club's A Lesson In Crime. Both served as good introductions to the band, while the band still can still pull a few songs from that EP for their proper full length.

EP: Sea Wolf - Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low
Download: "You're a Wolf"

Likewise, former Irving member Alex Brown Church chose to release an EP to introduce his latest project Sea Wolf, on Dangerbird Records, also home to friends and rehearsal-space-mates Silversun Pickups. Get To The River combines the effortless and catchy choruses of Elliott Smith with the uplifting instrumentation of a Arcade Fire.

4) As a venue for an "acoustic set" / or otherwise experimental release project

Two Gallants have been consistent in putting an acoustic track on each of their previous two albums (see "Crow Jane" from The Throes.) This time, in advance of their third full length release (due in September,) they're releasing a whole EP of acoustic numbers like this.

Download: "Seems Like Home To Me"

Meanwhile, there's Bishop Allen who released an EP a month last year, which sort of falls under this same designation. Sufjan Stevens might consider going the EP route for his 'states project,' that way he could finish all 50 before he's an octegenarian indie rocker.

[Boy... can you tell I mailed this one in? What can I say, it's been a busy week - I could only squeeze in 10 minutes a day the last three days to outline what I wanted to say here.]

In summary, me like-a the EPs because they help protect the integrity of full-length albums. And they don't take up too much of my time... so keep 'em coming!

tags: music, album review, of montreal, deerhunter, two gallants, sea wolf, indie rock, new releases, music download, rhapsody