Archive for the ‘Favorite Albums’ Category

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Neato Fleets - Reckless Tongue

October 16th, 2009 by Alex Langford


Neato Fleets
Reckless Tounge

Rating: 7.7/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 2, 4, 7, 8, 10
RiYL: Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent, Asobi Seksu, Bon Iver, the Dirty Projectors, The Postal Service

It’s nice to have this album in our possession. This album came by complete surprise to all of us here at Radio UTD and knocked our socks off, and in a year with big-names releasing albums left and right it’s always positive to know that the next good thing around the corner might just be something completely different from what you expected. (more…)

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Karl Blau - Zebra

October 14th, 2009 by Jeff Partyka


Karl Blau
Zebra

Rating: 8.5/10.0 Recommended Tracks: 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12
RIYL: Low, Bark Psychosis, Durutti Column, Jeremy Jay, The Microphones

From among the most idyllic corners of the lo-fi indie underground, distinctly and ironically ensconced in the heart of the Great American Northwest, arrives the understated crepuscular sojourn of Zebra, performed by Karl Blau. At first listen, the music appears to explore an estranged minimalism that is quite familiar to the more stereotypical elements of the home-recording contingent of the indie rock scene. Upon closer inspection however, it becomes delightfully clear that Zebra is its own animal. Through the use of sparse and familiar instrumentation (bass, piano, vocals) along with a tasteful interlarding of idiosyncratic sound effects and a masterful sense of weaving disparate musical elements into the equivalent of an exquisite Persian carpet, a sophisticated artistic vision painstakingly crafted with maternal care emerges to transport the listener to a world of aimless, antidepressant-addled nocturnal strolls around the most mysterious and potentially dangerous corners of a mid-size town with small-town roots. Only ephemeral moments of whimsical distraction serve to lighten the overall mood, but despite their surprising staying power, the uncompromising darkness of a recent life-shattering incident and the associated futile attempts to repress it via a psychogenic fugue remain prominent and penetrating. (more…)

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The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

October 12th, 2009 by Alex Langford

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The Mountain Goats
The Life of the World to Come

Rating: 8.3/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12
RiYL: Folk-rock, The Bible [the book], John Vanderslice, Bowerbirds, M. Ward, Iron & Wine, Okkervil River

Another Mountain Goats album, another set of stories about the trials and tribulations of the people who populate John Darnielle’s dreams. This time they are brought up from the clay and cast in a Biblical perspective with each theme explained both through the lyrics and the Bible verse that makes up the song title. (more…)

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Blood on the Wall - Awesomer

October 7th, 2009 by Stuart McAfee


Blood on the Wall
Awesomer

Rating: 9.0/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14
RiYL: Pixies, Sonic Youth

If Blood on the Wall’s sophomore album was merely awesome, they would have told you. They would have put it right on the spine. They’re straightforward people. Instead, it’s a more-than-just-awesome barrage of the catchiest late 80’s-era garage/alternative this side of the Pixies’ Doolittle. They’re just being honest. (more…)

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Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

October 6th, 2009 by Kaitlin Butler


Yo La Tengo
Popular Songs

Rating: 8.2/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
RiYL: Sonic Youth, Guided by Voices, Motown

Yo La Tengo (YLT) loves popular music. During its 25-year-long career, it’s written 216 original songs and released nearly 100 covers. Its nearly encyclopedic knowledge of pop-music history, from the bourgeois to the absurd, is one of its defining features. In its latest venture, Popular Songs, Yo La Tengo manages to corral that knowledge into a cohesive statement, relentlessly rediscovering the history of pop music and rewriting it in their image. Yo La Tengo wants to remind us of the days in which pop music wasn’t necessarily garbage, when melody and craftsmanship were the focus instead of Autotune and showmanship. (more…)

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