Top 5 Albums of the first quarter of 2009

2009 is looking pretty good so far....

1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Vetiver - Tight Knit
4. Dark Was The Night - charity compilation
5. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

Honorable Mention: Neko Case, DM Stith, Beirut, Phospherescent, A.C. Newman

List your picks in the comments....i will be surprised if I like anything this year better than that Grizzly Bear album. Wowzers!

Neko Case's New One...

...is Awesome.

I'll edit this post and write more later, but it's really great. And the credits are like a who's who of indie (and other) rock. (At various times, most of the New Pornographers, Kurt Heasley of the Lilys, Nora O'Connor, Kelly Hogan, Calexico (and their former Giant Sand-mate, Howe Gelb), M. Ward, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Garth Hudson (plus others who are probably in famous bands but whose names I don't recognize).

And I don't know who Paul Rigby is, but he co-arranged nearly all of the songs, and it all sounds beautiful.

EDIT: Not much more to say actually except that I love the Piano Orchestra concept (check the lengthy NY Times profile of her for pictures/description: LINK)

Also, my favorite thing is that she covered a song by SPARKS. I am going to a post on them at some point soon because they're awesome and not very well known.