30 Albums For Spring

30 Albums For Spring

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Here are 30 albums for a perfect spring soundtrack. In alphabetical order. Note the prevalence of Brit-Rock. And, as always, feel free to share your own springtime faves.

1. Jamiroquai – The Return of The Space Cowboy (1994)

Probably my favorite Jamiroquai album. Such a great combination of jazz and funk. Great experimentation as well. Right now I’m obsessed with the bass. Stuart Zender is unreal.

2.  Belle &Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005)

I love the rawness and simplicity on this album. Great, timeless songs. If you are a B&S fan this album is a must.

3.  Air – Talkie Walkie (2004)

This album has really held up well over time. I go back and forth with this album and Moon Safari as my favorite album. Great springtime songs: Cherry Blossom Girl, Run, and Universal Traveler.

4. Beth Orton – Central Reservation (1999)

A perfect springtime album. Beth is so good at creating great songs that seem both fresh and spontaneous.

5. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue (2009)

A perfect spring album for the urbanite.

6. Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon (1970)

Cat’s first album he made after being bedridden with tuberculosis. Perfect spring songs: I Think I See The Light, Katmandu, and Fill My Eyes.

7. The Charlatans UK– Some Friendly (1990)

Great spring album you can listen to from beginning to end.

8. The Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)

My favorite Cocteau Twins album. Love the bright, warm sound.

9. The Cure -  The Head On The Door (1985)

A more upbeat Cure album with some great songs. Some great spring songs: In Between Days, Six Different Ways, Push and Close to Me.

10. The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000)

My favorite Dandy’s album. Another great springtime in the city album.

11. Gorillaz – Gorillaz (2001)

Just getting into these guys (I know, sometimes I am late with this sort of thing). This is their first album and the one I seem to enjoy most.  I love that the musicians come from all different backgrounds to come together and create a fresh, new sound.

12. Groove Armada – Vertigo (1999)

Great springtime grooves. See: Chicago, Whatever, Whenever, and Serve Chilled.

13. Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (1965)

Definitely my favorite spring jazz record. When the sax comes in on the opening track it is pure bliss.

14. Jónsi – Go (2010)

Jónsi captured some great energy on this album. Great happy, bright songs.

15. Kula Shaker – K (1996)

A perfect album for those who enjoy some great experimental Brit-Rock.

16. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites (2005)

A seriously good band out of Denmark. Experimental pop rock.

17. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (1991)

Perfect album for spring. The sound they get from their guitars is ridiculous. An artistic masterpiece.

18. Nick Drake – Bryter Layter  (1970)

The somewhat, more upbeat Nick Drake album. Songs such as Hazey Jane I, Fly and Northern Sky are perfect spring songs.

19. Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

The album that got me into Oasis. They are masters of creating a big sound while still maintaining an urgency and freshness to it. I am obsessed with Morning Glory right now, probably my favorite Oasis song.

20. P.O.S. – Never Better (2009)

The energy on this album just reminds me of spring. Talented guy and lyricist.

21. Pearl Jam – Vs. (1993)

The album that had the difficult job of following Ten. Vs has more of a rawness to the sound than Ten which is the reason I included it on this list. I wasn’t into Pearl Jam when Ten came out (too young), but I definitely was a big fan when Vs came out. That’s why it will always be a special album for me. Rearviewmirror is as good of a song as they have ever written.

22. Phish – A Picture of Nectar (1992)

One of Phish’s best. Great energetic grooves such as Llama, Cavern and, or course, Tweezer.

23. Radiohead – Pablo Honey (1993)

I know some people don’t really like Pablo Honey, but I think it has held up pretty well. It is no OK Computer or Kid A, but the band was at a different state then. There are some great fun songs on this album. I’ve have some great memories of listening to this album.

24. Red House Painters – Red House Painters  (Rollercoaster) (1993)

An album that reminds me of strolling through San Fransisco in springtime. Listen to Grace Cathedral Park to hear what I mean.

25. Ride – Nowhere (1990)

The best of the early 90′s British shoegazer rock (along with Loveless and The Stone Roses). An album that’s worth hunting down for Brit-Rock enthusiasts.

26. Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot (1994)

I remember when this came out it seemed to be marketed as another Pumpkins album, not a collection of B-sides and demos that it actually is. And after almost 20 years I pretty much consider this another pumpkins album. The songs are so good. Great energy and emotion in every song. Songs like Frail and Bedazzled, Whir, Hello Kitty Kat, and Starla are some of the best songs the pumpkins ever recorded. Pisces Iscariot is just further proof of how good these guys were at this time. For me, no other band was close.

27. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses (1989)

An album, such as Loveless, that will be fun to listen to in 20 years (or 50 years). Every song is a classic. The bright washed-out guitars are a perfect spring soundtrack. I think if I had to choose my favorite spring album The Stone Roses would be it.

28. Supergrass –I Should Coco (1995)

Probably their best album. Some fun, in-your-face Brit-Rock on here.

29. Washed Out – Life of Leisure (2009)

Love this LP from Washed Out. Destined to be a classic. Infusing so much mood into electronic music isn’t an easy thing, but Ernest makes it seem effortless.

30. Yonder Mountain String Band  – Elevation (1999)

Gotta throw some bluegrass in here. Love the harmonies. Springtime in the Rockies.

SNL does Thom Yorke (Fred Armisen)

Thought the whole sketch was pretty great. And Fred does have the dance down pretty well!

Radiohead on SNL from Last Night

These won’t be on Youtube long so enjoy while you can!

 

Lotus Flower

Staircase

Radiohead – Pyramid Song – Top Of The Pops 5/25/01

This was officially released on the Amnesiac 2CD and DVD. Love the Pyramid Song!

Radiohead’s New “Group of Songs”

I, for one, am hoping that Radiohead release these as an album. Songs released individually seem to lose their luster somehow.

Radiohead Wrap Up New “Group of Songs”

“We have yet to decide how to release our next record,” writes bassist Colin Greenwood.

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According to a new essay by Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood for UK organization Index on Censorship, the band “have just finished another group of songs, and have begun to wonder about how to release them in a digital landscape that has changed again.” When we spoke with the group’s drummer Phil Selway back in July, he said Radiohead were “slap dab in the middle of” making their new album. Now, they seem to be done. (A spokesperson for the band had no further comment on Greenwood’s statement.)

The eloquent essay is a must-read for fans of the band and music in general, as Greenwood gives us a peek inside Radiohead’s thought processes on releasing music in 2010. “I understand that we have become our own broadcasters and distributors, but I miss the editorialisation of music, the curatorial influences of people like John Peel or a good record label,” he writes. “I liked being on a record label that had us on it, along with Blur, the Beastie Boys, and the Beatles.”

He goes on: “Traditional marketplaces and media are feeling stale– supermarkets account for around 70% of CDs sold in the UK, the charts are dominated by TV talent-show acts– and we are trying to find ways to put out our music that feel as good as the music itself. The ability to have a say in its release, through the new technologies, is the most empowering thing of all.”

Read the whole thing here.

New Radiohead Concert DVD

It’s fan-made and Radiohead approved.  And it looks super cool. Especially if the quality of the sound is there.

Here is the trailer and info…

Download: http://radiohead-prague.nataly.fr
On August 23rd 2009, a group of Radiohead fans descended on the Výstaviště Holešovice Exhibition Hall in Prague on a mission to capture the band playing using as many different angles as possible. Bringing together the exceptional talents of many contributors, here’s a glimpse of the result.
Trailer Edited by Jeff Keiler

“Money Is Put Ahead Of Creativity”

This is an older article, but I thought the message rings very true. Thanks Lutz.

Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien warns of money pressure

His band, who are currently in the studio, were signed to EMI until 2003. They released their last album In Rainbows via their own website as well as striking a one-off deal with independent label XL.

By Ian Youngs Music reporter, BBC News O’Brien is a leading member of the Featured Artists’ Coalition, a lobby group for artists’ rights, which has often been at odds with the major record labels. O’Brien said the climate had changed in the last 10 years and “certainly it’s changed since we were signed” in 1991.

O’Brien said money men had replaced creative people at record labels

The music industry is suffering because financial pressures mean money is being put ahead of creativity, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien has warned.

“I sense, and many artists sense, that it’s become dominated by money, and the need to make more money,” he said.

“And I think the problem with that is that the creativity’s gone out of the industry, the fun.”

Read the rest here.

Pitchfork: Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood Play Surprise Glastonbury Set

I thought this was pretty cool. Love the setlist.

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood Play Surprise Glastonbury Set

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Photo by Sung Kim

England’s massive Glastonbury Festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend at Worthy Farm in Somerset. There’s still two more days left to the fest, but a particularly huge occurrence has already taken place: a surprise set today from Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood.

According to At Ease, the pair were introduced by festival organizer Michael Eavis. Yorke, introducing himself as “Thomas Yorke”, then stepped out on stage performed a few solo tunes. Greenwood later joined him. Check out the setlist below:

Setlist:

The Eraser
Harrowdown Hill
Black Swan
Cymbal Rush
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Pyramid Song
Idioteque
Karma Police
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

New Radiohead Album Update

Very good news. Sounds like they are very pumped about it. And so am I.

New Radiohead album almost finished, Release this year

Posted on June 20th, 2010.

Radiohead are making progress in the studio. The band started recording past Winter and are currently in the studio working on the last bits. Ed O’Brien said it will be a matter of weeks till it’s finished and hopes to see the release before the end of this year. ‘It has got to. I hope so’

Guitarist Ed O’Brien was a guest on Adam Buxton’s show on BBC 6 Music today, saying he thinks the new Radiohead record ‘is the best record we’ve ever made’. Ed: “We’re in the heart of the record. It’s genuinely exciting. It’s very different from what we did last time. It’s really nice to be doing this. It’s so good to be making music with the band that you feel is still as good as it’s ever been.”

When Adam Buxton asked if he had any idea when this record would see the light of day, Ed answered: “No, Ideally it would be great if it came out sometime this year. It has got to. I hope so. We’re at the finishing line. When you’re making a record, a film, write a book for ages and ages you think the finishing line is miles away. Now it feels it’s in touching distance. But of course, it being a creative process, at the last bit also, you have bursts of energy, you achieve a lot of things in a small period of time and then you’re nearly there…it might slow down. But yeah, hopefully it will be a matter of weeks.”

With ‘In Rainbows’ you seemed to have turned a corner and having a lot more fun. That’s what it looked like from the outside looking in. Is that fair?

Ed O’Brien: It wasn’t fun making the record. Making records has been hard. It’s always been a slog. Traditionally Radiohead in a studio has been: Don your tin helmet, just see it out, like a war of attrition. And basically at the end of In Rainbows it had taken three years to sort of come together. And we initially started off on our own, pulled in someone else and after a year we worked with Nigel [Godrich] again. It was such a slog. We knew we had these songs. We really believed in these songs. So, we had to do it right. It just took a long time. And we basically decided then and there at the end of that record: ‘We are never doing this again this way’. That was kind of like the end of Radiohead, mark 2. We decided, the only way that worked for us to carry on was to do it in a different spirit. Enjoy it.

On the recording process of ‘In Rainbows’ Ed continued explaining why it was much harder than everybody thought. Ed: “We hear it all the time: ‘it sounds like you had a great time in the studio’. But, oh man… that [In Rainbows] was a slog. It was a really long process. At the end, for instance a song like ‘House Of Cards’ has been recorded six times. Plus the fact: we had this genius idea in 2006 to go on tour and do 50 odd shows, play all these songs, go back to studio and record them. And that’s when we went back in with Nigel. We went in and recorded them having played these songs 50 times. So we kind of got the arrangements sorted. We just wanted to get them down. We played these enough. And we got them down and most of them were rubbish. A lot of work in the creative process is rubbish.

However Ed praised producer Nigel Godrich for his influence on the band. Ed: “The art is to not give in, to carry on, persevere. You just have to keep going. The great thing about Nigel is; he raises the bar. He drives you hard. You think you’ve done the take, you think you’ve done your overdub, you think it’s in there and then he says: ‘Maybe one more time’. He gets the best performances out of you. He’s amazing. Cause he also drives himself really hard as well. The quality of the stuff that he does is really high. So, it’s good to be driven hard.”

Radiohead – Later… with Jools Holland

Of course, I needed to throw some Radiohead on here. Here are two of my favorites…

Paranoid Android

At the top of the list of their greatest songs. An amazing live song. I love Jonny’s riff at 3:20.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

Awesome guitar work. A beautiful song. Hit the bottom and escape.