Drive-By Music Recommendations

I’ve been a bad blogger (again) this year. The combination of travel, housework and studying (I’m trying to add Certified Internal Auditor to my list of certifications) have kept me from sticking to my resolution to blog more regularly in 2011. What I have been doing lately though, is listening to a lot of great new music (as all of the aforementioned tasks are very conducive to music enjoyment). I splurged on a set of Sony studio monitor headphones, and they’ve made all the difference in the world to my home music enjoyment.

Some quick music recommendations from the first couple of month of 2011 are:

Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots: The title of this post was in reference to the brevity of this entry, and not one of my favorite bands. Of course they showed up as well. Go-Go Boots is less immediate than last year’s The Big To-Do, but I think it’s going to be more rewarding over the long haul. Opener, “I Do Believe” may be my new favorite Patterson song, and “Everybody Needs Love” shows a new side to the band.

The Decemberists – The King Is Dead: A drastic improvement from the feelslikeworktolistento concept album The Hazards Of Love, The King Is Dead is 10 songs of near perfection. This album feels like a cross between the best parts of modern American roots music (Is that an oxymoron?) with vintage R.E.M. Guest appearances by R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and roots music mainstay Gillian Welch suggest that might have been just the mix they were going for. Here they are with the aforementioned Gillian Welch on Conan.

Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean: It’s Sam Beam, he still has a beard, he’s still awesome, and it’s fantastic…just listen to it.

Yuck – Yuck: Members of the Fat Possum Records (Oxford, MS) roster, Yuck have made one of the best lo-fi pop releases in recent memory. It’s catchy as hell, but not too perfect, and that makes it just about perfect. Best heard on vinyl. Here's my favorite song on the album.

Wavves – King of the Beach: Fuzzed-out summer anthems performed with reckless abandon. This one is really growing on me the more I listen to it. King of the Beach is the album on my current playlist that is most likely to make me want to put on my Converse and a hoodie and hang out at Goner Records all day, pretending to be a hipster. Also from Fat Possum Records, and also best heard on vinyl. Check out the title track below.

Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid: I’m not sure why I missed this one on my best of 2010 list, but now it’s a glaring omission. Be warned, the songs range from “so funky they should be illegal” to just plain weird, but that’s what makes this album so great. Here's one of the funky numbers.

Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO: Just another stellar album from Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll. While I miss the more melodic side he showed on his last album Trouble in Mind, this one is just as strong for different reasons. Google the title acronym for a good laugh. Here's the title track as performed on Leno.

I’m also enjoying the just released albums from Lucinda Williams and R.E.M., but I haven’t fully digested them enough yet to form a solid opinion. They both look promising for the long-haul though.

What about you? What are you listening to right now?