Best Record Art of the Year

Do people even make record sleeves anymore? Well, yeah some do. Some just give you a jpeg. Still artwork associated with album is alive and well, just look!

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On First Listen: Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala

Jens Lekman's new album was his attempt at cohesion. His attempt to make what he was quoted as calling a "real album". On first listen it seems the melancholy Swede has arrived at his goal successfuly. Night Falls Over Kortedala is mostly what everyone would have expected from Jens and it is to that end one of the most satisfying albums of the year.

The songs themselves fit into the classic Jens mold of minutia and emotional nuance. Musically the album is mostly a mid-tempo affair with a few more galloping moments and a handful of slow crawl sad songs. String arrangements for this album are impressively dramatic and horns break in a lot of areas that might have otherwise felt too stark. Album opener "And I Remember Every Kiss" is a swelling masterpiece of dramatic pop song craft and would act as a suitable entry point to not only this album but Lekman's music in general. Several tracks take on characteristics of vintage disco with a decidedly organic bent, others wallow in the sort of 60's pop schmaltz that could bring a tear to Glenn Campbell's eye.

The lyrics on Kortedala once again find Jens confused by his lack of human connection and bewildered by the few connections he has. The Album high light in my mind is "A Postcard to Nina". The song chronicles Jens' trip to a friend's parent's home in Germany. Before they enter the home she (a lesbian) tells Jens she has told her parents her boyfriend was along for the trip. Over the next few lines Jens fumbles around conversations with Nina's parents and hopes that he's done a good job of convincing her parents.

There is a striking specificity to all of Jens' songs and on this album that seems to become even more true. As a result you get a strikingly personal statement from an artist who seems to have no boundary of where he ends and his art begins.

A slightly subdued live version of album opener "And I Remember Every Kiss"


Another new song.

God Save The Clientele; Owl Album Art

God Save the Clientele is amongst the albums I'm most eagerly awaiting this year. It's poised to be a shift in tone (if not overall sound) for the melancholy scots and I'm thrilled that they are streaming two songs (both very good) on their MySpace Page. One is the comparitively jolly "Bookshop Casanova," basically the happiest sounding thing the band has ever put it's imprint on. The other track is the schmaltzy and slow(in a good way) "Nothing But Sunshine". You'll be surprised (or maybe you pay as much attention to advance buzz for Merge releases as I do and you won't be surprised at all) to find that title is not ironic.

What the album also has is a lovely album cover featuring an owl(above). Owl's seem to be following me everywhere in the past year. I'm particularly fond of them being on Album covers. As a Result I've decided to post an owl album cover galery(Special thanks to opfer who posted a list of albums with owls on the cover here), Enjoy:












It was quite difficult finding a big enough jpeg of this album art, I may be the first person publishing a sizeable version. Lucky me!

Dope Cover Art

Cover art is dying. Well the art of cover art is dying. Anywhoo when someone drops a hot cover Like Shellac has for their come back album Excellent Italian Greyhound(good title too), I like to post it on my blog. Because everyone can appreciate a pretty picture.