Two suggestions

It's been a while since I don't write about music. Here's a quick post on two terrific albums you should definitely hear. Along with this album, they are among the best of 2008, without a doubt.

The first one is The Verve's Forth. It is simply splendid to see The Verve back again doing great songs. I have found many people who don't know much about them apart from the everlasting Bitter Sweet Symphony. That's a real shame. Forth features ten excellent songs. My favorites are Rather Be (a classic for sure), I See Houses, Columbo, and perhaps the most amazing song I have heard in years: Appalachian Springs. Here's the video:



I tend to create links between albums/songs and the situations I am living. I first discovered Forth while in Denmark, and now that I listen again some of its songs, I can't help thinking in Copenhagen and the great summer that now it's gone. A similar thing occurs to me when listening Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid, my second suggestion for you. I started listening that album while in Rome's airport, waiting for my flight to Poland. Then during my week in Warsow I listened it a lot and  managed to appreciate it very much. Now it reminds me of my flight back to Bologna, and of a certain nostalgic feeling for Warsow.

I have to admit that I decided to listening Elbow only once they won the Mercury prize. I guess lots of people did the same and were nicely surprised with this record. This is not an easy album: do not wait for catchy songs or conventional melodies. Lyrics are excellent. It takes a while to get used to the music. At the end, in my experience, you'll end up enjoying it. My favorite song (so far) is Mirrorball. Here's the video:

Another rather decent album you'll like to hear is Dig Out Your Soul by Oasis. It is enjoyable but it's definitely not as good as the two above.