Nothing that came out today is really doing anything for me (not even the new Okkervil River disc, and I've been reading all kinds of good things about that one). Now would probably be a good time to go back and hit a couple albums that I missed when they first came out earlier this year. Especially since both of them might very well be on my year-end top ten.
Julie Doiron Woke Myself Up Julie Doiron lives way way way out in the boondocks of the Great White North and there's a total of maybe eleven web pages on the whole Internet that mention her and her own website is about three albums out of date and her myspace page has a grand total of one song on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but she strikes me as the type of person who isn't real concerned about any of that publicity nonsense, she just wants to make good music and live a quiet life with her kids.
But it does make it real hard for anyone to find out about her, so I'll try to help her out here: Doiron has that type of voice that is so emotional and so authentic that it instantly connects with me and I find myself searching out everything she's ever recorded and penciling her in on that year-end best of. Beth Orton has that same voice, as does (the Cowboy Junkies') Margo Timmins, Michelle Shocked, Neko Case and Cat Power. Joni Mitchell, of course, owns the patent on that voice.
Not that Doiron sounds exactly like any of those women. Fellow Canuck Timmins comes closest, but Doiron's music is a mix of kitchen-table folk with higher-end production. She comes from the indie music world and isn't afraid to dip into a more current and upbeat sound every once in a while. The new album's songs ofter the perfect mix of loss and sadness and happier songs about her family. The first single (if you can call it that), "No More" is a great song, but it isn't the best example of what the disc really sounds like. It is, however, the only thing her record company has put out on the web (Amazon doesn't even have the usual thirty second song samples for her new disc).
Julie Doiron - "No More" [mp3]
Goldrush The Heart is the Place This is my first and (so far) only taste of Goldrush, so I'm not sure how accurate past comparisons to Neil Young (they are, after all, named Goldrush) and the Byrds were, but this new one's got a definite Flaming Lips vibe to it. They're not as trippy as the Lip's Wayne Coyne (who is?) and they're from Oxfordshire, not Oklahoma, but between the beautiful (and appropriately named) opening, "Aperture," and the joyous final chapter (no, really, it's called "a Joyous Final Chapter"), there's a flow to the songs that give the disc an almost concept-album feel. Strong from start to finish. They've got four songs rolling at myspace, and have offered up a free download as well.
Goldrush - "Every One of Us" [mp3]
Also, I'm adding Rosie Thomas' These Friends of Mine back onto the RIYL 30 (after only being off of it one week). She's another one of those authentic-sounding female singers I go gaga for, and I've started listening to her disc a lot again. Really don't be surprised to see that one end up high on my top ten in December.
This week's list:
- JOSH ROUSE Country Mouse City House
- TEGAN AND SARA The Con
- JULIE DOIRON Woke Myself Up
- SPOON Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
- KELLY WILLIS Translated from Love
- RYAN ADAMS Easy Tiger
- GOLDRUSH The Heart is the Place
- ROSIE THOMAS These Friends of Mine
- WILCO Sky Blue Sky
- BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Live in Dublin
- THE WHITE STRIPES Icky Thump
- TEDDY THOMPSON Up Front and Down Low
- G. LOVE A Year and a Night with G. Love and Special Sauce
- KIM RICHEY Chinese Boxes
- THE NATIONAL Boxer
- SUZANNE VEGA Beauty & Crime
- ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. Yours To Keep
- AU REVOIR SIMONE The Bird of Music
- PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block
- THE CLIENTELE God Save the Clientele
- FEIST The Reminder
- THE POLYPHONIC SPREE The Fragile Army
- GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS Ongiara
- THE SHINS Wincing the Night Away
- LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III Strange Weirdos
- TRAVIS The Boy With No Name
- BRIGHT EYES Cassadaga
- MY MORNING JACKET Okonokos
- FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE Traffic and Weather
- SON VOLT The Search
Dropping off the list this week:
- IMMACULATE MACHINE Fables
- VOXTROT Voxtrot
- RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Release the Stars
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