The Avett Brothers have a recently released a video for their latest single off of their highly lauded and critically acclaimed album, I and Love and You, which came out last year and made my Top Ten of 2009 list, as well as Paste Magazine’s Top 50 Albums of the Decade (As much as I love this album, I don’t know how it beat out Emotionalism to make this list). The new video is for “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise” one of my favorite tracks off of the new record. The animated video uses the illustrations of Jason Ryan Mitcham to depict the inevitable rise and fall of urban development, which Scott Avett says is right on par with the song’s message (Paste). It’s an excellent video for a great song off of a fantastic album. If you still aren’t on The Avett Brothers’ bandwagon, you really should hop on.
An all-star collection of artists have collaborated to pay tribute to the great folk troubadour John Prine. The project titled, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, was released earlier this week (June 22) on Prine’s very own Oh Boy Records. The album includes many of the current “monsters of folk,” with Conor Oberst and Jim James’ My Morning Jacket, along with several other indie-folk staples, like Justin Vernon, The Avett Brothers, Josh Ritter and many more. I have yet to hear the record but it is already receiving much love from the blogosphere and the greater indie community. Looks like a fun little adventure for Prine and folk enthusiasts. Be on the look out for Prine himself as he will be on tour this summer in support of his own recent release, In Person and On State.
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows Tracklist
1. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver – Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)
2. Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band – Wedding Day In Funeralville
Narrowing my list down to just ten was quite a task this year. But it was a problem I am grateful to have. With a year so heavily saturated with good new music, it has made it extremely difficult but tons of fun to come up with a list of my favorite albums of year, which I am happy to present to you today.
10. Regina Spektor – Far
She can be a little kitschy but she is so stinkin’ talented. Her vocal abilities never cease to amaze me . And she has cooked another great batch of interesting, contemplative, and downright enjoyable pop tunes. I think this album is exactly what you’d expect from Regina and more. It’s goofy, but you’re her voice will knock you off your feet. She’ll bark like a seal, and then slap you up side the head with one of the most profound lines you’ve heard all year. Don’t ever stop paying attention to this girl. She ain’t just messin’ around.
9. Gomez- A New Tide
This veteran indie pop band has finally hit its stride. I was actually really suprised that this album stuck with me. I just assumed that it would be just another pop record that I would just eat up and then allow to fade into the noise. But that was far from the case. I have had this album since February and it only gets stronger with time. A New Tide just has a really fun and diverse sound. But there is also a lot of depth to these songs. If Britain doesn’t want to claim them anymore we’re more than happy to sing their praises here in U.S. of A.
8. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Natasha Khan may have outdone herself on this one. Those who have heard a track or two off of this record might find its inclusion on this list slightly puzzling. That is because this album is more than just a collection of singles. It is an experience. Khan has invited us into a world inhabited by her “desert-born spiritual self” and her “destructive, self-absorbed, blonde femme fetale” alter ego, Pearl. Take a moment to sit down and put this record on from start to finish. The stories and the music that Khan brings to us are just absolutely mesmerizing.
7. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Neko Case has one of the most beautiful and soothing voices I have ever heard. Thank goodness she’s also one hell of a songwriter. I’ve been a fan of this New Pornographers collaborator for quite some time now, but Middle Cyclone has turned me into an enthusiast. This was her first solo venture away from her alt-country roots. Not that she left her sound behind, but she simply infused the power pop that she learned from her good buddy A.C. Newman into her own musical stylings. And what we get is a simply wonderful album, through and through.
6.Bad Veins – Bad Veins
The debut album from this little known indie rock band from Cincinnati has been probably the biggest surprise for me. Not surprised that I like it. I knew it would be on this list before the first track was even over. What I’m surprised by is that this album is still virtually unknown. I have yet to see this record on another year-end list and that is a shame. There is a lot of depth to the music being played in this record, music that I believe will stay with me for a long time.
5. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
“From the mess to the masses.” That is where French pop band, Phoenix has gone with their 4th studio album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. This album is a pop masterpiece. Easily one of the catchiest records of the year with the two most danceable songs I heard all year (“Lisztomania” & “1901″). They have come leaps and bounds since their 2006 “breakthrough” album, It’s Never Been Like That. Not only have they created some of the best musical hooks of the year, but I am so jealous of their lyrical ability, especially for a group that is writing in their second language. I am eagerly anticipating what they will give to us next.
4. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
One of the best folk groups of all time have just completed what may be looked back upon as their masterpiece. With the help of producer Rick Rubin, this album is much more polished than any of their previoius works, much to the chagrin of their hard-core fans. I actually enjoy the change in flavor. But I could take it or leave it. The reason this album makes this list is because of the words. Seth and Scott Avett have a way with words that in the past decade has gone completely unmatched. This album picks up where Emotionalism left off, with brand new batch of personal, heart-wrenching ballads that speak to the very core of what it means to live and to love. I urge you all to head to your local record store and pick up this album. For one of the greatest aspects of this record is the epic poem about love that Seth wrote and included in the album insert.
3. Fanfarlo – Reservoir
This band has drawn comparisons to several of my favorite indie acts of the past decade, from Beirut to the Arcade Fire to the National. Let’s use that as a reason for you to listen, and that alone. For these guys have no reason to exist in their shadow for even a moment longer. What they have accomplished on their debut album, Reservoir, is worthy of all the fame and accolades of the aforementioned acts. This album is sweet. It’s hypnotic. It’s bombastic. It’s grandiose. And it is simply gorgeous. Some of the best string and brass arrangements of the year. And to think that I got all of this for only a dollar.
2. Passion Pit - Manners
I have been absolutely in love with these guys from the moment I first heard “Sleepyhead” off of their 2008 debut EP, Chunk of Change. I loved it, but I wasn’t excited about what they would release next. Rather, I was nervous, because Chunk was an accident, nothing more than a Valentine’s Day present for lead singer Michael Angelakos’ current girlfriend. I was worried they wouldn’t be able to recreate the magic. Fortunately for us they couldn’t but they were able to make something even better. The best indie dance-pop album of the year was born in Manners.
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
How can an artist that has never had a record so much as graze my top 20 all of sudden create what I consider to be the best album of the year? The answer is simple they started channeling the spirit of my favorite artist of all time (Brian Wilson). The vocal arrangements and overall production quality of this album are absolutely breathtaking. The vocal harmonies on this album are incredible and to a quality rarely achieved outside of Brian Wilson and his surfin’ buddies. Two weeks is one of the catchiest and most enjoyable song of the year, but outside of that, this album needs a little room to grow. So give the time it needs and you won’t regret it.
It felt like Christmas when I opened my inbox today and found the download link for the first single from the new Avett Brothers album. And fortunately this gift was exactly what I was hoping for. It’s a heartfelt folk love song for the city of Brooklyn. It reminds me a lot of some of the softer songs they’ve written over the last few years, such as “Weight of Lies” or “Murder in the City.” But this time the instrument of choice was the piano, which was a nice change. “I and Love and You” is the title track for the upcoming album that is due out September 29th. Hopefully I’ll have more on the rest of the album in the near future. Until then, enjoy this fantastic single.
