Album of the Week Mix
The newest installment of Treble’s Album of the Week mix is especially epic. Part of this is due to the fact that it encompasses nearly three months’ worth of recommended albums. But the songs, themselves, this time around seem bigger and more sprawling than usual. From Isis’ post-metal assault, to The Field’s Krautrock inspired loop spiral, to James Blackshaw’s acoustic majesty and Dinosaur Jr.’s fuzzy indie rock opus. But then again, we’ve got some choice single length tracks as well, from Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, Future of the Left, Mos Def and plenty more. One thing’s certain, however: they’re all awesome.
St. Vincent – “Black Rainbow”
from Actor
“`Black Rainbow’ twinkles and sparkles, but remains a relatively simple and beautiful highlight until it escalates into a creeping monster.”
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Deradoorian – “High Road”
from Mind Raft
“`High Road’ is, well, a high point, one of the songs I have found myself leaning on as I slog through winter toward what passes for spring in Scotland.”
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Jarvis Cocker – “You’re In My Eyes (Discosong)”
from Further Complications
“Sure, there are huge elements of disco inherent, but I find the song more akin to Bowie’s Young Americans album, chock-full of classic soul.”
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The Field – “Sequenced”
from Yesterday and Today
“`Sequencer’ is a 15-minute slow-mo, disco damped space-out that would sound in place alongside some of Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas’ work.”
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Phoenix – “Fences”
from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
“The slow groove of former Phoenix albums returns with this track, like a late night flirtation, or at least a cross between `I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’ and `Sexy Boy.'”
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Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”
from Veckatimest
“`Two Weeks,’ the first single to be released from the album, is easily the catchiest song that Grizzly Bear has written, in addition to being thoroughly gorgeous.”
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Isis – “Hall of the Dead”
from Wavering Radiant
“The sharp, precise chug that kicks off first track `Hall of the Dead’ should send the message early on that this is an album that rocks hard, and consistently at that.”
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Pink Mountaintops – “Execution”
from Outside Love
“Execution” one-ups that with sunny Spector-esque melodies, girl band harmonies and darkly romantic lyrics like “I would fight to stay your execution/ I would die to save your soul.”
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Sonic Youth – “Sacred Trickster”
from The Eternal
“The clanging chords that introduce opener `Sacred Trickster’ are but a tease, because in just a few seconds, the song explodes into the band’s most straightforward and visceral single since `100%’.”
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Dirty Projectors – “Useful Chamber”
from Bitte Orca
“Pretty much every song on Bitte Orca is a highlight, though the most undeniably thrilling song is six-minute monster `Useful Chamber.'”
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Mos Def – “Auditorium”
from The Ecstatic
“Another track with widescreen Bollywood samples, `Auditorium’ juxtaposes Mos Def’s fluid, unstoppable delivery (best line: `soul is the lion’s roar, voice is the siren/ I swing `round wring out and bring down the tyrant/ chop a small axe and knock a giant lopsided‘) with Slick Rick’s lyrics from the perspective of an unwelcome visitor in Iraq during the occupation.”
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James Blackshaw – “Cross”
from The Glass Bead Game
“`Cross’ layers Blackshaw’s meandering guitar with subtly aching strings and really takes off when Lavinia Blackwell’s (Directing Hand) voice gets added to the mix.”
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Sunset Rubdown – “You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)”
from Dragonslayer
“What I love about the music of this band and particularly this album is that for all its randomness, it’s obvious they know what they are doing and are deceptively careful and particular with what they do.”
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Dinosaur Jr. –
from Farm
“(`Plans’) lays the overdrive on thick as usual, but it’s a surprisingly pretty song.”
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Future of the Left – “Arming Eritrea”
from Travels With Myself and Another
“Falkous’ yelp of `I’m an adult!’ may sound humorously out of place in the furious opener “Arming Eritrea,” but once he belts it out, the group drives straight into one of the most mesmerizing, melodically stunning choruses they’ve ever crafted.”
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Bowerbirds – “Ghost Life”
from Upper Air
“`Ghost Life’ is another standout, having “oh’s” making words completely unnecessary in one of the more affecting choruses on the album.”
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We Were Promised Jetpacks – “This Is My House, This Is My Home”
from These Four Walls
“The repeated line, `something’s happened in the attic, we both know I’m not going up there,’ from `This Is My House,’ can be interpreted as either innocent childlike fear, or as an insinuation of something far more sinister.”
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Ganglians – “Lost Words”
from Monster Head Room
“`Lost Words’ eases into a twinkling, jangly indie pop piece, beautiful and bittersweet, with lots of infectious handclaps and the oft-repeated phrase `taking trips to the grocery store.‘”
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The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”
from Hometowns
“`Don’t Haunt This Place’ isn’t one of the album’s loudest tracks, but certainly one that creates a powerful emotional rush, with Cole and Edenloff beautifully harmonizing heartbreaking lines like `the things we never had/ the things we wish would come back/ because we need this oh, so bad.‘”
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