Crowquill Albums Recommendation's Thread. (lyrics, singer, house, indie, pop)

[sleepy jack]

This is the thread where I write mini-reviews and upload my favorite albums and you all check them out fuh sho. I'm also going to include three or four songs so you can get a general idea on how the album sounds.

I'm going to try and make the reviews short, one paragraph describing the artist, maybe two or so describing the album, and then my general thoughts on it.

Elliott Smith "Figure 8"



Label: DreamWorks
Release Date: April 18, 2000
Genre: Indie-Rock/Singer-Songwriter/Baroque Pop
Tracklist:
1. Son of Sam
2. Somebody That I Used to Know
3. Junk Bond Trader
4. Everything Reminds Me of Her
5. Everything Means Nothing to Me
6. L.A.
7. In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost
8. Stupidity Tries
9. Easy Way Out
10. Wouldn't Mama Be Proud?
11. Color Bars
12. Happiness/The Gondola Man
13. Pretty Mary K
14. I Better Be Quiet Now
15. Can't Make a Sound
16. Bye

Elliott Smith is an american singer/songwriter who spent the majority of his life in Portland, Oregon. Hes probably my favorite artist and extremely talented having produced a few albums aside from his own and being an amazing lyricists and one of the best acoustic guitar players i've heard. His sound varies quite a bit from his mellow acoustic stuff like Twilight to his full band stuff like King's Crossing. Vocally he does alot of multi-tracking on his songs and it sounds amazing because he has such an angelic voice, a good example of this would be his beatles cover Because.

This is Elliott's fifth album named after a school house rock song which he covered but it didn't make the album (if anyones interested i'll up the track, its a very haunting song). The album shows a maturing from XO, expanding on him using a wider variety of instruments and showing his Beatles influence more on tracks like Junk Bonder Trader and Son Of Sam though his soft acoustic songs are still there in tracks like Everything Reminds Me Of Her and Easy Way out.

Its one of the best singer/songwriters albums i've ever heard just because it isn't your typical acoustic album theres a lot of full band stuff, mostly played by him and he experiments with different genres, you hear a definite pop influence in a lot of the tracks like LA though his moody acoustic style is there. I like this album a lot just because it shows a lot of sides of him as a musician.

This is probably my favorite Elliott Smith album at the moment and I think its his most varied musically and shows his talents as a producer, and musician best. I think its an amazing album from beginning to end just because of how it all fits and how much of a trip it is to listen to it, from Son Of Sam to Bye which is one of the most beautiful pieces of piano i've ever heard.

Link: hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?2mzdgzknozd
Sample Tracks:
Son Of Sam
Easy Way Out
Wouldn't Mama Be Proud?
Bye

[sleepy jack]

Stars "Set Yourself On Fire"



Label: Arts & Crafts International
Release Date: September 14, 2004 (Canada), March 8, 2005 (America)
Genre: Indie-Pop
Tracklist:
1. Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
2. Set Yourself on Fire
3. Ageless Beauty
4. Reunion
5. The Big Fight
6. What I'm Trying to Say
7. One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)
8. Sleep Tonight
9. The First Five Times
10. He Lied About Death
11. Celebration Guns
12. Soft Revolution
13. Calendar Girl

Stars is a canadian indie pop band featuring Amy Millan, Torquil Campbell, and Evan Cranley of Broken Social Scene and Chris Seligman and Pat McGee. Torquil Campbell is also in Memphis and Amy Millian has a solo project. Troquil and Amy are the singers, they trade off in some songs, sometimes sing together in others and in some just one sings like Reunion. Its like ouh catchy but not cheesy.

Set Yourself On Fire is Stars third album released on Arts & Crafts International, also home to Apostle of Hustle, Broken Social Scene, Feist and several others. In may theres going to be a released Do You Trust Your Friends? which is going to feature covers and remixes of songs from Set Yourself On Fire by artists such as The Russian Futurists, Final Fantasy, The Stills and others.

This is my favorite indie-pop album i've heard, some of the songs sound way too samey sometimes, but their is varation. You have faster songs like the First Five Times and Set Yourself On Fire to slower ones like Reunion and more slowed down like Sleep Tonight.

As I said this is my favorite indie pop album because of how much fun a lot of the tracks are and Torquil and Amys vocals sound amazing together, and its especially interesting to listen to the story telling lyrics and vocal trade offs in songs like Your Ex-Lover Is Dead.

Link: Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire
Sample Tracks:
The First Five Times
Reunion
Set Yourself On Fire
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

[Alo]

Recommendations, dummy!

And now I'll check it out, though I usually get disappointed by Elliott's stuff.

[CrazyBoots]

I haven't gone too deep into Elliot Smith's albums, I've only heard either/or and XO but I really enjoyed both of them and look forward to giving this one a listen.

And I gotta say that is this a great idea for a thread and I applaud you for the undertaking

[just for kicks]

i never really looked into elliott smith much but i really liked what i heard. definatly putting it on my list for albums to look for

[sleepy jack]

Originally Posted by Alo

Recommendations, dummy!

<.< shh

This albums owns everything everyone here listens to. Srrsly get into it.

[enemyat_thesix]

haha elliott smith.

listen tosomething else man.

[sleepy jack]

Neva! I'm going to do my next one now, I have to figure out which one it is but still.

Probably XO.

lolbut set yourself on fire fo' serious.

k i have my next five albums planned out, i'll get them up over the week.

[just for kicks]

awesome, cant wait to see what you put up

[Laces Out Dan!]

Figure Eight...peice of art. Probably my second favourite Elliott album. Props for the review as well Dr.E.