EASE DOWN THE ROAD

Aside from more festival-, reissue- and tour-announcement news than one stiff-lipped column can handle, 2008 has seen very little in the way of gossip- and gag-worthy music news of late. Sure, the whole bit about The Raconteurs releasing an unexpected new album only a week after announcing its completion was way cool, but, really – aside from the news of a new Silver Jews record – that’s about the only thing that’s gone down in the last month worth remembering. When are Doug Martsch, Lou Barlow, Ted Leo and [enter your indie rock god here] going finally to announce their plans to record an anti-super group platter o’ wax? Who is Fiona Apple dating these days, and is she ever going to write some new songs? And, most importantly, when the blazes are we finally going to learn the juicy details about Ryan Adams’ long-discussed box set? About a month and a half into 2008, due to a lack of news, Ease decided to get critical, offering up a roundup of some of the year’s best albums so far, complete with ratings. That was about a month and a half ago now, and, since there still isn’t a whole lot of news to try to write bad jokes about, we’re going to once again list and briefly discuss some of what we believe to be the year’s most notable albums thus far. Ratings, too.

R.E.M.’s Accelerate: The 11 songs on this semi-return to form will be celebrated by longtime fans if only because they’re eons better than the band’s last couple of albums, which have been the kind you buy, listen to once and then either sell off, put on the shelf or use as a white elephant gift come the holiday season. Accelerate drops enabler Pat McCarthy’s instantly dated production in favor of Jacknife Lee’s area-ready guitar hero sound. That’s right, Peter Buck is riffing somewhat hard again; Stipe, too, again seems comfortable just doing what he’s good at – which is what he should’ve been doing all along. 8/10 

Sun Kil Moon’s April: Mark “Sun Kil Moon” Kozelek’s post-Red House Painters career has been increasingly celebrated over the past couple of years, specifically his Ghosts of the Great Highway record, which April seems to somewhat of a sequel to. Forever equally indebted to American Music Club and Neil Young, Sun Kil Moon offer up 11 new songs here, some three-electric-guitars-at-a-time rockers, others bare and honest acoustic ballads. Kozelek’s amazing voice still tends to wear at times but, damn, just about everything else is perfectly wispy Americana bliss. Sure to be on just about every year-end list come December. 8.5/10 

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks’ Real Emotional Trash: Seventies stoner jams meet The Indie Kid in an alley and come out silly, loopy and fresh. Though the backbone of the album is still wholly Malkmus, the sound is new for him; pounding, sometimes excessive and always organic, Trash is the sound of a long-proven artist spreading his wings for the sake of exploration and growth. Malkmus, as always, comes out looking at once smart and smart alecky. 9.5/10 

Lee Miles’ Heathen Blux: The growth shown on Lee Miles 2007 album, 1,000 Lions, while significant, is doubled on Heathen Blux, an 11-song songwriter album coiled from a batch of 23 well made home recordings. The lyrics. The small details. That voice. Oh, the lyrics. Limited resources and all, Miles has crafted a long-studied junk drawer classic that resonates with more knuckle-splitting guts and lo-fi craftiness than believable. 9.49/10 

She & Him’s Volume One: M. Ward’s champion arrangements and actress Zooey Deschanel’s cutesy-as-hell vocals make for an album full of peaks and valleys that instantly brings to mind Jenny Lewis’ memorable Rabbit Fur Coat. The high points on this roots-y 60s girl group-meets-country-pop album are some of the best so far this year. 7.5/10 

Counting Crows’ Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings: The Counting Crows stick to the formula on their long-awaited fifth album: self-obsessed college freshman poetics; organic guitars that always sound about to break free (but almost never do); powerful sing-along hooks sung by one of the best pop-rock voices of all; and, well, you get it – it sounds like the Counting Crows. Sure, it’s about as far from innovative as albums get, but that’s not the point with the Crows; Saturday sounds comfortable and familiar. Take the time to learn these songs and – for the most part – you’ll forget why you ever doubted Duritz and Co. 6.5/10 

The Kills’ Midnight Boom: Part trashy party album, part art-star rock album, Midnight Boom sees The Kills finally living up to their promise. While at least half of the songs are, at best, growers, the other half are drop-dead brilliant modernizations of the early-70s NYC back alley sound, updated with blips and oddly fitting mechanical production. 7.5/10 

The Black Keys’ Attack & Release: Said to be The Black Keys album for people who don’t like The Black Keys, Attack & Release  – in a way completely different than the just mentioned Midnight Boom – slightly updates (or at least adds to) the classic rock genre, mixing in touches of primal blues and unpredictable left-field flourishes. There are moments here, like on all Keys albums, that sound instantly classic and timeless. A ballsy record, surely. 8/10 

Destroyer’s Trouble In Dreams: Not much needs to be said about this one. If you like Dan Bejar’s whimsical, sometimes complex pop songs, then you’ll find much to enjoy about Trouble In Dreams, an album that plays through like a more accessible version of the band’s previous album, Destroyer’s Rubies. Folk-era Bowie, anyone? 7.5/10 

Flowers Forever’s Flowers Forever: Obscurists take note, this heady art-rock side project from Tilly and the Wall’s Derek Pressnall, while not for everyone, houses some of the year’s most interesting and clever “pop” moments. Pressnall’s high-art ambition comes off like a drugged-up, potty-mouthed, anything-goes version of Wolf Parade. That’s a good thing. 9.33/10 

Also worth checking out: Retribution Gospel Choir’s Retribution Gospel Choir; Born Ruffians’ Red, Yellow & Blue; The Raconteurs’ Consolers of the Lonely; The Raveonettes’ Lust, Lust, Lust; Ike Reilly’s Poison the Hit Parade