Hey Rosetta! is my all time favorite band, and a big reason for that is lyrical content, so I can see why that might be an issue for you. One reason for it is that this is one of their earliest recordings (literally the first track from their first EP), back when they were still a garage band and they didn't have dedicated audio engineers or professional mixing (whispered and muttered vocals were also their style at the time). For comparison's sake, this is what they sound like
today.
Modest Mouse has never changed vocalists, he's the same guy (Issac Brock, he's also their songwriter and just all around genius). His voice has changed a LOT over the years. So has the band: one reason it's not very catchy is because this is very definitely "old" Modest Mouse, when Brock and bandmates were hooked on every drug imaginable, touring in a beat-up old van and writing very poignant and emotional angst anthems. Float On and all tracks by them that managed to slip into popularity came after sobriety, and aren't really indicative of the majority of their music. People have really strong opinions on which "era" is better, early or modern, so if you ever want to start a fight on an indie music forum just say one is definitively better than the other. I adore both, but am definitely a bigger fan of their early stuff (although their newest album is fantastic). To put it in perspective:
this vs
this.
The Dear Hunter is the brainchild of one Casey Crescenzo, who is an absolute musical beast. They're a prog-rock band with roots in hardcore, but their music swings pretty wildly between rock, jazz, folk, and country. Casey seriously knows no limits: the reason that that song starts so abruptly is because it's part of a rock opera...which spans 6 fucking albums. It's all one continuous story (about a guy in the early 1900's, his prostitute girlfriend and his plights during World War 1) that he's been working on for years. He's currently finishing up Act 4 of 6. He took a short "break" after 3 to make 9
EPs (each of which is styled after different genres, but are designed to be listened to consecutively), write a
stand-alone album just for kicks, and then head off to Europe to compose a
symphony. He did all of this while touring extensively: when I saw him, he and the band put on a 2 and a half hour show. By the end of the night, he'd destroyed his voice, and could hardly talk. He is without a doubt the one musician I respect most in the world. If you like this song at all, I highly recommend you check out the other pieces of the rock opera.
For a song concerning domestic violence, it is eerily pleasant. Wilco's another oddity of a band: they started out as a straight-up alternative country group, and have slowly morphed into an experimental alternative rock band. Their discography is interesting, to say the least.
Wintersleep is a Canadian treasure, moving on...
That Antlers song is actually a piece of one of my favorite albums of all time,
In the Attic of the Universe. I say a "piece" because the album is only 25 minutes long, and in a lot of ways is really just one song that changes over time. I could gush for hours over it and all the amazing narrative elements in it, but I'll save you from that. This is definitely one of the happier, upbeat songs from the album, though in the larger context it's probably better described as bittersweet. Peter Silberman writes absolutely fantastic lyrics and he's a wonderful singer, but I agree that the words are hard to make out. Pretty much every Antlers track is better is listened to while there's a lyrics sheet nearby.
The Envy Corps is an Iowan treasure, moving on... (In case you were wondering about those beginning lyrics, it's "One for the bourgeoisie/ One for the row/ The pace of the guillotine's quickening/ and nothing can stop it, for now." This is the first track on the album, it gets reprised at the end of the last track after the metaphorical "guillotine" has dropped.)
I can see why you wouldn't be a fan of that Features track, it's very laid back and definitely works better in the context of the album (in which it is flanked by much more upbeat songs). I only picked it because it's my personal favorite. REally sums up what the Features are about: reckless rock pieces inter-cut with surprisingly intimate views into lower-class American life.
Frightened Rabbit kicks so much ass. If you like that track, I'd definitely recommend checking out their two most recent albums. I too love the vocals. There's just something about a Scottish accent that makes a song a million times more fun to listen and sing along to.
That Mimicking Birds album cover is a deformed bird being "hatched" from a tree of flesh, duh. Most of their songs have a theme of humanity contrasted with nature, and how we co-opt and destroy it (climate change and all that). Their name comes from one of their lyrics: "Nothing good's been done since when we learned to fly/ Mimicking birds, we share the sky." Think that art is a representation of that idea, of something pure being corrupted and "born" into something new and hideous. Anyway since I'm a pretentious hipster I eat that shit up.
I know right? Best band name I've heard in a long time. Another Scottish band (yada yada Scottish treasure) that puts out fantastic jam songs that actually have a surprising amount of emotional depth.
What can I say, I'm just a pretty laid-back guy.
For your consideration, if you feel like it:
Frightened Rabbit - Holy
Frightened Rabbit - The Woodpile
Modest Mouse - Edit the Sad Parts
Modest Mouse - The Tortoise and the Tourist (one of the newer tracks, but definitely in the vein of their older stuff)
Modest Mouse - Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset
The Dear Hunter - The Procession
The Dear Hunter - But There's Wolves?
The Dear Hunter - Never Forgive, Never Forget
Wintersleep - Laser Beams
We Were Promised Jetpacks - Sore Thumb
