Langley Schools Music Project- Innocence and Despair (1976, 2001)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3qecz24bk6p63ya

Imagine a gymnasium full of elementary school kids singing and playing songs by The Eagles, Beach Boys, David Bowie, the Carpenters, Paul McCartney, Neil Diamond, etc in the 1970s. It'd be off-key and peppy. But you might not guess at the level of pathos that they'd also strike, by singing words and melodies written by adults who think they have experienced heartache.

That's what this album is: an inexperienced music teacher who taught his elementary school classes a bunch of contemporary pop songs and recorded them in a giant gymnasium. There has been much mythologizing around this double-LP-turned-cd compilation, but I can honestly say that there's a good reason for it. The Langley Schools Music Project still hovers in my top five albums of all time. One of the saltiest men i have ever known told me that when he listened to this version of "Desparado," it was so devastating that all he could do was lay on the floor. That's how the album is.

The best review I have read of this record comes from Frieze Magazine:

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/the_kids_are_alright/

New Pornographers- Together (2010)

http://www.mediafire.com/?m9a8x1uz1cif5av

Wouldn't it be annoying to be part of a "supergroup" that was a bunch of bands that most people didn't know of? And to always have to explain to people why your band was so super and who you were?

Anyway... in a nutshell: New Pornographers make very, very good power pop/rock music with rock instruments. Nothing fancy. But they consist of (now) seven incredible musicians, including 2 songwriters/ guitarists, bass, drums, and four lead vocalists. That might sound overwhelming to have four singers, but they make you wish that every band did the same thing.

This disc won't surprise you or make you cry at midnight with a belly full of gin. What it makes you want to do is dance or drive really fast along Columbia Parkway with the windows down. Great, great, great summer record. Also, one of the coolest videos I have ever seen that is both badass and ridiculous. I'm not kidding. Please watch this.

All New Pornographers records are good, but this their latest and my favorite. I'm also posting it because my three year-old son has rediscovered it and wants to hear it every day.

Braids- Native Speaker

http://www.mediafire.com/?ztf5zuxaem3skhg

BRAIDS are:
a) one part early 90s classic 4AD sound (already recipe for greatness),
b) one part Gang Gang Dance,
c) one part Siouxie and the Banshees, and
d) one part Lars Ulrich.

Imagine really tasteful synth textures (i know--oxymoron, right?), female vocals with lots of personality and strength, super huge pop sensibility, soul, and the feeling of being seventeen years old on a spring break camping trip. Braids is really my thing this week.

Wearing a truly terrible band name on their sleeves, Braids are a four piece from Montreal, Canada. They could fit anywhere in a bill with Cocteau Twins, an aggressive version of Slowdive, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Animal Collective. Really, really great stuff that can fill your heart on the cloudiest day or brightest summer day.

Singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston is part of another poorly named group (Blue Hawaii), who sound basically like Braids, but less polished. Standell-Preston is interesting: she gets comparisons to Jenny Lewis and Bjork (which--C'MON!--has to be the laziest comparison someone could ever draw); however, she sounds to me like Joanna Newsome singing electronic music.

Love 'em.

Rural Alberta Advantage- Hometowns

http://www.mediafire.com/?iujv5ydu15r9iwt

Do you remember in the early 2000s when everyone was gaga for Neutral Milk Hotel? Nothing really touched Aeroplane Over the Sea, and they pretty much dropped out of public view.

The Rural Alberta Advantage, for better and for worse, is reminding a lot of people of those years. RAA has the sonics and raw energy of a lot of NMH's songs and almost captures that magic. The singer is often described as a "non-singer," someone who puts energy over phrasing, or other things that "singers" apparently think about. Seems a little bit like a derisive complement, to me. But then again, I like Fugazi as much as i like Nina Simone.

 Their lyrics aren't quite as jarring or imaginative, but there is something very immediate and punk about the simple delivery of each song. Imagine AOTS without the horns and religious reference, and you'd have a pretty good idea of what they sound like.

Definitely worth a listen.