School starts in a few days, and that marks an end of summery things. Fall is coming and with it typically comes an avalanche of new releases. So before we get hit with the deluge, I’m gonna take a few minutes here and talk about six favorite albums that came out in the first two-thirds of the year, and I will post an mp3 for each one. Here we go, from best to near best:

Arcade Fire - Antichrist Television Blues (from the album “Neon Bible”). I missed all the hype that came with the Arcade Fire debut album; maybe that’s why this one has had such an impact on me. The blogosphere has alot to say about the 80’s influences, and I get that, but for me it is all about the urgency in Win Butler’s voice. Especially when he’s telling you that his body is a cage, or admonishing you to keep the car running. Here he steps in the skin of the “showdad”, exploring what it might be like to raise/manage/ruin a Lindsay, a Paris, or a Jessica.

The National - Squalor Victoria. My twitter-condensed review of “Boxer” (the new album from whence this track comes) was gonna say something along the lines of “one clever line does not a great song make.” But the fact that I keep returning to this album over and over again since its release says volumes. And the clever lines start to pile up! The joy of this album is in the moody arrangements. It is Tindersticks, but with pounding drums and a pinch of hope. I confess a mondegreen from this album: “Your mind is racing like a pronoun” (from the song “Racing Like A Pro”).

Spoon - Finer Feelings (from the album “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”). I’ve already praised Spoon’s latest album at length (and I hope you all found “Deep Clean”). This track is probably my favorite. Britt Daniel has a way of stringing seemingly unrelated phrases together in a way that feels good to me. I don’t know quite what else I can say about this album that hasn’t already been said. I’ll shut up now and just let you download and listen to this.

The Shins - Split Needles (from the album “Wincing The Night Away”). I love this album despite the fact that probably I shouldn’t. After all, I miss the harmonies so prevalent on the earlier albums. There’s a commercial sheen draped all over this thing. And those keyboard sounds!! But then comes this song — the opening riff sounds so much like The Police (”Message In A Bottle”!) and it just sucks me right in. From there the lyrics continue to carry me. It is a great moment at a nice spot later on in the disc. Also wonderful is the closing number (”A Comet Appears”) that I’ll have to post sometime. Try to track it down if you can.

Feist - The Water (from the album “The Reminder”). This song is soft and quiet and late-night jazzy. There are songs that evoke the same feel for me - songs like Fiona Apple’s “Slow Like Honey” and Madeleine Peyroux’s “I’ll Look Around”, but they don’t do it as well as Feist. This whole record is brilliant; a nice mix of upbeat produced numbers and low-fi ballads.

Rob Crow - Focus. I must admit that I previewed this album based solely on the title of one of the tracks - “I Hate You, Rob Crow” (which also happened to be the single). What I found was some Beck-like vocals and melodies blended with some amazing guitar textures. The song “Focus” is maybe not the most representative track of the album, but it does convey a good feel of the complex guitar stuff that you’ll find on here. This is one of those records that rewards the listener more and more upon repeated listens. You can buy the album (called “Living Well”) here.

That’s all for now — I’m already looking forward to the last third of the year. New Pornographers will get lumped in there, as well as Fiery Furnaces and Beirut, and there’s a new live record from Erin McKeown — back on Signature Sounds Records no less! That is like comfort food right there.

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