Passed, Presents, Perhapses

First, I saw The Shaky Hands at a bar in Eugene, yesterday night.
They're a Portland band on the local venue/label Holocene Records. They're an energetic band, though I don't think the commonly-applied term 'jangle' is all that appropriate. Reminiscent of neo-americana/jug bands but still very much pop/rock, they've got two guitars, a bassist that looks like an Irish Jesus, a great drummer, and a sort of scary multi-instrumentalist who looks like he's trying hard to play his instruments with nothing but his mind, but ends up cheating... but he plays a mean pedal steel. The vocalist has a distinctive reedy voice that I like a lot. (There's also some shady drama with a band from New Zealand that is no longer called the Shaky Hands, and whom I also like a lot, but I don't know much about that from the perspective of the (current) Shaky Hands, or whether that was Holocene's doing or their own. But that should perhaps be a postscript.)
The Shaky Hands- Summer's Life
The Shaky Hands- The Sleepless


Next, I just spent way too much money to purchase my first ever albums on the internet.
I think I've perhaps bought five albums before this: Irish music and, my first music purchase ever (and in france at that): the soundtrack to 'The Thirteenth Warrior.'

Anyhow, they're (hopefully) from four of my top favorite discoveries of this year:

I bought two albums by The Real Tuesday Weld, who I've written about earlier, and who I can't get enough of. Also, you should read the short story at the top of his blog, here: http://theclerkenwellkid.blogspot.com Last, the Tate Modern invited him to wrote a song to be played with any piece he chose. And it's fucking awesome. (below is not that song.)
The Real Tuesday Weld- Ruth, Roses and Revolvers

I've also already written about Vampire Weekend, but their debut album is released, uh, today, actually. They sort of fell into a trap that's gaping for most bands releasing stuff these days: around half their album is already floating around the internet as pre-release mp3s. Hopefully, though, the other half is just as good, but at least I can feel good about actually owning the whole album.
Vampire Weekend- Mansard Roof

MGMT, or 'The Management,' has so much energy, and I love the simple lyrics of 'Time to Pretend' and the textured vocals are well complimented by the i-don't-know-how-they-make-that-noise-thingy-sound.
MGMT- Time To Pretend

Paris Motel is a pretty big mystery to me, but I'm absolutely in love with one of the only songs they let out ahead of time-- I'm just so, so, so excited for this album to get here, it's the reason I paid so much extra for two-day shipping. Blast.
Anyhow, Paris Motel is the talented multi-instrumentalist Amy May who has one of the more amazing voices I've heard--not in a vocally acrobatic sense, but just incredibly emotive and attractive. The music itself is complex yet simple, in the same way good Irish traditional music is-- a simple thread with endless variations, buildings and retreats, and surprising yet logical contributions and conclusions. In short, holy crap excited.
Paris Motel- City of Ladies (listen to it on a good sound system/headphones if you have the opportunity!)

Last, I'm regretting not including this band in my purchase, only because I forgot and I didn't want to pay another shipping fee. This may change in a few hours, or after my next paycheck...
Anyhow, Taken by Trees is awesome: another female vocalist, who works with Swedish indie royalty Peter, Bjorn and John (Bjorn and John contributed much of the backing music on the album). I love her voice, I love the lyrics, and I love the simplicity of the instrumental melodies. I even generally HATE handclaps (so overused!) but they work for me, somehow, in 'No Letting Go.' Also, obviously, of course, clearly, the accent doesn't hurt!
Taken by Trees- Lost and Found
Taken by Trees- No Letting Go