Joshua Lee

This guy is sort of an old-school bluesy rocker with a voice that reminds me of Matt Berninger of the National.  I listened to his "Promise Land" EP on noisetrade; it's worth checking out.  The variety of style in the songs is considerable; some of the songs are pretty moving actually.  The chord progressions are classic, and they work well with his understated but deep voice.  I'll be curious to hear this guy's future work; I think he has a lot of potential. 

Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly and James McAlister: PLANETARIUM

I've been meaning to do a post on this phenomenal album for quite a long time now.  I first heard of it through some references online, but didn't make time to give it a listen until a personal recommendation from my boss (who has spectacular taste in music).  It's a fascinating album.  All of the vocals are done by Sufjan, and much of the musical style seems right in line with the rest of his work in the last few years.  Some songs are strongly reminiscent of Carrie & Lowell (and are just as masterfully simple yet powerful), while others are more similar to the Age of Adz (i.e., somewhat electronic and decidedly dark...and occasionally terrifying).  The range of emotions on the album is incredible.  I highly recommend listening to it, even though you will likely have a hard time listening to some of the songs.  The tuneful ones make up for it. 

Meg McRee and Peter Gardner

So, it's apparently been like three months since I last did a music blog post.  Not sure how that happened.  But I'm going to try to be more regular again now.  To start this off, I give you this recent discovery.  To me, they sound like a mix between the Civil Wars and Oh Wonder...folky, but with a hint of bluesy jazz.  They have some extremely creative and delightful songs, with a really nice blend of acoustic guitar in a minor key, similar to recent work by the Oh Hellos.  You can download their music on noisetrade.  I would highly recommend it.