I Radio Heaven

yeah . . . i should really have worked on this a month ago, and the writing is terrible because it’s like dawn-thirty right now, but have fun.

1. The National – Boxer
Anyone who has spoken to be about music in the last 18 months should have known this was coming. Boxer is simply an amazing album from start to finish. Matt Berninger crafts beautiful, simple lyrics that paint vivid pictures of normal life, from the line “you get mistaken for strangers by your own friends when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery CitiBank lights” and the perfect bridge from my song of the year, “Slow Show,” sung in his dreamy baritone (and ably backed by the Dessner and Devendorf brothers):
“You know I dreamed about you
For twenty-nine years, before I saw you.
You know I dreamed about you
I missed you for 29 years.”

2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81
I love these guys, but I haven’t enjoyed one of their albums this much since their self-titled debut. Fuzzed-out guitars, black leather jackets, and a great deal of swagger make a triumphant return.

3. Holler, Wild Rose! – Our Little Hymnal
I’m still not sure where I picked this up (maybe eMusic?). However it was, I’m incredibly happy I did. It’s an amazing collection of influences, from early 90’s shoegaze, with hints of Buckley, Sigur Ros, and even Explosions In The Sky.

4. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I didn’t fully appreciate this disc until I caught them live in the blogger-boner tour (with LCD Soundsystem and The Gossip). It’s a great set of stuff, motivated in part by Win Butler and Regine Chassagne’s work in Haiti, as well as the dissatisfaction with the current state of worldwide affairs.

5. Apostle of Hustle – National Anthem of Nowhere
This is by far the best side project to come out of the Canadian supergroup Broken Social Scene. Amazingly catchy, Latin-tinged indie rock.

6. Okkervil River – The Stage Names
Great, theatrical album that could be compared to a less-chaotic Funeral.

7. Tegan and Sara – The Con
I wasn’t really a T&S fan before this album. I had heard a couple tracks from So Jealous (their previous disc), but it hadn’t really grabbed me like this one. It’s incredibly poppy and even twee, but far deeper lyrically than either genre usually is.

8. Kings of Leon – Because The Times
How the hell did this fall so far down on my list? Hmm.

9. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Yeah, it’s the guy that whistles and plays violin.

10. Cloud Cult – The Meaning of 8
Another successful release from the hippie kids from Minnesota. I dare you to not love “The Deaf Girl’s Song.”

11. Spoon – GaGaGaGaGa

So good. So catchy. So fun.

12. Besnard Lakes – We Are The Dark Horse

Melancholy and serious, lush, densely orchestrated pop-noir. Serious Brian Wilson fetish, with members of the seminal (and I Radio Heaven fave) Montreal band Godspeed You! Black Emperor making contributions.

#’s 13-21 (INPO): Of Montreal, Feist (any album that can be on repeat at every job I’ve had this year and not make me want to rip my eardrums out has something going for it), Jens Lekman, The New Pornographers, Panda Bear, Les Savy Fav, St. Vincent, and Rogue Wave.