Smogasbord

I've just got too many albums and not enough time to go through all of them to give them the full review and whatnot they deserve, sooooo how bout a bunch of shorter ones to catch up.

Artist: Local Natives

Album: Gorilla Manner

Rating: 9.5

Best Tracks: Airplanes, Wide Eyes, World News

Listen if you like: U2, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Band of Horses, New Pornographers (minus Neko Case)

Local Natives is a fan-freaking-tastic rock album. Ridiculously good drums mix with great vocals and solid guitar to form one of the best albums from the year. Guitar is weirdly reminiscent of The Edge on earlier U2 albums--check out Wild Eyes for more on that. World News is a fantastic track.

Artist: Caribou

Album: Swim

Rating: 8

Best Tracks: Kaili

Listen if you like: Weird prog rock techno. Think Prodigy meets The Ma

rs Volta meets Cursive meets Sasha/Xpnder.

This is a bizarre but awesome album that was dominating my ears for about a week and a half. If you dig prog rock, especially prog rock heavy on the keyboards and warping, hit this up. Very listenable if you're in the right mood for it but it lost a bit for me on the replayability--I listed for about 10 days and then I was done with it. I think I'll probably come back to it but for right now it is on the shelf.

Artist: The National

Album: High Violet

Rating: 9

Best Tracks: Afraid of Anyone

Listen if you like: The National. Just do it.

It is a superb album but... when your expectations are Boxer.... you are going to fall short of that. Boxer is one my all time favorite albums. Fake Empire is a top 5 song. High Violet is a great album, but I've been tempering my expectations for this album since Boxer invaded my brain and I still somehow felt letdown. That being said, if I didn't know Boxer and compare this album against it, I would love it--and I do love it but it's just... WHI I want Boxer Pt 2.

And the best for last...

Artist: Metric

Album: Fantasies

Rating: 10

Best Tracks: Sick Muse, Gimme Sympathy, Gold Guns Girls, Help I'm Alive really everything

Listen if you like: Muse playing Dance Rock

Everything about this album is fantastic. It has top notch tracks from front to back. It has multiple Dangerous Driving Songs. It is a perfect album, in my opinion. I can listen to it over and over and over and not get tired of it. Gimme Sympathy is a perfect pop song-- seriously, perfect--it has a ridiculous hook, it has a phenomenal refrain and... just listen to it.

BUY THIS ALBUM.