That's My Dad.

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

Justin Timberlake is one of probably five pop singers that equally satisfies the desperate romantic and sonic perfectionist in me. With his god-like confidence, wearing suits for no reason, he charmingly compares women to spaceships and fruity bubblegum; Justin Timberlake is the king of making me feel like I just hit puberty and I can win over the heart of any woman I desire. Returning from the chart-topping, hit-churning 2006 record FutureSex/LoveSounds,we’re again graced with the presence of an American entertainment renaissance man with the momentously-released, grandly-produced and expectedly ambitious The 20/20 Experience.

Read My Whole Review on Listen Before You Buy

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Nosaj Thing - Home

Home doesn’t make the mistake in sacrificing quantity for quality, nor the other way around. Subtler works in an electronic producer’s career usually indicate symptoms like lazier musicianship, unrealized sonic ideas, floozy production approaches or even the occasional experimental concept record gone horribly wrong. Like every EP and album Chung has released to date, Nosaj Thing nurtures the project with a near-masterful grip on direction and a fine-tuned, layered technical ability beaming with finesse. The sky’s the limit for Chung now: we’ve seen him produce intro- and extrovertedly now; where he wants to go next, there’s no telling. All we can do is dim the lights and let him fill the room with the beauty of another world. (7/10)

Read My Whole Review on Listen Before You Buy

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Top 50 Songs of 2012: #14, Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built

I settled in slowly to this house that you call home. 

I can tell you how “The House That Heaven Built” was the alternative summer anthem of 2012. I could give an anecdote over the dozens of restless nights Japandroids comforted my spirits and gave me something worth chanting along to. I can point evidence to this track’s gorgeous music video accompaniment that matches the band’s spirit and engaging aesthetic. Even more so, I could define their sophomore LP, “Celebration Rock”, as one of the most refreshing and exhilarating takes on garage rock in recent memory. But instead, I’d bet you’ve felt those exact same things. It comes not only in Japandroids’ unique sensibilities, but in their unifying lyrics and ability to collide kindred spirits. If inspiration comes from energy, then Japandroids are icons for our troubled generation. 

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #21, The Tallest Man on Earth - There’s No Leaving Now

To see through a fearless eye and know that danger finally goes away. 

Through every emotional facet, Kristian Matsson of The Tallest Man on Earth will always have a knack to break your heart through his song-writing. On past records, Matsson was keen to raise spirits, enlighten souls and stand neck-and-neck with Dylan in terms of rhetoric. This year, his 3rd LP “There’s No Leaving Now” sounds like he’s ready to hide away in some forgotten house to spend the rest of his days silently weeping to himself. With a gorgeous piano arrangement and haunting vocals, The Tallest Man on Earth hits a mournful note on the album’s title track that adds another stunning entry in Matsson’s unforgettable performance list.

(Source: Spotify)

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #26, Cloud Nothings - Wasted Days

I thought I would be more than this. 

Through all the genres Cloud Nothings incorporated on “Attack on Memory”, everything from indie rock, punk, old-school emo and post-hardcore, the most cohesive track is the nine-minute slow-burner “Wasted Days”: a fiery, hustled-up roller-coaster ride of a performance featuring timid grooves, heavy instrumental variety and profusive technical ability; I’ll call it the jam of the year. 

(Source: Spotify)

Wild Nothing - Nocturne

A slice of humble shoe-gaze indie dream pop with a dollop of orchestral sounds, drizzled with reverb sonic textures and served with a tasteful, lite dose of romantic lyricism. Wild Nothing’s “Nocturne” makes for a sophisticated treat for those with an ethereal set of sonic taste buds. (7/10)

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Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

It’s hard to rank or compare singer-songwriter albums of this year when the queen of the genre has returned. On her 4th album, her first in seven years, Fiona Apple brings forth a cultivated collection of restless, nimble, gorgeous, viciously bitter and often bellowing songs of heartbreak and fierce poetry more emotive than Alanis Morissette, Ani DiFranco and Cat Power all tied together on train tracks, all attempting to sing their escape away. And while her musicianship remains deceptively bare-boned, Fiona Apple works like a truly possessed witch with the most complex incantations. Which is where “The Idler Wheel…” finds its eternal voice: in Apple’s dire emotional urgency, in the ever-crashing waves of lyrical genius that emerge from Apple’s psych with maddening desperation and complex rage and, most importantly, in the fact that no poetic sorcerer has ever felt so poignantly human. (9/10) 

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Dope Body - Natural History

The walls have been caving in for thrash-metal, punk and post-hardcore fans for a new kind of thrill in recent years, alas, along comes Baltimore quartet Dope Body on their highly compelling new LP (featured on Drag City Records), “Natural History”: where rage meets dance and primal darkness comes hand-in-hand with vivacious, positively-charged fun in truly unorthodox fashion. An introduction to this group comes incomplete without the urgent disclaimer: don’t fucking miss out on this, Dope Body comes easily as one of the most impressive experimental groups this year, on all charts. (9/10)

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The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

The Avett Brothers’ “Emotionalism” is a different flavor of their trademark bluegrass-gone-indie folk style; more of the embarrassingly honest, unapologetic and cutesy type. While “Emotionalism” comes speckled with gems of poesy and basks with irrefutable sentiment, this fourteen-song set feels bloated from a few loose, unnecessary lyrical points, causing what could have been a classic album to fall short. (8/10)

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Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

“Tourist History” is a snappy pop record that throws a bit of pixie dust at your face to compensate for the fact it’s really simplistic. It’s not something you end up hating Two Door Cinema Club for, I mean, their choruses stick around your brainwaves like leeches and they wear their European presence on their sleeve; instant love for some, right? “Tourist History” falls next to the likes of Foals and Phoenix and make for great indie pop mix-tape material, but aside that notion, “Tourist History” is the ‘flavor of the week’ pop album that you’ll certainly forget about, not matter how infatuated you get. (7/10)

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Battles - Dross Glop

Read My Full Review on ‘Listen Before You Buy’

Along comes the remix baby brother: “Dross Glop”, a compilation album based off math rock maestros Battles’ acclaimed 2011 album “Gloss Drop”. “Dross Glop” has been meticulously growing a certain level of hype with a series of 12’’ vinyls coming out this year and a killer line-up of technically superior producers behind it all. We’re talking Shabazz Palaces, Hudson Mohawke, The Field, Gang Gang Dance; everyone and their mother is on this compilation, given you’re in the scene to appreciate artists mainly for their technical ability. […]

(7/10)

The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

Aside from a close listen and a speck of enthusiasm, there’s nothing that sets U.K. band The Joy Formidable apart from any Britpop or college rock outfit floating about our airwaves lately. But look closer, there’s more than just sophisticated vocabulary in lyrics and arena-sized choruses. Much like an Arcade Fire or an early Oasis, there’s patience required for their album: The Big Roar. With their elements of post-punk and the undeniably rocking female vocals of Ritzy Bryan, The Joy Formidable are one of those aged wine concepts in music. And once you hit the day, they’ll be the only thing you’ll listen to. (7/10)

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The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

If it were ever possible to cultivate one the most detailed, cutest sci-fi psychedelic rock record of all-time, The Flaming Lips would have to be behind it. (9/10)

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The Shins - Port of Morrow

Five years after their previous release, The Shins finally return to satisfy the famished indie rockers travelling on the Shins-less desert. Their latest album, “Port of Morrow,” heads to higher horizons with bolder directions, previously unseen in the band’s repertoire.

James Mercer. James Mercer. James Mercer. He is the frontman of The Shins and frankly, receives an abundance of attention in comparison to the band itself. Even between the five years from the last album, “Wincing the Night Away,” Mercer kept a busy and ubiquitous presence without falling to shreds. With successful projects like Broken Bells between then and now, Mercer bringing back The Shins brought more attention than what their next album would actually sound like. With all this behind “Port of Morrow,” the album’s almost utilized as a solo album for Mercer, given the attention he receives on the record, and that’s not a bad thing. The Shins haven’t lost a drop of their honey as “Port of Morrow” may very well be their most earnest, nostalgic and ambitious release to date.

Opening with tracks “The Rifle’s Spiral” and “Simple Song”, there is an undeniable artistic pride coming from these guys letting us know loud and clear: they’re back. Both songs take their beloved pop elements from “Wincing the Night Away” and amplify it on an Arcade Fire anthemic scale, all while delivering a resonating youthfulness. “Port of Morrow” then lets the remaining eight tracks switch gears back and forth between emotionally and sonically reminiscencing of a yesteryear. A yesteryear filled with bittersweet tragedies which fuel the heart with a sadness too intimate to detach from. A yesteryear featuring ‘80s rock and pop tunes constantly playing on FM radio, based on classical melodies floating about the air from cruising California convertibles on a baby blue evening sky. These elements build the unique style and atmosphere Port of Morrow shows with pride. “No Way Down” and “Fall of ‘82” are so drenched in ‘80s rock nostalgia, it’s unprecedented. “For a Fool” and “September” hold an uncanny resemblance with Wilco’s experimental acoustic pieces, circa 1998. Sprinkle some simpler takes of experimental rock elements from past albums (“Oh, Inverted World”) on all these ideas and somewhere along the line, you’ll land on the gold mine Mercer builds his work on: a cavern of pleasantries and nirvana.

What The Shins feel, they release, and they do so with intricate emotional delivery and boastful confidence. It’s this notion that makes “Morrow” so successful: how effortlessly genuine and unpretentious everything feels. Let yourself fall down the rabbit hole, Port of Morrow is one of the year’s best joyful, cathartic trips.

This album was my dad. (8/10)

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Young the Giant - Young the Giant

To be perfectly honest, I’m a little too young to be a full-fledged music snob. At my age (being that I am 17), there can sometimes be room for contrived rock music. Sure, it might only be good for background music or for your run-of-the-mill, adolescent “indie” soundtrack. And yes, no matter how hard you try, this record this devoid of any true personality. Yet, criticizing a band like Young the Giant would be the social equivalent of punching a stranger who compliments your outfit in the face. Young the Giant is a pleasant, straight-forward indie rock routine that doesn’t necessarily go outside the box, but resonates with an indulgent and theatrical level of emotion. Upon every listen, lead singer Sameer Gadhia charms us over with captivating hooks and choruses. I can’t despise Young the Giant for standing by its basic rock elements because the end result something like a box of Fruit Loops: bad for you, yet hopelessly enjoyable. (8/10)

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