-Kevin

1. MGMT - Time to Pretend
   
2. Goldfinger - The Only One
   
3. Snowglobe - Changes
   
4. Badly Drawn Boy - A Peak You Reach
   
5. Annie Stella - Keep Me Around
   
6. Maia Hirasawa - My New Friend
   
7. Emily Loizeau - Viola pourquoi
   
8. Sondre Lerche - Let My Love Open the Door
   
9. Georgie James - More Lights
   
10. Panic at the Disco - Folkin’ Around
    
11. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Modern Mystery
    

All joking aside, any bands or labels wanting to send me music, by all means contact me through email or instant messenger and send away.  On the reverse end of that spectrum, any bands or labels wanting me to take an mp3 down can contact me as well and down it will come.  Hopefully everyone finds at least one band in their time reading my blog that they truly love and if you do, be sure to comment and let me know about it.  I’m always game to talk music.

Contact Info:

email:
kevin@perchmusic.com (blog questions/contact)
kevin@lemondroprecords.com (my record label questions/contact)

aim:
pelican473

Gotye, pronounced “Gore-ti-yeah” (even though I don’t know where the R sound comes from), has been on constant rotation lately and I don’t see it coming out of the player anytime soon.  I found out about him through a few blogs, who were mentioning that his album Like Drawing Blood was being re-released this year.  It originally was released in Australia in 2006 to critical acclaim and apparantly he’s huge over there.  After multiple listens through to this stellar album, I can see why.

Comparisons to similar bands are all over the place, and the best part is how varied the comparisons are.  “The Only Way” sounds like a funkier Kenna.  “Hearts a Mess” and “Coming Back” both sound eerily like Bjork, with the first representing her slower, more dark string arrangements, and the second sounding more upbeat and glitchy like her faster songs.  “Thanks for Your Time” would fit on any of Justin Timberlake’s latest multi-platinum albums, and in this case that’s not a bad thing at all.

The main single of the album is “Learnalilgivenanlovin”, which sounds nothing like the rest of the album, but is great regardless.  It’s got that 70’s horn-filled funk vibe that I just love.  I could just list every song on the album and what they sound like, which I pretty much have done already, but I’ll just mention one more, “A Distinctive Sound”, which if you’re a fan of the Books’ cut and pasting of old archived spoken word, then you’ll love this song.  It’s basically the Books if they got a little more funky with their tunes.

I said in my half-year top 5 that it would take a pretty special album to dethrone Cloud Cult and Boris Yeltsin, but this is the kind of album that comes close to doing just that.  Not quite, but dang close.  I see no problem finding this album high in my year end top 50 list when all is said and done, and although technically it’s two years old, it being re-released this year gives me more than enough reason to spread the word again.

Gotye
Like Drawing Blood
Score: 8.713
riyl: Bjork, the Books, Justin Timberlake, Guster, Kenna

1. “Like Drawing Blood” - :21
2. “The Only Way” - 4:49
3. “Hearts A Mess” - 6:06
4. “Coming Back” - 6:53
5. “Thanks For Your Time” - 4:18
   
6. “Learnalilgivinanlovin” - 2:49
   
7. “Puzzle With A Piece Missing” - 5:40
8. “A Distinctive Sound” - 6:17
9. “Seven Hours With A Backseat Driver” - 4:44
10. “Night Drive” - 5:10
    
11. “Worn Out Blues” - :38

Official Site / Myspace
P.S.  I hear word that the re-release has a slightly different tracklist, and some parts re slightly different.  So, this rave review is based on the 2006 version, but I’m sure the new version isn’t that different.

List after the jump

Honorable Mentions of ‘08 So Far (in no particular order)

•  Andrew Bird - Soldier On (tour EP)
• Chris Walla - Field Manual
• Constatines -Kensington Heights
• Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
• Does it Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into
• Dosh - Wolves and Wishes
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
• Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Searching for the How’s and Why’s
• Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
• Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
• Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
• Islands - Arm’s Way
• Kenna - Make Sure They See My Face
• Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles - S/T
• M83 - Saturdays = Youth
• Man Man - Rabbit Habbits
• Matt Costa - Unfamiliar Faces
• Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
• Muse - HAARP (live from Wimbley Stadium)
• My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
• The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
• Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
• Stark Raving Calm - FleshNectarAsphaltAdrenaline
• Subtle - ExitingARM
• The Black Keys - Attack and Release
• The Envy Corps - Dwell
• The Weepies - Hideaway
• Vampire Weekend - S/T
• Why? - Alopecia
• Wolftron - Flesh and Fears

Biggest Disappointment of ‘08 So Far

•  Magnetic Fields - Distortions

All kinds of people are praising this for its homage to the older days of heavily distorted stuff like My Bloody Valentine and stuff like that, but I was never into that.  I’m all about the 69 Love Songs Magnetic Fields with fun little love songs.  I’m sure some of you liked this one, but considering I’ve loved both 69 Love Songs and i, this one was just disappointing for how long I waited for it.

Biggest Surprise of ‘08

• Panic at the Disco - Pretty.Odd

This one’s grown super old to me at this point, but going from crappy emo punk dance hybrid that all the 14 year old girls loved, to a pretty good Sgt. Pepper’s tribute, surprised the heck out of me.  I won’t be recommending this one to anyone, but I’ll give them props for saying screw you to all their emo fans and making a decent album full of strings, horns, and decent rock songs.  Show me another album by them that’s similar and I might actually care about the band.  As it is now, I’ll just leave it at a simple, well that’s something, and happily keep this one tucked way back in my collection.

Biggest Non-surprise of ‘08

• Weezer - Red Album

Besides the second song, which is pretty dang epic for Weezer with choirs and whatnot, this one is just barely a step above their previous album.  To think, I used to be the biggest Weezer fan, but ever since Matt Sharp left Weezer, the band’s John Lennon in my opinion, writing all the weird songs, they’ve just gone further and further downhill, with Cuomo continuing to be unable to break out of writing anything but sub-par radio friendly love songs.  Tis a shame indeed.

Albums I’m Listening to at the Moment

• Sigur Ros - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
• Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
• Gotye - Like Drawing Blood (really good stuff, I’ll be talking about it here soon)
• Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things (listening out of pure curiosity)
• Jim Noir- S/T
• Unwed Sailor - Little Wars

That’s the half-year wrap up.  I’d link all the music to their myspaces, but that’d take an insanely long time.  Who do you think I am?  A magician?  Hope you find some music you like from the bands above.  That’s what I’ve been listening to so far this year, and if you usually agree with my recommendations, then this should be a mini-goldmine for you.  Happy hunting friends and good luck looking all this up!

“With a Buzz in Our Ears, We Play Endlessly”

So the translation goes for Sigur Ros’ new full-length Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.  I’ve been so dang busy lately that this album completely slipped past me.  Usually I’m on top of things regarding Sigur Ros, but I both missed a recent show last Wednesday when they came by Kansas City, and didn’t realize this album even existed.  I’d heard “Gobbledigook” a while ago, but I just figured that was going to be an EP or something.  I mean, Sigur Ros usually take forever to release a new full-length, but I guess they were on their game this time around and now I’m suddenly listening to the new album streaming from their site and staring at the June 23rd release date.  That’s only a few weeks away!  I guess there are a few positives to being so busy that life just passes you by in a blur, and that’s not really ever having to wait a long time for an album release, but most of the time you don’t even realize the band had a new album until a few weeks before the release.  Happened earlier this year with the new Cloud Cult album, and now with this Sigur Ros album.  I’ll keep listening to the stream here at the ‘ol Lemondrop offices and see if I can’t get my hands on it early for you guys.  But rest assured, there will be a review on this beauty in the near future for sure.  What an exciting day.  New Sigur Ros.  Who would’ve thought.  Click the link below to stream it and let me know what you think.

Sigur Ros
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (stream it at their site)
Release Date: June 23, 2008

1. “Gobbledigook” – 3:05
2. “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” (Within me a lunatic sings) – 4:05
3. “Góðan daginn” (Good day) – 5:15
4. “Við spilum endalaust” (We play endlessly) – 3:33
5. “Festival” – 9:24
6. “Með suð í eyrum” (Buzz in ears) – 4:56
7. “Ára bátur” (Row boat) – 8:57
8. “Illgresi” (Weeds) – 4:13
9. “Fljótavík” [A place in Iceland] – 3:49
10. “Straumnes” [A mountain near Fljótavík] – 2:01
11. “All alright” – 6:21
12. “Heima”(Japan, iTunes Bonus Track)

5. Dodos - Visiter

Dodos came out of nowhere for me. They made Pitchfork’s best new music, which has become a very hit or miss thing for me anymore, and after listening to the song Pitchfork had featured, I went ahead and checked them out. Am I ever glad I did. Dodos’ music is a strange blend of acoustic guitar and percussion of all kinds. I can’t say I’ve heard anything quite like this album, and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It’s a great, and very unique, sounding album that I honestly didn’t expect to hear this year. If that doesn’t get you interested in this album, I don’t know what will.

Fools

Jodi

4. Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight

I heard “The Modern Leper” a while ago and waited rather impatiently for their full length to finally be released so I could hear more. Thankfully it didn’t disappoint. Frightened Rabbit are a Scottish band, sounding somewhat like Snow Patrol minus the recent sappiness and commercial sound of recent Snow Patrol stuff. I used to really enjoy Snow Patrol, so I’m glad I’ve found a band that I have no problem replacing them with. The lead singer’s strong accent may get in the way of some of the songs for a few of you, but the lyrics are really well written and I rarely notice the accent anymore. That is, of course, unless I’m purposely singing in a Scottish accent with him. That’s always a good time.

The Modern Leper

Good Arms vs. Bad Arms

3. Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead

I’m not going to lie. I didn’t expect to have a new Phantom Planet album on any top lists this year, but I just had to put this new release on the list. I enjoyed it at first, but then it just kept growing on me. “Leader” is one of my favorite Phantom Planet songs in quite a while, with the kids choir in the chorus putting it over the top for me. Many reviews touted it as the best Phantom Planet album yet, and while at first I was very skeptical to back those statements, I will agree that it’s right up there with any of their releases, being one of their most consistently good albums the whole way through. If you’re a Phantom Planet fan, there’s no reason you shouldn’t give this new one a listen. If you’re still on the fence with this band, you may want to give Raise the Dead some solid spins and I bet you’ll be surprised by how much you end up liking it.

Dropped

The Leader

2. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yetsin - Pershing

The other three albums on this list could easily be swapped out by other releases so far this year that I’ve enjoyed immensely, as they aren’t locks on the list by any means, but the top two stand above the rest by a mile. Boris Yeltsin’s latest release finds them sounding their most polished and professional yet, leaving behind their attic recording set-up for a much more professionally recorded sound. I’d heard most this album live over the last few years, since they’re from here in Springfield, but I had no idea the new album would end up sounding this good. Both this album and Cloud Cult’s at #1 have stood above the rest of 2008’s releases consistently despite both being released very early in the year, and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve shelved these albums for a few weeks while listening to all the new music that comes my way, only to pull them back out and putting them right back on repeat and enjoying them as much as ever. If you’re looking for an album you can listen to all summer, look no further than Boris Yeltsin’s Pershing.

Modern Mystery

Some Constellation

Heers

1. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)

It depends on my mood at the time which album, this one or Pershing, is my #1 at the time, but one thing is for sure, I love this album. I was always somewhat hesitant to put Cloud Cult up there with my favorite bands, sticking my “favorite” label on them, but this album pretty much made it undeniable. Cloud Cult are one of my favorite bands. Each album is full of strings, great lyrics, catchy melodies, and Chris Minowa’s unique vocals and the songs just keep getting better and better with each new release. I almost didn’t catch this new album because most Cloud Cult albums have a few years in between releases. But Feel Good Ghosts was released in record time after The Meaning of 8 and it felt like Christmas came early for me once I heard that. The opener “No One Said It Would Be Easy” had me grinning from ear to ear upon first listen, and by the time the album was done, I knew this wouldn’t easily be dethroned this year. If you’re a fan of orchestral elements in your songs, you won’t find too many albums better than this one. It’s too early to say if Feel Good Ghosts will make my top spot by the end of the year after another six months, but I hope it does end up getting dethroned by another album, because quite frankly, if that happens, that would be one heck of a good album. Until that album comes along, I’ll just keep this new Cloud Cult album on repeat and let it continue being the soundtrack to my summer.

When Water Comes to Life

Journey of the Featherless

No One Said It Would Be Easy

1. The Raconteurs - Rich Kid Blues
   
2. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Young and Lovestruck
   
3. Death Cab for Cutie - Your New Twin Sized Bed
   
4. The Envy Corps - Wires and Wool
   
5. Nada Surf - See These Bones
   
6. Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
   
7. The Weepies - Antarctica
   
8. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Window of Your Mind
   
9. Matt Costa - Miss Magnolia
   
10. The Raconteurs - Carolina Drama
    
11. Subtle - Day Dangerous
    

Also, FAIR WARNING…I’m going to delete quite a bit of the mp3’s from my previous posts on MONDAY.  I usually only keep the last couple months on my server, but I never got around to deleting them since the new year started and I’ve got a solid seven months of mp3’s sitting there with people constantly downloading them as they look through my past posts.  Nothing wrong with that, I just got hit with a charge of 40 bones this month when usually I just have to pay the usual server fee and nothing else.  So, if you stop by today or over the weekend, check through my past posts back to something like last September and download away.  Because after Monday, I think I’ll just keep the mp3’s up from this March and on.

Alright, back to work.  You guys seriously are some of the best readers a blogger could have and I appreciate you sticking with me through my move and busy life.  Check you on the flip side with a new Perch Mix.

But stick around and keep checking back, as I’ll try to get posting again.  I’ll have a review on the new Weezer album soon, as well as do a “top 5 albums of the moment” post soon.  Until then, sorry about all the non-music at the blog, but I’ll try and change that asap.  See you around.