This is my personal favorite of Devendra Banhart's and the album that introduced me to him. His voice fits absolutely perfectly with the music that is on this album, one of the most relaxing folk albums I've heard. If you just want to relax, pop this on.
I think the only albums on my overall chart that fit the criteria are the yugo/slovenian albums + Fiery Furnaces' Bitter Tea.
I guess I could write something about a few of them...
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Odbrana i Poslednji Dani by Idoli
One of the most acclaimed releases of the Yugoslav new wave. It's just got this frantic pace to it, raw production, a whole lotta variety (though always with a distinct sound, even the rockabilly song on this sounds somewhat sinister), prone to experimentation with sounds while remaining quite accessible. Maybe it's not right to label it as "post punk", especially since I don't think these guys ever played post punk in the sense that we usually understand the term. But the aesthetics of this album undeniably draw heavy influence from the genre. There's also a lot of that eastern-european touch, not the least in the song Rusija. In my top 10.
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Treci Svijet by Haustor
Another Yugoslav new wave release, this time from Croatia. Croatian bands were usually a lot more pop oriented than their Serbian counterparts, and I think the same goes for Haustor as well, however at this point in their career (1984, after the heyday of New wave scene), they created something that retains the aesthetics (mostly influence from ska and reggae) but takes them to strange places. It's a slow burner, I didn't get it at first at all, but it really is all in the details and it has become by far my favourite Haustor album since then. In my top 20.
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Paket Aranzman by Various Artists
This one already gained at least a couple of fans on this site, so why not whore it out some more. I think what I love the most here is just the idea of the album - the biggest label in the country giving an opportunity to three unknown young bands with virtually no recording experience to contribute songs for an album that would show the emerging sound of new wave. It sounds a bit like an experiment, but it worked, all three bands got massively popular and this album has sorta become iconic of the whole New wave movement. As for the music, ล arlo are the strongest link in my opinion, with some awesome bass playing from Koja (later Disciplina Kiฤme) and songwriting from Milan (later Ekatarina Velika). Elektriฤni Orgazam use the synths more and to great effect, especially on Krokodili Dolaze, while Idoli, probably the most "conventional" of the three (except on Amerika) bring some of their humour to the mix. (But you know, you might not be able to understand Serbian enough for that.)
Bitter Tea by The Fiery Furnaces
This features some of the best backmasking I've heard. Might not sound like a compliment, but it's actually great. Take just The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry as an example. The whole album is filled with these strange sounds, as well as some really catchy tunes. I really don't know what else to say here... If you're familiar with the band, but not the album, you should sorta know what to expect, though it's also hard to compare it to any of their albums before it. What they have in common is that they're all fun, somewhat nonsensical, without any conventional song structures, but on the other hand, the sound on this one is quite different and unique. But it's not all too experimental, see Waiting to Know You or Benton Harbor Blues for some of FF's most accessible (and also kinda bittersweet) moments.
This album is at #17 on my overall chart. This band gets overlooked a lot, especially in the States. But I love a band that has three singers and four songwriters as strong as this, and In Our Gun, their third album, is a gem. "Shot Shot" was the obvious hit here, but the rest is never boring and as well written and performed as anything else you'll find. Ben Ottwell has been compared (a bit unfairly) to Eddie Vedder, but even though he has a bit of that quality to his voice, his songs are much more adventerous...as is all of the band's work.
This album is on 9 BEA charts. 4 of them are mine. It's on 5 year charts, 2 decade charts, 1 overall chart, and 1 custom chart. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
Lousy With Sylvianbriar by of Montreal
Just a really cohesive and beautiful album. I'm surprised it's not at least on more year lists. It's the second best of the year for me so far. (13 charts)
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Introducing Foxy Shazam by Foxy Shazam
Here's a band that I'm surprised hasn't had more of a breakthrough. They're energetic, catchy, and really fun. This is my favorite of their albums. (5 charts)
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Foxy Shazam by Foxy Shazam
My second-favorite of their albums. (4 charts)
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Spreading Rumours by Grouplove
Another band that I'm surprised hasn't really broken through. Super fun band... (2 charts)
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"...Founding members Philippe Cohen Solal, Christoph H. Mรผller, and Eduardo Makaroff have an uncanny track record for melding Argentinian tango to virtually any music they choose. The difference between their 2001 debut La Revancha del Tango and 2006โs Lunรกtico was pronounced. The former utilized ambient dub and downtempo wed to tango music from the '30s through the '70s, with the accent heavily on electronics. The latter took a rootsier approach. Pianist and musical director Gustavo Beytelmann utilized a string quartet, jazz, vocalist Cristina Villalonga, Calexico, and even rapper Xoxmo, against sonic atmospheres and beats. Inextricable from the mix was Nini Flores' bandoneon and a woodsy upright bass. On 2010โs Tango 3.0, the root music featured here comes more from the Nuevo Tango aspect of the music's development, and is wed to even more diverse source..." (extract from allmusic.com)
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