25.
The Seedy Seeds
Count the Days
These guys combine banjos and synths with guitars and drums to create a very unique sound.
Key Tracks: “Drive Me to the Center” and “August Eyes”
24.
Monsters of Folk
Monsters of Folk
This “supergroup” of members from My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, and solo artist M. Ward combined powers to produce this folk/back-country feeling album.
Key Tracks: “Say Please” and “Whole Lotta Losin’”
23.
Roman Candle
Oh Tall Tree in the Ear
This band, which originally hailed from good old Chapel Hill, now from Nashville produced a quality album in their new home. They hold a special place in my musical history because I saw them on Valentine’s Day this year opening for The Old Ceremony. This was my first concert at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill. They put on a good show and front man Skip Matheny has a strong voice and crazy facial expressions from putting everything into the music. Eden Was a Garden EP, Why Modern Radio is A-OK EP, and They Say EP are all on their website for “name your price.” I personally think that the acoustic version of “Eden Was a Garden” on the Eden Was a Garden EP sounds better than the produced version on the album.
Key Tracks: “Eden Was a Garden” and “Modern Radio is A-Ok With Me”
Chiddy Bang
The Swelly Express
This mixtape features a pretty good crew of rappers over beats from songs such as Kid Cudi’s - Day n Nite, MGMT’s – Kids, Passion Pit’s Better Things (from Chunk of Change not Manners), and features Radiohead on one song. I’m not a big fan of the skits they have between almost every song, but they’re worth the wait to hear the songs. These dudes were freshmen in college last year, I’m sure they aren’t sophomores now. They are on their way to the top with raps dissing mainstream “rap” with lines like “please tell Roth we don’t love college.” Me and my buds had these songs on a lot this past semester. Here is a free download of the mixtape The Swelly Express.
Key Tracks: “Decline”, “Truth”, and “Opposite of Adults
21.
Freelance Whales
Weathervanes
As you probably don’t know already, I’m a sucker for any band that has a banjo. The Freelance Whales have a banjo. I don’t know what it is with this album. I found the album during a blogging slump and maybe I jumped on the first decent sounding music I found and it stuck or this is a good album. I believe it is the latter. They baited me with the first two songs and I had no other choice to be hooked. The lead singer has the voice of a pop god but the music strays away from pop, so I don’t feel guilty listening to it. They are a very unusual breed, being able to combine such a variety of instruments to create the music they do.
Key Tracks: “Hannah” and “Generator ^ First Floor”
No comments:
Post a Comment