Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (2011)

While the Sun Giant EP and self-titled album generally caught everyone off-guard with newfound baroque, minstrel pop stylings of woven harmonies and rhythmic acoustic pluckings, three years later everyone knew what to expect from Helplessness Blues. As my most anticipated album of 2011, I was itching for new Fleet Foxes, due in no small part to listening to any and all Fleet Foxes on repeat throughout the California Bar prep period. The group bring a big(ger) sound on many of the tracks with more prominent instrumentation accompanying the formally vocally-centric emphasis. The group still maintains that coming-of-Spring feel, which is what fans have come to know and appreciate, reveling in the free-spirited harmonizations and frolicky folkiness that makes the album, and their corresponding live shows, stand tall above the current indie folk noise. It is a complete album, running a range of tones, with "Battery Kinzie" providing drum-driven, soaring vocal harmonies, "Montezuma" for melancholic movements, "Helplessness Blues" for the single-structured, catchy chorus; however, for my money, it is the strummy, pace-changing "The Shrine / An Argument" that embodies what I love about Fleet Foxes... multiple melodies and moods in one song. Excellent from beginning to end, this effort fills a much needed void in my personal collection — some songs to whistle to, sing-along to, stum to, or (even) wave your hands in the air like a symphony conductor to, this album takes hold and only lets go at the final, wavering notes.

Credit to Nesto for his insightful comments.

Yeasayer - Odd Blood (2010)

No one can say that Yeasayer is simply trying to fit in (20 seconds of the video below will make this abundantly clear). If anything, this Brooklyn-based group channels creativity and originality into every ounce of sound they muster up, which is why it is so damn strange that Odd Blood reminds me of early '80s Jethro Tull. ¿Qué? you say. Allow me to explain: Odd Blood mixes quirky electronic sound with a range of other instrumental rhythm and is a cross between the synthesizer sounds of the 1980s and a folk-influenced, world-beat style. Interestingly enough, that very sentence could describe Tull's 1982 release Broadsword and the Beast, which is one of those lost gems you could probably pick up on vinyl at your local thrift store. I know this sounds strange, but listen to any song off of Broadsword and then listen to "Madder Red" or "Ambling Alp" off of Odd Blood and tell me I'm wrong. Maybe it is the vocal tonality that really makes the comparison work, but the music from some select tracks works as well. Regardless of your feelings toward Tull, this album is fun, upbeat and as expected from Yeasayer, a lotta bit trippy. Yeasayer even managed to weave in some dance beats like they did on All Hour Cymbals, which for people not as accepting of the slightly strange, should help make the music accessible. (Warning: Video NSFW).
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