MUSIC THREAD

Went through Spotify and made playlists of the top 50 albums from Rolling Stone's year end issue (save for two that aren't on Spotify, including, sadly, Adele's 21, their top album of the year).

I would have never found myself listening to a Raphael Saadiq album otherwise, which would have been a shame because this Raphael Saadiq album "Stone Rollin'" is pretty fuckin' good.

 

Some of the best albums from 2011 that not many people know about:

- The Cults, “Cults”
- The Weeknd, “House of Balloons”
- Yelawolf, “Radioactive”
- Childish Gambino, “Camp”
- Frank Ocean, “Nostalgia/Ultra”
- Wild Flag, “Wild Flag”
- The Roots, “Undun”
- Yuck, “Yuck”
- Fleet Foxes, “Helplessness Blues”
- Wilco, “The Whole Love”
- Bon Iver, “Bon Iver”
- Noel Gallagher, “High Flying Birds”
- Kurt Vile, “Smoke Ring for my Halo”
- My Morning Jacket, “Circuital”
- Danger Mouse, “Grey Album”

 

Rat City by Jack Oblivian is one of my fave albums of 2011. "Jealous Heart" is the best Springsteen song the Boss hasn't written in years.

 

Yeah, pretty much every one of those acts are on a Bonnaroo watch list except for MMJ, which pre-headlined for Arcade Fire last year. I also think Wilco is playing in Europe on Bonnaroo weekend.

 

I know there are some NRBQ fans in these parts (I am one of them, what a terrific band), drummer Tommy Ardolino died last week and is remembered here by Canuckistani rocker - and damn good writer - Dave Bidini:

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/01/10/dave-bidini-on-the-late-drumming-legend-tommy-ardolino/

 

Lionel Richie is going to win a Grammy for his new CD "Tuskegee". He joins major country music stars to sing his greatest hits as reimagined duets -- Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, and others. Shania Twain joins in to sing what's been called the greatest duet of all time, "Endless Love." They pull it off. "Hello" starts off just like every other version you've heard, and then Jennifer Nettles comes in and just tears the room apart with her vocals.

Great CD. I predict Grammy nominations ala the Robert Plant/Allison Krauss duo from a couple years ago and Herbie Hancock's Joni Letters from 2007.

 

Hmmm, I had not heard of that Richie album. Alas, I doubt he could ever top his appearance on the Simpsons though where all his lyrics are "beer."

 

This wins the Internet today. Fantastic banjo-laden cover of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" by Beautiful Small Machines. The video is nearly as good as the song. I discovered BSM is the brainchild of Bree Sharp, who put out a couple CDs in the 2000s that are amazing. I've been listening to her stuff all night:

 

Started going through some of the albums that received four-star or better reviews on Rolling Stone via Spotify and ran into this band I'd never heard of from Australia called The Jezabels. Pretty awesome. David Fricke said the debut album "Prisoner" sounded like an adult Kate Bush fronting Explosions in the Sky. I'm hooked.

 

They caught my ear, too.

 

A link to a full listen of the Regina Spektor album for anyone who's interested: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/20/152939196/first-listen-regina-spektor-what-we-saw-from-the-cheap-seats.

I saw her live a week ago and she's just incredible. Her music is so rich and she has great vocal range.

 

For all of The Gaslight Anthem fans on this board, here's a link to listen to the album in full: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156551726/first-listen-the-gaslight-anthem-handwritten.