Thursday, July 12, 2007
Street tar and summer, they play a trick on my soul...
Speaking of being in the tank for something, I finally got around to buying the Twilight Sad's Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Summers. I've already threatened to marry the guy's brogue, so I don't think my feelings about the band are necessarily ambiguous (as opposed to my feelings for, say, Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend"). As an album, boy, it's just dreamy; I guess this is as much a byproduct of growing up in a lush, green country where the cities smell like cornflakes and are built upon the shells of a typhoid ravaged buildings (at least Edinburgh). It's just big drama, and you know what? It works, although it's not something that sticks with you; all the joy is pretty much ethereal beyond that "Cold Days from the Birdhouse". But still...
Of course, Spoon is still the apple of my eye. Don't tell Britt, but I downloaded a couple of songs beyond the band or label-approved choices. I have an excuse: I just couldn't help myself. I needed to hear as much as I could, on my own time, and listening to "Finer Feelings" while walking down the street, it was all I could do to not break out my white-boy shuffle. At the very least, I couldn't helping breaking into a goofy grin. But hearing this album in full bloom once again (I haven't been able to stream it since my internet connection went pear-shaped), goddamn. And the thing is, there aren't a lot of bells and whistles; this is just good old-fashioned songwriting, with some shake in the hips. It's gonna take a lot for this not to be the best album of the year. There, I said it.
And actually, for administrative purposes, and to crystalize it, here are the top five albums from the first half of the year:
1. Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2. The Shins: Phantom Limb
3. The National: Boxer
4. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Living With the Living
5. The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Pretty solid. That fifth spot is really up for grabs, and the Twilight Sad, as much as I like that album now, may have the position by dint of it being a recent purchase, and Blonde Redhead or Feist (yeah, I know, it's Starbucks-rock) could shake out to be more deserving. I know the internet is waiting with bated breath to see how this turns out...
Of course, Spoon is still the apple of my eye. Don't tell Britt, but I downloaded a couple of songs beyond the band or label-approved choices. I have an excuse: I just couldn't help myself. I needed to hear as much as I could, on my own time, and listening to "Finer Feelings" while walking down the street, it was all I could do to not break out my white-boy shuffle. At the very least, I couldn't helping breaking into a goofy grin. But hearing this album in full bloom once again (I haven't been able to stream it since my internet connection went pear-shaped), goddamn. And the thing is, there aren't a lot of bells and whistles; this is just good old-fashioned songwriting, with some shake in the hips. It's gonna take a lot for this not to be the best album of the year. There, I said it.
And actually, for administrative purposes, and to crystalize it, here are the top five albums from the first half of the year:
1. Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2. The Shins: Phantom Limb
3. The National: Boxer
4. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Living With the Living
5. The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Pretty solid. That fifth spot is really up for grabs, and the Twilight Sad, as much as I like that album now, may have the position by dint of it being a recent purchase, and Blonde Redhead or Feist (yeah, I know, it's Starbucks-rock) could shake out to be more deserving. I know the internet is waiting with bated breath to see how this turns out...
