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.