Welcome back to me! I've been missing from this blog for one month. I worked on two super awesome pilots, both of which you will likely see on NBC in early 2013, and two incredible season finales for Castle and The Big C. Always lots of pressure for great music in those season finales! Then I did take a couple weeks to decompress. Now I'm back, and promise you 'two-fers' for the next four weeks to make up for my absence and because I have so much good music stockpiled here to tell you about!
Beach House just released their fourth album, titled "Bloom". This band from Baltimore has been bubbling under for some time, by which I mean that very few people knew about them for the last few albums, but those people told enough friends, who told their friends and now suddenly everybody is a fan for this new album. That's just how it works sometimes. It's a very worthy album for their breakout - slightly darker than their first few (you know I like that.) Beautiful, dreamy, lush, but still indie and interesting. And as a bonus, you can get it on Amazon right now for only $5! I mean, just skip the morning latte and get this album instead, it will last far longer.
Beach House - Bloom: Amazon :: iTunes :: Official Site
For my second pick, I've been pretty intrigued with this album by The Wave Pictures for the last few weeks. It's a melange of many influences that I love, all mashed together into a fun and intriguing new sound. On any given track you might think "Belle & Sebastian", or "early Elvis Costello", "Art Brut", "Vampire Weekend" or even "Marc Almond from Soft Cell". I don't mind obvious influences when they are so varied and plentiful! The Wave Pictures write angular, clever, upbeat songs about strange characters living dark lives, and it's just refreshing and a whole lot of fun.
The Wave Pictures - Long Black Cars: Amazon :: iTunes :: Official Site