Marktopia » Albums

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

mizidy — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:02:20 +0000

With the release of the remastered Beatles albums, how could I not go with this? Probably one of the best albums, ever. I am sure you have heard it before, but the remastering really is quite amazing. If you haven't given it a listen in awhile, you owe it to yourself to check out the remaster and fall in love with the album all over again.

World Music Samplers

mizidy — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:11:24 +0000

Last week I mentioned that Amazon posted their top 100 world music albums and that they also have about 27 world music samplers. I have given a number a listen, so I thought this week I would recommend a few, so here goes:

Six Degrees Free - As collection of Indian music, it would be easy to say that this is just riding the momentum of Slumdog Millionaire, but the songs on the sampler show a greater range of Indian music. Journey by Bombay Dub Orchestra would be my recommendation if you only want to listen to one song.

Luaka Bop - World artists from all over here, so there is a decent chance you will find something you like. As a bonus, there is a remix of Wherever You Are by Geggy Tah. My one song on this one is Valentin by Susana Baca.

Rotana - With music from the Middle East, I realize this might be a stretch for some, but I really enjoyed it. My pick on this one is Kalamak Ya Habibi by George Wassouf

Let me know if you checked out any others and if you have anything you would recommend as well.

PS: It is things like this that make the Amazon MP3 store better than iTunes at this point.

Watina

mizidy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:26:26 +0000

Watina was an album pick over a year ago when I tried doing it along with the pick of the week, and didn't quite keep up. After Amazon released their 100 Greatest World Albums yesterday, I thought it appropriate to bring this album back to the front. This really is an amazing album. The music transcends language, allowing you to really feel these songs. If you havn't checked out an album from a world artist, you could do a lot worse for a first listen.

New Miserable Experience

mizidy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:15:23 +0000

I realize I might get some flack for this pick, but this is one of the forgotten grunge albums that really stands up after many years. There were a number of hits off this album, with Hey Jealousy being the Gin Blossoms most popular. Listening to the entire album now, it is a little more tame than a lot of grunge albums, but has surprising quality in both the lyrics and music. If you havn't listened to this album in awhile, give it another check now and decide for yourself how it holds up.

Give Up

mizidy — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:54:13 +0000

The side project by Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello is one of the best selling and well known Sub Pop albums of all time, and with good reason. Created by sending tapes across the country through the USPS (clever name huh?), this album fuses Gibbard's vocals with Tamborello's electronic music skills amazingly well.

I actually chose this since Ben Arnold recommended Owl City to me, after which I had to listen to this instead. Owl City is nice, like way way too nice for my extended listening, but they are definitely fans of The Postal Service.

This album is a bit of a modern classic, if you havn't given it a listen, I highly recommend it.

Know by Heart

mizidy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:52:59 +0000

Know by Heart is an album by The American Analog Set, introduced to me by Mattbot. The lo-fi sound caught on right away with me especially with the aggressively named first track and the less than aggressive sound that came with it. This album is great to relax to as it won't surprise you after you know what you are in store for. That being said, it is still a great album to give a listen to.

Mutations

mizidy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:50:48 +0000

While not one of the most popular Beck albums, Mutations is my personal favorite. Less poppy and more introspective, this is an album for a gray winter day, much like the album cover suggests it might be. That is not to say that the traditional "anything goes" sound of Beck is not featured throughout, it just means that you won't likely be playing many of the tracks on the dance floor, and that is OK with me.

LP

mizidy — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:39:55 +0000

A side project featuring a member of Vampire Weekend (Rostam Batmanglij) and a member of Ra Ra Riot (Wes Miles), this takes the sounds of each band and rams them through the electro-pop/Auto-Tune machine and produces something that is different but not all bad. While the entire album isn't fantastic, and at times I can't tell if they are mocking the Auto-Tune, there are some gems that can be pulled out.

The first song that really caught me was Can You Discover?, basically a redesigned version of Ra Ra Riot's Can You Tell (a song I love). As you progress through the album, you find songs like Carby, auto-tuned to the MAX but still decent nonetheless. The top song is the remake of the Jackson 5's I Want You Back.

Soapbox Army

mizidy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:33:29 +0000

DISCLAIMER: A member of this band is a good friend of mine.

The quality of this album is top notch for indie rock. Bordering on indie pop, the diversity of the music instrumentation makes this worth a listen to by itself. Once you add in the quality lyrics, you have something that is worth paying attention to. My only dislike from the album is that the vocals drift a little close to the Goo Goo Dolls for my liking on some tracks. That being said, for a first album, this shows quite a bit of promise.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

mizidy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:25:32 +0000

The latest from Phoenix (apparently a French super group) is one of the better albums of the year and also happens to be a great summer album. Tons of fun, while also having a lot of quality as well, this is one of those albums that you can listen to on repeat while driving around with the windows down. My only complaint is that it is a bit short.