Lovers - Dark Light (Badman Recording Co, 2010)

Lovers
Dark Light
Badman Recording Co.
2010

Rating: 9 paper sailor hats out of 10

This might have been my favorite record of 2010, or at least top 3, had I gotten around to listening to it in 2010. Instead, I've spent the first few months of 2011 obsessively soaking in these songs like a teenager seeing his first pair of boobs.

First and foremost, this entire record is one of the best collections of catchy, stuck-in-your-head-for-days songs that I've heard in ages. Considering that the music would best be described as dark electro-pop with female singers, a genre I usually avoid, it' all the more surprising that I took to this like I did. In recommending this record to my friends I've referred to them as "the new Berlin" on more than one occasion...it's unclear how this comparison was received. Confusion mostly, I think.

Second and not foremost, this band is from Portland, despite the fact that I had convinced myself they were from England. What does this have to do with anything? Nothing. But I really really thought they were from England.

Anyways, just buy this record if you like catchy music. It's goddamn fantastic.

The National - High Violet (4AD, 2010)

The National
High Violet
4AD
2010

Rating: 6 morose Midwesterners out of 10

The National probably could have Just named this record "'Bloodbuzz Ohio' and a Bunch of Other Songs You'll Be Indifferent About", or maybe that is just me. Granted, it's a really fuckin' good song, probably their best since "Lit Up", but it's not enough to raise the whole album above "ho hum" status. It's a very National record though, sounding like a depressed former steel town, full of crumbling factories and faded dreams.