I’d like to buy a new CD (or three) tonight. Any ideas?
My favorites this year:
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Les Savy Fav - Inches
Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
Bands I’ve been listening to recently:
Jesus Lizard, Mars Volta, Mr Bungle, Spoon, Blood Brothers, Broken Social Scene, Cursive, M83
I don’t think there’s really much of a pattern there…
I’ll play.
Recommended: The Magnetic Fields, i; Franz Ferdinand, self titled; and A.C. Newman, The Slow Wonder.
The Magnetic Fields is solidly constructed pop with a strong Broadway/Tin Pan Alley influence. Franz Ferdinand is the bastard child of CBGB stagemates the Talking Heads and the Ramones. And Newman is the songwriting master who sort of leads the New Pornographers.
They’re all good.
Yay, a SPOON fan!
I’ll second the Franz Ferdinand recommendation, but then I’ll grab you by the front of your shirt and scream TV ON THE RADIO in your face really, really loud; probly end up spitting on you. Sorry about that. But serious, TV ON THE RADIO!!!
And I’m a HUGE Magnetic Fields fan–I have EVERYTHING, every ep, every side project–but TV ON THE RADIO!!!
I guess I can put that one under “maybe,” lissener. 
Yohimbe Brothers (Vernon Reid & D.J. Logic) – Front End Lifter
The Soft Boys – NextDoorLand
The Sea & Cake – One Bedroom
Poi Dog Pondering – In Seed Comes Fruit
Talvin Singh – O.K.
There’s not much of a pattern to those, either.
The new Graham Coxon (former Blur guitarist) LP has been getting stellar reviews. Haven’t heard it yet, though.
Detroit Cobras - Life, Love and Leaving
The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site
Ford Pier - Pier-ic Victory
Trans Am - Liberation
The Warmers - Wanted: More (about halfway down in the New Releases - June section)
I’ve been listening to all of those a lot recently. It’s a pretty good variety.
Anything by Mary Prankster. She’s from Baltimore, and calls her brand of music “cowpunk.” Basically, she’s got a dirty mouth, whip-smart lyrics, and a rawking guitar. A hell of a lot of fun.
In a (not so) similar vein, check out Nellie McKay’s Get Away From Me. Indescribable. Listen to a couple of samples at Amazon.
If you like “singer-songwriter” (I hate that term but I can’t think of anything better) type stuff with a nice groove and a “songs on the porch” type feel, then I highly recommend Grant Lee Phillips new CD Virgina Creeping, which is the best CD released thus far in 2004 in my opinion.
Grant Lee Phillips used to front a rock band in the '90’s called Grant Lee Buffalo, and while I would recommend all their CDs, the one you should start with is their “masterpiece” Mighty Joe Moon.
If you can find it get Butter 08 by Butter08. It’s the side band of the singer for Cibbo Matto. Awesome awesome stuff.
I also reccomend the following:
Millencolin - Home from Home
Supersuckers - must have been high
Nick Cave - Henry’s Dream
Alltime fave.
Butter08 is half Cibo Matto and half Jon Spenver Blues Explosion.
Man, JSBluesExplosion… good stuff.
My most recent “god I LOVE this CD” is Mars Volta’s “De-Loused in the Comatorium.” Offshoot of the previously semi-acclaimed “At The Drive In.” If you liked the feel of ATDI but not the screaming, you’ll probably like this CD. Very innovative riffs and beats, feels from a lot of different genres without giving me the impression of pretentiousness. It’s been blowing me away for months now. I recently started listening to it on headphones and have found eight more ways to Sunday to appreciate it.
About the only somewhat-recent CD I find myself constantly putting back in my car (where all the serious listening usually takes place) is Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights. IMHO, it’s incredible.
I haven’t been CD shopping in a while. I’m getting that itch…
Try this first. Great place to sample bands and some of my favorites are on there.
Ummm…
For the more rough, rock sound, I would check out And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, The Party of Helicoptors, Need New Body, and Bent Leg Fatima.
Now… for Cursive… just look into Saddle Creek Records. The Faint, Despercaidos, Now its Overhead… all good by my book.
For a more smooth, mellow rock, just check out Elephant 6. Some great bands are found on there like Apples in Stereo, Of Montreal, Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel… yea you get the idea. For the same sound on a different label try Badley Drawn Boy, I am Kloot, Daryll Ann, and maybe Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.
For something like M83, umm… check out Physics or even GYBE!. I usually do not get into instrumental but those are two that come to mind.
Now, album recomendations. I think you should look into The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We Are Gone (you can find MP3s of their record label, Alien 8, website), Olivia Tremor Control’s Dusk at Cubist Castle, and my new favorite: Liars - They Were Wrong So We Drowned (you can listen off their website www.liarsliarsliars.com)
The Unicorns - Has a real fuzzy warm pop sound mixed with morbid lyrics. Very experimental.
OTC - Very experimental, smooth and has sounds from the '60s.
Liars - Hard to say if you will like them. They used to be a really good NYC “dance” indie band but they were tired of their fanbase so they released that album recently to make everyone mad. Its all about witches and folklore and has some genuinely good moments.
Hope this helps…