(TO FALL ASLEEP TO)
5. Great Lake Swimmers - Mp3 - A relatively new band, Great Lake Swimmers have mastered the whole acoustic-guitars-in-a-barn-silo-with-no-audience-save-for-the-crickets subgenre of folk music. All of this works, in large part because of lead singer Tony Dekker’s vocals, which sound as much like another instrument as Thom Yorke’s at his finest. I’m not saying Tony can outsing Thom (few can), but his voice certainly serves his own band perfectly.
4. Richard Hawley - Mp3 - He has a timeless voice, a strange blend of Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison and Morrissey. Hawley evokes dream-like imagery every time I listen to him. Sometimes his songs shimmer and swell, other times they’re just quiet ballads to relax to, but always his voice pierces through.
3. Stars of the Lid - Mp3 - The ambient beauty these guys create is so soothing, it’s hard to stay awake through an entire album. Which is why I play them while I’m working, just to find out what that last track sounds like. And with album titles like “December Hunting For Vegetarian Fuckface,” it’s clear there’s more than one level to appreciate this band on.
2. Low - Mp3 - Their early material built in layers at a glacial pace, and as the pioneers of a sadcore subgenre from Duluth, Minnesota, this husband/wife team have put out some of the most laid back, haunting, and beautiful songs ever recorded. Mimi Parker’s voice is one of a kind, and Alan Sparhawk only serves to compliment her with mellow, minor key vocals of his own.
1. Red House Painters - Mp3 - Mark Kozelek tops my list for sheer consistency. I originally put his band’s entire catalog in a CD changer and just let it shuffle (something I rarely do). It took me several weeks to figure out which songs belonged on which album, and that was a good thing. It was like I kept rediscovering their music every night. His voice is usually mixed back with the instrumentation (esp. the older material), which serves the songs well. It’s hard to pick one song or even one album when I want to listen to them, which is what puts Red House Painters safely at the top for me.
