The Letter A

I guess when you announce that you are going to do something (like create a new recurring feature for a blog), you should probably follow through.  Here I am to quell every one's fear that I might not follow-up with my previous announcement.

The letter A is a pretty good place to start this new feature highlighting my favorite albums by bands whose name starts with a particular letter of the alphabet.  Here we go:

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

When I returned from my two-year LDS mission to Brazil, one of the first things I did was hop online and search for end of year best-of lists, hoping to find the best albums released while I was otherwise occupied in the shortest amount of time possible.  Pitchfork, probably the biggest indie-music site right now, has always helped me find good music since I first discovered it way back in 1999.  At the top of Pitchfork's best albums of 2004 list was Funeral by The Arcade Fire.  It wasn't long before I found myself listening to the album.  I was struck immediately by the urgency in the music, both in the instruments but mostly in the vocals.  There was just such power in the music and in the lyrics.  Having not listened to very much music for the two previous years, hearing the Arcade Fire was like being struck by a bolt of lightning.

The entire album is amazing, as is the group's second album, Neon Bible.  If I were forced to pick my three favorite tracks, I would go with:  "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)", "Wake Up", and "Crown of Love", with "Rebellion (Lies)" a very close fourth.  As powerful as I thought these songs were on the album, nothing could have prepared me for hearing them live.  I first saw the band play at the 2007 Coachella music festival, then a second time at Thanksgiving Point, Utah.  There are very few bands better than the Arcade Fire in a live setting.  Each member of the band, as many as ten people playing a diverse group of instruments, puts everything into every song.  There is an incredible amount of energy in their live show, and I was blown away both times I saw them.  There were so many fist-pumping, sing along at the top of your lungs moments.  Each performance would likely find itself in my top 10 shows if I were to make such a list someday.

I cannot recommend this band and both of their albums enough.

At the Drive-In - Vaya EP

Okay, so an EP isn't technically what we would consider an album, but I had to include this band, one of my favorite and first indie-bands I discovered as an adolescent.  This blog's title came from a misheard At the Drive-In lyric.  Here is another band overflowing with energy.  This seven song EP is probably the best place to start with this band.  It's more polished, in its songwriting and in its production, than the band's earlier work, and it's more consistent than Relationship of Command, the band's only release after this EP.  But every release is very good.  In fact, some of you may have heard the song "One-Armed Scissor" back in 2001-02 when it got a decent amount of play on MTV2 and the radio.

Anyway, this band rocks hard.  The lyrics are pretty obtuse, but it doesn't matter.  The dual guitars are loud and intricate, the rhythm section is very tight, and the spoken/sung/screamed vocals are fantastic.  My favorite tracks on the EP are:  "Rascuache", "Proxima Centauri", and "Ursa Minor."  But as I stated previously, this is a consistently great EP.  All of the songs are worth listening to.  (I am guessing that this will hold true with every album I ever write about because I'm choosing some of my all-time favorite albums, and I wouldn't like them that much if they had bad tracks on them).  Sadly, At the Drive-In broke up into two lesser bands which have yet to equal their earlier glory.  I'm hoping for an eventual reunion tour.

Autolux - Future Perfect

I wrote about this band previously when I gave them the "Get On With It" award so I won't go into too much detail about this band in this post.  Autolux is just a fantastic rock band.  Their sound is distinct.  They have some of the best sounding rock songs I've heard.  I just love the guitar tone, and the drums sound incredible.  Future Perfect is a superbly produced album.  Of course, the production would be meaningless if the songs weren't well-written.  Don't worry - they are very well-written.  My favorite tracks are:  "Angry Candy", "Subzero", and (it's tough to choose just three) "Here Comes Everybody."  I urge everyone to listen to the Autolux songs in my playlist on this page.

Albums by 'A' Bands Worth Mentioning:  Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock and Roll, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Code, Annie - Anniemal, Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs.

If anyone is interested in hearing these albums, leave a comment and let me know.  I'll find a way for you to hear them.