...one more tie...one more time...

the bird and the bee - the bird and the bee



the bird and the bee's self titled album came to me early this year. ten songs, 35.6 minutes long. it's a quick but solid record. again and again opens the album. with keys, acoustic guitar and singer inara george's breathy vocals, you are immediately drawn in. the following few songs are really good (excluding i hate camera, which is just too poppy). the last half of the album is absolutely fantastic. i'm a broken heart sounds like a missing track from pet sounds. la la la is ripe for an ipod commercial, and my fair lady sounds like it should be used in some sort of neo-musical. the final two songs on the album are preparedness & spark. both are wonderfully space. preparedness is mainly drum loops, haunting vocals, and a few keys & noises. spark is only synth and vocals, and is a perfect album closer. this electro-pop duo have made my most listened to album of the year. here is a strange live version of i'm a broken heart. it's very different from the album version, but i still can't get enough of it!



sondre lerche - phantom punch



this norwegian singer-song writer has made four great albums, phantom punch being the most recent. airport taxi reception opens the album, showcasing lerche's typical jazzy chords & unusual guitar noises, but phantom punch is not typical lerche. the tape and face the blood are much more ruckus than anything we have heard from him before. the title track gives a slight disco flare, and is one of the years catchiest songs. the drum-driving after all breaks down into some sort of nintendo sounding guitar solo, and it works like gang busters. she's fantastic makes my top ten songs of the year, and could easily have been on a paul simon record. sondre lerche is a wonderful artist and phantom punch is his strongest record to date.