Favorite Albums With Write-ups (In Progress)

Submitted by Wsham0 on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 02:17
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  • The Wrens | The Meadowlands
  • ----The sepia tones of an innocuous looking shed; they belong in some lost family scrapbook full of forlorn memories and wasted summers. A scrapbook that has been forgotten just like the shed. Paint is chipping, the door rotting, the shingles leaking, and overgrowth may be threatening to take over; the Wrens transport the legitimate feeling of a rundown shed to craft a musical feeling that trumps any other I have listened to in my short span of life. But this album isn't just about a deep down spiral, about the end result. That same scrapbook, the old shed, the sepia tinge of old memories don't tell only of what happened, but why you took those pictures to begin with, why that backyard became overcome by weeds long after it was abandoned, and why you still come back to those memories long after they've been warped and changed by time.
  • ----The Meadowlands is The Wrens' answer to a lifetime of sorrow, a lifetime dashed hopes, and a lifetime relationships torn asunder; the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. Thus, the album's overwhelming pathos bears the brunt of past experience, anything and everything that has impacted a life once brimming of infinite potential. For me it is a galvanizing representation of a cathartic geyser; they've gone past the point of no return. Charles sings like there is no tomorrow; they are airing out all their grievances and displaying all their deepest cynicism that bubbles within the depths of all of our souls. You've been stomped on and spit out by the world one too many times. For one too many hours you worked for a pittance, a meager And for this fact it The Meadowlands is a truly heartbreaking recollection, yet one that can simultaneously be exhilarating. When The Wrens are loud, they are loud as can be, and when they want to be soft, ditto, but it is always perfectly tuned to a quivering emotional response built out of a fully realized human spirit. These Wrens are no boys of indie rock; middle aged men recorded this brilliant piece of musicianship. A patchwork of their experiences from a life in Secaucus, New Jersey. Personally, and quite hopefully, I think time will be quite kind to The Wrens and The Meadowlands; they will have a deserving legacy in the least.
  • ----The Meadowlands introduction, The House That Guilt Built, looks back upon a long-lost lover. "Got a wife and kid, that I never see. And I'm nowhere near, where I dreamed I'd be. I can't believe, what life's done to me." The last line can resonate through generations, and is sung with unequivocal sincerity. Along with a beautiful backdrop of summer airiness, strummed guitars, and chirping crickets that reek of a heavy, humid summer's eve, guilts four walls have never been contradicted by a more open musical environment. A few masterpieces stand out among the rest; She Sends Kisses has to be one of the most affecting stories of lost love. "Cue every memory at half-speeds. Just like... Charles hold-me-downs; I'm coming sounds; Cut crap who's filling shoes like these anymore?" 13 Months In 6 Minutes.
  • ----I have gone to a specific song on this album for a single lyric and ended up listening to the whole album without really noticing it. Not because of any absence-of, but because of the way The Meadowlands captures my senses, a full onslaught on my ears and straight through to my heart, where I find myself on the other side,
  • ----"You're the only one, I ever trusted, or ever cared at all."
  • Silver Jews | The Natural Bridge
  • David C. Berman is one of America's great poets. He doesn't get the recognition of other monolithic figures, but rest assured, his genius pours out in droves during The Natural Bridge.
  • "The stars don't shine upon us, we're in the way of their light." Humility
  • "How'd you turn a million steers, into buildings made of mirrors, and why am I drawn to you tonight." Urban decay
  • "Guard my bed. While the rain turns the ditches to mirrors."
  • "And after millions of years of crime, the sun still shines and shines."
  • "Boy wants a car from his dad. Dad says, first you gotta cut that hair. Boy says hey Dad, Jesus had long hair and Dad says that's right son, Jesus walked everywhere."
  • "When I was younger, I was a cobra, in every case I want to be cool. Now that I'm older, subspace is colder, just wanna say something true."
  • Manuel Gottsching | E2-E4
  • Pavement | Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
  • Steve Reich | Music For 18 Musicians
  • Miles Davis | Bitches Brew
  • Slowdive | Souvlaki
  • Yo La Tengo | Electr-O-Pura
  • Radiohead | OK Computer
  • Can | Future Days
  • Slowdive | Pygmalion
  • Pavement | Brighten The Corners
  • Broken Social Scene | You Forgot It In People
  • Animal Collective | Feels
  • Brian Eno | Music For Airports
  • Ulrich Schnauss | A Strangely Isolated Place
  • Jay-Z | Reasonable Doubt
  • Can | Tago Mago
  • Talk Talk | Spirit Of Eden
  • Nas | Illmatic
  • Built To Spill | Perfect From Now On
  • The KLF | Chill Out
  • Built To Spill | Keep It Like A Secret
  • Arcade Fire | Funeral
  • Slint | Spiderland
  • Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
  • The National | Alligator
  • Daft Punk | Alive 2007
  • The Avalanches | Since I Left You...
  • Yo La Tengo | I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
  • Archers of Loaf | Icky Mettle
  • Sigur Ros | Ágætis Byrjun
  • The Beatles | Revolver
  • Dave Brubeck Quartet | Time Out
  • DJ Shadow | Endtroducing...
  • The Field | From Here We Go Sublime
  • Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here
  • Modest Mouse | The Moon & Antarctica
  • The Notorious B.I.G | Ready To Die
  • The Rolling Stones | Beggar's Banquet
  • Talk Talk | Laughing Stock
  • The Doors | The Doors
  • Basement Jaxx | Rooty
  • A Tribe Called Quest | Low End Theory
  • Boards of Canada | Geogaddi
  • Global Communication | 76:14
  • M83 | Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts
  • Silver Jews | American Water
  • Radiohead | In Rainbows
  • Pavement | Slanted & Enchanted
  • Sebadoh | Bakesale
  • Guided By Voices | Bee Thousand
  • Spoon | Kill The Moonlight
  • Terry Riley | A Rainbow In Curved Air
  • CunninLynguist | A Piece of Strange
  • Four Tet | Rounds
  • Yo La Tengo | Summer Sun
  • Eric B. & Rakim | Paid In Full
  • A Tribe Called Quest | Midnight Marauders
  • Belle & Sebastian | If You're Feeling Sinister
  • Interpol | Turn On The Bright Lights
  • The Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream
  • Pink Floyd | Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
  • De La Soul | 3 Feet High And Rising
  • Black Star | Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
  • Massive Attack | Blue Lines
  • Portishead | Dummy
  • Amon Tobin | Bricolage
  • The Microphones | The Glow Pt. 2
  • Fuck Buttons | Tarot Sport
  • Sparklehorse | It's A Wonderful Life
  • Neutral Milk Hotel | In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
  • Gas | Pop
  • OutKast | Aquemini
  • Binary Star | Masters Of The Universe
  • My Bloody Valentine | Loveless
  • Spacemen 3 | The Perfect Prescription
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor | F♯A♯∞
  • Deltron | Deltron 3030
  • The Clash | London Calling
  • The Flaming Lips | The Soft Bulletin
  • The Flaming Lips | Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot
  • LCD Soundsystem | Sound Of Silver
  • LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening
  • Hot Chip | The Warning
  • Beach House | Teen Dream
  • Red House Painters | Rollercoaster
  • Kanye West | The College Dropout
  • Pere Ubu | The Modern Dance
  • DJ Krush | Strickly Turntablism
  • The Hold Steady | Separation Sunday
  • Death Cab For Cutie | Transatlanticism
  • Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo | Live Or Let Die
  • Cat Stevens | Tea For The Tillerman
  • Klaus Schulze | Irrlicht
  • J Dilla | Donuts
  • Wolf Parade | Apologies To The Queen Mary
  • Queen | Night At The Opera
  • Bowery Electric | Lushlife
  • Menomena | Mines