mid year music review

now that july is prepared to embrace us with her hot, humid unforgiving hands, i thought it was due time for another obligatory music post. here are the albums i’ve listened to the most this first half of 2009:

it’s blitz! (yeah yeah yeahs) – i wasn’t a huge yeah yeah yeahs fan prior to this album, but a terrific blend of dance, melody and karen o’s unique vocal pop harmonies has made it’s blitz! the best contender for my favorite album of 2009. there’s not a single track on here i don’t enjoy—and enjoy listening to multiple times.

listen to: heads will roll
 

two suns (bat for lashes) – natasha khan is like a present day tori amos to me—in that she has me wrapped around her little finger simply by the way she sings. it doesn’t hurt that the production of this album is absolutely amazing. not a throw away track on it and they all roll into each other so so well.

listen to: moon and moon
 

the pains of being pure at heart (the pains of being pure at heart) – these guys just remind me of when indy music used to be fun. it’s almost impossible for me (and jen!) to get sick of this album. if we have trouble deciding on what to listen to (and this happens a lot with our collection!) their debut self-title has been the default album to go to.

listen to: stay alive
 

alpinisms (school of seven bells) – okay, i love female vocalists (obviously) and this group is no exception. what’s funny is that their sound is so refined that i just assumed they’ve been around for a few years and i’m just now hearing them. nope- alpinisms is their first lp. it would have been awesome to catch them touring with bat for lashes during her UK tour earlier this year.

listen to: face to face on high places
 

swoon (silversun pickups) – its too bad this album can’t carry the fantastic momentum that its first half does, and we never get an instant pop hit like carnavas’ lazy eye, but silversun is still producing a sound i have a special place in my heart for. i think the pre-adore smashing pumpkins comparisons are still fairly valid, but the new sp are starting to break out of that mold here with a larger, heavier sound complete with strings and extra power chords (okay, maybe not too different).

listen to: the royal we
 

merriweather post pavilion (animal collective) – this album just goes to show you how sprinkling in a little melody can make a band best known for its prog-alt experimentalism one of the most popular bands in the states right now. yes, musicians. listeners like to hum along.

listen to: summertime clothes
 

the rumb line (ra ra riot) – i know this came out last year, but i just got in to it toward the end of winter of this year. again with the fun! kind of vampire weekendish, but more rock than pop (whatever that means). speaking of both, singer wes miles’ and vampire weekend’s rostam batmanglij’s side project, discovery, aint half bad either.

listen to: can you tell
 

face control (handsome furs) – not quite as raw and addicting as his last album, plaque park, was- but i still can’t get enough of dan boeckner. and the music he and his wife produce with just a keyboard, a guitar and a drum machine  is stunning. dan boeckner makes me love drum machines.

listen to: all we want, baby, is everything
 

dragonslayer (sunset rubdown) – okay, first off, props on the awesome album title. i’ve also only had dragonslayer for a short amount of time compared to the rest of the albums on this list but its still been on heavy repeat. just as with dan boeckner, i have a hard time not enjoying anything spencer krug is attached too.

listen to: nightingale / december song
 

star trek (michael giacchino) – thought i should put at least one score on here since that has been nearly a third of my music rotation this year. star trek is the one i’ve been listening to the most and, i’ll be honest, partly because of how much  i loved that movie, but also because michael giacchino has become one of my favorite composers in the past couple of years. i think he tapped into something pretty classic with this one and structured a nice blending in of the original theme.

listen to: end credits
 

okay- that’s as good a list as any right now. i can’t wait to hear what the latter part of 2009 brings!