guillemots - red [2008]

hi folks. i'm happy to do this post. happy because i will now introduce the best album of 2008 so far (travis will release ode to j.smith sometime in the fall, then we'll decide for sure). happy to introduce the greatest sophomore success since 1997 and "the man who". for anyone who is fans of the music posted on this site, this band will fill serious voids in your recent music library. they may be the most original band to come out of the uk in the last five years. this is not ordinary music, by any means. well, WELL, worth downloading. 

also, if you like this, check out their first release, "through the window pane". amazing. the album starts out with this gorgeous slow strings piece. paul mccartney, praising the originality, said it was "a very brave way to start an album" and stated his admiration for the tracks "beautiful orchestration."  check out "get over it", "falling out of reach", and "clarion".  you're welcome :)

1. kriss kross
2. big dog
3. falling out of reach
4. get over it
5. clarion
6. last kiss
7. cockateels
8. words
9. standing on the last star
10. don't look down
11. take me home

adem-takes [2008]

i posted an album by adem a while ago. great artist. i saw him with badly drawn boy last march and then began to listen to more of his stuff. i haven't really been doing this blog long enough to get too many new albums from artists previously posted so this one makes me kind of excited. we've been together in this blog world for about 8 months now....(tear)....thanks guys. i've enjoyed it. and you, will enjoy this album. booyaa. check out the pinback cover, loro, and the low cover, laser beam.

1. bedside table (bedhead)
2. oh my lover (pj harvey)
3. slide (lisa germano)
4. loro (pinback)
5. hotellounge (dEUS)
6. to cure a weakling chile (boy girl song) (aphex twin)
7. tears are in your eyes (yo la tengo)
8. starla (smashing pumpkins)
9. gamera (tortoise)
10. unravel (bjork)
11. invisible man (the breeders)
12. laser beam (low)

natalie imbruglia - white lilies island [2001]

i am not ashamed. i am secure in my manhood. i am not ashamed. i am secure in my manhood. should i say it one more time? i am not ashamed. i am secure in my manhood. glad we got that over with. in case any of you were wondering i'm not ashamed of this post. i'm also not ashamed to admit that back when i was in high school when this album came out i had a HUGE faarreaking crush on natalie imbruglia. so that was like 80 percent of the reason i bought it. i also had a thing for chick voices. really soft ones--i am not ashamed--and her's is amazing. sure, i may have been the only guy around with a 1200 watt stereo blasting imbruglia through two 10s. but it's ok because i am not ashamed and i'm secure. and she actually has a lot of talent and some of this music is very impressive. not just poppy. really actually good stuff. check out "satellite", "wrong impression" and "do you love".

1. that day
2. beauty on the fire
3. satellite
4. do you love?
5. wrong impression
6. goodbye
7. everything goes
8. hurricane
9. sunlight
10. talk in tongues
11. butterflies
12. come september

flight of the conchords - flight of the conchords [2008]

great album. freaking great show. if you haven't seen it. contact me immediately.

1. foux du fafa
2. inner city pressure
3. hiphopopotamus vs. rhymernoceros
4. think about it
5. ladies of the world
6. mutha uckas
7. prince of parties
8. leggy blonde
9. robots
10. boom
11. a kiss is not a contract
12. the most beautiful girl in the room
13. business time
14. bowie
15. au revoir

ryan adams - easy tiger [2007]

i've been putting this off. just not enough time to do everything. this album is incredible. a while back i posted probably ryan adams best album in "gold". if this doesn't challenge the title of best than it certainly comes in a close second. it's much different of an album and has so many great songs. nothing beats rolling down the windows and blasting these songs during a 75 degree dusk. seriously, all around this album is incredible, well, maybe just avoid track four but the rest are awesome. awesome.

1. goodnight rose
2. two
3. everybody knows
4. halloweenhead
5. oh my, whatever etc.
6. tears of gold
7. the sun also sets
8. off broadway
9. pearls on a string
10. rip off
11. two hearts
12. these girls
13. i taught myself how to grow old

rogue wave - descended like vultures [2005]

good day, bnat-ers. here's a great new post for you. you should really like this one. rogue wave is a band i have been hearing about for a little over three months now. my brother has been trying to cram it down my throat and because of that i think i'd had a hard time getting myself really wrapped around the band. you see, i am the type of person that for some reason i really have to get into a band myself in order to fall in love with the music. other people can tell me all day about how great the band is, i still have to just take the time to sit down and listen and analyze the music...i finally gave in and am quite pleased with what rogue wave has put down. check out the songs "california" (any song that starts out with the words "screw california" has to be good), "bird on a wire", and "publish my love". booya...

1. bird on a wire
2. publish my love
3. salesman at the day of the parade
4. catform
5. love lost guarantee
6. 10:1
7. california
8. are you on my side
9. medicine ball
10. you
11. temporary

bnat best of now volume I

ladies and gentlemen....it's time to introduce a new segment to our sweet little b.l.o.g.g. it's called best of now. randomly, and i mean completely randomly, i will post best of albums. what these albums are primarily consisted of is the music that is now on my playlists or my song of the week charts. this is the first of these posts. i hope you'll enjoy....and by all means folks, if you enjoy any of these songs you should hit me up for the entire album or even more information.

1. paul mccartney - anyway
2. jackson browne - doctor my eyes
3. mint - brand new toy
4. toad the wet sprocket - something's always wrong
5. landon pigg - falling in love at a coffee shop
6. maximo park - parisian skies
7. amiina - seoul
8. queen - headlong
9. ella fitzgerald & louis armstrong - summertime
10. eels - fresh feeling
11. wilco - i'm the man who loves you
12. sam cooke - a change is gonna come
13. graham nash - another sleep song

the saturday sessions

this is a couple of discs of artist who have been guests on the dermot o'leary show covering other artists. it's decent. some of these covers are pretty good. others really suck. but honestly, i'm not a huge fan of covers, especially beatles covers, but some of these are worth listening to. check out "turin brakes - breaking the girl", "athlete - god only knows",  and "kt tunstall - i want you back".

disc 1

1. the feeling - walk like an egyptian
2. amy winehouse - to know him is to love him
3. lily allen - everybody's changing
4. the racounteurs - steady as she goes
5. kasabian - pictures of matchstick men
6. gomez - wichita lineman
7. massive attack feat. terry callier - live with me
8. supergrass - richard III
9. camera obscura - super trooper
10. jont - number 1
11. the new york fund - nobody home
12. kings of leon - on call
13. willy mason - careless whisper
14. kt tunstall - i want you back
15. guillemots - love song 43
16. the shins - breathe
17. electric soft parade - silent to the dark
18. orson - i can't go for that
19. the manic street preachers - motorcycle emptiness
20. thrills - nothing changes
21. jamie t - a new england
22. bloc party - two more years

disc 2

1. mika - grace kelly
2. kooks - she moves in her own way
3. james morrison - wonderful world
4. ray lamontagne - trouble
5. turin brakes - breaking the girl
6. the magic numbers - love me like you
7. nerina pallot - confide in me
8. rufus wainwright - hallelujah
9. sergio mendes - fool on the hill
10. stoney - waterfall
11. paul weller - come on, let's go
12. zero 7 - i go to sleep
13. ben kweller - in other words
14. mumm-ra - in between days
15. the stars - this charming man
16. athlete - god only knows
17. bat for lashes - i'm on fire
18. scott matthews - boy with the thorn in his side 
19. josh pyke - middle of the hill
20. the little ones - oh, mj
21. the bees - who cares what the question is
22. low vs. diamond - moonage daydream
23. beck - lost cause

glen hansard and the frames [2006]

this is actually two albums. i can't post one of these without the other. i just heard about the "once" original soundtrack last week from fellow-blogger/music-aholic jake on his page at postfontaine. i dig it. it's really good so i went ahead and did some research about the male singer named glen hansard and found that he has been a part of the irish band "the frames" since the early 90's. i got a couple of the frames' more recent albums and they're just as good as the soundtrack. in fact, many of the songs can be found on both albums. the song "falling slowly" found on the once soundtrack actually won an oscar for best original score. impressive eh? here are the albums with the once soundtrack linked to jake's page.

1. song for someone
2. falling slowly
3. people get ready
4. rise
5. when your mind's made up
6. sad songs
7. the cost
8. true
9. the side you never get to see
10. bad bond

1. falling slowly
2. if you want me
3. broken hearted hoover sucker guy
4. when your mind's made up
5. lies
6. gold
7. the hill
8. fallen from the sky
9. leave
10. trying to pull myself away
11. all the way down
12. once
13. say it to me

ben christophers-spoonface [2001]

i've had this album for a long time. when i first heard ben christophers i really got into him. he has such a unique style. i'm sure you'll notice it as well. his voice is so piercing. ben has four albums out to date with the last being in 2005. don't know why he still hasn't come up with anything new but who are we to judge, right? anybody reading this ever come up with something better? didn't think so. if you really think you have, send it to me and i'll listen to it. if it's better, i'll consider posting it here under the title "i was wrong. one of our readers may have made something better than ben christophers". not bloody likely though. anywho, check out the songs "leaving my sorrow behind", "hooded kiss", and "transatlantic shooting stars". you'll like em.

1. leaving my sorrow behind
2. the stream
3. falls into view
4. transatlantic shooting stars
5. hooded kiss
6. easter park
7. songbird scrapes the sky
8. spoonface
9. losing myself
10. the opium willows

kathryn williams - relations [2004]

i like this album. kathryn williams is a british singer/songwriter with a pretty nice voice. this album, though, did not require to "songwrite". its an album of all covers. now, normally i am not a huge fan of covers, especially beatles covers. if you can't rival the original (and the beatles you just can't) then it just bothers people more if you sing it than if you'd never tried in the first place. that said, she does a good job with a couple of these. i recommend her cover of the leonard cohen classic "hallelujah"....it maybe the best version of the song out there, and i've heard some good ones (i.e. jeff buckley, damien rice, rufus wainwright). also, the bee gees cover, "i started a joke" is good but still not as good as the wallflowers (as seen in zoolander). anywho, check it out....see what you think. below is the song title along with the original recording artist.

1. in a broken dream (david bentley)
2. birds (neil young)
3. thirteen (big star)
4. hallelujah (leonard cohen)
5. ballad of easy rider (the byrds)
6. a guy what takes his time (mae west)
7. candy says (the velvet underground)
8. how can we hang on to a dream (tim hardin)
9. i started a joke (bee gees)
10. easy and me (lee hazlewood)
11. spit on a stranger (stephen malkmus)
12. all apologies (nirvana)
13. beautiful cosmos (ivor cutler)
14. these days (jackson browne)

the envy corps-dwell [2007]

i don't have much to say about this album....i don't know it all that well. i just came across it this week and thought it had a couple of nice licks. you can decide for yourselves. from the initial listen you may think this is a u.k. band. not so, interestingly enough. the envy corps hail from the great state of iowa. i myself have been to iowa on three or four occasions. i gotta say that of the midwestern states it certainly is one of the most beautiful. i am not surprised that this music could be produced in such a beautiful place. that's beside the point. check out the songs "wires & wool", "rhinemaidens" and "before the gold rush" (note connection to neil young's "after the gold rush". not only are they iowan, they're witty, and neil young fans).

1. wires & wool
2. sylvia (the beekeeper)
3. keys to good living
4. rhinemaidens
5. before the gold rush
6. walls
7. 99, 100
8. rooftop
9. party dress
10. story problem
11. baby teeth

sir paul mccartney-chaos and creation in the backyard [2005]

forget the long title, this album is simply amazing. after years and years of struggling albums paul finally got his reputation back when, in 2005, he collaborated with radiohead/beck-producer nigel godrich (who also worked with travis a ton) and came up with this work of art. now, i am a die-hard beatles/paul fan. i can honestly say that through thick and thin i follow his work. but it took me this album to officially bring him back around on the long-lasting-amazing-writing scale. well he's there. no question. check out "too much rain", "this never happened before", and "english tea", especially the intros....

1. fine line
2. how kind of you
3. jenny wren
4. at the mercy
5. friends to go
6. english tea
7. too much rain
8. a certain softness
9. riding to vanity fair
10. follow me
11. promise to you girl
12. this never happened before
13. anyway

van halen-best of volume I [1996]

holy crap. you know, i have resisted posting this album for some time. i can't hold back any longer though. simply incredible music; no way around that. i have been listening to this album since the 8th grade when me and my best friend mike were riding around with his older brother and he put this disc in and went straight to song number 13 and we rocked out the "right now" until our brains got too joggled in our heads from banging em. you may have a more "crystal" clear memory of that song being used in the classic "crystal pepsi" adds. however you remember it, it's fantastic. aside from that, this album is packed with classic van halen goodness. i still get goose bumps when sammy hagar does one of his "heys" right after the stirring intro in "when it's love". holy crap. this post, this album, is for all the second guitar part-players out there. eddie taught you the best he possibly could. take note folks. few can rival these second parts.

1. eruption
2. ain't talkin' 'bout love
3. runnin' with the devil
4. dance the night away
5. and the cradle will rock
6. unchained
7. jump
8. panama
9. why can't this be love
10. dreams
11. when it's love
12. poundcake
13. right now
14. can't stop lovin' you
15. human beings
16. can't get this straight
17. me wise magic

the weepies-say i am you [2006]

this is a great album. i first heard of the weepies from my little brother about six months ago and my wife hasn't stopped listening to them since. the female vocalist (deb talan) just has an amazing and tantalizing voice. i am told that they are the source of much of famous (ha!) pop singer mandy moore's music. wouldn't surprise me though. if you need something to relax you and just make you feel happy all around this is a perfect one. check out "gotta have you", "city wide rodeo", and "world spins madly on".

1. take it from me
2. gotta have you
3. world spins madly on
4. city wide rodeo
5. riga girls
6. suicide blonde
7. a painting by chagall
8. nobody knows me at all
9. not your year
10. twilight
11. stars
12. love doesn't last
13. slow pony ride