Listening to Records & Doing Scrapbook: Sampler #1, Tracks 18-21

End of the line, folks. Here's what we've had so far:

1.Worms-Beth Orton
2.Cheated Hearts- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3.Rough Gem- Islands
4.Crazy- Gnarls Barkley
5.Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken- Camera Obscura
6.The Gap- You Say Party! We Say Die!
7.The Big Bang Jump!- Office
8.Honey Child What Can I Do?- Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell
9.Wille- Cat Power
10.Painter in Your Pocket- Destroyer
11.Police Sweater Blood Vow- Fiery Furnaces
12.Thou Shalt Wilt- Loose Fur
13. The W.A.N.D.- The Flaming Lips
14.Make Out Fall Out Make Up- Love Is All
15.LDN- Lily Allen
16.Cowbell- Tapes n Tapes
17.Black Swan- Thom York

...which brings us to...


Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives- Voxtrot
Someone told me the other day that the first Voxtrot EP blows away "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives". He stated in fact, that the latter amounts to only 5% of the quality of the former. But until that shows up in the mail, I can only attest that this Austin act has turned out a handful of tight little pop tracks with songwriter that edges up just short of sentimentality.


At Last is All- I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Austin can't be that bad, even if it is in the middle of Texas. After all, it's got Voxtrot and I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness. Of the crop of post-Interpol bands, ILBICD (I'm not going to keep typing it out) stands out by virtue of their stark songwriting and haunting guitar lines that call up the Psychedelic Furs and other high quality brooders. "Fear is On Our Side" is their first full length, following up 2004's self-titled EP, and the album is steadier than the band's previous efforts, sustaining a cheerfully creepy vibe that few current bands (The Organ springs to mind) can manage.


Star Witness- Neko Case
I'm giving up the dream that Neko Case is going to come and play in our town, or, you know, in my living room, or whatever. Backed by the Calexico guys and Ithaca's own Willie B, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" knocks down everything Case has done previously. Her lyrics are imagistic and intuitive, the vocal harmonies by Kelly Hogan and Carolyn Mark swirl around Case's vocals, which have never sounded cleaner or more confident than they do here. "Fox Confessor" is tied with the demos for Steve Gollnick's upcoming album for most played album of the year around my little abode.


Stadiums and Shrines II- Sunset Rubdown
It was so difficult to pick a track off "Shut Up I Am Dreaming", the first full-length from this side project of Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug. Every track has at least one moment that is completely brilliant. Amazingly, Krug's songs on this album make his Wolf Parade tracks seem oddly normal. Plinking pianos, carnivorous animals, and swift verbal reversals traipse throughout the album, songs bleeding into one another with a foreign logic that becomes immediately explicable upon listening. Krug is currently working with Dan Bejar and Carey Mercer from Frog Eyes on a project called Swan Lake. You'll hear it as soon as I do.

Tomorrow we'll see the first weekly installment of Musical Reasons to Live in Ithaca, and more on the rumor that Dinosaur, Jr's J. Mascis is fronting Broken Social Scene. How cool is that? Happy monday, people, I'm off to pop my World Cup cherry.