Thursday, December 9, 2010

Top 10 of 2010–#9 Typhoon–Hunger and Thirst

#9

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Typhoon - Starting Over (Live at OPB) from opbmusic.org on Vimeo.

I bought this album from the Tender Loving Empire store before meeting my cousin for lunch one day. After listening to it for the first time when I got home it became clear to me that Typhoon is the best thing to happen to this city since the food cart explosion. Having first heard of this band in our local alt-weeklies I knew I had to check them out when I listened to a full song during a Sound Opinions spotlight on Portland's music scene.

This is probably the most cohesive album on my list. The band may be comparable in size to Arcade Fire but they bring soul and discipline to the table instead of the bloat and dourness that makes The Suburbs my pick for most overrated album of the year. Hunger and Thirst runs like a very structured song cycle with each song being essential to overall work. Simply put – this is all killer no filler stuff. Even the “intermission” track serves a purpose.

Everything about this album from the poignant and haunting lyrics to the powerful horn and string arrangements makes it an instant classic. Portlanders should take a trip to the Tender Loving Empire store and pick it up as a gorgeous white vinyl set (that I would love for Christmas by the way) or on CD (which I uncharacteristically went with that day).

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