Sheesh, way to make me feel like I haven't listened to anything guys. I've been sooo lazy about following and/or listening to new releases this year, but a couple have really stood out to me:
Beach House - Bloom (album)
Loved it the first time, got bored the second time, can't get enough of it twenty spins later. I wouldn't love it half as much as I do without "On The Sea" and "Irene" and the wonderfully hidden track that sounds like a
Devotion outtake to carry the second half. They really do have an "every album sounds the same" thing going on, but they're only making necessary tweaks to make music exactly how they want.
Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad
Beach House is the kind of band where if you’ve heard one of their records, you’ve kind of heard them all. But on the same page, how many times have you followed an artist and they put out a new album that you just wished was more like the last one? I think Beach House is a kind of experiment in that dream. Compared to 2010’s Teen Dream, Bloom is the less immediate record but is also the one that seems to bloom larger.
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Thank you for summing up
exactly how I feel about this album! It's amazing how they keep things the same in so many aspects, but make giant leaps of progress at the same time. Also, I'm so glad that I love
Devotion now since it didn't click back when I jumped on the
Teen Dream bandwagon.
Galileo Galilei - PORTAL (album)
Originally thought it was sloppy compared to their debut album, but after a few more listens (and the removal of "Aoi Shiori") I grew partial to this one. They seem less hesitant to show their Foals/Two Door Cinema Club/Foster the People influences this time around and it really pays off. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending how you see it, all the standout tracks ("Sayonara Frontier" "Freud", "Good Shoes" and "Asu e") are jammed back-to-back right in the middle.
Modern Rivals - Sea Legs (EP)
I still cannot fathom how these guys can give this away for
FREE. It's all very Vampire Weekend meets Arcade Fire meets Arctic Monkeys meets the Morning Benders meets Animal Collective but still stands on its own.
Sakanaction - Neptunus (song)
This was such a relief after the single's hospital drama tie-in a-side "Boku to Hana" ended up being a total clunker. If I was the shaking and crying type, the first time I heard this I would have had a shaking and crying moment. They've really perfected that anthemic chorus business; the transition from the second chorus is seamless. It's gotten a lot of comparisons to Radiohead if that'll get anyone here to check it out.
SHINee -
Sherlock (song)
I give my sister so much shit for listening to One Direction yet I love a Korean boyband. Whatever, this song is awesome despite the obvious copy and paste verse-chorus dynamic. The EP would have been fine if they hadn't marketed said copy and paste practice as a "hybrid song" gimmick and included the redundant "Clue" and "Note" tracks.
Various Artists - Moonrise Kingdom (soundtrack)
I'm looking forward to upcoming albums from Grizzly Bear, Bat for Lashes, Tokumaru Shugo, BoA, along with Sondre Lerche's live album. It'd be pretty awesome too if Vampire Weekend and Sakanaction's new album came out by December. Hopefully Annuals can get some backing to distribute their long-awaited
Such Fun follow-up too.
The only real letdowns for me have been the new albums by Purity Ring, Friends, Amuro Namie, and Tokyo Jihen's EP. I still need to listen to the new Dirty Projectors album, and what I've heard so far from
Channel Orange sounded fantastic.