We were honored when Nerve magazine recently asked me to compose a list of five albums for their recurring guest column “Five Albums You Should Be Listening To Right Now;” the results are published today right here. As much as we love High Fidelity, and making top-five lists, we truly agonized over which records to choose in the weeks between being asked and delivering the article. After all, I do this because I love music, and it was near impossible to choose what to put on the list. So, to go along with the Nerve article, here are ten more albums you should really be listening to right now, in no particular order.
1. Kurt Vile – Wakin On A Pretty Daze
Kurt Vile’s last effort Smoke Ring for my Haloreceived universal acclaim and was hailed as one of the best albums of the year. His newest albumWakin On A Pretty Daze expands this work by embracing more clean production values and stretching the songs into epic, sprawling, folk-tinged takes on rock. The songs are built on steady grooves, incorporate touches of psychedelia and electronic effects, and draw inspiration from rock and roll greats across the decades such Pavement, Wilco, Big Star, and Lou Reed.
2. Foxygen – We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace and Magic
All the promise reflected in Foxygen’s overdue debut full-length Take the Kids Off Broadway has been fully realized on their sophomore effort, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, which emerges as a triumphant achievement. Less than six months after Foxygen released their debut, we have been graced incredibly with a new record full of captivating and diverse songs that reveal surprising turns and subtleties. Though influences litter the songs of We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, as the title itself implies, Foxygen not only makes them their own but also blends them in a balanced and masterful way.
3. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – II
While II clearly invokes elements of the Beatles, as its songs balance between pretty pop and dirty 70s rock, the album also recalls other great bands such as Big Star. Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s lo-fi, funky, psychedelic pop could easily be called difficult to pigeonhole, but one of the most successful aspects of their record lies in its listenability and instant likability.
Yo La Tengo have produced a record as solid as almost anything they’ve produced in the past, and I am likely to listen to it more than almost any other record this year. How can a band be so good at making music for so long? The record kicks off with the epic, distorted fuzz of “Ohm,” emitting an eastern influence, but only if you can ignore the feel-good, late-night chant of a chorus. It’s a perfect example of all the disparate sounds Yo La Tengo has the ability to channel. As I listen again (for about the 20th time) while I type, all I can do is shake my head in joyful bewilderment as Yo La Tengo proves that you can write a 7 minute track that you’re actually disappointed to hear end.
“Won’t you slip on by my side, and drive through the countryside?” Nick Chiericozzi asks in the first line of “Open the Door.” The easy pace and acoustic guitars that open New Moon will likely have many listeners wondering if they’ve clicked the wrong track in iTunes, as brazen punk outfit The Men have shed some of their caustic edge in favor of a collection of country-leaning rock songs. The Men have opened the door on a whole new sound, and announce it proudly from the record’s first notes. Naysayers will complain, but this move is why we’ve always loved The Men; they refuse to play by any rules or adhere to popular expectation.
6. Social Studies – Developer
Social Studies just about stole the night when they played a recent Austin set with buzz bands like Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Foxygen. Their closing song “Terracur” captivated the room as much as any performance of the evening as the band delivered spot-on synth-riddled pop driven by Natalia Rogovin’s vocals over Michael Jirkovsky’s outstanding drumming. The band’s album Developer has been criminally under-recognized, despite the fact that anyone who hears it becomes a fan. Give it a listen below and get hooked.
7. Marnie Stern – Chronicles Of Marnia
Blending the organic and near-magical finger tapping style of guitar playing prodigy Marnie Stern has mastered with staccato vocal bursts,Chronicles of Marnia begins sounding almost experimentally synthetic. As stated, it is not. However, the otherworldly sounds Stern emits both with her vocal chords and guitar are almost unbelievable. In one song on the album, Stern sings, “It’s a pretty good mystery”—though these words find themselves surrounded by similarly cryptic lyrics, it sounds like she’s summing up this unpredictable thing we call life. The same description could easily apply to her newest album, but I’d say it’s a pretty great mystery, Ms. Stern—downright magical—and we’re happy to be along for the adventure.
Recently, The Lips have been delving into darker and more experimental territory, and their new album continues that trend. The Terror is an imposing, ominous record—a solitary walk across a vast and vacant, cold and windswept, post-apocalyptic desert. However, The Terror isn’t the absolute downer it has been purported to be; uplifting and glorious melodies are embedded within these songs. Hidden within this terrifying chaos and within our hearts is the dichotomous kernel of our universe. The night before The Flaming Lips debuted The Terror in its entirety at SXSW, an electronic freakshow that had Wayne cradling a doll tethered to the stage lights by a dozen or more mechanical cords, the band performed Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots from beginning to end at a small show at The Belmont. The sequence of these sets says it all. You can’t have love without hate. You can’t have order without chaos. And you can’t have Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots without The Terror.
9. Nick Cave – Push The Sky Away
I must confess that while Nick Cave is someone whose music I’ve been familiar with over the years, I can’t speak with confidence about the quality or merits of any of his latter day solo albums. So, if this is a triumphant return to form or merely of a continuation of brilliance, I can’t say. However, that really has little bearing on my ability to state with assuredness that Cave’s new album Push the Sky Away is a masterful album of minimalist, lounge-pop with a jagged edge of dark, atmospheric post-punk.
We were greatly impressed by the balance of melody and noise on The Babies’ 2012 album Our House On The Hill, and other bands such as The Men and King Tuff have experimented with these spheres. However, Mikal Cronin’s newest album MCII perfects this blend and delivers one of the year’s most immediately enjoyable, adeptly arranged, and furiously beautiful albums. MCII is a tour de force, a gift to indie rock fans in the form of a rare power pop gem.
