The first of 2009

Ok, here we are, 2009, it’s gonna be great! Let’s get started!

Andrew Bird – Noble Beast – ***1/2 – More goodness from Andrew Bird. I think it finds the happy medium between the Mysterious Production of Eggs album and the Armchair Apocrypha album, having some of the lightness of Eggs with more of the electronic instrumentation found on Armchair.

Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light – *** – Beautiful as expected. This album seems to be very organic and stark. This is a bit more clear vision than I think the first album had. The focus is on his voice primarily, and this album definitely shows some touches we have not seen before.

David Mead – Almost and Always – ***1/2 – You can’t go wrong with David Mead. What’s great is that he sounds just as good doing slower acoustic songs, as he does when he is doing high energy pop. This album is an example of the former, and is really great.

Coconut Records – Davy – *** – Jason Schwartzman has had an interesting life, and he wastes no time telling us all about it on the new album. While cool sounding and interesting, lyrically, it is a bit too self-reverential, which is good to a point, but wears thin.

tenniscourts – dig the new sounds of… – *** – This was a cool sounding record. Very energetic and rocking, nothing really jumped out at me, though, as being new or unique. But its good.