For the love of music
10. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have extracted the essence of 80s synth-pop and refined it by blending in their own arty garage-punk sound and seasoning it with shoegazing swirls and buffing it up with glossy production. The songs pulsate with jagged hooks and sharp, danceable rhythms while Karen O’s crystalline voice … [Read more...]
20. A Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding Head What's that old phrase about there being nothing new under the sun? Fact of the matter is that even though My Bloody Valentine pretty much cornered the market on shoegaze back in 1991 when Loveless came out that there can still be surprises left in the genre to this day. It's become a template for … [Read more...]
30. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career Will men please quit breaking Tracyanne Campbell’s heart?? Sure we benefit from it but think of the toll it’s taking on the poor girl! Campbell and her group jumped labels, from Merge to 4AD, and turned in their finest effort of 60’s girl group pop, twee-ish rock, and even a little bit of country … [Read more...]
Bear in Heaven are southern transplants living in Brooklyn, a beast evolved from a sprout in the bible belt that Jon Philpot started with in 1998. This album is apparently a culmination of what’s happened since then. Well, good job. They have created something beautiful here. Something that really can’t just go by the wayside. Beast Rest Forth … [Read more...]
Lo-fi heavy psych-pop acid rockers Thee American Revolution began as a home-recording collaboration between Elephant 6 co-founder Robert Schneider and brother-in-law Craig Morris. Schneider is best known as front-man of The Apples in Stereo, and producer of many beloved records, including both Neutral Milk Hotel albums. The band’s highly … [Read more...]
All-new digital EP by BOY WITHOUT GOD: Eight Delicate Olives Slowly Chewed at Midnight Eight Delicate Olives… is a collection of home recordings composed of intimately recorded instrumental one-offs and songs written and recorded by Gabriel Birnbaum in Copenhagen last fall. Featured track, “R. Frank & Son,” was written about the … [Read more...]
40. Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - When Sweet Sleep Returned This San Francisco band's third release, When Sweet Sleep Returned, is a psychedelic rock album thick with heavy grooves. Fans of this 70's style throwback shouldn't miss this one, even with the stoner rock label thrown around so frequently. While this could certainly be a good … [Read more...]
As this year and this decade come to a close, we begin first by taking a look back at some of our favorite albums of 2009 at DOA. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to many of you that the album at the top of this list is pretty much a forgone conclusion since it topped nearly all of the lists that I saw in every other publication print and … [Read more...]
Delusions of Adequacy: Hi Chase! How are you doing? Chase Hill: I’m doing great! Thanks for doing an interview. I hope all is well in your parts. DOA: I heard your gloriously buoyant and blissful self-titled EP a while back and was immediately hooked, and now your debut album, Lightsaber Circuit Breaker, is available, and I noticed … [Read more...]
If I kept a "Best Albums of the Year" list, then Sincerely, Severely would have taken one of the top spots for 2009. Maybe the top. Morningbell's fourth album is simply irresistible. These fourteen fetching tracks reveal a sharp, talented band that must be at the top of their game because, if they got any better, it would be scary. Funky, … [Read more...]