The Best of June
Well, June’s almost over, which is crazy, but I have a handful of CD’s I received this month that I really enjoyed. Some you’ve heard plenty about, some I’ve yet to even touch on. The latter is what this post is for. So without further adou, here’s my favorite tunes I listened to in June.
Once Soundtrack
My favorite movie of the year, and by far favorite soundtrack of the year. Shoe in for the top 25 of the year, but it’ll be tricky deciding where to put it since most songs are from albums released in 2006. Either way, you know the story here. Excellent stuff.
Paul Brill – Harpooner
The man behind the soundtrack of The Trials of Darryl Hunt is quite the singer/songwriter as well. With Harpooner, Brill creates soundscapes of found sounds and strange melody and the result is very John Vanderslice-esque in lyrics and concept. Only with this album, Brill sounds as John Vanderslice would if he were marooned on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a few instruments and stuff on the boat to make somber music with. Perfect for a rainy day.
Great Northern – Trading Twilight for Daylight
A surpringly heartfelt, genuinely great album, Great Northern’s latest album is at times reserved and beautiful, while other times being dark and powerful. One thing it consistently is, is good and that’s all that counts in the end. A pleasant surprise that came out of nowhere for me.
Just a Dream
Low is a Height
Lost in the Trees – Time Taunts Me
Lost in the Trees is another project from Ari Picker, from the band The Never. With the Never, he helped craft an oddly amazing “storybook album” which contained an actual illustrated storybook, made by one of the band members, that the album provided the soundtrack to. Equally ambitious in a different way, Ari’s solo project Lost in the Trees finds him tackling the orchestral stylings of some of our best composers from the past while combining that with Belle & Sebastian sounding vocals and subtle electronics. It’s a shame it’s only a seven song EP, but it still trumps most full lengths released so far this year.
Chris Murphy – Luminous
Chris Murphy’s album Luminous was sent to me by an upstart PR company that was just getting started and I can’t imagine a more original and refreshing album to begin your promoting days with. Of course, it’s rare in the blog world to find someone that loves string-based music as much as I do, but I really hope some of the other bloggers like it because it’s really unlike most the stuff out there. Murphy is a violinist that loops a lot of his playing through a guitar amp, much like Andrew Bird, only without the singing and a little darker. It’s really an album that needs to be taken in as a whole while relaxing around somewhere, but here’s a few highlights that stand well on their own.
