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The Like Young – Last Secrets (Polyvinyl)
The best album yet from this stripped-down pop-rock duo gives their songs extra complexity and intensity. A real treasure.
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Blanket Music – The Love/Love Translation (Hush)
One disc of literate, playful love songs and one disc of intuitive, unique covers of love songs by the band’s fellow Portlanders (The Decemberists, M. Ward, etc.). Both are great, with a full, soulful sound.
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Pants Yell! – Recent Drama (Asaurus)
Jam-packed with excellent pop songs, an album that deserves a wide audience.
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Ghostface Killah – Fishscale (Def Jam)
Ghostface’s new album is to me his best, with an extra level of energy given to his detailed, vivid storytelling.
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Soul Position – Things Go Better With RJ & AL (Rhymesayers)
The duo of Blueprint and RJD2 is back with an enjoyable album of smooth, streamlined hip-hop.
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Manual – Bajamar (Darla)
Drift through a gorgeous haze of sound…
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Plants – The Mind Is a Bird in the Hand (Audio Dregs)
An odd, compelling sort of psychedelic folk music for the future.
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Shearwater – Palo Santo (Misra)
Shearwater’s new album is a great surprise, the way they’ve made their sound more challenging, more expansive, more in-your-face.
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Boyracer – A Punch Up the Bracket (555)
Another great example of Boyracer’s DIY, genuinely punk approach to making memorable, moving, rebellious pop songs.
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Kimya Dawson – Remember That I Love You (K)
Her best album? Perhaps. It’s a great showcase for her distinctly personal style of music, her piercing songs that take pain and anger and turn them in an uplifting, positive direction.
