Aural Pleasure, The Thirteenth Day of Xmas

On the thirteenth day of Xmas my AP gave to me ... thirteen songs a-play- wait a minute, there isn't a thirteenth day of Xmas is there? There's not? Really? Well damn, I had so much more music to talk to you all about. Even though I was joyous at the completion of the list yesterday. Okay, so here's the deal, today I'm going to list all the stuff that was vying for a spot on my list. Many of these didn't make it simply because I just hadn't listened to them as much as the others. Some of these were actually hard not to include, and the twelve spot was only chosen at the very last minute with basically what amounted to a coin toss (It was actually a dwarf toss). Anyway, here's a list of things that almost made it, and very well may have kicked certain albums off if I had only listened to them a few times more.

Jamm by Cheikh Lo - Just almost made the twelve spot, and I'm still second guessing my ultimate desicion. Yeah, fuck The Dodos, this is number twelve, too bad it's too late, sigh. Anywho, Lo is one of my all time favorite musicians, his stuff is beautiful, infectious, and a lot of it you can dance to, and not to mention the fact that you've probably never heard of him. And only probably because he's from Senegal and doesn't sing in English. Argh, seriously what was I thinking?
Listen to: "Jamm" and "Dieuf Dieul."

Raven in the Grave by The Raveonettes - I love the Raveonettes, classic surf sound with lots of distortion, warbly analog delay, and a whole fucking lot of reverb going on, giving them a lonely expansive, not to mention fuzzy, sound. A lot like if the Apples in Stereo were given a rack of distortion pedals and Hilarie Sidney hadn't left the band.
Listen to: "Forget That Your Young" and "Evil Seeds."

Rome by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi - Here's what's basically a spaghetti western soundtrack produced by DJ extraordinaire Danger Mouse and Italian composer Luppi. There's some really good stuff on here, mostly instrumental, but with a few guest spots with Jack White and Norah Jones. My only complaint? They should have gotten Mirah instead, but that's just my bias showing.
Listen to: "Two Against One" and "The Gambling Priest."

Virtue by Emmy the Great - Here's another album that flies the flag of cute folky musician with a great voice that goes crazy in the studio. This album is really good and could easily stand aside the likes of Thao & Mirah, but well, I only just got into it and haven't had the chance to give a good solid listen. It very well may have made the list if I had. 
Listen to: "A Woman, a woman, a Century of Sleep" and "Paper Forest (In The Afterglow Of Rapture)."

Hello Sadness by Los Campesinos! - Yes the ! is part of their name. I love these guys, they're a wacky indie band that hails from Wales. To give you an idea of their sound, the very first song off their very first album was titled "Death to Los Campesinos!" Yep that about sums it up, they've refined their sound a lot since then and are a lot less noise pop now, but that does not mean they're playing it safe.
Listen to: "By Your Hand" and "Hello Sadness."

Endgame by Rise Against - This really was one of my favorite albums this year, and I listened to it a lot. Only thing is that they're pretty well known and it wasn't all that game changing. That's not to say it isn't some of the best melodic hardcore I've ever heard, just try to listen to the songs below without getting chills (Provided you know what they're about and all).
Listen to: "Help Is On The Way" and "Make it Stop (September's Children)."



Can you believe I have another six albums just waiting around in the wings? With a couple more I could have just done a top twenty and been done with it. Wow maybe I should have. Oh well, what's done is done. I'm sure there are a few I'm leaving out from my discussion, but you know what? I'm genuinely tired of talking about music now, yeah that Bible is starting to look good again. Look out The Book That God Wrote, 'cause I'm coming for you ... it's a new year.