I spent the first couple of months of the year still hung over by the fact that 2010 was over.
I mean, 2010 was a momentous year of music for me. I was privileged enough to be able to catch a Belle and Sebastian gig live, and the Scottish legends finally released their first album in four years. Admittedly, Write About Love never reached the heights of If You’re Feeling Sinister, but you know, you get what you can get, and an album full of twee-pop goodness was what we got!
The musical year that kept giving didn’t stop there. She & Him’s second record was phenomenal, and The Tallest Man on Earth blew me away with a folk album so good, I had to put it on repeat then and there. And you know what’s better than a brilliant Tallest Man on Earth record? Well, a equally brilliant Tallest Man on Earth EP, which came out a few months after Wild Hunt, of course!
Well, March came and went, and I knew that 2011 was here to stay, so why fight it?
So I finally took some time out to listen to some 2011 albums that have unfortunately been sitting idly on my desktop. So far the one that has really caught my attention is Noah and the Whale’s Last Night on Earth.
I am the first to admit that I never really taken too much interest in the band, whose debut record Peaceful, the World Lays me Down never made it into my playlist incidentally. After more listens however, I may have been too hasty; sure, there’s just something irritatingly happy about Noah and the Whale’s 2008 breakout single ‘5 Years Time’, but you have got to love the boy-girl harmonies, hand-clapping, and finger snapping.
I also can’t really say that I have been an avid fan of the Fleet Foxes, aside from the band’s gorgeous masterpiece ‘White Winter Hymnal’, but Helplessness Blues is a beautifully-crafted album. Folk rock has never been this good (since the Golden Oldies age of course), and you will appreciate just how timeless Robin Pecknold and company sound.
So far my favourite pick of the record is the impeccable ‘Lorelai’, though I must admit that the song got a few sentimental value points for being named after Lauren Graham’s character in my beloved Gilmore Girls. When I listen to ‘Lorelai’, I feel like I am floating through a peaceful country road with the wind in my hair, accompanied by irrepressible harmonies and the jangling of guitars.
Maybe I should give Sun Giant EP another listen.
Oh I just read that The Do, whose A Mouthful dazzled with tinges of hip hop, R&B, rock, and indie pop, has just released a follow up, like finally. Must listen to Olivia’s haunting vocals now, kay thanks bye!
PS: This is a mini rant, so you’ve been warned! How is Scotty still in American Idol? How can the judges tell Pia to veer away from her power ballads yet advise Scotty to stay within his (only) strength (his one dimensional and ridiculously deep voice)? Double standards? I really do think so.
PPS: Oh and I am planning to acquire a new camera, maybe even a DSLR, and take beautiful photographs to beautify this rather white blog. Another failed project? Let’s hope not.