Happy Christmas! A Christmas Compilation

I have made a little Christmas compilation so that you all have something special to listen to as you put up your trees. Grab a glass of hot chocolate, put on this album, and put that tree together!

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus

A little over a year ago, I downloaded Nick Cave & The Bad Seed's most recent album Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!. I had heard my friend Calvin talking about how great Nick Cave is and decided to give him a chance. I hated it. Oh, how I hated it! Fast forward to about 6 months ago and I decided to give Nick Cave & Co. another chance. Still hated it. Well, as it turns out, Dig!!! isn't the best introduction to this incredible songwriter. Last night, while watching the new Harry Potter movie, I heard a song in the movie that sunk its claws into me and upon checking online this morning, it turns out that it was none other than Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The song, "O Children" is the final track on the second disc of the double-disc album, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus.

So I started at the beginning of disc 1 and listened all the way through to "O Children" and I feel obligated to say that if you are unfamiliar with Nick Cave, or if perhaps you find yourself in a similar situation to me, then give this album a chance and you'll find that he is an incredible artist. More than anything, upon listening, I'm reminded of Tom Waits, but instead of the occasional song that I find that I like, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus is fantastic from start to finish. Listen to it. Now!

Tracklisting:
Disc 1:
1. Get Ready For Love
2. Cannibal's Hymn
3. Hiding All Away
4. Messiah Ward
5. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
6. Nature Boy
7. Abattoir Blues
8. Let The Bells Ring
9. Fable of The Brown Ape

Disc 2:
1. The Lyre of Orpheus
2. Breathless
3. Babe, You Turn Me On
4. Easy Money
5. Supernaturally
6. Spell
7. Carry Me
8. O Children

Pedro The Lion - Control

Control was Pedro The Lion's most recent album when I started listening to them, so suffice it to say, it is the album that I think of when I think of the band. It showcases the same sound as seen on previous efforts, though slightly bigger and more polished, though not as much so as Achilles Heel. Overall, Control has a much darker feel to it than any other Pedro album, but is still indie rock at its best.

Tracklisting:
1. Options
2. Rapture
3. Penetration
4. Indian Summer
5. Progress
6. Magazine
7. Rehearsal
8. Second Best
9. Priests and Paramedics
10. Rejoice

Beat! Beat! Beat! - Lightmares

This is the best new album that I have heard in a while. The best way that I can describe them is a mix between Pomegranates, Bloc Party., and at times The Strokes

Tracklisting:
1. Hard To Cherish
2. We Are Waves
3. Graveyard
4. You're Designer
5. Stars
6. Too Short To Bide
7. Bravery
8. Fireworks
9. See It Glisten
10. Lightheavy Rapture

Tift Merritt - See You On The Moon

Listening to Tift Merritt's newest album, See You On The Moon, it's no great surprise that NPR has been going nuts for her since it came out. She has that style that resonates so well with NPR fans: a little country, a little folk; a lot like Over The Rhine and Aimee Mann in a lot of ways. Regardless, the album is great for late summer nights and autumn afternoons. Currently, I am reading Jerry Weintraub's autobiography "When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead" and listening to Merritt play softly in the background. Not a terrible combination.

Tracklisting:
1. Mixtape
2. Engine To Turn
3. The Things That Everybody Does
4. Six More Days of Rain
5. Feel Of The World
6. Never Talk About It
7. All The Reasons We Don't Have To Fight
8. Live Till You Die
9. Papercut
10. See You On The Moon
11. Danny's Song
12. After Today
13. Bar With A TV On

Old Abram Brown - Restless Ghosts

I think that it pretty well goes without saying that Old Abram Brown sounds like Cold War Kids, which in most cases turns me off to a band. I don't mind being able to easily recognize a band's influences in their own sound, but I hate to hear a band that is more or less a carbon copy of another band. While singer Carson Lund sounds a great deal like Cold War Kid's own Nathan Willett, I think that Old Abram Brown has taken time to flesh out the songs a little more than Cold War Kids and have created a sound that is reminiscent of the aforementioned, but their own, especially when it comes to heavily folk influenced songs like "Little Feet". Restless Ghosts has turned out to be a very strong release and shows a great deal of maturation that took place over the last year or so.

I sincerely hope that I haven't turned anyone off to this band by drawing comparisons. If you aren't a fan of Cold War Kids, then you should probably do something about that (hah!). If you are and you don't like the idea of some other band sounding like them, give them a listen anyway, you may be surprised.

Tracklisting:
1. Your House On The Hill
2. Novelty Prize
3. Little Feet
4. Tides
5. Mountain Lions
6. Silhouette
7. My Show
8. The Good Man's Way
9. I'm Not Happy

Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine

I posted Songs: Ohia's final album (or Magnolia Electric Co.'s first album, depending on who you talk to) The Magnolia Electric Co. some months ago. That album represents last fall for me: planning a wedding, working a job that I hated, playing in She Does Is Magic with Chad Serhal and Co., the Halloween costume party at Chad's house, Trailer Park Film Faction, the list could go on and on. That album is among a short list for me of perfect fall albums among Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts Of The Great Highway, Wilco's A Ghost Is Born, Midlake's The Trials Of Van Occupanther, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker, and J. Tillman's Vacilando Territory Blues, just to name a few. As I had spent a great amount of time listening to Songs: Ohia's final chapter, I found myself still hungry for more of Jason Molina and company. Their latest album, Josephine, has come to be the perfect thing to satisfy that hunger. The album is lush with supplemental instrumentation, though not overly produced or too big. My good friend Eric Delong (aka The Apprentice) once told me that all of the great songs that have ever been written weren't displays of how much one person could do, but rather a layering of multiple, simple parts. Jason Molina must have been listening in on that conversation, because it seems like every one of his songs is beautifully layered and masterfully crafted. If you have yet to catch on, I am becoming quite the fan. This is a great place to start a long-lasting love affair with a great and regrettably under appreciated band.

Tracklisting:
1. O! Grace
2. The Rock of Ages
3. Josephine
4. Shenandoah
5. Whip-Poor-Will
6. Song For Willie
7. Hope Dies Last
8. The Handing Down
9. Map of the Falling Sky
10. Little Sad Eyes
11. Heartbreak at Ten Paces
12. Knoxville Girl
13. Shiloh
14. An Arrow In The Gale

Noise, Idaho - I Am Waiting For Death

Noise, Idaho (pronounced Nois-ee, like Boise) is side-project of Chad Serhal's and I Am Waiting For Death is an instrumental album about a volcano. I am convinced that Chad Serhal is bursting with material. I don't know of anyone else who is writing so many albums so quickly. In the year or so that I have known him, he has released about 3 albums under his own name and now another one as Noise, Idaho, and that's just the material that he has released. I'm sure there is quite a bit more material that he didn't release. Check it out. Good stuff.

Tracklisting:
1. LA SOUFRIERE PART 1
2. LA SOUFRIERE PART 2
3. LA SOUFRIERE PART 3
4. LA SOUFRIERE PART 4
5. LA SOUFRIERE PART 6
7. LA SOUFRIERE PART 7
8. LA SOUFRIERE PART 8
9. LA SOUFRIERE PART 9

Chad Serhal - Hoosier Mountain Restoration Gospel

As an added bonus, I am also making Chad Serhal's gospel record, Hoosier Mountain Restoration Gospel, available. The album contains a few covers of classic gospel songs, as well a few originals that are each and every one great. Check it!

Tracklisting:
1. Shine On Me
2. The Hour That The Ship Comes In
3. Praise the Lord! I Saw The Light!
4. Lord, I'm In Your Care
5. When I Bid This World Goodbye
6. Hallelujah! We Shall Rise
7. Glory Hallelujah
8. By and By
9. Oh! What A Beautiful City!
10. Do Lord
11. Take A Stand

Chad Serhal - Smithville

Well, it's happened once again: Chad Serhal has written and recorded a new album. With the exception of Eliot Wilder (of whom I am not a fan), I can think of no one else that is putting out music as quickly. Unlike Eliot Wilder, however, Chad Serhal has the ability to write interesting, yet catchy songs and his newest, Smithville, is no exception. Personally, I am not a fan of electronica, so the album Cruise Van Nuyes didn't resonate as much with me as his others. Smithvilles, however, sees a return to the sound found on albums like The Last Picture Show and Badlands (of which Smithville is a sequel). The songs are great (especially tracks like "Day at the Lake" and "Only The Only") and the album even contains a cover of the Bee Gees' song "To Love Somebody". Smithville is a fine addition to an already great catalogue. Download, listen, love.

Tracklisting:
1. Day at the Lake
2. Indiana
3. Only The Only
4. This Is Wrong
5. Miles Away
6. Judy's Drive-In
7. Sunrise Eyes
8. Second-Hand Lover
9. To Love Somebody