Albums

Everyone know that in high school I discovered Jeremy Enigk and Sunny Day Real Estate. I don't know how many days in a row I listen to Diary, but I can tell you that the only time I don't remember listening to it was when I was listening to Built to Spill's There's Nothing Wrong with Love, or the (now sadly disappointingly) first Pedro the Lion record Whole EP. I also remember driving to early morning runs for Cross Country listening to Mineral as a Senior. I'm pretty sure I got a month's worth out of Diary. OK. Though that record was my go-to for years, the first thing I heard Enigk ever sing was Return of the Frog Queen. If you haven't heard this record, YOU NEED TO. It's probably one of the best solo records to come out of the 90s. I"M NOT KIDDING. So, years passed, SDRE broke up, (then Enigk released Frog Queen), then they got back together and recorded How It Feels to Be Something On (which was totally different, but amazing), then they put out a shit record, then Dan Horner recorded an Dashboard EP, then The Fire Theft came (which was pretty awesome, but just not the same), then Enigk started actaully making solo records again.

Segue-way. Enigk had a solo song he used to play while SDRE was still together, whenever he played solo shows, called "Asleep Under Last Week's News" and he didn't record it till like 2006 or 07. It was a limited EP release that I never got my hands on. Another Segue-way. I saw Enigk play a show in Mountlake Terrace (that's right, Terrace represent!) with Damien Jurado and Paul Mumaw. He played that song, three Sunny Day songs, songs from Frog Queen, and a bunch of others I've never heard (that ended up on the limited EP). Probably one of the coolest shows I've been to. Intimate, quite. We all sat on the floor while he played.

OK. back to what I was talking about. After my disappointed with SDRE's latest work, and a disappointing first listen to The World Waits, I stopped listening. His sound had mutated into something kind of boring and "meh." But I just got my hands on his latest release: OK Bear. It's fantastic. It's simple, and while it sounds like newer Enigk, there are brushstrokes of the old, and pepperings of newness I haven't heard from him. I read somewhere (But can't remember where) that he wrote the songs, handed them over to the musicians and let them arrange, revise, and jam with. Then they recorded it. It feels very organic in many ways, yet very subdued, while still full of energy. Its simplicity is was struck me. He isn't trying too hard. He's just playing songs (or his band is and he's singing). I think he went back to his roots a little and made something stripped down and old fashioned. It's a great little record and I recommend picking it up, or streaming a couple songs and giving it a gander.

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Other "YESes"

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Bright Eyes - The People's Keys (really good, really different, yet still BE)

Lemura - The new one?

Bishop Allen - S/t (the singer is in mumblecore flicks!)

The Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinemas

Some "OK, not bad, moments of awesome."

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Fences - Fences