This is a big one.

I have been rehabilitating my laptop and slimming down my music library while doing my best to keep up with the major-release-heavy months of September and October. I’m something of a music narc lately. While trolling blogs for new goodies and absorbing information from pop-culture pillars like Paste Magazine and Entertainment Weekly, I have dredged up some lovely tunes. Many of these come from merely reading the fevered rantings of other music lovers… still a few come from my new obsession with the AOL Full Album Listening Party. Mostly, they just come from my lovely new iPod Nano’s shuffle feature, cycling through the trash to find the still-edible pieces of cast-off fruit. I’m on a deleting spree as I discover more and more of what I really love about music… and less of what I merely appreciate.

1. Don’t Take My Sunshine Away - Sparklehorse
2. Put Us Back Together Right - Headlights
3. The Times They Are A-Changin’ - Bob Dylan
4. So I - Tobias Fröberg
5. She Moves In Secret Ways - Polly Paulusma
6. White Daisy Passing - Rocky Votolato
7. Light Gives Heat - Jars of Clay
8. The Hands That Built America - U2
9. Nalens Öga - Kent
10. Black Flowers - Yo La Tengo
11. Sons & Daughters - The Decemberists
12. Strange Apparition - Beck
13. A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains - mewithoutYou
14. To Go Home - M. Ward
15. Lonesome Warrior - Eric Bachmann
16. Lucky You - The National
17. East from West - Denison Witmer

Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain by Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse may be oft-compared to their fellow low-fi pioneer peers (the recently disbanded Grandaddy), but the sound of this Appalachian duo (actually, Sparklehorse is largely driven by the vision of founding member Mark Linkous) inhabits its own dusty world. Peppered with static crackles and the creaks and groans of an attic in an old farm house, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain plays like the finely orchestrated crumpling of a pile of dead leaves concealing a bed of wildflowers. I know, I know. I ought to write for Pitchfork… I just need to become more cynical and use even longer words… words like verisimilitude and charette. The entire album is a treasure trove of baubles that could be paraded out on the Antiques Roadshow and appraised at ludicrous prices. The thing is… these languid gems are worth hanging on to… and only appreciate in value the longer they are perused. Stephen Drozd and Danger Mouse helped record.

Out now on Astralwerks

Brother, Sister by mewithoutYou

My fandom for mewithoutYou has been virtually nonexistant. I remember the band gaining popularity at Cornerstone 2004 (in Bushnell, IL), I also remember purchasing Further Seems Forever’s 2nd LP (the one they made after Chris Carabba up and went Dashboard on them) and recieving a complimentary sampler disc for Tooth & Nail/Solid State Records. “Gentlemen” was the tune on that disc. I fell hard for it, but then, upon hearing the entire record it came from, [A-->B] Life, I dismissed them as a pure ‘talk-rock’ band. Catch For Us the Foxes came and went that same year, garnering the band some major buzz, along with MTV2 video awards for “January, 1979″ More rumblings ensued… and mewithoutYou toured and toured and toured and finally went into the studio with Brad Wood to record Brother, Sister. Jeremy Enigk sings backup. These songs are free-form poems, melding spoken word, screaming pleas, and more actual singing. What follows is a record that is totally sincere, intelligent, unconventional, organic, well-made, and very, very good.

Out now on Tooth & Nail

The Information by Beck

Are we screaming faster towards an oblivion… towards a wall of noise, a veritable tidal wave of (mis)information? Beck seems to think that the bodies of the victims of this surge are already being buried by the sediments washed up by the rising tide of technology. The Information was three years in the making. Working again with producer Nigel Godrich (who also produced Beck’s Mutations and Sea Change) off and on (and recording Guero with the Dust Brothers plus overseeing the remixes on Guerolito inbetween), the artist’s conceit was to produce a mutated hip-hop album. That intent resulted in some of the more blatant tracks (and darn catchy ones) like 1000BPM and Nausea. But the rest of the album veered off into the typical territory Beck usually treads on: that of sonic experimentalist who can’t quite sing in tune, and writes mostly enigmatic lyrics, but who nonetheless constructs some of the most bewildering and incredible melodies of any single musician alive. I Think I’m In Love, Strange Apparition, New Round, and No Complaints will rattle around inside of your skull for weeks after you hear them just a few times. Beck is certainly a prolific artist who belongs to a small group of musicians who are adept at anything they put their mind to doing. The Information deserves your attention.

Out now on Interscope Records.

Modern Times by Bob Dylan

The man who couldn’t sing… but who is regarded as the voice of his generation (though he himself has denied ever tailoring any of his songs to fit the fervor of the times, neither socially nor politically) has returned to form with Modern Times. The album is as deep as it is wide. I’ve only recently begun to dig into Dylan’s work myself… and I find myself amazed at the man’s talent with words. More than pretty much any other artist I’ve ever listened to (the few exceptions being Townes Van Zandt, Lee Bozeman, Sufjan Stevens, Dan Horner and Matt Berninger). iTunes offered a Cambridge University Forum presentation on Dylan’s song The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll. I listened to this podcast, featuring some English gentleman gushing his love for Dylan and simultaneously deconstructing not only the lyrics of the song… but also the way in which they were sung. He mentioned Dylan’s ability to show other people, by virtue of what he does, the possibilities they have within themselves to make truly great music. The more I listen to free-wheeling Bob, the more I agree with this sentiment. Dylan has had his controversial conversion to Christianity (the “wall-to-wall Jesus” album Slow Train Coming), and constantly brings up images of sin and redemption, death and condemnation, and prayer and supplication in his songs. Modern Times doesn’t have a tune on it shorter than 5 minutes, and each one of them is rich and layered. It’s also a free-wheeling album that gleefully and effortlessly transitions between folk noodles and rock omelets… all of it without skim milk.

Out now on Sony|BMG Music

Nalens Öga (Single) by Kent

After releasing Du och Jag Döden back in 2005, Kent went on a tour (of Europe, of course… it is doubtful they will ever dip their toes in the sand on the other side of the pond again, after the weak reception they got here following the English-language release of Isola) and released several singles and b-sides. Then, they up and surprised with a 5 song EP called The Hjärta & Smärta. Now it is 2006, and the only blip on the radar from Sweden’s biggest band has been the Nalens Öga single (translated: The Needle’s Eye). I dug up the translated lyrics on the blog of some bilingual fan:

Someone is standing in the hallway
breathing smoke
The shadow across the yard
reaches into our kitchen
Here comes the fear, old friend
When all the butterflies in your stomach wakes up
whispering Welcome home

I’m counting; three, four, five
(Lie to me, yeah lie to me)
It’s not the punches that hurts
(Lie again)
There’s an invisible line
(Lie to me, yeah lie to me)
through the eye of the needle

Someone is standing in the doorway
while listening silently
The shadow across the threshold
reaches into my room
Here comes the fear, again
When all the butterflies gets needled down
to a pattern on my bed

I’m counting; three, four, five
(Lie to me, yeah lie to me)
It’s not the punches that hurts
(Lie again)
There’s an invisible line
(Lie to me, yeah lie to me)
through the eye of the needle

Good Monsters by Jars of Clay

Finally, the last review here is of Jars of Clay’s new LP, Good Monsters. What a course to chart! This band has been consistently within my top 10 ever since their self-titled debut back in 1996. Traversing the realms of Brit-pop (Work, Dead Man (Carry Me), Take Me Higher), Americana (All My Tears), and World Music (Light Gives Heat) this band of four Christian fellows continues to impress me with their solid commitment to their craft and art, without compromising or burying their message, and without becoming watered-down, radio hit-makers. Jars certainly know how to dance the delicate line between pop gems, intimate balladry, obvious chord/lyric progressions, and enigmatic/experimental music. Good Monsters is heavier on the toe-tapping, ear-drum pleasing sounds of a major-label production. For some more roots-y material, hit up their all-olde-hymns release Redemption Songs from last year (featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama!).

Out now on Essential Records/Sony|BMG Music