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[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

SHRINEBUILDER LEAKED?

Yeah, not sure when though.  And the only leak I've seen has been pathetically low quality (bitrate, not the music itself).

[David_Dovey]

Intrepid bastard that I am, I actually hit the googles right after making that post (dated in October, so it's been leaked at least a month, danggggg) and found this VBR version (all around 270KB/s) at this blog here: http://cultofruins.blogspot.com/2009/10/shrinebuilder-shrinebuilder.html

Yeah I know but he gets jocked here a lot and just seemed like an appropriate target.

This is News To Me. Anyways, thanks for the Bruuuuce. I believed I've mentioned you are a Bringer of The Goods previously.

[De_El]

He isn't really. Illinoise made it into the greatest album tournament somehow, but out of curiosity I searched the forum for his name and there aren't enough mentions of his name in 2009 that that you can't see results from '08 on the first page.

[StaedlerMars]

So I was trawling through FFFFOUND! and stumbled across this

[Scandanavian War Machine]

RE: Supergroups:

1) The Raconteurs
2) Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains



note: it actually took me a while to come up with another supergroup that wasn't terrible besides The Raconteurs. I almost gave up!

[Touch Me Im Sick]

Françoise Hardy - "Tous les garçons et les filles" (1962) (a.k.a. The Yeh-Yeh Girl from Paris)

From the Bardot-like cover shot of a windswept and gorgeous Françoise Hardy to the oddly chipper title, this 1965 U.S. debut (originally released on the proto-world music label Four Corners) is clearly pitched at the adventurous edge of the U.S. pop market, pitching Hardy as the Gallic Petula Clark. (Clark was, unbeknownst to the U.S. market at the time, making terrific French-language pop records herself at the time.) Complicating this, of course, is the fact that Hardy's music, for all its catchiness, is stripped down to its barest essentials — acoustic and electric guitar, bass, minimalist drums, very little else — and Hardy herself sings her (mostly self-penned) lyrics in an attractive but chilly drop-dead monotone that's far removed from the perkiness of almost every other female singer (minus Nico and Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las) of the '60s. Even the perkier tunes, like the enormous French hit single "Tous les Garcons et les Filles," have a measured, restrained quality. The Yeh-Yeh Girl From Paris is an outstanding record, but it's the '60s pop equivalent of Shaker furniture: free of ornamentation and exquisitely simple. -AMG

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ynomnem1ajt

[E. Spaceman]

This is Japanese Music Appreciation Week*  and today is OOIOO monday

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?qmmnn0dkg2i


* if you were not aware of this week, it is because i invented it last night

[pat101]

OOIOO is certainly better than Led Zeppelin. Probably The Who as well.

[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

Shrinebuilder!!!

Dovey, don't ever stop being an intrepid bastard.

Also,

Krallice- Dimensional Bleedthrough

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wthnmjhtjy5
Crazy psychedelic black metal.

[smack that isaiah]

(I guess you guys replace a letter in the website's names so that if ppl search for the file sharing site your forums won't show up, right?  I'll do that.)

Do the links here have to be mediaf!re?  Because I've got an interesting album I'd like to share, and I previously uploaded it to Meg@upload to send to a friend, so I've still got that link.  I would reup it to mediaf!re but I'm at school and on their internet and I worry that doing that would call attention to me.

[Bastardous Bassist]

(I guess you guys replace a letter in the website's names so that if ppl search for the file sharing site your forums won't show up, right?  I'll do that.)

The word filter automatically does it.

[smack that isaiah]

oh, well that's nice.  but, should I not post a Meg@upload link?  I could reup the album on mediafire over Thanksgiving when I'm home

[Scandanavian War Machine]

meh i think megaupload is okay in a pinch so i wouldn't worry about it. it's stuff like Sendspace and Rapidshare that we try to avoid since they are evil.

[smack that isaiah]

Well, I found this album at my local record store in the bargain bin for $1 (last year my roommate and I wrote a blog where we bought bargain bin albums and reviewed them, but it stopped over the summer when he stopped updating weekly (I would like to start updating again, but he doesn't due to the heavy work loads we've been getting)).  I personally really liked this album due to the very varied genres that consistently appeared in each track.  One track could be electronica and the next might be hard rock, while others display a cabaret sound.

Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat - Take That! [2009]  (seriously, the album was put into the bargain bin the same year it came out)


01 Weimar
02 Get Off My Chest
03 Shake Your Dance Stick
04 Too Hard
05 Heaven
06 I Hate Cabaret
07 Awfully Confusing
08 Grey
09 Little Death
10 Down Boy
11 Johnny Gewurztraminer
12 You Say You Love Me

(bolded tracks are ones I especially enjoyed)

Code: [Select]

http://[email protected]/?d=SZEFHUOE

(This was the back image, I felt that buying the album was necessary)

[theoryC]

note: it actually took me a while to come up with another supergroup that wasn't terrible besides The Raconteurs. I almost gave up!

Tomahawk - Anomymous (2007)

Code: [Select]

http://www.med!afire.com/?attzwlntxny

As a mad musical genius, Mike Patton continues his wild-eyed adventures of conquering every genre possible with Anonymous. In Fantômas he tackled horror music and cartoon themes, in the Executioners he had a go at hip-hop, in Peeping Tom he deconstructed pop, and in Mr. Bungle he combined doo-wop, funk, Middle Eastern and carnival music to make a wonderful schizophrenic mess. Anonymous maintains his journey into uncharted territory by mixing Tomahawk's unique blend of mathy-doom metal with Native American tribal chants. This blend of drastically differing musical styles could easily result in something that sounds forced or even satirical -- especially since one style is centuries older than the other -- but instead, the entire experience creates the feel of camping out at a haunted American Indian Reservation. All of the songs are embellished versions of tunes from books of transcribed "Indian songs" published in the early 1900s (with the exception of an instrumental guitar ballad that ties up the album nicely, adapted from an anonymous parlor song.) Patton fans will likely rejoice about the absurdist outcome, though the record is quite a departure from the Tomahawk of old. The group sounds less like a band performing this time around, and this may be partly due to the fact that they recorded separately. After the departure of Kevin Rutmanis (bass), Duane Denison (guitar) and John Stanier (drums) recorded their parts in Nashville, and then sent their finished product to San Francisco where Patton added his vocals and samples. As always, Patton runs amuck and uses this opportunity to show off his unrivaled range and his masterful ability to veer from layered oceans of eerie moans to psychotic barks and crooning modal scales. The result actually feels more like a Fantômas concept performed by Bungle than a third Tomahawk album, and fans may be disappointed that it doesn't sound like their last two releases, where they distinctively rode the line between savage and brooding within the constraints of heavy metal. The ominous element is present, but the dynamic shifts drastically into a more atmospheric new age realm scattered with a few chaotic explosions here and there for good measure. It feels more like a soundtrack than an album, where pieces vary from eerie, to unnerving, to mystical. Although this is a unified record that should be experienced from start to finish, individual songs have slight and interesting variations to keep the experience from becoming stale. For instance, "Antelope Ceremony" has jazzy-prog movements like something out of Zappa's Apostrophe period, and "Sun Dance" integrates four bars of thunderous punk into an otherwise tranquil desert soundscape. There's a good chance this departure from their formula will appeal more to people who want to pick up where California left off on "Goodbye Sober Day" than fans of Helmet or Jesus Lizard. But considering that the band is playing in a completely new style, and incorporating traditional Native American instruments (rain sticks, flutes, buckskin drums) this is undeniably a stunning musical exploration -- and as far as original artistic endeavors go, this ranks as Patton and company's most ambitious masterpiece. The only question left is whether or not the guys knew they were capable of creating this type of music when they originally named the band.

[Weepie McGee]

Tomahawk - Anomymous (2007)

actually one of the worst things ever.

[KickThatBathProf]

note: it actually took me a while to come up with another supergroup that wasn't terrible besides The Raconteurs. I almost gave up!

Battles

[edwinalink]

Tomahawk - Anomymous (2007)

actually one of the worst things ever.

after reading the description I was ready to be like, "fuck you man this sounds brilliant!"

but no, it really is quite bad... and I keep hearing this awful hook in EVERY FUCKING SONG. and it isnt good in any of them...

and that hook, sure as hell don't sound native American.

[theoryC]

Bah, Tomahawk is great.

[David_Dovey]

Bah, the first two Tomahawk albums are great.

[aflowerchild]

No one has mentioned Traveling Wilberrys!
For a supergroup they had some good songs.
Just saying.

[David_Dovey]

I was going to say Wilburys but considering who was in that band, they really don't come anywhere near being equal to the sum of their parts at all.

[J Squared]

What about The New Pornographers?

[Scandanavian War Machine]

note: it actually took me a while to come up with another supergroup that wasn't terrible besides The Raconteurs. I almost gave up!

Battles

you got me there. But then again, Battles is already way bigger than any of the bands they were in before that so I dunno

[Touch Me Im Sick]

note: it actually took me a while to come up with another supergroup that wasn't terrible besides The Raconteurs. I almost gave up!

Battles

you got me there. But then again, Battles is already way bigger than any of the bands they were in before that so I dunno

What about Helmet?

[Scandanavian War Machine]

I dunno. Helmet is pretty big but if I wandered around town asking people if they knew who Helmet and/or Battles were, I bet I'd find way more people who know Battles than Helmet.

[onewheelwizzard]

Um hey guys

I just got the new Shpongle album

It is so fucking good

I don't know what to do

except give it to you

Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland

After three groundbreaking albums over the course of a decade, the internationally acclaimed electronica project Shpongle has returned from what fans feared was the end of the project when Nothing Lasts ... but Nothing is Lost, their third album, was released. Not prepared to leave us hanging, electronic music pioneers Simon Posford and Raja Ram have continued to push the envelope and break boundaries to create yet another sonic masterpiece: the much-awaited fourth Shpongle album, Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland.

There are languages here that Shpongle fans will know and love as much as their previous work, and yet there are some massive leaps forward in terms of production techniques, sonic trickery, structure, and direction compared to all of the previous outings to date. With influences drawn from anywhere from Steve Reich and Mike Oldfield to the Batman movies and beyond, this really is another over the top record in terms of production skills, tonal textures, and original ideas from Shpongle. It is rich in detail and emotion, in worldly and otherworldly samples and inspiration, and in harmonic and melodic construction.

Basically Shpongle are the pinnacle of psychedelic music in this century.  This album is beautiful.  My highest recommendations.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?jtway3mtzzk

[kwintpod]

Another great Rome album, leaning a bit more to the industrial side than the one I posted last time
Rome-Nera(2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOVe7DHkg6k
Cold Meat Industry has waited till the end of the year to offer us one of the best releases of 2006. Jerome Reuter's solo project, Rome, with its first long player. This young artist from Luxembourg has long been in the music world. Starting in punk bands, he moved on to rock with great baselines (references he does not speak about but are easily found in the Internet). However, working with other people may limit creativity and that is what happened to Jerome. When he decided to form Rome, a word that comes from a shortening of his own name, his knew one main thing: he would work alone. Rome is the future of the neo-folk world. It does not fall into the same four chords played with the guitar in a 'wanting to live up to Death in June' sound. And it moves enough into post-industrialism to be called experimental and to be misunderstood. This fresh combination of sounds: great guitar work, martial percussion, pop melodies and dark crooning, capture the listener and transport them into a different world. On occasions, the guitar sounds are so full of beauty and longing they almost hurt to listen to. It opens the more guitar-oriented songs a possibility of jumping into the indie world -and that, perhaps, offends some more traditional dark folk followers. On the other hand, there are many compositions that are constructed only over ritual and repetitive percussion, moving the songs deeper into desperation and darkness. Some of the songs even move closer to dark wave than to neofolk though the combination of guitars and synthesisers. I am not saying this has not been done before; it has simply not been done with such delicacy and mastery in a long time. "

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?znmnygw2fym

[Kyros]

Guys...GUYS

EDIT:

This is the upcoming Beach House album, Teen Dream btw.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?fmz0uummgyy


Disclaimer: Not my link, I just got really excited and thought I'd throw the one I saw of the leak up here real quick.

[Scarychips]

What about The New Pornographers?

See Broken Social Scene.

[E. Spaceman]

Continuing with Japanese Music Appreciation Week, today is Yura Yura Teikoku Tuesday

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?jz0jzzmyym2

[medicatesleep]

A Perfect Circle's first 2 albums were quite good for a supergroup.

[gospel]

Laura Veirs – July Flame [2010]
MySpace

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?wmtnml2jnuz

On a day in late July 2008, when the sun was hot enough to melt the skin, Veirs and a friend stumbled upon a booth at the Portland, Ore. farmer’s market selling July Flame peaches. Veirs so liked the name that she suggested she and her friend each write a song with that title. They bought a bunch of peaches and canned them in their bathing suits on the hottest day that summer.

The peaches, spiked with cloves and drenched in syrup, turned out great, and the song is one of Veirs’ best ever.

“I’d been in a songwriting slump at that time and writing that song pushed me over my plateau and into a new place where I was surprising myself again. I invented oddball tunings so I was really using my ear to search out new-sounding melodies and patterns,” says Veirs. “I wrote this album from a searching, soulful place. I hope it elicits a real gut feeling.”

Composed mostly on her “crappy nylon-string guitar,” (though also on her Les Paul electric guitar, banjo and piano), in the barn behind her house in Portland, Ore., July Flame is a relatively stripped-down folk record highlighting Veirs’ masterful finger picking guitar and confident vocals. “Laura’s like the queen bee and my ear is her hive; she nests and makes honey in the hairs of my cochlea,” says Jim James of My Morning Jacket (who sings on several tracks).

The album breaks from Veirs’ previous full-band efforts, although many of the same players make appearances on the album, including longtime collaborators Karl Blau and Steve Moore. String arrangements are featured more on this album than on others; the brilliant improviser Eyvind Kang plays viola on many songs, and legendary arranger Stephen Barber composed hauntingly beautiful string quartet arrangements for three songs.

July Flame is the sixth album that Laura and producer Tucker Martine have made together. Recorded and mixed at their home, the songwriting, arrangements, production and performances create a fully realized piece of art that inspires reflection and calm in a world that spins unsteady.

Still Light – Lything
MySpace

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?1qzdeywyomi

“Still Light is an eclectic trio joining Edinburgh based Singer/Songwriter Lucy Hague, London based artist Sand Snowman, and Kirill Nikolai. My original search led me to Kirill Nikolai, who I was surprised to see Irish born painter Francis Bacon sighted as an influence. Also among the top friends listed I find Nick Drake. Upon seeing this I am immediately drawn to the conclusion that Still Light will be golden, and they are. Among the two songs found on their fairly new Myspace page, “Tenebre”, from the 2009 release “Lything” is part Iron And Wine’s “Our Endless Numbered Days” with a dash of imagery formed from the tale of Into The Wild’s Chris McCandless and strangely enough a touch of U2’s “Joshua Tree”. The open plain, the winding road, the desolation. I hear and feel so many ranges of influence. There is Pink Floyd, there is J. Tilman of Fleet Floxes, and to compare Lucy Hague’s vocals to that of Amy Lee, I will do just that. “Tenebre”, with is vaguely Southern use of what appears to be a banjo only leads me to speculate that the trio comes together with a broad background to form this truly new, original, and unique sound. With it’s subtle and overall non-intrusive instrumentation, “Tenebre” stands out and allows for Still Light to shine as vocalist’s as well as seasoned musicians. Music for elevation, not the elevator.”
Brad Tilbe adequacy.net

“Its October 1st and ominous skies are already rolling in. Appropriately, so are new tracks from Still Light, a UK/US band that crafts exceedingly dreamy acoustic psych crafted for dark mornings where getting out from under the covers is the last thing one wants to think of. Blurring the line between ambient folk, celestial drone and a land where Delia Derbyshire is still recording the world, Lything, the groups latest release on Apollolaan Recordings (limited to 50!), is a wondrous departure from reality. It drifts by like clouds bound for some other town, but not without leaving an impression. Sort of like this. Recorded by Lucy Hague, Sand Snowman and Kirill Nikolai, Lything is best suited for low impact home life, which makes sense as the record was cut in “Kirill’s closet/bedroom/living room in Boulder, CO, Lucy Hague’s pad in Edinburgh, Scotland and Sand’s home studio in London.” Blanket vibes for sure. Take a look at the gorgeous hand made art here. For those of you still lamenting the lose of summer, this should help ease the pain.”

[JD]

Gospel is secretly from the future.

[carrotosaurus]

So I got to record a ton of bands this weekend at Elm City Popfest. Here's a live recording of A Sunny Day in Glasgow I recorded this weekend. They're kind of off-key but they put on a damn good show.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?qwd0fnzqzdt
If you want more details, check this out.

[JD]

Japanese appreciation week, woo
Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs-World Is Yours(2009)Genre: Post-rocky Shoegaze

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?2zznz2kz2mm

[scarred]

Laura Veirs – July Flame [2010]

ohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

[gospel]

I suppose to honor (ha!) our Nipponese talent, here's a re-up of one of my favorite albums of 2008.


Shugo Tokumaru - Exit

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?4ywfjhntz4k

Shugo Tokumaru is not (as many reviewers have assessed) the Japanese Sufjan Stevens. He may share some of Stevens' fascination with found instruments and eccentric acoustic arrangements, but that's where the similarities end. Tokumaru, in general, seems to go much deeper into his own musical world -- playing with sounds more and taking ideas much further. If comparisons must be made, it would better describe Tokumaru's trajectory to align him with the likes of a less predictable pop experimenter like Lindsey Buckingham. Like Buckingham, Tokumaru's songs can sound deceptively simple on the surface, but closer listening reveals a very sophisticated musician at work. Anyone can layer instruments on top of one another (and, with the advent of digital home recording, often to a ludicrous level), but it takes a real talent to sort out how they should fit together. This is where Tokumaru shines, especially on his album Exit -- a home-recorded affair that flirts with indulgence but rarely succumbs to it. That's an important point because a song like Exit's opener, "Parachute" -- with its multi-layered fingerpicked guitar propulsion and more melody lines than you could shake a stick at -- could have been just a predictable lo-fi mélange had someone else been at the helm. In Tokumaru's hands, indulgence is tempered with taste and taste is augmented by confident individuality and competent musicianship. That individuality and musical prowess are evident enough -- as Tokumaru is clearly at ease on a number of different instruments -- but all of that would amount to beans if you couldn't put it together just as expertly. In the arrangement department, Tokumaru displays both skill and mischievousness. He has a Brian Wilson-like penchant for playing instruments off of each other to achieve a greater result (just listen to the Pet Sounds playfulness of "La La Radio") and is fearless in his use of dissonance (check the gradually twisted interplay between the recorders and melodicas on "Clocca"). Ambitious as some of that may seem, Exit never feels like a show-off record -- just a thoughtfully put-together one.

Laura Veirs – July Flame [2010]

ohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier (2004)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?4wrngwrhzah

Laura Veirs' Seattle is not a city plagued by rain and enormous bowls of coffee; rather, it's a metropolitan snow globe trapped in a solid sheet of ice. The 13 songs that make up her fourth album (and Nonesuch debut), Carbon Glacier, rely on Veirs' free associating motor-mouth imagery to dig them out the tundra, and it's a testament to her skills as an interpreter that the majority of them break through. That's also thanks in part to the intricate arrangements and superb musicianship from her "Tortured Souls," Steve Moore, Karl Blau, and producer/drummer Tucker Martine (Modest Mouse). Martine allows the experimentation to bloom in all the right places, resulting in a record that never overworks itself, despite being packed to the gills with ghostly glockenspiels, organs, random percussion, and trombone. Veirs' hypnotic voice cuts through it all with deadpan sincerity -- she's equally capable of pitch-perfect beauty ("Lonely Angel Dust") or tightrope uneasiness ("Icebound Stream") -- that comes off somewhere between Nina Nastasia and Jolie Holland. Her ability to sound as comfortable singing over grungy and compressed drum loops as she does on simple folk tunes is admirable, and it makes all of the genre-hopping exceptionally fluid. Even at her warmest, she exudes a certain collegiate coolness, and when Carbon Glacier begins to drag -- and it does near the end -- Veirs manages to retain and command a level of anticipation/fascination that's the mark of a true artist.

[Mr. Tool]

Blakroc



This is the Black Keys' collaboration with the world of hip-hop. It's pretty much the best rap-rock record ever made. Check out the first video here if you need convincing.

   1. Coochie (featuring Ludacris, Ol' Dirty Bastard) – 4:10
   2. On the Vista (featuring Mos Def) – 2:39
   3. Hard Times (featuring NOE) – 2:38
   4. Dollaz & Sense (featuring RZA, Pharoahe Monch) – 3:47
   5. Why Can’t I Forget Him (featuring Nicole Wray) – 4:16
   6. Stay Off the Fuckin’ Flowers (featuring Raekwon) – 2:31
   7. Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (featuring Mos Def, Jim Jones) – 3:23
   8. Hope You’re Happy (featuring Billy Danze of M.O.P., Q-Tip, Nicole Wray)
   9. Tellin’ Me Things (featuring RZA) – 2:39
  10. What You Do to Me (featuring Billy Danze, Jim Jones, Nicole Wray) – 5:14
  11. Done Did It (featuring Nicole Wray, NOE) – 3:29

Code: [Select]

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

[E. Spaceman]

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?wmn22td0tjj

Boredoms Wednesday

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Blakroc

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?dnfardfjykz

shit yeah! i was gonna upload that myself but my internet is too slow.

i got it yesterday and it's freaking awesome. there's a couple "meh" tracks in the middle but all in all it's really good.

[JD]

man, OOIOO is fantastic

[Kai]

If you like that OOIOO album, definitely check out the Boredoms that E posted like, three posts up.

[Mixitup]

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP (2009)

Code: [Select]

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

[Koremora]

I LOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU

[scarred]

The Bird And The Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future [2009]

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?5myjzkndzry

It's a tricky thing to make accessible pop that doesn't hide behind clever irony or fall into the soulless, Auto-Tuned suckhole of Top 40 pap. The Bird And The Bee displayed an aptitude for bubbly, tropicalia-laced pop on its excellent debut, and the cumbersomely titled follow-up, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, continues that exploration of carefree, happy-making music.

Vocalist Inara George and programmer Greg Kurstin have an affinity for all things pretty and vaguely retro, as her exceedingly pleasant vocals and his lush production attest. It's a formula, yes, but one that works over and over, from kitschy but rich-sounding earworms like "Love Letter To Japan" and "Diamond Dave" (yes, as in Lee Roth) to the more introspective and sadly beautiful "Ray Gun" and "Baby." Only the somewhat plodding "Witch" and a couple of jarring musical interludes lean toward self-indulgence. "Polite Dance Song" is a welcome repeat inclusion from a 2007 EP that subtly showcases George's vocal prowess in the context of a silly hip-hop-influenced goof, a reflection of the underlying skill and craft that make this fluffy-sounding collection of songs cheerily frivolous, but not disposable.

Grade: A-

[JD]

More Japanese music appreciation
9mm Parabellum Bullet-Termination[2007]

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?ymkyfozo2ve

[scarred]

The Bird And The Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future [2009]

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?5myjzkndzry

It's a tricky thing to make accessible pop that doesn't hide behind clever irony or fall into the soulless, Auto-Tuned suckhole of Top 40 pap. The Bird And The Bee displayed an aptitude for bubbly, tropicalia-laced pop on its excellent debut, and the cumbersomely titled follow-up, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, continues that exploration of carefree, happy-making music.

Vocalist Inara George and programmer Greg Kurstin have an affinity for all things pretty and vaguely retro, as her exceedingly pleasant vocals and his lush production attest. It's a formula, yes, but one that works over and over, from kitschy but rich-sounding earworms like "Love Letter To Japan" and "Diamond Dave" (yes, as in Lee Roth) to the more introspective and sadly beautiful "Ray Gun" and "Baby." Only the somewhat plodding "Witch" and a couple of jarring musical interludes lean toward self-indulgence. "Polite Dance Song" is a welcome repeat inclusion from a 2007 EP that subtly showcases George's vocal prowess in the context of a silly hip-hop-influenced goof, a reflection of the underlying skill and craft that make this fluffy-sounding collection of songs cheerily frivolous, but not disposable.

Grade: A-

Quoted in its entirety because it is too good to be swallowed by the pagebreak.

Also

Rules:

No hot-linking images or albums. You can re-host images at http://imageshack.us.

Ensure your tags are correct and that you have specified both Artist/Album in your post.

Upload your files in either a .zip or a .rar archive to mediaf!re.com, in multiple parts if the album is over 100mbs. The reason for this is that we know mediaf!re is safe and efficient and allows multiple downloads. The ads on other sites, such as Sendspace, are known to contain viruses on the page. Get yourself checked out.

Post your link using code tags. It's the # icon above the policeman emoticon. This prevents the links from being traced back to the forums, lowering the chance that the wrong people notice the thread, potentially threatening Jeph with legal action.

Also, please do NOT request albums. This includes requests for re-uploads; if you miss it, try looking for it somewhere else.

Repost the rules at the top of each new page.

[Orcusmars]

seriously if this entire page was just people quoting that album it would still be one of the better pages of music in this thread

[JD]

Oops