The Beach Boys - Smile (Unreleased)

A collection of bootlegs from the 66-67 sessions. There are many different cuts of these songs out in the world, and most of what was recorded during the Smile sessions isn't here; this is by no means comprehensive. But it's what the album might have looked like in terms of track inclusion and ordering, Brian Wilson's "teenage symphony to God," or at least something like it.

The Beach Boys - Smile

The Tango Saloon - The Tango Saloon (2006)

Based in Sydney, Australia, the Tango Saloon is one of the many projects of multi-instrumentalist Julian Curwin. On The Tango Saloon, Curwin leads a 15 member band in a modern revision of tango and Ennio Morricone-style spaghetti western soundtrack. A wide range of of strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion pop up here and there throughout the album, and at times it even verges on electronic experimentation. Bits of free jazz get meddled with country-western and Cuban music as Curwin explores the depths of Tango. There's a lot to listen for if you pay attention, but The Tango Saloon also makes for nice, relaxing background music (well, except for a brief period of fragmented, dissonant chaos near the middle).

The Tango Saloon - The Tango Saloon (2006)

Buy the album here.

Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water (2007)

Here's another pretty singer-songwriter album. Originally a visual artist, Marissa Nadler first became seriously interested in music while attending Rhode Island School of Design. Songs III is, you guessed it, her third album. Nadler's songs hover somewhere in between freak-folk and lush ballads. Elaborate and dreamy, Songs III sounds like something from another time, an idealized world of Gothic beauty and sadness. Melancholy acoustic guitar picking, organ, strings and occasional percussion back Nadler's angelic voice, which is often layered and drenched in reverb, giving her lyric poetry a floaty, otherworldly quality.

Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water (2007)

Buy the album here.

Peter and the Wolf - Lightness (2006)

There are only a handful of albums I've listened to more than Lightness, and it still gets me every time. Peter and the Wolf is the chosen pseudonym of one Brian Redding Hunter (known simply as Red Hunter, which is a cool name). On Lightness, Hunter presents a series of oh-so pretty folk tunes, mostly telling tales of his past loves both good and bad. But Hunter never sounds bitter; he knows every relationship was well worth it, even if it didn't work out. These songs are heart-warming and charming. In fact, they practically radiate a comforting warmth that makes Lightness a perfect listen for a winter's day, or just any day you don't feel up to going outside. It's a happy sadness. Mostly guitar, piano, lots of oohhs and aahhs, and every kind of percussion except drums, the album sounds like it was recorded in a cabin in the mountains, or else beside a campfire.

In addition, Hunter apparently has a pretty big rep for incredible live shows. He's showed up on stage with 20 back-up singers, played shows on rooftops, on islands only accessible by boat, in graveyards, and instead of a tour bus, he used a sailboat for his last tour.

Peter and the Wolf - Lightness (2006)

Buy the album here.

Nora Keyes - Songs to Cry by for the Golden Age of Nothing

Nora Keyes is a freak. Former frontwoman of L.A. goth-punk band The Centimeters, Keyes goes pretty much all out on Songs to Cry by for the Golden Age of Nothing, with no apparent purpose other than to creep the fuck out of you. She cackles, she croaks, she's awesome. The instrumentation is aimed at one effect: spooky. Swirling organs, accordions, harps, violins and a whole mess of other instruments frame her oh-so eerie vocals. And even if her songs do make me unshakably uncomfortable, there's no denying that they're beautiful in a sad, longing way. Vaudeville nightmares and big scary houses, thank you Nora.

Nora Keyes - Songs to Cry by for the Golden Age of Nothing

The British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? (2008)

Pitchfork Media can suck my dick, this album is amazing. Easily on par with their pants-shittingly good debut The Decline of British Sea Power. Straight rock from the soul, or something like that. It's big and heavy, guitar hooks galore, epic chorus lines, all the good things that belong on a rock album. So if you answer yes to the album title's question, then listen to this and be happy.

The British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? (2008)

Buy the album here.

On an unrelated note, check out this quality new Usher track.

Go to mytindrum.blogspot.com...

and download Patrick Wolf's Lycanthropy if you don't already have it. And other good things.

http://mytindrum.blogspot.com/2008/02/short-update.html

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair (2008)

This album isn't due out until March, so I feel a little guilty, but hey. Hercules and Love Affair are DFA Records' new hotshots. There's a heavy 70s disco vibe here mixed in with melodic pop and classic electronic dance. Rhythmic and funky with smooth vocals, at times sounding almost like a more restrained Justin Timberlake. Hercules and Love Affair features vocal contributions from Antony Hegarty (of the Johnsons), Nomi, and Kim Ann Foxman.

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair (2008)

Buy it when it comes out (March 10th).

Sibylle Baier - Colour Green (2006)

The story behind this album is pretty incredible. Sibylle Baier was an aspiring folk singer and actress in Germany in the early 70s. Between 1970 and 1973, inspired a trip she had just taken through the Alps, she recorded a series of songs in her home on a reel to reel recording device. However, she never really managed to get her career going, and ended up moving to America and dedicating herself to raising a family. Thirty years later, her son made a CD of the songs to give to family members. He also happened to give a copy to his buddy, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Mascis in turn passed it along to his buddies at Orange Twin Records, a label run by a couple of Elephant 6 folk. They released it.

The Orange Twin website describes the songs on Coulour Green as "intimate portraits of life's sad and fragile beauty." Add "hauntingly beautiful," and that's a pretty nice description.

Sibylle Baier - Colour Green (2006)

Buy the album (and other Orange Twin stuff) here.

Hello, Blue Roses - The Portrait is Finished, and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty (2008)

Hello, Blue Roses is Dan Bejar (i.e. Destroyer) and his lady friend, visual artist Sydney Vermont. They went to Spain for a while, chilled on the Mediterranean, and recorded a real pretty album. All the songs (except for one Kevin Ayers cover) were written by Vermont and then arranged by Mr. Destroyer. It's mostly made up of peaceful folk tunes backed up with occasional fuzzed out guitar and woodwinds. The real centerpiece of the album, however, is Vermont's lilting, flowery voice. Though at times she borders on operatic melodrama, she generally manages to keep it to an appropriate pleasant prettiness reminiscent of all those 60s folkies.

The songs do tend to blend together a bit, and the album's title is annoyingly long, but I've been finding myself listening to it pretty regularly, and overall it make for a nice relaxing experience. It's also got a really good song about Vancouver!

Hello, Blue Roses - The Portrait is Finished, and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty (2008)

Buy the album here.

Andy White - So So So We See (2007)

Andy lives down the hall from me. He's a cool dude. This is his album.

Originally that's all I was going to say about So So So We See out of fear of offending. But that was before I'd really given it a good listen the whole way through. Now that I have, I've got a bit more to say about this album. As I listened, I heard bits and pieces of things I like: the off-colour folkiness of Neutral Milk Hotel or The Microphones, the tuneful weirdness of earlier Animal Collective, the sort of random sound-ness of The Olivia Tremor Control, and occasional fuck-it-all bursts of noise. But it gradually becomes apparent that this is much more than a collection of high quality influences. This is a fucking good album in its own right, and even if at times it does sound a little raw or reminiscent, that's part of what made the last 45 minutes of my life so enjoyable. This is noisiness with a point, and I am sincerely impressed that a teenager sitting in Florida could pull his shit together and create something like this. Put on your headphones and play this loud. It might occasionally make you feel like your eardrums are about to blow out, but then it'll bring you right back down with a burst of pretty melody. And seriously, tell people about this, and hopefully Andy won't mind me saying this, but burn it, pass it along, re-sync your iPods, whatever. This deserves to be heard.

Andy White - So So So We See (2007)

Soundtracks

Three really good soundtracks to Three really good movies. That's all.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Proposition (2006)


















Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Proposition

Buy the album here.

Yann Tiersen - Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)



















Yann Tiersen - Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

Buy the album here.

Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth (2006)



















Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth

Buy the album here.

Beulah - Yoko (2003)

A pretty album about failed relationships for Jeremy.

Beulah - Yoko (2003)

Buy the album here.

Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia (2007)

I'm not really sure what to say about Dystopia, except that I fucking love it. Dance music with pretty melodies? I guess. In terms of style, there isn't much here that you probably won't have heard before, but even if the Juggernauts aren't breaking new ground, they're still making damn good music. In the last four or five months, I doubt I've gone more than a few days without blasting "Nine Lives" at high volume and still love it to death every time. This is a good thing. So put this on repeat while you wait for more Hot Chip or Justice or whatever and move your body in interesting ways with a smile on your face.

Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia (2007)

Buy the album here.

Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (2007)

Dan Deacon is a chubby balding guy from Baltimore. He's a classically trained composer, and a prominent member of Baltimore's Wham City collective-thing. And god damn does he make fun music. Crazy synths, squeaky vocals, dancy weirdness, bubblegum fun, whatever, this album is real good. Play it loud as you can and either let it wash over you in a wave of obnoxious joy or jump up and down and wave your hands around as intensely as you can. It's all good, because Deacon isn't interested in making something "important" or "powerful." The keywords here are fun and , as one Wham City motto goes, "no jerks."

Also, if you get the chance to see this guy live, GO GO GO. Please, go for me, go for yourself, go for Danny boy.

Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (2007)

Buy the album here.

Burial - Untrue (2007)

I've been told that dubstep producer Burial (he goes by no other name) once said that Untrue was made to be listened to on long, scary walks home at night. Whether that's true or not, it does give a pretty good impression of what the album is like. Calming, intense, eerie, beautiful, it's all somewhere in Untrue. Everybody loves this shit, you will too.

(Thanks to Jeremy for the heads up on this album.)

Burial - Untrue (2007)

Buy the album here.

Andre Nickatina & Nick Peace Present Hell's Kitchen (2002)

We all love to sing along to "Ayo," but there are hits all around on Hell's Kitchen. "But Not Me," "Business Brain," and especially "All Star Chuck Taylors" are masterpieces of rhythm'n'flo, rhymes so incredible, yadada?

Andre Nickatina & Nick Peace Present Hell's Kitchen (2002)

Buy the album here.

Nick Cave is Awesome.

That he is.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads (1996)


















An album of traditional and new songs about people killing other people. Includes a duet with the incredible Kylie Minogue which achieved some pretty serious popularity, as well as two with PJ Harvey.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads (1996)

Buy the album here.

Grinderman - Grinderman (2007)


















Nick Cave singing songs about fucking. Nick Cave is awesome.

Grinderman - Grinderman (2007)

Buy the album here.

Beulah - Handsome Western States (1997)

The debut from San Francisco's Beulah, Handsome Western States is a teenager's album. Unlike their follow-ups, which brought in a whole mess of horns and strings and squeaky clean production to create a lush, ornate sound, States is about as straightforward as it gets. You won't find much beyond guitar, drums, occasional trumpet or violin and pretty melodies here, but that's all Beulah really need. Add to that the fact that the album sounds like it was recorded in someone's basement, and you've got a heartfelt pop masterpiece.

While you're at it, go put on Weezer's Blue Album or Pinkerton. Be happy you're a teenager.

Beulah - Handsome Western States

Buy the album anywhere you can fucking find it.

Maroon

Bible