1. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
I remember the first time I heard "Merry Go 'Round" on the radio one night, before any of the buzz really got going commercially or critically, and I knew off the bat that it was a special song that was going to get a big reaction, even if there were things about it that were maybe a little too on the nose, or impressed with itself. But man, this album, this fucking album, cuts so close to the bone of what it feels like to be broke and hopeless. Obviously, I already named it one of the best albums of the young decade, but man, this is the kind of cathartic album for the pulverized middle class that the last Springsteen record wishes it was. It's the album I want to listen to when I come home from working overtime and tremble with anger when I realize I'm not going to be able to afford groceries this week, like I did tonight. 

2. Rod Lee - Rock City, Vol. 8: Club Workout

3. Birds and Arrows - Coyotes
Birds and Arrows are one of several North Carolina bands that comes up to Baltimore pretty regularly that I've become a fan of in recent years after seeing live, led by the husband-and-wife duo of Pete and Andrea Connolly. Andrea's got an intoxicatingly smokey voice, and their records just have great intimate atmosphere. I loved one of their earlier albums Starmaker, not sure if this one will grow on me as much as that one but so far it sounds pretty good.

4. How To Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
I really dug the EP last year, and this is just kinda that but longer -- almost literally, since most of the same tracks are reprised -- which works for me. I like hearing Reznor do these kind of restrained atmospheric tracks that don't repeat the same production tricks of old quiet Nine Inch Nails songs, gives me hope that the next phase of NIN won't feel like a retread.

5. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
6. Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In
This completes a little trio of records centered around twangy guitars and women's voices that I enjoyed this month, along with Kacey Musgraves and Birds And Arrows. Rose is the daughter of a Nashville songwriter but I wouldn't call her country per se, it's really just some slightly cutesy but well written pop/rock. 

7. They Might Be Giants - Nanobots
I love TMBG and have always listened to just about any new album they put out, but the fact is that they'd been on a long run of diminishing returns for like 20 years before their last record, Join Us, turned out to be pretty great. So it kinda feels like the pressure's on about whether the next album would continue this promising late career run or fall back into the doldrums of wacky, unmemorable late period material. And I would say it's pretty damn good, if not quite on the same level. The big thing about this record is that it  has the most tracks they've put on a record in a long time, 25, and they've brought back not just the 2-minute songs but also a bunch of "Fingertips"-style microsongs, sprinkled throughout the album instead of all together, which I thought might be lame but works pretty well.

8. Brianna Perry - Symphony No. 9: The Collection
Very confusingly, Perry released a mixtape in November with almost the same title and most of the same song titles, but half the tracks were only one minute snippets. Now, the real version with all full songs is here and it's pretty good -- nice expensive-sounding production and some big name guests, but Brianna's voice and persona feel more developed than they were on her 2011 mixtape. It kind of sounds like this was basically the major label album she would've dropped last year if "Marilyn Monroe" had kept climbing the charts, but since it didn't they're probably just throwing the material they have out there and starting over from scratch to try and score a new hit.

9. David Bowie - The Next Day
I've never been a big Bowie guy -- love the hits and a handful of the canonical albums, but he's just never been really crucial to me. And after "Where Are We Now?" I certainly didn't expect to care for this album, but it's really pretty damn good, the sound of the band he's working with is both familiar and unique, his voice is aging interestingly, and I'm getting more of a perspective or sense of humanity out of his lyrics than I usually do.

10. Thalia Zedek Band - Via
I've always meant to listen to Thalia Zedek and her various bands more, I really like her voice. This probably isn't as good as earlier records I haven't heard, but I'm enjoying it, really grizzled almost bluesy jams with lots of violin.

Worst Album of the Month: The Strokes - Comedown Machine
I ended up listening to a whole lot of March's new releases, so there's a lot that didn't make my top 10 for various reasons -- albums that were disappointing (Chelsea Light Moving, Jimi Hendrix) or just kinda boring (Depeche Mode, Brian McKnight) or had some good songs hidden among some serious crap (Lil Wayne, the Sound City soundtrack), but this is the one I will definitely never want to revisit. And I think those first couple Strokes albums have held up pretty well, this one is just terrible.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 06, 2013 at 10:44 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.