TOBACCO - FUCKED UP FRIENDS, CD, 2008, ANTICON RECORDS, USA
The frontman/mutant of Black Moth Super Rainbow, and yes it sounds like Black Moth Super Rainbow, which in itself sounds like Boards of Canada meets Electric Light Orchestra. With a formula like that, why stray? How can you go wrong? Seriously though kids, this is it right here. Right here, this is it. NO KIDS - COME INTO MY HOUSE, CD, 2008, TOMLAB RECORDS, CANADA
These folks know their R. Kelly. They also know plenty of gimmicky maneuvers that dominate popular r&b, and they use them to a bizarre advantage. At times both catchy and sad, poppy Canucks, No Kids, manage to invent their own genre, given the dumb name of 'indie-hop', but despite that bullshit tag they are just a really good pop band. They have the tools, they know their skills and it all executes surprisingly well. Even the cover art makes me want to go to my closest park, fly a kite with some friends and throw this on the boomboxer. Falsettos abound and beats popping off every wall, No Kids are just plain fun, and isn't that all we could ever really ask for?DANIEL JOHNSTON - FEAR YOURSELF, CD, 2003, GAMMON RECORDS, USA
O.K. so Daniel hooked up with the late-great Mark Linkous (RIP) for this, his 15th album, and it's got some great moments on it. Basically if you like D.J., you'll eat this up, and if you're a fan of Sparklehorse, you'll also relish this as Mark's touches are everywhere. We got singing saw, electronic strings and manipulated vocals mostly present on said artists' records, but matched with Daniel's dark humor and great wordplay, it truly makes this a great pairing in recent music. After all they've both been good at treading the same themes of alienation in their work, and they've also been noted for their extremely ambitious natures. Give it a spin!
SMOG - THE DOCTOR CAME AT DAWN, CD, 1996, DRAG CITY RECORDS, USA
Certainly not notorious for being the most optimistic songwriter, Bill Callahan, squeezed out The Doctor Came at Dawn from his filthy fucked-over soul using a lot of the staples he became known for in the late 90s, but there is a heavy distinctiveness to this work in particular. The minimalist Jandek-inspired 'out of tuned' guitars never sounded so good as they do here, and the lyrics couldn't possibly be more bleak, yet the aura of gloom is so powerful and overwhelming, that I'm sure Bill didn't even anticipate just how weighted this album would become as an end-result. That being said, there is so much here that speaks to human loss in volumes and if you're not ready for it, it might devastate you more than you could prepare yourself for. Take a deep breath, take it all in and once you pull yourself out of that wallowing depression, you'll say to yourself, 'hey, that was one good fucking album'. 
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