This morning we opened our email to see that we had received a tax refund. We thought that was pretty much going to be the highlight of our day. Turns out we were wrong. Because when we got home this evening, we opened our mail and discovered this gem waiting there patiently for us. This record officially drops April 29, but we're lucky to have some cool friends who make sure our ears are constantly hearing new, interesting music. It's only the middle of April, but this album has to be considered among the front-runners for our Album of the Year.
When we opened it, we immediately popped it into our computer CD player while we caught up on email. After one listen, we decided we needed to see if it could pass the Driving CD test. After two more full listens, we're happy to report it passed the test. We were actually sad when we couldn't find any LA traffic, because it meant we just had to go home and listen to the CD at home.
We'll try to describe the album a bit, but it's best just to check it out. Listening to it is like when you go to visit an old friend who has moved away to a new city: you meet up and immediately it's like things always have been, nothing skips a beat, and yet your friend has all these new places to take you. A mixture of nostalgia and excitement for the future, I guess is what we're describing.
This album sounds like finding an internet radio station that plays only 60's AM radio songs. It sounds like Kings of Leon if they played only Gram Parsons songs. Or the Shins, if they were fronted by Neil Young. Or Simon and Garfunkel, if they replaced Garfunkel with Jack White. It sounds like "Summerteeth" if it was put out by Uncle Tupelo rather than Wilco, and if Jeff and Jay were replaced by Connor Oberst. It sounds like Ryan Adams, with an editor. It sounds like there's some Marah swimming around in there. It sounds like Modest Mouse run through an Austin, TX honky tonk. Or a zydeco band, if their bus broke down and they were taken in by Silverlake blogger-hipsters (bloggsters?).
Spinning Compass, The Honeymoon, and Tipping Point are all instant classics, and if we can get our hands on mp3 files, we'll be sure to post them. For now go to his myspace and check out what's up.
Langhorne Slim -- Rebel Side of Heaven -- mp3.
