• Trifonic – Lies
• Trifonic – Broken
• A. A. Bondy – Down In The Fire (Lost Sea)
• Sufjan Stevens – Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)
• Joe Purdy – Falling Down
• Fink – Foot In The Door
• Shearwater – Meridian
• Shearwater – Missing Islands
• The Shins – Black Wave
• The Cure – Apart ( LP Version )
• Doug Burr – Blood Runs Downhill
• Chris Garneau – Relief
• Chris Garneau – Saturday

Ólafur Arnalds is yet another Icelandic composer musician featured here. There must be something about that place that inspires sublime melancholy. Ólafur is a young composer who hopefully continues to produce more works. Thusfar, my favorite is his simple piano-based work, “Við vorum smá”. I have no idea what that means, but I like it. The superimposed mechanized voice states, “I remember it well. I asked you not to go. But all I heard was the screaming silence of the wind. And just like the wind will always blow through the leaves, I will always remember this as our last lost chance…”

The Raveonettes

The song that was suggested to me was “Aly, Walk With Me” and was a great suggestion for the site. I have not yet listened to the entire Raveonettes catalog, but like everything I have heard thusfar. Look for more additions to the site as I find more gems like this.

My list of favorites from the album include:

• “Someone Like You”
• “Rolling In The Deep”
• “Turning Tables”
• “Don’t You Remember”
• “Set Fire To The Rain”
• “He Won’t Go”
• “Take It All”
• “One And Only”
• “Lovesong”

I was pleasantly surprised with her cover of the Cure’s “Lovesong”. Adele has had a great run from just a few years ago when a friend created a MySpace page for her music to now with a #1 selling album in both the U.S. and U.K.. It will be interesting to see if she can keep the streak going by the time she writes “23″.

I was blown away by Manchester Orchestra’s first album, “I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child”.  They feature Andy Hull’s lead vocals and guitar, sometimes richly orchestrated by a single set of keyboards.  “Where Have You Been?” alternates between bare vocals/drums and keyboards with drums in a very interesting manner.  There is a certain minimalism to many of the songs, but nothing seems missing and nothing is ever overdone.

There are four songs on the album that really appeal to me in particular: “Where Have You Been?”, “I Can Feel Your Pain”, “I Can Barely Breathe”, and “Sleeper 1972″. Honestly, I don’t know which is my favorite as my favorite has changed three times. See what you think.

The slowcoresque beat of many of Sigur Rós‘ songs such as “Svefn – G – Englar” and “Nyja Lagio” and the songs’ ability to transport the listener to another place and time is what makes them special.  This band is unique and innovative if nothing else.  For me, their music is great music to work by: slow, ethereal, melodic vocals wail, holding long tones with words that I find meaningless.

A list of my favorite Sigur Rós songs (in no particular order):

• Svefn – G – Englar
• Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa
• Nyja Lagio
• Syndir Guos
• Godan daginn
• Vid spilum endalaust
• Fljotavik
• Straumnes
• All Alright
• Hljomalind
• Von
• Samskeyti [Live]
• Staralfur [Live]
• Von [Live]
• Hoppipolla
• Seaglopur
• Milano
• (njosnavelin)
• (alafoss)
• (dauoalagio)
• (popplagio)
• Flugufrelsarinn
• Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa
• Avalon
• Myrkur
• Mistur
• Syndir Guos (Opinberun Ferlsarans)

If you are already a Sigur Rós fan, you might try giving Low a try. They have a prolonged slowcore sensibility and are from Minnesota, which is almost like Iceland (at least as far as most Americans know).

…
Breathe
Start the engine, wind the windows down and breathe
Breathe
Put a blanket at the door and let’s just breathe

When you wake up in the morning of the last day in the world,
What the hell they gonna say?
…

For me, three songs stood out most: “Breathe”, “Good Days, Bad Days”, and “Nothing’s Wrong”.
Give the album a listen and see what you think.