Ok, here we are, 2009, it’s gonna be great! Let’s get started!

Andrew Bird – Noble Beast – ***1/2 – More goodness from Andrew Bird. I think it finds the happy medium between the Mysterious Production of Eggs album and the Armchair Apocrypha album, having some of the lightness of Eggs with more of the electronic instrumentation found on Armchair.

Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light – *** - Beautiful as expected. This album seems to be very organic and stark. This is a bit more clear vision than I think the first album had. The focus is on his voice primarily, and this album definitely shows some touches we have not seen before.

David Mead – Almost and Always – ***1/2 – You can’t go wrong with David Mead. What’s great is that he sounds just as good doing slower acoustic songs, as he does when he is doing high energy pop. This album is an example of the former, and is really great.

Coconut Records – Davy – *** – Jason Schwartzman has had an interesting life, and he wastes no time telling us all about it on the new album. While cool sounding and interesting, lyrically, it is a bit too self-reverential, which is good to a point, but wears thin.

tenniscourts – dig the new sounds of… – *** – This was a cool sounding record. Very energetic and rocking, nothing really jumped out at me, though, as being new or unique. But its good.

Alright, we are the throes of fall, and as such, it’s time for some yummy apples, five of which I offer you below. These fresh fruits fell on my head recently, knocking out all sense and leaving me with a strange desire to bathe myself in apple cider. So please bear with me as I watch this leaf CHANGE COLORS IN MY VERY HAND!!!! Creepy. Well, enjoy.

Cliff Hillis – The Long Now – ***1/2 - Cliff does a great job with clean-cut pop songs. It’s very simply arranged and well put together. But it is still engaging and interesting, and great to listen to.

Antony & The Johnsons – Another World – *** – It took me a while to appreciate Antony & The Johnsons. At first, the songs seemed a little long and too stark to enjoy. But as I heard more of his songs and him singing other songs, it really hit me how talented he is. This new EP carries on that sound to great effect, having both sparse, long songs, but also some more upbeat songs.

Kelly Jones – SheBANG! – **** – Definitely one of the best things I have heard in a while. I heard Mike Viola was involved, and had to check it out. As soon as the first song breaks from a short intro, I was hooked. This album seems to hit all the right notes at the right time for the right reasons. It fits so well. You can’t help but fall in love with Kelly Jones and her fantastic album.

Barenaked Ladies – Snack Time – *** – As kids albums go, the Barenaked Ladies are good candidates for it. Both Barenaked Ladies and They Might Be Giants helped push me from my childhood music interests into my current music tastes. Now the one caveat is that I was able to do this because they felt grownup enough, but not too grownup…the problem with a kid’s album is that, it won’t necessarily support a move from children’s music to similar music in the future. Now as a grownup, taking this album from that perspective, it’s fun and funny and cool, so who knows what right anyway?

Keane – Perfect Symmetry – *** – I really liked the first Keane album…it was simple, clear, and memorable. Their next album was a bit larger in scope and I had trouble finding much to latch on. This third album continues this trend, with much more complex arrangements, more electronic sounds, just more in general. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s not the same Keane that we heard from originally.