Something different...

I am tired of talking about Spain. All I have to say is that this place is ridiculously expensive; there's no getting around that.

Lately I've been listening to a lot of Damien Rice's O album and I figured I'd put down a list of my favorite few albums from each year spanning back to 2002, when I first began to deeply care about music.

2002 - O, by Damien Rice - Folk, Indie Folk
Classic Irish acoustic sound, light vocals, careful lyrics with some surprising elements: gospel choirs played in reverse and two hidden tracks. Every song is good enough to be a single, and the album sold so well in the UK nearly every song did. My personal favorite never made the radio cut, Cheers Darlin', an existential wedding toast from a jaded lover who missed his chance.

2003 - The Ugly Organ, by Cursive - 90's Emo, Rock
Nobody hates people quite like Tim Kasher. Well, more accurately, no one hates the dark side of people quite like Tim Kasher. Face it, we may be humans but we're still animals. We lie, steal, are infedelious and lazy. The Ugly Organ is Tim's testament of people trying to survive in a world where everyone simply wants to use you. And it works. Tim Kasher is probably one of the most gifted lyricists since the mid-90s.

2004 - More Adventurous, by Rilo Kiley, Country, Indie-country
Rilo combines nearly every genre in this CD. Usually she sticks to country feelings. Guitar twangs, light violin, southern drawl. And she has a lot of that in More Adventurous as well. But here she really attempts to braoden her horizons, in true Saddle Creek fashion, towards less country and more rock, more indie, and more experimental. The song Does He Love You? is absolutely killer, and a Portion for Foxes has clear roots in Metric (and in my opinion, does Metric one better).

2005 - Come On, Feel the Illinoise!, by Sufjan Stevens - Folk, Indie Folk, Christian
In my opinion, 2004 was a bit of a dud in music; 2005 was great. Looking back, I really really wish I went to more concerts that year cause I missed some stellar performances. Illinoise!, the only completley solid album by Sufjan to date, did several remarkable things. First, he dusted off Christian themes with fresh melodies, which was the best thing for Christian music since Johnny Cash (though considering the state of Christian music prior to him, that's not saying much at all). Secondly, its utilization of brass and woodwinds (though hardly original in itself) was done in such a way to remain surprising and enjoyable. Within the confinements of an album, he tries to cover as many Illinois landmarks, both good and ugly, as he can. From the upbeat, hagiographical Chicago, to the southern banjo feel in Jacksonville, to the harrowing, horrifying John Wayne Gacy Jr. Too bad none of Sufjan's other albums have been half as good. Only his album Michigan came even close. 2005 really produced some unforgettable albums that deserve mentioning: The New Pornographers released Twin Cinema, and Wolf Parade gave us Apologies to the Queen Mary with my favorite single from that year, I'll Believe In Anything.

Now I am finally tired and am going to bed. I was right. These blog posts are the best medicine for sleep. Agurrrrr...