59 posts tagged “music”

I picked up some really good albums in May.

I picked these up in April:

I also got this Evening Magazine EP and Mighty Righteous by The Fantastics ! but they don't have art on Amazon.

Oh, and:

Swoon

Silversun Pickups

Homg. ♥ ♥

Oops: I left out a few things I got in the past week to round out my Emusic downloads:

Also a few tracks from Cloud Cult's Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes).

Here's some music I liked last month:

There was also a bunch I found by almost catching up on Shifted Sound, so it's not on Amazon (apparently):

Bromst

I sank the biggest chunk of playing time into the new Dan Deacon album, Bromst... though I haven't been playing the hell out of it like I did with Merriweather Post Pavilion. Maybe I won't burn out on it, then.

Rearrange Beds

It's also time for the post-SXSW shows, and after listening to Sound Opinions' wrap-up yesterday I've already bought my first album, An Horse's Rearrange Beds. It's also the first music I've bought on the iTunes Store in forever, but you can hear the whole thing on Last.fm (mileage may vary). They remind me of Pretty Girls Make Graves for some reason, though they're much softer; I would like more songs as fast as “Horizons,” but it's still a pretty good album. Not quite as revelatory as Sons and Daughters' This Gift (which I heard on Sound Opinions' SXSW 2008 show and was a favorite of the year), but good.

So it's March.

Nick wondered why I'd only just gotten the Tally Hall album. I found out about it when my last roommate played “Banana Man” at me every chance he got, but never got the whole thing despite the cool video for “Good Day.” However I was reminded of it by Molly's cover of the hidden-in-plain-sight last track and finally got the whole album.

In February there were a few more game soundtracks: In addition to the Psychonauts Original Soundtrack, I also got the Psychonauts Cinematic Score when they both landed on download services such as Emusic. This month Offworld also linked to free soundtracks for Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure, World of Goo, and The Legend of Princess.

So far this year I've been enjoying some new favorites from other people's year end lists, and of course:

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective

The Invincible and Blu & Exile are some hip-hop Emusic recommended, but I haven't gotten very into them yet. I've had better luck with some miscellaneous tracks from Skate 2. I also got some miscellaneous singles from a few BBC Sound of 2009 contenders like Florence and the Machine, Kid Cudi, and winner Little Boots that are really nice. (Apparently Little Boots got started on YouTube.)

Krissy asked me a couple weeks ago if I had made a top list of 2008, which I agreed I should, but that also should have reminded me I hadn't posted an epdate for December yet either. A lot of it was assorted Christmas music, so the disappointing paucity of regular music was:

It was actually the Parts & Labor album I didn't like. Maritime is okay.

But since then I got:

Christmas Caravan

And, oops, it's December, so it's time for Christmas music. I never had the Squirrel Nut Zippers' holiday album so that's the only new thing so far, though I collected a playlist last year's picks and some new albums I'll get when I get December's downloads.

I did save my mid-month picks 'til now, so here's some stuff:

Some of these were kind of speculative picks. I'm not sure how much I like the New Radiant Storm King or Maritime albums. I've played the hell out of the Broken West's Now or Heaven, though.

So what'd I get in September?

Trying to post these at the start of the month seems to naturally cleave my buying in two, since I try to spend my downloads for them, don't succeed, then really try to spend them all before they expire. So these plus those late “August” selections make a month's worth (I've sure been listening to Sissy Wish and Doomtree the past half month). Plus I have 46 downloads that half expire on Saturday, so I should pick up a few more by the next epdate.

This Gift

Sons & Daughters

I was trying to pick out the rest of those downloads (I still had 44 that expire Thursday), but found out that with the new presence of Domino Records on Emusic, you (or at least us in the US) can now get one of my favorite albums of 2008, one I paid $15 for on 7digital, Sons and Daughters' This Gift on Emusic. With my iTunes crapping out, it's now even putting the last track, “Goodbye Service,” on my iPod again, which is nice.

Meanwhile these are the other “August” albums I got:

These are kind of speculative picks from Shifted Sound and watching a bunch of Epic Fu today (though Apparat's been on my Save For Later list for a while). So we'll see if they're good.