The Underappreciated Albums

So some bands in the past year have become a staple in our music listening sessions. You can't get on pitchfork without seeing a post about at least one of these bands, but all of them became "big" because of their newest releases. Which causes most people to overlook all the other gems hidden in their past discographies.

Here are the under-appreciated albums of this years hyped bands

Lets start with Grizzly Bear, it was their clean and well organized sound on Veckatimest that got them the #8 spot on the Billboard charts

but it's their dark layers and haunting vocals that made me fall in love with them. Horn of Plenty and Sorry for the Delay are great examples of this sound

Sorry for the Delay is a EP that is often overlooked cause it's out of print
This Album is the ultimate dimly lit alleyway with fog rolling in

Sorry for the Delay
Best Songs: Sorry for the Delay, Particular to What, Owner of a Lonely Heart (Yes Cover)

Horn of Plenty is an Ed Droste solo album filled with crazy layers and soundscapes. He recorded the vocals using a tape recorder and then played it into a mic onto protools which is pretty neat
It's got the haunting choir like vocals that grizzly bear is famous for but more lofi

Horn of Plenty
Best Songs: Fix it, A Good Place, Shift, Alligator

I'm trying my best not to post an ungodly amount of Animal Collective related stuff but so many of their albums are unappreciated.

I don't think I would ever be able to pick a definite favorite AC album but if I had to choose it would be Campfire Songs or Strawberry Jam

Campfire songs is an ethereal environment shaped from 5 songs. Layers of guitar drone mesh with the chirping of birds and rain while strained vocals come in and out creating the feeling of being in a park sitting on a bench and staring at the birds

here's some info about how the cd was made "The album comprises five individual songs played back to back and recorded in one take, the recording was made outside on a screen porch in Maryland"

here's what Panda Bear had to say about it
" We had had the idea of doing something really warm and inviting-sounding for a while, like three or four years at least. We wanted it to sound like a campfire feels and I think that also made us think of campfire songs that you can sing with a bunch of people and everybody gets connected and feels good and safe. It really wasn’t spontaneous or improvised [...]. We worked for a month or so to get it just right like the transitions between songs. I still think Queen Of My Pictures into Doggy is one of the best things we’ve done together. I was really excited about my singing on Campfire Songs, I guess because I felt like I was doing things that were difficult for me to do"

Campfire Songs
Best Songs: Doggy, De Soto De Son...all of them

A year after Campfire Songs Panda Bear released Young Prayer. A cd similar to Campfire because of the minimal drony guitar. It sounds like a church choir under water. The tracks all don't have names cause he wanted it to be "one nugget of sound" . This is one of my all time favorite cds and awesome to fall asleep tooo

Young Prayer
Best Songs: Track 5, Track 2...its all good

Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca is an awesome cd, but it totally hides how weird DP actually is. Cds like The Glad Fact and Morning Better Last! are nothing like the warm springy sounds of Bitte Orca.

The Getty Address is the middle point between weird and accesiable. "It is described as "a glitch opera" about musician Don Henley". "The album boasts over 25 musicians on it" I really like this cd, it has some killer tracks

The Getty Address
Best Songs: Warholian Wigs, Tour Along the Potomic, Jolly Jolly Jolly Ego

The Glad Fact and Morning Better Last! are an even crazier cds but less produced

The Glad Fact
Best Songs: My Offwhite Flag, Like Fake Blood, Boredom is a Product, Imaginary Love

Morning Better Last!
Best Songs: The Softer Shell, Grandfathers Jacket, My Brother had a Birthday, Dahlonegabhama