Thanks, Government!

Yesterday I finally got around to depositing my income tax return check, and I decided to use some of it to purchase some albums I'd been wanting to get, but always wound up abandoning for something else entirely when I got to the record store. Would I have had the opportunity to do that on the flat tax system? I ask you, Steve Forbes. I ask you.

(Btw, "something else entirely" in this case means doing things like replacing my cassette copies of Cracker's The Golden Age or NIN's The Downward Spiral with cd copies, as further evidence that my constant quest to be well-versed in current music is hindered by the fact that I'm still obsessively listening to the same music I listened to during my senior year of high school.)

So I'm going to share with you, adoring reader, my selections from yesterday's larger-than-normal shopping spree. Then you will fulfill your end of the bargain by following my advice implicitly, telling your friends that you get all your information about what to listen to from me, and then directing them to my blog. I will in turn sell this blog for millions of dollars and hire a Panamanian child to write it while me and the YouTube guys play "Rock Paper Scissors" over who gets to fuck which model.

Tiger Army -- Music From Regions Beyond
They're described as "Psychobilly punk", but the songs on this album encompass a lot more than that. The psychobilly tremolos are present in a lot of the songs alright, but there are also songs like "Where The Moss Grows Slowly", which sounds like country-flavored Morrissey, and the very Joy Division-esque "As the Cold Rain Falls". The album opens with the aggressively speed-punk "Prelude: Signal Return" and "Hotprowl", and the pop-punk takes over from there. Fans of Bad Religion and Man or Astroman! will like this, as will anyone else who gets off on driving, catchy guitar hooks.
Highlight: "As the Cold Rain Falls"

Amy Winehouse -- Back To Black
Holy crap! Why did I take so long to buy this album? I'll tell you why: b/c I got caught up in the anti-hype. I blame Lady Sovereign, I bought her album only b/c everyone else was talking about it and couldn't believe what a turd it was, and I became jaded. But I'm here to tell you I'm sorry, and I hope you're not making the same mistake. Minimalist R&B production lifts Winehouse's gritty, soulful vocals into the stratosphere, while her lyrics wallow in the bars, back alleys and bedrooms. Excellent.
Highlight: "Me and Mr. Jones"

Kaiser Chiefs -- Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Yours Truly bursts out of the gate with song of the year candidate "Ruby", and doesn't let up on the infections Brit-pop for one second. Every song is a bright, catchy winner, with muscular guitar hooks slinking and crashing around fuzzy bass grooves accented perfectly by bouncy piano and keyboard lines. If you like Duran Duran, you'll love "Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)".
Highlight -- "Ruby"

The Fratellis -- Costello Music
Another band deserving of the hype they're getting, and another album I should've bought like a month ago. Solid, glitzy pop with its left foot on Franz Ferdinand and its right hand on Radiohead.
Highlight -- "Chelsea Dagger"

Battles -- Mirrored
Guitars, drums, synths, and assorted other instruments grind, churn and jitter against each other to create this textured album of mostly-instrumental math rock. Where there are vocals, they are there more for instrumentation than for coherent lyrics. You know who would like this? Anyone who likes bands like The Advantage or The Minibosses, those bands that play songs from Nintendo games. For the record, I count myself amongst that crowd. If you like Turing Machine you'll like this album too. If you've heard of Turing Machine, that is...
Highlight -- "Atlas"

Feist -- The Reminder
Everyone's talking about this album, and with good reason. Her vocals are delicate, the production is sparse and airy, and the elements combine to create supple songs that are vulnerable in all the right places, for all the right reasons.
Highlight -- "Brandy Alexander"

There you have it. And don't think I wasn't eyeballing that new Afghan Whigs compilation, because I was. Maybe next time.