What new music did you buy today.

[edison]

Okkervil River - I Am Very Far, which I would have gotten when it first came out, but I was very broke then.

What do people around here think of this one? I know there are a lot of Okkervil fans on the board. I consider myself a huge Okkervil fan, but I don't care for the new one much at all. I like maybe three songs, and there's nothing that blows me away. I think it's the first mediocre album they've ever made, unless you count that Stars Too Small to Use thing they did forever ago.

Probably a case of "it's not them, it's me" as far as I'm concerned - I genuinely liked the album when it first came out for a little while, especially how over the top the instrumentation and the production is, I think it's really effective (esp. "White Shadow Waltz" and "Wake and Be Fine"), and then lost interest fairly quickly to the extent that I haven't listened to it in months, so I don't even know where I stand on it now. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't call it mediocre, at least. I'd gladly go and see Okkervil River if they were playing in my town, but I just feel less and less of a need to listen to them, I guess. I'd chalk it up to my tastes widening pretty far beyond indie rock, but after all I do listen to quite a bit of indie rock still, so it's probably not even that.

[edison]

For excellent pop songs, I'd start with Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust, which are his first two, and then Rockpile's Seconds of Pleasure, which is just as great, but half the songs are Nick Lowe and the other half are Dave Edmunds - who is also good but different. Some examples:

Cruel to be Kind

So It Goes

Breaking Glass

And then lately (meaning, since 1990 or so) he's turned into a crooner instead. This stuff is all really solid, but I think I'd pick The Impossible Bird and The Convincer. Some examples:

True Love Travels on a Gravel Road

Homewrecker

and this one's off the new one, and Javan likes it:

I Read a Lot

His middle albums mostly have some good songs on them, but can be pretty hit or miss.

Sweet, I too have been thinking about investigating Nick Lowe recently, so I will listen to this with curiosity!

[edison]

Lucinda Williams - West. I kinda lost track of her after World Without Tears, which seems silly because that album was pretty awesome.

What do you make of this, then? After prolonged (re-)exposure to the greatness of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road this past summer, I got this on emusic but never really listened to the whole thing, instead skipping to the Vic Chesnutt tribute song (which I liked). Seemed nice, though!

[alex]

For excellent pop songs, I'd start with Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust, which are his first two, and then Rockpile's Seconds of Pleasure, which is just as great, but half the songs are Nick Lowe and the other half are Dave Edmunds - who is also good but different. Some examples:

Cruel to be Kind

So It Goes

Breaking Glass

Cool, thanks! These are three out of the three or four songs I was referring to above, so I will be starting with his early albums. I must admit his crooning period doesn't seem to be doing much for me on first listen.

[ellaguru]

Lucinda Williams - West. I kinda lost track of her after World Without Tears, which seems silly because that album was pretty awesome.

What do you make of this, then? After prolonged (re-)exposure to the greatness of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road this past summer, I got this on emusic but never really listened to the whole thing, instead skipping to the Vic Chesnutt tribute song (which I liked). Seemed nice, though!

Only just put it on for the first time, but I'll try to have an opinion about it after a couple listens.

[edison]

OT, what do you do when you get two actual paychecks in a row for the first time in months? Why, purchase way too many records, of course:


Evangelista In Animal Tongue
- I am making slow progress on this, because it feels like one of these albums it would be inappropriate to listen to at other times than late at night, in other circumstances than alone in the dark, and not all in one sitting. Intimidating and dark as it is, it's most definitely another winner, though. And a wonderfully packaged CD, to boot.



Centro-Matic Candidate Waltz + Will Johnson Little Raider EP
- Two fine additions to the Johnson canon


Poino Moan Loose
- Bought this off their merch table for five euros (!) - it's the debut album of a very good London noise trio. Their singer was apparently in another more famous band called Giddy Motors before; this reminds me of Jesus Lizard in places but other people more familiar with that field would probably have more accurate reference points. Investigate at your peril here: http://poino.bandcamp.com/




St Vincent Marry Me, Actor and Strange Mercy
- After months (perhaps years) of curiosity and returning to Actor from time to time, everything clicked, so I got the new one new and the two before that used, and they're all excellent in very different and distinctive ways.


Wilco The Whole Love (Deluxe Edition)
- After weeks of heavy rotation, I'm almost ready to call this my second favorite Wilco album. This has two mindblowing songs and then ten that are so consistently enjoyable and gorgeously arranged that it's fairly easy to overlook Tweedy's often pedestrian lyrics.



Big Sexy Noise Trust The Witch, Gallon Drunk From The Heart of Town
- From the (really cheap) Lydia Lunch merch table. Lydia Lunch actually walked past me and pointed at her record and said "Get this" in a slightly menacing tone while I was idly looking at stuff, so I had little choice but to obey. I haven't had the time to listen to the Gallon Drunk yet, but I've been meaning to start getting into them for a while (they are really awesome live, playing with Lydia Lunch as Big Sexy Noise) and this seemed like a good opportunity.


Kate Bush The Kick Inside
- This is the beginning of a (fairly) long term project wherein I at last make an effort to get into the lady's discography chronologically. This is starting very well, since this is the album that has the genius song that got me into her in the first place ("Wuthering Heights"), and that the rest isn't exactly too shabby. And thinking that she released that at 18 does blow my mind a little. Lionheart is next, probably next month.


Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Wolfroy Goes To Town
- This only arrived a few days ago and needs to sink in a lot more, but I've been really liking it so far. It's really spare and stark, with a focus on vocals and acoustic guitar.


Richmond Fontaine The High Country
- Have yet to listen to the whole thing, which is supposed to be more or less a short story set to music.


Mickey Newbury An American Trilogy
- I couldn't realistically pass on that, could I?


Bill Orcutt How The Thing Sings
- I instantly loved this after I got it off emusic. Visceral and joyful destruction of an acoustic guitar over the course of 35 minutes. I have to get his first record as well now!

[ellaguru]

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Wolfroy Goes To Town
- This only arrived a few days ago and needs to sink in a lot more, but I've been really liking it so far. It's really spare and stark, with a focus on vocals and acoustic guitar.

I didn't know there was this!

[edison]

He always sort of sneaks in with those new records now, announcing them quietly a few weeks before release date only. But it's a really solid one, it seems (as was last year's).

[davy]

Breaking Glass

This is one of the greatest songs.

[Antero]

Breaking Glass

Good, but not as good as Bowie's "Breaking Glass"

True Love Travels on a Gravel Road

This song is always awesome no matter who does it.

[Maaik]

Failure - Fantastic Planet
This was a quarter from Wuxtry Decatur's sidewalk sale.


Went ahead and got the new Mastodon. "Blasteroid" sounds like a good Foo Fighters song--not sure how I feel about it being a Mastodon song, but whatever. This is pretty rockin, I'll withhold judgement until I listen to the whole thing.

[DanielBurns11]

After several listens the new Mastodon (like all their records) has won me over in a big way. Seems like no matter what they do, they can't write a song my ears don't like.

[Thermofusion]

I lost my ears for uber-austere minimalism a long time ago, which is probably why that Michael Gordon (of Bang on a Can fame) disc is one of the most masochistic listening experiences I've had in years

[DanielBurns11]

Took me long enough, but I finally got this!



 

[Andrew_TSKS]

Failure - Fantastic Planet
This was a quarter from Wuxtry Decatur's sidewalk sale.

This album is a stone classic that has remained unjustly overlooked for long enough that I'm starting to find it absurd. The fact that the situation in which you purchased it is the situation in which one typically finds it available for purchase is a cosmic injustice of staggering proportions.

EDIT: And Danny, thumbs up! Even though their debut was brilliant, the new Algernon Cadwallader album is a significant improvement!

[YojimboMonkey]

Holy shit this new Shatner album is a thing of fucking gorgeousness. I mean, the physical package is anyway, just opened it, haven't listened yet.

[YojimboMonkey]

[RavingLunatic]

That's some top-notch packaging right there.

[auto-da-fey]

yeah, as little interest as I have in a Shatner album, I tip my hat to its presentation.

without this thread I wouldn't have known about the new Oldham album either, but bought it yesterday and really digging it on two listens. with him, the more stripped down, the better, as least in regard to its personal resonance with me.

[RavingLunatic]

Failure - Fantastic Planet
This was a quarter from Wuxtry Decatur's sidewalk sale.

This album is a stone classic that has remained unjustly overlooked for long enough that I'm starting to find it absurd.

I'd never heard of this band, so I checked out their Wikipedia page and found this nugget:

Failure signed with Slash Records...and went to Minnesota to record their debut album with notorious producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio that summer.

[davy]

After several listens the new Mastodon (like all their records) has won me over in a big way. Seems like no matter what they do, they can't write a song my ears don't like.

It's a jaw-dropping showcase for Brann -- something not necessarily true for the last couple Mastodon records -- so I can definitely appreciate it on that level.

[Benmont Tench]

My week in purchases:



Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire


Michael Brook - Cobalt Blue


Björk - Biophilia


Ripe - The Plastic Hassle


that dog. - Totally Crushed Out!


The surprise of this bunch is definitely the Ripe album, which is awesome in a Swervedriver kind of way.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Failure - Fantastic Planet
This was a quarter from Wuxtry Decatur's sidewalk sale.

This album is a stone classic that has remained unjustly overlooked for long enough that I'm starting to find it absurd.

I'd never heard of this band, so I checked out their Wikipedia page and found this nugget:

Failure signed with Slash Records...and went to Minnesota to record their debut album with notorious producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio that summer.

Haha. I don't even know the Failure album they recorded with Albini--it might not be that great. Apparently Fantastic Planet, which I consider their career high-water mark, was self-produced. Here are exhibits A, B, and C in my contention that it's an extremely underrated masterpiece:

Pillowhead
Another Space Song
Saturday Savior

Really, though, the whole thing is great.

[JamesSchneider]

I got Xiu Xiu's glorious Daphny 7"

[Maaik]

Failure - Fantastic Planet
This was a quarter from Wuxtry Decatur's sidewalk sale.

This album is a stone classic that has remained unjustly overlooked for long enough that I'm starting to find it absurd.

I'd never heard of this band, so I checked out their Wikipedia page and found this nugget:

Failure signed with Slash Records...and went to Minnesota to record their debut album with notorious producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio that summer.

Haha. I don't even know the Failure album they recorded with Albini--it might not be that great. Apparently Fantastic Planet, which I consider their career high-water mark, was self-produced. Here are exhibits A, B, and C in my contention that it's an extremely underrated masterpiece:

Pillowhead
Another Space Song
Saturday Savior

Really, though, the whole thing is great.

Drove around listening to it today and yeah, there is not a single clunker on the whole thing--which is surprising for an album with a 17-song tracklist.  Not on this album, their cover of "Enjoy The Silence" is pretty unfuckwithable.

Also:

After several listens the new Mastodon (like all their records) has won me over in a big way. Seems like no matter what they do, they can't write a song my ears don't like.

It's a jaw-dropping showcase for Brann -- something not necessarily true for the last couple Mastodon records -- so I can definitely appreciate it on that level.

Yeah, disregard my wishy-washyness upthread. Put this on in my brother's car on the way home from practice tonight--this album is fucking gooooood. The drumming is great, the songs are winners and christ, the crazy fiddly guitar riff that snakes through "Octopus Has No Friends" is  .  This shit is thoroughly good.