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Music

1. The Decemberists: The King Is Dead
Indie blockbuster! Noted wordsmith Colin Meloy and his anti-shock-troops, known in the past for their own particular brand of indie-folk bombast, come forth a little relaxed and confident on their ...read more
2. Iron and Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean
For album number five, top beard Sam Beam retains the songwriting formula that's made Iron and Wine such a reliable fixture in the new-folk scene, but also stretches out a bit. Longtime fans will r...read more
3. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
The long-awaited album No. 2 from Seattle new-folkies Fleet Foxes is aglow with everything the band's cult of fans love -- namely harmonies, harmonies and more gorgeous harmonies. But despite...read more
4. Thurston Moore: Demolished Thoughts
Here's how you know Beck's a great producer: A few minutes into Thurston Moore's gorgeous new "solo" album, you've forgotten that he twiddled knobs on Demolished Thoughts. Despite the violence in i...read more
5. Woods: Sun and Shade
I think I love Woods. The band, I mean, but the vast collections of trees too, though that would be a different conversation. Or would it? You get very comfortable being surrounded by trees, and th...read more
6. Fruit Bats: Tripper
Is it cheating to say that the latest from the Fruit Bats -- the band's first album (we're pretty sure) since main Bat-man Eric D. Johnson joined the Shins -- bears a bit of that band's influence? ...read more
7. Cass McCombs: Humor Risk
How do we know 2011 has been a good year for music? Two full Cass McCombs albums, that's how. Warm on the heels of the quiet brilliance of Wit's End comes Humor Risk, with a higher quotient of the ...read more
8. First Aid Kit: The Lion's Roar
Ladies, hide your boyfriends: First Aid Kit are a pair of young Swedish sisters who comfortably inhabit the best folk-pop traditions, from clothes to sound, and their second album, The Lion's Roar ...read more
9. Sharon Van Etten: Tramp
Tramp, Sharon Van Etten's third album and first for major indie Jagjaguwar, is one of the more feverishly anticipated records from a local artist in some time -- and it does not disappoint. That sa...read more
10. Trembling Bells featuring Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The Marble Downs
If you're like me -- well, my sympathies, firstly, but if so, you may be strongly ambivalent about Bonnie Prince Billy's records -- a few unquestionably brilliant songs, a few more very good ones, ...read more