This has been in the works for a few months now, and I’m so excited to finally share it with the world (er, Internet)! I started a new food/music blog called Eating the Beats, where I’ll be posting music-inspired recipes, cooking playlists, and other food- and music-related stuff. I’m really excited about this project and hope you’ll take a minute to check it out! If you like it, you can add it to your RSS feed and/or follow me on Twitter at @eatingthebeats for updates on posts.

And if you’re one of my real-life friends reading this, and you ever want to come over and help with cooking some of this stuff, get at me! I love making food in any capacity, but it’s definitely a lot more fun with other people.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

One of my coworkers recently asked me how I would rate my 2010 (not in music, just life in general), on a Pitchfork scale, and I had to answer, “Ummm, probably a 9-point-something?”

This year was incredible on so many levels — the most significant being that I settled into this amazing city, got my first full-time job (more specifically, a job that I love and get excited about every day); did countless amazing things with an incredible group of friends; went to a potentially unhealthy amount of concerts; took trips to Austin, Chicago, Philly and Michigan; and I started to love and care about food a lot more than I ever have. (That last one will perhaps make a bit more sense in a couple weeks…)

I also listened to a LOT of music, without a doubt more than I have in any other 365-day period of the last 23 1/2 years. (Just a guess, but working for an online music store might’ve had something to do with it.) I listened for the first time to, and fell in love with, a ton of artists who have impacted the new music I listen to today, but I also heard dozens of up-and-coming artists and new records that got me really excited. In fact, most of my top 10 records from 2010 made my head explode in a way that music has never done to me before. Maybe to some extent I’ve changed the way I listen to music, and it’s resulted in me starting to make more personal connections than I have in the past? Or maybe not — I don’t really know. I also think it’s significant that my top five albums are all records that are best listened to from beginning to end. Some of them have very obvious “hits,” but as a whole, they’re complete thoughts with unifying themes and, in a couple cases, actual storylines.

Anyway, here are the records I loved and spent the most time with this year, with a few thoughts on and reviews of some of them. I kinda hate ranking this stuff and it was impossible after the top 10, so they’re in groups. Deal with it! Not that anyone will really read through this whole thing or care much about it; guess it’s more for my own record. (And I should also note like I do every year, that I obviously missed a lot of stuff, and there are records that I know are great but I just haven’t spent enough time with yet; hopefully I’ll catch up in the next couple months?)

Nos. 21-40 (alphabetical)

Beach House, Teen Dream
Belle & Sebastian, Write About Love: This was my most anticipated record of the year, and while I’m sad to say I was quite disappointed, there are still some very, very high points on it — I love the title track and “I Want The World To Stop,” opening track “I Didn’t See It Coming” is great — but I will love this band more or less unconditionally, and even though it’s not their best, it’s still a great release.
Dark Dark Dark, Wild Go
Sarah Jaffe, Suburban Nature (eMusic review)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
Jonsi, Go
Kaki King, Junior
The National, High Violet
A Northern Portrait, Criminal Art Lovers: HIGHLY recommended if you like the Smiths. This album rules.
Screaming Females, Castle Talk: This isn’t my favorite Screaming Females record, which is why this isn’t higher on the list, but frontwoman Marissa Paternoster is one of the people I got most excited about this year.
Sleigh Bells, Treats
Standard Fare, The Noyelle Beat: From eMusic staff picks: This young British indie-pop trio’s debut is everything I look for in a summer album: Sunny, bratty pop sing-alongs that make me want to jump up and down and dance. Standard Fare play songs that are equal parts earnest and goofy, whether they’re about falling in and out of love (“Love Doesn’t Just Stop,” “Let’s Get Back Together”), making drunken mistakes with minors (“Fifteen” — hope this isn’t part of your summer!), and knowing that some good things have to come to an end (“I Know It’s Hard”). The lyrics are clever — my favorite is “Philadelphia,” which starts with “Global warming is getting me down/ It’s making the sea between us wider and deeper/ Now I’m not Moses and I don’t know how/ To split up the ocean and drive right on over” — and while maybe the words aren’t always that deep, they’re always sung in good fun.
Stornoway, Beachcomber’s Windowsill
The Tallest Man On Earth, The Wild Hunt: (Critical Mob review)
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, The Brutalist Bricks
Titus Andronicus, The Monitor
Warpaint, The Fool: eMusic review: Warpaint’s first release, the John Frusciante-mixed Exquisite Corpse EP, is woozy, cavernous and dark. Its layered vocals are often pure and melodic, but sometimes warped and garbled, as if the band were underwater, or singing directly into a box fan. Many moments on the L.A. quartet’s debut full-length, The Fool, have a similar psychedelic, deep-dark-sea feel — especially the closing track, “Lissie’s Heart Murmur,” in which the ladies sing about sinking and not being able to turn back, their dissonant harmonies floating over syncopated piano chords and scattered electronics. Elsewhere, they mention feeling like a shadow, being taunted by a full moon, and starting a fight. These strange visions are sung by guitarists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman and bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg, whose voices blend together so well that it’s difficult to tell who’s who.

But the most exciting part about Warpaint’s songs is the way their textures build in the course of just a few minutes: “Composure” begins and ends with playground chanting that’s mostly unintelligible — save for “How can I keep my composure” — backed by waltzing, reverbed guitars and a simple snare-and-cymbal beat from drummer Stella Mozgawa (who replaced Lindberg’s sister, Shannyn Sossamon, just weeks before going into the studio). But suddenly, her drums speed up, the guitars start spiraling and they ask the same question of “How can I keep my composure?,” this time melodic and more powerful, but also less composed. “Shadows” starts with a simple acoustic guitar, but gradually incorporates piano, drums and handclaps, as Kokal and co. break into a yell of “There no lies, no lies, no lies, no lies.” Throughout it all, their strong vocal and instrumental chemistry make it impossible not to be drawn in.

White Hinterland, Kairos: (Critical Mob review)
Wild Nothing, Gemini
Vampire Weekend, Contra

Nos. 11-20 (alphabetical)

Avi Buffalo, Avi Buffalo
Samantha Crain, You (Understood): (eMusic review; eMusic interview) — This album is stunning.
Hurray for the Riff Raff, Young Blood Blues: One of this year’s best eMusic Selects bands.
LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening: James Murphy is amazing. I didn’t listen to this album as consistently throughout the year as I expected I would, but when I do listen to it, it’s pretty perfect.
Laura Marling, I Speak Because I Can: An incredibly promising and underrated songwriter.

Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown: From eMusic’s best of 2010: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon had an eventful 2010 — he AutoTuned his way on to the most important album of the year and released an R&B-leaning record with his side project, Gayngs. But one of his greatest musical contributions to 2010 managed to stay under the radar. On the recording of Anaïs Mitchell’s gorgeous folk opera, Hadestown — the Vermont folksinger’s take on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, based in an economically-ailing American town — Vernon sings the part of Orpheus, alongside Mitchell as Eurydice, Ani DiFranco as Persephone, Greg Brown as Hades and The Low Anthem’s Ben Knox Miller as Hermes. When I spoke with Mitchell earlier this year, she described Orpheus as “the ultimate songwriter and he believes that if he can write a beautiful enough song he can do the impossible. He can make the walls come down; he can win back his love and change the world.” And make the walls come down — at least in the music world — Vernon did.

That’s not to say he is the only focus of this project — Hadestown is a collection of some of today’s strongest and most unique voices; Mitchell’s mezzo-soprano falls into the same family as Joanna Newsom’s, DiFranco’s Persephone is smoky and sultry, Knox Miller brings his lively rasp to Hermes, and Brown’s Hades is aged, gravelly and haunting. The accompanying music is emotional and adventurous — wailing, harmonica-driven romps; piano-heavy ballads; loungey jazz; straight-up acoustic folk — and Mitchell excels in making an ancient myth relevant to modern times.

Peasant, Shady Retreat
The New Pornographers, Together: One of my all-time favorites put out an excellent record. Simple as that.
Robyn, Body Talk
Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: Guess I’m a Kanye fan now?

Nos. 10-1

10. Sharon Van Etten, epic: Sharon Van Etten’s music is beautiful, emotional, breathtaking … Unlike on her debut, this time she recorded with a full band and it took her sound to a whole new level.
9. Superchunk, Majesty Shredding: I wish I had listened to Superchunk in high school. I think the reason I missed them is that the last record they put out before this one was in 2001, when I was just starting high school, and most of their music before that was released when I was a very small child … Anyway, Majesty Shredding is exciting and energizing, and it’s not a surprise then that Superchunk heavily influenced one of the bands I did listen to in high school, the Get Up Kids. I say better late than never.
8. Sufjan Stevens, Age of Adz: It took seeing one of his recent shows at the Beacon to understand this record, but after that, I didn’t feel nearly as intimidated by it. It’s not the record most people wanted him to make, especially after the All Delighted People EP earlier this year, and that’s a-OK with me.
7. Breathe Owl Breathe, Magic Central (eMusic review)
6. Allo Darlin’, Allo Darlin’: (eMusic review)
5. Frontier Ruckus, Deadmalls & Nightfalls: I don’t even know what to say about this record or this band that I haven’t said a million times already, so I’ll refer you to this and also note that listening to this album when I was in Michigan right before Christmas was perfect. Excited to see what’s in store for these guys in 2011.
4. Janelle Monae, The ArchAndroid: From eMusic staff picks: In “Faster,” the third track on Janelle Monae’s epic debut LP The ArchAndroid, the singer openly admits, “I’m just another little weirdo.” That admission alone wins her major points in my book, but she also walks the walk with more than an hour of music that spans the unlikely range of hip-hop, pop, funk, rock, jazz, soul, cabaret and R&B, with a futuristic/sci-fi concept woven throughout. Sure, it’s a little weird — and also adventurous, fun, inspiring and mind-blowing. There’s an incredible fluidity between most of the tracks — “Dance or Die,” “Faster” and “Locked Inside” could easily be one 11-minute suite — but so many are also hits on their own. “Dance or Die” sounds like it should be played on a fashion-show runway, with its refrain of “These dreams are forever” and the chanting of words like “cyborg,” “android,” “water,” “wisdom,” “vision” and “mystery.” Later, there’s the energizing dance number “Cold War” paired back to back with the funky, brass-embellished Big Boi collaboration “Tightrope,” about pushing limits and fighting for what you believe. In “Locked Inside,” Monae sings, “I can make a change/ I can start a fire,” and with this record, she’s certainly headed in the right direction.
3. Lost in the Trees, All Alone in an Empty House (eMusic review; eMusic interview)
2. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs: This is the second album in my top 5 that’s about the suburbs (the other being Frontier Ruckus) — every time I hear “The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),” one of my favorite songs here, when Regine sings about shopping malls rising like mountains beyond mountains, I can’t help but think of FR’s “Pontiac, The Nightbrink,” in which Matt Milia is essentially singing about the same thing — the “deadmalls” in Pontiac, Michigan, which isn’t too far from where I grew up. So, I relate to both of those albums quite a bit. And my love for The Suburbs was multiplied by a million when I saw the band live for the first time at Madison Square Garden — so now every time I listen I’m also reminded of how thrilling that was.
1. Owen Pallett, Heartland (Critical Mob review): There aren’t words that will even come close to describing how I felt after listening to Heartland a few times. I feel silly saying that even though this is my favorite album of the past 12 months (and it came out in January of 2010), I still don’t really know how to explain why. But maybe that’s part of why I love it so much? It’s Pallett’s's first record under his own name instead of as Final Fantasy, and it somehow was the first time I listened to him. Heartland is a lot bigger than the FF records, which are mostly just him and his violin. And I fell in love with those records, too, but this one is just something else — majestic, powerful, and otherworldly — and even though I don’t really relate to the storyline (about a violent farmer speaking to his creator, Pallett), it still struck some emotional chord in me and left me completely in awe.

I went to about 100 shows this year. A lot of them were fantastic, but here are 20-some that were especially memorable (in no particular order, after the first one…and I’m probably forgetting plenty that were just as great):

- Arcade Fire at Madison Square Garden, Aug. 4. Not only was this the best show I went to this year, but it’s the best I have ever been to in my life. I managed to buy a general-admission floor ticket for this, and thanks to getting there a couple hours early, I was front and center, one or two people away from the barricade. Owen Pallett was on double duty, opening the show and then playing violin with Arcade Fire; Spoon was great; and Arcade Fire was exhilarating. This night was nonstop on my mind for weeks after the show, and I had the treat of seeing them again at Lollapalooza just a few days later — that was a different experience, but no less exciting. Hearing the crowd still singing the tune of “Wake Up” while leaving the park was perfect.

- LCD Soundsystem at Music Hall of Williamsburg (April 8), Webster Hall (April 12), and Terminal 5 (May 19). It was by some Ticketmaster miracle that I was able to go to those first two shows, but they were SO much fun — so much dancing, sweating, screaming the words. I think the Willyburg show was the best, Webster was the most fun, and T5 I went to because I had bought tickets before the smaller shows were announced, and my best friend was in town, so it was still a blast and I remember almost tearing up while screaming the words to “All My Friends” in the company of three of my best ones.

- Owen Pallett at Webster Hall, April 23. Writeup and some great photos.

- Screaming Females at various venues. One of the best concert moments this year was when Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster joined Ted Leo on stage at Siren Fest to sing “Woke Up In Chelsea.” The Screamales’ newest album, Castle Talk, while fantastic, isn’t my favorite record of theirs (that’d be Power Move), but they quickly became one of my favorite live bands.

- Janelle Monáe at Terminal 5. Monáe blows my mind. Despite the horrible crowd at this show, she was unfreakingbelievable.

- Sufjan Stevens at the Beacon Theater, Nov. 14. Click for lots of words about that show.

- Samantha Crain at the Bell House and in the eMusic kitchen, June 15 and 16; Frontier Ruckus at Southpaw and in the eMusic kitchen, June 17. Can’t say enough about either of these artists. Click that link for a little on both.

- Lost in the Trees at various venues. I saw this band three times this year, every time was pretty magical. I also interviewed frontman Ari Picker. Writeups and photos from their shows at Bowery Ballroom and The Bell House.

- Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes at Webster Hall and Lollapalooza.

- Anaïs Mitchell at Joe’s Pub, April 23. I’ve been following Anaïs Mitchell for a few years now and she’s so lovely live. She and her band played her entire folk opera, Hadestown, from start to finish.

- The Low Anthem at Bowery Ballroom, April 14. Hands down, the most magical crowd-participation moment I’ve been a part of at a concert.

- Superchunk at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Sept. 19. I’ll save my Superchunk spiel for when I write about their record Majesty Shredding on my best albums list, but this show ruled. It should also be noted that I ran to this show from the Williamsburg Waterfont after seeing Pavement.

- Carole King & James Taylor at Madison Square Garden, June 30. When my editor jokingly handed me a CD of Carole King and James Taylor’s Troubadour Reunion Tour, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t expecting me to respond with, “Oh, thanks, I bought tickets to see them in June!” Laugh all you want but I am a shameless Carole King fan. She is amazing, and even if you don’t like the music she performs herself (you know, “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late,” the theme song from Gilmore Girls), just remember that she also wrote a bazillion hit songs for the likes of the Shirelles, Dusty Springfield, etc. etc. I’m not as well versed in James Taylor’s catalog, and I enjoyed his parts of the show, but King really owned it. I hope I have that much energy when I’m 68.

- Kanye West at Brooklyn Bowl. 2:30 in the morning after way too many hours at Brooklyn Bowl. This was the turning point that officially made me a Kanye fan.

- Against Me! and Green Day at Lollapalooza. SO GOOD.

- Sharon Van Etten, a million times at various venues, but especially at Mercury Lounge in November. I’ve seen Sharon Van Etten perform about six times since moving to New York, and she’s always beautiful and breathtaking but never has she been better than when she headlined Mercury Lounge. It was the first time I’d seen her with a band, and first time I heard her perform most of her incredible new record epic.

- Titus Andronicus at Brooklyn Bowl. It took me a while to get into Titus Andronicus’s album The Monitor, but it was worth the effort to keep listening. This set, while only 45 minutes long, sealed the deal. They were exhilarating and energizing, and I can’t wait to see them again.

- Yo La Tengo and Bonnie Prince Billy at Maxwell’s, Dec. 7. My first Yo La Tengo Hanukkah show will definitely not be my last (unless they stop doing them…). I haven’t listened to much of Bonnie Prince Billy’s music and had never seen him live before this, but his set blew me away. He and the band were a little kooky but so beautiful and captivating. Yo La Tengo was fantastic, too, and it was cool to see them in such a small space. Also, Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler did standup in between the bands and they were great.

- The New Pornographers at the Bell House, June 20. The full lineup of one of my all-time favorite bands, who put out a really great record this year, playing at one of my favorite (small) venues in Brooklyn.

- Belle & Sebastian at the Williamsburg Waterfront, Sept. 20. Another one of my all-time favorites, who put out a somewhat-disappointing-but-not-terrible record this year. Hadn’t seen them since 2006 (with the New Pornographers, in Toronto); this show was outside and it was supposed to storm, and by some miracle, the rain held off.

- My Brightest Diamond at Bowery Ballroom, Jan. 22. Shara Worden is something else.

- Bob Dylan at Terminal 5, Nov. 22. I had low expectations for this, as I’d never seen Bob Dylan before, but he and his band were phenomenal.

- Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings at the Apollo. First time at the Apollo, with great seats and a phenomenal band. Sharon Jones is so much fun.

At eMusic we have this really cool program called eMusic Selects, where we exclusively release music from unsigned (or “undersigned”) bands we really love, in hopes that we can help them sell some records and they’ll get signed by a bigger label. Some past Selects bands have been Best Coast, Hooray for Earth, and a couple of recent favorites Breathe Owl Breathe and Hurray for the Riff Raff. One of the releases in our last round is Miller Path by Family Band, a Brooklyn trio whose guitarist has only been in metal bands before this one. It’s dark, spooky, sorta like Cat Power’s Moon Pix. Good timing for Halloween, huh?

And speaking of Halloween, check out our staff’s “Guide to Darkness” that we posted today!

My eMusic review of Family Band’s Miller Path:

“I’ve been wasted here and I sense movements of beauty,” sings frontwoman Kim Krans on “Hatred,” the opener of Family Band’s debut LP Miller Path. It’s hard to know exactly what she means, but there’s no denying its chilling impact. Family Band’s music is like that: dark, eerie and often cryptic, but also beautiful. It’s not surprising to learn that guitarist Jonny Ollsin has been playing in metal bands for the better part of two decades; even though there are no thrashing powerchords or throat-shredding screams, metal’s intense bleakness lurks in every corner of Miller Path, creating a sound the group has dubbed “heavy mellow.”

Family Band’s rage is a quiet one, best summed up by another line in “Hatred”: “It is hatred that makes the horse run strong.” That image of Krans internalizing her pent-up anger and channeling it into determination and power is grim, almost frightening. The songs have themes of death and nightmares, but the darkness is contained — it’s tightly coiled in Krans’s alto, and it’s what fuels the strength in her voice. At times, she channels a Moon Pix-era Cat Power, most apparently on the soulful “Fantasy,” one of the record’s more stripped-down numbers, which finds Krans singing, “Open up your memory, let those floodgates spill/ Baby, I will get you home.”

Family Band is Ollsin’s first non-metal outing, and you can still hear echoes of his musical background in the spiraling, minor-key guitar arpeggios that decorate many songs. He originally made an agreement with Krans (who is also his wife) that major chords were out of the question, though he conceded a few times, for the better, not only in the chord structure, but also in the lilting guitars and blues-guitar march in “No Sound.” Drummer Adam Cimino’s atmospheric, non-intrusive technique reinforces the album’s fluid feel: Sometimes all the song needs is a steady tambourine hit (“Hatred”) or a cymbal- and rim-click-driven waltz (“Diamonds”). (Since this recording, Cimino has been replaced by former Yeasayer drummer Luke Fasano.) But even when the drums are more prominent, intertwining with Ollsin’s guitar and Scott Hirsch’s bass, they’re still very much in tune with the rest of the album’s calm-yet-foreboding soundscapes. For every spiraling, muted guitar run, spooky whistling effect, and dissonant hook, Miller Path has just as many moments of gorgeous resolution.

Family Band’s MySpace

Video of Family Band’s “Hatred”:

Sigh. This record is so lovely. I liked the music immediately, but it took paying close attention to the lyrics to understand what made it better than any other twee indiepop album. So, now I am in love — with this record, but the record makes me want to be in love with an actual person. And c’mon, they sing the chorus of Weezer’s “El Scorcho” in one song (video below), and actually pull it off. Favorite songs are “Silver Dollars” and “Kiss Your Lips,” but really it’s all wonderful.

My eMusic review of Allo Darlin’s self-titled LP:

The self-titled debut from London-based quartet Allo Darlin’ is about falling in love — on dancefloors and at parties, on Ferris wheels and in the kitchen — and the fluttering, anxious feeling of wondering of where you’ll end up, or who you’ll end up with, after the bar closes. There are mentions of Polaroid pictures, Woody Allen films and favorite Weezer songs, soundtracked by jangly pop hooks that owe as much to the Cure as to Cyndi Lauper. The Weezer number in question is Pinkerton‘s “El Scorcho” — which in itself name-drops Public Enemy and Green Day — and Allo Darlin’ manage to not only mention it in “Kiss Your Lips,” but also weave its chorus perfectly into the song, sing-shouting, “I’m a lot like you so please, hello, I’m here, I’m waiting/ I think I’d be good for you and you could be good for me.”

Fronted by Elizabeth Morris, who also plays in Tender Trap, Allo Darlin’ make clean-cut indie pop that’s heavy on tambourines, shakers, ukulele, and surf-pop guitar and bass licks. It’s unabashedly twee — “Heartbeat Chilli” is backed by Morris’s ukulele as she sings wistfully about spaghetti with heartbeats in the recipe, and “The Polaroid Song” has flute trills amid lines about stocking up on the instant film before it expires — but it’s balanced with Morris’s disarming earnestness and impressively quick wit. After a few spins, it’ll be hard not to cling on to her every word.

If you need more convincing, some of my favorite lyrics + a video are after the jump.

“Though you say we’re just friends and this love is purely platonic I’m hopin’ that you’ll forget after this round of gin and tonic”

“In a fair ground in the middle of Paris/ You tried to prove to me your manliness by winning me a teddy bear”

“I was in the kitchen on my own makin’ chili/ You came in with an onion and got dicin’/ It seems silly that this chili has two heartbeats in the recipe/ So come over, give your heart to me”

“You’ve been on your own as long as I recall/ If loneliness was art, I could hang you from the wall”

“Everybody I know wants to be your friend, but I just wanna hold you when the music ends/ That’s all, all I ask/ Is that too crass?”

“You make me feel like apologizing for being like this/ do I have to say I’m sorry for my happiness?”

“And when you call me on the telephone my fingers will twist through the cord and I’ll slide my feet up and down the wall, but I know that I’m stronger than you are”

Video of “Kiss Your Lips”:

Allo Darlin’ on MySpace

My eMusic review of Glasser’s debut LP, Ring:

Cameron Mesirow’s one-woman project as Glasser began as just a voice and GarageBand, filling a couple of short EPs with intricate percussion and abstract, echoing vocals. But on her debut full-length, Ring, it’s hard to differentiate between the real and the synthetic — and that’s just part of its beauty. Like its name, Ring is a cycle: It starts and ends with the same hollow drum and claves-like clicking, and each song in between slides right into the next. There are bells, xylophones, pianos, synths, horns and flutes behind Mesirow’s vocals, which are often a delicately-layered combination of words and abstract sounds reminiscent of Björk or the ladies of the Dirty Projectors. The thunder-backed “Home” has different pitches of “ohhhhs” over strings and a xylophone, and in the cavernous “Plane Temp” she uses new-agey chants and short, breathy hiccup sounds.

The couple of tracks that appeared on Glasser’s Apply EP have been filled out and improved from their barebones beginnings. “Apply” serves as Ring‘s opener, thickened by lower-register drums and stronger, more controlled vocals, while on “Glad,” Mesirow gracefully swoops in and out as she sings, “Somebody said, ‘Hey, slow down, wait for me.’” With its complex textures and lyrics referencing fire, ghosts, loneliness, broken homes, clouds and rain, Glasser’s disarming debut should be taken in the same way: in no hurry.

Glasser’s MySpace page

I’m pretty embarrassed that it took me until living in New York to listen to Breathe Owl Breathe. They’re from Michigan (my home state) and I’m pretty sure I had about a million chances to see/hear them when I was in college. But alas, it took me longer than it should have. But it’s better late than never, huh? Anyway, this group is so lovely: Their style folk music is unlike anything I’ve heard in terms of the combination of instruments and unique voices, and this record is home to some of my favorite lyrics I’ve heard all year. I’m sad I didn’t get to see them play in Brooklyn last week (although it was because I went to see Tallest Man On Earth instead), but they’ll be my No. 1 priority next time they come through here, especially since I’ve heard their shows are pretty magical.

My review of Breathe Owl Breathe’s Magic Central on eMusic:

Michigan trio — and eMusic Selects alums — Breathe Owl Breathe’s charismatic brand of folk stems as much from make-believe fantasylands as it does earnest human emotions. The group’s fourth LP, Magic Central, isn’t a drastic departure from their past works: It’s founded on Micah Middaugh’s acoustic guitar and laced with Andréa Moreno-Beals’s cello, Trevor Hobbes’s ragtag percussion — including various chimes and bells, tambourines and shakers — and an organic smattering of banjo, dissonant piano chords and violin. But it’s slightly cleaner and more upbeat, with more focus on melody in Middaugh’s conversational, often half-spoken vocals. While Middaugh’s voice typically takes the lead, Moreno-Beals’s contributions are also crucial — her smoky, Feist-like croon complements Middaugh and especially comes through in tracks like the soulful “Icy Cave Dancers” and “Dog Walkers of the New Age.”

As with all of BoB’s work, Middaugh’s playful storytelling is as much of a treat as the corresponding soundtrack. In “Parrots in the Tropical Trees,” his voice swoops in and out as he sings, “Tidal wave, what gives you the entitlement to wash me away?” Later, “Dragon” is about a love that others might not approve of, masked as a story about a dragon and a princess who are pen pals. It’s prefaced with a spoken story explaining the situation, which proves to be one of the album’s most endearing moments. It’s refreshing to hear folk music that’s as adventurous as the characters that inhabit the songs.

Breathe Owl Breathe’s MySpace

We just got Death Cab for Cutie’s Atlantic records on eMusic (Plans, Narrow Stairs and the Open Door EP), and I reviewed Plans, which I probably listened to more than anything else during my freshman year of college (that made it sorta tough to write about).

eMusic review:

After Death Cab for Cutie’s 2003 album Transatlanticism led to countless song placements in TV shows and films, it seemed like a natural progression for the band to leave longtime indie Barsuk for a major label — Atlantic. (Adding to the band’s high profile: Give Up — the debut LP from the Postal Service, Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard’s project with Dntel’s Jimmy Tamborello — had been released only months before.) Transatlanticism had been the group’s cleanest work to date — lush, cinematic layers of sound had replaced the subtle fuzz that used to loom over every track — and Plans follows a similar formula. But where Transatlanticism was about the past — breakups, memories, long-distance relationships — Plans finds Gibbard looking to the future. Ultimately, it’s a question of who’s going to love you and, therefore, who’s going to watch you die. That’s to say: The lyrics haven’t gotten much happier, but the band’s found its sound and is sticking to it.

Several of the songs revolve around love after death: In the ethereal single “Soul Meets Body,” Gibbard sings “If the silence takes you/ Then I hope it takes me too;” in the stripped-down-acoustic “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” he croons, “If there’s no one beside you/ When your soul embarks/ I will follow you into the dark;” and in the grim, piano-driven hospital song, it’s “Love is watching someone die/ So who’s going to watch you die?” as his character paces the waiting room. It might sound grim, but Gibbard’s never been one for conventional happy endings.

Though Plans is missing rock anthems akin to Transatlanticism‘s “The New Year” and “The Sound of Settling,” its sound is just as a massive — much of which can be attributed to Chris Walla’s increasingly sharp production work. Opening track “Marching Bands of Manhattan” begins with a stuttering reverbed guitar and an organ, then a series of steady chords and tambourine shakes before the drums and bass kick in. “What Sarah Said” is founded on arpeggioed, sometimes-layered piano chords; in “Your Heart Is An Empty Room,” an organ warps together with shakers and slowly-building electronics. There are no big surprises on this go-around, and maybe Plans sounded, in a way, like settling. But what it really did was lay the groundwork — and give them the audience — for the experimentation that came next.

I’ve been neglecting this blog for too long … going to try to play catch-up over the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, there have been a couple of records released this year that pretty much made my head explode. Lost in the Trees’ All Alone in an Empty House is one of them. They’re an orchestral folk band with a classical slant, and the music is big, emotional, sad, haunting, and hopeful. The record was originally released in 2008, but most of it was rerecorded and a couple of songs were added for this version, which is out now on ANTI- Records. Hopefully these pieces will give you some idea, but this band really is phenomenal.

Interview with Ari Picker of Lost in the Trees on eMusic

my eMusic review of Lost in the Trees’ All Alone in an Empty House:

Lost in the Trees’ All Alone in an Empty House begins with a grim tale of fighting parents, dying infants, isolation, depression and abuse. Its opener, the title track, starts with a delicately fingerpicked acoustic guitar line over the sound of creaking floors but, verse by verse, it builds, adding strings, horns and backing vocals as frontman/composer Ari Picker’s voice gets stronger and more intense. When the storm dies down, Picker sings softly, “I know no one is perfect/ We’ve got a hole in our heart/ No one is perfect.” It’s a powerful beginning, and while Picker’s story — much of which is true — doesn’t end in complete resolution, Empty House proves to be more about hope than pain.

In “Walk Around The Lake,” Picker professes, “Late at night I’ll stay up and write a book about my life/ So no one would ever make all of my mistakes.” The song incorporates a dramatic and spooky string waltz, acoustic fingerpicking and soaring violin lines, and then a powerful blues guitar line cuts in to create one of the record’s most exhilarating moments.

The musical and emotional turning point comes in “Fireplace,” wherein everyone shouts together, “And with a burned soul/ Healing is painful/ Asked to forgive when you’re still angry/ If I can’t heal my heart, forgive me,” and later, “So surround yourself with good people/ I know it’s painful but we can stand/ And if this man can’t walk/ Lend him a hand.” The song is upbeat, with a hard-driving electric guitar line over Picker’s acoustic and it sets the emotional tone for songs like “Love On My Side,” “Wooden Walls of this Forest Church” and the Neutral Milk Hotel-channeling “A Room Where Your Paintings Hang.”

Though Empty House was first released through Trekky Records in 2008, all of the vocals and most of the instrumentals were rerecorded and two songs have been added for ANTI-’s edition, which was produced by Scott Solter (St. Vincent, Spoon). There’s more confidence, control and articulation in Picker’s voice, and the arrangements are tighter and more fluid. Where some indie rock or folk artists use strings and horns as accessories, the classical, symphonic elements here, along with Picker’s acoustic guitar, provide the foundation for nearly all of Lost in the Trees’ songs. Empty House also has two guitar-less instrumental suites, near the beginning and end of the record. After the second, the set concludes with the optimistic “For Leah & Chloe,” in which Picker sings, “Pain’s made me who I am/ But I don’t want your pity please/ I’ve learned more than I could share/ I healed my heart on a walk in the dark.” While Picker’s story is bleak, Empty House has enough heart and emotional power to help others heal too.

Lost in the Trees’ MySpace

We recently got Regina Spektor’s Sire catalog on eMusic, so I reviewed her latest two records. It’s kinda funny, I finished these right before Memorial Day weekend, whereas last year I spent my Memorial Day weekend writing about her, but for a big story for Billboard. I’m pretty sure it was one of the more stressful weekends of my life, at least in terms of writing, and I’m glad that didn’t happen a second consecutive year.

My eMusic review of Begin To Hope:

2004′s Soviet Kitsch might have been Regina Spektor’s breakthrough, but Begin to Hope is the album that made her the face of quirky piano-pop; you’d be hard-pressed, in 2006, to find a heartbroken girl who wasn’t singing, “You are my sweetest downfall/ I loved you first.” Spektor’s songs are honest, mostly-innocent heartbreakers that are spiked with unexpected lines about cocaine (“Hotel Room”) and dudes wanting “to feel the bulges in their pants start to rise” (“Summer In The City”).

Musically, Begin to Hope is both grander and more stripped down than its predecessor: The ballads “Samson” and “Field Below” are accompanied by little more than Spektor’s piano; “Edit” and “Hotel Song” use drum-machine beats and synths; “On The Radio” has strings and handclaps. It’s all fronted by a playful, perfectly articulated mezzo-soprano that sometimes breaks out into “ah-ah-ahs,” beat-boxing or other vocal effects. Though not typically autobiographical, every Spektor song tells a story — but from the heartbreaking “Samson” and “Fidelity” to the defiant refrain of “Aprés Moi,” every story on Begin to Hope became an anthem.

My eMusic review of Far:

On far, Regina Spektor’s fifth LP and first since her mainstream breakthrough Begin to Hope, the pop songstress sets romance mostly aside and instead considers life in broader strokes. While it wouldn’t be a Spektor album without a couple of love songs, most of her stories here are about death, feeling lost and — more so than in the past — faith and religion. In “Laughing With,” she suggests that God is laughing at everyone; in the haunting “Human Of The Year,” which is set in a cathedral, she likens religious idols to everyday people, singing, “The icons are whispering to you/ They’re just old men/ Like on the benches in the park/ Except their balding spots are glistening with gold.”

More than anything, far is a mainstream pop album with no shortage of hooks: Tracks like “Eet” and “Laughing With” were made for commercial radio. Longtime Spektor fans, though, will likely gravitate most toward “Folding Chair,” in which Spektor does her best dolphin impression, and the synth-backed “Dance Anthem of the ’80s,” which starts with Spektor making cymbal noises and singing in unison alongside a simple piano line. The lyrics on far require a bit more deciphering than those on Spektor’s previous releases, but even if you have to dig a little deeper to find the meaning, her wit rewards the challenge: The best line in “Machine” is “Living in your pre-war apartment/ Soon to be your post-war apartment” and in the most literal number, “Wallet,” she sings about finding a man’s wallet and trying to track him down via his Blockbuster card.

The biggest change on far comes from behind the scenes: It’s Spektor’s first record since Sire leader Michael Goldstone left the label, and while she kept David Kahne on as a producer, she also added three more — Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Fiona Apple), ELO and Traveling Wilburys’ Jeff Lynne, and Garret “Jackknife” Lee (Snow Patrol, Bloc Party). It’s surprisingly hard to tell who worked on which track — they’re all slick, many with strings, occasional horns, random percussion and, of course, Spektor’s piano at the forefront — but it seems unnecessary to have so many people on board. Thankfully, far is still very much her own, and it doesn’t feel like the work has been compromised.