16 November 2007

EAR FARM: Heavy Rotation

EAR FARM's Last.fm tells only part of the story, so let's check in with the 10 albums getting the most attention at EF HQ at the moment. There's a song from each album posted below, and a link to purchase each on Amazon/iTunes (if available).
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Mothership by Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin. First I fell in love with them in 7th grade, then again in high school, again in college, again a few years ago when How The West Was Won came out, and now once again as they've recently announced a reunion concert and FINALLY put all of their records up on iTunes. Greatest hits comps sometimes are a waste of time, but this remastered Mothership most definitely is not.

In Rainbows by Radiohead - This record was playing on my iPod for most of my recent trip to Europe and is a perfect soundtrack for just about anything, if you're in that Radiohead kind of mood. I think it's their best album since Kid A - what do you think? Surely it was at least worth whatever you paid for it...Isn't Anything by My Bloody Valentine - Announced reunions (see Zeppelin above and The Verve below) tend to get me re-listening to records by the reuniting bands. I realize that's the point (from the thirsty-for-money band's perspective) but hey - I'm a robot like that. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, THIS is My Bloody Valentine's best album. It's better, and more influential, than Loveless. True.Spiderland by Slint - This is easily one of the ten most important albums of the last 20 years and was pretty much on constant repeat when I was in Amsterdam two weeks ago. A pure classic.Fort Nightly by White Rabbits - This is an irresistible record that makes my eardrums do a happy dance.I'll Sleep When You're Dead by El-P - Something about pumping this album at max volume on my iPod while riding the Paris Metro made me feel empowered, cool-as-shit, and as if I "get" hip hop much more than the French people surrounding me simply because I'm an American.A Northern Soul by The Verve - Yes, so they're getting back together for a tour and a new album (awesome, hopefully) and that made me want to revisit what I consider to be their best album - A Northern Soul. If all you know of this band is "Bitter Sweet Symphony" then you owe it to yourself to dig a little deeper. Their first two albums (this is their second) are fantastic.Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Black Sabbath - I adore this band and have been thinking about, and listening to, them a lot lately thanks to my visit to Père-Lachaise and my reading of Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live. Ozzy and I have a birthday coming up soon, you know... if you'd like some gift ideas for us, consider some black shirts, pants, jackets, and boots. We like those.We Are Him by Angels Of Light - Darkness. Madness. Genius. Though it's definitely not for everyone, this is just exactly my kind of record and a top album of the year for me for sure.Sings Morrissey by Colin Meloy - I could tell that Colin Meloy and I had extremely similar taste in music long before he released this EP in January, 2005. When Colin's version of "Sister I'm A Poet" came up on random recently, I just knew I had to revisit the entire EP. I think his choice of songs is nearly perfect and his versions of "Pregnant For The Last Time" and "Jack The Ripper" are downright amazing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"A Northern Soul" is one of the most underrated records of the last 20 years: TRUE!

"Isn't Anything" better than "Loveless": FALSE! This is a falsity Matt! Stop spreading your dirty opinions that are lies!

Anonymous said...

OHHHH Jack the Ripper. It hurts my feelings so bad.