In My Headphones

OneRepublic - "Dreaming Out Loud" (Interscope, 2007)

Dreaming Out Loud manages to fill its running-length with songs containing the anthemic power of U2 and the musical dexterity of Coldplay with the popsmith-smarts of Adam Levine, Rob Thomas and The Fray's Isaac Slade, all while managing to keep their sound on its own distinct plane. They accomplish this while writing an album worth of songs which play out like a real album! It's an impressive accomplishment in this age of digital downloads.

Jon McLaughlin - "Indiana" (Island, 2007)

Jon McLaughlin has a smooth voice which, thanks to the solid studio work of Chris Lord-Alge, blends appropriately in both full band settings and intimate vocal-and-piano mixes. If Indiana can successfully market at least one of these great singles to radio, this guy's going to be a household name by Labor Day.

Brandi Carlile - "The Story" (Sony, 2007)

What results is an album of surprising resonance. Carlile clearly is an artist performing well beyond her age, and this recording oozes the confidence of someone who's been recording for decades. The album's depth makes it worthy of repeat listens, but it's the consistency of material on The Story that puts it more than a few steps ahead of competitors like K.T. Tunstall.

The Cat Empire - "Two Shoes" (Velour Recordings, 2007)

The Cat Empire is a difficult band to pigeonhole. For those of you who need modern comparisons, imagine if Cake, Beck, Sublime and Soul Coughing all combined to form an uber-potent supergroup, and you might come close to what this band has to offer. Two Shoes is an amazing album which deserves to be overplayed immediately by every radio station getting FCC clearance.

The Attorneys - "Stereocracy" (Independent, 2007)

New York's The Attorneys aim to show how fresh musical and lyrical ideas can change the landscape of music world. "On A Whim," the album's lead single, channels Freddie Mercury so deftly that it?s difficult to believe lead singer / bassist Ryan George's song isn't some long-lost Queen gem unearthed for a new generation. Stereocracy is a classic in the making.

Korn - "MTV Unplugged" (Virgin, 2007)

Have you ever wanted to hear Korn's music distilled to a bare-bones level of acoustic guitars and bongo drums, accompanied on occasion by the wail of a musical saw? If so, this album is for you, though I suspect it serves more as a curiosity for those who already are fans of Jonathan Davis's music than as much of an introduction to new fans.

Relient K - "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" (Goatee, 2007)

For all the "pop-punk" bluster, Relient K is yet another contemporary Christian band trying to gain mainstream appeal by latching on to the flavor of the moment. If the band doesn?t make a marked stylistic development or two in the coming years, albums like this one will rightly label them footnotes in modern music history.

Dustin Kensrue - "Please Come Home" (Equal Vision, 2007)

Kensrue's Please Come Home is one of the better indie-country albums of this year or last, an example of how the alt-country ethos can be blended with modern alternative flair to create a great album. It is an effort from a seasoned musician with the chops to survive in this industry no matter what style of music he plays.

Lindsey Buckingham - "Under The Skin" (Warner Records, 2006)

If you're already a fan of Buckingham's music, you owe it to yourself to hear Under The Skin. If you've never taken the time to study his legendary discography, the album still stands as a brilliant introduction. It's hard to imagine that anything could top this magnificent album, one made all the better by the length of time we had to wait to hear it.

Spin Doctors - "Nice Talking To Me" (Ruffnation Music, 2005)

Staying true to their name, Spin Doctors returned to the music scene in 2005 after a six-year absence to create the most outrageously fun album since their debut, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. Songs like "Nice Talking To Me," "Happily Ever After" and "My Problem Now" make Nice Talking To Me the most fun album you probably haven't heard.

Matthew Ryan - "From A Late Night High Rise" (00:02:59, 2006)

Matthew Ryan's tenth album in as many years is the ultimate song cycle on the mortality of man. More than that, however, it's a shape shifting album that blends rock, pop and folk into a cohesive whole, tied together by Ryan's Bono-meets-Springsteen vocals. No lover of music should be without a copy of this album in their headphones.

Langhorne Slim - "When The Sun's Gone Down" (Narnack Records, 2005)

Langhorne Slim knows how to make an album that doesn't outstay its welcome. From the opening frenetic bluegrass strains of "In The Midnight" it is clear that there's never been a folk album like this one. When The Sun's Gone Down is a must-hear album from an artist who's sure to revolutionize modern Americana music in the coming years.

Amon Tobin - "Bloodstone EP" (Ninja Tune, 2007)

This is music which demands an audience, and Tobin has respect enough for his listeners to assume we're not demanding mindless drum 'n' bass thumping to get us on a dance floor. Brilliant, simply brilliant. If "Bloodstone" and the other two songs on this EP, which build their samples from field recordings rather than from old records, are an example of what we can expect from Foley Room, it's going to blow away the best Tobin has offered to date. What a welcome way to open 2007.

Jeremy Enigk - "World Waits" (Reincarnate Music, 2006)

If Lindsey Buckingham recorded chamber pop music, he'd be playing with Jeremy Enigk. This long-time-coming sophomore effort from the former lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate swims in acoustic guitar, synths and deeply resonant vocals. And the arrangements of tracks like "Been Here Before" show impressive studio prowess that allows Enigk's unique songwriting skills to shine through.

Sister Hazel - "Absolutely" (Adrenaline Music, 2006)

Sister Hazel had a few hits in the mid-nineties and should have fallen off the face of the earth when their style went out with Hootie and his Blowfish. Thankfully, however, a few things in life don't have to change. This southern country-rock outfit from Gainesville, Florida, hasn't changed a bit since 1993, as Absolutely shows clearly.

Cobra Starship - "While The City Sleeps" (Decaydance, 2006)

I hate to say it, but those guys who brought us the novelty theme-song for "Snakes on a Plane" may actually have some staying power. Upbeat tracks like "Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell" show the band's got the ability to craft a hook, rock the floor and steal your woman without breaking a sweat.

Skillet - "Comatose" (Lava / Atlantic, 2006)

Vertical Horizon fans will love their hooks, while fans of Thousand Foot Krutch and P.O.D. will love the uber-rock bombast of Comatose, but really who's surprised by that? The band's been recording heavy rock Christian music since 1996, and they've got it down to an artform. If you want to listen to the lyrics, you can hear their message of God, and if you don't, you can hear the crunching guitars of "Rebirthing" or "Comatose" and be grateful this isn't another Nickelback clone.

Jared Anderson - "Where To Begin" (Integrity / Columbia, 2006)

Contemporary Christian music's proving again and again that it is the genre of choice for those of us who pride ourselves on hearing adventurous pop music. And Jared Anderson's "Running Away" opens Where To Begin, his impressive Columbia debut, with a bang that doesn't let up through the album's length. This is exactly what radio stations in the genre salivate over.

Eamon - "(How Could You) Bring Him Home?" (Jive Records, 2006)

Anyone who listened to Eamon's debut Don't Want You Back knew the Staten Island r&b vocalist wanted to bring do-wop vocals into the modern rap age, but perhaps the musical goals got lost in all the male rap posturing. Regardless, on his latest single (from a yet unannounced follow-up album), Eamon turns the break-up single on its ear, developing a hard-edged yet addictively layered revenge epic.

The Be Good Tanyas - "Hello Love" (Nettwerk Records, 2006)

British Columbia's Be Good Tanyas have the kind of harmonically intricate folk country sound that can drive a listener into a permanent state of music-shock. Face it, Canadians know good music when they hear it. For anyone who professes to love great acoustic folk pop, missing this album is not an option.

Hinder - "Extreme Behavior" (UMVD Records, 2005)

It's refreshing to see that a band can sell records without help from music television and the traditional hype machine. It's depressing, however, to learn that Hinder's music is mediocre at best, which suggests that even without the hype machine, crap rises to the top. If this copy of a copy of a copy of a rock stereotype is what passes as rock these days, I'll have no part of it.

Bebo Norman - "Between The Dreaming And The Coming True"
(Brentwood Music, 2006)

Between The Dreaming And The Coming True manages to be subtle even as Norman delves into Rich Mullins territory, writing songs aimed directly at God, songs which directly address religious concerns. While this album verges on being Norman's first true "worship" album, he attacks the songwriting process by focusing on the darkness, the depressing moments, that lead most people to search for meaning in life. That's something few artists have attempted in the genre; even fewer have pulled it off without creating a depressing album.

Citizen Cope - "Every Waking Moment" (Arista, 2006)

When he's at his best, Citizen Cope (otherwise known to the world as Clarence Greenwood) is a hip-hop folk troubadour, using his unique raspy sing-song delivery to hit a listener hard where it hurts with his lyrics. When he's at his worst, on songs like "Every Waking Moment" off the album of the same title, Greenwood lulls listeners into a stupor with songs that could be great but which settle for Jack Johnson-esque mediocrity.

John Mayer - "Continuum" (Columbia, 2006)

Anyone who finds a way to hate John Mayer after hearing this album is deluding himself. You can forget any comparisons to the likes of Dave Matthews; with Continuum, Mayer has crafted an exquisite blues album with the self-assured nature of someone twice his age. Most important, though, he does it while maintaining the ability to craft hooks that should guarantee he'll retain his hitmaking status on adult contemporary radio. This is a rare album that can keep album lovers and single lovers equally happy.

Vienna Teng - "Dreaming Through The Noise" (Zoe/Rounder, 2006)

Dreaming Through The Noise is that rare album lover's album which suceeds from start to finish on the merits of the song cycle as a whole. That would be stunning enough coming from a veteran artist with ten albums under her belt. That Vienna Teng has reached this level of artistic finesse in just her third effort suggests she's the most important American singer-songwriter to emerge this decade.

Chris Knight - "Enough Rope" (Drifter's Church, 2006)

If you listen to the radio much, it might be difficult to believe, but there's more to country and americana music than what the Kenny Chesneys, Toby Keiths and Keith Urbans are singing about. Like Steve Earle and John Prine before him, Chris Knight wants to tell you the true stories of blue collar America you won't get from "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." Brutally honest, heartfelt and affecting, Enough Rope stands out as the best country album of the year so far.

	OneRepublic - "Dreaming Out Loud" (Interscope, 2007) Dreaming Out Loud manages to fill its running-length with songs containing the anthemic power of U2 and the musical dexterity of Coldplay with the popsmith-smarts of Adam Levine, Rob Thomas and The Fray's Isaac Slade, all while managing to keep their sound on its own distinct plane. They accomplish this while writing an album worth of songs which play out like a real album! It's an impressive accomplishment in this age of digital downloads.
	Jon McLaughlin - "Indiana" (Island, 2007) Jon McLaughlin has a smooth voice which, thanks to the solid studio work of Chris Lord-Alge, blends appropriately in both full band settings and intimate vocal-and-piano mixes. If Indiana can successfully market at least one of these great singles to radio, this guy's going to be a household name by Labor Day.
	Brandi Carlile - "The Story" (Sony, 2007) What results is an album of surprising resonance. Carlile clearly is an artist performing well beyond her age, and this recording oozes the confidence of someone who's been recording for decades. The album's depth makes it worthy of repeat listens, but it's the consistency of material on The Story that puts it more than a few steps ahead of competitors like K.T. Tunstall.
	The Cat Empire - "Two Shoes" (Velour Recordings, 2007) The Cat Empire is a difficult band to pigeonhole. For those of you who need modern comparisons, imagine if Cake, Beck, Sublime and Soul Coughing all combined to form an uber-potent supergroup, and you might come close to what this band has to offer. Two Shoes is an amazing album which deserves to be overplayed immediately by every radio station getting FCC clearance.
	The Attorneys - "Stereocracy" (Independent, 2007) New York's The Attorneys aim to show how fresh musical and lyrical ideas can change the landscape of music world. "On A Whim," the album's lead single, channels Freddie Mercury so deftly that it?s difficult to believe lead singer / bassist Ryan George's song isn't some long-lost Queen gem unearthed for a new generation. Stereocracy is a classic in the making.
	Korn - "MTV Unplugged" (Virgin, 2007) Have you ever wanted to hear Korn's music distilled to a bare-bones level of acoustic guitars and bongo drums, accompanied on occasion by the wail of a musical saw? If so, this album is for you, though I suspect it serves more as a curiosity for those who already are fans of Jonathan Davis's music than as much of an introduction to new fans.
	Relient K - "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" (Goatee, 2007) For all the "pop-punk" bluster, Relient K is yet another contemporary Christian band trying to gain mainstream appeal by latching on to the flavor of the moment. If the band doesn?t make a marked stylistic development or two in the coming years, albums like this one will rightly label them footnotes in modern music history.
	Dustin Kensrue - "Please Come Home" (Equal Vision, 2007) Kensrue's Please Come Home is one of the better indie-country albums of this year or last, an example of how the alt-country ethos can be blended with modern alternative flair to create a great album. It is an effort from a seasoned musician with the chops to survive in this industry no matter what style of music he plays.
	Lindsey Buckingham - "Under The Skin" (Warner Records, 2006) If you're already a fan of Buckingham's music, you owe it to yourself to hear Under The Skin. If you've never taken the time to study his legendary discography, the album still stands as a brilliant introduction. It's hard to imagine that anything could top this magnificent album, one made all the better by the length of time we had to wait to hear it.
	Spin Doctors - "Nice Talking To Me" (Ruffnation Music, 2005) Staying true to their name, Spin Doctors returned to the music scene in 2005 after a six-year absence to create the most outrageously fun album since their debut, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. Songs like "Nice Talking To Me," "Happily Ever After" and "My Problem Now" make Nice Talking To Me the most fun album you probably haven't heard.
	Matthew Ryan - "From A Late Night High Rise" (00:02:59, 2006) Matthew Ryan's tenth album in as many years is the ultimate song cycle on the mortality of man. More than that, however, it's a shape shifting album that blends rock, pop and folk into a cohesive whole, tied together by Ryan's Bono-meets-Springsteen vocals. No lover of music should be without a copy of this album in their headphones.
	Langhorne Slim - "When The Sun's Gone Down" (Narnack Records, 2005) Langhorne Slim knows how to make an album that doesn't outstay its welcome. From the opening frenetic bluegrass strains of "In The Midnight" it is clear that there's never been a folk album like this one. When The Sun's Gone Down is a must-hear album from an artist who's sure to revolutionize modern Americana music in the coming years.
	Amon Tobin - "Bloodstone EP" (Ninja Tune, 2007) This is music which demands an audience, and Tobin has respect enough for his listeners to assume we're not demanding mindless drum 'n' bass thumping to get us on a dance floor. Brilliant, simply brilliant. If "Bloodstone" and the other two songs on this EP, which build their samples from field recordings rather than from old records, are an example of what we can expect from Foley Room, it's going to blow away the best Tobin has offered to date. What a welcome way to open 2007.
	Jeremy Enigk - "World Waits" (Reincarnate Music, 2006) If Lindsey Buckingham recorded chamber pop music, he'd be playing with Jeremy Enigk. This long-time-coming sophomore effort from the former lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate swims in acoustic guitar, synths and deeply resonant vocals. And the arrangements of tracks like "Been Here Before" show impressive studio prowess that allows Enigk's unique songwriting skills to shine through.
	Sister Hazel - "Absolutely" (Adrenaline Music, 2006) Sister Hazel had a few hits in the mid-nineties and should have fallen off the face of the earth when their style went out with Hootie and his Blowfish. Thankfully, however, a few things in life don't have to change. This southern country-rock outfit from Gainesville, Florida, hasn't changed a bit since 1993, as Absolutely shows clearly.
	Cobra Starship - "While The City Sleeps" (Decaydance, 2006) I hate to say it, but those guys who brought us the novelty theme-song for "Snakes on a Plane" may actually have some staying power. Upbeat tracks like "Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell" show the band's got the ability to craft a hook, rock the floor and steal your woman without breaking a sweat.
	Skillet - "Comatose" (Lava / Atlantic, 2006) Vertical Horizon fans will love their hooks, while fans of Thousand Foot Krutch and P.O.D. will love the uber-rock bombast of Comatose, but really who's surprised by that? The band's been recording heavy rock Christian music since 1996, and they've got it down to an artform. If you want to listen to the lyrics, you can hear their message of God, and if you don't, you can hear the crunching guitars of "Rebirthing" or "Comatose" and be grateful this isn't another Nickelback clone.
	Jared Anderson - "Where To Begin" (Integrity / Columbia, 2006) Contemporary Christian music's proving again and again that it is the genre of choice for those of us who pride ourselves on hearing adventurous pop music. And Jared Anderson's "Running Away" opens Where To Begin, his impressive Columbia debut, with a bang that doesn't let up through the album's length. This is exactly what radio stations in the genre salivate over.
	Eamon - "(How Could You) Bring Him Home?" (Jive Records, 2006) Anyone who listened to Eamon's debut Don't Want You Back knew the Staten Island r&b vocalist wanted to bring do-wop vocals into the modern rap age, but perhaps the musical goals got lost in all the male rap posturing. Regardless, on his latest single (from a yet unannounced follow-up album), Eamon turns the break-up single on its ear, developing a hard-edged yet addictively layered revenge epic.
	The Be Good Tanyas - "Hello Love" (Nettwerk Records, 2006) British Columbia's Be Good Tanyas have the kind of harmonically intricate folk country sound that can drive a listener into a permanent state of music-shock. Face it, Canadians know good music when they hear it. For anyone who professes to love great acoustic folk pop, missing this album is not an option.
	Hinder - "Extreme Behavior" (UMVD Records, 2005) It's refreshing to see that a band can sell records without help from music television and the traditional hype machine. It's depressing, however, to learn that Hinder's music is mediocre at best, which suggests that even without the hype machine, crap rises to the top. If this copy of a copy of a copy of a rock stereotype is what passes as rock these days, I'll have no part of it.
	Bebo Norman - "Between The Dreaming And The Coming True" (Brentwood Music, 2006) Between The Dreaming And The Coming True manages to be subtle even as Norman delves into Rich Mullins territory, writing songs aimed directly at God, songs which directly address religious concerns. While this album verges on being Norman's first true "worship" album, he attacks the songwriting process by focusing on the darkness, the depressing moments, that lead most people to search for meaning in life. That's something few artists have attempted in the genre; even fewer have pulled it off without creating a depressing album.
	Citizen Cope - "Every Waking Moment" (Arista, 2006) When he's at his best, Citizen Cope (otherwise known to the world as Clarence Greenwood) is a hip-hop folk troubadour, using his unique raspy sing-song delivery to hit a listener hard where it hurts with his lyrics. When he's at his worst, on songs like "Every Waking Moment" off the album of the same title, Greenwood lulls listeners into a stupor with songs that could be great but which settle for Jack Johnson-esque mediocrity.
	John Mayer - "Continuum" (Columbia, 2006) Anyone who finds a way to hate John Mayer after hearing this album is deluding himself. You can forget any comparisons to the likes of Dave Matthews; with Continuum, Mayer has crafted an exquisite blues album with the self-assured nature of someone twice his age. Most important, though, he does it while maintaining the ability to craft hooks that should guarantee he'll retain his hitmaking status on adult contemporary radio. This is a rare album that can keep album lovers and single lovers equally happy.
	Vienna Teng - "Dreaming Through The Noise" (Zoe/Rounder, 2006) Dreaming Through The Noise is that rare album lover's album which suceeds from start to finish on the merits of the song cycle as a whole. That would be stunning enough coming from a veteran artist with ten albums under her belt. That Vienna Teng has reached this level of artistic finesse in just her third effort suggests she's the most important American singer-songwriter to emerge this decade.
	Chris Knight - "Enough Rope" (Drifter's Church, 2006) If you listen to the radio much, it might be difficult to believe, but there's more to country and americana music than what the Kenny Chesneys, Toby Keiths and Keith Urbans are singing about. Like Steve Earle and John Prine before him, Chris Knight wants to tell you the true stories of blue collar America you won't get from "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." Brutally honest, heartfelt and affecting, Enough Rope stands out as the best country album of the year so far.