Shockingly, (shockingly!) we are already 5 months into 2009. We're being pelted with news of a failing economy, watching the giants of record stores close their doors, people are in theory having less to spend on shows and albums.
But the artists out there aren't taking this as a cue to hold back. Far from it, the first bit of 2009 has churned out some really impressive and inspiring new music.
The disco backbeat of "Heads Will Roll" is the most conventional use of synth Yeah Yeah Yeahs have employed on new album It's Blitz, but it does nothing to take away from the fresh feeling of the track. Some U2-reminiscent guitar backing makes the track feel mature and legit. First and foremost, though, YYY are looking to send some great dance-pop our way, and this is indeed first-class stuff.
The amount of praise Merriweather Post Pavilion has been receiving has been daunting, a lot for the Animal Collective album to live up to. However, Panda Bear's ode to his wife and daughter, 'My Girls,' is every bit as freaky and fantastic as we have come to expect and love from Animal Collective. The ethereal Beach Boys harmonies build to a very AC climax, and ends leaving you want to devour the critically acclaimed album in its totality.
I am new to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart but not to their indie-roots lo-fi sound. When you hear a band with a sound as raw and exposed as that on "Contender," you feel this instant inclination to instantly become an insanely loyal fan. This band excites me, I can't wait to snatch up their album and explore them further. Until then, they are so cute that I insist upon spreading their name as far as I can.
I resisted using "The Rake Song" as representative from The Decemberists' Hazards of Love. A cool song, and certainly the most single-ready (although, from Hazards, 'single-ready' is a heavily relative term.) In most respects, "The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid" is a stronger song, and my favorite from the album. My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden's vocals in her role as the Witch-Queen blow me away every time.
As I am disposed to do, I leave us dancing at the end of this turntable. Suburban Kids with Biblical Names are another up-and-coming group that has mags and review sites buzzing. "1999" makes me think of some of its poppier antecedents in the 80's, but you would never actually mistake SKwBN for something that actually came from the era of The Breakfast Club - it's sound is too new and experimental. New is good. Me likey.
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