Just a thankyou to Byrle, for the best written and most entertaining forum post I've read in a long while, perhaps ever.

I'll list this recommendation not because it's cool or obscure (in its day) and certainly not new but just because its great and I chanced upon it by accident:

Music for Loving: Ben Webster with Strings

...for those luscious smoochy black and white movie moments

Ah. Yes. Erm. *This* year...

Camera Obscura- Let's Get Out of This Country
Mareva Galanter- UkuYeye

Um, what about the new Junior Boys album? Fuck. Even better than "Last Exist"... Again, I stant disproven, no one does electro-pop better than ex-DJs.

-andrew

- light, catchy, neo-sixties-mod-girls
Hot Chip - The Warning - wispy-voiced choppy casiotone almost-house
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon - walkmanny, fuzzy, chugalong american indie
Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea - verbose and elaborate, never stays in one place for long.
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain - dense, squally, odd vocal harmonics
Thom Yorke - The Eraser - not radiohead, hiccuping piano, ticking, clicking complaints

Nizlopi - Part alternative, part folk, great lyrics and all self-produced

The new National album, Boxer

do you agree???

the National are basically the best band out there right now...i ate a burrito with them once;)

It is NOT Bjork's Volta.

not good n_?

Disappointing.

Could be worse. Could be better.

I read a review today that said Boxer is inferior to Alligator, released by The National in 2005. True or False? I have not listened to Alligator... yet.

is my humps from this year?

Feist
Hooverphonic
Secret Machines
Tool

low - drums & guns

other than the National I'll nominate 3 of my current fave NYC bands & albums-

Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America
The Big Sleep - Son of Tiger
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead

I just saw BRMC (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) a couple weeks ago and they rocked! Their new album - Baby 81

Boxer is very different than Alligator...great thing about the National is that they arent afraid to go into a new territory on each album. Each one of their 4 albums has been brilliant (5 if you include Cherry Tree)


heard some of the new Interpol album...poor guys

ha ha ha, mdler.

i've only heard "the henirich maneuver".

New NIN is pretty good. All solid stuff, and then the wicked breakbeats start kicking in halfway through ...

I'm also down with the new Spankrock.

New Air is kind of disappointing so far, but I'll give it a few more chances to sink in.

they havent been able to live up to Turn on the Bright Lights...

the way i figure is that not all bands are destined to do amazing stuff their whole career... dont feel bad for interpol... Turn on the Bright Lights wasn't just some good album some band did... Its one of the best albums of the whole recent indie genre... its a defining album of its time for its people...

as far as new stuff for 07 goes, it feels like its been slow to me but i have to say that im really pleased with Arcade Fire's neon bible... i know they are super hyped and its not at all an original pick... but when i saw them pre funeral i was impressed, when i heard funeral i was really impressed, and when i got used to neon bible i was impressed even more because they have shown an ability to evolve their style... they arent stuck in funeral, and the song writing and instrumentation is still fantastic, just with more purpose and cohesion... i personally feel their best is yet to come... when they can figure out how to combine the immense energy of their ep and funeral, with the pragmatism and cohesion of neon bible, which i believe they will, they will produce a classic album... i feel like they have it in them

maybe not an OK computer, Kid A, Aeroplan over the sea, or loveless type... but most definetly a pinkerton or bright lights type... hell... funeral might be that already...

lletdownl, well put!

i've been a big fan of arcade fire since i heard funeral a couple years back. saw them @ coachella and they were fantastic. i can't wait to see them @ the greek next week!

Did you know that Arcade Fire's song Antichrist Television Blues was written by Joe Simpson?

Joe Simpson - as in the father of Jessica and Ashley Simpson.

Does anyone else find that amusing?

yeah...

ive seen them a few times now as well and they are fantastic live...

bout 3 or 4 summers ago i went to see a band i loved called The Unicorns play in chicago at the open end gallery...

was a tiny show... maybe 50 people or so...
anyway, The Unicorns had brought some canadian friends along called the Arcade Fire, and they opened up the show.

They literally blew everyone away... im not sure i have ever witnessed a group of people so throughly mesmorized/shocked/wtf'd at one time. No one spoke a word through the entire set, and gave such a raucous applause at the end of the set, the Unicorns came up and apologized saying they would in no way be able to equal what had just happened... they proceeded to put on a crap show and broke up soon after...
point of the story is they have tremendous raw talent... and also i miss the unicorns

The new Panda Bear album is awesome. If you're into the Beach Boys, check it out.

I like Sunset Rubdown..another Canadian band

ha ha ha, _n, i think it was written about him and not by him.

would've been funny if he had written it!

like her as actress
have not heard her music though
will check it out soon

Wait, I reread the email from my friend. Yes, it was written about Joe, not by Joe.

ahahahaha! of course i am tumbleweed!

i mean, didn't you love dukes of hazzard?

i think she gave the performance of a lifetime.

that laurence olivier's got nothin' on her!

Charlotte Gainsbourg sings on 5:55, Air did the music and Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp fame) wrote the lyrics. It's an intriguing combination.

IletdownI,

I went to the same Unicorns show, but in NYC. It was at the Knitting Factory here.

When the Arcade Fire came out, it was amazing. People loved them immediately! I called my sister in law as soon as I got out and told her to look up this band called the Arcade Fire. They were going places.

I bought an EP from the band that night which was STOLEN on the subway in Queens later that night when I fell asleep!!!!!!!

I LOVED the Unicorns!!! The Islands are pretty damn great too!

Everyone should check out the new Black Moth Super Rainbow! It is awesome.

that is why you try not to fall asleep on the subway

Well, I tried mdler, but the Tullamore Dew said differently.

entasis79-

awesome! we saw the same tour! thats great...
i too bought one of those ep's that night... in a plastic sleeve with cover art clearly printed on someones personal printer...
i love that thing...

as for the islands... i agree they are cool... but theres something about the original that just taints your view of everything afterwards...

unicrons... awesome! : the islands- ok...
at the drive in - fantastic! : sparta- booo : mars volta- boooo
promise ring -wohoo i love you : maritime- what the hell happened....

Glad someone brought this back.

I second Wiley on Feist.

I'm going to see her perfom at the 9:30 next month and I plan to give her my diary. Well, it's not a diary so much as it's a collection of my feelings about her. And some photos of me. And some written duets I think she'd be interested in.

Insects - Free the Hard Way

wow, waterhouse.

that's not scary.

not scary at all! =|

and i kid, by the way.

i know you were kidding.

@ least i hope so!

for those of you in LA, the Sugarplastic is playing Spaceland tomorrow (Friday 25th)

They rock!

i like volta! also that black moth super rainbow is great!
this week i've delved into battles and find it quite palatable.
and deerhunter is rounding out to be most excellent beyond their EPs.
and, i really like that new white stripes song and am excited for the release of their new album, same goes for M.I.A.
okay, and my guilty pleasure is amy winehouse's back to black, though i don't know if that came out in 2007 or 2006...

i took a leak next to feists drummer at birdies bathroom on my birthday last year. liberty bell and i went to see feist and jason collett. hi stephanie!

hey hey VR!

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
The National - Boxer
Elliot Smith - New Moon
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

and of course coming up on July 10th...

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Midnight Movies
Spoon
The National
Panda Bear
Bird and the Bee
Blonde Redhead
Andrew Bird

Plenty of high quality music and its only halfway through the year

This year might be the best of the decade so far

Still got new Rilo Kiley, White Stripes, Okkervil River and Interpol to look forward to for the rest of the year

im lost as to what everyone finds so enthralling about the national...

what ive heard, theres nothing terribly impressive about their song writing or instrumentation (i mistook one piano intro from boxer for a coldplay song) and the vocals are only half novel... they arent even good novelty vocals... (clap your hands... an example of good novelty vocals)...

but hey, a lot of people seem to dig them so whos to judge... i just wasnt that impressed


i wonder though, if there are any xiu xiu fans here...
personally, they are one of my favorites, might be top 7, and last years album air force blew me away... they are spectacular... really difficult, melodramatic and unnecessarily abrasive at times but so beautiful...
if you havent heard them you, theres a song called 'the fox and the rabit' on air force which is one of my favorite songs in years... not to mention jamie stewart is an unbelievable live performer

Arcade Fire: Neon Bible