Killing Joke - Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell: Like Built To Spill's You In Reverse, Killing Joke's latest also seems to serve as a summary of their entire career. It's nothing new, in other words but it works to cover most of the ground they tread in the past 26 or so years. With an emphasis on the direction hinted at on 1994's Pandemonium.
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - All The Roadrunning: This pairing seems so natural that it makes you wonder why it never happened before. Knopfler's deep drawl and southern guitar stylings wrap so comfortably around Harris' angelic, lilting voice that the album seems to come together effortlessly. Reportedly took nearly seven years to complete.
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam: It should come as no surprise that Pearl Jam waxes political on their latest album and that the politics are clumsy and ham-fisted. The music however more than makes up for it. Clunky politics aside, this is Pearl Jam at their most vital since, well, Vitalogy.
Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom: Mike Patton wants you to believe that Peeping Tom is his new, more commercial outing but don't let that fool you - Patton is hardly "selling out" here. Peeping Tom takes the rock elements of Faith No More and combines Patton's interest in dark hip-hop (like Lovage) for one of his most successfully satisfying projects in years. Only Tomahawk has rocked harder but it hasn't been as fun as Peeping Tom.
Robert Pollard - From A Compound Eye: Pollard's first solo album after Guided By Voices finds him digging into prog-rock. As is usual for Pollard, there's a million great hooks and choruses all over the album but they happen to be a little more buried than usual, for a higher-profile release such as this. Still the number of great songs begging to get stuck in your head make this a frequent repeat listen.
Paul Simon - Surprise: Simon isn't kidding with the title. Sounding more like an Emo album with Paul Simon guesting on vocals, Surprise is one of the year's most intriguing albums. Not only that, it's also proving controversial - fans seem evenly divided on whether it's a good surprise or a bad surprise. One thing's for sure, this is not the "Mrs. Robinson" Paul Simon but if you're a fan of Emo and Simon you will probably find much to love here.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Have you heard Destroyer's Rubies? What about the new Flaming Lips?
2 - Tom
Flaming Lips: yes, and I find the album just too spotty overall to consider one of the year's best. I don't really find much calling me back to it, actually. But there's still 6 months left for it to win me over, and hopefully it will.
Destroyer: no. What I have heard of theirs simply didn't do much for me, but I do keep seeing this listed as one of the best, so I may take a chance on it soon. As I said, there's always more that's been missed out on, so I'm open and happy to alter the list!