1. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Surprised? Holy shit, I’m fucking stunned! If you would have told me back in April that this would be my pick for album of the year I would have pulled a Chris Brown on your face and then maybe thrown in an R. Kelly for good measure. I mean, Two Suns was certainly lush and dreamy, sensual and cavernous, but it didn’t appear to have the proper gravitas, the right amount of substantive heft to hold down all that ethereal flightiness. But like all great albums, this one grew in power and scope with repeated listens. Warm and beguiling, awash in textural richness and mystical musings, Two Suns is that rare record that pairs genuine beauty with narrative themes that are compelling and enlightening. Natasha Khan is nothing short of wondrous, her graceful, hypnotic voice soaring through the ghostly, fog-draped skies and sparse, extraterrestrial soundscapes that the album’s often lavish instrumentation conjures. At first listen, there’s a fragile, fractured quality to these songs as if they might bend and snap beneath the weight of such provocative drama and otherworldy flourishes, but Khan proves more than capable of shouldering the burden of her own considerable expectations and ambitions. Beautiful, stirring, and emotionally resonant, Two Suns is an album built for dreams and visions, for the undercover darkness of the night, and for bodies and souls united and intertwined.
More Info:
Web: www.batforlashes.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/batforlashes
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Bat_For_Lashes
Nice list, love that fucking Future of the Left. Totally tits. Not buying that Puscifer shit, though. Weak.
excellent list for the most part. i whole heartedly agree with number one. my future ex-wife.
p.s.
pucifer is garbage. i want to fight maynard.
Yo Noose,
Why you hating on my man? You just can’t deal with the prog-rock.
it’s not so much the prog, as it is music that i can’t remember. and the over produced, over effected non-chorus having crap. P. U.
“jupiter” is one of my favorite records of all time, and it’s uber prog.
in your face!
I hear you, Cinn-Sen, especially on the later albums. I actually thought the first few Tool albums and all the A Perfect Circle stuff was really catchy in its way. “Jupiter” was/is pretty fucking fresh.
Fight Amp, Future Of The Left and Converge! Woo-hoo!