As fun as it is to complain about “music these days,” and how it’s all been downhill since The Chronic or something came out, it’s even MORE fun to listen to — wait for it — good music. Every Tuesday, a.k.a. Music Release Day, we’ll highlight five albums worth (legally) downloading or driving to the local Best Buy (lolz) for.
Today, we’ve got albums from the Greatest Band in the World, an Outkast collaborator, and a certain dream pop duo who released my favorite record of the year so far. It’s a good day for music.
If 2012 were to end today, hopefully in a non-apocalyptic way, Bloom would be my pick for Album of the Year. Beach House’s last album, Teen Dream, was a perfect example of disaffected, icy coolness made enchanting through looping guitar riffs, woozy keyboards, and Victoria Legrand’s hymn-like, thick voice – and Bloom is even better. It’s a busier record, with more going on in the background, but Legrand’s vocals, some of the best business, remain at the front of the mix, where they belong. This is the pick of the week, the month, maybe even the year.
Rize of the Fenix by Tenacious D
I wish Jack Black’s recent filmography was as good as Rize of the Fenix, and that they all had names like “They F*cked Our Asses.” After the disappointing Pick of Destiny (which they comment on in the album’s title track), it’s nice to know that Rage Cage and Jables are still capable of pulling off something as vulgar and high concept as “Deth Starr,” while simultaneously making us laugh and respect their undeniable musical talents.
More about this instant classic from the Smoking Section.
Best Coast’s sophomore album has a more mature sound than their sunny 2010 debut, Crazy for You, but considering it’s only competing against lines like, “So when I’m with you, I have fun/Yeah, when I’m with you, I have fun,” that’s not saying much. But Bethany Cosentino’s lyrics are better and her swooning voice stronger, factors that allowed producer Jon Brion to strip away much of Crazy‘s protective reverb and replace it with a cleaner, yet still sandy sound.
This album, from Baltimore-born rapper Rye Rye, was originally supposed to come out in 2009. But then the diminutive, rapid-paced Rye Rye, real name Ryeisha Berrain, got pregnant and a series of other delays followed. It’s finally been released today, though, and completely worth the wait: it’s sassy, bratty, and with its reliance on neon-colored beats, even makes someone like me, who earlier this feature called the icy Bloom his favorite record of the year, want to dance.
