Feaverish

It’s time once again for everyone’s favorite time of the year: Feaverish’s Spring Music Recommendations Extravaganza! Wooooo…[dying applause]

Last year saw a ton of excellent albums by past Feaverish favorites like Of Montreal, Joanna Newsom, the Hold Steady, M. Ward, the Long Winters, and Pas/Cal. In fact, if you’re reading this post at all it means you’ve already passed the little music test I set up; just a little script that checks for one or more of the above albums in your iTunes library and only lets you view the site if it finds one. This seemed a lot fairer than my previous test, which had your webcam take a picture of you and compared your face against a scientific ideal, letting only those in the top 5% through to the site. (And of course I’ve entirely done away with that test’s precursor, which measured how lovingly you cradled your mouse, but returned way too many false positives.)

Anyway, congratulations on passing; as a reward for having such good taste, here’s some music I’ve been enjoying so far this year:

Arrah and the Ferns — Apple for Evan [mp3]

I know nothing about this band, except that they sound young, and that they make a hell of a lot of noise with a hell of a lot of instruments. I could listen to the noodling guitar and brass section (tuba?) on this song all day long. It’s the kind of song I listen to at the end of a long day of work, when I need an energy boost for the bike ride home.

Papercuts — Dear Employee [mp3]

Since the first notes in this song are played by a cello, it was automatically included in this list. The entire album is great, and you can check out a few more songs at Papercuts’ MySpace page.

The Winks — Guitar Swing [mp3]

If you only listen to six of the songs in this post, this should be one of them. The Winks’ second album, Birthday Party, has been one of my favorite albums of the last year. It’s all cellos (automatically included!) and mandolins and minor-key boy-girl harmonies, and the whole thing reminds me a bit of Arcade Fire, and more than a bit of Shapes and Sizes.

Loney Dear — I Am John [mp3]

You’ve probably heard of Loney, Dear before now, but I would like to formally, here, throw my recommendation into the mix. This song is twee as fuck, but, as with Arrah and the Ferns, the sheer exuberance and joy of the song forgives the supra-Bee-Gees vocal register and numerous xylophone solos.

Johnny and the Moon — The Ballad of Scarlet Town [mp3]

This song, by former Hot Hot Heat and current Wolf Parade member Dante DeCaro (as Johnny and the Moon) brings it like it’s 1895. At first listen, The Ballad of Scarlet Town maybe sounds like an old folk song your favorite indie band sings as a crowd-rousing encore, but it’s surprising how hard an entire album of those songs can rock.

Windmill — Tokyo Moon [mp3]

Again, I know nothing about this band other than they sound similar to other bands I like, namely the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. Warbling voice? Check. Elevator-shaft drums? Check. Menacing robot voice in the background? Check. What’s not to love, people?

I had to whittle this list down from like 20 potential songs, so maybe I’ll do a follow up in the near future. In the meantime, you kids got any recommendations for me?