THE BREAKDOWN: Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

This is an outstanding record (although can you really call it a Rock Record?). Up there with career best You Forgot It In People.

From the unbeat finger pointer "Texaco Bitches" to the downtrodden slip slide "Sweetest Kill" to the indie meander "Ungrateful Little Father" to the sultry-electro "All to All," I am perpetually asking myself: how does this all mesh so smoothly? 

But it does. So give it a spin.

Essential Tracks:

Texaco Bitches


Sweetest Kill

WORTH A LISTEN - The Black Keys - Everlasting Light

A sexy ass mid-album track (off Brothers) from the Black Keys, a.k.a. the only blues that people like myself ever need.

QUICK RIFFS: Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

The echoing Band of Horses sound doesn't sound quite as gripping as before. But, alas, that's okay. It's the noticeable dropoff in songwriting that drags this album down a notch from previous efforts.

Band of Horses has never been about brilliant songwriting ("When I lived alone/Is there a ghost in my house?"). But there are some definite duds on Infinite Arms: "I had a dream that I was your neighbor about to give birth/And then everything was really hurt" ("Infinite Arms"), "I thought about you and a candy bar/The Now and Laters now that I've got stuck between my teeth" ("Factory"), "I put a bullet in my Kia Lorenzo/A kitchen knife up to my face" ("Laredo").

"Laredo" is still a really quality song, and the album could have used more of it.

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Janelle Monae - Archandroid

DJ Responsible Says: 

Seriously, Bad Boy Records? Puff Daddy found this chick? I guess the man has an eye for talent, which he manages to separate a decade or two apart (Notorious B.I.G., Janelle Monae). 

I love the idea of this album: the most memorable and awesome cover art in years meets the madness of the songs themselves--orchestral interludes, jazzy ballads, psychedelia, hip hop, Of Montreal, cut and dry Rhythm & Blues. This album is America's melting pot in the year 2200.


I found new favorites on every listen, transitioning from obvious favorites like "Cold War" to the down-tempo tractor beam of "Sir Greendown" and Monae channeling her inner Willy Wonka/Pigeon John on "Wondaland." For any band or artist releasing a debut album this year, good luck toppling this epic.


DJ Sub Par says:
"Epic" is right. this album flips though genres like it is shuffling cards. What makes it remarkable is how the album doesn't sacrifice flow while indulging a restless creativity. Songs unfold seamlessly from the last, making each progression feel natural rather than audio whiplash.


This is the second album this year that I can confidently say to anyone I know, "go listen to this from tip to tail." The first was Big Boi's efforts that came out only weeks ago. That half-of-Outkast actually produced this album and contributes a few verses on the single Tightrope. Someone is having a good year...

Essential Tracks:

QUICK RIFFS: Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

I saw Sharon Jones open for, let's just say, the top touring act of the decade, and I was instantly impressed by her timelessness. Or, more specifically, her perfectly conceived throwback sound: the all-black dress, the high heel strut, the wailing, soulful vocals over sturdy bass grooves.

I Learned the Hard Way is even more of a time machine. Unlike Amy Winehouse, who adds a little 21st century subject matter and production flair to her retro homages, Sharon Jones is entirely old school. The result is a fresh batch of beautiful old soul.

Essential Tracks:

THEY STILL MAKE MUSIC VIDEOS: Black Keys - Tighten Up

Playground love meets playground angst, multi-generational-style.

WORTH A LISTEN: The Books - All You Need is a Wall

Beautiful and haunting ballad from The Books' new The Way Out.

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot

DJ Responsible Says:

Let's just get this out of the way: "Shine Blockas" is an amazing song (Pitchfork nailed that one on their 'best of' last year). It stands out like the last M&M in a bowl full of trail mix.

But there's a lot of other good stuff on Sir Luscious. And there's a lot of questionable stuff. It's just one of those dense, throw enough ingredients into the soup kind of albums.

For whatever reason, rap albums get a free pass in this regard. If any indie band outside Yo La Tengo released an album with unnecessary tracks like "You Ain't No DJ" or obnoxious interludes like the David Blaine segment, they'd be taken down a peg. But not Big Boi. He manages to remain on the pedestal, largely because 85% of his work is somewhere between good and stellar.

Sir Luscious is only a great hip hop album in relation to the rest of the drivel out there. And it could use a final edit. But why can't more rap music be this adventurous and fun?

DJ Sub Par Says:

Lets keep this simple. Go listen to this album. It might be the best album you hear this year. It is sonically daring. Here is a classical guitar. Here is KRS-ONE reference. Is that Opera? In addition to Shine Blockas listen to "Shutterbug," 'Tangerine," and "Daddy Fat Sax" (Be warned that Big Boi is an enthusiastic fan of sex.) Also don't miss the tracks exiled from the album by legal troubles, the Andre 3000 assisted "Lookin' for Ya" and "Royal Flush."

Essential Tracks:

QUICK RIFFS: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below

This man is like Jesus (aesthetically and tempermentally, at least), this woman is a godsend (that voice!). At their most joyous and corroborative, the result is undoubtedly splendid. You can't fault them for the fall off from the trio of hypnotic summertime singles that are found here.

Note to self: wait one year, release upbeat indie song with whistling intro.

Essential Tracks:

WORTH A LISTEN: Japandroids - Darkness on the Edge of Gastown

Japandroids apparently used to sound fuzzier and more angsty. Good to know.

WORTH A LISTEN: Janelle Monae - Sir Greendown

An amazing, sultry jam that combines the retro with the futuristic in a haunting and dreamy kind of way. A must-listen.

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

DJ Responsible Says:

American Slang answers the eternal question: what if a slightly-more-eloquent Sam's Town-era Brandon Flowers made an album with the drummer from The Hold Steady and the lead guitarist from My Morning Jacket?


Sound exciting? Not really. It's more like a mere two notches above a waste of time.

The Hold Steady drumming: check out the uninspired 'thump-thump-thump' ad nauseum on the titular opening track. The My Morning Jacket guitaring: very talented, but often wanky and disconnected, like when Michael J. Fox solos to an unimpressed crowd in Back to the Future. The Brandon Flowers-esque vocals: throaty and serious and, my God, does he know how to rough up some ballad backing vocals.


Sometimes, when it all meshes together, American Slang can be quite palatable. "Orphans" and "Boxer" offer a spirited, concise one-two punch. But don't expect this album to find its way into my heart anytime soon.


DJ Sub Par Says:

I'm often a fan of backwards looking rock bands. (See Visqueen and Free Energy.) And Gaslight Anthem can turn out uptempo straight ahead rock. Their best weapon, as Kevin mentioned, are rock god vocal chords stolen from Bruce Springsteen. The band falters when they continue to rehash "Born to Run." They open the album with the profoundly mediocre title track, which casts a shadow over the tracks that makes everything sound the same. The second track "Stay Lucky" may be better, but still feels like a band coasting. It isn't until they slow down with "Bring it On," does it feel like the band is making music and not just playing songs. They follow it up the finger-snaps of "The Diamond Church Street Choir." Let's hope they continue to evolve their sound, maybe even making their own Nebraska.

Essential Tracks:

QUICK RIFFS: Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

This album might be a little too cool for me. It's a wild, manic slice of California hip hop-infused electronica that wavers between ambient soundscapes and not-quite-danceable beats. I'm filing it away into the genre I call "painting music."

Essential Tracks:

QUICK RIFFS: Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do

My brother once asked, skeptically, why the Drive-By Truckers weren't just another Kings of Leon. I can see the misunderstanding: the twang of the guitars, the Southern-inflected vocals. But Drive-By Truckers are much better songwriters, have a much darker and diversified sound, and don't have a ubiquitous "Use Somebody" clogging the radio.

That said, The Big To-Do is there most lackluster album since I first got into 2004's impressive Decoration Day. "Birthday Boy" is a clever glimpse into the world of rural stripper-dom ("Pretty girls from the smallest towns/Get remembered like storms and droughts"), but "This Fucking Job" and "Drag the Lake Charlie" are pretty straightforward numbers from this normally more creative outfit.

SONG OF THE MONTH (June 2010): Broken Social Scene - "Texico Bitches"

Few songs are as catchy and mysteriously subversive as Broken Soc's latest greatest. It's like a middle finger amidst a sun-soaked carnival. Enjoy, bitches.