Albums of the Month - October 2011

Albums of the Month - October 2011

Like we started last month, here's how I rank the best albums for the month of October.

3. Real Estate - Days
Since 2009, with the Ridgewood, NJ band's self-titled debut, Real Estate seemed destined for Pitchfork-aura supremacy. With Days, an intrepid trek through the crew's soft lo-fi exteriors, Real Estate confirm they were never a group for the truly visceral at heart. There is, instead, a truly multi-layered scope to the songs, like in the eerily accurate "Wonder Years," with its patterning guitars and soft lulls transgressing seamlessly into the next track - a clever pattern you don't even need 10 songs to notice.

Real Estate - Days (Stream at Insound)

2. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Tom Waits is in an invincible pantheon. Everything he touches turns into dirty Zatarains gold. With Bad As Me, Waits' first true studio album since 2004's Real Gone, Waits new work is a snarling, spit-stomping (an idea that only exists in Waits World, the most depressing theme park in town) anthem wedged in between the dreary soul four decades into his storied career. There are very, very few, if any, that can touch the level of poetic drag, again and again, that Waits so easily sneers at.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
In some ways, M83 was due. It's not as if Anthony Gonzalez's previous efforts weren't good - they were, very good in fact. But Hurry Up, We're Dreaming had a varying degree of hype surrounding it after Gonzalez three-year in between period. And with everyone's first listen to "Midnight City," the double-album accrued an even higher potential appeal. And what we have is a daunting, 74-minute slow climb of M83-esque haunting beauty immersed in the soft, ethereal atmosphere that was, in a way, expected. Going through each side it's easy so see, for me at least, why it's #1 for October.

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Stream at Insound)

M83 - Midnight City