Best New Albums: January 2013

This is a monthly feature I recently introduced. You can stream all the albums mentioned here for free at this Spotify link, which I keep updated.

Best Albums of the Month (tie):

These two albums could be a preview of what my year-end "best of" list will look like. Cult-like musical magician Christopher Owens (whose recent concert I reviewed here) and L.A. classic-rock mash-upper duo Foxygen simply both blow me away.

Buy Owens' Lysandre and Foxygen's We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic now.

Best of the Rest:


Guided By Voices - The Bears For Lunch
Readers of this blog probably know I put a lot of GBV out there. But really, it doesn't matter how many records leader Robert Pollard puts out per year (and it's a lot), I want them all. This is one of his best.

Big Dipper - Crashes on the Platinum Planet
Speaking of Pollard, this great lost band from 1980s Boston is inexplicably back, and the highlight of their resurgent power-pop record is a song called "Robert Pollard" (in which his voice is a dead ringer for my former bandmate and mentor who now helms the legendary Edwardsville, Illinois band Rock Hill Academy). Big Dipper's entire collection was recently released. Buy it all, fast.

The Highballers - Soft Music and Hard Liquor
My son was in the process of getting married to The Highballers' showman-leader Kendall's daughter in their preschool class. That would have made this review a conflict of interest, but luckily it was clean-up time and the kids were unable to comlete the ceremony. Regardless, I saw this band live at Arlington's Artisphere and they were a force. It's easy to compare them to an offshoot of Johnny Cash and June Carter (what with the boy-girl vocals and all), but The Highballers are much funnier, have smoking and tasteful musicianship all around, have lots of songs about drinking (which is, let's admit, the point of honky tonk), and gloriously adds a modern twist ala Uncle Tupelo and The Bottle Rockets.

Yo La Tengo - Fade
One of my favorite space-rock bands of the 90s is back with possibly their best album in years. The seven-minute opener "Ohm" will surely go down as one of their finest songs, and the pace remains pretty strong through most of the record.

Tame Impala - Lonerism
If you like fuzz-psych bands dating from Jimi Hendrix to MGMT, then this is the new band for you. This is super catchy all the way through. They are from Australia and so probably don't tour the U.S. very often, but I imagine the live show would be large.

Best New Albums: December 2012

This is a new monthly feature recently introduced. You can stream all the albums mentioned here for free at this Spotify link, which I keep updated.

This month's list is dedicated to so many great 1990s artists still being around and still being relevant.

Best Album of the Month

Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet on Sky

Bringing all the elements of the best Dino Jr. albums (Bug, You're Livin' All Over Me, Green Mind, Dinosaur, and Where You Been), and adding a little bit of string and some Maurice Sendak-like cover art ... what's not to like? I'll buy any new music that J Mascis is associated with for the rest of my life.

Best of the Rest

Band of Horses - Mirage Rock
This album didn't exactly get a lot of love from critics who have grown cynically obsessed with Band of Horses being too likable for their liking. These guys are supposed to be semi-scary lumberjacks, right? Well, I'll just say it: I love the new, poppier direction that this set brings alongside 2010's Infinite Arms.

The Sea and Cake - Runner
This Chicago band is consistently one of my all-time favorites. You can put their music on in the background or you can throw on the headphones and sail away into wimpy, upbeat, jazzy blissfulness. I defy anyone to listen to opener "On and On" and not want to dig back into more Sea and Cake, like classic albums The Biz, The Sea and Cake, and Nassau.

Green Day - UNO!
Seems like there's been a lot of critical bashing of Green Day this year, but there's something to be said about a band releasing three albums in three months (this was the first). All three albums basically feature the same hooks that were on Dookie so many years ago. But darn if those aren't still delicious hooks.

Jason Lytle - Dept. of Disappearance
Remember that album The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy? Lytle was the leader of that masterpiece, and if you liked that you'll like this ... and anything else he has ever been associated with. His music is kind of like Radiohead without the icky feels-too-important-not-to-like factor.

Robert Pollard - Jack Sells the Cow
Between his three Guided By Voices and two solo albums this year, this release might be my surprise favorite. It is very similar to his 2000s work with the Doug Gilliard-era GBV. Pretty brilliant and necessary stuff.

Best New Albums: October 2012

This is a new monthly feature recently introduced. You can stream all the albums mentioned here for free at this Spotify link, which I keep updated.

Best Album of the Month
Nude Beach - II
This is a wholly unexpected treat from a band I had never heard of. It lands somewhere between Tom Petty and garage punk. I'll just assume that the title means this is Nude Beach's second release. I'd already be on the warpath for the first if I could stop hitting "repeat."

Best of the Rest
The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
This band served up my "album of the year" in 2010 and consistently releases the best folk-rock, by miles, that exists in the world these days. If you're a newbie to North Carolina's Avetts, start here, or, for that matter, start on any of their albums. A very close second to Nude Beach as album of the month.

Eux Autres - Sun is Sunk
From Portland, this brother-sister duo is like the part of Sleater-Kinney I would have always preferred. They are slightly abrasive and lo-fi like that band, but they are so much catchier and full of melody.

Allo Darlin' - Europe
This twee-pop group is just the second stringer we need when Belle and Sebastian takes a break from making records. Its self-titled 2010 debut is near perfect, and they've got a handful of great other singles and EPs. It's a great relief to me to have album #2 in hand now.

Cat Power - Sun
Unfortunately, I heard that Chan Marshall of Cat Power had another one of her famed onstage meltdowns last week at the 9:30 Club in DC. Fortunately, her new studio work is thoroughly listenable from the comfort of my own home. "Ruin" is already on my shortlist for best songs of 2012.

Young Fresh Fellows - Tiempo De Lujo
I'm accumulating quite a collection by these guys. Led by long-time R.E.M. guitarist Scott McCaughey, the Americana fluttering around on the band's 13th album goes into all kinds of directions. There's something for everyone, and also like an old friend you always love to hear from.

David Byrne and St. Vincent - Love This Giant
For some reason, I didn't think I would be into this. But I love Byrne and his Talking Heads. And I love St. Vincent (a much-less-annoying Regina Spektor or Tori Amos, with serious guitar licks). These songs are weird, but shockingly catchy and hummable.

Best New Albums: September 2012

This is a new monthly feature recently introduced. You can stream all the albums mentioned here for free at this Spotify link, which I keep updated.

Best Album of the Month

Pujol - United States of Being
Tennessee garage rock that is obscure, but should not be and probably won't be for long. This is high-spirited party rock n' roll, like an even better Kings of Leon or Black Keys. It's all good, but I especially like "Keeper of Atlantis" and "Each and Everyday," which sounds like the best of every decade merging together into one rollicking Foo Fighters number.

Best of the Rest

Shintaro Sakamoto - How to Live With a Phantom
I have no idea who this guy is or where he came from, but it's very Japanese Brazilian tropicalia-ish. It makes me very happy whenever I play it. Samba beats, groovy beach guitars, and soothing backing harmonies. "In a Phantom Mood" is like the great lost Os Mutantes song.

Wussy - Buckeye

This month seems to be filled with semi-obscure recommendations. However, this band has been around for several albums and this may be their best one yet. Male and female vocals run throughout a diverse range of rock styles and sounds, probably best described as a mix of punk and alt-country. It still keeps growing on me after several listens.

The White Wires - WWIII

More 60s AM radio garage punk. This must have been my late-summer theme. These new kids on the scene, from Ottawa, have two records out this year. The first one was called, you guessed it, WWII. Not sure what happened to WWI.

Various Artists - Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac

This is an unusual tribute album in that it's really good and interesting. It helps that the Mac's songs are so strong, but groups like Best Coast, The New Pornographers, and Tame Impala shine on original takes.

Hacienda - Shakedown

This is a warm, organic, funky band from San Antonio that wouldn't normally be my thing, but the boogie woogie going on throughout most of this is just too darn difficult not to recommend to just about anyone, even the most hardened and jaded hipsters.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes

This is my favorite Ariel Pink release yet, and I'm a little angry I missed their recent show at the 9:30 Club. It must have been weird. There are a lot of obvious Frank Zappa comparisons, but it has been updated to fit in even better into our current era. There are also beautiful interludes of pop majesty throughout, meeting somewhere between Brian Eno, Of Montreal, and Todd Rundgren.

Best New Albums: August 2012

This is a new monthly feature recently introduced. You can stream all the albums mentioned here for free at this Spotify link, which I keep updated.

Best Album of the Month:
Jeff the Brotherhood - Hypnotic Nights
Wanna be able to play something poolside this summer that your one or other two friends with good taste in rock music will dig alongside all the others who consider Weezer way out on the edge? Look no further.

Best of the Rest:
Foxygen - Take the Kids Off Broadway
A weird little discovery that is actually quiet epic with its 6-minute songs that shift frequently musically from Pink Floyd to Neutral Milk Hotel and other innumerable acts. The band is able to remain completely original, and even includes a vocalist who sometimes sounds more like Mick Jagger than anyone not in The Rolling Stones.

JJAMZ - Suicide Pact
Please don't hate me for suggesting you should listen to an album like this. Call it my guilty summer alternative to Carly Rae Jepsen. It's super catchy, and perhaps not even disposable!

Soul Asylum - Delayed Reaction
I loved this Minneapolis band in the 90s (two of my favorite concerts were their And the Horse They Rode In On shows in St. Louis and at the University of Missouri), and this is a return to form. Half of the album recalls Soul Asylum's more rowdy early days and the rest hints at the poppier side from their "Runaway Train" mainstream era.

Lee Ranaldo - Between the Times and the Tides
Sonic Youth's guitar player shows why his main band is so good. It's not all Thurston Moore after all. This solo LP is laced with great riffs and CBGB New York attitude in the vocals throughout. He was also great in concert last month opening for Wilco.

Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold
Has it really been 10 years since these sun-drenched beach bums released anything? This is drippingly and soothingly, simply, beautiful. It makes me want to sit in a hammock and just listen every time.

Donnie & Joe Emerson - Dreamin' Wild
These two kid brothers recorded this in their basement back when classic rock was still classic. If you can get past the ridiculously cheesy cover art of them rockin' out in leisure suits, it's very groovy rock n' roll.

Best New Albums: July 2012

This is a new monthly feature introduced last month. You can stream all the albums mentioned here for free at this Spotify link, which I keep updated.

Best Album of the Month:
Guided by Voices - Class Clown Spots a UFO. OK, so by now you know I'm crazy about Robert Pollard's little band of merry fuzz-pop pranksters. How can you not know? Pollard and/or GBV have a new album in my "best new albums of the month" just about ... um ... every month. This one is a challenge well worth puzzling over.


Best of the Rest:
Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe. After a four-year break following her 2008 debut, I wasn't sure I still liked Santigold. But this is hard to not like. And hard not to shake your booty to.


Moss Icon - Complete Discography. Political raunchsters from Annapolis credited by some with shaping punk. They have a sense of melody in the Fugazi vein that few others have approached.


Cornershop - Urban Turban. A catchy blast of sunshine psychedelia that captures all of the joy and orchestral majesty of the band's 90s indie smash "Brimful of Asha."


Golden Bloom - March to the Drums. A nice EP's worth of power pop mixing the sounds of several of my favorites like Wilco and Ben Kweller.


Colourbox - Colourbox. This is a seductive blend of soul, reggae, and urban contemporary that isn't usually my cup of tea. I not surprisingly missed it in the 80s. But I'm glad I discovered this new reissue.


Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania. Billy Corgan has shed every original bandmate and left a trail of pretty stinky recent albums, but this one is very close in style and tone to his 90s classics Gish, Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and Pisces Iscariot.

Best New Albums: June 2012

With the advent of Spotify, I now organize my music a little differently before I decide to purchase full albums. I put the ones I'm curious about into a file called "Albums to Listen To" and I make them available offline for my commute and other headphone-listening travels. The ones that hold up over a couple of listens go into my "Albums to Buy" file. The ones that don't get trashed. Life is too short.


So friends can enjoy all of my obsessively diligent work, I then compile a Spotify folder called "Best New Albums," which I update frequently.


So a new related monthly feature here at the Lunch Box is "Best New Albums," which I'll aim to post around the first of every month. You can stream all the albums mentioned for free at my Spotify link above.


Best Album of the Month:

Paul McCartney - RAM.
This was his first major release post-Beatles and it shows that he hasn't lost any chops, just three really great musical collaborators. The remastered version of the original album and plentiful extras make it an essential purchase.

The Rest:

The Beach Boys - That's Why God Made the Radio
This is the best Beach Boys since "Kokomo." They look pretty awkward in the live performances I've seen on late-night TV, but wow can they still harmonize like no others.

Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship
After I read about the band picking up director/hitchhiker John Waters while touring around the country, I had to check them out. Folky and electronic-y, but unusually warm for those genres.

King Tuff - King Tuff
This is actually the best new album I heard all month (since McCartney's is technically not new). The band is loaded with garage, lo-fi, power pop hooks. And it doesn't hurt that J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is the drummer.

Best Coast - The Only Place
I had no right to dislike this band's lo-fi indie debut. Everyone raved about it and that's pretty much my favorite genre of music. But something about it bugged me. This one is less noisy and more melodic. And I somehow like it a lot.