Mixtape!

Multitrack Sneakattack, vol. XIII: Sleepbending

Half-year list

I've been wildly inactive for how much music has been going through my speakers, so I'm just going to make some lists, and maybe some descriptions.

BEST ALBUMS SO FAR

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
So much more spacious and ominous and human than the first. Absolutely fantastic.

The Antlers - Burst Apart
Ambient textures with huge drums and soulful falsetto-sung lyrics. I'm a fan.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong

Both more aggressive and sweeter than the debut, and so so so catchy.

Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

You can't expect the larger force behind Sonic Youth and Beck to get together and make a bad album. Spacey and glassy and mashed up and all sorts of other things you wouldn't expect an acoustic album to be.

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

I don't care what any critic says, TKOL is on par with any of the rest of Radiohead's catalogue, matching psychedelic and Beatles influences (Morning Mr. Magpie, Little By Little) with more beat work than they have ever done (Bloom, Feral), as well as writing the most disarming song of their career (Give Up the Ghost). And at only 5 minutes shorter than In Rainbows, the complaint of it being too short is hardly valid. It just leaves you wanting more.

Still on my list to familiarize myself with is TV on the Radio's "Nine Types of Light," Lykke Li's "Wounded Rhymes," and Panda Bear's "Tomboy," which I have greatly enjoyed so far. Expressly not on this list is Death Cab's "Codes and Keys."

ALBUMS I HAVE GOTTEN INTO

Beach House - Teen Dream

I checked this album out the first week of the new year to see what the fuss was all about, and I love it.

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
I've said so much about Tame Impala on here, so I will just recap: so so so so good

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

How did I even miss this when it came out? Every melody line is flawless, and every harmony is so sweet I get a sugar high just listening to it. Every guitar line is fresh and every song just gets better with every listen.

School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
Girl-fronted, electronic-driven shoegaze revival? I am all about every part of this.

Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Another 08 album that slid under my radar. This album isn't so much a collection of songs as it is a collection of atmospheres to cover yourself with.

The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?

The funniest, catchiest, greatest lo-fi indie you'll hear.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

This album sounds like you took a mixtape of all of my favorite bands and the tape was corrupted so all the songs spliced together. omg.

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights/Antics

I never gave Interpol too much of a listen when these albums first came out. But I since have, and have been rewarded by the first two brilliant albums of a band that unfortunately has turned a little sour.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

I have recently found the time to finally give this album the attention it deserves, and I have ended up kicking myself for passing up a $15 copy I found once. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

RECORDS THAT HAVE NOT LEFT MY TURNTABLE

Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On

Their absolute best record, and one of my favorite records of all time.

Television - Marquee Moon

Do you love Wilco's guitar work? Then listen to this 1977 breakthrough from contemporaries of the Ramones.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

My favorite from them. So synthy and poppy. It tugs at the heart of my ears everytime.

Deerhunter - Cryptograms, Flourescent Grey EP, Microcastles, Weird Era Cont., Halcyon Digest

DEERHUNTER HOW U BE SO GOOD???