Over the
past year the Friendswood Library has been making changes with the music lover
in mind, creating a New Music section with more contemporary music and some of
the best music in eleven different genres.
We’ve added vinyl records for the old school enthusiasts and a new
listening station for both vinyl and cd listening.
Along with
our regular collection of cds, our New Music collection currently has 534 cds and
vinyl records to browse and check out.
To help us
kick off this New Music promotion, feel free to send us some of your favorite
summer album titles to share on our From the Reference Desk blog. Include
your name and your list (not more than 8) of favorite summer records to share
with other patrons. We will include
links to these titles or similar titles found in our collection.
Check out my list here.
Pioneers of Alternative Rock, this is
R.E.M.’s self-described summer record with All
the Way to Reno and Imitation of Life.
Aimee Mann’s
universally acclaimed third album Bachelor No. 2 with wonderfully catchy
melodies in songs like Red Vines or How Am I Different.
Considered
one of the best albums of 2008 and an “instant classic” according to Mojo
magazine, Fleet Foxes self-titled debut is a great summer chill-out album with
mesmerizing folk harmonies. The album sounds
a little like the BeachBoys if they had grown up in the mountains and streams of California
instead of on its coastline.
Two Jazz
legends together. Sublime.
Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker can sound
like a warm summer breeze one moment, and a hurricane force wind the next. Her band Big
Thief was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Band in 2020. Very well deserved!
With such a talented family; dad Loudon,
mother Kate
McGarrigle, and sister Martha, Rufus Wainwright has carved out an amazing
space all his own. With 9 studio albums
and a tenth on the way, his third album, Want
One, is still my favorite. David
Bowie praised the song "Dinner at Eight" as "the best"
father/son song he knew, calling Rufus "simply one of the great writers”.
Recently
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Goth pop band the Cure tried their
hardest to smile with this ninth studio album.
Songs like Doing the Unstuck
and Friday I’m In Love make a nice
summer soundscape.
Go here for all Cure titles in the library
collection.
Five albums
in, Elliot Smith was still the sound of sadness, but Figure 8 makes sadness
sound so very beautiful with lush Beatlesque
arrangements. Figure 8 has made many
greatest albums lists.
Go here for all Elliot Smith albums in the
library collection.
It’s near
impossible to choose a favorite Andrew Bird album so I’m going with his latest
effort, and by the album title I can’t be too wrong, “My Finest Work Yet”. I’m not positive that Bird is his real name
because it is just too fitting. He is a
classically trained musician and violinist and the most amazing whistler I’ve
ever heard. He weaves these two distinct
sounds throughout his intelligent word play to create songs unlike anything
else you will hear in the world of popular music. Give it try if you haven’t already.
Josh
Tillman, better known as Father John Misty, is not, by his own admission, an
easy listening experience. His songs,
while always beautifully crafted and sung, explore the dark zones of his own
psyche in songs such as Hangout at the
Gallows and God’s Favorite Customer.
He’s an immensely talented songwriter who has shared his talent in
contributions to the albums of artists such as Beyonce,
LadyGaga, and PostMalone. If you’re ready to wallow a
bit, it’s easy to get lost in songs such as Please
Don’t Die and God’s Favorite Customer.
