My musical tastes shift from season to season and month to month. I’ll get really interested in a sound, genre or small group of bands and just play them to death. Then I move onto another sound or band that pops up and strikes my fancy. Rinse and repeat. Here are a few bands and albums I’ve really been digging:
A Place to Bury Strangers – Keep Slipping Away
Three people on stage can make a lot of noise, or more appropriately a really BIG sound. The wall-of-sound space/psych rock of A Place To Bury Strangers will knock you on your ass. Their major influence, Jesus & Mary Chain, is a very obvious part of their sound, but they bring more to the table than just indie shoegaze. I hear elements of post-rock, new wave and drone. They first gained notoriety while opening for Brian Jonestown Massacre, which is a very apt headliner for their feedback-induced thunder rock.
I heard about this Seattle artist through an old friend and immediately fell head over heels into her lilting and complex sound. Dreamy and folky at times, she sounds the best when the dark rawness comes out in her music and only her sparse guitar is accompanying her. Her music is healing, a hint or a whisper floated towards your ears. I suspect she’ll garner some attention soon, especially among fans of Tiny Vipers and Katharine Hepburn’s Voice.
Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt II
I love me some Ghostface Killah, but this new Raekwon album may be the best solo Wu-Tang effort to date. The flow of songs are balanced and there aren’t any duds, as there often are on rap albums. His emphasis on whip smart vocals and his trademark Mafioso rap style make this a killer listen. Simultaneously gritty and downright luxurious, this is the rap album that listeners of NW hip hop need to hear. It’s a different kind of sound, y’all.
I took notice of the found-sound largeness of the song “Warped” when I heard it on John in the Morning’s show on KEXP. I hear hints of the likes of Animal Collective, El Guincho and perhaps something a bit more pastoral and open-skied. It’s a beautiful mess of soaring vocals, knob-twiddling and lush auto harp melodies, with a smidge of shoe-gaze that just exudes warmth. They’re from Seattle and I HIGHLY look forward to seeing them play.
Do your tastes change with the seasons? What are some of your favorite albums or bands during these cold winter days?