Stick To Your Guns - The Hope Division (320) (2010)

Per request. Maybe a full description later.

Just because I leave you doesn't mean you leave my mind.

Easy Star All-Stars - Radiodread (320) (2006)

As someone who doesn't really listen to reggae, let me just say that it's remarkable to me how easily this group was able to adapt Radiohead's seminal OK Computer into a dubfest. Featuring a variety of vocalists (some reggae, some not), some tracks seem to almost remain the same (No Surprises, Karma Police) while some are a completely new experience (Let Down, Subterranean Homesick Alien, Electioneering). This is sometimes good and sometimes bad, for instance the vocals provided by Toots & the Maytals on Let Down are so good. So good. It is able to bring out the bitter, misanthropic emotion from the original song while giving it a completely different atmosphere. Other songs can't quite do this as well, I personally thought the Subterranean Homesick Alien cover was completely disappointing and probably the worst song on the album. But they are all worth a listen, and as a whole, again, it's remarkable how seamlessly the transition seems.

An airbag saved my dub

SemaJ EkalB - S/T (320) (2011)

This is dubstep. It's soul. It's folk. It's electronic. It's candid. It's subtle. It's fucking amazing.

Wilhelms Scream

Scottish PostRockers - Hxc Will Never Perish, But You Shall (320) (2011)

Just cuz I'm paranoid over new albums. This one really reminds me of CODY, and yes, that is a compliment.

I'm Lionel Richie?

Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter (320) (2001)

In a similar vein to the way The Strokes or The Gaslight Anthem (best two examples I can think of off the top of my head) took their genres and breathed new life into it without doing anything terribly tricky or special, Pete Yorn revitalizes the electro-acoustic singer/songwriter genre here. There is nothing Pete Yorn does here in regards to musical progress; all he was apparently interested in was packing an album full of incredible songs. Which he did. Very well.

I wrote a big-ass review for this but I only want to say this: the two key ingredients that make this album so good are 1) its subtlety and 2) its consistency. That's all you really need to know.

I'm walking around your closet