Music I'm obsessing on this week 6/1-6/7/2011

Yeah, you didn't ask, you're gonna get it anyway.

Previous albums in listed in this section would be, (if this selection had existed before now)
Little Big Planet OST(apparently no longer available for purchase from Amazon.)

Aerial- Kate Bush
Mirrored - Battles
Court and Spark- Joni Mitchell
Songs For Dustmites- Steve Burns

This weeks- (or in some cases, MONTHS) Music Du Jour (Yes I know Du Jour means of the day, but forgive me)

1. Passion Pit- Manners [Vinyl]

Here I have chosen the Vinyl Version of this Album, because YES I remember vinyl. And I think it's cool that a modern band still offers vinyl.

Passion Pit is awesome beyond words. And I don't have to tell you. They exude awesomeness.
I'm sure you're not going to just take my word for it.
This band is tight musically and vocally. Although they do always sing in falsetto, so if that bugs you, you may want to check out one of my other suggestions. Their lyrics are interesting, sweet, lovely and thought provoking.
It is electronic, which is somewhat a new genre for me. This whole album just has a funky GROOVE to it. Michael Angelakos has a beautiful and haunting quality to his voice, and does not look AT ALL how I pictured him. Either case, their music is really unique and should be checked out by everyone.

2. Aimee Mann- Bachelor No. 2

Here I have chosen the SACD version of this album, and should it happen to be mailed to me anonymously I would be eternally in anonymous' debt forever.
The thing about the SACDs that I remember as a kid making the pilgrimage down the 14 steps to my Brother's room in the basement, finding the coveted "Dark Side of the Moon" SACD, sneaking back up the stairs quietly as not to wake the sleeping beast, then popping this sucker into my walkman with headphones and writing in the computer room.
They have the very best sound quality around, they also have this mechanism which is... well very hard to describe. It's a little lift. It has a spindle in the middle. Oh, and the disk is gold.
Anyway, about the actual album now.

Bachelor No. 2, to My ear anyhow, is Aimee Mann's most solid work since her Til Tuesday days. Although she is a fantastic writer, the lyrics of these songs speak to me more than others and I just love this album. It's a great, "I need to do the dishes and I need to clean the house but I do not feel motivated to do so" sort of album. You just kind of automatically move to it. I LOVE this quality in an album. But it's also the kind when you are sitting at home, you can just sit and veg out. The lyrics pull you in and give you a ride to somewhere else. Check it out, but by all means, if you can't afford the gold version, get the cheap one. Strangely enough, this album is ALSO available in vinyl.

3. Death Cab for Cutie- Something About Airplanes [Vinyl]


Again, in vinyl. Pick up a CD or a MP3 copy if you don't have one of those new fangled... whatcha call em, record players! :)

This is Death Cab's inaugural work, originally produced in 1998, it features the Woodland instrument-like vocals of Ben Gibbard, who is both folksy and haunting. This album seems to tell a story to me. I LOVE albums that tell me a story. My favorite artist growing up with Kate Bush, and my favorite album of hers was Hounds of Love. But on that album there's a whole second half called "The Ninth Wave" which is this beautiful confusing story about a woman who falls into the ice and is reborn.
This album, although a very different story, reminds me of that Kate Bush album. It doesn't sound anything like it, but it's so cohesive... it's just really beautiful. Ben could sing the phone book to me and I'd likely be hooked. It's like how Kate can sing the numbers of Pi and keep my attention throughout the whole song. I realize Death Cab just came out with a new album. I do not yet own it. Someone should remedy that for me. ;)

In the meantime, Happy Listening!



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