10 City and Colour- Bring Me Your Love
9 Point Juncture, Wa- Heart to Elk
8 Blitzen Trapper- Furr
7 Jessica Lea Mayfield- With Blasphemy So Heartfelt
6 Helio Sequence- Keep Your Eyes Ahead Our 4th Portland band in the top 20,the album features two of the years strongest tracks in, "Lately' and "Shed Your Love". Singer Brandon Summers severely damaged his vocal cords, which led the band to re-invent it's sound. The result is an ambitious album that beautifully blends, indie rock and folk, with ambient and synth led numbers.
5 Ra Ra Riot- The Rhumb Line If you know the story of the tragedy the band went through, losing there drummer John Ryan Pike to a drowning accident while recording the LP, you can't help but feel the heartbreak that plays out on the disc. Pike wrote some of the LP's most ironic tracks such as, "Dying is Fine" and "Ghost Under the Rocks." Excellent melodic indie rock album. 
4 She Keeps Bees- Nests
3 Damien Jurado- Caught In The Trees
2 Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
1 Frightened Rabbit- The Midnight Organ Fight
If your like us and you dig the sound coming out of Glasgow from bands like, The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit and We Were promised Jetpacks, you should do yourself a favor and check out There Will Be Fireworks. The young four piece is currently finishing up work on a new full length album that should be released sometime in the new year. In the meanwhile the lads are offering up two free songs for download if you send them a mail asking nicely to: therewillbefireworks@hotmail.co.uk.
One of our favorites here at BTB, The National have said that they are ..."pretty far into the process of writing" its next album, in a recent article in Billboard magazine. The band state that they will start recording in April in guitarist Aaron Dessner's new home studio in Brooklyn. The new album will be the follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed, "Boxer". If you can't wait 'till then, you'll have to settle for the Aaron & Bryce curated AIDS benefit album "Dark Was the Night," on Feb 17th, which features some new material from the band. The big name project will also feature exclusive songs from My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, Jose Gonzales and Grizzly Bear, among others (see the full tracklist below). One other bit of band news from the Billboard article, was that the Dessners have also been collaborating on a new instrumental project. Aaron Dessner tells Billboard.com ..."We're gearing up for possibly a really big performance together next fall, and then maybe to make a record," ..."This feeds our brains and lets us push ourselves. Either that, or it's incessant noodling."
Ex Interscope artists, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have announced a release date for their sixth full, The Century of Self, which will be out February 17th on the band’s Richter Scale Records. A short few days later the group will embark on a national US tour in support of the hotly anticipated LP, kicking things off on the 19th in Dallas, TX. 
The collaborative effort of old New York University roommates Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear) and Fred Nicolaus, known as Department of Eagles, have come out with a new round of tour dates scheduled for next month. Hitting some of the major markets across the States, the band will kick the tour off in Chicago, before hitting NYC, Philly, Boston and LA, to name a few. Their new album In Ear Park, was released by 4AD, back in October of this year.
Up and coming 22 year old singer/songwriter Samantha Crain has announced plans for her full length debut disc, Songs In the Night to be released this coming April 28th. Crain brings a unique voice and sound to the traditional Americana/Folk standard, the best of which I've heard described as "... a voice like Billie Holiday's trippin' kid sister raised on T.Rex demos and Radiohead ballads...", from the River Cities Reader. 
Yesterday, Arcade Fire fans who logged onto the band's website were being directed to a page with the words 'Miroir Noir' - which is French for 'Black Mirror', and also happens to be the name of the opening song from their 2007 album 'Neon Bible'. Although no official press release has been made, the website showed previously-unreleased live footage of the band - along with a message 'Miroir Noir, Neon Bible Archives, Coming Soon' appearing at the end of the video.
The collaborative effort known as the Headless Heroes have got it covered on their new LP,The Silence of Love. The album is a beautiful melancholy themed album of all cover songs, created by Eddie Bezalel and Hugo Nicolson. The pair pulled together the songs with the help of fellow musicians (Josh Klinghoffer, Woody Jackson, Joey Waronker, Leo Abrahams & Gus Seyffert), along with the sweet voice of Alela Diane, who Bezalel found via her Myspace. Bezalel said upon hearing her voice, he instantly knew she was the one to carry the tunes. The LP is a collection of lost classics and unearthed gems that stretches over 40 years of time, ranging from Daniel Johnston, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, to Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs and The Gentle Soul.
We often talk on the blog about all the great indie bands coming out of Canada. One of the forefathers of the 'Montreal sound' are the husband and wife combo of Murray Lightburn & Natalia Yanchak, The Dears. Lightburn and Yanchak burst onto the scene in 2000 with their debut album, 'End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story', which showcased the bands orchestral, dark pop sound. The band is out with their newest and fourth studio album Missiles, which was born out of troubled sessions that led to the departure of most of the band. Left with what could have been a career killer, the couple indulged in some needed musical soul-searching, which turned any possible setbacks into what some have called one of their most consistent and polished releases to date.
Pearl Jam's 1991 debut disc, 'Ten' will be getting four new reissue editions this coming March. The band have unearthed a host of unreleased tracks and special surprises from deep in the vaults. Depending on your finances, here's the breakdown on how it will be available: The Legacy Edition- features two discs, one with the original album remastered and another with the album both remastered and remixed by longtime PJ producer Brendan O'Brien, also included is six bonus tracks "Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat." The Deluxe Edition- includes everything in the Legacy Edition, as well as a DVD of Pearl Jam's "MTV Unplugged" show from 1992. Then there's the Vinyl Collection edition- which is the same as the Legacy Edition minus the bonus tracks and on vinyl: one LP with the original Ten remastered and one LP with Ten remastered and remixed by Brendan O'Brien. Then last but not least you can get the Super Deluxe Edition- which contains everything in the Deluxe Edition and the Vinyl Collection, with extra's that include a live 2 LP set recorded in Seattle from 1992, a replica of "Momma-Son", Pearl Jam's original demo cassette, as well as a replica Eddie Vedder composition notebook filled with personal notes and images from the collections of Vedder and Jeff Ament. 
It's hard to believe it's been nearly 17 years since PJ Harvey came out with her first CD back in 1992. A mainstay in the indie rock world, Harvey has recently announced plans for her 9th album titled, A Woman A Man Walked By. The album is due out on March 30, 2009, and is a collaboration with John Parish, with whom she also worked with on her (1996) LP 'Dance Hall At Louse Point', as well as co-producing 'To Bring You My Love'(1995), and Harvey's most recent release 'White Chalk'(2007). Parish has worked with artists including the Eels and Giant Sand. A Woman A Man Walked By was recorded in the UK and was mixed by Flood. 
Brooklyn's Bear Hands recently got back from some shows in the UK, where the band just saw their 2007 debut EP, Golden receive it's release. Now that the band is back on their home turf, they just announced some upcoming shows next month across the States, which see the group supporting the likes of Dept. of Eagles, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Pomegranates.
Fans of Tegan and Sara might be familiar with the Aussie power-pop duo, An Horse. The group supported the sister's during one of their tours through the land down under, and won them over with their catchy hooks. In fact Sara Quin liked the pair so much that she collaborated closely with An Horse on their forthcoming US release Rearange Beds, which will physically be in stores on March 17th. Said Quin ... “I get goose bumps, electrical currents running up my arms listening to them – I love this band.” The album is available digitally on iTunes right now.
With a list of star-studded producing credits and guest appearances to his name, M. Ward's schedule can feel at times fully booked. The singer/songwriter, who most recently collaborated on the acclaimed project She & Him, with Zooey Deschanel, has announced some plans of his own, unveiling details of his highly anticipated new release, Hold Time , which is due this February 17th, on Merge Records. Ward will also be hitting the road this winter to coincide with the albums release, touring on both sides of the Atlantic. 
Though their new album, You and I doesn't arrive in stores until Jan. 20th on French Kiss records, New Zealand's infectious Cut Off Your Hands have just posted a new track, "Turn Cold" on their myspace. The band is coming off of being nominated for the "Breakthrough Artist Of The Year" Award at the 2008 New Zealand Music Awards. The new LP, which will be the bands debut full length in the US, is currently out in their homeland, where they can now be seen out on tour. 
Brooklyn's Dirty on Purpose have announced they will perform their final show as a band this New Year’s Eve in New York City. The band will play for the final time, in the opening slot for friends, A Place To Bury Strangers at Mercury Lounge. The decision came after the band decided they did not want to record a new album together. In a statement from the band they said... "After six years of spending an unhealthy and unusual amount of time together, Dirty on Purpose is going the way of the dodo. We got back from tour about a month ago and sat down to talk about recording another record, and realized we didn't really want to record another record. Not now anyway. So we're going our separate ways. Our best friends and practice space sharers of many years, A Place to Bury Strangers, offered us the opening slot on their New Year's Eve gig at Mercury Lounge. We thought it was an appropriate way to wind things down and say goodbye to our friends and fans." Later adding ... "Finally, we're all still buddies and live in the same town, so we reserve the right to change our minds and get back together in six months if we feel like it."
Back in 2006, Toronto Canada's Ohbijou released the indie-pop gem Swift Feet For Troubling Times, which featured the gorgeous track "St.Francis". The band has recently been holed up in the studio where they are putting the finishing touches on a new album, which now has a tentative release date of April 2009, and a title, Beacons. Earlier this year Ohbijou were chosen as one of three bands for the Banff Centre's first Indie Band Residency, where they had the opportunity to spend two weeks working with some top producers and recording engineers. You can preview one of the new track's, "Black Ice" on the bands myspace now, and also take a look at a live version of "St. Francis" from a recent concert in L.A. @ Spaceland. 
Deerhunter's newest album Microcastle, has been one of the most blogged about albums of 2008, with people either seeming to fall into the category of loving it or hating it. If you fall into the first category you'll be glad to know that the band will be releasing the next single from the disc in the New Year, for the song "Never Stops". In other news, the Atlanta based band will be heading back out on the road again come February, this time across the Atlantic in Europe. The group will get things started in Prague on Feb. 11th, where from there on out there will be a near non-stop schedule of back to back shows until closing things out on March 11th in Germany. 
The Tony Dekker led atmospheric acoustic project, the Great Lake Swimmers have a new disc coming out March 31st, Lost Channels from Nettwerk Records. The album takes its name from the region: the Lost Channel, which is the passage of water in the Thousand Islands where mysterious disappearances reportedly happened during a battle in 1760. The group found inspiration for the new LP, after having received an invitation to check out the region of Ontario, by a local historian. The band was so taken by the area, that it sat down and wrote songs based on the region and others like it. They also chose to record in unusual locales such as Hammond, N.Y.'s Singer Castle and St. Brendan's Church in Rockport, Ontario.
With yesterday being World Aids Day, the line-up was revealed for the jam packed Dark Was the Night , the compilation release benefiting AIDS/HIV awareness group, The Red Hot Organization. The effort was produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, and will feature 32 exclusive new tracks from some of indie rocks biggest names. Not all the tracklisting has been unveiled, but some details that have already leaked are: David Byrne teaming up with the Dirty Projectors, Feist joining both Grizzly Bear and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, Conor Oberst performing with Gillian Welch, José González doing a cover of Nick Drake's "Cello Song", My Brightest Diamond singing "Feeling Good", as well as The National contributing a track of their own, and Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner teaming up for another. 
It's been over two years since we've had new material from Neko Case, the last being 2006's critically acclaimed Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Case is said to be releasing a new disc this coming March the 3rd, titled Middle Cyclone, which includes appearances by Calexico, M.Ward and the Lilys. Case toured intermittently throughout the year with her old band The New Pornographers, where she had been previewing 3 or 4 songs off the new disc, none of which were titled at the time. You can check the tracklist below. Here's "Hold On, Hold On" from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. 