Rhett Miller - The believer - picking up where the Instigator left off. Less Jon Brion but still not a bad song on the album and possibly the best of the year.
Matisyahu - Live at Stubbs - in the running for the best album of the year. I bought it thinking it was Jewish rap - it's really reggae. I never understood the religious side of reggae until I heard this album. Matisyahu (modest yahoo) has skills and this is both a fascinating and great album. A great album - I only hope "Youth" is as good.
Strokes - First Impressions of the Youth - For the hipsters. I think they keep getting more mainstream with each album and that is a good thing. They also get better songs. Not a bad song on the album. Ranges from hard rockers to introspective. "Juicebox" is already slated for best of 2006. "ask me anything" could be the Magnetic Fields. They were suppose to save rock and roll - I'll settle for good album every two-three years.
One of the permutations of Uncle Tupelo. Alt-country to the core. I saw them on Comcast 3 one late Saturday night and was blown away. More twangy, more mellow, intense and moody but not depressing and rocking enough- great stuff. I never got Wilco, but I get this.
Growing on me :
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say....
I only got this last week but I like it so far. It's that classic punk - pop English hipster thing. This album could have come out in 1978, 1984, 1991, 1999 or 2006 and sounded like it was part of the times. It goes one speed - fast. It doesn't have the soungwriting of the above albums but it does entertain.
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary MachineNot impressed on first listen through but it keeps popping up on the mp3 player and its growing on me which is usually a good sign. Me and Liz were lamenting that most female singer-songwriters all sound alike (think Jewel). Fiona definitely does not fall into that category. We'll see how this holds up over time.
Cat Power - The GreatestAnother singer-songwriter. Interesting southern/country ballads. Another one that is growing on me.
Others (singles and others) : Eels (live with strings), Lewis Taylor (soul I think), Blackalicious (positive rap), Crookston and Pillcrushers (back up band for Rhett), BMRC (Howl), Old 97's (live - more for fans, greatest hits coming out soon - why? the end ?)
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Women singers - voices sound the same, the way they sing is the same (you know what I mean?), they dress the same...Unfortunately, that means they only get any attention if they are hot. Thought 'girls' got over needing to be the same as their peers in High School. Guess not entirely.
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