Portland band Portgual. The Man continue their album-a-year streak with “In the Mountain, In the Cloud” (out 7/19). This is the first full song preview for the highly anticipated album and it’s a rocker for sure. This band could  be interpreted as “quantity over quality” by looking at their discography, but they really prove  that statement to be extremely false. Rippling with energy, you can tell that Portugal hasn’t  lost any steam since their debut in 2006. This song is one of my favorites from them so far and one of my favorites from this year. Can’t wait for their new album to come out.

Rad Tracks 

Brian Eno – Glitch

Panda Bear – Afterburner

John Talabot – Families (ft. Glasser)

Bill Callahan – Drover

Cults – Abducted

Beastie Boys – Say It

Matthewdavid – Like You Mean It

Purity Ring – Lofticries

The People’s Temple (!Michigan Native!) – Sons of Stone

Cool Runnings – Chorus

RAD ALBUMS (More formal reviews on the way)

Panda Bear – Tomboy

Panda Bear brings the heat on his second solo record.

Key Tracks:

You Can Count On Me, Tomboy, Slow Motion, Last Night at the Jetty, Surfer’s Hymn, Alsatian Darn, Afterburner, Benfica

SCORE:

88

tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L

Insanely creative musician strides over the haters; creates amazing, unique art

Key Tracks:

Key Tracks: My Country, Es-So, Gangsta, Bizness, You Yes You, Killa

SCORE:

91

Matthewdavid – Outmind

Strange LA producer gets freaky with some dub results

Key Tracks:

Noche y Dia / San Raphael, Group Tea (ft. Flying Lotus), Like You Mean It, Cucumber-Lime

SCORE:

78

Gorillaz – The Fall

Albarn gets bored with touring, makes an album with an iPad.

Key Tracks:

Revolving Doors, Detroit, The Joplin Spider, Amarillo, Bobby In Phoenix, California and the Slipping of the Sun

SCORE:

84

Bill Callahan – Apocalypse

Singer-Songwriter returns, paints a pretty picture of the old West and some mountains

Key Tracks:

America!, Drover, Riding for the Feeling

Score:

80

Radical Tracks, Honey.

Thurston Moore – Benediction

Jamie Woon – Lady Luck

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong

Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High

Cold Cave – The Great Pan is Dead

The Joy Formidable – Whirring

Radical Albums, Dearie.

The Weeknd – House of Balloons Mixtape

Drugs, women and depressed thoughts find a happy home with a nice ocean view.

The Weeknd literally burst onto the main music blogs and sites only a few weeks ago with its incredible song “What You Need.” About a week later they released the free “House of Balloons” mixtape that made the mysterious musicians blow up on all of sites, gaining universal praise for it’s unique sound in a world of 90’s throwback-lo fi / laptop electro pop.This definitely isn’t that. This is some extremely well-crafted pop music.

I gotta say when I first heard “What You Need”, I was not impressed. Maybe it was the mood I was in that day; I was a bit judgmental. But for some reason when I came back to it, it hit some sort of chord in my brain that set off an avalanche of neurotransmitters – a dopamine rush. I immediately downloaded the mixtape and began my journey through the nocturnal landscape of the House of Balloons. The reason I say nocturnal is because none of the music has a bit of daylight energy around it. It’s all dark, moody music. The vocals sound like the singer is  in a dark room or in a dark club, with the beats coming from echoes on the insides of his brain and skull, backing up his thoughts like a hidden observer. He may just be talking to himself in some settings, trying to reassure himself on his current standings in his love life. It’s some seriously dark music, though – whatever he’s going through is some stuff that I would never want to go through. This is definitely some heavy stuff he’s dealing with inside of his head and he somehow turns it into some of the best beautiful and catchy music I’ve heard in a long time.

I may be looking into it too much and I may look like a freak for going into such detail over it, but how about you all listen to the mixtape at

www.the-weeknd.com

and decide for yourself what it sounds like. What kind of images are drawn inside your head? I would love to know.

This album is fantastic, seriously. I know I keep saying that, but it really is. It’s free, I don’t know why you wouldn’t get it right now. I put the link right up there. Seriously, what are you doing? Do it now!

Key Tracks:

High For This, What You Need, House of Balloons, The Morning, Wicked Games, The Knowing

Score: 89

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong

This distortion tastes like donuts.

The Pains are back in the game with their sophomore album “Belong” that definitely sounds like a step towards more groomed sound compared to their self-titled debut album. Don’t get me wrong, I really like their debut album and I really like this album! I’m just pointing out a difference in sound between the two albums. That is all.

That being said, this album is a lot more groomed in terms of sound and song design. On their previous album there was more grungy-distortion filled moments with a tinge of darkness. This time around, there are more moments of light-hearted teenage fun time happenings. Again, on their past album there was that as well, but as seen through a lens with a film of vaseline on it to give it a more fuzzy feel.  The reason this album is different is because the times have gotten a little less angsty, the kids have grown up and out of their aloof, drama-filled cells and blossomed into teenagers that just want to live it up before they’re shipped to colleges across the country, which leads into my next point.

This band definitely lives up to their name based on the kind of sound they put out- it definitely sounds like a perfect summer day spent by teenagers: lounging around on blankets under trees, walking around abandoned warehouses or old forests, driving down a suburban street in a packed car with the windows down with this blasting without any judgment from peers; just pure bliss.

That sounds like a great day to me We would all know, we’ve all been teenagers at some point. I’m still one! I should know!

Oh what am I saying? These two albums are great. This one is new, the other one came out in 2009. You should buy both of them. Yep. Simple as that.

You’ll see the key tracks below, if you’re a thrifty person that likes to base things off of only a few songs. Sure.

Key Tracks:

Belong, Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now, Heart in Your Heartbreak, The Body, Girl of 1000 Dreams, Strange

SCORE: 84

This is a new feature on CBK called “Now Wait A Second!”

What this is about is I’m highlighting music I might have missed last year or the year before when I made the “Best of” lists and didn’t include them. This way, I can, in a way, include them in some kind of “Best of” portion.

This time, we’re featuring an album and a few songs.

ALBUMS that I MISSED/OVERLOOKED:

Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?

Have you ever wondered what robot dreams sound like?

Well if you do, look no further than the electronic outfit Emeralds and their sophomore album “Does It Look Like I’m Here”. The reason I overlooked this album is because I only bought one song off of it. MISTAKE. I felt like the song lacked something that I couldn’t quite pinpoint and so I dismissed it. Later on I saw that it was getting rave reviews from critics, being in Best of Lists, the works. At first I thought nothing of it: I knew that some people liked the album and it just wasn’t for me. It was only until I saw it was Drowned in Sound’s #1 album of 2010, where I considered listening to more.

I found an album stream and started listening. Instantly I was pulled in by the robotic, warm tracks that were being laid down. The sound being created is reminiscent of clouds in the sky, but in the 50’s, and if the Dark Ages didn’t happen so we actually were modernized a lot quicker. I know it seems far-fetched, but trust me, that’s what I’m feeling.

Now after I thought about clouds, I thought about thought clouds, like in cartoons and stuff. Then I thought about dreams and the clouds they make. Then I thought about the entire sound of the album, which is robotic. So without any motivation I came up with the conclusion that the music MUST sound like robot dreams. Not nightmares, though. The good dreams where you wake up in a field of cotton candy and all your friends are dancing around having a good time. Now think about that, but with robot people. Doesn’t that make you want to buy this album? I would want to buy it. But I’m weird, so.

So we waited a second and now we can clearly see that this album DESERVES to be on the Top 50 albums of the year list!

SONGS THAT I MISSED/OVERLOOKED:

Everlasting Light – The Black Keys

“The Black Keys’ album, Brothers, was on your Top 50, CBK! How could you have overlooked this song?”

Well kids, even I miss songs sometimes.

“But it’s the first on the album!”

Well, the first time I heard the song it was through an iTunes preview, so I didn’t hear much. I didn’t like it based on the preview, so I never listened to the rest of it. I tried to like it before, but never did.

But then finally something clicked in my head dealing with this song when I heard it again. One of my friends posted it on my wall and I decided to listen to it thinking that if he liked it, why can’t I? I absolutely love this song now. I don’t think it was based off of the friend’s liking of the song, just the thought of giving it one more chance. The song might be my favorite off of the album now, but we’ll see.

Hot Mess – Chromeo

I had heard of Chromeo before I heard this song. Again, the killer here is iTunes previews. I listen to a snippet of a song and I don’t like it. Kills my interest for an artist. Bad habit.

I heard this song first on Conan and instantly loved it. I loved the talk box they used, which I found they use a lot in their other songs as well. It just had a sweet, 80’s groove that was inescapable, no matter how you tried.

Seasons Clash!

Summer vs. Winter

Cut Copy – Zonoscope

Aussie disco-pop evoke memories of a future summer that include car trips with the windows down and late-night parties on a beach by creating buoyant grooves over downright gleeful vocals. The first half of this record flows together like the river on the cover while being able to discern the different tracks from eachother. On the latter half, the album still has a pretty consistent flow, but the songs are more similar sounding texture wise and are easily lost in the current. Thankfully, the first half of this record is so strong that it avoids sinking by carrying the still good latter half to dry land.

If this doesn’t jump start your countdown clock to summer or the near-robotic future, I don’t know what will.

Key Tracks:

Need You Now, Take Me Over, Where I’m Going, Pharaohs and Pyramids, Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution

Score: 87

James Blake – James Blake

The high-rising English musician creates cavernous space in your temporal lobes infused with beautiful,  soulful singing and chopped, minimalistic beats that go hand and hand like bread and Nutella. He fills the void left by the absence of Burial in the sensitive side of dubstep and revolutionizes the sound of the genre by creating an entirely new sound completely: one that carries more meaning and a face.

Another item he uses is silence, which accounts for most of the songs, but also accounts for ridiculous buildups that pull the listener right back in and immerses them in silent static while Blake serenades them with his emotional pipes. Also, if this reminds you of Bon Iver, don’t be surprised – they bear plenty of similarities, while they each hold their own unique feel and sound.

This album is fantastic and definitely lives up to all of the hype it was creating over the past few months. If you enjoyed his past EPs or you want to try something entirely new and inventive, you’ll enjoy this.

Key Tracks:

Unluck, The Wilhelm Scream, I Never Learnt to Share, Limit To Your Love, To Care (Like You), Measurements

Score: 91

Bjork – Post

Information:

Released: 1995

Second album by Bjork

Went platinum in 5 countries.

6 out of 11 tracks became hit singles.

Army of Me:

Hyperballad:

It’s Oh So Quiet:

Isobel: