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Alex Delivery – s/t

Alex Delivery sounds like the kind of band that either loves every kind of music or hates it completely. On their self-titled release, genres are set up only to be torn asunder by ADD-riddled hysterics. Call it prog, call it post-rock, call it punk or call it a rose. By any other name, it still kicks.

Dan Deacon – Spiderman of the Rings

The first song is titled “Woody Woodpecker” and perfectly amplifies both the catchy and ingratiating quality of the cartoon character’s catch-phrase. Dan Deacon has written the ideal anthem of five-year olds everywhere. The music is sweet, yet disturbing like a manic child after his or her firth bowl of sugary cereal.

Longing for Dawn – s/t

This is pretty much the anti-thesis to summer. Moody keyboards and guitars stretch black as a desolate industrial back road. Longing for Dawn play metal for unsettling mood rather than frightening thrash. Instead of horror movie flash, Longing for Dawn settles into a nebulous suspense that’s never resolved, which is wholly more satisfying. Let Longing for Dawn make your summer a rainy day.

The National – The Boxer

For me, 2005 equated to a contest between The National’s Alligator and Okkervil River’s “Black Sheep Boy” for best album. Ultimately, I’d give it to the former by a hair. The Alligator was the true definition of a grower with continually rewarding turns of phrase and enigmatic melody. With The Boxer, The National venture further down the path with an album full of obtuse songs with odd lyrical content. Whether it’s the stalker elegy of Green Gloves or downtrodden examination of adulthood on Mistaken for Strangers, The National make is all sound hauntingly natural.

Jet Planes of Abraham – s/t

I remember reading a review that this was a Canadian super-group of sorts. Sure, that could be the case, but I actually have no idea who’s in this band. What I do know is that they play an infectious blend of Broken Social Scene style big-band with the small-picture focus of a Belle and Sebastian. The mix between coimmunity sound and small band lyrical focus is winning. Whether it’s the vocal chants of “take the cash” or the blazing bright guitar on “tunnels/terminals” this is an assured debut from a great group of, uh, some people.